$10bn Vista launch is Microsoft's biggest ever

Windows Vista is the biggest product launch Microsoft has ever held for business customers, according to the software giant's UK chief.

Speaking at the UK business launch of Vista at Emirates Stadium in London - itself an early user of the technology - Microsoft's UK managing director Gordon Frazer said Vista is the result of the company's biggest beta testing programme ever as well as £10bn of research and development.

According to Microsoft research, 79 per cent of customers "believe that the new user interface will increase the productivity of their people", he said. He added Vista would mean lower IT costs - around £18 per PC per year - through reducing support needs and improving security.

As of today, Vista is available to organisations with volume license agreements.

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Analysts have predicted it could take 18 months before companies adopt Vista because of the testing needed, and have said many will only buy the new operating system when they buy new hardware.

Frazer, however, pointed out that PCs "bought in the last 18 to 24 months are certainly capable of running Vista", and said the processor and memory requirements of Vista were "not dissimilar" to those of XP.

Today's launch - which included Vista, Exchange Server 2007 and 2007 Office System - is the first simultaneous release of Microsoft's flagship products since the joint launch of Windows 95 and Office 95 more than a decade ago.

Exchange Server 2007 is scheduled for release to organisations with volume licence agreements by the second week in December. Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system are due to be released to consumers and organisations without volume licence agreements on 30 January.

Geoff Connell, head of ICT services at the London Borough on Newham and one of the 60 early adopters of the operating system, said his organisation is looking to improve security, reduce energy costs and promote flexible working with Vista.

The council is using Vista's BitLocker technology, which encrypts data on the hard drive, to secure laptops so that personal information cannot be accessed if they are lost. It also hopes to save as much as £250,000 by cutting energy bills with Vista's power management technologies. Through increased use of remote working the plan is to reduce by up to 30 per cent the number of desks required.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Easyjet both gave video customer testimonials at the launch.

The LSE is using Office 2007 to help its primary account managers (Pams) to gather information more quickly by creating a 'Pam Dashboard' to collate client information from a number of sources, leaving them more time to do the analysis. EasyJet discussed its interest in boosting its share of the business market by using Vista's 'gadget' technology.