Launch Central for U.S. Partners

The BPOS Opportunity (and how to get your BPOS internal-use licenses)

dianeja — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:58:24 GMT

The Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) has been in market for several months now, so it might seem strange to talk about it in the Launch Central blog. But we think many partners still don’t know about the great business opportunity you have with Microsoft Online Services, and I’d like to highlight some resources and information that can help.

BPOS Reloaded Multi-City Tour. There’s still time to attend one of these live 2.5-hour events, which are offered at no cost to Microsoft Partner Network members. Read what the U.S. Partner Learning team said about these in their blog. Their post includes the list of cities (events are coming up in TX, KS, OH, IL, FL, GA, MI, NJ, PA, DC).
U.S. Online Services Events, Training & Offers. This partner portal page is comprehensive, and lists in-person and virtual courses, partner offers and incentives.
Up to 250 BPOS Internal-Use Licenses for BPOS Resellers. You can’t sell what you don’t know. Enroll to resell Microsoft Online Services, and qualify for internal-use license benefits.
Microsoft Online Services RSS Feed. Stay on top of the partner resources and information about Microsoft Online Services.

Looking for a particular resource about Microsoft Online Services or BPOS and nothing above fits the bill? Send us an e-mail at grpvine@microsoft.com or direct a tweet to @msuspartner.

Get Ready for Windows Azure – Resources for Microsoft Partners

dianeja — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:54:24 GMT

Windows Azure is the Microsoft operating system in the cloud. Azure is a whole new way for Microsoft partners, including Systems Integrators, ISVs, and Web Developers, to offer a wide range of Internet services that can be accessed from both on-premises environments and the Internet.

Here are some recommendations for you to explore the Windows Azure Platform services:

Windows Azure Platform on the Microsoft partner portal: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/productssolutions/psazure
Sign up for your own Azure account under the no-cost Community Technology Preview (CTP): http://www.microsoft.com/azure/register.mspx
Visit the Azure Partner Quickstart community, The Hub: http://hub.digitalwpc.com/WindowsAzure
Watch video presentations about Azure: http://msdev.com/Directory/SearchResults.aspx?keyword=azure

Want to experience Windows Azure firsthand? We’ve created a simple step-by-step document that will guide you through creating and uploading your own "Hello, World" Azure application on a single Web page. The whole process takes only 45 minutes. Register for the Community Technology Preview, then go through the tutorial at http://www.msdev.com/Directory/Description.aspx?eventId=1550, presented by Tony Bailey.

Attendees at this year’s Professional Developers Conference in November will have the opportunity to go deep on Azure and leave the Conference ready to go beyond “Hello, World”. Visit the PDC 2009 site at http://microsoftpdc.com/.

Windows 7 Loadfests Start October 2 in MA, MO, and AZ

dianeja — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:08:00 GMT

Starting next Friday, October 2, U.S. partners have the opportunity to attend the Windows 7 Loadfest In-Person Learning. The cost is just $49, and you'll walk away with:

Your own copy of Windows 7, installed on your PC
Materials that you can use to host your own Windows 7 Launch event for your company and customers

Windows 7 opens new development, sales, and services opportunities for your business. At the Loadfest, we will start by installing Windows 7 onto your PC (see minimum requirements below and when you register). We will run through some of the key improvements that have been made from the user perspective and explore the new features in Windows 7, to better manage computers in the corporate environment.

Ready to Register?

Cities Featuring Windows 7 Partner Loadfest Events

Arizona: Phoenix	Massachusetts: Waltham (Boston)
California: Irvine (Orange County)	Michigan: Southfield (Detroit)
California: Los Angeles	Minnesota: Bloomington (Minneapolis)
California: San Diego	Missouri: St. Louis
California: San Francisco	New York: New York
California: Silicon Valley (San Jose)	Ohio: Cleveland
Colorado: Denver	Oregon: Portland
District of Columbia: Washington	Pennsylvania: Malvern (Philadelphia)
Florida: Ft. Lauderdale (Miami)	Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh
Florida: Tampa	Texas: Dallas
Georgia: Alpharetta (Atlanta)	Texas: Houston
Illinois: Chicago	Washington: Bellevue
Kansas: Kansas City

System Requirements

Make sure your desktop or laptop meets these minimum requirements:

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

• 1 GB of system memory

• 16 GB of available disk space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)

• DVD-R/W Drive

Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) Activation Seminar

dianeja — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:32:05 GMT

You are invited to attend a seminar to learn why and how to sell Microsoft Online Services suite of services. This 100-level seminar is designed for Microsoft partners interested in understanding more about Microsoft Online Services and the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).

In this 2 ½ hour seminar, you will learn how the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) fits into Microsoft’s Software-plus-
Services cloud computing vision and see the products in action, plus:

Understand how you can profit by becoming a BPOS reseller;
Discover how to target customer traits and handle their objections.

Register today to attend this seminar in a city near you, with dates throughout October and into November. Once you have signed in to the Partner Learning Center, choose the “Register” button in the top left hand corner to view all cities and dates. All seminars are hosted at a Microsoft facility and run from 1:30pm to 4:00pm. You may have the chance to win a great prize for attending!

Windows 7 Loadfests for Microsoft Partners Across the USA

dianeja — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:23:00 GMT

The Windows 7 Loadfests are your opportunity to install Windows 7 on your own PC (registered attendees receive a free copy of the RTM version, before the General Availability date), plus learn about the improvements made for increased usability and better management in a corporate environment. You'll walk away with presentations on the Windows 7 business value as well as all the materials needed to host your very own Windows 7 Launch event for your company or customers.

Windows 7 RTM Timeline for U.S. Partners

dianeja — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:59:32 GMT

Microsoft reached a significant milestone today in delivering Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows Division, signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM). General Availability (GA) to all customers is October 22, 2009. In preparation for GA:

OEM partners can now begin testing and building PCs
Software development partners can test their applications
IHVs can perform final testing on their new hardware

Read more about when Microsoft partners will have access to the Windows 7 RTM on the Windows Team Blog.

On September 1, Windows 7 will be on the price list and partners can begin to sell Windows 7 via Open and Select Volume Licensing Programs. Volume Licensing (VL) customers with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7, via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing starting September 1.

Visit the Microsoft Partner Network portal for information about how to prepare for Windows 7 General Availability on October 22.

Windows 7 Resources for U.S. Partners

dianeja — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:38:00 GMT

In today's The Learning Curve newsletter, our training-focused communication to U.S. members of the Microsoft Partner Program, we included some tasty information about Windows 7, in preparation for the Release Candidate, which will be available on 4/30 to TechNet and MSDN subscribers and broadly available on May 5, per the Windows 7 Team Blog. Here are some other things you can do to prepare:

May 7 - Attend our Virtual Partner Readiness Day. At this free virtual event, partners will have the opportunity to learn about Windows 7 from Microsoft executives and product experts and can take advantage of the readiness and marketing tools available to help prepare them for Windows 7 business opportunities. Register to attend on the Partner Learning Center.
Windows 7 Training Opportunities

Featured Training
Partnercast: Windows 7 in 7 Minutes -- Enterprise Demo (Sales, 7 minutes)
Partnercast: Desktop Optimization and Windows Vista (Sales, 11 minutes)
The Road to Windows 7: Part 1 (Sales, 1 hour)
The Road to Windows 7: Part 2 (Sales, 1 hour)
Windows 7: Application Compatibility (Technical, 1 hour)

Find more training on Windows 7 on the U.S. Learning Plan Tool: Windows 7 Sales Training and Windows 7 Technical Training.

IE8 launch is just around the corner--is your website ready?

dianeja — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:13:00 GMT

In preparation for the upcoming launch of Windows Internet Explorer 8 (currently available as a release candidate, downloadable at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/worldwide-sites.aspx), we are encouraging Microsoft partners to help ensure that their websites, and those of their customers, are IE8-compatible. Unlike previous versions of the Microsoft web browser, IE8 renders content to be standards-compliant. This means that web pages will be displayed in Internet Explorer 8's standards mode by default. Why? The decision was driven by our Interoperability Principles and our desire to help developers by allowing them to write one set of code to run on all platforms. Read more about Microsoft Interoperability at http://www.microsoft.com/interop/approach/default.aspx.

What are we asking you to do? Please take a moment to check your own website for compatibility with IE8. If you have a few more moments, look at your customers' websites to see if they are compatible. If not compatible, here are a couple of courses of recommended action:

Preferred: Revise site content to support the standards-compliant default view for web pages in Internet Explorer 8. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc817575.aspx and read the guidance, "Standards by Default: What Does It Mean?".

Alternative: Tell Internet Explorer 8 to display your site in Internet Explorer 7 mode. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc817570.aspx and follow the guidance, "How Do I Fix My Site Today?".

To make it easy to find this information, we've updated the U.S. partner portal page for Internet Explorer to include a link about website compatibility: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/productssolutions/psinternetexplorer.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan, Sr. Marketing Manager, U.S. Partner Team

But wait, there's more...triple your sales and marketing power with our updated RTG Campaigns!

dianeja — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:11:00 GMT

Yesterday I touted our refreshed Ready-to-Go Campaigns, "First Server, Right Server" and "Security and Reliability", which now include materials for SBS, EBS, and Windows Vista. This morning I got an e-mail from the marketing manager here in the US Partner Group who shepherded the changes to these campaigns, and he told me about this great offer available through December 31.

For every US$1 you invest (up to US$400) in one of these two Ready-to-Go Campaign, receive US$2 in matching funds. This means that for a $400 investment on your part, you can have a marketing budget of US$1,200 to help you:

Pull a prospect list of new contacts for mailings and telesales;
Send a customized postcard of business letter with your company logo and text;
Print flyers to pass out during your event;
Any and all of the above!

Full details and official rules are available from either of the eligible campaigns: http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/fsrs (First Server, Right Server) or http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/secrel (Security and Reliability). You will need to Sign In with Windows Live ID to access our Ready-to-Go Campaigns.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan

Sr. Marketing Manager, Microsoft US Partner Group

Ready-to-Go Campaigns Updated with Windows Essential Server Solutions (SBS & EBS) Messaging

dianeja — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Our "First Server, Right Server" and "Security and Reliability" Ready-to-Go Campaigns now include messaging for both our Windows Essential Server Solutions family as well as for Windows Vista. With the launch of Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS) last month, these campaigns were refreshed and you now have a comprehensive set of materials to help you market and sell these solutions.

If you're already familiar with our Ready-to-Go Campaigns, go to http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/fsrs (First Server, Right Server) or http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/secrel (Security and Reliability) and check out what's new. You may need to Sign In with your Windows Live ID for access.

If you aren't familiar with our Ready-to-Go Campaigns, visit the Sales and Marketing tab of the Microsoft US partner portal at https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketingsection to read more about them.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan

Sr. Marketing Manager, Microsoft US Partner Group

Participate in the "Dream Server" Launch Event on November 12

dianeja — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:47:00 GMT

The Windows Essential Server Solutions launch event website is now live at www.thedreamserver.com. Comprising Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008 (for mid-size customers), implementing Windows Essential Server Solutions can help you secure your position as a trusted advisor by helping your customers reduce costs and increase productivity by streamlining their IT infrastructure. Invite your customers and prospects to the Windows Essential Server Solutions launch webcast--we are offering you materials for download at https://partner.microsoft.com/40082139 (guidance) and https://partner.microsoft.com/40082316 (invitation e-mail template).

Visit our Windows Essential Server Solutions page for partners at https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketingsection/smcampaigns/40080617, and see our information about offering your customers "sneak peeks" of these solutions at https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40079924?PS=95000124.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan, Sr. Marketing Manager, Microsoft US Partner Group

SQL Server 2008 Roadshow Coming to A City Near You

anschnei — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:48:00 GMT

Invite your customers to learn more about SQL Server 2008 and the new enhanced capabilities of the product. We’ll be exploring security and database management, how to best manage your data, and what’s new in business intelligence with SQL Server 2008. Make sure your customers don’t miss this half day event that will give them a better understanding of what SQL 2008 has to offer.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc984277.aspx

Is Launch Central Everything You Thought It Would Be?

dianeja — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:44:00 GMT

At a recent team offsite, I was thrilled to see the words "Launch Central" in a slide presented to us by a partner of the resources he considered to be critical for his company's success. A colleague and I came up with the Launch Central idea almost three years ago in preparation for the launch extravaganza of Vista, Office, and Exchange. We wanted to create a memorable phrase that we could use on the partner portal and in our newsletters; I added the blog a few months ago as yet another touchpoint. Today, it's become second nature for people to ask how to add information about their launch so that partners are aware of the resources.

Lately, though, I feel like we aren't quite toeing the line in utilizing Launch Central as well as we can. Sure, we have information about Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) and Windows Essential Server Solutions, both families of products launching later this year. We have retained the information about our Unified Communications Launch and our recent "Heroes Happen Here" launch of Windows Server 2008, SLQ Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008. We have content in our Monday morning partner newsletters and in this blog. But it still feels like we may not be meeting your needs for staying informed, aware, and active when it comes to our product launches.

I'd like to ask your advice. If Launch Central were yours to maintain, and you just wanted to keep the information flowing through the partner portal via the home page (https://partner.microsoft.com/us), Launch Central page, newsletters, and blog, what would your game plan be? What's missing that you'd like to see? Are there other vehicles or efforts you'd leverage? You are welcome to post your comments on this blog, or you can send me e-mail through the blog. If you want to be truly anonymous, you can use our Rate This Page functionality on the Launch Central page (https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketingsection/smcampaigns/launchcentral) and tell us your thoughts there.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Diane Golshan, Sr. Marketing Manager, US Partner Group

Dynamics CRM Online Discount Offer for North America Partners

dianeja — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:15:00 GMT

I just received an e-mail from our West Region Solutions Specialist for CRM Online, which we just launched a few months ago. Response has been great, but we've had a lot of questions from partners about how they can obtain licenses for CRM Online for their internal use. So now, do we have a deal for you!

http://offers.crmchoice.com/crmforpartners

Eligible members of the Microsoft Partner Program may obtain licenses for CRM Online for just $19 per seat. "Eligible" includes Microsoft Gold Certified and Certified Partners, Small Business Specialist Community members, and CRM Software Advisors (learn more about CSA at https://partner.microsoft.com/US/productssolutions/dynamics/microsoftdynamicscrm/400126630. Refer to the link above for full details about eligibility and how to sign up.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan, Sr. Marketing Manager, US Partner Group

November 12 Launch Date! Serving SMB Customers with Essential Server Solutions

dianeja — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:13:00 GMT

At the Worldwide Partner Conference in early July, we announced a launch date of November 12, 2008 for Windows Essential Server Solutions, a new family of integrated server software based on the Windows Server 2008 platform that will help you bring enterprise-class server technology to your small- and midsize-business customers. Essential Server Solutions comprises Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008.

If you're interested in exploring the whole Essential Server platform, we recommend starting with the on-demand webcast, "The Small and Midsize Business Server Platform: Which Is Right for Your Customer?", available on the Partner Learning Center at https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1821427. If you're ready to just get to gettin', you can go right to the "Windows Essential Server Solutions" page on the PLC, a collection of the 8-course Web seminar series for each server. You can still catch a few of these one-hour Webcasts "live" in September, and several are already available on demand for you to view at your leisure.

Looking for resources beyond training about this release? Our portal page on Windows Essntial Server Solutions is chock-full of things you can leverage, like an RSS feed, virtual newsroom, FAQ, and demo showcase. Cool.

Launch Central for U.S. Partners

The BPOS Opportunity (and how to get your BPOS internal-use licenses)

Get Ready for Windows Azure – Resources for Microsoft Partners

Windows 7 Loadfests Start October 2 in MA, MO, and AZ

Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) Activation Seminar

­ Discover how to target customer traits and handle their objections.

Windows 7 Loadfests for Microsoft Partners Across the USA

Windows 7 RTM Timeline for U.S. Partners

Windows 7 Resources for U.S. Partners

IE8 launch is just around the corner--is your website ready?

But wait, there's more...triple your sales and marketing power with our updated RTG Campaigns!

Ready-to-Go Campaigns Updated with Windows Essential Server Solutions (SBS & EBS) Messaging

Participate in the "Dream Server" Launch Event on November 12

SQL Server 2008 Roadshow Coming to A City Near You

Is Launch Central Everything You Thought It Would Be?

Dynamics CRM Online Discount Offer for North America Partners

November 12 Launch Date! Serving SMB Customers with Essential Server Solutions

Discover how to target customer traits and handle their objections.