Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Launch Virtual Event Calls Out Release’s High Points

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 may have been officially released in 25 countries and with 23 languages at the beginning of August 2011, but today was the official virtual launch event, with over 7,600 people registered as of the keynote address today.

If you have paid attention to major Dynamics-related events of the past 9 months like the AX Technical Conference, Convergence 2011, or Worldwide Partner Conference 2011, much of the messaging, positioning, and information of this event probably held little new information.  But with the added sessions on customer stories, industry-specific capabilities, and upgrade planning, as well as the palpable partner enthusiasm for the event, the launch event was a chance for Microsoft to lay out its vision for AX 2012 by stressing the solution's ability to reach more varied, larger, distributed businesses with more complex processes and organizaitons than any past release.

The event began with a carefully produced keynote featuring a series of interviews and demos, starting with a short speech by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "AX 2012 is more than one standalone product," he told the audience.  "It works just like Microsoft Outlook, Office, and Sharepoint...The timing of AX 2012 couldn't be better. Many companies today are trapped.  They are using applications they bought 15 years ago...it's as though they poured electronic concrete and are forced to make their business processes fit their applications when it should be the other way around."

Kirill Tatarinov took the stage next, reiterating his vision of the "dynamic business".  He said AX 2012 now supports tax regulations in 36 countries (...