Microsoft and Siebel Systems Form Historic Strategic Alliance to Transform Enterprise Computing

Business Wire, Oct 21, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2002

Industry Leaders to Deliver Breakthrough Application Integration,

New Standards Of Productivity and Unprecedented

Business Value Through Web Services

Microsoft Corp. and Siebel Systems Inc. today announced a multiyear global strategic alliance to deliver the first enterprise solutions that fully exploit Web Services to meet the demands of today's enterprises. The alliance includes collaborative development, demand creation, global sales and integrated support for enterprise customers. Through the combination of Siebel Systems' proven sales, marketing, and service applications and business processes based on industry-specific best practices and the groundbreaking Web services technology of Microsoft(R) .NET, the alliance will deliver the most efficient and cost-effective application integration ever as well as raise user productivity and decision-making to new levels. The joint solution will set the new standard for the economics of enterprise application deployment, integration and support with the lowest total cost of ownership.

"Enterprise applications are shifting to industry-specific business processes and best practices exposed through Web services," said Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman and CEO of Siebel Systems. "By leveraging the unrivaled functionality of Siebel eBusiness Applications and the advanced capabilities of Microsoft .NET, the joint Siebel-Microsoft solution enables organizations to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy the best business solutions at the lowest total cost of ownership."

"Microsoft and Siebel Systems share a common vision for how enterprise applications should evolve to meet the demands of the marketplace," said Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect at Microsoft. "Siebel Systems' market-leading expertise in sales, marketing, service best practices and business processes, combined with the power of Microsoft .NET, will help enterprises react to business change and realize greater value from their technology investments."

Dramatic Expansion of Relationship

The alliance is a major expansion of the long-standing relationship between the two companies that today helps hundreds of the world's largest organizations manage their customer relationships. Siebel Systems' market-leading enterprise sales, marketing and service applications will be fully optimized for Microsoft .NET, and integrated product road maps will help ensure compatible and harmonized product releases. Working together in joint development laboratories in both Redmond, Wash., and San Mateo, Calif., Siebel Systems' and Microsoft's engineering teams will fully benchmark test, preoptimize and cross-certify Siebel applications with Microsoft platform software to maximize performance, scalability, reliability and security. Further, Siebel Systems will use Visual Studio(R) .NET as its primary development toolset.

For the first time, the two companies are providing a single point of interaction for joint customers across sales, marketing and customer support. With a multimillion-dollar marketing investment by both companies, the far-reaching go-to-market strategy includes worldwide collaborative selling and a comprehensive set of integrated services and resources to provide expert assistance throughout the entire customer life cycle, from product evaluation and selection to installation, deployment and ongoing maintenance.

Track Record of Customer Success

"Christie's has standardized on Siebel 7, enabling us to support multichannel interactions between our fine art specialists, our business development organization and our global customer base," said Steve Russell, Chief Information Officer at Christie's Inc. "We have also standardized on Microsoft's strategic platform technologies, including Microsoft Commerce Server, Windows(R) client and server operating systems, Microsoft SQL Server(TM) and Microsoft BizTalk(R) Server for application integration. We are confident that the global strategic alliance between Siebel Systems and Microsoft will allow Christie's to continue to provide unrivaled customer service at an even lower cost than we do today."

Seizing the Web Services Opportunity

The new XML-based Web Services model for connecting different systems is a catalyst for a new generation of business applications that directly address today's most pressing enterprise needs. As customers seek to simplify and speed integration, unlock more value from new and existing systems, and harness technology to streamline business processes, Web services provide a path to advance the way enterprise applications are designed and used. The Siebel-Microsoft alliance represents the first major step in turning this vision into reality for enterprise applications. Microsoft and Siebel Systems are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the Web Services revolution and deliver the first enterprise applications that fully capitalize on the standards-based interoperability of Web services.