Winstar's Office.com to Become an Online Distribution Channel For Microsoft bCentral Small-Business Services
Microsoft and Winstar to Expand Joint ASP Alliance to Deliver Microsoft Applications to Customers Over Winstar's Broadband Network
REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) and Winstar Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: WCII - news) today announced they will expand their existing alliance to include a broad distribution agreement between the Microsoft® bCentral(TM) small-business service and Winstar's Office.com®, A Service From Winstar. The companies also announced the addition of new Microsoft offerings to Winstar's industry-leading application service provider (ASP) product portfolio.
(Photo: newscom.com )
As part of this expanded alliance, co-branded versions of bCentral online business productivity services will be integrated into Office.com's industry-specific content and made available to the 2.5 million Office.com small- and medium-size business users. bCentral offerings also will be distributed through additional Winstar channels, including its nationwide direct-sales organization.
The bCentral integrated suite of small-business services offered through this alliance includes the following:
-- bCentral Business Web Services, a suite of Web-based offerings
including Web-site creation and hosting, marketing tools, e-mail and
domain-name registration
-- bCentral Commerce Manager, which enables small businesses to submit
products to multiple e-marketplaces
-- bCentral Customer Manager, a contact-management service to help
businesses manage their customers and boost sales
-- bCentral Finance Manager, a Web-based business finance and accounting
solution that integrates with e-commerce and customer management
functions
``This latest expansion of our strategic alliance with Microsoft further reinforces the shared commitment by both companies to bring enhanced business applications and online services to the business marketplace,'' said William J. Rouhana, chairman and CEO of Winstar. ``In addition, by incorporating Microsoft's bCentral business application services into Office.com's integrated environment of industry-specific content and community, we increase the distribution and end-user value of each service.''
``We are pleased to be working with Winstar and Office.com to deliver Microsoft bCentral services to Office.com's 2.5 million customers,'' said Satya Nadella, vice president for bCentral at Microsoft. ``By combining bCentral's integrated application services, which are designed to automate everyday business processes, and Office.com's rich content and community features, we are delivering a comprehensive set of resources and tools to help small- and medium-size businesses run more effectively and efficiently.''
``This alliance embodies the eventual integration and realignment of the online business center and e-business services industries,'' said Kneko Burney, director and analyst, Cahners In-Stat Group. ``The combination of Office.com's reach, content and community, Winstar's broadband expertise, and Microsoft's applications prowess promises to empower users with a rich, well-integrated online work experience. This is certainly a first step in the reinvention of how small- and medium-size businesses view the Internet and use it to operate more successfully.''
In addition, Winstar and Microsoft announced they will expand their joint ASP initiatives to deliver new Microsoft applications to customers over Winstar's widely available broadband network. These new offerings will further increase the usefulness of the Winstar broadband network and allow Winstar's customers to take advantage of the wide spectrum of Microsoft products, including the following:
-- Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, which provides e-mail, messaging,
collaboration applications and workflow application design
-- Microsoft Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server, which includes
videoconferencing, audioconferencing and dataconferencing
functionalities
-- Microsoft Commerce Server 2000, which enables an electronic storefront
and commerce development environment
-- Microsoft Passport, which offers streamlined and secure Web-based
transaction authentication services
Winstar and Microsoft will promote these new offerings through their ongoing joint marketing campaign targeting Winstar's customer base.
Winstar has implemented a Microsoft-based ASP platform that includes hosting Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Microsoft Office 2000 applications and has rolled out these services through its nationwide direct-sales force. Today, Winstar provides hosted Microsoft applications to business customers throughout the nation. |
