Microsoft Showcases Its Strengths in Service Delivery Through Industry Collaboration...

Microsoft Showcases Its Strengths in Service Delivery Through Industry
Collaboration at Management World 2008
Participation in TM Forum Catalyst Projects reinforces Microsoft's commitment
to accelerating deployment of services based on industry standards.

NICE, France, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 program, 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. In
addition, 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.
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"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-commercialize new products
and services, driving accelerated use and adoption. The
demonstration combines Microsoft's Live Meeting service with
Telefonica Mobile's own Agenda meeting organizer 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 standardization 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."

In addition to its involvement in the Catalyst Projects, Microsoft is
taking an active role in the education program 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: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CEST in Clio conference room

Module: Advertising & Monetizing TeleMedia Services 1
Session Title: Creating Win-Win Business Models for All Players
Speaker: Roger Pitton, program director, TV Business, Microsoft
Time and Location: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 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: 2-3:30 p.m. 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: 4-5:30 p.m. 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: 4-5:30 p.m. CEST in Thalie conference room

Microsoft at Management World
More information will be available at the Microsoft booth in Hall 2, booth
No. 92.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

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