Microsoft Updates Office 365 With Unlimited Storage, MDM Features And New APIs

Microsoft Office 365 users will be able to store as many documents in the cloud as they wish with unlimited OneDrive storage, while developers and businesses will also benefit from new APIs and Mobile Device Management (MDM) features.

Home, Personal and University subscribers will receive the storage boost immediately, while OneDrive Business customers will get the upgrade in the next few months.

Microsoft Office 365 storage

Microsoft says the move, along with recent initiatives like Office Delve, is part of the firm’s bid to create an integrated cloud-based collaboration platform.

“While unlimited storage is another important milestone for OneDrive we believe the true value of cloud storage is only realized when it is tightly integrated with the tools people use to communicate, create, and collaborate, both personally and professionally,” says Chris Jones, corporate vice president for OneDrive and SharePoint.

“That is why unlimited storage is just one small part of our broader promise to deliver a single experience across work and life that helps people store, sync, share, and collaborate on all the files that are important to them, all while meeting the security and compliance needs of even the most stringent organisations.”

Developers and admins

Microsoft is also to release new APIs for developers, allowing them to create new applications from Office 365 data. Open REST-based APIs for mail, files, calendars and contacts are currently available, while Microsoft will also release new mobile SDKs will allow developers to create softare for any platform using the tools and languages of their choice.

An Office 365 App launcher will let users access their favourite applications and developers can use this to increase the visibility of their applications alongside other software like Yammer and Outlook.

Alongside a raft of announcements regarding the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, Microsoft has announced new MDM capabilities for Office 365 on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Admins will be able to deploy policies and remotely wipe corporate data from the first quarter of 2015 and will also benefit from extended data loss prevention (DLP) technology.

Microsoft has been pushing Office 365 heavily to both business and consumers over the past year, refreshing SMB and enterprise plans while also launching personal subscriptions alongside applications for iPad, iPhone and Android. The company claims it now has seven million personal and home subscribers.

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