Vodafone needed to develop a reliable, easy-to-use sales channel to streamline orders sent to its sales staff from a large network of independent agents. Being a mission-critical part of the business, it needed to be implemented as quickly as possible. The company deployed Microsoft Dynamics® CRM to process the daily flow of orders, check status, and gauge service levels and key performance indicators (KPIs). The system now processes more than 5,000 orders a month in a secure environment.

Demand Media is a social media company based in Santa Monica, California, that provides content and social media solutions. It must ensure that the Web servers running its own business, and those of thousands of customers and partners, are up and running at peak performance. To gain the ability to cost effectively monitor the performance of thousands of Web sites, Demand Media deployed Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, which the company can also use to monitor both Windows®- and Linux-based servers. With the new software, Demand Media is monitoring 1,500 URLs through a single console and has improved server uptime by 20 hours a month. The server monitoring staff has trimmed its workload by 65 hours a month and eliminated U.S.$30,000 in annual licensing costs for Linux monitoring tools. These efficiency gains give Demand Media more time to spend on innovation.

Nowy Styl Group concentrated on computerization of production and logistics. Now Nowy Styl is building a modern infrastructure for communication, and knowledge and information management throughout the entire group. This environment includes a corporate portal for workers and partners based on Microsoft® SharePoint Server 2007 platform and a teamwork system using Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. Initial installation of the new environment took place on Windows Server 2003 platform, but simultaneously Nowy Styl Group started tests on the newest platform, Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 RC1, which will be shortly be the standard firm platform.

The museum is preparing a computerized inventory of its collection. This requires a complex computer system. The rich resources of the museum, over 150,000 objects, demand elaboration and recording in electronic form. Up until now, the IT infrastructure in the museum, consisted of one very slow server. It was necessary to replace it with a new one. Using Windows Server® 2008 guaranteed easy remote access and application integration with MONA software. MONA is responsible for gathering full museum collection information. All users of the network can now use a printer mapping service and local terminal keyboard, which considerably simplify infrastructure administration and system service.

During almost 40 years of operation PRESS-SERVICE collected a unique archive, almost 8 million archived and computerized records of over 100,000 individuals in politics, economics, society and culture. The collection of information is based on a network of national co-operators working with VPN channels, but a lack of quality connections impairs comfort of work. The search for potential solutions, convinced the firm to test new version of the server platform Microsoft® Windows Server 2008 RC1. Tests of Server 2008 RC1 allowed PRESS-SERVICE to ensure that the company found the proper platform containing key functions and with a competitive cost.

The company started recently to plan the installation of a new network structure with a corporate character. It was most important to guarantee, in the new creative system, stable work for two dedicated applications, which are accessed by workers in different companies in the group. The main purpose of installation was to make accessible a concrete application available on the corporate network to remote users. The terminal technology of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 was used and was the basis of the firm's structure, which consists of Terminal Services Web Access, Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Session Broker. The firm evaluated this technology as the most advantageous on the market.

Mobile capabilities like booking a hotel, restaurant, or taxi while on the go are essential for travel and entertainment (T&E) management solutions. Concur’s T&E solutions are available to its millions of business travelers through its mobile application powered by Windows® Mobile®. To diminish complexity for Concur and its customers’ IT departments, Concur Mobile was developed, and is managed with a rapid mobile application platform available from Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Pyxis Mobile.

Invensys Operations Management is out to make it easier and less expensive for small electric utilities in the United States to participate in smart grid, an energy modernization program supported by the U.S. government. Utilities need a high-performance, low-cost way to distribute real-time pricing data to customers so that they can make smarter consumption decisions. Invensys responded by creating a smart grid communications platform using The Service Bus and Access Control Service, both part of the Windows Azure™ platform. The resulting platform enables utilities to immediately embrace smart grid services at affordable prices. Such services will help utility customers save money by using energy more wisely. Invensys developed its pilot solution in just three months as part of a plan to realize increased revenues from selling smart grid–compliant products and services.

Responding to high numbers of deaths at sea in the fishing industry, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution contracted Active Web Solutions (AWS) to create an automated sea-safety application. AWS developed a location-based service infrastructure, code-named GeoPoint, which transmits position data to a centralized tracking and alerting system. AWS used GeoPoint to build MOB Guardian, a search-and-rescue application for fishing vessels. To extend GeoPoint to more scenarios, AWS migrated it to the Windows Azure™ platform. By hosting GeoPoint in the “cloud,” in Microsoft® data centers, AWS attained massive scalability, richer functionality, and lower infrastructure costs. AWS was able to quickly convert its application to a hosted service and avoid the expense of building and managing a data center. AWS also has the flexibility and scalability to offer GeoPoint to many more markets.

Cast Iron Systems specializes in helping organizations connect Internet-hosted (cloud) applications with on-premises applications. When Microsoft announced the Windows Azure™ platform, Cast Iron set out to enhance its Cast Iron Integration Solution with Windows Azure platform connectivity. Using the Service Bus and Access Control Service, Cast Iron created the needed connectors in just one day. Faster time-to-market enabled Cast Iron to supply a timely solution to an urgent need. Its enhanced product can help customers host applications off-premises without concerns about interoperability with on-premises data. With the Cast Iron Integration Solution, companies can now use application data wherever it resides and scale workloads without worrying about overloading the communications infrastructure.