Partnering for Microsoft Office Live Communications Server IM Ecosystem Escalates

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 15, 2003 — Today at Instant Messaging Planet Conference & Expo Fall 2003, Microsoft Corp. announced IM industry partner growth that demonstrates broad support for Microsoft®
Office Live Communications Server 2003, which delivers an enterprise-grade instant messaging (IM) platform, extensible real-time collaboration functionality and presence capabilities.

Designed from the ground up on Session Initiation Protocol, Live Communications Server provides a solid foundation for building innovative and customized solutions for IM, voice, video and data collaboration, enabling corporations to take advantage of real-time communications as a business asset.

“We are thrilled to see partner momentum building to fulfill the demand for a variety of solutions built on the fundamental real-time capabilities provided by Live Communications Server 2003,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, general manager of the Live Communications Group at Microsoft and keynote speaker at the Instant Messaging Planet Conference & Expo Fall 2003 on Oct. 16. “We’re excited about extending a more secure, extensible and manageable platform to our partners that can respond to market demand for innovative solutions that enhance information worker productivity.”

Live Communications Server, released to manufacturing in August, is an integral part of the 2003 edition of the Microsoft Office System, which is designed to better connect people with each other, information and business processes across an organization to transform knowledge and data into results.

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Industry Partners Support Live Communications Server

Akonix Systems Inc.

Akonix Systems Inc. provides software to extend the value of IM for users of Live Communications Server. Akonix L7 Enterprise enables Live Communications Server users to utilize external IM capabilities with similar enterprise-class features through its authorized access to MSN®
Messenger Connect for Enterprise.

“We welcome the introduction of Live Communications Server because it will create significant momentum for enterprise IM,” said Peter J. Shaw, president and chief executive officer of Akonix Systems. “Akonix will help these organizations implement safe, compliant enterprisewide IM by extending the security and management offered by Live Communications Server.”

Applied Messaging Corp.

“Applied Messaging is developing a service that leverages instant-messaging platforms to gather the right people at the right time in a rich collaboration environment,” said Chuck Digate, chief executive officer of Applied Messaging. “By integrating our service with Microsoft Live Communications Server, customers can combine their enterprise instant-messaging system with our innovative collaboration service.”

AtHoc Inc.

AtHoc Inc., a provider of real-time notifications and subscriptions systems deployed at blue-chip companies, including Accenture and eBay, integrated its Enterprise Notifications Suite with Live Communications Server to enable delivery of real-time business notifications directly to users’ desktops. The integrated solution gives enterprise users the ability to subscribe to notifications originating in their business applications or external sources while receiving them in real time via Windows®
Messenger, e-mail or mobile devices.

“Live Communications Server is enabling us to fulfill a critical demand for real-time notifications in applications for companies in financial services, homeland security and defense, and other knowledge-intensive markets,” said Guy Miasnik, president and chief executive officer of AtHoc.

FaceTime Communications Inc.

FaceTime Communications Inc. provides the controls to safely extend Live Communications Server to other enterprise applications that depend on real-time communications for universal reach. Organizations already leveraging FaceTime’s enterprise IM solutions can easily deploy Live Communications Server and benefit from its enterprisewide collaboration capabilities.

“We see the availability of Live Communications Server as a critical go-ahead for integrating presence and instant messaging into a wide variety of business applications,” said Jonathan Christensen, vice president of products and chief technology officer at FaceTime Communications. “By combining our leadership and technological innovation with Microsoft and other industry bellwethers, FaceTime can continue to deliver best-of-breed solutions that enable the real-time enterprise.”

Fenestrae

Fenestrae will extend Live Communications Server to wireless devices with secure IM, capable of reaching 1.2 billion cell phones. IM has become a mission-critical tool, but with more than 60 percent of users being mobile workers who need access away from their desk, extending Live Communications Server functionality beyond the desktop is key.

“Now that IM is becoming mission-critical, customers need a secure enterprise-class solution like Live Communications Server,” said Wim de Koning, founder and chief executive officer of Fenestrae. “We have been working closely with Microsoft to make sure that we can extend the Live Communications Server value proposition into the wireless space as well as provide secure, reliable IM to the 1.2 billion cell phones out there in use today.”

IM-Age Software Inc.

IM-Age Software Inc. sees Live Communications Server as a significant contributor to increasing workplace productivity. Through its integration with the most widely accepted computing applications, Live Communications Server will launch IM and its associated benefits into the enterprise work environment.

“We feel that Live Communications Server will be the fundamental building block for the successful implementation of any ‘business-sanctioned’ IM service offering,” said David Pulaski, chief executive officer of IM-Age Software. “We are excited about the impact and value that Microsoft is bringing to the instant-messaging market with its launch of Live Communications Server.”

IMlogic Inc.

IMlogic Inc., a provider of instant-messaging management for Live Communications Server, enables IM communications to be logged, audited and securely bridged beyond the firewall. IMlogic’s core technology powers its IM Manager, deployed today to more than 300,000 seats across numerous vertical industries.

“IMlogic is pleased to be a pioneer in building solutions that leverage the Live Communications Server platform,” said Francis DeSouza, president and chief executive officer of IMlogic. “Our long-standing technology relationship with Microsoft has enabled us to secure early market leadership in enabling enterprise deployments of this new real-time communications platform.”

The Mesa Group

The Mesa Group, a provider of software solutions for multilingual environments, has released its Translation Module for Live Communications Server IM. Developers also are able to use Translation Module for Live Communications Server for multilingual capability of real-time communications into custom applications.

“Multinationals are seeking the tools and technology to execute faster and smarter for the global scale on which multinationals now operate,” said Richard Kreidler, vice president of Sales and Services at the Mesa Group. “Today’s customers realize the value of translation technology because of the immediate return on investment realized by leveraging the global marketplace of customers, employees, partners and suppliers.”

MessageCast Inc.

MessageCast Inc., a provider of automated messaging applications, adds industrial-strength IM broadcasting capabilities to Live Communications Server. Easy-to-use MessageCaster includes the ability to create, schedule, broadcast and store IM alerts and notifications and has full administrator controls, logging and reporting.

“We’re seeing a lot of traction for Live Communications Server and messaging within large organizations,” said Royal P. Farros, chief executive officer of MessageCast. “The benefit of a truly collaborative environment isn’t a future thing any longer, it’s most definitely here and now.”

Vayusphere Inc.

Vayusphere Instant Response is a standards-based platform particularly suited for call centers and help desks in the financial services, healthcare and service provider markets, where the integration of presence awareness and IM with line-of-business applications can dramatically reduce the costs of delayed response.

“Compelling applications that result from Vayusphere’s relationship will connect Live Communications Server to line-of-business applications,” said Pushpendra Mohta, chief executive officer of Vayusphere. “By intelligently routing actionable messages from applications and instantly capturing responses from Live Communications Server users, Vayusphere Interactive Agents can drive down the costs of delayed response.”

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