Financial Services Innovator Gets on an Enterprise Service Bus with Help from Microsoft-Based Technology

Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 enables Meridian Credit Union to move towards a SOA infrastructure and Enterprise Service Bus capabilities.

Mississaga, Ontario - September 25, 2007 - Microsoft Canada Co. announced today that Meridian Credit Union has chosen to adopt Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 and leverage Microsoft’s guidance for building an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). Implementing the new technology is part of the organization’s strategic decision to build an ESB and move towards a service-oriented architecture (SOA), enabling them to better serve members as well as better support for current and future business growth.

Serving more than 209,000 personal and commercial members across south-central Ontario, Meridian Credit Union is Ontario’s largest and Canada’s third largest credit union. The organization is focused on delivering outstanding member service and looked to technology to help its frontline staff spend less time looking for information in disparate applications, in order to provide them with more time to serve members. Meridian’s decision to adopt a SOA approach to its technology infrastructure, based on Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, has allowed the company to integrate its frontline applications, but has also positively affected its ability to work with partners, as well as helping the organization become more agile.

“Meridian is experiencing significant business growth which made automating our processes critically important. Previously, our frontline staff may have needed to use 4 or 5 different programs to carry out a single customer transaction, we needed to streamline this. Rather than undertake the herculean task of writing code to connect our systems and deal with the challenges associated with point to point connections, we saw the value in moving to a SOA infrastructure based on Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006,” said Stephen Gesner, Chief Information Officer, Meridian Credit Union. “By adopting this technology, Meridian can better respond to changes in the market, and it makes our IT department more attractive to new recruits as we are seen as innovators in the industry. The technology will underpin business solutions which free up more time to discuss options with our members when they come to visit. We will be able to provide Heads up Banking to our staff and members to help avoid having our staff's attention glued to their computer screens instead of dealing with our members face to face.”

Meridian worked with Microsoft technology partner Systemgroup Inc., to implement Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 as its SOA backbone. This September, Microsoft also announced the availability of an updated version of the product, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2. The server is Microsoft’s core SOA and business process management (BPM) platform. It includes native support for SOA building blocks such as Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Guidance and Line of Business Adapters, as well as supporting radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic data interchange (EDI).

“Microsoft’s ESB Guidance helps organizations like Meridian to connect their IT systems in an easy way and extend that connectivity to business partners, helping improve users’ ability to respond to changing business needs, and providing better business insight,” said Ken Ryder, President, Systemgroup Inc.

“Service-oriented architecture represents a break-through in how Canadian businesses approach their technology investment, providing them with a powerful but cost effective and easy to use way to optimize their application platform. Microsoft is deeply committed to enabling Canadian organizations to reap the benefits of SOA and we are excited to see that Meridian Credit Union has leveraged their investment in innovation to help gain a competitive edge,” said Chris Brakel, product manager for eBusiness at Microsoft Canada Co.

IT professionals interested in learning more about SOA will have an opportunity to hear from experts and colleagues at the upcoming Microsoft Canada SOA Conference. An exciting schedule of breakout sessions, technical labs, peer discussions and networking, and social events presents developers, architects and business decision makers with an opportunity to learn about Microsoft's current portfolio and long-term SOA strategy. The conference takes place on the following dates:

For more information on the conference please visit:
http://blogs.msdn.com/pkelcey/archive/2007/09/12/canadian-biztalk-2006-r2-soa-conference.aspx

Microsoft ESB Guidance is available for customers at www.codeplex.com/esb.

About Meridian Credit Union:
Meridian Credit Union is Ontario’s largest and Canada’s third largest credit union serving more than 209,000 personal and commercial members across south-central Ontario. Meridian Credit Union offers its members access to a full range of financial services - banking, mortgages and loans, credit cards, online banking and access to Interac® and Cirrus® through its 43 branches and eight Commercial Banking Centres. Meridian Members have access to the Exchange® Network with over 2,000 no-fee ABMs in Canada, 500 in Ontario. Owned by our members, Meridian Credit Union reinvests its earnings to improve services to members and help build the communities where they live and work. Meridian Credit Union has committed to investing 4% of its pre-tax earnings in our communities - that is more than four times the national average for corporate giving – through our Good Neighbour Program.

® THE EXCHANGE. User licensed in Canada by FICANEX Services Limited partnership on behalf of Fiserv EFT.
® Interac and Cirrus® trademarks used under arrangement with their owners.

About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Headquartered in Mississauga, Microsoft Canada has 10 regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca

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