The Biggest News from Microsoft Inspire 2023
It has been a busy Inspire this year, including for significant Copilot news.
Microsoft revealed that Copilot will cost organisations $30 per user per month. The generative AI tool will be available for users with Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium users when it hits general availability.
In other Copilot news, Microsoft announced a raft of new Copilot capabilities for Teams Phone and Chat. Copilot introduced generative AI to phone calls for Teams Phone. With this new function, users could make and receive calls from their Teams app on any device and get real-time summarisation and insights.
“Today, at the Microsoft Inspire conference, we announced the next wave of generative AI for Teams, with the introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams Phone and Teams chat” Pete Daderko, Director, Microsoft Teams Product Marketing, wrote in a blog post. “Incorporating advanced AI capabilities into unscheduled phone calls and written chat conversations, Copilot will now help you stay on top of your discussions, capture important information, and follow up on action items.”
For Teams chat, users could rapidly synthesise critical information from their chat threads, enabling them to ask specific questions to catch up on the conversation so far, manage key discussion points, and summarise data relevant to their workflows.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has launched Bing Chat Enterprise, bringing its generative AI chat tool to businesses. Bing Chat was previously available in Microsoft Edge for consumers. Microsoft focused on security when launching the tool.
Lastly, Microsoft and Meta have expanded their AI partnership by announcing support for the Llama 2 family of large language models (LLMs) on Azure and Windows. Llama 2 aims to empower developers and businesses to build generative AI-powered tools and experiences. Meta and Microsoft have articulated a shared commitment to democratising AI and its benefits, as illustrated by Meta’s open and commercial approach with Llama 2.
In other Teams news, Microsoft is introducing the capability to join meetings set up by third-party services, including Zoom and Google Meet, directly through their Teams calendar.
The solution streamlines the process of joining meetings organised across multiple conferencing platforms, with Teams potentially serving as a hub application from which to join other vendors’ services.
The update will roll out in general availability this August and will be usable via Desktop or Mac.
- Read more about Microsoft Inspire 2023
- Read more about Teams enabling the direct joining of Google Meet and Zoom meetings
Mitel Secures Fourth Successive Sourcewell Contract
Mitel has announced it has secured a fourth successive contract with Sourcewell, extending its business relationship to 14 years.
The contract means that Sourcewell, a trusted service cooperative — and the 50,000 government, education, and nonprofit organisations it represents through member agencies — will be granted access to a range of Mitel’s UC offerings through ready-to-use contracts that enhance the purchasing process.
Sue Anders, Public Sector and SLED General Manager at Mitel, said:
We are honoured Sourcewell continues to trust Mitel as a preferred provider, and we look forward to continuing to support its members with the modern communications and collaboration solutions they need to deliver important work in their communities. As we have seen over the past decade, cooperative purchasing is such a beneficial tool for public organizations of all sizes as it saves time by streamlining the RFP process while ensuring great value.”
Mitel provides businesses, nonprofits and public sector organisations with flexibility and choice through a portfolio encompassing private cloud and on-site comms systems, contact centre, collaboration, mass notification applications, business phones, devices, and accessories.
One of the world’s most prominent purchasing cooperatives, Sourcewell provides agencies with access to dependable and enterprise-grade suppliers through nationally solicited contracts. Each supplier is assessed through a competitive process to ensure procurement requirements are met or exceeded.
Proximus Expands CPaaS Portfolio with Route Mobile Acquisition
Proximus has enhanced its CPaaS portfolio by acquiring Indian vendor Route Mobile.
Proximus has signed a definitive agreement for a majority stake worth 58 percent in CPaaS specialist Route Mobile. In turn, several of Route Mobile’s founding shareholders will reinvest in a minority stake in Proximus Opal, a Proximus Group subsidiary and the holding company of Telesign, Proximus’ US-based affiliate.
“The acquisition of a majority stake in Route Mobile is a transformational step for our international CPaaS and digital identity activities,” Guillaume Boutin, CEO of the Proximus Group, commented.
“With Route Mobile and Telesign, Proximus Group now holds two strong and highly complementary global assets, both from geography and product expertise standpoints. This will allow us to reap the benefits of scale, reinforce the product suite of both brands and realize synergies generating substantial value for our shareholders.”
Building on the complementary strengths of Route Mobile and Telesign, Proximus Group is building on its foundations to become a leading CPaaS vendor. Proximus’s Route Mobile acquisition produces substantial scale in the CPaaS space, with annual revenues of around €900 million for Route Mobile and Telesign combined.
Cisco Reportedly Engages in Layoffs with Webex Impacted
Cisco is reportedly engaging in a series of layoffs that will impact several business units, including Webex.
Cisco has not yet responded when requested for clarity.
However, Cisco informed Fierce Telecom that the most recent round of layoffs is the next stage of the “rebalancing effort” announced in November 2022.
These job cuts could include the 4,100 employees Cisco said it would let go in December, comprising roughly five percent of its workforce.
Cisco told Fierce Telecom:
This is not about cost savings as we have roughly the same number of employees as we did before the process began. This rebalancing is about prioritizing investments in our transformation, to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations in the changing technology landscape. We will continue to do everything we can to help place affected employees in open roles and offer extensive support including generous severance packages.”
The business units allegedly affected include Webex; Cisco Collaboration; Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI); Cisco Data Center Services & Solutions; Cisco Experience Centers (CxC); Cisco Security Business Group (SBG); and Cisco Servers – Unified Computing System (UCS).
from UC Today https://ift.tt/apV1WLP
0 Comments