Realcom Connects Microsoft Product Teams Within The Entertainment and Devices (E&D) Group.

The AskMe enterprise social networking suite is selected to empower
engineering teams, drive innovation and speed time-to-market.

Bellevue, WA. – August 14, 2009 – Realcom, a leading provider of enterprise software applications that enable organizations to capture and leverage enterprise information and expertise, announced today the selection of Realcom’s AskMe knowledge management and enterprise social networking suite to knowledge-enable Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Group. The solution allows employees to discover and share knowledge, locate experts and discuss ideas across the E&D Hardware organizations without being constrained by organizational structure, geographical location or time zones.

The AskMe implementation, known within Microsoft as “Converge”, will create a virtual world in which individuals, teams and groups can meet and interact. Converge will continue to remove the artificial walls that often grow around sub-sets of a division, allowing developers, program managers, testers, and others from every part of the Hardware group to share information and ideas. And, users will be able to access information from any other user – so a program manager in Zune will be able to interact with a developer from Xbox, while a PC hardware designer will be able to chat with surface testers, and so on.

“This is a perfect example of how the AskMe solutions provide value to organizations who want to leverage the information, knowledge and expertise that is resident in their systems and people, and make it actionable.” Said Steve Hanson, VP of Sales and Marketing for Realcom, maker of the AskMe knowledge management products. “The knowledge and expertise is already in the organization. If you can locate and leverage it, you can apply it to solve real business issues such as meeting time-to-market windows or delivering on aggressive quality standards. AskMe solutions allow our customers to do just that.”

Based on Communities of Practice (CoPs), the AskMe solution encourages participants to go beyond just sharing information. It encourages users to discuss material in near-real time, and transcends the boundaries of the inbox. Users will be able to post comments and questions, discuss findings, publish documents and work with peers from throughout the Hardware division to hone and adapt ideas from other departments.

Social networking and knowledge management continue to garner a lot of interest across industries. Leaders in this space have found ways to move beyond creating databases of articles and are using technology to create knowledge networking platforms that adapt to the way people work, connecting people and enabling collaboration across multiple boundaries, allowing knowledge to be converted to information in real time as we work. Converge integrates key Microsoft technologies a into platform to deliver these capabilities to the hardware organizations across E&D.

About Realcom
As a leading supplier of Enterprise Social Networking solutions, Realcom and its AskMe products provide the framework, tools and related consulting services that allow organizations employing knowledge workers in a team-based environment to more effectively leverage internal information, knowledge and expertise.
Their enterprise knowledge networking platform complements existing IT infrastructure and business processes. It also provides the conduits for connecting knowledge workers to relevant subject matter expertise, and delivers comprehensive analytics that document ROI and increase adoption; thus enabling organizations to effectively build customer loyalty, speed the pace of internal innovation and meet time-to-market pressures.

An international company with offices in Tokyo, Seattle and Pune, India, Realcom’s AskMe solutions have enabled customers such as Mitsubishi, Novartis, Sony, Bank of Tokyo and Boeing to streamline their knowledge management practices and make organization-wide information and expertise both visible and actionable.

To reach Realcom:
Realcom US Inc.
2300, 130th Ave. NE
Suite A-101
Bellevue, WA 98005

PR Contact:
Dale Paulin
Director, Marketing and Communications
Phone: (425) 564-9000
Email: dalep at realcom-inc.com

Contact Information

Dale Paulin

Director, Marketing and Communications

Realcom-US, Inc.

Contact via E-mail