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Microsoft-Press related Technical Updates [Page: 16 of 145] @ TACKtech Corp. |
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WASHINGTON
, D.C.
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Jan
.
4
,
2013
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In an effort to modernize technology infrastructure, reduce costs and foster new levels of cross-agency collaboration, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance. The agreement provides all three organizations with a single vehicle for accessing the latest Microsoft technologies in support of top IT priorities around datacenter consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and big data.
This is the most comprehensive licensing agreement Microsoft Corp. has ever established with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), covering nearly 75 percent of all DoD personnel. The net new contract was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a division of Insight Enterprises Inc., one of the largest global Microsoft Large Account Resellers.
As part of this agreement, all three organizations can begin using the newest versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 Enterprise and Windows 8. The ability to standardize on SharePoint 2013 Enterprise will unlock new levels of cross-agency information sharing through improved enterprise search and social communications features while powering advanced business intelligence and reporting capabilities. Access to Office 2013 will equip each organization with the latest versions of productivity tools that personnel rely on every day, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. The increasingly mobile DoD workforce will also use Windows 8 to empower productivity from any location, and any supported device, while taking advantage of enhanced security. The U.S. Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command headquartered at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and the Air Force Program Executive Office for Business and Enterprise Systems at Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex in Alabama, have been working closely with Microsoft on achieving Army Golden Master and Air Force Standard Desktop Configuration compliance for Windows 8.
“Microsoft has longstanding relationships with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and DISA, and we are honored to expand our support of ongoing technology modernization efforts across all three organizations,” said Tim Solms, general manager, Microsoft Department of Defense Business. “This agreement enables us to provide the best technology tools to an incredibly broad range of servicemen and servicewomen across the DoD, and we are looking forward to implementing to support their mission goals.”
More information on Microsoft Government Solutions is available at http://www.microsoft.com/government/en-us/pages/default.aspx.
About Insight
Insight Enterprises, Inc. is a leading technology provider of hardware, software and service solutions to business and government clients in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Insight is focused on helping organizations move technology goals forward in the areas of Cloud, Virtualization, Data Center, Unified Communication & Collaboration, Networking & Security, Data Protection, Mobility & Point of Sale, and Office Productivity. With approximately 5,300 teammates worldwide, Insight is ranked No. 460 on the 2012 Fortune 500 and generated sales of $5.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2011. For more information, please call 1.800.INSIGHT (1.800.467.4448) in the United States or visit www.insight.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 19, 2012 — Demand for “cloud-ready” IT workers will grow by 26 percent annually through 2015, with as many as 7 million cloud-related jobs available worldwide, according to an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft Corp. and released today. However, IT hiring managers report that the biggest reason they failed to fill an existing 1.7 million open cloud-related positions in 2012 is because job seekers lack the training and certification needed to work in a cloud-enabled world, according to the IDC White Paper, Climate Change: Cloud’s Impact on IT Organizations and Staffing (November 2012).
In the United States, the IT sector is experiencing modest growth of IT jobs in general, with the average growth in IT employment between 1.1 and 2.7 percent per year through 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, amid modest growth of IT jobs, cloud-sector jobs are increasing swiftly. With the workforce unprepared to take on these jobs, there is an urgent need to retrain existing IT professionals and encourage students to pursue cloud-related IT trainings and certifications, according to the IDC White Paper.
“Despite modest growth of the IT sector overall in the U.S., cloud-ready jobs are increasing as we head into 2013, but with this increase comes the harsh reality that workforces around the world are steps behind when it comes to attaining the skills necessary to thrive in the cloud computing industry,” said Cushing Anderson, program vice president, IDC. “Unlike IT skill shortages in the past, solving this skills gap is extremely challenging, given that cloud brings a new set of skills, which haven’t been needed in the past. There is no one-size-fits-all set of criteria for jobs in cloud computing. Therefore, training and certification is essential for preparing prospective job candidates to work in cloud-related jobs.”
The IDC White Paper investigates the impact that cloud computing will have on IT employment around the world and its influence on the way organizations staff their IT departments. IDC interviewed more than 600 hiring managers across the globe for this study.
General Findings
General findings of the IDC White Paper include the following:
• Globally, almost two-thirds of enterprises are planning, implementing or using cloud computing, and more than 50 percent of businesses agree that cloud computing is a high priority.
• However, more than three-quarters of businesses have apprehension about the security, access or data control of cloud computing.
• Lack of training, certification or experience are the top three reasons why cloud positions are not filled.
• However, cloud-related skills represent virtually all the growth opportunities in IT employment worldwide and demand for cloud-related positions will grow by 26 percent annually through 2015. Regional Findings
Regional findings of the IDC White Paper include the following:
• Although the growth of IT jobs in the United States is slow, the growth picture is better outside the U.S. The overall number of IT positions in end-user organizations globally will grow at a 4.3 percent compound annual growth rate between 2011 and 2015 and reach 29.3 million in 2015, according to IDC.
• North America (U.S. and Canada). According to IDC’s regional forecasts, the U.S. accounted for 62 percent of worldwide spending for public IT cloud services last year, compared with 35 percent of worldwide IT spending in general. Canada will be a much slower adopter of public IT cloud services but a more aggressive adopter of private IT cloud services. Due to Canada’s smaller job base, though, cloud-generated jobs will grow 30 percent faster in Canada than in the United States.
• Emerging markets. The emerging markets of Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific will be home to more than 40 percent of new cloud-related jobs. These markets are predicted to grow at 34 percent annually until 2015.
• Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Last year, EMEA’s spending on public IT cloud services was approximately 40 percent of North America’s; however its investment in private clouds was equal to or more than that of North America, illustrating an aggressiveness in moving to private clouds as compared with other regions. In EMEA, IDC forecasts that cloud-related IT jobs will grow by 24 percent per year to about 1.4 million by 2015.
• Asia Pacific (APAC). APAC will adopt private IT cloud services more aggressively than either EMEA or North America. Cloud-related IT jobs will grow at 32 percent per year to more than 2.3 million in APAC by the end of 2015. Full results of the research, including additional details on global findings and survey methodology, can be found here.
Training and Certification Key to Overcoming the Lack of Cloud-Ready Workers
The shortage of appropriate skilled job candidates to fill cloud jobs is the No. 1 challenge for companies looking to bolster their cloud capabilities, according to the research.
“Cloud computing is crucial to the bottom line of the company — it creates cost savings and efficiencies for companies and their customers,” said IDC’s Anderson. “Therefore, a cloud-savvy workforce is essential to the success of the IT industry’s financial health. In anticipation of the technology evolution to the cloud, Microsoft recently announced that it reinvented certifications specifically for the cloud including the forthcoming certifications in Windows 8, which have cloud computing focus areas. These are more important than ever for current and future technologists who want to gain the skillset needed to work in the cloud and for companies looking to benefit from the cloud.”
For the current workforce, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Virtual Academy making it simple for the active professional to add critical skills. The Microsoft Virtual Academy is a program for IT professionals to gain access to free self-paced training resources using combinations of video and text.
Microsoft is also helping fill the future workforce pipeline by providing training and certification through the Microsoft IT Academy. Ensuring that the next generation of technologists is prepared for the new IT jobs in the cloud, the Microsoft IT Academy program provides middle school, high school and college students with the technology-based skills needed for successful careers in tomorrow’s IT cloud environment. More details on IT Academy are available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/itacademy/default.aspx.
“Our Microsoft Virtual Academy and Microsoft IT Academy are examples of our commitment to the current and future workforce,” said Lutz Ziob, general manager, Microsoft Learning. “The opportunity that the cloud presents is significant, and we want to be certain that the workforce has the skills to share in that opportunity. Our goal is to continue to prepare the existing workforce and students for the jobs of tomorrow and empower them to develop their skills as future IT experts, innovators, software developers and beyond.”
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 18, 2012 — Registration is now open for the second Security Development Conference taking place in San Francisco May 14–15, 2013. The conference theme this year is “Proven Practices, Reduced Risk,” and event keynotes will include Edna M. Conway, chief security strategist, Cisco Systems Inc.; Brad Arkin, senior director, Security, Adobe products and services; and Scott Charney, corporate vice president, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft Corp.
The annual event, which Microsoft hosts, brings together security professionals from a variety of organizations and industries around the world. Attendees will hear from leading security experts, grow their professional networks, and learn how to implement or accelerate adoption of secure development practices within their own organizations.
“The Security Development Conference fosters an open forum for IT professionals to discuss challenges and share best practices from their own experiences,” said Steve Lipner, partner director of program management, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft. “As an industry, we have a responsibility to deliver technologies that people can trust. The Security Development Conference helps accelerate the adoption of important security development best practices that can help organizations achieve this goal.”
The event will include several tracks: Engineering for Secure Data, Security Development Lifecycle & Data Security, and Business Risk & Data Security. Track sessions will cover the latest in proven security development techniques that help reduce risk and protect organizations in the ever-changing technology landscape.
Registration is now open on the conference website; registering before Feb. 1, 2013, will save participants 50 percent off the normal registration fee. Seating is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Limited sponsorship opportunities are still available and offer organizations a valuable platform to share their expertise, tools and resources in secure development with peers and leaders in the field.
This year’s event builds on the foundation of the successful inaugural conference last year, which featured keynotes from industry experts including Richard A. Clarke, former special advisor to the President for cybersecurity; Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency; and Charney. In all, more than 300 organizations from a variety of industries around the world attended the event. Following last year’s conference, Arkin said, “For me, the most exciting aspect of this conference is that it’s actually the practitioners attending, not necessarily the researchers or vendors. So it’s really the folks who have the responsibility for getting secure code out the door in their environments. And when you get people who have all the same job together, you get so much creative energy … talking together about what we’re having trouble with or what our challenge is and how someone else solved it in their environment.”
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. —
Dec
.
11
, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to make Microsoft Surface available at additional retailers as soon as mid-December. In addition, the company announced the extension of the Microsoft holiday stores, including the transition of several of the stores into permanent Microsoft retail outlets.
“The public reaction to Surface has been exciting to see. We’ve increased production and are expanding the ways in which customers can interact with, experience and purchase Surface,” said Panos Panay, general manager, Microsoft Surface.
As early as mid-December, consumers will be able to go to retail stores in the United States and Australia to purchase a Surface with Windows RT. Additional availability will be added in a number of countries in the coming months.
“Our plan has been to expand the retail presence for Surface after the first of the year. Based on interest from retailers, we are giving them the option to carry Surface with Windows RT even earlier,” said Steve Schueler, corporate vice president, Microsoft Retail Sales and Marketing.
Surface will continue to be available for purchase at all Microsoft retail stores in the United States and Canada and online in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Based on the success of the Microsoft holiday stores, the company will extend all of these locations into the new year. These stores will transition into either permanent brick-and-mortar retail outlets or specialty store locations.
Microsoft stores will continue to offer best-in-class technology and a premium retail experience, allowing customers to interact with Microsoft products that impact the way people live, work and play. All Microsoft stores provide consumers with the same excellent choice, value and service in an engaging way to experience the best of Microsoft products.
Starting at US$499, Surface combines the functionality of a laptop with the portability of a tablet. From the fun and unique touch cover that provides a super-thin, spill-resistant keyboard in a variety of vibrant colors to the integrated kickstand that enables hands-free entertainment, Surface stands out while delivering value and performance like nothing else on the market. With Windows apps, SkyDrive cloud connectivity, HD video, Xbox Music, games, a full-size USB port, a microSD card slot and the productivity of Office Home & Student 2013 RT, Surface with Windows RT brings work and play together in style.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. —
Dec. 1
1
, 2012
— Microsoft Corp. and Hoeft & Wessel AG have signed a patent licensing agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for Hoeft &Wessel devices running the Android platform. Hoeft & Wessel manufactures handheld devices and terminals for the public transportation, logistics and retail industries in Europe. While the contents of the agreement have not been disclosed, the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties from Hoeft & Wessel.
“This agreement with Hoeft & Wessel is another example of how industry leaders address intellectual property,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of the Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding the Android platform in a variety of industries.”
The Hoeft & Wessel Group is a leading IT and engineering technology Group for ticketing, parking and mobile solutions in Germany and Great Britain. Established in 1978 by the two entrepreneurs who gave the company its name and listed on the stock market since 1998, the enterprise has developed into a group of companies with sales revenues of approximately €80 million. Its main locations are Hannover (Germany), and Swindon (UK), to the west of London.
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 1100 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.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. —
Dec. 11, 2012
— Microsoft Corp. and EINS SE signed a patent licensing agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for EINS devices running the Android platform. EINS manufactures Android tablets under the Cat brand in Germany. While the contents of the agreement have not been disclosed, the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties from EINS SE.
“This agreement with EINS is an important development that reinforces the success of our licensing program in the European market, particularly in Germany,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of the Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “In the past year, Microsoft has been able to demonstrate the strength of our German patent portfolio and its relevance to Android devices. We’re hopeful this license with EINS leads to additional licenses with European companies.”
Christian Pladwig, CEO of EINS, stated, “We are thrilled to be able to bring high quality Android products to our customers as a result of this agreement with Microsoft. We now have a strong IP foundation that allows us to improve on our product line across Europe.”
More information about EINS and the Cat brand of tablet devices is available at the company’s website http://www.cat-sound.com.
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.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 4, 2012 — As part of the company’s unprecedented period of product launches, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today announced that significant updates to three core Microsoft Dynamics business solutions are available in December, delivering new capabilities and value to help customers transform their businesses.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 is available to customers now and additional product refreshes will be available later this month, including Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 (planned for Dec. 19) and Microsoft Dynamics December 2012 CRM Service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (beginning mid-December).
These product updates underscore Microsoft’s continued commitment to enable companies around the world to transform into Dynamic Businesses. In a rapidly changing world, companies need a new generation of business solutions that are quick to implement, easy to use and seamlessly interoperate with Microsoft platform technologies for maximum synergies.
“Our December product releases deliver significant value to customers through simple-to-use and easy-to-implement business solutions,,” said Kirill Tatarinov, president, Microsoft Business Solutions. “This wave of new Microsoft Dynamics’ capabilities, together with Microsoft’s innovative social, mobile, collaboration, productivity and analytics resources, inspires people to do their best work and transform their businesses.”
The market appears to have taken notice as the Microsoft Business Solutions organization, which develops and delivers Microsoft Dynamics products, continues to grow. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM business has experienced double digits for the past 33 quarters with its revenue growing 30 percent last quarter (year over year). Similarly, in the most recent fiscal year, Microsoft Dynamics AX saw an increase of more than 50 percent in license revenue in North America.*
Speed in Enterprise Implementation Marks Availability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 As the pace of doing business increases and more opportunities open up in emerging markets, organizations are asking for solutions that can be deployed quickly, empower their people to make more informed business decisions and help their businesses grow globally. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 is globally available and allows for multiple languages and legislations to be run from within a single instance. With significant advances across all core industry areas, the flexibility and agility is unprecedented — even for companies looking to use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 in combination with legacy solutions and get the benefits of a modern, next-generation business solution here and now.
Harmonizing global operations is being done with great speed in enterprises such as Sematic Group, a global manufacturer of elevator components that is currently running operations in Italy, the U.K. and China on a single instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. This provides centralized insights into the operations and a platform to find synergies between the locations. With the country localizations in one solution and centralized deployment, planned rollout to additional locations will be easier with an astounding average of one country per month for the next year.
“Having a common repository for customer, supplier and product data has driven initial efforts at standardizing common business processes across our international organization,” said Luca Caremoli, chief information officer at Sematic. “Now, with a single, common ERP, we are becoming one. Our people across the world are becoming a real part of the one Sematic.”
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 also introduces breakthrough business intelligence capabilities based on Microsoft SQL Server. Important information to all parts of a business is provided quickly, intuitively and in context of what the individual user is doing. This ease of use and speed is critically important for better decision-making in a business such as Lotus F1 Team, which recently implemented the new version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. The team chose Microsoft Dynamics AX to collect live, accurate information, make informed decisions, compete for funding, and — ultimately — build a fast car. This implementation will help improve manufacturing productivity, avoid wasted resources, deliver information quickly to remote employees and interoperate with its HR environment to manage the skill sets it needs for new processes.
“Microsoft Dynamics is key to our business transformation. On the one hand, it will enable us to ensure everyone on the team is focused on doing their job and not wasting time moving information from one system to another,” said Patrick Louis, CEO, Lotus F1 Team. “Second, it will help us more rapidly make changes to the car and how we make the car so we can bring performance-enhancing improvements to the track faster.”
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013: Quick-to-Implement, Easy-to-Use Business Solution for SMBs Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, expected to be available Dec. 19, introduces significant new features and capabilities designed to help small and midsize businesses (SMBs) grow their businesses with powerful business solutions that are quick to implement and simple to use. This release introduces an innovative new Web client, more than 125 feature enhancements, streamlined management and rich interoperability with other Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Office 365.
Key enhancement areas for the new release include the following:
• Choice in how the product is deployed, as well as how people access and use it. Customers can access Microsoft Dynamics GP through a rich client and an innovative new Web client so they can get to the information they need when they need it and on the device of their choice. Improved “hostability” features include a new hosting management console for cloud deployments to streamline deploying and managing Microsoft Dynamics GP in the cloud. • Faster, lower-risk deployment with new RapidStart tools that can significantly reduce the time and effort required to configure Microsoft Dynamics GP for each customer’s specific needs.
• Improved productivity through enhanced ease of use throughout the product, as well as deeper interoperability with Microsoft Office, Office 365 and other Microsoft technologies. One of the early adopters of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is Western Precooling, a provider of cooling services to produce growers and shippers, enabling them to get fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables from the field to their customers. The company has been in business for 70 years and has more than 100 sites throughout the Western United States growing regions.
“With the advancement of the consumerization of IT in the workplace, users want to gain access to data much quicker to make timely, strategic changes in the business and keep an edge on their competitors,” said Brian Paine, director of IT at Western Precooling. “Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is helping us improve customer invoicing, thus leading to better service and faster turnaround with our valued customer base while ensuring the highest level of customer service. In addition, the advances in business intelligence, reporting and user experience made in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 equip our people to do the best job possible, which helps put Western Precooling on a course to be more competitive and accomplish its business goals.”
Great User Experience in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Update
Delivering on the Microsoft Dynamics commitment to rapidly innovate, the CRM December 2012 service update will be available beginning mid-December with a global rollout that will last into January. The new service update re-imagines the way sales, customer service and marketing professionals work with CRM. Moving away from the traditional data-centric approach, this service update adds new experiences that simply and visually guide users through their business processes. In addition, the new service update brings customers deeper connection to Yammer and Skype, embedded Bing Maps, compatibility with the new Microsoft Office, and cross-browser support** enabling new levels of communications and collaboration for customers.
Customers such as Colliers International see the value of the usability features of the new service update and the simplicity of use, particularly the speed and ease of getting their people up and running on the new system.
“We are excited to take advantage of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM service update because it is so simple to use that all of our people will be able to embrace it,” said Veresh Sita, chief information officer, Colliers. “This new user experience is no longer a barrier but an enabler, allowing us to reap immediate benefits.”
A new Dynamic Business video demonstrates the plans for the revolutionary user design that is part of Microsoft Dynamics’ future vision for a new world of work.
Further Information
More information on the new capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/erp-ax-2012-r2.aspx. Details on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 are available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/dynamics. More definitive information on the new capabilities in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM December 2012 service update is provided in the release preview guide, which can be downloaded at http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/polaris.
About Microsoft Dynamics
At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
* License revenue year over year as reported during Microsoft quarterly earnings.
* Cross-browser support including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome running on Windows-based PCs, and Apple Safari running on Macintosh desktop computers. In addition, there will be a Safari-based user experience on Apple iPad for sales users.
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.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Dec. 4, 2012 — At the Social Innovation Summit today, Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the second annual Microsoft Imagine Cup Grants program, a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program that provides students with funding and support to help transform their projects into social enterprises or nonprofits that will address a specific social issue. The Imagine Cup Grants program is part of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, which aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth during the next three years.
The grand prize grant of $100,000 was awarded to Team Graphmasters from Germany for its solution called nunav that reduces vehicle carbon emissions through an innovative navigation system. The second place grant of $75,000 went to Team StethoCloud from Australia, which developed a solution to diagnose childhood pneumonia. There were also grants of $50,000 to Team Vivid from Egypt, which built a mobile app to access medical records using the cloud; Team Cipher256 from Uganda for its mobile app and listening device to analyze fetal heart rates; and Team QuadSquad from Ukraine, which created a solution that transforms sign language into verbal communication. The teams used technologies including Windows 8, Windows Azure, Windows Phone, Bing Maps and more.
“The Imagine Cup Grants will help students evolve a great idea for addressing a societal issue into a real-world business,” said Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president, Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft. “These students have developed incredible approaches that show great potential for positive local impact. We are excited to offer financial and other support to help them transform these ideas into businesses with real-world impact.”
The grant winners were among the finalists at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals, a global competition that invites students to develop a technology, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what they need to bring their concepts to market. The Imagine Cup Grants program takes the competition further, helping students turn their ideas into reality by creating a real business or nonprofit. As part of Microsoft YouthSpark, the Imagine Cup Grants program is one way Microsoft is helping young people pursue an education, find employment and foster entrepreneurship.
“The Imagine Cup was the catalyst for our team to create nunav,” said Christian Brüggemann, Team Graphmasters. “Through the Imagine Cup Grants, Microsoft is giving us the opportunity to expand our project and bring it to market. As mobile phone adoption becomes more prevalent around the world, it presents a perfect way for nunav to help fight traffic and carbon emissions.”
In addition to the cash awards, the grant packages include software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium Microsoft BizSpark account benefits and access to local resources such as Microsoft Innovation Centers. Microsoft will also connect grant recipients with its network of investors, nongovernmental organization partners and business partners and will work with the grant recipients to tailor individual support as needed depending on the progress each team has made so far with its project.
Imagine Cup Grants Award Winners
• Team Graphmasters, Germany. Christian Brüggemann, Sebastian Heise and Iulian Nitescu. Project description: nunav is a navigation system with the potential to reduce vehicle carbon emissions by preventing traffic congestion. The system proactively routes city traffic by calculating the best route for each car and communicating that information to each driver. Team video: http://bit.ly/RWjVN6
• Team StethoCloud, Australia. Hon Weng Chong, Andrew Lin, Mahsa Salehi and Karthik Rajah. Project description: StethoCloud is a cloud-powered, mobile-hybrid stethoscope for early detection of pneumonia. By connecting a custom stethoscope to a mobile phone, the user is able to transmit diagnostic information into a cloud service, reproducing the diagnostic capability of a trained medical doctor. Team video: http://bit.ly/PWCcKy
• Team Vivid, Egypt. Nour El-Dien Hussein, Muhammed Mousa El-Orabi and Fady Fawzy Rafla. Project description: Health Buzz is a cost-effective mobile-based solution that helps healthcare service providers access patients’ electronic medical records through a secure cloud-based storage system. It services patients and physicians through a phone, tablet or desktop computer. Team video: http://bit.ly/T4PJAt
• Team Cipher256, Uganda. Aaron Tushabe, Joshua Okello, Dr. Davis Musinguzi, Josiah Kavuma and Joseph Kaizzi. Project description: WinSenga is a mobile application that aids health workers as they assist expectant mothers. The algorithm analyzes fetal heart sounds to determine the fetal heart rate (beats per minute) and the age and position of the fetus and then records these readings to the cloud. Team video: http://bit.ly/Us89qS
• Team QuadSquad, Ukraine. Maxim Osika, Valeriy Yasakov, Anton Stepanov, Anton Posternikov and Dmytro Samoilenko. Project description: Enable Talk was created to give disabled individuals with limited communication abilities a better way to communicate. It transforms sign language into a form of verbal communication by creating a mobile device that continuously recognizes sign language phonemes. Team video: http://bit.ly/UIDx4E
This year, more than 40 Imagine Cup teams applied for the grants. A judging panel of industry experts with knowledge spanning technology, venture capitalism, software development, startup culture and the nonprofit sector ranked each team based on specific criteria, including project impact and viability and team quality and motivation. The judges included the following:
• Akhtar Badshah, senior director of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Microsoft
• Daniel Brusilovsky, founder and CEO, Teens in Tech Labs
• Tim Draper, founder and managing director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• Debra Dunn, faculty, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford; board of directors, Skoll Foundation and B Lab
• Edward G. Happ, global chief information officer of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, chairman of NetHope
• Tadhg Kelly, game design consultant
• Zeev Klein, general partner, Landmark Ventures
• Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president, Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft
• Rob Miles, lecturer, University of Hull Computer Science Department
• Jeff Raikes, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Ann Winblad, managing director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners 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 Imagine Cup
This year marks the 11th year of Imagine Cup, which will be celebrated at the worldwide finals in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 8–12, 2013. Students ages 16 and older are eligible to register and compete in Imagine Cup 2013 by visiting the Imagine Cup website at http://www.imaginecup.com. A full list of competitions and challenges are listed at http://imaginecup.com/main/compete. In the past decade, more than 1.65 million students from 190 countries have registered to compete for cash and other prizes.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 3, 2012 — Five teachers from the U.S. were celebrated Saturday night as five of the most innovative educators in the world, as part of Microsoft Corp.’s annual Global Forum Educator Awards. During the ceremony, held in the prestigious Prague Castle to mark the culmination of the 2012 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum, Microsoft announced 21 winners, narrowed down from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year. “We can’t educate tomorrow’s leaders with tools and practices from the past. We must continue to invest in the development of enhanced learning environments that lead to better outcomes,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We are honored to recognize these amazing professionals for the work they do every day to enrich the educational experiences of children around the world.” These are the winning U.S. educators:
1st Place: Collaboration
Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) Project: Doing Business in Birmingham Doing Business in Birmingham aims to promote the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. After learning about sustainability in business, students took to the streets of downtown Birmingham to assess the sustainability of businesses in their local community. Armed with informational flyers and brochures they had created, the students visited more than 90 establishments to interview and educate local business owners. Students used Microsoft Office, Photosynth, Publisher and MovieMaker among other technologies to complete the project. 2nd Place: Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning
Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind (Vancouver, Wash.) Project: “LYNC”ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students The Washington State School for the Blind developed an effective program built on Microsoft Lync that provides specialized mathematics instruction to blind and visually impaired students. The school’s teacher lives more than 100 miles away from the campus and uses videoconferencing and Lync to instruct her classes to any student with a Lync client and an Internet connection. 3rd Place: Educators’ Choice
Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School (West Palm Beach, Fla.) Project: What’s Up Egypt? Students created a TV show about ancient Egypt to gain a deeper understanding of life during that time. Students used Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and video editing software to research and create a “TODAY”-style news program with news, weather, sports, cooking, lifestyle, history and music segments. Students compared and contrasted ancient Egypt with today’s society and in the end they had a better understanding of what it would have been like to have lived during that time. “Having the opportunity to be here at the Microsoft Global Forum has been one of most meaningful experiences for both Pauline [Roberts] and me as teachers principally because we have the opportunity to interact with other practitioners from around the globe,” said Rick Joseph, first-place winner in the Collaboration category. “We as teachers believe our children learn in a global environment. When we can get together with teachers from around the world and see what they’re doing and see the ways in which they engage their students, it’s very energizing to us because it really enables us to be the best that we can be.” “We have connected with teachers and schools from around the world that are amazingly innovative and so passionate. This is just the beginning of what we can do. There is so much more innovation and new ways of teaching, new ways of learning, that this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Robin Lowell, second-place winner in the Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning category. “We’ve gathered ideas to take home with us, which is going to improve us as teachers and improve our students’ education and life.” “Teachers don’t work for recognition, but for our students. Still, to have our effort and impact recognized by Microsoft as one of the country’s best is an incredible feeling,” said Todd LaVogue, third-place winner in the Educators’ Choice category. “My intent is to give my students my very best, and the ideas I’ve gathered from other educators at the Partners in Learning Global Forum are helping me do just that. My students are starting to understand how special and important they are and that their success in adult life begins right now.” Saturday night’s awards were presented to educators across six categories. All winners will be automatically included in the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program, a one-year initiative created to recognize educators globally who are using technology to transform education. Educator Experts will become Microsoft’s partner in many of its education activities throughout the year, focused on ensuring learning outcomes and sharing of experiences with peers and policymakers on effective use of technology in education. In return, members receive the inside track on the latest Microsoft thinking and technologies, as well as access to the latest and greatest software and products. In addition, Microsoft will ensure that this group is getting the professional and career development opportunities that will be long lasting and help them make a difference in their students’ lives. Participants were judged by an international panel of education professionals through rigorous scoring. Through virtual classroom tours and onsite interviews by judges, these teachers demonstrated innovative teaching practices, giving their students critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, critical thinking and social responsibility, by leveraging effective and engaging technology resources. Teachers were recognized across the following categories: 1. Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom 2. Collaboration 3. Knowledge Building and Critical Thinking 4. Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning 5. Educator as Innovator and Change Agent 6. Educators’ Choice Saturday’s award ceremony was attended by more than 500 teachers, school leaders and education leaders, as well as government officials from more than 80 countries. The celebration capped off a week of education workshops and announcements, including an additional $250 million investment by Microsoft over the next five years in Partners in Learning and a new $75 million partnership between Microsoft and some of the largest and most impactful humanitarian organizations in the world to execute a program to help children and teachers gain first-time access to technology. An example of this initiative begins today with a program entitled Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark. This initiative is a collaborative effort uniting World Vision, British Council, Microsoft and Intel, linking African youth with over 1 million potential donors in the United States alone.
About Partners in Learning
Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 15-year, $750 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 3, 2012 — Five teachers from the U.S. were celebrated Saturday night as five of the most innovative educators in the world, as part of Microsoft Corp.’s annual Global Forum Educator Awards. During the ceremony, held in the prestigious Prague Castle to mark the culmination of the 2012 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum, Microsoft announced 21 winners, narrowed down from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year. “We can’t educate tomorrow’s leaders with tools and practices from the past. We must continue to invest in the development of enhanced learning environments that lead to better outcomes,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We are honored to recognize these amazing professionals for the work they do every day to enrich the educational experiences of children around the world.” These are the winning U.S. educators:
1st Place: Collaboration
Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) Project: Doing Business in Birmingham Doing Business in Birmingham aims to promote the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. After learning about sustainability in business, students took to the streets of downtown Birmingham to assess the sustainability of businesses in their local community. Armed with informational flyers and brochures they had created, the students visited more than 90 establishments to interview and educate local business owners. Students used Microsoft Office, Photosynth, Publisher and MovieMaker among other technologies to complete the project. 2nd Place: Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning
Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind (Vancouver, Wash.) Project: “LYNC”ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students The Washington State School for the Blind developed an effective program built on Microsoft Lync that provides specialized mathematics instruction to blind and visually impaired students. The school’s teacher lives more than 100 miles away from the campus and uses videoconferencing and Lync to instruct her classes to any student with a Lync client and an Internet connection. 3rd Place: Educators’ Choice
Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School (West Palm Beach, Fla.) Project: What’s Up Egypt? Students created a TV show about ancient Egypt to gain a deeper understanding of life during that time. Students used Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and video editing software to research and create a “TODAY”-style news program with news, weather, sports, cooking, lifestyle, history and music segments. Students compared and contrasted ancient Egypt with today’s society and in the end they had a better understanding of what it would have been like to have lived during that time. “Having the opportunity to be here at the Microsoft Global Forum has been one of most meaningful experiences for both Pauline [Roberts] and me as teachers principally because we have the opportunity to interact with other practitioners from around the globe,” said Rick Joseph, first-place winner in the Collaboration category. “We as teachers believe our children learn in a global environment. When we can get together with teachers from around the world and see what they’re doing and see the ways in which they engage their students, it’s very energizing to us because it really enables us to be the best that we can be.” “We have connected with teachers and schools from around the world that are amazingly innovative and so passionate. This is just the beginning of what we can do. There is so much more innovation and new ways of teaching, new ways of learning, that this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Robin Lowell, second-place winner in the Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning category. “We’ve gathered ideas to take home with us, which is going to improve us as teachers and improve our students’ education and life.” “Teachers don’t work for recognition, but for our students. Still, to have our effort and impact recognized by Microsoft as one of the country’s best is an incredible feeling,” said Todd LaVogue, third-place winner in the Educators’ Choice category. “My intent is to give my students my very best, and the ideas I’ve gathered from other educators at the Partners in Learning Global Forum are helping me do just that. My students are starting to understand how special and important they are and that their success in adult life begins right now.” Saturday night’s awards were presented to educators across six categories. All winners will be automatically included in the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program, a one-year initiative created to recognize educators globally who are using technology to transform education. Educator Experts will become Microsoft’s partner in many of its education activities throughout the year, focused on ensuring learning outcomes and sharing of experiences with peers and policymakers on effective use of technology in education. In return, members receive the inside track on the latest Microsoft thinking and technologies, as well as access to the latest and greatest software and products. In addition, Microsoft will ensure that this group is getting the professional and career development opportunities that will be long lasting and help them make a difference in their students’ lives. Participants were judged by an international panel of education professionals through rigorous scoring. Through virtual classroom tours and onsite interviews by judges, these teachers demonstrated innovative teaching practices, giving their students critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, critical thinking and social responsibility, by leveraging effective and engaging technology resources. Teachers were recognized across the following categories: 1. Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom 2. Collaboration 3. Knowledge Building and Critical Thinking 4. Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning 5. Educator as Innovator and Change Agent 6. Educators’ Choice Saturday’s award ceremony was attended by more than 500 teachers, school leaders and education leaders, as well as government officials from more than 80 countries. The celebration capped off a week of education workshops and announcements, including an additional $250 million investment by Microsoft over the next five years in Partners in Learning and a new $75 million partnership between Microsoft and some of the largest and most impactful humanitarian organizations in the world to execute a program to help children and teachers gain first-time access to technology. An example of this initiative begins today with a program entitled Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark. This initiative is a collaborative effort uniting World Vision, British Council, Microsoft and Intel, linking African youth with over 1 million potential donors in the United States alone.
About Partners in Learning
Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 15-year, $750 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.
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.
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PRAGUE — Dec. 1, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today marked the close of its Partners in Learning Global Forum 2012 by announcing an investment of up to US$75 million to bring digital access to youth and educators in developing nations. The commitment was sealed by signing memorandums of understanding with six global humanitarian organizations. Along with the US$250 million, five-year renewal of the flagship Microsoft Partners in Learning program, the company has further strengthened its commitment to bring holistic transformation of education systems around the world through digital access to youth and capacity building for educators. The initiative is led by strategic alliances with World Vision Inc., the British Council, SOS Children’s Villages International, Catholic Relief Services, Plan Ltd. and the International Rescue Committee. It is aimed at helping ensure that teachers get the digital training they need and students gain critical skills vital to finding employment, starting their own businesses and contributing to their local communities’ economies. These commitments are part of Microsoft YouthSpark, a companywide initiative to create opportunities for 300 million youth around the world, helping transform education and expand digital inclusion to empower youth to change their world. “Today’s young people face an opportunity divide — a gap between those who have the access, skills and opportunities to be successful and those who do not,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president of Worldwide Education for Microsoft. “We firmly believe in the power of technology to help close this gap. But we can only achieve our ambitions with the help of these kinds of partnerships. Together, we can help bring digital access to youth and support to educators in developing countries worldwide.”
Reaching Underprivileged Youth in Africa
An example of this initiative — Spark a Child’s Digital Future http://www.worldvision.org/bethespark — will begin in Kenya, scaling across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond during the next five years. Spark a Child’s Digital Future, which launches today, is a collaborative effort that unites World Vision, the British Council, Microsoft and Intel, and it links African youth with more than 1 million potential donors in the United States alone. World Vision, the world’s largest nongovernmental organization, will generate donations through its child sponsors. Microsoft will donate software and apply the experience it has gained through Partners in Learning. Together, Microsoft and Intel will offer information and communications technology expertise and training, while the British Council and World Vision bring on-the-ground expertise in education program execution and content development for teacher and school leader professional development, as well as measurement and evaluation. “We recognize that once a child’s basic needs are met, digital skills development can be vital in securing economic growth,” said Rich Stearns, president, World Vision U.S. “This program is essential in helping children in developing countries succeed in a global world.”
2012 Global Forum Educator Awards
The announcement was made ahead of an award ceremony at the Global Forum in Prague, bringing together more than 500 of the most innovative teachers, school leaders, education leaders and government officials from 80 countries. Teachers who attend the Global Forum are regional finalists selected from more than 250,000 teachers registered across national and regional forums throughout the year. Teacher projects were awarded across six categories:
Collaboration
• Winner: Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph (United States), “Doing Business in Birmingham.” A Sciracy project promoting scientific literacy. Students developed informational brochures to educate business owners on sustainability. • First Runner-Up: Chen Siyun (Singapore), “Impactful Online Service Learning.” The project led a group of Singapore and Indonesian students through a journey of collaboration to solve the issue of the lack of clean water. • Second Runner-Up: Holger Fröhlich (Germany), “Creating Fairytale-Radioplays.” Using digital media, the students created a fairytale-radioplay building an audio visual experience. Knowledge Building
• Winner: David Allan Young (Northern Ireland), “Infinity Architecture.” Students from the local primary school developed an architecture project to serve students with special needs. The project is now in early stages of full-scale modeling. • First Runner-Up: Zamimah Binti Azaman (Malaysia), “The Journalist.” The students developed a simulator to assess content and skills learned in the classroom. • Second Runner-Up: Youssr Chediac (Lebanon), “The Warak Warak Method.” This project is a teaching methodology that builds and enhances students’ subject knowledge and skills, increases engagement and keeps the momentum going beyond the classroom. Beyond the Classroom
• Winner: Ghadeer Obiedat and Rania Obiedat (Jordan), “Glimmer of Hope.” These teachers aimed to equip students with the skills needed to innovate and be productive in life, with a project focusing on the early detection and screening of breast cancer. • First Runner-Up: Devon Caldwell and Leah Obach (Canada), “Little Hands Big World.” This collaborative project links two classrooms of learners to form one community of change agents. These young learners from ages 4 to 7 are identifying, investigating and developing solutions to important issues affecting the planet. • Second Runner-Up (joint): Margarida Telles da Cruz (Brazil), “Ecoweb.” This project challenges special needs students to develop sustainability activities. Using different technology, students collaborated with neighboring schools to focus on the reuse of different materials and how residents should take care of their local area. • Second Runner-Up (joint): Katie Boothman (United Kingdom), “The H.I.T. Squad.” Students embraced new technologies to connect and engage communities and learners across generations. Primary schools and local residents have benefited from learning resources created by the Squad in their ongoing mission to share the past with the future. Cutting-Edge Use of IT
• Winner: Nicki Maddams (United Kingdom), “Kodu in The Klassroom.” This project takes Kodu Game Lab and uses it to enhance learning. From aiding literacy for primary school children to focusing on programming with game design in secondary schools, the versatile and engaging software has been used to teach, learn and inspire. • First Runner-Up: Robin Lowell and Sherry Hah (United States), “‘LYNC’ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students.” Using the audio/videoconferencing functionality in Microsoft Lync, the team created an unprecedented distance learning mathematics program tailored to the unique needs of blind and visually impaired students. • Second Runner-Up: Alice Leung (Australia), “Playing. Designing. Learning. Using Games and Project-Based Learning to Develop Creative, Innovative and Independent Learners.” Combining commercial video games and games design with in-depth class projects, students form their own investigations to develop skills in higher order thinking, collaboration, problem solving and self-regulation. Teaching a Change Agent
• Winner: Munazza Riaz Butt (Pakistan), “Aqua Crunch.” Teaching students to address water problems through technology. • First Runner-Up: Ayodele Odeogbola (Nigeria), “Rescue Mission.” This project used a mixture of hardware and software to help tackle the challenges (such as examination malpractice, vandalism, bullying, drug abuse and truancy) currently being faced in Nigeria and other countries of the world. • Second Runner-Up: Maria Loizou Raouna (Cyprus), “Online and Community-Based Research on Recycling Practices.” Using a wide range of technology, including Windows Internet Explorer and Skype, students collaborated on online research around waste minimization to inform new recycling programs in their own community and the development of shared “green” multimedia. Educator’s Choice • Winner: João Carlos Ramalheiro (Portugal), “Oratio Classroom.” This software concept for a future educational app was created by students for teachers, responding to the child’s creative mind and offering teachers the opportunity to improve music lessons, using a dynamic, content-rich and attractive application. • First Runner-Up: Darko Taleski and Sofija Grabulovska (Macedonia), “Fun, Education, Stop-Motion Animation.” This project makes stop-motion animations for all school subjects in primary education, proving that stop-motion animation is adaptive to all school subjects, age and levels. • Second Runner-Up: Todd LaVogue (United States), “What’s Up Egypt.” By combining what students like (television and music) with their curriculum, this project created a television news show and music video to help improve understanding of life in ancient Egypt. 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.
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PRAGUE
—
Nov
. 29, 2012
— Microsoft Corp. today kicked off its annual Partners in Learning Global Forum and reaffirmed its commitment to education with a US$250 million, five-year renewal of Microsoft Partners in Learning, bringing Microsoft’s total investment in the program to US$750 million over 15 years. Microsoft aims to grow the Partners in Learning community to 20 million of the 75 million teachers worldwide by 2018 with the renewal and to continue preparing students for the changing global workforce.
Microsoft plans to expand Partners in Learning beyond the 119 countries that currently participate with a continued emphasis on driving community, developing networks, and allowing educators to share innovations and learn from each other.
“So many of us have a great teacher to thank for our achievements,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “That’s why I am so proud that Microsoft Partners in Learning continues to support innovative teachers. We started this program nearly 10 years ago based on the belief that education is a fundamental human right and the single most important investment in our collective future. This has never been more true, and I’m really pleased to see the continuing commitment to innovations that can help all students and teachers reach their full potential.”
“We see a significant opportunity to invest in the economy of tomorrow by working with educators today to teach 21st century skills,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “Studies have shown the measurable impact that a great teacher has on a student’s potential, future earnings and contribution to a global economy. Our focus on PiL is the cornerstone of Microsoft’s commitment to empower youth, spark innovation in the classroom and improve learning outcomes globally.”
Microsoft’s commitment to education centers on providing training resources and building community to support the teaching of 21st century skills that prepare today’s youth for the competitive global workforce. Research shows a strong connection between education and economic growth, and Partners in Learning is Microsoft’s global initiative to partner with educators and governments to advance student success through digital inclusion and innovative teaching practices. Partners in Learning is a key program within Microsoft YouthSpark, a companywide initiative to create opportunities for 300 million youth around the world by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. Through the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft has trained more than 11 million teachers and reached more than 200 million students since 2003.
“Transformation in educational practice is one of the most difficult things for schools and educators to achieve,” said Jeff Davis, executive principal, Varsity College, Queensland, Australia. “Everyone talks of 21st century learning, but few have bridged the gap from theory into true innovative practice where students are actually using the technologies available on a daily basis and pedagogy shifts to a new domain. Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program stands apart. Not only does this program support schools and educators in making great leaps in bridging both the technical and pedagogical gaps, but the Partners in Learning program brings together those who have made this transformation leap and builds in them further capacity to become world leaders. Without the support of Partners in Learning, the innovation, collaboration and achievement levels at this school would not have been realized as they are now. We thank Microsoft for its support and belief in our school.”
“A strong education rooted in the skills and technology tools needed to enter the rapidly changing global workforce can lay a foundation for improving global economic outcomes,” said Godelieve van den Brande, European Commission, DG of Education and Culture.
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Global Forum 2012
Microsoft’s annual Partners in Learning Global Forum, hosted in Prague in 2012, is the culmination of national and regional forums that recognize innovative educators and school leaders. The 2012 Global Forum brings together more than 500 of the most innovative teachers, education leaders and government officials from 80 countries. Teachers who attend the forum are global finalists who have made it through a progressively selective competition that started with more than 250,000 participants at national events. They will compete for one of 18 Partners in Learning Global Forum Educator Awards.
Acer is the platinum sponsor of this year’s event and will showcase many of its newest computers running Windows 8 during the Technology Showcase. Participants are encouraged to try the devices, and the judges will use them throughout the week as they record information on the teacher projects. Acer’s full line of complementary education products supports a one-on-one learning approach in all subjects, enabling the pedagogy process in an easy and efficient way. More information is available at http://www.acer.com.
About Microsoft Partners in Learning
Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 15-year, $750 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Nov.
28
, 2012 — Bing, Microsoft Corp.’s search engine, today is launching a national campaign to highlight Bing’s commitment to honest search results and to help explain to consumers the risks of Google Shopping’s newly announced “pay-to-rank” practice, in which the shopping search results customers see are not true search results such as they see elsewhere on Google; they are actually ads that are ranked, in part, by who pays the most. More information on these practices is available at http://www.scroogled.com.
Instead of showing you the most relevant shopping search results for the latest coffee maker you’re looking to buy mom, Google’s new redesigned shopping vertical now decides what to show you — and how prominently to display what product offers they show — based partially on how much a merchant selling the product has paid Google. Merchants can literally pay to improve their chances to display their product offers higher than others inside of Google’s shopping “search,” even if it’s not necessarily better or cheaper. That’s not right, it’s not transparent, it’s not what you expect from search, and it’s not how we at Bing think search engines should help consumers get the best prices and selection when shopping. Consumers are urged to visit http://www.scroogled.com to learn more about how to avoid getting “Scroogled,” a term used by Bing to describe Google’s new practice that leaves people with fewer choices and potentially higher prices.
Today, Bing is also renewing its commitment to the old rules — honoring our side of the bargain with shoppers by delivering better, more objectively ranked search results.
We won’t let who pays us for ads or other services affect what you see in your shopping search results. Search results are one thing; ads are another.
We won’t switch to pay-to-rank to allow fees to influence the ranking of shopping search results. In short, we think that too many shoppers who use Google for their shopping are getting “Scroogled” when they should be getting fair, honest, open search results.
Google’s New Practice
In recent weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Google quietly changed its shopping results from “Google Product Search,” which represented fairly comprehensive results for products and merchants across the Web, to a pay-to-rank model called “Product Listing Advertising.” Merchants must now pay Google to be listed in the shopping results, and how much they pay helps determine how they appear in the rankings, so now every “result” is really just an ad. This new policy means consumers are getting Scroogled.
And that’s an issue for shoppers who visit the site they have used for years, conduct what they think is a “search,” and get a set of rankings that look like the objective results Google delivers everywhere else. Meanwhile, the lawyers at Google Shopping are now calling results “listings.” They even call out, nontransparently hidden behind a disclaimer or buried in a footer, “Payment is one of several factors used to rank these results.” Consumers are potentially getting a raw deal because “relevance” is now determined partially by how much Google is getting paid, not by things that matter to shoppers.
Bing, on the other hand, affirms its commitment to honest search. “We don’t let who pays us for ads or other services affect how your search results are ranked,” said Mike Nichols, chief marketing officer, Bing. “Search, as a business, depends on consumer trust, and that requires keeping search results and ads separate. With Google Shopping the wall between search results and ads is gone — and so are several popular shopping sites. At Bing, we’re committed to keeping ads where they belong and will continue to deliver the most relevant search results possible.”
About the Don’t Get Scroogled Campaign
With the Don’t Get Scroogled campaign, Bing is talking to holiday shoppers about the importance of getting unbiased, comprehensive search results when they shop online — and how changes at Google Shopping could leave them with fewer choices and higher prices this season.
Beginning today and continuing throughout the holiday shopping season, the Bing-sponsored Don’t Get Scroogled activities will appear online and offline, demonstrating why consumers should be concerned and helping them take action. We’re also calling on Google to stop this “pay-to-rank” system for their shopping results and give shoppers what they expect — an honest search. Consumers can also visit http://www.scroogled.com to get information about Google’s practices and updates on the situation.
About Bing
Bing is the search engine from Microsoft, designed for people who do. For people like you who are always doing more and don’t have time to sit still. Now, only Bing brings together the best search and the best people from your social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, to help you spend less time searching and more time doing. So whether you’re on your PC or on your phone, Bing is designed not just to connect you to the information you are looking for, but also to help you get things done right on Bing.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 28, 2012
— Speaking to shareholders at Microsoft Corp.’s annual meeting today, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer highlighted the company’s recent product launches and financial performance, and outlined the company’s shift to devices and services.
“In 2012, our revenue grew to a record $73.7 billion,” Ballmer said. “We also maintained strong cost discipline resulting in cash flow from operations of $31.6 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the prior year. In addition, we returned more than $10 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.”
Over the past several months, the company has shipped an unprecedented wave of new products, including Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Phone 8, Xbox Music, “Halo 4” and Windows Server 2012, in addition to a host of other products, services and applications.
Ballmer noted that over time the full value of the company’s software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and play: “Focusing on devices and services will impact how we run the company, how we develop new experiences and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses. The work we have accomplished in the past year and the road map in front of us brings this to life.”
It’s been one full month since Windows 8 became generally available, and to date Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses. Companies worldwide are already adopting Windows 8 including Johnson & Johnson, BT (British Telecom), 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, Bank of America Corp. and Seton Hall University. In addition, the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, which include 46 of the top 50, and is rising daily. Microsoft also pointed to recent Xbox sales during the week of Black Friday, which totaled over 750,000 Xbox consoles in the U.S. alone.
Looking forward, Ballmer addressed some of the strategic opportunities that lay ahead.
“Helping businesses move to the cloud is one of our largest opportunities,” Ballmer said. “All the online services people use today run on servers in datacenters around the globe. The volume of Internet services used will continue to grow as people connect to the Internet from more devices for more purposes — fueling incredible opportunity for the company.”
Ballmer also noted that Office 365 is on track to be one of Microsoft’s fastest growing businesses ever. Organizations of all sizes turn to Office 365 for world-class productivity solutions, including most recently Japan Airlines, The All India Council for Technical Education, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Toyota Motor Corp.
The following proposals were acted on by the company’s shareholders at the shareholder meeting:
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Elected nine directors to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders. All director nominees received a vote of more than 96 percent of votes cast.
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Ratified the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company’s independent auditor, with a vote of more than 98 percent of votes cast.
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Approved, on an advisory basis, the fiscal year 2012 compensation of the company’s named executive officers. The advisory measure received more than 94 percent of votes cast.
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Approved, an amendment and restatement of Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan, receiving 99 percent of votes cast.
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Rejected a shareholder proposal to adopt cumulative voting. The shareholder proposal received 26 percent of votes cast.
Microsoft’s board of directors consists of Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive officer; Dina Dublon, former chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase; William H. Gates, Microsoft chairman; Maria M. Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College; Stephen J. Luczo, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Seagate Technology PLC; David F. Marquardt, general partner at August Capital; Charles H. Noski, former vice chairman of Bank of America Corp.; Dr. Helmut Panke, former chairman of the board of management at BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG; and John W. Thompson, chief executive officer of Virtual Instruments. Seven of the nine board members are independent of Microsoft, which is consistent with the requirement in the company’s governance guidelines that a substantial majority be independent.
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 since have changed. Shareholder and financial information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 27, 2012 — Barilla Group is a major Italian food company and a worldwide leader in the pasta market, exporting to more than 100 countries from 41 production facilities (13 in Italy and 28 abroad). With more than 13,000 employees around the world, a need arose for the company to profoundly evolve the way Barilla people communicate, collaborate and interact. After analyzing other cloud platforms, Barilla chose Microsoft for better IT interoperation and enterprise expertise across its services and products. “Because information technologies are constantly under technological, economic and regulatory pressure, Barilla recognized Microsoft as the only partner able to set us out on the path toward worldwide adoption of the cloud,” said Mauro Viacava, chief information officer, Barilla Group. “We chose Microsoft Office 365, which offered a solution that is perfectly integrated with our enterprise environment and with the digital tools employees and partners already use.” The service was deployed in phases between 2010 and 2011 in partnership with Teorema Engineering Srl, a Microsoft Gold Competency Partner, which also provided special training to 1,200 key employees at Barilla offices and plants all over the world. Office 365 allows users to collaborate, interact and share documents online, communicate easily via videoconferencing and instant messaging, and access email from many types of devices in virtually any location, addressing both geographic and organizational hierarchy obstacles at once. The Barilla Community Platform was born with Office 365 as well, complete with a modern, efficient platform that allows Barilla to effectively and easily manage the structured interaction among employees in its branch offices, production plants and on the road, while simultaneously allowing the information systems team to focus on process innovation. Both of these strategies are designed to ultimately save the company time, money and resources. “We have reduced travel costs by about 30 percent, thanks to the project,” Viacava said. “In the future, we intend to further grow the collaboration between mobile phones and the content of the Office 365 suite.” Read more about Barilla’s implementation of Office 365 in the case study here, or learn more about Office 365 and try a free trial here. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. 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.
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Full View / NID: 43980 / Submitted by: The Zilla of Zuron
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REDMOND, Wash.
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Nov. 2
6, 2012
—
As we look back at 2012, Bing searches show it was a year of familiar faces, momentous events and baby fever. While last year people were singing “Baby, baby, baby” with Justin Bieber as the most-searched person of 2011, 2012 was the year of the real baby, as celebrity births were five of the top 10 celebrity events. From new reality stars such as Honey Boo Boo to viral hits such as “Gangnam Style” and airwave darlings such as Taylor Swift, Bing captured history through the searches that mark the year’s most fascinating people, sensations and moments in time.
Based on the aggregation of billions of search queries conducted on Bing this year, here are the much-anticipated top search lists for the most-searched people, news stories, athletes, musicians, celebrity events, social networks and TV shows. The complete report, including most-searched viral videos, movies, songs, TV personalities and more, is available at http://www.BingTrends.com.
Most
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Searched Person of
the
Year
Kim Kardashian didn’t just keep up with other celebs such as Justin Bieber (2011’s most-searched person) this year, she took back the top spot. Kim K. was the most-searched person of the year in 2012, regaining the spot she also held in 2010. Her relationship ups and downs, including a new relationship with Kanye West, made Kim more interesting than ever. While Justin Bieber fell to the second spot, he still was the most-searched male of the year and the most-searched musician, thanks to the continued support of his many “Beliebers.” Newcomers to the list include Rihanna, who skyrocketed from No. 20 in 2011 to No. 4 this year; Selena Gomez, who jumped from No. 13 to No. 7; and Nicki Minaj, who just barely cracked the top 10 at No. 9, up from No. 23 in 2011. Miley Cyrus made the biggest gain within the top 10 list, jumping from No. 10 to No. 3, likely due to her surprise engagement.
Other
Top Search
Results
Top
News
Stories
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iPhone 5
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2012 Election
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2012 Olympics
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Hurricane Sandy
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Honey Boo Boo
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“Gangnam Style”
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Kony 2012
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Academy Awards
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Kindle Fire HD
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Facebook IPO
Top
Athletes
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Peyton Manning
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Tiger Woods
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Tim Tebow
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Maria Sharapova
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Kobe Bryant
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Serena Williams
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Lamar Odom
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LeBron James
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Cristiano Ronaldo
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Terrell Owens
Top Musicians
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Justin Bieber
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Whitney Houston
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Katy Perry
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Selena Gomez
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Rihanna
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Nicki Minaj
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Taylor Swift
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Beyoncé
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Chris Brown
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Jennifer Lopez
Top Celebrity Event
s
Top TV Shows
Top Social Networks
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Facebook
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Twitter
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MySpace
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LinkedIn
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Tumblr
More details and additional categories of top 2012 searches from Bing are available at http://www.BingTrends.com and via the Bing Top Searches of 2012. For the latest on all things Bing, check out http://www.bing.com/community, http://www.facebook.com/Bing and twitter.com/Bing.
About Bing
Bing is the search engine from Microsoft, designed for people who do. For people like you who are always doing more and don’t have time to sit still. Now, only Bing brings together the best search and the best people from your social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, to help you spend less time searching and more time doing. So whether you’re on your PC or on your phone, Bing is designed not just to connect you to the information you are looking for, but also to help you get things done right on Bing.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.
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Full View / NID: 43974 / Submitted by: The Zilla of Zuron
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MONTGOMERY, Ala., and REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 20, 2012 — The Alabama Department of Education and Microsoft Corp. today formally announced the official launch of the Alabama Microsoft IT Academy Program. This new initiative is focused on further developing the overall technology skills of students.
Alabama’s Microsoft IT Academy will provide opportunities for students to earn certifications in Microsoft product areas, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. This program will be available all high schools statewide and will provide students with the valuable 21st century technical skills they need to be successful in both college and their future careers.
Gov. Robert Bentley said, “Offering industry certification to Alabama’s students will help ensure growth in our workforce. Adding qualified individuals to local businesses will improve economic success.”
The Microsoft IT Academy Program will provide participating local school systems with access to Web-based instruction, software lab licenses, e-learning and official course materials. Course topics will range from computer basics to high-level programming and database management. Students will get hands-on experience with the latest Microsoft software and e-learning resources. This program will also allow students to earn professional-level workplace credentials and technology skills before they graduate from high school.
“Through this program, we can assure business and industry of a skill set in the area of technology and ensure students entering college are equipped with the technical skills to succeed academically,” State Superintendent of Education Tommy Bice said.
Pilot Year for This Initiative
Currently, one school in each school system throughout the state has been selected is participating in this program. Starting in the 2013–2014 school year, the Microsoft IT Academy Program will be expanded to additional schools.
“The Microsoft IT Academy Program makes education more relevant to students so they can move from learning to earning,” said Cameron Evans, chief technology officer for U.S. Education, Microsoft. “Alabama schools, teachers and students are now at an advantage in keeping pace with changing technology and curriculum demands. The program also gives students equal access to the IT skills and certification they need to both prepare for advanced studies and to improve career opportunities with higher earning potential.”
IT certifications are increasingly being recognized as valuable credentials nationwide. Many institutions in Alabama are requiring freshmen students to pass a computer proficiency exam. This initiative is important because it will help Alabama’s students be better prepared for their futures.
The Microsoft IT Academy Program works to bridge the gap between education and the real world of work by helping to equip students with the technology-based skills they’ll need for successful careers in today’s highly competitive job market.
Benefits of Program Students will have access to official course materials that can help them prepare to acquire industry-recognized Microsoft Office Specialist, Microsoft Technology Associate or Microsoft Certified Professional certifications. The program also focuses on helping students become both college- and career-ready.
Benefits to Schools Participating in the Microsoft IT Academy
Microsoft IT Academy provides schools and educators the necessary training and resources they need to offer students instruction on the latest IT and business applications. Benefits include access to many programs, such as the following: • IT Academy members’ websites. • E-learning curriculum — with more than 1,500 online multimedia courses to choose from, including games, simulations and videos — to provide students with a hands-on learning experience. • Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum for students who are new to computing skills. • Microsoft E-Reference Library, a searchable library of more than 600 Microsoft Press books. Each school will receive five subscriptions. • Access to Microsoft DreamSpark, a program providing students and teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines with access to Microsoft software developer tools and platforms under the DreamSpark license designed for academic institutions. Alabama is the seventh state in the U.S. to participate in this innovative program.
Those interested in learning more about Alabama’s new Microsoft IT Academy Program should contact Alabama State Department of Education Career and Technical Education Administrator Dawn Morrison at (334) 242-9109 or dmorrison@alsde.edu.
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.
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Full View / NID: 43927 / Submitted by: The Zilla of Zuron
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REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 20, 2012 — Dr. Jeannette Wing will join Microsoft Research as vice president, head of Microsoft Research International, reporting to Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid. Wing is a leading figure in computer science research, particularly in formal methods, security and privacy. She has held key positions in both academia and government, most recently at Carnegie Mellon University and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“Jeannette is a leading light in the computer science research community, providing strong leadership both at Carnegie Mellon and at NSF,” Rashid said. “I have long been impressed by both her profound commitment to world-class research and her service to the research community, and I look forward to working alongside her. It’s a privilege to welcome Jeannette to Microsoft Research.”
From 2007 to 2010, Wing served as assistant director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at the NSF, where she led the directorate that funds academic computer science research in the United States. In this capacity, she worked with NSF staff to set funding priorities for the academic science and engineering research community, create new programs, and represent the nation’s computer science community. Wing has served twice as head of the Department of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University: before her term at NSF and again upon her return to Carnegie Mellon. She was also associate dean for Academic Affairs at Carnegie Mellon for five years, overseeing the educational programs offered by the School of Computer Science.
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Jeannette Wing
Vice President, Head of Microsoft Research International
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Wing received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her areas of expertise are in the foundations of trustworthy computing, software specification and verification, concurrent and distributed systems, and programming languages and methodology. Her research contributions include the first formal specification language for CLU; programming language support for atomic objects in distributed transactions; with Dr. Maurice Herlihy, the notion of linearizability, a correctness condition for concurrent objects; and with Dr. Barbara Liskov, a semantics for behavioral subtyping. Her contributions in security and privacy include work on attack graphs and attack surfaces, work on formalizing privacy policies for automated compliance checking, and work on trust in networks of humans and computers.
Within the computer science community, Wing is well-known for her advocacy of “computational thinking,” an approach to problem solving, designing systems and understanding human behavior that draws upon concepts fundamental to computer science. She sees it as a “universally applicable attitude and skill set that everyone, not just computer scientists, should be eager to learn and use.” Wing has also served as the founder and director of the Center for Computational Thinking at Carnegie Mellon.
Wing is a board member of the Computing Research Association, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Academic Advisory Board and General Electric’s Academic Software Advisory Panel. She is vice chair of the DARPA Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Board. She has been a member of many other advisory boards, including the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development technical advisory group to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the National Academy of Science’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, ISAT, and NSF’s CISE Advisory Committee. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Wing will be joining Microsoft Research in January 2013, assuming responsibility for Microsoft Research’s research laboratories in Bangalore, India; Cambridge, England; and Beijing.
“I’m excited to join Microsoft Research, a world-class research organization in computing and related disciplines, and I appreciate this unique opportunity to lead its international labs,” Wing said. “Microsoft Research has already had tremendous impact on the field of computing, on Microsoft’s products and services, and on society, with potential yet to be unleashed. I am looking forward to working with the extraordinary talent at Microsoft Research, and I am especially honored to serve the international labs, each with its own character, strengths and distinct cultures.”
About Microsoft Research
Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Over 850 Ph.D. researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and openly collaborate with leading academic, government, and industry researchers to advance the state of the art of computing, help fuel the long-term growth of Microsoft and its products, and solve some of the world’s toughest problems through technological innovation. Microsoft Research has expanded over the years to seven countries worldwide and brings together the best minds in computer science to advance a research agenda based on an array of unique talents and interests. Microsoft Research operates in Redmond, Wash.; Cambridge, Mass.; New York City; Mountain View, Calif.; Cambridge, U.K.; Beijing; and Bangalore, India; and conducts research at the Advanced Technology Labs Cairo; Advanced Technology Labs Europe in Aachen, Germany; Advanced Technology Labs Israel; FUSE Labs in Redmond and Cambridge, U.K.; the eXtreme Computing Group in Redmond; and Station Q in Santa Barbara, Calif. More information can be found at http://research.microsoft.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 19, 2012 — Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, announced today at the Windows 8 launch event in Dubai the development of a line-of-business application for Windows 8 called Knowledge Driven Inflight Service (KIS). An in-flight communication and customer relationship management device first introduced by Emirates for its pursers in 2004, the KIS application will now run on the soon-to-be-launched HP ElitePad 900 business tablets and will enable Emirates to continue to deliver extraordinary customer service and experiences.
“At Emirates, we strive to deliver the world’s best in-flight experience,” said Kevin Griffiths, senior vice president, Cabin Crew at Emirates. “We constantly invest in the best aircraft, products and service. To support our crew, we have created an application on Windows 8 that delivers a unique, personalized experience with the necessary information for our cabin crew to better serve the needs of customers. The Windows 8 platform running on HP ElitePad 900 devices gave us this option, allowing us to create the KIS app that enables our crew to offer an experience not available on other airlines.”
Pursers on the flight use the KIS application to brief the cabin crew before every flight and understand how to best meet the personal preferences and needs of passengers. The crew can also use the application to easily conduct in-flight upgrades to business class or first class for Emirates Skywards members, as well as customer feedback that is immediately routed to headquarters upon landing.
As the first global customer of the HP ElitePad 900, Emirates is creating a new KIS tablet that is light, attractive and has a long battery life, ideal for nonstop flights. The device, announced by HP in October and available to customers in January 2013, is built specifically for business users, offering Windows 8 optimization and a beautiful lightweight design. Combined with Windows 8’s touch-optimized user interface, which quickly shows the most important information via Live Tiles, the crew can spend more time interacting with customers in a unique and efficient way.
When deployment across its fleet is complete, Emirates will have 1,000 HP ElitePad 900 devices running the KIS application on Windows 8. More information on the KIS application running on Windows 8 is available at the Microsoft Showcase.
Emirates operates more than 2,500 flights per week to 126 destinations in 74 countries across six continents. The award-winning airline operates the largest fleet of A380s with 27, and the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 777s.
More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.
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Full View / NID: 43918 / Submitted by: The Zilla of Zuron
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REDMOND,
Wash. —
Nov
.
15
, 2012
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Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today announced availability of cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics business solutions designed to meet the unique security and functionality requirements of U.S. federal government agencies. Delivered in a Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)-compliant, federal-only, infrastructure environment, these solutions enable government organizations to collaborate, manage data, improve processes and access actionable business intelligence while taking advantage of the flexibility, security features, performance and cost savings of a cloud-based delivery model that is hosted by Microsoft partner Layered Technologies Inc.
Designed to meet the rigorous National Institute of Standards and Technology security and control standards required of federal government agencies for FISMA compliance, the Layered Tech environment includes a single-tenancy private cloud with dedicated hardware and physical storage for the tightest security requirements, as well as a federal-only infrastructure environment to take advantage of increased scalability and efficiency and reduced costs associated with public cloud computing.
“Government customers can feel confident in a cloud delivery model that meets federal government mandates such as FISMA and the ‘cloud-first’ policy,” said Amir Capriles, general manager, U.S. Public Sector for Microsoft Dynamics. “This environment allows them to achieve the business benefits of cloud computing while meeting even the most stringent security requirements.”
“Our proven success working with government organizations and close collaboration with the Microsoft Dynamics team has allowed us to deliver a truly innovative cloud platform,” said Brad Hokamp, president of Layered Tech. “We can now extend security compliance far past the FISMA Moderate solutions offered by other cloud providers, to keep in step with the government’s intensifying need for the benefits of business solutions delivered through secure cloud computing.”
A diverse set of Microsoft Dynamics solutions will be available on this new infrastructure, which will enable government agencies to meet their needs, including case management, workforce management, onboarding, correspondence and targeted outreach, task management, field inspection, intelligence gathering, call center interactions, financial management, grants management, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) management, emergency response, economic development, jail and offender management, and 311.
Federal government customers are already taking advantage of Microsoft Dynamics business solutions hosted in the cloud by Layered Tech. One solution enables federal government customers to effectively fulfill their missions and remain in compliance with FOIA and the Privacy Act. The solution for tracking public records requests is one of the only FISMA-certified cloud solutions available on the market to manage FOIA requirements.
Layered Tech Solutions Advisory Committee
With the launch of a Microsoft Dynamics government cloud solution, Layered Tech established a Solutions Advisory Committee to enable certified Microsoft Dynamics partners with years of government experience to rapidly deploy government cloud solutions, maximizing best practices and lessons learned to meet the unique needs of government agencies. Several partners are witnessing the value of Microsoft Dynamics cloud solutions for their customers:
“Layered Tech’s new FISMA-compliant Microsoft Dynamics cloud offering is really exciting for us at Catapult Systems and aligns with a core mission of providing greater customer value at a lower cost,” said Jim Booth, general manager, Catapult Systems Federal. “By partnering with Layered Tech, Catapult can now offer a secure and compliant enclave to our government customers. As security concerns have increased and cost reduction efforts are at the forefront of every agency, the technology advances at Layered Tech can address both in a compliant cloud environment. Coupled with the Microsoft Dynamics application platform for rapid development and Catapult’s preconfigured COTS solutions, lower-cost, more robust complete offerings can be provided to government agencies for a wide range of solutions, from correspondence to security escalation and case management.”
“This cloud solution provides federal independent software vendors with the advantage of optimizing ‘as-a-service’ computing resources to quickly and cost-effectively build out targeted solutions to support specific federal agency requirements while reducing infrastructure maintenance and support costs and delivering a high level of security and regulatory compliance,” said Tom Berger, vice president, Green Beacon. “By offering federal agencies flexible cloud computing solutions that meet a variety of requirements for provisioning and acquiring IT services, federal agencies are now able to optimize their IT spending while improving overall agility.”
“The Microsoft Dynamics Government Cloud provides the opportunity to optimize ‘as-a-service’ computing resources to quickly and cost-effectively deliver targeted solutions to support specific federal agency requirements,” said Annette Rippert, Federal Services senior executive, Accenture. “Being able to provide solutions like Accenture’s Task Management Tool (TMT) as a service will reduce infrastructure, maintenance and support costs, while delivering a high level of security and regulatory compliance.” More information on the availability of new cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics business solutions built specifically for federal government agencies can be found here.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics solutions empower your people to be more productive and your systems to last longer and scale as your organization grows, while enabling you to derive the insights necessary to respond quickly in an ever-changing world.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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.
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