Microsoft Partnering 101


Microsoft, Services and Partners: Survival of the Fittest

Partners need to be nimble when Redmond ventures into new territories, but they also have to wait.

Getting a Handle on Peer-to-Peer Applications

Watch out for security pitfalls, such as increasingly popular instant messaging apps.

The Right Stuff

Microsoft executives view their 'benefits wheel' as the hub of their new campaign to get the right benefit to the right partner at the right time.

Solving the Puzzle -- Together

In solution selling, partners and customers join forces to solve problems -- and both parties win.

Microsoft Forefront Aims to Integrate Security

For customers struggling to manage and maintain security wares from multiple vendors, Forefront offers a Microsoft-centric alternative.

Awaiting a Vista Bounce

Microsoft calls Windows Vista its fastest-selling OS yet. Partners are waiting -- patiently -- for that momentum to reach the channel.

Microsoft Myths

Deconstructing the most common statistics and figures about the Microsoft Partner Program.

Ambiguous Adventure: Microsoft and Managed Services

Whether or not partners will be part of Redmond's latest foray remains to be seen.

Sun Shares Jump on 4Q Profit

Shares of Sun Microsystems Inc. jumped more than 4 percent Tuesday, a day after the server and software maker posted its third profitable quarter in a row and showed it has made substantial progress from its long-lasting, brutal downturn.

Government Awards $50 Billion Technology Contract

Twenty-nine companies -- including Electronic Data Systems Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and AT&T Inc. -- on Tuesday were awarded a federal computer systems contract potentially worth up to $50 billion over 10 years.

Microsoft Issues Web Access Tool for TFS

Microsoft has released a long-awaited Web interface for Team Foundation Server.

Vista Fixes Released, Then Removed

Microsoft's continuing infatuation with Windows Vista secrecy continues, with the company posting some updates on its Windows Connect site, then pulling them down.

Dell Starts Production in India

Dell Inc. said it delivered its first "Made in India" computer, with hopes that production here will lift domestic sales in a market that is growing 30 percent a year.

BPM Learns To Play With SOA

Tony Baer from OnStrategies livened up BPM Think Tank 2007 with his talk, "BPMs are from Venus -- SOAs from Mars." With that phrase, Baer  is basically saying that business process management (BPM) provides a top-down, business-side approach to enterprise application development, while service-oriented  architecture (SOA) takes a bottom-up IT approach. And they haven't met in the middle yet, so there's still a disconnect.

Build Enterprise SOA With Rich Metadata

The Object Management Group's recent BPM Think Tank conference had a lot to say about service-oriented architecture (SOA). A highlight was David S. Frankel's presentation on model-driven business process platforms. Frankel is SAP Labs' lead standards architect for model-driven systems, and he brought his expertise to bear on both the promise and the considerable obstacles involved in scaling service-oriented architectures (SOA) in the enterprise.