New DIC-based center provides state of the art Proof of Concept facilities to help enterprise customer optimize their IT investment

Dubai, 21st September, 2004: Microsoft officially opened the new Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) at Microsoft's DIC office today, in the presence of Mr Ahmed Bin Byat, Director General of Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone, Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Director General of Dubai International Financial Center and Abdullatif Al Mulla, General Manager of Microsoft South Gulf. The MTC is a new facility that will be used to help enterprise level Microsoft customers to envision, plan and validate IT solutions before deploying them at their own sites.

The state-of-the-art facility will offer a range of services that will enrich the decision making process for enterprise customers. Companies will be able to see presentations on Microsoft technologies, plan out their own business requirements and design solutions to meet them, and even replicate their own IT environment in the MTC secure data center, to provide a complete proof of concept.

"I am very glad to open the Microsoft Technology Center," said Mr. Ahmed Bin Byat, Director General of Dubai Technology and Media Free zone. "DIC is a place where ICT companies come together to explore how technologies can make a difference to the way they operate, and the Microsoft Technology Center reflects this spirit of collaboration."

"The alignment of technology investments with strategic business goals is key to the success of any enterprise in today's fiercely competitive market," said Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Director General of Dubai International Financial Center. "The Microsoft Technology Center provides the best environment for businesses to identify and test the right solutions for the development of their business."

The center is one of ten MTCs worldwide, although it is the first to serve the region. The center will provide three main types of service to customers: Envision & Strategy Briefings, to provide customers with business information on how they can deploy technologies that will create business benefits;) Architectural Design Sessions, that will help customers align IT solutions with their business processes and begin developing solutions; and Proof of Concept Workshops, to validate and test solutions.

"The Microsoft Technology Center has been established to enable Microsoft to work side by side with our enterprise customers to evaluate Microsoft technology before they purchase, and to aid them in designing a strong architecture, mitigate risk, and ultimately ensure that customers got the right solution for their business," said Abdullatif Al Mulla, General Manager of Microsoft South Gulf.

The MTC has been designed to replicate almost any customer environment, with over 45 servers running more than 75 processors, a large number of workstations and a Storage Area Network with over 2TB of storage. Microsoft global partners have been closely involved in creating the center, which took eight months to complete. Fujitsu Siemens supplied the hardware, while APC provided the server infrastructure and power supplies, and Avocent created the networking infrastructure.

A permanent staff of three will man the center, while Microsoft Consulting Services personnel will provide technical expertise for the Architecture Design Sessions and Proof of Concept. Microsoft ISV partners will also be able to use the facilities for projects involving their solutions.

The center has been designed to facilitate a good collaborative environment between Microsoft, the customers and partners to promote knowledge transfer and the flow of ideas. The facility includes an envisioning room, a briefing room and two proof of concept rooms. The MTC is also accessed separately from the main Microsoft office, and is fully secured to ensure that customer's proprietary data and strategies are kept safe.

"The MTC's mission is to enrich the decision making process for enterprise organizations by providing them with deep custom solution scenarios in an engaging atmosphere," added Al Mulla. "Highly interactive sessions are key to the MTC knowledge transfer experience, and customers are exposed to development best practices, receive architectural guidance and see the benefit of .NET connected technologies during their time at the Center. Our goal is to maximize the business value and ensure long term success for customers that chose Microsoft solutions."

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About Microsoft Corporation
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies 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 opened its Dubai-based Middle East office in 1991. Microsoft today has five subsidiaries in the Middle East region: Microsoft South Gulf which oversees Microsoft activities in the UAE, Oman, Yemen and Pakistan, Microsoft North Gulf which oversees Microsoft activities in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, Microsoft Arabia covering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Microsoft East Med covering , Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus and Malta and Microsoft Egypt. Microsoft Corporation's address on the World Wide Web is: www.microsoft.com Microsoft Middle East's Web site is: www.microsoft.com/middleeast

For further information contact:
Microsoft contact:
Haider Saloum
Dubai, United Arab Emirates            
Tel: 00-9714-3917000
Fax: 00-9714-3917001             
 
Media contact:
Mark Sutton
ASDA'A Public Relations
Tel: 00-9714-3344550
Fax: 00-9714-3344556
Email: m.sutton@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2004