Microsoft Teams With Leading Hosting Service Providers To Deliver All-in-One Electronic Commerce and Hosting Solution

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 5, 1999 — Responding to enormous demand from customers, Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Complete Commerce, a packaged electronic commerce solution for medium-sized to large enterprise businesses looking to host commerce-enabled Web sites through hosting service providers. Microsoft, working with Compaq Computer Corp. and Intel Corp., will team with 10 premier commerce-hosting service providers to offer customers an all-in-one hosting solution that covers the spectrum of electronic commerce needs.

These service providers are establishing relationships with Microsoft® Certified Solution Providers to deliver solutions where in-house services are not offered. Complete Commerce includes consulting, Web development, hosting services, entire order processing and delivery, a well-defined delivery timetable and an attractive price point.

“Microsoft is pleased to work with 10 premier hosting service providers that are so well positioned to meet the enormous market demand for commerce-based services,”
said Thomas Koll, vice president of the Internet customer unit at Microsoft.
“As single contact points for integrated hardware, software and services, these service providers will combine their unique operations skills with application expertise on the Microsoft Windows NT® Server platform to securely manage, monitor, scale and expand their customers’ commerce sites.”

With the introduction of Complete Commerce, Fortune 2000 customers that sell hard goods can benefit from a high-end package designed to bring robust electronic commerce solutions online fast, without the burden of having to locate, qualify and coordinate hardware, software, service and training components. Complete Commerce helps service providers deliver reliable, personalized, transaction-based storefronts with built-in extensibility. Complete Commerce is scalable because it is based on the Microsoft commerce platform, which is designed to expand to meet a company’s growing electronic commerce needs.

Deployment Kit Helps Hosting Service Providers Deliver a Complete Commerce Service

Hosting service providers can download the Complete Commerce deployment toolkit today from http://www.microsoft.com/isn/network/commercehosting/comtoolkit.asp . The integrated toolkit offers setup, configuration, deployment and sales tools for hardware and software needed to deploy a commerce service. Deployment of such a service enables service providers to offer customers the resources they need to host, manage, monitor, analyze and conduct transactions over electronic commerce sites. The toolkit includes a variety of integrated training and support components, featuring Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition, as well as information on how to integrate Cybercash for flexible payment processing, TanData for shipping and logistics, TAXWARE International for calculating taxes on orders, and ProLiant servers from Compaq with Intel® Pentium® II and Pentium II Xeon
™
processors.

“Compaq has worked closely with Microsoft to develop the Complete Commerce deployment toolkit, which provides the hosting service provider with tested methods for easily deploying a reliable commerce environment,”
said Ronnie Ward, vice president and general manager, enterprise solutions division, Compaq.
“These guides include best practices for load-balancing, security, clustering and database servers – from a single server to Compaq’s Distributed Internet Server Array – and are available in Compaq’s activeAnswers extranet.”

“The availability of exciting and innovative applications like electronic commerce with Intel’s Pentium II Xeon processor has taken a quantum leap,”
said Dave Cowan, vice president, enterprise server group, Intel.
“Intel processor-based servers now provide customers with a complete range of solutions offering improved scalability, additional reliability and enhanced manageability as they conduct business over the Internet.”

New Directory Helps Companies Locate Hosting Service Providers

To meet the high demand for this type of service, Microsoft announced the launch of the Commerce Solution Directory, a convenient way for businesses to locate ISPs and other hosting service providers qualified to meet their commerce-hosting requirements. Located at http://www.microsoft.com/dns/nextsteps/expert.htm on the Microsoft
“digital nervous system”
Web page, the Commerce Solution Directory contains information that describes the unique value that each premier service provider offers. The directory also provides information about service providers that deliver lower-end commerce-hosting services, making it easy for companies to begin discovering electronic commerce solutions of any size or type.

Currently, the following service providers are offering the Complete Commerce solution: American Information Systems (AIS) Inc., Concentric Network Corp., Data Return Corp., Digex Inc., GTE Internetworking, Icon CMT Corp., MCI WorldCom Advanced Networks, Northwest Nexus Inc., USinternetworking Inc. and USWeb/CKS.

Commerce-hosting service providers interested in exploring a profitable new business model by providing the Complete Commerce solution and being listed in the Commerce Solution Directory can visit http://www.microsoft.com”/isn/market_strat/commercehostingdefault.asp . From this site, service providers can download the Complete Commerce toolkit and related content.

Intel ( http://www.intel.com/businesscomputing/ebusiness/index.htm ) and Compaq ( http://www.compaq.com/solutions/ecommerce/index.htm ) will be offering links to the

Commerce Solution Directory, while adding additional value to Deployment Kit from within their respective Web sites.

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 and Windows NT 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.

Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks and Xeon is a trademark of Intel Corp.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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