OXFORD, England, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Oxford Computer Group (OCG) proudly announced it has won the 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year award for Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Active Directory. The company was chosen out of an international field of top Microsoft partners as delivering market-leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technology.

"It is a great honour to receive this award which is a validation of our expertise and focus on identity and access solutions," said Neil Coughlan, Director, Oxford Computer Group. "We would like to thank our customers for great references and our people whose capability and professionalism sets us apart from the competition."

Awards were presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 entrants worldwide. The Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Active Directory Partner of the Year award recognises OCG's proficiency in implementing solutions based on Windows Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS). Neil Coughlan of OCG commented, "OCG can quickly deploy an Identity and Access (IDA) platform that leverages Active Directory, either as a tactical point solution, or as a component of a strategic IDA platform."

Microsoft has recognised OCG's quick start solution for provisioning Microsoft's hosted Windows Live services - one of a range of related IDA services, such as idenitity lifecycle management, strong authentication and federation which can form part of a wider strategy.

"OCG was the first of our systems integrator partners to build a business focusing exclusively on providing Microsoft directory and identity management consulting services to enterprise and mid-market customers," said Gordon Frazer, Vice President, Microsoft International. "We commend the way in which OCG has scored customer success using Windows Live Quickstart, notching up more than a dozen educational institutions in the UK and beyond in the process, providing students the benefits of Microsoft directory and identity management solutions."

OCG has been a Microsoft Gold Partner for 3 years. It has Advanced Infrastructure and Network Solutions competencies, as well as the Identity and Secure Access Specialism within the Security Solutions Competency.

Oxford Computer Group is an IT service company that specialises in Identity and Access Management. With operations in North America, the UK, Benelux and Germany, OCG has an enviable repository or expertise, solution components and training courses. For more information on OCG, please visit http://www.oxfordcomputergroup.com.

Contact Neil Coughlan on +44(0)8456-584425