REDMOND, Wash., April 6, 2004 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a worldwide series of events for independent software vendors (ISVs) focused on how to best surmount today’s challenges and deliver the next generation of business applications with the Microsoft
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platform. The road show outlines Microsoft’s platform strategy, road map and enablement programs to help ISVs meet customer needs, overcome business pressures and master the latest technology. The road show begins in late April and goes through the end of May with events in 11 cities across nine countries.
“At Microsoft we have a long, shared history with ISVs based on delivering a platform for ISV business success in a dynamic marketplace,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of Developer and Platform Evangelism at Microsoft. “As ISVs juggle customer requirements, business pressures and technology change, we want to show them how to best overcome these challenges and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in the marketplace for ISVs today with the Microsoft platform.”
Parthasarathy outlined four key challenges facing ISVs today:
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Connecting to what customers have today. The ability to offer solutions that connect to and interoperate with a customer’s existing environment is a common sales and deployment hurdle.
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Extracting more value from existing applications. Every ISV wants to help its customers extract more value from today’s business applications to drive incremental revenue from existing customers.
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Extending and evolving into new markets. ISVs want to pursue new markets and opportunities, but they need a path to get there from today’s applications and assets that optimizes current research and development investments to maximize future innovation and opportunities.
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Delivering on the fundamentals. Customer requirements for fundamentals such as simplicity, manageability and security are continually being raised for all ISVs.
The worldwide ISV road show will detail how the Microsoft platform helps ISVs overcome these challenges through a mix of technology and business enablement including the following:
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Premier platform. With unparalleled scope and reach, the Microsoft platform offers incredible value for both ISVs and customers today.
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Worldwide platform popularity. As the world’s most popular and widely used software platform, the Microsoft platform gives ISVs the broadest opportunity into which to sell their applications.
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Pipeline of platform information. ISVs can tap not only today’s platform, but also the incredible array of future product and platformwide innovation coming for the Microsoft platform, including Microsoft SQL Server (TM) 2005; Visual Studio® 2005; “Whitehorse,” code name for a set of service-oriented architecture designers that will ship with Visual Studios 2005, formerly code-named “Whidbey”; the Dynamic Systems Initiative; Windows®
“Longhorn,” code name for the next major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system; and the Microsoft Business Framework. -
Empowerment and preparedness. Microsoft offers, and continuously invests in and expands, the industry’s best ISV technical enablement programs.
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Microsoft Partner Program. The new Microsoft Partner Program and Solution Competencies give ISVs the benefits of the comprehensive set of Microsoft programs as well as access to the more than 750,000 partners worldwide that sell, deploy and support solutions on and around the Microsoft platform.
Participants in the ISV events will receive detailed technology and business enablement road maps to help them plan and invest for the future.
ISVs can engage with Microsoft today by joining the Microsoft Partner Program and begin to take advantage of the wide range of partner offerings tailored specifically to help ISVs succeed with the Microsoft platform. ISVs seeking more information should visit http://www.microsoft.com/partner/ .
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