Monday, February 15, 2010

Media Downloads for SBS/EBS 2008

So if you've spoken to me about this subject you'll know one of my pet peeves is the distribution model for the product.

  • You can't download it from VLSC
  • You can't get your license keys from VLSC
  • ....and to add insult to injury since around August 2009 your disty could no longer fulfil your media order (or prompt you to order media with your licensing purchase).
VLSC got a bit ugly there for a while but it now seems to have stabilised for the most part, following some strident complaints from Partners and lobbying by the Australian subsidiary (and others no doubt also).

I recently spoke with Brad Clarke (NSW Partner Territory Manager) and Inese Kingsmill regarding these issues and Brad has courageously taken on the fine fight to get some more sensible distribution going for the SBS and EBS open license products.

Read more about it on the Microsoft Australia Partner Network Blog.

I'd also be interested in hearing your comments regarding VLSC.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

Microsoft SMB Partner Roadshow - Save the Date

I wanted to make sure everyone reading along is aware of the upcoming SMB Partner Roadshows coming to a city near you.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about:

  • Microsoft Partner Network Update
  • Licensing
  • Online Services
  • Windows 7 and Windows Server Opportunities for SMB
  • Management Opportunities with Hyper V, Virtual Machine Manager and MDOP
  • Growing your Business with Partner Marketing Centre and the Customer Insight Tool
  • SMB Campaigns & Marketing Opportunities
This is also your opportunity to meet Mark O'Shea, recently appointed SMB Partner Technical Advisor who I'm sure you'll agree is a welcome addition to the Microsoft SMB lineup.

And if that's not enough the roadshow will conclude with networking drinks - a great opportunity to chat with the team from Microsoft and other partners.

Here's the dates:

Brisbane 18 March
Melbourne 19 March
Adelaide 22 March
Perth 24 March
Sydney 30 March

Full details in this month's edition of Spark. You can register here.

If you're in a regional area - don't despair! Brad Clarke and other Partner Territory Managers are planning to get out on the road and see more partners - if you'd like a visit in your area please let me know.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Virtualisation and SMB

I've had more than a few partners contact me with feedback and frustration about the Virtualisation content in the last Microsoft SMB roadshow (November 2009). Be assured I have passed on your feedback and mine to Microsoft and I do hope that they provide some more appropriate and useful content on this important subject soon. As you know, I am no engineer or technician but it's obvious to me that virtualisation is as important for SMB clients as it is at the Enterprise level.

You can get in a froth about virtualisation cos its cool and everyone else is doing it, but utlimately its a smarter way of doing things that can have enormous benefit to your clients. The trick is to get it right and make your life easier too.

In the meantime, check out the Wookie's post on Hyper V virtualisation. This covers many of the gotchas (plus there are a couple of others highlighted in the comments). It also provides links to some other great Hyper V virtualisation resources, information on licensing and even provides info on other SMB appropriate virtualisation platforms.

I'd encourage you to post links to any other good resources in your comments so they can be shared with others.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

SBS 2008 training opportunities

I know from talking to many Microsoft partners that you found the training provided for SBS 2008 less than acceptable and this feedback was very clearly channelled back to Microsoft via Hilton Travis who was last years PAL for Australia.

A number of training and readiness initiatives are being prepared for the Australian Microsoft Partners and these are going to mean very very good things for SMB partners.

In the meantime, I wanted to make sure that you are aware that you can now download the SBS 2008 Hands On Labs. The download is 12 GB, but the Microsoft Readiness team are working providing physical media to local partners and I'll provide details of that as soon as they are available.

In the meantime, for those partners whose internet connection and download limit is up to it, you can find the details of the SBS 2008 Hands on Labs over on Sean Daniel's blog.

There are four labs available on Microsoft Connect:

  • SBS 2008 Administration
  • Managing Clients on SBS 2008
  • SBS 2008 Installation
  • Migration from SBS 2003
I hope to have details of physical media ordering for these Hands On Labs soon.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

Challenges and Community

2010 has got off to a bit of a challenging start for me and I've had to stop and do some deep thinking about my personal and business priorities.

Whilst this has been refreshing in some ways, there is a great deal of hard work and challenges ahead. At times this feels completely overwhelming and highlights one of the challenges of running your own business - isolation.

When things get tough in small business, you may feel utterly isolated, wondering what to do and how to do it. For me, having regular conversations with business and peers and mentors is a great help.

I know a number of Microsoft partners are also members of the SMBiT Professionals groups that are operating in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and these groups provide a great forum to talk amongst other business owners and key staff who face similar challenges - of both technical and business nature.

As these groups mature, they are becoming less of a geek hangout where matters technical is the focus and I believe this is where they will become more powerful and useful.

If you haven't already become a member you can find details on the SMB iT Professionals website. The membership fees are low and you'll find a vibrant community of enthusiastic group of technicians and business owners. Much work is underway to strengthen the SMB iT Professionals group and create a national industry association. Watch this space.

There are also communities like the HTG Peer Groups, Robin Robin's Technology Marketing Toolkit and those facilitated by MSP and PSA platforms like Kaseya, Connectwise and Autotask.

Getting along to vendor events like the roadshows and other events Microsoft have planned for this year is also a great opportunity network with your peers.

I'm interested to hear if you feel peer groups and networking events benefit you and your business and which ones you feel are the most valuable.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.