NICE, France, May 20 /PRNewswire/ --

- Participation in TM Forum Catalyst Projects reinforces Microsoft's 
commitment to accelerating deployment of services based on industry 
standards.

This week at TM Forum Management World 2008, Microsoft Corp will
demonstrate continued innovation and the strength of its partner model in
delivering exciting new services to consumers and businesses. In its exhibit
presence and through participation in the Management World conference
programme, Microsoft will underscore its vision for Telco 2.0, highlighting
its portfolio of screens, services and service delivery capabilities that
make the converged lifestyle a reality. Also, Microsoft is showcasing the
results of its collaboration with a wide range of industry leaders, including
Accenture, Amdocs, AT&T, China Unicom Ltd, Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd and
Telefonica SA, as a key player in four TM Forum Catalyst Projects.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

"Service delivery is fundamental to Microsoft's vision of Telco 2.0,
where operators will be able to provide any type of content across any
network to any screen," said Michael O'Hara, general manager of the
Communications Sector at Microsoft. "By combining Microsoft's expertise in
software and services with the assets of telecom industry leaders, we believe
we can help service providers deliver an unmatched portfolio of offerings to
their consumer and business customers. Here, the Catalyst Projects exemplify
how the industry as a whole is taking a more open, collaborative approach to
service delivery, and sharing expertise will enable real innovation."

"Microsoft is a very active and valued member of the TM Forum," said
Martin Creaner, president and chief technical officer of TM Forum. "Our goal
is to look critically at how to deliver and manage new services profitably
using best practices, and Microsoft's support is key to our efforts. This is
the first year a non-telecoms company has been able to sponsor a Catalyst
Project, underlining Microsoft's unique role in this industry."

The TM Forum Catalyst Projects bring together operators and vendors to
help solve business problems faced by operators through implementation of
existing, proven technologies. Along with other participants, Microsoft will
be demonstrating the following initiatives:

*    Building Marketplaces with Managed Services Syndication is a 
          project co-sponsored by Microsoft and Telefonica that aims to 
          create a marketplace for the next generation of services based on 
          web 2.0 principles. This Catalyst Project demonstrates a 
          consistent, flexible and cost-effective way to mass-commercialise 
          new products and services, driving accelerated use and adoption. 
          The demonstration combines Microsoft's Live Meeting service with 
          Telefonica Mobile's own Agenda meeting organiser service and web 
          portal and video streaming services provided by Accenture. The 
          entire scenario is provisioned by Tribold and NetCracker 
          technologies with service assurance from CA and Iptivia Inc. 
          Uniquely, this project is being used as a reference for the TM 
          Forum's Service Delivery Framework standardisation process.  
 
          "Our cooperation with Microsoft on the Catalyst Project is based on 
          our strong mutual desire to deliver the best in services," said 
          Sagrario Aleman Perez, technological expert on systems evolution 
          and new channels at Telefonica. "There's a whole universe of 
          services that should be made readily available to customers, and 
          Microsoft's involvement in the Catalyst Project will accelerate the 
          speed at which these can be delivered to market." 
 
     *    Content Encounter (Phase II) showcases the latest technologies and 
          emerging best practices for content owners and aggregators to work 
          with communication service providers to distribute content. Amdocs, 
          BT, Call Genie Inc, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, eBIZ.mobility 
          Ltd, Subex Ltd and Telcordia Technologies Inc are the new 
          commercial participants joining the Phase I participants, which 
          include Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, BEA, Cognizant Technology Solutions 
          Corp, IBM Corp, Microsoft, Motorola Inc and Westwood One Inc.  
 
     *    Seamless OSS/BSS for IMS Services (Phase II) provides seven typical 
          IMS services over fixed and mobile IMS terminals, and delivers end-
          to-end convergent billing with an online charging system and an 
          offline billing system. China Unicom is sponsoring the project with 
          support from Amdocs, Microsoft and ZTE Corp.  
 
          "OSS and BSS are often the ignored areas of IMS research, which is 
          why this particular project is so important to us," said Zhijiang 
          Zhang, general manager of technology at China Unicom. "Microsoft's 
          involvement in Phase II of this project will provide a more 
          feasible and integrated reference model of an 'OSS/BSS for IMS' 
          solution." 
 
     *    One-Stop Fixed Mobile Convergence Service is helping Chunghwa 
          Telecom to deliver fixed-mobile converged services, demonstrating 
          next-generation network technologies integrated with current 
          OSS/BSS architectures and laying the groundwork for the development 
          of new-generation OSS/BSS architectures. The goal is to deliver 
          ubiquitous services over any device. Participants include Amdocs, 
          Microsoft, Nokia Siemens Networks Taiwan, Tata Consultancy Services 
          (TCS) Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd and TELUS Corp. 
 
          "This project promises to accelerate Chunghwa Telecom's new service 
          offerings to customers," said Lu Shyue-Ching, president of Chunghwa 
          Telecom. "It will also allow us to reduce service delivery costs, 
          provide a one-stop shop for FMC services and be a world-leading 
          telecom carrier, opening up new and emerging markets."

Along with its involvement in the Catalyst Projects, Microsoft is taking 
an active role in the education programme at the Management World conference 
with speakers taking part in the following sessions on Wednesday, May 21:

Module: Collaborative Business Partnership Models 
          Session Title: Successfully Monetizing the Service Ecosystem: 
           Service Provider Initiatives to Avoid the Dumb Pipe Syndrome  
          Speaker: Michel Burger, services architect, Server and Tools, 
           Microsoft 
          Time and Location: 11am-12.30pm CEST in Clio conference room 
 
          Module: Advertising & Monetizing TeleMedia Services 1 
          Session Title: Creating Win-Win Business Models for All Players  
          Speaker: Roger Pitton, programme director, TV Business, Microsoft  
          Time and Location: 11am-12.30pm CEST in Thalie conference room 
      
          Module: Using SDF/SDP for Rapid Service Deployment 
          Session Title: SDF and the Lego World of Business: Creating New 
           Value for Customers by Composing and Managing Islands of Services 
           from Collaborative Providers  
          Speaker: Eric Troup, platform strategy advisor, Communications 
           Sector, Microsoft  
          Time and Location: 2-3.30pm CEST in Hermes conference room 
 
          Module: Using SDF/SDP for Rapid Service Deployment 
          Session Title: Leveraging Service Delivery Frameworks for Services 
           Syndication 
          Speaker: Michel Burger, services architect, Server and Tools, 
           Microsoft 
          Time and Location: 4-5.30pm CEST in Hermes conference room 
 
          Module: Advertising & Monetizing TeleMedia Services 2 
          Session Title: The New Monetization Paradigm: Content Advertising 
           and Markets of One  
          Speaker: Jon Curnow, emerging media manager, Microsoft Advertiser 
           and Publishing Solutions  
          Time and Location: 4-5.30pm CEST in Thalie conference room

Microsoft at Management World

More information will be available at the Microsoft booth in Hall 2,
booth No 92.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
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their full potential.

About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

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