REDMOND, WASH. AND CAMBRIDGE, MASS., Aug. 6, 2001 — Microsoft and Peoplestreet TM , the leading provider of Personalized Relationship Marketing Services (PeRM), today announced a strategic alliance that will bring the power of Peoplestreet LiveCards TM to users of the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system.
As part of this alliance and Peoplestreet’s commitment to meet or exceed the Designed for Windows XP specifications, Microsoft will showcase Peoplestreet in the new Windows Catalog, offering users of Windows XP a direct link to Peoplestreet, where they can create and send self-updating electronic business cards called LiveCards. Once on the Peoplestreet site, users will have the ability to download the LiveCard Companion for Outlook® , offering them the ability to store and send LiveCards directly within the Outlook® messaging and collaboration client. In addition, Peoplestreet will support single sign-in with Microsoft Passport, speeding the login and registration process.
“Peoplestreet’s Services complement the Microsoft .NET strategy of developing XML-based Web services that integrate across multiple systems and devices,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, vice president of Platform Strategy at Microsoft. “With LiveCards, businesses running Windows XP have a new customer retention and loyalty tool, without having to change the way they work, and consumers have a great way to keep in touch with friends and family as they move and change jobs.”
“Our alliance with Microsoft provides massive exposure of the Peoplestreet LiveCard Service to users of Windows XP worldwide,” said Alper Caglayan, CEO of Peoplestreet. “Working with Microsoft, we will be able to bring new .NET-based services to market faster and more efficiently, plus serve the vast network of enterprises building their businesses on the Microsoft platform.”
Also announced today is the LiveCard Companion for Outlook 2002, part of the Office XP suite of productivity software, which will enable Peoplestreet members to add LiveCards they receive from others directly into their Outlook address book with one click, saving them the time-consuming task of re-entering contact information. In addition, with the LiveCard Companion for Outlook 2002, Peoplestreet members can edit their LiveCards, create new LiveCards and change their account preferences directly from the Windows XP desktop, allowing them added functionality, without interfering with their daily workflow. The LiveCard Companion for Outlook 2002 will be available from http://www.peoplestreet.com/ later this fall. Peoplestreet currently offers LiveCard Companions for Microsoft Outlook 2000, and today additionally announced support for Outlook 98 customers, further expanding the reach and value of the LiveCard Services.
The Peoplestreet Web site will also be Passport-enabled, allowing Passport users to quickly and easily register and log in to the Peoplestreet Service with a single sign-in. The Passport single sign-in (SSI) service lets users create one name and password to access all Web sites participating in the Passport service. With this, users do not have to create or remember additional sign-in names and passwords. The strategic alliance also calls for the companies to work together on future development efforts around Peoplestreet Services for Microsoft products.
About Peoplestreet
Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Peoplestreet is a leader in the development of innovative Personalized Relationship Marketing (PeRM) Web Services making it easy for people to stay in touch and communicate with one another. The company offers a suite of outsourced business Services to strengthen marketing communication, customer retention and loyalty as well as enhance online branding initiatives. For the individual, Peoplestreet provides a Personal LiveCard Service for keeping in touch with friends, family, and businesses. More information is available online at http://www.peoplestreet.com/.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) 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.
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