Microsoft and XING get connected in Outlook 2010

First partnership for the Outlook Social Connector with the largest business network in Germany

Unterschleißheim/Hamburg, March 1, 2010. Microsoft Germany and the business network XING announced a partnership for the Outlook Social Connector at CeBIT 2010 in Hanover. The Outlook inbox will in future be the news center for German users as well and keep them posted about the activities of their business contacts. Expected to coincide with the start of Microsoft Outlook 2010 scheduled for June this year, the XING plug-in will be available at

www.xing.com/outlook. The current version of the Outlook Social Connector is available at

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c87e257c-d76f-4785-a09b-af36babd6e32.

XING is the best known and most widely used business network in Germany. More than 8 million business people and professionals use XING for their job and career and maintain their contacts with a variety of networking features.

Specifically, users get the following benefits from the integration:

• A variety of information at a glance: XING members get additional information delivered directly in Outlook such as profile picture, position or company of the members with whom they exchange messages.
   
• Track activities: Members get network and status updates of their professional XING contacts in Outlook and remain up-to-date on their activities.
   
• Outlook always up-to-date: The XING contacts of users such as contact data and profile picture are integrated in Outlook. If the contact data is changed, the new information is automatically synchronized with Outlook. Whenever Outlook is synchronized with the cell phone, the data is automatically updated on the phone as well.
   
• Expand your own network: XING members may expand their personal network directly from within Outlook by inviting Outlook contacts who are not yet XING members by a click.
   

Users keep full control over their data: their individual privacy settings on XING also define which information is made available or not in Outlook.

“The cooperation with Microsoft combines the benefits of the most successful business network in Germany with the most popular form of communication in the professional world,” said Stefan Groß-Selbeck, the CEO of XING AG. “It combines the two central elements of the professional online existence: the personal network and your own mailbox.” Outlook Social Connector The Outlook Social Connector (OSC) integrates the communications history as well as feeds from corporate networks and social networks in Outlook. It brings together friends, family members and colleagues on one level so that users can stay in touch more easily. The technology does no longer require the user to change between various social networks and the mailbox, calendar and attachments in Outlook. The OSC therefore saves time and increases the productivity of users. In addition, users have a better overview of their communication with colleagues as the Outlook Social Connector summarizes the information in a communication field and clearly represents them. “The Outlook Social Connector offers many new and handy features for using email, calendar and contacts“, explains Christian Mehrtens, Director Business Group Information Worker of Microsoft Deutschland GmbH. “By integrating the largest German business network XING we are improving and facilitating the professional communication of many users and enable them to gain valuable time.” The Outlook Social Connector is included in the final version of Outlook 2010. It will be available in the first half of 2010. The beta version is available for download at

http://www.Office.com/beta. The Outlook Social Connector also runs with Outlook 2003 and 2007. More details on system requirements are available at

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c87e257c-d76f-4785-a09b-af36babd6e32 Developers can integrate third-party social networks with the Outlook Social Connector Software Development Kit (SDK).   More information

Current videos, photographs and press releases about Outlook 2010 and the Outlook Social Connector are available on Microsoft’s English websites at

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/2010office/default.aspx and on the Microsoft Outlook team blog at

http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/default.aspx. About XING
XING is the leading European online business network. Over 8 million members use XING in 16 languages to do business, find jobs, and pursue a career. XING helps members get connected and stay in touch with their contacts with customized networking solutions and services. Members are active on XING because of the real value generated, with XING Jobs, over 30 thousand specialized groups, and over 150 thousand live networking events a year, organized by members for members. Since the 2006 IPO, the XING AG share has established a solid position for itself on the stock market, the first and to date only Web 2.0 company to do so. XING AG is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and has local offices based in its key strategic growth markets.
XING. Powering Relationships.