Service Providers Experience Telco 2.0 With Microsoft

Microsoft highlights its platforms and services for the telecommunications industry, announces new partners and shows momentum for its services initiatives.

LAS VEGAS, June 16 -- This week at NXTcomm08, Microsoft Corp. will showcase its platforms and services that enable the transition to Telco 2.0, a new era of communications in which service providers will deliver hundreds, if not thousands, of new services. Through its portfolio of screens, services and service delivery infrastructure offerings, Microsoft will demonstrate how it helps service providers increase efficiency, rapidly create and deliver innovative new services, and improve the customer experience.

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"Our vision for service providers is to deliver the converged lifestyle to their customers, where they can access any content, over any network on any screen," said Martha Bejar, corporate vice president for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. "By providing the three critical components -- screens, services and service delivery -- we are helping meet the needs of the industry that is driving toward Telco 2.0. We believe that this combination of software plus services will offer the best business case to operators and deliver the best choice to consumers and businesses."

Screens

Microsoft will highlight the operating platforms that deliver a common experience across all screens -- including those on a PC, TV or mobile device -- in a user's life. At NXTcomm08, Microsoft will showcase Windows Mobile, a smartphone platform with phones available from 160 mobile operators in 55 countries. Windows Mobile works with 50 device-maker partners and has more than 140 phone designs shipping worldwide, giving end users and organizations a wide choice of devices and services to fit their individual needs and preferences.

In addition, Microsoft announced it has added several world-class partners to its Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and multimedia software platform ecosystem, further supporting the platform's progress in helping service providers deliver new connected TV services worldwide:

  -- System integrators -- HP, Tech Mahindra and 180Squared. The addition of
     these system integrators means service providers around the world will
     have various high-quality vendors to assist with deployments of
     Microsoft Mediaroom-powered service offerings.
  -- Quality of Service (QoS) assurance companies -- Agilent Technologies
     and IneoQuest. These companies' solutions help service providers ensure
     the highest QoS for deployments of Microsoft Mediaroom without
     compromising security or network performance.
  -- Encoder supplier -- Harris. Harris' NetVX SD video encoding lets
     service providers deploying Microsoft Mediaroom-powered services offer
     a high-quality and cost-effective platform for IPTV deployments.

Microsoft Mediaroom is now powering connected TV services on more than 2 million televisions worldwide. It took Microsoft Mediaroom 18 months to reach its first million TVs and only five months -- more than three times faster -- to reach its second million TVs.

Services

Microsoft will demonstrate a range of business and consumer services that can provide up-sell opportunities for operators across broadband/wireless networks. With the availability of the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration Version 4.5 (HMC 4.5) announced today, Microsoft offers service providers a robust platform to integrate into their networks and deliver streamlined communications services to businesses of all sizes.

Telefonica and Microsoft also announced today a strategic alliance to deliver convergent services for large enterprises in Spain, which will incorporate Microsoft's unified communications and collaboration solutions into Telefonica's Corporate IP service. Based on HMC 4.5 and Telefonica Corporate IP, the offering will allow users to easily access services such as directories, calendars, instant messaging, e-mail, presence and multi- conferencing, thereby helping boost their productivity. The alliance includes a schedule for making the new services available throughout 2009.

"The Telefonica and Microsoft joint unified communications services will allow corporations to respond better to critical situations, improve collaboration among professionals and work groups, and help reduce costs and simplify tasks," said Javier Aguilera, general manager for Large Enterprises at Telefonica Espana.

Nortel is the first partner who has completed integration of HMC 4.5, and a number of additional partners are working to enhance the platform, including BroadSoft Inc., Ensim Corp., ExtendASP, implement.com Corp., Parallels, Planet Technologies and Sylantro Systems Corp. These partners have built extended solutions, which range from delivering advanced voice capabilities to empowering end customers with hosting automation tools, as well as developing consulting practices for deployments, upgrades and further customization.

At NXTcomm08, Microsoft will showcase business services including unified communications powered by Microsoft and Nortel based on the HMC 4.5 and Nortel CS 2000, an Internet Protocol multimedia softswitch. This demonstration also incorporates Microsoft RoundTable and Microsoft Office Live Meeting, which provide the ability to communicate virtually anytime, anywhere and on any device. Consumer services include Comverse Visual Voicemail integrated with Microsoft Mediaroom, which enables customers to use the remote control to access voicemails through the TV.

Also announced today, Concentric and Microsoft launched new hosted e-mail service offerings for SMBs. Concentric, a large-scale e-mail service provider, is deploying Microsoft Hosted Exchange to expand its product offering by combining the productivity benefits of Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook with its easy-to-use Web hosting services.

Service Delivery

At NXTcomm08, Microsoft will also highlight its service delivery platform, Microsoft Connected Services Framework, and its customer care offerings including Microsoft Customer Care Framework and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which, combined, allow service providers to quickly and cost-effectively develop, deploy and manage new services. Additional demonstrations will showcase Microsoft's architecture for services syndication, and Microsoft Visual Studio with its suite of development tools for the creation of new types of services, including managed network mash-ups that combine traditional telecommunications services with Web services.

Microsoft's exhibit will also feature its development environment, Connected Services Sandbox, including a number of partners that have created new services in the Sandbox, including Artilium Plc, Schakra Inc. and Tech Mahindra. To further promote innovation in service creation for telecommunications providers, Microsoft recently announced the Connected Services Accelerator Program, a series of projects that uses the Sandbox to incubate, and ultimately commercialize, new types of consumer, business and mobile services through collaboration with independent software vendors, developers and partners. Microsoft will collaborate with SingTel on the program's first project, the Mobile Connected Services Accelerator, to develop a new, cutting-edge mobile application for a vertical industry.

Microsoft continues to build a thriving partner ecosystem, providing new levels of guidance, resources and support for the Sandbox. Nearly 30 premium partners have joined the Sandbox since February, including industry leaders such as Avanade, Logica, MetraTech Corp., SingTel and Wipro Ltd., which bring functionality ranging from location services and network management to billing. When combined with third-party services that also have been added to the Sandbox, such as Geocoder, ClearForest Sematic Web, Urban Dictionary, Microsoft MapPoint or LyricWiki, the partner portfolio now offers unparalleled potential for innovative new services.

Microsoft Participation at NXTcomm08

Microsoft executives will participate in the following educational sessions at the conference:

  Tuesday, June 17
  -- 1 p.m. -- ATIS TechThink 2008 conference, "Full-Scale Convergence: What
     Does It Look Like and How Do We Get There," Steve Zimba, managing
     director for Microsoft's Global Telecom Business
  -- 1 p.m. -- ATIS TechThink 2008 conference, "IPTV Implemented and
     Deployed - Now What," Edwin Lau, group product manager for Microsoft
     Mediaroom
  -- 4 p.m. -- IEC Communications Forums, "An SDP for the Telco 2.0 World,"
     Steve Zimba, managing director for Microsoft's Global Telecom Business

  Wednesday, June 18, 2008
  -- 10:55 a.m. -- NXTcomm Programming, "Connected TV - Why TV Is Joining
     the Internet Revolution," Christine Heckart, general manager of
     marketing for Microsoft Mediaroom
  -- 1 p.m. -- IEC Communications Forums, "Converged TV: Delivering Rich TV
     and Video Experiences on a Converged Platform," Edwin Lau, group
     product manager for Microsoft Mediaroom
  -- 2:30 p.m. -- IEC Communications Forums, "New Service Launches: Service
     Provider Lessons Learned," Derek Turner, senior product manager for
     Microsoft Mediaroom

Attendees who want additional information can visit Microsoft in booths SL5916 and SL5923 at NXTcomm08.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.