Microsoft Announces Windows Telecommunications Alliance

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 1, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the Windows® Telecommunications Alliance, a new industry program designed to support the more than 1,700 network equipment providers (NEPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) currently engaged in developing Microsoft® Windows operating system-based telecommunications solutions for the corporate and service provider markets. The Windows Telecommunications Alliance is designed to provide its members with information and resources that will help them successfully build business-engineering, marketing, sales and support infrastructures for telecommunications products based on the Windows platform. The Alliance is also designed to provide members with a forum for sharing technology and selling insights with Microsoft and each other, exchange best practices, and pass along business-to-business referrals.

“With more and more telecommunications solutions being developed on the Microsoft platform, we’ve recognized that it’s increasingly important to support the community driving that development,”
said Thomas Koll, vice president of the Network Solutions Group at Microsoft.
“The Windows Telecommunications Alliance allows our partners to gain from Microsoft’s experience with the platform and provides access to resources which help enable NEPs and ISVs to succeed in today’s competitive market.”

Windows Telecommunications Alliance Guidelines and Benefits

The telecommunications solutions available today on the Microsoft Windows platform include products focused at the corporate and service provider market and span a diverse range, including network infrastructure, advanced messaging solutions, customer relationship management, operations support and more. The Windows Telecommunications Alliance is aimed at enabling NEPs and ISVs to take advantage of these opportunities.

Starting today, participation in the Windows Telecommunications Alliance is open to all companies that meet program requirements for telecommunications product capability using the Windows platform, and is based on the three membership levels listed below. Members have access to varying levels of information and resources depending on their level of membership. There is no membership fee.

Industry Membership

The majority of participants will likely join at the industry member level. Industry members receive access to the following benefits:

  • A private community Web site,
    http://msdnisv.microsoft.com/windowsta/ supplies all members with a continually updated connection to Microsoft. The site includes access to secure technical product information and resources, early beta and product evaluation programs, sales and business development materials, market research and more. The site also details various educational training options (such as self-paced, instructor-led, online training) and technical reference and support materials (such as technical broadcasts, technical support questions and answers, technical white papers and sample code).

  • Marketing resources and access to other industry programs and initiatives are provided to all members to help them drive industry awareness, foster interoperability between products (and, as a result, lower the total cost of ownership), and promote collaboration in areas such as OSS/BSS, unified messaging and IP telephony. Members can also participate in Microsoft’s Partnering Forum, which facilitates teaming and joint development between member organizations.

  • Member logos will be provided to all members for use in promoting their involvement in the Windows Telecommunications Alliance as well as their unique expertise in providing communications products and solutions based on the Windows platform.

Business Affiliate

This membership includes all the benefits of industry membership while also providing companies with more direct support from Microsoft and further assistance with marketing activities (e.g., exposure in Microsoft directories and newsletter announcements), PR support and full participation in Microsoft’s Partnering Forum. In addition, Business Affiliates have access to AnswerLine, a unique technical support offering designed to aid product planners and developers during the architecture and product definition stages of product development. For example, developers will be able to submit product planning and design-level questions to Microsoft systems engineers in areas such as networking, operations support and unified messaging. Business affiliates must be nominated by Microsoft.

Premier Membership

Premier membership is the highest level of participation and carries more rigorous requirements, including additional demonstration of expertise on Microsoft products. It also provides the highest level of benefits, including account management status, access to joint marketing activities, enhanced PR support, and an invitation to participate in the Microsoft Partner Solution Center (a telecommunications-focused demonstration facility featuring an array of customer solutions). Premier membership also requires nomination by Microsoft.

“Microsoft’s development of the Windows Telecommunications Alliance is an example of the company’s willingness to extend expanded support to its developer community and indirectly to service providers,”
said Jeannette Noyes, research manager, Worldwide Telecom Markets, IDC.
“Alliance members will be able to support telecommunications service providers in developing and implementing innovative solutions that enable them to meet their goals in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

To date, participants in the Windows Telecommunications Alliance include Active Voice Corp., Aspect Communications Corp., AVT Corp., Baypoint Innovations, Cisco Systems Inc., Fenestrae Inc., Interactive Intelligence Inc., Intersis Technologies Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., MetaSolv Software Inc., NEC Corp., Nortel Networks Corp. and Portal Software Inc. Additional details about participation in the Windows Telecommunication Alliance can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/isn/windowsta/ .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.

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

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.


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Addendum

Active Voice

“Active Voice is a leading global provider of true unified messaging solutions that run on the Microsoft Windows NT® and Exchange platform,”
said Ken Myer, executive vice president of Active Voice.

Our participation in the Windows Telecommunications Alliance assures our customers, resellers and strategic partners that our Unity solution will not only continue to operate well on Microsoft platforms, but will also take advantage of all the powerful new features and advances Microsoft incorporates into Windows NT and Exchange.

Aspect Communications

“The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal allows companies to build eCRM applications that integrate front- and back-office, e-commerce and multimedia contact centers into one centrally managed e-business system,”
said Rod Butters, vice president of product strategy and marketing at Aspect Communications.
“We believe that being a part of Microsoft’s Windows Telecommunications Alliance will help us reach customers with integrated solutions optimized for success in today’s global economy.”

AVT

“AVT Corp. is very excited to be part of this strategic, new alliance,”
said Randy Ottinger, president of the CTI Software Group at AVT.
“By forming this alliance, Microsoft is leading the charge to help AVT and others to bring best-of-breed telephony applications to market quickly, based on the powerful Microsoft platform.”

Baypoint Innovations

“Baypoint Innovations, the advanced messaging division of Mitel Inc., has successfully extended Microsoft Exchange to provide true unified messaging through its OnePoint Messenger product line,”
said Mike Berlin, vice president and general manager of Baypoint Innovations.
“We value the technical collaboration and focused resources that the Microsoft Telecommunications Alliance and our relationship with Microsoft provides.”

Fenestrae

“Fenestrae addresses both corporate users and telecom service providers with solutions for the exchange of data, information and knowledge beyond the boundaries of a single organization or process. This will be key to the future of most companies,”
said Sandra van Leeuwen, strategic alliance manager at Fenestrae.
“We consider Windows 2000, preferably in combination with Exchange, an excellent platform for our unified messaging and mobile data server offering and are excited about the Windows Telecommunications Alliance, which allows industry-leading vendors like ourselves to provide and market solutions that truly contribute to our customers’ business needs.”

Interactive Intelligence

“We chose the Windows platform for our award-winning interaction management solution because of its interoperability, fault tolerance, networking, security and maintainability,”
said

Darren Gill, director of business development for Interactive Intelligence.

The Microsoft Windows Telecommunications Alliance gives additional credence to our choice by

exemplifying the company’s excellent support of its software vendor community. We attribute much of our success to the technology made possible by Microsoft.

Lucent

“Lucent has collaborated with Microsoft on a number of our key application segments for enterprises and application service providers,”
said Doug Sabella, president of the Enterprise Communications Applications Group at Lucent Technologies.
“We look forward to continuing our work with Microsoft so our customers can take full advantage of the strengths of the Windows platform in technology areas such as customer relationship management and unified messaging. The Windows Telecommunications Alliance is a clear indication that Microsoft is committed to providing businesses and service providers with the support and development environment they need to be successful in deploying Windows-based solutions.”

MetaSolv

“MetaSolv’s participation in the Microsoft Windows Telecommunications Alliance represents our commitment to sharing and promoting proven solutions and best practices for the converged telecommunications industry,”
said Dana Brown, vice president of marketing at MetaSolv.

Nortel

“This community has been very much in need of an industry program like the Microsoft Windows Telecommunication Alliance, and we are very excited to be one of the inaugural members,”
said Andy Thomas, director of Voice Services at Nortel Networks.
“The tools and resources provided through this alliance are critical to our success in building and deploying new next-generation, high-performance networking solutions, and the alliance also provides us with an important forum for collaboration with industry leaders such as Microsoft.”

Portal Software

“Portal Software Inc. is pleased to be a member of the Windows Telecommunications Alliance,”
said Jill Kyte, vice president of strategic alliances at Portal.

Portal has worked long-term with Microsoft in its OSS working group, benefiting our customers by providing them with the business infrastructure they need. Microsoft has brought together best-of-breed companies to develop total solutions designed for the Microsoft platform, and we are proud be part of its solution set. Portal’s Infranet real-time customer management and billing solution combined with other key telephony relationships can provide new revenue-generating opportunities for the telephony industry. Microsoft’s continuous innovation is very exciting, and Portal looks forward to working with Microsoft as part of the Windows Telecommunications Alliance.

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