Compario is the first connected commerce software vendor to offer its e-commerce customers a solution based on Windows Azure from Microsoft. Online retailers will benefit from easier and more flexible resources and IT infrastructure management, allowing marketing operations and seasonal peaks to be handled more effectively.

Paris, 8 November 2012 - Compario, the connected commerce software provider, announces that its solution is now available on Windows Azure.

The new version of Windows Azure allows websites to benefit from the flexibility of the Cloud, making the management and use of IT infrastructure and resources (servers, storage, networks, virtualization) agile and easily adapted according to requirements. Now completely compatible with the IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) version of Windows Azure, Compario's technology automates the detection of additional resource requirements and speeds up their allocation where tasks previously required manual intervention.

Marketing departments will enjoy a very high level of responsiveness in their activities, such as advertising campaigns, launches of new product ranges, flash offers, sales, etc, with guaranteed system availability, even during sudden peaks in traffic.

Microsoft Windows Azure offers numerous benefits to Compario and its customers:

• Improved speed of server deployment: Compario can now carry out a customer implementation on Windows Azure in less than an hour.

• Responsiveness: Compario can react quickly to peaks in traffic.

• Enhanced security: safety mechanisms are in place within the Windows Azure Cloud environment.

• Performance: Windows Azure provides a Cloud infrastructure which can handle very large volumes of users and significant increases in load.

• Deployment: Windows Azure allows for completely straightforward international deployment.

• Scalability: Compario can adapt to the needs of growing e-commerce companies and support the development of their businesses even more effectively.

"The latest version of Windows Azure marks a significant milestone with the addition of the IaaS service to the platform, complementing the existing PaaS[1] offering and providing websites with new capabilities," comments Romuald Poirot, VP of Software Engineering at Compario. "Windows Azure allows us to take the Compario platform to a new level in terms of performance as well as ease of use, thanks to the much wider use of the power of the Cloud. Our customers will benefit from these new capabilities and from an even higher level of reliability, to power the performance of their retail site and their connected commerce activities. Ultimately, the Compario platform will make it possible to streamline resources management so that they can be controlled and allocated by the users themselves. In this way, our customers will use Compario as a private Cloud, in which they can automatically activate the resources they need, according to the level of development of their e-commerce site and of their marketing operations."

"At Microsoft, our core aim is to create an environment and platforms which allow our partners to grow and to accelerate their development. We are delighted that Compario is using our Windows Azure IaaS service to offer an even more high-performance service to its clients in the world of e-commerce," emphasizes Jean Ferré, director of the Developers, Platform and Ecosystem division at Microsoft France.

About Compario
Compario develops and markets Connected Commerce solutions designed to:

• Personalize the customer journey and optimize online navigation and product search

• Maximize product merchandising, regardless of channel or mode of access (website, smartphone, multi-touch tablet, social network)

• Facilitate the structuring and management of the web catalog

• Compario powers more than 100 sites in 15 countries around the world.

• Compario is trusted by some of the biggest names in online commerce, including 3 Suisses, Casino, Damart, Decathlon, Delhaize, Intersport, Groupe Printemps, Yves Rocher.

For further information, visit: http://www.compario.com/

[1]Platform as a Service

Media contacts:
Xanthe Vaughan Williams, Hannah Devoy
Fourth Day PR
Tel : +44 (0) 20 7403 4411
Email : xanthe@fourthday.co.uk hannah@fourthday.co.uk

Kate Roe
VP Marketing Compario
Tel : +44 7798 660022
Email : kate.roe@compario.com