REDMOND, Wash., May 28, 1997 — Dayton Hudson Corp., America’s fifth-largest retailer, today became the latest corporation to standardize on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 3.0, the world’s fastest-growing browser among corporations, consumers and Web professionals. The company is installing Microsoft Internet Explorer on 1,100 desktops, with an eventual rollout covering thousands of PCs, workstations and point-of-sale machines across the country.
After evaluating all leading browsers, Dayton Hudson said it was making the move because of the integration of Microsoft Internet Explorer with its existing software, the easy customization and management capabilities provided by the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit, and the ability to take advantage of existing applications using ActiveX
™
technologies.
Dayton Hudson, based in Minneapolis, operates large-store general merchandise formats, including discount stores, moderate-priced promotional stores and traditional department stores. The company operates 1,092 stores in 39 states, including 752 Target stores, 276 Mervyn’s stores and 64 department stores.
“With more than 1,000 locations throughout the country, the scope of our IT challenges in intranet deployment and maintenance could be staggering if we weren’t using Microsoft Internet Explorer,” said David Henshaw, manager of new media at Dayton Hudson. “Microsoft offers us the ideal choice to combine maximum functionality with tremendous savings in support costs.”
One reason Henshaw favors Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is that it integrates so well with Dayton Hudson’s software infrastructure, including Microsoft Office and the Windows NT® Workstation operating system. On the server side, the company is using a variety of products in the Microsoft BackOffice
™
family, including Windows NT Server, Internet Information Server and Microsoft Index Server, and development products including the Microsoft FrontPage
™
97 Web authoring and management tool, the Visual Studio
™development system, the Visual Basic® programming system and the Visual C++® development system.
In addition, Dayton Hudson was impressed by the ability to customize Microsoft Internet Explorer with the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit. Henshaw and his staff are using the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit to create a customized browser with the Dayton Hudson logo and configure the start page to the company home page.
The Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit also offers centralized management. IS managers can easily configure all the browser’s settings, which in turn reduces the need for help desk support. Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit could lead to a substantial reduction in these costs, Henshaw said.
The company is continuing to expand the use of its Microsoft Internet Explorer-based intranet. Already, the intranet supports online training, corporate publishing and interactive discussion boards. The intranet will be expanded to provide real-time collaboration between stores and corporate headquarters.
“It has always been our goal to provide the best browser possible for corporate customers,” said Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing in the applications and Internet client group at Microsoft. “It is particularly gratifying to get validation from a company such as Dayton Hudson, which has very aggressive plans for its intranet and clearly did its homework before choosing Microsoft Internet Explorer.”
Dayton Hudson joins the growing number of leading companies and organizations that have selected Microsoft Internet Explorer as their corporate standard. Those companies include Arthur Andersen L.L.P., Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., Catholic Healthcare West, Compaq Computer Corp., Continental Airlines Inc., Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P., Crestar Financial Corp., FINA Oil and Chemical Co., Intergraph Corp., Reynolds Metals, Sprint PCS, Telstra Corp., Wang Laboratories Inc. and Wheat First Butcher Singer.
For more information on companies that have selected Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the Microsoft Internet Explorer Business Solutions Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/corp/ .
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, ActiveX, Windows NT, BackOffice, FrontPage, Visual Studio, Visual Basic and Visual C++ 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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