Somewhere between the physical and the virtual
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Hi everyone
The Community Evaluation Program (CEP) for Operations Manager 2012 Beta will be kicking off very soon!
The CEP is designed to guide our customers and partners through an evaluation of the product and highlight key features and capabilities. This is your chance to hear directly from the product group, be taken through a guided evaluation and be able to engage with us and provide your feedback.
The initial topics that we will cover are listed in the table below, so go get signed up! Once you have completed this short form, we are able to send you communications with further details on how to participate, including where the information will be posted, the Lync call details and so on.
We realize that we have a global audience, so we will be recording all the calls so you can listen to them at a time that suits you.
The Operations Manager 2012 Beta contains a huge amount of great new functionality, a lot of updates to reflect the feedback you have given us, and is a critical component of System Center 2012 and our Private and Public cloud constructs.
We look forward to engaging with you!
Stream
Topic
Presenter
Deployment
Deployment of Operations Manager 2012 Upgrading from Operations manager 2007 R2
Rob Kuehfus Nishtha Soni
Configuration and Scale
RMS removal Pooling
Configuration Service
Vitaly Filimonov
Dashboards
Visualization with widgets, alerts, performance metrics and state
Åke Pettersson Dale Koetke
Application
Performance and Reliability driven SLA’s with Application Performance Management
Michael Guthrie
Network Monitoring
Vishnu Nath
Cross Platform - JEE & Unix/Linux (tomcat, websphere, apache, jboss)
Peirong Liu Kris Bash
Adam
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Like most companies today, you rely on your IT infrastructure to keep your business running. You need to find out about and fix IT problems before they lead to any downtime or loss of productivity and revenue. This becomes even more challenging when you depend on a combination of physical, virtual, and cloud resources to run a diverse mix of operating systems (Windows, Linux, and Unix) that support any number of critical business applications. Microsoft understands these challenges and is dedicated to helping customers address these issues.
System Center Operations Manager 2012 provides the solution to the challenges mentioned above by:
Here’s what’s new
Download the beta here.
For more information, visit the new Operations Manager 2012 beta page
David Mills, Senior Product Manager
System Center Marketing
At WPC this week we showed off System Center App Controller for the first time. You can view the keynote that Sataya delivered here which included Ryan doing the App Controller demo.
To give you a further glimpse into App Controller and what will be coming later in the year as we build towards the Beta, I have recorded a short walk through the solutions, both Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and App Controller to set the scene for how they come together to drive the Application space in System Center.
Over the coming months I will be exploring App Controller a lot more, and explaining and showing demos of this great solution in flight!
You can watch the recording here.
Enjoy!
There’s a lot of hype around the evolution of virtualization and management, and the emergence of cloud computing. One thing that everyone can agree upon however is that most customers want to take virtualization and management to the next level by migrating to a cloud infrastructure and are looking to partners to help them decide on the best path to get there. So virtualization and management deliver new business opportunities today, and expansion into cloud computing, specifically private cloud, offers the prospect of even more opportunities in the future. With this in mind, Microsoft is announcing a series of new initiatives designed to aid channel partners in designing effective, profitable business models while working with their customers to stay on top of their datacenter infrastructure and cloud computing needs.
Microsoft Management & Virtualization CompetencyFirstly, we are merging together the Systems Management and Virtualization competencies to form a new competency which reflects this continued convergence of management and virtualization and prepares partners to deliver a new breed of Private Cloud solutions. Whether you design, sell, deploy, or consult on server infrastructure, the Microsoft Management & Virtualization competency will help you to expand your role as a trusted advisor, create new business models, and generate new cloud-based revenue streams. Attaining this new competency will provide you with access to relevant resources, tools, and training for Microsoft System Center, virtualization and private cloud technologies and help to grow your business. And reaching Gold competency status will qualify you to earn channel incentives through the Management & Virtualization Solution Incentive Program (SIP) and through Private Cloud, Management and Virtualization Deployment Planning Services (PVDPS). The new Management and Virtualization competency won’t go live until May 2012 but to qualify partners will be required to demonstrate expertise in both Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center. So you’ll have plenty of time to attain any new exam requirements – and with this in mind stop by our booth (# 1221) at WPC to learn about our readiness offer and save at least 20% on virtualization and management training.
Microsoft Solutions Incentives Program (SIP)The second announcement we are making is an enhancement to the Microsoft Solutions Incentives Program (SIP) which rewards partners that identify and sell solutions that include Microsoft Virtualization, Systems Center and Forefront solutions, as well as associated licensing suites (ECI, SMSD, SMSE). This year we are increasing the size of payouts, so Core Infrastructure partners with a Gold competency, can earn fees up to 30% of the deal size on eligible opportunities. Read the FAQ for partners or contact your Microsoft Partner Account Manager (PAM) to learn more.
Microsoft Private Cloud, Management & Virtualization Deployment Planning Services (PVDPS) Complementing SIP is our third announcement and a brand new program called the Microsoft Private Cloud, Management & Virtualization Deployment Planning Services (PVDPS). This program helps Software Assurance (SA) customers take advantage of infrastructure solutions based on Windows Server, Systems Center and Hyper-V and can greatly reduce their datacenter costs and increase business agility. Customers can redeem their SA vouchers and receive a structured consulting engagement through partners that have attained a Gold competency in either Virtualization, Systems Management, Server Platform or Identity and Security. To learn more about PVDPS and to register to become a provider, visit the PVDPS website.
Microsoft Sales Specialist AccreditationOur final announcement is about the Microsoft Sales Specialist accreditation which is designed to help sales professionals strengthen their solution knowledge and gain recognition for solution selling expertise associated with select Microsoft solutions. At WPC we are introducing a new Private Cloud sales accreditation to help professionals communicate the benefits of private cloud computing, help customer overcome obstacles, and position product, technology and licensing requirements to differentiate a Microsoft solution from the competition. Attaining the Private Cloud sales accreditation will not only strengthen your solution knowledge, but help you to move business forward and deliver solutions more quickly – leading to deeper customer relationships and greater revenues. Go to Microsot Sales Specialist website to learn more.
In conclusion if you are not enrolled in the Microsoft Sales Specialist program, if your organization is not active in the Solutions Incentive Program, or if you don’t qualify for Deployment Planning Services, you should consider attaining a Gold Core Infrastructure competency, which can not only help to differentiate your organization in the market but qualify your organization to earn valuable rewards and incentives. You should also start thinking about how you can drive revenue by migrating existing server infrastructure solutions to the cloud, building Hyper-V-based virtualization and System Center into your business practices and service offerings, and looking for ways to engage with Microsoft on joint private cloud opportunities.
I’d be happy to discuss any of your questions if you stop by our Private Cloud and Server Platform lounge at WPC and introduce yourself. Here’s how to stay up-to-date on all the latest Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform news during and after WPC:
All the best
Mark Hassall
Director, Partner Marketing, Windows Server & Management Business Group
We have posted 2 new Management Packs for System Center Operations Manager in the Download Center. You can download these and read more using the links below, and they will also be in the Catalog and PinPoint shortly.
The momentum is building as we move towards Operations Manager 2012 Beta, keep an eye out for more information in the very near future!