Skandinavisk Data Center Greatly Reduces Costs by Migrating Core Banking Systems to Microsoft Platform

Scandinavian IT center expects to save US$20 million annually by replacing its mainframe technology with Windows platform.

REDMOND, Washington, September 13, 2010 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that Skandinavisk Data Center (SDC) is
expected to save US$20 million annually by moving its core banking system
from its mainframe platform to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server
2008. SDC was formed in 1963 and is owned by 150 financial institutions in
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Faroe Islands, and is responsible for
providing core banking services to these banks across Scandinavia.

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With its roots in the financial sector, SDC supplies IT services to
support its clients' business operations and increase their competitive edge
with comprehensive solutions that create added value across national
boundaries. With cost reduction at the forefront of SDC's business
imperatives, a solution was required to help minimize spending, while
retaining and gaining new member banks. By migrating its mainframe solution
to a Windows platform, it is estimated that SDC will reduce operational costs
for its core banking system by 30 percent, giving it a competitive edge and
eliminating additional internal expense.

The project, which started in May 2009, is taking place in three stages.
The first phase was completed in May 2010 and migrated 71 of the heaviest
transactional applications from mainframe code to .NET, bringing them to the
Windows platform. The remaining transactional applications will be migrated
for the banks and some of the online banks in the second phase, and is
expected to be complete by spring 2011. From spring 2011 to 2012 the rest of
the online banks will be migrated and the DB2 database will be moved to
Microsoft SQL Server, completing the third phase and the project's three-year
journey.

"Our primary concern is cost reduction without loss of quality. Growing
competition combined with the financial crisis increases focus on production
costs all over the Western world. This goes for the banks affiliated with SDC
as well - IT being their second largest expenditure," said Erik Jakobsen,
CEO, SDC. "On the other hand it is essential that cost can be cut without
endangering the reliability and efficiency of our core system. The system is,
as the name says, the core of daily business for our customers. Our
experience shows that substantial cost reduction without loss of quality is
possible on a larger-scale, lower-cost Windows platform with the support we
have had from Microsoft. Already we are running 1.1 million transactions per
day on the new platform."

"We share SDC's dedication to simplifying operations with a leading-edge,
efficient and cost-effective platform," said Karen Cone, general manager,
Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft. "Previously, SDC ran its core
banking system on a mainframe. By migrating the code to .NET and Windows
Server, SDC is modernizing its infrastructure in a manner that mitigates
risk."

SDC's transition off the mainframe to a more flexible, scalable and
highly available Microsoft platform with improved capabilities will enable
SDC to respond more quickly and effectively to its small and medium-sized
banking customers' demands. Microsoft Services, Microsoft's consulting and
enterprise support division, has also assisted SDC with life-cycle service
and support solutions to address SDC's mission-critical need for high
availability and supportability of the core system deployed on the Microsoft
platform.

About Microsoft in Financial Services

Microsoft's Financial Services Group provides software that helps
financial firms transform the customer, employee and operations experience so
they can maximize opportunities for increased market share and profitability.
Microsoft software helps empower people and IT staff within financial firms -
and across key focus areas such as advisor platforms, channel renewal,
insurance value chain, enterprise risk management and compliance, and
payments. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions,
customers enable their employees to turn data into insight, transform ideas
into action and turn change into opportunity. More information about
Microsoft's Financial Services Group can be found at
www.microsoft.com/financialservices.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

Wendy Grover of Microsoft, +1-425-705-7609, wegrover at microsoft.com; NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.