REDMOND, Wash. — July 2, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it plans to make the next version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM available in the fall of 2013. Designed to redefine how businesses engage with their customers, the new version represents the approach Microsoft Dynamics is taking to developing and delivering business solutions that put people at the center.

Available both online as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall '13 and on-premises as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, this major release will deliver more personal experiences to sales, marketing and customer care professionals. The new release gives people the ability to access their information on a variety of devices;* introduces a new user experience that is fast and fluid, enabling people to access information that is relevant to their jobs; and delivers richer contextual information that helps people have deeper insights into customers and their needs. Microsoft Dynamics CRM also offers enhanced social collaboration capabilities, so users can connect with the right people, and the right resources, at the right time.

“Customers don’t want to be sold to anymore. They are knowledgeable and are interacting with their social and professional networks to make their buying decisions. They expect businesses to help them make the most informed choice,” said Bob Stutz, corporate vice president, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps people connect with these customers in a way that is personal — giving them the information they need to choose the right solutions, engage to drive sales and nurture relationships to deliver amazing experiences.”

Matching, engaging and nurturing customers

Placing people at the core, by understanding how they work and what they need to accomplish in their jobs, the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM brings capabilities that help people.

Match customers with the products and services they need by doing the following:

• Offering a connection to MarketingPilot, Microsoft’s marketing automation solution, which lets businesses manage products, budgets and resources and executes and monitors marketing campaigns, helping deliver a consistent customer experience across social and digital channels. It also helps businesses understand the digital footprint of its customers and convert it to leads, which can then be passed seamlessly to the sales system.

• Delivering business process excellence, which lets users change business processes such as sales, service, etc., based on the needs of their customers and deliver an experience that matches their expectations.

Engage at the right level to enable richer interactions by doing the following:

• Implementing a new outcome-driven user interface based on industry-leading best practices, helping sales teams to easily move from lead to close faster than ever before. At the same time, it gives organizations the ability to be agile in the face of changing market conditions.

• Introducing new mobile client applications on iPad and Windows 8 tablets, giving users access to powerful functionality and analytics on the go. Shortly following the release of the new release of CRM, Microsoft plans to offer new touch-optimized mobile experiences for Windows Phone 8, iPhone and Android phones, extending user access to CRM information on their favorite devices.

Nurture enduring relationships to foster brand loyalty by doing the following:

• Providing capabilities for people to collaborate with each other and share customer knowledge through Yammer right within the CRM solution, enabling them to deliver amazing customer experiences.

• Connecting Lync and Skype seamlessly, enabling people to reach out to their customers and communities in real time, so they can be more informed and have more personal and lasting relationships.

As part of the Microsoft’s work to bring the capabilities of Netbreeze, its recently acquired social monitoring and analytics service, to customers, the company will also be offering a limited beta of the service available in fall 2013.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and prospects can learn more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-vision.aspx. Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners can follow the launch at https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/solutions/CRM/CRMLaunchPage.htm. In addition, they can follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM community @MSDynamicsCRM, http://www.twitter.com/msdynamicscrm.

About Microsoft Dynamics

At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft

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

* Devices include Windows 8 tablets and iPad Tablets with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013; Windows Phone 8, iPhone and Android phone shortly following the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Monday, July 1, 2013
To: Microsoft – All Employees
Subject: Don Mattrick’s Next Chapter

Zynga announced today that Don Mattrick would be its new CEO, effective July 8. This is a great opportunity for Don, and I wish him success. Don’s directs will report to me and will continue to drive the day-to-day business as a team, particularly focused on shipping Xbox One this holiday.

Since joining IEB more than six years ago, Don and his team have accomplished much. Xbox Live members grew from 6 million to 48 million. Xbox 360 became the No. 1 selling console in North America the past two years. We introduced Kinect and have sold more than 24 million sensors. We released fantastic games, and, most importantly, we expanded Xbox to go beyond great gaming to deliver all the entertainment people want — sports, music, movies, live television and much more.

In the past month, the IEB team showed for the first time here on our Redmond campus, and again at E3, how we are going to continue to transform entertainment with Xbox One. I am incredibly proud of the work and vision culminating in Xbox One.

I’m particularly excited about how Xbox pushes forward our devices and services transformation by bringing together the best of Microsoft. The consoles are incredible all-in-one devices with built-in services that consumers love, including Bing, Xbox Live, Internet Explorer, SkyDrive and Skype. And, just as important, Xbox Games, Xbox Video, Xbox Music and SmartGlass light up Windows PCs, tablets and phones.

Thank you, Don, for setting us on a path to completely redefine the entertainment industry. The strong leadership team at IEB and their teams are well positioned to deliver the next-generation entertainment console, as well as transformative entertainment experiences, long into the future.

Steve

REDMOND, W ash. — July 1, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the initial phase of its business-channel expansion plans for the Surface family of PCs, along with AppsForSurface — a new Surface application-development program for independent software vendors (ISVs).

As part of its measured and phased approach to the growth of the Surface business, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Devices Program, which allows customers to purchase Surface and commercial services through authorized resellers. The two-tier program establishes Ingram Micro Inc., SYNNEX Corp. and Tech Data Corp. as inaugural device-authorized distributors to sell Surface to a newly designated group of device-authorized commercial resellers. Today, these resellers include CDW, CompuCom Systems Inc., En Pointe Technologies, Insight Enterprises Inc., PC Connection Inc., PCM Inc., SHI International Corp., Softchoice, Softmart and Zones Inc. In addition to offering Microsoft’s extended warranty and accidental damage, resellers bring a variety of value-added services to the Surface family such as asset tagging, custom imaging, kitting, onsite service and support, device recycling. and data protection. During the next few months, Microsoft will work to authorize commercial distributors and resellers in more countries.

AppsForSurface, a new ISV program that provides devices and funding for Surface-specific business applications, addresses the growing demand for Surface enterprise applications. Current program participants include Airstrip, Citrix, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Sage.

In June, Microsoft announced a one-time offer for Surface RT starting at $199 for qualifying educational institutes running until the end of August in 26 countries, valid for all K–12 schools and universities purchasing direct from Microsoft. In the coming days, Microsoft will expand this offer into the commercial channel starting with Authorized Surface Resellers in the United States. Microsoft has a long tradition of delivering high-quality solutions for education, and this offer is intended to get Surface in the hands of even more educators and students.

More information is available here. B-roll footage is available here.

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

The information contained in this press release relates to a prerelease software product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the software product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

S AN F RANCISCO — June 27, 2013 — Today thousands of developers gathered at The Moscone Center, with hundreds of thousands more participating online, for the second day of Build 2013, where Microsoft Corp. demonstrated that the developer opportunity on the Windows platform has never been greater. Keynotes delivered by Satya Nadella, president, Server and Tools Business, and Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and chief evangelist, Developer Platform Evangelism, showcased how commonality across the Windows platform enables developers of all types to build compelling apps and experiences spanning devices and services.

Increasing importance of cloud services

Developers today are building multidevice, multiscreen, cloud-connected experiences. Windows Azure spans infrastructure and platform capabilities to provide them with a comprehensive set of services to easily and quickly build modern applications, using the tools and languages familiar to them.

“Developers are increasingly demanding a flexible, comprehensive platform that helps them build and manage apps in a cloud- and mobile-driven world,” Nadella said. “To meet these demands, Microsoft has been doubling down on Windows Azure. Nearly 1,000 new businesses are betting on Windows Azure daily, and as momentum for Azure grows, so too does the developer opportunity to build applications that power modern businesses.”

Delivering on its commitment to provide developers with the most comprehensive cloud platform, Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Azure Mobile Services. Mobile Services enables developers building Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android apps to store data in the cloud, authenticate users and send push notifications. TalkTalk Business, a leading business telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom, chose Windows Azure Mobile Services to create new ways to engage with its customers and serve demand for mobile access.

Microsoft also announced the general availability of Windows Azure Web Sites, which allows developers to create websites on a flexible, secure and scalable platform to reach new customers. With the investments Microsoft has made in ASP.NET and Web tools, Web developers can now create scalable experiences easier than ever. Dutch brewer Heineken is using Windows Azure to power a social pinball game for the UEFA Champions League Road to the Final campaign, with the expectations of millions of interactions scaled on Windows Azure. Heineken exceeded its usage metrics by a wide margin yet experienced no scalability issues with Windows Azure.

Guthrie also highlighted Microsoft’s continued enterprise cloud momentum by demonstrating several platform advancements, including previews of improved auto-scaling, alerting and notifications, and tooling support for Windows Azure through Visual Studio. In addition, he previewed how Windows Azure Active Directory provides organizations and ISVs, such as Box, with a single sign-on experience to access cloud-based applications.

Developers can go to the Windows Azure site today for a free trial: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/?WT.mc_id=AE37323DE.

Spanning from the c loud to d evices

Guggenheimer announced the availability of the Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Release Preview, which extends Windows 8.1 technologies and provides additional flexibility to meet the needs of industry devices. Onstage, Guggenheimer demonstrated the Avis Select and Go app running on a Windows Embedded 8 Industry tablet and a Windows Embedded 8 Handheld device to illustrate the opportunity for developers to capitalize on the shared Windows codebase and enable industry-specific branding, peripheral support (such as mag stripe readers and barcode scanners), and lockdown capabilities.

Through a series of partner demos, Guggenheimer demonstrated the common core of the Windows platform spanning PC, tablet, phone and embedded devices.

• Khan Academy has released a major update to its Windows 8 app, now live in the Windows Store. Using Khan Academy’s website code, Microsoft demonstrated how developers can easily take HTML5 and JavaScript code from the Web and easily port to a Windows 8 app.
  

• Foursquare previewed an exclusive, uniquely designed Windows 8 tablet app that goes beyond check-ins to use location data in a way that helps users find interesting places and things to do around them.
  

• Adobe Systems Inc. is bringing its Digital Publishing Suite product to Windows 8.1 devices in late 2013. Publishers and brands will be able to design and publish content to multiple devices with interactive and inspiring reading experiences.
  

• Guggenheimer announced the availability of OpenTable, Rockmelt and Rhapsody apps for Windows 8 in the Windows Store and previewed five Disney games. Details on these applications can be found on the Windows blog.
  

• Finally, Guggenheimer highlighted a few of the popular apps available in Windows Phone Store today, including ABC News, Xfinity by Comcast, TV Remote, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Walgreens, as well as the live push-to-talk and multimedia messaging app, Voxer.
  

“People want to experience and explore the world around them, and the Foursquare for Windows 8 app helps them do that. It makes it fun to search for a place for dinner or to go out, and it helps people discover new experiences. We’ve worked with Microsoft on a bunch of initiatives over the years, and this product is another example of the great things we can do together,” said Dennis Crowley, co-founder and CEO at Foursquare.

New third - party offerings

PayPal’s software development kit, now generally available, allows developers to integrate the payment experience for 128 million account holders into a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 app. In addition, Unity Technologies, one of the industry’s most popular game development platforms with nearly 2 million community members, announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to make it easier for developers to bring popular games, entertainment and apps to Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Xbox One for Microsoft Studios publishing partners.

New enhancements and services

Microsoft also demonstrated the developer productivity enhancements of the .NET 4.5.1 runtime that enable developers to build the next wave of modern applications that run across devices and cloud, while also extending their existing line-of-business applications. The updates include improved coding, designing, testing and optimizing of XAML applications in Windows 8.1. Microsoft published a white paper providing guidance to .NET developers.

Finally, Microsoft showcased how Bing as a platform can extend across a broad set of devices and client app experiences using Bing Developer Services. Guggenheimer demonstrated these platform capabilities by showing Microsoft translation technology in Twitter for Windows Phone, which now provides instant, single-click translation of tweets.

“Whether developing for existing, client/server, or emerging device and cloud application patterns, developers need a platform that offers consistency and flexibility. Only the Windows platform — spanning Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure and more — meets this need,” Guggenheimer said.

More information can be found at the Build 2013 website, http://www.buildwindows.com.

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

For more information, press only:

Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

SAN FRANCISCO — June 26, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of the Windows 8.1 Preview, the next update of the Windows operating system, at the company’s developer-focused Build conference. As part of the conference’s keynote speech, the company outlined the reach, design and economic opportunities for developers to build differentiated, touch-based apps for the Windows platform, including new developer tools and increased support. Company executives also highlighted new top apps coming to Windows, including Facebook, Flipboard and NFL — clear evidence of the steady app momentum for Windows, which is experiencing the fastest growth across any platform.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was joined on stage by Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows, and other company executives to demo the Windows 8.1 Preview, focusing on key areas of personalization, search powered by Bing, increased functionality for businesses, new in-the-box apps and more.

“With Windows 8 we built a new Windows, reimagined from the chipset to the experience. It was an ambitious vision, and with Windows 8.1 we refine it,” Larson-Green said. “Windows 8.1 will support the widest range of tablets and PCs and demonstrates how responsive we can be for customers. The preview we are releasing today is an important step for partners around the world that are building the next generation of Windows devices and apps.”

Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, also took the stage to outline how Windows 8.1 provides additional opportunity for developers to design, build and market their Windows Store apps. He reinforced the best-in-class economics — developers keep 80 percent of the revenue for the lifetime of the app once it crosses the $25,000 revenue threshold. He also highlighted new updates, including the following:

• Redesigned Windows Store. The Windows Store has been completely redesigned in Windows 8.1 to reach engaged customers and connect them more effectively and quickly to the apps they want. This includes increased merchandising opportunities for apps and better discoverability based on an individual’s preferences, as well as new search controls from Bing in the user interface. App listings have a new layout with refined navigation and more related content.

• More monetization opportunities. Windows 8.1 delivers new opportunities for developers to build and monetize apps and engage users. Leblond introduced Windows Store gift cards, an easy way for consumers to purchase apps, books, games and content. Customers will be able to load their Microsoft Account with stored value in their local currency and make purchases online from the Windows Store. For developers in China, the Windows Store will support Alipay, meaning local developers will have new options to generate additional revenue.

• Leading experiences. Windows 8.1 offers developers a canvas to present and develop compelling app designs. Windows 8.1 apps can work together to share data, share the screen and deliver richer customer experiences across a range of devices, including new 8-inch-and-below form factors.

Beyond Windows 8.1, Microsoft showcased how developers can take advantage of tools and resources across the company to build differentiated experiences for their customers across Microsoft devices and services, including the following:

• Bing as a platform. The new Bing platform builds upon the large investments Microsoft has made in the core technologies behind Bing.com to be embedded as intelligent services into Microsoft devices, Microsoft services and third-party apps that people use every day. In addition to providing the Search experience in Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Office, Bing Developer Services are now available that enable third-party developers to leverage Bing technology to create amazing experiences in their own services and Windows and Windows Phone applications. More information is available here.

• Releases of Visual Studio 2013 Preview and .NET 4.5.1 Preview. Timed to the next wave of Windows, Visual Studio 2013 offers the ideal toolset for building rich modern applications that run on Windows 8.1. With a range of new features, Visual Studio 2013 makes it easier and faster for developers to create applications and services using modern lifecycle practices that span mobile devices and the cloud. Microsoft also announced a preview of .NET 4.5.1, enabling developers to build next-generation applications for devices and services while innovating their existing core business applications. Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 previews are now available for download here. More on Visual Studio can be found here.

• Windows Phone developer opportunity. Microsoft today announced that shipments of Windows Phone grew six times faster than the rest of the smartphone market over the past year. Sprint also announced plans to add Windows Phone 8 to its 4G LTE network this summer with the HTC® 8XT and the Samsung ATIV S Neo™. With the release of Windows Phone 8, customers are now downloading more than 200 million apps per month and generating more than twice the daily app revenue. To help give developers the best return on their investments, the next release of Windows Phone will be designed to run the same apps that developers are building today and support the same familiar tools and skills. For a limited time, developers can register with Windows Phone Dev Center for only $19.

Courtesy of Microsoft and Intel Corp., attendees at Build received the first 8-inch Windows-based tablet, the Intel® AtomTM Z2760 processor-based Acer Iconia W3 and a Microsoft Surface Pro, with all the horsepower of the third-generation Intel® Core™ processor in a sleek tablet form factor. With new levels of  performance, battery life and versatile form factors enabled by Windows 8.1 and Intel Architecture, these devices offer developers the chance to quickly get started building Windows 8.1 apps that will scale across form factors of all sizes. Among other giveaways, attendees received 100 GB of extra SkyDrive storage for one year, making it easy to store and access their files from anywhere.

The Windows 8.1 Preview is available for download beginning today. More information is available at http://www.preview.windows.com.

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

The information contained in this press release relates to a pre-release software product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the software product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 25, 2013 — CineTrailer, a pan-European app developed by DDM, an Italian digital media agency, has migrated its back-end technology to Windows Azure from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help users choose and view movies via the Web, mobile devices or connected TVs. The company has also built its app for optimization on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Since the migration to Windows Azure in 2012, the CineTrailer app has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, and is available in 11 countries and in nine languages throughout Europe.

“Transitioning to Windows Azure has allowed us to change, evolve and scale rapidly to meet our customers’ needs,” said Marco Dufour, chief executive officer at DDM and head of development at CineTrailer. “It costs roughly half of what we were previously paying, and we don’t have the costs associated with preparing and maintaining a dedicated database server. With Windows Azure all we need is a few lines of code and we can deploy our app in a fully scalable environment.”

The CineTrailer application enables users to watch a movie trailer and then find the nearest theater at which movie is playing via GPS. Users can also bookmark their favorite theaters and put a calendar alert to be reminded of the moment a desired movie is available for viewing.

“Windows Phone was the original environment in which CineTrailer was born and we’re particularly enthusiastic about it,” said Camillo Morganti, chairman of the board of DDM. “Working with the platform turned out to be an easy task, thanks to the myriad of fantastic features the mobile OS offers, like Live Tiles and swipe interfaces. Windows 8, too, has been a natural evolution and a great way for us to seamlessly engage users on two environments at the same time: tablets and PCs.”

CineTrailer also decided to build its app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone because employees were already familiar with other Microsoft platforms before the deployment, having started their experience as professionals with Visual Studio, ASP and SQL Server and subsequently having transitioned to the .NET platform. This meant less time was needed for developers to get comfortable with the platforms and an increased focus could be placed on getting the product to market.

“We are experiencing good results from our Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps,” Dufour said. “We see Windows 8 as a market changer and we think that developers have just started to see its tremendous potential. As developers ourselves, we’ve been immersed in visual environments for 15 years, but found the Microsoft platforms truly support both developers and editors. Windows Azure, Windows 8 and Windows Phone are natural fits for us, and are helping us change the way in which users consume and enjoy content.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 25, 2013 — Today marks one year since Microsoft Corp. announced its acquisition of Yammer, the leading provider of enterprise social networks. Since the acquisition, Microsoft’s enterprise social momentum has accelerated in all areas, including new users, paid customers, user engagement, innovation, and the ecosystem of partners selling and connecting to the Yammer platform.

Twelve-month growth highlights include the following:

• Registered users have grown by more than 55 percent to nearly 8 million.

• Paid networks increased more than 200 percent year over year.

• Yammer user activity (i.e., messages, groups and files) has approximately doubled year over year.

“The continued boom in Yammer’s growth is validation that enterprise social represents an important trend in the way people want to share, learn and connect at work, similar to how they’re interacting in their personal lives,” said David Sacks, Yammer co-founder and corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Division. “During the past year, Yammer has unlocked new opportunities to share the benefits of enterprise social through Microsoft’s global sales organization and product ties with key communication, collaboration and cloud productivity offerings, such as Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We see nothing but continued potential in enterprise social as a cornerstone of the future of work.”

For more information about Sacks’ perspective on the successes of the past year, see his post today on the Official Microsoft blog.

Customers and partners bet on Yammer

Yammer Infographic June 24, 2013

Downloads: Web | Print

As more organizations embrace the benefits of enterprise social solutions, customers such as Manhattan Associates are seeing tangible return in areas like greater cross-functional collaboration and communication, improved customer response times, and increased business agility. Other customers, such as Electronic Arts, which is just getting started with Yammer, are excited for the opportunity to create more cross-functional collaboration and open communication within their organizations.

“Enterprise social has transformed how we work, breaking down organizational siloes, making us more open and collaborative, and enabling us to be more responsive to our customers,” said Dawn Gartin, collaboration manager, Manhattan Associates Inc. “As both a Microsoft SharePoint and Yammer customer, we’re excited about Microsoft’s vision and how the products are coming together to offer one uniform social experience, which, for us, is the key to getting work done.”

Partners also continue to invest in Yammer, connecting third-party applications to Yammer that add line-of-business capabilities and additional value for organizations using Yammer. The number of partners in Yammer’s App Directory has nearly doubled since its launch in October 2012, and the number of developers building on Yammer has increased more than 70 percent.

Yammer today announced integration with online influence tool Klout, which allows Yammer users to publish their public Klout scores and expertise directly on their Yammer profiles. In addition, Yammer administrators can elect to turn on a deeper integration with Klout to produce internal, Yammer-specific Klout scores for employees based on their activity within a company’s Yammer network.

More information on the growth of the Yammer partner ecosystem is available on today’s Yammer blog post.

Advancing the e nterprise s ocial r oad map

During the past year, Yammer has continued to make significant product updates, including message translation capabilities, improvements to file collaboration, platform updates such as embeddable feeds and the "Like" and "Follow" buttons, and continued development on various mobile platforms.

Yammer also continues to deliver on its outlined strategy to provide a social layer across Microsoft Office and third-party applications. Microsoft believes that, in order for social to become truly mainstream in the workplace, it needs to be a part of the applications people use every day. To deliver on that vision and past roadmap announcements, Microsoft is delivering interoperability with Office 365 with these newly released features:

• Yammer newsfeed for SharePoint Online and Office 365. Yammer now works even more deeply and seamlessly with Office 365 and SharePoint Online, allowing customers to replace the SharePoint newsfeed with Yammer.

• New Yammer application in Office Store. Available by the end of June in the Office Store, the Yammer application will allow customers to easily embed Yammer group feeds into SharePoint sites, creating a connection between groups and sites to deliver the best of Yammer and SharePoint.

In the coming months, Microsoft will release a number of Yammer, SharePoint and Office 365 updates to deepen connections between the services and enable greater collaboration. Although Microsoft has already talked about delivering an improved user experience and single sign-on, new planned features include advancements in search and email:

• Improved email interoperability. New capabilities will make it easier for users to follow and participate in conversations across Yammer and email.

• Expanded Yammer messaging and external communication. Expanded functionality helps meet everyday communications requirements, such as seamless external communication and enhancing real-time directed messaging.

• SharePoint search integration. Integrated search makes it easier to find information across Yammer and SharePoint quickly.

Microsoft will use its rapid development approach to provide ongoing enhancements to create connected experiences across Office 365 that combine social, collaboration, email, instant messaging, voice, video and line-of-business applications in innovative new ways. More details on the Office 365 and Yammer integration road map are provided in a blog post today from Jared Spataro.

About Yammer

Yammer (www.yammer.com) is a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network used by more than 200,000 organizations worldwide — including approximately 85 percent of the Fortune 500 — to foster team collaboration, empower employees, drive business agility and promote organizational connectedness. Yammer’s freemium business model lets customers see the value of Yammer before upgrading to the premium offering. Founded in 2008, Yammer is now part of the Microsoft Office Division.

About Microsoft

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MADRID — June 25, 2013 — TechEd Europe 2013, Microsoft Corp.’s premier event for IT professionals and enterprise developers in Europe, kicked off today with Server & Tools Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson delivering a keynote speech to more than 4,800 attendees. Anderson announced the availability of preview software for Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014, part of the next wave of enterprise IT solutions that will enable businesses to break down boundaries across customer datacenters, service provider datacenters and the public cloud. Customers can download the preview software here.

Businesses around the world are betting on Microsoft solutions to embrace cloud computing, empower employees and create new applications. Enterprise customers Telefónica, DDM and ARM Holdings use Microsoft devices and services to reduce costs, improve mobility and fuel business growth.

Telefónica drives global business with hybrid cloud

Telefónica, a leading communications provider with operations in more than 24 countries, chose Microsoft as an alternate solution to VMware to run the virtual platform of its tier 4 datacenter, completed earlier this year in Madrid. Beginning in July 2013, Telefónica will begin deployment of Windows Server Hyper-V and SQL Server, with the goal to virtualize more than 80 percent of its IT services and design for expansion into the Windows Azure platform as needed. This deployment will improve Telefónica’s business agility and productivity while cutting down IT management and hardware costs.

Currently, it can take up to 20 weeks to get equipment into Telefónica’s on-premises datacenters. Adrian Steel, European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica, believes betting on Microsoft’s Cloud OS solution will improve the company’s competitiveness by reducing this timeframe to just one week, helping Telefónica remain a leader in the global market.

“We have a strong global reach, and our world-class datacenter in Spain has virtually no downtime, keeping us robust and credible,” Steel said. “A global company needs to work quickly, and virtual machines allow us to get services to market faster.”

The company believes it can attain up to 15 percent cost savings in the next three to five years through this deployment while supporting the company’s security and privacy requirements.

CineTrailer creates consistent user experience across platforms

When DDM, an Italian digital media agency, developed its movie-viewing application CineTrailer, it needed to use a platform that matched its corporate philosophy: “Be anywhere, any time, on any screen.” DDM’s customers expect to consume content through different device platforms, and the agency’s previous solution, Amazon Web Services (AWS), wasn’t as easily scalable to ensure all the services across PCs, mobile devices and connected TVs could be maintained, given the fast growth rate of the application.

Switching to Windows Azure saved DDM nearly half the cost it was previously paying for AWS and provided the company with flexibility to invest in an easy-to-scale solution, instead of one that had to be manually re-configured any time needs changed. Windows Azure allowed the development team to save time when setting things up, thus letting them focus more on creating a well-organized and visually appealing app, optimized for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

“We have just started understanding the full potential of the Windows 8 platform, as it grants developers an unprecedented freedom,” said Camillo Morganti, partner at DDM. “The future is getting what you want, when you want it, in any given situation, so the freedom Windows Azure provides is intoxicating for both developers and users.”

The seamless developer experience that Microsoft delivers across PCs, tablets and smartphones allows DDM to creatively build versions of the app for other device platforms, including Android and iOS. This cross-platform mentality provides a consistent experience for global users that transcends devices and encourages content consumption, which has led to the app’s success. It is available in 11 countries and in nine languages throughout Europe.

ARM Holdings powers its mobile workforce

Employees of ARM Holdings, a leading provider of semiconductor IP based in Cambridge, England, often find themselves on the road, working with more than 1,000 partners worldwide. The team wanted a mobile computing experience that allowed them to be more productive outside the company’s 28 international offices. ARM Holdings decided that including Surface RT with Windows RT, which utilizes an ARM-based chip, would enhance efficiency and mobility. The ARM team already uses Microsoft Office for a variety of productivity solutions.

ARM has now deployed Surface RT devices to IT employees within IT, quality assurance, marketing and sales, allowing them to work more efficiently with features such as live tiles and notifications while being virtually always on and always connected.

More news from TechEd can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/events/teched. A video of Anderson’s keynote speech can be found here, and his related blog post is available on the Official Microsoft Blog.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. , and REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — June 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. today announced a partnership that will enable customers to run Oracle software on Windows Server Hyper-V and in Windows Azure. Customers will be able to deploy Oracle software — including Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server — on Windows Server Hyper-V or in Windows Azure and receive full support from Oracle. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of this partnership, Oracle will certify and support Oracle software — including Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server — on Windows Server Hyper-V and in Windows Azure. Microsoft will also offer Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server to Windows Azure customers, and Oracle will make Oracle Linux available to Windows Azure customers.

Java developers, IT professionals and businesses will benefit from the flexibility to deploy fully supported Oracle software to Windows Server Hyper-V and Windows Azure.

“Microsoft is deeply committed to giving businesses what they need, and clearly that is the ability to run enterprise workloads in private clouds, public clouds and, increasingly, across both,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Now our customers will be able to take advantage of the flexibility our unique hybrid cloud solutions offer for their Oracle applications, middleware and databases, just like they have been able to do on Windows Server for years.”

“Our customers’ IT environments are changing rapidly to meet the dynamic nature of the world today,” said Oracle President Mark Hurd. “At Oracle, we are committed to providing greater choice and flexibility to customers by providing multiple deployment options for our software, including on-premises, as well as public, private, and hybrid clouds. This collaboration with Microsoft extends our partnership and is important for the benefit of our customers.”

Additional information about support and the licensing mobility changes that went into effect today is available on Oracle’s blog at https://blogs.oracle.com/cloud/entry/oracle_and_microsoft_join_forces.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Microsoft

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

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of third-party qualification guidelines for Microsoft’s cloud solutions Windows Azure and Microsoft Office 365, demonstrating that these platforms can address the necessary regulatory requirements for life sciences organizations to maintain compliance in the cloud. Microsoft is the only major combined infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) public cloud provider to undergo an independent review of system documentation against GxP qualification requirements, the set of production and testing practices in FDA-regulated industries, demonstrating documentation against applicable regulations.

“As life sciences organizations move information to the cloud, they are required to leverage qualified cloud solutions that address necessary regulatory requirements,” said Andrea McGonigle, managing director, Life Sciences at Microsoft. “Microsoft is already a trusted data steward for healthcare organizations, and the ability to achieve GxP qualification for Windows Azure and Office 365 is a testament to our commitment to providing life sciences organizations with secured infrastructure and platforms in the cloud.”

Montrium, an organization specializing in quality assurance, regulatory GxP compliance and SaaS document collaboration and quality management solutions for the life sciences industry, conducted the qualification review of Microsoft’s Windows Azure and Office 365 solutions.

“When evaluating public, off-premises, cloud solutions, life sciences organizations must assess cloud service providers controls that help ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of customer data,” said Paul Fenton, president and CEO, Montrium. “Microsoft has clearly demonstrated that these solutions have the necessary controls to provide a GxP-qualified cloud service. This coupled with the guidelines that Montrium has produced will enable life sciences organizations to deploy validated solutions on top of the Microsoft cloud platforms for processes like Regulated Document Management and Clinical Trials Management.”

Microsoft’s approach to providing qualified cloud platforms for life sciences organizations is to provide system documentation and certifications across a wide range of standards, such as ISO27001, SSAE16 SOC 1 and 2, HIPAA/HITECH and others, to enable customers and partners to qualify Microsoft’s cloud platforms. This qualification helps the customers or partners build and deploy validated applications that meet regulatory requirements, including FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Electronic Records, Electronic Signatures (21 CFR Part 11) and Eudralex Volume 4 - Annex 11 Computerised Systems (Annex 11).

More information on how Microsoft’s cloud solutions support qualified GxP applications is available via health@microsoft.com. More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 24 , 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a new collection of 34 K–12 schools and school districts that have signed on to use Windows 8 to inspire collaboration and creativity in the classroom, improve student learning outcomes, and better prepare students for the workforce ahead.

Microsoft’s rapidly growing community of Windows education adopters now includes the following: Albemarle County Schools (Virginia), Auburn City Schools (Alabama), Clear Creek Independent School District (Texas), Laredo Independent School District (Texas), Leon County Schools (Florida), Palmer Trinity School (Florida), San Diego Unified School District (California), Somers Central School District (New York), Springfield Public Schools (Massachusetts), and Walnut Valley Unified School District (Calif.), as well as 24 school districts within Maine’s Department of Education, including Scarborough School District, Brewer School Department, Maine School District #74, and Maine School District #60.

These schools and districts join some of the nation’s largest school districts, which also recently announced Windows 8 deployments, including Atlanta Public Schools (Georgia), Fresno Unified School District (California) and San Antonio Independent School District (Texas).

“Educators who experience the difference of a touch tablet running Windows 8 realize that with one device, they can have both a touch tablet and a laptop with no compromises,” said Margo Day, vice president of U.S. Education, Microsoft. “Teachers using Windows 8 tell us they are seeing a renewed excitement to learn among their students and that Windows and Office are the tools they need to prepare students to succeed in college and career.”

With its cloud foundation, Windows 8 lends a flexible, anywhere-anytime learning experience across a range of devices. Designed to help students and teachers consume and create content, Windows 8 devices are ready for the modern Office applications that customers choose to install, applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and OneNote. Windows RT devices come with Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, already installed. Microsoft also recently announced that the Windows 8.1 update for Windows RT devices, due later this year, will include Outlook 2013 RT as well. Windows 8 devices drive further efficiency as they can connect to 450 million peripherals that schools already own, including printers, projectors and assistive technology.

“What I love about Windows 8 is that it flattens the learning environment for an improved, more interactive classroom dialogue between teachers and students,” said Chris White, director of technology at Somers Central School District in New York, which is deploying Dell Latitude 10 tablets with Windows 8 and Office 365 for Education for 1,675 teachers and students in grades 6–12.

“As just consumption devices, iPads could only take us so far — they weren’t great in front of the classroom,” White said. “Teaching with Windows 8 devices is more personalized and project-based to better reflect the college- and career-ready skills that will be required of students once they graduate.”

Microsoft extends special Windows 8 device offers to educators

Microsoft is also distributing free Surface RT tablets to the schools of up to 10,000 educators attending the ISTE 2013 Conference this week. As part of its Windows in the Classroom Surface Experience Project teachers will be able to see how Windows 8 can help create engaging teaching and learning opportunities for their students.

In addition, Microsoft is pleased to offer special pricing directly to schools and universities in 26 markets around the globe, including the U.S., for a limited time. Between June 17, 2013, and Aug. 31, 2013, K–12 and higher education institutions can purchase any amount of Surface RT (32 GB) devices for $199, with the Touch Cover for $249 and with the Type Cover for $289 while supplies last.

Representatives of interested schools and universities can contact their Microsoft Education Account Representative or visit their local Microsoft Store to place an order. More information on the program and on downloading an order form can be found at the Microsoft in Education blog.

Buck Lake Elementary School in Tallahassee, Fla., is piloting Surface Pro tablets for its pre-K–5 teachers, and they plan to take advantage of Microsoft’s special offer and will purchase Surface RT tablets for their students later this year.

“Our teachers need more versatile instructional technology that engages students and helps simplify their own everyday managerial tasks, and the Windows 8 Surface Pro tablets do just that,” said Eydie Tricquet, principal at Buck Lake Elementary School in Tallahassee, Fla.

About Microsoft in Education

At Microsoft, we are deeply committed to working with governments, communities, schools and educators to use the power of information technology to deliver technology, services and programs that provide anytime, anywhere learning for all. For more information: http://www.microsoft.com/education.

About Microsoft

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

Note to editors : For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 19, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced patent licensing agreements with automotive technology companies Audiovox, Continental, Harman and LG Automotive for the use of its Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) file system.

The advanced capabilities of Microsoft’s exFAT technology allow automotive technology companies to meet increasing consumer demand for connected cars that let drivers and passengers transport media between all their favorite devices — even their automobiles. exFAT is the modern file system of choice due to its ability to facilitate large files for audiovisual media and enable seamless data portability between electronic devices. According to a report from Accenture, the in-vehicle infotainment and telematics global market is predicted to exceed $80 billion by 2014. exFAT supports the high-capacity SDXC memory card standard, which is increasingly used for music, pictures, videos and maps for navigation systems and USB-based storage devices.

“The exchange of intellectual property makes it possible for companies to bring great ideas to market quickly, and keep pace with customer demand,” said David Kaefer, general manager of intellectual property licensing, Microsoft. “We believe collaborative licensing brings the best value to consumers.”

Tuxera, the leading interoperable file systems provider, works with the automotive industry to implement and support exFAT technology across a range of in-vehicle products that require highly-reliable file system solutions. The company understands the importance of increased in-vehicle entertainment in today’s automotive market.

“Connectivity is a critical component of in-car infotainment, and exFAT technology is the glue that makes it possible,” said Viet-Anh Le, Tuxera’s automotive business manager. “Licensing exFAT ensures consumers will experience the best possible interoperability with next-generation infotainment solutions.”

Microsoft previously announced a similar exFAT licensing agreement with BMW, as well as with companies in a variety of other industries including Aspen Avionics, Panasonic Corp., Research In Motion, SANYO Electric Company Ltd., Sony Corp. and Canon Inc.

Microsoft’s commitment to intellectual property collaboration

Microsoft offers flexible intellectual property (IP) licensing programs that give companies access to many of the foundational technologies in its products, allowing those companies to build devices, applications and services that work seamlessly with one another.

Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, the company has entered into more than 1,100 licensing agreements and continues to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its IP portfolio. More information about Microsoft’s IP licensing program is available at http://www.microsoft.com/iplicensing, and information related to Microsoft’s exFAT licensing program is available at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/iplicensing/programs/exfatfilesystem.aspx.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 13 , 201 3 — Microsoft Corp. and Best Buy Co. Inc. today announced a strategic partnership to create the Windows Store only at Best Buy. The comprehensive store-within-a-store will be in 500 Best Buy locations across the United States and in more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada.

Windows store only at Best Buy June 12, 2013 Microsoft and Best Buy announce The Windows Store only at Best Buy. Coming to 600 Best Buy stores in North America this summer.

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Ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, the Windows Store will be the premier destination for consumers to see, try, compare and purchase a range of products and accessories, including Windows-based tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, Xbox, and more. Each store will feature an innovation space highlighting a variety of Windows scenarios across devices; a showcase section with the latest Windows-based PC form factors such as ultrabooks, convertibles, detachables and all-in-ones — including portable devices; and a standalone area featuring Microsoft Surface.

“The Windows Store offers a large-scale, hands-on customer experience that will show customers how Windows and Microsoft devices and services can make it easier for them to work and play,” said Tami Reller, chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of the Windows Division at Microsoft. “We’re pleased to partner with Best Buy in bringing the latest technologies to consumers at scale in a unique environment where they can explore how Microsoft products fit together across entertainment, travel, music and other scenarios.”

In addition to the dedicated Microsoft specialists already working across Best Buy locations, the alliance will add more than 1,200 Best Buy Microsoft-trained sales associates to create an engaging customer experience at scale.

Windows Store only at Best Buy – back wall June 12, 2013 The Windows Store only at Best Buy features a wide array of software and accessories, including Windows 8 apps, Office, Skype, Xbox music and games. (Photos/Craig Lassig for Windows)

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“Best Buy’s chief goal is to serve our customers as only we can, whether they come to us online or in stores. The Windows Store creates the kind of retail destination we all want to shop in, combining great selection, the latest technology, the best service and the lowest prices,” said Jason Bonfig, vice president of computing for Best Buy. “What our customers will see in these 600 stores is something totally new and fully in line with our determination to transform Best Buy.”

The two companies also will mirror the in-store experience online at http://www.bestbuy.com/windowsstore, which will provide updates on store locations, promotions and other information, including joint marketing efforts throughout the year. Windows Store only at Best Buy will roll out from late June through September. More information is available at http://www.bestbuy.com/windowsstore.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 11, 2013 — A study released today reveals that, in addition to time and cost savings, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. that use a cloud service gain significant security, privacy and reliability advantages compared with companies that have not adopted the cloud. The study, commissioned by Microsoft Corp., shows that perceptions of the cloud held by nonusers directly contrast with the real experiences of cloud adopters.

“There’s a big gap between perception and reality when it comes to the cloud. SMBs that have adopted cloud services found security, privacy and reliability advantages to an extent they didn’t expect,” said Adrienne Hall, general manager, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft. “The real silver lining in cloud computing is that it enables companies not only to invest more time and money into growing their business, but to better secure their data and to do so with greater degrees of service reliability as well.”

The Microsoft study, which did not qualify participants by product, service or vendor, asked SMBs that have not adopted the cloud what was holding them back:

• Sixty percent cited concerns around data security.

• Forty-five percent worried that using the cloud would result in a lack of control over their data.

• Forty-two percent doubted the reliability of the cloud.

In stark contrast, the study found that the experiences of SMBs that use cloud services contradict these concerns:

• Ninety-four percent have gained security benefits they did not have with their former on-premises technology, such as up-to-date systems, up-to-date antivirus and spam email management.

• Sixty-two percent have seen increased levels of privacy protection.

• Seventy-five percent have experienced improved service availability.

Seventy percent of SMBs in the study said that adopting a cloud service meant they could invest money and time savings into areas such as product development and innovation, demand creation, and expansion into new markets. Half of SMBs have pursued new opportunities because of the time they saved managing security.

An example of a business that has realized the security and compliance benefits of the cloud is DHCU Community Credit Union, a nonprofit financial cooperative. To meet the compliance requirements and security expectations of a financial institution, the organization recently moved to Microsoft Office 365.

Since its transition, DHCU Community Credit Union has experienced improved security and increased productivity, while enabling the organization to maintain its tradition of delivering excellent customer service.

“In the financial services industry, security and compliance are a critical table stake. Microsoft Office 365 gives us peace of mind that these things are being handled, and handled well. So much so that we’ve been able to reposition resources to reinvest in our business,” said Matt McCombs, president and chief operating officer, DHCU Community Credit Union. “Quite simply, the move to the cloud saved us money and freed up time to help us focus on what matters most — serving our members.”

In conjunction with the study, Microsoft has released an updated version of the Cloud Security Readiness Tool (CSRT). Based on the Cloud Security Alliance’s Cloud Controls Matrix, the CSRT is no-cost, interactive and easy to use. It enables organizations to assess the current state of the security of their IT environment and compare it to what they could expect if they used a cloud service. The updated release extends the range of industry standards covered by the tool to include European Network and Information Security Agency Information Assurance Framework (ENISA IAF) and British Standards Institution (BSI).

“Organizations are keen to understand how cloud adoption would compare with their existing on-premises policies, procedures and compliance, and that can be a complex task,” said John Howie, chief operating officer, Cloud Security Alliance. “In the Cloud Security Alliance, industry leaders have collaborated to develop best practice security guidance. Microsoft’s Cloud Security Readiness Tool builds on these efforts as it gives organizations a way to more easily evaluate cloud services against critical areas, as well as against compliance with key industry standards like ENISA IAF and BSI.”

About the study

The vendor-agnostic study, commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by independent research company comScore Inc., polled companies with between 25 and 499 PCs in France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. Cloud users were defined as companies using a subscription model service for data storage, email or calendar, online productivity, customer relationship management, database service, application hosting or management to manage and help secure computers, for enterprise resource planning, and/or compute capacity to run application code.

More information can be found at the Microsoft Security Newsroom: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/security.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

June 09, 2013 Alongside the spectacular lineup of titles for its highly anticipated next Xbox entertainment system, Xbox One, at E3 Microsoft unveiled a fresh and exciting new design for Xbox 360.

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LOS ANGELES — June 10, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today at E3 offered everyone who has yet to own an Xbox 360 or wants to update their existing console an irresistible new reason to jump in. Alongside the spectacular lineup of titles for its highly anticipated next Xbox entertainment system, Xbox One, Microsoft unveiled a fresh and exciting new design for Xbox 360. Shipping today retailers across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia, the new Xbox 360 will continue to roll out worldwide across all Xbox regions over the coming months, extending the life cycle and legacy of the celebrated console that has already sold 76 million units worldwide and has been the best-selling console in the U.S. for the past 28 months.

Sporting a sleek and stylish new design that resembles the Xbox One brand elements, the new Xbox 360 brings together a similar look and feel across the entire family of Xbox products. The new Xbox 360 appears stunning wherever it fits in the home and offers great performance. It is available in multiple value-packed editions for the same great prices as the existing console: $199.99 estimated retail price (ERP[1]) for the 4GB console, $299.99 ERP for the 250GB edition and $299.99 ERP for the 4GB Kinect Bundle.

“Xbox 360 offers unrivaled value — with more great games, an Xbox Live community with 48 million members, and a compelling lineup of apps, sports, movies, TV and music,” said Yusuf Mehdi, marketing and strategy, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft. “We’ve taken all we have learned these past eight years and engineered a new Xbox 360 console that is elegant and accessible to anyone. There’s never been a better time to experience everything Xbox 360 has to offer.”

As a message of thanks to the millions of Xbox fans around the world for their passion and loyalty, Microsoft announced that every qualifying Xbox Live Gold member — new or existing — will receive two free Xbox 360 game downloads per month starting July 1 until Dec. 31, 2013, including popular titles “Halo 3” and “Assassin’s Creed II.” And to celebrate E3 in the month of June, Xbox Live Gold will receive a free download of “Fable III.”[3] In addition, for a limited time gamers can get a Day One 12-month Xbox Live Gold membership and play “Killer Instinct: Round One,” with the exclusive Shadow Jago character, on Xbox One. Players will also receive a commemorative Day One membership card.

The world’s brightest creators are continuing to bring imaginative new titles to Xbox 360, which leads the games industry with more than 4,500 titles and 48 million Xbox Live members. At Microsoft’s E3 press briefing, acclaimed developer Wargaming.net announced that a new installment of one of the world’s most popular action games, “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition,” is coming exclusively to Xbox 360 later this year, bringing the franchise to a console platform for the first time. Custom-built for Xbox 360, “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” is a global online multiplayer phenomenon dedicated to tank warfare in the mid-20th century. Players will command some of history’s most powerful tanks and experience intense combat where the excitement of battle is enhanced by working together with their tank platoons to win the fight. “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will be available as a Free-to-Play with Gold title for Xbox Live members and a limited-time trial for all Xbox Live account holders. Register for the beta at http://www.worldoftanks.com/xbox.[2]

Microsoft also showcased “Max: The Curse of Brotherhood,” a follow-up to the popular game “Max and the Magic ,” coming exclusively to Xbox 360 later this year tells the story of a boy named Max who embarks on a journey to find his little brother, Felix, after a giant monster steals him away. With the power of Kinect, players will guide Max through a mystical, blighted fantasy world, using powerful magical abilities to overcome puzzles and enemies and save Felix before it’s too late.

June 09, 2013 A sleek and stylish new Xbox 360 was unveiled alongside spectacular lineup of games at E3, reaffirming Microsoft’s commitment to the celebrated console that has already sold 76 million units worldwide.

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Fans of action games can wage war for their god as a brutal Caos warrior in “Ascend: Hand of Kul,” a Free-to-Play with Gold third-person action-RPG featuring innovative single and multiplayer gameplay. In addition, poker fans will be able to take their game to a whole new level with “World Series of Poker®: Full House Pro,” which lets players build their in-game bankrolls as they compete against opponents from around the world.

In its sixth year, Summer of Arcade continues to deliver the most anticipated, premier collection of the best downloadable games available on Xbox Live. Coming later this summer, fans will have access to fun, quality games including “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™: Out of the Shadows” from Activision, “Flashback” by Ubisoft, “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons” by 505 Games and “Charlie Murder” from Microsoft Studios.

In addition to these exclusive premieres, Xbox 360 will continue to deliver a staggering lineup of the most anticipated games from the world’s best studios, including “Call of Duty®: Ghosts,” “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Battlefield 4™,” “Madden NFL 25,” “FIFA 14,” “Assassin’s Creed® IV: Black Flag,” “Watch Dogs™,” “Batman: Arkham Origins” and “Fable Anniversary.” The lineup reaffirms that Xbox 360 remains the best place to enjoy this generation’s must-have blockbusters.

For more details about the Xbox One games lineup and all the exciting Xbox news at E3, visit news.xbox.com. For press releases and media assets, please visit news.xbox.com/media (select “Choose a Category” to find relevant content).

About Xbox

Xbox is Microsoft’s premier entertainment brand for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. In living rooms or on the go, Xbox is home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world’s largest libraries of movies, TV, music and sports. Your favorite games, TV and entertainment come to life in new ways through the power of Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Live, the world’s premier social entertainment network. More information about Xbox can be found online at www.xbox.com.

About Microsoft

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

The information contained in this press release relates to a pre-release product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

[1] Estimated retail prices; actual retail prices may vary

[2] Free-to-Play with Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately); additional in-game content available and sold separately

[3] “Games with Gold” free games offer available 6/10/13-12/31/13 for paid Gold members only. Xbox 360 games (selected by Xbox) available for free download from Marketplace only during specified half-month window; available games may vary by country. Kinect and/or hard drive required for some games. See xbox.com/live.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

LOS ANGELES — June 10, 2013 — Embark on a heroic adventure to seek vengeance across the battlefields of ancient Rome. Fire up the engines in the exhilarating return of the highest-rated racing franchise of the past 10 years.[1] Fight for survival in an immersive open world teeming with thousands of undead. Today, on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Microsoft Corp. kick-started a new era of games and entertainment with a stunning lineup of blockbusters for the highly anticipated Xbox One gaming and entertainment system, showcasing why it will be the premier platform to experience the future of games when it launches in 21 markets around the world this November.

Home to the biggest next-generation exclusives

At its E3 press briefing, Microsoft unveiled an unprecedented lineup of world-premiere Xbox One blockbusters from some of the most innovative and celebrated studios on the planet, including 343 Industries, Crytek, Turn 10 Studios, Remedy, DICE, Capcom and Insomniac Games, along with support from virtually every major publisher in the industry.

“Microsoft Studios is committed to making Xbox One the best place to play games, with more titles in development and more exclusives coming than at any time in the history of Xbox,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president, Microsoft Studios. “With amazing games such as ‘Forza Motorsport 5,’ ‘Ryse: Son of Rome,’ ‘Dead Rising 3,’ ‘Halo Xbox One,’ ‘Kinect Sports Rivals,’ ‘Project Spark’ and ‘Quantum Break,’ Xbox will continue to lead the industry with the biggest exclusives, new IP and blockbuster franchises that will delight gamers for the next decade and beyond.”

The world’s most visionary developers showcased how they’re leveraging the unrivaled power and performance of Xbox One to bring a new generation of games to life that look and feel like nothing else — fueled by the power of Xbox One, the fidelity of the new Kinect and the expansive power of Xbox Live. Renowned studio Crytek unveiled “Ryse: Son of Rome,” an epic action-adventure story that immerses you in the brutality and intensity of Roman warfare. “Ryse: Son of Rome” extends the gameplay experience with Xbox SmartGlass and Game DVR and lets you command legions with the sound of your voice using Kinect.

Award-winning developer Turn 10 Studios showcased the breathtaking visuals and adrenaline-filled action of “Forza Motorsport 5,” the next installment of the genre-defining racing franchise. Built from the ground up to take advantage of Xbox One and the vast power of the cloud, “Forza Motorsport 5” features revolutionary Drivatar technology that learns how you and your friends drive, delivering real human behavior and an ever-evolving network of opponents always ready to race — even when they’re not online. Real tendencies, real mistakes.

In addition, Microsoft delighted gamers with the world premiere teaser trailer for “Halo Xbox One,” the next chapter of the award-winning Xbox franchise developed by 343 Industries that will take you on a new journey in the “Halo” universe beginning in 2014.

Other highlights at Microsoft’s briefing included “Dead Rising 3,” the next installment of Capcom’s massively popular zombie franchise coming exclusively to Xbox One that takes open-world action to a whole new level; “Project Spark,” an open-world digital canvas that enables anyone to build, play and share their own worlds, games and stories with millions of others online; and “Sunset Overdrive,” a high-energy open-world shooter set in the not-so-distant future from Insomniac Games that delivers an always-changing gameplay experience with an arsenal of explosive and overpowered weapons.

Home to the best multiplayer and entertainment experiences through Xbox Live Gold

Xbox Live Gold membership offers Xbox One owners a premium service that unlocks a new generation of online gaming and entertainment experiences, including an expanded list of friends that lets you stay connected and play with more people through Xbox Live. Not only does an existing Xbox Live Gold membership for Xbox 360 carry over to Xbox One, you can still join for as low as $5 per month, and now anyone in your home can access most Gold member benefits on your Xbox One at no additional cost.[2] Your Gold membership also travels with you wherever you go, turning any console into your own.

For gamers, Xbox Live Gold on Xbox One delivers new benefits that make online gaming with your friends easier and more enjoyable than ever. Xbox Live Gold unlocks Twitch as a built-in experience on Xbox One, allowing gamers to seamlessly broadcast their gameplay as well as view and interact with other live gaming broadcasts.[3] Twitch on Xbox One also includes the ability to discover tailored, relevant and inherently social video content that spans everything from e-sports events to user-generated original shows and game walk-throughs. Other benefits of Xbox Live Gold on Xbox One include the following:

• Access to the premier multiplayer community. All of your friends can come together on Xbox Live to play the best games for the ultimate bragging rights. Backed by a powerful cloud service, matches are now bigger for games across Xbox One.

• No more waiting for matchmaking. Smart Match on Xbox One allows for asynchronous matchmaking, where the system begins looking for your next match while you continue to game, watch TV or listen to music. Smart Match also instantly finds people you want to play with, where your reputation also plays an important role.

• Rewards for good reputation. Your new Xbox Live reputation plays a prominent and valuable role by rewarding healthy participation while reducing troublemakers and cheaters. A unified system across Xbox Live and all of your games allows for you to have much more control over who you play with while giving you new and exciting ways to get even more involved in your community.

• Ability to record, edit, share and broadcast. With Game DVR and Upload Studio,3 gamers can instantly capture their favorite moments and edit and share them with their friends around the world. With Twitch on Xbox One, a single voice command starts live broadcasting. Home to the most complete portfolio of world-class blockbusters

The full lineup of Xbox One games unveiled by Microsoft at E3 that showcased the fun, color and immersion of the future of gaming includes the following:

• "Battlefield 4" (DICE, Electronic Arts). DICE ushers in the next era of world-class gaming with “Battlefield 4.” The chaos of all-out war explodes, now with groundbreaking new innovations all running at a smooth 60 frames-per-second on Xbox One. With “Battlefield 4,” the intensity of combat will never be the same.

• "Below" (Capy Games, Microsoft Studios). “Below” is a classic rogue tale with moody graphics and Kinect technology. You’ll scour the open world in search of rare and special loot while battling the malevolent Darkness, an artificial intelligence-controlled character that uses Kinect to sense and change level progression based on the room’s surroundings.

• "Crimson Dragon" (Grounding/Land Ho!, Microsoft Studios). Humanity has been driven to the brink of extinction on a colonized planet ruled by dragons. It’s up to you to take control of a powerful dragon and battle for control of the skies in this thrilling flight-based shooter.

• "D4" (Access Games, Microsoft Studios). An episodic noir adventure, “D4” follows the story of a detective with the curious ability to dive back in time. He must use this power to solve his wife’s murder and then try to prevent it from occurring.

• "Dead Rising 3" (Capcom Vancouver, Microsoft). Launching in November exclusively for Xbox One, “Dead Rising 3” marks the return of the wildly popular zombie franchise and introduces a blockbuster open-world action experience that will define a new generation of zombie-slaying mayhem. With intense action, an unmatched level of weapon and character customization, and immersive Xbox SmartGlass and Kinect integration, “Dead Rising 3” delivers a heart-pounding experience unlike any other as players fight for survival in a massive, open world teeming with thousands of undead.

• "Forza Motorsport 5" (Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios). Launching in November, “Forza Motorsport 5” is a cinematic automotive journey starring the world’s greatest cars and tracks. Built from the ground up to take advantage of Xbox One and the vast power of the cloud, no game better delivers the wide-eyed thrill of racing.

• "Halo Xbox One" – working title (343 Industries, Microsoft Studios). The award-winning franchise continues on Xbox One, beginning in 2014.

• "Killer Instinct" (Double Helix, Microsoft Studios). After nearly a decade, the popular fighting franchise returns to Xbox One with the “Killer Instinct” characters and combos that revolutionized fighting games. “Killer Instinct” is enabled with robust progression and rewards, dynamic challenges customized to player behavior, and predictive matchmaking for seamless competitive fights.

• "Kinect Sports Rivals" (Rare, Microsoft Studios). Launching in November, “Kinect Sports Rivals” is the next generation of the best-selling Kinect franchise, “Kinect Sports,” that brings your favorite sports back in re-imagined ways, and delivers new sports, made possible only with Xbox One’s all-new re-engineered Kinect. “Kinect Sports Rivals” puts you in the game like never before, tracks your movements and expressions with incredible accuracy, and offers never-ending competition with your friends and competitors.

• "LocoCycle" (Twisted Pixel, Microsoft Studios). “LocoCycle” takes you on an action-packed adventure only seen on Xbox One with a sentient motorcycle named I.R.I.S and her mechanic, Pablo (who, against his will, is literally being dragged along for the ride). Together, I.R.I.S and Pablo fight for their freedom while facing the Big Arms agents and their secret sentient motorcycle weapon, Spike.

• "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" (Kojima Productions, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.). The concept of this title is “Realistic Espionage Action in an Open World Environment.” Environmental elements like weather and wildlife, and enemies that adapt their strategy to the player’s actions, let players experience a more realistic world. The vast open world environment enhances the thrill and freedom of stealth. Aside from numerous optional missions, there are a variety of gameplay elements that encourage exploration and item-collection outside the main missions.

• "Minecraft: Xbox One Edition" (4J/Mojang, Microsoft Studios). “Minecraft: Xbox One Edition” will deliver the “Minecraft” experience to Xbox One. Building off the hugely successful “Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition,” the edition on Xbox One will include larger maps for more complex structures, expanded multiplayer features and enhanced gameplay powered by the Xbox One platform. “Minecraft: Xbox One Edition” will be available within the Xbox One launch window.

• "Powerstar Golf" (Zoe Mode, Microsoft Studios). Tee up for fun with “Powerstar Golf” for Xbox One. Whether you’re playing a round to unwind and admire the amazing vistas or a pro trying to climb the leaderboards for bragging rights, it’s time to load up the cart and aim for the green.

• "Project Spark" (Team Dakota, Microsoft Studios). “Project Spark” is an open-world digital canvas that enables anyone to build, play and share whatever they can imagine and create in the game. It’s a powerful, yet simple way to build and play your own worlds, stories and games. Share all of your creations with a dynamic community and play what the community makes. “Project Spark” brings creation to life and presents endless opportunities for play across Xbox One, Windows 8 and Xbox 360.

• "Quantum Break" (Remedy, Microsoft Studios). From the creators of “Alan Wake” and “Max Payne” comes a revolutionary entertainment experience that blurs the line between gaming and TV by integrating drama and gameplay into one seamless, uniquely immersive experience. How you play the game impacts the show, and the show informs how you play the game.

• "Ryse: Son of Rome" (Crytek, Microsoft Studios). Coming exclusively to Xbox One in November, “Ryse: Son of Rome” is an immersive action-adventure story of struggle, brutality and heroism, following a fearless Roman soldier named Marius Titus as he seeks to avenge the death of his family and leads an army to save the Roman Empire. “Ryse: Son of Rome” presents a cinematic re-creation of ancient Rome and brings the brutality and intensity of Roman warfare to life in visceral detail, thrusting you into the chaos of close-combat and epic-scale battles.

• "Sunset Overdrive" (Insomniac Games, Microsoft Studios). “Sunset Overdrive” is an always-changing, open-world shooter set in the not-so-distant future. A catastrophic event has left your city overrun by mutants. While the majority perish or transform, you flourish. It turns out your calling isn’t picking up trash or serving food, it’s mutant destruction. With an arsenal of explosive, overpowered weapons and a knack for traversing the city with hyperagility, it’s not the end of days for you. Available for future release, your story is just starting.

• "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" (CD Projekt RED). “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is a unique combination of a non-linear story and an open world – a fantasy RPG focused on player choice, tactical combat and an immersive environment. Spinning the tale of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster hunter, “The Witcher 3” aims to attract gamers with a mature and compelling narrative told as no other game has before. With over 100 hours of hand-crafted core and side quest gameplay, “The Witcher 3” redefines the genre and shapes RPGs of the next generation.

• "Zoo Tycoon" (Frontier Developments Ltd., Microsoft Studios). The wildly popular “Zoo Tycoon” franchise is coming to Xbox One and Xbox 360 worldwide later this year. Fully re-imagined and featuring a menagerie of beautiful species, reactive gameplay and real calendar tie-in, this zoo simulation will charm “Zoo Tycoon” fans and new players alike.

For more details about the Xbox One games lineup and all the exciting Xbox news at E3, visit news.xbox.com. For press releases and media assets, please visit news.xbox.com/media (select “Choose a Category” to find relevant content).

About Xbox

Xbox is Microsoft’s premier entertainment brand for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. In living rooms or on the go, Xbox is home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world’s largest libraries of movies, TV, music and sports. Your favorite games, TV and entertainment come to life in new ways through the power of Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Live, the world’s premier social entertainment network. More information about Xbox can be found online at www.xbox.com.

About Microsoft

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

The information contained in this press release relates to a pre-release product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

[1] Source: Metacritic, May 2003–May 2013

[2] $5 per month with 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership at $59.99; applicable taxes extra. Available Xbox Live features vary across systems. Some Gold benefits cannot be shared on Xbox One; restrictions apply.

[3] Upload Studio and Twitch features available with supported games.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Xbox One System June 09, 2013 Every Xbox One system sold will include the new Xbox One console — which features a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray player and built-in Wi-Fi — the new Kinect, one Xbox One Wireless Controller and a free 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold for new members.

Downloads: Web | Print

LOS ANGELES — June 10, 2013 — Fueling the excitement from the Xbox One reveal on May 21, Microsoft Corp. today announced launch details for the highly anticipated next Xbox and entertainment system. Launching in 21 markets around the world in November 2013, Xbox One is the ultimate all-in-one entertainment system built for the 21st century living room — introducing a new world of games, music, live TV, movies, sports, apps and Skype, all personalized to your interests and accessible with the sound of your voice.

Every Xbox One system sold will include the new Xbox One console — which features a 500GB hard drive,[1] Blu-ray player and built-in Wi-Fi — the new Kinect, one Xbox One Wireless Controller and a free 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold for new members. The Xbox One launch bundle will be available for $499.99 in the U.S., £429 (GBP) in the U.K. and €499 (EUR) in European markets.[2]

To celebrate the launch of Xbox One, Microsoft is also introducing a limited-edition commemorative bundle to fans who reserve the system at major retailers, available in limited quantities, while supplies last, for $499.99, €499 (EUR).[2] Reserving the commemorative bundle will guarantee that you’ll be able to purchase the new system on day one. Each commemorative bundle will include an Xbox One system that comes in premium black packaging with a limited edition Xbox One Day One wireless controller, as well as a unique commemorative Day One Achievement.

Gamers who reserve the following exclusive Xbox One Day One edition launch titles, available in limited quantities at major retailers while supplies last, will receive special bonus content:

• "Ryse: Son of Rome." Exclusive multiplayer map and sword with bonus attributes.

• "Forza Motorsport 5." Access to four cars tuned to the top of their class.

• "Kinect Sports Rivals." Exclusive sporting equipment that separates your Champion from the rest of the world.

• "Dead Rising 3." Exclusive Frank West and Chuck Greene Tribute Packs with bonus attributes.

Don Mattrick at E3 2013 June 09, 2013 Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, gets the ball rolling on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), where Xbox kick-started a new era of games and entertainment with a stunning lineup of blockbusters for the highly anticipated Xbox One gaming and entertainment system.

Downloads: Web | Print

In addition, as a message of thanks to the millions of Xbox fans around the world for their passion and loyalty, Microsoft announced that every qualifying Xbox Live Gold member — new or existing — will receive two free Xbox 360 game downloads per month starting July 1 until Dec. 31, 2013, including popular titles such as “Halo 3” and “Assassin’s Creed II.” And to celebrate E3 in the month of June, Xbox Live Gold members will receive a free download of “Fable III.”[3] For a limited time gamers can also get a Day One 12-month Xbox Live Gold membership and play “Killer Instinct: Round One,” with the exclusive Shadow Jago character, on Xbox One. Players will also receive a commemorative Day One membership card.

To reserve your Xbox One system today, visit http://www.xbox.com/reserve for participating retailers.

All-new a ccessories to f uel the n e w g eneration of g aming

Launching alongside Xbox One this November, a new lineup of best-in-class accessories will make your new-generation gaming experiences more immersive, precise and accessible:

• Xbox One Wireless Controller. The Xbox controller is refreshed with more than 40 technical and design innovations. Updated directional pad, thumb sticks and contours deliver greater precision and control, while new vibrating impulse triggers offer precise fingertip feedback, bringing an unprecedented level of gameplay immersion.[4] The Xbox One Wireless Controller is designed to work in concert with the new Kinect, allowing the two to be paired automatically to create seamless player syncing.

• Xbox One Play & Charge Kit. This kit includes a lithium ion rechargeable battery pack that fits inside the Wireless Controller as well as a charging cable that connects from the Controller to the console. Gamers can play on and on without having to buy a single disposable battery. The new Play & Charge Kit charges twice as fast as its Xbox 360 counterpart and charges during gameplay or when the console is in standby mode. The Kit is available for standalone purchase or as part of the Wireless Controller with Play & Charge Kit bundle.

• Xbox One Chat Headset. A must-have for fans of online gaming, the new Xbox One Chat Headset, wired to the controller, is designed for long gaming sessions and clear voice chat. With a lightweight and comfortable new design, the mono chat headset features wideband digital audio and a unidirectional microphone. Gamers will love not having to take their hands off the controller to access the microphone mute and volume controls.

For more details about all the exciting Xbox One news at E3, including the full games lineup, visit news.xbox.com. For press releases and media assets, visit news.xbox.com/media (select “Choose a Category” to find relevant content). More details about the Xbox One accessories are available at www.xbox.com/xboxone/accessories.

About Xbox

Xbox is Microsoft’s premier entertainment brand for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. In living rooms or on the go, Xbox is home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world’s largest libraries of movies, TV, music and sports. Your favorite games, TV and entertainment come to life in new ways through the power of Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Live, the world’s premier social entertainment network. More information about Xbox can be found online at www.xbox.com.

About Microsoft

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

Features and requirements are under development and may change prior to release. Available features and content may vary by country. Broadband Internet (ISP fees apply) and advanced TV hardware required. Games and media content sold separately. Xbox Live Gold Membership, paid subscription and other requirements apply for some Xbox Live features.

[1] Xbox One system software uses a significant amount of storage; less internal storage will be available to users. 500 GB = 500 billion bytes.

[2] Estimated retail prices; actual retail prices may vary. Price for U.K. and European Xbox One launch bundles includes tax.

[3] “Games with Gold” free games offer available June 10 through Dec. 31, 2013, for paid Gold members only. Xbox 360 games (selected by Xbox) available for free download from Marketplace only during specified half-month window; available games may vary by country. Kinect and/or hard drive required for some games. See xbox.com/live.

[4] In supported games.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash., June 6, 2013 - We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.

REDMOND, Wash. – June 5, 2013 – In a coordinated operation, Microsoft Corp., in cooperation with leaders in the financial services industry – including the Financial Services – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association, the American Bankers Association (ABA) – Agari, and other technology industry partners, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced it has successfully disrupted more than a thousand botnets that are responsible for stealing people’s online banking information and personal identities. The FBI took coordinated separate steps related to the operation. Botnets are networks of compromised computers infected by malicious software to be controlled by cybercriminals known as botherders. This cooperative action is part of a growing proactive effort by both the public and private sector to fight cybercrime, help protect people and businesses from online fraud and identity theft, and enhance cloud security for everyone.

This coordinated disruption resulted from an extensive investigation that Microsoft and its financial services and technology industry partners began in early 2012. After looking into this threat, Microsoft and its partners discovered that once a computer was infected with Citadel malware, that malware began monitoring and recording a victim’s keystrokes. This tactic, known as keylogging, provides cybercriminals information to gain direct access to a victim’s bank account or any other online account in order to withdraw money or steal personal identities. This means that when victims are using their computers to access their bank or online accounts, cybercriminals can use the stolen information to quietly pilfer those same accounts as well. Microsoft also found that in addition to being responsible for more than half a billion dollars (USD) in losses among people and businesses worldwide, the Citadel malware has affected upwards of five million people, with some of the highest number of infections appearing in the U.S., Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and Australia. Citadel is a global threat that is believed may have already infected victims in more than ninety countries worldwide since its inception.

“The harm done by Citadel shows the threat that botnets, malicious software, and piracy pose to individuals and businesses around the world,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel and executive vice president, Legal and Corporate Affairs. “Today’s coordinated action between the private sector and law enforcement demonstrates the power of combined legal and technical expertise and we’re going to continue to work together to help put these cybercriminals out of business.”

Last week, supported by declarations from financial services leaders and other industry partners, Microsoft filed a civil suit against the cybercriminals operating the Citadel botnets, receiving authorization from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina for Microsoft to simultaneously cut off communication between 1,462 Citadel botnets and the millions of infected computers under their control. On June 5, Microsoft, escorted by the U.S. Marshals, seized data and evidence from the botnets, including computer servers from two data hosting facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Microsoft also provided information about the botnets’ operations to international Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), so these partners could take action at their discretion on additional command and control infrastructure for the botnets located outside of the U.S.

As stated by the FBI, the FBI also provided information to foreign law enforcement counterparts so that they could also take voluntary action on botnet infrastructure located outside of the U.S. The FBI also obtained and served court-authorized search warrants domestically related to the botnets.

This operation serves as a real world example of how public-private partnerships can work effectively within the judicial system, and how 20th century legal precedent and common law principles dating back hundreds of years can be effectively applied toward 21st century cybersecurity issues.

“Today’s actions represent the future of addressing the significant risks posed to our citizens, businesses, and intellectual property by cyber threats and malicious software, which are often enabled by counterfeit and unlicensed software,” said FBI Executive Assistant Director Richard McFeely. “Creating successful public-private relationships—in which tools, knowledge, and intelligence are shared—is the ultimate key to success in addressing cyber threats and is among the highest priorities of the FBI. We must ensure that, as cyber policy is developed, the ability of the private sector to coordinate in real time with the FBI is encouraged so that a multi-prong attack on our cyber adversaries can be as effective as possible.”

Because the operators used the malware to steal victims’ online banking credentials and make fraudulent transactions, financial services industry leaders including FS-ISAC, NACHA, ABA, and Agari supported Microsoft’s civil lawsuit by serving as declarants in the case. This operation is the second in which Microsoft has worked with the financial services industry to disrupt a family of botnets.

"Crimes used to happen through stickups, but today criminals use mouse clicks,” said Greg Garcia, a consultant and former Department of Homeland Security cyber official serving as a spokesperson for the three major financial industry associations. “This action aims to stop the ongoing harm of these Citadel botnets against people and businesses worldwide, and you can be assured that we will continue to partner with the public and private sectors to help financial institutions protect our customers from threats like this.”

Other organizations that played a part in the legal or technical aspects of this operation include Agari, A10 Networks, and Nominum. In particular, in addition to supporting Microsoft’s lawsuit with a legal declaration, Agari, a partner of FS-ISAC, provided forensic data gathering based on the terabytes of email data that Agari collects from sources across the Internet to protect against email threats such as phishing. Meanwhile, A10 Networks and Nominum provided Microsoft advanced technology to support the disruptive action.

Due to the size and complexity of the threat, Microsoft and its partners do not expect to fully eliminate all of the botnets using Citadel. However, it is expected that this action will significantly disrupt the botnets’ operation, making it riskier and more expensive for the cybercriminals to continue doing business and allowing victims to free their computers from the malware. To help protect people from any remaining instances of this threat, it is critical that victims rid their computers of Citadel by using malware removal or anti-virus software as quickly as possible to help prevent additional security issues.

Immediately following the disruption, Microsoft will use the threat intelligence gathered during the seizure to work with Internet Service Providers and Computer Emergency Response Teams worldwide to quickly and efficiently notify people if their computer is infected. Microsoft will be making this information available through its Cyber Threat Intelligence Program (C-TIP), including the recently-announced cloud-based version of the program. For computer owners worried that their computers might be infected, Microsoft offers free information and malware removal tools at http://support.microsoft.com/botnets. Additionally, the FBI is providing information on its website about botnets to educate the public on how to protect themselves. Many financial services industry organizations provide resources, tips, and tools to individuals and companies on how to help protect themselves.

Like many of Microsoft’s past botnet operations, this investigation once again revealed how criminals are adapting and evolving their attack methods to continue to infect people’s computers with malware. In this case, Microsoft found that the cybercriminals are using fraudulently obtained product keys created by key generators for outdated Windows XP software to develop their malware and grow their business, demonstrating a continued connection between software piracy and global cybersecurity threats. This discovery showcases that in addition to exercising safe online practices like running modern, updated and legitimate software and using firewall and antivirus protection, people also need to be using modern versions of Windows software to better prevent malware, fraud, and identify theft.

More information about today’s news and the coordinated action against Citadel is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/dcu/. Legal documentation in the case can be found at http://www.botnetlegalnotice.com/citadel.

About FS-ISAC

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center was formed in 1999 and is a non-profit, private financial sector initiative. It was designed and developed and is owned by financial institutions. Its primary function is to share timely, relevant and actionable information of physical and cyber security threat and incident information to help mitigate the risk associated with these threats. http://www.fsisac.com/

About NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association

NACHA manages the development, administration, and governance of the ACH Network, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data. The ACH Network provides a safe, secure, and reliable network for direct account-to-account consumer, business, and government payments. Annually, it facilitates billions of Direct Deposit via ACH and Direct Payment via ACH transactions. Used by all types of financial institutions, the ACH Network is governed by the fair and equitable NACHA Operating Rules, which guide risk management and create payment certainty for all participants. As a not-for-profit association, NACHA represents more than 10,000 financial institutions via 17 regional payments associations and direct membership. Through its industry councils and forums, NACHA brings together payments system stakeholders to foster dialogue and innovation to strengthen the ACH Network. To learn more, please visit www.nacha.org.

About ABA

The American Bankers Association represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation’s $14 trillion banking industry and its two million employees. Learn more at aba.com.

About Agari

Agari collects terabytes of email data from sources across the Internet to create a cloud-based solution to assess, visualize, and protect against email threats to brands, such as phishing and other fraud. Today, Agari protects more than 65 percent of US consumer email traffic and processes more than 2.3 billion messages daily. The Agari Email Trust Network becomes more pervasive, intelligent, and powerful as more join Agari to protect email users, customers, brands, business models, and corporate and cyber infrastructure. Founded by the thought leaders behind Cisco’s IronPort solutions, the Agari platform provides global brands with the tools needed to proactively protect brand reputation, eliminate email threats, protect customers and prevent the loss of sensitive data. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Agari is backed by Alloy Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, and Greylock Partners. Additional information is available at www.agari.com.

About A10 Networks

A10 Networks was founded in Q4 2004 with a mission to provide innovative networking and security solutions. A10 Networks makes high-performance products that help organizations accelerate, optimize and secure their applications. A10 Networks is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. For more information, visit: http://www.a10networks.com.

About Nominum

Nominum empowers Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to quickly and cost effectively deliver personalized services that provide a differentiated, safer customer experience, generate revenues and build brand loyalty. Nominum’s N2 Platform is an open, scalable platform that leverages customer behavior data from the DNS and other network sources and monetizes the data through intelligent policy management and notification-based service offerings. The N2 Platform processes over 1.5 trillion DNS queries daily and is easily layered upon existing network infrastructure with no additional hardware. Nominum is a global organization headquartered in Redwood City, CA.

About FBI

As an intelligence-driven and a threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law enforcement responsibilities, the mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, including cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes; to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States; and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.

About Microsoft

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 5, 2013 — In his first COMPUTEX keynote address as head of Microsoft’s OEM Division, Corporate Vice President Nick Parker had plenty to talk about. Just over seven months after the launch of Windows 8 last fall, Parker hosted an impressive lineup of new tablets and PCs from leading manufacturers as well as smartphones, servers and embedded industry devices to demonstrate a consistent Windows experience across screens. He also spoke at length about the growing opportunity for partners to bet their business on Windows by building devices, services and apps that deliver new capabilities and experiences to customers.

“We want to be the best partner to all hardware manufacturers, from the way we engage and invest on new product designs to the experience we jointly deliver to customers,” Parker said. “This new wave of Windows devices from our partners, combined with our software, apps and services, reflects that commitment.”

Most notable of the devices Parker showed were the new 7-inch and 8-inch Windows tablets: the Acer Iconia W3 that launched on June 3 in Taipei, and three other small tablets from top original device manufacturer (ODM) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners expected to ship for the holiday season. These small tablets provide a Windows experience with Office Home & Student 2013 delivering even more options to experience all that Windows can offer in a smaller form factor. Some of the other hardware innovation showcased including fourth generation Intel® Core™ processors available now, beautiful high-definition displays, rotating touch panels, near-field communications (NFC) for file sharing between devices and ultrathin notebooks. The breadth of innovation coming from the Windows ecosystem continues to expand and provide new ways for customers to interact with devices at home, on the road or in the office.

Tami Reller, chief financial officer and chief marketing officer of Microsoft’s Windows Division, joined Parker onstage to discuss how the company is building on Windows 8 and accelerating the delivery of innovation starting now with the upcoming update of Windows 8.1. This approach enables increased agility and quicker response to customer and partner needs. “Windows 8.1 furthers the bold vision of Windows 8 by responding to customer feedback and adding new features and functionality that advance the touch experience and mobile computing’s potential,” Reller said.

As part of this commitment, Reller announced that Outlook 2013 RT will be available on Windows-based ARM tablets with the Windows 8.1 update later this year. “Windows on ARM is a core part of our strategy today and moving forward, and the addition of Outlook further enriches this world of new on-the-go opportunities for partners and customers,” Reller said.

Reller was joined onstage by Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, who shared the first public demo of Windows 8.1, highlighting enhancements in key areas such as personalization, search, the apps and Windows Store experience, cloud connectivity, and the new Internet Explorer 11. Leblond also described how working closely with partners has enabled the creation of richer and more unique experiences with hardware innovation in areas such as smaller form factors, touch pad, wireless networking, larger screens and higher DPI.

Later, Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Developer Platform Evangelism group, took the stage to discuss the growing universe of Windows 8 apps and how apps are increasingly the key to bringing new computing experiences to life. He talked about how the Windows ecosystem provides symmetry for app builders across client, device, server and cloud, and showed an array of popular apps for consumers and business including “Temple Run: Brave,” Twitter, Foursquare, LINE, Adobe Illustrator and more.

Parker closed the Microsoft keynote address by showcasing a broad range of devices and demonstrated how the Windows platform and services work seamlessly across screens:

• Windows Phone 8. Park demonstrated the recently announced Nokia Lumia 925, which features advanced lens technology and next-generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low-light images.

• Office 365 and Office 2013. These applications were demonstrated across Windows devices, using touch capabilities that enable rich productivity scenarios.

• Windows Server 2012. Western Digital Sentinel server showed continued hardware innovation on servers to support access to cloud services across devices and expanding business needs in areas such as storage.

With the support of products and services such as Office 365, Skype, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, and Xbox Music and Xbox Video, Microsoft and its OEM partners can deliver a great experience across Windows devices from the enterprise to the classroom to the home.

COMPUTEX Taipei is the second-largest computer exhibition in the world, drawing a range of manufacturers and developers each year for a look at the latest upcoming devices and technologies. Microsoft products and OEM devices can be seen on display in the Microsoft booth in Nangang Exhibition Hall, L0110. More information is available at http://www.computextaipei.com.tw/.

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

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