NZ now tier one with Microsoft

Country status now equal to US, Australia and others

Microsoft has officially designated this country “Tier One”, meaning Microsoft products will become available here at the same time as larger markets on the first launch “wave” such as the US, Japan, Germany, Singapore and Australia.

Customers will no longer have to wait and watch innovations such as Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft online services roll out in other markets, says Misti Landtroop, director of small and midmarket solutions and partners at Microsoft NZ.

“Our business partners will also be ahead of the game and be the first in the world to have access to all these technologies, and therefore able to provide innovative solutions to their customers,” says Landtroop.

Her announcement of the change at local partner Intergen’s Dynamics Day in Wellington was well received. “It is good for us and our customers because we [Intergen] have had a de facto Tier One status for some time. We work with the new stuff many months before release, so now it means as soon as product is released we can take it to market here,” says Chris Auld, Intergen’s director of strategy and innovation.

The decision to take a country to Tier One is based on a number of factors including market size and market maturity, Landtroop says.

Auld sees it as a vote of confidence in New Zealand as a mature market. Effectively, New Zealand has been moving to Tier One status for some time, he says. Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, for example, was released here before Australia. “But it is good to see it recognised formally.”

With some products, such as Windows Phone 7, there will be a small delay because of signing up partners to provide the related services, Intergen’s Auld says, but most products and services should be releasable on the same date as in the US.

At this stage there will be no changes to Microsoft New Zealand staffing levels, the company says.