For Release 9.00 a.m. CET
July 1, 2003
Microsoft TechEd Europe 2003 opens in Barcelona, Spain
Celebrating ten years of technology excellence with the IT community across Europe, the Middle East and Africa
BARCELONA, Spain - 1 July 2003
Microsoft® TechEd Europe - the premier technical training event for Microsoft products and technologies in EMEA - opens its doors today to close to 7,000 attendees in Barcelona, Spain. Microsoft TechEd Europe 2003 marks the 10th anniversary of the annual event, which brings together the developer community and Information Technology professionals from across the region to share the latest updates and training on new and upcoming products from Microsoft. This year's event showcases an unprecedented number of products and specialized sessions, including strong focus on Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET, and the upcoming Microsoft Office System.
Microsoft TechEd Europe represents the thriving ecosystem of partners, customers and developers across EMEA. Attendees have converged on Barcelona to participate in diverse hands-on training sessions and presentations on the latest Information Technology products and tools from Microsoft and its partners to help them continue to build and deliver significant value-add opportunities for EMEA's businesses and consumers.
"TechEd Europe is a vital component of our partnerships with, and commitment to, the developer and IT community in EMEA. The two-way dialogue at the event is an incredible chance to understand the enthusiasm and opportunity that exists for new technologies," said Jean-Philippe Courtois, CEO of Microsoft EMEA and the event host. "Some of our most talented partners and customers are in this region, building amazing technology solutions and services. As Microsoft celebrates its 20 years in EMEA this year, we look forward to continuing to deliver the best technologies and to helping the EMEA IT community realize its potential."
TechEd Europe 2003 opens with a keynote address from Sanjay Parthasarathy, Corporate Vice President of the Microsoft Platform Strategy & Partner Group, in which he discusses the unlimited potential of IT. "The advances in technology that have been achieved in recent years mean that the opportunities to explore new business processes are more prolific than ever," said Parthasarathy. "Microsoft's mission is to focus on delivering software that will enable all kinds of new opportunities for our customers and partners."
Parthasarathy will emphasise that in a time of increasing competitiveness and complexity in the industry IT matters more than ever for companies to gain competitive advantage. He will discuss how the software industry is changing the ways in which IT and business work together. His keynote outlines Microsoft's roadmap to developing the next generation of software and will showcase tools and technologies from Microsoft and its partners that deliver significant value and opportunity for developers, Information Technology specialists and information workers.
TechEd Europe 2003 Highlights
Imagine Cup
TechEd Europe 2003 is hosting the finals of the inaugural 'Imagine Cup', a new worldwide student developer competition developed by Microsoft to challenge the world's most creative students to design the best technology solutions that take advantage of Web Services.
The 15 teams that qualified from the regional and local finals all over the world will demonstrate their projects, all of which concentrate on concepts that are commercially viable or socially responsible and utilize .NET-connected technology. The teams and their projects are a testament to the great opportunity for young IT professionals to innovate through software. Winning teams will share the 'Imagine Cup' award and a prize fund of US$50,000. Jean-Philippe Courtois will present the awards to the three winning teams.
Software Legends Day
For the 10th anniversary, and for the first time, a special full-day program will be devoted to presentations by six legendary software developers. The legends will share tips, tricks and practical information focused on helping attendees become better coders. The six key speakers will be:
- "Don Box -- the .NET Insider. Author of "Essential .NET, Volume 1: The Common Language Runtime"
- "Billy Hollis -- Author of "Fast Track VB.NET"
- "Juval Lowy -- Author of "Programming .NET Components"
- "David Platt -- Author of "Introducing Microsoft .NET, Second Edition"
- "Alex Homer -- Author of 'Professional ASP.NET Web Forms Techniques'
- "Dave Sussman -- Author of 'Beginning Dynamic Web Sites with Web Matrix'
Most Valuable Professionals
The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional program (MVP) is dedicated to building and rewarding partnerships between the technical community and Microsoft. This year, those MVPs and program leaders will be on-site in Barcelona and will offer opportunities for user groups, partners and customers in EMEA to further their partnerships with Microsoft through the development of new technologies and solutions.
10 Years of Microsoft TechEd Europe
Several delegates are attending their 10th consecutive Microsoft TechEd Europe:
"It's been an extremely intensive and effective way of getting up to date on as many Microsoft technologies as possible in as short as possible time in way that's simply impossible from the office," said TechEd Europe stalwart Peter Bryant, from the United Kingdom.
Declared serial attendee Michael Schmidt, from Germany says, "Many problems in day-to-day computing can be solved simply by talking to conference speakers or other attendees. Every conference so far sent me home with some of my hardest problems solved."
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Imagine Cup and the Microsoft .NET Framework are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.