Dow Jones and Microsoft Announce Alliance

LAS VEGAS, April 8, 1997 — Dow Jones and Microsoft Corp. today announced an alliance that will combine their respective technologies and expertise in the development of new information and transactions systems for financial institutions worldwide. The companies said they are looking forward to demonstrating to their mutual customers the benefits of open platforms on end-to-end financial systems.

Earlier this year, Dow Jones announced a multiyear investment program that will enable its Dow Jones Markets unit to expand its content and services to meet the needs of its customers in all market segments, and to upgrade its delivery systems and presentation technologies based on open Internet standards. With Microsoft® technology and products, Dow Jones expects to be able to begin rolling out new capabilities later this year.

Dow Jones’ systems will benefit from a variety of Microsoft BackOffice
™family and desktop products, including the Windows NT® Server network operating system, Microsoft SQL Server
™
and ActiveX
™
technologies. Microsoft Consulting Services will assist Dow Jones in designing its desktop environment, taking full advantage of Internet-protocol technologies, and in developing future networking communications capabilities.

“Dow Jones understands the potential of the communications revolution to offer new products and services to its customers, and is leading the way as the financial services industry reinvents itself,”
said Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and CEO.
“Building on industry-proven hardware and software and open Internet standards, Dow Jones will be able to benefit its customers by bringing them end-to-end financial systems quickly and cost-effectively.”

The commitment announced today is a joint effort that takes advantage of each company’s core competencies. The alliance combines Microsoft’s proven enterprisewide operating systems and applications and its leadership in Internet technologies with Dow Jones’ wealth of content, delivery capabilities and transactional services.

“Dow Jones’ strategy for serving customers’ requirements into the next century is to establish strategic business alliances with world-class companies possessing key core competencies,”
said Kenneth L. Burenga, president of Dow Jones and CEO of Dow Jones Markets.
“By working closely with Microsoft, we will be staying ahead of the technology curve. With Microsoft’s assistance, Dow Jones intends to put our financial services customers at the center of their trading markets.”

In January, Dow Jones announced plans to invest up to $650 million in capital expenditures and increased development and operating expenses over the next 36 to 48 months in its Dow Jones Markets unit. Part of that investment is earmarked for building and providing to customers a comprehensive mix of historical data and analytical tools, as well as transactional and risk-management services for the fixed income, equities, foreign exchange, commodities and energy market segments.

Dow Jones is the only major global financial information services provider publicly committed to a future business strategy based on completely open and integrated technical standards.

Dow Jones is a leading global provider of news and market information, decision-support applications, trading room systems and transaction services for financial institutions. Dow Jones also publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, other business periodicals, business and financial newswires and community newspapers, and produces business television programming. Dow Jones Interactive Publishing, the electronic publishing arm, provides business and financial news and information products, including The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition on the World Wide Web and Dow Jones News/Retrieval.

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, BackOffice, Windows NT and ActiveX are either registered trademarks or 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.


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