text: Microsoft Pushes ERP Into The Cloud | TechWeekEurope UK
  Nicholas Kolakowski eWEEK USA 2013. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved., April 12, 2011, 9:44 am	CloudWorkspace	0 0 0 No Comments Microsoft says that future Dynamics ERP releases will operate in the cloud, with hosting on Windows Azure
  At Convergence, Microsoft also announced general availability for Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011, its ERP solution for larger SMB (small to midsize business) projects, and that Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 will be available on 1 May.
  Earlier this year, Microsoft released Dynamics CRM Online, a cloud competitor to similar offerings from the likes of Salesforce.com and Oracle. In trying to set its cloud products apart from its rivals' platforms, Microsoft chooses to emphasise how customers who select its cloud option can leverage it in the context of other Microsoft software such as Office – in effect, creating a software-centric competitor to Oracle's tightly integrated hardware-and-software stack. In the case of Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft claims that integration imbues it with more functionality than Salesforce.com, whose own CRM concentrates more on real-time social networking.
  In addition to ERP and CRM, Microsoft's other business-cloud initiatives include Office 365, which groups Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online as a subscription service. Microsoft released Office 365 in limited beta on 19 October, with general availability expected later this year. Such services also allow Microsoft to compete more heartily in the cloud arena against Google, which is also angling to seize federal and large-enterprise contracts for cloud-based apps.
  Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has insisted for months that his company is "all in" with regard to the cloud. "We have learned a lot through running Windows Live, Hotmail, Bing," he told an audience during a 12 July, 2010, keynote address at last summer's Worldwide Partner Conference. "These are some of the highest volume services run on the Internet today. When you run a tightly scaled, highly dynamic service, you need a whole new approach to running a data centre."
  Nicholas Kolakowski eWEEK USA 2013. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved. Click to read the authors bio Click to hide the authors bio Report: iPhone 5 Production Set For September