Microsoft says Lync is ready to replace PBXs; 10 free Microsoft products for IT and home users

	10 free Microsoft products for IT and home users | Microsoft's Ballmer kills call for break-up
	Network World Microsoft				Forward this to a Friend >>>
	Microsoft on Lync launch: The PBX era is over Microsoft says its renamed unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) platform  – Lync – is ready to replace corporate PBXs, generating savings by centralizing call control and other phone features to reduce the number of devices that need to be maintained. Read More WHITE PAPER: Riverbed An In-Depth Look at ROI In this whitepaper, Riverbed discusses its compelling and powerful return on investment in hard dollars, and a way to leap past the obstacles preventing you from reaching your IT objectives. Read now! In this Issue 10 free Microsoft products for IT and home users Microsoft's Ballmer kills call for break-up Microsoft's Lync fills gaps in VoIP Microsoft launches Lync: 70 new devices supported now, Kinnect integration in 2011 Microsoft Lync: Take to the cloud or keep it in-house? Verizon Business wants to be your link to Lync Microsoft's Mehdi: Google is a hard habit to break Windows powering one in ten HPC clusters, but not top supercomputers Microsoft turns Windows Azure into cloud-based supercomputer Microsoft's IE exec downplays JavaScript scores Facebook messaging rolls in Microsoft Office WHITE PAPER: VMware EMC Runs Its Business-Critical Oracle E-Business Suite Learn how EMC built their infrastructure using VMware software running on Intel-powered hardware and how they plan to move towards 100 percent virtualization within the organization. Read Now. 10 free Microsoft products for IT and home users Microsoft is no stranger to offering freebies in a bid to increase customer loyalty. Read More Microsoft's Ballmer kills call for break-up Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed a call that he should do what the federal government failed to do more than 10 years ago: break up the company. Read More Microsoft's Lync fills gaps in VoIP Despite the name change and hype around its dramatic release candidate and RTM version, the net significance of Microsoft's Lync 2010 release is that it brings the company's unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) platform up to par in some areas with competitors – though it doesn't slingshot past them, experts say. Read More WEBCAST: CA Business Service Assurance In an attempt to keep its proverbial head above water, IT has traditionally worked in a break-fix mode within operational silos. View Now Microsoft launches Lync: 70 new devices supported now, Kinnect integration in 2011 Microsoft officially launched its next generation audio/video conferencing "PBX replacement" dubbed Lync. The company lined up an impressive array of over 70 hardware devices certified to support Lync. It also promised that support for Lync on the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 and the Xbox with Kinnect would be coming later this year. Read More Microsoft Lync: Take to the cloud or keep it in-house? Cloud-based Lync won't be immediately available, but could eventually be a viable alternative to in-house software. Read More Verizon Business wants to be your link to Lync Among the many Microsoft partners queuing up product or service announcements tied to today's launch party for Lync is Verizon Business, which thinks the ideal delivery method for Microsoft's unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) suite is on a Verizon network. Read More WEBCAST: Emerson Network Power Hands-on DC management shouldn't give you paper cuts This webcast demonstrates how field-proven Avocent MergePoint® Infrastructure Explorer software is already providing substantial ROI for data centers up to 500 racks. Its dynamic, graphic interface gives a deep view of your data center to help you more efficiently plan changes, lower operating costs, and deliver on-target capacity planning. Watch Now. Microsoft's Mehdi: Google is a hard habit to break Unseating an entrenched market leader is tough, even when one pours hundreds of millions of dollars into product development and marketing. That's what Microsoft has found with its aggressively marketed and technologically improved Bing search engine. Read More Windows powering one in ten HPC clusters, but not top supercomputers Windows is powering more than one out of every 10 newly installed HPC clusters, but the success of Microsoft is mainly being seen with low-end customers while IBM and HP dominate the largest supercomputers. Read More Microsoft turns Windows Azure into cloud-based supercomputer Windows HPC Server customers will soon be able to run high-performance computing workloads on Windows Azure, Microsoft says. Read More Microsoft's IE exec downplays JavaScript scores Microsoft's top executive for Internet Explorer today dismissed browser speed trials as 'at best, not very useful, and at worst, misleading.' Read More Facebook messaging rolls in Microsoft Office Facebook's major messaging announcement may not have been the direct frontal assault on Gmail that many had anticipated, but that doesn't mean that Google doesn't have reason to be concerned. The new e-mail capabilities, combined with the integration of Microsoft Office Web Apps make Facebook a more complete business tool and a more direct competitor for Google Apps. Read More
	Fill out a survey, get rewarded Get a free Starbucks gift card for participating in a Network World survey about application performance management best practices. Research firm NetForecast is surveying enterprises about APM practices for an upcoming Network World article. The first 100 participants will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card. Click here. Goodies from the Subnets We've got SharePoint 2010 training for up to three people from Webucator up for grabs. There's an iPad available, too. Enter to win one! SLIDESHOWS Microsoft Windows after 25 years: A visual history More than nine out of 10 computers run some version of Windows. But no one could have predicted that would be the case when Windows 1.0 launched 25 years ago as a graphical front end for MS-DOS. Here's a look at Windows through the years and some thoughts on what the future might hold. Cool Yule favorites: 15 techie gifts we like Ho Ho Ho, it's time again to get our holiday wish lists together. Here are our 15 favorite products from the 140+ products submitted and tested in this year's Cool Yule Tools holiday gift guide. MOST-READ STORIES Google Chrome tops 'Dirty Dozen' vulnerable apps list Juniper buys WLAN pioneer Trapeze for $152 million Microsoft breaks petaflop barrier, loses Top 500 spot to Linux People who stand up for privacy could be classified as mentally ill Is free DNS a good deal for business? Juniper looks to one-up Cisco again in core routing Upgrade your Cisco cert to an HP cert Cloud storage free-for-all Microsoft Lync: What you need to know Chips in football helmets to monitor for concussions
	Do You Tweet? Follow everything from NetworkWorld.com on Twitter @NetworkWorld. You are currently subscribed to networkworld_microsoft_alert as networking.world@gmail.com. Unsubscribe from this newsletter | Manage your subscriptions | Subscribe | Privacy Policy If you are interested in advertising in this newsletter, please contact: bglynn@cxo.com To contact Network World, please send an e-mail to customer_service@nww.com. Copyright (C) 2010 Network World, 492 Old Connecticut Path, Framingham MA 01701 ** Please do not reply to this message. If you want to contact someone directly, send an e-mail to customer_service@nww.com. **