screen resolution stats
Welcome to MSDN Blogs Sign in | Join | Help

UK Education Group Partner News

News from the Microsoft UK team, for all Education Partners
Windows Azure Architecture Review

The Microsoft Developer and Platform Group are offering a limited number free half day Fasttrack Architectural / developer Reviews focused on the Windows Azure platform for partners. These will take place at the Microsoft offices in Reading, and will run from Monday 30th November to Friday 4th December, 2009.

What does a Windows Azure Fasttrack Architecture Review consist of?

A fasttrack review is an opportunity for a partner to lay out their technical, business and architectural problems in front of some Microsoft experts, and gain advice and guidance on choosing the best path for their future development. These are interactive, conversational engagements which typically last for around 3 to 4 hours, and have proved very successful and useful for participants in the past. For these specific sessions, the focus is on Cloud computing, and in particular Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the Azure platform.

The format is that of an informal meeting - some chairs, a table, a couple of whiteboards and a lot of imagination and honest speaking. The conversations are all about problems and solutions, and if you come with an open mind then you should leave with a lot to digest and think about, and a good idea of your next steps.

If you think it would help to give us demonstrations of your products, then come along with it (but not PowerPoint, please), then that's what we can do. If you'd rather draw diagrams, or talk, or listen, or sit in silence for the entire length of the session, then that's what we can do. The experience is totally driven yourselves - though obviously we have some suggested structures developed out of experience that can help things flow best, if you'd rather fall back on those.

What makes a good Fasttrack Architecture Review?

The best Fasttrack Architecture Reviews tend to happen at the stage when a partner is looking at a specific upcoming new project or software release, and is starting to think about what features or capabilities around Cloud Computing and Azure might influence their own plans (e.g. "Can we offer both on-premise and off-premise solutions?", “How do make sure we can scale up?”). An open mind and a willingness to discuss ideas are essential.

Conversely, a few things can prevent a good Fasttrack Architecture Review session. If you have already made your mind up and are simply looking for more detailed discussions, then this is possibly not the right forum - let us know and we can suggest the best routes forward. Similarly, if management are not behind the changes, or you are unable to bring a senior decision maker to the meeting, or there are no specific time scales for a new version, then these sessions can be less then optimum, and we urge you only to apply when the time is right for you.

How to apply for a Windows Azure Fasttrack Architecture Review

If you have been looking thinking about Windows Azure and cloud computing, and you think your company has a great idea, or interesting problem that would benefit from one of these sessions, then please get in touch with us, and we'll let you know if we think a fasttrack review session would be suitable. Please note that we mainly deal with architectural discussions, rather than deep technical support.

We typically get more applications than we have space for, so to make sure we get the right companies at these session, please take a little time to tell us about yourselves, and what you want from the session. You *must* provide us with a 'draft agenda' for the fasttrack review by emailing details about the following topics for discussion:

Azure Fasttrack review

1 - What are the top one or two key things you want to get out of the meeting?

2 - Are there any specific problems, issues or opportunities are you currently facing?

3 – In addition to Azure, are there any other key technologies will you want to cover in the review – e.g. SQL Server, Silverlight/WPF, SharePoint, etc?

4 - Who do you plan to bring along to the reviews (2 to 4 people is typically ideal, at least one technical person)

Technology background

5 - What technologies are you currently using?

6 - What are your timescales for considering Azure? What are your experiences with Azure to date? Are there any specific aspects of Azure you anticipate using?

Company background

7 - The size of your company and the development team

8 - Company/Product URLs

To get in touch, just email this information to ukdev@microsoft.com and state any dates that week that you would be unable to attend, we will then allocate time with our team and advise you of the proposed date.

Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 4:05 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , ,
Exchange Server 2010 Launches

IT organizations are under pressure to deliver like never before.  Security, availability, and compliance requirements are more intense than ever.  Within this challenging environment, Exchange 2010 delivers, first by delighting end users and making them more productive.  Exchange 2010 is available anywhere via Outlook – on the PC, phone, or browser.  Second, Exchange 2010 delivers great innovation for the end user with new capabilities, including Voice Mail Preview, SMS Text Messaging, MailTips, Conversation View, Call Answering Rules and more.  Third, Exchange 2010 delivers by helping customers protect their communications, giving IT the ability to encrypt messages based on sender, receiver or even the content of the message and attachments.  Also with the latest release of Forefront Protection for Exchange, IT can add an additional layer of security on top of what is built-in to Exchange 2010.

Beyond just helping customers improve their productivity, Exchange helps them save money.  Organizations around the world are reporting cost savings of up to 70%, and employee productivity gains of greater than one hour per week, per employee.  For example, UK-based NEC Phillips is experiencing email storage cost savings of 70%, and simultaneously they are providing end users with eight times more mailbox storage.   US-based TriWest Healthcare Alliance is saving approximately $250,000 with Exchange 2010 by avoiding the cost of purchasing an independent archiving and retention system.  Industry analysts validate this level of return.  Today, Forrester released “Total Economic Impact” study which concludes organizations can expect a payback period of less than six months with Exchange 2010.

This release marks a significant step in our ongoing efforts to fully embrace software-plus-services.  Just last week, we announced our amazing progress toward helping organizations efficiently manage email by moving all or some of their users to the cloud.  Exchange Online as part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) is now available in 36 countries and regions.  In recent months, some of the world’s most recognizable brands have joined the list of satisfied customers, organizations such as Aon Corporation, Glaxo Smith Klein, Lions Gate Entertainment, McDonald’s Corporation, University of Ohio and many others.

Each product release provides a moment for reflection and celebration.  To initiate this process, I would like to extend my personal congratulations to the entire Exchange team.  I encourage you to experience our launch event and to learn more about Exchange Server 2010 by visiting our virtual launch site.

Save Time and Money with Exchange Server 2010

Save Time, Save Money with Exchange Server 2010Pressure to optimize IT infrastructure for ever-changing business conditions requires your customers to be agile. Enable your customers to do more with existing resources. As the cornerstone of the Microsoft Unified Communications solution, Exchange Server 2010 brings together cost savings, innovation, and productivity to improve operational efficiencies and empower your people.

Help your customers achieve new levels of performance with Exchange Server 2010 by delivering features that:
• Lower IT costs with a flexible and reliable messaging platform.
• Increase productivity through anywhere access to business communications.
• Better manage risk by safeguarding your business with protection and compliance capabilities.

Get Ready to Sell and Deploy Exchange Server 2010

Build Your Business

Training and Readiness Materials

Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 8:35 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , ,
Why become Certified in Virtualisation?

The Virtualisation Competency is the first to launch in UK and partners are encouraged to attain this competency to match how the Partner Network is evolving; how our customers are making decisions; and to future-proof your business through demonstrating expertise and referenceability within this field.

 

Attaining the Virtualisation Solutions competency assures customers that  Partners have the skills to build their Virtualisation practice based on solutions like Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Microsoft application virtualisation, Microsoft enterprise desktop virtualisation, or Microsoft virtual desktop infrastructure.

 

Discount Promotion for Virtualisation Partners: Valid 31 Dec 2009

We’d like to offer our Virtualisation Partners a significant reduction in the cost of the Virtualisation Exam Prep and Exam.  Offer runs out on 31 Dec 2009.

 

Training Support & Guidance:

 

Virtualisation Solutions Competency:

Requirements and information

 

Server Virtualisation Exams & Preparation Guide:

Exam 70-652: Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring

Exam 70-403: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Configuring

 

Desktop Virtualisation Exams & Preparation Guide:

Exam 70-656: TS: Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Configuring

Exam 70-401  TS: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Configuring

 

Virtualisation Key Resources:

Virtualisation Partner Academy Live Session

Virtualisation TechNet Page

Matt McSpirit - Virtual Boy TV

Virtualisation Learning Manager (TechNet)

Virtualisation Learning Path

Microsoft Solution Accelerators

Microsoft Learning

 

Further Guidance on up and coming training schedule:

 

Server Virtualisation Competency Fast Track

Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V & SCVMM (4 Day) – New Dates released!

This course combines the syllabus of Microsoft courses 6422 and 6331 providing delegates with the knowledge to take Exams 70-652 and 70-403 which can lead to the new Server Virtualisation Competency. £200 per delegate Register Here

London 26th January, Edinburgh 9th February, Stockport 23rd March, London 20th April

 

Competing with VMware vSphere: Understanding the Virtualisation Opportunity with the Microsoft R2 Wave

Join Matt McSpirit, Partner Technology Specialist at Microsoft UK, and Mike Peers, Channel Development Manager at Microsoft UK, at this informal, workshop-style session, which will take an in-depth, discussion-based look at the different SKUs, features, and technologies on either side of the virtualisation fence.  You’ll also get to see some of the Microsoft technologies first hand, with detailed technology demonstrations. FREE Register Here

Reading  5th November

 

Desktop Optimisation with Microsoft & Citrix - Understanding the Virtualisation Opportunity with VDI

In this session for partners we will provide an overview of VDI or more accurately - Desktop Optimisation. We will provide a general business/technical overview exploring the market opportunity, the products that make up a VDI solution, alternatives to VDI and how Microsoft is positioned against the competition. FREE Register Here

Reading 3rd December

 

An Overview of Microsoft Server Virtualization

This online tutorial introduces and explains the four types of virtualization and why virtualization is important to our customers, partners, and Microsoft. This includes server virtualization, application virtualization, presentation virtualization and desktop virtualization.  Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, are discussed in more detail, along with their customer benefits. Click Here

 

Licensing Server-Based Products in Virtual Environments

This online tutorial explains how different server-based products are licensed in virtual environments and will help you understand how products from the Server OS, Server/CAL and Per Processor Product Category Licensing Models, or PCLMs, can be cost-effectively licensed in different deployment scenarios. Click Here

 

Architecting Microsoft Server Virtualization Solutions with Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager

This labcast series provides an introduction for Microsoft and VMware partners to consolidate the physical or virtual Infrastructure into a flexible, dynamic, and low cost Microsoft Dynamic Datacenter, which consists of Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008. With TCO/ROI calculation and design concepts, you will be able to prove the real savings with Microsoft Dynamic Datacenter solutions to Microsoft customers and partners. You will also learn how to transfer, migrate, and convert the existing physical or VMware environment. Click Here

 

Microsoft Virtualisation and Management – Selling School Click Here

 

Posted: Monday, November 09, 2009 7:54 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , , ,
New Live@edu Capabilities

Yesterday (Nov 3) at Educause we announced new capabilities that will be offered as part of Live@ edu. These new collaboration and productivity services will be based on the next version of SharePoint Online and be available for students.

The announcement was made at the 2009 Annual Educause Conference as well as in a blog post from Anthony Salcito, Vice President - WW Education.

Based on the next version of SharePoint Online, these new collaboration services, will:

  • Provide students with online space where they can securely upload, easily share and collaborate on documents, including in-place editing
  • Ready students for the workforce through use of functionality and technology used in the enterprise
  • For school IT departments, it will offer them more flexibility and control to set up and manage their students’ collaboration and productivity tools in a security-enhanced environment

Q&A:

Q: When will the new SharePoint Online-based offer be available in Live@edu?

A: We expect to begin rolling out the SharePoint Online-based capabilities starting in the second half of 2010.

Q: Why is Microsoft announcing this now?

A: Microsoft wants our customers to be aware of the Live@edu roadmap so they can make decisions about what technologies to deploy for their students.  It is helpful for customers to know that their technology investments in Microsoft products can be enriched with new services that we are developing.

Q: Why are you planning on adding SharePoint Online-based functionality to Live@edu?

A: Customers asked for an IT-managed, secure collaboration solution for students.  They want rich collaboration experiences such as blogging, free form wikis and easy sharing with others. Many of these features are found in SharePoint Online technology. This continues the evolution of the Live@edu services and is consistent with our goal to provide students with a great collaboration and communication experience at no cost, preparing them for the real world from day one after school.

Q: What features of SharePoint Online will be available in the collaboration offering tailored for Live@edu?

A: The features are being designed to enhance the Live@edu offering. We are working with our customers to understand and define their needs and have not yet finalized the feature set for the SharePoint Online-based offering for Live@edu.  Some possible features are IT controls and management, MySites, secure permissions based document sharing, cross-site search and in-place editing of documents.

Q: Will faculty and staff be licensed to use the Live@edu SharePoint Online-based solution for free?

A: Live@edu’s SharePoint Online-based collaboration solution is geared to students.  Specific licensing and offering details for faculty and staff will be announced at a later date.

Q: Is it really free?

A: Customers will most likely incur other costs in implementing and customizing the service to their needs.  The service portion that is part of this announcement is no cost.  

Q: Will the features in the Live@edu offering be based on the SharePoint Server 2010 release?

A: No.  Live@edu collaboration and productivity services will be based on the next version of SharePoint Online.   You can expect the SharePoint Online-based offering for Live@Edu to include the most appropriate features for students and the education marketplace generally.  

Q: What features will be included in the next release of SharePoint Online?

A: It is too early to provide the detail offering of the next release of SharePoint Online.

Q: Will there be feature parity between the free SharePoint Online based-offering for Live@edu and the paid subscription?

A: No, it will not have parity.  The SharePoint Online-based service offered with Live@edu will have a select set of features specifically targeting student and education needs, leveraging the next version of SharePoint Online.  At this time, it is too early to provide the specific details on what will be included. 

Some possible features are IT controls and management, MySites, secure permissions based document sharing, cross-site search and in-place editing of documents.

Q: Why should I buy SharePoint Server if Microsoft will be offering it as part of Live@edu at no cost?

A: The SharePoint Online-based service for Live@edu is designed and licensed for student use.  It will have a select set of features based on the next version of SharePoint Online.  SharePoint Server offers customers a broader set of functionality and includes different levels of customizability, service level agreements and security models. There are scenarios where education institutions may be running learning management systems, student information systems or need features like, search including federation, etc. where SharePoint Server on premises or the full SharePoint Online hosted service would be a more appropriate solution.

Q: Can I purchase SharePoint on premises today and use it with Live@Edu?

A: Yes.  You can purchase SharePoint on-premise today and interoperate with Live@edu either on your own or through partners.

Q: What about a SharePoint Online-based offering for Live@edu today?

A: A SharePoint Online-based offering is not part of Live@edu today.  Today’s announcement is that we are bringing a SharePoint Online-based offering into Live@edu starting in late 2010.  We will share the specific components of that offering at a later date. Customers that want SharePoint today have the option of purchasing SharePoint Online services or deploying SharePoint Server on-premise and configuring it to interoperate it with Live@edu.

Q: How will a SharePoint-based solution in Live@edu be different than the current Office Live experience?

A: It is too early to disclose our plans on differentiation. However, IT controls and management features will certainly be a key differentiator. We are also planning some key end user differentiators – our research has shown end users will benefit significantly from the advancements planned.

Q: How much storage space will I get in the collaboration experience within Live@edu?

A: We are not ready to discuss specifics at this time.

Q: Will I still be able to access my SkyDrive folders?

A: Yes, our goal is to continue to provide students with the best of Windows Live services and SkyDrive is extremely popular among our student users – while details on how we provide access to SkyDrive folders is still under development, we are working to continue such access when the SharePoint Online-based service becomes part of Live@edu.

Q: Is this a SkyDrive offering?

A: No. This offering is not based on SkyDrive. It will be based on the next version of SharePoint Online and will complement the existing technology infrastructure of many customers.

Q: Will customers have a planned migration path from Windows Live to this SharePoint Online-based collaboration and productivity services as part of the Microsoft Live@edu?

A: No. There are no migration plans from a student’s SkyDrive.

Q: Will Office Web Apps be part of the SharePoint Online-based experience in Live@edu?

A: Office Web Apps will be available to Live@edu customers through Windows Live.  We are still in the early development phase and not ready to discuss specifics of how the Web Apps will fit into the SharePoint Online-based offering for Live@edu at this point but they will be available. 

Q: Are Office Web Apps a replacement for the Office desktop applications?

A: No.  Office Web Apps are light weight versions of familiar Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) delivered through the browser.  Office Web Apps will extend the Office experience on the web by letting customers access their documents from virtually anywhere and easily share and work with others online.

Q: How do Office Web Apps compare to the desktop applications?

A: In creating the Office Web Apps we set out to address real customer needs.  Office Web Apps extend your Office experience to the browser for scenarios where you need to access your files from anywhere and work with others.  The Office Web Apps will provide a key set of capabilities that make sense to have in the browser for easy access, sharing and making changes.  If you talk to a student, for example who is writing a ten page class paper, writing something that long in a Web browser is probably not the best experience and that student will most likely prefer to use Office installed on his PC.  Yet, he still is able to access that paper from anywhere, share with friends, get input from professors and make changes if necessary.

Q: Are there also plans to include other services such as your OCS service in the Live@edu offering?

A: We will continue to evolve Live@edu based on customer feedback.

Q: Will you have a beta of the SharePoint Online-based offer in Live@edu available?

A: As always, Microsoft builds its products with feedback from its customers. We intend to have a beta of the SharePoint based offer in Live@edu – however, timeline is too early to disclose.

Q: Will existing Live@edu customers receive SharePoint Online-based services?  How will they be upgraded?  Will the student data be migrated?

A: Today’s announcement is that we are bringing a SharePoint Online-based offering into Live@edu starting in the second half of 2010.  We will share the specific feature set of that offering at a later date as well as details about migration and upgrades for existing customers.

Q: Aren’t you just copying Google?

A: Microsoft has been working with education customers for more than two decades, and Live@edu has been in market for several years.  With thousands of schools in 86 countries using Live@edu and new customers signing on to the service every day, we are focused on innovating and providing our customers with the best possible services to improve the learning experience for students, help teachers be more effective educators and give school’s IT staff more control over their IT assets – all while keep the costs under control.

Q: Is this a response to Google taking the lead in the Education market?

A: No.  We have over 20 years in the productivity space and a solid understanding of what our customers need and want.  We continually strive to develop products and services that meet those needs and satisfy their wants.  Thousands of institutions in 86 countries are already part of Live@edu with hundreds more signing up every month.

Q: Will schools be able to use the SharePoint Online-based offering in Live@edu to publish external class sites similar to Google Sites?

A: We will continue to evolve Live@edu based on customer feedback.

Q: Will you support Active Directory, in the service?  What other identity solutions will be supported?

A: Today’s announcement is that we are bringing a SharePoint Online-based offering into Live@edu starting in the second half of 2010.  We will share the specific feature set of that offering at a later date

Q: Will you be placing ads in the SharePoint Online-based service for Live@edu?  Non-students?

A: Our current plan is that there will be no third-party advertising presented in the user interface of the SharePoint Online-based service for Live@edu. Microsoft does, however, reserve the right to display information pertaining to Microsoft products and services in the web interface of the SharePoint Online-based service for students.

Q: Will this service always be free or will you charge for it in the future with these new features?

A: As with Live@edu, the SharePoint Online-based services will be provided at no charge to schools.  That said, as we roll out this service, we may consider offering and charging for premium services. 

Q: Will this new offering be able to scale to handle the needs of very large education institutions with multiple campuses?

A: We are very confident in being able to scale this offering for our largest institutions.

Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 2:09 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , , ,
Windows 7 Shortcuts

I came across this list of Windows 7 shortcuts and thought them worth sharing. We’re all pressed for time so anything that increases productivity is useful:

Windows Logo Shortcut Key

Description

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key

Open or close the Start menu.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+D

Display the desktop.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+M

Minimize all windows.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Shift+M

Restore minimized windows to the desktop.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+E

Open Computer.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+L

Lock your computer or switch users.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+R

Open the Run dialog box.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+T

Cycle through programs on the taskbar.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+number

Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Tab

Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Spacebar

Preview the desktop.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Up Arrow

Maximize the window.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Left Arrow

Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Right Arrow

Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Down Arrow

Minimize the window.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Home

Minimize all but the active window.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow

Move a window from one monitor to another.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+P

Choose a presentation display mode.

Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key+X

Open Windows Mobility Center.

Source: The Official Windows 7 Shortcut Keys

Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 1:54 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under:
Forthcoming Education Partner Events

I thought it might be useful to summarise the Partner events being run and managed specifically for UK Education Partners. We’re trying to run as many of these as we can as a way of keeping our partner community informed and up-to-date. We think all of the events are important for partner to attend, but the hightlight will be the Semblio Launch for Partners with representatives from the product group in Redmond showcasing Microsoft Semblio.

Here’s the list of events in chronological order.

Wednesday Nov 18 – Reading – 9:30 – 16:00

Windows 7 and Office 2010 – All You Need to Know for BETT

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukeducationpartnernews/archive/2009/10/28/windows-7-and-office-2010-all-you-need-to-know-for-bett.aspx

Thursday Nov 19 – Reading – 9:30 – 16:00

Microsoft Semblio Partner Launch (aka Grava) – a major development for content development that will be FREE with Office

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukeducationpartnernews/archive/2009/10/15/microsoft-semblio-and-office-add-ins-event-registration-details.aspx

 

Monday/Tuesday – Nov 23/24 – 10:00 and 11:30

Live Meeting Series for Partners new to the Education Market – Schools, FE, HE and Scotland

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukeducationpartnernews/archive/2009/10/12/live-meetings-for-partners-new-to-education.aspx

 

Wednesday  Nov 25 – Cardinal Place, London – 9:30 – 15:30 (Repeated Tuesday Dec 8)

Live@edu Technical Workshop – deployment options, account provisioning, R4 roadmap

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukeducationpartnernews/archive/2009/10/14/live-edu-partner-technical-workshop.aspx

 

Thursday Dec 3 – Reading – 10:00 – 15:00

Business Intelligence Solutions for Education – SharePoint 2010, PerformancePoint, Partner resources, etc

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukeducationpartnernews/archive/2009/09/23/business-intelligence-in-education-dec-3-event.aspx

Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 8:12 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , , , , ,
A Guide to Live@edu for Schools

The Live@edu team has produced this great guide for schools interested in Live@edu to explain the service and how it can safely be implemented. The guide can be downloaded from my SkyDrive at:

http://cid-2fbbe67743d5177d.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Live@edu

Feel free to use this guide to inform your sales teams as well as your customers.

For those of you interested in Live@edu integration the SkyDrive also has an ISV Jumpstart Kit to get you started. Finally there are a couple of presentations that outline the Live@edu proposition for customers and partners respectively.

Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:49 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , ,
Windows 7 – School Case Studies

Windows 7 deployment is building momentum.

Take a look for yourself, and find out what happened when the following schools started term with Windows 7:

  • West Hatch High School in Essex
  • Lodge Park Technology College in Northamptonshire
  • The Long Eaton School in Nottingham
  • The Samworth Enterprise Academy in Leicester
  • Twynham School in Dorset
  • Broadclyst Primary School in Devon

The article on Ray’s blog has a link to the full article written by Gerald Haigh.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukschools/archive/2009/10/17/what-is-it-like-to-be-one-of-the-first-schools-using-windows-7.aspx

Firstquotes

Windows 7 became available to schools in mid-August 2009, uncomfortably close to the start of the new school year. Although there was every encouragement from Microsoft for schools taking the plunge, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that those ICT teams that grasped the nettle were displaying a fair amount of courage. The start of a school term, after all, isn’t a moveable deadline.

Whether the new operating system was installed or not, whether or not it worked, or did what was printed on the tin, the students, teachers and administrators were still going to arrive and switch on their machines expecting to do pick up where they left off before their holidays. Failure, as they say, was not an option.Endquotes

These are the first two paragraphs from Gerald Haigh’s article about the experiences of the early schools using Windows 7 in the UK. After just two weeks of term time, he went out to talk to half a dozen schools for us, and record their stories. Gerald normally spends his time split between writing books for school leaders, and leadership focused articles for educational publications. But given his ability to dive straight in and ask the right questions, it made sense to ask him to talk to these early adopters.

The resulting document, which you can download from Ray's SkyDrive, gives you a clear idea of the thoughts of those schools, and why they chose to make such an early start on Windows 7.

Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 10:35 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , ,
Quarterly Community Calls for Public Sector Partners

During this past fiscal year and at World-Wide Partner Conference, we heard loud and clear that you desired an ongoing communications forum with Microsoft Public Sector business.  Your feedback prioritized having a frequent opportunity to hear from Public Sector industry experts, learn how Microsoft can practically assist you to build/close a strong sales pipeline and share the latest technology solutions applied to the Public Sector business.

Based on this partner community request, we will begin hosting a Quarterly Community Call for managed partners conducting business within the Public Sector Industry (Government, Health and Education).  The goal is to improve active communications with our managed Public Sector partner community, strengthen the working relationship and listen to your partnership needs.  The calls will follow four pillars:

  • Increasing the frequency of formal communications with our Public Sector partner base
  • Address focused topics of interest to the entire community
  • Identify and remove areas of challenge in an effort to make it easier for our partners to do business with Microsoft
  • Support a clear and consistent business relationship with Microsoft’s Public Sector business

To register for the calls, please click on the following links below.  LiveMeeting and dial-in information will be sent to you.  We look forward to having you participate in the upcoming Public Sector Partner Community Calls and thank you for supporting the Public Sector business.

 

December 8th 6pm-7:30pm Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1592

December 9th , 8:00am-9:30am Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1591

Tentative Agenda:

  • From the Executive’s Desk: Trends within the Public Sector Business
  • Why Government is a Giant Business Opportunity, Together
  • How you can leverage the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) as a sales and marketing resource
  • Innovation You can Use Today

 

February 16th , 8:00am-9:30am Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1593

February 16th, 6pm-7:30pm Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1594

Tentative Agenda:

  • From the Executive’s Desk” Trends within the Public Sector Business
  • Trends, Directions and Opportunity in the Education Marketplace
  • How to engage with the Microsoft Field Sales organization
  • Innovation You can Use Today

 

May 11th, 8:00am-9:30am Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1595

May 11th, 6pm-7:30pm Pacific: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1596

Tentative agenda:

  • From the Executive’s Desk: Trends within the Public Sector Business
  • The rewards and opportunity of capitalizing on the Health business
  • Getting the most out of WW Partner Conference
  • Innovation You can Use Today
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009 8:52 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , ,
Academy Live Partner Webcasts for November

WVC77AL: Windows IT Cost Savings: How Windows 7 helps you reduce costs (TCO)

Presented by: Jason Leznek

Webcast Date:11/5/2009

Webcast Start Time: 9:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  200

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales, Partner IT Professional

With Windows 7 now in the hands of enterprise customers, it’s time to talk about the business value with our customers.  Microsoft has published three TCO case studies to help you with that conversation.  This session will discuss the methodology and findings of those case studies, and give you a view into the pipeline for additional business value content coming up.

 

BI74PAL: SQL Server Changes -- What it Means to Your BI Opportunity

Presented by: Bruno Aziza & Herain Oberoi

Webcast Date:11/5/2009

Webcast Start Time: 9:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales

SQL Server 2008 R2 licensing details are now available.  In this session, hear what they mean and how you, your customers and partners can take full advantage of them in the context of Business Intelligence.

 

BRD08PAL: Cost cutting,  Innovation,  Agility,  Compliance

Presented by: Ric Merrifield

Webcast Date:11/5/2009

Webcast Start Time: 10:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Sales

Lots of buzz words are flying around right now.  But lots of people don’t define them; let alone how to measure them.  This webinar will walk you through specific definitions for each, and this will help you get more specific about each topic when talking with others.

 

WNS160PAL: Site Recovery for Hyper-V with Citrix Essentials

Presented by: Jim Schwartz, Gordon Mangione & Barry Flanagan

Webcast Date:11/6/2009

Webcast Start Time: 8:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  200

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales, Partner Training, Partner Developer, Partner IT Professional

Citrix Essentials for Microsoft Hyper-V adds new disaster recovery capabilities to Hyper-V with StorageLink Site Recovery technology.  Attend this session to get an up-close view of the new solution.  Product experts from Citrix will demonstrate how StorageLink Site Recovery brings simple disaster recovery controls to Hyper-V administrators while tapping powerful array-based replication services to protect Hyper-V workloads from site-to-site.  This session will also explore how you can use Site Recovery together with Microsoft Clustering and Citrix Essentials workflow orchestration tools to build an automated DR solution for your Hyper-V customers.

Demo and discussion topics include: Setting up replication services, staging remote VMs for DR testing and performing fail-over of VMs

 

BRD03PAL: Marketing Survival Strategies for the Attention Economy

Presented by: Jeremy Epstein

Webcast Date:11/10/2009

Webcast Start Time: 10:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker

One of the most influential social scientists of the 20th century, Herbert Simon, remarked that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

Simon succinctly wraps up the challenges facing marketers in the Internet era. Inundated by information and media from all sides, prospects and clients continue to tune out and ignore traditional marketing tactics and message.

Firms of all sizes (with clients of all sizes) struggle with the central question:

How do we effectively cut through all the noise to establish authentic dialogue and relationships and… make money?

Join Jeremy Epstein, a “Marketing Navigator for the Attention Economy,” in a lively, interactive (and remarkable!) presentation that will:

  1. help you understand the fundamental macro-societal shifts impacting marketers
  2. provide guidelines for how to thrive as a marketer in the new environment
  3. share the ground rules for the new marketing
  4. educate you on the key concepts of using Social Media as a marketing channel
  5. offer suggestions on the first steps on the road to a Word-of-Mouth/Social Media marketing strategy

 

CSD18PAL: Windows Azure Platform - TCO Tool

Presented by: Tom Pisello & Alistair Beagley

Webcast Date:11/12/2009

Webcast Start Time: 8:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales

The Windows Azure platform helps improve productivity and increase operational efficiency by lowering upfront capital costs and realizing a reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO) of certain workloads by up to 60 percent over a three-year period.  But what would your total cost of ownership look like building on Windows Azure?  How do you make sure the math is right before you jump into the Windows Azure cloud?  To answer these and many more questions, we invite you take a tour of the Windows Azure TCO tool with us. In this webcast we will answer our partners’ questions around value and TCO, by walking you through the model and giving you a demonstration of how the TCO tool works so  you can build your own cost savings case for Windows Azure

 

OFF59PAL: Customer Offers and Channel Incentives Monthly Webcast

Presented by: Michael Moore

Webcast Date:11/13/2009

Webcast Start Time: 11:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Sales

Join us each month for a review of in-market customer offers and channel incentives and also get a preview of promotions and incentives launching within the next month.  This webcast will cover offers and incentives for Enterprise Agreement, Select, Select Plus, Open Value, Open License, and other relevant promotions.  Recommended for sales and marketing roles.

 

BRD02PAL: Viruses, Spyware, and Malware

Presented by: Stephen Deming

Webcast Date:11/17/2009

Webcast Start Time: 10:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Sales

A few years ago it was a few simple SPAM messages with an occasional “I Love You” virus tossed in for variety. Now we are faced with thousands of SPAM messages, web sites containing malicious code, and assorted spyware and phishing schemes. These attacks no longer are just mild annoyances but pose a real threat to the security of our confidential information and productivity of our employees. Join us for a frank discussion on how to recognize these attacks and what tools and techniques available to defend our businesses.

 

VEN26PAL: Best Practice Solutions for Migrating from Lotus Notes/Domino to the Microsoft Platform

Presented by: Steven Pivnik & Ian Bergman

Webcast Date:11/17/2009

Webcast Start Time: 11:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  200

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales, Partner Training, Partner IT Professional

This session is designed for partner organizations that want to learn about best practice approaches and a comprehensive set of solutions that align with Microsoft's Enterprise Notes Migration (ENM) methodology for migrating customers from Lotus Notes/Domino to the Microsoft platform or Microsoft Online.  Audience members will learn about the two types of approaches for migrating to the Microsoft platform: the traditional on-premises migration approach and the remotely hosted migration approach.  In addition, audience members will find out how to analyze their customer's Lotus environment to properly plan a migration, how to establish robust coexistence between the Lotus and Microsoft platforms, how to migrate email users and applications from Lotus to Microsoft, and how to consolidate and retire the Lotus environment after the migration.

 

WNS159PAL: Windows Server 2008 R2 File Services Overview

Presented by: Joel Garcia; Sabrinath Rao

Webcast Date:11/18/2009

Webcast Start Time: 8:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  200

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales, Partner Training, Partner Developer, Partner IT Professional

In this session, come and learn about the “untold” file services story in Windows Server 2008 R2.  Discover the file services innovations that are now available with Windows Server 2008 R2. Learn how you can position to customers why Windows File Servers are cost effective, enterprise ready, and have a great better together story with Microsoft and 3rd party infrastructure.  This is the first in a seven part series of webcasts to help you better understand and position Windows Server File Services to your customers.

 

WES27PAL: Virtualization:  Defined.  Building your Virtualization Practice and Solution Offerings

Presented by: Dave Sobel

Webcast Date:11/18/2009

Webcast Start Time: 9:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker

Virtualization is becoming mainstream; are you ready with your practice? Learn from Dave Sobel, author of “Virtualization: Defined.  A Primer for the SMB Consultant”, how to build your consulting practice, get trained and offering solutions, and solutions you can start delivering right away.     Learn about server consolidation assessments, Virtual Desktop Infrastructures, and how to deliver high value solutions to your customers.

MOS17PAL: Let Microsoft Online Services Make You a Star!

Presented by: Lauren Delgado

Webcast Date:11/18/2009

Webcast Start Time: 10:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker

Join us for our monthly webcast where we provide an overview of Microsoft Online Services and discuss partner program opportunities. Microsoft Online Services are enterprise-class software delivered as subscription services, hosted by Microsoft and offered by partners like you to generate predictable, recurring revenue. Help customers increase their efficiency with the messaging and collaboration solutions in the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite. Sell Microsoft Online Services to earn advisor fees, expand your base, and serve new segments. Join each month for important updates and a chance to win an X-Box 360 Pro Console System and Rock Band 2 Kit. Questions? Contact usmosg@microsoft.com.

 

WES28PAL: Leveraging Community and Peers to Grow your Business

Presented by: Arlin Sorensen

Webcast Date:12/2/2009

Webcast Start Time: 9:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker

Do you struggle to find the right answers to overcoming the roadblocks that can prevent your company from going to the next level?  Join Arlin Sorensen and others from the partner community as they discuss how to leverage the power of peers and communities to find solutions to the challenges every business faces.  Be it learning to overcome sales management struggles, hiring your first employee, marketing effectively – someone has done it before and the key to getting to the other side is to leverage that knowledge and experience rather than learning it all on your own.  It is happening and the group will share real world examples and more importantly the impact that deep relationships have had in helping them grow their businesses.

BRD12PAL: Aligning with Customers to Drive Your Business Growth

Presented by: Ryan Morris

Webcast Date:12/3/2009

Webcast Start Time: 11:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker

Secrets to Drive Competitive Differentiation and Business Growth…Even in Today's Uncertain Economy

 

CSD14PAL: Windows Azure Platform - Launch Update

Presented by: Stephanie Selin

Webcast Date:12/2/2009

Webcast Start Time: 8:00 AM (Pacific)

PLC Registration Link for Partners

Level:  100

Partner Audience: Partner Business Decision Maker, Partner Marketing, Partner Sales

Windows Azure platform will launch commercially at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC) November 17-19, 2009!

http://microsoftpdc.com

Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009 7:56 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , , , , ,
Windows 7 and Office 2010 - All You Need to Know for BETT

With new releases of Microsoft technologies being a focus in schools we want to make sure that our Education Partners are fully briefed on developments in preparation for BETT 2010.

The purpose of this event is to showcase and demonstarte key products in an education context and answer all those questions that are likely from BETT attendees. For example, why should I bother deploying Windows 7? How will it save me money? Will I have to wait until the Summer before I can deploy it? How do Microsoft web applications compare with Google?

Date: November 18

Location: Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park

Agenda:
9.30 – 10.15       Windows 7 - What/How to demo

10.15 - 11.30      Office 2010 / SharePoint 2010

11.45 – 13.15      Deployment - keeping it simple

1.15 - 14:00         Lunch

14:00 – 15:00       Google Compete

15:00 – 16:00       BETT proposition & next steps

 To register go to:

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/registrationex/LMS_Registration.aspx?UserMode=0&Mode=0&ActivityID=559726

Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:37 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , ,
SharePoint 2010 Guides

What's new in SharePoint 2010? I'm a developer, where can I get more information? Here are links to a couple of guides for IT Professionals and Developers

IT Pro

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167123

Dev

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cffb14e8-88a9-43bd-87aa-4792ab60d320&displaylang=en

I've also just checked the Microsoft download site at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads. There are several new downloads as a result of the SharePoint Conference last week, for example:

Collaboration Toolkit

Developer Evaluation Guide and Walkthrough

SharePoint 2010 Search Architecture

Go to the download site and search for SharePoint to get all the new 2010 information.

 

 

Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:17 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , ,
Record Breaking Windows

Windows 7 breaks Amazon UK pre-order volume record, ousts Harry Potter

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/21/windows-7-breaks-amazon-uk-pre-order-volume-record-ousts-harry/

clip_image002

Take it from us, your London-based sleuths, when anything sells faster than Harry Potter books or DVDs in the UK, it's scorching hot. Case in point is Microsoft's Vista successor, which has sold so well that it has beaten the Amazon UK pre-order record previously held by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In fact, Windows 7 was able to tally up more sales in the first 8 hours of pre-order availability than Vista was able to collect altogether. Now that's what we call an upgrade.

Posted: Thursday, October 22, 2009 4:52 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under:
Windows 7 School Deployments

I pinched this article from Ray's Schools Blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukschools/

 

Windows 7 became available to schools in mid-August 2009, uncomfortably close to the start of the new school year. Although there was every encouragement from Microsoft for schools taking the plunge, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that those ICT teams that grasped the nettle were displaying a fair amount of courage. The start of a school term, after all, isn’t a moveable deadline.

Whether the new operating system was installed or not, whether or not it worked, or did what was printed on the tin, the students, teachers and administrators were still going to arrive and switch on their machines expecting to do pick up where they left off before their holidays. Failure, as they say, was not an option.

 

These are the first two paragraphs from Gerald Haigh’s article about the experiences of the early schools using Windows 7 in the UK. After just two weeks of term time, he went out to talk to half a dozen schools for us, and record their stories. Gerald normally spends his time split between writing books for school leaders, and leadership focused articles for educational publications. But given his ability to dive straight in and ask the right questions, it made sense to ask him to talk to these early adopters.

The resulting document, which you can download from my SkyDrive, gives you a clear idea of the thoughts of those schools, and why they chose to make such an early start on Windows 7.

Take a look for yourself, and perhaps share with others in your school, to find out what happened when the following schools started term with Windows 7:

  • West Hatch High School in Essex
  • Lodge Park Technology College in Northamptonshire
  • The Long Eaton School in Nottingham
  • The Samworth Enterprise Academy in Leicester
  • Twynham School in Dorset
  • Broadclyst Primary School in Devon

Thanks to Gerald and the schools for their openness in doing this – what had originally seemed like it might make an interesting blog post has turned into a cracking 15 page read!

Posted: Monday, October 19, 2009 7:06 AM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , ,
Microsoft Semblio – Event Registration Details

We’ve now got the event registration details for the Semblio and Office Academic Add-ins event for Publishers, Content Developers and Learning Platform Providers.

Registration:

URL: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=CF-56-DD-CF-33-D1-50-05-4D-4B-0B-16-5A-55-71-FB&Culture=en-GB

Invite Code: 038344

Phone Number: 0870 166 6680 ref: 9954

Here is the draft agenda:

Presentation

 

Time

 

Presenter

 

Introduction and Welcome

 

5 mins

 

Mark A’Bear

 

UK Market Overview

 

15 mins

 

Schoolzone

Semblio Product Overview

 

  • What is it

     

  • Demo

     

  • Marketing and release plans

     

  • Roadmap

     

40 mins

 

Jeff Dirks and Scott Burmester

 

Semblio Content Examples

 

  • Cambridge University Press

     

  • Science TV

     

30 mins

 

TBC

 

Office Developments

 

  • Product overview

     

  • Demo

     

  • Marketing and release plans

     

30 mins

 

Jeff Dirks and Scott Burmester

 

Customer Presentation

 

  • A Teachers view

     

  • What difference does it make?

     

30 mins

 

Ollie Bray (tbc)

Standards Support

 

  • Common Cartridge

     

  • SCORM

     

30 mins

 

Scott Burmester

Office 2010

 

  • What else is in Office for Education

     

  • Web Applications

     

  • Demo

     

  • Marketing and release plans

     

  • Office for Students

     

40 mins

 

Chris Adams

Innovative Teachers Network

 

  • What is it?

     

  • Opportunities for Publishers

     

30 mins

 

Kristen Weatherby

 

Summary and Call to Action

 

  • BETT

     

  • Uluru plans

     

  • Resources and support

     

20 mins

 

Mark A’Bear

 

Close

Posted: Thursday, October 15, 2009 4:52 PM by markabe | 0 Comments
Filed under: , , , ,
More Posts Next page »
Page view tracker