Microsoft Qatar kicks off most significant product launch in Microsoft's history

Designed to enable businesses to thrive in a world of instant communication, expanding information and constant change, the new products provide a platform that will transform the way people turn information into opportunity and growth.

Today's announcement that Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office release are available to volume licensing customers marks the beginning of the most significant product launch in company history and the first simultaneous release of Microsoft's flagship products since the joint launch of Windows® 95 and Office 95 more than a decade ago.

Exchange Server 2007 is slated for release to organizations with volume license agreements by the second week in December. Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system will be released to consumers and organizations without volume license agreements on January 30.

According to Mohammad Hammoudi, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar, the new versions of Windows, the Office release and Exchange Server are the result of an unprecedented collaboration between Microsoft and its customers. Real-life scenarios guided product development through feedback from customers who volunteered to let Microsoft watch them work in more than 1 billion user sessions. During testing, customers from around the world downloaded more than 5 million beta versions of the three products and provided valuable feedback and suggestions.

"These products deliver game-changing innovation," Mohammad Hammoudi. "We've made extraordinary investments in research and development, and Windows Vista, the 2007 Office system and Exchange Server have been tested more thoroughly than any other software products in history."

Early Adopters See Clear Business Value

Aspire Sports Academy in Qatar, which provides some of the best training facilities available, understands the importance of data in an athlete's development. Employees work with a range of important documents that focus both on the progress of individual athletes and on day-to-day business processes. To streamline the management of these documents, the academy has Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This is the foundation of the new Aspire Intranet, which provides Web sites for multiple user groups and improves document control.

"We wanted to create a new intranet that is easily accessible and simple to use for everyone at the academy," said Saleh Musleh, Support Chief IT Department, Aspire Sports Academy. "By using SharePoint Server 2007, the physiotherapists can access and update data on student's development much easier. We have excellent facilities here and they are always in demand. Streamlining the processes required to make bookings is key to improving the day-to-day running of the academy."

According to a Capgemini study commissioned by Microsoft, early adopters expect dramatic gains in productivity through capabilities that address core business issues in new ways. "Companies we've talked to are looking at driving major revenue increases, improved responsiveness to customers and improved sales team win rates with the 2007 Microsoft Office system," said Ken Edwards, vice president of Capgemini.

"The early adopters have realized cost savings through process workflow automation, easier access to information, improved collaboration with colleagues, and lower costs of compliance. It's all about creating better customer connections and empowering your people at less cost and with greater effectiveness."

Industry Poised to Take Advantage of New Opportunities

Since the release of Windows 95 and Office 95, Microsoft has delivered critical platform advances with each major release of its two flagship products: TCP/IP in Windows 95 helped pave the way for the popularization of the Internet, for example, while wireless capabilities in Windows XP made mobile computing commonplace.

New capabilities in Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system such as significant advances in graphics and pervasive support for XML and other technologies provide the framework for creating new experiences for end users. Significant server investments make the 2007 Office system a powerful platform for developing business applications to eliminate the barriers between organizations, systems, processes and information.

Mohammad Hammoudi applauded the 640,000-strong worldwide partner ecosystem that has worked closely with Microsoft to prepare for today's launch. In addition, many of the world's leading solution integrators are prepared to deploy the new products for enterprise organizations.

Delivering the Promise of the People-Ready Business

According to Sabah Corm, Information Worker Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Gulf the starting point for the new capabilities in Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Exchange Server 2007 is Microsoft's belief that people are the driving force behind business success.

"These products will enable companies to unleash the full potential of their people to build profitable relationships with customers, spearhead new innovations and drive business success," said Sabah Corm. "Although many customers will deploy these products separately, together they will fundamentally change the way companies get value from business information."

Together, the three products focus on four critical areas:

Simplifying how people work together.

From new Windows capabilities designed for mobile workers and unified messaging enabled by Exchange Server 2007 to workflow and collaboration tools in Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, the new products revolutionize the way people work in teams and on the go.

Finding information and improving business insight.

Deep platform integration and availability of new search technologies and powerful, easy-to-use business intelligence tools will help enable employees to find and use information more easily, streamlining the path from idea to execution.

Helping protect and manage content.

Advanced content management and document retention tools combined with features to better protect data confidentiality make content authoring the starting point for automated business processes and regulatory compliance.

Increasing security and helping reduce IT costs.

With enhanced security by design and by default, the new versions of Windows, the 2007 release and Exchange Server 2007 deliver breakthrough security features. They streamline deployment and management, helping reduce costs and enabling IT departments to focus on providing new capabilities that deliver strategic advantage.

Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Exchange Server 2007 also provide the core platform that will enable businesses to take advantage of the benefits of Internet-based software services. All three products incorporate key XML and Web services technologies that will help companies tap into online services and select the mix of on-premise and hosted applications to deliver the right balance of control, convenience, cost-effectiveness and security while helping increase productivity.

"During the last decade, Windows 95 and Office 95 transformed the way people work," concluded Mohammad Hammoudi. "These three new products announced today are the most advanced work that Microsoft has ever done, and I believe they signal the beginning of a new wave of innovation that will have an even more profound impact during the next decade."