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Microsoft has released the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, CRM 4.0 and through it the company intends to start shipping from Monday. CRM 4.0, which is the first major upgrade of the CRM software in more than three years. It has evolved a lot from its parent software - Great Plains Software, for which Microsoft had shelled out $1.1 billion around eight years back.

Microsoft aims to utilize CRM to get ahead in the traditional CRM selling space and the SaaS market. New features incorporated into the CRM system include a fully multitenant architecture that will facilitate volume hosting. This is being considered as the single most significant factor that will enable Microsoft to challenge Salesforce and Netsuite. CRM 4.0 also makes use of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for its enhanced collaboration capabilities. This version will initially be shipped in English only with nine more languages being made available in January.

Yesterday here at CRMchump, faithful readers were promised a manageable byte-sized harnessing of the squall of news emitted from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. And so, here we are.

On the sales win side, the Microsofties announced that Securitas Systems USA Inc., the US division of international security systems and services provider Stockholm, Sweden-centered Securitas Systems will be deploying Microsoft Dynamics GP business-management software to replace its Sage MAS 200 system.

Securitas operates in seventeen countries and maintains fifty locations in the United States, and will be installing Microsoft Dynamics GP along with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to create a common operating platform for US operations.

The Microsoft software seeks to coordinate management of Securitas’ 500 US field technicians. The folks from Exact Target were able to introduce the company’s wide-ranging partnership network, involving twenty of the largest worldwide Microsoft value-added resellers, including Inetium, Customer Effective, Sonoma Partners, and K3. Read more

Of course, one bit of news dominated CRM-related blogosphere areas and media outlets: Today, it’s all about the Microsoft CRM Live prices announced at the Worldwide Partner Conference in excellent Denver, Colo.

(Actually, the conference is producing a steady squall of news items – as these events always do – which will be reported upon in an upcoming entry here at CRMchump. However, i can inform y’all now that all bits and bites are paling in comparison at the moment.)

In short, as Information Week describes it, CRM Live will “begin its life partially by attacking Salesforce and RightNow on price,” i.e. numbers that are – so claims Microsoft – half the industry average for similar product.

The Enterprise edition of the solution will be $59 per user per month and Professional will be listed in 2008 at $39 per user per month. CRM Live will be employing a code-based currently known as Titan. Titan introduces Microsoft product on an advanced multi-tenant architecture, using a single code base to support on-premise deployments and software-as-a-service deployments through hosting partners and through the – you guessed it – Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. Titan promises “a smooth upgrade path for existing on-premise and SaaS customers.” We’re still no closer to a release date for CRM Live or Titan, however, with word at the convention saying “later this year.” We do know that the early-adoption program begins in the autumn and will be based at Microsoft’s Virginia data center. Read more

The news about Oracle today is reading like a press-release version of that 2001 Japanese cinema classic, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

The software behemoths aren’t destroying Tokyo with fire breath and the like, but there is a lot of bellowing and stomping going on involving three of the biggest names in the biz.

Computer World is running a bit more on the software lawsuit of the year, i.e. Oracle v. SAP AG, with SAP reportedly now hoping to settle with the big O. Oracle v. SAP, a case “about corporate theft on a grand scale, committed by the largest German software company,” in the opening words of the complaint.

Oracle originally brought the lawsuit against SAP in the US Federal District Court in the Northern District of California on March 22. The lawsuit alleged that King Ghidorah – i mean, SAP was guilty of violations to the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, Unfair Competition, Intentional and Negligent Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage and Civil Conspiracy, i.e. they ripped off Oracle data. Read more

Canada-based technology consulting firm and gold certified Microsoft partner Ideaca Knowledge Services announced today that Catalyst Paper Corporation has now fully implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Catalyst and Ideaca together created the “Outlook Sales Portal” solution, an application bringing together Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SharePoint Services and SAP data accessed directly from Microsoft Outlook.

Headquartered in amazing Vancouver, British Columbia, Catalyst Paper Corporation is a leading producer of mechanical printing papers in North America. The company also produces pulp and owns what is purportedly Western Canada’s largest paper recycling facility. Catalyst has a combined annual capacity of 2.4 million tonnes of product.

Ideaca currently employs over 150 information technology professionals in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver offices. Ideaca foci include Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM, portals and collaboration tools, custom application development, business intelligence and application integration.

Much to Apple’s embarrassment, the company may well be on the wrong side of what might become software’s underdog story of the year.

Itty bitty Whangarei, New Zealand-based software company Orbitcoms (the firm employs six including its CEO) is being threatened with legal action by big bad Apple over the name of its Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner software, Orbitcoms iPop, née iPop.

Orbitcoms CEO Tony Shi is well-quoted (well, well-quoted in New Zealand, anyway) as explaining that the “i” stands for “information, intelligence and integration” and the “Pop” is there because the program creates popups when used with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

When Shi and co. applied to trademark the solution as simply “iPop,” Apple argued that the name was “too similar to iPod.” Out went a second application for the name “Orbitcoms iPop,” but Apple reportedly argued the same way again.

Reportedly, the cost for Orbitcoms to fight a legal challenge could be as high as $50,000, an expense the Kiwi firm cannot realistically take on at present.

The iPop case harkens back to an Apple product name controversy earlier this year, namely the legal threat brought by technology provider Cisco. Within hours of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ intro the iPhone at the MacWorld Expo in January, Cisco spokesfolk announced they were bringing suit for trademark infringement in a Northern California U.S. District Court.

Cisco had released its Linksys iPhone line the previous month and, in fact, had owned the trademark on iPhone name since 1996, in the category of “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerised global information networks.”

Cisco senior vice president and general counsel Mark Chandler at that time stated that “There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.” Chandler claimed that his firm were negotiating with Apple over the name and that Apple had “repeatedly” asked permission for use of “iPhone.”

The name of the line did cause confusion in some quarters pre-unveiling on the parts of those who figured that, since Apple has a million products carrying the “i” prefix from iPod to iMac, the “iPhone” must be a Macintosh.

The parties settled up in February, but one wonders if Apple is eventually going to attempt to sue for the legal trademarking rights for all products beginning with “i.”

Apple has yet to comment on the Orbitcoms flap.

Customer Effective, a Microsoft gold certified partner and provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, announced a couple of successes this week in CRM implementations.

First up was Formetco, with which Customer Effective interfaced system with Microsoft Great Plains. Customer Effective also provided user training.

Formetco will be employing the CRM in schedule adherence, resource allocation, progress reviews and budget management. The agreement between Formetco and Customer Effective is ongoing, with Customer Effective continuing to work with Formetco to fine tune key performance indicators and dashboard reporting.

Customer Effective also announced its delivering of CRM to improve the customer service needs of Independent Purchasing Cooperative Inc.

IPC manages a value-based food service supply chain for over 24,000 Subway outlets in the United States and Canada. Customer Effective was selected as an expert to develop, deploy and manage a fast-track CRM implementation for IPC.

Chosen for their successful CRM implementation and support services record, Customer Effective led the project which included integration with an existing in-house membership database application IPC uses for tracking all franchise information. As a key component of the implementation, Customer Effective provided comprehensive user training and post-deployment support.

IPC uses CRM to track customer calls, emails and questions from initial inquiry through resolution.

Founded in 1968, Formetco is a full service supplier for the outdoor advertising industry.

Headquartered in Greenville, SC, Customer Effective is a specialist in customer interaction solutions based on the Microsoft Customer Relationship Management platform. The company has been engaged in over 200 Microsoft CRM implementation and development projects.

IPC is an independent Subway franchisee-owned and operated purchasing cooperative. IPC negotiates the lowest costs for purchased goods and services for Subway outlets.

This much we know: Earlier in the month, Oncontact Software announced the release of Oncontact CRM 6.0, the latest version of its flagship Microsoft. NET-based CRM software billed as “the industry’s first CRM software to update its graphical user interface and visual style to complement Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.”

Designed for mid-market organizations, additional features touted in Oncontact CRM 6.0 include Microsoft Office 2007 compatibility, Lotus integration, a time billing module and an advanced search function. The solution promises compatibility with industry-standard solutions including Microsoft SQL Server and a help desk management system is available to track service inquiries, incidents and problems.

All well and good. This means that, if Oncontact CRM 6.0 is indeed the first CRM to be designed for Vista cohabitation, the product should make for a good barometer of the relative use of the new Microsoft browser.

CRM Buyer’s Erika Morphy follows up on the postulation in a story called “Oncontact Rejiggers CRM App for Vista.” (Gotta love the use of the verb “to rejigger” there. Nice.)

In the piece, Oncontact president Jon Zimmerman unabashedly says that “Not many of Oncontact’s clients have requested the Vista makeover yet, although customers have been clamoring for support of Microsoft Office 2007.” However – surprise, surprise – “I think companies will be forced to jump to Vista as it begins to take off.”

Ah, good ol’ Microsoft…

Be sure to check out “Rejiggers,” a nice bit of work that goes well beyond Oncontact to check out the popularity of Vista, which Sterling Market Intelligence president Greg Sterling is quoted as saying, “Vista’s numbers came in higher than expected given the initial mixed reviews of the application.”

Oncontact Software has announced the release of Oncontact CRM 6.0, a new version of its flagship Microsoft. NET-based CRM software that is billed as “the industry’s first CRM software to update its graphical user interface and visual style to complement Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.”

Designed for mid-market organizations, additional features touted in Oncontact CRM 6.0 include Microsoft Office 2007 compatibility, Lotus integration, a time billing module and an advanced search function. The solution promises compatibility with industry-standard solutions including Microsoft SQL Server and a help desk management system is available to track service inquiries, incidents and problems. The product is offered at one price per user.

Client Profiles, a provider of CRM, case management and financial applications for the legal profession, this week announced the acquisition of the CRM consulting practice of Lynch Marks, LLC.

Since 1998, Lynch Marks CRM consultants have specialized in CRM implementation and consulting services, providing services including CRM technology selection; application development and execution of CRM implementation plans and projects; CRM data cleansing; validation and integration; training; and support.

Lynch Marks has reportedly successfully completed over 175 CRM implementations and consulting projects including engagements with over 45% of the Am Law 100 and 200 law firms.

Following the acquisition, the Lynch Marks organization will “tighten their focus on the Datalyser conversion technologies” and PSShip software.

Client Profiles’ flagship product CRM4Legal is an Outlook-based client relationship management system for law firms built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.