Important Microsoft CRM Announcements

Master of Puppets...

This month has been pretty hectic, but today we have just made a number of important announcements at Convergence 2006 in Dallas, that I thought would be of interest:

  • Hosted Microsoft CRM - We announced the release of Microsoft CRM 3.0 Professional Edition for Service Providers. This is the standard CRM 3.0 Professional product with extensions to help service providers manage and rapidly provision new CRM customers. Highlights include pre-provisioning of CRM instances, 10-click install, and integration with the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 3.5 platform already used by many providers who host Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint & Live Communications Server.
  • Microsoft CRM Connectors for GP, AX & NAV - The Microsoft CRM Connector for Microsoft Dynamics GP is scheduled for RTM (Release to Manufacturing) on 31st March, and will incur no additional charge. In addition, we also announced that the Microsoft CRM Connectors for Microsoft Dynamics AX and NAV will ship Q1 CY 2007.
  • Microsoft CRM BizTalk Connectors - In Q3 CY 2006 we will ship a Microsoft CRM adaptor for Microsoft BizTalk Server, enabling connectivity to many 3rd party applications. A value-add Connector Template for Siebel will also be shipped.

Further details can be found here:

If you want to understand more about the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 3.5, then check out my earlier blog posting here:

For those of you who missed the other announcement of the day, BizTalk 2006 reached RTM (Release to Manufacturing) and is now ready to ship. Unlike previous versions, BizTalk now ships with a number of enterprise application adapters free-of-charge, including SAP R/3, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards OneWorld, JD Edwards Enterprise, Oracle Application Suite, and Siebel. Further details can be found here:

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.