Microsoft, HP and Citrix now offer CIOs a Private Cloud solution through fully integrated solutions and offers

Cloud Computing enhances business agility, provides cost and operational efficiencies

Doha, Qatar, March 23, 2011: Microsoft Qatar in association with its partners HP and Citrix held a Cloud roundtable for CIOs from prominent Qatari organizations to offer them a perspective on the best approach towards moving their IT infrastructure into the Cloud. The roundtable also provided the CIOs with insights into how they could make the shift to cloud computing with a private cloud architecture which can dynamically allocate IT resources across business units, so that services can be deployed quickly and scaled out to meet business needs whenever they occur.

At the roundtable Microsoft and HP discussed how companies can take advantage of the benefits of Cloud Computing immediately through a joint initiative called the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track programme. Microsoft and HP are simplifying technology environments with solutions built on a Infrastructure-to-application Model as part of a $250million joint investment. With this initiative the #1 software company and #1 hardware manufacturing company have partnered in R&D, Sales and  Marketing to provide full benefit of integrated platforms and solutions to customers. Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program is one of the first outcomes of this joint investment along with the Business Decision, Data warehouse and Messaging appliances that HP and Microsoft announced and launched in January.

"Many of our customers have expressed interest in the benefits of cloud-computing such as fast deployment, increased agility, lower costs but with tighter control over significant factors such as the physical infrastructure and security policies," said Mohammad Hammoudi, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar located at Qatar Science & Technology Park.   "In association with prestigious partners, our private cloud offerings fulfill our customers needs at the infrastructure level, while providing a clear migration path to cloud services at the platform level."

Ayman Dwidar, Blades Business Manager, ME, Mediterranean and Africa, HP said: "Through our partnership with Microsoft, we can offer ready-made, fully-integrated packages and solutions to accelerate our customers' journey to Private Cloud. Using this Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track solution readily available today, customers can realize a Private Cloud environment in just 30 days. HP has a huge interest in the Qatari market and we are definitely looking at increasing our investments here with a new office that is already opened. This also means strengthening our existing relationship with Microsoft."

For customers looking to implement a private cloud strategy, the Hyper-v Fast Track programme provides all of the necessary elements -- including an interoperable server, virtualization, management and security capabilities through HP BladeSystem Matrix, Microsoft System Center and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V virtualization solution to provide customers with a proven foundation for running business applications within a private cloud computing environment. Microsoft and HP also demonstrated the transformational approach to build a private cloud where both companies offer assessment, planning, and deployment offerings for the evolution of the existing datacenters. For customers that don`t want to wait to complete the full transformation of their datacenter towards Private Cloud, Hyper-v Cloud Fast Track provides the quick switch to the full power of Cloud with integration to the existing infrastructure within their datacenters.

Mohsin Shafique, Sales Manager, Qatar & Oman, Citrix said, "Today's event demonstrates how Microsoft, Citrix and HP are partnering in a truly integrated manner to facilitate a Cloud environment and how we can better extend our reach to all customers. Citrix has been doing applications virtualization for over 20 years which gives us great experience in the industry. End-user concerns have shifted and it is now more about maintaining applications and desktops in a datacenter and delivering it anywhere and anytime."

Mark Chaban, Director of Private Cloud, Microsoft Gulf said, "The Private Cloud environment provided by Microsoft, HP and Citrix ensures quick deployment that is flexible, elastic to the public Cloud and scalable across different systems. From this partnership, customers will get best of breed solutions, guidance and Return on Investment (RoI).  The journey to Cloud requires strong alignment and partnership and we are committed to providing this to all customers."

The Microsoft and HP Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track programme helps reduce infrastructure deployment time, enables dynamic flexing of physical and virtual resource pools, and delivers comprehensive management of Hyper-V virtualized infrastructure and applications.

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About Microsoft Gulf
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:'MSFT') is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Gulf opened its Dubai-based headquarters in 1991. Microsoft Gulf today oversees Microsoft activities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. Microsoft Corporation's address on the worldwide web is: www.microsoft.com and Microsoft's Gulf web site is: www.microsoft.com/gulf.

This material is for informational purposes only. Microsoft Corp. disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to use of the material for other purposes. Microsoft Corp. shall not, at any time, be liable for any special, direct, indirect or consequential damages, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of the material. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting any kind of warranty.

For more information, please contact:
Hala Kassab/Kamal Nasrallah
Asda'a Burson-Marsteller, Qatar
T: +974 4 4351 113
F: +974 4 4351 511
h.kassab@asdaa.com / k.nasrallah@asdaa.com   

© Press Release 2011