CeBIT 2010: Microsoft goes for the Cloud

It is anticipated that the new version of Microsoft Office 2010 will be available from June of this year. Europe’s largest automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen AG, is already using a Beta version: „We decided to use Office 2010 because the way it can be used for efficient teamwork – both inside Volkswagen and with development partners – promotes productivity“ notes Klaus Hardy Muehleck, CIO at Volkswagen AG. Volkswagen also relies on Windows 7, which will be rolled out concern-wide starting this year.

Microsoft Germany has announced a partnership for its Outlook Social Connector with the XING business network. For German users, this will turn the Outlook inbox into a messaging center, keeping them up to date with the activities of their business contacts. The XING plug-in is expected to be available on www.xing.com/outlook at the same time as Microsoft Outlook 2010, which should arrive in June of this year. „This cooperation with Microsoft unites the advantages of the most successful business network in Germany with the best-loved form of communication in everyday working life” says Stefan Gross-Selbeck, CEO at XING AG. “It combines both central elements of workday online existence – the personal network and one’s own postbox.“

Online Services and Cloud applications based on Windows Azure have been available since last year in Germany and have generated strong interest in the marketplace. Many sales partners have already been brought onboard, including Accenture, Atos Origin, BT, CSC, Hewlett-Packard, Logica, T-Systems and Vodafone. Microsoft Online Services, which includes Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, was already in use at more than 500 company customers just a few months after it was introduced. More than 500 partner organizations with a total of 3000 consultants are supporting customers in placing their applications online. Microsoft Germany expects at least 1600 new customers this year alone. According to the market research company Gartner, Cloud Computing has in the meantime claimed second place in the priority lists of CIOs for the year 2010. And Microsoft takes a leading position in all of this.

Marking the occasion of CeBIT, Microsoft and Deutsche Post have announced a sales partnership for hosted CRM services. Based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Deutsche Post will in future offer its business customers a platform for dialog, sales and service management services on the Internet. Under the name „Dialogmanager Online“ Deutsche Post customers can realize their own customer management and numerous dialog marketing tasks professionally by means of Dynamics CRM.

Daimler AG has been marketing the ‘smart fortwo electric drive’, the first battery-driven electrical vehicle produced under volume production conditions, since the middle of December. When the battery is charged, it establishes a connection with the Internet. For this purpose, Daimler and Microsoft have jointly developed a new application in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. The driver can continually follow the charging process of the battery and also show the location of the vehicle and the nearest electrical charging station on an interactive Bing map with modern 3-D views. The information can be called up at any time and from anywhere via a desktop browser, or alternatively from a Smartphone when on the move.

Microsoft presents the potential that innovative technologies can offer schools in a digital classroom that also shows how important new applications are. During the trade show, more than 500 pupils receive daily lessons in the 150 square-meter classroom on Microsoft Stand A26 in Hall 4. The equipment used includes the online platform Live@EDU, notebooks, netbooks, Windows 7 multi-touch capable operating systems and surface tables as well as digital whiteboards and videoconferencing technology.

The RWE AG energy concern and Microsoft Germany are working together on energy-efficient next-generation living with the help of information technology. The „SmartHome“ project is intended to reduce energy costs, increase living comfort and improve the personal energy balance of the user. The heart of SmartHome is a controller that switches on and off heating, lights and household devices as and when needed. It automatically shuts off, for example, radiators when a window in the room is opened. In addition, electrical devices can be switched on and off at will through the use of intelligent wireless-controlled electrical power outlets. Of particular advantage here is the simple integration of former island solutions without having to install new cabling in the walls. This makes the system just as interesting for small rented apartments as for larger houses. The Microsoft technologies used include Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows CE, Office Communication Server 2007 R2, Silverlight, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio Team System 2008.

Schwoerer Haus, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of prefabricated houses, also offers next-generation intelligent living with „HomeOne“. Together with the High-Def Technology Company, a comfortable, modern and above all affordable smart home system has been developed. The core of the system installation is a touchpanel running the Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 operating system that controls important functions and items of household equipment such as lighting and heating, security and various entertainment functions (music, TV, Internet).

Up to 20 hours of film material are uploaded to video platforms every minute, 62% of adults watch at least one online video per month, and to this must be added the approximately 180 billion photographs and films on private PCs. To simplify handling of these masses of images, the Fraunhofer Telecommunications Institute and the associated Heinrich Hertz Institute have developed a tool for structure recognition in videos. This allows films to be separated into individual scenes, shots and sub-shots fully automatically. With the help of this segmentation, a detailed table of contents can be created for individual videos in the Internet or for the home. Image sequences being searched for can be found quickly and precisely, thus eliminating the tiresome searching for individual scenes or specific sections. The tool is based on Visual Studio 2010, with a Silverlight frontend ensuring ease of use. More information in English can be found under http://www.shotdetection.de.

Further information, as well as numerous images and a recording of the main press conference is available under http://www.microsoft.de/presse; a Social Media newsroom can be found at http://www.microsoft.de/social/newsroom.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

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