SQL & BI : Microsoft Info

Performance Point is now on Volume Licencing

EmmaB — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:44:56 GMT

See more @ www.microsoft.com/performancepoint

Please see below the relevant information to get started.

In addition there is lots of helpful documents... check out the Office Developer Portal and TechCenter for deployment and operations guides, technical whitepapers and ‘how-to’ help and tips.

Finally, look out for the PerformancePoint Server books and online training webcasts, as they should help you get started!

Licensing

Find answers to your licensing questions

· PPS licensing site

· Volume Licensing site

Collateral Update

· New! PerformancePoint Server TechNet webcasts

· New! Upcoming PerformancePoint Server online training

· New! Pre-order PerformancePoint Server book on Monitoring and Analysis

· New! Pre-order PerformancePoint Server book on Planning

The Cloud

EmmaB — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:43:01 GMT

There has been a lot of talk recently about Microsoft's "cloud". Its not just discussions on the lack of UK summer this year ... its much much more. Its Microsoft's new approach to the delivery of Internet services.

I saw this article that gives a good summary

The most powerful women of the channel

EmmaB — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:27:45 GMT

So who are these women?

Although they come from all different corners of the channel community -- from vendors to distributors to resellers and systems integrators -- the 2007 50 Most Powerful Women of the Channel have one thing in common: They're all leading innovators driving growth in the channel.

Great to see our very own Allison Watson in there...

Interesting read here

Where do you want to go?

EmmaB — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:27:35 GMT

This is a tool to highlight to Partners the resources available.

You can explore the opportunities by clicking on the roadmap.

Details here

TechEd IT Forum 2007

EmmaB — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:33:59 GMT

TechEd IT Forum is Microsoft's European conference providing IT professionals with technical training, information & community resources.

When? 11th- 16th Nov

Where? Barcelona, Spain

Early Bird discount until 28th Sept 2007.

There will be a number of sessions on SQL Server & BI.

Find the sessions here

SQL Server 2008 July CTP released

EmmaB — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:07:42 GMT

Today, Microsoft released the July Community Technical Preview (CTP) for SQL Server 2008. The release makes available several performance and feature enhancements designed to support customers’ mission-critical platform and enable pervasive insight across the enterprise.

The release of the July CTP continues the strong momentum of SQL Server 2008, which is on track to RTM in Q2 of CY08.

In addition, we have made available a ton of new content on SQL Server 2008 for our customers and partners. The content is focused around key “workloads” for SQL Server 2008 specifically – OLTP, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Server Consolidation and Data Programmability. (see below for details)

Just take a look here: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx

You can download the SQL Server 2008 July CTP at: http://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver/

What’s new by CTP

· Features organized by pillar

· June CTP Feature-focused LiveMeetings

SQL Server 2008 Overview Whitepapers

· SQL Server 2008 What’s New

· Business Intelligence

· Data Warehousing

· Data Programmability

· Online Transaction Processing

· Server Consolidation

SQL Server 2008 Video Presentations

· Microsoft SQL Server Data Platform Vision – SQL Server Expert Series

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Pervasive Insight Vision – SQL Server Expert Series

· SQL Server 2008 Data Warehousing Vision – SQL Server Expert Series

· Enterprise Data Platform Vision – SQL Server Expert Series

· SQL Server 2008 Dynamic Development Enhancements – SQL Server Expert Series

· SQL Server 2008 ADO.NET – SQL Server Expert Series

· SQL Server 2008 Beyond Relational – SQL Server Expert Series

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Data Mining Enhancements – SQL Server Expert Series

SQL Server 2008 On-Demand and Scheduled Webcasts and LiveMeetings

· The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Overview

· The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Data Warehousing Enhancements

· SQL Server 2008 Data Management Overview

· The value of Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2008

· Server Consolidation with SQL Server

· The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Manageability Overview

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008: Beyond Relational

SQL Server 2008 Learning Resources

· MS Learning Clinic 7045: What's New in Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008

· SQL Server 2008 Books Online

Have you met the Partner Bot?

EmmaB — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:54:32 GMT

Partner Bot is an Instant Messenger 'data digger', which quickly retrieves partner-related information and shows you where you can find the answers you need. Simply type in your question and Bot will bring back an instant response. Add Bot as a buddy in your Windows Live Messenger contacts and it will always be available whenever you're logged in. Whether you're looking for support options, searching for competitive information or want to learn more about products, you can ask Partner Bot and it will point you in the right direction.

(Please be aware that Bot may guide you to areas of the Partner Portal which can only be accessed by Registered, Certified or Gold Partners, so you may need to sign-in to view this information.)

How Do I Add Partner Bot to My Contacts?

· Log-in to Windows Live Messenger

· Click on 'Add a Contact' icon

· Add partnerbot@hotmail.com into Instant Messaging Address

"Katmai" Anchor for BI Strategy

EmmaB — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:00:21 GMT

The first Microsoft BI Conference has taken place and as expected there have been some announcements!

Take a look at this summary on Microsoft Watch.

"Today, during its Business Intelligence Conference, Microsoft affirmed that next version SQL Server, code name Katmai, would ship in 2008. Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's Business division, described SQL Server as the "base" for the company's business intelligence strategy.... "

Article here

Microsoft authorised distributors

EmmaB — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:46:17 GMT

Partners often ask me about licence pricing and how to supply software for their customers. If you're a reseller or system builder, we recommend that you buy software from one of our authorised distributors in the UK and Europe.

This web page shows Microsoft authorised product distributors in the UK and Ireland, with contact details. It also shows the types of licence authorised distributors can sell - Full Packaged Product (FPP), Open (OL), Open Subscription (OSL) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) licences.

Find them here

At the bottom of this web page you can download a comprehensive spreadsheet of global products including volume levels, versions and parts numbers.

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

EmmaB — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:33:14 GMT

This year's event runs from 10 - 12 July at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, with special pre-conference meetings and activities taking place on 9 July.

As well as offering the opportunity to connect with Microsoft leaders, network and build alliances with your peers, the Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 has been designed around feedback from our Partners.

The conference will include:

Networking and face-to-face interactions with over 7,000 Partners as well as Microsoft's UK and global management teams
Inside information shared by top Microsoft executives - including keynote sessions from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and others, outlining Microsoft's vision and strategy for the coming year
A selection of 150 breakout sessions showcasing current and future Microsoft initiatives and technologies
**New for 2007** UK Regional session. Hear the UK strategy from Microsoft's General Manager Gordon Frazer

Book now!

Last year's conference sold out with over 7,000 attendees, including 440 Partners from the UK. The cost is $1595 (approx £850).

Find out more

Microsoft Partners with EMC, Cisco for Management Models

EmmaB — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:39:00 GMT

Yesterday Microsoft announced key management partnerships with Cisco Systems and EMC/Smarts to help customers monitor their systems, networks, and devices.

Cisco Chief Development Officer Charlie Giancarlo in a video shown during the keynote at Microsoft Management Summit 2007 said that, together, the three vendors will collaborate to break down the management silos that exist inside IT today.

With help from partner EMC, Microsoft announced that it will provide network aware service management capabilities in its Systems Center Operations Manager tool, which has also moved beyond Microsoft-only management.

You can read more about this here:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0%2c1895%2c2108319%2c00.asp

eWeek - March 27, 2007

Data Mining Newsletter

EmmaB — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:13:16 GMT

Those of you interested in SQL Server Data Mining - there is now a newsletter that you can subscribe to.

This will keep you up to date with the latest happenings in the SQL Server Data Mining world and also gives useful tips.

Other resouces:

Add-ins download http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82754.
Video tutorials and more http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=81060.

And don't forget to check out the whitepaper and tip for trying out the add-ins on www.sqlserverdatamining.com.

Oracle - Consolidation continues

EmmaB — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:55:21 GMT

Just back from my holidays and yet more consolidation of the BI marketplace has taken place! There has been speculation on potential acquisitions recently and Gartner has been suggesting that this market will move towards a smaller number of "mega-vendors".

Larry Ellison is spending $3.3 billion on Hyperion.

Here is the Oracle announcement.

Microsoft has a strong capability message in this space - SQL Server 2005, the 2007 Office System, and the new PerformancePoint Server.

MIcrosoft also has a great interoperabiltiy story with both Hyperion and SAP products.

For customers using Hyperion today, Microsoft and Hyperion announced a partnership in April 2006 to deliver tighter integration between our respective technologies. As part of this agreement, Microsoft has delivered integration as part of SQL Server 2005 SP2 to enable SQL Server Reporting Services to query Hyperion Essbase cubes (see this whitepaper).

For customers using SAP today, Microsoft has a strong partnership with SAP and integration with their products. Customers can use SQL Server Reporting Services to build high quality reports on SAP NetWeaver BI sources (see whitepaper). See more details on the Microsoft SAP interoperability page for BI.

In addition, Microsoft have a migration offer (50% discount on SQL Server license) on qualifying competitive database migrations.

Still #1 on OLAP report

EmmaB — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:05:23 GMT

Good news from www.olapreport.com – Microsoft continues to be number 1 and grow OLAP market share!

We have almost one third of the market share (31.6%) (last year 27.9%).

We were also one of the few vendors that actually grew market share last year and with the exception of Applix, Microsoft was the fastest growing OLAP vendor.

"Microsoft finally managed to release its long-delayed SQL Server 2005 a few weeks before the end of 2005, so the much enhanced new release was available for all of 2006. The growth rate of SQL Server (and therefore Analysis Services) duly jumped, and ran at over 30 percent throughout the year. This increased growth rate is unlikely to continue in 2007, as no major releases are due.

During 2006, Microsoft also acquired ProClarity. With Microsoft behind it, ProClarity’s sales also jumped. Note that the mere acquisition of ProClarity did not increase Microsoft's OLAP market share, as we were already including ProClarity in the Microsoft ecosystem, but the acceleration of ProClarity sales does increase it slightly, assuming that some of the ProClarity sales were made instead of Excel rather than, say, Panorama.

Microsoft announced PerformancePoint in late 2006, which will ship in about September 2007. It entered the CTP phase at the end of 2006, and was quickly downloaded thousands of times. Although PerformancePoint itself is unlikely to generate significant revenues during 2007, it may help SQL Server sales. In any case, PerformancePoint will replace ProClarity and Microsoft’s existing Business Scorecard Manager, so some of its sales will simply replace the older products."

Take a look at the full report to read more.

SQL Partner Technical Specialist needed in UK

EmmaB — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 01:04:30 GMT

Job advertised on the Microsoft Careers page - check it out!

Working with our Partners as a technical specilaist on SQL - every day will be guaranteed to be different!

Heres some more info...

Role Purpose

As a senior role within the Partner Enablement Group this person will provide architectural guidance and leadership to partners on SQL Server and the .NET Platform. Working close with the ISV Channel Development teams the role is focused on ensuring our partners understand and can articulate the benefit of the Microsoft platform and helping to build the strength of our partners selling solutions around SQL, .NET, Windows Vista, and SharePoint.

Supporting the recruitment of competitive ISV partners using Microsoft’s technologies is the core focus of this role.

Team/ Department Mission
The PTS team provides technical leadership guidance to a wide variety of partners and works closely with the ISV and Solution Channel Development Team to ensure we have the right partners building solutions on the Microsoft platform. The mission of this role is to ensure partners are building and embedding Microsoft technologies in their solutions

Check it out here

If you think you've got what it takes - drop me a line