Microsoft Announces Dynamics AX 2012 General Availability

As promised at Convergence 2011 in Atlanta in April, Microsoft has today announced the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, its flagship ERP solution, in 25 countries and 23 languages. A subsequent release is expected to include another 12 languages and to be rolled out for European and BRIC nations in the first half of 2013 according to official guidance.

Microsoft has consistently touted its Dynamics AX 2012 release for a range of improvements like more industry-specific capabilities, a revamped technical architecture that stresses modeling and stronger code management, and various changes to simplify the deployment and user interface of the product.

Microsoft and its Dynamics AX partners have been hard at work for many months, if not longer, preparing for this release. 

Pre-release builds of AX 2012 have been in the hands of partners and customers for many months, and training kicked off as early as 2009 for TAP partners.  Among the adjustments from a technical perspective, developers and solution architects now work with Visual Studio and .NET extensively (although X++ and MorphX live on); use a more sophisticated role-based security model; and have an updated approach to managing code.

Interest in AX 2012 really started to build following the January 2011 AX Technical Conference, the first event where masses of technical professionals got a close look at a broad range of details for the upcoming release.  While trying to temper their forward-looking vision at the time, Microsoft ...