New Subscription Introduced: Microsoft 365
At its partner conference Inspire, Microsoft announced a new subscription, called “Microsoft 365”. This subscription will be available as Microsoft 365 Business and as Microsoft 365 Enterprise editions. The Business edition is bundling Windows 10, Office 365 and Enterprise security and management functions in order to improve accessibility to its Enterprise function for small and medium-sized business customers (SMB) with up to 300 employees. Microsoft 365 Enterprise is the successor of the Secure Productive Enterprise (SPE) suite, which had been released only last year, and targets larger companies with more than 300 employees.
Like the Secure Productive Enterprise (SPE) suite, Microsoft 365 Enterprise edition will be offered as E3 and E5 plan. Whereby the second one will not only bundle Windows 10, Office 365 Enterprise and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EWS) but also Azure Active Directory, Azure Information Protection as Premium, Cloud App Security and Advanced Threat Analysis.
Microsoft 365 Business includes, in addition to Office 365 Business Premium, security and management functions for Office apps and Windows 10 devices, and the opportunity of an upgrade to Windows 10 Professional. Enterprise policies to secure and protect devices can be deployed and controlled by a centralized management tool.
Both editions should be available from the beginning of August, and at least the Enterprise edition will be available for productive usage immediately. However, there will be a public preview for Microsoft 365 Business. The Microsoft 365 Business edition is expected to cost $20 per user and month. For the Enterprise edition, however, there is no price information available until now. The former Secure Productive Enterprise E3 plan was priced at $36 and the E5 plan at $54, each per user and per month.