MS to partner Sonata

Microsoft Corporation has partnered Sonata Information Technology, a subsidiary of the Bangalore-based Sonata Software, to open a centre of excellence (CoE) to assist enterprises in migrating from other competitive platforms to Microsoft exchange server.

The company is also planning to open two more CoEs in partnership with IT solutions providers in India over the next six months.

According to Microsoft, during the last one year, over 25 businesses have migrated from other competitive platforms like IBM Lotus Notes and open source platforms to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the latest version of Microsoft's exchange server for e-mail, calendaring and unified messaging.

Said Radhesh Balakrishnan, director, Platform Strategy, Microsoft Corporation India, "In the emerging scenario, organisations are looking for a reliable, cost-effective, and easy-to-deploy and manage messaging and collaboration system. Exchange server builds on the foundation of Windows server and active directory services to provide a reliable and cost-effective solution in this space."

The unified communications market is pegged at $40 billion worldwide. According to IDC, Microsoft exchange server was the global leader in 2005 with 52 per cent marketshare. In India, Microsoft exchange server enjoyed a market share of 44 per cent in 2005.