Microsoft has cracked its biggest could computing deal with AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) of providing its Live@edu communication and collaboration software to more than 7 million students and half a million teachers. The project will afford IT access to 11,000 AICTE affiliated
institutions across India over the next three months. The cloud deployment will
expand student’s access to high-quality technical education and collaboration.
Live@edu is a free suite of hosted Microsoft services and
applications that is intended for educational needs. Live@edu service offers email, Microsoft Office Web
Apps, instant messaging and storage (10 GB each) to over seven million students
and nearly 500,000 faculty members under the AICTE, with a total reach of 7.5
million users - roughly double the size of the Los Angeles population. AICTE is
Microsoft's largest cloud customer.
Live@edu platform will include three main offerings - a project
factory, a placement portal and an academic networking site. This will be
offered free of cost, as it is part of Microsoft’s CSR initiatives, and will allow
7.5 million students and 5 lakh teachers
to interact with each other, by drawing resources from the cloud.
While the Project Factory allows students to upload their
projects online, enabling viewership by a much larger audience of academicians,
students as well as the industry who are part of the AICTE cloud platform, the
Placement Portal allows students to send their CVs directly to the HR of a
company of his choice, without having to log into paid job sites.
Additionally, companies will also be able to post their
exact requirements on the Live@edu platform, allowing for more streamlined
placements. The Academic Networking site will be similar to other social
networking sites like Facebook, allowing students and teachers to exchange
ideas and information. These three cloud apps are expected to be launched by
June 1, before the start of the new academic year.
AICTE also plans to deploy Microsoft Office 365 for
education when it becomes available later this year, providing access to
Microsoft Exchange Online email and calendar, Microsoft SharePoint Online,
Microsoft Lync Online and Microsoft Office Professional as the technical
infrastructure to support member colleges and institutes.
“India is seeing rapid economic activity and growth. Developing India’s youth and their skills is
going to play an important role in the country’s inclusive growth. The union budget also laid emphasis on skill
development and so does the proposed 12th Five Year Plan with a National Policy
on Skill development. The PPP model (public-private partnership) is most
essential in running and managing training institutions to address the skill
gap most efficiently. Microsoft’s commitment to empower students by deploying
Microsoft Live@edu for 7.5 million users across the country with AICTE is
commendable and a step towards an informed and developing India. I congratulate
both AICTE and Microsoft on this significant milestone,” said Mr. Kapil Sibbal,
Union Minister for HRD.
