IEC Council and Microsoft Work Together to Deliver Real-World Interoperability Solutions

Industry and government leaders from the Interoperability Executive Customer Council (IEC Council) recently came together to collaborate on the common issues customers face today in their heterogeneous environments and develop a plan to resolve them. The council, made up of CIO’s and CTO’s from among Microsoft’s largest commercial and public sector customers, meets twice a year on the Redmond campus to review progress of joint workstreams and to discuss the impact of interoperability on their organizations and offer guidance as to how Microsoft can help them address key issues.

Microsoft announced the formation of the council in June 2006 to address the need for software and hardware technologies from multiple vendors to work better together, and advise Microsoft on the steps that it and other vendors should take to address the most important interoperability issues today and going forward.

The council features more than 40 global members from governments and corporations representing a cross-section of industries including insurance, banking, financial services, transportation, travel, consulting, consumer products, retail and manufacturing bodies.

In an interview with Bob Muglia, executive sponsor for the IEC Council and president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, he explains how the group’s ongoing work is helping Microsoft and other industry leaders deliver innovative, interoperable technologies that meet the requirements of customers and the demands of the market. “It’s been an amazing couple of years that we’ve been working with the council. I think one of the key accomplishments very clearly is just creating an environment of trust where we can work with the council members and the people within their corporations and understand their needs and work to really influence our products.”

“Customers consistently identify interoperability as a critical factor when choosing a technology solution, making it a top priority for Microsoft to design software and solutions that will seamlessly connect to other platforms, applications and data,” said Bob Muglia. “I am seeing strong progress from our engagement with other vendors from the work streams at the IEC Council. We are getting real work done to improve our solutions and their relationship to other technologies in the workplace.”

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