REDMOND, Washington, April 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Accenture, Avanade and EDS, an HP company, each sign Microsoft Online Services agreements; more than 4,000 partners signed on globally.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that organizations of all sizes can purchase the Business Productivity Online Suite, a part of Microsoft Online Services. The suite or its individual services, including Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Live Meeting can be purchased by businesses in 19 countries worldwide. The Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite, a low-cost version for occasional users, is also available for purchase. Also starting today, Microsoft is offering a 25 percent discount on the Business Productivity Online Suite to customers who purchase it by the end of June 2009. More information about the services and global availability can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/online .

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Partner Momentum

To date, more than 4,000 partners around the world have joined the Microsoft Partner Program for Microsoft Online Services, making it the most successful partner ecosystem for online business-class services.

We're experiencing a significant amount of partner momentum around Microsoft Online Services and the Business Productivity Online Suite, said Ron Markezich, corporate vice president of Microsoft Online. Based on the increasing demand and enthusiasm we're seeing, it's clear that partners are recognizing the opportunity, and that this is the right time to embrace Microsoft's software-plus-services approach.

Also announced today, EDS, an HP company, has signed both a reseller agreement and a go-to-market agreement which details the terms and conditions under which both companies will market, sell and deliver the Business Productivity Online Suite together. Accenture and Avanade have signed an advisor agreement. Both of these partners will focus primarily on organizations with more than 5,000 employees.

Microsoft and EDS have announced that they will use their combined assets to deliver enterprise-class communications and collaboration services in the cloud to millions of users serving large multinational corporations. With benefits including rapid deployment with a minimized need for infrastructure investments, enterprise organizations can expect to take advantage of reductions in capital expenditures and improved total cost of ownership.

With this agreement, the revenue potential for which is more than US$3 billion in cloud services and professional services for the parties, EDS becomes Microsoft's largest delivery partner for the Business Productivity Online Suite. This agreement demonstrates to customers the value of the EDS Agility Alliance and further consolidates HP's long-standing relationship with Microsoft. EDS has already begun to integrate Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting into its industry-leading Workplace Services offerings. EDS will offer its customers end-to-end services, including consulting, architecture, implementation, integration and ongoing user support for the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Accenture and Avanade are the first Microsoft partners to sign the Microsoft Online Services Partner Advisor agreement for large enterprises. As a part of this agreement, Accenture and Avanade will offer IT services for customers looking to migrate from on-premises solutions to the Business Productivity Online Suite. These value-added services include cloud strategy and assessment, migration services, enterprise application integration, user communications and training, and other IT outsourcing services. Accenture has integrated Microsoft Online Services into its highly successful Next Generation Workplace Offering solution, which helps connect people and information to improve overall business performance.

Accenture and Avanade bring extensive experience in platform migration capabilities in support of this agreement. For example, they have deployed nearly 6 million Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes and have helped migrate nearly 3 million mailboxes from competitive platforms.

Other Microsoft Online Services partners, including IT Solution Partners BV, PointBridge, Solvi Srl, Tam Tam, Wortell, YouSaaS and Zipper, are realizing increased revenue opportunity as a result of selling the Business Productivity Online Suite, and building best practices for delivering customization, consulting services, migration and managed services, and development and integration for their customers:

- PointBridge, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Chicago, has sold more than 3,000 seats of Microsoft Online Services, which generated over US$100,000 in advisor fee revenue in just four months. - Solvi, an IT solutions provider in the Milan, Italy, area, expects to expand its customer base by 50 percent, and reduce deployment times from one month to one day. - Tam Tam, a full-service Internet agency in the Netherlands, expects to double its customer base and boost revenues by at least 15 percent by expanding its offerings with Microsoft Online Services. - Zipper, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in Stockholm, Sweden, expects to increase revenues by US$10 million annually with its Microsoft Online Services offering, which it can implement 10 times faster than on-premises software today.

More information about Microsoft Online Services partners and case studies can be found in the software-plus-services virtual presskit for the Microsoft Business Division at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/Officesoftwareplusservices/... .

About Microsoft

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

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