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Want to Grow Your Hosting Business? Welcome Aboard Partner.

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During Microsoft's Hosting Summit last week, David McCann, GM of Windows Server Marketing delivered a keynote to lay out Microsoft's technology vision and road map for hosting service providers.

 

Notes from the keynote:

  • Reinforced the fact that hosting service providers are strategic to Microsoft and noted that 50 percent of world's servers will be in a hosted environment by 2013.
  • Microsoft is actively competing for that pie by partnering with hosting service providers.
  • With over 70 percent market share in terms of x86/EPIC Server shipments according to IDC's research, Windows Server / Hyper-V is the platform to utilize for the foreseeable future. System Center, ADFS and other Microsoft server technologies fulfill the needs of an entire data center.
  • Windows platform continues to be updated to address today's customer needs. For example: Dynamic Memory that allows hosting service providers to dynamically distribute memory across virtual machines as necessary without service interruption. RemoteFX that delivers remote users a full Windows desktop environment that includes full-motion video, Silverlight animations and 3D applications.
  • MaximumASP, a Microsoft hosting partner, demonstrated elastic computing capabilities utilizing Application Request Routing.
  • The hosting industry's requirements are already a key part of the Windows platform development and planning teams. Microsoft is proactively reaching out to hosting partners.
  • Microsoft has gone beyond offering just products to its hosting partners. Solution accelerators such as the Dynamic Data Center Toolkit; tools such as Web Deploy, SEO Toolkit, SQL Server Migration Assistant that streamline hosting operations; demand generation and resources for hosting partners through Microsoft's worldwide partner network.

 

What does this all mean?

Well it is a given that becoming a Microsoft hosting partner is a wise business decision. While most of the competition focuses on transactional and product based engagements with hosting service providers, Microsoft continues to invest in enabling hosting partners's growth through marketing programs, tools, and readily usable content.  

 

Hyper-V was launched just two years ago. As of December 2009, Microsoft's share of new x86 virtualization licenses stands at 25 percent (Source: Microsoft Q3 2010 earnings call transcript). Microsoft continues to drive Hyper-V in the service provider market by demonstrating overall business value to hosting partners, which is natural for a company that generates 96 percent of revenues through partners.

 

Hameed Mohammed, industry solutions manager, Microsoft Communications Sector