Microsoft's BPOS cloud-hosted communication and collaboration suite suffered an outage on Wednesday, the latest in a string of technical problems in recent months. Microsoft’s BPOS cloud-hosted communication and collaboration suite suffered an outage on Wednesday, the latest in a string of technical problems in recent months.The problem apparently lasted for more than three hours and involved a networking hardware problem that affected customers in North America, according to updates posted by Microsoft on the Microsoft Online Twitter feed and by administrators in discussion forums.BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), which includes Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, has been hit by various outages dating back to August of last year.Microsoft has at different times acknowledged the problems and apologized for them, pledging to do better. In a statement on Wednesday, the company said the problem started at 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, and confirmed that “network equipment issues” in the data center were to blame.“All services have been restored. During this incident, customers were updated via social media channels, as access to the Service Health Dashboard was impacted by this incident. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers,” the statement reads. However, as outages continue, the performance and reliability of BPOS fall further into question at a particularly bad time for Microsoft, which plans to launch BPOS’ next version, Office 365, next week.Microsoft has very high expectations for Office 365, which will offer significant upgrades over BPOS and is designed to compete better against rival offerings like Google’s Apps cloud-hosted collaboration and communication suite.For example, the Office 365 applications are based on the 2010 editions of their on-premise versions, while the BPOS applications are based on the 2007 editions. In addition, Office 365 offers the option of having Microsoft Office applications, which BPOS lacks. Office 365 can have Office Web Apps or the stronger Office 2010 Professional Plus suite.In discussion forum threads, BPOS administrators expressed frustration with the string of outages and skepticism about Microsoft’s ability to provide reliable uptime for the upcoming Office 365. Related content feature Top cybersecurity M&A deals for 2023 Fears of recession, rising interest rates, mass tech layoffs, and conservative spending trends are likely to make dealmakers cautious, but an ever-increasing need to defend against bigger and faster attacks will likely keep M&A activity steady in By CSO Staff Sep 22, 2023 24 mins Mergers and Acquisitions Mergers and Acquisitions Mergers and Acquisitions brandpost Unmasking ransomware threat clusters: Why it matters to defenders Similar patterns of behavior among ransomware treat groups can help security teams better understand and prepare for attacks By Joan Goodchild Sep 21, 2023 3 mins Cybercrime news analysis China’s offensive cyber operations support “soft power” agenda in Africa Researchers track Chinese cyber espionage intrusions targeting African industrial sectors. By Michael Hill Sep 21, 2023 5 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Cyberattacks Critical Infrastructure brandpost Proactive OT security requires visibility + prevention You cannot protect your operation by simply watching and waiting. It is essential to have a defense-in-depth approach. By Austen Byers Sep 21, 2023 4 mins Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe