New Generation of MBS Products Planned

A future generation of Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) applications will share a common code base, but one that’s different from today’s MBS products. Under a plan code-named Project Green, MBS will build a new set of entry-level business management applications using the forthcoming Microsoft Business Framework tools and APIs. Although today’s MBS product lines will be maintained at least until 2012, Project Green will represent a clean break for developers, customers, and resellers. This discontinuity will simplify the product lineup and enable Microsoft to tightly integrate MBS products with “Longhorn” and other Microsoft applications, but could unsettle current MBS resellers.

Few Details So Far

Because MBS was created primarily through a complex chain of acquisitions, the division today includes several different product lines built on different code bases-the Axapta, Great Plains, Navision, and Solomon enterprise resource planning (ERP) products, and Retail Management System, a point-of-sale product for retail stores acquired from Sales Management Systems. MBS also sells other products that were developed internally, such as Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (MSCRM). This blended family of products requires MBS to maintain separate planning cycles and development teams for products with significant functional overlap-an expensive prospect over the long run.