Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited today launched three major server and tools offerings that will revolutionize the technology infrastructure in organizations. The new offerings, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, help customers drive greater business continuity with improved security, enable innovation while controlling costs, and empower people to make better decisions with data.
The three products enable Dynamic IT - a platform for core IT infrastructure and application infrastructure technologies that can easily adapt to changing business conditions. To begin realizing the benefits of Dynamic IT, customers can deploy the new products to power next generation web applications, enable better business decisions and return savings to the business by using technologies, such as virtualization. Windows Server 2008, including a beta version of the Hyper-V virtualization technology, and Visual Studio 2008 are available today. A feature-complete, Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2008 is also now available with general availability expected in the third quarter of 2008.
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 are key products in the company's strategy to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry. Microsoft recently announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products. The interoperability principles and actions apply to high-volume Microsoft products - Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework), Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007, and future versions of all these products.
Microsoft has worked with more than 1,000 global partners to help plan, build, test, and deploy these leading-edge solutions by providing early access to code, training and testing, and certification support. Globally, hundreds of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have demonstrated their support with the development of a wide variety of business applications for industries including retail, accounting, commerce, engineering, financial services, health care, supply chain, and more.
In India, Allahabad Bank; Kotak Bank; Larsen & Toubro - ECC; Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC); Sahara India; The Chembur Nagrik Sahakari Bank Limited and TVS Motors are some of the early adopters for these products and have already started experiencing the benefits of Dynamic IT from Microsoft's next generation infrastructure and application platform. Microsoft India has also engaged with more than 200 partners including ISVs, SIs (System Integrators) and resellers, who will rollout products and programs to support the new platform. Immediately after the launch, Microsoft Learning partners will offer free day-long training sessions on each of these products at over 80 cities across the country. Additionally, in April, Microsoft will also be offering live online learning sessions to help Developers and IT Professionals across the country get skilled on these products.
"Organizations currently spend more than 70 percent of their IT budgets and resources on maintaining existing infrastructure - this is clearly less than optimal and a huge drain on resources. The focus for this launch is to allow businesses to provide them with powerful tools to focus on acquiring and leveraging new capabilities, rather than straining to maintain existing infrastructure," said Mr. S. Somasegar, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Corporation. He further added, "We have received very positive feedback from our early adopter customers as well as IT professionals and developers who interface with these technologies on a daily basis. We are very excited to be delivering these solutions and capabilities today to a broad set of audiences."
According to a research conducted by consulting agency, Capgemini, who looked at companies and institutions in the financial services, education, retail, and high technology industries using Windows Server 2008 in a mix of geographies, the new operating system quickly adds value to IT operations through improvements in management, security and reliability. On average, deployment duration was reduced by up to 60 percent and IT reduced costs by up to $124,000 per year. Cost reductions resulted from a wide range of areas including the recovery of five IT staff hours per server and 91 percent less downtime. A whitepaper detailing usage scenarios and providing more data on the impact of deploying Windows Server 2008 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/product-information.aspx.
Through the last four months, Microsoft, globally and in India, ran an extensive campaign titled, "Heroes Happen Here" aimed at celebrating the contribution of technologists including IT professionals and developers, to business success. In India, the Heroes Happen Here contest received unparalleled response with over 900 technologists writing in about their achievements, and more than 10,000 developers, IT Professionals and visitors submitted their votes. Basis this, Microsoft India selected three winners - Rajesh Shirpuram from Spadeworx, Saravanan Rajappa from TCS and Rizwan Ahmed, who are now headed to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond.
Commenting on Heroes Happen Here, Mr. Doug Hauger, Chief Operating Office, Microsoft India said, "Over the last few years, IT professionals and developers have evolved from mere facilitators to frontline business contributors, who are helping companies do their business better. Heroes Happen Here was aimed at acknowledging their contribution and it is overwhelming to see the initiatives being undertaken by India's technologists towards their organizations, as well as society at large."
"Today's launch is a milestone in our commitment to businesses, developers and IT professionals and heralds the new era of enterprise technologies. We are positive that our customers in India will benefit tremendously from Microsoft's new infrastructure and application platform, thereby allowing them to improve their business continuity," Mr. Hauger further added.
The Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) at Hyderabad, which is the software giant's largest development center outside Redmond, has played a key role in the development of each of these products. The Windows Core Server team at MSIDC completely owned the development of the gateway and licensing components in Terminal Services for Windows Server 2008, which allows complete and highly secure access to corporate resources without using VPN. The team also worked on Subsystem for Unix Applications (SUA) including IDMU (Identify Management for Unix), Windows System Resource Manager for Windows Server 2008. The SQL team worked end-to-end on SQL Server Compact database shipping with VS2008 and SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server Management Studio shipping with SQL Server 2008. The Mobile Developer team, which developed Visual Studio for Devices, added several key support features to VS 2008 to enhance developer experience. The Visual Studio Team Test team at MSIDC, which owns the complete charter for the Microsoft VSTT business, added unit, load and web testing features to VS 2008 as well as an entire test execution framework. MSIDC currently employs 1400 people working end-to-end on several important Microsoft products, features and technologies used by millions of people across the world. MSIDC has filed 180 patents in the last three years.
Continuing this wave of server innovation from Microsoft, later this year, the company will release the Windows Essential Server Solutions family of products for small and midsize companies built on Windows Server 2008 and the newest Microsoft server technologies and services: Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Windows HPC Server 2008, the successor to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, is on track for availability in the second half of 2008 and is designed to increase productivity, scalability and manageability for high-performance computing scenarios. Additionally, Windows Storage Server 2008, the next-generation storage solution based on Windows Server 2008, will be available by the end of the year.
Additional information on the launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/HHHlaunch/default.mspx.
Partner Reactions
"As the world's leading technology company, HP understands infrastructure selection is critical to the success of IT applications and the business processes that depend on it. HP has actively engaged with Microsoft for more than three years to ensure that customers can rely on HP technology and Windows Server 2008 to build the IT infrastructure behind a more efficient and successful business. HP will support the latest Microsoft products through interoperability with its hardware and software offerings - including HP Integrity, HP ProLiant and HP BladeSystem servers, HP StorageWorks products and HP Software - that will give customers more visibility and control into their IT environments. This added functionality, combined with improvements in virtualization, server management and security capabilities, will help customers more efficiently manage their IT operations, leading to reduced costs and improved performance of business-critical systems." Mr Rajesh Dhar - Country Manager for Industry Standard Servers, HP - TSG
"Enterprises can now reap the twin benefits of running Windows Server 2008 on the latest quad core Intel Xeon processors and dual core Intel Itanium processors platforms. The performance headroom and innovative technologies of Intel Xeon processor-based servers will enhance the power of Windows Server 2008 for Web, virtualization and enterprise solutions, while on dual core Itanium platforms, it offers highly reliable systems to drive the most compute-intensive and mission critical business analytics and enterprise applications. Together, Windows Server 2008 and Intel-based server processors enable businesses to grow their computing solutions more efficiently while helping to keep data centers cool with improved agility and TCO." Anil Misquith, General Manager Enterprise Solutions and Alliances, Intel South Asia
Customer Reactions
"Our bank will grow from 156 branches currently to 300 branches by March 2009. With such aggressive growth, there was an urgent need to upgrade to the most scalable and reliable IT infrastructure available. The biggest advantage of the solution is an out-of-the-box framework that enables quick development, standardizes reusable components under a single sign using Active Directory. This will also unburden employees from remembering and managing 15-20 passwords." Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
"With Windows Server 2008 we will achieve a more integrated, manageable and available infrastructure. It will bring us enhanced performance and productivity advantages. Windows Server 2008 will also provide us the flexibility to install only the required services. This will ensure more optimum usage of hardware resources." Mr. Shrawan Kumar, GM IT, Allahabad Bank
"Windows Server 2008 will give us a development environment that offers tremendous flexibility along with a robust, secure, and reliable foundation. The biggest advantage of upgrading the application will be the overall improvement in system security. For example, the password policies feature in Windows Server 2008 will give us the option of setting policies based on different security levels. We will also be making use of the advanced data auditing capabilities built into SQL Server 2008. Protecting the privacy and security of our customers is a major concern and the enhanced auditing of SQL Server 2008 enables us to track all changes in our system and store all of this in a SQL Server repository for reporting purpose." Mr. J. H. Bhoir, General Manager, The Chembur Nagarik Sahakari Bank Limited
"The upgraded Branch Automation Application Software will provide us a flexible IT environment that is both more secure and easier to manage. We also wanted to make use of the capabilities of the .NET Framework 3.5. In addition, we wanted the new application to make use of Web services and database replication for distribution of masters and centralization of branch data. With the implementation of the new infrastructure, four people can develop a module in one month. Earlier it would have taken much greater effort and a longer time with the same number of people." Manager, Sahara India Financial Corporation Limited
"The solution allows our network of franchisees to improve service levels at a lower cost, while enabling us to build and operate a flexible, secure platform to meet growing business demands. We have also reduced total cost of ownership with this solution. This optimization of IT infrastructure allows each franchisee's data to be stored securely, as if in a stand-alone application." Mr. R. Srivatchan, President - Customer Centric Businesses, T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons (TVS & Sons)
About Microsoft India
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in twelve cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, and Pune.
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