REDMOND, Wash. — May 20, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the winners and finalists of the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards 2013. The annual awards honor Microsoft partners for delivering innovative solutions during the past year that directly address customer challenges. Award winners and finalists, chosen from global nominations, will be recognized at the 2013 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, the company’s premier annual event for industry partners, July 7–11 in Houston.

This year, there were 44 awards that celebrated each core partner competency, including cloud technology, Windows 8, and Microsoft Office and SharePoint applications, as well as entrepreneurial spirit, citizenship and sales excellence. More than 3,000 entries were collected from more than 100 countries; the award finalists and winners were selected from nominations based on their commitment to customers, their solutions’ market impact and exemplary use of Microsoft technologies.

“The 2013 Partner of the Year Award winners and finalists represent some of the best and brightest our ecosystem has to offer,” said Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft. “We applaud each of our partners for demonstrating exceptional dedication in working to solve the most pressing technology challenges facing our mutual customers today. Congratulations to each award winner on this recognition.”

Categories, winners and finalists appear below. A complete list, including the 95 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award winners for 2013, is available at http://www.digitalwpc.com/Awards/Pages/Home.aspx.

Office/SharePoint App Developer Partner of the Year

• Winner: Dell Software Inc.

• Finalist: Adlib

• Finalist: AvePoint

• Finalist: Nintex

Windows 8 App Developer Partner of the Year

• Winner: Posh Consulting

• Finalist: Dell Inc.

• Finalist: Laserbiomed s.r.l.

• Finalist: Sparked

Humanitarian Response Citizenship

• Winner: Ignify

• Finalist: Systemgroup Consulting Inc.

Innovative Technology for Good Citizenship

• Winner: RBA

• Finalist: Winvision

YouthSpark Citizenship

• Winner: Dell Inc.

• Finalist: CHH Enterprises Inc. (d/b/a New Signature)

Cloud Partner of the Year

• Winner: Solidsoft

• Finalist: Nextscape

• Finalist: SADA Systems

• Finalist: Cloudbearing

Cloud Partner of the Year — Enterprise Customers

• Winner: Object Consulting

• Finalist: Online Services Corp.

• Finalist: Brasoftware

• Finalist: Vision Software S.A.

Cloud Partner of the Year — Small and Medium Business

• Winner: TechQuarters

• Finalist: ClickView

• Finalist: Allen

• Finalist: dinCloud

Start-Up Cloud Partner of the Year — Developed Markets

• Winner: SkyKick

Start-Up Cloud Partner of the Year — Emerging Markets

• Winner: ISA Technologies

• Finalist: Pris Software

• Finalist: NetSocket

• Finalist: Asteor Software Private Ltd.

Application Development Partner of the Year

• Winner: PROS

• Finalist: ICONICS

• Finalist: OneBe Inc.

• Finalist: Infusion

Application Integration Partner of the Year

• Winner: Dapasoft Inc.

• Finalist: Codit

• Finalist: Breeze

• Finalist: Neudesic

Application Lifecycle Management Partner of the Year

• Winner: Sogeti Nederland B.V.

• Finalist: Centare

• Finalist: EXTEND SOLUTIONS SA DE CV

Business Intelligence Partner of the Year

• Winner: Bismart Business Intelligence Specialist

• Finalist: Slalom Consulting

• Finalist: Bitscape Infotech

Data Platform Partner of the Year

• Winner: WARDY IT Solutions

• Finalist: dsp

• Finalist: Simpson Associates Information Services

• Finalist: CSK WinTechnology

Collaboration and Content Partner of the Year

• Winner: NC4 and 6th Street Consulting (joint partnership)

• Finalist: Sogeti

• Finalist: AvePoint

• Finalist: Comperio

Communications Partner of the Year

• Winner: Dimension Data

• Finalist: Unify Square

• Finalist: Jabra

• Finalist: Hewlett-Packard

Messaging Partner of the Year

• Winner: Sogeti

• Finalist: Binary Tree

• Finalist: Processor Informatica SA

Project and Portfolio Management Partner of the Year

• Winner: UMT Consulting Group LLC

• Finalist: Nintex

• Finalist: Campana & Schott

• Finalist: Projility

Devices and Deployment Partner of the Year

• Winner: Data#3 Ltd.

• Finalist: CompuCom Systems Inc.

• Finalist: Accenture/Avanade

• Finalist: Sogeti

Identity and Access Partner of the Year

• Winner: Oxford Computer Group

• Finalist: Itergy

Management and Virtualization Partner of the Year

• Winner: HP

• Finalist: OCSL

• Finalist: Dimension Data

Server Platform Partner of the Year

• Winner: NetApp

• Finalist: Outsourcery Ltd.

• Finalist: CDW

• Finalist: DataCore Software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Partner of the Year

• Winner: PowerObjects

• Finalist: CRM Partners

• Finalist: Customer Effective

• Finalist: Navantis

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Partner of the Year

• Winner: eBECS

• Finalist: GMCS

• Finalist: Hitachi Solutions America Ltd.

• Finalist: Tribridge

Digital Marketing Partner of the Year

• Winner: Advance Digital

• Finalist: SiteWit

• Finalist: EXTEND SOLUTIONS SA DE CV

Distributor Partner of the Year

• Winner: Daiwabo Information System Co. Ltd.

• Finalist: Westcoast

• Finalist: ALSO A/S

Hosting Partner of the Year

• Winner: SherWeb Inc.

• Finalist: Intermedia

• Finalist: Global Micro

Learning Partner of the Year

• Winner: Global Knowledge

• Finalist: QA Ltd.

• Finalist: NetCom Learning

• Finalist: New Horizons Computer Learning Centers

Mobility Partner of the Year

• Winner: Accenture/Avanade

• Finalist: Blink Systems Assessoria e Informática Ltda

• Finalist: SiEBEN

OEM Hardware Partner of the Year

• Winner: THIRDWAVE Corp.

• Finalist: Avangard LLC

• Finalist: iRU

• Finalist: iBUYPOWER

Software Asset Management (SAM) Partner of the Year

• Winner: Crayon AS

• Finalist: Atea Sverige AB

• Finalist: Servicios Especializados en Recursos Informáticos SA de CV

Volume Licensing Partner of the Year

• Winner: Zones Inc.

• Finalist: SoftwareONE US

• Finalist: SHI International Corp.

• Finalist: Softcat Ltd.

Midmarket Solution Provider Partner of the Year

• Winner: AXXON CONSULTING

• Finalist: Quadrasystems.net (India) Private Limited

• Finalist: Assistance Software

• Finalist: OOO “Bissnes-Expert”

Small Business Partner of the Year

• Winner: Kinectics Group

• Finalist: Computer Solutions East

• Finalist: eMazzanti Technologies

• Finalist: Exacto IT Solutions

Microsoft Dynamics Industry Partner of the Year

• Winner: mcaConnect

• Finalist: V.R.P. Veri Raporlama Programlama Bilisim Yazilim ve Danismanlik Hizmetleri Ticaret A.S.

• Finalist: INFOMA Software Consulting GmbH

• Finalist: HSO International

Microsoft Dynamics Cloud Partner of the Year

• Winner: eSavvy

• Finalist: SMB Suite

• Finalist: Tribridge

Public Sector Partner of the Year – Education

• Winner: DynTek Services Inc.

• Finalist: Playware Studios Asia

• Finalist: Rhino Systems

• Finalist: Corinth Investment

Public Sector Partner of the Year — Government

• Winner: Software Innovation

• Finalist: NetApp

• Finalist: IEG4 Limited

• Finalist: The Birchman Group

Public Sector Partner of the Year — Health

• Winner: IN2

• Finalist: InterKnowlogy LLC

• Finalist: Avanade

Public Sector Partner of the Year — Public Safety/National Security

• Winner: Eurostep Group AB

• Finalist: Intergen

• Finalist: AvePoint

• Finalist: Forensic Advantage

Sales Specialist Partner Individual of the Year

• Winner: Mari Morimoto, FUJISOFT Inc.

• Finalist: Geno Cenci, ePlus Technology Inc.

• Finalist: Mark Seeley, Intellinet

• Finalist: Varun Abbi, Comparex India Pvt Ltd.

Pre-Sales Specialist Partner Individual of the Year

• Winner: Mark AuCoin, Navantis

• Finalist: Rand Morimoto, Convergent Computing (CCO)

• Finalist: Chris Campbell, BlueGranite

• Finalist: Masaru Takano, NetApp

Alliance Partner of the Year

• Winner: Accenture/Avanade

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.digitalwpc.com and on the Partner Network home page at http://microsoftpartnernetwork.com.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

NEW YORK — May 20, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. and Major League Soccer (MLS) today announced a multiyear agreement to work together to bring MLS fans the best and fastest soccer content through the power of Windows 8. The announcement took place yesterday at the LA Galaxy versus New York Red Bulls game at Red Bull Arena, where the two companies showcased a new and improved MLS app and previewed the new in-stadium fan experiences powered by Windows 8.

As part of MLS’ initiative to be known as “the smartest league,” the improved app for Windows 8 will feature exclusive content and this season’s schedule, standings, highlights, play-by-play, roster lineups, game stats, goals, cards and substitutions. In addition, with the Windows 8 Live Tiles, fans will be able to customize their experiences to focus on their favorite club news. Throughout the course of the agreement, Windows 8 and MLS will continue to innovate to create cutting-edge experiences for soccer fans in the stadium and online.

“MLS supporters are young and active, and technology plays a central role in their lives,” said Kathy Carter, president of Soccer United Marketing, MLS’ commercial arm. “This new partnership with Windows 8 will allow MLS fans to interact with best-in-class software, new devices and apps that will super-serve their fandom. This exciting partnership is another step in the process of becoming the world’s smartest soccer league.”

Fans can also look forward to trying out Windows 8 on the Microsoft Surface tablet in-stadium at more than 40 games throughout the season.

“Partnering with MLS, we are bringing the best technology experience through Windows 8 to players, coaches and fans across the league to deliver unique and immersive soccer experiences,” said Kathleen Hall, general manager, Windows Marketing. “As technology and sports continue to intersect, we look forward to continuing to provide innovative interactions for fans whether in the stadium or at home through Windows 8.”

About Major League Soccer

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. MLS features many stars from the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Major League Soccer’s 18th season features 19 clubs, each playing 34 regular-season matches. Those clubs include the Chicago Fire; Chivas USA; Colorado Rapids; Columbus Crew; D.C. United; FC Dallas; Houston Dynamo; 2012 MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy; Montreal Impact; New York Red Bulls; New England Revolution; Philadelphia Union; Portland Timbers; Real Salt Lake; San Jose Earthquakes; Seattle Sounders FC; Sporting Kansas City; Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. For more information about MLS, log on to the league’s official website at http://www.mlssoccer.com/.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MADRID — May 16, 2013 — Telefónica, a leading provider of integrated communication solutions, will deploy Microsoft Office 365 and Yammer across its operating businesses to employees worldwide. These technologies are part of a global IT transformation strategy led by Phil Jordan, group chief information officer at Telefónica, to drive greater simplification, agility and cost reductions, which will strengthen and enhance the company’s core digital capabilities and global footprint.

With more than 130,000 employees in 24 countries, Telefónica is enabling and transforming the employee experience related to collaboration, providing a much faster, intuitive way with a seamless digital integrated experience. Moving to Office 365 and Yammer also benefits Telefónica by allowing its people to develop new products and services for its customers and markets while spending less time on infrastructure support of collaboration services. The deployment is also expected to reduce the costs of collaboration services by up to 20 percent while supporting the company’s specific security and privacy requirements.

“Telefónica’s relationship and transformation journey with Microsoft has brought us to this very exciting milestone. Over the past 18 months, we have built very strong foundations and are now ready to move to the cloud,” said Adrian Steel, European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica. “Deploying Office 365 and Yammer is this next step in bringing our global workforce to the forefront of seamless communication and collaboration while still operating at the level of speed and execution we’re known for.”

“Companies are looking to bring people together across organizational silos and geographies to drive innovation and reduce costs,” said Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division. “Moving to the cloud with Office 365 and Yammer makes it easier and faster to collaborate regardless of location or organizational structure. Telefónica is a great example of a forward-thinking organization that understands how the cloud can power its business.”

Following a successful proof of concept carried out last year, Telefónica commenced initial deployments across Europe in April, which will later continue in Latin America. Microsoft Cloud Vantage Services will assist in delivering a complete migration to the cloud.

Steel, who oversaw the migration of 30,000 users to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite in a previous role, has seen firsthand the range of new capabilities added to Office 365. One such example is Yammer, which Telefónica is embracing for improved collaboration across geographies. In February, Microsoft announced Microsoft Translator integration within Yammer, allowing users to instantly translate Yammer conversations into their native languages.

“With operations in 24 countries spanning eight languages, we are looking forward to the ability to instantly translate conversations among our employees — a massive benefit for Telefónica,” Steel said. “By automatically converting conversations to a person’s native language, Yammer will help our people work more efficiently than ever and focus on delivering superior value to our customers. Other critical capabilities included unified communications via Microsoft Lync 2013 and cloud-based storage via SkyDrive Pro.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

About Telefónica

Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and number of customers. From this outstanding position in the industry, and with its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses as the key drivers of its growth, Telefónica has focused its strategy on becoming a leading company in the digital world. The company has a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base that amounts close to 316 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

This important release introduces support for the RAD Studio XE4 (Delphi and C++ Builder personalities).

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You're welcome to download the PostgresDAC v2.9.6 right now at: http://microolap.com/products/connectivity/postgresdac/download/ or login to your private area on our site at http://microolap.com/my/downloads/

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The first beta release of PostgreSQL 9.3, the latest version of the world's best open source database, is now available. This beta contains previews of all of the features which will be available in version 9.3, and is ready for testing by the worldwide PostgreSQL community. Please download, test, and report what you find.

Major Features

The major features available for testing in this beta include:

• Writeable Foreign Tables, enabling pushing data to other databases
• pgsql_fdw driver for federation of PostgreSQL databases
• Automatically updatable VIEWs
• MATERIALIZED VIEW declaration
• LATERAL JOINs
• Additional JSON constructor and extractor functions
• Indexed regular expression search
• Disk page checksums to detect filesystem failures

In 9.3, PostgreSQL has greatly reduced its requirement for SysV shared memory, changing to mmap(). This allows easier installation and configuration of PostgreSQL, but means that we need our users to rigorously test and ensure that no memory management issues have been introduced by the change. We also request that users spend extra time testing the improvements to Foreign Key locks.

Additional Features

Additional features included in this release are:

• Fast failover to replicas for high availability
• Streaming-only remastering of replicas
• Performance and locking improvements for Foreign Key locks
• Parallel pg_dump for faster backups
• Directories for configuration files
• pg_isready database connection checker
• COPY FREEZE for reduced IO bulk loading
• User-defined background workers for automating database tasks
• Recursive view declaration
• lock_timeout directive

For a full listing of the features in version 9.3 Beta, please see the release notes. Additional descriptions and notes on the new features are available on the 9.3 Features Wiki Page.

Test 9.3 Beta 1 Now

We depend on our community to help test the next version in order to guarantee that it is high-performance and bug-free. Please download PostgreSQL 9.3 Beta 1 and try it with your workloads and applications as soon as you can, and give feedback to the PostgreSQL developers. Features and APIs in Beta 1 will not change substantially before final release, so it is now safe to start building applications against the new features. More information on how to test and report issues

Get the PostgreSQL 9.3 Beta 1, including binaries and installers for Windows, Linux and Mac from our download page.

Full documentation of the new version is available online, and also installs with PostgreSQL.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 13, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced new organizations have selected Microsoft Office 365 for improved communication and collaboration after having deployed or piloted Google Apps. The organizations include Sensia Hälsovård AB, SEPCOIII, and Arysta LifeScience.

These companies join other recently announced customers, such as Caltex Australia, FHI 360, and Santa Clara County, which chose Office 365 for its enterprise-class capabilities, compliance, security and privacy features, all delivered in a cloud service with a 99.9 percent financially backed uptime guarantee from Microsoft.

“Businesses use technology to be competitive and meet the needs of their customers, which is why they can’t afford to compromise on a service that was retrofitted for the enterprise,” said Michael Atalla, director of product marketing for Microsoft Office 365. “With Office 365, Microsoft has combined the familiarity of Office with the capabilities businesses need, delivered as a cloud service they can trust.”

Arysta LifeScience is one of the largest privately owned agrochemical companies in the world, with sales and services in more than 125 countries. In attempting to connect 34 different email environments, Arysta initially opted for Google Apps but quickly found employees were unhappy with the experience — they couldn’t share calendars and had limited offline capabilities — so Arysta switched to Office 365. With Office 365, employees can now integrate email and shared calendars and use IM and webconferencing to connect with colleagues around the world while they are on the road or working from home.

“Google Apps was difficult to use and lacked the capabilities our employees had grown accustomed to in Office,” said Dustin Collins, global head of IT infrastructure, Arysta LifeScience. “With Office 365 we’re able to interact and engage with each other more, allowing us to efficiently and quickly respond to new opportunities. As a result, we’re a more agile, competitive organization.”

Robust certification and standards

Office 365 offers the most robust set of certifications and standards options of any major cloud-based productivity service, and it is the first and only major cloud productivity service to address the rigors of the federal government’s HIPAA requirements. Office 365 is compliant with world-class industry standards, including ISO 27001, EU model clauses and Federal Information Security Management Act. Microsoft is committed to working with its customers to meet their unique security, compliance and privacy needs, including those that must meet Criminal Justice Information Security.

Based in Durham, N.C., FHI 360 is a global nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. It also switched from Google Apps to Office 365 because it met the organization’s security and privacy requirements.

“As a nonprofit organization, we work on educational and public health issues and must comply with privacy regulations related to the U.S. federal government,” said Douglas Wilkins, director of IT infrastructure at FHI 360. “Not only did Office 365 have privacy features in line with our requirements, but we know where our data is stored — it’s essential for us to have control and set parameters on who views it. That was not possible with Google.”

Freedom of choice

In today’s business environment, many organizations require the flexibility to enable employees to work anytime, anywhere across devices and platforms. With Office 365, employees can sign in from virtually any device, and their documents and personalized settings roam with them, allowing them to quickly pick up right where they left off. With more than 4,000 employees spread across multiple countries, FHI 360 can easily connect and share best practices and improve services with Office 365 while being more strategic with spending. The organization expects to save approximately US$20,000 annually by utilizing IM and webconferencing capabilities in Office 365. Unlike Google Apps, Office 365 enabled FHI 360 to move to the cloud on its own terms by supporting both on-premises and cloud deployments in its environment.

“Our global work environment sometimes requires us to work in countries where cloud services aren’t yet available or feasible because broadband connections are limited,” Wilkins said. “With Google, we had to be all in or nothing at all. Having the flexibility to make the deployment choices that were right for our business means we can consolidate systems onto the same platform regardless of whether we’re using the cloud or an in-house server.”

Additional new Microsoft Office 365 customers

• Arysta LifeScience. Arysta LifeScience is an agrochemical company spread across more than 125 countries and employing 3,400 people. Arysta LifeScience wanted to standardize its email platforms on a cloud-based email service and initially chose Google Apps for Business. However, Google Apps was difficult to use and lacked the capabilities its employees had grown accustomed to in Office. Arysta LifeScience introduced Office 365 to its employees and found immediate value — the company is no longer a collection of disparate entities in different countries. It is a globally connected organization where employees can instantly find and communicate with one another.

• SEPCOIII. Based in Qingdao, China, SEPCOIII employs 5,800 people and designs and builds power plants around the world. The company wanted a single solution that employees could use to communicate and collaborate with other employees, partners and customers around the world. Staff had used Gmail but found it unreliable, while most found the calendar feature cumbersome and were not even using it. Because Gmail provided only limited offline functionality, it was difficult for employees to work remotely. With Office 365, SEPCOIII has a dependable and robust cloud-based solution that significantly reduces costs and boosts employee productivity.

• Sensia Hälsovård AB. Healthcare provider Sensia Hälsovård AB needed a single communication and collaboration platform to accommodate its rapid growth. Approximately 30 percent of its employees had been using Gmail, but found it cumbersome, unintuitive and when employees needed support, it was difficult for them to obtain it. The company eventually chose Office 365 and found it was a more professional service as built-in scalability is crucial to a rapidly growing company.

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom. More information on Office Web Apps is available here, and more information about Office 365 is here and here.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today reported revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2014, ended April 28, 2013, of $954.7 million, down 13.7 percent from $1.11 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013