UK SBSC : SBSC Programme

Vijay Riyait: My Achievements as UK SBSC Partner Area Lead

UK SBSC — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:09:00 GMT

We wanted to share a post from the FY09 UK PAL, Vijay Riyait, who recently published an article about his Achievements as UK SBSC Partner Area Lead. As you know, Vijay held the role of UK PAL for two years. His role has just come to an end – and here’s a short list of the many great things Vijay achieved in his role specifically over the last year:

I was recently asked by Microsoft to highlight my achievements as a PAL, which I was happy to do. These are to be used by Microsoft to be shown to senior executives at Microsoft and I guess highlight the importance and value of having this programme. The things that I highlighted are below :

Supporting the SBS/EBS launch events in the UK with Microsoft

SBS 2008 Migration Workshop with David Overton (only one in the UK)

Online participation/communication for SBSC Partners through blog and online technical communities

Member of the newly formed Microsoft UK PAC

Technical Director of Ardent iSys showing good growth in providing software solutions based on MS Technologies e.g. ASP.NET MVC

Published Case Study for Windows Mobile

Provided free OfficeLive Training to community/charity organisations with great feedback in conjunction with Leicestershire Cares

I have done much more than this in the background in terms of feedback to Microsoft and trying to help SBSC Partners with problems and queries. Probably some of the lesser known things that I achieved were the release of the Demo Showcase VMs and System Centre Virtual Machine Manager (Enterprise Ed) in the SBSC Toolkit.

Microsoft has created a PAL Alumni Page on the Microsoft Portal and we continue to have access to the PAL Groove site. The new Global PALs I am sure will bring new ideas and perspective to things and continue to help build our Community further.

» My Achievements as UK SBSC Partner Area Lead.

Thank you once again to Vijay for the huge contribution he has made the Small Business Specialist Community!

WPC09 Announces that the Microsoft Partner Programme is evolving…

UK SBSC — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:16:53 GMT

Corporate Vice President Allison Watson kicked off the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 on Monday, July 13, by launching the new Microsoft Partner Network!

The Microsoft Partner Network is a community borne from our continued commitment to serve the needs of our partners and help them reach their full potential. We’re evolving from the Microsoft Partner Programme to the Microsoft Partner Network to strengthen the relationships we have with our partners—and the relationships you have with other partners and your customers. All partners have a home within the Microsoft Partner Network. You can thrive by taking advantage of the new opportunities available to you through the Microsoft Partner Network.

Announced at WPC, the Microsoft Partner Network provides:

Opportunities to strengthen partner capabilities to:

Create and enter new markets with early access to the latest technologies.
Expand your sales and marketing skills.
Deepen your business and technical expertise through clear learning paths.

Expertise to help partners serve customers better and:

Attain competencies aligned to how your customers buy.
Use digital marketing and social media to extend conversations and expertise.
Create customer demand through product innovation.
Connect customers and partners through an online marketplace.

Communities that spark innovation and connection to:

Choose the relationship that best serves your business and your customers’ needs.
Connect with other partners to drive opportunities.
Share and exchange ideas in real time.

Working together, we continue to focus on creating innovative solutions that drive profitability and sustain competitive advantage.

When Is It Happening?

Here is what to expect in the upcoming months, but for more information on what’s new, how to prepare, and what you can expect, click here.

July 2009

October 2009

May 2010

After October 2010

Microsoft Partner Network is announced

New Virtualization Solutions competency and subscription membership offerings are available.

Beginning October 31, partners enrolling or re-enrolling as Gold Certified Partners must have participated in the Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Index within the previous 12 months.

New competency membership opportunities are available

New competency membership opportunities are available .

New partner logos are available for partner use.

So, how is the Small Business Specialist Community designation affected by the new Microsoft Partner Network?

The Small Business Specialist Community designation will be reassigned to a new competency called Small Business Solutions. Key enhancements include providing additional entry points to target other types of partner communities such as Web VARs. With that, the new competency will retain many of the same requirements and benefits that partners are familiar with today - and partners should continue to enrol in the Small Business Specialist Community designation to maintain program status and benefits.

the Small Business Solutions competency is for partners who focus on supplying a range of base technology solutions to small business customers. Partners should be experienced in working with customers who value a local service that can meet their specific IT needs.

When will the changes take effect?

These changes are not scheduled to take effect until May 2010 and Microsoft will aim to advise and support you through the transition process.

Will the Small Business Specialist Community Logo change?

Yes, Microsoft Corporate have taken the decision to change both the name and logo when all Microsoft Partner Network competencies are rolled out (May 2010).

You should continue to use the logos you have today. You’ll be able to use Microsoft Partner Network logos after October 2010, after you have met the requirements. Existing logos will be retired six months after the new logo system is available.

Click here for more Q&A information.

WPC Awards Announced – SBSC Partner of the Year goes to…

UK SBSC — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:05:00 GMT

Microsoft is proud to recognize the winners and finalists in the 2009 WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference) Awards Program. These partners have developed exemplary solutions for their customers during the past year, and demonstrated the ability to optimize their use of Microsoft technologies to meet critical business needs.

In total there were 69 awards this year and nearly 2,000 excellent entries.It’s a little disappointing to see that there were no UK winners for the SBSC Partner of the Year award this year, though we know the entries were all of high calibre and that judging was a difficult task!

For those who are interested, here’s who did win:

Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year

Evolve IT, Australia

When Australian Rules football clubs needed a technology solution for its business, it turned to Evolve IT, Microsoft’s leading Small Business Specialist Community partner in Australia. Evolve IT delivered a solid solution—based on the Microsoft small- to midsize-business stack—that included networking infrastructure deployment with Windows Small Business Server integrated with mobility, productivity, and security solutions from Microsoft. The Evolve IT business motto “we fix business problems, and not computer problems” shows how Evolve IT succeeds in satisfying the technology needs of its small- to midsize-business customers.

Finalist: Bulletproof InfoTech, Canada

Finalist: Quadrasystems.net, India

To learn more about the other categories and winners, click here.

Click here to read Microsoft’s press release about the awards.

A special thanks goes to all of our UK partners who entered, and if your entry was not selected, we look forward to another high-quality entry next year!

Introducing you new SBSC Partner Area Leads for 2009/2010

UK SBSC — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:48:54 GMT

It is with great pleasure that I can announce the two *new* SBSC Partner Area Leads (PALs) for the UK - Andy Trish of NCI Technologies and Steve Wright of BMS Digital Solutions Ltd. The usual PAL term is 12 months and with this in mind, Andy and Steve's roles will commence in July 2009 (at WPC) and will conclude in June 2010. I am sure neither of these two individuals are complete strangers to the majority of you as they have been active participants in the SBSC, but without further ado, please let me officially introduce them to you...

Andy Trish

Andy is the founding director of NCI Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Partner and SBSC Partner based in Cornwall, UK. Starting the company with a credit card, NCI has grown rapidly in just 5 years to 22 staff basing itself around supporting and maintaining SMEs’ on Small Business Server. He is passionate not only about improving the skills of the SBSC Community as a whole but also developing the product range to ensure SME’s can make the most out of it.

Awarded SBS MVP for 2009 Andy is continually discussing technical and business development issues with the SBS product teams and is keen to hear of any problems or suggestions members of the community may have.

Steve Wright

Many of you may know Steve from the Midlands SBS User Group, which he took over the leadership for last year. In Steve's own words, here's a little bit about himself:

"For the past 16 years I have run an IT Managed Services consultancy in the East Midlands. We specialise in Microsoft Small Business Server & the technologies required that enable us to offer professional, repeatable solutions to the SME market. We are a Microsoft Small Business Specialist as well as a Certified Partner and a member of the Midlands SBS User Group. I hold an HNC in Electro-mechanical Engineering, am a Microsoft MCP and the author of Instant HTML - A Programmer’s Reference published by Wrox Press. When I’m not messing around with computers you can find me on my narrowboat travelling the English canals."

Microsoft is really looking forward to working with Andy and Steve to service the small business specialist community in our new financial year. For more information on the PAL role, see the PAL Nomination Process blog post.

With the appointment of our new PALs, this is also an opportune moment to thank our current PALs,Vijay Riyait and Gareth Brown, for all the hard work and efforts they have put into their roles as a PAL's for the UK over the past 2 years. It is fair to say that both Vijay and Gareth approached the role of PAL in slightly different ways and provided feedback to Microsoft on an ongoing basis regarding all matters SBSC. Microsoft has valued their input tremendously and we hope that the wider community has felt the benefits of their engagement too.

Finally, now is also a good opportunity to thank all of the partners who put themselves forward for the new SBSC PAL roles for the UK. The caliber of nominees was extremely high and this made the decision very hard indeed. I hope you will all find Andy and Steve worthy PALs and I am confident that they will bring great value to the community, as well as be good representatives of the UK SBSC partner channel when engaging with the SBSC programme leads at Corporate in their quarterly conference calls. Following their visit to WPC in July, we will to sit down with Andy and Steve to understand what they want to do for the UK SBSC channel in their role as PAL and we will then aim to share their plans with the wider community as appropriate... so stay tuned!

1,000 FREE exam vouchers are available to Microsoft Small Business Specialists

UK SBSC — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:13:31 GMT

Free exam vouchers are being made available to help you pass the latest Microsoft technology exams and Small Business Specialist
certification exams. Take advantage of this offer now as it expires June 30, 2009.

Be one of the first 1,000 partners to submit a request to askcorp@microsoft.com to get a FREE voucher for one of the following exams (a $125 value):*

70-653 – TS: Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring
70-654 – TS: Windows Essential Business Server 2008, Configuring
70-236 – TS: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring
70-432 – TS: Microsoft SQL Server® 2008, Implementation and Maintenance
70-630 – TS: Office SharePoint® Server 2007, Configuring
70-403 – TS: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Configuring

Requests must be submitted by May 30, 2009 and include your First and Last Name, Company Name, and Partner ID. To look up your partner ID, sign in at https://partners.microsoft.com/partnerprogram. Limit one partner and one exam per voucher. Terms and conditions apply.

Act Fast! Offer limited to first 1,000 requests!

Partner Area Lead Nominations now open!

UK SBSC — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:49:51 GMT

The SBSC UK Partner Area Lead (PAL) role for July 2009 - June 2010 is now open for nominations. This role runs for one year from July 2009 to June 2010. PALs are expected to be active participants in UK SBSC partner community activity.

Here are the PAL "gives" and "gets":

PAL “Gets”:

Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2009 Fees paid ($1,395 USD value).
Lodging expenses paid to WPC (5 nights hotel or $1,000 USD maximum). This does not include airfare and meals.
Dinner/Event with MVPs, MS execs and Speakers at WPC (Wednesday, June 15)
Q1 In-Person Meeting at WPC (Thursday, June 16)
Deeper MS access – quarterly virtual meetings + direct email alias and Groove site for questions/feedback/discussion
PAL Spotlight on the global MSPP Portal and WW/local communication vehicles

PAL “Gives”:

Active participation in SMB/SBSC activities at WPC (example: participate in a breakout session; attend Q1 PAL Meeting in-person)
Participate regularly in the local SMB partner community and encourage others to engage (example: lead a peer group or user group; local event presentations). Specifically for the UK we will look to the PAL to:

Host and coordinate a quarterly Live Meeting with SBSC partners (lasting 1 hour)

Contribute to the SBSC Group on the Microsoft Partner Network (www.microsoftpartnernetwork.com)
Engage in a monthly 1:1 conference call with the Microsoft UK SBSC lead
Proactively engage in the SBSC User Group lead Groove site
Lead the UK representation on the SBSC PAL global web site (content ownership etc)
Share updates from the quarterly PAL conference calls with Corporate to the wider SBSC community
Contribute, as requested, to SBSC awareness driving activity. E.g. provide quotes or interviews with publishers appropriate.
Possibly visit SBSC User Groups, as and when appropriate, to update the members on key SBSC programme and community information

Participate in quarterly conference calls with Microsoft Corporate lasting 1-2 hrs.
Participate in quarterly face-to-face meetings with local UK Microsoft team, lasting 1-2 hrs.
Agree to the above for 1 year term.

Setting Expectations:

To be very open up front, the role of a PAL is an unpaid position. As such, Microsoft will not be able to fund any independent PAL small business specialist community activity and neither will Microsoft be in a position to fund any travel and expenses incurred by a PAL for PAL related activities / duties.

UK PAL Selection Criteria

We will select the UK PAL based on the following considerations:

The partner is an active SBSC partner
The partner is seen as a "leader" or "key contributor" within the local SMB partner community
The partner is currently active in a local community effort, such as a user group or blog
The partner is willing to commit to the role responsibilities - WPC attendance,quarterly telephone meeting attendance and monthly in-person reviews etc...
Consideration of Microsoft products and services sold by the partner which focus on SMB attach such as Windows Server including Virtualization, Exchange Server, SQL Server BI, SharePoint Server, Windows Mobile Solutions and Microsoft CRM etc.
Consideration of the Microsoft revenue generated by the partner's company

The Nomination Process

SBSC partners are free to nominate themselves by emailing sbscuk@microsoft.com. In this email please clearly state:

Your name
Your company's name
Why you think you will make a good PAL for the next Microsoft Financial Year.

Microsoft will review all the nominations and make an appropriate selection based on criteria provided by the Corporate SBSC programme lead.

Nominations will close on Monday 20th April 2009.

Worldwide Partner Conference Awards: 2 April closing date

UK SBSC — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:21:01 GMT

There are only a couple of days left to submit an entry to the Worldwide Partner Conference Awards. The closing date is 2nd April 2009. Through this awards programme, Microsoft recognises partners who have delivered exemplary solutions built on Microsoft technologies. The awards provide a unique opportunity for you to showcase your solutions and gain recognition. Award winners and finalists can benefit from increased press coverage and market exposure.

As an SBSC partner, you may want to submit an entry for the SBSC partner of the Year award. Go here to learn more and submit your entry.

Worldwide Partner Conference - Registration Open

UK SBSC — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:17:28 GMT

Taking place from 13-16 July 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference provides the ideal forum to access the largest partner network in the world, make connections to spark new ideas and create partnerships to drive your business forward. Last year's conference attracted a record number of partners of which 480 were UK-based. Microsoft UK team will be staying at the Astor Crowne Plaza, so register early and select this hotel to benefit from even more networking opportunities. For more information please go here.

...And don't forget to nominate yourself for the Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year award. Through this awards programme, Microsoft recognises partners who have delivered exemplary solutions built on Microsoft technologies. The awards provide a unique opportunity for you to showcase your solutions and gain recognition. Award winners and finalists can benefit from increased press coverage and market exposure.

The SBSC Partner of the Year award honours partners who used Microsoft technology in innovative ways to deploy integrated solutions that serve customers in the small- to midsize-business market segment. This award is only for partners actively enrolled in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community. To qualify for this award, you must demonstrate innovative excellence and proficiency in deploying an integrated solution that leverages Microsoft technology and products scaled for small and midsize businesses. To be eligible for this award, you must:

Be enrolled in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community.
First profile your nominated solutions in Partner Solution Profiler.

The submission call can be accessed here to apply: https://microsoftpartnerawards.com/.

The last day to submit entries for the Worldwide Partner Conference Awards is 2 April 2009, so don't delay and submit your nomination now!

Official Web Site for SBSC Partner Area Leads

UK SBSC — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:28:54 GMT

The UK PALs site is a resource for SBSC Partners where you can see what the UK PALs are doing, links to Community resources, case studies of successful SBSC Partners in the UK and upcoming events. Why not check it out - Vijay's doing a great job of keeping it going so please support him and use the site.

Also, Vijay has just posted an interview he conducted with myself (Emily Lambert - Microsoft UK SBSC Lead). Vijay asked some pretty tough questions and I have been honest with my answers!

Vijay's perspective » Q3 SBSC PAL Conf Call

UK SBSC — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:26:54 GMT

Vijay, one of the UK's SBSC PALs, joined the quarterly call with Microsoft Corporate this week and here's his update:

Yesterday was the Q3 SBSC PAL Conf Call with Microsoft Corp and as I’ve been given the go ahead from Andrea Russell you can check out the Agenda and Presentation Slides on Slideshare.

The key points from my side were :

An early view of the Next Generation of the Partner Programme and what that means to SBSC. This is still subject to change and some tweaking but the slides lay out the current thinking. This is unlikely to be implemented before Oct 2010 and then only in phases as it can’t be done overnight. It’s an overhaul of the entire Microsoft Partner Programme whether you are SBSC, Certified, Gold and with whatever competency you currently have. There is a general raising of the bar and SMB will be slightly lower than the rest. So, SBSC changes to a SMB focus and within that there will be various levels with different requirements and associated benefits. It’s a recognition that not all SBSC Partners want to engage on the same level.

The next SBSC Toolkit will contain System Centre Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) and Andrea is still negotiating whether this will be Workgroup or Enterprise Ed. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it is the latter. I asked for SCVMM as part of the feedback requests we get as PALs for what should be in the SBSC Toolkit. The same goes for the Demo Showcase VMs which were in the last Toolkit. I had pestered Andrea for the Demo Showcase VMs for ages until one day she managed to corner the Product Group in the Redmond Corridors and then there was no escape for them (…or so the story goes :-)).

» Q3 SBSC PAL Conf Call

Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year - Could it be you?

UK SBSC — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:40:54 GMT

Each year at the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), Microsoft recognizes the best in partner innovation and contributions —from competency excellence to supporting nonprofit technology access. You can apply for awards that highlight your organization’s strengths for projects implemented during the 2008 calendar year. You must be active in the relevant specialization or competency to submit an application for that award.

To qualify for any WPC Partner of the Year Award, your organization must meet the appropriate requirements for the award. Many award categories are associated with Microsoft Competencies and specializations, and you must be active in the specified competencies and specializations to be eligible to apply for those awards. Note that, in many cases, you can nominate a solution for an award only if you have first submitted the solution to the Microsoft Partner Solution Profiler. You’ll also find that some awards have additional submission requirements, while others have no specific requirements.

The Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year award honours partners who used Microsoft technology in innovative ways to deploy integrated solutions that serve customers in the small- to midsize-business market segment. This award is only for partners actively enrolled in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community. To qualify for this award, you must demonstrate innovative excellence and proficiency in deploying an integrated solution that leverages Microsoft technology and products scaled for small and midsize businesses. Key Microsoft products in the server technologies and small- to midsize-business solutions area include Windows Server 2008 and associated virtualization technologies, SQL Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007 (including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1), Windows Small Business Server 2008, Windows Essential Business Server 2008, and Office SharePoint Server 2007. Your entry should demonstrate how your organization provides ways for small or midsize businesses to better connect with customers, other business professionals, and employees, by enhancing business processes, productivity, security, and IT infrastructure management, and by reducing costs —all showcased in your SMB end-to-end solution deployment.

To be eligible for this award, you must:

Be enrolled in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community.
First profile your nominated solutions in Partner Solution Profiler.

The submission call can be accessed here to apply: https://microsoftpartnerawards.com/

For more information, visit the Partner Program Awards page and the Rules page before applying for an award.

Would be great to see a UK partner win so get submitting!

SBSC Toolkit: April 2009 Edition

UK SBSC — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:26:11 GMT

Here's some early visibility of what to expect in the Microsoft Action Pack special edition toolkit for SBSCs - April 2009:

Product: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Workgroup Edition (version TBD)

Workgroup Edition includes Virtual Machine Manager Management Server with software and management licenses for five physical host servers

Building Capabilities: exclusive discounts and offers

Offer available to first 1,000 SBSCs who submit a request
40% discount on e-Reference Library Subscription
Save 90% on E-Learning when registering for Second Shot

Closing the Deal: sales resources

H2 Offers
Sales tools
License Wise
Microsoft Financing

Engaging in the Community:

UK Specific information

Small Business Specialist Customer Facing Data sheet Template
UK SBSC Blog
UK SBSC Monthly newsletter
Power Through the Downturn campaign
Microsoft Sales and Marketing Resources library

Online Technical Communities
UK SBSC PALs
WPC 09 Announcements

Important: SBSC Survey Deadline extended to 13th February

UK SBSC — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:13:23 GMT

Our colleagues at Microsoft Corp in the USA have kindly extended out the deadline for the SBSC Survey to this Friday!

If you have already completed the survey - a very big THANK YOU!

The UK still needs more responses in order to have meaningful data to drive PR...

If you haven't completed it please do take a few minutes to do this. Your input is very valuable.
If you know any other SBSC member who may not have heard about this could we please ask you make them aware and ask them to complete the survey at their earliest convenience (but before Friday!)?

As a reminder, this is what the survey is about...

This survey is designed to help showcase the Small Business Specialist Community as experts in the use of IT to save costs and improve productivity amid a down economy. Microsoft values your participation and honest feedback and will hopefully be able to use the results of the survey to help promote the Small Business Specialist Community brand through integrated marketing and media relations such as press releases and direct press engagement.

Microsoft has retained TNS, an independent research company, to conduct this survey in our behalf. To complete this survey, please either click on the URL below or cut and paste the entire survey link directly into your Internet browser:

http://rap4.tns-online.com/rapsurvey/presurvey.asp?SID=916

There are only a couple of days left to go to complete the survey. If you have any questions or feedback regarding this survey, please contact the TNS research manager at microsoftsbsc@tns-global.com.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

SBSC Toolkit Update for Gold / Certified Partners

UK SBSC — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:27:39 GMT

Here's some information from our colleagues at Microsoft Corporate in the USA around why SBSC Gold and Certified partners did not receive any software in their SBSC Toolkit, shipped in October / November.

The reason: Gold and Certified partners already have access to the software via the MSDN subscriber download site. Gold and Certified partners are entitled to the incremental licenses per SBSC licensing table. [Note licenses granted were for SBS Premium equivalent—SBS Standard + Windows Server Standard + SQL Server Standard.] Software can be obtained from MSDN and product keys from the PMC.

Additional Information: If partners call the Regional Services Centre (RSC) inquiring about their software and licenses earned via SBSC, they will be told they are entitled to the licenses noted on the licensing table and that all the software can be download from the MSDN subscriber download site. These partners may use the existing SBS Standard keys and Windows Server keys on PMC (Partner Membership Centre) and no key is required for SQL Standard. The current keys on PMC will cover the licensing entitlement from both Microsoft Partner Programme and SBSC. Partners inquiring whether SBS Premium was granted to the SBSC, will be indicated that the licensing entitlement is for SBS Premium equivalent—SBS Standard + Windows Server Standard + SQL Server Standard. Additional EBS CALs were included in the toolkit sent to Gold and Certified partners.

Hope this information is of use.

Important: New Exams for Small Business Specialists

UK SBSC — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:42:04 GMT

What’s New: New exams for Small Business Specialists are now available for Partners updating their skill set. Changes to the Small Business Specialist requirements are now available at the MSPP Portal:

Small Business Specialist partners must employ or contract with at least one person by location who has passed one of the five technical exams listed:

· 70-653: TS: Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring^NEW!

· 70-654: TS: Windows Essential Business Server 2008, Configuring^NEW!

· 70-631: TS: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Configuring

· 70-236 TS: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

· 70-655 TS: Windows Vista, Pre-Installing for OEMs^NEW!

Note: If you passed either Exam 70-282: Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for Small- and Medium-Sized Business or Exam 74-134: Preinstalling Microsoft Products and Technologies to receive your Small Business Specialist designation, your exam credentials must be updated by October 31, 2010. See qualifying exams above to help you retain the value of your Small Business Specialist partner designation and Microsoft Certified Partner (MCP) credential.

Why are we doing this: The membership term in the Small Business Specialist Community is valid as long as the individual requirements are valid. In addition, Partners are required to update technical skills as new technologies become available.

Partners renewing their Microsoft Partner Program membership will be required to verify and validate that all information included in the Partner Profile is correct and complete at the Partner Membership Center. As long as all the Small Business Specialist requirements are still met, this process will also renew membership in the Small Business Specialist Community.

Timelines: Effective now through October, 2010

Additional Information: Please read the Partner FAQs at the Microsoft Partner Portal