Korea expected to be frontrunner in adoption of Window Vista Technology Adoption Program Microsoft Korea has announced its plans to introduce "Widow Vista" and "Office 12," new versions of the existing Windows and Office programs, in the latter half of this year. For the project, Microsoft Korea will carry out the "Window Vista Community Technology Preview" and the U.S. headquarters of Microsoft will invest $100 million in the "Window Vista Partner Showcase Program" this year for the joint marketing of ISV application products designed to be most suitable for Window Vista. At the same time, Microsoft will carry out the "Window Vista Technology Adoption Program" this year. Yoo Jae-sung, CEO of Microsoft Korea, said, "We expect that Window Vista will become an operation system that was introduced in Korea at the fastest pace. With the introduction of Window Vista and Office 12, Korean enterprises' demand for replacement of hardware will increase sharply this year," he said. In keeping with the anticipating strong demand, Microsoft Korea plans to stage brisk marketing activities for the sales of the new products. Microsoft Korea has placed the focus of its 2006 managerial strategy on the three keywords - improvement of corporate image to be reborn as an enterprise to be beloved of all, strengthening of ability of Microsoft staff, and sustainable growth along with partner companies. To enhance its corporate image, Microsoft Korea will make intensive supports for knowledge economy, protection of information and removal of informatization gap, said Yoo. Microsoft Korea will bolster its partnership program this year to help its domestic business partners develop a variety of window platform-based games and software, as well as export their new products. Related to this, the company will implement a new system to help independent software vendors (ISV) acquire certification from Microsoft. As the importance of security has been newly recognized in the computer industry in the world, Microsoft will make more efforts to implement "trustworthy computing" environment this year, he said. As a means of removing the informatization gap, Microsoft will continue leading various supporting projects for informatization, including educational programs for informatization of the aged, the handicapped and civic organizations. On Nov. 22, 2005, Microsoft Korea held the "Ready 2005," a new product presentation meeting to introduce its three core goods of the next-generation application platform _ SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server simultaneously, gaining explosive popularity from domestic enterprises and individual customers. In particular, Microsoft plans to finish its work to translate the BizTalk Server 2006 into the "hangeul (Korean alphabet)" and launch the server in the near future. The BizTalk Server 2006 is one of Microsoft's representative products, which offers Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Business Process Management (BPM) functions. Thanks to its up-to-date functions, about four out of the Fortune-designated 10 enterprises are using the BizTalk Server. In case of SQL Server 2005 boasting of high ability, mass storage and high availability, Microsoft plans to expand its supply of the products to mission critical enterprise markets this year. By operating a royalty program, Microsoft will bolster an ecosystem along with ISV, service, and consulting partners, while expanding the business intelligence (BI) market through the linkage with OLAP, reporting, ETT. BSC server and office. Considering that the price of SQL Server 2005 is 20-30 percent cheaper than that of the Oracle product, Microsoft expects that its product will secure the top position in the DBMS market within three years, outpacing Oracle. To attack the ALM market based on the Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Korea has mapped out a strategy to expand actual development process by offering Microsoft process free of charge, he said. Along with this, Microsoft will strengthen its ties with business partners by securing VSTS professional partners and partners for dot net development and bolstering the visual studio industrial partner program.