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    <title>Ian Hameroff | Exchange Partner Community</title>
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    <description>Group Product Manager for Microsoft Exchange Partner Marketing team, Technologist, Gadget Geek, and Seattle Sounders FC fan(atic).</description>
    <lastBuildDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:30:05 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>It’s Alive! BlackBerry for Support for Office 365 Goes GA</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/its-alive-blackberry-for-support-for-office-365-goes-ga</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:09:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
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      <description><![CDATA[A short while back, in October 2011, I shared an update on a new cloud service that RIM had launched...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A short while back, in October 2011, I shared an update on a new cloud service that <a href="http://www.rim.com">RIM</a> had launched to provide BlackBerry support for Office 365.</p>  <p>To avoid you having to step into the <a href="http://www.archive.org/web/web.php">Wayback Machine</a>, here’s that post: <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/10/25/hot-off-the-presses-blackberry-support-for-office-365-in-beta.aspx">Hot Off the Presses: BlackBerry Support for Office 365 in Beta</a></p>  <p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/3175.overview_row1_bg_2786BDC4.jpg" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/3175.overview_5F00_row1_5F00_bg_5F00_2786BDC4.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="overview_row1_bg" border="0" alt="overview_row1_bg" align="left" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/1106.overview_row1_bg_thumb_06FF7E12.jpg" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/1106.overview_5F00_row1_5F00_bg_5F00_thumb_5F00_06FF7E12.jpg" width="273" height="343" /></a>Well, this morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, our friends in <a href="http://binged.it/wi7plf">Waterloo</a> <a href="http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=5359">announced the official launch</a> of their <a href="http://www.blackberry.com/cloudservices">BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365</a>.</p>  <p>Woo-hoo!</p>  <p>So, what does this mean for you?</p>  <p>One may consider this a bit of a cheat, but I’ve decided to just cut and paste from my previous posting on the subject (with some tweaks) what you can/should do now that the service is generally available:</p>  <p><em>As for your <strong>call to action</strong>, it’s pretty simple: If you have customers evaluating Office 365 (or Exchange Online) and seeking guidance around how BlackBerry fits into our mobility story, just point them to </em><a href="http://www.blackberry.com/cloudservices"><em>http://www.blackberry.com/cloudservices</em></a><em> to learn more about BBCS. </em></p>  <p><em>You can even let them </em><em><a href="http://us.blackberry.com/business/software/cloudservices/getting-started.jsp">kick the tires</a></em><em> (and I encourage you to do the same) by </em><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/free-office365-trial.aspx"><em>signing up for an Office 365 trial</em></a><em> (NOTE: This needs to be an Enterprise Plan Microsoft Office 365 Trial (<strong><u>Plan E3</u></strong>)) and enabling the service under “Setting up email on mobile phones” in the Admin console (see right for a screenshot from my tenant).</em></p>  <p>It’s really that simple to drive a dialogue with your customers who want both Office 365 and support for their BlackBerry devices.</p>  <p>I’d also recommend you take a look at some of these other links for additional details/conversation starters:</p>  <ul>   <li><a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/archive/2012/01/30/update-on-blackberry-business-cloud-services-for-microsoft-office-365.aspx">Update on BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365</a> via the <a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/default.aspx">Office 365 blog</a></li>    <li><a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/b/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2012/01/30/rim-launches-blackberry-business-cloud-services-for-microsoft-office-365.aspx">RIM Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365</a> courtesy of the <a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/b/office_365_technical_blog/default.aspx">Office 365 Technical blog</a></li>    <li><a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/administration/1284.aspx">Research in Motion (RIM) Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365</a> in the <a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/w/administration/default.aspx">Office 365 Service Administration wiki</a></li>    <li><a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/605/t/21255.aspx">RIM Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365</a> in the <a href="http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/605.aspx">Office 365 Community Forums</a></li> </ul>  <p>Once again, checkout <a href="http://www.blackberry.com/cloudservices">http://www.blackberry.com/cloudservices</a> for the rest of the details on this new RIM service for Office 365!</p>  <p>Enjoy!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Happy New Content to Kick Start a Happy New Year!</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/happy-new-content-to-kick-start-a-happy-new-year</link>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:42:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2012/01/27/happy-new-content-to-kick-start-a-happy-new-year/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Remember that post I did a short while back about the Messaging PSP Activation Kit?  Good! (If not,...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Remember that <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/10/24/introducing-your-messaging-psp-activation-kit-now-with-even-more-partner-readiness-goodness.aspx">post I did a short while back about the Messaging PSP Activation Kit</a>?</p>  <p>Good! (If not, I’ll give you a few minutes to click the above link and get up to speed).</p>  <p>In the spirit of a more predictable and frequent cadence of content updates to <a href="http://www.partners-psp.com/bpo/messaging/Pages/WhatWeSell.aspx">the kit</a>, we kicked off 2012 with another refresh of this fantastic tool set for you.</p>  <p>The theme for this wave of updates can be best summed up as “Help customers experience the full benefit of Exchange 2010” and to make that possible we made two major additions:</p>  <ul>   <li>First, we are now featuring <a href="http://partners-psp.com/bpo/messaging/Pages/ComplementarySolutions.aspx">content and tools around complementary solutions</a> from partners like <a href="http://www.transvault.com">TransVault</a> (who offer tools to help get archived data into an Exchange 2010 archive), and <a href="http://www.audiocodes.com/">AudioCodes</a> (providers of gateways to enable Exchange Unified Messaging)</li>    <li>Second, there are some new training resources to help you get boned up on technologies like Forefront.&#160; Great examples of this include videos on <a href="https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&amp;ActivityId=782642">Information Protection and Control with Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) and Exchange</a> and <a href="https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&amp;ActivityId=782645">Advanced Routing Scenarios with Forefront Online Protection for Exchange</a></li> </ul>  <p>Enjoy!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Spotlight on Partner Opportunity with Notes Migrations</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-notes-migrations</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:35:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
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        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2012/01/19/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-notes-migrations/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Yesterday it was the snow that kept your humble blogger home.  Today, an icepocalypse has displaced...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/0434.image_050B2152.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/0434.image_5F00_050B2152.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/4062.image_thumb_1C5625C3.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/4062.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_1C5625C3.png" width="190" height="226" /></a><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2012/01/18/doing-the-math-reflections-on-lotusphere-2012-seattle-snow-et-al.aspx">Yesterday</a> it was the snow that kept your humble blogger home.</p>  <p>Today, an <a href="http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10190486-ice-shuts-seattle-airport-100000-lose-power">icepocalypse</a> has displaced the <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017254132_snow17m.html?prmid=obinsource">snowpocalypse</a> that kept Pacific Northwest folks stranded these last 36 hours.</p>  <p>To capitalize once more on the added bandwidth a “work@home” day offers, I thought I’d continue our ongoing “Spotlight on Partner Opportunity” series with a look at the opportunities around <strong>Lotus Notes Migration</strong>.</p>  <p>I don’t believe I need to <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2012/01/18/doing-the-math-reflections-on-lotusphere-2012-seattle-snow-et-al.aspx">reiterate the business opportunity or the resources Microsoft provides to help you win and deliver a Notes to Exchange 2010 or Office 365 deal</a>, however I think it is useful to share with you an example of how partners are tapping into this business opportunity made possible by a super hungry Notes customer base seeking a rescue.</p>  <p>Okay.</p>  <p>Maybe just one more datapoint?</p>  <p>This time, here’s a look from the perspective of the “Exchange-to-Notes” business opportunity.</p>  <p>In a <a href="http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2010/08/08/big-red-flag-ibms-ed-brill-suggests-you-not-read-gartner-research-on-notesdomino-email/">blog post by Gartner’s Tom Austin</a>, he shared that in a 10 month period,<strong> <em>“no Microsoft e-mail customers called us for advice on whether to migrate to Notes/Domino for e-mail.”</em></strong></p>  <p>So, it’s pretty clear there’s work to be done on the Notes-to-Exchange front. Now, back to the partner spotlight on some real opportunity: migration tools. </p>  <p>For some time now, we’ve turned to our ISV partners to build migration tools to meet the specific needs and requirements our customers demand when moving from a legacy platform to Exchange or Exchange Online.</p>  <p>“Why is that, Ian?” you ask.</p>  <p>Considering that most customers moving away from a legacy platform—like Notes or GroupWise—have likely used this infrastructure for some time, there’s high probability there is a lot of important data housed in these aging investments. Therefore, we work with partners like <a href="http://www.quest.com">Quest Software</a> who have the expertise to know exactly what customers need when planning for email and calendaring migration and (many cases) coexistence during the transition.</p>  <p>Here’s what partners like Quest have to say about tapping into this opportunity:</p>  <p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/5148.Michael-T1_2DC6869B.jpg" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/5148.Michael_2D00_T1_5F00_2DC6869B.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Michael T1" border="0" alt="Michael T1" align="left" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/7128.Michael-T1_thumb_3B2C99A1.jpg" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/7128.Michael_2D00_T1_5F00_thumb_5F00_3B2C99A1.jpg" width="184" height="244" /></a></p>  <p><i><strong>“More and more, organizations of all sizes are faced with the question: ‘to cloud or not to cloud?’ But what customers are really asking for, though, is flexibility. Customers don’t want to be locked into a rigid, antiquated platform not extensible to other forms of unified communications, like Lotus Domino/Notes. Because of its inability to keep up with the latest market trends, we see a drastic drop off in its market share.&#160; Customers want their strategic communications to be flexible and adaptable to their businesses. Exchange 2010 and Exchange Online are the gold standard for enterprise messaging, offering the most flexibility for customers to make that decision. Quest is proud to be a leading Microsoft partner, having migrated more than 10 million mailboxes to Exchange and Exchange Online from Domino/Notes, as well migrating over 350,000 Notes applications to SharePoint using our proven methodology of preparation, migration, coexistence and management.”</strong></i></p>  <p align="right">- Michael Tweddle, Sr. Director Product Management, Quest Software</p>  <p><b>So what’s next?</b></p>  <ul>   <li><u>Use</u> one of the many customer cases of the proven cost savings and productivity boosting results they achieved after moving from Notes to the Microsoft productivity stack and start a conversation with your customers. For example, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Office-Live-Meeting/Godiva-Chocolatier/By-Moving-Email-to-Cloud-Retailer-Saves-250-000-Annually-Gains-Business-Agility/4000008333">Godiva Chocolatier saves $250,000 annually by moving off Lotus Notes</a> and they utilized a migration toolset (from <a href="www.binarytree.com">Binary Tree</a>) to make that happen.</li>    <li><u>Share</u> links to the customer ready content we post to <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/en-us/Why-Microsoft/Pages/ibm.aspx">Why Microsoft?</a> and the <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/productssolutions/40044078">Microsoft Partner Network portal</a>. As an example, this <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/en-us/Why-Microsoft/resources/Pages/WhitePaper.aspx?Title=Migrating+IBM+Lotus+Notes+and+Domino+to+the+Cloud%3a+Selecting+Microsoft+vs.+Google&amp;ResourceType=White+Paper">whitepaper on Migrating IBM Lotus Notes and Domino to the Cloud: Selecting Microsoft vs Google</a>.</li>    <li><u>Investigate</u> the third party migration tools provided by partners like Quest, including their <a href="http://www.quest.com/notes-migrator-for-exchange/">Notes Migration for Exchange</a>, <a href="http://www.quest.com/coexistence-manager-for-notes/">Coexistence Manager for Notes</a>, and <a href="http://www.quest.com/notes-migrator-for-sharepoint/">Notes Migrator for SharePoint</a></li>    <li><u>Earn</u> the new <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/compmessaging">Messaging competency</a>, and demonstrate your expertise to your to prospective Exchange customers. </li> </ul>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>     <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Doing the Math: Reflections on Lotusphere 2012, Seattle Snow, et al</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/doing-the-math-reflections-on-lotusphere-2012-seattle-snow-et-al</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:50:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2012/01/18/doing-the-math-reflections-on-lotusphere-2012-seattle-snow-et-al/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[First off, I’d like to wish all of you a very belated happy New Year!  May your 2012 be a year of...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>First off, I’d like to wish all of you a very belated happy New Year!</p>  <p>May your 2012 be a year of filled with good health, lots of happiness and plenty of business prosperity!</p>  <p>I fully realize that I’ve been a bit behind on my blogging thanks to the post-holiday dig out. But, as luck would have it, the Pacific Northwest is currently in the throws of a <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017254132_snow17m.html?prmid=obinsource">large snowstorm</a> which has afforded me the opportunity to work from home (thank you Lync and Exchange!) and the time to catch up.</p>  <p>It dawned on me—while on a break from reviewing Messaging competency plans, presenting to ISVs and general emailin’—that this is the week of <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/events/conference/">IBM’s annual Lotusphere conference</a>. Considering the event, in recent years, has been described by some as “pretty depressing”,&#160; I was very curious about what IBM would be using this year’s confab to promote.</p>  <p>Not surprising, IBM continues to push “social” as the high order bit, as evidence by their event tagline: “Business. Made Social.”</p>  <p>Now, I am not claiming that Microsoft (nor any company focused on productivity offerings) thinks social is a bunch of malarkey, but clearly we’ve been thinking about this in the scope of the <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/en-us/Pages/Productivity-Software.aspx">Future of Productivity</a> and not just a bolt-on message to breath new life into a legacy platform.</p>  <p>But, that wasn’t what really caught my attention.</p>  <p>It was this formula that IBM posted on their <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/events/conference/">Lotusphere webpage</a>:</p>  <p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/5140.image_26794A63.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/5140.image_5F00_26794A63.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/5875.image_thumb_454FBE41.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/5875.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_454FBE41.png" width="640" height="89" /></a></p>  <p>Again, I don’t disagree that social, mobile or the cloud all offer opportunity—you can easily say the very same about SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Office 365—but the “opportunity<sup>3</sup>” just sounds way too high-level to be meaningful.</p>  <p>So, in effort to help out here, I thought I would share some more useful information about the opportunity<sup>3</sup> (or, <em>opportunity triple play</em>) around migrating (or rescuing, as we like to say) customers from their Lotus Notes infrastructure to Exchange 2010 and/or Office 365.</p>  <p>Here goes:</p>  <p><u><strong>Opportunity #1: We know that customers want to move to off of Notes.&#160; </strong></u></p>  <p>You don’t need to look far to see this validated.&#160; </p>  <p>As <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/08/15/fun-fact-customers-just-love-exchange-2010.aspx">I shared a short while back</a>, our annual product satisfaction survey revealed that <strong>“nearly a third of Lotus Notes users”</strong> are looking to make the switch over the next 12 months, with nearly <strong>20% of the remaining base is “strongly considering” making the change</strong>.</p>  <p>But, just don’t take our word for it: take a look at some of the recent industry analyst reports where leading pundits (like <a href="http://www.gartner.com/AnalystBiography?authorId=25743">Matt Cain of Gartner</a>) have said that “We continue to see widespread interest in the Domino base in migrating to alternative platforms.” (You can read the whole <a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article22/article22.html">MarketScope for Email Systems, 2011</a> via our <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx">website</a>).</p>  <p>So, strike while the iron remains hot!&#160; Show your <strike>costumers</strike> customers what Exchange and the rest of the stack can do for them, and then help them get there once you’ve convinced them!</p>  <p><strong><u>Opportunity #2: You’ve got plenty of evidence that can help start this conversation with your customers.</u></strong></p>  <p>Before I provide you the “laundry list”, nothing makes life easier than references.&#160; Heck, nothing makes life easier than a ton of customer cases studies highlighting how the move from Notes to Exchange has paid off.</p>  <p>For example, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Office-Live-Meeting/Royal-Mail-Group/U.K.-Royal-Mail-Group-Deploys-28-000-Mailboxes-in-Eight-Weeks-Saves-1-Million/4000008756">Adrian Steel, Head of Infrastructure Management of the Royal Mail Group</a> happens to mention that they “believe that the Microsoft business productivity suite—compared to Lotus Notes with the same capabilities—will save more than £1 million over the four-year duration of this deal.” And, with 165,000 employees, saving some dough on critical infrastructure is, well, critical.</p>  <p>Here are a few more examples to help strengthen your pitch with customers:</p>  <ul>   <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Sharepoint-Server/Toshiba-Corporation/Japanese-Electronics-Giant-Saves-Projected-US-63-Million-With-Microsoft-Office/4000009118">Toshiba Corporation</a> - Toshiba estimates that in the first four years of ACS’s operation, Toshiba will save over US$21.5 million in server hardware operation costs, software licensing costs and personnel costs for operation and maintenance. Indirect savings from the consolidation of its information-sharing infrastructure amount to US$42 million, netting total projected savings of about US$63 million over a four-year period.</li>    <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Business-Productivity-Online-Standard-Suite/Grupo-Romero/Firm-Improves-Employee-Productivity-Email-Availability-with-Cloud-Based-Solution/4000010815">Grupo Romero</a> - “With Microsoft Online Services, we have eliminated the $400,000 annual cost of maintaining Notes, as well as the cost of Notes servers and storage.&#160; When you subtract our Microsoft Online Services licensing costs, we are saving at least $50,000 annually on email costs, and we are also getting far more for our money than we got with Notes.” Jose Torres, Chief Information Officer for Priox, a Grupo Romero company</li>    <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Exchange-Server-2010/National-Association-of-Realtors/Realtors-Association-Boosts-Member-Service-with-Email-Projects-900-000-Annual-Savings/4000010070">National Association of Realtors </a>- The National Association of Realtors has seen messaging reliability and productivity go up, and average meeting time go down, with its move to Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook. Employees have better mobile support and the freedom to choose their own phones. And, when its migration of Notes applications is complete in a couple of years, the association will likely save U.S.$900,000 in annual IT spending—funds that it will be able to reinvest in member services.</li> </ul>  <p>I could share more, but I want to get to opportunity #3.</p>  <p><strong><u>Opportunity #3: You can benefit from the long list of tools, services, and support we provide to help you rescue Notes customers.</u></strong></p>  <p>Just head to the <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/productssolutions/40044078">Microsoft Partner Network</a>, and grab one of many, many, many resources we offer and keep up-to-date to help you win these customers.</p>  <p>For example, you can find:</p>  <ul>   <li>Training resources, like the <a href="https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&amp;ActivityId=573218&amp;CallerURL=/learning/app/taxonomy/TAX_Search.aspx?UserMode=0&amp;NodeID=0&amp;SelectedNodeID=0&amp;VSC=ItemName&amp;VSO=A&amp;SourceRef=-1&amp;DispMode=normal&amp;AdvType=0&amp;">How to sell into an IBM Lotus Notes Customer</a> course</li>    <li>Even more case studies</li>    <li>Sales tools and collateral like the <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/productssolutions/40136750">Comparing IBM Lotus Domino and Notes with Exchange Server 2010</a> sales guide</li>    <li>Best practices and tested methodologies</li>    <li>and, much more</li> </ul>  <p>We also have <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/en-us/Why-Microsoft/Pages/ibm.aspx">Why Microsoft?</a> which is the first link I send to any customer to give them an opportunity to see it for themselves.</p>  <p>In short, I hope this is a little more productive than a high-level formula that equates to opportunity.</p>  <p>Oh, if you didn’t think this was enough, how about another triple play?&#160; </p>  <p>Exchange Server 2010 + Exchange Online + Hybrid Deployment = The Most Choice available for email services delivered your way (and not a mash-up of different solutions from different sources).</p>  <p>Happy selling!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/about.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Getting Ready for the Gold Rush (Messaging Competency Gold, That Is)!</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/getting-ready-for-the-gold-rush-messaging-competency-gold-that-is</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:56:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/12/22/getting-ready-for-the-gold-rush-messaging-competency-gold-that-is/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Happy holidays everyone!
While I may be out of the office (or "OOF" as we blue badgers like say in...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Happy holidays everyone!</p>
<p>While I may be out of the office (or "OOF" as we blue badgers like say in our Exchange automatic replies emails), I didn't want you to miss out on some important updates to our <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/compmessaging">Gold Messaging competency</a>.</p>
<p>More specifically, we've made some great progress on the new technical assessments we're standing up as part of the requirements to achieve the Gold-level of the (still kind of new) <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/10/31/welcome-to-your-new-messaging-competency.aspx">Messaging competency</a>.</p>
<p>As you likely recall, <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/11/07/new-messaging-competency-gets-its-test-on.aspx">I shared with you</a> that we had a bunch of the top Exchange SMEs (or subject matter experts) from our partner community in town last November to help us pen some brand spanking new technical assessments that will be <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/40171664">required to attain the Gold Messaging competency</a>. These new assessments focus on our "hero workloads" of Exchange, such as <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/advanced-security.aspx">security</a>, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/email-archiving-and-retention.aspx">archiving</a>, and <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/unified-messaging.aspx">voicemail</a>, as well as advanced deployment scenarios for <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/exchange-online-hosted-email.aspx">Exchange Online</a>. For example, the latter assessment tests for your Exchange technical prowess--or what I like to call, your mad ninja <em>skillz</em>--around implementing a <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg476106.aspx">Hybrid Deployment with Office 365 and Exchange Server 2010 on-prem</a>.</p>
<p>Good stuff, eh?</p>
<p>I certainly think so (although I'm likely biased, but I'm 100% in your camp).</p>
<p>Okay, you're probably wondering when these new assessments will be live and when you'll be required to pass them in order to "go for the gold".</p>
<p>When we first <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/05/25/announcing-the-evolution-of-the-unified-communications-competency.aspx">unveiled our plans for the new Messaging competency</a>, we had hoped to make these new assessments available in late 2011/early 2012, and then require them for Gold in May 2012.</p>
<p>Well, based on your feedback and kind requests, we've decided to give these new exams a little more soak time and you the opportunity to prep a bit more for these new requirements.</p>
<p>This means these two new assessments will be live and ready for action (albeit in English-only) in February 2012. We'll add additional languages--including Japanese, Chinese, French, German and Brazilian Portuguese--later this spring (March or April for those of you in the southern hemisphere).</p>
<p>Adding to this good news: new training modules for these assessments are planned for availability before May 2012. &nbsp;These will be great companions for your preparation activities, and we can't wait to share them with you (once they are done, that is).</p>
<p>Finally, the new technical assessments will become a required requirement starting in October 2012. &nbsp;This gives you a little more than six months to get you and your team fully prepared to fulfill this forthcoming requirement for Gold.</p>
<p>With many of you approaching your MPN anniversary dates, this is a great time to get familiar with and ready for these new requirements in order to successfully re-enroll in any competencies your business may have already earned. Why not carve a little of your holiday break (when you're not carving the turkey or tofurkey) to do a quick review of these for the Messaging competency by visiting the MPN portal site <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/40171664">here</a>.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>&nbsp;<br />Group Product Manager&nbsp;<br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Happy Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program Day!</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/happy-exchange-activesync-logo-program-day</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:46:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/12/15/happy-exchange-activesync-logo-program-day/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[While I may not have the authority or even the ability to formally declare a certain day of the year...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While I may not have the authority or even the ability to formally declare a certain day of the year in the honor of a particular cause, program, person, etc., all of this holiday cheer going around—and the prospect of a long vacation just a few days away—has given me the confidence to declare today (December 15, 2011) <strong>Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program Day!</strong></p>  <p>That’s right!</p>  <p align="center"><strong><font color="#0000ff" size="4">Happy Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program Day 2011!</font></strong></p>  <p>Oh, before I go on to why we have things to celebrate today vis-à-vis the EAS Logo Program, it’s important to note that your humble Exchange partner community blogger has not confused <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/mobile-email-with-exchange-activesync.aspx">EAS</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto">Esperanto</a>.&#160; So, those of you who are celebrating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamenhof_Day">Zamenhof Day</a> today, I think there’s enough room for the two. </p>  <p>Gaja Esperanto tago!</p>  <p>Alright, on to the good stuff for you, the Exchange Partner ecosystem that makes this business of ours hum.</p>  <p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/5340.image_1179FF84.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/5340.image_5F00_1179FF84.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; border: 0px currentcolor; float: left; display: inline; background-image: none;" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/2514.image_thumb_737BF18F.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/2514.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_737BF18F.png" width="144" height="142" /></a>Just a little more than eight months ago, we unveiled the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/04/13/announcing-the-exchange-activesync-logo-program.aspx">Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program</a> in an effort to better help you help our mutual customers identify which EAS devices will deliver the best possible mobile experience. Effectively, we sought out to partner closely with handset manufacturers and mobile operators to establish a baseline of critical EAS functionality and then over time expand the expected level of capabilities for (again) the best possible mobile email experience.</p>  <p>To give you the latest and greatest on the program, I’ve asked Jim Lucey from my team, who looks after this program as part of his focus on Exchange ISV and hardware partners to fill us in:</p>  <blockquote>   <p>I can’t believe it’s already been eight months since we started the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/04/13/announcing-the-exchange-activesync-logo-program.aspx">Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program</a>. A number of new devices have just been added to the program, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_OS">Nokia OS</a> devices, as well as <a href="http://www.windowsphone.com">Windows Phone 7.5</a> devices.&#160; And there are even a number of Android OS devices beginning the certification process.</p>    <p>For those of you just learning about this, the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/exchange/gg187968">Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) Logo Program</a> was designed to test mobile email devices using the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/IPLicensing/Programs/ExchangeActiveSyncProtocol.aspx">EAS protocol</a>, to ensure that customers and IT Pro’s have a seamless experience with setup, support and use of qualified devices. We have heard from you the increasing diversity of mobile devices your employees use to access company resources, is one of your top concerns. Many of these devices use Exchange ActiveSync for mobile email, but they are not all implemented the same. As such, it is difficult to find out <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/07/15/3410397.aspx">what is supported on each device</a>. The EAS Logo Program is intended to provide a baseline for EAS functionality on these mobile devices.</p>    <p>“So, what is new?”, you may ask… Well, we’ve recently added the following new qualified devices to the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/gg187968">program website</a> and are excited to share the growing list of EAS Logo devices for customers:</p>    <ul>     <li>Nokia 600, 700, 701 running on Symbian Belle</li>      <li>Nokia N8, C6-01, C7-00, E6-00, X7-00 running on Symbian Anna</li>      <li>Devices running on Windows Phone 7.5 (like the new <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX2Gd-kqV5s">Nokia Lumia</a>, and other <a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/">Windows Phones specific to your region</a>)</li>   </ul>    <p>And, beyond this, we have a number of Android devices we will be adding to this page in the coming weeks.&#160; Please check back regularly!</p>    <p>Thanks,</p>    <p>Jim Lucey     <br />Sr. Product Manager       <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>  </blockquote>  <p>Dankojn por la updates, Jim!</p>  <p>And, Happy Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program Day!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>New Business Opportunities Now Available for Download</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/new-business-opportunities-now-available-for-download</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:43:39 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/12/06/new-business-opportunities-now-available-for-download/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Hopefully by now you’ve all heard the news that Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (or “SP2” as it...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hopefully by now you’ve all heard the news that <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/05/released-exchange-server-2010-sp2.aspx">Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2</a> (or “SP2” as it is better known around the the halls of Buildings 31 and 32) is available for <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=232843">download</a>.</p>  <p>As Kevin Allison, general manager of the Exchange customer experience team, shared in the aforementioned <a href="http://www.msexchangeteam.com">EHLO Blog</a> post, this update includes a bunch of commonly requested fixes and a handful of new capabilities. A few of these are worth highlighting here, as they offer you some new and improved opportunities to connect with customers and drive new business.</p>  <p>“What are they, Ian?” you ask?</p>  <p>Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious, yet ever so important: <strong>Exchange 2010 SP2 gives you a chance to call on your on-prem customers and help get them upgraded to the latest and greatest release</strong>.</p>  <p>Many of you likely already have standing support contracts with your customers, so while this may not necessarily generate new revenue, it does keep Exchange top of mind.&#160; SP2 also adds to your proof points that Microsoft continually adds value to Exchange (whether on-prem or online) and that it’s no accident this happens on a fairly regular rhythm.</p>  <p>And, if your customer still happens to be stuck on a previous release--like that strong workhorse of email servers Exchange Server 2003, which was released 8 years, 6 months, and 5 days back, but who’s counting--why not use this latest SP release as a chance to rekindle the conversation about upgrading to Exchange 2010 (or migration to Exchange Online where you can keep your customers on the latest and greatest release all the time, and spend your engagements helping them get more out of the software they license/subscribe to)?</p>  <p>Next, there’s the new <strong>Hybrid Configuration Wizard</strong> which is aimed at making it easier for you to help customers deploy and support <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg476106.aspx">hybrid scenarios with Office 365 and Exchange Server</a>. As an Exchange partner, this is a new tool in your tool chest that gives you the ability to better plan and execute a large scale migration from on-prem to online, or even for those customers who will make a hybrid deployment (you know, some of their users in the cloud with Exchange Online and others on-prem with Exchange Server) a permanent fixture. You can learn more about this tool (and what a hybrid deployment is all about) by checking out this recently published TechNet article “<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh529921.aspx">Understanding the Hybrid Configuration Wizard</a>”.</p>  <p>After you read through that bit, you can then (drumroll please) checkout the new <strong>Address Book Policies </strong>feature.&#160; I know this is something that will excite partners, as many of you, some in person, have asked me in the past, “hey, Ian, when are you going to have something like address book segmentation in Exchange 2010?”</p>  <p>Good news: the wait is over and just like the HCW, there’s a fantastic TechNet article for you to learn more: “<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh529948.aspx">Understanding Address Book Policies</a>”.</p>  <p>Now this last one also has special significance for our hosting partners.&#160; In fact, you likely recall <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/10/13/the-future-of-exchange-hosting-mode.aspx">the post we did a few months back that shared our future plans around the “/hosting” deployment mode for Exchange 2010</a>, and how Address Book Policies are a key component to the evolution. One of the things we promised in that October post, was some new guidance on how to use SP2 (and Address Book Policies) to configure and deploy a multitenant Exchange infrastructure.</p>  <p>Well, that guidance is also <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28192">available for download</a> via a post that went out on the EHLO Blog earlier today: “<a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/06/exchange-2010-service-pack-2-and-hosting.aspx">Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 and Hosting</a>”</p>  <p>And, as Greg writes in the above posting, there’s even a <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/hh563895.aspx">brand new TechNet page dedicated to this topic</a> with a list of third-party control panel and hosting automation vendors that have been validated by our team in Building 32 for this new hosted model with SP2.</p>  <p>So, in conclusion, there’s a lot more in those 535.2 MB of bits than just new features and fixes.&#160; There’s a ton of opportunity for you, our great Exchange partner ecosystem, to <strong>connect with customers</strong>, <strong>deliver new value</strong>, or even <strong>remind them of the great value they already have in both the software from us and the services you provide to help them realize the full potential of productivity it can offer</strong>.</p>  <p>Got more ideas or thoughts on SP2? </p>  <p>Share them here!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Spotlight on Partner Opportunity with Voicemail</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-voicemail</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:22:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/11/21/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-voicemail/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Continuing our series that spotlights fellow Exchange partners who are spotlighting the range of...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Continuing our series that spotlights fellow Exchange partners who are spotlighting the range of great opportunities Exchange can bring to your businesses, this edition focuses on Voicemail. </p>  <p>Voicemail (a/k/a <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/unified-messaging.aspx">Voicemail with Exchange Unified Messaging</a>) can truly save your customers both money and time, and perhaps more importantly, save them from that aging, legacy hardware solution they have today for voicemail.&#160; You know the one; the one that may be from a vendor that no longer even exists!</p>  <p>To further support this point, we know from some fairly recent research from folks like the &quot;<a href="http://www.thevoicereport.com/">Voice Report</a>”, over 50% of customers will need to replace their primary PBX before the year 2014. What does this means for your business? Easy. There’s not only an opportunity to position a solution like <a href="http://lync.microsoft.com">Lync</a>, but also swoop in and win the voicemail socket with Exchange!</p>  <p>But, PBX replacement time doesn’t need to be the only compelling event that can drive a good conversation about Voicemail with Exchange. We’ve found in a number of cases that partners are just making the deployment of Exchange-powered Voicemail a default aspect of any SOW they pitch to customers.&#160; Basically, they are saying that every customer should think of a well planned, designed and deployed Exchange 2010 solution includes Voicemail, and this has not only been a very successful upsell opportunity, they have also witness cases where a Lync deployment was a natural pull through.</p>  <p>Voicemail: the gift that can keep on giving!</p>  <p>As with other “Spotlight” posts, you don’t just have to take my word for it!&#160; </p>  <p>Here’s what partners like <a href="http://theviagroup.com/">The VIA Group</a> have to say about tapping into these additional services opportunities:</p>  <p><i><strong><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/2843.Lync-phone-in-background_115606E1.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/2843.Lync_2D00_phone_2D00_in_2D00_background_5F00_115606E1.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; float: left; display: inline; background-image: none;" title="Lync phone in background" border="0" alt="Lync phone in background" align="left" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/8130.Lync-phone-in-background_thumb_22C667B9.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/8130.Lync_2D00_phone_2D00_in_2D00_background_5F00_thumb_5F00_22C667B9.png" width="244" height="183" /></a>&quot;Microsoft's unified messaging capability inherent in Exchange 2010 is such a natural fit for The VIA Group and the services we deliver to our clients. VIA was one of the very first system integrators worldwide to embrace third party unified messaging technologies for Exchange 5.5 in the mid 1990's and over the past 14 years, we have delivered millions of unified messaging mailboxes to our clients. When Microsoft first introduced its own unified messaging functionality with the release of Exchange 2007, we were very excited! Since then, VIA has become experts with Exchange UM on-premises as well as Exchange UM online with Office 365. Exchange 2010 has become a big part of our services delivery for our clients and specifically with our deep knowledge around these technologies, we are able to seamlessly integrate Lync and other telephony manufactures systems with the robust capabilities that both the on-premises and Office3 65 versions of Exchange 2010 UM deliver for our customers.&quot;</strong></i></p>  <p align="right">- Kevin Carswell, CEO The VIA Group</p>  <p><b>So what’s next?</b></p>  <ul>   <li><u>Use</u> Exchange Voicemail to run your business.&#160; Nothing is cooler to demo to a customer than a real-time text preview of a message you just left yourself.&#160; This is always a staple of my customer pitches and should be in your sellers’ arsenal as well!</li>    <li><u>Deploy</u> what your customers might already have the rights to.&#160; No kidding!&#160; There are many customers that have the software and license rights via the Exchange ECAL, but need you to go and deploy it.&#160; This is why the “Voicemail included by default” technique for SOWs is a winner.&#160; And, just ask partners like <a href="http://meme.ms/n4hapq">Dimension Data’s Brian Walshe who has one of my most favorite quotes of all time, saying with Exchange voicemail</a> “your ROI on [Unified Messaging] is probably six weeks. <strong>It’s ridiculously good.</strong>”</li>    <li><u>Earn</u> the new <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/compmessaging">Gold Messaging competency</a>, and demonstrate your advanced expertise to your current and prospective Exchange customers. </li> </ul>  <p>Are you seeing great opportunities to with Exchange Voicemail?</p>  <p>Post a comment and share! </p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>Spotlight on Partner Opportunity with Email Security</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-email-security</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:03:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/11/10/spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-email-security/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Earlier in October, we kicked off a new series to spotlight the range of great opportunities...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Earlier in October, we <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/10/27/new-series-spotlight-on-partner-opportunity-with-archiving.aspx">kicked off</a> a new series to spotlight the range of great opportunities Exchange can bring to your business. One of the objectives of these “Spotlight on&quot; Partner Opportunity” posts, is to demonstrate how the advanced capabilities--or what I like to call the “Hero Workloads”--we’ve delivered in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange">Exchange 2010</a> offer you the opportunity to develop specialized, high-value practices to your customers, which in turn, should translate to higher services revenue.</p>  <p>We kicked off the series by sharing how <a href="http://www.dimensiondata.com/">Dimension Data</a> continues to see new opportunities with archiving in their Exchange engagements. This blog post brings you the next installment of our series and focuses on the opportunities email security can bring your business. </p>  <p>So, without further ado:</p>  <p>Taking a macro-level view, <b>email anti-virus/anti-spam (AV/AS) is projected to be a $4B market by 2012</b> per <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=226275">IDC</a>. </p>  <p>To pile on, in a study this year, <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9773627">Forrester Research</a> surveyed ITDMs (IT Decision Makers) and BDMs (Business Decision Makers) at 400 North American companies and found that <b>integration with email security is a top evaluation criteria for purchasing email</b>. </p>  <p>No surprise, right?</p>  <p>And, if you take into account the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/02/14/hey-exchange-2003-exchange-2010-called-and-wants-your-upgrade.aspx">momentous demand we are seeing from customers to get to the latest release</a>, the fact <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/archive/2011/08/15/fun-fact-customers-just-love-exchange-2010.aspx">customers love the release</a>, and bear in mind that anti-virus/anti-spam is one of the most compelling features customers are looking for, this creates a great opportunity for you to position, consult and deploy email security capabilities in Exchange 2010.</p>  <p>Partners like <a href="http://www.avtex.com/">Avtex</a> recognize this customer demand and are taking advantage of these additional services opportunities:</p>  <p><b><i><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/2313.image_5B15B616.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/2313.image_5F00_5B15B616.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/2388.image_thumb_4CD73D26.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/2388.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_4CD73D26.png" width="244" height="199" /></a>&quot;Companies are faced with many challenges of how to provide consistent and quality real-time and non-real-time communications to their employees, partners, and customers.&#160; More and more, the standard for communications has been expanded to a multitude of devices.&#160; With this explosion of multiple interfaces, it is critically important to protect sensitive corporate information.&#160; Exchange 2010's advanced email security features provide integrated, controlled, and manageable ways to deliver world-class messaging.&#160; Avtex continues to see growth in our business as it relates to securing the foundation for UC deployments, specifically Exchange 2010 projects.&quot;</i></b></p>  <p align="right">- Khai Tran, Vice President of UC Solutions at Avtex </p>  <p>It’s a win-win when you upsell your customers on the email security capabilities in Exchange 2010. Delivering email security requires specialization that leads to higher-touch customer engagements with the opportunity for more services dollars for your organization. Customers in turn can reduce costs or complexity while benefiting from the Forefront functionality that earned Microsoft a Leader position in the <a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-16XZCJZ&amp;ct=110811&amp;st=sb">2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways</a>.</p>  <p><b>So what’s next?</b></p>  <ul>   <li><u>Use</u> the technology to protect your own businesses (like <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/forefront-online-protection-for-exchange.aspx">Forefront Online Protection for Exchange</a>)</li>    <li><u>Upsell</u> your customers on the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/advanced-security.aspx">email security capabilities in Exchange 2010</a>. You can use things like the recent <a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-16XZCJZ&amp;ct=110811&amp;st=sb">Gartner MQ I referenced just above</a> to help start that conversation.</li>    <li><u>Earn</u> the new <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/compmessaging">Gold Messaging competency</a>, and demonstrate your advanced expertise to your current and prospective Exchange customers. </li> </ul>  <p>Are you seeing great opportunities to with email security?</p>  <p>Post a comment and share! </p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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      <title>New Messaging Competency Gets Its Test On</title>
      <link>https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/hameroff/new-messaging-competency-gets-its-test-on</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:59:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ian Hameroff]]></dc:creator>
      <guid
        isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/hameroff/2011/11/07/new-messaging-competency-gets-its-test-on/</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to swing by Building 40 to welcome a number of Exchange...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to swing by <a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&amp;cp=ry5g274tp07b&amp;lvl=18.232428470788896&amp;dir=352.5783527703969&amp;sty=b&amp;where1=Microsoft%20Building%2040%2C%20WA&amp;form=LMLTCC">Building 40</a> to welcome a number of Exchange SMEs (the <strong>subject matter expert</strong> variety) who will spend the next five days developing the questions that will ended up in our new Messaging competency technical assessments. </p>  <p>You’d be very impressed with the team we’ve assembled, who’s industry credentials include Exchange <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/master.aspx">MCMs</a> (Microsoft Certified Masters), <a href="http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/">MVPs</a> (Most Value Professionals), owners of consulting businesses, holders of MPN competencies, and even a <em>Blue Badger</em> (the Microsoft FTE variety).&#160; We also have a some nice representation from around the globe, even with a few folks joining from parts like Italy via Lync.</p>  <p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/5187.untitled_4E8424AA.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/5187.untitled_5F00_4E8424AA.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="untitled" border="0" alt="untitled" align="right" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/TNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/00/86/94/metablogapi/2772.untitled_thumb_0C9D3F5C.png" original-url="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-86-94-metablogapi/2772.untitled_5F00_thumb_5F00_0C9D3F5C.png" width="240" height="103" /></a>One of favorite takeaways of my short chat with the question crew: while all of them have taken a range of certification exams, tests, assessments, etc., many of them are writing questions for the first time.</p>  <p>I think this is great news, because it is always good to have a fresh perspective--especially one that is backed with a ton of experience and product expertise.&#160; </p>  <p>These guys will be working this week with some of the big guns of psychometric consultation and test development from another partner of ours to make sure we translate these expertise into quality assessments for you to demonstrate your Exchange skillz (that’s right, skillz!).</p>  <p>Just a quick reminder: this work is contributing to part of the <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/competencies/40171664">new requirements for attaining the Gold Messaging competency</a>.&#160; More specifically, we’ll be adding new assessments to test your abilities to deliver the advanced workloads (like security and archiving) of Exchange as well as implementing Exchange Online.&#160; These new assessments are a key part of our goal to differentiate partners who’ve achieved the Gold level of our new competency.</p>  <p>I can’t wait to check in throughout the week to see how the question writing is going and watch these new assessments come to life right before my eyes.&#160; And, don’t worry, I’ll keep you all updated along the way!</p>  <p>Happy Monday!</p>  <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/hameroff/contact.aspx">Ian</a>    <br />Group Product Manager     <br />Exchange Partner Marketing</p>]]></content:encoded>
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