Steve's TS2 Insider

Managed Services Resources

sdeming — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:22:03 GMT

Q: (from Gail)

Wondered if you know of any resources available to a partner looking to grow their managed services businesses. I was thinking this may have been a topic in a previous TS2 and thought I’d pick your brain on it. Also, if you know who else I might ask, that would be GREAT!

Matt Makowicz from Ambition Mission (www.ambitionmission.com)

and

Erick Simpson from Managed Service Provider University (www.mspu.us)

They both were involved in the TS2 discussion around managed services last year and are highly respected in the partner community. They each have several books out, online forums, and offer consulting and training.

As a matter-of-fact, both Erick and Matt have recently released new books:

From Erick: The Best I.T. Service Delivery BOOK EVER! reveals how to deliver Hardware Warranty, Break-Fix, Professional and Managed Services effectively and profitably. No matter which of these service delivery models you practice, you will learn how to maximize processes, efficiencies and customer satisfaction - resulting in higher net profits.

From Matt: A Guide to MARKETING Managed Services You’ve figured out Managed Services (perhaps because you own A Guide to SELLING Managed Services – faster, easier, & for greater profit). Now you can really grow your business by attracting and bringing on NEW customers that don’t come from referrals!

What happened to Connections?

sdeming — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:25:47 GMT

Q: (from Al)

I used to attend the Connections events in the morning before the TS2 events, is there something I can attend now?

In the morning, you have the choice to attend either the TechNet events (http://www.technetevents.com) or System Builder events (http://ts2blogs.com/blogs/ronaldg/archive/2008/08/29/oem-system-builder-events-in-fall-2009.aspx)

I'm still looking forward to seeing you in the afternoon at the regularly scheduled TS2 events (http://www.microsoftts2.com/liveEvents.aspx)

Seven Cloud Computing Risks

sdeming — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:32:50 GMT

Q: (from David)

Pls send article re 7 things you need to know that you mentioned at the NYC TS2 event.

Thanks

Following is the information I mentioned along with the URL for the full article

Seven Cloud Computing Risks

Privileged User Access – Other than you, who?
Regulatory Compliance – Audit support?
Data Location – Where is data stored?
Data Segregation – Is your data isolated?
Recovery – What is the disaster plan?
Investigative Support – Discovery requests?
Long-term Viability – How do you get your data back?

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/02/Gartner_Seven_cloudcomputing_security_risks_1.html

Fall 2008 TS2 Events

sdeming — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:23:00 GMT

Q: (from Stephen)

I’m looking at the TS2seminars.com site. It’s not listing any live events. I’m guessing these have been scaled until the new fiscal year. Is this accurate?

First off, thank you for looking at TS2Seminars.com for upcoming TS2 events - you've made our marketing people very happy!

Second, the URL TS2Seminars.com is being retired in favor of the more accurate MicrosoftTS2.com URL. They both go to the same location right now.

Third, TS2, like most of Microsoft, does not host any formal events during the month of June, but our event tour resumes mid-August.

Fourth, although our events may not be listed on MicrosoftTS2.com yet, they are available at www.microsoft.com/events and search for the keyword TS2. Here is information regarding our upcoming schedule:

Join us at the next TS2 event in your area, where we will focus on exciting Microsoft technologies that will broaden your portfolio of customer offerings and boost your ongoing revenues.

Our TS2 team will offer sales tips to help you promote the following products:

Small Business Server 2008 & Essential Business Server 2008
Response Point VoIP Phone System
Software + Services

Date	City	State	Reg Link
8/19/2008	Jacksonville	FL	TS2
8/19/2008	Chicago	IL	TS2
8/21/2008	Columbia	SC	TS2
8/21/2008	St. Louis	MO	TS2
8/26/2008	New York	NY	TS2
8/26/2008	Des Moines	IA	TS2
8/28/2008	Edison	NJ	TS2
8/28/2008	Kansas City	MO	TS2

Free Domain Name

sdeming — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:16:56 GMT

Q: (from Paul)

A friend wanted a free domain name and we signed up on Microsoft Live Small Business but I can't find out how to get a free domain name. Is this still available?

Although the location and brand seem to change every quarter, we still offer a free domain name along with a website and email boxes. Details can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/officelive

The domain name is defined at the "Get a Web address" link:

Session Timer

sdeming — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:21:01 GMT

Q: (from Charles)

I have a client that wants to allow people to logon to a kiosk pc, but only for an hour. I don't know what apps yet, only know internet is one.
Heard of any shell apps that could do the trick ?
I'm thinking virt pc with a timer job running in background.

Try out Windows Steady State (originally called the Shared Computer Toolkit) I believe one of its features is a session timer. More importantly, for kiosks, it keeps the user from making any permanent changes. PERIOD.

Cool stuff and is now available for Windows Vista as well as Windows XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

See my previous discussion of Steady State:

Windows XP Lock Down

How do I become a partner?

sdeming — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:57:50 GMT

Q: (from Robert)

I am interested in becoming a Microsoft Partner and Small Business Specialist. I have been doing some IT consulting on the side and am looking to transition into providing Microsoft solutions for small businesses which I feel is a larger market that the restaurant industry.

What is your opinion of the market in this area? In my experience working with small business owners, many seem reluctant to embrace new technology and the benefits it can provide. In dealing with restaurants, there seemed to be more that don't use a POS system than do. To me, it just feels like my local community is kind of backwoods and lagging behind in the adoption of technology to improve business processes. I just don't want to make another investment into a business whose product is too difficult of a sell for the local market.

Can I successfully start out as a 1 or 2 person operation?

Do you know how many partners in my region are Small Business Specialists?

I attended the ts2 event that was held in Memphis a few weeks ago, so I have the steps to become a Small Business Specialist. I am wondering if there are any good books or classes for the certification tests. Also, which of the four tests would be the best one to pursue first? Are there any current discounts or promotions on the Action Pack and Technet subscriptions?

So, I go through these steps to become a Small Business Specialist. Then what, I just go out and start selling? Does Microsoft provide any assistance on helping me to generate leads, creating presentations and demonstrations?

1 or 2 person success – absolutely – we have plenty of successful partners in that space

Go to www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness to find the other SBSC’s in your area.

The frequently recommended book is the “Microsoft - Small Business Specialist Primer” available from www.smbnation.com. And there is a 25% discount through Sept 30^th using code “SBSCCert0708”

Any of the exam’s are fine; they are just the qualifier; what is his focus? Where is his passion? Infrastructure (70-282), System Building (74-134), or SharePoint (70-631)

Currently there are no other promotions that I’m aware of

Microsoft provides many self service resources for businesses to generate and close business. All of those resources are posted on our partner portal: https://partner.microsoft.com. Some of the enumerated resources include:

Increase My Opportunities

Ready-to-Go Campaigns
Partner Event Services (ClicktoAttend, content, marketing, logistic resources)
Microsoft Across America Mobile Event Experience (MEE) truck availability
New Day & Heroes Happen Here Launches
Software Plus Services

Close More Sales

Microsoft Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit
Demo Readiness Toolkit, Demo Showcase, & Technology Demonstration Toolkit
Volume Licensing Comparison
Open Value overview
Software Assurance overview
MicrosoftIncentives.com
Microsoft Financing
MS GearUp Sales Tool Kit & Licensing Configurator
Competitive Sales Assistance

All of these resources plus more are called out in a two hour web seminar that I recorded called MS101 for Small and Medium Business Partners (https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=241240&site=US&lang=EN)

Virtualization Resources

sdeming — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:08:12 GMT

Q: (from Jim through Shirley)

I’m in the throes of planning my own server virtualization project and would love to (I think, maybe, perhaps) use Microsoft technologies to do it.

Of course none of my current salesmen/technical advisors know anything about it so they are backing away at high rates of speed.

Does Microsoft have any programs to assist small companies to adopt virtualization? If not, do they want to pilot such a program with my network?

We have a few support resources for you:

Virtualization Solution Accelerator (best practices for rolling out virtualization)

https://partner.microsoft.com/solutionaccelerators

Competitive virtualization support (Microsoft vs. VM Ware)

https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketing/40016218
(800) 426-9400 x88827

Outlook Public Contact Synchronization

sdeming — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:34:09 GMT

Q: (from Joseph)

Great TS2. You did a great job.

You mention that there was a free tool for copying / syncing Outlook Public Contacts to Personal Contacts.

Can you send me a name of the tool? And, if you have it, where to find it?

I looked around for the contact sync tool from Microsoft and the only one I found was from 2001:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2D31C7F0-B871-49CE-9F96-712A1695E372&displaylang=EN

which I’ve used as recently as 2003.

Looking beyond Microsoft, I found:

http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync-mail.asp

which includes a tool called Add2Excahnge which appears to offer similar functionality. But I have no personal experience.

SharePoint vs. Groove

sdeming — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:47:56 GMT

Q: (from Dan)

Always great to see you present and allow partners to pick your brain…

As per today’s discussion, here are a few questions that have been compiled:

· Is there a side by side comparison of Groove Vs. SharePoint?

· Is there a battle card for SharePoint vs. Google Dashboards and/or IBM WebSphere?

· Can you point me to anything to really promote/show Business Intelligence on SharePoint? Something we can replicate to learn from and show ourselves?

· Can you provide any information on how to handle email management within SharePoint?

Good job on your presentation, great job on handling question (as usual).

Thanks for the kind words.

Here is are answers to your inquiries:

Groove vs. SharePoint – I couldn’t find a document that I liked which clearly showed a comparison. Perhaps because they both address the same issues, but with a different approach, we seem to only discuss the approach differences: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101680011033.aspx?pid=CL100604881033.

SharePoint vs. the competition – My recommendation would be to reach out to our Competitive Support team at (800) 426-9400 X88827 or https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketing/40016218

BI Demo – If you are a Registered or Certified partner you should be receiving either the ActionPack or the Partner Monthly Mailing respectively. In the ActionPack, you should be receiving the Technology Demonstration Toolkit; my demo came off of volume #8. There is a similar set of demos on the Demo Showcase in the Certified Partner Monthly mailer.

SharePoint & email – I’m not sure what you are looking for here, but the email/SharePoint integration is pretty fundamental. Here is a demo: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102047921033.aspx?pid=CH101788401033

I hope this helps.

Windows Server with Software Assurance

sdeming — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:33:24 GMT

Q: (from Jim)

I enjoyed the T2 Event in Newark, DE yesterday. I had asked about the upgrade path for clients with Windows 2003 Server w. Software Assurance and whether or not they would get Hyper V if they upgrade to Server 2008. Can you please forward this question to the right folks on your end and let me know what the answer is?

Thanks very much,

From page 30 of http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/E/C/EECF5D44-9A88-43D8-AFDB-D2AB82BE035C/Win%20Server%20Lic%20Book%20customer%20hi-res.pdf

“Previous versions of Windows Server can be upgraded to Windows Server 2008, as shown below. Volume Licensing customers who have SA on Windows Server Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter editions can opt for either Windows Server 2008 with or without Hyper-V. Once they decide, they will not be able to switch. Upon renewal of their SA, they will acquire the appropriate SA renewal SKU.”

Terminal Services Licensing

sdeming — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:31:44 GMT

Q: (from Peter)

When publishing an app, is a TS license and an application license (think Office) required?

Are you talking about RemoteApp? If so, the answer is “Yes”

For example, if you have 20 people who would be using Office over TS but the maximum number of simultaneous users would be 10, you would still need 20 TS CALs and 20 licenses of Office.

If it’s a 3^rd party app, Office licenses are not required; you need to follow the 3^rd party licensing rules, but you still need the 20 TS CALs.

Upgrade the Desktop

sdeming — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:01:06 GMT

Q: (from Rachel)

Do you have access to something like this…

A DVD with audio that would talk about “upgrading the desktop” or something similar that my partner could play on a giveaway TV in a kiosk format at an event?

Her Partner received one at a Partner event …she believes it was a TS2 event.

I’ve tried to keep copies of everything distributed at TS2 events and although the name sounds familiar, I was unable to find any disks with that title. I also checked MS Market (internal marketing resource) and couldn’t find anything with that name but we do have a partner "Ready to Go" marketing campaign called "Upgrade the Desktop".

http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/action/microsoft/site/catalog/campaign/CampaignView?campaignID=114

My guess is that a disk with that title might have been included, but any videos on that disk would have been designed to play on a computer and not on a video player.

Upcoming TS2 Events

sdeming — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:30:00 GMT

OK... I'm not fond of using this forum for one-way advertising, but I've only got 31 people registered for my June TS2 event near Scranton, PA!

Partners - Learn new ways to drive your business at June TS2 events!

Attend an upcoming TS2 event to learn more about Windows Server 2008, Small Business Server 2008, and the Partner opportunities in Software + Services. We’re also presenting a special IW Practice Builder event in select cities to help you learn about the IWS competency, and how it can help drive your business and additional revenue. Register using the links below, and be sure to visit www.MicrosoftTS2.com to meet the TS2 team, view webcasts, and for more in-depth event information!

	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event
Date	9:30am-11:30am	1:00pm-5pm	City	State
6/17/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Cincinnati	OH
6/17/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Tucson	AZ
6/17/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Wilmington	DE
6/17/08		TS2 Event	Tallahassee	FL
6/19/08		TS2 Event	Toledo	OH
6/19/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Long Beach	CA
6/19/08		TS2 Event	Dunmore (Scranton)	PA
6/19/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Pensacola	FL
6/24/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Fort Wayne	IN
6/24/08		TS2 Event	Fort Collins	CO
6/24/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	King of Prussia	PA
6/26/08		TS2 Event	Memphis	TN
6/26/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Colorado Springs	CO
6/26/08	IW Practice Builder Event	TS2 Event	Rockville	MD

I look forward to seeing ALL of you there!

And for any event that I'm hosting that exceeds 60 registrants, I'll do an extra 30 minute session on Response Point on a live system! (This offer is only good for events I'm hosting in Wilmington, Scranton, King of Prussia, and Rockville)

And for those of you who would like to hear more about Dynamics CRM, we wanted to spread the word about 4 Dynamics Pilot events that the MSAM Dynamics team will be hosting in June. These CRM Sales Briefing events are targeted at Partners who are currently selling the MS stack and Dynamics Partners who are not currently selling CRM.

· 6/17/08 – Cincinnati, OH

· 6/19/08 – Pensacola, FL

· 6/24/08 – King of Prussia, PA

· 6/26/08 – Colorado Springs, CO

Server 2008 Downgrade Rights

sdeming — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:07:19 GMT

Q: (from Maryse)

We purchased the software OEM server 2008 and we would like to downgrade to 2003.

Here is the official word:

“Microsoft grants the rights to use any prior version of Windows Server 2008, regardless of which channel was used to acquire the license.”

And here is the web site that includes the aforementioned quote:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/downgrade-rights.aspx

But, of course, my question would be "Why would you want to downgrade?" ;)