Gimme 4!

Microsoft Corp. yesterday released its Dynamics AX 4.0, the latest upgrade of its high-end enterprise resource planning software Monday at the Microsoft Tech Ed 2006 conference in Boston. The product was made available yesterday in the U.S. and Canada; China, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom should receive the product this week, and the rest of the world will see 4.0 by the end of 2006.

The software is called the first Microsoft ERP offerings to include full unicode support; this enables the display of Chinese and other “double-byte” lexigraphic systems. Microsoft marketing figures this capability to be most useful in the monster markets of Brazil, China and Japan. Other Dynamics AX 4.0 features include a new user interface, radio frequency ID functionality designed to integrate with Microsoft upcoming RFID server.

Microsoft clients have also been promised that use of web services allow customization of the ERP software. With the product release came the announcement that Dynamics AX 4.0 will include a new service management module to help automate the servicing of machinery. The update promises increased integration with the Microsoft SQL Server database, particularly in reporting and data analysis, while making use of the SharePoint web portal to facilitate user collaboration. Dynamics AX 4.0 will come with a global search capability across the whole application.

Dynamics AX 4.0 represents another step in the grander scheme of Microsoft’s long-term goal, merging of the disparate applications into a single code base beginning in 2008. Formerly known as Axapta, Dynamics AX is a creation of Danish software firm Damgaard; Damgaard was acquired by Navision in 2000, which was in turn purchased by Microsoft in 2002. Dynamics AX currently boasts an installed base of approximately 6,500 users across 37 countries.