Today, we announced updates to Halo Infinite’s launch timing. Our vision at Xbox and 343 Industries has always been to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever for our fans, while also balancing the team’s well-being. To do that, we will need some more time to finish the critical work necessary to launch Halo Infinite, which will come in 2021.
We have plenty to keep you busy until Chief arrives: There will be thousands of games to play, spanning four generations, when Xbox Series X launches globally this November and over 100 optimized for Xbox Series X titles, built to take full advantage of our most powerful console, are planned for this year. And with brand new console features like hardware-accelerated Direct X raytracing, framerates up to 120 frames per second, faster loading times, and Quick Resume for multiple games, playing will look and feel better, no matter which games you choose to play on day one.
A shared library of great games through Xbox Game Pass
Hundreds of developers are at work on new games for Xbox Series X that will raise the bar for fidelity, speed and immersion; and the best way to discover new games will be with Xbox Game Pass. Game Pass delivers a curated library of content across console and PC, including all games from Xbox Game Studios the day they launch, for one low monthly price. Beginning September 15th, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members will also be able to play more than 100 games from the cloud on their Android phone or tablet, enabling them to take their console gaming on the go. Experiences you expect on Xbox consoles such as your friends list, achievements, controller settings and saved game progress all come with you when you play on mobile.
Play thousands of games across four generations of content
Playing your favorite games and franchises across four generations of Xbox was a key tenet for us in the next generation of console gaming. This commitment means that you will have access to thousands of titles across four generations of content – from Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Our back compat team continues to develop new innovations that can be applied to a curated list of titles that will enhance them even further than was possible when they were originally created. These optimizations include the ability to render titles with increased resolutions up to 4K, delivering new HDR reconstruction techniques to games that were developed years before HDR came into existence, applying anisotropic filtering to improve image quality, and creating ways to increase or double the frame rate of certain titles.
Whether you’ve played for years or have just recently picked up a controller, we can’t wait for you to see and feel the first big step into gaming’s next generation with Xbox Series X this November.
SINGAPORE and REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 11, 2020 — Standard Chartered Bank and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a three-year strategic partnership to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation through a cloud-first strategy. This partnership marks a significant milestone for Standard Chartered in making its vision for virtual banking, next-generation payments, open banking and banking-as-a-service a reality. Leveraging Azure as a preferred cloud platform, the companies will also co-innovate in open banking and real-time payments to help the bank unlock new banking experiences for clients.
Embarking on a cloud-first strategy
As part of its digital transformation, Standard Chartered will adopt a multicloud approach, where significant applications, including its core banking and trading systems and new digital ventures such as virtual banking and banking-as-a-service, will be cloud-based by 2025, subject to regulatory approvals. The bank will also adopt a cloud-first principle for all new software developments and major enhancements.
As technology reshapes the banking industry, Standard Chartered recognizes that a cloud-first strategy is critical to the bank’s ambition to make banking simpler, faster and more convenient. By being digital-first, the bank will be able to meet the demand for seamless banking virtually anytime, anywhere, and make banking more accessible to people across its network.
Michael Gorriz, Group Chief Information Officer of Standard Chartered, said, “Cloud is a cornerstone of Standard Chartered’s strategy to meet the present and future banking needs of our clients. Cloud providers have invested massively in the reliability and automation of infrastructure and platforms. Using cloud services improves our ability to be agile and innovative, while increasing our operational efficiency and resilience. As disruption in the financial industry continues, we can focus on client benefits by deploying our solutions quicker and allowing for faster integration of new business models and partners. To realize our digital ambitions, Standard Chartered has chosen Microsoft as a strategic partner and this partnership marks a major milestone for the bank in adopting a cloud-first approach.”
Bhupendra Warathe, Chief Technology Officer, Cloud Transformation at Standard Chartered, added “The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the need for businesses and banks to be resilient from a risk mitigation, cost and security perspective. With the increasing trend of an always-on digital economy, commercial and consumer clients are looking for applications and services that empower them to do online banking from anywhere, flexibly and efficiently. The speed and scale of continuous innovation offered by Azure allows us to innovate with the latest AI services to meet evolving client needs. We can pilot new apps in one market and scale them rapidly across others. This is especially important for a bank with a footprint as broad and diverse as ours.”
Standard Chartered will adopt Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud platform to meet the bank’s need for resilient data centers and cloud services and addressing customers’ security, privacy and compliance requirements across the bank’s global footprint.
The first set of capabilities to move to Microsoft Azure will be Standard Chartered’s trade finance systems, allowing for seamless cross-border trade for the bank’s corporate and institutional clients.
The partnership will also advance the bank’s digital workplace transformation with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams providing modern productivity and collaboration tools to Standard Chartered’s 84,000 employees across its 60 markets.
Co-innovating the future of banking
Standard Chartered will also use Microsoft Azure artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics capabilities to enhance and automate banking processes as well as deliver hyper- personalization of its client products and experiences. Co-innovation in open banking application programming interface (API) and Internet-of-Things-based, real-time payments will also help the bank unlock new banking experiences for clients. Bill Borden, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft, said, “Cloud computing is an enabler for financial institutions to modernize their infrastructure and systems, to gain the agility they need to respond to competitive pressures, regulatory environments and customer demand. We are committed to helping Standard Chartered Bank in its ongoing digital transformation journey as it strives to address evolving customer needs and build the next generation of banking experiences.”
Addressing the social needs of communities in the emerging markets
Standard Chartered strives to understand the evolving needs of its communities and be an enabler for change. As a part of the strategic partnership, the bank and Microsoft will explore sustainable finance and business initiatives to expand sustainability across the industry.
About Standard Chartered Bank
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 60 of the world’s most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good.
Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.
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, please contact:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, rrt@weworldwide.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.
The show’s seven-member crew works for Gavi, a Geneva-based organization focused on providing vaccines for children in the world’s poorest countries. As the organization’s approximately 280 employees turned to working remotely when the coronavirus pandemic struck, Mends, Gavi’s director of operations, worried some might become isolated. He pulled together other members of Gavi’s social club, which he runs, to think about ways to help their colleagues connect.
“One of the things that really resonated with me when we were having that conversation was the power of music and the familiarity of hearing people talking,” Mends says. “So I came up with the zany idea that we do a radio station.”
It was also Mends’ idea to use Teams, Microsoft’s collaboration and chat platform, to power the show. He looked at various technologies for connecting audio to create the effect of the crew being together in a studio but found them overly complex and unstable. Instead, he uses a professional microphone that picks up audio from the hosts and guests that is streamed out of a laptop via Teams. A second laptop runs a web radio app used to mix in music and jingles.
“What a simple Teams meeting gave us was that ability to sound like we’re all in the same studio,” Mends says.
For Milena Lawrence-Samuel, Gavi’s communications and change manager, the breakfast show is a way to connect with colleagues she no longer sees around the office.
“Gavi is a really interactive and somewhat informal environment, and I love being able to walk around and have a quick chat with a friend or someone I’ve never interacted with professionally,” says Lawrence-Samuel, who does a tech tip of the day and runs a quiz question on the show.
“Those people have fallen off my radar. This is a way of getting that back. It’s a touchpoint to our colleagues that we don’t get to see every day anymore.”
Gavi helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children. Here, nurses attend a training program on vaccine and health procedures at a clinic in Sri Lanka. (Photo by Mithra Weerakone)
Jab FM (“jab” is Brit slang for an injection, a nod to Gavi’s mission) launched with its first breakfast show in late April and has so far attracted almost 5,000 listeners on every continent except South America, according to Mends. The station plays music around the clock, but the breakfast show is its only live broadcast.
The show airs Tuesday and Friday mornings and is heavily music-focused, with themes often reflecting Gavi’s diverse workforce. One episode focused on African music, with Gavi employees from African nations coming on to request songs and talk about their significance. Another episode was French-themed. Others have celebrated disco, Bollywood music and movie tunes.
The show aims not just to attract Gavi listeners, but actively engage them as guests.
“People feel when they ring in that they’re participating in something,” Mends says. “It’s that sense of community that has motivated people. But the primary purpose was really to give a bit of a lifeline and a bit of normality to those people who were feeling isolated in the beginning (of the lockdown).”
Mends even had jingles created for the show and each crew member to surprise the team. “Although it’s not a professional station, I just thought we wanted to wow people and make them feel it was a real thing,” he says.
The show is an international effort — Mends broadcasts from his basement in Perroy, a town about 15 miles from Geneva, while co-host Ardiff works from his home across the border in Ornex, France. The other crew members are scattered around the Geneva area.
A high point for the show was its live broadcast during Gavi’s Global Vaccine Summit in early June. Held every five years, the event is Gavi’s main fundraising effort, and the stakes this year were especially high.
Parents bring their children to a health center in Dedza, Malawi to be immunized against two deadly diseases, measles and rubella. (Photo by Jacques Schmitz)
The summit, attended by 52 countries, was originally to be held in London and was instead going online for the first time. Staffers wondered if vaccine funding would be a high enough priority during the global pandemic to meet Gavi’s target of $7.4 billion. Funding was needed for Gavi’s routine vaccination programs, and the organization was also launching a program to distribute an eventual COVID-19 vaccine to impoverished countries.
Nerves were running high as Mends and other Gavi employees gathered in a room at the Global Health Campus in Geneva, at desks spaced apart, to track donations and monitor the event. As Jab FM listeners tuned in, Mends interviewed colleagues to get their read on how things were going, holding a microphone attached to a length of bamboo to maintain a safe distance.
The tension was palpable as the crew waited to hear British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announce the fundraising total. As Johnson began speaking, a cheer went up and Mends jubilantly relayed the amount — a record $8.8 billion in funding for 2021 to 2025.
“$8.8 billion, Barry!” Mends tells his co-host. “$8.8?” Ardiff says incredulously. “$8.8!” Mends repeats. “That is extraordinary,” Ardiff says. “I think Andy sounds like he’s going to cry.” “No I’m not. I’m fine,” Mends says, laughing. “That is absolutely amazing,” Ardiff says. “Brilliant.”
Though anyone could tune in to the virtual event, Mends thinks the radio show gave listeners a unique perspective.
“It portrayed a real, inside view on the emotion and tension that’s the same for a virtual event behind the scenes as it is for a physical event,” he says. “It captured the essence of why we did it, which was to bring people together so that they felt joined up even though we were all very apart.”
Children at a school in Myanmar show off their certificates after receiving a vaccination for Japanese encephalitis. (Photo by Jacques Schmitz)
Though Jab FM represents Gavi’s most innovative use of Teams, the platform has become a go-to tool for the organization in other ways. Gavi’s “demand hub,” which promotes vaccine demand and provides guidance to countries, adopted Teams so employees could work on documents together in one place and avoid endless email threads.
With Gavi partners working across different time zones and regions and on many different workstreams, online collaboration was important. When the pandemic hit, the ability to quickly share information became even more critical.
Tala Ghalayini, a digital innovation consultant for Gavi, researched various platforms and settled on Teams because it allows users to have video meetings, chat, upload documents and collaborate in one place. She used Teams to create a channel where partners in various countries can add links and updates on their regions. While some employees were initially reluctant to adopt a new application, she says, the pandemic changed that.
“Because COVID is so fast-moving and every day there’s so much happening so quickly in so many different places, it’s hard to keep up,” says Ghalayini.
“And this is where Teams comes in, because it’s easy to quickly share a guidance note or an in-country survey that could be useful to somebody. I think this is where Teams really did catalyze the movement to using it more rigorously. I’m shocked by how quickly it’s taken off.”
Gavi’s office culture might be informal, but its work is a somber business. Since launching in 2000, the organization and its partners have helped vaccinate more than 760 million children from infectious diseases, preventing an estimated 13 million-plus deaths.
Polio vaccinators in India, where the disease has been eradicated, immunize children wherever they are — in cities, remote regions and transit stations. (Photo by Manpreet Romana)
Before the pandemic, Gavi employees were expected to report to the office. A formal work-from-home culture didn’t exist. Suddenly, employees had to figure out a way to work remotely without slowing down the organization’s critical work. Gavi had access to Teams but hadn’t rolled it out officially or trained employees to use it. Yet during the first week of remote work, Gavi employees held more than 830 meetings and more than half were on Teams.
“People figured out really quickly that it was a great way to meet online,” says Cagen, the former Seattleite who is the senior manager of Gavi’s monitoring and evaluation team. “It’s suddenly had this boom of activity.”
The informal nature of remote work and video meetings — kids popping up in backgrounds, pets making random appearances — has brought a newfound levity to Gavi, employees say. Cagen’s group launched a “fun channel” on Teams where they’ve posted photos of their dogs, traded tips on traveling in Switzerland and held a happy hour during which they walked around with their phones and laptops, showing each other their apartments.
“Until lockdown, you didn’t see everyone’s inner workings,” Cagen says. “Now I know that Milena has the really cool kitchen.”
Ghalayini recalls an early Teams meeting when her manager set her background to one with bouncing balls, to her amusement.
“We do serious business and it’s hard to inject some fun, especially amidst the crisis, but it was very humorous,” she says. “Even just seeing that, it felt like a cultural shift. Other people were uploading sunsets in the background, and beaches, and it was really funny.”
As for the Barry and Andy show, Mends hopes it will go on even after Switzerland continues to move out of lockdown.
“It has opened up another channel of communication with staff and an opportunity for us to connect in a different way,” he says. “It’s quite a unique thing to the organization. I think it would be sad to see it go completely.”
Top photo: The Jab FM crew is all smiles during a recent episode of Barry and Andy’s breakfast show. Clockwise from top left: Shelby Lyon, Milena Lawrence-Samuel, Jane Mulder, Maria Isabella Paez, Andy Mends, Barry Ardiff. Bottom row: Rod Abson. (Photo courtesy of Gavi). Audio segment produced by Sara Lerner.
1. Create a safe space for your kids to explore online. When children are online, there’s an entire world at their fingertips. Sometimes, there’s content that may be intended for adults or for older kids. Using web and search filters helps ensure that mature content doesn’t appear when they’re browsing with Microsoft Edge. If they end up in the Microsoft Store (while using Xbox, for example), you can set it up so that they need your permission before they buy anything.
2. Help your children get a good balance of screen time. When time’s up, you can easily give them more time or say, “That’s enough for today.”
Set device limits. If your kids use a Windows 10 PC or an Xbox One, you can limit the amount of time they spend on each device. Knowing that online learning uses a lot of their screen time, you might prefer to set limits for certain apps or games only.
Set app and game limits. If you’d prefer to set a time limit on a specific game, or on watching movies through Netflix or Hulu, you can do that, too. The time limit works across Windows 10, Xbox One, and Android devices.
3. Go over activity reports together. Sit down with your kids and view their weekly activity reports with them. See if you notice any interesting trends—such as what time of day they like to play games or surf the web—and talk about any adjustments you may need to make.
4. Helps keep gaming safe for kids. Gaming can be both fun and healthy for your children. If you want to make sure they aren’t playing something intended for older kids, set up content filters for Windows 10 and Xbox One that don’t allow games rated above the age you choose. If you need any ideas for your child’s next game, take a look at these family favorites.
There are also a lot of settings you can customize on Xbox One, such as who your kids are allowed to play online games with and who they’re allowed to chat with.
The recent shift to remote, hybrid and on-premise work has IT professionals across every industry looking for more solutions and support for deploying Microsoft Teams. That’s why we’re excited to launch this new live webcast series. Host, Stephen Rose is back! He’ll be talking with members of the Microsoft engineering staff, community experts and real-world professionals about best practices for piloting, planning, managing, securing, and deploying Teams. He’ll be joined by surprise guests, unbox cool new hardware and share resources to help you make the most of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams.
Our host, Stephen Rose is a Senior Product Manager on the Modern Workplace and Teams, Stephen has been working with and helping IT professionals with a variety of Microsoft products since 2009 including Windows, Surface, Office and OneDrive, and holds over 20 technical certifications. Stephen was an MVP for 3 years and still is a community guy at heart. You can follow him, @stephenlrose on Twitter.
(Left to right) Host Stephen Rose. Previous Episodes with Joe Lurie on Windows Servicing, Chris Jackson on security best practices, Dan Holme on Microsoft Teams Live Events platform and Sandhya Rao demoing the new Bose Teams headphones.
Take a look at the upcoming episodes below – and add them to your calendar*. You’ll definitely want to tune in live to get the solutions and insights you need now.
Episode 1: Real work experts/real world stories August 11, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
Join us as we sit down with members of our IT pro community to discuss their Teams customer stories. You’ll hear about what worked and what didn’t work so you can avoid the same pitfalls with your own rollouts.
Episode 2: Back to school and user adoption with Microsoft Teams August 25, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
Learn about the latest features and functionalities to help educators make the most of Microsoft Teams and how IT pros can secure these features in a variety of environments.
Episode 3: Microsoft Teams security September 8, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
Let’s talk security. The top challenge IT pros are facing right now is securing data. Join our product expert for a deep dive discussion on identity and authentication.
Episode 4: Microsoft Ignite 2020: Pre-show September 15, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
In this special episode, you’ll get a preview of what’s coming up at Microsoft Ignite. Hear about upcoming sessions you don’t want to miss, as well as new resources that will help you make the most of your experience.
Episode 5: Microsoft Ignite 2020: Wrap-up part 1 September 23, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
Join us for a wrap-up of day 1 at Microsoft Ignite. You’ll hear all the highlights and we’ll talk about what’s coming up on day 2.
Episode 6: Microsoft Ignite 2020: Wrap-up part 2 September 25, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR Join us for a complete wrap-up of day 1 and 2 at Microsoft Ignite. You’ll hear all the highlights and talk with product experts.
Episode 7: The new world of virtual events October 8, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
The events industry transformed overnight, and Microsoft Teams played a big part in this transition. We’ll sit down with members of the Microsoft Teams product group and learn how they are building the future of high-scale communication with Microsoft Teams.
Episode 8: New resources for Microsoft Teams admins October 22, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
Learn about new Teams deep dive help videos for administrators as well as other resources to get your support teams and help desk up to speed.
Episode 9: Manage guest access in Microsoft Teams November 5, 2020 | 9:00 AM PDT | ADD TO CALENDAR
One of the most requested episodes. We’ll feature tips, tricks and gotchas on managing guest access in Microsoft Teams.
Have a great idea for an episode? Want us to deep dive into a specific feature? Contact Stephen Rose.
*Please note that episode guests, topics and dates are subject to possible change
Because the world is in unchartered territory with COVID-19 impacting people, organizations and economies this year, we’re excited to announce that we’ve pivoted Microsoft Ignite from a week-long, in-person event to two global events that are free, 48-hour digital gatherings. The first event is Sept. 22-24, and registration will open on Sept. 3. We’ll be adding a second Microsoft Ignite in early 2021 to create an additional opportunity to connect with our technical communities, and to share the latest product developments.
We’ve learned from the global digital events we’ve held this year that we now have the opportunity to bring the whole global community together in one place to create a truly worldwide event. For this reason, we’re not going to be holding Microsoft Ignite Tour events in different cities around the world this year; instead Microsoft Ignite will bring all global participants together and include the opportunity for local community meetups, will have language localization, and participants will also be able to get skill building with Microsoft Learn and certifications.
Finally, I want to clarify that the second Microsoft Ignite event to be held early next year will not replace Microsoft Build. We’ll continue to host Microsoft Build as the forum for our developer communities to come together.
Today, we are releasing Custom Translator version 2. The newest version of Custom Translator boasts higher quality customized translations than version 1 and allows you to keep your training data in the region of your choice, if desired, in order to meet your corporate data security, data privacy, and regulatory requirements.
This upgrade to v2 will roll out in two phases to provide quicker translation quality improvements (in both accuracy and fluency) to our customers and enable regional data residency, with more regions to come. Today, we announce that phase one is live.
Higher quality translations
With Custom Translator v2, we continue our commitment to breaking down language barriers and preserving culture heritage with domain-specific data– one language at a time, one region at a time. Custom Translator v2 ups the quality game by upgrading to the newest version of Microsoft Translator’s state-of-the-art neural machine translation (NMT) architecture. These standard, general domain NMT models power Microsoft products such as Office 365, Speech Services, Teams, Bing.com/Translator, and more.
Many of our customers have reported seeing better translation quality when using a dynamic dictionary with Translator’s general domain models. We validated and quantified the quality improvement seen and decided to enable this feature as the first phase in Custom Translator service upgrade.
Deploying dictionary files through a Custom Translator model instead of using the dynamic dictionary feature in a Translator API call simplifies the translation process and reduces the maintenance cost. We expect more than 40% of our customers who train dictionary only models would immediately reap the quality improvement of Custom Translator v2 models.
Now you can use your own domain data in a dictionary document type to customize Translator’s general domain models in all Custom Translator supported languages, while continuing to build models with training document types on Custom Translator v1. You can view the complete language list in the Custom Translator Update in Azure.
Keep your data in your selected region
For customers who were previously blocked from using Custom Translator service because of corporate or regulatory requirements, today we are enabling regional data residency in Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, and more US regions to meet your needs. If you select a region to create projects, your uploaded documents and trained models are kept at rest in the region you selected.
What you can do with Microsoft Custom Translator
Build custom models with your domain specific terminology and translate real-time using Translator on Azure.
Use the Custom Translator service to build translation solutions to help globalize your business and improve customer interactions.
Today, we are excited to share the latest innovations in our partnership with Samsung, bringing together Samsung’s new devices for productivity with the best apps and services across Microsoft 365, Windows 10 and Xbox to help you across work and play.
We know technology is more important today than ever before. While life has changed for everyone, some important things remain the same. People need to connect. They need to work. They need to play and enjoy life. Together, Microsoft and Samsung are addressing these needs, creating experiences and devices that are easier to use than ever before while providing greater flexibility and access to the tools you need from any place at any time.
Since we announced our long-term partnership last year, we have been working closely to co-engineer experiences that help you move seamlessly between your devices and your life. Today, we share new integrations that will make this even easier.
Seamless connection between PC and Phone
We all rely on a variety of devices everyday across our work and personal lives, which often leads to disconnected experiences. A phone buzzing while you are in your work flow on your PC is the last thing you need, especially with the constant stream of interruptions we are facing while trying to work in new conditions. Microsoft’s Your Phone app and Link to Windows integration on select Samsung devices, enables you to stay in the flow by allowing you to take calls, check notifications, see photos and messages, all from your Windows 10 PC. Now, on your Samsung Galaxy Note20, you can access and interact with your favorite mobile apps directly on your Windows 10 PC through the Your Phone app [1].
When you launch an app, it opens in a separate window, allowing you to multi-task and saving you the time and hassle of sign-in or set up. You can also pin your phone’s Android apps to your Windows 10 taskbar or Start menu for quick and easy access, making things like checking out your social feed or ordering your lunch while you wrap up a conference call even easier, without ever picking up your phone.
Samsung Galaxy Note20 users can now access a single mobile app on their PC [2], with the power and convenience of running multiple apps side by side available later this year. Whether you are working on a document, keeping up on your social media feed or simply staying connected with family and friends, everything is accessible in one place, so your flow is never broken.
Productivity wherever you are
We are also making it seamless to transition between your Galaxy Note20 and Microsoft 365 apps with instant access to your most important notes across your devices. Coming soon, notes from Samsung Notes can automatically sync with your OneNote feed in Outlook on the web or OneNote as an image. You can quickly jot down your notes from a meeting or grocery list with your S Pen on Galaxy Note20 and have instant access to the content in your productivity apps like Outlook and OneNote.
You will also be able to sync Samsung Reminders from your Galaxy Note20 to your Windows 10 PC across Microsoft To Do, Outlook and Microsoft Teams experiences, so you can view and edit from anywhere, keeping your reminders aligned across your phone, PC and apps.
For the past year, Outlook has served as the app for personal productivity on new Samsung phones. We’re excited to announce today that we’re extending this integration to include Samsung Galaxy watches, including the new Galaxy Watch3. As the native email app on your most important devices across the Samsung ecosystem, Outlook will help you stay organized and productive. Custom optimization for S Pen will also be available on Galaxy Note20, making it easy to write or ink on photographs from your gallery. And Outlook brings Play My Emails to Android devices [3], offering a voice forward, hands-free way to listen and respond to what’s new in your inbox so you can get time back in your day.
With OneDrive on Samsung Galaxy phones, you have your important files, documents and photos at your fingertips across devices. You can set your phone’s camera roll to automatically sync to OneDrive with Gallery, so your photos and videos are protected and always accessible. And with OneDrive Personal Vault you can store and protect important files with peace of mind behind an extra layer of identity verification. You can keep digital copies of your passport, ID cards, insurance, taxes and other sensitive files in OneDrive and access them securely on your device wherever you are [4].
Xbox Game Pass in your hands
Today, we also announced Xbox is partnering with Samsung to make gaming more accessible to players around the world, via the cloud. With cloud gaming (beta) as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft’s gaming subscription service, members can play Xbox games on their Xbox console, PC and Android devices using an Xbox controller. Mobile players can play over 100 high-quality Xbox games directly on their Galaxy phone or tablet.
Beginning Sept. 15, you’ll be able to experience the best of Xbox Game Pass by downloading the app from the Samsung Galaxy Store, giving you the freedom to access expansion packs, downloadable content and more. Whether it’s racing through the beautiful English countryside in Forza Horizon 4 on a new Galaxy Note20 during a lunch break, or fighting alongside your pet llama in Minecraft Dungeons on a Tab S7 at home once the workday ends, Galaxy devices provide the best way to pick up and play games directly from the cloud.
Customers who pre-order the new Galaxy Note20 have the option to select the Gaming Bundle at purchase, which includes three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Additionally, Samsung is including the all-new Power A MOGA XP5-X Plus Bluetooth Controller with an attachable phone clip with the Gaming Bundle to ensure those Galaxy Note20 customers enjoy a great cloud gaming experience. Pre-orders begin today and cloud gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate goes live in 22 markets in North America, Europe and South Korea beginning Sept. 15.
With Xbox Game Pass on your Samsung Galaxy, your Xbox games are always in your pocket.
We are excited to continue working together with Samsung to create new experiences that enable your devices to work together seamlessly across work and play to help you stay in your flow – whatever that may be.
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[1] Users must link their Galaxy device to their Windows PC through ‘Link to Windows’ on phone and Your Phone app on PC, follow the set-up prompts, including being signed into same Microsoft account. Link to Windows is preloaded on select Galaxy devices. Your Phone requires latest Windows 10 Update on the PC. Galaxy device must be on and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the PC.
Some mobile apps may restrict content to be shared on other screens or may require a touch screen to be able to interact with them.
Ability to run multiple apps simultaneously will start rolling out in November 2020.
[2] Beginning 8/21 with retail availability of Samsung Galaxy Note20.
[3] U.S only.
[4] OneDrive Basic 5 GB free accounts and 100 GB plans can store a maximum of 3 files in Personal Vault. A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is required to store more than 3 files in Personal Vault.
Every year, more than 11 billion tons of waste are produced worldwide according to the United Nations Environment Programme. A byproduct of our daily lives and every sector of the world’s economies, the trash we discard pollutes our land, clogs our waterways, depletes our natural resources and contaminates the very air we breathe. We recognize the urgent need to protect the world’s ecosystems and reduce the carbon emissions that come from the creation, distribution and disposal of waste. That’s why we’re announcing today our goal to achieve zero waste for Microsoft’s direct operations, products and packaging by 2030.
Our zero waste goal is the third sprint in Microsoft’s broad environmental sustainability initiative launched earlier this year focusing on carbon, water, ecosystems and waste. We are setting ambitious goals for each and empowering our customers with the technology and our learnings to do the same.
To address our own waste creation, Microsoft will reduce nearly as much waste as we generate while reusing, repurposing or recycling our solid, compost, electronics, construction and demolition, and hazardous wastes. We’ll do this by building first-of-their-kind Microsoft Circular Centers to reuse and repurpose servers and hardware in our datacenters. We’ll also eliminate single-use plastics in our packaging and use technology to improve our waste accounting. We will make new investments in Closed Loop Partners’ funds. And finally, we’ll enlist our own employees to reduce their own waste footprints.
By 2030, we will divert at least 90 percent of the solid waste headed to landfills and incineration from our campuses and datacenters, manufacture 100 percent recyclable Surface devices, use 100 percent recyclable packaging (in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, countries), and achieve, at a minimum, 75 percent diversion of construction and demolition waste for all projects. This work builds on our ongoing waste reduction efforts that started in 2008 which resulted in the zero waste certifications of our Puget Sound Campus and our datacenters in Boydton, Virginia and Dublin, Ireland.
Microsoft Circular Centers
To meet the growing demand for our cloud services, our datacenter footprint – and the 3 million servers and related hardware that power it – must expand. Today, these servers have an average lifespan of five years and contribute to the world’s growing e-waste problem. To reduce this waste, we plan to repurpose and recycle these devices through new Microsoft Circular Centers, which will be located first on our new major datacenter campuses or regions, and eventually added to existing ones.
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Using machine learning, we will process servers and hardware that are being decommissioned onsite. We’ll sort the pieces that can be reused and repurposed by us, our customers, or sold. We will use our learnings about reuse, disassembly, reassembly and recycling with design and supply chain teams to help improve the sustainability of future generations of equipment. Microsoft Circular Centers build on our earlier circular cloud initiatives to extend the lifecycle of our servers and minimize the waste sent to landfills.
In Amsterdam, our Microsoft Circular Center pilot reduced downtime at the datacenter and increased the availability of server and network parts for our own reuse and buy-back by our suppliers. It also reduced the cost of transporting and shipping servers and hardware to processing facilities, which lowered carbon emissions. We expect the Microsoft Circular Centers to increase the reuse of our servers and components by up to 90 percent by 2025.
Eliminating single-use plastics in packaging
Approximately 300 million metric tons of plastic are produced ever year, 50 percent of which is used one time. And, half of this plastic waste comes from packaging. The scale of this problem and its impact on our oceans, waterways and land requires bold action, which is why we are eliminating single-use plastics from our packaging by 2025. This includes plastic film, primary product packaging and our IT asset packaging in our datacenters.
Improving waste data
Today, there is no consistent, high-quality data about the amount of waste, the type and quality, where it is generated and where it goes. In addition, data differs considerably depending on the waste category. For example, data about hazardous waste and electronics is well accounted for and tracked due to regulations and robust management systems for both. However, data about construction and demolition waste does not have consistent measurements or reporting. Waste data needs a standardized methodology, better transparency and higher quality. Without more accurate data, it’s nearly impossible to understand the impact of operational decisions, what goals to set, and how to assess progress, as well as an industry standard for waste footprint methodology.
Since we can’t solve a problem that we don’t fully understand, we are investing to digitize waste data across the company to identify opportunities to improve waste data collection. This digital solutions for our operations will include technology to track and report on dashboard waste, Power BI platforms for e-waste chain-of-custody, and improving Microsoft Power Apps which helps us capture real-time waste data. As we gain clarity and confidence in our broader waste footprint we will include more precise waste data in our public reporting.
Climate Innovation Fund investment: Closed Loop Partners
We’re investing $30 million in Closed Loop Partners’ funds to help accelerate the infrastructure, innovation and business models for supply chain digitization, e-waste collection, food waste reduction, and recycling industry products to build a more circular economy at scale. Closed Loop Partners is a pioneering investor in circular economy innovation with a track record of working with corporate partners to pilot new solutions. In addition to benefiting from the technologies that are being developed, we plan to use learnings from our partnership to inform Microsoft’s circular economy initiatives in our devices and cloud value chains, specifically packaging, e-waste and waste diversion from landfills.
Empowering our customers
We will share our learning from our own zero waste journey with our customers, who are already using our technology to better understand, measure and reduce their own waste footprint. In 2019, Microsoft partnered with H&M, Target, PVH Corp. and others to explore the need and to formulate a suggestion of global standard powered by Azure called Circular ID. This platform tracks a garment in an effort to create a more sustainable fashion economy by reusing clothing through rental, resale or recycle, rather than being destroyed.
Dutch nonprofit Madaster Foundation is also using digital identities to eliminate waste. Madaster’s platform tags materials with an identity, so they can be recycled, resold and reused, driving more sustainable construction decisions. Vancouver-based SPUD, an online organic food delivery company, built a logistics platform on Microsoft Dynamics 365 that uses AI to lower food waste. In one year, SPUD diverted 265,971 kilograms of waste from the landfill, preventing 444 tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere, and saved 3,564,275 liters of water.
Of course, recycling and reusing materials to divert them from landfills is key to reducing waste. Colchester Borough Council in the U.K. provide services to 192,500 residents, from licensing to recycling. The council is moving function-specific systems to Dynamics 365, unifying its data across intelligent business applications. The recycling tracking system provides reporting via Microsoft Power BI, showing data like heatmaps of problem spots for collections or where residents need more encouragement to recycle.
Enlisting our employees
Our employees play an important role in our company’s waste footprint. As we did with our carbon and ecosystems announcement, we are inviting our employees to participate in our waste reduction efforts. To show employees the impact of their actions and how much waste they generate, we are developing an internal Power BI waste data dashboard. This will be available starting with employees based at the Puget Sound campus and expand to campuses around the world. The dashboard will display the average waste generated per employee and can be used to test effectiveness of waste reduction campaigns, implementation of a waste prevention initiatives and more.
In addition, we will launch our first waste reduction challenge, a month-long, online challenge connecting individual action to collective impact later this year. Our employees will have the opportunity to learn how they can participate in Microsoft’s corporate waste program and commit to taking impactful action in their daily lives. The challenge will focus on actions employees can take at home during the global health crisis. These challenges will incorporate themes of waste prevention, material reuse, circular economy and waste equity. We will also create more opportunities for our employees to become actively involved, both in company-wide activities, like our annual weeklong hackathon that will include a call for proposals on waste reduction.
Our collective challenge
No one person or organization can solve the global waste problem. It will take all of us doing our part, including using better data to understand the problem and make smart waste policy decisions.
Zero waste is an ambitious goal, but minimizing our own waste footprint is essential to preserving the natural resources and reducing waste-associated carbon emissions to ensure our economies and societies around the world thrive for generations to come.
Over the last year, one of the most common questions I’ve gotten from other executives is about the browser.
Specifically, the question is about which browser should be the default for accessing internal apps and data from users’ devices.
Previously, if your organization wanted to standardize on a single modern browser for use across all platforms, your only option was Chrome. This fact changed (in dramatic fashion) back in January when we released the new Microsoft Edge, which we believe is the best browser for business. Now IT leaders have another choice for modern browsers across all your platforms and, frankly, when you do a comparison, the choice is pretty clear.
Let me explain.
The new Microsoft Edge is built on the open-source Chromium project, the same foundation used by Chrome. This means that sites will perform the same on Microsoft Edge as they do on Chrome, and that you likely won’t experience the traditional compatibility problems you saw with IE.
With those major obstacles resolved, there are 5 remaining areas you have to rigorously examine when evaluating the browser you want your organization to use for accessing corporate apps and data:
Stronger Privacy.
Improved Internal Search.
Better Compatibility.
Manageability and Security.
Better Memory Usage.
Stronger Privacy
It’s time to expect more from browsers, especially when it comes to having more control over your data. Microsoft Edge provides you powerful default privacy protection, while still allowing you to benefit from web personalization. We have built our track record by contributing to the advancement of business by creating productivity tools that empower users. These tools, and our entire approach, are built on privacy, trust, and data protection as fundamental and foundational attributes of building for an enterprise-quality bar.
A browser from Microsoft is a commonsense selection for the needs of your users to access confidential and sensitive data. Check out our browser privacy promise to learn more about how your privacy is handled in Microsoft Edge.
Improved Internal Search
It pains me to say this as a regular user of Bing, but Google is the first name most people think of when it comes to search. But, when it comes to searching your organization’s internal information and data, Microsoft is clearly superior. Microsoft Search in Bing (MSB) is natively built into Microsoft Edge and this enables search across both your internal and external datasets from any Bing-powered search bar.
Figure 1: Files view – Get right back to the file you were working on or see files that co-workers have shared with you.
Figure 2: Conversations – Pick up where you left off in Microsoft Teams or Yammer and participate in business-wide chats.
Here’s a personal experience I’ve had with this functionality: over the years, I have, despite my best efforts, struggled to find data on the internal Microsoft web sites. Now, I go to one place (the new Microsoft Edge) and start typing whatever it is I’m searching for—just like I would when searching the web. I no longer have to pause and consider whether what I’m searching for is internal or external—I simply start typing and MSB searches all internal company resources (including contacts) for what I need. This enables me to quickly get to all of the internal Microsoft resources.
To see what this means to your workforce at a macro level, a recent Forrester Consulting TEI study found that companies reduced their time spent searching by 50 to 75%. IT Pros also see 30 – 60% reduction in certain support tickets, because employees are able to self-serve on common questions to IT. Having a single source of combined search for internal and external data and information is a game-changer.
Better Compatibility
Because it is built into the expansive worldwide Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft Edge naturally has a higher level of compatibility than Chrome for most commercial organizations’ needs.
The natural first question you have while reading that is probably, “Well, if they are both based on the same open-source Chromium project, why is there any difference?” The reason is that 60% of enterprises have apps that were built to run in IE and may not be compatible in the Chromium engine. To address this widespread challenge, we built Internet Explorer mode into Microsoft Edge. This setup allows you to remain compatible with all your legacy internal apps while ensuring that the same browser has all the latest compatibility requirements for the world’s most sophisticated new websites. This marriage of IE and Chromium is unmatchable; this is designed from “file: new” to give your users the best experience possible in a secure environment.
Manageability and Security
Most of you reading this are already using Office 365 and the Office apps across all of your devices, and we’ve worked for years to build out our manageability, identity, and security capabilities in ways that natively integrate these capabilities into every tool you use. The Microsoft Edge browser has these same capabilities to secure your manageability/identity/security so that your browsing is secure and productive across devices just like your Office apps on your devices. We approach the browser and the Office apps in the exact same way.
Considering that the average commercial user spends 60% of their time in the browser, then leveraging Microsoft 365’s built-in capabilities across Microsoft Edge and Office gives you common management and security solutions across the apps where your users are spending most of their time and accessing/using the majority of your internal data.
With Microsoft Edge, you can define policies that keep data contained within commercial apps and block copy/paste into non-commercial apps, and you can create policies that help ensure users can only save your data into locations you have approved, like OneDrive and SharePoint. You can also define conditional access policies that ensure only trusted users—who are using trusted devices—can access your data from Microsoft Edge. These are all unique capabilities of Edge.
These are the exact same policies many of you have already set in Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Intune, and Azure Active Directory for your mobile devices—and now we’ve made it so that Microsoft Edge is a natural and seamless extension you can begin using right now to meet your most critical business needs.
Better Memory Usage
We all know that happens when we have too many tabs open—our computer chugs, and we can’t do what we need online. Tabs eat up memory, so we wanted to address that. The new Microsoft Edge is more efficient on PC resources with the latest Windows 10 May 2020 update, which means your users’ batteries can last longer with faster performance. Longer battery life is one of the most common requests from users in the research we continually do. The Wall Street Journal just published its own findings on this. Performance, battery, and memory usage will continue to be the main focus areas as Microsoft Edge matures.
The five elements above are critically important to the security and productivity of any organization, and I believe that Microsoft Edge offers unique value (in some cases unmatched) in each category. These features are available or coming in Microsoft Edge on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. You can simply extend what you already have configured for the Office mobile apps to Microsoft Edge and Windows.
So, what can you do next?
First, from Microsoft Endpoint Manager, set Microsoft Edge as the default browser across all of our platforms—here’s how to do it, and this guide can be used to do this via Intune.
Next, train your users on Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Search in Bing to make them more efficient in searching for internal content. You can use these pre-written kits that are designed to help you with end-user adoption and training.
And also educate your users on the importance of Microsoft Edge’s privacy and security features when accessing organizational data.
Try out Microsoft Edge if you haven’t already by downloading today. If you have and are ready to deploy, resources are available to assist you. Contact us at https://fasttrack.microsoft.com right away.
