In February, we shared our vision on the evolution of SharePoint, outlining our plans for continued cloud innovation with SharePoint in Office 365, and providing a glimpse of the work underway to deliver our next on-premises server release, SharePoint Server 2016.? With Ignite just a few weeks away, we’re getting ready to share more details on the innovation we’re bringing to SharePoint 2016. In the meantime, I wanted to provide an update on release timing and share some of the key enhancements and new capabilities we’re focused on.

Today, we are confirming that SharePoint Server 2016 will become generally available in Q2 2016, with a public beta planned for Q4 2015.? We also want to confirm our commitment to delivering on-premises releases of SharePoint for the foreseeable future. We envision a future where we will continue to have customers who choose a combination of on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployments for many years to come.? We’re excited to start sharing information on our SharePoint investments at Microsoft Ignite, so below I’ve highlighted some of the most relevant sessions to attend if you’re interested in learning more about the road ahead.

As we think about the next version of SharePoint Server, we’re paying close attention to trends in content management, team collaboration, user experiences across devices, and how the cloud can be blended into existing on-premises scenarios in new and compelling ways. In particular we are focused on delivering value to customers as part of their on-premises deployments, while at the same time making it easier to take advantage of cloud innovation thru hybrid deployments of SharePoint Server with Office 365. With that backdrop, SharePoint Server 2016 will deliver enhancements and new capabilities in three major areas:

• Improved user experiences
• Cloud-inspired infrastructure
• Compliance and reporting

Improved user experiences

Making decisions faster and keeping in contact are critical capabilities for increasing effectiveness in any organization. Users’ ability to access information while on the go is now a workplace necessity. SharePoint Server 2016 will provide improved mobile access to content, people and applications along with touch-based experiences across devices and screen sizes. It will make file storage and document collaboration more people-centric. And it will enable improved user experiences and capabilities derived from innovations in Office 365, available either as part of your on-premises deployment or through a hybrid implementation of SharePoint Server 2016 and Office 365. For example, users will be able to quickly discover contextually relevant information and data that is stored across both on-premises and cloud environments powered by Office Graph and Delve. And, we’re focused on helping you streamline communications with richer integration with Exchange and Yammer, as well as broadening access and management of new types of media thru integration with Office 365 Video as examples.

Learn more about improved user experiences and hybrid investments at Microsoft Ignite:

Implementing Next Generation SharePoint Hybrid Search with the Cloud Search Service Application

MVP Panel: SharePoint On-Premises, Online and Everything in Between

Cloud inspired-infrastructure

SharePoint 2016 is the first on-premises server release representative of our experience running SharePoint at scale in Office 365, bringing our own internal investments to your datacenter that improve performance, reliability and scale as well as enabling true hybrid scenarios that can enrich your existing on-premises investments.

In addition, with an improved, simplified user experience and integration with products such as the next release of Windows Server, the next generation of SQL Server, and Exchange Server 2016, SharePoint Server 2016 will simplify end-user training and support for IT.

Finally, we’re focused on enabling a broad ecosystem of solutions and partners through a standardized set of APIs and experiences that span on-premises and the cloud.

Learn more about how we’re reshaping SharePoint at Microsoft Ignite:

The Evolution of SharePoint:? Overview and Roadmap

What’s New for IT Professionals in SharePoint Server 2016

Compliance and reporting

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is non-negotiable, and overexposure to information can have legal and compliance implications. SharePoint Server 2016 will provide a broad array of features and capabilities designed to make certain that sensitive information remains protected?with investments in DLP, new scenarios to enable data encryption, and compliance tools that span on-premises servers and Office 365 while providing a balance between enabling user self-service and ensuring content usage adheres to corporate policy.

Dive into compliance and reporting with these selected Ignite sessions:

Microsoft SharePoint Data Security and Compliance

End-to-End Data Loss Prevention

Technology Adoption Program (TAP)

If you’re interested in providing feedback on early versions of SharePoint 2016, we invite you to nominate your company for the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). Joining the on-premises TAP provides companies with a number of advantages, such as providing input and feedback for future releases of SharePoint, Project Server, and/or Exchange Server; developing a close relationship with the product teams; and receiving Pre-Release information about SharePoint, Project Server and Exchange.

We look forward to seeing you at Ignite (May 4-8 in Chicago) where we’ll be sharing more details about SharePoint Server 2016, including a sneak-peek at an early version of the product. We’re excited about SharePoint Server 2016 and we’re sure you will be too!

—Seth Patton