Microsoft makes “Real Time Communication” RealLaunches Web Conferencing Service and Enterprise IM Se

Mumbai, March 15th 2005: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. today announced the launch of its range of Real Time Communication (RTC) technologies in India. The offerings; Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 and Microsoft Office Live Communication Server 2005 launched in Bangalore today, are Microsoft’s globally accepted Web Conferencing service and Enterprise IM (Instant Messaging) server respectively. In addition, Microsoft showcased the Microsoft Office Communicator, an integrated real time communications front end to complement these offerings. Microsoft’s RTC offerings will help organizations bring down communication costs, and improve productivity & efficiency by facilitating closer collaboration between employees, and with customers and partners.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Ranjivjit Singh, Director Business & Marketing Operations, Microsoft India said, "Today, businesses everywhere feel immense pressure to improve their customer relationships, increase profitability and invest for future growth". "Our RTC offerings simplify the collaboration experience to improve internal efficiencies and external connections. These products offer organizations an integrated solution, which combines cutting edge technology with various modes of communication, and ensures seamless integration with existing enterprise software."

Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 is a solution for virtually any meeting scenario, whether it’s a sales event with thousands of global participants; a small, collaborative meeting between workers on different floors; or a one to one customer consultation. Organizations only require basic Internet access to use Live Meeting 2005, and the service will be available to them through various licensing models from Microsoft. In fiscal year 2005, Microsoft Corporation expects Live Meeting to replace one in five business trips and save over US$ 75 million.

Elaborating on the benefits of Live Meeting Mr. Amit Kumar, Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft India said, "Live Meeting is a cost saving alternative to business travel, and makes it easy for workers to conduct real time, highly interactive and visually rich online meetings." "Live Meeting is a hosted software solution, which minimizes infrastructure and set up requirements and lets people collaborate and share information regardless of location." He added.

Live Communication Server 2005 is Microsoft’s presence awareness and Enterprise IM offering, and is available in Standard and Enterprise editions. It integrates with the Microsoft Office System and Windows Server System - it fits seamlessly into a customer’s existing work processes and infrastructure to deliver immediate benefits. Live Communication Server provides both instant messaging and presence awareness, allowing users to discover if others are available to collaborate, communicate and share information.

Elaborating on the benefits of Live Communication Server 2005, Mr. Amit Kumar, Product Marketing Manager Microsoft India said, "With advanced presence awareness technology, Live Communications Server offers instant access to team members, partners, suppliers and customers across multiple geographies, time zones and organizational boundaries." "Among other features the product offers enterprise to enterprise federation to extend secure enterprise IM capabilities to partners, customers and suppliers; and SPIM controls for greater security and privacy." He added.

Microsoft Office Communicator is the integrated communications client from Microsoft. It is also the preferred client for Office Live Communications Server 2005. Communicator supports enhanced instant messaging and presence awareness, integrated telephony, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and real time elements of conferencing and unified communications. Communicator simplifies and reduces the number of applications and devices needed for real time communication. Microsoft Office Communicator is currently in its last beta and is expected to be released in the next few months.


About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, USA. It has had a presence in India since 1987 and it currently has offices in New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Founded in 1975, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for Personal Computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use; each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.