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Let the Windows Vista Children Come to Microsoft!

The Redmond company's got some extra room to spare

By: Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor | softpedia.com

Let the Windows Vista children come to Microsoft. The Redmond company is expecting them with hospitable arms, but by no means is Microsoft's invitation exclusive for Windows Vista customers, but also for those of the Office 2007 System, Exchange Server 2007 and the upcoming Window Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. The one limit associated with the Redmond company's invitation is the fact that it is addressed to corporate customers. In this context, Microsoft has announced that the Executive Briefing Center has been expanded by 20,000-square-feet at the end of a planning and construction project that span over the course of two years.

"At its core, this is an investment on behalf of customers and partners. Since it opened in 2000, the EBC has been one of our most effective ways to engage with those constituents. Customer understanding is the foundation of all we do, and the EBC supports integrated meetings tailored to the requirements of enterprise customers. We made a long-term commitment to help our customers anticipate and lead in their markets around the world, to explore new capabilities and innovation and to improve their organizations with our technologies. This expansion helps us fulfill that mission on two fronts. It enables us to increase our annual briefing capacity from 10,000 to 15,000 visitors annually," revealed Lynne Stockstad, General Manager, Enterprise Marketing.

Stockstad explained that each briefing is completely customized to tailor the customer, and that based on this, Microsoft selects experts from its internal departments to present the company's strategies. Corporate customers visiting EBC might even get the chance to be briefed by such Microsoft heavyweights as Steve Ballmer, Ray Ozzie , Simon Witts, Chris Capposela, but also other top executives. Stockstad expects several major topics to come into focus in 2008, aside from those centered on Microsoft products, including virtualization, and software + services.

"Topics range from deep dives on what products like Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Exchange Server 2008 can do for a large organization, to sharing best practices on digital marketing, to role-based productivity, etc. We have hosted thousands of dignitaries, heads of state and corporate executives. Depending on the nature of the briefing, we might offer insight into the enterprise technology roadmap, or we might focus on a facet of the customer’s business to solve a specific customer or industry pain point. Briefings with government officials may focus on intellectual property and developing a software economy in emerging markets," Stockstad added.

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