Partners that have been slow to embrace the new Microsoft Partner Network logos and branding on their Web sites are in good company.
Even Microsoft's National System Integrators (NSIs), the high-profile group of U.S. partners, seem less than fully on board with the MPN logos and branding nearly a year and a half after Microsoft released them. An RCP review of NSI Web sites this month found that about a third of NSIs are still using outdated branding or messaging. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 09, 20121 comments
One of Microsoft's highest-profile Dynamics CRM partners is looking to expand its business with an Apple iPad app to assist road warriors.
Sonoma Partners on Thursday unveiled the Mobile Sales Kit, which is billed as an "enterprise-grade application for the Apple iPad" that will "replace the stacks of collateral a salesperson would carry on a typical visit." More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 06, 20120 comments
If this one slipped by you, it slipped by me as well. But apparently a lot of people are thinking hard about using game-like achievements in a corporate setting as rewards for employees and partners. One name for the concept is "gamification."
Microsoft is among the hard thinkers. On March 27, the company updated a "Visual Studio Achievements Extension," which brings Xbox-like achievements to developers. (It had been released as a beta in January.) Developers can unlock 32 achievement badges with funky names like "Close To The Metal," "Stubby" or "Interrupting Cow" that display on their Channel 9 profiles. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 05, 20120 comments
Pariveda Solutions, one of 33 Microsoft National Systems Integrator partners, is opening an office in Denver, solidifying an already existing presence in the city.
The Dallas-based company announced the move on Wednesday. The formal move comes a month after Microsoft recognized Pariveda's work in Denver with a 2012 Technology Innovation Award for a global Microsoft Dynamics CRM system for Ball Corp. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 04, 20120 comments
This year should be the year that "smart connected devices," an IDC term for PCs, smartphones and media tablets, will pass 1 billion device shipments, the market research firm says.
In a table released this week, IDC projected that unit shipments for 2012 would hit 1.1 billion in 2012, including 660 million smartphones, 371 million PCs and 106 million media tablets. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 29, 20120 comments
Dell, in an effort to give its partners a way to differentiate themselves on cloud, added a Cloud Services and Solutions Certification today.
The new PartnerDirect certification employs an interesting taxonomy that encompasses the different roles that partners play with the cloud. Called "pillars," the three different roles are Cloud Builder, Cloud Provider and Cloud Service Enabler. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 29, 20120 comments
All those who were pining for Microsoft's Courier can now try an approximation of the interface on an Apple iPad.
Courier was Microsoft's skunkworks tablet project that got killed in favor of the all-out effort to bring the tablet computing style to the whole Windows world in Windows 8. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 28, 20121 comments
The Nokia Lumia 900, the Windows Phone that is shouldering the smartphone market share dreams of both Microsoft and Nokia, will come to the United States on April 8.
In blogging about the release date this morning, AT&T added two twists: The device will be available in white and the price is extremely aggressive at $99.99 with a two-year contract.
More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 26, 20125 comments
The Microsoft Office 365 full-court press is on. About nine months after launching the rebranded and upgraded online business productivity suite, Microsoft is finally giving the product the advertising air cover it needs to succeed.
It seems like nearly every consumer or general business Web site I visit these days has a Microsoft Office 365 advertisement. (Why this didn't start last July, I have no idea.) More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 22, 20123 comments
Microsoft used the kick-off of its Convergence conference today to update the Dynamics roadmap. The upshot: Cloud is still key but Redmond intends to keep using the hybrid cloud/on-premise story as a differentiator.
In a keynote, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner reiterated Microsoft's bullish view on the cloud market by extrapolating on some Forrester Research projections. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 19, 20121 comments
Tribridge, which became one of the three Microsoft Master VARs late last year, signed up a Sales Affiliate this month.
Tampa, Fla.-based Tribridge announced last week that 360 Consulting LLC had agreed to join its program. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 18, 20120 comments
Dell's top channel executive Greg Davis is rolling out the welcome mat for SonicWALL Inc. partners.
Davis wrote a blog entry for the channel late Wednesday, following news Tuesday that Dell would buy privately held SonicWALL, a network security and data protection vendor. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but The New York Times reported its value at $1.25 billion. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 15, 20120 comments