Cobweb

Cobweb sign as the first to Launch Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Parallels Automation

I’m delighted to announce that Cobweb will be launching another major Managed Service later this year – Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

This is made possible with the deployment of Parallels Automation, our new provisioning & automation system, Control Panel, billing and on-line shop solution.   

This news has been released today at the world-wide Microsoft Hosting Summit in Seattle where Mark Adams and Dan Germain are attending and meeting with leading execs from the hosting industry. 

This is great news for Cobweb and will leverage our new Hosted Exchange 2007 appliction platform and is an in-demand service for our customers.

The full press release cound be found here; http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,13355

Microsoft UK and Microsoft USA

One of the great benefits of being an important partner to Microsoft is the access we get to the movers and shakers in the organisation. Being a Microsoft Gold Partner does not automatically entitle to the sort of access we get at Cobweb. I am typing this in my Seattle hotel room at the equivalent of 3:00 am in the morning because I am a member of the Service Provider Partner Advisory Council – but more of that in a moment.

Last Wednesday, I was invited to attend a round table dinner hosted by Gordon Frasier the current Managing Director of Microsoft UK. In attendance were some of the most important Partners for Cobweb including a number of the large Systems Integrators, the guys who design, build and deploy some of the biggest IT projects in the UK and worldwide. We were, of course given a very articulate view of the Microsoft’s view of the future by Gordon, but what was most interesting to me was that the other Partners showed a lot of interest in prospect of Microsoft opening up this “hosted” market place, indeed I picked up a couple of contacts who were interested in our SharePoint V3 and Hosted CRM V4 offerings coming later in 2008.

Back to Seattle...
It’s going to be a fun session later on this morning, my feedback is that the US Partners are taking te Microsoft move into Hosted Services hard, not surprised really, my feeling is that Microsoft is much more pervasive in the US than the UK and will take more market share more quickly, coupled with the fact that the release is only round the corner here. We are not just covering Microsoft Online Services though, the purpose of this group is for partners to get a much deeper understanding of how to get the best from the partnership and influence where we can, and of course, where appropriate share best practice.

Mark

Going back to Barca!

hello...  just as Stephen, Matt and David return from TechEd in Barcelona, Cobweb are off to Barca again :-)   
(BTW it sounds like they had a great time and they have literally dozens of ideas for new services, improvements and recommendations to make things better!)

Shelley and I are fortunate enough to be going to the EMEA Hosting Club in early December.  This is a two day get together of execs from the leading and best hosting companies across EMEA to discuss and share experiences, look at market opportunities, and network with like-minded individuals.

This is the 7th event, I think we've been to them all, including the opening event atop the Eiffel Tower, and they are a very worthwhile event.    Although it's supported and organised by Microsoft, it's an open even where general hosting and various subjects can be discussed.   Naturally much of the content, round-table discussions and networking are about HMC and WBH, but there are other agenda items - SaaS, innovations, operational best practices etc. which provide valuable content and discussion.

For us it's a great networking event and that's where we get the most value.  We also get to spend time with the Microsoft UK Hosting Team, who are always good to talk to and facilitate discussions among hosters.   Often these events reinforce our thinking about our business and industry - it's good to hear others with similar ideas or problems.

If you're going, we'll see you there.