So it's probably worth a post to enlighten a few of you on the new title I have decided upon for this blog. There have been a few people who have impacted me whilst I have been working in the IT Industry and I love hearing new phrases that different people use around the world to really simply explain what they like, love and enthuse about. Most of these can be fantastic passive interrupts to help you to steer meetings on track and or help people to stay to the point. These are some of the phrases that still ring in my head and I try to keep on remembering when talking to partners and customers about what we do:

'Mike I don't care if it's wet string and sellotape as long as I can make money from it and or it saves me money elsewhere!'

So the big learning is really very very simple but how many times do we hear presentations or meetings that place all the emphasis on the 'what' and less on the impact or value?

Other great phrases that have stayed with me include:

'I need to know it's like selling £5 notes for 50p'

'We were born with two ears and one mouth lad remember that!'

'Have you ever been asked to do a comedy show on TV? ....no...that might be because your jokes aren't really that funny'

So what can you expect going forward from this blog. Well it will be straight talking, have more of a global outlook as I head on my travels, so far in the diary I have Canada, Wastern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and of course Seattle when I finally arrive!

I hope you enjoy my musings!

For a number of years now I have had the huge opportunity of working with a very talented bunch of folks in Microsoft UK and the UK technology market. Whether it was in my early days in Microsoft UK in the Enterprise customer space or later on in the Small and Medium Partner world I have had a fantastic time helping partners to drive more business from the days of the XP launch and the first version of SharePoint to the heady times of Security, High Performance Computing and Enterprise Search.

Over the last four years I have worked with partners who are new to Microsoft and have helped them to build successful practices on Microsoft technology. I have now been given the opportunity lead the team worldwide and will be relocating to Redmond next week to work in the Worldwide Partner Group. It's often a cliche to say 'it is with mixed emotions that...bla bla bla' but I have to say I am sad to be leaving the UK and hugely excited to be heading off to pastures new. I am not a huge fan of leaving do's and so will be slipping out the door quietly.

This does of course mean that my insight into the Enterprise Search and HPC spaces will be dwindling as I wont have the luxury of working on those areas full time. I am therefore going to change the blog so that it becomes a discussion area for technology evangelism and how that impacts our partners and customers.

I hope you have enjoyed the show and I look forward to working with you all in the future!

I am lucky enough to be heading over to Houston along with around 500 partners from the UK and a host of Microsoft folks to learn what we have in store for partners next year. I always get a huge buzz from these types of events and feel energised as a result, I know from speaking to many of you - you do too.

Our conference is now hosted online too and you can watch keynotes either live or on demand - really nicely built site for you web devs out there - check it out by clicking on the image above.

Hopefully see you in Houston!

Nice new site showcasing Microsoft's work around the Environment, lots to look at and the following article caught my eye immediately: High-Performance Computing: Enabling Climate Change Analysis, as did the following:

Energy Efficiency Best Practices in Microsoft Data Center Operations 

The article on the polemic facing the IT industry as a whole was really worth a read - not too long but faces up to the challenges ahead and how industry as a whole can deal with it: How Can Technology Sustain the Environment in the 21st Century?

I also liked the business solution area of how real customers are using our technologies to lower their carbon footprints.

Enjoy!

Working on HPC at Microsoft we have not said that every day, however now it is time to restate the facts on software and what is really the fastest in the world! And don't believe me - check out the customer story below!

Kudos to Ryan Waite and the team:

The NCSA cluster is amazing. 1200 nodes, each with 8 cores, creating a 9600 core cluster. NCSA installed Beta 1 of Windows HPC Server 2008 and ran the benchmark. The results were outstanding: 68.5 teraflops and 77.7% efficiency. Using our beta software NCSA beat their November score by over 10%. This is the fastest Windows cluster to date. Check out the customer video and case study.

Get the full story here.

And the fast facts are:

What is IBF 24?

IBF 24 is the world’s first online gathering focused on intranet innovation

· Go on live tours of 12 of the world's best intranets - including those run by non-IBF members American Electric Power, IBM, IKEA, Microsoft, Nissan and SAP. This is your chance to show your colleagues what other leading global intranets are accomplishing

· Hear acclaimed speakers including former Al Gore speechwriter and Whole New Mind author Dan Pink, Dave Armstrong of Google, Ethan R.R. McCarty from IBM, and Kirk Koenigsbauer of Microsoft, the man they call the ‘King of SharePoint’

· Learn from master classes by expert practitioners

· Take part in online breakout sessions in which you can debate the hot topics with peers from hundreds of organisations worldwide – IBF members and non-members alike

Enjoy!

I was at the last one and it was fab, you might want to go along this time:

UK HPC User Group

I wanted to let you know about the UK HPC User Group meeting coming up in June 26.  Registrations are here.

This meeting is intended for customers, partners and developers to “meet and mingle”, and compare notes.  And to provide Microsoft with direct input into our product and offerings. 

On the day speakers will hear:

- The latest news on Windows HPC 2008

- New software solutions in Finance, Engineering and Defence

- The latest in MS enabling technology like Microsoft ESP & MS Robotics

- The winners of the UK HPC student competition, and

- Customer stories.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour the Imperial War Museum. 

Think about registering here.  And if you know of someone who might be interested, please forward this on.

The event is being organised by the UK Microsoft HPC User Group, chaired by Professor Simon Cox, School of Engineering Sciences, at the University of Southampton.

Enjoy!

 

Love cars?

Check out this blog: https://jalopnik.com/

Just fab!

ICS Solutions are a Microsoft Gold Partner and experts in delivering business solutions based on SharePoint technologies. We present a free and interactive seminar where you can learn how Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can be used to deliver and manage public facing web sites.

You will see live demonstrations of SharePoint’s Web Content Management features including Content Authoring, Branding and Controlled Deployment; you will hear expert opinion and advice which will help you assess SharePoint 2007 for use within your organisation from both a strategic and technical perspective; you will learn how ICS have helped clients to streamline business processes around the management of corporate web sites using SharePoint 2007.

What will the seminar cover?

• What is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
• What is Web Content Management?
• How to evaluate SharePoint 2007 for your Web Content Management requirements?
• What are the key considerations in building a SharePoint Server farm for a Web site?
• How to get started with your Web Content Management Project
• Over one hour of live demonstrations
• Q&A

When?
Date: 14th May 2008
Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Frequency: ICS run seminars every 2 weeks throughout the year, please click here for further details.

Where?
Microsoft Victoria, London
For directions, click here

Who should attend?
Business and Technical Managers

Who are ICS?

• ICS are a Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in Information Worker solutions
• ICS has the UK's largest pool of SharePoint experts with over 300 specialists
• ICS has implemented over 100 SharePoint projects successfully

To find out more about ICS, click here.

Why should I attend?

"ICS are one of Microsoft's most respected SharePoint partners with a well deserved reputation for delivering SharePoint solutions to the highest standard" - Rob Gray, Microsoft SharePoint Product Marketing Manager

t: 01256 403 800   e: events@ics.net   w: www.ics.net

ICS Solutions Ltd, .NET Solutions Campus, Skippetts House, Skippetts Lane, Basingstoke, Hants RG21 3HP

So those not accustomed to how Microsoft do acquisitions it kind of goes like this:

1. Offer made

2. Accounts and business reviewed in detail, final price agreed and purchase completed - regulatory approvals etc

3. Business is run as a subsidiary of Microsoft

4. Products go through the security development lifecycle so it is ensured they meet the standard Microsoft security policies and procedures

5. The Microsoft brand is then given to the business and the product appears on our price lists so our usual channels can access the tools and sell the product in the usual fashion

We are at step 3 with FAST. The customer FAQ is here, and there is a handy email address if you have any questions: fastq@microsoft.com

Enjoy!