Two German Giants Go .NET

Microsoft Corp. trumpeted a major victory in the telecom market Wednesday, announcing that Deutsche Telekom —
Europe’s largest telecommunications company — is adopting its Microsoft .NET Platform for its mobile and solutions businesses.

Meanwhile, SAP AG also announced it has adopted support of the .NET framework through its own mySAP Technology, an open-standard-based infrastructure that enables interoperability further opening up its Web services architecture with native support for open technical and business standards.

But of the two German technology giants making the headlines today, Deutsche Telekom is stealing the spotlight. That’s because DT and Microsoft are working together to create a new solution, T .NET, with the aim of delivering XML Web services throughout
Europe. T .NET is intended to serve as a base of communications for customers, provide access to services and the distribution channel for their products, and give ASPs and application infrastructure providers (AIPs) the power to reach customers.

T .NET will be operated from the Deutsche Telekom T-Systems Division.

Additionally, the T-Mobile Division will collaborate with Microsoft on next generation mobile devices, including T-Mobile branded
Windows Powered Smartphone and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition powered devices.

They will also collaborate on services, providing customers with access to the MSN network of services — including MSN Messenger
Service and MSN Hotmail Web-based e-mail service — Microsoft Exchange applications such as the Outlook messaging and collaboration
client, and Telekom messaging and e-mail services provided by DT.

DT said it will also offer two new mobile services allowing customers to roam and access information across the entire Deutsche
Telekom and subsidiary network, which includes Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.
The new services will be based on Microsoft Mobile Information Server Enterprise and Carrier editions, providing secure wireless
access to corporate intranets and Microsoft Exchange Server data, including e-mail, contacts and calendars, and HTML browsing and
secure access to virtual private networks on laptops, PDAs, smart phones, WAP-enabled phones and other devices.

DT and Microsoft plan to launch the two services in April.

As part of the deal, DT said it will upgrade its internal infrastructure with .NET products.

“Cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft puts the focus on our customers, said Dr. Ron Sommer, chairman of DT. “With our
innovative ideas, we will bring new products and services to the market that provide added value for our customers.”