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Microsoft to Ship CRM 3.0 in the Fourth Quarter

Microsoft is gearing up to release CRM 3.0, the next version of its customer relationship management software. CRM 3.0 will include new modules, better integration and customization capabilities, and will incorporate a new interface that resembles Outlook and Microsoft Office. New functionality is incorporated in a new marketing automation module that provides list management, campaign management, marketing resource management, and closed-loop response management. There is also a new service-scheduling module that handles complex scheduling requests requiring specific people, skills, and resources, the vendor says. A new synchronization engine will help road warriors to synch up their laptops with the central CRM database, while a new "environmental diagnostics wizard" and a new upgrade advisor help users set up and configure CRM 3.0. For an even easier setup, Microsoft is now offering a Small Business Edition (SBE) of CRM 3.0 designed for use with the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition. Microsoft CRM 3.0 will be available as an upgrade for current customers in the fourth quarter of 2005. New customers will be able to buy it in the first quarter of 2006.

Global Hype to Follow Yukon and Whidbey Launch November 7

Microsoft is getting a little more specific about the pending launch of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and BizTalk Server 2006 this fall. The world's largest software company, which already said last month it would launch these products in early November, last week announced that it will formally announce these products on November 7 in San Francisco. In addition to the main launch event, people who have been following the development of Yukon and Whidbey for years will be happy to hear there will be a string of hype the entire month, including 90 launch events spanning 50 of the world's 169 countries. (That's nearly a third of them!) "The launch of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and BizTalk Server 2006 will truly be a global launch," says Andy Lees, corporate vice president of server and tools marketing and solutions at Microsoft. "We will kick off the availability of these products in San Francisco and carry it through Europe and the rest of the world in the following days and weeks." Benchmark figures for SQL Server 2005 show that Yukon systems will become available to customers on December 7.

GMAC Saves Big Bucks with Visual Studio-based SOX Remediation Tool

Faced with the need to comply with Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) and other new regulations by tracking more than 1,000 business controls and thousands of documents, GMAC Commercial Mortgage knew it had a large IT project on its hands. Armed with Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 and the .NET Framework, the company created an application called the Risk Management Compass (RMC) that runs on Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, 2000, and which cut the cost of SOX remediation by up to 50 percent, Microsoft announced yesterday. Specifically, RMC provided GMACCM with a framework for breaking down business processes into activities, associating risks with those activities, documenting the controls that mitigate the risks, and capturing evidence that the controls are in place. "Microsoft technologies gave us the tools to have a competitive advantage by enabling more efficient processes translating into lower costs and a new source of revenue for the company," said Larry Dunn, chief operations risk officer for GMACCM. "The Microsoft .NET Framework allowed us to build a very flexible and scalable solution in a short amount of time."

Microsoft Unveils Changes to Global Partner Program

Microsoft announced changes to its worldwide partner program last week at its annual partner conference in Minneapolis. As part of the changes, Microsoft says it will simplify membership management for partners, expand support and training resources, and enhance online tools and infrastructure to help reduce partners' costs and increase their market reach. It will also introduce four new competency areas that reflect the specific skills of its partners, including custom development, mobility solutions, licensing solutions, and OEM hardware solutions. It also unveiled a fifth "competency-like" (competency-lite?) area called small business specialist. "Microsoft's success and the success of its partners are one and the same," says Allison Watson, vice president of Microsoft's worldwide partner sales and marketing group.

Microsoft Settles OS/2 Antitrust Lawsuit with IBM for $850 Million

Microsoft has doled out billions of dollars to resolve antitrust claims, and just as we were going to press before the July 4th holiday, it was IBM's turn to pocket some of that monopoly money. After fighting almost 10 years to settle an antitrust conflict, Microsoft has agreed to pay IBM $775 million and extend $75 million in Microsoft software credit to IBM. IBM has followed numerous other Microsoft rivals to this honey hole. Just in the past two years the list of companies and their payoffs include: Time Warner, $750 million; Sun Microsystems, $1.95 billion; Novell, $536 million; Burst.com, $60 million; and Gateway, $150 million. The IBM antitrust claims were based on IBM's contention that Microsoft charged IBM higher prices because IBM continued to peddle the jointly developed OS/2 platform (which Microsoft and IBM created for PC servers) against Microsoft's desires after it launched Windows NT. Gateway's claim against Microsoft was based on a similar pricing discrimination. The IBM settlement also includes the resolution of all other antitrust claims IBM has against Microsoft, including those related to OS/2 and IBM's SmartSuite products. It did not, however, extinguish IBM's right to press claims that its server business was harmed by Microsoft practices. IBM did agreed that it would not seek damages for actions that occurred before mid-2002, which makes any server business claim seem unlikely.

Tideway Updates Configuration Management Appliance

Companies needing assistance managing their disparate IT equipment may want to check out the latest release of Tideway Systems' Foundation, an IT service configuration management solution that the London company sells as a pre-configured appliance. The role of Foundation is to discover and catalog an organization's computers, operating systems, and common applications, map their dependencies, analyze where the greatest degree of risk exists in the organization's IT infrastructure--such as areas covered by government mandates--and how changes in specific areas are likely to affect the whole. With Foundation 5.3, the company has bolstered its support for Microsoft Windows and Sun Microsystems Solaris operating systems, and exposed new APIs for integrating Foundation with existing business service management (BSM) applications. Foundation supports major server types--including those running OS/400, OS/390, HP-UX, AIX, OpenVMS, Tru64, 2/05, 2/05.e, Windows, and most commercial Linux distributions--through its agent-less "fingerprinting" technology.

Enterprise Management Software Market Grows 11.4 Percent to $6.2 Billion

The enterprise management software market, where the customers are a Who's Who of corporate high rollers, turned in a winning parlay ticket of double digit growth in 2004, according to an accounting of license revenue figures recently completed by Gartner. The analyst firm concluded the market grew 11.4 percent to $6.2 billion.

The top vendor in this field--for the fourth consecutive year--was IBM, which registered 7.5 percent growth and reached $2 billion in revenue. Gartner also ranked IBM as the leader across enterprise management market categories including availability and performance management, configuration management, database management, job scheduling, and network management, plus a general category that includes print management. IBM covers this market with its Tivoli software suite of products.