Silverlight™, ASP.NET and Visual Studio® 2008 drive the development of an innovative new web destination

December 3 2007 – Microsoft’s latest web technologies are set to power t5m.com, a new online video-based lifestyle and entertainment network launching in December, where celebrities and accomplished individuals provide the original content.

t5m.com has been built using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, with Microsoft’s suite of developer tools and platform including Visual Studio Team System and Expression, also behind its development.

Mark Taylor, Director of DPE at Microsoft UK commented: “Microsoft is committed to enabling the delivery of innovative media experiences and rich interactive applications to the web. t5m.com is a great example of this. Silverlight really comes into its own in this sort of environment. It allows developers and those managing content to do so efficiently, concealing the underlying technical complexity behind t5m.com from the user whilst providing a new and intuitive front-end experience of near broadcast quality. ”

Microsoft’s Silverlight technology enables the rich media experiences demanded by users while enabling developers to invoke remote services with ease. It makes t5m.com’s high quality video and dynamic Galactic Browser interface possible while Silverlight Streaming, a companion service for Silverlight enabling designers, developers and content owners to deliver cross-browser, cross-platform media experience and RIAs on the Web, will ensure quality of service and efficient use of bandwidth for t5m.com users from launch.

Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) was instrumental in architecting and developing t5m.com which will feature high quality video interviews, event specials, editorial features and creative content around global personalities, their life experiences, passions and the charitable causes they support. At launch exclusive interviews and content from a number of high profile personalities will be available on t5m.com. With seven core channels: Biography, Entertainment, Fashion, Health, Lifestyle, ‘What’s Hot’, and Causes, t5m,com will also feature a dedicated channel for each personality and the charity they support.

Charlie Muirhead, t5m.com’s CEO said: “As we had the task of developing a site from the ground up, we built our experience and model with best of breed tools and technologies. We needed a compelling, easy to use video-centric interface, so we turned to Microsoft. We needed to be flexible about bandwidth and prepare to offer a predictably high quality service to a large audience, so we also took advantage of Silverlight Streaming.”

“Timing is everything on the web, and we had to get to market fast. We’ve been amazed at how using Visual Studio with its advanced collaboration features has allowed our developers to get our site ready so quickly and smoothly. This means we can focus on creating content and attracting an audience instead of worrying about the development.”

Preview content and details of t5m.com can be seen from today at:

http://www.t5m.com/preview/index.aspx

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.

©Microsoft Corporation 2007. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Expression, Blend, Silverlight, Visual Studio and the Microsoft logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

About t5m.com

Founded by serial entrepreneur Charlie Muirhead in 2005, t5m.com is an online video-based entertainment and lifestyle network providing users with access to original broadcast quality video interviews. Prior to t5m.com, Charlie successfully founded Orchestream, iGabiel and Nexagent. t5m’s global operations are based in London, with production centres in London, New York, Los Angeles and Delhi, where global research IT development and support are also based