First eight languages available for new release as global launch tour begins.

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. today began the global launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 by announcing the availability of the first eight languages, including English, Spanish, simplified Chinese and French. As part of its commitment to a rapid global rollout, Microsoft is kicking off a 12-week global launch tour today to give organizations worldwide the opportunity to experience Microsoft Dynamics CRM for themselves.

As a key component of Microsoft’s software plus services strategy, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 delivers rich CRM capabilities that may be deployed as a traditional on-premise solution, as a Web-based on-demand solution, or as a flexible mix of on-premise software and on-demand services. Since the initial release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in December 2007, customers worldwide have gone into production on the new platform via both on-premise and on-demand deployment models.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0’s new multitenant architecture allows for a smoother and quicker deployment in a hosted environment, and within 48 hours of the code becoming available, customers were able to deploy partner-hosted offerings. Increase Ltd., a hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution provider based in the United Kingdom, began upgrading its hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 customers to the new release on Dec. 17, the same day that the code was released by Microsoft to partners and customers.

“The first upgrade for our on-demand Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers was completed just four hours after Microsoft delivered the new 4.0 release,” said Neil Benson, director of Increase. “I’ve been very impressed by the quality of the product, as well the extensive training and tools that accompanied this release. Customers are impressed with the rapid deployment — in fact, it now takes longer to send the contract and receive the signature than it does to deploy the customer’s hosted system.”

CH2M HILL, an international engineering, procurement, construction and operations company, is deploying Microsoft Dynamics 4.0 CRM solution as a standard platform to support enterprisewide business development. Once the solution is fully integrated into the firm’s business development operations, 2,500 users will be accessing the system. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0’s expanded global capabilities — which include multilanguage and multicurrency — help support the firm’s global operations, which include more than 23,000 employees in offices worldwide.

“We selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 because it had the global capabilities to support the large-scale rollout to our company’s 12 business units,” said Mark Lasswell, CRM executive sponsor and president of the Civil Infrastructure Client Group at CH2M HILL. “With the ability to leverage our existing IT infrastructure — largely Microsoft-based — we have a single global view for managing accounts and opportunities across the enterprise.”

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 world tour begins this week in Barcelona, Spain; London, United Kingdom; Madrid, Spain; and Vancouver, Canada, and will include more than 50 cities in 20 countries.

Today Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available for on-premise and on-demand deployments in Danish, English, Finnish, Dutch, French, German, simplified Chinese and Spanish. Seventeen additional languages — Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hong Kong Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, traditional Chinese and Turkish — will be released in the next 90 days.