Microsoft Announces Support for Siebel eBusiness 2000

REDMOND, Wash., and SAN MATEO, Calif., April 18, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) today announced support for Siebel e Business 2000, the complete and comprehensive family of eBusiness applications software available today from Siebel Systems Inc. (Nasdaq
“SEBL”
). Siebel e Business 2000 on the Microsoft® platform allows organizations to manage, synchronize and coordinate sales, marketing and customer service across all communication channels and points of customer contact – including the Web, the call center, field and service, and reseller channels.

Siebel e Business 2000 on the Microsoft platform delivers broad customer benefits such as increased productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction and maximized revenue and profits, and builds on the long-standing technology and business relationship between the two companies. Microsoft and Siebel Systems’ extensive technology integration enables large, complex organizations to be more effective in selling, marketing and servicing their customers by capitalizing on every moment of value in each customer interaction – any time, any place, in any currency and in any language.

“The eBusiness and customer relationship market is one of the most important and fastest-growing segments of the Internet economy,”
said Ian Rogoff, vice president of the Enterprise Partner Group at Microsoft.

Key business solutions such as Siebel e Business 2000 allow us to continue to deliver the business value our customers demand from the Microsoft platform, and Siebel e Business 2000 is making this happen for us in the industry.”

Customers Benefit From Technology Integration

Siebel e Business 2000 utilizes many Microsoft products such as the Windows® 2000 operating system, Microsoft SQL Server TM 7.0, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Project and the Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client. The seamless integration of Siebel e Business 2000 and Microsoft products on a single platform provides customers with consistent and easy-to-manage solutions, resulting in lower total cost of ownership. Siebel e Business 2000 running on Windows 2000 enables organizations to improve the effectiveness of their customer relationships, as well integrate sales, marketing and service with other line-of-business systems. Siebel e Business 2000 is certified to run on Windows 2000 and SQL Server 7.0.

“Microsoft is a valued strategic partner for Siebel Systems and the hundreds of customers who rely on the Microsoft platform for its consistency, ease of use and manageability,”
said Bruce Cleveland, vice president of Alliances at Siebel Systems.

Today, more than 250 customers use Siebel e Business Applications on Microsoft SQL Server to run their enterprise businesses. SQL Server is an important enabling platform for Siebel e Business 2000.”

Through technological collaboration such as the integration of OLE DB, provider, organizations will be able to access data natively from Siebel e Business 2000 – allowing customers to integrate Siebel data with data from other systems within their business. Integration with Microsoft Outlook for Siebel e Service and Siebel e Marketing, will help enterprise corporations manage their vast amounts of service requests via e-mail and use electronic means to deliver personalized marketing messages to customers. World-class customers like ProBusiness Services Corp. stand by Microsoft SQL Server for large-scale deployments of Siebel e Business Applications.

“ProBusiness is dedicated to providing the best customer service in the industry. That’s why our client satisfaction ratings are the highest among our peers,”
said Jerry Blalock, executive vice president and group general manager for ProBusiness Services, a leading provider of outsourced employee administrative services, human resources software and Web-based solutions for large employers.
“We have to continue delivering high-quality service, and we’re doing that by investing in systems like Siebel, and partnering with companies like Microsoft, in support of our growing client base.”

In addition, the end-user experience is enhanced through Office 2000 integration, ensuring consistency and ease of use for proposal generation and mail-merge functionality. Professional services also manage complex projects through extensive Microsoft Project integration. At all levels within an organization, customers realize seamless integration between Siebel e Business 2000 and the Microsoft platform.

Longstanding Relationship Results in Better Products

Microsoft and Siebel’s strategic relationship, forged over three years ago, means better products for customers through the integration of Microsoft technologies and Siebel e Business Applications. The longstanding relationship has helped Siebel Systems take advantage of Microsoft technologies for improved functionality, scalability and performance, ease of use and manageability. Recently, Siebel Systems opened the Siebel Development Center in Bellevue, Wash., to focus on the development of Siebel products based on Microsoft technologies.

In addition to the extensive engineering and product testing activities, the relationship incorporates many facets of software development. An early adopter program allows the companies to prove future products in real-world customer scenarios, and the two companies regularly engage in joint marketing activities. Siebel is currently participating in Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management eBusiness Conference road show.

About Siebel Systems

Siebel Systems Inc. is the world’s leading provider of eBusiness applications software. Siebel Systems provides an integrated family of eBusiness application software enabling multichannel sales, marketing and customer service systems to be deployed over the Web, call centers, field, reseller channels, retail and dealer networks. Siebel Systems’ sales and service facilities are located in more than 28 countries. For more information, please visit Siebel’s Web site at http://www.siebel.com/ .

About Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is an ideal platform for the next generation of business computing and addresses the full range of customers’ computing needs, from laptops and desktops to high-end clustered servers. The operating system helps organizations Internet-enable their business with a reliable, manageable infrastructure that is optimized for existing and emerging hardware. More information about Windows 2000 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/ .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies 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 Outlook 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.

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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