Accenture and Avanade® Named Microsoft’s Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year

IT services firms recognized for second year in a row

NEW YORK – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Avanade have been named the 2009 Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year by Microsoft, as well as recognized as finalists for the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Systems Management Partner of the Year Award and the Information Worker Solutions, Portals and Collaboration Partner of the Year Award. In each case, Accenture and Avanade were selected from among an international network of leading companies that deliver solutions built on the Microsoft platform.

It is the fifth time – and second consecutive year – that Accenture and Avanade, a business technology service provider majority owned by Accenture, have jointly won the Partner of the Year Award, more than any other Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner.

Accenture and Avanade were selected as leading partners across Microsoft’s 13 major geographic regions, a result of each region’s enterprise team ranking them among the top five Microsoft partners. Accenture and Avanade differentiated themselves by:

* Working closely with Microsoft’s subsidiaries to create and deliver joint solutions in areas including collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence and custom solutions built on Microsoft .NET.
* Developing a collection of assets and solutions that allow organizations to get the most from their Microsoft investments.
* Leveraging over 41,500 Microsoft resources around the world – the largest number of skilled resources of any IT services firm.

· Delivering superior business results for more than 1,600 clients, leveraging more than 110 industry-specific solutions created on the Microsoft platform.

“Accenture and Avanade were selected again as our Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year because of their shared commitment and successes at helping companies realize results across the enterprise,” said Simon Witts, Corporate Vice President Enterprise and Partner Group Microsoft. “The solutions built by Accenture and Avanade have provided organizations with the tools necessary to increase revenue, reduce costs and grow their businesses — which is particularly invaluable in the current economic climate.”

In addition, Accenture and Avanade were also recognized as finalists in two other categories for their solutions and services in systems management and collaboration:

Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Systems Management Partner of the Year
For this category, the companies were recognized as finalists for their next- generation data center solution, a dynamic infrastructure solution based on the Microsoft platform that optimizes data-center operations. The next-generation data center solution offers innovative tools, methodologies and accelerators that extend the capabilities of Microsoft data center solutions and speed time to deployment and implementation.

Information Worker Solutions, Portals and Collaboration Partner of the Year
This acknowledgement as a finalist was given for Accenture and Avanade’s next-generation workplace solution, which supports a virtual workplace where geographically distributed employees, customers and partners can collaborate quickly and easily. By creating a blueprint to facilitate a business environment that is grounded in collaboration and communications, forward-looking organizations that implement a next generation workplace can improve their productivity, efficiency and operational costs.

“Accenture is focused on helping organizations achieve high performance leveraging Microsoft technologies,” said Scott Harrison, Accenture’s Global Lead, Microsoft Alliance “This recognition bears evidence to the successful partnership of Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft. We are honored to once again be acknowledged and we look forward to continuing to provide our clients with superior Microsoft-based enterprise solutions.”

Adam Warby, Avanade CEO, said, “Our alliance with Microsoft and Accenture is unmatched in the depth and breadth of our combined capabilities to deliver innovation solutions for our clients. We are thrilled that Microsoft recognizes our shared commitment to pioneering business solutions for the enterprise and organizations around the world.”

About the Accenture, Avanade, Microsoft Alliance
The Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft alliance delivers business and technology insight for improving performance, backed by enterprise solutions and services with a proven track record of success. Unlike other global alliances or local enterprise technology providers, the Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft alliance offers clients the unique combination of market-leading technologies, industry acumen, insight and delivery skills that help them quickly develop and implement innovative solutions. Accenture brings industry, business and technology acumen focused on helping clients become high performance businesses And Avanade’s sole focus on the Microsoft platform provides insight, innovation and expertise in delivering a breadth of Microsoft-based business and IT solutions for large organizations around the world.

Together, Accenture and Avanade have collaborated on more than 4,500 projects for more than 1,600 organizations worldwide, which has led to more than 110 industry-specific and cross-industry solutions. Accenture and Avanade recently became the first Microsoft partners to sign the Microsoft Online Services Partner Advisor agreement for large enterprises, which enables them to offer IT services for organizations looking to migrate from on-premises solutions to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite.

What’s more, Accenture and Avanade have extensive experience in platform-migration capabilities. For example, together they have deployed nearly six million Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes and have helped migrate nearly three million mailboxes from competitive platforms to Microsoft Exchange.

About Avanade
Avanade provides business technology services that connect insight, innovation and expertise in Microsoft technologies to help customers realize results. Avanade’s services and solutions help improve performance, productivity and sales for organizations in all industries. The company applies Microsoft expertise from its global network of consultants, drawing on the right mix of onshore, offshore and nearshore skills, which together are designed to help deliver results faster, at lower cost and with less risk. Avanade, which is majority owned by Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture and Microsoft Corporation and serves customers in more than 20 countries worldwide with more than 8,600 professionals. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With approximately 180,000 people serving clients in over 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2008. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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