To date, Live@Edu's customer base includes 22 million students, teachers and administrators in about 10,000 schools in more than 130 countries.

Office 365 for Education will be available in three editions. Plan A2 is free and includes the online version of Office 2010, called Office Web Apps, instant messaging and conferencing via Lync Online, collaboration capabilities via SharePoint Online, e-mail and calendar via Exchange Online, anti-virus and anti-spam protection and individual storage.

Plan A3 costs US$2.50 per student per month, and $4.50 per faculty/staff per month, and includes everything in Plan A2 plus additional components, including the full-featured desktop version of Office 2010 Professional Plus and voice mail service. Plan A4, at $3 per month per student and $6 per month per faculty/staff, adds voice communications.

It's not clear which Office 365 for Education plan the OIEC will choose for its students.

The IDG News Service