NVIDIA today announced the first ever GeForce eSports World of Tanks Open Tournament(1), where combatants will compete to win NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 600-series graphics cards and a shot at a $100,000 total prize pool awarded at a spectacular grand finals event. Preregistration is open today with team and player registration open starting March 28th for two weeks.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — March 21, 2013 — As part of the recently launched Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, Microsoft Corp. today announced a strategic cooperation with business incubator iHub and the m:lab East Africa consortium to enable startups, innovators and the developer community of East Africa to grow their skills and build businesses with Microsoft technologies. The cooperation further aims to offer these communities increased access to software, skills development opportunities and a means through which innovative startups can access capital investment and benefit from international outreach.

iHub is an innovation hub for the technology community that comprises an open space made available for technologists, investors and tech companies in Kenya and surrounding areas. m:lab is a consortium of four organizations that aims to be a leader in identifying, nurturing and helping to build sustainable enterprises in the knowledge economy. Together, they actively support the growth of entrepreneurs in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Somalia and Southern Sudan. Microsoft will cooperate with the iHub and m:lab network on multiple projects spanning these countries, including the following:

• Supporting the startup community with Microsoft BizSpark memberships, trainings, participation in events, and access to business networking and capital investment opportunities. BizSpark is a global program that helps startups grow into successful businesses through software support and a vibrant ecosystem that delivers exceptional business advantage. BizSpark has supported 625 African startups since the program was first introduced in 2009.

• Enabling developers to access the latest events and workshops on Microsoft’s newest development technologies through iHub and m:lab community events, including trainings with the iHub UX lab.

• Establishing a physical presence in iHub and m:lab facilities at which Microsoft devices, including Windows Phones and Windows-based tablets, will be available for testing applications and other software developed by the local IT communities.

• Establishing a connection between the iHub Research team and Microsoft Research to enable access to research tools and collaboration on mutually beneficial projects.

• Enabling collaboration between the iHub Consulting team and Microsoft Consulting Services on joint customer projects.

Speaking today at the Innovation Africa Digital Summit in Ethiopia, Fernando de Sousa, general manager, Microsoft Africa Initiatives, said, “Microsoft sees tremendous potential in African youth, developers and entrepreneurs, and we see this collaboration with iHub and m:lab as an excellent way to quickly and directly engage with these critical communities to listen to how we can best support their ambitions and goals. It is our hope that this collaboration will help many more African startups become strong players in the information and communication technology sector at a global scale.”

Erik Hersman, managing director and founder of iHub, added, “We are very pleased to establish this cooperation with Microsoft, spanning the iHub ecosystem, to enable us to provide tech community members with great programs that can help them develop innovative new software products, establish their businesses and reach new markets. Microsoft is clearly a brand that developers and startups want to engage with, and we look forward to this collaboration, which will accelerate the development of technology across East Africa.”

The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is designed to help Africa improve its global competitiveness. By 2016, various efforts under the 4Afrika banner spanning the continent, such as this new collaboration with iHub and m:lab, will help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium-size enterprises online, upskill 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability, 75 percent of which Microsoft will help place in jobs.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — March 20, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced via its website the general availability of the Windows Embedded 8 family of operating systems. Extending Windows 8 technologies to a spectrum of edge devices, Windows Embedded 8 helps enterprises capitalize on the Internet of Things with the platform to capture, analyze and act on valuable data across IT infrastructures.

“Edge devices connected and working in unison with an enterprise’s broader IT infrastructure unleash the potential of the Internet of Things by yielding the actionable data and operational intelligence that drive businesses forward,” said Kevin Dallas, general manager of Windows Embedded at Microsoft. “From the rich, familiar experience of Windows to integrated management, analytics and cloud platforms, Windows Embedded 8 coupled with the full breadth of Microsoft technologies for intelligent systems helps enterprises gain lasting competitive advantages in retail, manufacturing, healthcare and a variety of industries.”

Devices at the edge of enterprise networks connected to integrated Microsoft software and services help enterprises identify and act on opportunities that otherwise would be out of reach by improving access to data, enhancing performance, extending security and powering flexible line-of-business applications. With Windows Embedded 8, enterprises can harness Windows 8 technologies with additional features to support industry devices within intelligent systems — including rich, natural experiences that provide customers and employees with access to the information they are looking for while ensuring the consistency and predictability businesses require. Businesses will also have the ability to add or buy enterprise-specific functionality for their Windows Embedded 8-based solutions through licensing options Microsoft will make available in July.

For original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers, Windows Embedded 8 delivers the power, familiarity and reliability of the Windows operating system to create advanced commercial devices. The Windows 8 innovations coupled with additional embedded functionality for edge devices will help them quickly and efficiently deliver differentiated solutions with security enhancements, a refined application model and touch-first industry experiences. Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Embedded 8 Pro are available immediately for OEMs to build and ship solutions — Microsoft has launched http://www.getwindowsembedded8.com to provide download access to the platforms.

Windows Embedded 8 Industry, which targets retail point-of-service (POS) solutions and other scenarios across manufacturing and healthcare that require fixed experiences with enhanced lockdown, branding and the other benefits of Windows Embedded 8, will be available the week of April 1.

In addition, http://www.getwindowsembedded8.com also contains a video series of panel discussions and other resources for enterprises and OEMs to help them take advantage of intelligent systems with Windows Embedded 8. The videos focus on three key industries with significant potential for intelligent systems — healthcare, retail and manufacturing — all with unique needs and requirements for devices, from kiosks to human machine interface panels (HMI), digital signs and POS terminals. Panelists featured in the videos include Windows Embedded general managers Kevin Dallas and Barb Edson; Neil Jordan, managing director of the Worldwide Health Group, Microsoft; Rohit Bhargava, director of Global Technology Strategy for the Worldwide Manufacturing & Resources Sector, Microsoft; Brendan O’Meara, managing director of the Worldwide Retail Group, Microsoft; and industry research analysts Cornelia Wels-Maug (Ovum), Craig Resnick (ARC), and Jerry Sheldon (IHL Group). The panels are moderated by GigaOm Research’s Adam Lesser.

More information on Windows Embedded 8 is available at http://www.getwindowsembedded8.com and the Windows Embedded Newsroom. The Windows Embedded 8 conversation on Twitter is available at http://twitter.com/MSFTWEB and using #getWE8.

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

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.