馬來西亞國際伊斯蘭大學與微軟合作推廣3K教育活動

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA (IIUM) AND MICROSOFT MALAYSIA INK 3K PROGRAM MOU TO DRIVE EDUCATION EXCELLENCE

Kuala Lumpur, November 1, 2007 – Microsoft Malaysia and the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) today signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) on the 3K Program (Komunikasi, Kolaborasi dan Kebudayaan), marking the first roll-out of the program since its introduction in September this year. The MoU is aimed at creating a new world of education excellence for the institution via the deployment of Microsoft’s Unified Communication (UC) offerings - namely Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007.

Signing on behalf of the International Islamic University Malaysia was Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar, Deputy Rector and the Chief Information Officer of the University of Malaysia while Microsoft Malaysia was represented by Azizah Ali, General Manager, Public Sector, Microsoft Malaysia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar said that IIUM was pleased to partner with Microsoft for the 3K Program and believes that the institution-wide roll-out of the customized Connected Education Framework will offer numerous benefits to the university, including inculcating an ICT culture necessary to excel the 21st century and enhanced collaboration and communication amongst its users with the latest in Microsoft technology.

“We can expect to see a more unified IT management environment involving lower information storage requirements and decreased back end costs and at the same time, optimize work efficiencies through improved information and communication transparency amongst people.” said Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar.

He added, “Our staff and students will not only benefit from being exposed to the latest trends in the area of communication and collaboration technologies but they can also look forward to revolutionizing their teaching and learning experience at the University with tools available at hand, making them more competitive and relevant to world standards.”

Commenting on Microsoft's aspirations for the higher education arena, Azizah Ali said that the 3K Program was established with the aim of supporting the government’s vision of creating world-class universities and drive aspirations to transform the higher education landscape via ICT as a catalyst of change. As such, the program complements the National Higher Education Blueprint launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier this year, and has adopted its objectives to evolve Malaysia into a global higher education hub.

“At Microsoft, we believe in empowering individuals to realize their potential by providing, as best we can, accessibility to the right tools and knowledge required to nurture that potential. In this instance, we are investing resources in technology transference and the sharing of best practices to see this happen. In fact, this MoU with IIUM not only signifies the first roll-out of the 3K program but also represents the first university to deploy the latest in Microsoft technology - the Unified Communications suite of products - which we have just launched yesterday,” said Azizah.

"This reflects the extent of our commitment and aspirations to move the needle in the tertiary education sphere. We look forward to partnering with more institutions on this front and to help revolutionize the teaching, learning and communication experience," she added.

The MoU between IIUM and Microsoft Malaysia will cover the three specific areas of the 3K program:

Unified University: An Enhanced Communication and Collaborative Environment

Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 to improve overall productivity via increased transparency of and accessibility to information amongst academicians, researchers, executives and students in the institution. Examples include:

**Improved internal communications amongst university staff through integrated email, telephony and instant messaging platforms
**Enabling real-time internet-based confidential sharing of documents such as exam results, assignments, thesis and more
**Establishing solid foundations of “a new world of education”, building towards the concept of a Virtual Classroom via web conferencing between faculty members and students
**Allow external partnerships with other leading universities through the “exchange” of lectures or programs, via the Virtual Classroom concept

Windows Live@Edu: Encouraging ICT Culture and Community

Managing and hosting IIUM’s communications and collaborative infrastructure (email, instant messaging and online collaboration) to support approximately 23,000 students by:

**E-Mail storage: Providing 5GB email accounts per student
**E-Mail for life: Each student is able to retain the email ID and storage even after they have left the university
**Instant Messaging: Facilitating student communication and collaboration through the provision of instant messaging application
**Enabling cost-savings on back-end servers for email and storage for the university
Maintaining industrial email and communications infrastructure through Windows Live Hotmail
Connected Education Framework: Empowering Higher Education Institutions
Jointly developing and localizing a framework to help IIUM nurture and master an ICT culture within the education institution via enhanced management, solidified infrastructure and effective business processes.

Concluding the session, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar said, "We look forward to implementing the 3K program at IIUM. It will be the first step towards moving the university into a new era of education excellence, one that only the power of information, communication and technology can bring and Microsoft has been a key strategic partner in making this happen."

The unified communications suite of products utilized in the 3K program was made available on October 31, 2007. For more information on Microsoft’s unified communications service offerings, please see http://www.microsoft.com/uc/Default.mspx