By connecting Windows Phone 7.5 to Office 365—the online service that melds mobile versions of familiar Microsoft Office applications with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online—your agency’s workers can be business-ready, whether they’re at the office or on the go. The intuitive Outlook Mobile interface simplifies email, IM, and SMS communication and can make task management easier. Lync 2010 for Windows Phone shows the availability of coworkers and supports real-time collaboration through multi-party IM and conferencing features. SharePoint Workspace Mobile provides more secure access to SharePoint sites, and Office Mobile can make editing and sharing Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations faster and easier.

To further empower mobile workers and remote collaboration, the new Wi-Fi Internet Sharing capability turns a Windows Phone device into a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling the connection of up to five devices while meeting standard configuration and security requirements, such as WPA2. Local Scout can help you find nearby restaurants, shops, and activities. You can then get relevant information about the different places to help you decide where to go.

Leveraging their existing skills in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight, Microsoft XNA Framework, and Microsoft Expression tools, developers can build robust applications for Windows Phone. A comprehensive software development kit (SDK), available for free, supports the creation of end-user experiences that are uniquely optimized for the mobile environment. Through Office 365, development for Windows Phone 7.5 is cloud-ready, or it can be combined with a client-based approach. Developers can create new apps that integrate with Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure. They can also extend existing web applications to Windows Phone with Internet Explorer 9 Mobile and feature-rich HTML 5. And delivering applications to end users can be much easier via the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Security is paramount in any mobile device, and Windows Phone 7.5 builds on a proven array of defense technologies, beginning with 128-bit to 256-bit SSL encryption and secure access to on-premises applications and network resources using Forefront Universal Access Gateway (UAG). Information Rights Management further protects sensitive emails and documents. Windows Phone 7.5 supports IT-managed Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) 14.1 protocols for passwords (including complex PINs), remote wipe capabilities, and other safeguards. Through certification of applications and content, Windows Phone Marketplace helps to ensure integrity and reliability so agencies can download and deploy them with confidence.