NEW DELHI: Schools in Delhi and Mumbai partner with Microsoft for cloud based service Microsoft Live@Edu, which provides them access to Microsoft's software and web applications. 

After tying up with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for a mammoth deployment of its cloud based service Microsoft Live@Edu in around 10,000 colleges and institutes last month, Microsoft has now partnered with Indian schools like Delhi Public School, Mathura Road and KR Mangalam school in New Delhi and the American School of Bombay for the service. 

Microsoft Live@Edu is a collaborative tool for students, faculty and alumni, that gives them access to Microsoft's Office Outlook Live for emails, Microsoft Office Live workspace for documents, the Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging, and Windows Live SkyDrive for an online storage space of 25 GB. "Microsoft Live@Edu enables school students to access a mailing platform from as early as class 2, " says Tarun Malik, Director, Marketing at Microsoft India. "It also allows them to access some of the most prominent software and web based applications like Power Point, and Excel for writing reports and analyzing data, which would make them future ready for all sorts of workplaces. Microsoft Office Outlook can create diverse user groups for students, faculty, parents and alumni, and can enable all of them to stay in touch with each other for life," he adds. 

"The cost of deploying a school wide messaging solution, which would cover over 5,017 students, 220 teachers, and 52 administrators would not have been feasible because of the sheer cost of acquisition and maintenance. Microsoft Live@Edu brings the school at par with global institutions at no extra cost," M.I.Hussain, Principal of Delhi Public School Mathura Road said in a statement. 

Microsoft had tied up with the All India Council of Technical Education last month for deploying the cloud based service in around 10,000 technical institutes and colleges. Over 7.5 million students, faculty and staff would have got access to the service with the tie up. "The tie up with AICTE was the largest in the world, and this service has the potential to create a substantial number of educational reforms for the students," says Malik.