The Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition team is accepting nominations for our Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for SSC Version 3.5 & 3.5 SP1. We are looking for enthusiastic participants who will deploy our product and provide detailed feedback on our product between August 2007 and April 2008.

If you are interested in being a TAP Partner for other device development features in Visual Studio 2008 - Please send me a mail and I'll send you additional details around that.

Program Description

Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition offers a low maintenance, compact embedded database for single-user client applications that run on Microsoft Windows operating system platforms, including applications for tablet PCs, pocket PCs, smart phones and desktops. SQL Server Compact is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight, and embeddable version of SQL Server 2005 for developing desktop and mobile applications. SQL Server Compact 3.5 (SSC 3.5) will ship with Microsoft pre-release software code-name “Orcas”, the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio. SSC 3.5 incorporates new features like support for Occasionally Connected Systems (OCS) replication technology on desktops, transaction scope, timestamp data type etc. This TAP program for the next release of SQL Server Compact Edition targets a mix of ISV, mid-market and enterprise customers that will deploy SSC initially in test and later in production from August 2007 to April 2008..

For additional information about SSC, please see http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/compact/default.mspx.

Participant benefits

• Early access to SSC 3.5 & 3.5 SP1
• Individual SSC team technical experts for your deployment to answer your questions
• A unique chance to learn about SSC 3.5 & 3.5 SP1 and how it is best used
• Support from the product group from sign on to release (RTM) to handle bugs and deployment issues
• An opportunity to provide input and have an impact on the final product

Participant requirements

Participants will be required to:

• Deploy SSC 3.5 & 3.5 SP1 beta in a test environment
• Deploy SSC 3.5 & 3.5 SP1 prerelease versions in a production environment for premier customers and in development environment for non premier customers
• Deploy SSC 3.5 RTM & 3.5 SP1 RTM in production and continue to use for 30 days
• Provide adequate personnel to manage and execute the TAP project
  • Assign a project manager to be main contact with SSC Team TAP PM
  • Includes executive “sponsor”, test resources, and operations resources as necessary
• Regular phone conferences (not more than bi-weekly) with SSC TAP team members
• Provide detailed product feedback
  • Log bugs and product suggestions in Product Studio (Microsoft bug capture tool)
  • Complete a detailed survey(s) about their experience with the product and its features
  • Review and provide feedback on documents and associated product materials such as specifications, documentation, help files etc.
• Participate in product launch and marketing activities

Please see the detailed requirements in the customer presentation which is attached. 

Required Legal Documents

• Standard Microsoft TAP Agreement (if not already on file)
• Standard Microsoft NDA (if not already on file)

Feel free to contact ssc35tap@microsoft.com if you have questions about this program.

This is what is needed in the nomination survey

Participant Nomination Survey

Please complete the following survey to be nominated to the TAP for the Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition Version 3.5 and return to ssc35tap@microsoft.com before Aug 1st, 2007. This information is critical in order to be considered for the program. If you have questions, please contact ssc35tap@microsoft.com

All information will be treated as Microsoft Confidential

Note: Please answer all questions in as much detail as possible

Question
Answer

Participant information

If the participant is a systems integrator that is participating with a customer please regard 'Participant' as the customer and state system integrator's name, contact person, email address and phone number

Participant company

Participant address

City, state, country where the TAP will be executed

Who is the primary contact for the participating company? Indicate name, title, email address and telephone number

Who is the participant's executive sponsor. Indicate name, title and email address

Briefly describe the executive sponsor's role and commitment to this project. Please note that high level sponsorship is essential to a successful TAP engagement.

Is the participant willing to make appearances at product launch, in case stories and marketing activities with Microsoft. Please note that PR is a crucial component of the program

If you answered yes to the previous question but have PR limitations, please state the restrictions

Has the participant enrolled in any other TAP/JDP/EAP/Beta programs with Microsoft? If so which ones?

Do they have a requirement to store data closer to the application. Do they use any database, existing technologies or proprietary formats to store data.

Load of data: What is the size of data stored and how much do they expect to grow. How many concurrent access do they expect on stored data

Is the participant currently using SSC? If yes please describe the applications in which SSC is being used.

If answer is yes to the above question, please give deployment details for each application like no of devices or desktops the application is deployed to, typical size of the database etc. In case of replication applications how often do the users replicate data, how many of them concurrently, describe server side setup etc.

Distribution and servicing model. Do they want to control servicing technology which they depend on or they just want to control only their application serviceability

Is the participant using SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 or planning to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 within the next 6 months?

Does the participant envisions using 64 bit deployements? Please state for both client applications and server side components.

Which OS(s) are the applications running on? Please give breakup in numbers as well

Which OS is the participant running on the majority of desktops?

Additional comments describing why this candidate would be a good candidate for the program

Microsoft account team

Who is the primary Microsoft contact for this participant? Indicate name, email address and telephone number

Who is the account manager (Sales) for this participant if applicable? Indicate name, email address and telephone number

Who is the technical Account Manager (TAM) for this participant, if applicable? Indicate name, email address and telephone number