Microsoft 365 applications are now available for users of Amazon Workspaces.
Amazon WorkSpaces is a virtual desktop service that runs Windows, Amazon Linux 2 and Ubuntu Desktop operating systems. The tie-up is powered by a bring-your-own licence (BYOL) model that lets organisations bring existing Microsoft 365 licences into the fold.
In a blog post, Vice President of AWS Applications Dilip Kumar said: “These services run in the highly secure and reliable AWS Cloud—offering autoscaling and pay-as-you-go pricing to ensure you only pay for what you use while allowing users to securely access their virtual desktops and applications from any place, at any time, and from any supported device.
“Microsoft 365 adds to the power of the solution with popular office productivity applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, and others.”
The BYOL Advantage
Customers using AWS End User Computing services can now take advantage of their existing Microsoft 365 licenses to run productivity applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more directly on WorkSpaces virtual desktops.
Supported license plans include Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Microsoft 365 A3/A5, or Microsoft 365 Business Premium, enabling users to harness the full potential of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise in WorkSpaces without any additional costs.
The applications available will vary depending on the Microsoft licence being used.
Integrating Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on Amazon WorkSpaces services is a seamless process with no special setup or image management required. Existing tools for deploying Microsoft 365 can be utilised, streamlining the migration and implementation process for organisations.
Customers also have the option to bring their own licenses for Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Power Automate, further enriching the WorkSpaces experience.
Microsoft 365 apps can be used on both primary and failover WorkSpaces instances.
Eligible applications include Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft OneDrive.
Chime SDK
Earlier this year, Bandwidth announced its plan to extend its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to leverage the Amazon Chime Software Development Kit (SDK). This collaboration aims to accelerate Bandwidth’s innovation roadmap and expand the ecosystem for the Bandwidth Communications Cloud, benefiting Global 2000 enterprise cloud adoption.
Amazon also launched Chime SDK call analytics to provide developers with insights from voice communications.
These tools aim to simplify the development of apps that offer real-time transcription, call categorisation, post-call summary, speaker search, and tone-based sentiment analysis.
Amazon claims that these features will significantly reduce the deployment time of machine learning-based analytics from months to just a few days.
