New York:

"The Research Analyst Workbench will provide Merrill Lynch''s analysts with a more flexible and truly global technology platform for creating innovative and insightful research for our clients, across asset-classes and geographies," says Aron Miodownik, COO of Global Securities Research and Economics. "We believe this application will fully support our philosophy of ''straight through publishing'' and will become a strategic advantage for Merrill Lynch Research."

This Workbench will support a streamlined processing of Merrill Lynch''s research via a cutting-edge integrated technology platform for research creation, product workflow and client distribution. The system will leverage the latest technology from Microsoft and will be developed using Microsoft Office 2003, Sharepoint Portal Server version 2.0, Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition, Internet Explorer 6.0, SQL 2000 and other key technologies. Furthermore, it will implement industry best practices for security, data and reliability, while ensuring maximum flexibility in meeting future product changes globally.

"Microsoft is pleased to be one of the core technology partners to help Merrill Lynch realise its vision for its next-generation Research Analyst Workbench. Microsoft technologies are well suited to address the demanding enterprise requirements for global research operations," says Mike Ruggieri, regional director, Microsoft Financial Services Group (East Region). "This state of the art solution will advance Merrill Lynch''s global research capabilities to the forefront of the industry."

Merrill Lynch is working with a consortium of vendors led by Dell that includes Microsoft, Satyam Computers and a number of other leading technology companies.

"Dell and Merrill Lynch have developed a strong, strategic relationship on a variety of key hardware and services projects," says Gary Cotshott, vice-president and general manager, Dell Services. "The services that Dell is providing to Merrill Lynch will help the research group improve productivity and strengthen controls at a lower cost, for years to come."

Speaking on this initiative, Ram Mynampati, president of Satyam, says: "This is a landmark achievement for Satyam. Winning this assignment from Merrill Lynch, one of the largest and most respected global financial institutions is an honour."

The Research Analyst Workbench will accommodate the latest industry standards, in particular Research Information eXchange Markup Language (RixML), an industry initiative in which Merrill Lynch is a leader. Once implemented, Merrill Lynch will be fully capable of producing RixML-compliant content for distribution.