Accenture and Avanade have been honored as the 2010 Microsoft Enterprise Partner of the Year. Microsoft selected Accenture and Avanade for the sixth time -- and third consecutive year -- from an international network of leading companies that deliver solutions built on the Microsoft platform.

Accenture and Avanade were recognized as leading partners across Microsoft's 13 major geographic regions, a result of each region's enterprise team ranking them among the top five Microsoft partners. The organizations have jointly won the Partner of the Year Award more than any other Microsoft Enterprise Partner.

"In winning Microsoft's Enterprise Partner of the Year for an unprecedented sixth time, Accenture and Avanade have distinguished themselves among our partners," said Simon Witts, corporate vice president, Enterprise & Partner Group, Microsoft. "Accenture and Avanade are well positioned for the future as they continue to drive innovation on the Microsoft platform. Their leadership in Microsoft cloud-based solutions and services is helping companies find new ways to reduce costs, increase flexibility and improve performance."

Over the past decade, Accenture and Avanade have collaborated on more than 5,000 Microsoft projects and developed more than 100 industry-specific and cross-industry solutions. Together, Accenture and Avanade have more than 50,000 Microsoft-skilled staff worldwide -- more than any other partner. Avanade consultants hold more than 13,000 Microsoft certifications, the largest number of certifications per employee of any service provider.

"This recognition is a testament to the continued success of the Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft partnership and our commitment to providing our clients with Microsoft's world-class business solutions," said Don Rippert, chief technology officer at Accenture. "Together, we are focused on helping organizations achieve high performance leveraging Microsoft technologies."

"For 10 years, our worldwide team of professionals has maintained a single-minded focus to help organizations realize the best results on the Microsoft platform," said Adam Warby, CEO at Avanade. "This award further validates that our partnership with Accenture and Microsoft delivers innovative solutions that have a significant impact on businesses. Our alliance is unmatched in the depth of capabilities and expertise that we can bring to our customers."

The Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft partnership delivers business and technology insight for improving performance, backed by enterprise solutions and services with a proven track record of success. Accenture brings industry, business and technology acumen focused on helping clients become high-performance businesses. Additionally, Avanade's sole focus on the Microsoft platform provides insight, innovation and expertise in delivering a breadth of business and IT solutions for large organizations globally.

The three companies continue to make investments in innovation on the Microsoft platform. Together they are actively pursuing opportunities for growth in many areas, including new innovations in healthcare, oil and gas, digital marketing and client-focused CRM solutions. Additionally, over the past year, Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft have been investing in capabilities to deliver cloud-related services for Microsoft offerings, including Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) and the Windows Azure platform. In January, Avanade launched Avanade Online Services (AOS). AOS provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to deliver Microsoft solutions to large enterprises, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management) as the first solution offered.