Microsoft Receives Frost & Sullivan's 2005 Enterprise Infrastructure Product of the Year Award

Business Wire, Jan 17, 2005

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Frost & Sullivan presented Microsoft Inc. with the 2005 Enterprise Infrastructure Product of the Year Award for the introduction of the Microsoft Speech Server 2004 recently at its Excellence in Information & Communications Technologies Awards Banquet.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product of the Year is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within their industry. Microsoft has shown innovation by launching the Speech Server product, bringing affordable speech solutions to market.

"The Microsoft Speech Server 2004 launch has been recognized by the entire speech industry as one of the most significant events of the year," said Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Elka Popova. "This is a tremendous recognition given the strong competition and highly innovative spirit in this emerging market."

Microsoft has joined the rapidly evolving speech technology and solution market, and the company intends to use Speech Server to transform the value proposition of speech technologies and solutions by turning speech into a mainstream user interface.

"Until recently, only few Fortune 500 companies with large telecommunications budgets could afford to deploy advanced speech solutions because of their complexity and high cost," stated Popova.

Microsoft Speech Server 2004 combines web technologies, speech processing services and telephony capabilities in a single platform, which makes it fairly unique in this marketplace. Many businesses already using Microsoft platforms and familiar with Microsoft development tools can conveniently leverage existing web applications in developing speech applications using Speech Server.

"Speech Server represents a cost-efficient solution for large enterprises as well as small and medium-sized businesses, especially those already using Windows 2003 and Visual Studio.NET 2003 development tools," Popova adds.

Microsoft continues improving and enhancing the Microsoft Speech Server, part of the Windows Server System family of products, already one of the most integrated, flexible and cost-effective speech platforms available for large-scale and midsize companies, including many retailers, interested in reaping the significant business value of speech technology through programs like Microsoft's Smarter Retailing Initiative. Microsoft recently introduced new prepackaged reporting and analysis tools that enable both efficient tuning and business process monitoring. Microsoft has just finalized a version of the Speech Server for a hosted environment and it is currently working on the next version of the Speech Server.

Microsoft is perfectly positioned to have the greatest impact on the speech technology and solution marketplace since the introduction of speech technologies. With its substantial marketing and sales resources, large customer base and strong technology expertise it will be able to successfully promote its product, increase customer awareness and drive the growth of the entire market.

Held in Scottsdale, Frost & Sullivan's 2005 Excellence in Information & Communications Technologies Awards Banquet honors world-class companies for outstanding performance and achievements in the information & communications technologies markets. An annual event, the banquet recognizes the quality and merit of distinguished individuals and companies.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device. For more information on Microsoft Speech Server 2004, and its applications visit http://www.microsoft.com/speech/frsul.> About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company founded in 1961, partners with clients to create value through innovative growth strategies. The foundation of this partnership approach is our Growth Partnership Services platform, whereby we provide industry research, marketing strategies, consulting, and training to our clients to help grow their business. A key benefit that Frost & Sullivan brings to its clients is a global perspective on a broad range of industries, markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. With a client list that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, as well as the investment community, Frost & Sullivan has evolved into one of the premier growth consulting companies in the world. For more information, visit www.frost.com.