Microsoft courts cloud with Enterprise Mobility Suite

Satya Nadella launches Office for iPad during keynote address

Microsoft has vowed to help business customers get their heads around new IT challenges by launching its Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS).

New chief executive Satya Nadella unveiled the cloud offering at the same time as he announced the long-awaited news that Office will now be available on iPad and a selection of other devices.

The EMS aims to help business users address BYOD and SaaS challenges and is made up of its Azure Active Directory, Windows Intune and Azure Rights Management cloud offerings.

The product trio is designed to help businesses manage user access rights and devices from the cloud.

When purchased separately, the products cost $12 (per user, per month, on an annual basis) but when bought together in the EMS, will only set customers back $6.50 on the same terms.

Microsoft claims it is the most cost-effective way of acquiring all of the services and its vice president of corporate cloud and enterprise Brad Anderson added that the combination trumps similar offerings from rivals.

"On one point I do want to be very specific - the EMS is the most comprehensive and complete platform for organisations to embrace these mobility and cloud trends," he said. "Looking across the industry, other offerings feature only disconnected pieces of what is needed.

"When you examine what Microsoft has built and what we are delivering, EMS is simply the only solution that has combined all of the capabilities needed to fully enable users in this new, mobile, cloud-enabled world."

Office for iPad

As of yesterday evening, Microsoft made enhanced, mobile-optimised versions of its Office products available on iPad.

Office 365 subscribers are now able to add their iPads to their subscriptions and are able to create and edit documents via its Word, PowerPoint and Excel products.

Microsoft claims the new-look Office was built specifically with iPads in mind, featuring touch functionality while still maintaining the familiarity of the suite.

On top of this, Microsoft has made Office Mobile - a pared down version of the product - available for iPhones and Android phones.

Microsoft's Nadella explained both announcements were driven by his "mobile-first, cloud-first" vision, which he admitted it raised some eyebrows when he first spoke about it.

"In my initial remarks as CEO, I spoke about how Microsoft is embracing the new ‘mobile-first cloud-first' world," he said.

"I've been asked a number of interesting questions about the language I used. A common one is actually the simplest and most important to answer - how can two things be first?

"My honest answer is that I don't think of the cloud and mobile as two things. They are two facets of one thing. The cloud was created to enable mobility. And mobile devices are really uninteresting without the cloud.

"That's why I talk about them together. Mobile without cloud is limiting."