Toyota and Microsoft Expand Collaboration

Toyota will continue the partnership with Microsoft, for the development of its communications and collaboration infrastructure among its companies.

In June 2012, Toyota Motor Sales USA and its affiliates in North America began using the Microsoft Office 365-dedicated cloud services as their exclusive environment. For its overseas affiliates, including Japan, the automaker will create a hybrid model, with on-premises editions of Windows Server, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange.

In the following two years, more than 200,000 Toyota employees will be able to access these services. The Microsoft platform plants to reduce costs, improve collaboration between employees and to better support mobile devices. The platform will offer state-of-the-art enterprise social networking, information-sharing tools, messaging and conferencing.

“We strongly believe that Microsoft has the most capable platform that delivers ease, excellence and efficiency required to provide the communication experience our employees expect,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, managing officer at Toyota.

In April 2011 Toyota and Microsoft closed a deal for the Windows Azure cloud platform, which offered next-generation telematics services. This recent collaboration means that Toyota expanded that initial investment and is willing to take part in Microsoft’s early adopter programs to test new products before they are released.