GCRP Search Results

Yacht Maker Transforms Customer Experience with Revolutionary Computing Platform

Luxury yacht maker Lazzara Yachts prides itself on its unique approach to building and selling the industry’s finest boats. Since its founding in 1990, the family-owned company has emphasized quality and personalized service over volume sales. Lazzara wanted to give prospective customers the chance to explore design options in a more hands-on way. After company executives attended a demonstration of Microsoft Surface™ at a national boat show event, Lazzara opted to embrace this revolutionary computer. Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Infusion Development helped Lazzara deploy Microsoft Surface in its show room. Now, the device is an integral part of the company's sales and marketing strategy, further differentiating its brand. And, with plans to offer shipboard installation of the device as a custom option, Lazzara is well positioned to revolutionize the yachting experience.

Financial Site Transforms Online Investing with Interactive Tools

Operated by Dublin, Ireland–based Digital Minds, Zignals empowers investors with free, online investment tools that incorporate real-time communication and collaborative features. Zignals wanted to develop an interactive Web interface for its application built on the Microsoft® .NET Framework. The company chose Microsoft Silverlight™, a cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in for developing rich Internet applications, over Adobe Flash. Zignals took advantage of Silverlight to create a uniquely compelling experience in a Web-based application that behaves like a desktop application. By using Silverlight, Zignals reused more code, load-balanced resources across projects, and quickly adjusted its application to meet the needs of clients.

Yahoo! JAPAN Finds Unique Solution for Multiplatform Online Video

Looking to make the most of its exclusive license to distribute Major League Baseball (MLB) online to the Japanese market, Yahoo! JAPAN needed to find a way to get content to users on multiple technology platforms while protecting the content. When the company heard about the digital rights management capabilities available in Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2, it began working with Microsoft and local Microsoft Certified Partner 2ndFACTORY to create a new service based on the technology. As a testament to how easy Microsoft Silverlight is to work with, Yahoo! JAPAN was able to bring the service to market in time for the start of the MLB championship series in just two-and-a-half months. Yahoo! JAPAN now reaches more users with MLB video and will continue to attract new visitors and improve usability of its site with Microsoft Silverlight.

Electronics Manufacturer Reinvigorates BI Application with New Interface

Japan-based, high-tech manufacturer TDK-Lambda designs, manufactures, and distributes power-supply components. The custom Web interface for the company’s business intelligence application was slow and confusing for many employees, which resulted in poor usage. TDK-Lambda developed a revolutionary, new interface by using Microsoft® Silverlight™, a cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in, that enables line-of-business (LOB) Web applications to perform like desktop applications. Today, the Silverlight-based LOB application provides more than 90 charts that meet the company’s reporting needs for manufacturing, inventory, financial management, and sales, providing an experience that is radically different from a traditional LOB application. The new Silverlight-based interface has helped improve usage rates and has become a catalyst for the creation of a new business culture.

Rich Media Platform Delivers Powerful Results for Fans of New Cricket League

Headquartered in Dubai, netlinkblue is the media technology and services firm that won the online broadcasting rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season. The company wanted to pursue an advertiser-supported model and needed to attract the largest possible audience of cricket fans from around the world. netlinkblue used the ubiquity of the Microsoft® Silverlight™ browser plug-in to stream cricket matches to fans regardless of their browser or connection speed. Fans could follow matches in near-real time, with advanced features such as picture-in-picture displays of game highlights and interactive activities including chat, voting, and updated profiles of teams and players. At the end of the IPL season, netlinkblue had served nearly 200 million page views—three times more than the previous season.

Cross-Platform Plug-In Powers Rich Internet Applications for Scientists and Engineers

National Instruments is a leading provider of virtual instrumentation software used in a range of industries to test, monitor, and control the performance of hardware devices. The company was looking to meet rising demand for a graphical programming tool that would help companies quickly deploy Web-based line-of-business applications that could be accessed across a network. The company chose Microsoft® Silverlight™, a cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in for developing rich Internet applications, choosing the software over competing solutions, including Adobe Flash. Taking advantage of powerful graphics and data-binding capabilities in Silverlight, combined with its native cross-platform support, the company accelerated development and market delivery of its new application and capitalized on a key business opportunity.

NASA Provides Interactive, 3-D Views of the Next Mars Rover to the Public

A charter of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is to educate the public and inspire students. NASA hosts a Web site for the purpose of generating public awareness about the Mars Science Laboratory rover known as Curiosity. The Mars team wanted to add even greater interactivity to let people explore the new rover and to give them a realistic feeling of the rover’s scale and testing environment. NASA worked with Microsoft to create an online three-dimensional view of a full-scale model of Curiosity by using Microsoft® Photosynth™ technology and Microsoft Silverlight™, the cross-browser plug-in. Now, by using Silverlight, NASA can let the public explore the new Mars Science Laboratory and generate greater awareness about the project, while enabling people to enjoy virtual experiences that bring the universe to their desktops.

University Cuts Costs, Improves Performance, Speeds Provisioning with Virtualization

The University of Miami (UM) is one of the leading research universities in the United States. With a server infrastructure that exceeded its facility’s capacity and required the use of valuable resources to administer, the 10 IT staff in UM’s enterprise Windows server group needed to consolidate servers and streamline management. Now it is running Windows Server® 2008 with Hyper-V™, migrating VMware Server and Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 to the Hyper-V technology, and using Microsoft System Center products to manage, monitor, and back up its environment. As a result, UM cut data center space and power requirements, realized 80 percent savings in energy costs compared to its previous nonvirtualized environment, enhanced utilization of physical servers, slashed virtual server deployment time from hours to minutes, and enabled a more robust disaster recovery plan.

Australian Web Site Gives Visitors a “Wow” Experience with Rich Media Platform

With 70 percent of Australia’s active Internet audience visiting each month, ninemsn is Australia’s leading online media site. With more than 50 news, sports, entertainment and fashion sites, ninemsn is known for its premium content and innovative user experiences. The company used Microsoft® Silverlight™ to create a new way for visitors to experience ninemsn on the Web. By using Silverlight, ninemsn displayed hundreds of high-resolution digital photos on the ninemsn Web site that Grazia Magazine took during Australia’s premier fashion event, Rosemont Australian Fashion Week. Web visitors can access the high-resolution photography without lengthy downloads. The Deep Zoom feature gives visitors much more control over the experience, flying over thumbnails or expanding any image they want. The enhanced experience leads to longer site visits, which is a key online-advertising metric.

Kimberly-Clark Migrates Consumer Site to New Web Platform for High Value, Lower Cost

Kimberly-Clark wanted to integrate its MyKleenexTissue.com site with the rest of its infrastructure to lower costs and boost marketing. The company redeveloped the site using Microsoft® Silverlight™, Microsoft Commerce Server 2007, and the Microsoft .NET Framework. Kimberly-Clark expects to save up to 40 percent annually in IT costs and develop stronger customer connections with a Web environment that can flex to meet future needs.

Partner Develops Interactive Map in Just Two Weeks with Leading-Edge Technologies

West Monroe Partners needed to develop an interactive map and get it hosted within two weeks to meet the needs for the Taste of Chicago festival. Using the Windows® Azure™ operating system and the Microsoft® Silverlight™ browser plug-in, the firm delivered an interactive, printable map well within the tight timeline. It did so with low up-front costs, and created a user experience that will add to a positive, progressive image for the festival.

IT Firm Ups Worker Productivity, Streamlines IT Management with New Software

Atos Origin is a global IT services company with 50,000 professionals in 40 countries. To give mobile employees a best-in-class computing environment, Atos Origin is deploying the Windows® 7 operating system to 50,000 client computers, which can improve productivity by increasing the speed of information access. The move to Windows 7 can also help enhance data and network security, streamline IT management work, and reduce costs.

IT Firm Ups Productivity, Tightens Security, Trims Management Work with New Software

Wipro is one of the world’s leading IT services and outsourcing firms. Wipro has deployed the Windows® 7 Beta operating system on more than 200 client computers to enhance employee productivity and better manage computers across the globe. Wipro estimates desktop management efficiency gains of 20 percent and looks forward to stronger computer security from the upgrade.

Developer Blends Online and Onsite Deployments, Reduces Customer Costs by 95 Percent

Quilogy, a leader in the field of application development, integrates the best in online and on-premises Microsoft® technologies to devise comprehensive solutions for its customers. The company is increasingly excited about the flexibility and power of choice that this software-plus-services strategy can offer. For example, Quilogy built a customer relationship management (CRM) solution for its customer Stamats Communications, Inc. by incorporating Microsoft Dynamics® CRM Online with the company’s existing infrastructure, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. As a result, Stamats reduced its upfront infrastructure costs. Using the software-plus-services approach, Quilogy creates solutions that help customers save money and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, while boosting its own service-based revenue and market reach.

Product Integration Yields Insightful Network Reporting

To effectively manage a large, complex environment, Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) has integrated EMC Smarts network monitoring into Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager 2007. The solution provides consolidated service and environment management.

Global Real-Estate Firm Builds ECM Solution by Integrating Fast, Effective Search

Cushman & Wakefield built itself into one of the world’s largest real-estate services firms. But could it build a search application for its Marketing department, which wanted to help the firm keep its leadership position? The marketers wanted a solution tailored to the document types and metadata tags that they already used to categorize content, in order to make searches as intuitive as possible. That’s what they got with a tailored search application built on Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. The solution, which includes out-of-the-box features in Office SharePoint Server yet looks and feels highly customized, was fast and easy to create, is flexible enough to meet new business needs as they arise, and translates to a low total cost of ownership for Cushman & Wakefield over time.

Korea’s Rail Operator Accelerates Sales with Cashless Payments on its Trains

As Korea’s rail operator, Korail has a responsibility to ensure passengers reach their destinations on time and in the greatest comfort possible. The company has worked hard to achieve rapid journeys for its customers, leading to the landmark launch of the KTX high speed trains in 2004. However with cashless payments on the increase in Korea, Korail wanted to embrace this technology on its trains and give passengers further payment options besides cash. The operator decided to rollout devices for card payments running Windows® Embedded for Point of Service as the operating system to support this initiative. This decision has resulted in a ten percent increase in sales, improved efficiency in sales management, and access to business data in real-time to drive future performance initiatives.

Mobility Software Provider Opens New Markets with Software-plus-Services

TBS Mobility is a leading provider of enterprise mobility solutions. Its flagship software TaskMaster is used in many applications—from solutions that replace paper forms for service organizations to devices that monitor energy consumption. Since it was founded in 1993, the company has used Microsoft® technologies to build its products. Until recently, all its solutions were installed in-house—customers would run the software from their own servers. To expand the company’s reach and flexibility, the management team at TBS Mobility decided to offer a hosted product, based on Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 data management software. Since it began offering the software-plus-services solution in 2006, the company has reduced its average deployment time by 75 percent, expanded internationally, and become more efficient. It’s now planning to use the Azure™ Services Platform to reduce its costs.

Continental Airlines Improves Airport Gate Experience with Presentation Technology

Continental Airlines carries 65 million passengers a year to 265 airports around the world, and it strives to ensure that every one of those customers has the best possible travel experience. In order to improve access to accurate, consistent, real-time flight data for both travelers and Continental gate agents, the airline’s in-house development team built a new gate display system using Windows® Presentation Foundation. The new system, which is funded by partner advertising, helps agents improve customer service and helps the airline improve its on-time performance. Customers benefit from access to continually updated facts about their flight, including standby and upgrade lists, as well as a streamlined boarding process.

State of Michigan Chooses Microsoft over Novell and Linux; Saves $14 Million Annually

For its 56,000 workers, the State of Michigan had a core IT infrastructure that included 40 data centers, 34 operating environments providing office automation services, and 40 e-mail systems. To reduce redundancy and cost, while boosting performance and efficiency, the state decided to centralize on a single technology environment. After considering environments based on Novell and Linux, Michigan chose Microsoft® technologies. The resulting IT environment has reduced operating costs for the state by more than U.S.$10 million per year based on the reduction in the number of computer servers needed. It’s decreased staffing costs by another $4 million. It has also increased system availability and reliability, and provided the foundation for a new generation of applications that will better serve the people of Michigan.