01732 759725
COMPUTING
32
Teamwork and creativity
transformed
As Microsoft introduces its Microsoft Reseller Lookup app to help resellers keep up-to-
date with technology trends, sales advice and the company’s expanding product portfolio,
Technology Reseller
highlights three exciting developments from the computing giant.
2
Surface Studio & Surface Dial
The latest addition to the Surface family,
Surface Studio provides a more natural
and immersive way to create and interact
with digital content. Featuring the thinnest
ever LCD monitor and a 28-inch ultra-HD
4.5K screen, Surface Studio delivers 63%
more pixels than a state-of-the-art 4K TV.
A Zero Gravity Hinge lets you quickly
and easily switch from Desktop Mode to
Studio Mode angled at 20 degrees – the
same as a standard drafting board –
for comfortable sketching, writing and
designing. Users can create and interact
with content using a pen, touch and
Surface Dial, a new input device that lets
you use two hands on the screen.
Specially designed for the creative
process, Surface Dial integrated with
Windows 10 provides a faster and more
intuitive way to scroll, zoom and navigate,
as well as unique experiences exclusive to
Surface Studio. For example, an artist using
Surface Dial could change the color or size
of their brush tip as they paint, without
moving the pen away from the screen.
Other new additions to the Surface
family include three new Surface Books
featuring 6th Generation Intel Core i7
processors and more than twice as much
graphics processing power as the original
Surface Book; and the Surface Book with
Performance Base, providing 16 hours of
battery life.
3
HoloLens
Microsoft has announced the UK
availability of Microsoft HoloLens, the
world’s first self-contained holographic
computer to bring together the virtual
and physical worlds. This will enable UK
businesses and developers to explore the
possibilities of mixed reality computing.
In addition, in 2017, Microsoft is
updating Windows 10 to include Windows
Holographic, the platform that powers
mixed-reality experiences. IDC expects
revenues from the worldwide augmented
reality and virtual reality markets to grow
from $5.2 billion in 2016 to more than
$162 billion in 2020.
1
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams enhances the
collaboration capabilities of Microsoft
Office 365 by providing a chat-based
workspace where team members can
have real-time conversations and work
on content together. It has four main
elements:
n
Chat.
Threaded chat helps ideas flow
freely and ensures team members stay
engaged and informed. Team conversations
are visible to the entire team by default,
but there is also the option of private chat.
A library of emojis, GIFs, custom stickers
and memes enables users to express their
personality.
n
A hub for teamwork.
In addition to
collaboration by chat, people can start
voice and video meetings and work on
Microsoft Office documents from within the
Microsoft Teams workspace.
n
Easy customisation.
Each team can
personalise the Microsoft Teams experience
to suit their specific needs. Users can
create channels to organise conversations
by topic, with Tabs to frequently used
documents and applications, such
as OneNote, SharePoint or third-party
solutions like Zendesk.
n
Security.
As part of Office 365, Microsoft
Teams has the all the security and
compliance capabilities of the Microsoft
Cloud. Data is encrypted at all times and
covered by a transparent operational
model with no standing access to customer
data. Multifactor authentication provides
enhanced identity protection to help ensure
data stays safe within the team.
The preview of Microsoft Teams is
available to Office 365 commercial
customers with Office 365 Enterprise
or Business plans. Office 365 IT
administrators can enable Microsoft Teams
for their organisation from the Office 365
admin center.
Resellers can stay up-to-date with industry and Microsoft news and find out more about the company’s latest products, solutions and
services via the new Microsoft Reseller Lookup app. Download it from Windows Store (it is coming soon to the App Store and Google
Play) and you will automatically be entered into a draw to win a Dell XPS13 or HP Spectre Pro x360. Find out more on page 11.
A Zero Gravity
Hinge lets you
quickly and easily
switch from
Desktop Mode
to Studio Mode
angled at 20
degrees
