Offering Will Target Underserved Midsize Enterprise Markets in Asia Pacific, EMEA and Latin America PARIS, April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA; NYSE: ALA) today announced a formal alliance to market a customer relationship management (CRM) and contact center solution for midsize companies with contact centers of 25 to 150 agent positions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific and Latin America. The joint solution will bring together Alcatel's OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition developed on Microsoft(R) Windows Server System(TM), Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005 and Microsoft Dynamics(TM) CRM 3.0, Microsoft's newly launched customer relationship management solution. Integrated with this offering is the Genesys Gplus Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, which enables voice interaction management for both Internet protocol (IP) and traditional circuit switched telephony and multimedia (Web, e-mail, fax, etc.). (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO ) Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will launch a series of go-to-market activities such as customer forums and partner engagement events that include co-channel development, education and training, and certification for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. "We are excited about the relationship with Alcatel and its development on the Microsoft platform," said Robert Bernard, general manager of the Global ISV Group at Microsoft. "With Microsoft's premier technologies and Alcatel's leadership in call center solutions, both companies are positioned to deliver compelling solutions that help our mutual customers lower their total cost of ownership, realize greater return on investment, increase agent productivity, and provide an enriched and more personalized customer experience across all points of contact center interactions." "This is a significant relationship for Alcatel as both companies view the midmarket as strategic to our business," said Thierry Seignol, vice president, Communications Applications for Alcatel enterprise activities. "Alcatel brings expertise in the development and implementation of advanced multimedia contact center solutions to midsize companies, while Microsoft's innovative platform technologies enable customers to build on and extend their existing IT investments to deliver breakthrough services for their customer base." Customers will benefit from the advantages of a prepackaged solution that include greater optimization between call center applications and business processes, configuration and installation processes that are simplified for faster implementation, and a significant reduction in time between the moment customers implement the contact center and their agents take their first call. "Microsoft is pleased to jointly market this compelling CRM and contact center solution, bringing together Alcatel's OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0," said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. "The combined solution ensures greater optimization and simplifies configuration and installation processes for fast implementation of plug-and-play, out-of-the-box business applications." Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is a complete customer relationship management solution that provides all the tools and capabilities needed to create and easily maintain a clear picture of customers from first contact through purchase and post-sales. With modules for sales, marketing and customer service, Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers a fast, flexible and affordable solution that drives consistent, measurable improvements in every business process, enables closer relationships with customers, and helps achieve new levels of profitability. Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be implemented and managed in on-site, hosted and hybrid environments. Alcatel OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition is designed to be immediately and intuitively operated by contact center staff, namely managers, supervisors and agents. Designed for contact centers with 20 to 150 agents, the solution provides an easy-to-use and role-based fully graphical interface -- the Visual CC -- dramatically reducing the training costs and time to customer value between implementation and the first call answered by an agent. Visual CC offers visibility and control at every stage, from design to operations through real-time, color-coded interaction and call flows. About Alcatel Enterprise Solutions With more than 500,000 customers, Alcatel is a leading provider of communication solutions to small, medium, and large enterprises, as well as to public sector institutions worldwide. Alcatel's enterprise portfolio provides business communication applications, including Unified Communications and Contact Centers, an advanced IP Telephony offering, and IP Networking products. Alcatel's enterprise solutions deliver an enhanced competitive edge to businesses of all sizes by increasing customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and operational efficiencies. About Alcatel Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com/ . About Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire business. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. NOTE: Microsoft, Windows Server System and Microsoft Dynamics are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Microsoft Corp. CONTACT: Melissa Allen, +1-425-638-7000, or , or Rapid Response Team, +1-503-443-7070, or , both of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, for Microsoft; or press, Regine Coqueran, +33-0-1-40-76-49-24, or , or Stephane Lapeyrade, HQ, +33-0-1-40-76-12-74, or , both of Alcatel, or Pete Wermter of Alcatel Enterprise Solutions, +33-0-1-55-66-73-11, or ; or investors, Pascal Bantegnie, +33-0-1-40-76-52-20, or , or Nicolas Leyssieux, +33-0-1-40-76-37-32, or , or Maria Alcon, +33-0-1-40-76-15-17, or , or Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane, +1-703-668-7016, or , all of Alcatel Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/ http://www.alcatel.com/

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