Application Platform - Case Studies

Accuride

Achmea

Citi (Lava Technology)

City of Miami

Clalit Health Services

Continental Airlines

Continental Automotive

Cuyahoga Community College

Dubai Bank

Egyptian Ministry of Communications

Entergy

EPiServer

Equiniti

European Environment Agency

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Mediterranean Shipping Company

Magenic

McLaren Electronic Systems

PREMIER Bankcard Inc.

Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers

Roseburg Forest Products

Sao Paulo Ministry of Health

Sao Paulo Treasury Dept

SCANA Corporation

Sempra Energy Solutions

Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles

Volvo Aero

WIPRO

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3M

The Problem A recognized world leader in technology research and development, 3M wanted to make its decades of expertise in the workings of the human visual system available as a service to customers.

The Solution Using the Windows Azure™ platform, 3M was able to deliver the VAS solution to customers, while taking advantage of Microsoft® data center infrastructure and service management to keep performance high and costs low.

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3M

The Problem The 3M Software, Electronic, and Mechanical Systems (SEMS) Laboratory needed to find development tools that could help reduce the time and costs associated with producing dozens of software projects each year.

The Solution To streamline its operations, SEMS deployed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010. As a result, 3M simplified its development processes, helping the SEMS staff to accelerate the delivery of 3M products into the marketplace.

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Accuride

The Problem As a supplier of military and commercial truck components, Accuride Corporation relied on an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to exchange information with its trading partners. However, that solution required frequent attention from IT personnel and expensive to operate.

The Solution Accuride used the Microsoft application platform to build a new integrated solution that streamlines production planning and provides customers visibility into certain manufacturing processes. Developed in four months, the solution has improved factory operations significantly.

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Achmea

The Problem Developers at Dutch insurance company, Achmea, often had to rebuild applications that didn’t meet customer requirements, making it difficult to estimate costs and timelines. To improve efficiency and customer satisfaction, the company needed a new solution.

The Solution Achmea is implementing an application lifecycle management solution based on Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010. The solution allows Achmea to estimate costs and schedules more accurately, while cutting rework time in half.

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Active Web Solutions

The Problem Active Web Solutions (AWS) had been contracted by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to create an automated sea-safety application. The company needed a cost-effective way to scale the application so that more lives could potentially be saved.

The Solution To extend the search-and-rescue application, the company migrated it to the Windows Azure™ platform. AWS attained massive scalability, richer functionality, lower infrastructure costs, and was able to bring its applications to new markets.

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Adhost

The Problem Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Adhost wanted to add a new cloud solution to their existing set of hosting services.

The Solution Adhost chose to build their cloud solution using Microsoft virtualization and cloud technologies, with Windows Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager as the foundation.

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adslot

The Problem Auction Providers, Tradeslot and Adslot use computation-heavy combinatorial auction algorithms to manage their complex conditional bid processes. But with a lack of compute power, the companies found it necessary to manually add constraints to auctions.

The Solution Tradeslot and Adslot implemented Windows Azure ™, reducing capital costs for customers—from U.S.$60,000 to only $1,000 each, while improving their ability to scale up, enhance customer services, and save critical IT resources.

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Archetype

The Problem Interactive design firm, Achetype wanted to offer a complete platform to help customers manage their media assets more efficiently. It also sought to streamline deployment and give any number of users access in a scalable, affordable way.

The Solution The firm used Windows Azure™ as the basis of their new platform, which takes advantage of Microsoft SQL Azure and Microsoft Silverlight 3. Now Archetype is able to manage media assets in a scalable, flexible, and highly productive way.

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Arc Worldwide

The Problem Part of the Leo Burnett advertising agency, Arc Worldwide had experienced substantial growth in demand for Internet applications supporting e-commerce over the past few years. The company was looking for a secure technology, which could be used in meeting this demand.

The Solution After some consideration, Arc Worldwide chose to adopt Microsoft® Silverlight™ for developing client solutions. They found that in addition to increasing security, Silverlight offered a more cost-effective means of building applications.

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Associated Press

The Problem On average, more than half the world’s population sees news from the Associated Press (AP) on a given day. The organization wanted to broaden its reach by encouraging developers to incorporate AP content into their applications.

The Solution After considering several “cloud computing” platforms, AP chose to use the Microsoft-hosted Windows Azure™ platform. AP was able to create a highly scalable solution that simplifies capacity planning and creates new business opportunities.

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Autodesk

The Problem Global 2D and 3D design software developer, Autodesk was faced with three challenges—needing ore centralized control over property settings, ensuring reliable and repeatable builds, and maintaining backward compatibility for the more than 4,000 partners.

The Solution Autodesk chose to implement Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. With their upgrade, the company is saving resources, boosting productivity, and maintaining compatibility for partners.

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Bankdata

The Problem As one of the largest developers of IT software solutions for banks in Denmark, Bankdata needed a way to perform validation tasks faster, while improving application lifecyle management for its Microsoft® BizTalk® Server and Microsoft .NET Framework development environments.

The Solution With Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2009, Bankdata has seen a 20% increase in productivity. The software makes it easy to translate data, keep systems up to date, and send online notifications to customers when specific activity occurs in their accounts.

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Blockbuster

The Problem To stay on the leading edge of entertainment, Blockbuster needed to improve the performance and look of its Movielink player. This video-on-demand application offers users the opportunity to download movies and TV episodes to their PC from Blockbuster.com.

The Solution Blockbuster updated its Movielink player using Microsoft® Web tools and technologies. The solution makes it possible for the entertainment company to provide a compelling experience for users while minimizing development time.

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bwin

The Problem Sports enthusiasts around the world place up to 1 million bets per day using the online sports betting services of Gibraltar-based bwin International. But when the company saw 3-digit annual growth in 2005 and 2006, the company needed a solution to keep up.

The Solution The bwin Data Management Systems group has started upgrading its database infrastructure to SQL Server 2008 to take advantage of Backup Compression, management tools, and other new features.

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CareGroup

The Problem CareGroup Healthcare System, which operates hospitals in the Boston area, has been a long-time user of Microsoft SQL Server data management software. But the organization was looking to integrate powerful business intelligence (BI) functions as well.

The Solution The organization started testing Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot BI tools, supported by SQL Server 2008 R2. The tools are expected to help employees analyze huge quantities of data while providing greater control over how information is distributed.

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CASON

The Problem CASON Engineering provides real-time monitoring and communications technology for critical industrial applications. And when they were asked to create a monitoring system for the Romanian Post Office, the engineering firm turned to Microsoft.

The Solution Using a software-plus-services approach, CASON used the latest Microsoft® technology to build a sophisticated Web-based tracking application. The firm also used the virtualization capabilities in Windows Server® 2008 to increase reliability and simplify customer configurations.

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Celluphone

The Problem Celluphone, a leading US-based wireless phone distributor, was rapidly outgrowing its warehouse and financial management systems, and needed a fully integrated enterprise resource planning solution to consolidate management of its various entities and locations.

The Solution The company implemented Microsoft Dynamics® AX based on its flexibility and scalability. The result has been a 50% increase in efficiency in warehouse operations, total operational growth of nearly 40%, and improved customer and dealer service.

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Century Payments

The Problem Eager to equip its expanding sales force with customer relationship management tools, Century Payments needed a more affordable solution than Salesforce.com, which the company had been using for one year.

The Solution Century Payments worked with Pariveda Solutions to switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for sales force automation functions and used the solution to build applications that support new business needs.

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Citi (Lava Technology)

The Problem Citi’s Lava Technology team needed to create a market data storage and retrieval system to provide compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation NMS requirements.

The Solution The company determined that the Microsoft® Application Platform, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2005, not only provided the lowest total cost of ownership, it also offered the best performance—supporting peak loads that exceed 200,000 messages per second.

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City of Miami

The Problem The city of Miami wanted to develop an online application to record, track, and report on nonemergency incidents. But with shrinking IT budgets, the city needed a solution that was cost-effective and scalable.

The Solution The City of Miami chose the Windows Azure platform, along with Bing maps, to deliver to residents its 311 application, which takes advantage of sophisticated mapping technology.

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Clalit Health Services

The Problem As the largest HMO in Israel, Clalit Health Services serves more than 3.8 million people, and supports 70 million customer interactions per year. The organization needed a solution that featured data compression and star-join functionality to improve query performance.

The Solution The HMO upgraded its 16 terabytes of data, including a 2.7-terabyte Enterprise business intelligence (BI) solution to SQL Server 2008. The solution gives Clalit the support it values as it looks for ways to enhance healthcare delivery and operational efficiency.

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Continental Airlines

The Problem The company sought to consolidate its server hardware and lower its energy and IT management costs while supporting its many remote workers.

The Solution Continental deployed Windows Server® 2008 R2 Datacenter with Remote Desktop Services and enhanced Hyper-V™ technology.

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Continental Automotive

The Problem Every day, Continental Automotive receives eight truckloads of parts from its 160 suppliers.The company’s manually intensive process received those parts and found storage for them, which led to lengthened cycle times and increased costs.

The Solution Continental adopted a custom receiving solution from Xterprise, based on Microsoft RFID technology. Not only has the solution cut receiving cycle time by 50% and reduced costs by 30%, it was half the price of competitive UNIX options.

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Cuyahoga Community College

The Problem Cuyahoga Community College includes three traditional campuses and more than 50 off-campus sites. The school needed to create a data warehouse to provide a consistent source of information across its operations and to support business intelligence analytics.

The Solution The school developed a data warehouse based on the Microsoft® Application Platform, including SQL Server® 2005 database software. This has given them a consistent view of information, as well as an easy way for administrators and staff to create and run their own queries.

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Dubai Bank

The Problem Dubai Bank wanted to establish a reliable IT infrastructure in order to deliver new services and gain a competitive advantage in the market. But to move forward, they required a more scalable technology environment than what they were using.

The Solution In just four months, Dubai Bank had implemented an architecture based on Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. Not only has the bank launched new services, they’ve reduced system development work by 70%, achieving a quick time-to-market for applications.

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Egyptian Ministry of Communications

The Problem Each year, thousands of tourists from all over the world visit Egyptian town of Luxor. But the city wanted to further increase awareness about lodging, recreation, and shopping to make it easier for prospective visitors to plan their trip.

The Solution The Egyptian Government turned to Microsoft Services to create a comprehensive, virtual destination portal. Now, tourists can take advantage of the portal’s interactive multimedia experiences, including a customized mapping service.

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Entergy

The Problem Entergy is a Fortune 500 company that produces and delivers electric power to 2.7 million customers. The company needed a real-time historical data storage solution to help gain a better view into the trillions of records created by its more than 320,000 grid devices.

The Solution To better extract value from its data, the utility deployed a real-time data storage application using the Microsoft Application Platform, called Pegasus RDS™. This solution gives Entergy numerous benefits, including the ability to identify potential problems early so it can protect its electrical grid.

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EPiServer

The Problem More than 3,000 customers around the world rely on EPiServer’s flagship product, EPiServer CMS to create compelling and collaborative Web sites. The team was using different platforms for testing and quality assurance, which created inefficiencies in getting products to market.

The Solution The company deployed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 to increase collaboration between developers and testers. The testing and lab management tools also allowed the team improve to development processes and overall code quality.

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Equiniti

The Problem Equiniti, a leading share registrar in the United Kingdom, wanted better tools to help it manage the development of a mission-critical application. Manual processes were slowing product delivery, and managing changes became too complex.

The Solution The company implemented an application lifecycle management solution based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, and Visual Studio Lab Management 2010. They expect to reduce development costs and cut testing time in half.

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European Environment Agency

The Problem The European Environment Agency (EEA) is working towards raising environmental awareness by delivering relevant environmental information. The EEA wanted to make this key information easy for citizens to access, while giving them the tools to contribute their own observations.

The Solution The EEA developed the Eye On Earth platform, based on the Windows Azure™ platform. Users can view water or air quality from 32 member countries using high-definition Bing maps, which helps increase awareness of the impacts of environmental change.

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Florida State College at Jacksonville

The Problem At Florida State College at Jacksonville, the vast majority of its more than 1,000 processes were manual and paper-based. In order to boost efficiency, the college wanted to expand its use of automated processes without using up their already tight budget.

The Solution With Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 and SQL Server 2008, the college was able to develop automated business processes more easily and affordably than it could using other tools—all within a familiar environment with which developers were already comfortable.

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Garanti Technology

The Problem Garanti Technology was asked to create an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for Doğuş Automotive Group. The distributor ran its operations using an IBM system, while dealers had a mixture of IT solutions running on different operating systems.

The Solution The company built Turkuaz using the Microsoft Application Platform, which provided a Web-based, flexible, and integrated IT solution that automated all the processes and transactions between the distributor, dealers, and OEM.

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General Mills

The Problem Company researchers desired a faster, more accurate search mechanism for combing thousands of internal documents, and locating experts, in the course of creating new products.

The Solution General Mills deployed Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint to create a comprehensive, tunable search-driven application focused on the needs of researchers.

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Genes Reunited

The Problem As the leading family history Web site in the United Kingdom, Genes Reunited provides its 9.7 million members with tools to build family trees and trace the histories of their ancestors. The company wanted to offer users a way to navigate search results quickly and easily.

The Solution Because location is a crucial factor in many searches on the Web site, the company’s management team decided to implement a mapping feature using Bing™ Maps for Enterprise. Released in January 2009, the tool has helped boost the number of unique visitors by 55%.

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Glympse

The Problem Glympse provides a Web-based location-sharing solution for use with GPS-enabled phones. While the company was constantly evaluating hosting services, they were seeking a solution that offered better integration and reduced administration and a competitive price.

The Solution By implementing the Windows Azure™ platform, Glympse was able to gain productivity, performance and agility. The company focused on improving its solution features rather than infrastructure maintenance, so they can also be more responsive to customer needs.

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GoGrid

The Problem GoGrid, a division of ServePath, provides infrastructure services in the “cloud”. But as customers sought increased cloud computing solutions, the company needed a way to continue delivering new services, without purchasing costly hardware.

The Solution With the release of the Windows Azure™ platform, GoGrid was able to extend its services and enable its customers to develop, test, deploy, and back up Windows Azure applications efficiently and cost-effectively.

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KAHRAMAA

The Problem The Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation—KAHRAMAA—needed an innovative and cost-effective solution to ensure that more of its customers could pay their bills and monitor their energy consumption online.

The Solution Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Netways, KAHRAMAA upgraded their Web site to feature interactive capabilities. The company has cut costs by processing transactions online, plus they receive fewer complaints because customers’ information is available on the Web.

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KAS Bank

The Problem Specializing in wholesale securities services, Netherlands-based KAS Bank wanted to eliminate the need for multiple connectivity applications. The bank was also looking for a way to increase customer service while decreasing operational costs.

The Solution By using Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 with Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator, KAS Bank is able to give investors a highly secure, reliable connection. Plus, the bank benefits from a more agile environment in which to develop new applications and provide services demanded by clients.

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Kelly Blue Book

The Problem Vehicle values provider, Kelley Blue Book needed a solution that would enable it to scale up quickly to meet the capacity demands of its high-traffic Web site and reduce its dependency on costly hardware.

The Solution The company chose to use a software-plus-services model and moved its Web site to the Windows Azure™ platform, resulting in reduced expenditures, increased competitive advantage, and U.S.$100,000 in savings annually.

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KT

The Problem As the largest telecommunications company in South Korea, KT needed to a way to continually enhance customer service product offerings. They decided to create an enterprise data warehouse to help generate these benefits.

The Solution KT created its 3-terabyte enterprise data warehouse using the Microsoft® Application Platform, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 Reporting Services. The company now has the business intelligence and process management support it needs to achieve its goals.

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Lokad

The Problem Software development company, Lokad wanted to deliver a more accurate forecasting model. But the company wanted to expand and felt constrained by the computing requirements and costs associated with such a powerful model.

The Solution Lokad implemented its software-plus-services forecasting application on the Windows Azure™ platform. As a result, the company reduced IT maintenance costs, delivered more powerful and accurate forecasts, and improved its ability to expand into new markets.

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Loomis Armored US

The Problem When collecting paper receipts and entering data manually each night became too expensive and time-consuming, Loomis Armored US needed a safer and more efficient way to work with their customers and their banks.

The Solution Loomis Armored US deployed 2,200 Motorola MC70 handheld mobile computers running Windows Mobile® 6.1 to armored car personnel. Now, information is easily transmitted to the data center where can be securely accessed.

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Mediterranean Shipping Company

The Problem Faced with fierce competition and a troubled global economy, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) needed help producing detailed data analysis and reports. But the demand for customized data reporting strained the company’s IT staff, so they looked for a simpler solution.

The Solution MSC deployed a beta version of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to take advantage of new self-service business intelligence tools. The solution helps deliver huge volumes of data to MSC users so they can make important decisions faster and collaborate more easily.

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Magenic

The Problem Technology consultant, Magenic wanted to create custom applications that a chain of fitness centers could use to manage new contracts, membership identification, and monitoring of members as they entered the club.

The Solution Magenic used the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 to create compelling user interfaces and a robust service layer on a stable platform. Now the company is able to take advantage of existing skills among internal and client-based teams to deliver solutions quickly.

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McLaren Electronic Systems

The Problem McLaren Electronic Systems is a leader in developing specialized motor racing products. But they were falling behind when it came to managing the terabytes of engine control unit (ECU) data that Formula One Racing teams generate each year.

The Solution After performing a proof of concept study, McLaren Electronics began using the FILESTREAM feature of Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008. This solution provided an efficient way to store ECU data in a relational database, while providing Formula One type retrieval speeds.

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Microsoft Corp

The Problem As part of Microsoft’s annual Giving Campaign, Microsoft IT hosts an online auction to raise funds for United Way. During the event, the auction tool the department had built wasn’t working efficiently due to fluctuating demand.

The Solution Microsoft IT migrated the auction tool to the Windows Azure™ platform, so it could be scalable to meet the demands of campaign traffic. This solution makes it easier for employees to donate to the company’s annual auction.

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Microsoft Corp

The Problem Without real-time visibility into its supply chain, the Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD) at Microsoft was struggling. They needed to integrate their existing line of business applications with manufacturers’ systems in order to better support business processes and improve efficiencies.

The Solution The EDD has realized significant savings by implementing BizTalk Server 2009. Administration and development teams are more productive, and the division is able to quickly build new service-oriented solutions based on existing software investments.

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Molina Healthcare

The Problem In three years, Molina Healthcare’s membership expanded more than 40%. To accommodate the growth and adhere to new regulations, the company needed a flexible and scalable licensing model that allowed them to implement new products and systems while controlling costs.

The Solution Molina Healthcare chose Microsoft® Enrollment for Application Platform (EAP) for Enterprise Agreements. Now the company is controlling costs, increasing collaboration, preparing to meet new HIPAA 5010 standards, and continuing the provide access to affordable healthcare.

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NEC

The Problem NEC wanted to enter the market for digital place-based advertising with a solution to benefit advertisers and network owners and increase its own revenues.

The Solution The NEC solution gives network owners reach into the national market and gives advertisers the timely data that they need to boost campaign effectiveness.

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occmundial.com

The Problem Job-listing Web site, OCCMundial.com connects job seekers with opportunities and optimizes hiring processes for businesses. But when the company wanted to scale up its recommendation system, OCCMatch, the existing infrastructure lacked the capacity.

The Solution To avoid significant hardware and other infrastructure costs, OCCMundial.com used the Windows Azure™ platform to host OCCMatch through a Microsoft® data center. This provided easy enhanced scalability, reducing costs by more than U.S.$500,000.

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OriginDigital

The Problem Video services provider, Origin Digital, wanted to create a more scalable transcoding workflow environment that delivered high performance, lower operating expense, and easier management, all without requiring additional capital expenditures.

The Solution To gain scalability within a familiar development environment, the company built an innovative application called Cloudcoder on the Windows Azure™ platform. The application will reduce compute costs and database administration time as well as expedite future moves.

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Outback Steakhouse

The Problem To attract new customers, Outback Steakhouse decided to create a “fan” page on the social networking site Facebook. But this kind of viral campaign needed a scalable and cost-effective infrastructure and technology to support demand.

The Solution Working with Microsoft Partner Thuzi, Outback developed the application on the Windows Azure™ platform in less than eight weeks, taking advantage of its familiar environment, flexibility, and scalability.

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Partners Healthcare

The Problem To help patients better manage their chronic conditions, the Center for Connected Health (CCH), a division of Partners HealthCare needed a way to capture data from a range of devices and make that information readily accessible to patients and providers in a dynamic, interactive way.

The Solution Through a combination of Microsoft® products and Web-based services, including the Microsoft HealthVault™ platform, the organization was able to improve online data access and communication, as well as provide much-needed integration with medical devices and computers.

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PATB NI

The Problem Lower Saxony’s police department sought to find a way to help its more than 18,000 officers communicate more effectively. The goals were to give them real-time access to critical information, assist them with collaborative crime initiatives, and track their daily activities and investigations.

The Solution The department chose to go with the NIVADIS system with FAST Enterprise Search Platform™ at its core. This solution gives police officers in Lower Saxony the power to perform more thorough investigations and drive productivity to record levels.

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Persistent Systems

The Problem As the Senior Technical Lead at India-based Persistent Systems, Padmaja Udaya Kovilakath understands the power of new technologies. So when the company wanted to migrate applications to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, the turned to Microsoft.

The Solution Persistent Systems migrated to the Windows Azure™ platform, providing broad access to a scalable SaaS solution. The Microsoft platform allows the company to enrich service delivery, reduce administrative costs, and integrate with other applications.

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Powell Electronics

The Problem As a distributor for major defense and aerospace companies, Powell Electronics couldn’t risk having errors or being inefficient. That’s why the company looked for a reliable way to automate its order processing.

The Solution Powell implemented a solution based on Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 R2, eliminating manual order entry and increasing efficiency by 40 percent. The company also expects this new solution to reduce operating costs and strengthen customer relationships.

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PPG Industries

The Problem PPG Body Shop services all types of shops from large collision centers to specialty finishers. And with more than 40,000 employees in 20+ countries around the world, the company wanted a solution that integrated all of their business processes into one system.

The Solution The body shop chose to adopt Silverlight 3 when they realized its capability to reach cross browser and operating systems on a global scale. By utilizing Silverlight 3, PPG will maintain a rich user experience for both large and small companies while being deployed centrally.

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PREMIER Bankcard Inc.

The Problem As one of the largest VISA and MasterCard credit providers in the U.S., PREMIER Bankcard needed to enhance scalability and performance for its 17-terabyte data warehouse and 2.5-terabyte online transaction processing (OLTP) databases.

The Solution PREMIER upgrading its data warehouse and OLTP deployments to Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Enterprise (64-bit). The company now has a better view of business, enterprise-grade scalability, maintenance without scheduled downtime, and easier database management.

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Purdue University

The Problem The IT staff at Purdue University manages 250 software applications used by 40,000 students. They needed to eliminate application conflicts and simplify packaging for its desktop computer and Remote Desktop Services environments.

The Solution By using Microsoft Application Virtualization, the university has reduced packaging time by 50% and avoids having to repackage applications for different environments. Purdue has also deployed 80% more applications on its existing terminal server computers.

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Raymond James

The Problem Raymond James provides investment services through a large network of financial advisors. But the BI tools they had created couldn’t easily handle the amount of data volumes required to perform many simultaneous queries. The firm also wanted to integrated their applications.

The Solution The organization upgraded its BI platform to include integration, reporting, and analysis tools using Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Enterprise. Today, 6,600 people use the Raymond James Reports Center to help make cost-effective decisions.

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Readify

The Problem Software vendor, Readify, performs most of its consulting work at customer sites, billing on a time-and-materials basis. The company wanted to be able to re-create customer environments and perform the work in-house on its own virtual machines.

The Solution Readify deployed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, Visual Studio Lab Management 2010, and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010. Now, the company can accelerate testing and improve collaboration, all while winning new business.

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REEDS Jewlery

The Problem Full-service jeweler, REEDS needed to replace phone- and paper-based communications with electronic communications to help its staff be more efficient. It also wanted to reduce costs and improve uptime.

The Solution The jeweler subscribed to Microsoft® Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, to give employees online access to the latest communications programs. REEDS has reduced infrastructure costs by 90% and e-mail support work by 80%.

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Ribbit

The Problem Innovative voice technology company Ribbit, wanted to maximize its potential and gain momentum for it’s communications- and messaging-enablement platform. The company needed to attract .NET developers quickly to keep in pace with the market.

The Solution Ribbit targeted the largest group of developers—those using the Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight—with a toolkit of controls that developers can use to quickly and easily add Ribbit voice capabilities to their Silverlight-based applications.

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Risk Metrics

The Problem Financial risk-analysis firm, RiskMetrics needed to support large bursts in computing activity over short periods of time. It wanted to empower innovative solutions by reducing the required new investments in its physical computing infrastructure.

The Solution The company used the Windows Azure™ platform to provide on-demand computing capacity for its analytics applications. Now it can complement its on-premises capabilities to enhance the scalability of its services.

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Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers

The Problem The Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Center’s mission is to bring supercomputing to the masses. But that means the company needed to make its services work with the applications small-business owners already use.

The Solution To encourage more people to try supercomputing, RMSC implemented the Windows HPC Server 2008 operating system. The familiar environment allows customers to gain new insights from their data, make smarter business decisions, and move projects forward with confidence.

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Roseburg Forest Products

The Problem Roseburg had migrated many of its systems to a Microsoft® platform, but they still used an IBM-based system for electronic data interchange (EDI), which required outside support. The company also had to quickly integrate the processes of seven newly acquired facilities.

The Solution To streamline IT and integrate new facilities, Roseburg implemented Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. Not only did the company successfully complete its acquisition on time, it enhanced productivity and expanded its capabilities for efficiently handling transactions.

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Sao Paulo Ministry of Health

The Problem Sao Paulo Ministry of Health was at a critical point with their Eye Transplant program. The organization needed streamline and automate their leading eye transplant case management process to improve efficiency and increase transparency for patients.

The Solution The organization chose to implement a web-based system on Microsoft’s .NET platform. Now, patients involved with the transplant program can securely track their status online, as well as access their medical information and examinations.

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Sao Paulo Treasury Dept

The Problem The Sao Paulo Treasury Department supports more than $60 billion (US) tax revenue from over five million companies. The department wanted to replace their paper-based tax process with one that was more streamlined, accurate, and efficient.

The Solution Using a range of Microsoft® technologies, the department created the Electronic Invoice—a nationwide project aimed at eliminating paper-based taxes. They’ve also implemented Microsoft® SQL Server as a database to store 40 terabytes of tax information.

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SCANA Corporation

The Problem SCANA, whose subsidiaries provide electricity and natural gas to parts of the southern U.S., needed a more efficient way to process electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. The company also wanted to streamline development of BPM applications.

The Solution They found their answer in the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2, which offers improved support for EDI transactions. And because of its tight integration with the Microsoft .NET Framework, the solution also helps reduce development time and costs.

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Sempra Energy Solutions

The Problem Sempra Energy Solutions (SES) supplies natural gas and power to companies throughout the country. But when it came to developing enterprise applications, they didn’t have the centralized framework to manage core business processes efficiently.

The Solution Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2009 allowed SES to work more collaboratively, providing consistent tools for developing, tracking, and deploying applications. The solution also reduced business rules development time by 87%.

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SharpCloud

The Problem Sharpcloud was founded on a revolutionary idea: to enhance strategy development efforts by using tools familiar to people who use social networking sites. But turning that idea into a real service required a global series of data centers—far beyond sharpcloud’s reach.

The Solution The software startup chose to develop and host a cloud computing solution on the Windows™ Azure platform. Not only is sharpcloud able to manage it’s worldwide infrastructure, it’s tripled productivity, saving $500,000 annually.

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Skandia

The Problem Skandia, a global insurance and banking company, was using 17 different systems to fulfill the IT requirements of its online services. They were looking for an easily deployable solution that allowed them quickly consolidate data from all customer accounts.

The Solution After collaborating with Microsoft at the Performance and Stability Lab, Skandia chose to upgrade its online banking services with Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. With this new solution, the company expects to serve more than one million clients a day.

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Studio Moderna

The Problem To efficiently manage the complexity of multi-geography, multi-channel, multi-product, and multi-media investments with a transparent and unique IT system, Studio Moderna needed a solution that delivered fast and accurate data to decentralized decision makers.

The Solution Studio Moderna chose to upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise in order to better unify data from disparate sources. The new software will not only help employees make decisions more quickly and reliably, it’s also helping the retailer save money.

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SUGARCRM

The Problem To serve the unique needs of its global customers, independent software vendor, SugarCRM needed to ensure that its software would be available on as many technology platforms as possible.

The Solution The company ported its applications to the Windows Azure™ platform so that its VARs could deploy SugarCRM with minimum capital expense and provide customers with a highly reliable, scalable CRM solution on a pay-as-you-go basis.

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SuperBuild

The Problem Superbuild wasn’t generating enough revenue with their online estimator service for small contractors. So when they changed their business model to also target construction supply retailers and manufacturers, they needed a scalable technology solution to keep up.

The Solution Superbuild’s new Web site is based on a Microsoft application platform, which allows each construction company to deliver a customized solution through it’s own site. The solution not only increased revenue for Superbuild, but also reduced their costs and improved time to market.

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SYSPRO

The Problem Global software manufacturer, SYSPRO, a, wanted to offer customers a workflow solution that integrated with its enterprise resource planning software and other applications. The company needed a solution flexible enough for customers with diverse business processes.

The Solution SYSPRO implemented its solution with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. Microsoft’s innovative tools helped improve team collaboration, while reducing development time by 80%.

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Tallard Technologies

The Problem Tallard Technologies’ process for distributing merchandise for its largest customer involved a lot of manual data entry. The company found there was too much room for error and wanted to migrate from the FTP-based sales and inventory information system they’d been using.

The Solution Tallard collaborated with Activ Technologies, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, to optimize their existing Microsoft platform using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) based on Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. The international distributor is now seeing an increase in customer satisfaction and ROI.

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TicketDirect

The Problem New Zealand–based TicketDirect International had grown into a major ticketing service for venues in Australia and New Zealand. The company’s focus on excellent customer service led it to look for a better way to handle peak system loads during major event ticket sales.

The Solution TicketDirect began redesigning its system to work from a “cloud computing” environment using the Windows Azure™ platform. The company is now able to scale its computing resources in response to real-time demand while reducing IT costs.

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toptable

The Problem Online restaurant booking service, toptable was becoming the victim of its remarkable popularity. The Web site was struggling to deal with 15,000 bookings a day, so the company’s management team knew they needed to make updates to accommodate the growth.

The Solution Toptable chose to rebuild their Web site using Microsoft Visual Studio® 2008 development system, Microsoft ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET. Not only does the company expect the user experience will improve, they also anticipate seeing a significant gain in revenue.

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tradefacilitate

The Problem TradeFacilitate helps importers and exporters in the European Union to exchange trade data using a paper-free online system. But to meet new regulations, the company needed to scale its applications without adding more personnel and technology resources.

The Solution The company adopted the Windows Azure™ platform and quickly migrated the code base to a “cloud” services model. With Windows Azure, TradeFacilitate quickly developed a scalable and reliable solution that improved focus on delivering new services to customers.

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UNESCO

The Problem With 193 member nations, and programs worldwide, UNESCO possessed a complex and disparate IT environment. They needed to consolidate their information, while standardizing security rules, access management, and policies at the international level.

The Solution To progressively homogenize its IT system and implement global standards, UNESCO chose Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006, and other Microsoft technologies. This allowed UNESCO to work more efficiently across the entire organization.

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Unum

The Problem With more than 2,000 disconnected insurance products supported by about 60 legacy systems, processes were becoming complex and time-consuming for employees, agents, and customers. Unum needed a way to integrate its various offerings.

The Solution Unum implemented a service-oriented architecture using several Microsoft® technologies. The easy-to-use online portal has streamlined operational efficiency for the company, and is expected to deliver more than U.S. $700 million in revenue over the next five years.

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USDA

The Problem As part of the USDA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service strives to provide the nation with safe and affordable food. The organization realized it needed a new strategy for managing threats posed by Web sales of invasive species due to the rapid adoption of e-commerce.

The Solution The organization determined that the FAST Enterprise Search Platform™ was the logical choice to build their solution, due to the innovation of the search technology and product features, as well as reasonable pricing and the ability to aggressively meet project deadlines.

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Vail Resorts

The Problem Vail Resorts is the leading mountain resort in North America. And with 1.2 unique skiers visiting each year, they found that their method for ski lift pass authentication was often time-consuming and limited visibility into their guests skiing preferences.

The Solution The answer came in the form of radio frequency (RF) technology to streamline ski pass scanning processes. Vail Resorts runs its handheld scanning application on the Windows Mobile® 5.0 operating system and uses Microsoft® BizTalk® Server RFID to gather specific data on skiers.

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vente-privee.com

The Problem Based in Paris, vente-privee.com is an online retailer that sells discounted designer products including apparel. The company wanted to provide self-service business intelligence capabilities to improve internal decision-making, as well as enhance the customer experience.

The Solution By deploying Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Office Professional 2010, and SharePoint Server 2010, customers can access the information they need and employees can use features to boost productivity, raise service levels, and foster innovation.

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VeriSign

The Problem Online security firm, VeriSign, wanted a way to provide customers who deliver services on hosted infrastructures with the same highly secure encryption technology used in on-premises data centers.

The Solution VeriSign partnered with Microsoft to provide customers with enhanced protection for critical business data. With VeriSign® SSL Certificates on the Windows Azure platform, customers receive an added layer of online security, while reducing management and maintenance costs.

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Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles

The Problem With about 155,000 collisions occurring in Virginia each year, the state’s DMV wanted to use its computer data to significantly reduce that number. However, the DMV’s aging mainframe computer system couldn’t effectively integrate with other agencies’ systems to make it happen.

The Solution The DMV chose the Microsoft® Connected Government Framework to create an integrated solution that enables better data-driven decisions, such as proving the efficacy of motorcycle safety education, pinpointing locations for better signage, and more frequent police patrols.

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Volvo Aero

The Problem In addition to designing, testing, and producing new components that meet its partners’ requirements, Volvo Aero supports, maintains, updates, and replaces parts that are still in service after decades of use. Constant access to accurate information is critical for these product life-cycle management processes.

The Solution In 2009, Volvo Aero completed a migration from an Oracle to a Microsoft infrastructure, reducing the number of different solutions and achieving a cleaner, simpler IT environment with a minimum number of interfaces.

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WIPRO

The Problem Known for innovative design, IT services company Wipro Technologies wanted to offer its customers highly scalable, high-performance business services solutions while reducing development, maintenance, and infrastructure costs.

The Solution The firm is building solutions for the Windows Azure™ platform, and expects to reduce costs, improve agility, enhance global consistency for its customers, and add new revenue streams for its own operations.

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Microsoft Application Platform Site Map

Home: Training & Events; Partners

Platforms: Defined: Learn how an application platform should work together to help you get better value from your application portfolio.

Why Microsoft: Learn why more businesses choose the Microsoft Application Platform as the foundation of their business applications than any other technology vendor.

Platform Solutions: Business Intelligence; Web Applications; Enterprise Integration; Mission Critical Operations; Custom Application Development; Cloud Computing

Key Technologies: Business Applications; SQL Server; Middleware; Windows Server; SharePoint Server; Visual Studio; Management & Security; SQL Azure; Windows Azure

Getting Started: Get started with the Microsoft Application Platform by contacting Microsoft Sales, a Microsoft Partner, or attend a training.

Resources: Case Studies; Whitepapers; Partners