Avanade(R) Readies Enterprises for New Era of Digital Collaboration Supported by 2007 Microsoft(R) Office System.

TASER International among Early Adopters Making Breakthroughs in Collaboration

SEATTLE -- Companies are transforming overall business productivity through digital collaboration based on the new 2007 Microsoft Office system with the help of Avanade, a global IT consultancy. Avanade has worked with TASER International as one of more than 30 early-adopter customers Avanade is working with today to apply these technology releases to drive breakthrough integrated business implementations to help them innovate faster, optimize customer relationships, improve employee morale and compete more effectively in the marketplace through digital collaboration.

"Digital collaboration will be a major focus for companies in the next three to five years," said Larry LeSueur, vice president of Infrastructure and Security Solutions at Avanade. "We work closely with customers to establish a business-relevant approach to applying technology for enterprise communication and collaboration within the digital world of today, making corporate information and people more readily and easily accessible within the organization in a secure manner."

Avanade has seen collaboration advancements in many of its early-adopter customers, including TASER International, a leading manufacturer of non-lethal weapons. When TASER International launched its second-generation personal safety device, the TASER C2 Personal Protector for consumers, it found the need to streamline the process for obtaining background checks. Since TASER International had already standardized on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 as its collaboration application, the company worked with Avanade on a unique implementation of SharePoint Server 2007 for its external website, www.TASER.com. Using digital collaboration solutions, TASER integrates with the third-party screening vendor through the web site, providing one interface and a seamless experience for customers.

"As we prepared to move to a background activation process for the consumer market, we realized the screening process was cumbersome for customers," explained Ray Rivera, chief information officer for TASER. "Using Avanade's knowledge of SharePoint 2007, we developed a system that enables customers to obtain background checks and activate their C2 quickly and easily, directly on our website. This convenience eliminates the retail distribution barrier that we experience with our existing consumer product lines."

In addition to the advancements that Avanade is seeing among early-adopter customers like TASER, it is also making significant investments to bring our vision of digital collaboration to life. As a cornerstone of digital collaboration, Avanade has invested in early training, solutions and assets to speed deployment of Windows Vista, Exchange Server 2007 and Office 2007 System to enable customers to quickly take advantage of the benefits and increased collaboration. Avanade assets and readiness include:

-- eForms Accelerator: Enables the transition to digital processes for
   electronic forms without interrupting services, changing
   infrastructures, or compromising security. The solution eliminates
   many challenges companies face when converting to automated
   business processes.

-- Avanade's CRM Integration Solution: Streamlines integration of
   backend CRM systems with SharePoint Server 2007 so knowledge
   workers can quickly and easily access their critical data using the
   familiar Microsoft interface.

-- Avanade's Tag Cloud: Provides a tagging function for SharePoint
   Server 2007 to allow users to tag content dynamically, making
   search results more useful. This proof of concept was created to
   demonstrate uses for Web 2.0 in the enterprise.

-- Successful deployments:

    -- 33 customer deployments (at time of writing) of Office 2007,
       Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007.

    -- Avanade internal deployment of Office 2007, Windows Vista, and
       Exchange Server 2007 for our global network of 5,000
       professionals and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server
       2007 for our internal portal.

-- Easy training and readiness:

    -- 200 personnel with Office 2007 deployment training

    -- Designation as a Microsoft Advanced Desktop Deployment partner
       with 83 senior architects and subject matter experts with this
       advanced training.

    -- 68 worldwide consultants with advanced Exchange Server 2007
       training.

For more information, read Avanade's white paper on digital collaboration at http://www.avanade.com/experts/whitepaper.aspx.

About Avanade

Avanade is a global IT consultancy dedicated to using the Microsoft platform to help enterprises achieve profitable growth. Through proven solutions that extend Microsoft technologies, Avanade helps enterprises increase revenue, reduce costs and reinvest in innovation to gain competitive advantage. Our consultants deliver value according to each customer's requirements, timeline and budget by combining insight, innovation and the talent of our global workforce. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.

Avanade and the Avanade logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Avanade Inc. Other product, service, or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.