MADISON, Wis.— Microsoft Corp. recognizes Berbee Information Networks Corporation as winner of the 2006 Microsoft® Partner of the Year Award in Advanced Infrastructure for exceptional work delivering Microsoft solutions. “We value our partnership with Berbee and their ability to provide great value to our mutual customers by offering a total set of Microsoft solutions,” said Alison Watson, corporate vice president, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group. Berbee was chosen as a winner in the Exchange Migration and Deployment specialization in the Advanced Infrastructure category for a Microsoft Exchange migration performed for Forethought Financial Services, Inc., headquartered in Batesville, Indiana. Berbee designed and deployed a comprehensive messaging and collaboration solution including a Lotus Notes to Exchange migration, secure instant messaging using Microsoft’s Live Communications Server, as well as a subscription to Berbee’s Hosted SharePoint offering. More than 2,400 entries were submitted by partners worldwide and the award winners were selected from a group of finalists based on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to provide solutions for their customers’ needs. The winners were announced at Microsoft’s 2006 Worldwide Partner Conference, the company’s premier annual event for industry partners, held this year in Boston. “The Worldwide Partner Award recognizes the tremendous technical expertise of our teams,” said Liz Eversoll, vice president of the Berbee Microsoft practice. “It highlights our strength as a Microsoft partner and our ability to deliver complex, sophisticated Microsoft solutions.” The 50 worldwide partner awards given this year recognize exemplary solutions from the participating 600,000 Microsoft Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners worldwide. Award winners were chosen from a group of finalists from around the world. Finalists for each category were chosen from defined regions of the world: Asia-Pacific; Canada; China; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Latin America; Japan; and the United States. Berbee has been a Microsoft Gold Partner for four years and has won multiple quarterly, regional and national awards from Microsoft. Berbee was also awarded 2006 Microsoft Central Region Partner of the Year and 2006 Microsoft Central Region Compete awards at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Boston. “This award, in addition to our Central Region awards, makes a strong statement on the capabilities and expertise Berbee provides,” said Eversoll.About Berbee – www.berbee.com Berbee is a proven partner for IT solutions, including network infrastructure, server and storage infrastructure, productivity applications, communication and collaboration, application development and security. The award-winning Berbee Microsoft practice focuses on linking people, processes and business initiatives. With seven partner competencies and specializations, Berbee is part of an elite group of Microsoft Gold and Managed Partners worldwide to achieve such levels of achievement. Berbee, a leading Midwest provider of technology for business, is among a handful of companies worldwide to achieve the highest level of partnership with our strategic partners Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft. Berbee has offices in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Additional information about Berbee is available at
