Microsoft Corp. today announced that SPY Optic Inc., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based designer and manufacturer of action sports and fashion eyewear and accessories, has selected Microsoft Dynamics� GP for its new, overall enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution and Microsoft Dynamics CRM to manage its customer and vendor relations. The company, which has 125 employees, will also leverage the technology to streamline interactions with its European headquarters in Lombardo, Italy. SPY Optic distributes to more than 5,000 retail locations in the U.S., with plans to expand to markets in Australia and Europe.

The combination of a recent public offering and the welcoming of a new chief information officer (CIO) provided SPY Optic with an ideal opportunity to re-evaluate its approach to production, inventory, sales and customer data management, all of which were previously distributed throughout various nonintegrated IT systems. The new combined Microsoft Dynamics solution will work in tandem with Microsoft� SQL Server�, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and other key, familiar products on the Microsoft platform.