Microsoft Announces Product Offerings and Customer Early Access Programme for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM

DENVER, July 10 /PRNewswire/ --

- Live CRM service defines new level of affordability for customers,
expands software plus services opportunities for partners.

At its Worldwide Partner Conference today, Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq: MSFT)
announced the kickoff of its partner-led customer early access programme for
Microsoft Dynamics(TM) Live CRM, as well as detailed product and pricing
information for the new on-demand service. In addition, new pre-configured
vertical templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM were demonstrated for the
public sector and manufacturing industries.

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"We are excited to bring a whole new level of business productivity and
value to the CRM market," said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft
Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. "The new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service
offers tremendous application configuration capabilities, allowing our
customers and our partners to deploy on-demand CRM systems that work the way
that each individual business does. Together with our on-premise and
partner-hosted offerings, we give customers and partners the ultimate in
choice and flexibility in how they deliver CRM capabilities to users."

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will be operated and managed by Microsoft
within its datacenters and will offer Microsoft's partners another fast and
flexible way to address the unique customer relationship management (CRM)
needs of each customer. Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will use the same code
base as the on-premise and partner-hosted versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM,
a strategy that reinforces Microsoft's leadership in allowing customers to
choose the best deployment option for their business and IT needs at any
time.

"We've been working with Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM for several months
through its partner pre-release programme, and we couldn't be more excited
about what it offers to our business," said Mitch Cannady, president and CEO
of Spinnaker Network Solutions Inc. "It allows us to serve our customers'
needs through on-demand or on-premise deployment models, and enables us to
reach new segments and new markets more quickly."

Customer Early Access Programme

The customer early access programme for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will
begin this quarter and will extend through the remainder of 2007. It will
offer the Professional version of the service (see below) at no charge to
customers during the early access period; at the end of the early access
period, normal service fees will apply. The programme is initially targeted
at companies with five or more CRM users within the organisation, and
customer signup will be offered through Microsoft Dynamics CRM's network of
certified partners. Companies that are interested in the early access
programme can visit http://www.crmlive.com to apply.

Product and Pricing Information

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will be available as a range of service
offerings, with features and pricing designed to optimise value for different
types of customers. The first two service offerings will be the following:

-- Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional will offer full-suite CRM 
       through Microsoft(R) Outlook(R) and browser clients, customisable work 
       flow powered by Windows(R) Workflow Foundation, and rich configuration 
       and extensibility capabilities. The price for Microsoft Dynamics Live 
       CRM Professional will be US$44 per user per month; however, during 
       2008 it will be offered to customers at a promotional price of US$39 
       per user per month.
    -- Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise will offer all the capabilities 
       of the Professional product as well as offline data synchronisation. 
       The price for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise will be US$59 per 
       user per month.

During the early access programme, all customers of Microsoft Dynamics
Live CRM will use the Professional version of the service. The Enterprise
version will be made available in the first half of 2008.

Partner Engagement Model

Microsoft also announced further details about its partner engagement
model for the Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service.

-- With the new Live service, partners in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 
       ecosystem will have new opportunities to deliver value to their 
       customers and to drive revenue for their businesses by developing and 
       deploying solutions across the three deployment options -- Live, 
       on-premise and partner-hosted models. For revenue in the new Live 
       model, partners will be compensated on a recurring basis, not a 
       one-time basis; each year they will receive 10 per cent of the yearly 
       Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription revenue for each customer 
       for whom they are the partner of record. During 2008, a special 
       incentive will allow partners to receive 15 per cent of the SaaS 
       subscription revenue for that year.
    -- At the conference, the vision for a new partner solution marketplace 
       was demonstrated to serve as a focal point for partners to market and 
       sell solutions. For example, it will allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM 
       partners to market on-premise and on-demand solutions by product type, 
       by region and by industry -- and solutions presented in the partner 
       marketplace would integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics Live 
       CRM and provide customers with immediate benefits.

Vertical Templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Two new vertical templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the public
sector and manufacturing industries are being showcased at the conference.
The new templates include reference data models, pre-defined work flows, and
roles-based user experiences that make Microsoft Dynamics CRM immediately
relevant to customers in these industries. These templates are designed to
work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 today, and will be updated for the
upcoming release at the end of the year. The templates will be available by
July 31, 2007, and will be offered at no charge to partners and customers. In
addition, vertical templates for other industries will be delivered over the
next 12 months.

Availability

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM is based on the upcoming release of Microsoft
Dynamics CRM, code-named "Titan," a fully multi-tenant application platform
that supports deployments in on-premise environments, in partner-hosted
environments, and via the new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. More than
600 global partners are currently working with pre-release versions of the
"Titan" platform as part of the company's Technology Adoption Program.

The new release will first be deployed for customers via the Microsoft
Dynamics Live CRM early access programme in the third quarter of 2007, with
on-premise and partner-hosted versions planned for the fourth quarter of
2007.

The next versions of on-premise and partner-hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM
will be available globally in 25 languages. The Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM
service will initially be offered in North America, and plans for
international expansion of the service will be announced at a later date.

About the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference provides Microsoft's partner
community with access to key marketing and business strategies, leadership,
and information regarding specific customer solutions designed to help
partners succeed in the marketplace. Along with informative learning
opportunities covering sales, marketing, services and technology, the
Worldwide Partner Conference is an ideal setting for partners to garner
valuable knowledge from their peers and from Microsoft. More information
about the Worldwide Partner Conference is available at the virtual event site
at http://partner.microsoft.com/digitalwpc. Visitors can watch select
keynotes live or on-demand, register to view sessions, and learn more about
the news and events coming out of the conference.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and
supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more
effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing
specialised services, these integrated, adaptable business management
solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline
processes across an entire business.

About Microsoft

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

About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 12,000 people in 60 subsidiaries, delivering products and
services in 138 countries and territories.

This material is for informational purposes only. Microsoft Corp
disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to use of the material
for other purposes. Microsoft Corp shall not, at any time, be liable for any
special, direct, indirect or consequential damages, whether in an action of
contract, negligence or other action arising out of or in connection with the
use or performance of the material. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting any kind of warranty.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/businesssolutions/default.mspx

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/default.mspx

For more information from Microsoft Dynamics CRM case studies:

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/search.aspx?ProTaxID=2872

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com