Microsoft Gulf launches Vista, Office and Exchange to business users

The new versions of Microsoft's landmark software have been developed to meet and help ease the increasing challenges of today's workplace, empowering people to make the greatest possible contribution to the business within which they work and simplifying their day to day tasks.

Windows Vista introduces a breakthrough user experience and is designed to help users feel confident in their ability to view, find, and organize information and to control their own computing experience. Similarly the 2007 Microsoft Office system helps simplify the challenges of today's workplace and gets more out of the tools used every day, such as Excel, Word and Power point. Exchange Server 2007 protects an organization-and its intellectual property with powerful, built-in antivirus and anti-spam capabilities, and provides the tools needed to keep an organization compliant.

'Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system are among Microsoft's most significant product innovations, representing years of research and development,' said Mr. Ali Faramawy, Vice President Microsoft Europe, Middle East & Africa and Regional Vice President, Microsoft Middle East & Africa. 'These products will help businesses overcome the challenges of our increasingly information-saturated world, enhancing the way people collaborate, communicate, protect and manage content, and find, use and share information.'

The Burj Al Arab, the most luxurious hotel in the world, wanted to offer its guests early access to pioneering IT and become one of Microsoft's early adopters for the new software.
'Our aim is to be different and an innovator at the cutting edge of technology' said Frederick Sabty, Director of IT at Burj Al Arab. 'We offer the world's best service, the best food and beverages, the most luxurious accommodation, and the best IT. We wanted to make it even easier for our guests to access their e-mail messages, the Internet, and multi-media without the hassle of moving from one Web site or channel to the next. By becoming an early adopter of a new system, we are putting our guests on the first step of a big staircase because eventually they will all be using it for business and leisure.'

Windows Vista, 2007 Office systems and Exchange Server 2007 will deliver value to businesses across the region by meeting the challenges that they are currently facing:

• Communicating across boundaries - In today's competitive business environment, it is increasingly critical for people to work together across boundaries, with each other, and with customers and partners. Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 provide accurate 'anywhere access' to essential information. People will be able to share information in innovative ways regardless of where they are. New capabilities enable people to manage all of their communication, including e-mail, voice mail, or instant messaging, from a single inbox-while enabling access to that inbox from multiple devices and locations. With these new tools, working away from the office or participating in meetings off-site becomes an easier, more productive experience. No matter where people are working from, they can confidently and easily collaborate with each other and gain access to information, all from within the familiar Microsoft Office system programs they already know and use.

• Protecting and managing content - One of the greatest challenges today's businesses face is finding a way to efficiently monitor and manage content generated within the organization. Simplifying business processes is key to supporting productive people. Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 help streamline complex and costly business processes so organizations can meet compliance requirements and efficiently manage content.

• Finding information and improving business insight - Always on, always connected. Today's business environment necessitates that people can find what or who they need-fast. Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 help companies maintain an advantage with pervasive search capabilities that return comprehensive results quickly and easily. New tools enable users to bring data from key corporate systems into Microsoft Office programs, so they can work with critical information within a familiar environment. These new releases provide business intelligence tools suitable for all of people and customizable to each person's role and needs. Together, these new products can help businesses make more informed decisions

• Reducing IT costs and improving security - More secure, easier to deploy, simpler to manage. Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Exchange Server 2007 will reduce IT costs by empowering people to better protect an organization from security threats, simplify desktop and server management, and reduce the cost and complexity of core infrastructure. The new releases of these products are more secure by design, with default settings that provide immediate enhanced security benefits to an organization-without lengthy customization processes. The complexity of deploying new software, adding new users, and managing ongoing updates has been greatly reduced. And the programs themselves are more reliable, more responsive, and better able to recover from system hangs or stalls.