Microsoft has opened another front in its bid to woo members of the iSeries community over to its Windows.NET platform.

A recently launched program titled NXT is aimed firmly at iSeries-oriented independent software vendors (ISVs), and the Redmond giant has enlisted the help of a number of offshoring outsourcers for its delivery. Although the NXT program covers migration from other platforms, search for it at Microsoft's Web site and you will find it featured on the home page for its Midrange Alliance Program, which under the title "What's Next for iSeries ISVs?" states:

"With the best partner program, the most popular developer tools, the most successful software partners, the best integration technology, and the most deployed server operating system, the next step for iSeries ISV should be obvious. Still not sure? Then NXT is what you have been waiting for!"

According to a report on CRN's Web site last week, the NXT program offers ISVs who generate more than $5 million per year a package worth up to $100,000 to help move their "legacy" applications to Microsoft's .NET environment.

Apart from iSeries stalwart ASNA, which has its feet firmly in both the OS/400 and Windows camps, most of the 12 partners Microsoft has selected to deliver its NXT program are offshorers with strong ties to India.

Like most U.S. corporations, IBM did not have much traction in the Indian market at the time of the AS/400's heyday in the early 1990s, and hence until recently iSeries skills in the country were the domain of a select handful of firms such as Bangalore's Linc Software (now a division of MindTree Consulting and not an NXT partner).

It would appear, however, that times have changed. Sanjay Bhadra, Microsoft Alliance manager at Sonata Systems, which is based in Bangalore, told CRN reporter Paula Rooney: "Most of the partners have operations in more cost-efficient places. One reason for the partner referral was the offshore factor because it lowers the cost of the proof of concept."

David Carpini, vice president at Symphony, which is headquartered in California but has Indian offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Pune, told CRN: "As an IBM partner, our doors opened up to a whole new set of ISVs we didn't see before. We see a lot of iSeries customers, and that's a focus area for Microsoft. Microsoft is looking at IBM AS/400 and mainframe platforms trying to expand their reach."