Two weeks ago Microsoft released a strong fourth quarter earnings announcement that showed a 13 percent increase in revenues over the same quarter last year.

Volume licensing programs, and particularly Enterprise Agreements, were mentioned as one of the drivers of the results. The company's Software Assurance program, which is a component of the Enterprise Agreements, provides additional technologies, technical support, training and the rights to the latest products for corporate customers. For fiscal year 2008, customers are poised to get even more value out of their Software Assurance agreements with new benefits such as the recently announced SharePoint Planning Deployment Services, designed to help customers take full advantage of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007; a critical component to a People Ready Business.

To discuss the full value of the Software Assurance program and Microsoft�s Enterprise Agreement and volume licensing efforts in general, PressPass spoke with Joe Matz, recently promoted to corporate vice president of Worldwide Licensing and Pricing.