PLDT, through its wholly-owned subsidiary ePLDT, Inc., has recently gained the Microsoft Silver Certified Partner status for Messaging and Hosting, the first Philippine company to receive this distinction.

This new development directly upgrades the company's hosted Microsoft offerings, particularly Hosted Exchange which is the leading enterprise email platform that provides business-class email, calendar and contacts on computers, phones and web browsers. Microsoft Silver Certified Partners benefit from exclusive support and resources directly provided by Microsoft.

"This is yet another testament to our commitment to our growing ICT business," said Jovy Hernandez, PLDT Vice President and Head of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise. "As the Philippines' first-ever Microsoft Silver Certified Partner for Hosting, our customers benefit from our improved support systems so they can comfortably host their data in our enterprise-grade infrastructure."

Microsoft Philippines’ Managing Director, Karrie Ilagan, is confident that the latest collaboration between the two industry leaders will be helpful for the nation. "We are honored to have PLDT as a Microsoft Silver Certified Partner for Messaging and Hosting which aligns our companies on the vision of accelerated cloud adoption in the Philippines.  Microsoft delivers end-to-end cloud solutions, allowing private and public clouds to work together seamlessly, and PLDT is a valued-partner in this Microsoft Cloud ecosystem.”

Microsoft Silver Certified Partners are required to undergo rigorous testing before they are given the title. "Our engineers have worked well and hard to achieve such a feat so our customers can be served better," Beth Lui, President and CEO of ePLDT, Inc., said. "Combining this feat with our VITRO Data Center network resources, we are in a stronger position to deliver quality hosted and cloud solutions, starting off with e-mail services."

The infrastructure for Microsoft Messaging and Hosting services resides in VITRO Data Center, the country’s first purposely-built, industrial-strength data center.  VITRO is the first Internet data center in the Philippines to be certified for the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System and ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System standards.  It is also certified for the ISO 27001:2005 Information Security Management System standard and accredited by the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA).

PLDT customers can now avail of Hosted Exchange and select between Bronze, Silver, and Gold packages based on varying user profiles.  For more details, email pldtalpha@pldt.com.ph.