MICROSOFT PLATFORM  Microsoft is a platform company is committed to providing a rich ecosystem for building and managing connected systems.  Microsoft has invested heavily in Web services, building its entire developer platform around Web services with Microsoft.NET.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM Visual Studio 2005 and the.NET Framework 2.0  The.NET Framework 2.0 is runtime for building applications on the Windows platform.  Visual Studio and the.NET Framework 2.0 are designed to improve developer productivity and increase application reliability and security by providing a fully managed application environment.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM Visual Studio Team System  Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) expands the Visual Studio product line to include new software lifecycle tools for operations managers, architects, testers, project managers, and developers.  Released in November 2005, VSTS reduces the complexity of delivering distributed applications and facilitates communication among members of a software team.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM.NET Framework 3.0 .NET Framework 3.0 managed for building applications on the Windows platform.  It will ship as a core part of Windows Vista and will also be available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 through the.NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components.  The main components of the.NET Framework 3.0 for building Web services are the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) [workflows coordinate interactions among software, people, or both] and Windows CardSpace [enables users to manage and more safely exchange their personal identity information online].

BizTalk Server  It enables customers to integrate systems, employees and trading partners.  BizTalk Server supports the consumption of Web services as part of a business process, exposing business processes and line-of- business applications as Web services. MICROSOFT PLATFORM

Office  Office Microsoft's 2007 latest productivity suite for information workers. In addition to this suite of office applications.  Office System delivers a collection of integrated tools and services can help developers build business solutions using Web services.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM SQL Server  SQL Server 2005 is a database platform providing data management with integrated Business Intelligence (BI) tools.  The SQL Server 2005 database engine provides secure, reliable storage.  SQL Server's core components fall into two categories: Enterprise Data Management and Business Intelligence.  The Enterprise Data Management components include Notification and Replication Services. The Business Intelligence components include Reporting, Analysis, and Integration Services.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM Xbox Live  Xbox Live exposes Web services for game publishers to access game data.  Launched in 2002, Xbox Live is a subscription- based online gaming service for Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles.  Gamers can chat with their friends and family.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM Halo 2 is the most popular Xbox game that uses Xbox Live Web services.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM MSN  MSN is Microsoft's network of consumer Internet services including MSN Communication Services (Hotmail and MSN Messenger), MSN Information Services.  MSN is among the top three Internet portals of the world with more than 440 million unique users monthly, 215 million active Hotmail accounts and 185 million active Messenger accounts.

MICROSOFT PLATFORM Virtual Earth  Virtual Earth is an online mapping service that offers both aerial and satellite imagery.  MapPoint Web Services (MWS) is a set of Web services hosted by Microsoft and used by independent software developers to integrate location-based services such as maps, driving directions and proximity searches into software applications and business processes.  MWS has been operational since 2002 and currently handles over 20 million transactions a day. The Virtual Earth imagery will be integrated with MWS offerings in the future.