Microsoft Recognizes Accenture and Avanade With Four 2011 Partner of the Year Awards

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Jul 6, 2011) - Accenture (NYSE: ACN), a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, and Avanade, a global business technology services provider, have been honored with four Microsoft Partner of the Year awards for 2011. Together the companies have earned more Microsoft partner awards worldwide than any other company. Recognitions for 2011 include:

• Alliance Partner of the Year - Application Platform
• Desktop Partner of the Year
• Dynamics Distribution Partner of the Year
• Country Partner of the Year - Brazil

"These recognitions by Microsoft demonstrate the joint commitment of Accenture and Avanade to deliver high performance for clients on the Microsoft platform," said Scott Harrison, Accenture's Global Lead, Microsoft Alliance. "Our combined 54,000-plus Microsoft-skilled experts are dedicated to driving innovation that creates value and business results for our clients across all industries."

Aziz Virani, Executive Vice President, Global Technology & Solutions, Avanade, said: "The awards Avanade and Accenture have won reflect key technology trends impacting business decisions today to drive down costs, improve productivity, streamline operations and increase sales. Less than a year after launching in Brazil, being awarded country partner was unexpected and wonderful news. Together with Accenture, we will continue to invest in our strong partnership with Microsoft and grow our presence in that market."

Accenture and Avanade have been jointly recognized in the following award categories:

Alliance Partner of the Year - Application Platform
Accenture and Avanade received the Alliance Partner of the Year - Application Platform award for their demonstrated leadership in driving Microsoft-based application platform solutions to enterprise customers that best integrate the infrastructure, database, business logic and end user and management layers for on-premise or cloud-based mission critical applications.

Desktop Partner of the Year
The two companies were jointly recognized as the Desktop Partner of the Year for their proven experience in helping customers migrate to Windows 7, as well as more efficiently and cost-effectively manage their desktop assets, support and enable their end users, and deploy new applications.

Dynamics Distribution Partner of the Year
Microsoft selected Accenture and Avanade as the Dynamics Distribution Partner of the Year for their excellence in providing innovative products and solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics AX to customers in the distribution industry.

Country Partner of the Year - Brazil
After less than a year in operation, Accenture and Avanade's Brazil business was honored with the Country Partner of the Year award for demonstrated business excellence in delivering Microsoft solutions to customers and for driving customer satisfaction and innovation. Avanade opened in Brazil in partnership with Accenture in October 2010.

In addition to the four awards, Accenture and Avanade were also selected as finalists for Online Services Partner of the Year and Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year.

Separately, Accenture was also recognized with a Country Partner of the Year award for Argentina.

The recipients of the 2011 Microsoft Partner of the Year awards will be recognized at this year's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, being held July 10-14 in Los Angeles, California. More information on the awards can be found at: http://digitalwpc.com/Awards/2011-Awards.

About Avanade
Avanade provides business technology services that connect insight, innovation and expertise in Microsoft technologies to help customers realize results. Avanade's services and solutions help improve performance, productivity and sales for organizations in all industries. The company applies Microsoft expertise from its global network of consultants, drawing on the right mix of onshore, offshore and nearshore skills, which together are designed to help deliver results faster, at lower cost and with less risk. Avanade, which is majority owned by Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture and Microsoft Corporation and serves customers in more than 20 countries worldwide with more than 13,000 professionals. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 223,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Avanade and the Avanade logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Avanade Inc. Other product, service, or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.