Despite its size, Malta has the desire to drive innovation, Takuya Hirano, Microsoft’s general manager for the multi-country region within Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe says.

The new Office takes full advantage of new mobile devices

“Over the past few years, Malta has made giant leaps and advances in the ICT sector establishing itself as a centre of IT excellence. This was one of the reasons that led to Microsoft’s decision to establish a Microsoft Innovation Centre in Malta,” he told i-Tech after the centre was recently opened at Sky Parks Business Centre.

“Microsoft Malta was established nearly a decade ago and we have been working closely to the local government and its community to support Malta in developing its full potential. This was done through various initiatives such as support to set up community training learning centres across the island, training for teachers and students, software grants to NGOs, subsidised costs for students to empower themselves with Microsoft software and much more. In 2011 we announced our latest strategic partnership with the Government, a partnership which is based on collaboration to develop Malta into a centre of excellence by 2015.”

As part of this commitment Microsoft opened the innovation centre locally with cloud computing as its primary focus. Microsoft and its partners are making a seed investment of over €3 million towards this centre and its operations. Through this centre, Microsoft and the MIC partners will provide training on the latest technology and business skills and free software to enhance employability prospects within the sector and also incubate innovative entrepreneurs and start-ups.

The move towards the so-called ‘cloud’ is no coincidence as this is one of the hottest trends in the ICT sector worldwide. Microsoft has been one of the pioneers in this area and Mr Hirano explains why all this emphasis by one of the major software companies in the world.

“Microsoft’s objective isn’t innovation for innovation sake, but rather innovation that empowers people to make a real impact for a better tomorrow,” Mr Hirano added. “The growth of cloud computing, the proliferation of smart connected devices, and emergence of natural user interfaces offer vast new ways for people around the world to connect, communicate and access information. This can be a catalyst for dramatic progress on big global challenges by empowering new innovators, unleashing local economic competitiveness, and extending opportunity around the world.

“Microsoft and our 640,000 local partners work closely with governments, organisations and citizens to help them fully harness the transformative power of innovation with a holistic set of flexible solutions, programmes and partnerships to best meet local needs and goals. If you look back 10 years or more, there was a pretty clear divide between technology for business and technology for consumers. But in recent years, with more people working from home, shopping from work, and attending classes from both, the dividing line between work and home has definitely blurred.”

Mr Hirano explained that Microsoft’s focus on both individuals and businesses distinguishes the company from others in its industry. Most of its competitors focus on one or the other.

“We choose to do both, and have consistently benefited by focusing on what’s personal to individuals and businesses. Moving forward, we believe that the full value of our software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and cloud-based services at work, at home and at play. This is a significant shift for us, both in what we do, and how we now see ourselves – as a devices and services company.”

Far from being a buzzword used only among businesses, cloud computing services have reached personal users and the blur between business and consumer services is well illustrated by Office 365, the latest version of the popular Office productivity suite. Users can create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentation over the internet without the need to have the software installed on their computer. These documents are also saved online for easy retrieval everywhere on the go.

“The new Office takes full advantage of new mobile devices that use touch and pen capabilities. It unlocks new experiences for reading, note taking, meeting and communications, and brings social capabilities directly into productivity and collaboration scenarios.

“The ultimate experience with the new Office for both consumers and businesses will come when it’s paired with a Windows 8 device and delivered as a cloud subscription service with Office 365,” Mr Hirano said.

Asked about Windows 8, Mr Hirano is positive the new operating system by Microsoft represents the next leap in computing: “Windows 8 represents a big, ambitious change for Windows and for Microsoft. We built Windows 8 for the next generation of computing – setting out to eliminate the boundary between PCs and tablets. And we’re just getting started.

“So far we see more than 60 million licenses sold which is on par with the record setting pace we saw with Windows 7. We feel good about our start with Windows 8 – and of course there is still much more to do. This is an exciting time in Windows and there’s a lot of energy around the work we’re doing.”