REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 1, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that its next service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will be released in December 2012. This new service update comes on the heels of continued success that the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business is experiencing in the market, as it completes its 33rd consecutive quarter* of double-digit revenue growth and closes the gap on its 3 millionth seat.

Delivering on the Microsoft Dynamics commitment to rapidly innovate, and help businesses attract, win and retain customers through solutions that delight users and proactively help them do business, the next service update will reimagine the way sales, customer service and marketing professionals work with CRM. Moving away from the traditional data-centric approach, this service update will add new experiences that simply and visually guide users through their business processes. New application capabilities in this service update also include pre-defined best-practice sales and service business process definitions, which are highly configurable and will accelerate time-to-value for organizations; deeper connection to Yammer and Skype; embedded Bing maps; Microsoft Office 2013 compatibility; and cross-browser support enabling new levels of communications and collaboration for customers.

“This release, the first in a planned set of rapid innovation, puts us in a position to redefine user experiences for business professionals,” said Bob Stutz, corporate vice president, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “We’ve reimagined the business process and infused new communication and collaboration capabilities powered by Skype and Yammer. We continue to help sales and customer service professionals drive new levels of productivity on the browser of their choice, and across a wide range of devices.”

Enriched Business Process Definitions and Reimagined User Experiences

Microsoft is reinventing the way people work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM — whether they are on the road, at home or in the office. The service update will introduce new role-specific user experiences that guide sales and service professionals through pre-defined lead, opportunity and case management processes. The new user experiences will offer customers guidance and suggestions that can easily be tailored to a person’s specific role to drive maximum productivity. The service update will also add new business process definitions to track and manage leads, opportunities, contacts and accounts, making it simpler for people to understand their customer, and be able to better connect and collaborate with each other.

In addition, prospect and customer addresses will be displayed on embedded Bing maps as part of the new user experiences. Microsoft also remains committed to driving productivity for users of Microsoft Outlook and will provide support for customers who invest in the upcoming Microsoft Office 2013 release.

New Enterprise Social Collaboration and Communication Strength

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is delivering next-generation business collaboration and communication, with solutions powered by Yammer and Skype. Using Yammer, Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can collaborate with colleagues inside their organization or with customers, partners and other stakeholders. Yammer fosters simpler information sharing around customers, business processes and key business documents — all through social networking capabilities. Yammer marks a significant step forward in providing customers with the ability to project CRM information, activities and insights across their organization.

Skype capabilities connected to Microsoft Dynamics CRM address an organization’s need for direct interactions with customers and partners to drive new levels of productivity. With Skype, users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM can now initiate voice and video communications directly from Microsoft Dynamics CRM, enabling businesses to open communication channels and connect with individuals inside or outside of their organization.

Expanding Browser and Device Strategy With Support for Windows 8 and Apple iOS

To deliver value to the broadest range of organizations, the December 2012 service update expands browser support to include Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome running on Windows-based PCs, and Firefox and Apple Safari running on Macintosh desktop computers. Safari support will also be provided for Apple iPad to deliver a rich experience for sales users, which enables them to manage their customers, accounts and opportunities on the go.

To help customers access Microsoft Dynamics CRM virtually anywhere, Microsoft previewed a Windows 8-based application, which will deliver a unique experience for managing sales processes by providing customers with seamless and intuitive access to key information. This new Windows 8 Mobile Experience is planned to be available in the mid-2013 timeframe.

New Extensibility Options and Expanded Support for Compliance Standards

Enabling customers with increased flexibility for their Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployment, the December 2012 service update will add new cloud extensibility options, including support for custom Microsoft .NET Workflow Services and new bulk data APIs that will make it easier for customers to load and modify large datasets.

Microsoft will continue its commitment to trustworthy computing with the addition of support for the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 140-2).

Stepping Forward in the Marketing Automation Space

To help marketers meet industry demand to drive overall strategy and execution of customer interactions across multiple channels, and to measure ROI on those interactions, Microsoft also recently announced the acquisition of MarketingPilot. More information on the acquisition of MarketingPilot can be read in a blog post by Bob Stutz at http://bit.ly/TIGb9T.

Further Information

More definitive information on the new capabilities in the December 2012 service update is provided in the release preview guide, which can be downloaded at http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/polaris. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM team can be followed on Twitter at @MSDynamicsCRM and by using the hashtag #MSDYNCRM.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics solutions empower your people to be more productive and your systems to last longer and scale as your business grows, while enabling you to derive the insights necessary to respond quickly in an ever-changing world of business.

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.

* As of Q1 Microsoft fiscal year 2013.

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.

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REDMOND, Wash., and ROCKVILLE, Md. — Oct. 31, 2012 — Lockheed Martin and Microsoft Corp. received a $9.8 million contract to migrate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Microsoft Office 365, a cloud-based collaboration and communication service. This transition will improve EPA employees’ access to communications and mobility tools and will offer the EPA significant cost savings by reducing the agency’s energy footprint. The new system is expected to save the agency approximately $12 million over the four-year contract period.

“EPA and Lockheed Martin have a long and productive relationship. I am excited to have them assist us in transforming the way our employees work and collaborate with one another,” said Malcolm Jackson, assistant administrator for the Environmental Information and chief information officer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Under the terms of the contract, approximately 25,000 EPA employees will be transitioned to Office 365 for Government, a new multitenant service that stores U.S. government data in a segregated community cloud and includes email, calendars, scheduling and collaboration tools for internal and external use. Lockheed Martin will manage the migration and provide engineering and ongoing integration services. The primary email migration will be completed in early 2013.

“Lockheed Martin has supported the IT needs of the EPA for more than 35 years,” said Frank Armijo, vice president of Lockheed Martin Energy Solutions. “By providing cloud-based tools that facilitate collaboration, communication and cost savings across the agency, our team is dedicated to the EPA’s mission.”

Lockheed Martin has several cloud services such as the proven Solutions as a Service (SolaSTM) secure cloud delivery innovation, which combines domain expertise, proven processes and smart technology. The corporation began its investment in cloud solution development in early 2008, with its first cloud implementation in early 2009. Since then, Lockheed Martin has been on the front lines of the cloud evolution, developing innovation centers, flexible cloud computing solutions and alliances with partners to provide the most comprehensive solutions to customers.

“The EPA will continue to lead the pack on environmental stewardship, and moving an IT environment to the cloud is a natural part of that,” said Greg Myers, vice president of Microsoft Federal. “There is tremendous potential in the cloud, not only for transforming the way government employees work, but also for helping agencies meet their environmental and energy efficiency goals. Microsoft cloud services are backed by the latest innovations in datacenter design and energy efficiency, providing agencies with a unique opportunity to help reduce their energy consumption, generate cost savings, and reduce the environmental impact of their overall technology footprint.”

Microsoft delivers a variety of technologies that meet the unique needs of government agencies and their missions. These include private, public and government community cloud offerings, as well as on premises solutions and hybrid architectures. The EPA joins a growing list of government agencies that have chosen to embrace cloud computing with Microsoft, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the state of California, the Defense Information Systems Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which stands as the single largest U.S. government cloud deployment to date.

Lockheed Martin Energy Solutions provides comprehensive services to utility and commercial customers. The corporation has eight federal, state and local agencies, and is part of the top 10 largest utilities corporation’s Information Systems & Global Solutions-Civil business. IS&GS-Civil is responsible for a wide array of IT systems and technical services in the United States to run areas such as energy efficiency programs and provide smart grid, healthcare, transportation, information and cybersecurity solutions, citizen protection and space exploration.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 120,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation’s net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

For additional information, visit their website http://www.lockheedmartin.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.