The Office app for Windows and web version Office.com are getting a refresh and bringing new experiences. Microsoft announces this at Ignite 2021 as part of reimagining Office and transforming for a hybrid world. With the redesign Microsoft says it will serve as a hub for your content, easily finding content and taking action.
Changes to the Office app include a new homepage with a Quick Access section and a set of Recommended Actions. It also has a new My Content page to easily search and filter content and a Create page with all apps and tools, plus templates from all the apps. Microsoft will roll out the new features and experience to users gradually over the next couple of months.
The enhancements we’re making to Office.com is to help you optimize your time and simplify your work. These updates make it even easier to find all the content associated with you, access your apps and templates in one place, take action quickly, and understand what work needs your attention.
What is new in Office desktop app and Office for the web?
Microsoft Program manager Alyssa Galvin takes you on a deep dive into all the new changes.
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At Microsoft Ignite 2021, Informatica announced a joint Modern Cloud Analytics program with Microsoft on Azure. To provide customers with fast, low cost and low-risk paths to modernize PowerCenter ETL and on-premises data warehouses to Informatica’s Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) on Azure and Azure Synapse Analytics. This offering is available on the Azure Marketplace. Helping customers streamline procurement and enabling them to fulfil their financial commitments with Informatica solutions on Azure.
“Microsoft and Informatica share a cloud-first vision and are committed to helping our customers accelerate their cloud migration journey,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Cloud + AI, Microsoft. “With the alliance of Informatica’s rich data integration capabilities and Microsoft Azure’s unified analytics platform, customers have a faster path to the benefits of cloud analytics.”
The Modern Cloud Analytics program is available to joint Microsoft and Informatica PowerCenter customers migrating their on-premises data warehouse and ETL workloads to IDMC on Azure and Azure Synapse Analytics. It includes:
Informatica’s Migration Factory for Informatica PowerCenter customers that automates 90% plus of existing data integration mappings to IDMC on Azure and Azure Synapse Analytics.
No cost access to cloud data warehousing and cloud data management experts from both Microsoft and Informatica to guide customers with best practices and ensure successful migrations.
Financial incentives from Microsoft and Informatica for software and professional services that significantly reduce the cost of migration.
The ability to purchase IDMC through Azure Marketplace, enabling customers to apply their entire IDMC subscription to their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment agreement.
“We are thrilled to elevate our Microsoft integration with our new joint modern cloud analytics program and offer our customers a seamless, streamlined and financially compelling program to migrate and modernize mission-critical data workloads to the cloud with Microsoft,” said Amit Walia, CEO, Informatica. “As we continue to help our customers in their digital transformation, we’re focused on delivering a cloud data management platform that helps our customers reimagine their business in incredibly innovative ways.”
Sign up to receive additional information on the Modern Cloud Analytics Joint Program here.
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Microsoft signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Texas A&M University, Qatar, to empower its engineering students with future-ready skills. The partnership with the Qatar Foundation partner university will provide students with the tools and experiences necessary to drive innovation and succeed in the workforce. As part of the agreement, the university will leverage Microsoft tools and platforms to achieve their common goal.
Texas A&M will pilot activities such as the Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador Community and Microsoft Azure for Students in the 2021-2022 academic year. Microsoft Learn provides self-paced, digital learning resources to build skills and a foundational understanding of technology. Microsoft Learn will complement classroom learning and study materials. Students will get to join the Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador Community which will help students learn and lead. By giving them access to free tools, events and activities and unlocking exclusive benefits through learning. Through Microsoft Azure for Students, students will gain hands-on experience with Microsoft technologies to start building apps, explore artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.
The faculty and teaching staff at Texas A&M University, Qatar, will also have access to Azure Development Tools for teaching. This will give them access to tools commonly used in STEM programs. It will also give them the opportunity to participate in the Microsoft Learn for Educators Institution Program, which gives eligible educators access to additional teaching and learning benefits.
“Texas A&M is proud to partner with Microsoft as we work together to educate engineering leaders in Qatar. We are grateful to share this vision with Microsoft and we look forward to the future successes of this partnership. Especially of our graduates says Dr. César Octavio Malavé, Dean Texas A&M.
Our partnership with Texas A&M at Qatar comes in line with our commitment to provide higher education institutions in Qatar with the resources and tools needed to build the next-generation workforce that will accelerate the country’s transition into a knowledge-based economy and innovation hub.
Lana Khalaf, country manager of Microsoft Qatar
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Dell Technologies is announcing the new edition of the Dell XPS Desktop series the model 8950. The desktop is larger with bigger chassis than the previous model 8940 and comes with a better cooling architecture. It is powered with the latest Intel Alder Lake desktop processors up to Core i9K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics. Dell says it is available with up to a 750W power supply supporting up to 350W graphics. The Dell XPS Desktop 8950 starts retailing at $919.99 for the low end and will be available later this fall. The device was announced at the October 2021 desktop launch where it also introduced the Alienware Aurora R13 and Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14.
The new XPS Desktop model comes pre-installed with the latest version of Windows, 11. Dell says it is designed to maximize performance, airflow and acoustics. Having 42% larger chassis with tool-less entry and removable side panel. It is said to be much cooler and quieter than the previous generation.
Dell XPS Desktop 8950 Specifications
Dimensions
173 x 426.7 x 391mm, 173 x 426.7 x 372.9 mm
Weight
7.62kg, 7.42kg
OS
Windows 11 Home/Pro 64-bit
Chipset
Intel Z690 Chipset – Alder Lake
CPU
12th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-12600K (10 Core, 20 MB Cache, 3.7 GHz to 4.9 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology)
12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-12700K (12 Core, 25 MB Cache, 3.6 GHz to 5 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
12th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-12900K (16 Core, 30 MB Cache, 3.2 GHz to 5.2 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
125W k-series with high-capacity thermal heat sink or liquid cooling option
Power supply
460W bronze, 750W platinum,
Graphics power
Max support 350W graphics (requires 750W power supply)
Multimedia
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio with Waves MaxxAudio® Pro SD Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
Port
Front: (3) USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1, (1) USB 3.2 Type-C, Gen 2 Headset jack, SD card slot Rear: (2) USB 2.0 Type-A, (2) USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1, (1) USB 3.2 Type-C™ Gen 2×2, (1) Display Port 1.4, (1) Gigabit Ethernet, (1) 7.1 channel
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Oracle and Orange are announcing an agreement to accelerate cloud-led digital transformation in West Africa. The collaboration will see the companies build Oracle’s Cloud regions using Orange’s infrastructure in Senegal and Ivory Coast. This they say aligns with their common objective of ensuring that all customer data is hosted locally. Providing customers with cloud services that meet their data latency and performance requirements. This comes a few weeks after Oracle announced that it has chosen Johannesburg, South Africa as the site of its first African datacentre. The company is currently planning to launch 13 new cloud regions across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
The companies will jointly offer cloud services for enterprises and public sector organizations in West Africa. Starting with offerings in Senegal and Ivory Coast. For this initiative, Orange plans to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to complement its portfolio of enterprise-grade managed cloud services.
The planned joint go-to-market model is intended to support West African enterprises and public organizations in addressing the challenge of digital transformation. Through advanced cloud services, enabling operational efficiency, lower costs and high-security standards.
The two companies also plan to collaborate on a project to migrate part of Orange’s internal applications onto Oracle Cloud. In order to generate greater efficiencies through digitalization, particularly in administrative processes. Discussions are ongoing to define the scope, conditions and feasibility of this strategic step. Oracle and Orange also intend to jointly promote their health solutions, especially in the area of vaccination.
We strongly believe that digital technology is a catalyst for economic transformation on the African continent says Alioune Ndiaye, Chairman and CEO, Orange Middle-East and Africa. Contributing to sustainable employment and socio-economic development, he adds. “Cloud infrastructure is one of the key solutions Orange brings to companies and public institutions in its role as a multi-service operator. Oracle’s industry-recognized solutions should bring additional value to Orange’s Cloud portfolio.”
“With improved bandwidth access and increased awareness of the benefits of cloud computing, organizations in the West and Sub-Saharan Africa region have begun exploring migrating workloads to the cloud. This initiative with Orange is an important step toward introducing world-class cloud infrastructure in the region,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
“As organizations in West Africa start their digital transformations, we look forward to joining with Orange to offer a rich portfolio of cloud infrastructure services,” says Jonathan Tikochinsky, executive vice president, Global Strategic Clients Group at Oracle. “This partnership brings the power of Oracle’s OCI services and Orange’s extensive managed cloud services that will empower organizations to take advantage of the efficiency, cost savings and increased security that the cloud provides.”
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