Ballmer Outlines Opportunity for IT Pros and Developers to Enable People to Drive Business Success

Speaking to a sold-out audience of nearly 12,000 information technology professionals, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shared his insights and enthusiasm about the role of people in positively impacting business success and the breadth and depth of Microsoft's resources for IT professionals and developers to enable existing and new scenarios.

Ballmer kicked off Microsoft® TechEd 2005, Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) largest annual technology education conference, by noting the growing importance of IT in business success. He outlined key investments Microsoft is making -- from robust developer tools to IT operations infrastructure to solutions for information workers -- to help people leverage IT to make more of an impact in their business.

"We're all here because we share a vision of how technology can enhance business performance and help people do great new things," Ballmer told attendees. "Microsoft's job is to help realize this vision by arming IT professionals and developers with the right tools, best-of-breed products and an unparalleled computing platform."

Ballmer added, "We're working to anticipate industry trends, we're very focused on technical innovation, and we're committed to reducing complexity and cost -- all to help you contribute to the growth and success of your organization."

Enabling the New World of Work

Referencing the vision discussed at Microsoft's recent CEO Summit, Ballmer enumerated how Microsoft will provide customers with the necessary tools and infrastructure to support work-force demands in the new world of work.


To further Microsoft's commitment to this vision, Ballmer highlighted:
-- Microsoft's plans to deliver a direct, cost-effective and more secure
mobile messaging solution with the combination of Microsoft Exchange
Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and the Messaging and Security Feature Pack
for Windows Mobile(TM) 5.0. This combination, available in the fall,
will enable organizations to directly push e-mail and information in
Outlook® from Exchange Server to Windows Mobile-based devices, keep
critical business information up to date and more secure, and help get
more productivity from their mobile workers. In addition, Service Pack
2 will deliver improved anti-spam protection with Sender ID and
increase the storage limit for Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition.
See related press release at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/Jun05/06-
06SFPWindowsMobilePR.mspx.
-- Guidance for IT professionals to fundamentally shift the way they
define and implement their infrastructure to best connect people and
information based on logical boundaries defined by policy, not physical
boundaries confined by corporate firewalls
-- Microsoft's three key design principles for its next wave of server
infrastructure designed to amplify employee impact and help transition
IT from a cost center to a strategic partner within the organization:
anywhere access without compromising network security, self-service
capabilities to free IT from routine task management, and requisite IT
fundamentals to continue to reduce cost and complexity
-- The new ThinkPad© X41 Tablet, a powerful business PC from Lenovo,
designed to provide an extremely secure environment with an optional
Integrated Fingerprint Reader and Embedded Security Subsystem. The
tablet combines the productivity benefits of Tablet PC functionality
and ThinkVantage Technologies with a lightweight and thin form factor
and first-class wireless connections. Backed by the innovative and
distinguished history of the ThinkPad brand, the ThinkPad X41 Tablet
marks a milestone for notebook computing, providing mobile workers with
more flexibility and security.

For more information about enabling the New World of Work, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/iwi .

Building Connected Systems

Microsoft strives to deliver software and tools that make it possible to interoperate with different systems, break down the walls between information silos, and permit an organization to gain deeper insights into the company, no matter where the information resides. Ballmer noted the strong progress Microsoft has made in furthering the .NET and industry standards to promote the adoption of Web services and the ability of disparate systems to interoperate more effectively. He also outlined investments Microsoft and industry partners have made across Windows Server System(TM), in particular with SQL Server(TM) 2005, Visual Studio® 2005 and BizTalk® Server 2006, to ensure that IT professionals can leverage the Microsoft platform and existing skill sets to maximize value, reduce costs and ease deployment of new applications.


Specifically, Ballmer highlighted the following:
-- New benchmark results posted on TheServerSide.com today highlighting
that Microsoft retains a performance lead over J2EE (specifically IBM
WebSphere) of up to 200 percent for Web Services.
-- A new business scorecard tool code-named "Maestro," which will bring
rich application data and flexible reporting services to business users
in conjunction with the upcoming release of SQL Server 2005.
-- The upcoming availability of the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the
Microsoft Office System this fall. These tools will include deeper
integration with Outlook and support for Outlook managed code, enabling
developers to create an entirely new category of custom
line-of-business applications built on top of the familiar Microsoft
Office environment.
-- Additional information about the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats, a
series of new XML-based file formats, which will become the default in
the next versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint®. Announced last
week, the Office Open XML Formats will help IT professionals and
developers build integrated systems and address information management
and security challenges associated with the evolving workplace. More
information can be found in the related announcement at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jun05/06-
01OfficeXMLFormatPR.mspx .

Increasing Operational Efficiency
Building on his keynote address at the Microsoft Management Summit in April, Ballmer articulated the challenges IT managers face in assuming a more proactive and strategic role in the business, noting that currently 70 percent of IT budgets is spent maintaining existing systems, while only 30 percent is dedicated to adding new capabilities. He stated that Microsoft and industry partners are committed to helping IT customers improve productivity, increase responsiveness to business demands, better comply with business and IT policies, and reduce overall costs. Through its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), Microsoft and partners are focused on enabling IT teams to capture and transfer knowledge across the life cycle from development to operations to business users.

In support of Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative, Ballmer reinforced the following:


-- Microsoft's initial delivery of the System Definition Model (SDM), a
modeling language used to express knowledge across the life cycle, in
Visual Studio 2005 Team System. SDM enables operations managers and
application architects to collaborate early in the development phase to
ensure systems are designed with operational requirements in mind.
-- Ongoing work with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), BMC Software Inc.,
Dell Inc., Intel Corporation, Sun Microsystems Inc. and others on the
WS-Management Web services standard to improve the manageability of
heterogeneous environments by providing a common way for systems of all
types to access and exchange management information.

Making IT More Secure
The amount of time that individuals and IT departments spend on security is an important factor in operational efficiency. To help address this, Microsoft continues to invest in security innovation across its entire portfolio to increase the overall trustworthy computing experience. From providing prescriptive guidance and helping developers write more secure code and reducing complexity and increasing security management to enabling better security through innovative technologies, Microsoft seeks to help ensure that systems are better protected and more resilient and that the updating experience for customers is intuitive, consistent and reliable.


Specific security announcements Ballmer outlined today include these:
-- Ballmer announced the immediate availability of Windows Server(TM)
Update Services and Microsoft Update, and the upcoming availability of
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.0 and the Systems Management
Server 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft in the summer. These product
offerings will allow Microsoft to provide customers with a uniquely
integrated and consistent set of technologies to help customers of all
types better manage the software update process.
-- Microsoft will also release a new version of Windows® Update, version
6.0 to ensure that customers who continue using Windows can keep their
computers up to date. Windows Update 6 adds minor usability
improvements and will eventually support Windows Genuine Advantage.
-- Ballmer described record-breaking customer adoption of Windows XP SP2.
Enterprise distributions have surpassed 200 million around the world,
in 25 languages. This momentum demonstrates the value of Windows XP SP
2 in reducing the number of critical vulnerabilities and making the
Windows operating system more resilient to attack.
-- He also told of the upcoming availability of the first beta of the next
version of the Windows operating system, code-named "Longhorn." This
upcoming version will include advances in security and deployment,
resulting in significant cost savings for customers. Specific security
enhancements will include integrated anti-malware to help shield PCs
and their users from threats; user account protection to reduce the
threat to users' systems by reducing the ability of interference from
malicious code; and new service hardening technology to help protect
personal data and actively prevent malware from propagating.
-- Ballmer described recent Microsoft-commissioned research highlighting
how customers are achieving better operational efficiencies and
increased security on the Windows platform. In its survey of 90
organizations, Wipro Ltd. concluded that managing security updates for
Windows Server cost 13 percent less to patch than alternative
platforms.

A live webcast of Steve Ballmer's keynote presentation, entitled "Delivering New Value to the Business," will be accessible via the web at 9:00 a.m. EDT at http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/webcasts.mspx .

About Microsoft TechEd 2005

TechEd, one of Microsoft's premier developer and IT professional training events, reaches more than 75,000 people worldwide annually, providing attendees with access to technical experts, the latest technical information and hands-on labs to learn the skills they need to build state-of-the-art solutions. Sponsors of TechEd 2005 in Orlando include AMD, Computer Associates International Inc., EMC Corp., HP, Intel and VERITAS Software Corp.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

NOTE: Microsoft, Windows Mobile, Windows Server System, Visual Studio, BizTalk, Outlook, PowerPoint, Windows Server and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.




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