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Microsoft and Maporama International Announce a Major Technological and Commercial Partnership in the Mapping Market



    Microsoft Corp. and Maporama International (Paris:MLMAP), the
    European leader of geolocalization and navigation services, today
    announced the completion of a major technological and commercial
    partnership in the mapping market.

    Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping platform featuring roadmaps,
    satellite and aerial imagery, plus bird's eye and 3-D views will be
    available for Maporama Intl corporate customers. They will benefit
    from increasingly innovative and complete solutions to meet their
    business needs: geolocalization, business intelligence, geomarketing,
    and mobility.

    "It has never been so easy for a company to add value to its
    applications and web sites thanks to these new customized mapping
    solutions," said Arnaud Gstach, Virtual Earth Business Development
    Manager for Southern Europe. The partnership concluded between
    Microsoft and Maporama Intl ushers in a new era of services for the
    mapping market by offering companies the innovation of Virtual Earth
    through Maporama Intl. solutions and service platform.

    Developed by Microsoft, Virtual Earth quickly became the leading
    corporate mapping platform, used by over 1000 enterprise customers
    worldwide. With complete road maps as well as aerial, bird's eye, and
    3-D imagery, Virtual Earth is the ideal platform for various mapping
    and geo-spatial usages. "Web 2.0 is providing new opportunities and
    enabling our customers to re-think their solutions by easily
    integrating next-generation mapping services. Now interactions between
    maps and data are easy and accessible to all," said Arnaud Gstach.

    Leader in the navigation and geolocalization market with over 500
    customers worldwide, Maporama Intl develops and markets a broad range
    of corporate services based on a multi-platform technological
    infrastructure. "Maporama Intl covers all corporate mapping needs and
    offers: for marketing departments, turnkey solutions or solutions for
    integrating maps, itineraries, and searches and for functional
    departments, the solutions connect to business applications (ERP, CRM,
    SFA, etc.). For mobile users, Maporama Intl also ensures full access
    to information with GPS navigation solutions, trip planning assistance
    for sales teams, and fleet management," said Daniele Drahy, Director
    of Operations for Maporama Intl.

    "Thanks to Virtual Earth, the Maporama Intl service offer now
    includes fundamental mapping data enabling our customers to design new
    types of applications. Several industries (real estate, tourism,
    assistance, retail, call centers, banking and insurance) have
    expressed an interest in multi-dimensional visualization (bird's eye
    and 3-D views) in additional to traditional mapping", said Daniele
    Drahy.

    The Maporama Intl platform will naturally and transparently
    integrate the Virtual Earth platform for its customers. They will
    benefit from a new service and a compelling user experience.
    Furthermore, the huge investments made by Microsoft in this market
    worldwide ensure that Maporama Intl customers will take advantage of
    major future innovations."

    About Virtual Earth

    The Virtual Earth platform is Microsoft's next-generation
    integrated set of powerful online mapping and search services that
    utilize unique bird's-eye, 3-D, aerial and satellite imagery. The
    Virtual Earth platform powers a variety of consumer, enterprise and
    government applications that enable people to learn, discover and
    explore a specific location. Virtual Earth also powers Live Search
    Maps, Microsoft's online local search and mapping Web site -- this
    power can be in anyone's hands too, for customized applications. More
    information about the Virtual Earth platform is available at
    http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/default.mspx.

    About Microsoft

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader
    in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses
    realize their full potential.

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    About Maporama International

    Maporama International is a global player on the location-based
    services market offering solutions of store locators, fleet management
    GPS navigation as well as a collection of integration and development
    APIs. These services are delivered on any kind of devices (PC, PDA,
    mobile phones, MP3 players) and using the most detailed and extended
    cartographic coverage available on the market. Quoted on the Euronext
    Paris stock exchange (ISIN Code: FR0010215202-MLMAP), Maporama
    International has more than 500 customers in more than 20 countries,
    including Accor, Delphi Automotive, Europcar, MAAF, Hitachi, Renault
    and L'Oreal. Headquartered in Paris (France), the company has a direct
    presence in Spain, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Canada and in the
    USA.