Microsoft to Unveil Telecom Platform and Products Strategy At SUPERCOMM ’97

REDMOND, Wash., May 19, 1997 — On June 3 at SUPERCOMM ’97 in New Orleans, Microsoft Corp. plans to unveil a comprehensive telecom platform and product strategy, in conjunction with associates, to deliver and manage telecommunications services. The Microsoft® Windows NT® Server network operating system and the Microsoft BackOffice
™
family of server products are key to the solutions that Microsoft and its telecom associates are delivering to meet carriers’ mission-critical requirements.

“Carriers demand robust, scalable and interoperable service and management platforms to better capitalize on both existing and new market opportunities,”
said Bill Anderson, director of telecom industry marketing at Microsoft.
“Providers with these high-performance requirements are already deploying Windows NT Server for critical roles in delivering Internet services, managing testing and monitoring of their networks, and providing public safety emergency dispatch. Microsoft and our associates are committed to extending the portfolio of enhanced services and service management applications available for carrier deployment on this programmable telecom platform.”

Solutions from Microsoft and its telecom industry partners featured at SUPERCOMM ’97 focus on these key areas:

  • Signaling System 7. Signaling and control technologies for the public network, such as enabling technologies for Signaling System 7 (SS7) networks, help carriers extend a wide range of existing services and provide new ones. Microsoft plans to unveil its development work with a leading international supplier of telecommunications software to ensure that Windows NT Server 4.0 can serve as a platform for SS7 applications. The benefits of Windows NT Server-based solutions in this environment will be to help carriers achieve faster development and deployment of services as well as further innovation in service functionality in the public network, at a lower cost than is possible today.

  • Enhanced service platforms.

    Microsoft will feature enhanced telecommunications service platforms that enable full-featured Internet-based services, including virtual private networks and high-speed access. A highlight of Microsoft’s SUPERCOMM ’97 exhibit, the Microsoft Commercial Internet System (MCIS) is designed to be the best platform that service providers can use to deliver Internet services to their customers. MCIS offers a comprehensive set of extensible, standards-based, commercial-grade applications that are seamlessly integrated for implementing online commerce, efficient communications and collaboration, Web publishing, and building communities of interest.

A variety of other enhanced service platforms and customer premise equipment also will be showcased by Microsoft and its industry associates.

  • Service and network management.

    Microsoft and Vertel will announce progress on their joint development work to enable telecommunications management network (TMN) compliance for Windows NT Server and key Microsoft and third-party applications running on Windows NT Server. The technology and product sets will provide telecommunications industry customers with open, Internet-based management solutions that build on TMN standards.

Microsoft will also demonstrate Web-based enterprise management (WBEM) technology as a means of consolidating and unifying the data provided by existing management technologies. As a complement to TMN, WBEM facilitates a consistent view of the managed environment, letting service providers focus on management of the business in addition to the network elements.

Other products and enabling technologies for carrier operations support systems also will be demonstrated at SUPERCOMM ’97 by Microsoft and its associates.

  • Core platform products.

    Microsoft plans to showcase the latest features of Windows NT Server that are of particular importance to carriers in selecting base platforms for mission-critical telecommunications applications. Among these are cost-effective clustering technology to achieve increased system availability and scalability, interoperability with UNIX systems to protect carriers’ technology investments, and new server components to improve transaction performance and communications between applications across networks.

With these and other recent enhancements, Windows NT Server now offers the kind of robust, enterprise-level performance for telecommunications applications that previously were viewed as requiring UNIX or mainframe systems. Yet it offers this performance at much lower price points and with greater ease of installation, integration and management than other systems. Microsoft and its associates are continuously working to further enhance Windows NT Server and related products to serve the evolving needs of carriers worldwide.

Microsoft will outline its telecom platform and product strategy during SUPERCOM ’97 at a news conference on Tuesday, June 3, from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, room 91.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Windows NT and BackOffice are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, press only:

Francine Plaza, PLAZApr, (561) 477-9762, [email protected]

Karen Andring, Waggener Edstrom, (425) 637-9097, [email protected]

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