REDMOND, Wash. — June 28, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the finalists and winners of select award categories for the 2005 Microsoft^® Partner of the Year Award. The awards recognize Microsoft Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners that developed exemplary solutions for their customers during the past year. More than 1,800 entries were submitted by partners worldwide, and finalists were selected based on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to provide solutions for their customers’ needs. The winners will be honored at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2005, Microsoft’s premier annual partner event, July 8–10, 2005, in Minneapolis.

“Each year, Microsoft has the distinct pleasure of recognizing Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners that have demonstrated an impressive level of creativity in using technology to deliver excellence to their customers,” said Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft. “The finalists and award winners announced today have exceeded expectations in delivering outstanding customer service and optimization of Microsoft technologies. To have so many great entries from partners is a tremendous reflection of the amazing scope and quality of partners who are meeting customer needs by providing solutions with Microsoft technology.”

Microsoft announced the winners of the Special Initiative awards in the Winning Customer and Customer Experience categories. The Winning Customer recognizes the successful implementation of solutions on the Microsoft platform, resulting in the migration of customers to Microsoft technologies from competing technologies such as Novell Inc.’s NetWare, UNIX, Linux or others. Partners received this award by expertly developing customer solutions that exemplify the benefit of working on the Microsoft platform rather than those of other technology vendors.

The Customer Experience award recognizes the outstanding customer service partners have provided to their customers by demonstrating their understanding of customers’ needs, and honors partners’ ingenuity in developing unique and relevant approaches to customer outreach.

Microsoft Partner Program Award finalists will be honored in the following categories, each of which represents a particular business practice area or partner business model. Winners will be selected for both a Technology Innovation and a Sales and Marketing award in each category: Advanced Infrastructure Solutions; Business Intelligence Solutions; Custom Development Solutions, Information Worker; Integrated EBusiness Solutions; ISV/Software Solutions; Learning Solutions; Licensing Solutions — Software Asset Management — Delivery Solutions; Microsoft Business Solutions; Mobility Solutions, Networking Infrastructure Solutions; OEM Hardware Solutions, Security Solutions; and Small Business Solutions. In addition to announcing the finalists for each category, Microsoft selected the Specialization Excellence award winners for each category based on a partner’s demonstrated ability to deliver specific solutions within a specialized subset of Microsoft’s competency areas.

Special Initiative and Specialization Excellence award winners and finalists for each category were chosen from defined regions of the world: Canada; Asia; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Latin America; South Pacific; and the United States.

Winning Customer Award Winners

Customer Experience Award Winners

Global ISV Partner of the Year Finalists

Global Enterprise Services & Technology Partner of the Year Finalists

Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The Advanced Infrastructure Specialization Award Winners

This award recognizes partner excellence in delivering solutions including Web-based applications, internal and external portals, solutions for managing large amounts of data and translating it into business intelligence, and more efficient communications both within the enterprise and from remote sites. These are the winners:

Business Intelligence Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

Custom Development Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

Information Worker Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The Information Worker Specialization Award Winners

This award recognizes solution providers that help customers realize increased service revenues, new market opportunities and a renewed focus on high-value customer engagements via Microsoft Office System technology. These are the winners:

Integrated E-Business Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

ISV/Software Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The ISV/Software Solutions Specialization Award Winner

This award recognizes partners that develop packaged software solutions, based on Microsoft technologies, by creating robust software to meet specific customer needs and market demand. These are the winners:

Learning Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

Licensing Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The Licensing Software Asset Management Specialization Award Winners

This award recognizes partners that have developed new approaches to simplifying license acquisition, management and planning to make the process seamless, positive and effective for their customers. These are the winners:

Microsoft Business Solutions Solution Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

Mobility Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

Networking Infrastructure Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

OEM Hardware Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The OEM Hardware Solutions Specialization Award Winners

This award recognizes partners that build and promote desktop or server hardware systems preinstalled with genuine Microsoft software and that provide key support services to end-user customers, by offering leading solutions configured according to customers’ needs and supported to ensure complete customer satisfaction. These are the winners:

Security Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

The Security Solutions Specialization Award Winners

This award recognizes partners that work in tandem with Microsoft to develop superior approaches to continually updating and improving Windows^® platform security by providing exceptional security infrastructure and management to customers. These are the winners:

Small Business Solutions Finalists

Sales and Marketing Award

Technical Innovation Award

About Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference

Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference provides Microsoft’s partner community with access to key marketing and business strategies, leadership, and information regarding specific customer solutions designed to help partners succeed in the marketplace. Along with informative learning opportunities covering sales, marketing, services and technology, the Worldwide Partner Conference is an ideal setting for partners to garner valuable knowledge from their peers and from Microsoft. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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