ALISO VIEJO, California and REDMOND, Washington, July 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- Leaders in data warehousing team to provide large-scale business 
intelligence solutions.

Microsoft Corp today announced that it intends to acquire DATAllegro Inc,
a provider of breakthrough data warehouse appliances. The acquisition will
extend the capabilities of Microsoft's mission-critical data platform, making
it easier and more cost-effective for customers of all sizes to manage and
glean insight from the ever-expanding amount of data generated by and for
businesses, employees and consumers.

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"DATAllegro is a tremendously innovative company that has started to
redefine the data warehouse market," said Ted Kummert, corporate vice
president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. "Microsoft
SQL Server 2008 delivers enterprise-class capabilities in business
intelligence and data warehousing, and the addition of the DATAllegro team
and its technology will take our data platform to the highest scale of data
warehousing."

"Integrating DATAllegro's nonproprietary hardware platform and flexible
software architecture into Microsoft SQL Server will provide customers with
the strongest offering in the market," said Stuart Frost, CEO of DATAllegro.
"We are excited to join forces with Microsoft and continue the innovation
this company was founded on."

Unlike most data warehouse appliance vendors targeting the 1-25 terabyte
range, DATAllegro has specialised in large-volume, high-performance data
warehouses. DATAllegro's data warehouse appliance installations boast some of
the largest data volume capacities in the industry -- up to hundreds of
terabytes on a single system. DATAllegro clients span such markets as retail,
telecommunications and manufacturing.

According to a report by Donald Feinberg of Gartner Inc, "As data
warehouses are becoming more strategic to organisations and as data warehouse
appliances mature, the adoption rate of the data warehouse appliance is
increasing rapidly." ("Data Warehouse Appliances Are More Than Just
Plug-And-Play", 13 July 2007.)

In addition to offering large capacities, DATAllegro's patent-pending
technology is designed for complex workloads including high concurrency and
mixed queries. DATAllegro is one of the few data warehouse appliances built
on a nonproprietary hardware platform including Dell and Bull servers and EMC
storage. This flexible architecture makes it ideally suited to integrate with
Microsoft SQL Server.

After completing the acquisition, Microsoft will retain most of
DATAllegro's team as well as its headquarters in Aliso Viejo, California,
making it a Center of Excellence for data warehousing. Existing DATAllegro
customers will continue to be supported.

"We are pleased to support DATAllegro's pending acquisition," said Lisa
Lambert, managing director of the Software and Solutions Group for Intel
Capital. "DATAllegro's integration with SQL Server is the optimal
next-generation solution, and the acquisition by Microsoft is a great
conclusion for the company."

To help customers of all sizes keep up with the current "data explosion"
and allow them to benefit from the next generation of data-driven
applications, Microsoft is focused on delivering not just a database but a
data platform. A leader in data warehousing and business intelligence (BI),
Microsoft SQL Server includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality
for data management as well as advanced BI out of the box. SQL Server
delivers on Microsoft's vision for pervasive BI by providing capabilities for
large-scale data warehousing, rich interoperability with Microsoft Office,
and enhanced functionality for Microsoft's BI solutions. SQL Server is a key
element of the broader Microsoft Application Platform, a portfolio of
technology capabilities and core products that help organisations develop,
deploy and manage dynamic applications and IT infrastructure.

About DATAllegro

DATAllegro offers the most advanced data warehouse appliance on an
enterprise-class platform. By combining DATAllegro's patent-pending software
with the industry's leading hardware, storage and database technologies,
DATAllegro has taken data warehouse performance and innovation to the next
level. DATAllegro v3 goes beyond the high performance of first generation
data warehouse appliances and adds the flexibility and scalability that only
an open platform can offer. The result is a complete data warehouse appliance
that enables companies with large volumes of data to increase their business
intelligence.

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 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products
and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

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