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Accelerating our business with partners at WPC 2012!

It’s the beginning of July and that can mean only one thing – the Lync team is heading east to connect with our partners at the 2012 Worldwide Partner Conference, in Toronto, ON!  WPC is the annual partner event to celebrate our joint successes over the last fiscal year and set the groundwork for business planning for the year ahead. 

Our last fiscal year that ended in June saw continued growth and momentum for Lync in the market. Lync grew at double digit rates, reached over three million enterprise voice users who are using Lync as their only telephony solution, two million Lync mobile clients were downloaded in just six months, and many customers such as Sprint, Helly Hansen and Astra Zeneca are benefiting through cost savings and increased
productivity with Lync and the rest of the Office applications. 

Our partners play a critical role in our journey to transform communications. Partners have been instrumental in helping customers decide, implement, manage and support Lync. They also continue to push the envelope in creating innovative offerings and solutions on our communications platform.  We’ve seen a bunch of great innovation from partners, and I’d like to take a moment to highlight our Lync award winners and finalists.

Communications Market Acceleration Partner of the Year: Hewlett-Packard for their expertise in planning, deployment and management of Lync and launch of the HP AppSystem, a robust backend system for rapid adoption of Lync by customers.

Finalists: Wortell, Enabling Technologies Corporation

Communications Technology Partner of the Year: Avtex for their innovative suite of Lync based applications such as the Team Assembly System that provides real time availability of dispatch crew saving valuable time in gathering response teams during emergencies.

Finalists: Aruba Networks & Plantronics Inc

In addition to looking back at the last year; WPC also represents the perfect opportunity to share new initiatives, programs, and business planning with our partner community. The Microsoft Lync team has anaction packed schedule
designed to help partners in accelerating their business with Lync.  We will be sharing our go-to-market efforts for the next fiscal year, discussing opportunities on deployment, support and development platform and how Office 365 partners can leverage the value of Lync Online to lead customer deployments.  I am especially looking forward to sharing the evolution of the new Premier Services for Lync Partners offering, based largely on direct feedback from our
partners.  In addition, we have a host of activities, networking events and meetings planned to connect with our partners and build off our joint success in FY12 to have an even more successful FY13. 

If you are a partner and heading to Toronto next week, here’s what you wouldn’t want to miss:

Lync Sessions:

Monday, July 09                   3:00 PM – 4:00 PMFOP02 Accelerate Your Business with Lync  Session Type: Breakout Session / Track: Future of Productivity   

 

4:30 PM – 5:30 PMFOP05i Lync: Compete MythbustersSession Type: Interactive DiscussionTrack: Future of Productivity

Tuesday, July 102:00 PM – 3:00 PMFOP11 Delivering Business Value to Your Customers with Lync Online and Office 365Session Type: Breakout SessionTrack: Future of Productivity

5:00 PM – 6:00 PMFOP20 Lync Support Options for End-to-End SuccessSession Type: Breakout SessionTrack: Future of Productivity

You can add these sessions your calendar via the session scheduler at www.digitalwpc.com.  We are also giving out passes to the most coveted event at WPC, “The Party”, so be there to
not miss out on any of the action. Plan also to stop by the Future of Productivity booth (#M3) and the Lync calling stations in the Solution Innovation Center to see hands-on demos.  The Solutions Innovation Center will
feature:

LYNC CALLING STATIONS
Save those calling minute and experience the power of enterprise voice. Make phone calls to friends and family all via the power of Lync.

LYNC TECHNICAL EXPERT DEMOS
Even the savviest experts may not realize all of the features and functionality that Lync has to offer customers. Swing by the demo stations to meet with Lync technical experts and learn more.  

LYNC DEVICE WALL
Touch and experience the latest audio, video and conferencing devices that would make any office phone green with jealousy.

PREMIER SUPPORT FOR LYNC (PSLP) ASK THE EXPERTS LOUNGE
Talk directly to PSLP experts about opportunities around Premier Support for Lync partners. Ask questions and learn more about how PSLP can benefit your business.  

From keynotes, sessions, interactive discussions, demonstrations in the Solution Innovation Center, networking opportunities and not to miss parties, there will not be a dull moment at the conference . I look forward to seeing you in Toronto!

Ashima Singhal
Group Manager Lync, Microsoft