REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 25, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has expanded on a global Enterprise Agreement with a new Memorandum of Understanding to offer Microsoft Office 365 and other products as the standard communications and collaboration platform for its National Societies worldwide, helping provide greater licensing flexibility. The signing has the potential to serve more than 1 million volunteers and staff members in the network.

Through this renewed and expanded partnership with Microsoft, the IFRC is aiming to help these National Societies grow stronger by more strategically using technology advances such as cloud services, while making the best use of the resources and investments made by donors. Already two of the estimated 80 early-qualifying National Societies — in Bangladesh and Namibia — have deployed Office 365, and many more are expected to follow close behind.

“The success we saw from real-world use of Office 365 in our American and Danish Red Cross Societies helped pave the way to this broader adoption,” said Edward Happ, Global Chief Information Officer, IFRC. “And now, for the first time in our history, all of our National Societies will have the ability to free up IT spending and time to focus more of their resources on the activities that are ultimately saving lives.”

Prior to signing the agreement for Office 365, the IFRC was actively seeking a solution to address its internal digital divide and provide smaller National Societies with access to the same tools, same technologies and same modern processes that the larger National Societies have. Based on its fundamental principle of universality, providing equal access to entirely new ways of working regardless of location ensures the National Societies become more efficient, participate more fully in the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, work more closely with their partners in the broader organization, and are better able to reach out to the vulnerable communities they serve.

“Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help create a secure framework for improved access to technology without compromising on capabilities or effectiveness,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “I am proud that our collaboration with the IFRC will generate new opportunities to achieve their goals and deliver real impact for millions of beneficiaries around the world.”

Finding a company with global deployment expertise and an understanding of how important technology is for providing on-the-ground communications and organizational tools was a critical factor in the IFRC’s decision. Now, with the support of Microsoft’s reliable cloud computing technologies and robust security features, the IFRC will be able to provide all stakeholders with a world-class technology platform no matter where they are and improve the process of delivering new programs directly to recipients.

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

About the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 mil¬lion people each year through our 187 member National Societies. Together, we act before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. We do so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions.

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.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 23, 2013 — TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) — a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. that serves as the North American racing arm for design, development and assembly of Toyota’s factory racing engines and chassis — worked with Microsoft Corp. to design a touch-enabled app for Windows 8 as the centerpiece of a new strategy to improve the performance of the Toyota teams competing in NASCAR. When drivers, crew chiefs and team engineers expressed the need for a more mobile computing platform to monitor real-time performance data, TRD answered with the Windows 8 Trackside app running on Surface Pro hardware.

During practice, drivers and crew chiefs previously had to record racing performance data with software on a laptop, or even with pencil and paper, requiring drivers to get out of their race cars to view information about the car’s performance, as well as to explain what was happening on the track.

“Microsoft is excited to work with TRD to design and architect a mobile platform on Windows 8 for Toyota’s NASCAR race teams,” said Jason Campbell, group product marketing manager at Microsoft. “The Trackside app for Windows 8 on Surface Pro allows TRD to spend more time driving and less time in the garage reviewing performance data, with a touch-based mobile tablet that can go from portable note taker to a high-performance monitor in less time than it takes to change even one tire.”

Now with the Windows 8 Trackside app and Surface Pro, the race team can efficiently capture performance data through the touch-based app and share it with the crew in real time, enabling mechanics to immediately get to work fine-tuning the race car for enhanced performance. Trackside also offers touch-enabled data that gives the crew chief and driver insight and analysis on timing and scoring data versus competitors, allowing a team to determine if the right adjustments have been made to the car or what adjustments may need to be made.

“Trackside running on Surface Pro means more time is spent on the track and less time is spent talking,” said Steve Wickham, TRD’s vice president of chassis operations. “Teams are back on the track faster, allowing them more time to determine the optimum setup for the race car. Our mission is to take advantage of the latest innovation in technology to quickly get better data — which translates into faster cars on the track.”

Since 2007, TRD has been developing racing software on the Windows platform for teams to analyze and improve performance, enabling Toyota race teams to be frequent visitors to victory lane and annually compete for series championships. TRD differentiates itself within the hypercompetitive racing business through technology innovation. Today, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard is one of the first Toyota teams in the NASCAR Nationwide Series to use the new Trackside solution.

“For Toyota teams to finish first on the track, we must also be the first to innovate our technologies behind the scenes,” said Darren Jones, group lead for software development at TRD. “We chose Windows 8 because we get enterprise-ready security and management, the familiarity of the Windows development environment, and a fully capable touch-enabled interface.”

When it came to choosing a device, TRD wanted a high-performance, lightweight, touch-enabled computer to complement the fast-paced environment at the race track. Several tablets were tested during the pilot phase, but Surface Pro was ultimately chosen because it delivered the power and performance of a laptop PC in a tablet package, as well as the hardware benefits of its unique Touch Covers and durable VaporMg chassis to protect the tablet from hazardous track environments. Surface Pro allows drivers and crew to use the device as a tablet or laptop, and its excellent screen visibility in outdoor lighting is essential when working at the race track.

“Working together with TRD and Microsoft, RAB Racing tested the Windows 8 Trackside app at the end of last season and found it to be an extremely useful tool for our organization,” said Robbie Benton, owner, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard. “This year with a rookie driver Alex Bowman, we need to get him as much time as possible on the race track to make sure we prepare good race cars for him. The Trackside app will help us accomplish both of those goals, and help our race team be better.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom. For press, more information on how TRD and other businesses are implementing Windows 8 is available via SkyDrive: http://sdrv.ms/132zedi. For businesses, more information about Windows 8 planning and deployment is available at the Windows 8 Enterprise resource site: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/default.aspx.

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) will present at the following upcoming conferences and events for the financial community:

The PyPgDay committee has selected the speakers and talks for PyPgDay 2013. We have an awesome program for you, including talks about monitoring, scaling, performance, Python application development, Django and mobile applications, and speakers from Disqus, Apsalar, VMware, 2ndQuadrant and Uber. While we can't give you everything you want to know about PostgreSQL and Python in one day, we can certainly give you a lot.

You also want to register soon, because registration is already 50% full.

Check out the list of speakers on the draft schedule. We may reorder them from here, but the talks and speakers are pretty solid. We still have room for some lightning talks.

PyPgDay is presented by Disqus.

The PyPgDay Party Sponsor is Salesforce.com. The Wifi Sponsor is Heroku.com. PyPgDay is sponsored by Urban Mapping, Uber.com, TransLattice, PostgreSQL Experts, Pandora.com, File-Away.UK and Apsalar.

GTC 2013 -- NVIDIA today announced its lineup of world-class keynote speakers for the fourth-annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC), which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., March 18-21.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 21, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. and Nikon Corporation have signed a patent licensing agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for certain Nikon cameras running the Android platform. While the contents of the agreement will not be disclosed, Microsoft will receive royalties from Nikon.

“Microsoft and Nikon have a long history of collaboration, and this agreement further demonstrates the value that both companies place on responsible IP licensing,” said David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft. “Microsoft is proud to align with a leader in the digital camera industry to license Android technology for the benefit of Nikon’s customers.”

Microsoft’s Commitment to Licensing Intellectual Property

The patent agreement is another example of the important role intellectual property (IP) plays in ensuring a healthy and vibrant IT ecosystem. Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, the company has entered into more than 1,100 licensing agreements and continues to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its IP portfolio. The program was developed to open access to Microsoft’s significant R&D investments and its growing, broad patent and IP portfolio. Microsoft’s specific patent licensing program for Android device makers has resulted in signed license agreements with numerous companies including Samsung, LG, HTC, Acer and Barnes & Noble.

More information about Microsoft’s licensing programs is available at http://www.microsoft.com/iplicensing.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO — Feb. 20, 2013 — Yammer, Inc., a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network and part of the Microsoft Office Division, today announced record growth in 2012 and accelerating momentum following the Microsoft acquisition.

2012 Highlights

• Full-year 2012 sales nearly tripled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Fourth-quarter sales quadrupled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Number of paying customers increased 165 percent in 2012

• Surpassed 7 million registered users

“Yammer experienced banner growth in 2012 and grew particularly fast in the fourth quarter. Our momentum is definitely accelerating following the Microsoft acquisition,” said David Sacks, Yammer co-founder and corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Division. “The power of the freemium model and the validation that Microsoft brings to Enterprise Social Networking is helping drive mainstream adoption among leading organizations. Enterprise Social Networking is becoming the cornerstone of workplace collaboration for its ability to empower people and drive employee engagement, team collaboration and business agility.”

Record Customer Adoption

Yammer added a record 290 new paying customers in the fourth quarter, including DWF LLP, GlaxoSmithKline, Grundfos, McGladrey LLP, Reckitt Benckiser, Rio Tinto, SABMiller, T.G.I. Friday’s, Trek Bicycle Corp. and Woolworths Ltd. New customers spanned industries from financial and professional services to healthcare and pharmaceutical, including one of the largest retailers in the world and one of the largest natural gas and electric utilities companies in the United States.

Yammer Paid Customers Across Industries Include the Following:

• Nine of the largest retailers in the world

• Six of the largest food and beverage companies in the world

• Five of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world

• Four of the largest telecommunications companies in the world

• Five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world

• Four of the largest manufacturing companies in the world

• Four of the largest financial services companies in the world (Findings based on customer placement within the Forbes Global 2000)

"The Yammer experience is clearly resonating with our global workforce, and it is overtaking some of our prior investments for internal collaboration and information management,” said Scott Singer, head of Global Business Services and chief information officer of Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group headquartered in the U.K.

Rapid Product Innovation

“Our pace of development and innovation is picking up speed as part of the Microsoft Office Division,” said Adam Pisoni, Yammer co-founder and general manager of Engineering, Microsoft Office Division. “The development teams are coming together quickly, and we are leveraging existing technologies such as SkyDrive Pro and Office Web Apps to swiftly deliver greater value for customers.”

As previewed at the recent SharePoint Conference, Yammer is implementing SkyDrive Pro for file storage. In addition, Yammer is enhancing the ability to preview and edit files directly within Yammer feeds using Office Web Apps. The combination of these capabilities will dramatically enhance a user’s ability to create, collaborate, share and discover content within Yammer. These enhancements are planned for availability in summer 2013.

About Yammer

Yammer (www.yammer.com) is a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network used by more than 200,000 organizations worldwide — including 85 percent of the Fortune 500 — to foster team collaboration, empower employees, drive business agility and promote organizational connectedness. Yammer’s freemium business model lets customers see the value of Yammer before upgrading to the premium offering. Founded in 2008, Yammer is now part of the Microsoft Office Division.

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.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 20, 2013 — Today, Microsoft Corp. announced two new competitions that focus on women and female technology innovators at Microsoft Imagine Cup, the company’s global student technology competition.

The Women’s Empowerment Award was established in partnership with UN Women, the U.N. organization working to accelerate gender equality and the empowerment of women, and will be awarded to two student teams of any gender that create projects that best address issues impacting women globally. Registration also is now open for the Women’s Athletics App Challenge, in partnership with the Seattle Storm women’s basketball team, which inspires female developers, innovators and entrepreneurs to create software related to sports, health or fitness.

Teams of any gender from around the world that advance to the Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals will be eligible to enter their projects into consideration for the Women’s Empowerment Award. The first-place prize (US$12,000) and the second-place prize (US$8,000) will be awarded to the projects that best address economic inequality, access to technology and other resources, gender-based violence, leadership and political participation, or other critical women’s issues. Applicants will be judged on the potential impact their projects can have on the lives of women, including feasibility to address the target issue and the quality of the application.

“Students can be change agents; they can revolutionize the world we live in,” said Kristin Hetle, director of Strategic Partnerships of UN Women. “By harnessing the power of technology, they can bring attention to issues that women, in particular, face every day. The Women’s Empowerment Award will encourage and reward students who choose to focus their energy on creating positive change for women globally.”

The Women’s Athletics App Challenge is open for submissions from all-female teams worldwide that want to compete to code the best sports, fitness and athletics apps for an opportunity to have a private meet-and-greet with a Seattle Storm basketball player and watch a game on the Storm’s home court in Seattle. The winning team, announced this summer, will also receive a US$1,000 prize per team member.

“The Storm and Microsoft look forward to seeing the types of apps women around the world — from Canada to Kazakhstan — will build to promote healthier lifestyles, give consumers more incentive to stay active, or help people realize exercise and sports can be a great way to have fun and stay in shape at the same time,” said Karen Bryant, president and CEO, Seattle Storm.

Female participation in the Imagine Cup continues to grow steadily. Last year, nearly 20 percent of students at the Worldwide Finals were female. One of Imagine Cup’s goals is to help participants build developer skill sets, learn how to launch startup businesses, and enhance their prototypes based on the advice of mentors and judges. Imagine Cup gives women an important platform to pursue interests and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-related fields and serves as a launch pad for them to becoming developers, innovators or entrepreneurs.

For example, during Imagine Cup 2012, one all-female team from Oman created a mobile application that monitors blood bank levels and sends alerts to eligible donors via SMS when there are shortages. “Participating in Imagine Cup offered us the chance to meet other student developers and build new skills,” said Omaima Al Muraikhi from Team Grawesome, recounting her experience participating in the event. “Because of the opportunities that came through Imagine Cup, we’re now entrepreneurs working hard to create our own technology startup business, based in the Middle East.”

It’s not only all-female teams making an impact on women’s lives. The recent winner of a Microsoft Imagine Cup Grant of $50,000 from Uganda was an all-male team that created a mobile application to aid health workers as they assist expectant mothers. The algorithm analyzes fetal heart sounds to determine the fetal heart rate and the position and age of the fetus, and it securely stores the results in the cloud, ultimately improving women’s maternal health.

About UN Women

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. www.unwomen.org

About The Seattle Storm

The 2010 WNBA champion Seattle Storm is one of six independently owned teams in the WNBA, the world’s preeminent women’s professional basketball league. Established in 2000, the Storm is committed to bringing outstanding professional basketball to a diverse and rapidly growing fan base. The team aims to serve as a powerful community advocate with a focus on literacy, health and fitness and support for women and girls and youth basketball. Recognized as one of the WNBA’s most active teams in the community, the Storm is committed to serving others through partnerships and the team’s community initiatives. More information is available at StormBasketball.com.

About Microsoft Imagine Cup

This is the 11th year of Imagine Cup, part of Microsoft YouthSpark, which will be celebrated at the Worldwide Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 8–11. Students ages 16 and older are eligible to register and compete in Imagine Cup by visiting http://www.imaginecup.com. A full list of competition categories is available at http://imaginecup.com/main/compete.

About Microsoft YouthSpark

Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes Citizenship and other company programs — both new and enhanced — that empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. Find out more at http://www.microsoft.com/youthspark.

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.

NVIDIA today introduced its first fully integrated 4G LTE mobile processor, the NVIDIA® Tegra® 4i, which is significantly faster yet half the size of its nearest competitor.

NVIDIA today introduced the new GeForce® GTX™ TITAN, powered by the fastest GPU on the planet(1) and designed to unleash the world's fastest gaming PCs including personal gaming supercomputers and svelte, quiet, small form-factor PCs.