Review: Lync Mobile Client a Lync Implementation Partner Puts the Hotly Anticipated Microsoft Mobile App Through Its Paces on His Windows Phone

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Windows Azure Review: Lync MobileClient

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DEPARTMENTS 8 Channel Report HARDWARE: 6 CES Stunners ...... 8 14 TRENDS: Microsoft’s New Math = Metro ...... 9 TRANSITIONS: Microsoft Server and Tools, Dynamics Groups Lose Top Execs ...... 10 STARTUP: Ozzie Resurfaces ...... 10 EXECS: Oracle, IBM Make Key Channel Appointments ...... 12 PIRACY: U.K. Retailer Fights Back Against Microsoft Accusations ...... 12

COLUMNS Plan your year with CHANGING THE CHANNEL: Howard Cohen the RCP 2012 Microsoft Size Matters ...... 29 MARKETING MATTERS: Barb Levisay Product Roadmap. Take Content Ideas from Microsoft Campaigns ...... 30 CHANNELING THE CLOUD: Jeff rey Schwartz Microsoft Preps Windows Azure for Battle with Amazon in the Cloud ...... 32

FEATURES 14 The 2012 Microsoft Product Roadmap SPECIAL PULLOUT SECTION The star of last year’s product roadmap was Offi ce 365. Microsoft this year looks likely to pivot from the public cloud to the private cloud, while also shipping staples like SQL Server and releasing major betas—and possibly ﬁ nal versions—of blockbusters including Windows 8 tablet, client and server, and “Offi ce 15.”

21 Partner Review: Lync Mobile Client A Lync implementation partner puts the hotly anticipated Microsoft mobile app through its paces on his Windows Phone. The verdict? A solid ﬁ rst off ering with a lot of room for feature improvement. PARTNER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT As smartphones and tablets proliferate, more and 24 Packaging up the Cloud more partners are seeing a business in helping clients manage the devices in their networks. As SMBs adopt cloud solutions, how can partners continue to By Scott Bekker provide value-added services to those organizations? Innovative partners are ﬁ nding ways to “package” services to accompany cloud-based changes in both technology and buyer attitudes.

IN EVERY ISSUE 4 RCPmag.com 6 Channel Watch > RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 3 What’s ChannelRedmond Partner

RCPMAG.COM + FEBRUARY 2012 + VOLUME 7 + NUMBER 2

OnLine EDITORIAL STAFF Vice President, Editorial Director Doug Barney Editor in Chief Scott Bekker @RCPmag.com Executive Editor Jeff rey Schwartz Managing Editor Wendy Gonchar Associate Managing Editor Katrina Carrasco

BLOGS ART STAFF Creative Director Scott Shultz

PRODUCTION Director, Print Production Jenny Hernandez-Asandas Production Coordinator Charles Johnson

ONLINE/DIGITAL MEDIA Site Editor Gladys Rama AC/DCAC/DC fan?fan? (May(May 2007)2 Editor, RCP Update Lee Pender Director, Online Media Becky Nagel Online News Editor Kurt Mackie Associate Web Editor Chris Paoli RCPU Site Administrator Shane Lee Designer Rodrigo Muñoz If you’re not getting the Redmond Channel Partner Update ADVERTISING AND SALES e-mail newsletter, you’re not just Associate Publisher Dan LaBianca missing out on the latest news Microsoft Account Manager Danna Vedder and analysis of developments Sales Manager Al Tiano aff ecting the Microsoft partner Advertising Sales Associate Tanya Egenolf ecosystem. You’re also missing out on the pithy debate about RCPU Editor Lee Pender’s hair! President Henry Allain As one self-described faithful Vice President, Publishing Matt Morollo reader put it to Lee: “Which is Director, Marketing Michele Imgrund the real Lee Pender? The e-mail Online Marketing Director Tracy Cook newsletter and the Web site front page have the babyface ‘AC/DC fan’ photo, but the column and President & Neal Vitale the ‘Follow Lee on Twitter’ ad Chief Executive Offi cer have the ‘lumberjack in a Royals Senior Vice President & Richard Vitale jacket’ photo.” Chief Financial Offi cer We’ve put together this Executive Vice President Michael J. Valenti montage of Lee Pender photos with dates in an eff ort to clear Vice President, Christopher M. Coates things up. (Clockwise from top) Finance & Administration Lee in the Royals jacket circa 2008. Vice President, Erik A. Lindgren Information Technology Decked out in Stanley Cup gear, & Application Development December 2011. In a shirt from Vice President, Event Operations David F. Myers his alma mater, Texas Christian University (TCU), December 2011. Chairman of the Board Jeff rey S. Klein Right after Lee joined RCP in February 2006. It’s incredible Reaching the Staff what six years here does to a guy. Staff may be reached via e-mail, telephone, fax or mail. A list of editors and contact information is also available It’s like being President of the online at RCPmag.com. United States. E-mail: To e-mail any member of the staff , please use the following form: [email protected] Framingham Offi ce (weekdays, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET) Telephone 508-875-6644; Fax 508-875-6633 600 Worcester Road, Suite 204, Framingham, MA 01702 Irvine Offi ce (weekdays, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PT) Redmond Channel Partner (ISSN 1556-2727) is published monthly by 1105 Media, Inc., 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Ste. 101, Chatsworth, CA Telephone 949-265-1520; Fax 949-265-1528 91311. Periodicals postage paid at Chatsworth, CA 91311-9998, and at additional mailing offices. Complimentary subscriptions are sent 4 Venture, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618 to qualifying subscribers. 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Copyright Statement: © Copyright 2012 by 1105 Media Inc. All rights reserved. Printed The opinions expressed within the articles and other contents in the U.S.A. Reproductions in whole or part prohibited except by written permission. Mail requests to “Permissions Editor,” c/o herein do not necessarily express those of the publisher. Redmond Channel Partner, 16261 Laguna Canyon Road, Ste. 130, Irvine, CA 92618. Legal Disclaimer: The information in this magazine has not undergone any formal testing by 1105 Media, Inc. and is distributed without any warranty expressed or implied. Implementation or use of any information contained herein is the reader’s sole responsibility. While the information has been reviewed for accuracy, there is no guarantee that the same or similar results may be achieved in all environments. Technical inaccuracies may result from printing errors and/or new developments in the industry. Corporate Address: 1105 Media, 9201 Oakdale Ave. Ste 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 www.1105media.com. Media Kits: Direct your Media Kit requests to Dan LaBianca, Associate Publisher, 972-687-6702 (phone), 972-687-6799 (fax), [email protected]. Reprints: For single article reprints (in minimum quantities of 250-500), e-prints, plaques and posters contact: PARS International Phone: 212-221-9595. E-mail: [email protected]. www.magreprints.com/QuickQuote.asp. List Rental: This publication’s subscriber list, as well as other lists from 1105 Media, Inc., is available for rental. For more information, please contact our list manager, Merit Direct. Phone: 914-368-1000; E-mail: [email protected]; Web: meritdirect.com/1105.

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What’s in Store for Windows BY SCOTT BEKKER

ebruary will be a big month for anyone with a vested interest in Windows. In other words, for the entire Microsoft partner community. As RCP’s Gladys Rama details in her comprehensive 2012 Microsoft Product Roadmap (starting on p. 14), the beta for Windows 8 is slotted

for late February. Microsoft will also open the Windows There won’t be many apps at Store in late February, and that’s a potentially important fi rst—expect mostly free apps created by Fdevelopment, too. Microsoft and some very close partners. I’m probably making a bit of a leap to say that February will be a But the opening of the Windows Store big month for the partner community when it comes to Windows. in 100 languages and in more than Given Microsoft’s track record, it’s safer to say March will be when 200 markets worldwide will create an partners and other testers actually get to download the code or important opportunity for partners to take a tour of the Windows Store. The word “late” in Microsoft’s check out the future of the Windows usage normally implies at or near the last possible day of the ecosystem and see where they might fi t. time period. It’s a leap year so they’ve given themselves a longer It’s an important opportunity to get February to deliver. familiar with the way the Windows Store Here is why the Windows Store is such a big deal. The question will work. In combination with the beta is whether Microsoft can generate enough excitement around its release, partners should soon have a more unifi ed platform—PC, tablet, smartphone, home entertain- clearer idea of how much work it will take ment system—to re-establish itself at the center of the technology to make an app available on Windows universe. Will Apple and the mobile-fi rst competitors run away tablets, PCs and phones and get that app with the computing market? The Windows Store will be under the seen by millions of potential customers microscope because the app count will serve as a proxy for partner worldwide. and developer excitement around Windows 8, especially on the What are you looking for in the Metro-style app tablet side. Windows Store? Let me know at Plus, the size of the Store will be fairly easy to compare against [email protected]. • the size of the Apple iTunes App Store, and similar stores for the Amazon Kindle and other Android-based tablets. (This is the same reason that the apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace—last reported at about 50,000 or 10 percent of the iPhone apps count—is an important metric. The Windows Store will be even more strategic to Microsoft’s future.) Microsoft gave a preview of the Windows Store at the Consumer Electronics Show, and the demo on stage during CEO Steve Ballmer’s keynote made it look clean, inviting and easy to navigate—all good signs. PHOTOGRAPH BY KATHERINE LAMBERT KATHERINE BY PHOTOGRAPH

6 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com

TRENDS ISSUES Channel ANALYSIS REPORT February 2012

{Hardware } company Vizio is planning to enter the 6 CES PC market. The company used the Las Vegas event to preview an all-in-one PC, Stunners a notebook and a premium notebook, Microsoft had few announcements along with a 10-inch tablet. Most of the at CES but OEM partners brought out Vizio devices are scheduled to arrive in new Windows-based laptops and the spring. phones. By Scott Bekker Ballmer characterized those and other PCs highlighted in a keynote video as

Samsung Series 9

ne of the publicly stated ing offi cer of the Windows and Windows reasons Microsoft is Live Division, specifi cally called out three bowing out of the PCs: the Samsung Series 9, the HP Envy Consumer Electronics 14 Spectre and the Dell XPS 13. Show (CES) after 14 The Samsung Series 9 is a half-inch Oyears of regular pre-show keynotes is thick, weighs less than 2.5 pounds with Dell XPS 13 that the early January conference doesn’t its aluminum unibody and is available really fi t Microsoft’s product release cycle. with a 15-inch screen. Hewlett-Packard “thin and light.” Other observers noted While Microsoft had little to announce Co. went with a glass design for the Envy how similar many of the new PCs are in directly other than Kinect for Windows 14 Spectre, and fi ts a 14-inch screen in a appearance to Apple MacBook Air laptops, (see our cover story on the which trail Windows in market share but Microsoft Product Roadmap on seem to be exerting a heavy infl uence on p. 14), OEM partners had plenty device design. Other PCs that Microsoft to show off . spotlighted during CES included the Acer Windows 8 and its tablet Aspire S5, ASUS UX Zenbook UX21, Sony Z potential is the buzz of the Series, Lenovo A720 and the Toshiba Z830. industry, but with the product only entering beta later this Vizio all-in-one prototype month, OEM focus on near-term deliverables for CES meant that the hottest Windows-based devices were laptops—especially HP Envy 14 Spectre of the ultrabook variety—and smartphones. In her portion of Microsoft CEO Steve unit that’s rated for up to nine hours of Ballmer’s keynote presentation, Tami battery life. The Dell XPS 13 is less than a Reller said, “We also have a lot of very quarter-inch thick, weighs 2.99 pounds, cool things going on today, and nowhere has a 13.3-inch display and includes a is this more illustrated than through the rapid response SSD drive. range of stunning PCs that are available The main PC surprise of the show right now.” Reller, CFO and chief market- was that Irvine, Calif.-based electronics MICROSOFT CORP.

8 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com SPECIAL PULLOUT SECTION

PARTNER’S GUIDE TO Mobile Device Management

As smartphones and tablets proliferate, more and more partners are seeing a business in helping clients manage the devices in their networks. By Scott Bekker

And this is all before Microsoft gets fully involved. The company made the biggest splash for its Windows Phone-based devices so far last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Meanwhile, the Windows-based tablets to compete with the iPad aren’t expected until at least mid-2012. If Microsoft’s eff orts succeed, the market could be that much bigger. Microsoft partners like Liz Eversoll, CEO of start-up SLM Technology LLC, are noticing a clear opportunity to jump into an exploding market. “There will be 20 billion connected devices by 2020 or roughly three devices for every person on the planet,” Eversoll said in a “Big Ideas/Marching Orders” entry in Redmond Channel Partner magazine’s January issue. he number of smartphones of all types Eversoll was quoting a widely cited projection for the and tablets—mostly of the Apple iPad number of devices coming. Other projections are even variety—in corporate and education more optimistic, at 50 billion devices by 2020. environments is going through the roof. For Eversoll, the opportunity involves mostly creating On the iPad front, Apple Inc. said in broad-market apps that will sell in smartphone and tablet OctoberT that 92 percent of the Fortune 500 are deploying stores. “Your mobile device will be the entry to your digital or testing iPads. The company has also said 2,300 world, which authenticates your identity; manages your school districts have launched iPad programs in the roles in life; connects you with friends, matches, brands, United States. locations and communities; secures your wallet, health A list of iPad deployments documented by Forbes records, ﬁ nancial records; centralizes your coupon books, magazine ﬁ nds 500 organizations have deployed 168,000 reward cards and other discounts; informs you with iPads, as of Jan. 2. helpful content, recommendations and referrals; manages Deployments, both offi cial and unoffi cial (as employees your schedule, to dos, preferences and behavior-tracking; walk in the door with their devices), of smartphones in knows your location and intent based on this information; corporate and education environments are undoubtedly and entertains you, among other things,” she said in her

SHUTTERSTOCK much higher. “Big Ideas” entry.

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 1 PARTNER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE MANAGEMENT

MOBILE MANAGMENT primarily Windows Phone with Microsoft productivity apps, Not everyone is focused on the social commerce side of the such as the Microsoft Offi ce suite. There’s also a Mobile ISV market, which Eversoll cites as a $300 billion opportunity. competency for partners such as Eversoll. Howard M. Cohen, an IT consultant and the Northeast Regional Chair with the U.S. International Association of MOBILE ACTION Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP), sees a specific new While Microsoft hasn’t laid out a general plan for its partners opportunity for partners—management. yet in the same way it lays out business cases for other oppor- “With the consumerization of computing bringing more tunities, there’s been a lot of action in the mobile manage- handheld smartphones and tablet devices into the corporate ment space. Mobile management has been especially hot network, new challenges arise that create tremendous oppor- among enterprise IT departments as the user-driven IT trend tunities for channel partners,” Cohen said in a “Big” Ideas entry. takes hold. Familiarity with the tools and questions in the enterprise can be very helpful to partners looking to assist customers with mobile device management. “Partners should In a comprehensive report over the summer, called “Critical begin now to plan Capabilities for Mobile Device Management,” Gartner Inc. analysts Monica Basso and Phillip Redman explored enterprise to add MMSP — requirements for the sector. Mobile Managed First, Basso and Redman wrote of a step that would Services apply equally well in partner conversations with customers: Partner—to their “Organizations need to identify the risks and benefits of introducing support for corporate applications on personal portfolio.” devices. They then need to identify the IT policies required to Howard Cohen, IT Consultant control deployments, manage risks and support users. Finally, and U.S. IAMCP Board Member they need to choose the appropriate management approach and the products and services that can help to enforce those policies in a cost-eff ective way.” “Partners should begin now to plan to add MMSP—Mobile Another general question the Gartner analysts pose is Managed Services Partner—to their portfolio. Client concerns whether the client organization is looking for a lightweight include information security; network access control; authentica- approach or a heavyweight approach. tion, data encryption, containerization, and separation of personal The lightweight approach often involves a server-side and business data; kill and wipe capability for lost devices; not product or service off ering with a small mobile agent running to mention mobile application development and more,” he said. on the device. Lightweight solutions may also call native APIs “Between cloud and mobile devices, more and more rogue provided by the mobile client, but don’t have a complete mobile IT initiatives are springing up and IT management will need management client. “They can enforce policies on the server help to keep proper control over the corporation’s data assets side, but cannot control the device and mobile-user behavior and network. Prepare now to provide those incremental new in depth,” Basso and Redman noted. services,” Cohen said. Heavyweight approaches have a management client that As Cohen points out, partners building mobile management can enforce strong IT controls on the client, such as local data practices are skating slightly ahead of the Microsoft partner encryption, selective wipe and a concept called containeriza- competency structure. tion, which Gartner defi nes as “a set of mechanisms to separate A System Center competency is currently focused on the corporate from private content (data, applications) on a device existing System Center suite of products, which don’t specifi cally and apply a range of actions to control the corporate footprint.” include mobile device management. Meanwhile, that System The Gartner analysts identifi ed 10 critical capabilities for Center competency is becoming more closely aligned with mobile device management (MDM) in the enterprise. Many the virtualization products. In May, Microsoft will merge the of them also will apply in the smaller and midmarket customer Virtualization competency and the System Center competency environments that partners often engage in. into the Management and Virtualization competency. There is a Mobile competency, but that’s also not focused 1. Device Diversity specifi cally on managing devices. The systems integrator/VAR Straightforward as it sounds, this metric covers how side of the competency is intended for partners integrating many types of devices a given mobile device-management

2 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com “There will be 20 billion connected devices by 2020 or roughly three devices for every person on the planet.” Liz Eversoll, CEO, SLM Technology LLC solution covers. Requirements vary by client, but the core requirements remain the Apple iPhone and Google Android devices, as well as the iPad. Other items clients may be looking for include ruggedized devices and Google-based tablets. Interestingly, Gartner rated support for Windows Phone or RIM BlackBerry as a plus because when it conducted its study in July, relatively few MDM vendors included those platforms.

2. Policy Enforcement This capability covers a lot of intriguing possibilities. Of course it includes standards such as enforcing policies about version numbers on the device for diff erent platforms, such as requiring iOS 4 or iOS 5 on the iPhone or iPad. But it also might include the capability of detecting jailbroken iPhones or rooted Android phones. Other policies might include restricting access from non-compliant phones, preventing blacklisted app application discovery through private app stores, software downloads, while also managing corporate apps on personal updates for apps and operating systems, patches, fixes, devices and personal apps on corporate devices. backup and restore.

3. Security and Compliance 7. Administration and Reporting Security and compliance might include password strength Some features to look for, according to Basso and Redman, are enforcement, device lock, various levels of remote wipe, single console or Web-based console, over-the-air provision- local data encryption, certificate-based authentication, ing, role-based access, group-based access, remote control ﬁ rewall, antivirus, mobile VPN and rogue app quarantining. and integration with enterprise management platforms.

4. Containerization 8. IT Service Management As previously defined, containerization could include Gartner explains this category as granting mobile service separation of corporate e-mail from personal e-mail and levels to mobile users. Service levels might include help corporate apps from personal apps. The capability can be desk, user support, user self-service, end-to-end real-time powered by virtualization capabilities and other aspects monitoring, troubleshooting and alerting. include more ﬁ ne-grained control over what parts of the device might be remote wiped, what gets encrypted and 9. Network Service Management prevention of data leakage between containers. This is a budget management tool covering things like contract management, expense management and service- 5. Inventory Management usage management. This capability often allows for provisioning, control and tracking of devices. In addition to asset management and 10. Delivery Model inventory, inventory management can include distribu- Finally, Gartner asks enterprises to consider the way the tion, conﬁ guration, monitoring data points like battery MDM platform is delivered. It is cloud? On-premises? life, and disabling device capabilities such as cameras, Hosted? This is also a good place to consider up-front costs Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or removable media cards. and whether pricing policies are per-user or per-device. •

6. Software Distribution Software Distribution capabilities for mobile devices can be Scott Bekker is the editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner very similar to their PC counterparts. Features can include magazine. Reach him at [email protected].

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Copyright ©2012 Kaseya. All rights reserved. Kaseya and the Kaseya logo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Kaseya International Limited. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners. HTC Titan II In his CES keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks up Windows Phone with Ryan Seacrest.

Microsoft generated more buzz with Windows Phone, with a surprisingly {Trends } quick product refresh from HTC and a largely unexpected new Nokia Microsoft’s New Math = Metro smartphone for the U.S. market. Both The tile-based interface is the star attraction of the fi nal Microsoft Consumer devices will be coming from AT&T and Electronics Show keynote. By Scott Bekker are the fi rst Windows Phone-based devices to run on a 4G LTE network. For the last Microsoft pre-Consumer the “featured attraction tonight” in the The new HTC smartphone is the Electronics Show (CES) keynote (or at Jan. 9 speech. In the transcript, the term Titan II, unveiled a mere two months least the last before a “pause” in Microsoft Metro appears 27 times. after the fi rst Titan became available keynotes), CEO Steve Ballmer off ered “So, in 2012 what’s next? Metro, Metro, on the AT&T network. Like the original, little in the way of announcement Metro,” Ballmer said at the end of the the Titan II sports a massive 4.7-inch fi reworks. keynote to drive the point home, before display. Diff erentiating the big phone What he did throw in during his refl exively, adding. “It’s all right, I’ve got is a 16 megapixel rear-facing camera keynote was a debutante’s ball for the you—and, of course, Windows, Windows, with high-end photography features. Microsoft Metro interface—the sleek yet Windows.” Nokia’s new phone is the Lumia boxy UI that has been quietly taking over Ballmer described Metro as the “heart 900, which is also distinguished from the background of every major product, and soul” of the Microsoft interface. “We the earlier Lumias by the presence of starting with Zune, moving into Windows kind of pioneered it over the last few a front-facing camera—a key feature for devices running Windows Phone Ballmer described Metro as the “heart and soul” given Microsoft’s emphasis on Lync of the Microsoft interface.

Phone and Xbox and now on tap for years, but you’ll see it tonight, fast, ﬂ uid Windows, Offi ce and Internet Explorer. and dynamic across all the Microsoft That CES keynote took the form of experiences, and really helping people an extended dialog between Ballmer to connect directly to the people and and American Idol presenter and disc information, music, friends that are most jockey Ryan Seacrest, who snuck in some important to them,” Ballmer said. references to his own reputation as a “Metro will drive the new magic metrosexual. (Stuff magazine once called across all of our user experiences,” Seacrest the poster boy for metrosexuals). Ballmer said. “In the new math “I’m your mascot,” Seacrest told Ballmer. at Microsoft Metro means that one plus Nokia Lumia 900 The interface has been prevalent for one really does equal three.” • most of the last year, but the Ballmer presentation was notable for the spotlight Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond and its recent purchase of Skype. The thrown on the UI. Ballmer called Metro Channel Partner magazine. PRESSPASSMICROSOFT Lumia 900 also has a 4.3-inch screen and comes in both black and cyan. Also during the week of CES, the Lumia 710, Nokia’s ﬁ rst phone in the United States, Visit RCPmag.com for daily news updates became available through T-Mobile. •

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 9 CR Join the RCP Discussion Group on LinkedIn

{Transitions } Microsoft’s Server and Tools, {Startup } Dynamics Groups Lose Top Execs Robert Wahbe leaving the company this month, while Brad Wilson heads for a diff erent role. By Gladys Rama

Robert Wahbe, corporate vice president of suite. He has also worked on the Windows the Microsoft Server and Tools Marketing Embedded and Windows Mobile product Group, is leaving the company at the end teams. of February, and Brad Wilson is stepping Wilson, who for the past six years has down from his position as general served as the general manager of the manager of the Dynamics CRM Product Dynamics CRM Product Management Management Group. Group, announced the end of his tenure in When asked for the reason behind a January blog post. Ozzie Resurfaces Wahbe’s exit, a Microsoft spokesperson “What a journey it’s been over the past six Former Microsoft senior exec replied in an e-mail, “Robert has decided years!” Wilson wrote. He did not elaborate spearheading a new company called to embark on a new path after more on his reason for stepping down except to “Cocomo.” than 15 years at Microsoft. We thank him say, “I’m taking some time to decide what Ray Ozzie, who retired from Microsoft in 2010 for his tremendous accomplishments at to do next, but you can be sure that it will after serving ﬁ ve years as the company’s the company.” be about growth and passion.” chief software architect, is spearheading a According to the spokesperson, replacing His replacement will be Dennis new startup company called “Cocomo.” Wahbe will be Takeshi Numoto, currently Michalis, who arrived at Microsoft in While no information on Cocomo is the corporate vice president of the Microsoft December from Deloitte Consulting, available on its homepage, a job advertise- Offi ce Product Management Group. where he served as the business development suggests the company is focused on Wahbe joined Microsoft in 1996 after ment lead. Before that, he acted as the some sort of mobile communications and it acquired Colusa Software Inc., the corporate senior vice president at Infor social networking product. According to the company Wahbe co-founded. According Global Solutions, where he oversaw the ad, Cocomo is seeking a software designer to his executive bio, he’s held several company’s ERP cloud eff orts. • with experience creating UIs for tablet and product development titles at Microsoft, smartphone form factors, particularly for including head of the company’s Apple iOS and Android-based devices. Connected Systems Division, which Gladys Rama is the site editor for RCPmag.com. The ad doesn’t mention Windows Phone encompasses .NET Framework design experience. technologies, Windows < Robert Wahbe Ozzie described Cocomo to The Boston Application Server, BizTalk Globe in an e-mail correspondence, but Server and more. the article provides few details about the As corporate vice startup. Two former Microsoft employees president of Server and may join the Cocomo team, the article Tools Marketing, Wahbe was postulates. Ozzie’s non-compete contract responsible for managing with Microsoft ended last year, according the pricing, branding and to the Globe. advertising for Microsoft Ozzie was Microsoft’s last chief System Center, Visual Studio, software architect, having succeeded Bill Windows Server and SQL Gates in that position. Microsoft CEO Steve Server product lines. Ballmer announced at the time of Ozzie’s Numoto, Wahbe’s retirement that the chief architect position successor, is a 15-year at Microsoft would be eliminated. • Microsoft veteran. Currently, he’s in charge of the business management of the Kurt Mackie is news editor for the 1105 Microsoft Offi ce productivity Brad Wilson > Enterprise Computing Group.

10 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com we’re not just making servers. we’re making

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{Execs } {Piracy } Oracle, IBM Make Key U.K. RETAILER Channel Appointments FIGHTS BACK Oracle poaches longtime HP channel exec, as IBM taps new partner chief. AGAINST MICROSOFT

Organization in 2004 after ACCUSATIONS serving as a director of program Comet says it acted to serve customer and product management in the needs when Microsoft stopped company’s Enterprise Storage supplying recovery discs. and Server business, according Microsoft has fi led suit against U.K.-based to his bio. retailer Comet for allegedly selling counter- LaRocca oversaw the feit Windows Vista and Windows XP system development of HP’s partner recovery CDs. programs, where he directed Microsoft alleges that the counterfeit channel marketing, training and CDs were made in a factory in Hampshire, certifi cation programs and the U.K., and then sold to customers who had PartnerOne channel program. bought Windows-based computers at He played a highly visible role in Comet retail locations. Comet has 248 the HP partner community. stores across the United Kingdom. An HP spokeswoman said Microsoft claimed in a released state- LaRocca left at the end of ment that Comet sold 94,000 counterfeit December but the company CDs. Based on that number, Comet may have hasn’t announced a replacement gained £1.4 million ($2.2 million) in illicit sales for him. revenues, according to calculations in a report Mark Hennessy While HP looks to fi ll a key by the Guardian, which priced the recovery hole in its channel group, arch- disks at £14.99 ($23.40) apiece. The alleged It’s no secret Oracle Corp. is out for blood rival IBM Corp. has named a new leader of infractions took place from March 2008 to from Hewlett-Packard Co. since bringing its partner organization. IBM has named December 2009, according to the story. on deposed CEO Mark Hurd as president. Mark Hennessy general manager of its Comet released its own statement Now it appears Oracle wants to recruit as Business Partner organization. Hennessy, claiming that the recovery disks were made many HP partners as it can. a 32-year veteran of Big Blue, has served “on behalf of its customers” after Microsoft Oracle has poached veteran HP in many key roles at IBM, including CIO stopped providing them. The company’s channel exec Tom LaRocca, a move that and vice president of Global Strategy and legal counsel doesn’t agree that Microsoft’s escalates an already heated battle in the Sales Transformation. intellectual property was infringed. partner ranks of the two companies. The In taking over IBM’s Business Partner “Comet fi rmly believes that it acted in war ignited last year when Oracle hired organization, Hennessy will oversee the very best interests of its customers,” the onetime HP channel chief Adrian Jones a group that services approximately statement reads. “It believes its customers as a senior VP for systems sales in the Asia 120,000 business partners. Among his had been adversely aff ected by the decision Pacifi c region, a move that led to a lawsuit key initiatives will be to help partners gain to stop supplying recovery discs with each between the two companies. footing in key growth areas, such as cloud new Microsoft operating system-based LaRocca joined Oracle last month. computing and business intelligence. computer.” At Oracle, LaRocca will be driving the The move is part of an executive shuffl e David Finn, associate general counsel go-to-market plans and strategy for the that kicked off with the New Year, when for the Microsoft worldwide anti-piracy and Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), he said in Virginia Rometty succeeded longtime anti-counterfeiting eff ort, took an opposite an e-mail to Redmond Channel Partner. IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano. • view. “We expect better from retailers of With the hiring of LaRocca, Oracle has Microsoft products—and our customers nabbed a key architect of HP’s PartnerOne deserve better, too,” Finn said in a prepared program. LaRocca, who spent 12 years Jeff rey Schwartz is executive editor of statement. • at HP, joined its Solution Provider Redmond Channel Partner magazine. —K.M. LEFT: IMAGE COURTESY IMAGE TONY DIBENEDETTO.LEFT: BOTTOM: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/CONDOR36

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* 3 Months Free offer valid for a limited time only, 12 month minimum contract term applies. Set-up fee and other terms and conditions may apply. Visit www.1and1.com for full promotional offer details. Program and pricing speciﬁ cations and availability subject to change without notice. 1&1 and the 1&1 logo are trademarks of 1&1 Internet, all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 1&1 Internet. All rights reserved. RCP COVERFEATURE STORY | MICROSOFT | MICROSOFT ROADMAP ROADMAP M THE2 12 MICROSOFT PRODUCT ROADMAP The star of last year’s product roadmap was Offi ce 365. Microsoft this year looks likely to pivot from the public cloud to the private cloud, while also shipping staples like SQL Server and releasing major betas—and possibly ﬁ nal versions—of blockbusters including Windows 8 tablet, client and server, and Offi ce 15. By Gladys Rama

14 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com icrosoft partners depend heavily on the Microsoft product delivery schedule. Coordinating partner products and services with the release of major Microsoft platform products is essential to a successful partner business. While Microsoft makes release date information public for some products, those clues are scattered across the hundreds of Microsoft Mproduct pages and blogs. Meanwhile, for other important products, Microsoft often is very careful not to promise too much in terms of delivery dates. Enter the Redmond Channel Partner magazine Microsoft Product Roadmap. We collect all the information in one place—scattered Microsoft public statements and blog entries along with educated industry speculation about possible release dates for the products Microsoft is less willing to talk about. The RCP Microsoft Product Roadmap, updated all year on RCPmag.com, is the most comprehensive and up-to-date roadmap for Microsoft products T from Windows and Offi ce to SQL Server and other servers to business-touching consumer products such as Windows Phone.

both tablets and PCs. Many of Microsoft’s partners have expressed excitement over the radical new look of Windows 8, and the new UI’s T WINDOWS 8 similarity to the Microsoft Windows Phone smartphone platform could give the company the advantage of a unifi ed ecosystem with Anticipated release date: appeal to both consumers and enterprise users. Beta expected “late February”; possible However, the success of Windows 8 in the tablet market isn’t close release to manufacturing on x86 and ARM to being a lock. For instance, while Gartner Inc. projects gangbuster between Q3 2012 and early 2013 growth for the overall tablet market through 2015, it expects Windows tablets to comprise less than 11 percent of the worldwide tablet market that year—making it a distant third to the more deeply entrenched Apple iPad and Google Android tablets. Furthermore, a study by Forrester Research Inc. suggests that Microsoft’s late entry into the P “Windows 8,” the code name for Microsoft’s next-generation desktop tablet market has cost it the interest of consumers already. IDC piled on OS that’s currently available as a “developer preview,” had a banner with a report late last year that projected, “Windows 8 will be largely year in 2011, even though it isn’t expected to be released to hardware irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs, and we expect eff ectively no manufacturers until the third quarter of 2012, at the earliest. upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor.” Throughout the fall of 2011, Microsoft stoked the public’s appetite Questions remain over whether Windows 8 tablets on ARM hardware for the new OS through its “Building Windows 8” blog series, where will support legacy desktop apps, originally designed for x86 hardware, members of the Windows 8 development team described the OS in but Microsoft seems to be suggesting that such tablets won’t have dribs and drabs. Early that year, at the January Computer Electronics such backward compatibility. Microsoft announced in early 2011 that Show, Microsoft had revealed that Windows 8 would support ARM the new OS will support ARM-based processor designs developed by hardware, as well as x86 system-on-chip designs. At last summer’s U.K.-based ARM Holdings, but sent less-than-clear messages about Computex and D9 shows, Microsoft treated attendees to Windows legacy app support. It’s expected that x86 apps have to be recompiled 8 demos, but the developer preview version released during the to run on ARM hardware. Probably, such ARM-based tablets will Microsoft BUILD conference in September was many people’s fi rst support only so-called “Metro-style” apps, which are based on HTML 5, close-up look at the OS (see our January feature, “The Hardware XAML and JavaScript. The fi rst Windows 8-based tablets are rumored Behind Windows 8”). During BUILD, Microsoft touted Windows 8 to begin appearing this summer from manufacturers such as Nokia, as a “reimagining” of traditional Windows OSes. Acer Inc. and Lenovo. The Windows 8 touch-centric, tile-based UI is, indeed, a drastic Some of the questions surrounding Windows 8 might be answered departure from the fi le-based interfaces of past Windows desktop in late February, when Microsoft said it plans to release Windows 8 as OSes, refl ecting the company’s focus on developing a single OS for a beta. The timing of the beta release coincides with the launch of the

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 15 RCP COVER STORY | MICROSOFT ROADMAP

Windows App Store, a marketplace for developers to sell Metro-style Windows 8 apps. Microsoft says participation in the app store will cost individual developers $49 per year and companies $99 per year. 3 ‘OFFICE 15’ Microsoft will take a 30 percent cut from apps that generate less than $25,000 in revenue, and 20 percent for apps that generate more Anticipated release date: than $25,000. Q4 2012

2 Microsoft has been talking about the next iteration of its fl agship WINDOWS SERVER 8 offi ce productivity suite, code-named “Offi ce 15,” since late 2009. In late 2010, Gurdeep Singh Pall, then-corporate vice president Anticipated release date: of the Microsoft Offi ce Lync and Speech Group and currently Possible release to manufacturing between the corporate vice president of the Information Platform and Q3 2012 and early 2013 Experience Group, told RCP in a Q&A: “The next major wave for us is the Offi ce 15 wave, which will have the next version of Exchange, the next version of SharePoint, the next version of Offi ce apps and the next version of Lync. The expectation now is, what Microsoft first showed off one feature of its next-generation serv- are the scenarios that can cut across all these diff erent workloads and er, code-named “Windows Server 8,” during the 2011 Microsoft provide even deeper value for the customers. So that is a big piece of 15.” Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Los Angeles last July. Microsoft hasn’t dropped any explicit hints about when a fi nal version However, the server’s fi rst public discussion happened in the of Offi ce 15 will be released, but the Web site WinRumors.com, citing sidelines, not at the WPC keynote. A screenshot was presented “sources familiar with the company’s plans,” reported in November that during a Day 2 WPC session titled, “Realizing Your Opportunity Microsoft was planning to release an Offi ce 15 beta late last month. in the Cloud.” Furthermore, there are several suggestions that the next version of Microsoft provided more details about Windows Server 8 cloud Offi ce will be optimized for the Windows 8 Metro interface. In March hooks during the BUILD conference a few months later, where it and April of last year, leaked images allegedly of Offi ce 15 showed a released a developer preview version for MSDN subscribers. Satya Metro-styled Outlook interface. More directly, in September, Microsoft Nadella, president of the Microsoft Server & Tools Business, called it CEO Steve Ballmer told fi nancial analysts at the BUILD conference “the most cloud-optimized OS” in Microsoft’s stable since Windows that “you ought to expect that we’re rethinking and working hard on Azure. As Jeff rey Snover, lead architect for Windows Server, later what it would mean to do Offi ce Metro style” in response to a question elaborated in a TechNet blog post: “In the past, Windows Server was about Offi ce on Windows 8. a great OS for a server and its devices. Windows Server 8 is a great Besides the new look and feel, Offi ce 15 will reportedly include OS for lots of servers and all the devices connecting them whether at least one other major change: a new application, code-named they are physical or virtual, on-premise or off -premise.” [Emphases “Moorea.” Based on yet more allegedly leaked Offi ce 15 images last Snover’s. —Ed.] April, Mary Jo Foley, the longtime Microsoft watcher and columnist Windows Server 8 supports direct-attached storage (even “just- for RCP sister magazine, Redmond, wrote, “Moorea looks and feels a a-bunch-of-disks” [JBOD] collections) as well as external storage lot like the Offi ce Labs ‘Canvas for OneNote’ app that Microsoft was networks. The standards-based Storage Management Initiative (SMI-S) testing a while back. Canvas for OneNote allows users to navigate, and the new Microsoft Storage Management API (SMAPI) protocols edit and display their OneNote notebooks in new ways.” are both supported in Windows Server 8. Microsoft is putting a heavy emphasis on running the Server Core version of Windows Server 8, with management via Windows PowerShell because it better supports automating tasks. However, Windows Server 8 will also toggle back 4 to a trimmed-down traditional GUI. SYSTEM CENTER 2012 The forthcoming server will also include improvements to the live migration feature, which was fi rst introduced in Windows Server Anticipated release date: 2008 R2. Live migration lets users move virtual machines (VMs) from Early 2012, possibly April, to coincide with the one computer to another with limited service interruption. Likewise, Microsoft Management Summit event improvements to the Server Message Block 2.2 (SMB 2.2) protocol were designed to better ensure availability. Microsoft hasn’t given any details about the Windows Server 8 release timeline, but it shares a common code base with Windows 8. Last March, Microsoft unveiled the next iteration of its System Consequently, it’s possible that the release schedule for the two OSes Center product family. At the time, Microsoft said that fi nal versions might be close or perhaps a few months apart. of most of the System Center 2012 products should be available by

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the end of 2011. However, as of this writing, the products are still Internet Explorer 10 is designed to run on both Windows 8 and its in various test versions. According to Foley, in a conference last predecessor, Windows 7. However, it appears that Windows Vista will September, Nadella publicly pushed back the expected release date not support it, which could be due to Windows Vista being scheduled for System Center 2012 to the “early part of calendar 2012.” to lose “mainstream support” this coming April. System Center 2012 components available as release Building on the HTML5 capabilities in Internet Explorer 9, which candidates (RCs): was released as a fi nal version in early 2011, the latest platform preview • Confi guration Manager for Internet Explorer 10 includes support for text captions in HTML5- • Endpoint Protection encoded video streams, a feature Microsoft calls “track captioning.” (previously called “Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012”) This latest version also features improved rendering speeds. • Virtual Machine Manager Internet Explorer 10 will be touch-enabled on Windows 8. When • Orchestrator running on the Windows 8 classic “desktop” interface, Internet Explorer • Operations Manager 10 will support Silverlight 5, the latest and possibly last version of the The following System Center 2012 products Microsoft framework for developing rich Internet applications. However, are currently in the beta stage: Microsoft said that Internet Explorer 10 on the new Metro interface • App Controller in Windows 8 will not support browser plug-ins, including Silverlight. • Service Manager • Data Protection Manager Microsoft detailed several improvements to some of the System Center products, which are aimed at helping organizations manage the various 6 hardware and software running in their datacenters. For starters, Data SQL SERVER 2012 Protection Manager features better integration with SharePoint, support for de-duplication, and centralized backup and protection capabilities. Anticipated release date: For Operations Manager, the product now integrates with AVIcode First half of 2012 technology, acquired by Microsoft in 2010, which monitors the performance of .NET applications. The new version also features an improved dashboard and pooled management servers. Additionally, Microsoft reduced the product’s reliance on higher-end hardware, The next-generation Microsoft relational database management helping decrease total cost of ownership. system offi cially dropped the “Denali” code name late last year. SQL Orchestrator is an enterprise runbook automation solution based on Server 2012, as it’s now known, is currently available as an RC. It’s technology that Microsoft acquired with its 2009 purchase of Opalis expected to become generally available during the fi rst half of 2012 Software. The new solution now includes a runbook designer to help in three versions: Enterprise, Business Intelligence and Standard. with automating IT procedures, such as coordinating outside services. Microsoft has lately touted a feature in SQL Server 2012 called Virtual Machine Manager got its fair share of enhancements, as well. “Always On,” which is the Microsoft branding for disaster recovery In addition to working with Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere and high-availability (HA) features in SQL Server. Always On “allows 4.1, the product now supports Citrix XenServer. Virtual Machine customers to experience multiple, readable secondaries for distributed Manager also features what Microsoft calls “dynamic optimization,” scale of reporting and backup workloads and support for FileTable which lets users assign workloads to VMs on an as-needed basis. and FILESTREAM, which brings fi rst-class HA to complex data types,” according to Microsoft. Another new feature is the ability to create so-called “availability groups,” or groups of databases to which users can assign failovers to move. Other new features include enhancements to the browser-based 5 INTERNET EXLPORER 10 business intelligence graphing feature called Power View and improved private-cloud multitenancy management capabilities. Anticipated release date: Also late last year, Microsoft outlined the SQL Server 2012 licensing Between Q3 2012 and early 2013 plan, which, in typical Microsoft fashion, is somewhat convoluted. As RCP’s Kurt Mackie wrote, “The new SQL Server 2012 licensing model is based on an organization’s computing power, number of users and use of virtualization. Beyond that, the devil lurks in the details.” The next version of the Microsoft Web browser is currently on its The biggest licensing change is the switch from counting processors fourth platform preview version (the third platform preview was to counting cores, with four cores per processor being the minimum included in the Windows 8 developer preview released at BUILD). licensing basis. Organizations running SQL Server 2012 with virtualiza- Following Microsoft’s tendency to tie its browser releases with tion can either license VMs based on core licenses, or they can do so desktop OS releases, the fi nal version of Internet Explorer 10 is based on server plus CALs. Only organizations running the Enterprise expected to ship with Windows 8, sometime between the third edition with Software Assurance are eligible for the maximum possible quarter of 2012 and early 2013. virtualization (that is, a limitless number of VMs).

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7 KINECT FOR WINDOWS 9 DYNAMICS ERP ONLINE

Anticipated release date: Anticipated release date for “NAV 7”: February 1, 2012 September or October 2012

Kinect, the Xbox gaming console add-on for motion-tracking Microsoft kicked off last year’s Convergence conference in and voice control, reached a landmark in March last year when April with an announcement that, to many, seemed a long time it became the fastest-selling consumer electronics product in coming: The company’s entire Dynamics portfolio will eventually history, according to the Guinness Book of Records. become available as cloud-based services running on Windows In November, on the heels of releasing the second beta of the Kinect Azure. The ERP products will follow the example of Dynamics software development kit (SDK), Microsoft announced that it will CRM Online, which in the 2011 edition shipped slightly ahead of launch the Kinect for Windows commercial program for developers its twin on-premises version. during the early part of 2012. Microsoft also later confi rmed that it’s The fi rst of the ERP products to launch with a cloud version will working on Windows-specifi c Kinect hardware. During his Consumer be Dynamics NAV, code-named “NAV 7.” Microsoft has said that Electronics Show keynote on Jan. 9, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Windows Azure-based NAV will be released in September or October announced that the availability date for Kinect for Windows would 2012. be Feb. 1. The Windows-specifi c hardware is designed to accurately motion- track objects as close as 50 centimeters away. Additionally, a new “Near Mode” feature will open the door to applications designed for OFFICE 365 close-up scenarios. 10 Anticipated update schedule: ‘Almost weekly’

8 WINDOWS PHONE ‘TANGO’ AND ‘APOLLO’ Office 365, the Microsoft cloud-based productivity suite, launched only last summer, succeeding the earlier Microsoft Business Anticipated release date: Productivity Online Suite off erings. Meanwhile, the company Q2 and Q4 2012 has been rolling out Offi ce 365 updates almost continuously since September. In a January post on the Offi ce 365 blog, Loryan Strant, an Offi ce 365 Most Valuable Professional, noted that “we’re now Last year was a rough one for the Microsoft Windows Phone plat- seeing updates and new features being implemented almost on form, which went from an already-low market share to an even a weekly basis.” Microsoft hasn’t given any indications about lower one. The “Mango” update, released in October, was gener- when the next major update will be, although Strant did, adding, ally an improvement, but Microsoft still closed 2011 languishing “There’s also a few other improvements in the works and beta at or near the bottom of the smartphone market standings. programs which I’m prohibited from disclosing.” This past December, an allegedly leaked Windows Phone roadmap The ﬁ rst major update rollout to Offi ce 365 was released just this that was posted on the site WMPoweruser.com suggests that there past November. Notable changes included the addition of Business are two Windows Phone updates coming down the pipeline this year. Connectivity Services in SharePoint Online, support for Windows The ﬁ rst, code-named “Tango,” appears to be scheduled for Q2 2012 Phone 7.5 in SharePoint Online, support for Lync for Mac and the Mac and is targeted at lower-cost devices. The second update, code-named OS X Lion, and the ability for administrators to reset their passwords “Apollo” and scheduled for Q4, appears to be more substantial and is by e-mail or SMS text message. • aimed at higher end devices. Microsoft has remained mum about both updates. At any rate, there have been rumblings of an update named Tango since last summer Gladys Rama is editor of RCPmag.com. Kurt Mackie contributed to and of a late-2012 Apollo update since December 2010. this report.

20 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com RCP FEATURE | MOBILE LYNC Partner Review Microsoft L Y N C 2 0 1 0 App on Windows Phone

A Lync implementation partner puts the hotly anticipated Microsoft mobile app through its paces on his Windows Phone. The verdict? A solid ﬁ rst off ering with a lot of room for feature improvement. By Benjamin Tosado

he enterprise technology In addition to mobility becoming a one of Microsoft’s landscape is becoming demand in the enterprise, the number go-to partners for more and more mobile of options in terms of mobile devices is planning, deploy- by the day. Desktop growing. There are a plethora of hardware ing, supporting computers have given way and software platforms competing for the and integrating to laptops, and laptops information worker’s mobility experience, Lync into other partly to slates. Mobile and IT organizations are being asked to communications devices are expected to be securely provide access to applications and software systems, my organization able to provide access to on Apple iPhones, Google Android-based gets to hear customer feedback about enterprise applications including video devices, RIM BlackBerry phones and Lync constantly. conferencing, telephony, e-mail, business Windows Phone-based devices. One of the biggest criticisms to date: intelligence and others. I had lunch with With all of this demand for secure, cross- a poor mobile device story. Microsoft has a customer who told me that he was platform enterprise mobility, software addressed this with its recent release of removing a barely deployed solution from developers are becoming more focused on the mobile phone clients for several smart- his environment because his CIO and mobility experience their solutions provide. phone platforms. iOS-, Android- and others had complained that they couldn’t The real-time Microsoft communications Windows Phone-based devices all have access it from their mobile devices. product, Lync 2010, is no exception. As native Lync clients now.

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 21 RCP FEATURE | MOBILE LYNC

Lync Calling Lync Card Optionally entering the mobile number of Presence information and personal the Windows Phone allows for simultane- notes are easy to manage from within ous ring with the Lync client. the phone interface.

INSTALLATION On the ﬁ rst launch after installation, the call forwarding to automatically turn on I installed the Windows Phone client on user signs in using their SIP URI (often the and off during diff erent times of day. my Samsung Focus and tested it for about same as the e-mail address) and password, a week after Microsoft released the app on which is the same as the PC Lync client. PRESENCE Dec. 11. The client for Windows Phone is a Other capabilities of the client include 2MB, free download from the Marketplace TAKING CALLS access to the user’s Lync contact list, Hub on the phone. Once signed in, the user has the option to visibility of presence information for enter his mobile number for simultaneous contacts, and a contact list search. It’s easy for the user to manipulate presence One of the biggest customer criticisms of Lync to information and change the personal note date: a poor mobile device story. Microsoft has (that’s displayed for other Lync users) from within the mobile experience, as well. addressed this with its recent release of mobile phone clients for several mobile phone platforms. REACHING OUT Using the client to communicate with colleagues is straightforward. The client GETTING STARTED ring with the Lync client. This is a helpful has IM capabilities and can generate a new Once installed, Lync 2010 appears in the feature that rings the mobile phone e-mail message from the contact screen. phone’s main list of apps, along with all whenever a call is received by the user’s There’s also a call feature that allows the other Windows Phone apps. From there, Lync client. It is even more helpful that user to call a contact or other phone number the user can pin Lync to the phone’s Start/ call forwarding settings can be manipu- using Lync. When a call is placed using this home screen as a Live Tile for quick access lated in the mobile client later to turn this feature, Lync sets up a space on the server and to view alerts for incoming messages simultaneous ring feature on and off , to and then dials the mobile number where right from that Tile on the Start screen. forward calls to another number, or to set the call was placed as well as the number

22 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com Lync Contacts Lync Messaging The app provides straightforward A running history of conversations is and clean presence information built into the interface. about colleagues.

that was dialed. This allows users to make an instant message (IM) comes in, the text contact interfaces on the phone don’t calls without exposing their mobile phone is fl ashed in an alert bar at the top of the expose presence information, so a user numbers, even though the current client phone as with a text, and the Live Tile shows is forced to jump back and forth between isn’t VoIP-capable. There’s also a running how many IM conversations are waiting. the Lync interface and other applications history of conversations built in to the UI. on the phone. In addition to this slightly Notifi cations on the phone are similar MEETINGS disjointed user experience, the Lync mobile to those of text messages or e-mails. When One of the best features that the new Lync client lacks Web and video conferencing client off ers is the click-to-join-meeting capabilities, which are apparently on the feature. When the user clicks on the link roadmap for future releases. to join a Lync meeting, the client contacts All in all, this mobile client is a good LYNC 2010 APP the server and has it dial the mobile phone fi rst step toward making Lync available to FOR WINDOWS where the link was clicked. By just picking the mobile enterprise. As the client and up the call from the server, the user is the Windows Phone evolve, I’m sure that PHONE SUMMARY automatically placed in the meeting. integration into the rest of the phone’s THE GOOD: While this fi rst go at a mobile client features will be coming and that will make • Simultaneous ring has some good features, there’s still the experience that much better. • Good call forwarding options a lot missing. One of the greatest • Easy control of presence info benefi ts that Microsoft Lync has from a • Place calls without exposing mobile number PC perspective is integration with other Benjamin Tosado is an owner and vice • Elegant click-to-join-meeting feature Microsoft applications. Presence and president of business development at Conquest click-to-communicate capabilities are Technology Services (conquest247.com), a THE BAD: available across the Microsoft Offi ce suite. Miami-based Microsoft Partner company and • Isn’t VoIP-capable This type of integration is still absent from winner of the Microsoft 2011 Southeast Voice • Microsoft Offi ce integration lacking the mobile experience. The e-mail and Partner of the Year Award. • No Web conferencing capabilities • No video conferencing capabilities RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 23 RCP FEATURE | CLOUD

As SMBs adopt cloud solutions, how can partners continue to provide value-added services to those organizations? Innovative partners are ﬁ nding ways to “package” services to accompany cloud-based changes in both technology and buyer attitudes. By Barb Levisay

Across the channel, partners are evaluating options to adapt term view of revenue/cost models than with traditional services. their service models to take advantage of new opportunities in • The transition to a recurring revenue model is a process, not an event. the cloud. While some of the emerging service models are subtle— • Companies with recurring revenue enjoy higher valuation that can new packaging for traditional services—some are profound and be leveraged to fuel growth. will have lasting eff ects on the way partners serve their clients. • Cloud opportunities are just emerging, so companies have to be We talked to three very diff erent partners who are taking bold ﬂ exible and pay close attention to customer feedback. steps to add service models that will help them stay relevant in the The common thread through all conversations is that these partners future. The themes that emerged from those conversations include: are trying to get in front of the cloud opportunity, sometimes through • As partners evaluate cloud opportunities, they have to take a longer- trial and error. They’re willing to take risks to build for the future.

24 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com UP THE

DEFINING SERVICESCLOU CLIENTS WANT a Cloud Champion, Sovran has added clients and steadilyD made Serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, Sovran Inc. is an IT headway into the cloud. services, managed services provider (MSP) and training partner Taking a step further into the cloud, Sovran is rolling out an with two gold and three silver competencies. Patrick Gibson, vice off ering, tentatively branded “Totally Intune” that will include a president of Sales and Marketing, describes Sovran MSP services managed services package including InTune, Offi ce 365 and a light as a “boutique” off ering with the full range of IT management help desk service. The cloud-based managed services package will services tailored to ﬁ t individual business needs. include planning and migration of current on-premises systems and Sovran was an early adopter of the Offi ce 365 opportunity, working continuing help desk support after the transition.

SHUTTERSTOCK closely with Microsoft to build an eff ective market approach. As Adding value from the start, Sovran will provide free consultation

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 25 RCP FEATURE | CLOUD

to help companies build their Offi ce 365 migration strategy. That customers out of state, expanding without having to invest in offi ces and service will help clients answer questions such as: What kind of personnel. Building recurring revenue beyond the regional boundaries authentication do they want? How should they manage their current of the twin cities presents an attractive growth opportunity to Sovran. SharePoint sites? Sovran is targeting customers who want guidance and ongoing support as they move to the cloud. Services will be off ered THE TRANSITION TO RECURRING REVENUE in a menu format, where customers can pick what they want, from Because Microsoft hasn’t yet released a Software as a Service migration to training. version of the small to midsize business (SMB)-focused Dynamics Setting pricing on a new business model is always tricky and Sovran ERP solutions, partners are getting creative to fi ll the gap. McLean, is approaching the challenge carefully. “We have to make sure that the Va.-based SSi Consulting, a gold competency Dynamics ERP contracts that we put together are commercially viable. With Offi ce partner, has added a services-included option for their customers 365, the focus has to be on the annuity, since there’s no big revenue implementing a hosted Dynamics GP or Dynamics SL system. hit at the beginning,” Gibson says. While not a true cloud application service package, the recurring Based on the company’s experience to date, Gibson sees the target revenue approach to the sale instead of the traditional up-front market as small businesses with fi ve to 125 users. The early adopters of transaction is a unique approach for a Dynamics ERP partner. cloud services have been the “entrepreneurial” companies, including Bill Aiton, president of SSi Consulting, says there were two compo- professional services companies such as marketing agencies. Companies nents to consider when building this package. The fi rst includes the that are contractors themselves are more likely to be comfortable with software licenses, hardware and hosting services that are commonly the notion of contracting IT services and moving to the cloud. off ered by partners and hosting companies for a fi xed monthly fee. Sovran’s traditional client base was heavily focused on the fi nancial Because two-thirds of the average ERP implementation cost comes and legal industries, but those industries are more cautious about in the form of services, the fi rst component only covers one-third of adopting the cloud. “They’re interested in the cloud, but so far, haven’t the customer’s investment. taken the plunge,” notes Gibson. “Traditionally, customers have had to pay for two-thirds of the total Gibson plans an entirely diff erent sales and marketing approach project cost over the fi rst three to six months, depending on how big for Totally Intune than Sovran’s traditional regional approach. To the project is,” Aiton says. “To help businesses preserve cash and reach the volume of clients that makes the business strategy work, move to a monthly aff ordable number, we decided to take the large Sovran needs to expand the market past the twin cities region. “We’re implementation services piece, include basic ongoing support of their hiring lead-generation specialists supported by a national marketing system and let them pay over a three-year term. On a typical project campaign to market the package around the country,” Gibson says. of $75K, with $25K software and $50K services, instead of paying “With this package we never have to go on site.” all that up front they pay $3,000 per month over three years. That includes the hardware in a nice, secure datacenter—so they really are getting more than with the old on-premises system.” SSi Consulting is fi nding that companies that wouldn’t be able to aff ord a $75,000 investment can aff ord the $3,000 per month. Those companies see the value in using their cash for other purposes that There are no face-to-face will build the business. meetings, so the new breed “This is not a fi nancing,” Aiton points out. “We’re absorbing some of of sales person must be comfortable the up-front costs and giving them a unique package that’s diff erent driving the process quickly, without than if they did a traditional implementation. The main goal is to say ever meeting the customer. you can have a low monthly cost that delivers a high-end solution to meet your current needs and support future growth. There will be an increase in costs when they add users, but it’s not dramatic.” Many ERP partners worry about how to pay for their consultant’s time The sales team that Gibson is building to support this eff ort has an on the initial implementation when they’ll be collecting that investment entirely diff erent skill set than the traditional IT salesperson. There are no from the client over the three-year contract. Aiton says it’s all about the face-to-face meetings, so the new breed of sales person must be comfort- transition and your time frame, “If we transition 10 to 20 percent of our able driving the process quickly, without ever meeting the customer. business to this new model each year, then that’s something that we Compensation for sales people in a recurring revenue model is also can absorb. With the traditional implementation we would get paid for a challenge. Gibson is practical about sales people needing immediate services over six months, but now we get paid over 24 months. If you reward. “You can’t pay them $15 bucks every month, it just doesn’t look at it over a one-year time frame you’re cash-short, but if you look work. You have to pay them up front—paying out ahead of money that at it over a three-year time frame, you’re fi ne. And, you’ve provided we get later. So there is some early risk,” says Gibson. “The company additional services that you wouldn’t have [before].” is upside down for a little while, but gets paid as long as you’re doing In addition to the gradual transition to the recurring revenue model, a good job. And, as long as Microsoft does a good job.” continuing services is a part of the SSi long-term strategy. Aiton advises Gibson sees this cloud strategy as a way for Sovran to expand the partners to have an aggressive program to resell the customer on the business by building on the services that they know best. Through ongoing services after the initial contract is over. Because the client the national sales and marketing program, Sovran hopes to pick up is used to the monthly fee it will be an easier sell to just transition the

26 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com Helping Your Business THRIVE

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0510rcp_RCPSubAd_final.indd 1 4/9/10 8:52 AM RCP FEATURE | CLOUD monthly payment model to support ongoing services. Additional be available through a partner program providing a powerful tool for services, including upgrades and additional solution implementations MSPs and other partners to migrate legacy customer data to Offi ce like SharePoint, can extend the relationship with the client. 365. The second edition is targeted to the IT do-it-yourselfer and is Another worry voiced by ERP partners is the idea of a fi xed-fee available through the Azure store. The OnDemand Migration for Email ERP implementation. Setting a fi xed monthly fee for implementation Self-Service Edition enables end users to self-serve and migrate their services requires a solid project scope, which is challenging—some data with very little eff ort or knowledge of IT functionality. While Quest would say impossible—in new ERP implementations. Aiton acknowl- has historically had an online store where customers can purchase edges the concern saying, “You have to turn it around and say to directly, the company recently revamped the site shop.quest.com the client, ‘These are the services that we’re going to deliver for this to build on the momentum of the expanding direct-sales business. monthly number. If you want to do something else, then we can do As Scott Lang, director of product marketing for Quest Migration that for $250-plus a month.’ The project has to be managed well.” Windows management, observed, “We want to reduce the amount of In some ways Aiton says it has been easier to manage scope creep friction that the SMB buyers face when coming to Quest.com to fi nd with hosted clients than with traditional fi xed-fee jobs. When you present a change order to the client as a monthly fee, it’s a little less shocking than a single-payment change order. Aiton views this change as inevitable instead of revolutionary. SSi serves the government contractor space, where Deltek Inc. is a common competitor for ERP projects. On a recent opportunity SSi thought it was Setting a fi xed monthly fee off ering something unique with the monthly pricing. It turned out that for implementation services requires Deltek was not only off ering the same type of program but the company a solid project scope, which is was also sharpening its pencil to make it very attractive to the prospect. challenging—some would say impossible Aiton recalls, “We were trying to fi gure out how to off er a fi xed fee —in new ERP implementations. for $30K and Deltek was off ering something like $17K. We’re behind the curve and we’re scrambling to catch up. There are attractive off ers out there and there is pressure.” the solution they’re looking for. It’s an evolving thing. We’re opening ADAPTABILITY TO RECOGNIZE AND CAPITALIZE up that online channel.” ON CHANGING BUSINESS MODELS At the heart of the change is the evolving desire of the customer Every size partner organization is facing changes associated with to purchase directly and download what they need with no service the cloud. While some of those changes come in the form of new support. Defi nitely not the traditional sales model for Quest but clearly services to existing target customers, some create whole new an opportunity and perhaps a necessity to serve cloud customers. markets. Opportunity can come from unexpected places and orga- “It’s an old adage, but fl exibility rules. You have to be available to nizations have to be agile enough to recognize them and respond. the customer the way they want to buy, when they want to buy,” says Quest Software Inc., two-time winner of the Microsoft Global ISV Lang. “It’s a consumer-centric mentality that business-to-business Partner of the Year award, serves 100,000 customers including 87 fi rms need to grab hold of more strongly.” percent of the Fortune 500. Known for its state-of-the-art migration The online fulfi llment part of Quest’s business is growing. “It’s been tools, Quest has historically focused on the enterprise market. The a record year for us in terms of the transactions and the bookings from cloud is adding a new dimension to the Quest customer base as they the online store—by orders of magnitude,” Lang says. “It’s refl ective help partners and SMBs make the move to the cloud. of customer demand as well as the technology underpinnings. We’ve “Delivering the desktop as a service is a very new market, even spent a lot of money and a lot of time to rearchitect our Web site so for Microsoft. It’s largely the SMBs that are starting to consume the that it’s easier for our customers to make that decision. We’re trying deliverables in that market so we’re seeing a lot of activity occurring to accommodate as many channels as possible.” through the larger MSPs and telcos developing and delivering these services,” says Ben Sheffi eld, channel sales manager for Quest User TAKE A LONGERTERM PERSPECTIVE Workspace Management Alliances with Microsoft. “It’s a big area of TO BUILD FOR THE FUTURE growth and maturation in our relationship with Microsoft.” These three partners are taking different approaches to the Quest is working hand-in-hand with Microsoft to provide the changes that the cloud presents, but they share the willingness Hyper-V cloud platform for MSPs and hosting partners to replace to invest and test. While Microsoft is providing plenty of guidance VMware Inc. The Quest solutions work with Hyper-V to reduce the and advice for partners building services to support the cloud, complexity associated with building, provisioning, and managing there is no one path to guaranteed success. Partners have to look virtual desktops and applications. at their strengths and fi gure out how to make those assets work to Leveraging their migration expertise in the cloud, Quest recently their advantage in a changing market. • released OnDemand Migration for Email. Developed on Windows Azure, the application migrates data from Gmail or on-premises Exchange to Offi ce 365. Quest released two versions of the product Barb Levisay owns Marketing for Partners, a marketing and service with very diff erent markets in mind. The Administrator Edition will delivery leadership fi rm for Microsoft partners.

28 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com THE CHANGING CHANNEL BY HOWARD M. COHEN

VISIT RCPMAG.COM FOR COHEN’S TAKE ON WHETHER THE MICROSOFT PARTNER NETWORK STILL QUALIFIES AS A CHANNEL AT ALL Size Matters RCPMAG.COM Clearly Microsoft has decided that it wants Part of the reason was that the MPN to focus on larger partners and spend less signifi cantly changed the rules to accom- managing thousands of smaller ones. modate a major shift in focus. Microsoft no Smaller partners need to take a good hard longer wanted to level a partner organization as Certifi ed or Gold Certifi ed. Instead, look at their business and revisit their they wanted to focus on and recognize the partnering strategy. investments they had made in achieving competency in specifi c Microsoft technolo- et’s start by agreeing that assigned to focus on me as a partner, so gies. At the same time Microsoft increased Microsoft is a company that I seldom knew exactly who to go to in the investment required to achieve the is in business to make money, order to get various things done. As a highest level of competency by requiring and has the right to decide result, I annoyed a lot of Microsoft people that each engineer in a partner’s employ what’s best for itself and its unnecessarily, and it often took way too could only qualify them for one gold stakeholders.L long to get simple things accomplished, competency, meaning that the partner had Many partners who have grown like reserving a room for a seminar at the to employ at least four engineers for each up with Microsoft over the past three Microsoft New York offi ce. gold competency in which they wanted to decades can easily forget that a partner While I’m certain that other VAR distinguish themselves. Microsoft called ecosystem is still not a country and executives were giving her similar this “raising the bar.” Many partners called certainly not a democratic one where feedback, I was nonetheless impressed it much nastier things. decisions are ostensibly made for when Allison introduced the Partner Perhaps no group of Microsoft partners the good of all. It might have its own Account Manager (PAM), and I was really was aff ected as seriously as the small constantly shifting and sometimes thrilled to meet mine and start moving Dynamics partners. Many of these were frightening culture, but there is no reason much faster. For eight years after that I very small companies of just a few people for partners or anyone else to expect that worked closely with a succession of PAMs, with excellent accounting and technical Microsoft will put anyone’s interests the best of whom took the last word in skills who had helped build the Dynamics ahead of its own. We’ve seen at least their title, “Manager,” seriously and really channel over the years. Now, suddenly, two major strategic shifts in Microsoft’s helped manage our company to success. many of them no longer employed relationship with partners in the past enough people to remain at a gold level. decade that illustrate this. The Microsoft Partner Network Shift This might not have been as severe a In 2009 Microsoft announced the problem except that, unlike the classic Partner Account Manager Creation replacement for Allison Watson’s infrastructure partners who derive the It was 10 years ago when Allison Watson Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP), overwhelming majority of their profi ts became corporate vice president of the which is now called the Microsoft Partner from the services they provide, Dynamics Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group. Network (MPN). Few partners took the partners depend far more upon the profi t During the early part of her tenure in that time to read the guide that was published, that comes from license sales. role I had the opportunity to sit down and but those who did were immediately up When I brought this concern to David talk with her. At that time I was executive in arms, deeply concerned about the Willis, corporate vice president for the vice president at one of Microsoft’s changes. Many said, at that time, that U.S. Dynamics Business at Microsoft, premier New York-based partners and it was obvious that Microsoft was just he immediately assigned members of Allison had come to ask what Microsoft listening to their largest partners and his management team to work with could do to make it easier for partners to didn’t seem concerned about the impact Dynamics partners from the northeast do business with them. on smaller ones. continued, next page I explained that I was lonely when it came to Microsoft. I had nobody to talk Next Time: The Changing Role of IT Sales to. There was no one person who was ILLUSTRATION BY JILLIAN SCHNARE

RCPmag.com FEBRUARY 2012 Redmond Channel Partner 29 MARKETING MATTERS BY BARB LEVISAY CHECK OUT LEVISAY’S WEEKLY BLOG ON chapters of the International Association Take Content RCPMAG.COM—MARKETING of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) MATTERS—FOR THREE on fi nding a solution that would enable OTHER ENTRIES FROM Ideas from THIS ONLINE SERIES ON those partners to remain whole. Some MICROSOFT READY-TO-GO of the smaller Dynamics partners were CAMPAIGNS trying to band together to combine their Microsoft resources, but the business models they RCPMAG.COM chose were unacceptable to Microsoft. Campaigns David Willis’ team members worked tire- lessly to try to identify models that would satisfy both Microsoft and the partners. ou’ve sent out a companywide other products up front. By initiating e-mail requesting content and the discussion, your customers will Enter the Master VAR article ideas for your monthly appreciate your willingness to bring Ultimately, the eff ort resulted in newsletter, and ... crickets. up the “other guys.” The content in the Microsoft’s suggestion of a “franchise Don’t worry. There’s a ton of Ready-to-Go competitive guides gives model” that was resoundingly rejected Ycontent that you can use on Microsoft’s you the material to present the Microsoft by the partners. This was followed by benefi t perspective succinctly. the Master VAR model, which is now in The Ready-To-Go place. Redmond Channel Partner recently telesales guides White Papers and Reports reported on the eff orts of one group, might be the In response to requests from Katalys Partners, that was still trying to single best partner marketers, Microsoft build a model that wouldn’t compromise place to fi nd is increasing the number of the smaller partners’ relationships with material that’s current white papers and reports their clients while still remaining within cut-and-paste- available on Ready-to-Go. the boundaries set by Microsoft. Microsoft ready for your For your newsletter article, borrow shut down their Solution Provider newsletter. text from the Executive Summary Agreement, forcing them to fi nd homes to tell your reader what’s in the for their near 70 members, most of them Ready-to-Go Web site. It might not be whitepaper and why they should be winding up with Master VARs. Again, this labeled “newsletter content” but it’s there. interested. is not a complaint about Microsoft chang- However, while the new and improved Post the white paper to your Web site or ing the rules to suit its own needs. The Ready-to-Go marketing tools site really landing page and include the link in the company has an absolute right, in fact, an is a huge improvement over the previous article. (In my opinion, you should not obligation to its stakeholders to do just that. site, it can still be a little overwhelming if require them to fi ll out a form to download Clearly it has decided that it wants to focus you don’t use it regularly. Here are some the document, but that is a whole other on larger partners and spend less managing tips to help you fi nd the best content. topic in itself.) If you use Constant Contact thousands of smaller ones. From a business or another e-mail marketing service, you perspective, that’s a sensible decision. Telesales Guides will be able to see who clicked the link to Ultimately, what readers should take The telesales guides might be the download the white paper. away from this column is that the channel single best place to fi nd material that’s So, when you’re feeling all alone looking is once again changing. Large manufacturers cut-and-paste-ready for your newsletter. A at that blank document that needs to and software providers now prefer larger search on “telesales” turned up 38 results become an interesting newsletter, go to partners. Smaller partners need to take on subjects from Offi ce 365 to Lync to Ready-to-Go. Your marketing friends at a good hard look at their business and Dynamics. Some include FAQ sections Microsoft are there to help you out. revisit their partnering strategy. The that are perfect for a newsletter article or Have you found creative ways to use smartest partners invest time in creating blog post. Because they’re written from Ready-to-Go content? Send me an e-mail at and cultivating personal relationships that a benefi ts-positioning perspective, all of [email protected] . • enable them to weather storms like this. them have messaging that you can easily How is your Microsoft partnership? What transform into a story. have you done lately to shore it up? E-mail Barb Levisay owns Marketing for Partners, a me at [email protected]. • Competitive Guides marketing and service delivery leadership Use the competitive guides to answer fi rm for Microsoft Dynamics, SharePoint and your customer’s questions about ISV partners. Howard M. Cohen is a consultant to IT vendors and channel partner companies and a former board member of the U.S. chapter of the IAMCP. Find a New Marketing Matters Entry Online Every Thursday

30 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com TECHMENTOR 2012 AUGUST 20-24 MICROSOFT HQ, Powered by Microsoft TechNet REDMOND, WA

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Produced By: Supported By: CHANNELING THE CLOUD BY JEFFREY SCHWARTZ

sively building out its public cloud portfolio Microsoft Preps and expanding its global datacenters. A key step toward that end for Microsoft will be the release of the Windows Azure Windows Azure for Virtual Machine Role, or VM Role. It has been in beta for sometime and while it is believed it will be available shortly, Battle with Amazon Microsoft isn’t saying. The VM Role will let users run Windows Server 2008 R2 in Windows Azure, simplifying the in the Cloud task of moving on-premises apps to the cloud. While the VM Role will let users control the OS image, developers will be responsible for making sure the image is up-to-date, according to Microsoft. The VM Role doesn’t support stateful apps such as SharePoint, SQL Server and others, Microsoft warns. Likewise, domain controllers—notably Active Directory—won’t work in a VM Role. In a step to address that, blogger Mary Jo Foley, in her Redmond magazine column this month, reports she’s hearing that Microsoft plans to release for testing a persistent VM that will allow customers wo years have passed since the customers are embracing the cloud to run not only Windows Servers but release of the Microsoft Windows service. But the Windows Azure SharePoint and SQL Server on the Azure platform, yet it appears platform, as it exists today, appeals to Windows Azure platform. It will also let the cloud service has achieved diff erent customers than Amazon’s EC2 customers run Linux instances. only marginal commercial Tsuccess so far. But when Microsoft delivers But for Microsoft to gain more share, it seems to know some anticipated new features this year, that Windows Azure must off er more than it does Windows Azure should appeal to a broader base of customers and partners. today or risk being marginalized by Amazon, which While Microsoft hasn’t revealed is aggressively building out its public cloud portfolio how much revenue it’s taking in from Windows Azure and SQL Azure, it’s and expanding its global datacenters. believed that cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Rackspace Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Microsoft offi cials wouldn’t conﬁ rm Hosting are taking in much more. Maintaining instances on Amazon these reports but partners I’ve spoken Amazon in particular is the undisputed versus Windows Azure is more chal- with have heard about these plans and a cloud leader and while it also doesn’t break lenging and time-consuming, explains boatload of other new features coming to out revenues for its services, analysts are Microsoft Windows Azure partner Ira the Windows Azure platform that promise predicting the online retailer will draw Bell, COO of Nimbo, a cloud computing to more seamlessly meld on-premises- $1 billion this year from cloud hosting. services provider based in New York. based datacenters with the public cloud. Microsoft has its share of Windows But for Microsoft to gain more share, it This suggests Microsoft is poised to Azure case studies including Boeing, seems to know that Windows Azure must take on Amazon and—if it executes General Mills, Lockheed Martin, off er more than it does today or risk being properly—extend its share of the Travelocity and Xerox and insists marginalized by Amazon, which is aggres- still-nascent public cloud market. •

Check out his Schwartz cloud report blog at RCPmag.com/CloudReport

Jeff rey Schwartz is RCP’s executive editor. SHUTTERSTOCK

32 Redmond Channel Partner FEBRUARY 2012 RCPmag.com

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