This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we are going global. We take a look at how cloud computing is “an unrivalled opportunity” for Ireland and how Microsoft is growing its Cloud in Malaysia. 1. Cloud computing, “an unrivalled opportunity” for Ireland *image from lonelyplanet.com We tweeted this story earlier this week from our @MSOnline account. Sociable.co writes that there are “swift efforts by Ireland” to fund cloud computing in belief that it will benefit the competitiveness of the country. Cloud computing is forecasted to bring Ireland an economic return on its investment. Microsoft has helped Ireland realize their cloud computing potential with The Goodbody Economic Consultants report, commissioned by Microsoft . The report suggests that “targeted investment by the government now, while cloud computing is in its infancy, could be economically and socially beneficial to the country.” You can Download the full report here (PDF | 1.7MB) . The article dives deeper into Ireand’s “unrivalled opportunity” and quotes Microsoft Ireland’s Managing Director Paul Rellis, “Cloud Computing will change how the world consumes technology.” The article also identifies the dollar figures behind Cloud computing in Ireland, “In financial terms the cloud could be worth €9.5 billion to the country by 2014 and create over 8,600 jobs. It says that the cloud computing market is estimated to be worth anywhere between €40 and €110 billion by 2014.” Be sure to read the entire article here and find out why the Cloud is exciting for Ireland. 2. Microsoft eyes growing local cloud market In our second BPOS story we take a look at a very promising cloud market in Malaysia. Malaysia is a growing market that is eager to take many of its local businesses to the cloud . The Malaysian Insider takes a look at Microsoft’s local Malaysian opportunity for the cloud in this article . “Microsoft Malaysia’s chief marketing and operations officer Danny Ong said uptake of Microsoft’s cloud services by local companies has been ‘very good’ since its introduction here in May last year.” The article frequently mentions the analyst firm Gartner and their supported reports of Malaysia becoming a booming economy for Cloud Computing. North America is currently leading the way in Cloud Computing adoption, but Malaysia and Ireland are two shining examples of the global need for Cloud Computing. Do you think more countries will be adopting the cloud? Leave your thoughts below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

Do you feel the need to tweet? Are your Facebook and Linkedin profiles up to date? Do you consider yourself a social media expert or do you have no idea what “At Reply” means? No matter your experience level, social media provides an unprecedented way to be heard. Social media serves as a great resource for setting up online profiles for individuals to connect with friends and family and network with new people. Social media can also be used as a great resource to be heard and get problems resolved. Businesses use social media to answer questions from consumers where they pop up online and also provide exclusive access to content and news. Social media is quickly becoming the main line of communication between companies and fans. Twitter provides a great place to talk with companies once thought untouchable through a quick message. YouTube gives users the ability to share exclusive content, while subscribing to a Facebook page gives you up to date news and information. You can find Microsoft Online Services in several social media channels (see list below) so that you get the latest news, exclusive insights and your questions answered. So no matter if you’re an expert or a novice, use social media to interact with us online. We want to hear from you. Post something on our Facebook Wall , send us an “At Reply” or message on Twitter , comment on a new video on our YouTube Page and share some thoughts below this blog post. Don’t just sign up for an account on a social media channel, go and be a part of the conversation. Hope to hear from you soon! Get answers in our forums – https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/microsoftonlineservices Read our blog – https://blogs.technet.com/msonline/default.aspx . You can subscribe via RSS too. Follow us on Twitter – @msonline – https://www.twitter.com/msonline Become a fan in Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftOnlineServices Subscribe to our YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/user/msonlineservices Join our LinkedIn group – Microsoft Online Services Find a local users group in MeetUp – https://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-Online-Services Remember to follow Office 365 on their channels: Read the Office 365 Blog Check out the Office 365 Community – https://community.office365.com/ Follow @Office365 on Twitter – https://twitter.com/office365 Become a fan in Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/office365 Watch the latest Office 365 Videos Join the Office 365 LinkedIn group

Some of you are asking how and who builds the Solution Starters. The Solution Starter specifications were done by the same group of people who design new components of Microsoft Project – the Program Managers inside of Microsoft. The specifications (“specs”) were then handed off to external company who coded, tested and released them into the MSDN Code Gallery. The company is called Internet Commerce Corporation (ICC) ICC is one of the first companies that started working with Microsoft Project Server 2010 as part of Microsoft’s TAP program and continues to gain experience being involved in the development of a number of solution starters for Project Server 2010. Since then, ICC has built strong expertise in building EPM solutions based on the Microsoft Project Server 2010 Platform. Major focus areas in Enterprise Project Management for ICC are: EPM Solution Implementation Project Server 2010 deployment and configuration Project Server 2010 customization and custom report development If you plan to do a coding project for Project 2010 and you need great developers with vast experience , feel free to consider them too! Jan

The Microsoft Office 2010 Developer Map is now available for download. You can view it on a big monitor, or print it full-size on a 3-foot x 2-foot page. It shows the full stack of Office desktop and server applications, technologies, and tools – including mobile and cloud apps. For Office 2007, see the Microsoft Office 2007 interactive Developer Map . The Silverlight-based interactive map for Office 2010 is not yet available.

Yes – it’s here for few weeks now – https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/P2010Scrum . Details are here . Thanks for all the comments, keep them coming!

Looking for tools and way to easily get started building customizations by reusing and modifying code from an existing? Then make sure to look at https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/P2010SolutionStarter . There’s plenty of related resources, including deep dive webcasts. If you have any questions – please check the related discussion . Jan

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we take a look at the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 announcement, and we get a 99.9 percent guarantee from BPOS. 1. Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM 2011 hits the cloud In our first BPOS News story we announce a new cloud offering from Microsoft, Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM 2011. CNET covers the launch story here . The announcement comes with a price drop of the service from 44 dollars to 33 dollars per user. There is also a “Cloud CRM for Less” program which CNET explains as Microsoft “ offering cash rebates on a per-user basis for companies that switch over from competing Salesforce or Oracle CRM tools.” Dynamics General Manager Brad Wilson told CNET why he was excited about this announcement. “What’s kind of cool about this right now is that this kind of price point and this type of technology lets smaller business take advantage of technology that was before only available to larger organizations,” Wilson said. “So to be able to offer it up as an on-demand service at a very affordable price really expands the access of the technology to smaller companies, and I think that’s very exciting.” What do you think of the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 announcement? We want to hear from you! Leave your thoughts below in the comments section. 2. Microsoft: BPOS components average 99.9-plus percent uptime In our final BPOS News story for this week , we look into the average up time for Microsoft BPOS over the past year. Microsoft offers a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee as their service level agreement or SLA. SLA’s are taken very seriously and if the 99.9% SLA cannot be met, Microsoft offers cash reimbursements. In this NetworkWorld article it claims that Microsoft has held a 99.9 uptime SLA over the past year. What do you think of the service level agreement from Microsoft BPOS? Leave your thoughts below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

In case you are thinking about taking one or more exams towards your certification – for example the following: Exam 70-573: TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development Exam 70-576: PRO: Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications Exam 70-177: TS: Microsoft Project Server 2010, Configuring You might appreciate the Microsoft Certification Pack voucher codes with Prometric – https://www.prometric.com/microsoft/certpacks

Setting up a wireless connection on Windows Server 2008 R2 isn’t quite as straightforward as it is on Windows 7. Here are the steps to quickly enable wireless networking on Windows Server 2008 . Follow our daily tips: • facebook.com/TechNetTips • twitter.com/TechNetTips • blogs.technet.com/tnmag

There are thousands of videos made every day and posted on the internet that span various topics and interests. I wanted to take this week’s video blog post to highlight some of my favorite videos that focus on Microsoft BPOS and Cloud Computing. I have spent a lot of time roaming the internet to try and find the latest and greatest BPOS videos to add to our YouTube channel favorites section . The following videos are some of the best that I have found. 1.