Microsoft unveilling new products at Durban event

Windows 7 set to be top of the list for Durban event

Microsoft will be launching a number of products at the 10th anniversary of its Tech-Ed Africa event in Durban next month.

Leading the new product list is the company’s latest client operating system, Windows 7. In addition, the “release 2” versions of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 platforms will be unveiled.

Microsoft spokesperson David Sieff says about 2 000 IT professionals and developers are expected to attend this year’s conference, including a “significant” number of delegates from other African countries.

“Growth will have to come from higher productivity and innovation when the economy begins to recover,” said Sieff. “A lot of the productivity growth in businesses comes from IT, and the kind of people attending this year’s event will have a starring role to play in that recovery as businesses focus on improving productivity.”

Sieff cited the combined benefits of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 as an ideal example of delivering business efficiencies and cost savings through technology. The company is also expected to preview its Exchange Server 2010 software, which will be able to read and write e-mails to disk 70% faster than Exchange 2007, despite the fact it uses the same database engine.

“Of course, we’ll be focusing on IT’s big bets like virtualisation, which can keep companies from having to invest in new servers and software before they need to, and unified communications, which make business’s diverse methods of texting, e-mailing and calling more streamlined and cost effective,” said Sieff.