Dynamics AX 4.0 also includes an enhanced sales-order configuration tool that lets users more easily configure nonstandard products requested by customers, Blyth said. Thus, Oldcastle can more easily fill orders for products that may have unusual colors or dimensions, he said.

Blyth said he expects that the new release's integration with the latest versions of Microsoft's infrastructure software, such as the SQL Server 2005 database, will let him double the number of end users on the system without having to add servers.

He also expects Dynamics AX 4.0's tight integration with the Outlook user interface to make it easier for workers to exploit its new features without retraining. "We're hoping to teach them the business, not the software," Blyth said.

Richard Barnett, director of product marketing for Dynamics AX at Microsoft, said the use of Web services lets AX 4.0 access data from multiple Microsoft applications, as well as products from other vendors.

Its tight linkage with Office and other Microsoft products should make Dynamics AX 4.0 competitive for smaller companies and subsidiaries of large corporations, said Ray Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.