 | | | | | Software and IT Partner News | | | |
By SuperUser Account on 4/4/2011 12:04 PM
French organization Wysips is focusing on a brand new technique which will cause smartphone touch screens to accomplish double duty as pv power panels to recharge cell phones. The thought is fairly interesting [1] because it consists of laying an extremely thin transparent photo-voltaic film layer along with the cellular phone screen. The film will trap energy not only from the sun, but any nearby source of light. Approximated recharge times will be about six hours from sunlight and some time longer from leaching electricity from in house lights. Wysips is at work for the 2nd development of the technology, which looks to offer thirty minutes of talk-time after just one hour under the sun. The issue with a solar battery charger could be that the sun moves always, and my practical experience continues to be that you need to move the solar charger every minutes to help keep it in the sunshine. Actually most solar chargers for mobiles could be best for individuals who spend lots of time in the open air, and should not readily utilize a car or wall charger for his or her devices. Backpackers, fishermen, etc, would possibly like this. Otherwise, you are probably more satisfied picking something more important. The most effective solar cellular phone chargers in the marketplace take too much time to charge - a single hour charge will give you just enough to make a 5-10 minutes telephone call. It will require something similar to 8-10 hours to obtain a full charge. | By SuperUser Account on 2/22/2011 3:45 PM
By Carin Moonin, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer There is no doubt that a well-tended garden is beautiful. The flowers, shrubs, trees, grass—all come together to provide a peaceful, serene, and enjoyable setting. In a garden like this, it’s evident that while all the elements are lovely, it’s the collective effect that’s breathtaking. Believe it or not, going green can be just as charming—even at the office. With all the recent growth in green technology, with consumers opting for environmentally conscious choices, it’s interesting to remember how offices looked and dealt with document management. Back in the days before Windows revolutionized the workplace, file cabinets were crammed with both unimportant memos and highly sensitive documents. But with Windows, we’ve gone from carbon paper to Word documents, from mailboxes to email, from memos to instant messages. And yet there’s still much to be done to help businesses go greener. | By SuperUser Account on 2/17/2011 7:33 PM
For those of you Microsoft Partners with questions or concerns about the new Microsoft Partner Program, here is a great opportunity. Eric Ligman has just announced thru his blog that Microsoft is hosting an interactive forum in which we can participate. The team that will be presenting is impressive, and there is a Q&A session. Below is the blog post with the details. And also, if you havent already done so, be sure to post your thoughts on our discussion of this topic on our LinkedIn Group
From Eric Ligman's Blog, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Experience Lead Join us for a Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership ForumWhat are you doing Thursday, March 10th from 7:00 – 8:30 am PST? If you are a Microsoft partner, I would like to invite you to join us for a unique opportunity designed just for you: an interactive online forum with the leadership team of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group. As I have mentioned many times here on my blog, through my Twitter account, my Linkedin account, in-person meetings, and many other places, here at Microsoft, we are continually striving to reach out, listen to, communicate with, and work with our partners to build a strong partnership with you and to enable the highest levels of joint success possible. Part of this effort includes helping partners get answers to questions they have, addressing misconceptions that may exist, and bringing awareness to resources available that you may not be familiar with. As such, we are hosting an interactive online forum with the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group leadership team to discuss topics, questions, concerns, misconceptions and more that we have heard from partners around the world regarding the Microsoft Partner Network to help address and answer these for you. I will be moderating this session and joining me will be:
- Julie Bennani: General Manager, Microsoft Partner Network
- Ross Brown: Vice-President, Worldwide Partner Sales
- Karl Noakes: General Manager, Microsoft Partner Strategy & Programs
- Jon Roskill: Corporate Vice-President, Worldwide Partner Group (hopefully, based on travel schedule. Should know by end of this week.)
| By SuperUser Account on 2/17/2011 5:39 PM
By Mark Armstrong, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer  I am a co-host on a weekly gaming podcast, there are 3 of us that take part in the show each week with a broad range of opinions over the various consoles and their good and bad points.
I am classed as a Microsoft fanboy (boy is a bit unfair as I am now 50) but yes I have been an adopter of Microsoft hardware and software since the introduction of Windows 95 and have followed closely their various innovations in products. What I wanted to write about is the Microsoft Kinect addition to the 360 and it’s likely impact on gaming in general. On the show the jury is still out as far as Kinect goes and out of the three of us opinions are evenly spread. First off I am a die-hard Microsoft supporter who bought Kinect has a good number of games and uses it pretty much on a daily basis and loves the interaction it provides. Then we have the show’s host, who invested in the unit, again has as good cross section of games but is pretty much sitting back and saying is that it, where are the games I want to play that blow me away. And finally the other co-host who is playing the waiting game to see if the killer game comes out that says to him go and buy this unit. | By SuperUser Account on 2/17/2011 1:55 PM
With the introduction of Azure Platform, Microsoft is helping small and medium businesses (SMB) make the move into the cloud with integrated cloud applications that were once only available to large enterprises at a considerable price. One could say Microsoft has helped SMBs grow their wings and soar into the cloud. Tools like the Azure Platform make it easy even for small businesses to deploy their own web applications right alongside trusted Microsoft products such as Office 365, SharePoint, Lync, and Dynamics CRM. Additionally, all of Microsoft's cloud products play nicely with on-premise or hosted tools, such as Microsoft Dynamics GP. Add the quickly rising market share of Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, and you have a legitimate advertising platform for your business as well, one that can reach audiences on everything from mobile phones to gaming consoles. | By SuperUser Account on 2/15/2011 5:43 PM
By Mary Hester, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer Not that long ago, the only way to get high-quality, professional materials was through a graphic designer. Printing was a complicated, expensive process that was left to the print shops. Each project required assembling pictures, graphics and content that was camera-ready. Today, we have access to everything needed to make agency-quality marketing materials with full-color and amazing graphics. Brochures, mailers and newsletters can be printed on-demand or in the perfect quantity to reducing waste and keep the offering fresh. To save more and reach the online audience, electronic files are brilliant and easy to distribute. If you have an idea, a good eye and the right tools, you can make magic. Microsoft Office offers the right tools with its Office 2010 Suite of Applications. Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Publisher provide improved and enhanced features for creating and publishing. Many of the features are cross-platform so you can learn a skill in one application and use it in another. There are a host of classes for beginner, intermediate and advanced users that can be taken in a classroom environment or online depending on your best learning method. Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and others offer free, online classes that are perfect for the self-learner. Word is the standard for creating and formatting documents of all types from simple letters to documents with a table of contents, index and glossary. It makes the task of creating and editing documents easy. Tools like spell check and thesaurus make us look smart and polished. New and improved photo-editing tools let you transform pictures right in Word 2010 – no extra software needed. Change color saturation, temperature, brightness, and contrast to turn a simple Word document into a work of art. Turn text into visual effects with enhanced text effects and SmartArt graphics. Change basic bullet-points into compelling visuals and add text effects like shadow, glow, reflection, and 3-D in just a few clicks. With co-authoring, you can edit at the same time as others, even if you're working from different locations, and keep versions in sync with version control. This is a great way to eliminate typos (ever used a there for their or your for you’re?) by having others review your work for content and correctness. | By SuperUser Account on 2/10/2011 9:33 AM
 DynamicPoint publishes new whitepaper, Best Practices in SharePoint Development for Microsoft Dynamics GP. Almost every ERP and CRM software implementation can be supplemented with additional areas of functionality. Learn just how SharePoint can provide enhancements to magnify the benefits of your Dynamics solution. This whitepaper specifically targets organizations interested in extending the critical data within Dynamics GP with SharePoint Portals, Business Automation and Custom Products that will help automate your business and allow employees to collaborate in ways that save time, money and frustration.... | By SuperUser Account on 2/1/2011 10:17 AM
‘Patch Tuesday’ is the second Tuesday of every month. It’s the day when Microsoft releases any software updates that are needed to address security or availability problems with their products. Getting a bunch of 20 or so software updates to test and deploy each month can be a daunting task for an IT department, especially for those with limited resources. But it’s a lot less daunting than fighting a blizzard of malware like viruses, trojans and worms that can wipe data, destroy business productivity and generally make your life hell. Software updates prevent malware attacks from doing damage to your systems, that’s why they are so important. The problem is, sometimes software updates can cause damage to systems because of application incompatibility issues. Usually this can result in crashes and errors that cost more precious time and the respect of the business. To make life easier Microsoft provides two toolsets to help you get secure and keep systems up-to-date with patches. - Windows Software Update Services 3 (an included role that ships as part of Windows Server).
- Microsoft System Center Configuration Manger 2007 (whose Client Access Licences are typically included in the Microsoft’s Core Enterprise Agreement CAL pack)
| By SuperUser Account on 1/31/2011 3:36 PM
 There are few people that I admire more than Mr. Bill Gates. During my lifetime, he has been by far the most impressive business person in the areas that are important to me as a business owner. As a teen ager, he had the creativity and vision to see PC and Operating System opportunity when most others didn’t. He then had the business sense to leverage the opportunity to create a successful business. After that, he succeeded at maintaining an active control of the company thru ought an amazing growth trajectory over the next 20 years or so, which few Founders can say. And finally, he has (or is, I should say) successfully utilizing his successes, both monetarily and politically, to fuel his passion of making the world a better place for everyone. How could you ask for more?
| By SuperUser Account on 1/28/2011 1:19 PM
By Wayne D. Moore & Aviv Siegel, PartnerPoint Contributing Writers  When a fire breaks out or a catastrophe occurs, every second counts. Flames can overwhelm an average size room in less than a minute and deadly smoke can obscure safe exits with frightening speed. If a tornado is approaching, seconds can literally mean the difference between life and death. The best chance for the safety and survival for people and the preserving of property comes from an early warning detection system coupled with a rapidly responding, pervasive and reliable mass notification system.
Current passive fire alarms and alerting systems can only generate a general evacuation tone or a voice announcement alert with limited information. While these types of alarm systems have extreme value, they also have their limitations. New and innovative technology is now available that can augment these existing fire alarm systems and provide an enhanced spectrum of capabilities that can save lives and protect property.
This is the case for a new model for emergency mass notification that has been adopted in the government and businesses to enhance fire protection capabilities – namely network-centric emergency mass notification. Network-centric emergency mass notification promises to have a significant impact for the fire protection design community. In addition, since threats can take many forms from natural to man-made, organizations can turn to newer technologies to prepare for a broader spectrum of threat conditions and emergency situations.
Network-centric emergency mass notification transforms an existing IP network and its connected devices into a highly effective alerting system. Emergency alerts are triggered from a Web-based console from any network-connected PC (subject to authentication and granted permissions), and once activated, are disseminated across the network in the form of intrusive audio/visual messages to desktop computers, as well as mobile devices such as phones, pagers, BlackBerry devices and personal digital assistants (PDAs). As many traditional alerting channels (sirens, telephones, public address systems, etc.) now have IP interfaces, network-centric notification systems can trigger alerts to those channels too. From the IP network and telephony communication infrastructure to the existing fire alarm systems, network-centric alerting extends and unifies these systems under a single alert management platform. | By SuperUser Account on 1/26/2011 10:33 AM
By Alex Thayer, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer The business of digital games is booming. Sales are estimated to exceed $70 billion by 2015, and the potential for growth is better than ever given the strength of the console and online gaming markets. But like all software products, digital games must be localized for different markets around the world, a process that can be costly without the right approach, knowledge, and expectations. Without specific knowledge about how to localize games and capitalize on the huge worldwide market, your entry into that market will be far less likely to turn a profit. What is localization, exactly? Localization is the process of modifying a product, solution, or service for a specific culture, locale, language, country, or community. Localization is a strategic process that requires a great deal of planning and active management to complete in a successful manner. As the Internet and digital technology have changed the ways in which companies interact with clients, and the ways in which countries interact with each other, localization has become an area of specialization for members of the technical and professional communication and software development industries. Large software companies increasingly regard localization as an essential activity; localization managers who guide the process of making a software application usable for different cultures are a growing component of the workforce. | By SuperUser Account on 1/26/2011 10:11 AM
By Tiffany Ingargiola, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer  2011 will mark my third Microsoft TechED North America conference and I couldn’t be more excited for May to arrive. As active as I am in the Microsoft Partner network, it took me to actually attend the conference to understand its TRUE value. An analogy to help convey its value would be, “What Microsoft WPC (World Partner Conference) is to a partner is what TechED is to our customers”. So what, there are lots of great conferences, what separates TechEd from any other conference? I have narrowed down my top three reasons why a Microsoft partner of any solution competency should attend: If only for the EXPO Hall: Imagine walking into a conference as if you were THE client/customer? Well this is where our decision makers come to find the NEXT big thing that they can and will implement in their company. Partners are contacted actively by vendors to re-sell their products. The Expo hall of TechED is full of these vendors and here you actually have the opportunity to view their presentations as the client. I thought it was great to see where the crowds gathered and find out what the vendors had to offer. Wouldn’t you love to see a client as they demo the products? Whether understanding the delivery or taking in the questions, if you have some products you are considering adding to your arsenal this is the place to make that decision. | By SuperUser Account on 1/26/2011 9:54 AM
By Richard A. Bilancia, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer Want to get real value for your information technology investments? Then forget about perfection and focus on the key and significant. If you can learn to focus on the right things to do, the returns on IT investment can be enormous. All that it takes is the application of Pareto's Law, also known as the 80/20 rule. An enormous amount has been written over the last several years about information technology investments and their ROI. The observations made and guidance given in many of these articles is correct and solid. However, all too many technology initiatives focus on perfection (i.e., getting absolutely everything done perfectly). The scope of many of these technology initiatives is simply too broad. The small significant achievements get lost while efforts continue to standardize absolutely everything within the original project scope; or, worse yet, an even greater scope. It’s become so common that a phrase exists for the phenomenon: “scope creep.” In most information technology projects, broader scope and greater levels of effort add little, if any, extra value; they frequently simply add extra cost. However, applying some 100 year-old basics formulated by Vilfredo Pareto can make a substantial difference. Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist and political sociologist. As part of his life-long research, he formulated, “The law of the trivial many and the critical few.” This law has become commonly known as the “80/20 rule.” His law can be restated to apply to information technology initiatives: “In any system implementation, 80% of the potential value of that implementation can be achieved from just 20% of the total effort or cost.” One can spend the remaining 80% of effort (or cost) for relatively little return. Table 1 below summarizes this.
| Cost |
Value |
| 100% |
100% |
| 20% |
80% |
Please note that once the initial 80% value has been achieved, to achieve the final 20% of value requires spending five times more than was spent for the initial increment. | By SuperUser Account on 1/25/2011 11:02 AM
By Robert Peretson, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer  If you're managing in-house Microsoft Exchange for the clients you support, I'm willing to bet that a very significant portion of your time is dedicated to maintaining that one system. After all, consider all of the issues that require your regular attention:
• Controlling Spam • Preventing virus attacks • Getting clients removed from blacklists • Managing end-users with enormous mailboxes • Configuring communication with mobile devices • Ensuring reliable backups and easy restoral of Exchange data • Configuring remote connectivity for off-site end-users • Dealing with complaints of undeliverable messages • End-users complaining of missing emails • Entourage databases needing to be rebuilt • Archiving or restoring pst files • Setting out-of-office policies • Setting security and user access to public folders • Managing permissions for shared calendars and contact lists The list goes on. Just think of all the Exchange related tasks you've had to deal with yourself over the last couple of weeks. | By SuperUser Account on 1/24/2011 11:03 AM
 By Mary S. Hester, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer
Clouds are made of increased bandwidth and storage blended with the advances in virtualization and remote access. Today’s technology allows us to compute anywhere, anytime. The sky is clear blue for cloud computing, but it hasn’t always been that way. Cloud computing grew out of the centralized or mainframe model. For those who remember mainframes, it was the only way to compute. We had remote access, but it was cumbersome, slow and expensive. Programmers got in the habit of coding all night long when rates were the cheapest. Then those long, sleepless nights were replaced by distributed computing, a computer for everyone, but somehow programmers still program all night. The distributed computing model was embraced rapidly. With amazing graphics and Internet availability, the computer became a household appliance. But distributed computing had its drawbacks, it was hard to interface disparate systems and collaborate in real-time. Recently, 100% availability and remote connections at LAN speeds have resurrected the centralized computing model with a new name. You could say that computing has come full circle back to a centralized computing model that we call Cloud Computing. It is provocative, exciting and revolutionary. New technology holds a dilemma as most computer users don’t really care about the technology; they just want it to work easily and reliability. And business owners are only slightly interested in the merits of a distributed or centralized computer model. They want computer systems that are economical, productive and work without needing a staff of IT gurus. | By SuperUser Account on 1/24/2011 10:38 AM
By Robert Peretson, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer  If you're a managed service provider, you know that every potential new client can possibly represent a significant boost to your revenue. And you know that it's challenging enough to just get your foot in the door. Once you do and you're face-to-face with your prospective new customer, how can you give yourself the edge you need to close the deal?
There are several things that you must do if you want to have any chance at landing the client. Ask questions… listen more than talk… develop a rapport… be honest. But one of the most effective things you can do to turn your prospect into a paying client is to provide a compelling demonstration. The late Billy Mays was one of the most successful and recognized sales pitchmen in recent history. There was a television program called "Pitchmen" a few years ago that followed the process that Billy and his partner Anthony Sullivan followed when choosing products to sell. In one of the episodes, Billy said very clearly, "The very first thing I need to see in a product is - "Is it Highly Demonstrable? When I show you the product in action, do you instantly know what it does… what the benefit is?" Did you ever hear the slogan "Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking"? Back in the 1950's a small, young watch company used that slogan in a marketing campaign where in their commercials they "tortured" their watches with jackhammers, paint mixers and strapped them to the propeller of an outboard boat motor. These compelling demonstrations showing the abuse these watches were able to endure were the reason that in just a few short years, one of every three watches sold in the U.S. was a Timex… and why over half a century later, we still instantly know who the slogan belongs to. | By SuperUser Account on 1/17/2011 12:19 PM
By Russ Colburn  Over the past year or so, our industry has seen many changes in the way home entertainment is provided. With the addition of Internet TV services such as Hulu©, movie streaming services such as Netflix, and digital movie rentals and purchasing services such as Best Buy’s CinemaNow© and Amazon, our ability to view what we want, when we want it, and on the devices of our choice, has developed so quickly that few companies are in a position to capitalize on all of it. One such company is Microsoft. Although Apple TV© and Google TV©, as well as a number of smaller products like the Boxee© Box, the Roku© Box and Western Digital’s line of products, have gotten most of the press, Microsoft, with its Media Center feature included in many of the Windows versions, has been in this market for almost 10 years. They have overcome or avoided many of the limitations that other products suffer from. You can surf the internet with your choice of browser, you can stream media across your network in any format, and you can even use an external storage device. It’s a pc! Unfortunately, Windows Media Center© is also one of Microsoft’s best kept secrets. |
| | | | |
| | | | | Featured Microsoft Partners | | | |
Please wait...
|
|
| |
|
|
CSI Technology Outfitters
Office Location: Easley, South Carolina, United States
Type: ISV
Industry Focus: Education - K-12 & Higher Ed
CSI provides software and technology solutions primarily to public sector markets.
|
|
|
|
Altico Advisors!
Office Location: Marlborough, Massachusetts, United States
Type: Reseller
Industry Focus: Manufacturing, Distribution, Software Development, Professional Services, Medical Device
Altico Advisors implements & supports business & financial management solutions for mid-market firms throughout New England, New York & New Jersey. Altico is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in Dynamics GP systems for manufacturers, distributors, software development companies, professional services organizations, and the medical device sector.
|
|
|
|
ACE Microtechnology, Inc.
Office Location: Gainesville, Georgia, United States
Type: Systems Integrator,Reseller,Training Firm,VAR
Industry Focus: Distribution, Manufacturing, Retail and Hospitality
ACE Microtechnology, Inc. is a professional services firm committed to delivering business solutions to medium sized organizations. Our focus is in delivering products and services that improve our clients' business operations. ACE has developed specialties in serving the discrete manufacturing wholesale distribution and hospitality industries
|
|
|
|
eSoftware Professionals
Office Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
Type: VAR
Industry Focus: Food & Beverage, Distribution, Manufacturing, NonProfit
Established in 1987, eSoftware Professionals was the first Dynamics NAV team in North America. Successful ERP implementations, on-site training and over 20 years of experience in accounting and business management software makes eSoftware Professionals stand out as a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner.
|
|
|
|
Core
Office Location: London, , United Kingdom
Type: Systems Integrator
Industry Focus: Legal, Local Government, Insurance, Finance
Core provide consultancy, development and support for SharePoint, System Center and Microsoft Online Services (BPOS, Office 365 and Azure).We have over 20 years’ experience helping clients across a range of industries improve productivity, efficiency and achieve their business goals.As an established Microsoft partner, we enjoy the highest level of support from Microsoft and have consistently been launch partners for new Microsoft technologies and releases.
|
| Search All Companies |
| |
| | | | |
|
|