Microsoft Launches Unified Teams Work and Personal App, Appoints DeepMind Co-founder As New CEO of AI Division
Microsoft is launching its unified Teams app, allowing easy switching of work and personal accounts.
The new app, currently available in preview, will become widely available for commercial users in April. It will allow Teams users to switch between multiple tenants and personal or work account types, with the account switch toggle accessible via the profile section.
To add or access more accounts on Teams, a user must click on their profile picture at the top right corner of the Teams interface after signing in. In upcoming updates, users will have the flexibility to join any Teams meeting smoothly. When joining, they will be given the option to select the preferred account they wish to use. Additionally, users will be able to join meetings without signing in.
The functionality is set to enter preview in April, with full availability scheduled for May.
In other Microsoft news, Deepmind Co-founder Mustafa Suleyman has been named the CEO of the Redmond-based vendor’s new AI division.
Suleyman will take the lead at Microsoft AI as its CEO, overseeing its consumer and business-centric AI products and services, including Copilot, Bing, and Edge. As a Microsoft Executive Vice President (EVP), Suleyman will join Microsoft’s senior leadership team and report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
In a blog post, Nadella wrote:
In that context, I’m very excited to announce that Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan are joining Microsoft to form a new organization called Microsoft AI, focused on advancing Copilot and our other consumer AI products and research.”
Microsoft is hiring Suleyman and recruiting some of Inflection AI’s employees, including co-founder Karén Simonyan, who Nadella described as “a renowned AI researcher and thought leader” and will serve as the chief scientist of Microsoft AI.
Zoom Launches ‘All-in-One’ Compliance Offering, Partners With Swoogo and AMC Theatres in Compelling Initiatives
Zoom has launched a compliance product that combines archiving, eDiscovery, legal hold and information protection capabilities.
Compliance Manager is built on Theta Lake’s compliance solution, which has been integrated with Zoom for some time. Zoom said the new offering will help organisations meet regulatory thresholds and mitigate compliance risk.
“With Zoom Compliance Manager, we are making it easy for our customers to have an end-to-end experience — seamless buying, easy setup, centralised management, and simplified support — with a comprehensive solution that addresses their communications compliance needs across the Zoom platform,” said Ritu Mukherjee, Head of Product Business Acceleration and Readiness at Zoom.
Zoom said that Theta Lake’s compliance tools are now available on Zoom’s administrator console with “Zoom-specific enhancements, providing a frictionless experience”.
In other Zoom news, the vendor and Swoogo have partnered to deliver an advanced hybrid events solution. With Swoogo’s hybrid events offering becoming generally available on the Zoom App Marketplace, this collaboration combines Zoom Event’s virtual platform with Swoogo’s in-person event management technology, enabling event organisers to expand their audience reach.
Lastly, AMC has partnered with Zoom to bring Zoom Rooms meetings into movie theatres. The partnership empowers organisations and event planners to deliver engaging and immersive hybrid events. Organisations can harness the robust infrastructure of AMC Theatres in conjunction with Zoom’s established and user-friendly technology to provide elevated group experiences that aspire to redefine the boundaries between physical and virtual conferencing.
- Read more about Zoom’s compliance offering
- Read more about its partnership with Swoogo
- Read more about Zoom’s collaboration with AMC Theatres
Cisco Has Completed Its Splunk Acquisition
Cisco has completed its acquisition of the security and observability business Splunk.
The acquisition, valued at around $28 billion in equity value, intends to lay the foundations for delivering “unparalleled visibility and insights across an organisation’s entire digital footprint”, according to Cisco’s official announcement.
Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO of Cisco, commented:
We are thrilled to officially welcome Splunk to Cisco. As one of the world’s largest software companies, we will revolutionize the way our customers leverage data to connect and protect every aspect of their organization as we help power and protect the AI revolution.”
Cisco will harness the extensive capabilities of its network, along with its advanced security and observability solutions, to provide a unified, real-time view of the digital landscape. This integration empowers teams to proactively defend critical infrastructure, mitigate outages, and enhance the general network experience.
To ensure a cohesive operational ecosystem, Cisco and Splunk aim to integrate the disparate elements that drive a business, including people, places, applications, data, and devices. This collaboration safeguards their digital infrastructure from cybersecurity threats, downtime, and other significant business risks.
Furthermore, Cisco states its commitment to fueling and safeguarding the AI revolution through its Splunk acquisition.
