Towards an IT infrastructure of standardized quality

05 Ubiquitous productivity, or the freedom to work where one wishes

1109 John Developer and his tools

[

Private CloudEffective control in an open and productive world

pag. 13[ [

Customers and Partners are our Guiding LightWe start out from their point of view

pag. 18[ [

[

SQL Server and Self-ServiceYour data… in good hands (your own)

pag. 07

On visionExECUTIvE maGazInE

issue 31 / march - may 2012

Team members in three time zones.One document in the cloud.

A single place for all information.It all works together.

Introducing Microsoft Offi ce 365. Collaborate

in the cloud with Offi ce, Exchange, SharePoint,

and Lync videoconferencing. Starting as low

as $10 per user per month. Begin your

free trial now at Microsoft.com/offi ce365

uring the run of this issue we will be launching one of the most novel products

for our line of Servers and Tools. This is Microsoft SQL Server 2012, which will be presented via a virtual event on march 7th . This product has been created to help organizations build a solution for the analysis of data which is complete and scalable, and which allows for the manipulation of valuable data by means of tools that are absolutely familiar to people.

In today’s Information Technologies (IT) market, 3 very clear tendencies can be seen that represent an unbeatable context for the arrival of Microsoft SQL 2012:

■ mass explosion of data: the volume of digital data will increase 40 times during the coming decade1.

■ Consumerization of IT: we made reference to this tendency in our previous editorial, but we can summarize it here as the growing preference of people for the use of the same devices they have been used to using at home or in other activities, including at work.

1 IDC Digital Universe Study, sponsored by EMC, May 2010.

■ Software as service: public, private or hybrid clouds will become increasingly commonplace. It is estimated that by the year 2015, 46% of the new investments in IT will be on public cloud2.

In this manner, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is presented as a platform of data, ready for the cloud, allowing for an increase in performance and availability in critical mission processes at a lower cost of acquisition, dislodging new ideas from the reading of new data throughout the organization and making it easy to use the cloud on one’s own terms, by creating business solutions quickly, both on the public and the private cloud.

We invite you to get to know more about this topic in this issue, together with exclusive content on private cloud solutions, productivity and licensing models.

We also would like to point out how important our customers’ and partners’ satisfaction is to us, presenting in the course of this new survey what our principal focuses have been and what our vision for the future is.

We hope you enjoy this new issue of management Update.

2 IDC, Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2011 – 2015 Forecast, Doc #228485, June 2011

A Platform of Data, Ready for the Cloud

By Claudia Monteiro Manager of Marketing and Communications for Business AudiencesMicrosoft Latin Americad

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Desktop Optimization

Towards an IT infrastructure of standardized quality

SQL Server and Self-Service

Your data… in good hands (your own)

John Developer and his tools

Customers and Partners are our Guiding Light

We start out from their point of view

5

7

9

18

19 Bermuda-based Nova Limited helps

the Argus Group get organized with user-friendly

solution based on .NET and SQL Server

Executive Board

Editor in ChiefClaudia Monteiro Online Marketing Manager Microsoft Latin America

Executive EditorCarolina Flórez Ibáñez Digital Project Manager Microsoft Latin America

Concept and Editorial LineVenkat Rangamani Corporate Accounts Lead Microsoft LatinAmerica

CollaboratorsPablo FolgueirasMario OchoaMonique GibelliGuilherme PitaAylton SouzaRosie ArrietaCarmen GonzálezHelly FernándezIneke Geesink

Sucesos Corporativos S.A.

Edition and Layout Khroma Comunicaciones

11

13

15

Ubiquitous productivity, or the freedom to work where one wishes

Private Cloud

Effective control in an open and productive world

What is the essential ingredient for maximizing the value of

Microsoft volume licensing purchases?

SummaryOn visionexecutive magazine

issue 31 / march - may 2012

in

eo

innovations

executive opinion

On vision - Executive Magazine, is a quarterly magazine by Microsoft which distributes, informs, guides and suggests the use of products Microsoft Technology.©2012 Microsoft Corporation - All rights reserved.

cs case study

business solutionsbs

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or the majority of businesses, incorporating technologies has not been a linear process or an especially orderly one. With few exceptions, servers and desktop equipment,

devices and new services are added as concrete needs arise. Seldom is there the time and the budget to do a complete planning, an anticipated purchase, an implementation “by the book”… and least of all for the defining, from a strategic viewpoint, of the objectives to be pursued for every investment made.

Some years ago, microsoft created the Infrastructure Optimization model, a cycle of four stages in which, progressively, the situation of the IT area is transformed from a basic scenario to a dynamic one, the most highly evolved in the chain, moving through the standardization and rationalization of resources and processes. This article will be taking a look at desktop and portable equipment optimization; likewise, we will be offering an introduction to the sound practices known as COBIT.

In a typical scenario, there is a diversity of technologies in the hands of the end users: assembled PCs (clones) and equipment from different brands purchased at different times, resulting in a wide variety of configurations; there are notebooks, tablets and intelligent phones, pen drives

and secure cards for accessing the corporate network. all this equipment is very likely found either in a network environment or in an environment of several interconnected sub-networks, and it probably does not all have the same operating system or antivirus program and it likely has different versions of the applications. In a scenario such as this, the company finds that it cannot assign security policies to groups of users, is has little control over the information that leaks out of the office on portable equipment, support and updating efforts are lopsided, and chances are there is a lot of chasing after problems. The computer systems area is made up of a group of firemen rather than IT professionals. Lastly, this situation increases the risk factor, runs counter to “corporate government” and therefore affects the business, more so when the company has commercial relations with larger companies, guided by international quality regulations.

Start changingThe first step in the infrastructure optimization model proposes moving from the basic level to the standardized level. In this case key areas of the administration are tended to, among which are:

■ automated distribution of software revisions or updates on desktop and portable equipment

■ Standard images defined for desktop and portable equipment (operating system and basic applications)

Desktop Optimization

Towards an IT infrastructure of standardized quality

By Pablo Folgueiras Gerente Product Marketing Manager -Windows, Microsoft LatinAmericaf

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■ Centralized administration of mobile devices

■ validation of identity, data protection and security copies of mobile device data

all of this, which comes after adjusting the administration of identities and access to the company’s network, demands that the organization have access to adequate procedures and tools. This is where the COBIT® guidelines come in as well as solutions such as the family of Microsoft System Center® products, or, for smaller companies, remotely administered by third parties, Windows Intune®.

COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology) helps companies guarantee the security, quality and compliance with regulations having to do with information technologies. It was developed almost twenty years ago by an entity specializing in auditing and controls in the computer system area (ISaCa). Following its recommendations, the company’s objectives are lined up with the IT objectives, and concrete goals are set as the process of technological infrastructure, parameters for advancements and the assigning of responsibilities matures.

From the point of view of the proposed Infrastructure Optimization methodology, the first phase will have to be an evaluation that will include the creation of an inventory of hardware and software. For this, microsoft offers different tools – some of them free of charge – such as microsoft Baseline Security analyzer (mBSa), Systems management Server and the Sam

(Software asset management) practices, among others. next, all the software that is not updated must be identified – basically for security reasons, but also for new functionalities that will be added – for assessing the convenience and/or feasibility of installing updates as required. Occasionally testing will have to be conducted in specific environments, to verify compatibility, before moving on to effective implementation. The reviewing of updates must be done periodically.

By following these practices, the company obtains important benefits, some of them imperceptible but no doubt relevant. Employees having portable equipment or intelligent telephones can be securely connected to the company’s networks, no matter where they are. The costs of administering each piece of computer equipment are considerably reduced and the IT area begins to be able to anticipate problems, or to, at the very least, prevent them. The monitoring conducted by the technological professionals will quickly determine the causes of many problems and services will be reestablished more speedily. Desktop and portable equipment will be configured more quickly and at a lower cost. The users’ data will be better protected and, accordingly, so will the organization itself.

www.itil.org technet.microsoft.com

Further information available at

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echnology applied to business is synonymous with data bases; there is no business system that does

not have data bases as one of its essential components. SQL Server 2012 is nearing conclusion of its development phase and thanks to the comments of thousands of customers and business partners who tested the preliminary versions (betas) and the Release Candidate (RC), the next generation of tools that will allow for obtaining greater value from the information with the lowest total ownership cost is now ready.

Why think of migrating to this new version of SQL Server? Why choose this platform for a new applications environment?

Ever since the appearance of SQL Server 2000, the market has found the product to be a reliable base for supporting transactional systems and business intelligence solutions. Some organizations still use this version, while others moved ahead from there. Bottom line, things have changed quite a bit in the last decade, terms such as “corporate government” and “compliance” have become popular, cloud computing and virtualization

are here to stay, and security-related challenges have multiplied. On the other hand, the universe of companies doing business online has expanded considerably, integrating applications and automating processes. It is therefore essential to have a data base platform ready to tend to these needs.

The versions available as of the launch of SQL Server 2012 will be Enterprise, Business Intelligence –which is new-, and Standard which includes reporting and data analysis services. versions of Developer, Express (free) and Compact have also been continued. SQL Server 2012 is introducing an important change which is licensing by “cores” instead of by “processors” for the Enterprise y Standard versions, and by users/ devices for BI; of course the customers having Enterprise agreements in place will still have access to the licensing models they originally contracted for, to the end of their contracts.

This is a version of the product that is maintaining its focus on Critical Mission applications, offering the greatest amount of uptime even in the most demanding of situations, maintaining the levels of yield expected by users and having all

SQL Server and Self-Service

Your data… in good hands (your own)

tBy Mario Ochoa Application Platform Manager Microsoft LatinAmerica

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the security back-ups required for this type of system. additionally, it has self-service functions in the exploration of data at more in depth levels and with an incredible capacity for interactivity. and, given current tendencies, it is worthy of note that it enables the administrators to create solutions in their own computer centers and to expand them to the cloud whenever necessary.

With regard to Business Intelligence, the following functions are expanded: Data Warehouse, availability, characteristics especially oriented to favoring the maximum yield and, for customers of Software Assurance, special benefits for working in virtualization scenarios. The features of Data Quality and master data management are fundamental to increasing productivity.

The basicsFor those not very familiar with the SQL Server family, we will be walking you through some basic data. all of the business editions support OLTP and the possibility of programming functions (with T-SQL, Data Types and FileTable). They also include tools for administering Data Bases and functions for availability, reports, data analysis, Data mining and multidimensional Semantic models.

The BI and Enterprises editions add self-service benefits that include simple and flexible configuration of alerts and dynamic reporting (PowerPivot) to integrate with SharePoint Server in corporate portals. They also offer advanced analysis and integration capabilities. Reserved for the business edition are special characteristics and

advanced Availability variables. as always, the end user will have the possibility of exploiting data with the self-service tools of reporting or using Microsoft Excel.

as is the case with all microsoft products, SQL Server 2012 is expandable, supports the industry standards (aDO.nET, ODBC, JDBC, PDO, and aDO), and can be connected to different third party technologies and solutions. Data base synchronization automation in a datacenter or on the cloud will make your company’s operations more efficient.

The value of businessThe consistency of the data, obtained in different ways and entered via sundry routes, the reliability of the information and its availability whenever a business operation so requires, are tremendously valuable issues. Having access to information in real time, easily, not only increases the user’s satisfaction but generally has positive repercussions on the end customer and definitely contributes to profitability.

At the MSDN Technical Library you will be able to find tutorials and more detailed information related to SQL Server 2012. msdn.microsoft.com/libraryProduct information is available at www.microsoft.com/sqlserver (>Future)

Sites of Interest

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hey say that in the olden days many people would adopt the name of their occupation as their surname…

We all have a “family name”, so programmers are safe… Would you like to know why the developers in your company should be using visual Studio? Join us in these reflections.

The development of software is, among all IT activities, the most creative, the one that most depends on the programmer’s personal style. The capacity to innovate is a necessary characteristic in problem solving, and the relationship between the person doing this and what he/she is creating – a piece of software – is very particular, as the code carries an extension of his/her thought. However, there is a point, a stage, at which there are other issues to consider, that complement the developer’s basic premises: productivity, complexity of the projects, needs for integration and interoperability, methodological requirements of the organization and its quality related processes… these are some of said issues. a software product built by following sound practices in the company’s environment, becomes an asset to the organization that in the future will be modified or updated by whomever created it or my other programmers.

Here lies the importance of having development tools that help to create

software following these premises. Microsoft Visual Studio is a powerful IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that ensures a code of quality during the entire life cycle of the application, from design to implementation. What guides the microsoft personnel who are in charge of this tool is the intent to supply developers with the capacity to create, cleanse and put into production applications in different platforms for Windows or the web, including Office, SharePoint, Windows Phone and the cloud, even using different technologies.

visual Studio is “the tool” par excellence for working with .nET. It allows one to do this in different programming languages (visual Basic, visual C#, visual C++, visual F# and JScript, as well as other experimental languages and xmL web services), writing source code from scratch or using previously loaded software blocks that comply with many of the basic functions for any software. It is available in the Professional version for one user, Premium for individual or team work demanded by applications with greater scalability and superior quality parameters, and there is also the Ultimate edition with ALM (application Lifecycle management) tools, that includes functions to do with architecture and modeling of more complex solutions together with guidelines for the application of agile methodologies. Those in charge of

Visual Studio 2010

John Developer and his tools By Monique GibelliProduct Sales & Solutions Manager Microsoft LatinAmerica t

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quality control for development equipment also have visual Studio Test Professional 2010 which allows for systematizing the testing that needs to be done and is integrated into the programmers’ tools in order to accelerate the implementation of necessary corrections.

an additional resource is acquiring, along with the visual Studio license that best suits your needs, the MSDN Subscription, which includes 10.9 terabytes of data and access to more than 12,000 downloads of microsoft software, aside from priority answers to your professional technical support questions, Windows azure functions for your projects, e-learning and much more.

Community extensions and interoperability around microsoft’s development technologies turns the largest community of programmers in the world, MSDN. new projects and open or shared code complements are being generated continually that provide solutions for the most incredible needs. as industry leader, microsoft is strongly committed to interoperability, intended to provide the customer/user with the freedom to choose what to work with and how. This is why guides and solutions are being e constantly that help to integrate the most frequently used technologies with almost any of the company’s products. In fact, for example, websites developed in PHP work more quickly on Windows servers, although they have not been especially developed for this platform. and the deployment of very popular content managers, such as Drupal or Joomla, is very quick in a microsoft environment.

On the other hand, Windows, Office, visual Studio and other products are

especially prepared for supporting general industry and other vertical market standards. active participation in global organizations that define these quality standards or parameters commits us to supplying tools that are duly prepared so that programmers can concentrate solely on creating the solutions they need.

BenefitsUsing visual Studio as IDE, and also using Visual Studio Team Foundation Sever for programmers’ equipment, allows for elevating levels of efficiency while following the highest standards of quality. The time it takes to detect failures and rectify them is accelerated. another fundamental advantage is the portability of solutions for different environments, whether Windows (for PCs or portable equipment), Windows Phone, the web or Windows azure, which also reduces development times and the total cost of each project.

analyzing old software (legacy) is easier with visual Studio, and therefore so is correcting and updating it as per new business needs. The testing tools integrated into visual Studio make it possible to release more reliable products, given that they allow for testing more fully and more in depth in different software, as well as hardware, scenarios. visual Studio is definitely an investment that multiplies in value on a daily basis.

www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/latamwww.microsoft.com/es-xl/openness/http://msdn.microsoft.com

Further information available at

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efore you even have the chance to insist much on having it be available… there it is, in your hands, wherever you are and whatever device you choose

to use. This is what we have dreamed of: Office on the cloud. This is what Office 365 means, a service you can subscribe to online without having to acquire and install licenses. For organizations having a minimum of 25 persons without any permanent IT support or much experience with it or even much in terms of professional studies, but also for large and medium-sized companies, microsoft has made available this alternative for providing every customer with the freedom to choose how he/she wants to use the technology.

There are many scenarios explaining the need to have a personal and business productivity software service. micro-enterprises and new companies can have, without having made any hefty prior investments, the same technology as other already consolidated companies. Organizations that have not had the opportunity to update their computer package of hardware or software in recent years. In situations in which companies are merging together that used to use different tools that are hard to maintain or that used to generate compatibility problems. new branches in remote sites can be operational very quickly in an

environment administered from the head office. Companies that had not paid close attention to the terms of the licensing of their software can rectify this situation almost immediately, at least until they are able to make strategic decisions, minimizing their risk. Lastly, this is for structures devoid of IT personnel that can no longer be continuously looking out to update their software, which has an impact on security.

Professionals and Small BusinessesFor a moderate monthly fee, it is possible to use email, agenda and calendar, text processor, spreadsheets and other products that are used on a daily basis. The payment is per user, so that a structure having temporary or seasonal staff has the flexibility of contracting whatever is needed at any given moment. These services can be accessed from equipment having Windows, Windows Phone, as well as other devices with android, Symbian, Iphone, mac and Blackberry. Each email box has a capacity of 25 gigabytes (GB) and emails of up to 25 megabytes (mB) can be sent. all the users in the organization are linked, so that it is very easy to coordinate agendas by viewing the calendars shared by other people and proposing appointments in the available time slots. With regard to viruses and spam, Office 365 has Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange in its infrastructure, so the organization is protected at all times, the protection being updated constantly.

Ubiquitous productivity, or the freedom to work where one wishes

Office 365, on the cloud

bBy Guilherme PitaProduct Marketing Manager II Office 365 Microsoft LatinAmerica

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The Microsoft Office Web Apps are the desktop tools being used the most frequently, available as services: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The really interesting part about this is that, working with them online, different users can edit them simultaneously, and each one of these users will know who else is also including or modifying information. The most advanced functionalities will always be available, as microsoft keeps this platform updated without you having to make any sort of software update. Files generated this way will look the same, fully respecting all the formats generated by their authors, whether they be visible on the website (in the search engine) or in the applications themselves, but in their desktop editions. This is important so that the exchange of documents with customers or suppliers is productive and to ensure consistency of the materials that are shared. Likewise, the users of intelligent mobile phones will be able to view the files easily.

Office 365, besides providing personal productivity tools, offers the mechanisms for creating small collaborative portals for hosting the organization’s files, thereby facilitating the shared editing or the location of information more quickly and easily. and if you add instant messaging with presence indicator to this, which is expanded with the capacity to make audio calls, video calls and conferences online on which the desktop or a virtual whiteboard can be shared, the level of efficiency of the organization is multiplied exponentially. This function can be used by the company’s or the studio’s internal users, and can also connect to external users through the integration with Windows Live messenger.

In order to get a better feel for how useful Office 365 is for companies, it is important to note that it also offers the functionalities

of Microsoft Access, for efficient data management of customer and supplier contacts, and product inventory and catalogues. all the administration of users and assigning of permits on Office 365 is done in a centralized manner through an interface that is very easy to use.

Medium and Large Companiesall the functionalities mentioned above are included along with important additions for larger companies. The backing up of the information in an environment following strict security and privacy policies is invaluable to a business. another interesting point is that migrating to the cloud can be done progressively, “seamlessly” integrating local users of Office 2010 and all others using – at the office or outside it – Office 365.

The administration benefits facilitate fulfillment of international corporate government and compliance regulations required occasionally for the organization itself and at other times indirectly to satisfy the needs of third parties in the business’s ecosystem. Scalability depends solely on your company requirements. microsoft provides professional technical support 24 hours a day to ensure the availability of this platform, which is backed financially. Additionally, an active online community and free training content will help you plan, implement and get the most out of this platform on behalf of your entire organization.

www.office365.com

Further information available at:

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icrosoft recently published new materials that are helpful for understanding the paradigm of cloud computing, so as

to contribute to better decision making. Together with a creative advertising campaign in which the protagonists come back from the future to give thanks for the choice of cloud technologies today, these documents synthesize very clear perspectives and precise data that provide a glimpse of the business value of offering computing infrastructure online using microsoft technologies, the principal advantages being self-service for users, openness to administering different technologies in a heterogeneous environment and simplified licensing.

The benefits of a private cloud are many: increased business agility, flexibility, cost reduction, scalability and reliability being the most outstanding. By the way, these are similar to the advantages of the public cloud, but a private cloud offers advanced capabilities for adapting to the particular needs of every organization and great control of all the variables at play. Undeniably, virtualization is one of the key pillars in shaping a private cloud; however, considering that businesses usually maintain heterogeneous environments, with physical and virtual servers, local and virtualized applications, within the computer center on the cloud, and also taking into consideration that they involve different technologies, there is one more actor that is

Effective control in an open and productive worldPrivate Cloud

stepping into a leading role: System Center, the family of products that administers all the IT resources for the company.

In order for the abstraction of resources that constitutes a private cloud to be effective, a very efficacious administration is required. It is possible to shape a private cloud by contracting hosted datacenter services or virtual private servers on microsoft’s Hosting Partners, but if you are thinking of shaping your own cloud, you will have to consider the combination of Windows Server Hyper-v with System Center to facilitate the IT tasks and be able to concentrate on your business.

With a private cloud, the time it takes to put new applications that are required by the company’s functional areas into operation is speeded up, the self-service of resource requirements as per pre-established parameters is enabled, and therefore the entire cycle of life of the software is made more agile. Likewise, the availability and yield of the

By Aylton SouzaCloud Product ManagerMicrosoft LatinAmerica m

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applications is improved thanks to the preventive monitoring and diagnosis of potential failures, and the time is takes to implement repairs when and if necessary is accelerated, all of which contributes to a more precise fulfillment of the SLAs. Old and new applications can be offered in this environment as services.

On a private cloud with microsoft technologies, different technologies can be included; for example, vmWare and Citrix’s own hypervisors (virtualization solutions); different operating systems can be run and administered, including Linus or old versions of Windows Server. Let us add one more important piece of information: with Hyper-v, in contrast to other alternatives in the market, the licensing is per processor, and every one of these has unlimited virtualization rights. That is to say, no additional ones are required for every virtual machine integrated, as long as they are on the previously licensed processor.

Our vision is focused on enabling your company to obtain the maximum benefits possible from the cloud and have the freedom to choose the technologies you wish to work with. This platform facilitates the overall administration of identities, of virtualized equipment and of development environments; resources on different computer centers, whether own or those of hosting service providers, can be linked; and all this can be done while complying with the strictest quality and security regulations. The management of applications, the delivery of services to users via automated processes and the administration of the entire infrastructure all in one affords enormous competitive advantages. System Center, in one tool, incorporates all the functionalities required for a private cloud, which is something that other alternatives in the market require up to seven different products with three

licensing schemes to accomplish, per processor, per instance and per virtual machine. at microsoft, this is all condensed into one, with the added benefit of Software Assurance, which makes it possible to avail yourself of any new product in the suite for three years. For mid-sized organizations, conservatively averaging a consolidation of servers with 6 virtual machines per physical processor, the cost of a solution with Windows Server Hyper-v and System Center could be up to 5 times lower than with the competition.

The companies already exploring virtualization know that the growth of the virtual servers is exponential. as the company grows, or as the virtualized environment that is part of the private cloud expands, the difference in the total cost of ownership becomes increasingly evident and pronounced in favor of the microsoft tools. System Center 2012 includes app Controller, Operations manager, Orchestrator, Service manager, virtual machine manager, Data Protection manager, Endpoint Protection and Configuration Manager. The Microsoft TechNet program has a broad spectrum of free training channels for learning to master all these functionalities; the most outstanding is undoubtedly microsoft virtual academy (mva), and the certifications for IT professionals are highly recommendable for ensuring the maximum capitalization of the resources. The product can be downloaded and tested by visiting the TechNet Evaluation Center.

All the information is available on the Microsoft Private Cloud portal http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ server-cloud/private-cloud/ default.aspx

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oftware assurance has been a part of microsoft’s licensing offerings since 2001. While occasionally

perceived as an “insurance policy” to deliver access to free software upgrades, Sa has expanded greatly since its introduction and is now widely viewed as an essential ingredient for maximizing the value of microsoft volume licensing purchases.

The Sa program is dynamic in that microsoft continues to update, improve and grow the portfolio of SA benefits. A variety of key SA benefits have been part of the program for several years.

■ New Product Versions: With new Product versions, every microsoft product license that is covered by Software assurance can be upgraded

to the most recent version. This can be a cost-effective choice for customers who frequently upgrade, and could also help simplify procurement since customers don’t have to purchase a new license in order to upgrade products covered by Sa. In addition, taking advantage of the new Product Version benefit can further budget predictability since upgrades may be deployed at any time, without incurring additional licensing costs.

■ Training Vouchers: Training vouchers provide access to instructor-led technical training for IT Professionals. Classes are given in person, by a Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions. You’ll find classes offered with topics covering an array of microsoft products and delivered in multiple locations. These classroom courses can be used to help IT staff keep current with technology, or prepare to deploy, manage and support new software.

What is the essential ingredient for maximizing the value of Microsoft volume licensing purchases?One of the most compelling aspects of the Enterprise Agreement (EA) has been the support benefits provided to help customers plan, deploy and use Microsoft technologies through the Software Assurance (SA) program. Microsoft has almost doubled the value delivered to customers through SA making it much more than a maintenance program.

Expansion of Software Assurance

enriches the value of the Enterprise Agreement

sBy Rosie ArrietaLicensing Marketing LeadMicrosoft Lationamerica

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With the customers’ IT landscape changing, SA

has evolved to better support customers’ use

of Microsoft technologies whether deployed on-

premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments.

■ E-Learning: E-Learning helps employees gain skills to be more productive with their current software, or get ready for new software versions with online training developed by microsoft experts.

■ Home Use Program: The Home Use Program (HUP) provides licensed employees access to a low-cost copy of Microsoft® Office Professional Plus 2010 and other applications to install and use on a home computer during the term of a customer’s Software assurance coverage.

■ Windows 7 Enterprise: The Windows 7 Enterprise operating system is provided exclusively to Sa customers and brings unique features not available in Windows 7 Professional. These features include Directaccess to

give mobile users access to corporate networks via their Directaccess-enabled portable computer without the need to connect to a virtual private network (vPn), appLocker® to better restrict and manage unauthorized software use on company devices, and BitLocker™ and BitLocker To Go to help protect sensitive data on PCs and removable drives.

■ Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP): mDOP offers innovative technologies including application virtualization, asset management, data protection and policy control and device diagnostic and recovery tools. Customers can capture greater IT efficiencies and savings when using mDOP, which is available exclusively to Software assurance customers as an add-on subscription.

■ 24 x 7 Problem Resolution Support: This benefit provides phone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Having a direct connection to microsoft anytime a support need occurs can help customers lower support costs and allows IT to focus on higher-value projects by reducing time spent troubleshooting and resolving issues.

With the customers’ IT landscape changing, Sa has evolved to better support customers’ use of microsoft technologies whether deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments.

as customers consider moving to the cloud, Sa delivers even more value by helping them plan for their migrations and manage their on-premises and hybrid environments. Recent changes worth noting are:

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■ License Mobility through Software Assurance: An exclusive benefit for Sa customers, License mobility through Software assurance lets customers deploy certain server application licenses on-premises or in the cloud in a shared hardware environment with the ability to assign existing licenses to an authorized Service Provider. This gives customers a deployment choice between on-premises and any authorized Service Provider’s shared datacenter to help lower cloud infrastructure costs by letting the Service Provider use Sa customers’ existing licenses.

■ New Software Assurance Planning Services for Microsoft server and tools solutions give you greater flexibility to plan on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid software deployments for your customers.

The new Software assurance Planning Services are designed to help you plan your customers’ deployment of microsoft System Center, Windows Server, Windows azure Platform, SQL Server, and visual Studio Team Foundation Server and Test Tools. The new Planning Services include:

• Private Cloud, management and virtualization Deployment Planning Services (PvDPS)

• Public Cloud, azure Deployment Planning Services (azDPS)

• SQL Server Deployment Planning Services (SSDPS)

• Developer Tools Deployment Planning Services (DTDPS)

In addition, Desktop (Office and Windows), SharePoint, and Lync and Exchange Deployment Planning Services can now provide migration guidance for Office 365 E-series SKUs. Engagements may involve migration planning for a specific product, such as Exchange Online, or explore the full capability of the Office 365 service.

For more information about Software Assurance, check out Microsoft Volume Licensing website. http://www.microsoft.com/softwareassurance

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t our company we know that the best products are those that help customers achieve their

maximum potential. In order to design our products, we get direct feedback from our clients by running usability tests, surveys, focus groups and other research in the field.

at microsoft we have a variety of tools, processes, studies and surveys on satisfaction that allow us to obtain feedback from our customers and partners, for the purpose of improving our products, programs and services. Our principal satisfaction surveys of customers and partners are conducted by market research firms subcontracted by Microsoft to this end. additionally, we have product satisfaction surveys, usability studies, online feedback forms and research forums, among others.

If you don’t tell us how to improve… who will? You work with us on a daily basis, you use our products and services. You make up microsoft.

and in order to hear you, year after year we launch our Satisfaction Survey. We know you have something to say

and your participation in the survey will allow us to know where to direct our efforts.

Help us to improve. Your ideas will serve to ensure that tomorrow your work will be more efficient and more satisfactory.

Only your opinion will make us improve for your benefit!

We start out from their point of viewCustomers and Partners are our Guiding Light

By Carmen GonzálezCPE LEADMicrosoft LatinAmerica

Visit our website Microsoft Customer and Partner Experience http://www.microsoft.com/about/cpe/en/us/default.aspx

Sites of Interest

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he Argus Group is a multi-line insurance and financial services organisation offering a full range of insurance, pensions and investment products in

Bermuda, Gibraltar and Malta. The company administers assets in excess of $1.7 billion and has $107 million in shareholder equity (at September 30, 2010), with a total of 200 employees globally. In Bermuda, the Argus Group is the holding company of some of the Island’s leading insurance companies.

As a local company publicly traded on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (“BSX”) since 1971, the Argus Group must comply with BSX regulations and the Companies Act 1981, which strictly regulates ownership of the island’s companies. A minimum of 60% of shareholders in a local company must have Bermudian status. In recent years, Bermuda Government legislation to counter money laundering, terrorism and proceeds from crime, has resulted in more demanding Know Your Customer (“KYC”) requirements.

With increased regulations and outdated technology, managing the Argus Group’s shareholder registry was becoming increasingly more challenging. The

company’s initial in-house systems, based on aging AS400 mainframes, were becoming inadequate to handle modern business processes, resulting in costly inefficiencies across the organization.

According to David Pugh, the Argus Group’s Chief Financial Officer, the company needed to find a comprehensive solution that would not only provide the management and reporting controls required by the BSX and the Bermuda Government, but also integrate and streamline the processing of key functions such as share transactions, shareholder information, issuance of certificates, and accommodate automated registration, notification and dividend payments.

“All sizeable listed local companies struggle to find a system tailored to meet Bermuda’s needs as most off-the-shelf options are designed to comply with United Kingdom or North American tax regulations,” says Mr. Pugh. “We have to take into account Bermudian and non-Bermudian ownership issues. Our in-house system was based on a very old system. We would tweak it now and again to make it work on a different platform but it wasn’t satisfactory.”

tBermuda-based Nova Limited helps the Argus Group get organized with user-friendly solution based on .NET and SQL Server

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Nova Limited (“Nova”), a Bermuda-based company and Microsoft Silver partner that specializes in software development for the insurance/reinsurance and capital markets sectors that underpin the island’s economy, was up to the challenge to help the Argus Group develop and implement a solution that worked.

Nova recognized a gap in the market and mobilized a research team who spent six months carrying out a review of existing procedures and a technical evaluation of requirements. In May 2008, using purely Microsoft technology, Nova started work on designing, developing and implementing Quantum, a comprehensive Shareholder Registry and Management Solution.

In order to develop Quantum, Nova used the Microsoft.NET 4.0 framework and Microsoft SQL Server data repository to enable a quick and straightforward migration of the Argus Group’s existing data. The solution took into account the investment already made by the Argus Group in SQL Servers, so Nova was able to implement a familiar interface and technology that was easily adopted by the client’s IT professionals. Quantum uses integrated Active Directory groups to manage the security of its various functions, is fully integrated with Microsoft Office and runs on the Windows operating system.

“Basically anyone who can use Microsoft Office, can use Quantum,” explains Sandra DeSilva, Nova’s Managing Director and Chief Architect. She adds that the global

availability of certifiable Microsoft.NET skills and resources going forward was “a very important reassurance for the client for the long-term sustainability and development of the system.”

Quantum was fully implemented at Argus by June, 2009. By consolidating existing systems, and automating many previously manual processes, Quantum enables the Argus Group to streamline day-to-day management of its share ownership, saving the company significant time and money.

Many corporate actions such as dividend payment, issuance of stock splits and restricted shares, and management of vesting schedules, have been fully and securely automated. Tasks that once took up to three days to process have been reduced to minutes. For example, instead of paying dividends by creating and distributing checks, Quantum provides multiple automated payment options, including direct deposits to all Bermuda banks. The automation also enables real time, accurate and transparent tracking and auditing to meet regulatory reporting requirements.

Quantum’s user-friendly workflow helps increase accuracy, efficiency and communication among users. Unlike the client’s previous system, Quantum enables users to view and validate information before committing to a transaction and provides them with reminders of pending tasks that need to be carried out.

Microsoft’s industry-standard tools together with industry proven best

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practices and procedures enabled Nova to provide immediate responses to growing client demands including unique customized features not available in competitive share registry software products.

These include the ability to aggregate small dividend payments into one payment instead of thousands of transactions that would often cost more to issue than the dividend itself. It also allows for the automated calculation and distribution of fractional shares – previously many share registrars had to do this manually as legacy systems lacked the capability. Quantum also now offers a customized Dividend Reinvestment Program (“DRIP”) that enables a company to offer to their shareholders the ability to invest automatically back into the

company – a positive way of increasing capital, encouraging future growth and improving shareholder value. There is also a DRIP simulator to ensure issuers do not exceed their authorized capital limits.

Mr. Pugh describes the introduction of Quantum as having been “seamless” and having proved to be “an absolute blessing” in helping the Argus Group comply with BSX regulations.

Quantum is fully integrated with the central securities depository system of the BSX as well as the NASDAQ OMX’s Equator system. Previously, the Argus Group’s registrar had to manually enter trades and, with no ability to cut and paste information, could only view printed versions of reports. Streamlining this process has reduced human error and cut reconciliation time between issuers and exchanges, thereby saving the Argus Group considerable time and money.

Following the system’s successful implementation at the Argus Group, Nova publicly launched two Quantum products in March 2010. A Professional Edition serves publicly traded entities that manage their own shareholder records and transactions while an Enterprise Edition is designed for corporate service providers of multiple companies.

Quantum earned Nova the International Innovation of the Year Award at Techweek 2010, an annual industry event organized by the Bermuda Government’s Department of E-Commerce. Quantum has also earned Nova a Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in 2011.

By consolidating existing systems, and automating many

previously manual processes, Quantum enables

the Argus Group to streamline day-to-day

management of its share ownership, saving the company significant time

and money.

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The benefits of a private cloud are manyIncreased business agility, flexibility, cost reduction, scalability and reliability being the most outstanding. and with System Center, the family of products that administers all the IT resources for the company.

Learn more about microsoft’s Private Cloud offerings and how to get started today. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/default.aspx