Microsoft repels Google with 40,000 e-mail account deal

16.03.2009
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will migrate some 40,000 student user accounts to Microsoft's Live@edu hosted messaging and storage platform providing an alternative to the successful Google Apps education surge.

According to Microsoft, QUT joins "thousands of institutions around the world" by moving to the platform, but the news of such deals has been mostly of Google's equivalent offering, including a recent .

The Live@edu suite of online applications includes Microsoft Outlook Live, Microsoft Office Live Workspace and SkyDrive for storage.

QUT evaluated a hosted, Web-based e-mail solution for students when existing email infrastructure "reached its limit of functionality and storage capacity".

So much for in-house IT expenditure.

According to Microsoft, the decision to go with Live@edu is the result of discussions among students, university administration and company representatives, and the deal included an opt-in trial involving students from the Faculty of Information Technology.