Within 12 days, the state was able to launch the Washington Healthcare Emergency and Logistics Tracking Hub (WA HEALTH) built on Microsoft Power Platform, which runs on Microsoft Azure.
“This really helped us understand how do we get patients to the right care at the right place in the right amount of time and also to understand the needs for personal protective equipment across the state — who had what and where were the gaps,” Henry said.
Cloud providers like Microsoft Azure are by their nature designed to expand and scale quickly and meet elastic demand. With the more than 60 datacenter regions around the globe — including three new regions announced this past May in Italy, New Zealand and Poland — Microsoft can shift traffic if a natural disaster or power outage affects capacity in one part of the world. Computing hardware to protect against demand spikes is stockpiled in warehouses around the globe, ready to be deployed to where it’s needed most.
By March the epicenter of that demand was in Europe, as countries such as Italy and Spain imposed nationwide lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Around the same time, manufacturing issues in China and Southeast Asia due to the global health pandemic created a temporary disruption in the supply chain for certain datacenter hardware as dramatic spikes in usage began challenging computing capacity in some regions. In a Microsoft quarterly earnings call on April 29, the company said those hardware supply chain issues largely began resolving themselves late in the quarter that ended in March.
“The scope and the scale of the response to COVID-19 was completely unprecedented, in terms of how much of the world went digital inside a month,” said Mark Simms, a senior Azure engineer who helped manage the COVID-19 response across Azure. “So the work that we had to do to get through the initial surge in demand and free up capacity for our customers to run critical health and safety workloads was also unprecedented.”
“We made some pretty profound changes in order to do the right thing, and we did them under a very short time frame,” Simms said.
Datacenter employees began working in round-the-clock shifts to install new servers while staying at least six feet apart. Microsoft product teams worked to find any further efficiencies to free up Azure resources for other customers. The company doubled capacity on one of its own undersea cables carrying data across the Atlantic and negotiated with owners of another to open up additional capacity. Network engineers installed new hardware and tripled the deployed capacity on the America Europe Connect cable in just two weeks.
Microsoft’s plan emphasized continuity of service for all its customers, but especially for those on the front lines of the COVID-19 response: health care providers, police and emergency responders, financial institutions, manufacturers of critical supplies, grocery stores and health agencies providing critical information to the public about how quickly the virus was spreading.
The Azure Global and Customer Experience engineering teams mobilized and monitored Azure services around the clock to ensure critical customers could continue to operate smoothly and meet new challenges posed by COVID-19. Employees from across the company volunteered to switch gears to help deploy urgent projects like WA HEALTH.
Microsoft’s Regional Government Emergency Response and Monitoring Solution, on which WA HEALTH was built, uses Microsoft Power Apps Portal and Microsoft Power BI, which run on Azure, to allow healthcare workers to quickly update counts of COVID-19 cases and critical resources at the end of a shift or whenever is convenient through a web portal or by mobile phone.
As the pandemic was unfolding and cases were surging, it allowed state and local health officials to use near-real-time dashboards — based on data from more than 100 acute care hospitals around the state — to coordinate responses. It continues to allow the state to monitor trends, as well as inform decisions such as how quickly counties can move toward safely reopening their economies, Henry said.
“This was a real-time moving event, and people needed to make decisions hour by hour and minute by minute,” said Gary Bird, a principal program manager for Microsoft Power Platform who worked to deploy WA HEALTH. “You really saw the whole company lean in across all fronts to make solutions happen.”
The Washington Healthcare Emergency and Logistics Tracking Hub (WA HEALTH), which runs on Microsoft Azure, allows public health officials and hospitals across the state to track and share key information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Balancing supply and demand
Once the pandemic hit, Microsoft’s plans to deal with unexpected spikes in usage and expand Azure’s computing resources kicked in. The company began adding new servers to the hardest hit regions and installing new hardware racks 24 hours a day. To protect the health of critical datacenter employees, Microsoft also quickly established social distancing requirements, provided protective equipment and implemented strict disinfectant policies.
Microsoft prioritized capacity for existing customers while also reserving capacity for first responders who needed to quickly scale life and safety services. It also expanded cloud support for non-profits working to protect people’s health during the pandemic.
Microsoft’s Azure and product teams worked around the clock to ensure that services like Teams, Office and Xbox could meet rapidly exploding demand from customers. Next, they looked for efficiencies across all of Microsoft services running on Azure to free up more capacity for external customers.
Microsoft Teams was the first and most obvious service to experience massive growth. But other Azure services that enable remote work, such as Windows Virtual Desktop, which saw its usage triple in one month, and Azure Active Directory’s Application Proxy had to scale those services dramatically as financial institutions, schools, call centers and other companies moved thousands of employees onto those platforms practically overnight.
Not only were new customers signing up, but suddenly existing users were relying on the tools to power every single meeting or interaction in their workday, said Mark Longton, a principal group program manager for Microsoft Teams.
“Teams went from a service that was cool and convenient and something that people realized was the future of communication to very quickly becoming a mission critical, can’t-live-without-it sort of thing,” Longton said. “Really what this did was accelerate us into the future.”
Microsoft Teams began using early data from China and Italy to plan for expected growth as the pandemic spread. As more countries went into lockdown, dozens of Redmond-based Microsoft employees gathered remotely each Sunday night to watch telemetry, look for bottlenecks and troubleshoot as unprecedented numbers of remote European workers began logging in first thing Monday morning.
“Normally, you find and fix issues organically as you grow. When you take software and put it under explosive growth – with services getting used an order of magnitude more in one day — you tend to find all of those in a really short period of time,” said John Sheehan, Microsoft distinguished engineer for Azure quality.
Once critical services were successfully scaled and stabilized, the company shifted to looking for efficiencies. Microsoft opened up performance data for all services running on Azure to engineers across the company, asking them to submit ideas that would allow Microsoft to provide more computing capacity to the wider pool of Azure customers.
In Teams, small tweaks that few customers would notice — lengthening the time it takes for the three dots to appear when someone else is typing in a Teams chat or disabling the feature that suggests a contact every time you type a new letter in the “to” field — made the system run much more leanly. Engineers rewrote the code to make video stream processing 10 times more efficient in a marathon push over a weekend.
We’re all familiar with the scene: the hero of the movie faces a seemingly impossible challenge, when suddenly a moment of clarity hits. His entire life, everything he trained for has prepared him for this moment. His collective experience and opportunity have converged — and because of this, he is ready to rise to the occasion.
But this is real life, not Star Wars or Spider-Man. Sitting at home in Palo Alto, David Rhew has another movie in mind for his professional path.
“My career has been kind of like that movie with the hobbit: ‘The Unexpected Journey,’” explains Microsoft’s Chief Medical Officer. “This has been an unexpected journey for me, in large part because I did not anticipate that I’d be in a position working on technologies that could help at this kind of global scale. But I love working at Microsoft; I love the culture, I love the people, and I love how we’re helping our customers transform during this pandemic.”
The virtues of being curious
“Something I always wanted to do in my career was help people,” he explains. “And when I looked around to see how I could do that, I decided to be a physician.”
Even though his path forward to help others was rooted in medicine, Rhew was always intrigued by the potential of computers. As an undergraduate he double majored in computer science. His senior thesis: Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. After this intellectual “spider bite,” Rhew often found himself envisioning futuristic possibilities that blended technology with medicine to make positive change in the world.
“After college, I went through the traditional route of medical school, residency; I focused on internal medicine, and interned at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles,” recalls Rhew. “But I was always curious how you came to a diagnoses, and the people I thought were truly impressive were the infectious disease doctors, because they had such a breadth of knowledge. I decided late in my residency that I wanted to go for an infectious disease fellowship, so I applied to UCLA and was accepted.”
During the year-long gap between residency and studying disorders caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses, Rhew was presented with an unexpected stop in his career journey. He decided not to waste the time.
Bridging the gap between medicine and technology
During that year, he saw the value in looking beyond medicine as an independently practiced art, and more as a collaborative field where universal truths like prescribing beta blockers for victims of heart attacks can have a major impact. He joined healthcare startup Zynx Health and it was here that Rhew combined his tech and medicine interests to automate reminders, integrate electronic health records, and ultimately help the company become the top clinical decision support vendor in the healthcare industry.
By making the most of this uncertain time in his professional life, he caught the attention Samsung. “They were very interested in what I was doing,” he remembers. “When I was offered a position, many people were like, ‘What does a chief medical officer do for a technology company?’ But what we made people realize is that these technologies all around us — the smartphone in particular — had a lot of capabilities for medicine. Today, people don’t think twice to use their smartphones for healthcare, but back then it was still a foreign concept.”
Six years later, after spearheading such efforts as Samsung’s virtual cardiac rehabilitation program, Rhew came to Microsoft in mid-2019. “I was so impressed, not only with the people, but also the vision of how the company was developing a platform that could support digital health care solutions,” he says. “I wanted to be a part of that, and it’s been a wonderful journey from where I started to where I’m at.”
Impactful actions in an unexpected reality
Less than a year later, Rhew’s unexpected journey has placed the right person in the right place, at the right time. “Since COVID-19 hit, it has been really remarkable how I’ve been able to apply things I never thought I would, like my infectious disease training, alongside the broader ways Microsoft is helping.”
Among the myriad of efforts Rhew has been a part of is Mural Virtual Care, a team-up with GE that allows healthcare professionals to remotely monitor ICU patients. “GE Healthcare created a tool that hospitals can use to monitor multiple patients on ventilators,” he explains. “Now, medical professionals can manage more people with less resources, so people don’t have to keep going into the room to check on the machine and risk exposing themselves. It has a triple benefit: improving work force efficiency, decreasing the need to use scarce PPE, and decreasing infections.”
Rhew has also been involved in multiple efforts involving existing Microsoft technology, nimbly adapting to face this pandemic. “The Microsoft Healthcare Bot service, for instance, has made an immediate impact. It provides individualized experiences, at scale, that let people self-report symptoms and exposure risk to qualified health professionals,” he says. “We’ve also had tremendous success with Teams Virtual Visits; I was just on the phone with a healthcare provider who shared that two weeks prior to our call, they had never even used Teams. They were now ramping up to have all their virtual visits on Teams — and were very thankful for a tool that has been a lifesaver.”
(The Microsoft Healthcare Bot service empowers healthcare organizations to build and deploy an AI-powered, compliant, conversational healthcare experience at scale. Learn more here)
The adoption rate for these and other technologies has soared in recent months, serving a vital need. “It’s remarkable when you think about the adoption rate for these,” he marvels. “The bot service has had millions of user sessions for COVID-19. We’re talking those kind of numbers after only the first two months. It has been adopted by hospitals, healthcare systems, countries, the CDC; the Teams collaboration has also just been phenomenal in terms of collaboration.”
Rhew’s role at Microsoft and the success technology is having in finding new ways to combat this infectious disease mean his expertise is widely needed. As the international coordinator for the internal COVID-19 disaster response team, Rhew is remotely assisting in Microsoft’s efforts around the world.
The next chapter
Hopefully, the next turn in this journey will focus on recovery and a return to normalcy. Rhew and those around him have already begun planning accordingly — particularly regarding how technology is best used for our healthcare needs.
“I’ve seen a lot of things that have changed, and some things that haven’t,” he says of his career bridging the gap between medicine and tech. “Technology has allowed us to pool information together, draw insights and become more proactive. But what hasn’t changed is that there are patients, and then there are doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others who care about them.”
Ultimately, Rhew is thankful for his unexpected journey — one that put him in a position to do something. “There are very few companies that have the right vision, the right people, and can-do things at this scale,” he says. “Microsoft checks all those boxes. We have a platform, it has the capabilities to do all that needs to be done, and we have the people who know how it needs to be applied. We’re transforming the industry, and I’m proud to be part of the team.”
If you are interested in joining Microsoft and learning from leaders like Rhew here in the Bay Area, job openings can be found here: https://aka.ms/MicrosoftBayAreaCareers.
Here at Xbox, we’re building the future of gaming by putting players first and ensuring that you are at the center and in control of your gaming experience. Whether you’re exploring an expansive library of Xbox Game Pass titles with more than 10 million of your fellow gamers or taking your gaming on the go with Project xCloud, it’s clear that the future of gaming is brighter than ever.
Nowhere is that more evident than with Xbox Series X, our fastest, most powerful console ever. Not only will Xbox Series X set a new bar for performance, speed and compatibility, it willempower the world’s greatest developers to create games that launch us into the future of gaming. Putting players first also means introducing a host of new features and technologies to improve their experience.
One of the most exciting of the technologies we’re introducing with Xbox Series X is Smart Delivery, which will ensure that you always play the best version of the games you own for your console, across generations. This technology is available for all developers, and all Xbox Game Studios titles that are Optimized for Xbox Series X, including Halo Infinite, will support Smart Delivery.
But what does that mean for you, the player? Well, it means that if you purchase the Xbox One version of a supported title, we will deliver the best version of it to your Xbox One, as usual. If you decide to jump into the next generation with Xbox Series X, we will automatically provide the Xbox Series X version of the game at no additional cost when it becomes available. You won’t need to do anything in terms of choosing a version to download. We’ll take care of all of that. And it’s not just limited to games that you purchase digitally; physical discs of Xbox games can also support Smart Delivery if the developer or publisher decides to implement it.
Below are a few different scenarios in which Smart Delivery will work across generations with the games and consoles you own now and those you may own in the future. Smart Delivery will ensure that only the best version of the game will be installed on your hard drive, so you don’t have to manage your storage space:
If you own Gears 5 or are loving it via Xbox Game Pass now, you can play it today on Xbox One. Then, if you pick up an Xbox Series X this holiday, all it takes is a push of a button to download it and you’ll have the Optimized version of Gears 5 – available on day 1 at launch with the console – at your fingertips.
When Halo Infinite launches alongside Xbox Series X and Xbox One this holiday, you only have to buy the game once and you’ll get the best version for whichever console you own, or both. If you pick up Xbox Series X for your living room, Smart Delivery will recognize that and deliver you the Optimized version there. If you decide to move your existing Xbox One to a bedroom or the office, Smart Delivery will recognize that too and deliver that version when you’re playing on Xbox One.
Lastly, some new and existing Xbox One titles will be Optimizing their games after the Xbox Series X launches. For example, if you buy Cyberpunk 2077 when it launches on September 17, you’ll be set to explore Night City on Xbox One. If you pick up Xbox Series X at launch this holiday, you can play it there too in compatibility mode picking up exactly where you left off. Then, when CD PROJEKT RED delivers an Xbox Series X Optimized version of Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll automatically get upgraded once it’s available at no additional cost.
We’re also happy to confirm that Smart Delivery will be enabled for Xbox Game Pass titles that leverage it. Outside of our Xbox Game Studios titles, it will be up to the individual developer to determine whether they take advantage of Smart Delivery.
As was the case with our current backwards compatible titles, you won’t have to worry about losing any progress either. Thanks to our commitment to compatibility across generations, you can be assured that when you purchase a game on Xbox One today, your game library, progression and entire gaming legacy moves forward with you if you jump into the next generation with Xbox Series X.
But what about the games? Below you’ll find the initial list of new and existing titles that will be Optimized for Xbox Series X and confirmed to support Smart Delivery. Please note: this is in addition to the thousands of games you’ll be able to bring with you to Xbox Series X via back compatibility on day one. As this list grows in the weeks and months leading up to the Xbox Series X launch, we’ll keep it updated to reflect any additions.
Halo Infinite Cyberpunk 2077 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Destiny 2 DiRT 5 Scarlet Nexus Chorus Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Yakuza: Like a Dragon The Ascent Call of the Sea Gears 5 Second Extinction Metal: Hellslinger
We hope this gave you a better idea of what we’ve got planned for Smart Delivery and how this new technology will ensure that the player is at the center of the gaming experience. We’ll be sharing more on Smart Delivery and adding titles to the list above in the coming months.
Managing personal finances can be a daunting prospect for most people, but having the right tools can help make it less challenging. While millions of people use Excel to track their budgets, manually updating a budget spreadsheet every month with the latest transactions can be a very time-consuming process. As organizing and tracking finances becomes a critical task for many of us, we want to help make managing your personal budget in Excel a more seamless experience. Today, with the launch of Money in Excel, we’re embarking on a journey to simplify your day-to-day money decisions to help you stay on track of your longer-term financial goals.
Money in Excel
Money in Excel is now available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in the U.S.
Money in Excel is a dynamic, smart template and add-in for Excel that allows you to securely connect your bank, credit card, investment, and loan accounts to Excel and automatically import your transaction and account information into an Excel spreadsheet.
If you’re a current Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber, simply go to this link to download the template. Once downloaded, open the Excel template1 and follow the on-screen prompts to connect your financial accounts using a secure third-party plugin supported by Plaid2 (Plaid currently supports most major U.S. financial institutions). Once your account information is verified, the workbook will be updated with your latest transaction history3 and is now ready for use.
Now, let’s look at how Money in Excel can help simplify the task of managing your finances.
Keep track of your money
Once your financial accounts3 are connected, Money in Excel will automatically import your transaction information from all your accounts into one workbook. You no longer need to spend hours manually setting up a personal finance spreadsheet from scratch; Money in Excel does it for you in just a few seconds. And every time you want to update the workbook with the latest transactions, just click the Update button and get the latest snapshot of your transactions and accounts without ever leaving Excel.
Get closer to your financial goals
Once your transaction information is imported into Excel, it’s easy to track your spending habits to help stay on course and get closer to your financial goals. Use the “Snapshot” sheet to get an instant glimpse of how you’re spending across various categories such as groceries, household items, rent, and more. With the help of easy-to-read graphs, you can quickly track how your spending compares month over month. And to help ensure you are not caught unaware of any unwelcome transactions, Money in Excel will alert you to increases in your subscription fees, changes in bank and overdraft charges, or any big purchases that were posted during the month.
Easily customizable to suit your needs
We know people often choose Excel to manage their finances because it allows them to take a more personalized approach. With this in mind, we designed Money in Excel to be easily customizable to suit your needs and goals. For example, if a certain transaction does not fall within an existing spending category, you can simply add your own. If you want to perform a quick custom analysis, you can copy the relevant transactions into a new Excel sheet and use any of your favorite Excel features to do quick calculations. And while Money in Excel already comes with charts that have been created based on your transaction information—such as one for your recurring expenses—you can always create your own charts and tables and add them to the workbook.
From helping you track your monthly spending to alerting you about subscription price increases, Money in Excel makes it easy to manage your money. We hope that by using Money in Excel, organizing your finances becomes a more manageable and empowering experience. We can’t wait for you to try it out and share your feedback with us.
1For the best experience, we recommend using Money in Excel on a PC or Mac.Optimal performance when using Windows 10 and Edge/Chrome browsers. 2Plaid is a third-party company that provides permissioned connections to financial accounts, at the user’s direction, to power Money in Excel. 3After granting permission for Plaid to connect a financial account with Money in Excel, Plaid will access the account’s balances, transaction history, and associated account information, like owner name and address. Plaid will not have access to your Microsoft 365 subscription login information and will not share financial institution login credentials with Microsoft. Contact Plaid at privacy@plaid.com or by clicking the support button at https://my.plaid.com/help to learn about options for managing your data with Plaid. 4For any additional information regarding Money in Excel, visit our FAQ.
SAS’ AI and analytics more tightly integrate with Microsoft Azure; Microsoft to bring cloud-based SAS industry solutions to its customers
Cary, NC, and Redmond, WA,(June 15, 2020) – Microsoft Corp. and SAS today announced an extensive technology and go-to-market strategic partnership. The two companies will enable customers to easily run their SAS® workloads in the cloud, expanding their business solutions and unlocking critical value from their digital transformation initiatives. As part of the partnership, the companies will migrate SAS’ analytical products and industry solutions onto Microsoft Azure as the preferred cloud provider for the SAS Cloud. SAS’ industry solutions and expertise will also bring added value to Microsoft’s customers across health care, financial services and many other industries. This partnership builds on SAS integrations across Microsoft cloud solutions for Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform and supports the companies’ shared vision to further democratize AI and analytics.
“Through this partnership, Microsoft and SAS will help our customers accelerate growth and find new ways to drive innovation with a broad set of SAS Analytics offerings on Microsoft Azure,” said Scott Guthrie, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Cloud and AI. “SAS, with its recognized expertise in analytics, data science and machine learning, is a strategic partner for Microsoft, and together we will help customers across dozens of industries and horizontals address their most critical and complex analytical challenges.”
Organizations around the world are moving to the cloud to innovate and move faster toward their business goals. As part of this transition, many customers, like St. Louis-based health system Mercy, are migrating their SAS analytic workloads to Azure to improve performance and cost-efficiency.
“At Mercy, we’re focused on how to continuously improve patient care and outcomes and realize the role of data analytics, machine learning in bringing that focus to light. Working with SAS and Microsoft, we can capitalize on analytics software and the Azure cloud platform to strengthen our ability to harness Real World Evidence for improved outcomes and more informed care,” said Curtis Dudley, Mercy Vice President of Data Analytics. “We’re excited about the potential for increased speed, scalability and an expanded catalog of analytics solutions the SAS and Microsoft partnership brings in helping us deliver a new care model.”
To provide a seamless experience and help organizations accelerate their cloud transformation initiatives, SAS and Microsoft are working together to ensure that SAS products and solutions can be successfully deployed and run effectively on Azure.
“SAS and Microsoft have a shared vision of helping customers accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. We both understand that it is about enrichment of data and improving lives through better decisions,” said Oliver Schabenberger, SAS Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer. “Partnering with Microsoft gives customers a more seamless path to the cloud that provides faster, more powerful and easier access to SAS solutions and enables trusted decisions with analytics that everyone – regardless of skill level – can understand.”
This will include optimizing SAS® Viya®, the latest release of the company’s cloud-native offering, for Azure as well as integrating SAS’ deep portfolio of industry solutions, from fraud to risk to retail, into the Azure Marketplace to provide improved productivity and enhanced business outcomes for customers.
“The partnership between SAS as a leader in the analytics space, and Microsoft as a leader in cloud makes for an interesting strategic alliance. With SAS planning to build integrations across Microsoft’s entire cloud portfolio (Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 & Power BI) it opens up a lot of joint solution potential,” said Steve White, Program Vice President, Channels and Alliances at IDC.
Additionally, through the partnership, Microsoft and SAS will explore opportunities to integrate SAS analytics capabilities, including industry-specific models, within Azure and Dynamics 365 and build new market-ready joint solutions for customers that are natively integrated with SAS services across multiple vertical industries. This further integration will enable SAS customers to capitalize on the scalability and flexibility of the cloud for their analytics and AI workloads. For example, Microsoft and SAS are already empowering customers with solutions that help them capitalize at scale on the vast amount of data being generated by the Internet of Things by combining Microsoft’s Azure IoT platform with SAS’ edge-to-cloud IoT analytics and AI capabilities. Currently, the Town of Cary, NC, is using a joint IoT offering from Microsoft and SAS to power a critical flood prediction solution.
“Localized flooding is something all communities experience, and ours is no exception,” said Nicole Raimundo, Cary’s Chief Information Officer. “Using sensors, weather data, SAS IoT analytics and the Azure IoT platform, we expect to increase situational awareness of rising stream levels, predict where flooding might occur, and improve our emergency response through automation. Cary is also proud to be able to share this data with our neighboring communities to help them better serve their citizens.”
Supported with joint co-selling and go-to-market activities, additional SAS products and solutions will begin rolling out later this year. This will enable SAS and Microsoft customers to address some of their most critical and complex analytical challenges while fostering continuous innovation. SAS is also committed to using Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 to power its internal operations.
Today’s announcement is in conjunction with Virtual SAS Global Forum 2020, the world’s premier analytics conference. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s conference is being held virtually. Register now for the June 16 virtual event to hear more on this partnership from SAS and Microsoft executives during the SAS Executive Welcome at 11 a.m. ET.
To learn more about how SAS and Microsoft are partnering and to register for an upcoming SAS on Azure virtual event, please visit sas.com/Microsoft.
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Video capabilities, once a nice to have, have become a critical component of collaborative work.
In fact, when the world moved to remote work earlier this year, Microsoft Teams customers turned on video in Teams meetings two times more than they did before many of us began working from home full-time. We also saw total video calls in Teams grow by over 1,000 percent in the month of March. These trends, along with daily conversations with customers navigating remote collaboration, inspired us to accelerate new features to customize your video experiences and make meetings more productive, comfortable, and fun.
Today, we are announcing the rollout of new custom background effects in Teams, along with new features in the free version of Teams. It’s all about enabling you and your team to work productively, collaboratively, and with everyone’s well-being in mind. Let’s get into the details.
Microsoft Teams custom background effects are now available!
When joining a Teams meeting, you want the focus on you—not that messy bookcase behind you. Last year, we introduced background blur to help everyone preserve privacy and keep their attention on their teammates. Our design team also created a collection of preset images that range from professional (a modern office) to pretty silly (a cartoonish beach scene). Today, we’re expanding these options so you can customize your background by uploading your own images or choosing one of the collections of backgrounds now available online.
No need for a green screen, or even a blank wall. Teams uses a highly trained model that differentiates the subject from their background and can impose a custom background over everything else, making it easy and fast to start expressing yourself in all your meetings.
Background collections to check out
With the whole world turning to video, companies are getting creative with collections of backgrounds you can easily download and then upload to Teams. Here are some options.
From a booth at Bob’s Burgers to a mountain of LEGO building blocks, there’s something for everyone in this collection from FOX.
If you want to be the coolest coworker when your colleagues’ kids wander on camera, our Xbox collection has you covered.
Celebrate 30 years of Microsoft Solitaire, one of the most played games on the planet every day, and show your love for the game with either the blue or green Microsoft Solitaire background.
Look out for great event-specific collections too! Our Microsoft designers created 20 virtual backgrounds for you to show your pride and support for the LGBTQI+ community. Download their colorful creations at microsoft.com/pride.
New features now available in the free version of Microsoft Teams
With so many people moving suddenly to remote work, the free version of Teams has become an important way for teams to meet and collaborate online. We want to help them continue to connect effectively, so we’re bringing several new features to this version of Teams.
Schedule your meetings in advance
Free version users are now able to schedule meetings and send out invitations in advance. This capability builds upon the existing ability to “Meet Now.” Meeting schedulers have the option of either copying the meeting link to send directly to other participants or sending an invite via Outlook or Google calendar. This much-requested capability is being rolled out to current users, while users who are just signing up now will be able to experience it soon. And right now, there is no time limit on meetings in the free version of Teams—so collaborate away!
Here is how you schedule and start meetings in the free version of Teams.
Use live captions
Teams free users can now turn on live captions during their calls and meetings. This feature makes meetings more inclusive, giving participants another way to follow along with the conversation and address the needs of participants with different hearing abilities or language proficiencies. It’s currently available as a preview in U.S. English.
Note: If you are already a user of the free version of Teams, this update will automatically happen, and you will be able to schedule meetings, as well.
The free version of Teams also provides all types of organizations up to 500,000 users with:
Unlimited chat and search
Audio and video calling
Scheduled meetings
10 GB team file storage and 2 GB personal file storage per person
Ability to use the Office web apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote)
Unlimited app integration
And much more!
And it’s all backed by Microsoft’s secure, global infrastructure—so all of our users can enjoy the confidence of a secure and reliable service. You can learn more and sign up for this free version today with just your email address here.
There’s no doubt that video is now a huge part of our daily work lives. With Teams, we want to provide video experiences that feel personal and comfortable to every customer, from students and teachers adjusting to remote work to globe-spanning corporate teams aligning around a tight deadline. Custom background effects help you design the video experience that works best for you—whether you need to hide a mess of toys or just want a funny background photo to give your team a laugh. Meanwhile, new features in the free version of Teams bring important meeting-scheduling capabilities to every Teams user. It’s all part of our effort to provide the best collaboration tool for every individual, team, and organization on the planet. I hope you enjoy these new features, and I can’t wait to bring you more exciting feature news in the days to come.
Decoding the immune response to the virus from thousands of patient samples may contribute to the development of novel diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics
Data will be updated regularly and made freely available to researchers and public health officials around the world
SEATTLE and REDMOND, Wash.— June 11, 2020— Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ADPT) on Thursday launched ImmuneCODE with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) to begin sharing one of the largest, most detailed views of the immune response to COVID-19 in real time based on de-identified data generated from thousands of COVID-19 blood samples from patients around the globe. The open database contains detailed information on the extraordinarily diverse set of T cells shown to specifically recognize unique features of the COVID-19 virus, called antigens, with unprecedented speed and scale. T cells contain a treasure trove of information that could provide one consistent and trackable measure of the immune response. This could help diagnose and manage COVID-19 from exposure through clearance of the virus, and potentially offer an accurate assessment of immunity. Data from ImmuneCODE will accelerate ongoing global efforts to develop better diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics and answer important questions about the virus to support initiatives to safely reopen society.
“In just a few months, Adaptive and Microsoft intend to generate data for ImmuneCODE sufficient to accurately map how the adaptive immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 from initial exposure through clearance by using our combined immune medicine platform and machine learning, potentially providing an accurate assessment of immunity,” said Harlan Robins, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies. “The scale and precision with which we are now able to decode the T cell response to the virus may fundamentally change our ability to recover from this pandemic and the way in which all viruses are studied in the future.”
Thousands of de-identified geographically and ethnically diverse patient blood samples from institutions around the world* are being collected and analyzed alongside samples from ImmuneRACE (Immune Response Action to COVID-19 Events), the companies’ prospective study enrolling 1,000 participants across the U.S. to decode how immune systems detect and respond to the virus. Using Microsoft Azure’s hyperscale cloud and machine learning capabilities, the T cell response signature will be continuously refined by extending the number of matches of COVID-19-related T cells to antigens and directly associating this T cell signature with disease and outcomes.
“Adaptive Biotechnologies’ sequencing of T-cells sets up an extremely large but manageable machine learning problem, and thus makes it possible, for the first time, to catalog and share how our adaptive immune system responds to viruses, including the novel virus that causes COVID-19,” said Peter Lee, corporate vice president, Microsoft Research and Incubation. “Making these data freely available to the global research community through the ImmuneCODE database will deepen our collective understanding of the human immune response and thereby help researchers accelerate the development of news drugs and vaccines in the fight against this global health crisis.”
The role of the T cell
Although most efforts to look at the immune response are focused on the B cell or the virus itself, this approach is different because it focuses on the T cell. T cells are the adaptive immune system’s first responders to detect any virus. They quickly multiply and circulate in the blood to attack the virus, often before symptoms appear. Among many other jobs, T cells also recruit B cells to produce antibodies after about a week or two to potentially provide immunity against future infection.
To date, testing for COVID-19 has either been in the form of a viral test to detect the presence of the virus or a serology test to detect the presence of antibodies to signal prior infection. An in-depth understanding of the T cell response to the COVID-19 virus has a variety of different applications. That in-depth understanding may improve accuracy in the existing testing paradigm or potentially provide an assessment of immunity. Additionally, it is possible that identifying and tracking T cell response may provide insight as to the severity of a patient’s illness, the length of any post-infection immunity period, and the potential efficacy of vaccines in development.
As Adaptive generates these data, subsequent updates to ImmuneCODE will provide an increasingly clearer picture of the immune response to the COVID-19 virus. This includes analyzing the immune responses from thousands of infected individuals, linking T cell responses to viral antigens and patient outcomes, and tracking the immune response. In addition to making these data freely available, Adaptive is conducting its own research to develop a new kind of diagnostic looking specifically at the T cell response to the COVID-19 virus.
About ImmuneCODE
ImmuneCODE is an open database that provides a detailed population-level view into the adaptive immune response to the COVID-19 virus. Adaptive Biotechnologies and Microsoft are making these data freely available to any researcher, public health official or organization around the world to accelerate solutions to the global pandemic. The database contains detailed information on the virus-specific T cells as well as the virus-related antigens they recognize. The T cell responses to these antigens will be tracked across the population to create an immune response signature using thousands of de-identified samples combined from organizations around the globe and ImmuneRACE, the virtual clinical study launched in May to help in the race to find a solution to COVID-19.
De-identified blood samples from ImmuneRACE, including patients who were actively infected, recovered or were recently exposed to the virus, are being collected by LabCorp, through its Covance drug development business, using a mobile phlebotomy service. Immune cell receptors from these samples are being sequenced using Illumina platform technology and mapped to virus-specific antigens that are confirmed by Adaptive’s proprietary immune medicine platform to induce an immune response. These study data are being pooled with data from thousands of additional unique de-identified patient samples from many institutions around the world. Using Microsoft Azure’s hyperscale cloud and machine learning capabilities, the accuracy of the immune response will be continuously improved and updated online in real time as more samples are sequenced.
* Providence, a large health system with 51 hospitals, including the one near Seattle that treated the first U.S. COVID-19 patient, is an initial clinical collaborator. Other participating institutions include Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), BloodWorks Northwest, Hospital 12 de Octubre, i+12/CNIO (Madrid, Spain), Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS (Meldola, FC – Italy) / AUSL-Romagna and Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), and Università di Bologna (Italy). This list is growing as we continue to work with other investigators globally to collect and sequence valuable patient cohorts. Institutions or collaborators interested in contributing blood samples can direct inquiries to COVID19ImmuneResponse@adaptivebiotech.com.
About the Adaptive and Microsoft partnership
Adaptive and Microsoft partnered in 2018 to create a TCR-Antigen Map, an approach to translating the genetics of the massive adaptive immune system to understand how it works. Together we are using immunosequencing at scale and machine learning to map T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences to diseases and disease-associated antigens. Using these data, we aim to develop a blood test for the early and accurate detection of many diseases, translating the natural diagnostic capability of the immune system into the clinic. In 2019, we confirmed clinical signals in two diseases, and established our first proof of concept in Lyme disease. We expect to submit our first clinical application to the FDA in 2020.
About Adaptive Biotechnologies
Adaptive Biotechnologies is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing the inherent biology of the adaptive immune system to transform the diagnosis and treatment of disease. We believe the adaptive immune system is nature’s most finely tuned diagnostic and therapeutic for most diseases, but the inability to decode it has prevented the medical community from fully leveraging its capabilities. Our proprietary immune medicine platform reveals and translates the massive genetics of the adaptive immune system with scale, precision and speed to develop products in life sciences research, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery. We have two commercial products, and a robust clinical pipeline to diagnose, monitor and enable the treatment of diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions and infectious diseases. Our goal is to develop and commercialize immune-driven clinical products tailored to each individual patient. For more information, please visit adaptivebiotech.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/adaptivebiotech.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to Adaptive. All statements contained in the press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the ability to map adaptive immune responses to COVID-19, the ability to successfully collect a sufficient number and quality of samples through ImmuneRACE, the ability to efficiently and effectively process data with ImmuneCODE, to leverage any findings or data to advance solutions to diagnose, treat and prevent COVID-19, the ability to develop, commercialize and achieve market acceptance of the Adaptive’s TCR-Antigen Map and other current and planned products and services, research and development efforts. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, which are described under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in the documents Adaptive files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
About Illumina
Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome. Our focus on innovation has established us as the global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, serving customers in the research, clinical, and applied markets. Our products are used for applications in the life sciences, oncology, reproductive health, agriculture, and other emerging segments. To learn more, visit www.illumina.com and follow @illumina.
About LabCorp
LabCorp (NYSE: LH), an S&P 500 company, is a leading global life sciences company that is deeply integrated in guiding patient care, providing comprehensive clinical laboratory and end-to-end drug development services. With a mission to improve health and improve lives, LabCorp delivers world-class diagnostics solutions, brings innovative medicines to patients faster, and uses technology to improve the delivery of care. LabCorp reported revenue of more than $11.5 billion in 2019. To learn more about LabCorp, visit www.LabCorp.com, and to learn more about LabCorp’s Covance drug development business, visit www.Covance.com.
About Providence
Providence is a national, not-for-profit Catholic health system comprising a diverse family of organizations and driven by a belief that health is a human right. With 51 hospitals, 1,085 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing and many other health and educational services, the health system and its partners employ more than 120,000 caregivers serving communities across seven states – Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, with system offices in Renton, Wash., and Irvine, Calif.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, rrt@we-worldwide.com
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.
As we launch into a new generation of gaming with Xbox Series X, we see a future where you’re instantly absorbed in your games and worlds are even more lifelike, immersive, responsive, and surprising. This detailed post contains everything we’ve shared so far about Xbox Series X and the future of Xbox. Keep this post bookmarked; we’ll update here as we make more announcements over time.
Xbox Series X, the most powerful gaming console, empowers developers to deliver on their creative visions and dreams. It packs an unprecedented 12 teraflops of GPU power and enables new technologies and features like hardware-accelerated Direct X raytracing, variable rate shading, framerates up to 120 fps, and Quick Resume for multiple games, all of which cumulatively will deliver a new level of fidelity, immediacy, precision and accuracy never before seen in console gaming.
Xbox Series X is now in the hands of our 15 Xbox Game Studios teams and the biggest names from our network of game development and publishing studios worldwide, ensuring Xbox Series X will power a new generation of blockbuster games, like Halo Infinite. Additionally, we’re empowering you to play thousands of games at launch because we believe strongly in delivering compatibility across four generations of Xbox and we know you want this too.
Importantly, more than 80% of console gamers also play on PC and mobile. That’s why we’re building out services like Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Live and Project xCloud across console, PC, and mobile so you and your friends can play and discover your next great adventures together – on any device. All of this is part of our commitment to give you the greatest gaming experiences and more value from your games.
Players are at the center of our vision for gaming. Every day we think about giving you and your friends more value from your games and gaming experiences on Xbox. We believe gaming has the power to unify the world through games—but only if it’s accessible and inclusive of everyone.
MORE IMMERSIVE AND RESPONSIVE GAMES FROM THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL CONSOLE
The Xbox Series X will be the ultimate console for players who want the most immersive games from a device designed, built and optimized for gaming with zero compromises. Powered by our next generation, custom designed processor including an 8 core Zen 2 CPU, delivering more than 4x the processing power of an Xbox One, and a 12 TFLOP RDNA 2 GPU, more than 8x the performance of the original Xbox One, Xbox Series X will enable a new level of visual fidelity and immersion. Pair that with the highest bandwidth GDDR6 memory of any next generation console, and a custom, next generation solid state drive (SSD), Xbox Series X will provide developers the power to push their creative visions to the limit. With next generation innovations including DirectX hardware-accelerated raytracing, variable refresh rate and ultra-low latency input, Xbox Series X sets the stage for a new level of fidelity, precision and accuracy never before seen in console gaming.
The bold and unique industrial design enables us to deliver the most powerful console in the quietest and most efficient way, enabling it to fit seamlessly into your home. The Xbox Series X is also designed to support both vertical and horizontal orientation.
The new Xbox Wireless Controller features improved ergonomics for a wider range of people, better cross-device connectivity, and reduced latency. It also features a new Share button to make capturing screenshots and game clips simple and a new hybrid d-pad inspired by the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. The new Xbox Wireless Controller will be compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, and will be included with every Xbox Series X.
THE TECHNOLOGY AND SPECS
While technical specifications for any product resonate differently depending on your level of interest and understanding, at Xbox it’s all about the details. In partnership with tech experts Austin Evans and Digital Foundry, we dove deep into some of the technologies that are powering the Xbox Series X and shared specifics on the choices the team has made when defining the next generation of gaming. Xbox Series X is defined by three primary characteristics: power, speed and compatibility.
Raw power is just part of the beginning
Xbox Series X delivers over 12 TFLOPS of sustained, consistent GPU performance, making it the most powerful console ever. Designed to deliver games in 4K at 60 FPS with support for up to 120 FPS, Xbox Series X represents a superior balance of power and speed with no compromises for developers. Beyond the raw horsepower, the custom designed processor at the heart of Xbox Series X includes brand new innovative capabilities such as Variable Rate Shading (VRS), hardware-accelerated DirectX raytracing, and more, advancing console gaming on all technological fronts to deliver amazing, dynamic, living worlds that players want to be immersed in.
Improving immersion and embracing speed
From how quickly you can move between games, to how long it takes to traverse a huge environment without long loading screens, to being able to resume a game right where you left off instantly, the Xbox Series X is built to enable players to spend less time waiting and more time playing. The Xbox Velocity Architecture – which unlocks a new level of performance through the groundbreaking combination of the next-generation custom SSD, hardware accelerated decompression and deep software integration, to enable richer and more dynamic living worlds unlike anything ever seen before – the Xbox Series X is fast and virtually eliminates load times.
Quick Resume is a new platform feature enabled through the Xbox Velocity Architecture and our custom OS architecture that enables players to resume a game exactly where they left off, across multiple titles, ensuring gamers can get right back to the fun in an instant.
We also know many gamers demand ultra-low latency to be as immersed and precise as possible. With HDMI 2.1 innovation, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Dynamic Latency Input (DLI), the team analyzed every step between player and game, from controller to console to display, and optimized each stage of the pipeline.
THE WORLD’S MOST-COMPATIBLE CONSOLE—WITH THOUSANDS OF GAMES AT LAUNCH
The benefits of the next console generation extend in every direction, bringing greater visual fidelity and improved loading speeds to your existing games library, in addition to new games specifically optimized to take full advantage of the Xbox Series X. With thousands of games from four generations available at your fingertips from day one, plus the library of over 100 titles available with Xbox Game Pass , we’re continuing our commitment to compatibility with Xbox Series X.
We believe that not only should gamers be able to play all of their games from the past without needing to purchase them again, but they should play better than ever before. Backwards compatible games run natively on the Xbox Series X hardware, running with the full power of the CPU, GPU and the SSD. No boost mode, no downclocking, the full power of the Xbox Series X for each and every backward compatible game. This means that all titles run at the peak performance that they were originally designed for, many times even higher performance than the games saw on their original launch platform, resulting in higher and more steady framerates and rendering at their maximum resolution and visual quality. Backwards compatible titles also see significant reductions in in-game load times from the massive leap in performance from our custom NVME SSD which powers the Xbox Velocity Architecture.
We are also investing in technology that makes game ownership easier across generations. This is especially true with our new Smart Delivery technology, which ensures you only have to purchase a title once, knowing you will get the best version of the title on whatever Xbox console you choose to play on. This will allow players to seamlessly move between multiple consoles and console generations as they see fit. All our exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles that are optimized for Xbox Series X, including Halo Infinite, are committed to using Smart Delivery too. Gamers can have confidence when they purchase games in the Xbox ecosystem that your investments and progression move forward with you to the next generation.
THE MOST IMMERSIVE AND RESPONSIVE GAMES
When a developer’s creativity is backed by the most powerful gaming platform in the world, the possibilities are endless. We know you expect the next generation of consoles to set new standards in graphical fidelity, immersion and performance, converging together in games that look incredible, feel alive and are immediately immersive. We know you want frictionless access, across generations, to new stories and content that surprise and delight in ways you never dreamed imaginable.
We also know you don’t want to be cut off from the games and experiences you have invested money and time in for years or are currently playing just because a new generation of consoles has arrived. With the significant leaps in CPU performance, graphics innovation with over 12 teraflops of raw power, next gen storage technology powering our Xbox Velocity Architecture, and technologies delivering the most responsive gameplay experience – not to mention our commitment to backward compatibility and Smart Delivery feature – will make all of these ambitions for games a reality.
We know this firsthand from our own development teams. Xbox Game Studios consists of 15 game development studios around the world, developing and publishing games based on popular franchises like Halo, Forza, Age of Empires, Gears of War, Minecraft, Hellblade, The Outer Worlds, Psychonauts, Flight Simulator, State of Decay, Wasteland 3, and Sea of Thieves – and many more new games in early development.
Xbox Game Studios represents an amazing array of creators across the industry who are exploring new ideas and games only possible with Xbox and our technology. Our global studios are empowered to realize their full creative visions and to leverage the power of Xbox Series X to do so. This means a non-stop supply of games for years to come, built from the ground up to capitalize on features like hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing, 4K resolution running up to 120fps, and more.
The power of Xbox Series X was first demonstrated with the unveiling of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The team will be building the game on Unreal 5 and leveraging the power of Xbox Series X to bring the Hellblade franchise to levels never before seen. The footage shown was captured in-engine and reflects the power of Xbox Series X available to developers to deliver new universes, experiences and games in ways you have never imagined.
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Fans also got a sneak peek at a wide variety of Xbox Series X games look like in action from our development partners across the industry including Electronic Arts Madden NFL 21, Bandai Namco’s Scarlet Nexus, Deep Silver’s Chorus and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. From Xbox Game Pass day-one launches like Scorn, and The Medium running in 4k with DirectX Raytracing only possible with next generation technology to titles supporting Smart Delivery like DiRT 5 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon – in addition to previously confirmed titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 – fans have so much to look forward to when Xbox Series X launches this fall.
Many existing titles will be optimized to take advantage of everything Xbox Series X can do also. For example, the team from The Coalition announced that Gears 5 will have an Xbox Series X Optimized version available at Xbox Series X launch and they will leverage Smart Delivery technology to deliver fans the best version of the game regardless of which Xbox they play on. Gears 5 optimizations will feature improved visuals only possible on Xbox Series X, including higher resolution textures, screen space global illumination, contact shadows and 4K cutscenes running at 60 fps. The team also shared that they are investigating 120 fps gameplay for multiplayer modes, giving players an experience never before seen on consoles. And Gears 5 is just the beginning in terms of titles that will be optimized that will be revealed in the coming months.
The Xbox Series X was built for games beyond players imagination and is unlocking creativity and innovation like never before at our studios and with thousands of development partners across the world. We can’t wait to show you 343’s Halo Infinite and more in July.
XBOX SERIES X + XBOX GAME PASS – MORE THAN 100 GAMES, LED BY HALO INFINITE
Xbox Game Pass fundamentally changes how people play games. Think about all the constraints that gaming operates under today. Your games will only play on the device you bought them on and you can only play with your friends if they each buy the same games, too. And every game either requires a big up-front investment or an even bigger investment down the line to access all the content. Xbox Game Pass is changing all that. One low price, a common library of the best games across all your devices for you and your friends on the same plan to enjoy.
More than 10 million members have joined Xbox Game Pass across Xbox and PC. All Xbox Game Studios titles launch into Xbox Game Pass on the same day they release, so you decide whether to purchase each game separately or play them all on launch day on Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Studios franchises that will launch into Game Pass day one of release include Halo, Forza, Age of Empires, Gears of War, Minecraft, Hellblade, The Outer Worlds, Psychonauts, Flight Simulator, State of Decay, Wasteland, and Sea of Thieves – and more new games in early development. So, when Halo Infinite launches, you and your friends decide whether to purchase the game or play it in Xbox Game Pass.
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We’re also working with giants in the industry to add top games, like NBA 2K20, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Witcher 3 – which are in Game Pass today. And independent developers and players also love Xbox Game Pass because it’s a powerful engine for discovering your next favorite game.
We continue to grow Xbox Game Pass into the most compelling service in gaming. We want you to discover new games, play favorites with family and friends, and experience new ways to play on the console, PC, and, in the near future, your mobile device. All of this is possible with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. In the fall, you’ll have the biggest launch day library of games at your fingertips. You’ll feel the power of Xbox Series X with all these games as they load faster and look even more amazing than they do today.
With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks, members now regularly receive even more new benefits including DLC, in-game content and more – all free and included with membership.
THE WORLD’S FIRST CONSOLE DESIGNED WITH THE CLOUD IN MIND
With Project xCloud, we’re not just building the most powerful and compatible console, we’re building the fastest, most powerful, and most compatible gaming cloud as well. When it launches later this year, Project xCloud will empower Xbox Game Pass members to play with their friends anywhere, no download required.
Project xCloud will also help us reach the 2 billion gamers in the world – making Xbox more accessible to more players. With game streaming, we’re unlocking the ability to play console games on all types of devices so everyone has the chance to play.
PUTTING YOU AT THE CENTER
Xbox Series X—the world’s most powerful and compatible console, the most immersive and responsive games – including Halo Infinite this holiday, and the combination of Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud are all converging to create an entirely new future for gamers – a differentiated future that puts you and your friends – not a device – at the center of the Xbox experience.
Xbox is uniquely positioned to deliver on our player-at-the-center inspired vision because we’re deeply committed in the key areas: Console, Content, Community, and Cloud.
We have so much more to share in the coming months.
Until then, stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest on everything Xbox.
Tokyo/Redmond, Wash. – June 10, 2020 – NTT DATA Corporation (NTT DATA), a leading global IT services provider, and Microsoft Corp. today announced they are jointly pursuing strategic opportunities as part of the multi-year strategic alliance announced in December with parent company NTT Corporation. The companies today announced an expansion of the alliance with a focus on accelerating enterprise customer’s digital transformation with Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud solution to help accelerate business and increase workplace productivity.
The alliance brings together NTT DATA’s best-in-class global IT services with Microsoft’s trusted cloud platform, AI technologies, and a suite of productivity tools aimed at helping businesses digitally transform, increasing efficiencies of business operations and productivity.
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, there are growing demands for clients to achieve digital transformation through agile system integration utilizing cloud computing and other technologies. NTT DATA provides comprehensive business and IT services to clients across industries, including consulting-led IT strategy and managed services, as well as system design, integration, operations, and maintenance. Microsoft technologies that will enable digital transformation on the cloud include Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, and Dynamics 365.
“NTT DATA is committed to helping enterprises realize their digital transformation. Through this strategic collaboration with Microsoft combining Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and digital technologies with NTT DATA’s experience and knowledge in delivering IT services, we will provide solutions and services that contribute to accelerating our enterprise customers digital transformation,” said Yo Honma, President and CEO of NTT DATA.
“Through this collaboration, we look forward to combining NTT DATA’s global infrastructure and services expertise across industries with the power of Microsoft Azure and our productivity tools to create new opportunities and value for our clients by helping them to quickly digitally transform their business. Together, we will continue exploring new solutions opportunities and added value for our clients,” said Alex Simons, Corporate Vice President, ID Program Management, Microsoft.
Key initiatives of the alliance include:
Client’s Digital Transformation
The companies will work together to help companies digitally transform their business, jointly enhancing and deploying solutions and services built on Microsoft Azure, and leveraging Microsoft’s suite of productivity tools Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Teams. The companies will enhance NTT DATA’s knowledge management solution everis knowler, and robotics process automation tool WinActor focusing on streamlining business operations and increasing productivity and efficiency. NTT DATA and Microsoft will leverage the solution area that includes Azure migration service and managed services for mission-critical systems such as SAP and support the acceleration of digital transformation across industries.
Workstyle Innovation
NTT DATA and Microsoft will promote workstyle innovation using digital technology to maximize organizational power by enhancing the capabilities of employees globally. In this initiative, NTT DATA will accelerate the transformation of workstyles within NTT DATA through the security offerings in Microsoft 365 and collaboration tools through Microsoft Teams. By promoting the development of internal IT environments with the aim of improving productivity, NTT DATA will transform workstyles throughout the organization and improve performance by sharing best practices for increased results. Based on the results from these activities and the knowledge sharing of system implementation, both companies will propose workstyle changes to clients in all industries.
Capability Development
The companies will work together to transform and establish NTT DATA’s organizational culture to promote the development and utilization of the digital capabilities at NTT DATA by utilizing various digital transformation cases that Microsoft has created around the world. Additionally, NTT DATA plans to cultivate approximately 10,000 employees worldwide qualified with digital technologies and Microsoft cloud-related certifications, supporting customer digital transformation.
Technology For Good
NTT DATA will explore Microsoft’s AI for Health philanthropic program empowering the company to work on tackling some of the toughest challenges in global health. Microsoft’s AI for Health empowers researchers and organizations with AI to help improve the health of people and communities around the world. NTT DATA will focus on supporting the United Nations’ sustainable development goals in the areas of AI imaging.
“WinActor” is a registered trademark of NTT Advanced Technology Corporation.
About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a leading IT services provider and global innovation partner headquartered in Tokyo, with business operations in over 50 countries. Our emphasis is on long-term commitment, combining global reach with local intimacy to provide premier professional services varying from consulting and systems development to outsourcing. For more information, visit www.nttdata.com.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Media contact
NTT DATA Corporation Public Relations Department pr-team@kits.nttdata.co.jp
Microsoft Japan, Ltd., Corporate Communication Division, Phone: 03-4535-8055 (departmental representative) E-mail:mskkpr@microsoft.com
(The Microsoft Healthcare Bot service empowers healthcare organizations to build and deploy an AI-powered, compliant, conversational healthcare experience at scale. Learn more 
