Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Event Wrap-Up: Hero's of Hyper-V
As a dedicated Microsoft Gold Competency Partner, Broadview Networks hosted a 'Lunch and Learn' on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
An impressive number of IT professionals from throughout Manitoba enjoyed a fully catered lunch while learning about leveraging Hyper-V for business continuity. Tyson Choptain, Vice-President of Broadview Networks and Microsoft Systems Engineer identified the unique advantages that a Microsoft virtualization and management solution brings to clients.
The Microsoft presentation touched on the following:
* Leveraging Hyper-V for Business Continuity
* Microsoft’s Virtualization Roadmap
* Today’s low cost of Virtualization and Disaster Recovery
* Beyond Server Virtualization
To discuss a Microsoft Product Demo, please contact Broadview Networks.
For more information or for more details about our next event please call 204.9849897 or email solutions@broadviewnetworks.ca
Friday, March 18, 2011
Microsoft Hero's of Hyper-V Event
Microsoft provides a familiar and consistent platform across traditional, private and public cloud environments, so that you can leverage investments and skill sets you already have, while taking advantage of the new value the cloud provides.
By building your private cloud on Windows Server and Hyper-V you will benefit from the deep integration and ecosystem that Microsoft provides. Broadview Networks will be hosting a Lunch and Learn on Thursday, March 24, 2011 from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm to identify the unique advantages that a Microsoft virtualization and management solution brings to clients and which features of the solution clients find most compelling. The event will take place at the Broadview networks office located at 1-1530 Taylor Avenue.
Discussion will cover:
* Leveraging Hyper-V for Business Continuity
* Microsoft’s Virtualization Roadmap
* Today’s low cost of Virtualization and Disaster Recovery
* Beyond Server Virtualization
Door prizes and a catered lunch will be provided.
REGISTER TODAY
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Is Intune in tune with partner needs?
Next week, on March 23, Windows Intune, Microsoft's long-awaited PC management cloud solution, will be available for purchase or a free 30 day trial in more than 35 countries. A year after the original announcement, the issue of whether or not Intune will be a channel-friendly offering has long been put to rest. But will it be a strong competitor against existing offerings from established managed service providers?
Not surprisingly, Microsoft is bullish about the offering's chances.
"Intune is all about simplifying and helping businesses manage PCs using Windows cloud services , and it is based on a very strong partner model," said Elliot Katz, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft Canada. "We believed from the outset of development, that the vast majority would do this on a partner model. We've had very, very positive feedback and interest in getting on the Windows Intune betas.
Katz said that while Intune builds on their managed services with Azure and other solutions like BPOS, the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, it also goes beyond them.
"This is very different from Azure," Katz said. "Intune will change systems management with nothing more than a browser and an internet connection. It will give partners more ways to make money and sell Microsoft products."
Katz said these will include, apart from the service itself, additional managed services, deployment services and add-on consulting services, in things like asset management, which is part of Intune.
"One thing that wasn't in the initial product which is in the final release is a multi-account console for partners that allows the partner to log into Intune through any internet session, and can tell if any of the PCs in any accounts are reporting any alerts or need any help," Katz said. "Partners can use the multi-unit account console and provide the service. It will expand the reach for cloud offerings as well, because this scales large. It's not a small business product. It's SMB now, and it will scale further into large enterprises as we go further down the roadmap."
But does it give traditional MSPs what they want? Peter Sandiford, CEO of Level Platforms, a platform provider which has worked closely with Microsoft on BPOS and Office 365, has his doubts.
"I don't think it's a good idea for MSPs," Sandiford said. "It's about ten times more expensive than us or our competitors, and it's got a lot less functionality. The price is unheard of in our market. It's just too pricey for the MSP market."
Sandiford thinks there is a market for the offering, just not in the MSP market.
"I think it's designed for a different customer, a midmarket IT guy who doesn't want to manage PCs," Sandiford said. "Never rule Microsoft out. If they don't get it right the first time, they get it going until they do. But I don't think the SMB market is that interested in managed PCs."
Tyson Choptain, a Systems Consultant at Broadview Networks, a Winnipeg Manitoba-based Microsoft partner, does see SMB demand for his company's model.
"We aren't a traditional MSP that uses something like Level Platforms or Nable," Choptain said. "We do a lot of preventative maintenance work, and for us, this is a great augment to the way we work. It lets us provide centralized services like patch management, and have that level of management, so that the customer and we don't have to invest in a specific MSP's solution."
Choptain sees the core market for Intune today as being fairly small customers, 5 user to probably 15-200 users if they are a very distributed customer, or 50 user offices that don't have a full time IT person.
"We see this part of the SMB market screaming for help, but they don't often know what help they need ," he said. "They need some help managing that environment, so they come to us and ask 'what do you have.'
Choptain said that while the per device cost of Intune is expensive on a traditional MSP model, with Broadview's type of business model, the customer isn't billed for it direct.
"The cost is indirect, mixed in with other costs," he said. "With this model, we can definitely justify the cost. Intune's a great product, but a lot of its power comes from where someone like us can augment it to meet the customers' needs."
This story was written by Mark Cox and published on the eChannel Line website.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Event Wrap-up: VMware Forum
Broadview Networks sponsored the VMware Forum that took place in Winnipeg on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at the Fairmont Hotel.
The VMware Canada Forum Series is a regionally based group of sessions focused fully on virtualization and the journey to the cloud along with partner integrations of virtualization.
An industry analyst started the day with a session that looked at the market and business problems in IT. Discussions addressed where we are today and where we are going in Canada. This was followed by a VMware thought leader covering key topics and announcements that included current updates and what is to come for VMware customers and prospects. The day also included a best practice from successful customers along with two Keynote sponsorship opportunities that addressed the entire audience.
Broadview was an exhibit sponsor which gave us the opportunity to host our own exhibit, share information and network with all attendees. A variety of breakout sessions included topics such as:
- Managing Security in a Virtualized Environment
- Sunny with a Chance of Cloud
- Future Ready Stoarge for Virtualization
- End User Computing
- Building Modern Applications for the Cloud
Broadview Networks looks forward to taking part in the VMware Forum again next year.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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