Among the joint initiatives, the development of a Windows Live Agent and gadgets for Windows Vista and Windows Live Spaces

Turin, June 30, 2008

SEAT Pagine Gialle has announced a major agreement with Microsoft for the development of a series of joint initiatives on the Windows Live and Live Search Maps platforms.

The agreement first calls for the construction of a "Giallo Parlante" Windows Live Agent, a virtual contact through which the more than 12.5 million Windows Live Messenger users can quickly receive in an interactive environment complete information on 20 million people and 3.8 million businesses in the PagineBianche and PagineGialle databases. The same information is also available through the “Pagine Gialle” tab inserted in the Windows Live Messenger window.

Microsoft and SEAT Pagine Gialle have also agreed to develop gadgets, i.e. mini applications for Windows Vista and Windows Live Spaces, to make particular information and functions available directly on a PC’s desktop or inside the user’s Spaces.

Finally, Live Search Maps users can see PagineGialle content in their search results, finding them on maps of Italian cities and constructing customised directions and itineraries.

"The agreement with Microsoft is a great opportunity for us to offer users new services, simplifying the search for information and content online,” stated Massimo Castelli, Italy General Manager for SEAT Pagine Gialle. “It is also a great opportunity for SEAT Pagine Gialle advertisers, providing them with enhanced visibility and increasingly more effective online promotional tools. The integrated use of our communication print, voice and online platforms allows our customers to multiply their advertising investment returns by precisely targeting their market segments.”

Pietro Scott Jovane, Country Manager Microsoft Online Services Group Italia said “Having SEAT Pagine Gialle as a partner is for us a major opportunity to broaden the range of services that we offer to our customers and make these services more effective. With Giallo Parlante, Windows Live Messenger users can access very useful additional services that will enrich their conversations and facilitate their research. Supported also by Pagine Gialle’s vast information database, users’ experience on Live Search Maps will be as complete as possible."

SEAT Pagine Gialle on Windows Live Messenger and many new gadgets

With the agreement announced today, 12.5 million Italian users of Windows Live Messenger can interact with "Giallo Parlante", the Windows Live Agent developed exclusively for SEAT Pagine Gialle. This is a virtual contact, accessible at the site gialloparlante@paginegialle.it, that users can add to their Messenger contacts to seek out information in the vast PagineGialle and PagineBianche databases.

Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Giallo Parlante is an interactive tool that users can use to find a company, a store, or a person in a certain city or province. It is very easy and fun to use, providing in just a few seconds the telephone number of an acquaintance, the address of a restaurant, or information on a hotel.

PagineGialle and PagineBianche are accessible also from Windows Live Messenger by selecting the “Pagine Gialle” tab on the left. Clicking on this tab, the user can easily and quickly set off a search and see the results on the SEAT Pagine Gialle portals.

Microsoft and SEAT Pagine Gialle have also developed a series of gadgets for Windows Vista and Windows Live Spaces. These applications can be downloaded for free at http://msngadget.paginegialle.it  or http://gallery.live.com, making the search for information, addresses, and business references even faster and easier.


SEAT Pagine Gialle content on Live Search Maps

The partnership between SEAT Pagine Gialle and Microsoft offers great value to websurfers, combining the effectiveness and widespread use of Microsoft tools with the richness of PagineGialle and PagineBianche content.

With Live Search Maps (http://maps.live.it), users can explore Italy and locate addresses and points of interest on maps with very high precision, visualised in different formats (2D, 3D, satellite, or bird's eye view). By virtue of this agreement with SEAT Pagine Gialle, users can now search for companies and businesses in the PagineGialle database and locate them on a map. Passing the mouse pointer, users can then open pop-up windows with detailed information on individual businesses

SEAT PAGINE GIALLE GROUP
The SEAT Pagine Gialle Group is one of the main operators at world level in the sector of multimedia profiled advertising, offering “print-voice-online” directories, hi-tech products for the internet and for satellite and ortophotometric navigation, as well as complementary communication services such as one-to-one marketing.

SEAT Pagine Gialle has been engaged in information services, and search and communications tools for over 80 years. It is a success story based on a brand that is familiar to everyone, a sales network employing over 2,000 persons, a technology that is constantly evolving and a database that includes 15 million households and 3.8 million businesses (2007 data), and a wide range of products guaranteeing a real integrated system of communications to about 600,000 Italian customers. A total of 65 million volumes distributed to the homes and offices of Italian subscribers (2007 data), 35 million enquiries through the directory assistance service (2007 data), and over 340 million hits on online directories (2007 data) connect people and businesses, bringing together needs and solutions and promoting economic exchanges.

Press contacts:

Seat Pagine Gialle
Seat Pagine Gialle Communications
comunicazione.stampa@seat.it  
Tel. +39.011.435.3030
Fax +39 011.435.3040

Burson-Marsteller
Silvia Vergani – Paola Perrotta
silvia.vergani@bm.com  
paola.perrotta.ce@bm.com  
Tel. +39 02.721431