BANGALORE, INDIA: Microsoft Corp unveiled on Wednesday the Microsoft BizSpark, a global program designed to help accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and early-stage startups.

According to a press release, the new program provides startups and entrepreneurs with fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools and production licenses of server products with no upfront costs and minimal requirements.

BizSpark also provides technical support and market visibility. BizSpark is structured to take advantage of the resources and support of a global network of hundreds of organizations such as economic development agencies, university incubators, hosters and investors, including The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), it said.

"Entrepreneurs play a vital role in driving innovation and creating the kinds of new jobs that are essential to sustainable economic growth," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO.

"Microsoft BizSpark is an exciting way for us to help provide business startups with the development tools, advice and exposure they need," he added.

As part of BizSpark, Microsoft is providing startups with a three-year Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Professional subscription, which makes available for download a broad set of development tools needed to build, test and maintain an application on the Microsoft platform, including Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft.NET Framework.

Through MSDN, BizSpark also provides professional support services and expert information resources, the release added.

For startups building hosted software, BizSpark includes production licenses for application hosting and management servers including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server, BizTalk Server and Systems Center, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to be added soon.

In addition to the core BizSpark offering, BizSpark startups will be eligible for other Microsoft offerings, such as Microsoft cloud services technologies.

Microsoft will also ensure that BizSpark members are notified of all programs of particular interest to startups, such as the Microsoft Web Platform Installer and Microsoft Web Application Installer, the company said.

"Through our work with thousands of startups over the years, we understand that making strategic technology decisions early on is a key challenge -- one that sets up entrepreneurs and startups for future growth and the ability to meet market demands," said Dan'l Lewin, corporate vice president of Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft.

"BizSpark simplifies this choice by giving startups an industry-leading platform with no immediate cost and the support needed to achieve business success," he added.

"We think Microsoft BizSpark addresses a fundamental challenge startups face: access to current, full-featured tools and technologies that help turn ideas into a thriving business," said Suren G. Dutia, CEO of TiE Global.