REDMOND, Washington, April 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Accenture, Avanade and EDS, an HP company, each sign Microsoft
Online Services agreements; more than 4,000 partners signed on globally.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that organizations of all sizes can
purchase the Business Productivity Online Suite, a part of Microsoft Online
Services. The suite or its individual services, including Microsoft Exchange
Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online
and Microsoft Office Live Meeting can be purchased by businesses in 19
countries worldwide. The Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite,
a low-cost version for occasional users, is also available for purchase. Also
starting today, Microsoft is offering a 25 percent discount on the Business
Productivity Online Suite to customers who purchase it by the end of June
2009. More information about the services and global availability can be
found at http://www.microsoft.com/online .

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

Partner Momentum

To date, more than 4,000 partners around the world have joined the
Microsoft Partner Program for Microsoft Online Services, making it the most
successful partner ecosystem for online business-class services.

"We're experiencing a significant amount of partner momentum around
Microsoft Online Services and the Business Productivity Online Suite," said
Ron Markezich, corporate vice president of Microsoft Online. "Based on the
increasing demand and enthusiasm we're seeing, it's clear that partners are
recognizing the opportunity, and that this is the right time to embrace
Microsoft's software-plus-services approach."

Also announced today, EDS, an HP company, has signed both a reseller
agreement and a go-to-market agreement which details the terms and conditions
under which both companies will market, sell and deliver the Business
Productivity Online Suite together. Accenture and Avanade have signed an
advisor agreement. Both of these partners will focus primarily on
organizations with more than 5,000 employees.

Microsoft and EDS have announced that they will use their combined assets
to deliver enterprise-class communications and collaboration services in the
cloud to millions of users serving large multinational corporations. With
benefits including rapid deployment with a minimized need for infrastructure
investments, enterprise organizations can expect to take advantage of
reductions in capital expenditures and improved total cost of ownership.

With this agreement, the revenue potential for which is more than US$3
billion in cloud services and professional services for the parties, EDS
becomes Microsoft's largest delivery partner for the Business Productivity
Online Suite. This agreement demonstrates to customers the value of the EDS
Agility Alliance and further consolidates HP's long-standing relationship
with Microsoft. EDS has already begun to integrate Exchange Online,
SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting into
its industry-leading Workplace Services offerings. EDS will offer its
customers end-to-end services, including consulting, architecture,
implementation, integration and ongoing user support for the Business
Productivity Online Suite.

Accenture and Avanade are the first Microsoft partners to sign the
Microsoft Online Services Partner Advisor agreement for large enterprises. As
a part of this agreement, Accenture and Avanade will offer IT services for
customers looking to migrate from on-premises solutions to the Business
Productivity Online Suite. These value-added services include cloud strategy
and assessment, migration services, enterprise application integration, user
communications and training, and other IT outsourcing services. Accenture has
integrated Microsoft Online Services into its highly successful Next
Generation Workplace Offering solution, which helps connect people and
information to improve overall business performance.

Accenture and Avanade bring extensive experience in platform migration
capabilities in support of this agreement. For example, they have deployed
nearly 6 million Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes and have helped migrate
nearly 3 million mailboxes from competitive platforms.

Other Microsoft Online Services partners, including IT Solution Partners
BV, PointBridge, Solvi Srl, Tam Tam, Wortell, YouSaaS and Zipper, are
realizing increased revenue opportunity as a result of selling the Business
Productivity Online Suite, and building best practices for delivering
customization, consulting services, migration and managed services, and
development and integration for their customers:

- PointBridge, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Chicago, has 
      sold more than 3,000 seats of Microsoft Online Services, which 
      generated over US$100,000 in advisor fee revenue in just four months.
    - Solvi, an IT solutions provider in the Milan, Italy, area, expects to
      expand its customer base by 50 percent, and reduce deployment times
      from one month to one day.
    - Tam Tam, a full-service Internet agency in the Netherlands, expects to
      double its customer base and boost revenues by at least 15 percent by
      expanding its offerings with Microsoft Online Services.
    - Zipper, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in Stockholm, Sweden,
      expects to increase revenues by US$10 million annually with its 
      Microsoft Online Services offering, which it can implement 10 times
      faster than on-premises software today.



More information about Microsoft Online Services partners and case
studies can be found in the software-plus-services virtual presskit for the
Microsoft Business Division at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/Officesoftwareplusservices/default.mspx .

About Microsoft

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their full potential.