NZ first as Softsource signs on as Microsoft partner

Softsource has been named as the first Microsoft Partner to offer hosted shared computer activation for office 365 in New Zealand.

The partnership means Softsource customer can us their Office productivity suite on a shared hosted server without incurring additional licensing cost.

"In response to growing requests from customers to deploy Office 365 in a locally hosted data center, we are delighted to announce our accreditation as New Zealand's first Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider for hosted Office 365 using Shared Computer Activation (SCA)," says Pablo Garcia, general manager at Softsource.

"This means that we can now offer our customers the flexibility of choice in terms of where and how they prefer to access Office 365, either locally here in New Zealand, or in the Azure Public Cloud on a pay-as-you-go basis," Garcia explains.

Shared Computer Activation is available in the Office 365 ProPlus and Enterprise (E3,4 - 5) versions of the Microsoft Productivity Suite, enabling customers to deploy clients on servers running Remote Desktop Services.

"As a Shared Computer Activation partner, we now have the ability to offer Office 365 in any scenario, giving customers the ability to respond to the changing demands of their business, combining locally hosted Desktop Services and Office 365 on a Hybrid IaaS platform," says Garcia.

"Businesses can scale their network on demand, without the need to invest in hardware, accessing resources immediately as and when they are needed right here in New Zealand," he explains.

"This adds significant benefits to any organisation's business continuity capability, along with addressing many of the common data sovereignty concerns shared by New Zealand businesses as the service is hosted locally.