September 17, 2009

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) channel partners this week are getting an early look at Microsoft Project 2010, the next generation of the vendor's project management application that's slated to ship next year.

The new release has been re-developed on Microsoft's SharePoint Server platform and for the first time unifies Microsoft's project and portfolio management tools into a single entity.

"This is the most significant release of [Microsoft] Project in a decade," Seth Patton, senior marketing director for Microsoft Project, said in an interview.

The company's timetable calls for providing a public beta version of the software before the end of the year and shipping the final "release to manufacturing" version in the first six months of 2010.

Microsoft provided a preview of the new software this week at its Microsoft Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix. Patton said there are some 1,300 attendees at the conference, about 40 percent of which are channel partners, including solution providers, ISVs, hosting partners, training service providers and consultants. About 350 partners attended "deep dive" training sessions on the new software on Monday, Patton said.

Altogether Microsoft has more than 1,000 channel partners that work with Microsoft Project, according to Patton. The Microsoft Project product line currently includes the Microsoft Office Project 2007 client application, Microsoft Project Server 2007 and Microsoft Portfolio Server 2007.

Portfolio management applications, which organizations use to evaluate and prioritize proposed development projects and align them with business goals, are particularly important right now as IT departments try to cut costs. Until now Microsoft customers have used gateway software to link the separate Microsoft Project and Portfolio server products. But Microsoft Project 2010 will combine the project and portfolio management server software into a single product, Patton said.

Source:-http://www.crn.com/