Customers want to get more from their current IT investments. Mike Oldham is helping lead Microsoft�fs efforts to make software licensing easier and enable organizations to empower their people to be more productive with the software they already use on a daily basis through the Software Assurance program.

Oldham, the new general manager of Marketing and Readiness for Microsoft�fs Worldwide Licensing and Pricing group (WWLP), will join some of the company�fs customers and industry partners as well as industry analysts from Gartner and the Yankee Group in a global webcast today to discuss how customers can take advantage of the new and expanded Software Assurance benefits. The LiveMeeting webcast broadcasts at 8a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time and will be archived for on-demand replay at www.microsoft.com/licensing.

Initially announced in September 2005 to give Microsoft customers and partners ample time to plan ahead, these program enhancements are now available to Software Assurance customers. Today�fs webcast offers a chance for customers to hear what their peers are saying about their experience with Software Assurance and how they plan to use latest benefits to get more out of their software investments.

PressPass recently asked Oldham about his commitment to help Microsoft evolve Software Assurance into an industry-leading maintenance offering that helps all sizes of organizations with deploying, managing and migrating software more successfully � at each stage of the customers� software lifecycle.