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Certified Technology Specialist Promo

Tin ParkhouseI got this information from Tina Parkhouse on the TS2 team today and I’m passing it along to everyone. 🙂 You are invited to participate in the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist promotion to become a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS). The first 250 partners that are ready to take a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exam will receive a free Exam voucher good for one free exam and a retake.  Exam vouchers expire on June 29, 2007.  

Next steps to follow if you are ready to take the MCTS exam:  

  • Send a mail to uspr@asentus.net with your Partner ID and along with this code TS2LOU to receive your Exam Promotion code.  

  • Discounted instructor-led training is also available for partners that need training prior to taking a certification exam through www.msreadiness.com/partnerskillsplus.  

  • Exams and classes are available everywhere in the U.S and must be taken by June 30th  

  • Once you pass your exam, send a copy of the exam to uspr@asentus.net and you will receive a polo shirt (one shirt per partner org)

If you are not quite ready to take the exam and need additional training, follow these steps:  

  • Go to: www.msreadiness.com/partnerskillsplus for a list of  discounted classes available and enter promo code TS2MKT when you register for the class.   

  • Once you are ready to take the exam, just follow the steps above.    

What are the current certifications available?
The Technology Specialist certifications enable professionals to target specific technologies and to distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise in their specialized technologies. Microsoft Technology Specialists are consistently capable of implementing, building, troubleshooting, and debugging a particular Microsoft technology.
There are currently 17 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications. More will become available as new technologies are introduced.  The 17 MCTS certifications are as follows:

I hope you are able to take advantage of this promotion!  

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How to Web-Enable LOBs on SBS

Do your clients have employees and remote workers who want to access mission-critical line-of-business (LOB) apps that weren’t designed to work across the web?  Now they can, and you can learn how install it on top of their existing Microsoft SBS 2003 infrastructure:

Webcast #1:  Web-enabled Line of Business Applications Automatically with Small Business Server and Citrix Access Essentials

Event Dates:  4/10/2007, 5/8/2007 or 6/12/2007 (same content)
Presenter: J.J. Antequino & Augie Gonzalez
Event Time:  1:30 PM Eastern, USA & Canada (DST) = GMT – 05:00
Duration: 60 minutes
Course Level: 100

Description:
Sure, we’d all love to have our line of business applications rewritten for the Web. But what can we do right now, quickly and inexpensively, while we wait on the original developer to pull it off? It’s actually pretty straightforward using Citrix Access Essentials software. And you don’t have to write a line of code. Learn what you can achieve for under $250 per user including Windows Terminal Server CALs.

Citrix Access Essentials enables small organizations to access their central business systems over the Internet from home, hotels, airports, customer sites, wireless hotspots and across firewalls. The software makes it possible for remote and mobile personnel to run line-of-business applications on a central Windows server as if right at the main computer site.

Webcast #2: Citrix Access Essentials and Small Business Server – Behind the Scenes

Event Dates:  4/12/2007, 5/10/2007, or 6/14/2007 (same content)
Presenter:  J.J. Antequino & Augie Gonzalez
Event Time:  1:30 PM Eastern, USA & Canada (DST) = GMT – 05:00
Duration: 60 minutes
Course Level: 100

Description:
In Webcast #1 You heard what Citrix Access Essentials can do. Now see it from the system administrator’s perspective. We’ll start with a basic configuration that builds on Windows Terminal Services to get you off the ground, and then move into an advanced environment that kicks in must-have features for a rich, secure, responsive Web experience.  

Source:  Ron Grattopp – TS2 Presenter Extraordinaire

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Upcoming Live Events (Q2 2007)

*Registration for some of these events hasn’t opened yet.  Here are the URLs so you can at least mark the dates on your calendar and check back later to register:

Reminder:  Microsoft Connections, MSDN, TechNet & TS2 events don’t charge for admission, but parking is your responsibility.

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70-282 Exam Prep Webcast PDFs

Quite a few people have asked where they can get a PDF copy of the slide decks for all 5 days of the 70-282 Exam Prep Series with Ron Grattopp and Bea Mulzer (Jan 8 – Jan 12, 2007). 

Here you go! 🙂

Thanks so much to Bea, Ron, Kevin Clarke & the Microsoft TS2 Team for providing this webcast series for the SMB community!

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Register for the Louisville Vista / Office 2007 Launch

Register today for the: 

Microsoft Across America Vista / Office 2007 Launch Event
Louisville, Kentucky
Tuesday January 30, 2007 

IMPORTANT:  These events will fill up completely so be sure and choose one or two events below and SIGNUP TODAY! 

 

Event Location:
Hyatt Regency Louisville
320 West Jefferson Street
Louisville, KY 40202 

Morning Events 

Small Business Track – Vista / Office 2007 / WSS 3.0 / Accounting 2007
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032315874&Culture=en-US 

IT Pro Track – Vista & Office 2007 Deployment / Exchange 2007
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316172&Culture=en-US 

Afternoon Events  Partner Track – Presenter:  Ron Grattopp
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316010&Culture=en-US 

IT Executive Track – Deployment / BitLocker / GPO / SharePoint 2007 / Dynamics
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316268&Culture=en-US 

Developer Track – Connected Applications / Office 2007 Server Platform
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316007&Culture=en-US 

FYI – The Kentucky Small Business Server User Group (KYSBSUG) is scheduled to have a booth at the morning IT Pro Track, so be sure to stop by and say hi! 🙂 

 

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Webcast – Managed Services Practice – Part 3

Webcast: The Recipe to Build a Successful Managed Services Practice from Scratch – Part 3 
Powered by: TS2 Wed on the Web 
Date: Wednesday November 29, 2006
Presenters: Ron Grattopp & Erick Simpson
Event Time: 3:00 PM Eastern, USA & Canada (DST) = GMT -05:00
Duration: 60 minutes

Registration URL:
http://www.msreadiness.com/WS_abstract.asp?eid=15004776
 
Description:  This is a follow-up to Erick’s June 30th and August 18th Managed Services Webcasts. This Seminar will focus on pricing, marketing and selling your Managed Services Deliverables, and will include a discussion of different pricing models and sales and marketing strategies. We will feature a live Q&A with Erick, which we did not have time for in the first Webcast.

Prerequisites:
Recipe to build a Successful Managed Services Practice from Scratch – Part 1:
http://www.msreadiness.com/WS_abstract.asp?eid=15004257

and Recipe to build a Successful Managed Services Practice from Scratch – Part 2:
http://www.msreadiness.com/WS_abstract.asp?eid=15004419.

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Coffee Talk With TS2

Image stolen from Mike Hall's blog - thanks Mike!

Want to build your business?  Charles Van Heusen and the TS2 team think you do, and they want to help.

Join them every Wednesday morning 9:00 – 10:00 Eastern for the new “Small Business Server Practice Builder” webcast series.

Upcoming topics include:

  • 2-Aug – What’s next for the Small Business Specialist Program?
  • 9-Aug – Licensing Configurator Tools
  • 16-Aug – Engaging with Microsoft
  • 23-Aug – Technology Assesment Toolkit

Registration is easy too – just click on the iCal link and a recurring appointment will be dropped into Outlook.

We also took the time to talk about newrestfunerals.co.uk a very popular page for funeral services.
Mortuary services, or insurance companies that offer coverage through the website, and those plans, when they are considered taxable, should be considered taxable under the provisions of section 16(c) of the Social Security Act .

The following is a statement of the following: (a) There are no plans offered by insurance companies or in other forms that are subject to this section within the United States and that do not provide such coverage. (b) Some of those plans offered on the Internet or other means that are not subject to the section do not have coverage through the insurance program that directly provides federal benefits.

Coverage does not apply to: (a) Exempt plans offered by insurance companies unless the insured individual’s coverage is offered through an agency or corporation that administers the coverage or the employee of that agency or corporation who determines that the coverage is not qualified or qualified not for use, or otherwise complies with the terms and conditions of such coverage in accordance with a rules promulgated pursuant to section 802(j) of the Federal Credit Reporting Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 6802(j)); or (b) Plans that offer insurance that are owned by one or more qualified persons who live in the United States.

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Koolaid Tastes Good

I recently took a break from the Mac ‘apple juice’ and just got back from spending 3 days in sunny Tulsa Oklahoma with one of my buds from Microsoft.  Over the course of a few days we installed a 64-bit SBS server and network, played with some new technology, and got to put Window Vista Ultimate (build 5472) through its paces on a really nice HP machine. 

If you haven’t seen Vista since Beta 2 back in the Spring, it’s come a LONG way.  The July CTP is much more stable and looks absolutely fantastic on a top-knotch PC with a huge flatscreen TV.  There are still some bugs with the DVD burning, some network cards say there is no connection (when they really are connected) and there’s no decent driver for the Haupauge video card yet.  Driver issues are par for the course and to be expected in a beta.  Driver issues aside, I can say after years of waiting for Vista it’s really getting close folks!

Admittedly, the SMB community is flustered over the SBS R2 delay (which I won’t beat into the ground).  But with SBM Nation in Redmond and the Microsoft SBS Parter Tour in Louisville showcasing SBS R2, Vista and Office 2007, September is gonna rock! 

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