Avanade Inc. Benchmarks Enterprise-Scale Microsoft CRM Performance; System Supports The Needs of Enterprise Organizations Today.

SEATTLE -- Avanade Inc., the leading global technology integrator for Microsoft enterprise solutions, today announced the results of a benchmark study of enterprise-scale use of Microsoft CRM. The Avanade test demonstrated the capability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 to scale under a medium to heavy sales force load with response times averaging less than 0.5 seconds.

"Enterprise-class customers today are looking for a smart, flexible CRM solution that will support the needs of their entire organization. Since 2003, Avanade has focused on bringing to market enterprise-class Microsoft CRM solutions that support the way these companies do business," said Mike Pazak, vice president of Enterprise Business Solutions at Avanade. "This benchmarking exercise is part of Avanade's ongoing commitment to help even the largest customers maximize the value of their CRM investment, and is a response to market demand for extending the success of Microsoft CRM implementations to support more users."

According to Brad Wilson, general manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, "We're seeing a strong demand in the enterprise space for CRM solutions that are fast, flexible and affordable. Avanade's recent tests show that Microsoft CRM can support high-volume workloads on a single server, and that it enables much larger deployments through a federated architecture."

During the benchmark tests conducted at Avanade's Seattle development center, data load was carefully simulated to represent records that would be generated by about a year's worth of heavy sales activity. Peak-hour benchmark performance highlights with a 3,000 concurrent user test parameter included:

--22,260 CRM business transactions per hour

--355-millisecond average response time

--Zero authentication errors

--66.77 percent database server utilization

The results of this benchmark are also integral to the continued development of Avanade's federated architecture for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which supports growing demand from large-scale organizations with business requirements that vary significantly across lines of business or geography and that are best addressed with multiple instances of Microsoft CRM. The federated architecture is designed to support more than 10,000 users and also can address multi-language and multi-currency needs.

Default Installation Supports Heavy Sales Activity

Avanade completed the study using the same methodology as Microsoft-based performance tests that were conducted in the early part of 2006. Avanade set up the benchmarking study to measure the software's performance with minimal customization using a default installation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 configured for Web clients only, deployed on three dedicated Web servers.

Tuning was performed to optimize application performance, and Avanade Connected Architecture (ACA) Infrastructure for .NET was used for optimal configuration of the application infrastructure, including network design, identity and access management, and platform design and deployment.

Hardware components were selected for their enterprise-class characteristics, including a Sun Microsystems V40z Windows database server with four dual-core 64-bit AMD Opteron processors, 16 GB of RAM and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition for 64-bit computing; and two 2-GB Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) adapters connected to a fully meshed SAN fabric with eight paths to an EMC(R) Symmetrix 8430 storage array.

Enterprise-Class Experience

Avanade has worked closely with enterprise customers such as ABN AMRO, Bouwfonds Property Development, Sara Lee and several financial services institutions to deploy Microsoft CRM systems that work the way their companies do and can scale with customers' growth. Most recently, Avanade conducted a benchmark test for a customer, with results that corroborated Microsoft CRM's ability to support large datasets, high transaction loads and a large numbers of concurrent users. The customer test, performed for a large European financial institution based on its specific data load and projected transaction rates, demonstrated that a properly deployed instance of Microsoft CRM would support 5,000 users.

Full findings from Avanade's benchmark test are published at http://www.avanadeadvisor.com/reportregistration/reports.aspx

About Avanade

Avanade is the leading technology integrator specializing in the Microsoft enterprise platform. Our people help customers around the world maximize their IT investment and create comprehensive solutions that drive business results. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.

Avanade and the Avanade logos 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.