Melissa Data Offers Data Quality Tools via Windows Azure Store

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA and REDMOND, WA--(Marketwire - Oct 30, 2012) - Melissa Data, a leading provider of contact data quality and direct marketing solutions, today announced availability of its Address Check and IP Check product offerings via the Windows Azure Store -- a subset of Melissa Data offerings available in the Windows Azure Marketplace. Windows Azure developers can access the new store from the Windows Azure Management Portal and conveniently browse and purchase products and services representing a cross-section of functionality from a premium selection of vendors.

The Windows Azure platform enables developers to build and run highly available applications without focusing on the infrastructure.

"Having our data quality products available through the Windows Azure Store makes it easier than ever for Windows Azure developers to implement Melissa Data's data accuracy-enabling services," said Bud Walker, director of data quality solutions for Melissa Data. "With the ability to run queries in the cloud, real-time address verification and standardization are now readily available to customers who may not have been previously aware of our broad capabilities in the data quality arena."

"Windows Azure is an open cloud platform that enables developers to quickly build, deploy, and manage applications using any language tool, or framework," said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, Windows Azure, Microsoft. "We welcome Melissa Data Address Check and IP Check to the Windows Azure Store to help developers take advantage of these data quality capabilities."

Melissa Data's Address Check can decrease postage costs and reduce undeliverable mail and shipments by cleaning databases of inaccurate and undeliverable addresses. This CASS Certified^™ service parses, standardizes and verifies U.S. addresses against the USPS^® database and/or Canadian addresses against the latest Canada Post address data file. Address Check will add missing apartment or suite numbers for increased deliverability, identify addresses vacant 90 days or more, return suggestions (with rankings) for invalid or ambiguous addresses, and geocode addresses with accurate latitude/longitude coordinates.

IP Check identifies an Internet user's geographical information including: country; region; city; latitude and longitude; ZIP Code; ISP; and domain name, using a proprietary IP address lookup database and technology. Verifying IP location enables users to understand visitors better by geographic region; localize Web content for global visitors; redirect users to specific language/country pages; prevent password sharing and abuse of service; reduce credit card fraud; filter access from countries with which a company does not do business; and create targeted ad campaigns.

For more information on Address Check, IP Check and other Melissa Data solutions visit www.MelissaData.com or call 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772).

About Melissa Data
Since 1985, Melissa Data has been a leading provider of contact data quality and address management solutions. Melissa Data's data integration components, multiplatform programming tools, Cloud services, and comprehensive reference datasets verify, standardize, consolidate, enhance, and update U.S., Canadian, and global contact data for improved communications and ROI. More than 5,000 companies rely on Melissa Data to gain and maintain an accurate, trusted view of critical information assets. For more information or free product trials, visit www.MelissaData.com or call 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772).