In an attempt to get SMBs to sign up for its services, Microsoft said it would try to sell them its InTune service, which allows companies to manage their IT infrastructure from the cloud, along with Lync, a unified communications solution that enables employees to collaborate with each other.

Speaking to Business Line , Mr Sumeet Khanna, Director - Windows Business Group, said, “If you want to compare it to a human body, InTune manages your health while Lync gives you the calories to run.”

In order to market InTune, Microsoft said it has tied up with around 300 CSPs (cloud service providers). The company is targeting small and mid-sized companies, and said that some large organisations had also expressed an interest in InTune.

“We don't have any aggressive plans for this year. For the quarter ending June 2011, we are looking at 20 early wins. However, for the financial year July 2011 to June 2012, we hope to get 400 to 500 customers,” said Mr Khanna.

He said within one day, 100 people had already registered for the trial version, and he expected 400 to 500 more to register over the next two weeks.

While InTune would help the administrator manage PCs in an organisation, Lync would enable employees to collaborate, said Mr Sukhvinder Ahuja, Lead - Unified Communications. He said Microsoft wanted to ensure that content is visible across three windows, namely the desktop, the browser and the mobile phone, and demonstrated how one could share a document between users across devices like the desktop and the mobile. “We have provided the look and feel of social media to make it easier for users,” said Mr Ahuja. Lync helps enterprises to manage instant messaging, presence and audio or video conferences.

While companies could buy either InTune or Lync separately, Mr Khanna and Mr Ahuja said buying both would make sense because InTune helps you manage your computers, while Lync enhances productivity.

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