Microsoft and NCR announce agreement to bring Integrated Data Warehousing, electronic commerce to the enterprise

Microsoft Corporation and NCR Corporation, represented in South Africa by National Data Systems, (NDS) have announced an agreement that will enable businesses to dramatically improve the way they attract and retain customers through integrated data warehousing, electronic commerce, and high-availability technologies and applications.

NCR and Microsoft will focus on delivering highly scalable and available data warehousing solutions, as well as enterprise solutions that leverage and extend the central data warehouse. Based on the tight integration of the NCR Teradata relational database management system with Microsoft SQL Server technology, the two companies will develop solutions in a wide array of areas, including distributed data marts, Internet commerce, customer relationship management and highly available applications, such as enterprise resource planning and call centers.

This is the first in a series of joint announcements related to the NCR and Microsoft initiative; the companies are expected to unveil the next phase later this year.

To support this initiative, NCR will train and certify an additional 1,000 consultants as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs), bolstering its status as a world-class service provider and Microsoft global Authorized Support Center. The companies will jointly fund and open an Enterprise Solution Center to develop and demonstrate integrated NCR and Microsoft technologies and solutions, and through joint efforts also plan to open 10 new client centers worldwide to showcase customer applications.

The companies will utilise NCR`s expertise in retail, financial and communications industries to co-develop industry electronic-commerce solutions and vertical applications, Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition, Internet Information Server and other key enterprise products from Microsoft. In addition, the companies will collaborate on industry initiatives - such as Value Chain and ActiveStore retail technology architecture - to deliver integrated, standardized electronic-commerce platforms and solutions.

"Businesses that thrive in the global marketplace are those that clearly understand their customers and can deliver targeted products and services to match their individual preferences," says Jack Horton, Managing Director at NDS.

"By delivering solutions that leverage the data warehouse, NCR and Microsoft will give businesses new and extremely powerful ways to understand and interact with customers."

"Microsoft and NCR have worked closely on the development of Windows NT Server since its inception in 1992, and this new agreement takes our relationship to the next level," said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

"Customers will clearly benefit as we bring to market solutions that leverage NCR`s strong leadership in data warehousing with its Teradata data warehouse engine and Microsoft`s strengths in data marts and enterprise electronic-commerce applications."

The agreement takes advantage of each company`s core strengths in the enterprise, as well as their strong history in jointly meeting the needs of large organizations. NCR brings expertise in decision support data warehousing: It designed, implemented and supported more than 800 data warehouses worldwide for three-quarters of the world`s top banks, 20 of the world`s leading communications companies, and several of the world`s largest retailers

According to IDC, NCR is the worldwide marketshare revenue leader in the data warehouse (strategic business analysis) market, with 40.9 percent; NCR also enjoys approximately 33 percent of revenue market share from systems based on the Windows NT Server operating system with values of more than $25,000.

"The Teradata relational database from NCR has an established, strong position in the enterprise data warehousing market," said Jim Ewel, group product manager for Microsoft SQL Server at Microsoft.

"By incorporating Microsoft SQL Server and BackOffice into its total data warehousing and applications solution offering, NCR can offer customers the ability to cost-effectively scale from business unit data marts to the largest data warehouses in the world."

The company also develops industry-specific platforms and solutions for customers in the retail, financial and telecommunications industries. For further information on NCR products, access the NCR Web site at http://www.ncr.com/.