Orange Business Services and Microsoft strengthen their cloud partnership through the integration of Office Together Select into Business VPN Galerie

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the last two years, Orange Business Services, a Microsoft partner, has been selling Office Together Select, a communication and collaboration solution based on Microsoft Office 365 with its own professional services. As of June 2013, Office Together Select will be available on Business VPN Galerie.

“For Microsoft, the availability of Office Together Select on Business VPN Galerie consolidates the strategic partnership initiated with Orange Business Services with Office 365”

The objective of this integration is to provide companies with the combined benefits of Office Together Select and Virtual Private Networks.

Launched in 2011, Business VPN Galerie extends enterprise VPNs to the cloud via fully-secured gateways, providing the high standards of end-to-end performance and reliability. Today, this solution interconnects more than 8,000 facilities in the world and provides access to a wide range of cloud solutions developed by Orange Business Services and its partners.

Orange Business Services and Microsoft have implemented a secured, dedicated connection to the Office 365 datacenters throughout the world for Orange Business Services customers. With this new integration, Orange Business Services customers will benefit from the level of performance and security of their VPN when accessing the Office 365 desktop and collaboration services of Office Together Select: electronic messaging with Exchange, IM and Web Conferencing with Lync, collaboration portal and access to enterprise social networks with SharePoint. Office Together Select streamlines the daily work of employees and provides permanent implementation and management support for the solution.

"With Business VPN Galerie, we were among the first in the world to launch a 'Cloud Service Hub' providing secured access to enterprise private networks and end-to-end customer support,” said Nicolas Roy, head of the Network Solutions Business Unit, Orange Business Services. “We plan to stay ahead of the competition by increasing permanently our cloud application ecosystem and by partnering with innovative leaders. This new development of our cloud partnership with Microsoft maximizes the value of both Business VPN Galerie and Office Together Select for our mutual customers.”

"For Microsoft, the availability of Office Together Select on Business VPN Galerie consolidates the strategic partnership initiated with Orange Business Services with Office 365,” concluded Laurent Schlosser, Senior Director - Operator Channel, Microsoft France. “This is also the recognition of Microsoft cloud services know-how and of its capacity to support its partners on the long term providing them a flexible offer for their customers.”

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world's largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business Services reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in 166. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business Services delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million mobile data users rely on an Orange Business Services international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business Services was awarded three of the telecom industry’s highest accolades at the annual World Communication Awards 2012 – Best Global Operator, Best Cloud Service and the User’s Choice Award. Orange Business Services is a five-time winner of Best Global Operator. Learn more at www.orange-business.com.

France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with annual sales of 43.5 billion euros and has 170,000 employees worldwide at Dec. 31, 2012. Orange is the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.