Microsoft News Tracker

Press Release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced it has completed the acquisition of FrontBridge Technologies Inc., a leading provider of managed services that help address corporate e-mail compliance, security and availability requirements.

Originally announced July 20, the acquisition of FrontBridge allows Microsoft to deliver services for enforcing compliance through archiving, ensuring e-mail availability in the case of a disaster, and improving protection of employee inboxes from viruses and spam. FrontBridge, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, will continue to offer managed messaging services for multiple e-mail platforms such as Microsoft® Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and other SMTP-compliant servers currently supported by FrontBridge.
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FrontBridge partners are sharing the same enthusiasm for the acquisition. “Sprint Nextel has existing alliances with Microsoft and FrontBridge that will only be strengthened by their integration,” said Randy Ritter, product marketing vice president of Sprint Nextel. “We are especially excited that Microsoft will continue to support the FrontBridge platform-agnostic strategy that enables us to grow and expand domestic and international opportunities for customers seeking best-of-breed message security, compliance and availability technologies.”

With the close of this acquisition, Microsoft begins the process of integrating FrontBridge into the Exchange Server Group, fully committed to delivering uninterrupted service for customers. Microsoft will continue to provide high-quality customer support for the complete range of FrontBridge managed services offered before the acquisition and will continue to work closely with FrontBridge partners.

Lots of interesting aspects including the platform agnosticism.

Press Release:

MSN today unveiled two new MSN® Search Toolbar Add-ins, enabling people to customize their toolbar to their specific interests and providing a smarter searching and browsing experience. These latest add-ins for MSN Search Toolbar include a beta of the Microsoft® Phishing Filter Add-in, which helps protect customers from potential risks of phishing Web sites and online identity theft, and the Games Add-in, providing one-click access to some of the Web’s most popular online games via MSN Games.

The additional MSN Search Toolbar Add-ins are part of MSN’s long-term commitment to deliver services that enable people to improve their searching and browsing experience. Add-ins are available to download for free at http://addins.msn.com, and consumers can obtain the free MSN Search Toolbar at http://toolbar.msn.com. The latest add-ins are currently available in the U.S. only.

Also in MSN Toolbar news (via Bink.nu) - MSN Toolbar Roaming Favorites First Look:

Released to beta testers earlier today, the MSN Toolbar Roaming Favorites Add-In Beta 1 is Microsoft’s first attempt at allowing users to access their internet bookmarks (a.k.a. Favorites) remotely without having to be signed up to the MSN Internet service. Because the MSN Toolbar is free, anyone will be able to install this addition once it’s released.

Stephen Shankland at CNET - Itanium allies to pool development efforts:

Many companies backing Intel’s Itanium processor are planning to announce a new alliance in September to try to make it easier for customers to adopt systems using the high-end chip, CNET News.com has learned.

Hit the link for more details (Microsoft is a member of the group), but here’s the key paragraph from a Microsoft planning perspective:

In line with that high-end positioning, Microsoft’s planned update to its Windows Server 2003 operating system–called R2–won’t be available for Itanium. Microsoft’s rationale for the move is that R2 is geared toward smaller servers. The Window Server 2003 successor due in 2007, code-named Longhorn Server, will support Itanium, however.

Press Release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced it has acquired Teleo Inc., a provider of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) software and services that enable the placement of phone calls from PCs to traditional phones and that deliver this technology in unique ways through a variety of software and Web applications. Microsoft expects to combine the technology and expertise of Teleo with the existing VoIP investments of MSN to further develop products and services that connect consumers to the people and information that most matter to them. Financial details were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in San Francisco, Teleo is a privately held company whose initial planned service offering, also called Teleo, was designed to allow customers to use their PC to make phone calls to cell phones, regular phones or other PCs. Through its integration with Microsoft® Outlook® and Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Teleo service was designed to facilitate click-to-call dialing of any telephone number that appears on-screen, for example through a Web site or via search results or e-mail.

John Borland has some analysis in MSN buys into Net calling future including:

Microsoft has its eyes set on something more like Net phone company Skype’s service, however. A key part of Teleo’s technology is focused on making calls from a computer to an ordinary telephone, a feature that company executives said would start finding its way into MSN Messenger before the end of 2005.
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Richardson said the Teleo technology would be used primarily within MSN applications, rather than being integrated into the Windows operating system.

Update: The old Teleo web site is already redirected to a page on MSN.

From theTechSage:

After weeks of beta testing and user feedback, Microsoft has released SyncToy 1.0, a non-beta version of the PowerToy that allows for simple scheduled synchronization of files and folders to other folders and computers.