REDMOND, Wash. — March 13, 2013 — A variety of industries have worked to improve product supply and delivery chains and they have regularly looked to some type of standardized identification marker such as bar codes or RFID chips to support automation efforts necessary to achieve significant gains. Until the ISO/IEC 19770-2 specification was published, there has never been a consistent, standardized method available to reliably identify specific software components purchased, distributed, installed and managed within a customer environment. TagVault.org is working with industry partners such as Microsoft Corp. to change that model, and to provide the authoritative identification markers required for larger organizations to effectively manage their software supply and distribution process in a much more automated and cost-controlled manner.

“Microsoft is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to help our customers manage their IT environments in a more automated and cost-effective manner,” says Heather Young, global director, SAM Programs, Microsoft. “The fact that software ID tags provide these capabilities and may also provide support for increased supply-side and distribution security is a real benefit to our customers.”

“TagVault.org welcomes organizations like Microsoft that are focused on customer satisfaction and that want to provide the most modern and effective options to their customer base as quickly as possible,” says Steve Klos, executive director of TagVault.org. “The market fully supports SWID tags as a very positive advancement in the industry that can help lower costs and potentially improve security for any organization managing software portfolios today. However, the market has consistently indicated that SWID tags will make a more substantial and beneficial difference to the software ecosystem once companies like Microsoft sign up to support the standard. Having Microsoft on board to help advance the certification requirements is a huge benefit to the TagVault.org community and for organizational IT environments that, to date, have struggled to manage their complete software portfolio in a cost- and resource-effective manner.”

About TagVault.org

TagVault.org is a certification authority for software identification tags based on the ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009 standard. Formed as a non-profit organization under IEEE-ISTO, TagVault.org provides a shared library of software tools, technical knowledge and communications forums that decrease the costs of creating, managing and using software identification tags.

TagVault.org’s certification process ensures SWID tags fully conform to the specification; provide a specified level of information while also ensuring specific values used in the tag are normalized. Certified software identification tags are digitally signed and time-stamped ensuring authoritative tag data that any third party can validate. Certified software identification tags enable accurate and authoritative software identification reducing the cost and complexity and improving accuracy of software logistics, security and compliance activities for all SAM eco-system members.

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. — March 5, 2013 — Although some computer users may actively seek pirated software in hopes of saving money, the chances of infection by unexpected malware are one in three for consumers and three in 10 for businesses, according to a new study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. and conducted by IDC. As a result of these infections, the research shows that consumers will spend 1.5 billion hours and US$22 billion identifying, repairing and recovering from the impact of malware, while global enterprises will spend US$114 billion to deal with the impact of a malware-induced cyberattack.

The global study analyzed 270 websites and peer-to-peer networks, 108 software downloads, and 155 CDs or DVDs, and it interviewed 2,077 consumers and 258 IT managers or chief information officers in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Researchers found that of counterfeit software that does not come with the computer, 45 percent comes from the Internet, and 78 percent of this software downloaded from websites or peer-to-peer networks included some type of spyware, while 36 percent contained Trojans and adware.

“The cybercrime reality is that counterfeiters are tampering with the software code and lacing it with malware,” said David Finn, associate general counsel in the Microsoft Cybercrime Center. “Some of this malware records a person’s every keystroke — allowing cybercriminals to steal a victim’s personal and financial information — or remotely switches on an infected computer’s microphone and video camera, giving cybercriminals eyes and ears in boardrooms and living rooms. The best way to secure yourself and your property from these malware threats when you buy a computer is to demand genuine software.”

The IDC study, titled “The Dangerous World of Counterfeit and Pirated Software,” was released today as part of Microsoft’s “Play It Safe” campaign, a global initiative to bring awareness to issues related to software piracy.

“Our research is unequivocal: Inherent dangers lurk for consumers and businesses that take a chance on counterfeit software,” said John Gantz, chief researcher at IDC. “Some people choose counterfeit to save money, but this ‘ride-along’ malware ends up putting a financial and emotional strain on both the enterprise and casual computer users alike.”

The following are among the highlights from the consumer survey:

• Sixty-four percent of the people respondents knew who had used counterfeit software experienced security issues.

• Forty-five percent of the time, counterfeit software slowed their PCs, and the software had to be uninstalled.

• Forty-eight percent of respondents noted that their greatest concern with using counterfeit software was data loss.

• Twenty-nine percent were most concerned with identity theft.

Embedding counterfeit software with dangerous malware is a new method for criminals to prey on computer users who are unaware of the potential danger.

The IDC white paper also explored the surprising level of end-user software installations made on corporate computers, exposing another method for the introduction of unsecure software into the workplace ecosystem. Although 38 percent of IT managers acknowledge that it happens, 57 percent of workers admit they install personal software onto employer-owned computers. What is alarming is that respondents told IDC that only 30 percent of the software they installed on their work computers was problem-free. Sixty-five percent of IT managers agree that user-installed software increases an organization’s security risks. For many in the enterprise, user-installed software may be a blind spot in ensuring a secure network.

Customers are encouraged to visit http://www.microsoft.com/security to learn about malware and ensure their machines are not infected; if malware is present, the site offers tools to remove the infection. Customers shopping for new computers are encouraged to buy from a reputable source to ensure they are receiving genuine Microsoft software.

More information about the IDC study is available at the Microsoft Play It Safe website, http://www.play-it-safe.net, and newsroom, http://www.microsoft.com/news/ipcrimes.

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. — March 4, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that healthcare organizations large and small, including FHI 360, Gwinnett Hospital System Inc., Kindred Healthcare Inc. and Mihills Webb, have selected Microsoft Office 365 as the trusted cloud service to help address their end goal of providing the highest quality, safety and best outcomes of care for each patient.

The choice has simultaneously helped those required to do so comply with critical regulatory and privacy obligations under the United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which among other things is designed to protect the privacy of healthcare information for individuals. Office 365 is the only major cloud business productivity solution that addresses rigorous HIPAA regulations, and programmatically offers a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) to customers.

“We’re pleased to work with health organizations and partners to offer the cloud-based productivity and collaboration infrastructure they need to enable their people and teams to communicate and collaborate anytime, anywhere and substantially lower their IT operating costs,” said Dennis Schmuland, MD, chief health strategy officer, Microsoft U.S. Health & Life Sciences. “And by incorporating the required HIPAA privacy and security protections, and IT control safeguards in Office 365, Microsoft is enabling health organizations to move to the cloud at their own pace, and with confidence that Office 365 is designed to meet or exceed their requirements for patient-centered collaboration while simultaneously helping them address their HIPAA regulatory requirements for privacy and security compliance.”

The following healthcare organizations have recently implemented Microsoft Office 365 solutions for benefits that include these:

• Unifying and streamlining. FHI 360 is a global development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions for human development. Professional staff includes experts in health, nutrition, education, economic development, civil society, environment and research. They serve more than 60 countries and all U.S. states and territories, which meant FHI 360 needed a single solution to unify all offices. By adopting Office 365, FHI 360 was able to cohesively harness the power of cloud computing for the entire organization.

“We were looking to move every employee to the cloud, and Office 365 offered the best blend of feature set, corporate support and reliability,” said Michael Mazza, chief information officer, FHI 360. “Microsoft demonstrated a commitment in deployment and support that could not be matched. Microsoft’s ability to support our top five languages while understanding future considerations across our disciplines and geographies, within the organization and with our partners, was also important.”

• Low-cost, high-tech. Gwinnett Hospital System was not utilizing instant messaging and conferencing technologies and needed the ability to collaborate remotely without having to travel. The company wanted an effective cloud solution to interoperate with its existing technologies, so it chose Microsoft Lync Online.

“In general, hospitals tend to be behind in deploying new technologies,” said Rick Allen, assistant vice president of information systems at Gwinnett. “But we are competing for talent, and new technologies help attract young employees. With Lync and the cloud, we can provide easy collaboration regardless of location at a cost we can handle.”

• Standardized communication, improved collaboration, stronger management. Kindred Healthcare Inc. has experienced technological challenges in the past when acquiring and integrating healthcare companies and business portfolios, including during the most recent acquisition of RehabCare. After deciding to deploy Office 365 across all RehabCare employees, however, Kindred was able to standardize its lines of business on a common cloud platform, expand communication abilities via Microsoft Lync, and improve collaboration opportunities with Microsoft SharePoint, all the while leveraging the benefits of both cloud and on-premise offerings with robust security. Office 365 has also provided Kindred with a platform that enables it to continually improve productivity and manageability across the company.

“Because Kindred was already leveraging the Microsoft technologies before acquiring RehabCare, we felt confident in migrating RehabCare’s mobile therapists to Office 365,” said John Vorreiter, senior director of Technical Services. “Kindred has 78,000 dedicated employees providing IT and healthcare services to 546,000 patients and residents on an annualized basis, with more than 2,200 locations across 46 states. Having the latest cloud technology that supports a wide range of clinical and business applications, user collaboration, and needs and still helps ensure HIPAA security compliance enforcement tools is essential.”

• Security features and privacy compliance. Mihills Webb Medical, a small five-physician family practice, deployed Office 365 for communication and compliance benefits. Microsoft’s cloud offering not only improves communication and collaboration but provides robust security and helps meet privacy and other regulatory requirements as demanded by HIPAA, the federal law that applies to health organizations which need to protect patient data. Many organizations seeking to consolidate resources and save money in their infrastructure and email storage businesses needed to combine the benefits of moving to the cloud with the need for a solution with the highest level of scrutiny around how data is secured and accessed from the cloud.

“Compliance in particular was critical for us, and it’s a non-negotiable requirement that we demand from our technology solution providers,” said Dr. Cody Mihills, family physician at Mihills Webb. “Because Microsoft cloud services are HIPAA-compliant and came with a HIPAA business associate agreement, we’ve used Office 365 to unify communications across the office with confidence. Tasks like coordinating schedules between employees and collaborating with peers outside the office who support patients now can be executed in an efficient, HIPAA-compliant manner. Office 365, from a business standpoint, has been a winning proposition.”

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.

NEW ORLEANS — March 4, 2013 — At the HIMSS13 Annual Conference and Exhibition, Microsoft Corp. today announced new healthcare customers and partners that showcased Windows 8 solutions as part of a comprehensive approach to meeting mobility, productivity and collaboration goals within hospital and practice settings. With more than 850 health apps currently in the Windows Store available to healthcare providers, Windows 8 offers a platform for the next generation of apps poised to change the way the healthcare organizations connect with each other and patients, enabling a more integrated and patient-centric health system.

“Healthcare organizations are under increasing pressure to deliver improved quality of care, provide better access for more patients and lower costs, while tackling productivity and workforce shortage challenges,” said Michael Robinson, general manager, U.S. Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft. “Microsoft offers the necessary secure communication, collaboration and workflow technologies that complement existing EHR solutions, transforming the practice of medicine from provider-centered piecework to patient-centered teamwork.”

Microsoft is collaborating with Intel and Cleveland Clinic to explore proof-of-concept deployments of Windows 8 line-of-business apps in a clinical setting. Cleveland Clinic is exploring the capabilities of Windows 8 and new Intel-powered mobile devices that enable clinicians to view a risk-stratified list of patients and call up their latest medical information.

“For constantly multitasking clinicians, the Windows 8 interface offers flexibility to use both the touch screen and keyboard on a range of fast, powerful new Intel-based mobile devices,” said Mark Blatt, M.D., medical director for Intel’s worldwide health IT group. “Healthcare organizations no longer need to compromise when it comes to mobile health workflows because today’s innovative designs enable clinicians to instantly convert from tablet to laptop mode.”

Pediatric Associates recognizes the continuing need to provide innovative ways in delivering key medical information to our providers while caring for patients. This pilot enables them to meet this need by seamlessly delivering protected health information in the Greenway PrimeMOBILE app via Windows 8 devices wherever the clinician or patient may be.

“As a physician-owned practice with seven clinical locations and over 80 providers seeing 250,000 patient visits per year, we are focused on leveraging technology as a tool in providing quality patient care. Through our partnership with Microsoft, Intel and Greenway, we engaged in a pilot project to assess the potential of Windows 8, in combination with Greenway’s PrimeMOBILE EHR app, in supplying a mobile solution to an ever-growing mobile patient demographic,” said Brock Morris, chief information officer, Pediatric Associates Inc., PS. “Through the intuitive nature and enhanced security of Windows 8 and the PrimeMOBILE app, our providers can gain ready access to the patient’s full medical chart, providing a tremendous help to our patients by taking the burden off the family and by allowing our physicians to efficiently and accurately access the necessary medical information regardless of the point of care.”

Windows 8 and its broad network of apps, which are inherently secure, are bringing value to healthcare providers by connecting enterprise apps and consumer experiences together in a way that is unique to the industry. Microsoft and its partner ecosystem unveiled a range of new enterprise apps that connect to Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), apps for mobile physicians and nurses to access Clinical Reference information and Business to Consumer apps aimed at empowering consumers to better manage their health.

Electronic Medical Record Apps

Clinicians and nurses are leveraging Electronic Medical Record (EMR) apps to access patient information securely in a healthcare setting, allowing them to make more informed decisions about patient health, collaborate more effectively across teams and improve the overall health outcomes of patients.

• Greenway developed the PrimeMOBILE app for Windows 8, which provides complete remote access to patient data housed in Greenway’s EHR solution, allowing providers to view patient history and problem lists, progress notes, and appointment schedules encompassing a healthcare provider’s entire patient population in a secure manner. PrimeMOBILE, a business-to-business app, gives physicians and other clinicians access to the most-common functionality of the Greenway PrimeSUITE EHR.

“To truly deliver the most effective care possible, providers need anywhere, anytime access to comprehensive information,” said Johnathan Samples, executive vice president, Research and Development, Greenway Medical. “PrimeMOBILE allows physicians and other caregivers to easily and securely leverage the rich patient data within our PrimeSUITE EHR solution as they direct care from virtually any location. With the growing popularity of Windows 8, we’re pleased to deliver this access on the Windows 8 platform so our providers have another user-friendly tool, working together to improve population health.”

• Pariscribe’s Windows 8 EMR business-to-business app, the EMR Surface, transforms the clinical documentation process. “The tile-based UX design and incorporation of core contracts native to Windows 8 have enabled our development of a feature-rich application that transcends the typical user experience in the medical applications,” said Manny Abraham, president and CEO of Pariscribe. “Pariscribe clinical documentation leverages all the advantages that Windows 8 and touch-enabled mobile devices can offer customers who want a more user-friendly system.”

• MazikCARE, a business-to-business app for Windows 8, is the fully integrated EMR solution for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Available as a hosted or cloud solution, the MazikCARE Windows 8 app delivers full healthcare IT functionality, including ambulatory and inpatient processing, revenue cycles, medical billing, scheduling, and more. MazikCARE is an intuitive Windows 8 app that cuts down on employee training time, lowers costs, increases return on investment and is the only EMR/ERP solution offering full Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 capability on Windows 8.

Further, EMR providers from Epic to AllScripts are showcasing their integration with Windows 8 at HIMSS.

Clinical Reference Apps

Physicians are constantly on the go, moving between patients and from the hospital to the physicians’ offices. Clinical reference apps enable physicians to access information and make evidence-based recommendations about patient care.

• UpToDate allows providers to find clinical answers at the point of care or anywhere they need them by allowing them to access current, synthesized clinical information from UpToDate, including evidence-based recommendations, quickly and easily on a Windows 8 phone or Windows 8 tablet.

• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality developed a Windows 8 version of its Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) app, which is designed to help primary care clinicians identify the screening, counseling and preventive medication services that are appropriate for their patients. ePSS brings information on clinical preventive services that clinicians need, recommendations, clinical considerations, and selected practice tools, to the point of care.

Consumer Health Apps

Windows 8 applications are also empowering patients to be more engaged as active participants in their own health.

• Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. has partnered with Microsoft on the launch of the Digital Health Scorecard app for Windows 8. The Scorecard aims to address the growing prevalence of chronic diseases around the world by introducing the concept of a personal health score. The health score is a new, consumer-friendly metric that can be quickly calculated by answering just seven questions about essential health behaviors and measures. It’s like a “credit score” for your health. “The app helps people recognize where they currently stand with their health,” said Michael Weinberger, director of Marketplace Innovation at Johnson & Johnson. “But just as important, it gives them the critical insight they need to have conversations with their doctor and begin making the changes that can lead to longer, healthier, happier lives.”

• The CDC application is a way for consumers to access health information at their fingertips, featuring important health articles, popular journals, timely updates and access to social media to coincide with important health concerns and events that consumers can use to protect their lives and loved ones.

• Mayo Clinic offers a free app called Mayo Clinic on Pregnancy, which is available in the Windows Store. Available for desktop, laptop and tablet users on the Windows 8 platform, Mayo Clinic on Pregnancy is a trustworthy guide to pregnancy, childbirth and baby’s first three months. It was developed by Mayo Clinic to leverage the medical and lifestyle expertise of a team of Mayo’s pregnancy experts in obstetrics and gynecology, genetics, nutrition, midwifery, and lactation.

“Getting pregnant and becoming a parent are among the most significant experiences in a person’s life and can be overwhelming,” said Roger Harms, M.D., a Mayo Clinic specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, and senior medical director for operations in Mayo Clinic’s Global Business Solutions division. “Windows 8 provided an easy-to-use platform for Mayo Clinic to develop an app to guide consumers from conception to delivery, and see them through the first three months with their newborn to give them peace of mind and enhance their sense of wonder throughout the experience.”

• A Microsoft HealthVault app for Windows 8 will soon be available to consumers in the Windows Store. HealthVault enables consumers to collect, store and securely share their personal health information, and connects to hundreds of third-party services and devices that make it easy to keep that information up to date. The new app brings this critical family information to life with a modern, touch-first user experience on Surface and other Windows 8 devices.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO — Feb. 28, 2013 — Yammer, Inc., a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network and part of the Microsoft Office Division, today announced plans to add message translation capabilities, which will allow users to instantly translate Yammer conversations into their native languages.

“Removing language as a barrier to cross-company collaboration can be a competitive game changer for multinational organizations. It opens a world of possibilities,” said Adam Pisoni, Yammer co-founder and general manager of Engineering, Microsoft Office Division. “This is another example of Yammer’s accelerated innovation following the Microsoft acquisition — we’re able to use Microsoft Translator to quickly deliver additional value to customers.”

Enterprise Social Networking brings people and teams together across organizational silos and geographies to drive better communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing. Currently, 65 percent of Yammer’s 7 million users are located outside the United States. Yammer anticipates that message translation will drive greater international adoption and cross-cultural collaboration within and between organizations.

How It Works

Whenever a Yammer conversation includes a language different from the user’s default language setting, a translate button will appear below the initial post. Clicking translate will instantly convert the entire conversation, including related responses, into the user’s default language. Clicking “show original text” will revert the conversation back to the initial language(s).

Microsoft Translator supports 39 languages. This feature is planned for availability in late spring 2013 for Yammer Enterprise customers.

About Yammer

Yammer (www.yammer.com) is a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network used by more than 200,000 organizations worldwide — including 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.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 27, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced worldwide availability of a major new update to its Microsoft Office 365 services for business. Microsoft’s most complete Office cloud service to date has new features and offerings tailored to the needs and budgets of small, medium-size and large organizations. In addition to updated Microsoft Lync Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft SharePoint Online services, business users can now get the rich Office applications they are familiar with, on up to five devices, delivered as an always up-to-date cloud service. Office 365 features enhanced enterprise social capabilities with SharePoint and Yammer today, and Lync-Skype connectivity for presence, instant messaging (IM), and voice by June. The new Office 365 service is available today in 69 markets and 17 languages and will be available in an additional 20 markets and 16 languages in the second quarter of this year.

“With Office 365, everyone from large enterprises to small businesses to individual consumers can now benefit from the power of Office and the connectivity of the cloud,” said Microsoft Office Division President Kurt DelBene. “This release unlocks new scenarios and delivers capabilities that far surpass anything available in browser-only solutions.”

Since launching in mid-2011, Office 365 is one of the fastest-growing businesses in Microsoft history. After only 18 months, one in five of Microsoft’s enterprise customers now has the paid service, up from one in seven a year ago. The number of small and midsize businesses using Office 365 has also grown by 150 percent in the past 12 months. Today Microsoft continued the wave of Office 365 momentum, announcing three new customers — Hamburg Port Authority, which manages operations for Europe’s second-largest port; Midroc Europe, a property development and management organization composed of 15 companies across Europe and South Africa; and Sephora USA Inc., a leading specialty beauty retailer. These customers join others that are choosing Office 365 across business, public sector and education, including the State of Texas, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Helly Hansen, Tesco, Toyota, Barilla America Inc. and the City of Chicago.

“For Hamburg Port Authority, our typical day on ships and in the harbor is different from most companies, as are our technology and business needs,” said Dr. Sebastian Saxe, chief information officer at Hamburg Port Authority. “Our workforce is mobile, so communication and access to information is critical for our 1,900 employees. Office 365 helps our team connect to the people and information that are important, while also reducing IT time on testing, installing and updating versions by 75 percent.”

“At Toyota, we always strive to provide innovative products and exceptional customer satisfaction. We needed to improve our productivity service to support our business speed and demands as well as improve collaboration across our affiliates,” said Karen Nocket, corporate manager, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. “We evaluated our options and found that Microsoft had the most robust, integrated suite with Office 365. It has the capabilities we need to excel in today’s business environment, such as email, calendaring, video, IM and document sharing. Microsoft Office 365 is enabling us to make faster, unified decisions across Toyota.”

More information on these customers and others is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/customer-stories.aspx.

New Office 365 Offerings Tailored for Customer Needs

Today, Microsoft is announcing a new set of Office 365 offerings designed to meet a broad variety of business requirements:

• Office 365 ProPlus. Office 365 ProPlus includes the latest and most complete set of fully featured, rich Office applications — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, InfoPath and Access — delivered as a service, on up to five devices. People can now simply sign in to Office 365 from any of their devices, and their documents and personalized settings roam with them, allowing them to quickly pick up right where they left off. IT departments also get the controls they need, including the ability to run Office 365 ProPlus side-by-side with other versions of Office and tools to streamline and manage updates for their users. Office 365 ProPlus is available as a standalone offering for $144 per user for an annual subscription and is included with the updated premium Office 365 Enterprise offerings and the new Office 365 Midsize Business.

• Office 365 Midsize Business. Office 365 Midsize Business is designed for medium-sized businesses with 10 to 250 employees. This service includes Office 365 ProPlus and provides midsize businesses with enterprise-quality communication and collaboration with Exchange Online, Lync Online and SharePoint Online — along with the simplified IT tools they need to maintain control while reducing complexity. Active Directory integration, a Web-based administration console and business-hours phone support are also included. Pricing is $180 per user for an annual subscription, the equivalent of $15 per user, per month.

• Office 365 Small Business Premium. Office 365 Small Business Premium is designed for small businesses with one to 10 employees. In addition to the complete set of rich Office applications, this service includes business-grade email, shared calendars, website tools and HD videoconferencing capability in an easy-to-manage service that does not require IT expertise. Pricing is $150 per user for an annual subscription, the equivalent of $12.50 per user, per month.

The New Office Now Available for Everyone

With today’s general availability of Office 365 for all businesses, the new Office is now fully available to businesses, academic institutions and consumers. In addition to the business services announced today, on Jan. 29 Microsoft launched Office 365 Home Premium and updated versions of the traditional Office suite and servers.

Customers can purchase Office directly from Microsoft or through an authorized retail outlet or partner. More information on Office and how to sign up for a free trial is available at http://www.office.com.

Microsoft will be holding a live webcast for customers today at 8 a.m. PST featuring DelBene and Microsoft Office Division Corporate Vice President John Case, along with customers the City of Chicago, Meals on Wheels Association of America and Toyota, which will share the vision and benefits of Office 365 for businesses. The webcast is available at https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=12696&LangLocaleID=1033&AffiliateData=press release.

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. — Feb. 25, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has expanded on a global Enterprise Agreement with a new Memorandum of Understanding to offer Microsoft Office 365 and other products as the standard communications and collaboration platform for its National Societies worldwide, helping provide greater licensing flexibility. The signing has the potential to serve more than 1 million volunteers and staff members in the network.

Through this renewed and expanded partnership with Microsoft, the IFRC is aiming to help these National Societies grow stronger by more strategically using technology advances such as cloud services, while making the best use of the resources and investments made by donors. Already two of the estimated 80 early-qualifying National Societies — in Bangladesh and Namibia — have deployed Office 365, and many more are expected to follow close behind.

“The success we saw from real-world use of Office 365 in our American and Danish Red Cross Societies helped pave the way to this broader adoption,” said Edward Happ, Global Chief Information Officer, IFRC. “And now, for the first time in our history, all of our National Societies will have the ability to free up IT spending and time to focus more of their resources on the activities that are ultimately saving lives.”

Prior to signing the agreement for Office 365, the IFRC was actively seeking a solution to address its internal digital divide and provide smaller National Societies with access to the same tools, same technologies and same modern processes that the larger National Societies have. Based on its fundamental principle of universality, providing equal access to entirely new ways of working regardless of location ensures the National Societies become more efficient, participate more fully in the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, work more closely with their partners in the broader organization, and are better able to reach out to the vulnerable communities they serve.

“Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help create a secure framework for improved access to technology without compromising on capabilities or effectiveness,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “I am proud that our collaboration with the IFRC will generate new opportunities to achieve their goals and deliver real impact for millions of beneficiaries around the world.”

Finding a company with global deployment expertise and an understanding of how important technology is for providing on-the-ground communications and organizational tools was a critical factor in the IFRC’s decision. Now, with the support of Microsoft’s reliable cloud computing technologies and robust security features, the IFRC will be able to provide all stakeholders with a world-class technology platform no matter where they are and improve the process of delivering new programs directly to recipients.

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

About the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 mil¬lion people each year through our 187 member National Societies. Together, we act before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. We do so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions.

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. — Feb. 23, 2013 — TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) — a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. that serves as the North American racing arm for design, development and assembly of Toyota’s factory racing engines and chassis — worked with Microsoft Corp. to design a touch-enabled app for Windows 8 as the centerpiece of a new strategy to improve the performance of the Toyota teams competing in NASCAR. When drivers, crew chiefs and team engineers expressed the need for a more mobile computing platform to monitor real-time performance data, TRD answered with the Windows 8 Trackside app running on Surface Pro hardware.

During practice, drivers and crew chiefs previously had to record racing performance data with software on a laptop, or even with pencil and paper, requiring drivers to get out of their race cars to view information about the car’s performance, as well as to explain what was happening on the track.

“Microsoft is excited to work with TRD to design and architect a mobile platform on Windows 8 for Toyota’s NASCAR race teams,” said Jason Campbell, group product marketing manager at Microsoft. “The Trackside app for Windows 8 on Surface Pro allows TRD to spend more time driving and less time in the garage reviewing performance data, with a touch-based mobile tablet that can go from portable note taker to a high-performance monitor in less time than it takes to change even one tire.”

Now with the Windows 8 Trackside app and Surface Pro, the race team can efficiently capture performance data through the touch-based app and share it with the crew in real time, enabling mechanics to immediately get to work fine-tuning the race car for enhanced performance. Trackside also offers touch-enabled data that gives the crew chief and driver insight and analysis on timing and scoring data versus competitors, allowing a team to determine if the right adjustments have been made to the car or what adjustments may need to be made.

“Trackside running on Surface Pro means more time is spent on the track and less time is spent talking,” said Steve Wickham, TRD’s vice president of chassis operations. “Teams are back on the track faster, allowing them more time to determine the optimum setup for the race car. Our mission is to take advantage of the latest innovation in technology to quickly get better data — which translates into faster cars on the track.”

Since 2007, TRD has been developing racing software on the Windows platform for teams to analyze and improve performance, enabling Toyota race teams to be frequent visitors to victory lane and annually compete for series championships. TRD differentiates itself within the hypercompetitive racing business through technology innovation. Today, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard is one of the first Toyota teams in the NASCAR Nationwide Series to use the new Trackside solution.

“For Toyota teams to finish first on the track, we must also be the first to innovate our technologies behind the scenes,” said Darren Jones, group lead for software development at TRD. “We chose Windows 8 because we get enterprise-ready security and management, the familiarity of the Windows development environment, and a fully capable touch-enabled interface.”

When it came to choosing a device, TRD wanted a high-performance, lightweight, touch-enabled computer to complement the fast-paced environment at the race track. Several tablets were tested during the pilot phase, but Surface Pro was ultimately chosen because it delivered the power and performance of a laptop PC in a tablet package, as well as the hardware benefits of its unique Touch Covers and durable VaporMg chassis to protect the tablet from hazardous track environments. Surface Pro allows drivers and crew to use the device as a tablet or laptop, and its excellent screen visibility in outdoor lighting is essential when working at the race track.

“Working together with TRD and Microsoft, RAB Racing tested the Windows 8 Trackside app at the end of last season and found it to be an extremely useful tool for our organization,” said Robbie Benton, owner, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard. “This year with a rookie driver Alex Bowman, we need to get him as much time as possible on the race track to make sure we prepare good race cars for him. The Trackside app will help us accomplish both of those goals, and help our race team be better.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom. For press, more information on how TRD and other businesses are implementing Windows 8 is available via SkyDrive: http://sdrv.ms/132zedi. For businesses, more information about Windows 8 planning and deployment is available at the Windows 8 Enterprise resource site: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/default.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. — Feb. 21, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. and Nikon Corporation have signed a patent licensing agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for certain Nikon cameras running the Android platform. While the contents of the agreement will not be disclosed, Microsoft will receive royalties from Nikon.

“Microsoft and Nikon have a long history of collaboration, and this agreement further demonstrates the value that both companies place on responsible IP licensing,” said David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft. “Microsoft is proud to align with a leader in the digital camera industry to license Android technology for the benefit of Nikon’s customers.”

Microsoft’s Commitment to Licensing Intellectual Property

The patent agreement is another example of the important role intellectual property (IP) plays in ensuring a healthy and vibrant IT ecosystem. 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. The program was developed to open access to Microsoft’s significant R&D investments and its growing, broad patent and IP portfolio. Microsoft’s specific patent licensing program for Android device makers has resulted in signed license agreements with numerous companies including Samsung, LG, HTC, Acer and Barnes & Noble.

More information about Microsoft’s licensing programs is available at http://www.microsoft.com/iplicensing.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO — Feb. 20, 2013 — Yammer, Inc., a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network and part of the Microsoft Office Division, today announced record growth in 2012 and accelerating momentum following the Microsoft acquisition.

2012 Highlights

• Full-year 2012 sales nearly tripled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Fourth-quarter sales quadrupled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Number of paying customers increased 165 percent in 2012

• Surpassed 7 million registered users

“Yammer experienced banner growth in 2012 and grew particularly fast in the fourth quarter. Our momentum is definitely accelerating following the Microsoft acquisition,” said David Sacks, Yammer co-founder and corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Division. “The power of the freemium model and the validation that Microsoft brings to Enterprise Social Networking is helping drive mainstream adoption among leading organizations. Enterprise Social Networking is becoming the cornerstone of workplace collaboration for its ability to empower people and drive employee engagement, team collaboration and business agility.”

Record Customer Adoption

Yammer added a record 290 new paying customers in the fourth quarter, including DWF LLP, GlaxoSmithKline, Grundfos, McGladrey LLP, Reckitt Benckiser, Rio Tinto, SABMiller, T.G.I. Friday’s, Trek Bicycle Corp. and Woolworths Ltd. New customers spanned industries from financial and professional services to healthcare and pharmaceutical, including one of the largest retailers in the world and one of the largest natural gas and electric utilities companies in the United States.

Yammer Paid Customers Across Industries Include the Following:

• Nine of the largest retailers in the world

• Six of the largest food and beverage companies in the world

• Five of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world

• Four of the largest telecommunications companies in the world

• Five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world

• Four of the largest manufacturing companies in the world

• Four of the largest financial services companies in the world (Findings based on customer placement within the Forbes Global 2000)

"The Yammer experience is clearly resonating with our global workforce, and it is overtaking some of our prior investments for internal collaboration and information management,” said Scott Singer, head of Global Business Services and chief information officer of Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group headquartered in the U.K.

Rapid Product Innovation

“Our pace of development and innovation is picking up speed as part of the Microsoft Office Division,” said Adam Pisoni, Yammer co-founder and general manager of Engineering, Microsoft Office Division. “The development teams are coming together quickly, and we are leveraging existing technologies such as SkyDrive Pro and Office Web Apps to swiftly deliver greater value for customers.”

As previewed at the recent SharePoint Conference, Yammer is implementing SkyDrive Pro for file storage. In addition, Yammer is enhancing the ability to preview and edit files directly within Yammer feeds using Office Web Apps. The combination of these capabilities will dramatically enhance a user’s ability to create, collaborate, share and discover content within Yammer. These enhancements are planned for availability in summer 2013.

About Yammer

Yammer (www.yammer.com) is a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network used by more than 200,000 organizations worldwide — including 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.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 20, 2013 — Today, Microsoft Corp. announced two new competitions that focus on women and female technology innovators at Microsoft Imagine Cup, the company’s global student technology competition.

The Women’s Empowerment Award was established in partnership with UN Women, the U.N. organization working to accelerate gender equality and the empowerment of women, and will be awarded to two student teams of any gender that create projects that best address issues impacting women globally. Registration also is now open for the Women’s Athletics App Challenge, in partnership with the Seattle Storm women’s basketball team, which inspires female developers, innovators and entrepreneurs to create software related to sports, health or fitness.

Teams of any gender from around the world that advance to the Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals will be eligible to enter their projects into consideration for the Women’s Empowerment Award. The first-place prize (US$12,000) and the second-place prize (US$8,000) will be awarded to the projects that best address economic inequality, access to technology and other resources, gender-based violence, leadership and political participation, or other critical women’s issues. Applicants will be judged on the potential impact their projects can have on the lives of women, including feasibility to address the target issue and the quality of the application.

“Students can be change agents; they can revolutionize the world we live in,” said Kristin Hetle, director of Strategic Partnerships of UN Women. “By harnessing the power of technology, they can bring attention to issues that women, in particular, face every day. The Women’s Empowerment Award will encourage and reward students who choose to focus their energy on creating positive change for women globally.”

The Women’s Athletics App Challenge is open for submissions from all-female teams worldwide that want to compete to code the best sports, fitness and athletics apps for an opportunity to have a private meet-and-greet with a Seattle Storm basketball player and watch a game on the Storm’s home court in Seattle. The winning team, announced this summer, will also receive a US$1,000 prize per team member.

“The Storm and Microsoft look forward to seeing the types of apps women around the world — from Canada to Kazakhstan — will build to promote healthier lifestyles, give consumers more incentive to stay active, or help people realize exercise and sports can be a great way to have fun and stay in shape at the same time,” said Karen Bryant, president and CEO, Seattle Storm.

Female participation in the Imagine Cup continues to grow steadily. Last year, nearly 20 percent of students at the Worldwide Finals were female. One of Imagine Cup’s goals is to help participants build developer skill sets, learn how to launch startup businesses, and enhance their prototypes based on the advice of mentors and judges. Imagine Cup gives women an important platform to pursue interests and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-related fields and serves as a launch pad for them to becoming developers, innovators or entrepreneurs.

For example, during Imagine Cup 2012, one all-female team from Oman created a mobile application that monitors blood bank levels and sends alerts to eligible donors via SMS when there are shortages. “Participating in Imagine Cup offered us the chance to meet other student developers and build new skills,” said Omaima Al Muraikhi from Team Grawesome, recounting her experience participating in the event. “Because of the opportunities that came through Imagine Cup, we’re now entrepreneurs working hard to create our own technology startup business, based in the Middle East.”

It’s not only all-female teams making an impact on women’s lives. The recent winner of a Microsoft Imagine Cup Grant of $50,000 from Uganda was an all-male team that created a mobile application to aid health workers as they assist expectant mothers. The algorithm analyzes fetal heart sounds to determine the fetal heart rate and the position and age of the fetus, and it securely stores the results in the cloud, ultimately improving women’s maternal health.

About UN Women

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. www.unwomen.org

About The Seattle Storm

The 2010 WNBA champion Seattle Storm is one of six independently owned teams in the WNBA, the world’s preeminent women’s professional basketball league. Established in 2000, the Storm is committed to bringing outstanding professional basketball to a diverse and rapidly growing fan base. The team aims to serve as a powerful community advocate with a focus on literacy, health and fitness and support for women and girls and youth basketball. Recognized as one of the WNBA’s most active teams in the community, the Storm is committed to serving others through partnerships and the team’s community initiatives. More information is available at StormBasketball.com.

About Microsoft Imagine Cup

This is the 11th year of Imagine Cup, part of Microsoft YouthSpark, which will be celebrated at the Worldwide Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 8–11. Students ages 16 and older are eligible to register and compete in Imagine Cup by visiting http://www.imaginecup.com. A full list of competition categories is available at http://imaginecup.com/main/compete.

About Microsoft YouthSpark

Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes Citizenship and other company programs — both new and enhanced — that empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. Find out more at http://www.microsoft.com/youthspark.

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. — Feb. 19, 2013 — Today, Microsoft Corp. announced that its highly popular email service, Outlook.com, is ready for prime time. Since the release of Outlook.com last summer as a preview, millions of people have already actively started using it, making it the world’s fastest growing email service, going from 0 to 60 million in just six months.

A Vision for Modern Email

Email is a critical part of our everyday lives; email plays a crucial role in how we get things done. Outlook.com was designed as an email service focused on removing barriers and simply getting people going. Outlook.com gets people going in four key areas:

• Delivering a beautiful, fresh and intuitive experience on modern browsers and devices

• Keeping people connected with their friends and co-workers across the networks they really use

• Providing a smart and powerful inbox to handle today’s email needs including SkyDrive for sharing virtually anything in a single email

• Putting people in control by prioritizing their privacy

More Than 60 Million Help Make the Outlook.com Vision Come to Life

Through the preview, Microsoft has heard a great deal about customers’ favorite features, the way they use the product, and how well Outlook.com is delivering on the company’s vision for modern email. For example, Outlook.com lets customers connect to popular social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Today, millions of people are using those features to keep up to date with friends’ contact info updates, photos and tweets. Outlook.com is also designed to make it easy to send hundreds of photos and videos in a single message — all powered by SkyDrive. After only six months, nearly half of all people using Outlook.com have already used SkyDrive to share more than half a billion photos and Office documents.

A Great Upgrade for Hotmail Customers

Starting today, Microsoft will begin to upgrade every Hotmail user to Outlook.com. The upgrade is seamless and instant for Hotmail customers; everything including their @hotmail.com email address, password, contacts, etc., will stay the same. Now Hotmail customers will get all the benefits from the redesigned Outlook.com experience: a fresh and intuitive user interface, lots of new features, and better performance.

Get Started Today

Those who would like to get the new benefits of the Outlook.com experience can check it out today at Outlook.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.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 15, 2013 — The Texas Department of Information Resources is moving to the cloud with Microsoft Office 365 as part of a statewide IT modernization strategy. Office 365, an always-up-to-date cloud productivity service, will streamline and improve the state’s communication and collaboration capabilities for more than 100,000 employees, making it the largest statewide deployment of email and collaboration services in the U.S. Office 365 has already been deployed across multiple state agencies, including the Health and Human Services System, Department of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Information Resources, and Department of Insurance, with the Department of Criminal Justice and Alcoholic Beverage Commission coming on board soon. The move to Office 365 offers the state significant savings in IT spending because of greater efficiencies and increased capacity.

“No other solution provides the rich capabilities of Office 365, including webconferencing, real-time collaboration, and document and calendar sharing,” said Todd Kimbriel, director of E-Government for the Texas Department of Information Resources. “Office 365 will increase efficiency and help our agencies better serve the needs of citizens without compromising on security or privacy.”

Compliance was an important factor in the state’s selection of Office 365. Several agencies, including Texas’ Department of Criminal Justice, Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Department of Insurance, and Health and Human Services System, require access to data that is subject to complex security and privacy regulations.

Texas Department of Information Resources and Microsoft Corp. worked together to support the state’s requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS), in order to maintain the state’s compliance posture and high standards for security and privacy. Microsoft has made a contractual commitment to the Texas Department of Information Resources by signing the CJIS Addendum in addition to a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. As a result of this partnership, jurisdictions at all levels within the State of Texas, including cities and counties, will be able to take advantage of Office 365.

“Microsoft has been a long-standing strategic partner with a commitment to understanding and addressing the unique requirements law enforcement and health care practitioners must meet,” said Karen Robinson, Department of Information Resources executive director and State of Texas chief information officer. “The enterprise-class capabilities of Office 365 and Microsoft’s proven track record gave us the confidence we needed to move to the cloud.”

“We’ve worked hard to provide security and privacy solutions the State of Texas can trust,” said Michael Donlan, vice president for Microsoft’s State and Local Government business. “The familiarity of Office backed by deep investments in cloud security, privacy and compliance play an important role in how Microsoft is enabling city, state and federal agencies to move to the cloud.”

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.

R EDMOND , Wash. — Feb . 13 , 2013 — Today the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) and Microsoft Corp. announced the successful implementation of the Offender-360 project, a cloud-based criminal justice information system built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The solution directly supports legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn that aims to improve Illinois public safety and criminal justice for the future.

“This cutting-edge technology will give Illinois one of the most advanced criminal justice information systems in the country,” Quinn said. “It will save Illinois’ taxpayers millions of dollars while increasing public safety throughout the state.”

In 2010, the state evaluated its technology landscape for managing its 49,000 inmates and 28,000 parolees with the goal of transforming the Illinois DOC by improving efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring unwavering corrections operations. As a result of the evaluation, Illinois charted a course toward replacing a large 1980s mainframe system and 41 disparate offender management applications that had become outdated and costly to use and maintain.

After evaluating 20 possible solutions — including an option that would have cost taxpayers upward of $100 million — Illinois DOC selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM to manage its statewide criminal justice population as a modern case management solution that will transform DOC business and extend the mission of citizen safety. Illinois DOC is undergoing a phased rollout, anticipating 5,500 users of Offender-360 by the summer of 2013. The solution centralizes all information and intelligence on offenders to help staff make more effective and informed decisions regarding placement, rehabilitation and release.

“The open architecture in Microsoft Dynamics lets us create a solution that enables analysis to more effectively serve our offender population,” said Steven Matthews, chief information officer, Illinois DOC. “Because of budget constraints and a shortfall of infrastructure and personnel resources to support this enterprise-level application, we launched the state’s first cloud initiative. This allows us to cut costs while continuing to achieve the mission with a security-enhanced solution.”

With guidance from Tribridge, 2012 Microsoft Dynamics State and Local Government Partner of the Year, the Illinois DOC was able to configure, develop and deploy the robust and flexible architecture of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online through trained and certified union members, significantly reducing the Offender-360 solution cost and deployment timeframe. The use of union workers helped Illinois avoid hiring contractors, gave union employees advancement opportunities and drove revenue back to the state by using an Illinois-based union workforce.

“Illinois is leading the nation in adopting a statewide, cloud-based solution that will effectively manage the offender population and ultimately better protect its citizens,” said Amir Capriles, general manager, U.S. Public Sector Dynamics at Microsoft. “Illinois is a leader among its peers, demonstrating that criminal justice programs across the country can be transformed by modernizing legacy systems with cloud-based solutions while supporting necessary security, business processes and legislation.”

Faced with fiscal challenges and resource constraints, federal agencies, state governments, localities and education institutions throughout the U.S. are looking for alternatives to high-cost legacy systems. The Illinois DOC cited the Microsoft Dynamics CRM offering as an application platform that can support modernization initiatives and still achieve impactful, low-cost results.

Adopting a next-generation enterprise-ready application platform is becoming increasingly common among criminal justice agencies seeking to transform and modernize their operations. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania is following the example of Illinois DOC with a similar modernization approach on behalf of that state’s 67 counties, while INTERPOL Washington is more effectively investigating fugitives, financial fraud, drug violations, terrorism and violent crimes.

More information about Illinois DOC can be found at http://www.illinois.gov/idoc. More information on Microsoft corrections solutions is available at: http://microsoft.com/corrections.

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. — Feb. 11, 2013 — More than 75 percent of midsize to large businesses are implementing big data-related solutions within the next 12 months — with customer care, marketing and sales departments increasingly driving demand, according to new Microsoft Corp. research released today.

Big Data Infographic February 10, 2013 The explosion of devices, apps, the cloud and the Internet has ushered in the era of big data. Survey results uncover several key trends as companies grapple with big data and start to use it to gain a competitive advantage.

Downloads: Web | Print

According to Microsoft’s “Global Enterprise Big Data Trends: 2013” study of more than 280 IT decision-makers, the following trends emerged:

• Although the IT department (52 percent) is currently driving most of the demand for big data, customer care (41 percent), sales (26 percent), finance (23 percent) and marketing (23 percent) departments are increasingly driving demand.

• Seventeen percent of customers surveyed are in the early stages of researching big data solutions, whereas 13 percent have fully deployed them; nearly 90 percent of customers surveyed have a dedicated budget for addressing big data.

• Nearly half of customers (49 percent) reported that growth in the volume of data is the greatest challenge driving big data solution adoption, followed by having to integrate disparate business intelligence tools (41 percent) and having tools able to glean the insight (40 percent).

The company published its findings to the Microsoft News Center this morning, kicking off a week of announcements focused on the company’s big-data customers, products and future investments.

Microsoft “Big Data Week”

“Big data can be large tables of structured data, huge files of complex unstructured data, or small amounts of machine-generated data that pile up faster than you can make sense of it,” said Eron Kelly, general manager of SQL Server at Microsoft. “Microsoft’s goal is to help everyone make better, faster decisions by providing tools that make it easy to find insights in big data, small data … any data.”

Big data is changing the way organizations and people do business, discover insights and interact with one another. This week Microsoft will embark on a week of digital storytelling that showcases what customers, partners, the industry and Microsoft are doing to bring this vision to life:

• Today: “Global Enterprise Big Data Trends: 2013” and insight from big data executives and analysts

• Tuesday, Feb. 12: Spotlight on big data early adopters, including a Q&A with The Weather Channel Chief Information Officer Bryson Koehler on how big data is transforming his company

• Wednesday, Feb. 13: Microsoft’s big data approach, investments and products

• Thursday, Feb. 14: Silicon Valley big data event highlights

• Friday, Feb. 15: The future of big data and machine learning within Microsoft Research, including a Q&A with MSR Researcher Eric Horvitz

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. — Feb. 11, 2013 — For the millions of Americans waiting in anticipation for the president’s State of the Union address on Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. EST, Bing and FOX News Channel have partnered to launch the first-of-its-kind Bing Pulse online voting tool, which enables Americans to track and share opinions in real time during the president’s State of the Union speech. The Bing Pulse is part of a comprehensive State of the Union experience at Bing.com/Politics. The site provides a single destination for up-to-the-minute political news, expert information, real-time conversations and social sentiment on major policy issues.

The number of Americans who crave a more interactive political experience is growing, according to a recent Bing survey showing that nearly 75 percent of people identified themselves as active participants or observers in online political discussions.* Powered by Bing search technology and its unique social search experience, Bing’s State of the Union site is a nonpartisan online destination that was launched to meet this growing need for up-to-the-minute political information and second-screen experiences that are a great companion to political broadcasts.

Bing.com/Politics will keep people in the know from a vast number of news sources and social feeds, including a live stream of the State of the Union address, expert commentary, real-time social media sentiment tracking and more, such as the following:

• A live feed of President Obama’s State of the Union address at Bing.com/politics, including commentary from FOX News Channel political experts. FoxNews.com will also feature additional analysis and commentary including multiple live video streams along with photo galleries from the event. Viewers can log on at http://www.foxnews.com/sotu.

• The Bing Pulse online poll, which will feature updated results every few seconds throughout the speech. Unlike typical polls, Bing Pulse will allow people to self-identify as male or female, register their party affiliation, and join the conversation. It will feature a live count of the number of “pulses,” or votes, along with a line graph of how users react to language and issues throughout the speech. Data will be split by gender and political affiliation.

• Real-time news results using the Bing news selector that helps people navigate the news by filtering coverage from left-leaning and right-leaning sources.

• Live sentiment analysis via Bing Beat, which will focus on real-time social sentiment across major issues, such as immigration, gun control and the fiscal cliff.

• Original videos of former President Jimmy Carter and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich offering commentary on the State of the Union address.

• A live feed of social conversations on Twitter so people can stay informed on what leading political pundits are saying about the speech.

“Bing.com/Politics is the best second-screen viewing companion for the State of the Union address,” said Mark Penn, corporate vice president, Microsoft. “Bing uniquely offers a holistic view of information, reaction and even sentiment during this key political moment in America. Our strategic partnership with FOX News Channel allows us to provide the data Americans want to see most, and Bing Pulse will set the bar for live polls of the modern age.”

Bing.com/Politics is the place to join the conversation and see another reason for people to choose Bing over Google.

About Bing

Bing is the search engine from Microsoft. It was introduced in 2009 with a mission to empower people with knowledge — to answer any question and provide useful tools to help you best accomplish your goals, from the everyday to the extraordinary.

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 Bing research was based on a survey by Impulse Research Corp., an independent research company based in Los Angeles, Calif. The survey was conducted online in October 2012 with a random sample of 1,005 men and women, ages 18 to 34, who use the Internet for information on a regular basis — all members of the Impulse Research proprietary online panel. The Impulse Research proprietary online panel has been carefully selected to closely match U.S. population demographics, and the respondents are representative of American men and women, ages 18 to 34.

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.

NEW YORK — Feb. 8, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. announced the Microsoft Surface family of PCs is growing with Surface Pro, the newest member of the Surface family, along with a number of new products and accessories available tomorrow. Surface Pro with Windows 8 Pro is perfect for customers and businesses looking for the power and performance of a PC in a tablet package, and, starting tomorrow, it will hit physical and virtual shelves in the United States and Canada at all Microsoft retail stores and microsoftstore.com and at Staples and Best Buy in the United States and Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada.

New Products

Also starting tomorrow, customers will be able to purchase several new Surface products and accessories, letting them further personalize their computing experiences and be more productive.

• Surface RT with Windows RT will be available in a new 64GB(1) standalone version for an estimated retail price of US$599 to allow customers the option of selecting a cover of their choice.

• Customers will be able to purchase a Wedge Touch Mouse Surface Edition for an estimated retail price of US$69.95 in all markets where Surface is currently sold,(2) with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks.(3)

• Three new Touch Cover Limited Editions in red, magenta and cyan will be available for an estimated retail price of US$129.99 in all markets where Surface is currently sold.(2)

Market Expansion

Microsoft also confirmed today that a substantial increase in market availability of Surface RT will take place on Feb. 14, bringing Surface RT to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

“We are thrilled to expand the Surface family with the release of Surface Pro,” said Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Surface. “The launch of Surface Pro marks a pivotal moment for customers who can now do more with their machines than ever before. Within the Surface family, customers will be able to choose a combination of devices that best suit their needs: Surface Pro, which provides the power and performance of a laptop in a tablet package, or Surface RT, which offers the convenience of a tablet with some laptop capabilities so you can get things done.”

On Oct. 26, Microsoft released Surface RT — a device representative of a tablet with some laptop capabilities that weaves productivity and mobility into one beautiful product. Surface RT is great for people looking for all-day battery life (up to 8 hours battery life) and an entertainment-first experience with the ability to still get some work done. The newest addition to the Surface family, Surface Pro, is more like a full-blown Windows 8 Pro laptop that also boasts tablet capabilities. Now, customers can have a fully functional PC that looks, feels and acts like a tablet. With Surface Pro, customers can do virtually everything they’ve ever done on a PC, ranging from using traditional desktop applications to enjoying the protection of world-class safety and security technologies.

The Surface family of PCs represents an extension of the Windows experience, letting customers work, play and connect with others. From an ultralight durable casing, integrated kickstand and covers that allow customers to be productive anywhere to a full-sized USB port, 16:9 widescreen, high-definition display and 22-degree angle that make it optimal for viewing and sharing content easily, the Surface products let customers seamlessly transition between entertainment and creation.

Additional details on Surface are available at http://www.Surface.com, the Surface Blog and Surface on Facebook. Those interested can follow Surface or Panos Panay on Twitter for additional updates.

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

(1) System software uses significant storage space; your storage capacity will be less. See surface.com/spec. 1GB equals 1 billion bytes.

(2) Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States

(3) Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

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. — Feb . 6 , 20 13 — Today, Outlook.com launched Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail, a national campaign at http://www.scroogled.com to educate Americans about Google’s practice of going through the contents of all Gmail emails to sell and target ads. According to a public GfK Roper study, commissioned by Microsoft Corp., 70 percent of consumers don’t know that major email providers routinely engage in the practice of reading through their personal email to sell ads — something that 88 percent of people disapprove of once they are informed. Unlike Gmail, Outlook.com doesn’t go through the content of users’ emails to show ads. Outlook.com hopes this campaign will help educate consumers about Google’s email practices and promote Outlook.com’s policy of prioritizing the privacy of its users’ emails.

To help consumers have their voice heard, today Outlook.com launched a petition to help them get the message to Google that going through personal email messages to sell ads is unacceptable. Outlook.com encourages consumers to sign the petition at Scroogled.com and tell Google to stop going through their emails to sell ads. Outlook.com encourages consumers to prioritize their privacy by switching to Outlook.com.

How Google Uses Personal Email Content to Sell Ads

Google goes through every single word of personal Gmail messages and uses that information to sell and target ads. As Google explains on its website, “In Gmail, most of the ads we show appear next to an open email message and are related to the contents of the current email conversation or thread.” For example, if you write a friend to let her know you are separating from your husband, Google sells ads against this information to divorce lawyers, who post ads alongside it. Or if you ask a friend for vacation suggestions, Google uses this information to target you with ads from travel agencies or airlines that want your business.

Google even goes through emails from non-Gmail users to generate advertising income. Gmail goes through all incoming email messages, from any email provider, and sells ads based on the content of those emails — a practice that nearly 90 percent of Americans agree should end.

Unfortunately even if they try, consumers cannot stop Google from going through their personal email for the purpose of showing them targeted ads. Google does not enable Gmail users to opt out of seeing ads based on the content of emails.

There are currently six active class action lawsuits against Google, all alleging illegal eavesdropping or interception under federal and state wiretapping laws, related to Google’s scanning of emails.

“Emails are personal — and people feel that reading through their emails to sell ads is out of bounds,” said Stefan Weitz, senior director of Online Services at Microsoft. “We honor the privacy of our Outlook.com users, and we are concerned that Google violates that privacy every time an Outlook.com user exchanges messages with someone on Gmail. This campaign is as much about protecting Outlook.com users from Gmail as it is about making sure Gmail users know what Google’s doing.”

New GfK Roper P oll: Public L argely U naware and S trongly D isapprove s of the P ractice

A new GfK Roper poll, commissioned by Microsoft, shows that only 30 percent of Americans are aware that any email service goes through the content of personal emails to sell ads, and 88 percent of consumers disapprove of this practice.

Key results from this survey include the following:

• 88 percent of Americans disapprove of email service providers scanning the content of their personal emails in order to target ads, and 52 percent disapprove strongly.

• 89 percent of Americans agree that email service providers should not be allowed to scan the content of personal emails in order to target ads.

• 83 percent of Americans agree that email service providers scanning the content of their personal emails to target ads is an invasion of privacy.

• 70 percent of Americans didn’t believe or didn’t know that any major email service provider scans the content of personal emails in order to target ads.

• 88 percent of email users believe that email service providers should allow users to “opt out” if they prefer that the content of their emails not be scanned in order to target ads.

Outlook.com believes users should be informed about Google’s email privacy intrusions and consumers should know they have a choice to switch to Outlook.com.

About the Don’t Get Scroogled Campaign

With the Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail consumer education campaign, Outlook.com is doing two things: First, it is highlighting Google’s practice of going through the personal contents of emails to benefit Google’s bottom line ahead of the user. Outlook.com has launched this education campaign and petition to help consumers get the message to Google that going through personal email messages to sell ads is unacceptable. Second, Outlook.com wants to highlight that it is an email service that puts consumers’ privacy first.

Beginning today and continuing for the next few weeks, the Outlook.com-sponsored Don’t Get Scroogled activities will appear online and offline, demonstrating why consumers should be concerned and helping them take action. Outlook.com is also calling on consumers to join the petition drive to tell Google to stop going through their users’ email to sell ads. Consumers can also visit http://www.scroogled.com to get information about Google’s practices and updates on the situation.

“Outlook.com believes your privacy is not for sale,” Weitz said. “We believe people should have choice and control over their private email messages, whether they are sharing banking information or pictures of their family or discussing their medical history.”

Weitz added, “Outlook.com does not scan the contents of your personal email to sell ads. Outlook.com is an email service that prioritizes your own and your family’s privacy. You wouldn’t let the post office look inside your mail, so why would you let Google?”

More information about how Outlook.com prioritizes your privacy can be found at http://www.scroogled.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.

About this study: The RDD telephone survey was conducted Feb. 1-4, 2013 by GfK’s Public Affairs & Corporate Communications division, among a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults ages 18 or older. Interviews were conducted with 753 respondents on landlines and 253 respondents on cellular telephones. The data were weighted on age, sex, education, race and geographic region. The margin of error on results based on the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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. - Feb. 5, 2013 - “Microsoft has provided a $2 billion loan to the group that has proposed to take Dell private. Microsoft is committed to the long term success of the entire PC ecosystem and invests heavily in a variety of ways to build that ecosystem for the future.

“We're in an industry that is constantly evolving. As always, we will continue to look for opportunities to support partners who are committed to innovating and driving business for their devices and services built on the Microsoft platform.”

NAIROBI , Kenya — Feb . 5, 201 3 — Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with the government of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications and Indigo Telecom Ltd., today announced the launch of a pilot project delivering low-cost wireless broadband access to previously unserved locations near Nanyuki and Kalema, Kenya. The network utilizes TV white spaces and solar-powered base stations to deliver broadband access and create new opportunities for commerce, education, healthcare and delivery of government services.

This pilot is part of Microsoft’s broader 4Afrika Initiative (see related release), to help improve the continent’s global competitiveness. A core goal of the 4Afrika Initiative is to facilitate access to technology for the masses and to empower African students, entrepreneurs, developers and others to become active global citizens.

TV white spaces, the unused portions of wireless spectrum in the frequency bands generally used for television, are particularly well-suited for delivering low-cost broadband access to rural and other unserved communities. Radio signals in the TV bands travel over longer distances and penetrate more obstacles than other types of radio signals and, therefore, require fewer base stations to provide ubiquitous coverage. Microsoft intends to use this pilot and other similar initiatives to encourage African governments to make the needed legal and regulatory changes that would allow this type of technology to be deployed continentwide.

“Microsoft was built on the idea that technology should be accessible and affordable to the masses, and to date, this promise has remained unfulfilled in Africa,” said Louis Otieno, Legal and Corporate Affairs director for Africa initiatives at Microsoft. “This technology has the potential to deliver on the promise of universal and affordable high-speed wireless broadband for Africa, and we are proud and humbled to be part of this important effort.”

The project is the first deployment of TV white space technology in Africa targeted at communities without access to broadband or electricity and is a result of a memorandum of understanding that presents a framework of cooperation between Microsoft, the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications and industry partner Indigo Telecom. To date, work in this space in Africa has exclusively focused on demonstrating the technical feasibility of using TV white space technology. This project takes an important next step forward by instead focusing on assessing the commercial feasibility of delivering low-cost access using TV white space technology.

The initial installation near Nanyuki includes five customer locations: the Burguret Dispensary (healthcare clinic), Male Primary School, Male Secondary School, Gakawa Secondary School and Laikipia District Community Library. The installation in Kalema will begin with a base station that connects to a government of Kenya agricultural extension office. Fourteen more locations on the network will be added in the coming months. The network will also feature white space radios manufactured by Adaptrum.

Utilizing the latest Window 8 tablets, Windows 8 applications and Microsoft Office 365, Indigo will provide computer labs and instruction to each school and the library and work with community leaders and local companies to identify the most beneficial services and applications for each location, including in the agriculture and education spaces.

“Indigo is committed to finding and deploying the best solutions for our customers’ needs, which in this case means bringing broadband access to previously unserved communities,” said Peter Henderson, chairman of Indigo Telecom, the local Internet service provider partnering in the project. “Beyond simply providing access, we have given the community a real stake in the pilot’s success by creating a cooperative to manage the project, an effort that included hiring and training a local community member to serve as the lab technician.”

“TV white spaces and efficient spectrum management represent a creative, tested and affordable way of extending broadband access to unserved communities,” said Paul Garnett, director in Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group. “Kenya is one of the countries leading the way in using this innovative solution, and we hope regulators around the world take note and develop legal frameworks that support broader commercial deployment of TV white space technology in their own jurisdictions.”

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.