Microsoft and PowerSchool Partner to Reshape the Future of K-12 Education
January 18, 2018 at 10:29 am
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Microsoft Corp. and PowerSchool announced a new partnership that will bring together PowerSchool’s innovative K-12 technologies with Microsoft’s O365 for Education productivity suite, Windows devices, and cloud infrastructure to help ensure all students reach their full potential. Aligned around a shared vision that technology in education can help improve a child’s future opportunities, the companies have committed to leveraging their solutions to help educators, students and parents achieve their common goal of success in the classroom. By combining PowerSchool’s Unified Classroom and Student Information System with Microsoft’s productivity suite, Windows devices, and Azure infrastructure, the partnership will create classroom efficiencies, enable collaboration, and provide insights that allow teachers to spend more time teaching and less time focused on administrative tasks. Additionally, students will have the ability to engage with their teachers, other students, and classroom materials in ways that work best for them, and parents will be able to more easily understand and support their child’s progress. PowerSchool’s customers will also benefit from Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s secure and intelligent cloud. The partnership involves PowerSchool delivering apps on Azure which enables a high degree of scale and security, while providing a platform to more rapidly deliver innovations. The partnership will allow Microsoft and PowerSchool to reshape K-12 education in five key areas: Creating a unique and enhanced Unified Classroom experience; providing cloud infrastructure; Enabling Personalized Learning; Providing Valuable Insights and creating a community of educators.
Microsoft Corporation is the world's leader in the design, development and marketing of operating systems and software programs for PC's and servers. The group also builds and sells computer equipment. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- sale of operating systems and application development tools (47.9%): primarily for servers (Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, GitHub, etc.) and (Windows);
- development of cloud-based software applications (23%): programs for productivity (Microsoft 365; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access), integrated management and customer relationship management (Dynamics 365), online file sharing and management (OneDrive), and unified and collaborative communications (Skype and Microsoft Teams);
- sale of video gaming hardware and software (7.3%) : mainly Xbox;
- enterprise services (3.6%);
- sale of computers, tablets and accessories (2.6%);
- other (15.6%).
The United States accounts for 50.4% of net sales.