Ballmer Kicks Off Partner Confab, Axapta Re-launch

Another you ask? Well, the company technically launched Axapta 4.0—aka Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0-- last month at Tech Ed, but apparently what's worth launching is worth re-launching.

CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand Monday night to tout both AX specifically and Microsoft Business Solutions' push generally, citing business applications as a critical $62 billion market that's just waiting to be won.

Doug Burgum was on hand to kick off the festivities in front of a few hundred partners, analysts and reporters in Boston's Back Bay. Many had wondered what Burgum's role would be at this year's worldwide partner conference—an event where he has typically been highlighted. He was nowhere to be found on preliminary conference listing materials.

But, there he was at the pre-event cocktail party. "Yup. I'm here. But only for four and a half days this year," he quipped. (The show is roughly four and a half days long.)

Later, introducing his long-time friend Ballmer to the crowd, Burgum noted : "I was a Microsoft partner for 18 years. and I thought I knew how passionate Steve could be. But it's hard to describe how passionate Steve can be once you see it from the inside." Or words to that effect.

Ballmer contended that the company's investment in business applications--more than $2.5 billion in acquisition costs plus a cool billion in R&D--is money well spent. That's a drop in the bucket if the prize is a big chunk of $62 billion big ones, I guess.

The company's former stance that MBS apps are for small and mid-sized businesses appears to have officially gone the way of the do-do bird. The MBS lineup, said Ballmer, is moving into " not just the mid market but more and more into the enterprise."

And Axapta seems to be the Dynamics app of the moment now, with many partners saying it's the most competitive offering to SAP's Business One. Microsoft now claims 6,000 Axapta customers, up from 5,000 just over a year ago; and up from 4,500 in November 2004.

Simon Thomason, vice president of Capgemini's Microsoft Business Unit agrees that AX is ready for big companies, citing a large U.K. customer that is replacing SAP R/3 with Axapta.

Some other tidbits: The company added four more Industry Builder partners to its roster. That means four new vertical apps that run atop Axapta will be sold off Microsoft's price list. They are WellPoint Systems' for energy, oil and gas companies; Atos Origin for automotive suppliers; Infonizer for dealer management; and TXT e-solutions for demand management in manufacturing, fashion and textile industries.