Many of Microsoft's Windows and Office customers purchased Software Assurance (SA) over the past few years. SA's inclusion of new version rights meant that as Windows Vista and Office 2007 were released, those customers could upgrade to the newest version at their convenience.

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However, whilst the benefits of moving to the latest platform are clear, the planning and execution of a smooth migration and deployment are often less so. So it was that the crafty folk in the Microsoft Office team introduced Desktop Deployment Planning Services a few years back. Any customer with SA on Microsoft Office can utilise these services to contribute to a customised plan for Vista and Office deployment in their organisation. These packaged services are developed by Microsoft, and delivered by appropriately trained and supported Partners working with the customer.

Curiously, takeup of this service is low in Scotland so far, possibly because only 2 of Microsoft's Scottish Gold Partners have chosen to register to offer the service, despite many more having the skills to do so.

Later this year, Microsoft will make available the Sharepoint Deployment Planning Services SA benefit to customers. There is strong interest and investigation in the Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 for Collaboration, Portal, ECM and Workflow applications amongst go-ahead Scottish companies. SDPS must surely be a great opportunity for Scottish Gold Partners to establish relations with new customers to deliver valuable services around the collaborative platform.

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Its early days for SDPS,  so any Sharepoint-skilled partner interested to learn more, register for the service, and plan for the relevent training and certification should take a look at the SDPS Starter kit on www.microsoftsdps.com .

The service will be being piloted with a limited group of partners from October, with broad availability for partners and customers from early in 08.