BANGALORE, INDIA: The Microsoft Corporation announced today that the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) has emerged as its largest Windows Vista customer in Asia, with a deployment of over 18,000 units.

ONGC chose to implement Windows Vista due to its advanced security features, expected productivity benefits, search functionality and lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), said a press release from Microsoft.

ONGC reduced security threats by over 50 per cent post deployment of Windows Vista on Laptops, it added.

Specific features that ONGC expects to leverage include the security attributes built into Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) like Phishing Filters and Protected Mode; the User Account Control (UAC) functionality; optimized deployment capabilities across thousands of machines and the Green IT features including power management and energy saving.

To ensure a smooth transition and maximum returns, ONGC has also conducted company-wide trainings for employees, the release added.

Commenting on the implementation, M. Thyagaraj, executive director – Chief Information Services, ONGC Ltd., said, "As India's largest Oil and Gas organization with a pan-India presence, we depend extensively on technology to ensure smooth running of our core business."

He said the desktop operating system is mission critical, and it was imperative for ONGC to deploy the best offering, that would meet requirements viz. security, ease of use, mobile computing and significant increase in employee productivity.

"Windows Vista has all these features and also provides us with immense energy saving capabilities – definitely a huge advantage in our business," he added.

Microsoft said over 180 million licenses of Windows Vista have been sold worldwide, with India adoption alone crossing over two million copies.

"India has always been a trend setter in technology usage and it is fantastic that one of the largest worldwide deployments of Windows Vista is at one of India's Navratna companies," said. Rajiv Srivastava, general manager – Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft India.