Microsoft is aiming for pole position in the ERP market with its first Navision launch based on Microsoft technology.

According to the software giant, Navision 4.0 integrates financial, manufacturing, distribution, business intelligence, customer management, supply chain, analytics and e-commerce data into a single package.

The software features an "improved user interface", according to the firm, that is similar to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. It is integrated with Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services and includes an XML port.

Microsoft acquired Navision along with CRM vendor Great Plains two years ago and created its first official channel accreditation scheme just over a year later.

"We are very excited about this release, as it is our first full Microsoft/Navision product since we acquired the company," said Jon Hughes, director of Microsoft business solutions partner group.

"We are operating in the mid-market - firms with 50 to 1,000 employees. There are suggestions that the marketplace has been poorly served by ERP software vendors and is not dominated by any one player. We see the segment as a huge opportunity and will be putting our full R&D weight behind our products.

"It is our aspiration to be the number one vendor for ERP."

Paul Makin, sales and marketing director at Microsoft VAR Alpha Landsteinar, said the latest version would be welcomed by end-users.

"Navision 4.0 is clearly the first version of Navision that has been heavily influenced by Microsoft. It has a familiar Microsoft look and feel, and therefore will appeal to companies that already run Microsoft Office products," he said.

"We have a very strong vertical in retail, but one of the benefits of the Microsoft product is that it adds functionality to existing software and can be adapted to any vertical."

sara_yirrell@vnu.co.uk