SBSC & MSP Buzz

What to do when in Charlotte? Ask Sean Daniel…

July 24, 2008 – 8:14 am
So what does Sean Daniel (SBS Product Team) and Erik Throsell do when they come to Charlotte?  They go to dinner and a show.  Well sort of.  Below you can see the video Sean shot in beautiful Huntersville (just North of Charlotte where all the race teams are located) prior to this guy walking over and practically ripping Seans head off for violating his privacy.  LOL!  Hey Sean and Erik, you could have called, I would have pointed you to a local McDonalds or something a little classier. 

Posted in Fun | 1 Comment »

Software + Services

July 23, 2008 – 11:38 am
So after much thought, discussion with others, comments on Vlad's blog and rewriting countless blogs of my own on the topic of Microsoft's Online Service offering that I've never posted, I have finally found something that puts my opinion into a communicable format.  Enjoy...

Posted in SaaS, Managed Services | 1 Comment »

Virtualization For the Masses

July 23, 2008 – 8:08 am
That seems to be VMware's message today in an announcement that their ESXi will be FREE starting next week.  ESXi is a hypervisor similar to ESX and Hyper-V except that it has a very small footprint and runs as an embedded hypervisor.  This seems to be a direct response to Microsoft's recent gains in they virtualization market. While the inevitably essential VMware's VirtualCenter, and their other virtual infrastructure management products come at a steep price for entry level consumers, so does Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager.    I'm convinced that virtualization is like crack.  It's free to try, addicting and expensive once you get hooked.  With the plethora of partner marketing, training and incentives coming from the top virtual pushers and the insatiable appetite for consolidation and containment brought on by the 'go green' movement it seems as if we have a true free market pandemic on our hands.  Today, VMware is ...

Posted in VMware, Microsoft, Virtualization, Technology | No Comments »

Insights on What Employees Want From You

July 22, 2008 – 2:08 pm
Hey Sobel, this one is for you!  ;-) I'm not sure who gave me the following items that have been taped to my monitor for the past 2 years nor who orginally wrote it but nevertheless, major props to both.  If you have employees the following may seem simplistic to you. If that is the case, then I challenge you to ask your staff if you are actually doing these things.  Easy to do is also easy to not do.  Insights on what employees want from you: -To know where the company is headed and why -to know their roles, responsibilities and what is expected of them -to know how they will be evaluated and rewarded -to utilize their talents in the best way possible -to feel appreciated and valued - that their work and ideas matter -to be coached - challenged, motivated and held accountable -to have the right tools, training and authority to do their jobs -to contribute in a ...

Posted in Managing Your Business | 2 Comments »

FREE MS Press Book

July 20, 2008 – 9:41 pm
The Competitive Sales Assistance (CSA) team has a pretty sweet offer for any of you MS Partners taking MS products head-to-head against their competition.  The offer is composed of two parts. The first offer is for a FREE MSPRESS BOOK that will be sent out to any partner that uses the CSA service for the first time. So, if you haven't used CSA before you can get a book sent out to you just by letting us help you with a competitive situation. The second is a 55% DISCOUNT off the top 40 titles on MS Press. This offer is available to all partners with no limit on the number of titles they can order. A list of the top 40 titles is available on our homepage at http://partner.microsoft.com/us/win. You heard it here first.  This offer will not be announced publicly until August. If you have any questions after reviewing the Exclusive ...

Posted in Microsoft, MS Partners, SBSC | No Comments »

Get Your Mesh On!

July 16, 2008 – 11:49 am
US residents with a Live ID can now see what all the buzz is about by creating their own Live Mesh account.  It will only take a few minutes and explain more to you about Mesh than a hundred blogs. 

Posted in Microsoft, Virtualization, Technology | No Comments »

Microsoft Demo Showcase 2008 SMB Edition Download Available

July 15, 2008 – 11:21 pm
While I’ve not checked this out yet is sounds like it might be a good combination of demos and sales material.  If you get a good look at and care to send me your thoughts I would be very interested in knowing your opinion.  The Demo Showcase 2008 SMB Edition is a set of 4 comprehensive click through demonstrations designed for partners. These customer scenario demos feature 12 different Microsoft technologies working together to resolve business needs. Included in the scenarios are the following products: Windows Essentials Business Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server 2008, Office 2007, Windows Vista, SQL 2008, System Center Essentials 2007, Dynamics CRM 4.0, SharePoint Server 2007 and more.These four demos represent the four customer campaigns - Business Productivty, Customer Acquisition and Retention, Security and Reliability and Business Solutions.With the Demo Showcase 2008 SMB Edition, partners can show customers how a collection of integrated technology solutions ...

Posted in MS Partners | 1 Comment »

Virus Warning From UPS

July 15, 2008 – 9:46 am
What might Brown do to you?  Sorry, I couldn’t resist that cheap shot.  Here is a legitimate email from UPS.  We had two customers hit by this one yesterday so take the appropriate action now. Attention Virus Warning We have become aware there is a fraudulent e-mail being sent that says it is coming from UPS and leads the reader to believe that a UPS shipment could not be delivered. The reader is advised to open an attachment reportedly containing a waybill for the shipment to be picked up. This e-mail attachment contains a virus. We recommend that you do not open the attachment, but delete the e-mail immediately.UPS may send official notification messages on occasion, but they rarely include attachments. If you receive a notification message that includes an attachment and are in doubt about its authenticity, please contact customerservice@ups.com.Please note that UPS takes its customer relationships very seriously, but ...

Posted in Managed Services | No Comments »

Vendor/Partners - Who Can You Trust? Not Symantec?

July 15, 2008 – 9:43 am
As you know, I’ve been a big proponent of partnering with Vendors that are VAR friendly such as Microsoft and CA but when I read CRN today even this one caught me by suprise.  I appears Symantec is doing a Partner End-Run to the Customer goal zone.  Calyptix Security in an email blast this morning cleverly titled “Trojan Alert – Symantec Sacks Partners” said: Pick your vendors wisely – Symantec Trojan Alert! Symantec in a classic “Trojan Horse” attack will move away from its traditional partner program in exchange for direct sales in an effort to  ”cut go-to-market costs, ” according to CRN Channel News.  Symantec has already launched an assault against its partners that manage its 900 largest customers and now plans to target YOU as it goes after subscription renewals for SMB customers.  Symantec hopes to automate much of the company's SMB business.  For many in the industry (hopefully you),  this is not ...

Posted in SBS Community, Managed Services | No Comments »

Have Tubes, Will Travel

July 13, 2008 – 5:31 pm
So I had a few minutes to sync my Zune prior to running out the door to catch my canceled flight to Seattle and was lucky enough to get the latest pull of Best of YouTube.com synced to my device.  After an hour of negotiations with Delta I was able to get a US Air to Phili (from Charlotte) where I now wait several hours to catch my Seattle flight (I’m coming Chris!!!).  As I flew the short hop to Phili thinking about all the travel I’ve done this year, the drama of family, business, community the elections and what ever else my mind chooses to dwell on at that time, I happened to hit play on my Zune and watched the following YouTube vid.  If you recall the focus of my blog from Houston on the prayer breakfast talking about focusing on the positive (Phil 4:8) then you will really ...

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »