14 DAY TRIAL // With the commercial availability of Windows Vista well under way, and with Microsoft fueling all marketing engines while the operating system hits the shelves in an estimated 39,000 retail store around the world, the Redmond juggernaut has not lost focus of the corporate environment.
In order to convince yet another market to make the switch to Windows Vista, Microsoft has forecasted, citing a study commissioned to IDC, that the operating system will generate no less than $3.5 billion in new revenue for the Greater Washington, D.C., IT industry.
"Windows Vista will create additional revenues for Microsoft in greater Washington, but will also create even bigger economic ripples throughout the ecosystem that sells products and services in the D.C. area that run on or work with it," said John Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president of IDC. "Windows Vista's footprint in the area will be wide, as original equipment manufacturers sell PCs that run on it, software companies sell applications that run it, and services and distribution firms deliver, install, support and train on it. We expect that in the first year of Windows Vista shipments, this ecosystem will sell nearly $3.5 billion of Windows Vista-related products and services in greater Washington."
Additionally, Vista is predicted to create over 11,000 new jobs and impact 17% of the total IT employment in the D.C. area. Moreover, the business ecosystem outside of Microsoft will cash in $19.49 in revenue for each dollar earned by the Redmond Company from Vista.
"Microsoft is proud to bring products to market that help infuse economic growth here in the D.C. area," said Michael Ferreri, Mid-Atlantic States District general manager at Microsoft. "This launch is generating economic opportunities in greater Washington and across the nation by creating jobs, enabling organizational efficiencies and helping solve business challenges for our customers, partners and the IT industry as a whole."