Partner-TV: telling it like it is

Last month I had the opportunity to sit down with Ian Gotts, Founder and CEO of Nimbus Partners and talk about what exciting innovations they have in the pipeline and his experience of partnering with Microsoft.  As well as being an author of a book he is passionate about being an evangelist of technology which is something that we both agree is important when communicating the benefits of your products.

Ian is attending the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston this year, so if you would like to meet him make sure you use the connect tool.

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I’ve known Steve for a few years now, having managed me when I started at Microsoft.  Since then he’s moved on to become the Software + Services Lead for Microsoft International where he defines what the strategy and messaging will be when taking new products to market as part of Microsoft’s Software + Services initiative.  We chew the fat about what partners can expect to see from Microsoft in the coming years, technology trends and cool things coming out of Microsoft Research.

Related Links:

Microsoft Software + Services Homepage
Software + Services for Partners
Technical Overview of Software + Services
Steve Clayton’s Blog

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In this interview I get to talk to Kirsty Sizeland who works in the Partner Marketing team about “Voices for Innovation”.  Voices for Innovation is a network of technology professionals, business leaders, consumers and academics dedicated to supporting public policies that promote innovation, business success and economic growth.

Technology is a key driver of global economic growth and social progress. New technologies spur creativity, boost productivity, generate jobs, empower businesses and advance science.

To find out more check out the website here: www.voicesforinnovation.org

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In this interview I caught up with Dana Simerkoff of HiSoftware to talk about SharePoint, accessibility and how partners can use HiSoftware’s expertise to ensure their SharePoint implementations are accessible by design and going forward too.

HiSoftware developed the Accessiblity Kit for SharePoint (AKS) for Microsoft so they know a thing or two about the subject.

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Jeremy Palmer, PTS for Enterprise Project Management and SharePoint took the time to record an interview with the main man from Newsgator, the guys behind FeedDemon and other RSS products. They're also very involved in creating social computing on top of the SharePoint platform and they have created "Facebook for the enterprise" to take advantage of the need for businesses to harness the power of Web 2.0 and multitude of data sources out there.

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In a special PTV feature from Microsoft Financing we find out what Microsoft Partners Touchstone Group and Softcat had to say about their experiences using Microsoft Financing and how they could help your business and your customers. Also, see what the segment leads for Dynamics, Small and Medium businesses as well as the head of the Customer and Partner Telebusiness team within Microsoft had to say about their use of Microsoft Financing.

Check out https://www.microsoftfinancing.com/ for more details.

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Microsoft Financing Solutions are available subject to status.  Terms and Conditions Apply.

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Patrick Voss had plenty to talk about today on Windows Partner Solutions and why OEMs should be thinking about getting interested in the services opportunity when it comes to desktop deployment.  Given that Windows Vista SP1 is such a big mental milestone for customers and now that more are considering the move it's worth talking to customers who are purchasing new hardware about the way they deploy their operating system and manage it going forward.

Check out the short sales training on the Partner Learning Center here:

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search.aspx  (Do a keyword search on MDOP)

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In this interview I had the opportunity to chat to the effervescence Julian Datta about the increasingly popular Exchange and Unified Communication products that Microsoft have in market.  It seems that Mr Datta is seeing more demand for his time than ever before as Partners are keen to learn about what solutions they can offer to customers with Exchange and Unified Communications! 

We discuss that Unified Communications is and how productivity can be increased with things like Office Communicator and Exchange 2007 and how presence and click to call can seriously speed up how you work and of course integrate seamlessly with your existing IT investment.

Useful links

Official Microsoft site: www.microsoft.com/uc
Julian's Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/julian/

Dell Quinn from the UK Partner team walked me through some of the common questions about the Partner Action Pack, including basics like what it is, what the changes are this year and what you have to do as a partner to take advantage of the benefits within.

For more information you can check out the Action Pack resources on the partner portal here: www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/actionpack

Partners should call: 0870 60 70 700 (press option 1) for assistance. The Regional Service Center is happy to help with all Action Pack

The final part of the System Center mini series, in this video Andrew and I talk about System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).  We talk about what VMM is and how you can manage your physical and virtual world with the software.  We also cover off the Virtualisation strategy at Microsoft and new features that we have coming out in the new, upcoming version of VMM.  We talk about the way partners should tackle the virtualisation conversation with customers and how Microsoft differentiates itself from other vendors in the marketplace.

For more resources be sure to check out these resources:

Technet Virtual Labs for VMM
Partner Specific Resources for VMM
Official product pages for VMM

Remember you can catch the other System Center interviews here:

• Partner TV - Overview of System Center Configuration Manager
• Partner TV - Overview of System Center Operations Manager
• Partner TV - Overview of System Center Data Protection Manager

As part of this 4 part series on System Center, Andrew and I chat about what Data Protection Manager is and how it can solve customer pain points to do with data backup and recovery.  We also touch on how partners can offer great solutions for protection of data held in Microsoft products like Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server and how there is a massive cross sell opportunity for partners already selling these products to customers so they can increase their revenue.  For more information partners should check out the following resources:

Product Page for System Center - Data Protection Manager
Partner specific resources on System Center DPM
Partner Learning Paths for System Center
On demand webcast - what is coming in System Center DPM 2007

The second part to this four part series on System Center with Andrew Driver - last time we talked about System Center Configuration Manager. In this session we talk about System Center Operations Manager, covering off what it is providing a couple of ideas on how to position it to customers, how it differs from MOM (the previous version) and where you can go for more information on it.

For more information on System Center Operations Manager check out the following links:

System Center Operations Manager homepage

System Center Operations Manager partner resources

System Center Official Blog

As part of a four-part series that takes a high-level look at System Center, I sat down with Andrew Driver to talk about System Center Configuration Manager.  We touch on what the product is, what is can do and the partner opportunity for selling, implementing and developing for and on the product.

For more information on System Center Configuration Manager check out these links:

System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Find out how to automate deployments of Vista and Server 2008 using SCCM
Partner related information and news on SCCM on the Partner Portal

Emma and I caught up with Dan Rasmus who helped shape the New World of Work keynote presentation that Bill Gates first gave in 2005 and the CEO summit.  Dan talks about the concepts and ideas that are behind the paper itself and how they are being realised by some of the Microsoft technology that is now in market.  He has interesting insight also into the concept of globalisation and how that has affected businesses and how it continues to do so. 

One of the other interesting things that Dan talks about is the different types of generation that are now in the workplace and the expectations of these workers and also how they are accustomed to work and how technology can complement these new styles.  Delving into mobile working and the concept of "always on, always connected" world,  Emma asks what the opportunities and challenges are for doing business in this new and exciting environment.

For more insight on the New World of Work, be sure to visit Dan's Future of Information Work Blog.

It's Worldwide Partner Conference once again and I sat down with Emma to find out a bit more about it and what partners can expect to get out of the event this year.  Held in Houston, Texas there is sure to be some nice weather and also the UK Party promises to be a bunch of fun!

Check out registration here: https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/40018508