A major Fairfax, Va.-based virtualization solution partner's achievement of the Virtualization Gold Competency in the Microsoft Partner Network provides a window on the pace at which partners are making the transition to Microsoft's new gold competencies.
Accelera Solutions today announced it had gotten the competency. In a statement, Accelera President Joe Brown said, "We're proud to be among the region's elite few to hold gold-tier status for virtualization." More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 23, 20111 comments
Even among business users running on Microsoft Exchange, Apple has the momentum when it comes to smartphones and tablets, according to statistics released by one of Microsoft's largest Exchange hosting partners.
Intermedia this month released device activation numbers for all of April for its 320,000 hosted Exchange premium e-mail accounts. It found that Apple iPhones are being activated for synchronization with the accounts at a much faster rate than competitors' smartphones, and the iPad is even more dominant among tablets. (Intermedia was careful to note that no specific user information was reviewed in determining the statistics.) More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 19, 20110 comments
The Windows half of the onetime Wintel duopoly isn't saying much about Microsoft's tablet and mobile device strategy in the Windows 8 timeframe, but the Intel half is talking a little.
During a presentation at Intel's Santa Clara, Calif. headquarters on Tuesday reported by Bloomberg and The Register, an Intel senior executive released details of the versions of Windows coming for system-on-a-chip (SoC) hardware and information about legacy Windows application support. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 19, 20110 comments
Large customers will soon be able to buy cloud licenses through their Enterprise Agreements and deploy licenses on-premise or in the cloud -- and switch those licenses back and forth.
"New license mobility options will become available July 1, 2011, through Microsoft Volume Licensing agreements with an active Software Assurance benefit," Microsoft said in a statement this week. "The new options will provide customers with the flexibility to deploy application services on-premises or through hosted service providers in the cloud." More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 19, 20110 comments
Lync-focused Microsoft partners like Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, but investors haven't been too enthusiastic.
Maybe that's what prompted Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to defend Microsoft's largest acquisition today in an interview with the BBC. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 18, 20112 comments
Lumbering to the end of another fiscal year, Microsoft has once again revived the popular Big Easy subsidy offer to help partners drive some end-of-year business.
This time, the program for U.S. partners applies to sales between May 2 and June 30. Under the Big Easy offer, customers who make qualifying Microsoft software purchases receive a check for a portion of the total made out to the partner of their choice. The checks can be used for additional Microsoft software, hardware and services. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 16, 20110 comments
Among the details emerging from storage devices recovered during the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden is the revelation that he used e-mail frequently to communicate with other al-Qaida members during his decade in hiding.
This communication occurred despite extensive, and expanded, electronic surveillance efforts to find him by the U.S. government and its allies. (The term ECHELON in the headline refers to the code name popularly used in media accounts for the secret surveillance system for interception of e-mail, phone calls and other electronic communications.*) More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 13, 20116 comments
All the recent interest in tablets and smartphones may be leading to another practice area for channel partners.
In a research announcement this week, market researchers at IDC released survey results showing strong customer interest in mobile printing solutions. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 10, 20111 comments
Dell on Monday officially restructured its three-year-old channel program, but Round Rock appears to have only made tweaks around the edges of the program rather than the kind of dramatic moves that might signal a reversion to Dell's direct-first origins.
When Dell launched PartnerDirect in December 2007, the big question was whether the famously direct vendor would remain committed to the channel for very long. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 09, 20110 comments
Publicly, Microsoft executives like Craig Mundie often dismiss the media tablet market. But you can be sure that behind closed doors, Microsoft heavyweights are obsessing over how to make Windows a media tablet player.
An argument that Microsoft's actually got one of the best chances of delivering a successful media tablet comes from a surprising quarter this month. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 09, 20110 comments
Solution providers know there are few factors as important to business success as having the brands in their portfolios that customers want.
Global brand equity research and advising firm Millward Brown today released its sixth annual list of the Top 100 most valuable global brands, ranked by Millward Brown's estimate of the value of the brand. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on May 09, 20110 comments
Petronella Computer Consultants Inc. faced the ultimate break-fix problem.
Company President Craig Petronella got a call from one of his biggest managed services customers on the evening of Saturday, April 16, that a tornado had destroyed the customer's offices. Severe storms ripped through North Carolina earlier that day, when what the National Weather Service called a "family of tornadoes" killed 22 people, injured 130 more statewide and caused damage in seven counties. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 28, 20110 comments