Ubuntu gets serious about business as Canonical launches support for it on the clouds

Most people, who like Linux, love Ubuntu (like yours sincerely). Though we may object to Ubuntu’s new Unity desktop, but at day’s end, they still use Ubuntu. Technology businesses though have a more jaundiced view of Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company. Canonical, though, is now taking steps now to make its potential hardware and software partners happier.

First, Canonical is trying to become better friends with its reseller partners. Their new channel partner program, Ubuntu Advantage (UA) is “designed to help resellers bring a new set of support services for Ubuntu server, desktop and cloud installations direct to businesses. The program is launching with global partners, including CSS in the US, Asia and Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA).”

The name of the game, according to Canonical, is to “provide enterprise customers with access to the tools and support they need to get maximum return from their Ubuntu infrastructure including round the clock support, Ubuntu Landscape management and monitoring tool, knowledge base and legal cover. Ubuntu Advantage helps to minimize any impact on mission-critical services and reduce the cost of system downtime. The Ubuntu Advantage partner program extends the availability of these services beyond Canonical and, for customers, adds local resources and responsiveness to the expertise that Canonical continues to provide.”

What resellers will get out of this is the usual additional revenue streams from new services. In addition, Canonical promises that they’ll get “marketing, technical, commercial and pre-sales support and an assigned account manager as part of the UA program.”

Canonical has offered enterprise software stacks in partnership with IBM; the Ubuntu distributor also briefly tried a retail, open-source software package; and has long been targeting Red Hat and the other server operating system giants for the Linux server market. While Canonical has had some success with that last mission-albeit Red Hat continues to be server Linux’s 800-pound gorilla–over the years its partners have been happy with it.

As The VAR Guy Website observed, Canonical has lots of good partner ideas but they haven’t pulled them off because “Canonical experienced multiple management changes and product launches that pushed - and pulled - the company into new directions.”

In addition, Canonical is simplifying its hardware certification program. In the past manufacturers had a choice of two levels of endorsement for systems: “Ubuntu Certified” and “Ubuntu Ready.” Canonical recognized that this was confusing so starting with October’s Ubuntu 11.10 release there will only be one Canonical-endorsed hardware certification program: Ubuntu Certified.

Just like resellers and corporate customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM)s and original design manufacturer (ODM)s much prefer simple and stable over constant small changes and tweaks.

If Canonical is successful in doing all this, and in stabilizing it own management structure, then Canonical, and Ubuntu, will have a much better chance of moving from Linux lovers’ desktops to corporate offices and server rooms. That’s easier said than done though.

Canonical has also announced the launch of Ubuntu Advantage Cloud Guest, a set of technical support services, management tools and legal cover for businesses running Ubuntu in public cloud environments. Cloud Guest gives businesses running public cloud instances access to round-the-clock technical support and a comprehensive knowledge base for rapid resolutions as well as Landscape, Canonical’s systems management and monitoring tool. A single Cloud Guest subscription covers up to 100 public cloud instances offering businesses the flexibility to adapt to changing business demands.

“As the public cloud looks to take its place alongside the data centre as a standard IT resource, organisations are looking for the reassurance of support, which guarantees the same service levels as they expect from other IT implementations.”

Public clouds like RackSpace, Amazon’s AWS and GoGrid, are popular due to their flexibility to adapt and scale to changing demands. Start-ups, tech companies and enterprises alike are using these environments for a variety of workloads spanning development to deployment. Ubuntu Server has proven immensely popular as a guest operating system across all these environments. With Ubuntu Advantage already providing support for Ubuntu as the Infrastructure as a Service layer in cloud platforms, Cloud Guest provides the next level of reassurance for businesses who choose to also run Ubuntu instances in public cloud platforms. Additionally the systems management tool (Landscape) will provide more control and optimised deployment of Ubuntu instances on the cloud.

Businesses are realising the importance of support and management of their IT environments as they become more complex with cloud instances. In fact, according to Gartner, worldwide IT spending on public cloud is expected to grow four times faster than overall spending as companies shift to the cloud.

Nick Barcet, Cloud Solutions Product Manager at Canonical comments; “As the public cloud looks to take its place alongside the data centre as a standard IT resource, organisations are looking for the reassurance of support, which guarantees the same service levels as they expect from other IT implementations.”

Insurance firm approves $600m services agreement with IBM as new server targets Africa

Canadian insurer Manufacturers Life Insurance (Manulife) has awarded a seven-year services agreement to IBM, valued at CAD$630m (about $600m), to support its ongoing business growth, as well as continued evolution of its information technology operations. Under this agreement, IBM will advance Manulife infrastructure services for mainframe, midrange server and storage, desktop services, business continuity, disaster recovery and security.

IBM said the Canadian insurer will also consider the application of cloud computing and high-performance computing environments to accelerate and enhance the deployment of business applications.

Manulife Financial executive vice president, global services & chief information officer Joe Cooper said IBM's expertise in the finance and insurance sectors also assists Manulife in the execution of its information services strategy by providing industry skills as required to support the businesses and customers.

IBM Canada vice president of global technology services Leslie Keating said the 10-year relationship with Manulife provides a strong foundation for us to share global expertise in cloud computing, infrastructure reliability and security. The two companies have been actively collaborated since 2002.

This is coming at a time IBM has just announced a new server (a powerful version of the IBM zEnterprise System that’s said to be the most scalable mainframe ever) to extend the mainframe’s innovation and unique qualities to more organizations, especially companies and governments in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

The new IBM zEnterprise 114 mainframe server follows the introduction of the zEnterprise System for the world’s largest banks, insurance companies and governments in July 2010. The new server, which allows mid-sized organizations to enjoy the benefits of a mainframe as the foundation for their data centers, costs 25% less and offers significantly more performance than its predecessor, the System z10 BC server.

It is projected that clients can consolidate workloads from 40 x-86 processors running Oracle software on to a new z114 with just three processors running Linux, and over a three year period, total costs for hardware, software and support on the new z114 as compared to consolidated servers can be up to 80% less with similar dramatic savings on floor space and energy.

At a starting price of under $75,000 — IBM’s lowest ever price for a mainframe server — the zEnterprise 114 is an especially attractive option for emerging markets experiencing rapid growth in new services for banking, retail, mobile devices, government services and other areas. These organizations are faced with ever-increasing torrents of data and want smarter computing systems that help them operate efficiently, better understand customer behavior and needs, optimize decisions in real time and reduce risk.

IBM also introduced new features that allow the zEnterprise System to integrate and manage workloads on additional platforms. New today is support for select System x blades within the zEnterprise System. These select System x blades can run Linux x86 applications unchanged, and in the future will be able to run Windows applications. With these capabilities, the zEnterprise System including the new z114 can help simplify data centers with its ability to manage workloads across mainframe, POWER7 and System x servers as a single system. Using the zEnterprise Blade Center Extension (zBX), customers can also extend mainframe qualities, such as governance and manageability, to workloads running across multiple platforms.

IBM System z servers are also making inroads in emerging markets in Africa. Governments and businesses in Cameroon, Senegal and Namibia have all recently purchased new IBM mainframe servers.

Nokia in Aggressive charge in Nigeria, Arabia

Still strategizing on how to survive in a maze of other smartphones and extra smart platforms, Nokia is in a new charge with the introduction of its new E series to both the Asian and African markets.  In a bid to test the waters after the strategic partnership with Microsoft, the global mobile phone manufacturer is partnering with Nigerian telco, Glo as well as a full commercial launch in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In the new partnership, Glo will be offering 6GB of Internet data access for six months for N7, 500 on the Nokia E6, E7 and N8 devices. Mahomed Jameel, Globacom Group COO says the offer was a further demonstration of the company’s commitment to giving more value to subscribers.

He also added that Globacom is pleased to partner with Nokia and feels proud to bring to its subscribers the exciting E6 handset for the first time.

“The mega deals package ties in with the network’s philosophy of empowering Nigerians technologically and giving them access to the best value and pricing,” says Jameel.

Ashutosh Tiwary, Globacom GM for Prepaid Marketing says subscribers may also choose between the Nokia E6, E7 and N8 series and still enjoy the benefits under the Glo Mega Deals including the 6GB data access and 20% bonus airtime, a model package selected to match the customer’s business and pleasure needs.

Using Nokia’s latest Operating System (OS) called Symbian Anna, the phone range is both a touch and QWERTY keyboard phone. The mobile handset includes a Microsoft Exchange (Microsoft Outlook), intranet access, Microsoft Communicator and pre-installed productivity applications such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Nokia Maps, F-Secure protection, Joiku hotspot Application, SMS Wipe and RSS Feeds.

In similar fashion, Nokia hаѕ released thе Nokia E6, aimed аt business people аnԁ youth in the Arab Region. Thе device іѕ thе first Nokia smartphones tο contain thе updated Symbian software, wіth nеw icons аnԁ usability enhancements such аѕ improved text input, a fаѕtеr browser аnԁ refreshed Ovi Maps.

Thе Release οf Nokia E6 wаѕ done through a discussion panel wіth experts іn Social media tο discuss thе effect іt hаѕ οn ουr daily lifestyle.

“Wе аrе further strengthening Nokia’s smartphone portfolio wіth thеѕе Nokia E6, whісh offer a more bеаυtіfυƖ аnԁ intuitive user experience thаt wіƖƖ soon bе available асrοѕѕ ουr latest Symbian range,” ѕаіԁ Moussa Obied, Activities Development director, Nokia Saudi Arabia аnԁ Yemen. “Wіth Nokia E6 аnԁ more Symbian devices аnԁ user enhancements coming іn thе near future, wе аrе confident wе саn keep existing Nokia smartphone customers engaged, аѕ well аѕ attract nеw first-time аnԁ competitor smartphone users.”

Following οn frοm Nokia’s highly successful Nokia E71 аnԁ Nokia E72 devices, thе Nokia E6 іѕ a sleek business smartphone wіth a full QWERTY keypad аnԁ a high resolution touch ԁіѕрƖау. Designed using premium materials such аѕ glass аnԁ stainless steel, thе device comes іn a compact size thаt mаkеѕ іt easy tο υѕе wіth еіthеr one hand οr two. Thе Nokia E6 offers exceptional battery life аnԁ thе best out-οf-thе-box Microsoft messaging experience οn a business smartphone, including access tο Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Communicator Mobile аnԁ Microsoft SharePoint.аnԁ a wide range οf chatting application such аѕ “Whаt’s App” avalibale οn Ovi Store.

Though the Nokia E72 met with mixed reactions, failing to quite capture affection the way its E71 predecessor did; now we have the E6 (aka Nokia E6-00), pairing keyboard and touchscreen and offering a taste of the latest Symbian flavor, Anna. Is the E6 enough to distract us from the rapid approach of Nokia’s first Windows Phones?

The E6′s hardware heritage is clear, though Nokia hasn’t missed the opportunity to tighten up the package along the way. Measuring in at 115.5 x 59 x 10.5 mm and 133g, it’s a solid, reassuringly weighty device finished in sturdy black plastic and lifted with a chrome bezel. The camera slice on the back protrudes somewhat, spoiling the clean lines, though you can drop it into a front trouser pocket without issue.  

IBM takes its online marketing suite to the Cloud, as Microsoft revs-up segment

IBM has announced a cloud-based Web analytics and digital marketing suite aimed at helping its business customers automate online marketing campaigns across digital channels, such as Websites, social media networks and mobile phones.

The new IBM offering combines software IBM got in its acquisitions of Coremetrics and Unica and provides analytics that help companies better determine the effectiveness of new products and services, fine-tune marketing campaigns and create personalised offers in real-time across all online channels, IBM officials said.

The technology comes as part of IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, which is focused on helping companies more effectively market, sell and secure greater customer loyalty in the era of social networking and mobile computing. With 64 percent of consumers making a first purchase because of a digital experience, it is more critical than ever that marketers understand this online behaviour and refine their marketing activities accordingly, IBM said.

The combined Coremetrics and Unica software enables companies to better understand their customers’ buying preferences and patterns across all digital media, including Websites, social media networks, mobile phones and tablets. This intelligence is used to quickly develop and deliver the most relevant customer experience, transforming marketing from an uninvited intrusion to an intuitive client service.

For example, businesses would be able to evaluate Facebook or Twitter activity, and offer customers tailored promotions delivered to their mobile devices on the go. IBM’s suite also enables businesses to deliver and fine-tune digital marketing programmes based on what customers are doing offline. For instance, a consumer who purchased a new tablet in a brick-and-mortar store would receive special offers via email to purchase tablet accessories. The benefit to the customer is a consistent, relevant brand experience that reflects all their online preferences, not just what they did, read or saw on one specific site, IBM said.

“The convergence of social networking and mobile computinghas given rise to empowered consumers who demand a tailored, compelling online experience,” Robert Gilbreath, e-commerce director at Calendars.com, said in a statement. 

The IBM Coremetrics Web Analytics and Digital Marketing Optimisation Suite is said to automate and simplify a company’s ability to design and deliver a tailored online experience and marketing promotions through real-time personalised recommendations, email ad targeting and more. The new suite also enables marketers to perform advanced segmentation and automate marketing execution based on multichannel data, including offline data sources. And it delivers real-time product recommendations for all online channels – including social, mobile, email and display ads.

On their own part, Microsoft and Yell Group recently announced plans to form a broad, global strategic alliance, taking advantage of their complementary strengths and expertise in the delivery of innovative online advertising and business solutions to assist small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) reach and engage consumers.

Yell currently provides print and digital marketing services to over 1.3 million customers across the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Latin America.  Capitalizing on the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance and the growing consumer audience of Bing and Yahoo! Search, Microsoft and Yell will join forces to offer compelling search, mobile and local advertising solutions to small and medium businesses and to make the most of emerging business models delivered through the cloud.  

Under the plans, Yell will also offer the full suite of Microsoft’s SMB productivity and business software and cloud services, including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and emerging SMB-focused communications solutions.  In addition, Microsoft will assist Yell to accelerate its new cloud-based services, which will provide Yell’s customers with access to these new digital offerings.

Airtel Nigeria appoints new Brand Manager, other key staff

Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu has been appointed Head of Brands and Marketing Communications at Airtel Nigeria. Mba-Uzoukwu has held a number of marketing positions in top companies including Brand Manager, St. Moritz at British American Tobacco and Strategic Marketing Manager, Colas Portfolio at Coca Cola Nigeria. A graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Institute of Direct Marketing UK, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, and several other notable Nigerian professionals have joined the telecommunications service provider, Airtel Nigeria, as the company continue to attract top talents to its fold.

Additionally, Shola Adeyemi, Unoko Edwin Dadson, Oladokun Oye and Abidemi Ajagba have joined Airtel in furtherance of the company’s goal of identifying, targeting and recruiting top Nigerian talents and providing them opportunities for growth, develop leadership skills and achieve overall professional fulfillment.

Speaking on the new appointments, the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop expressed Airtel’s commitment to continue to generate fresh perspectives, sustain its innovativeness in the developing products and service by hiring top Nigerian talents in the various areas of its operation.

Swaroop said as a world-Class organisation, which is global in outlook but locally relevant, Airtel would continuously seek ways to help Nigerians to grow within the organisation not only in the Nigerian operation but in other countries where the company operates.

Mba-Uzoukwu, is also expected to deliver on specific tasks such as developing relevant, clear and easy to understand communication that drives consumers to make Airtel their first choice, identifying key strengths of brand and planning key tactics to increase Top of mind Awareness (TOMA) and determining the creative direction for Airtel marketing communication in line with the brand clearly stated guidelines.

Another new employee, Shola Adeyemi, a Solicitor and graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, who until recently was the Head of Regulatory and Compliance at telecommunication network operator, Globacom has been appointed Head of License and Compliance in the Regulatory and Government Affairs Directorate of Airtel Nigeria.

Adeyemi who started his career in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja as a Research Officer in the Civil Litigation Department and rose to the position of Senior Legal Officer in the Department before joining the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration in Lagos as a Senior Arbitration Counsel. He later moved to the Nigerians Communications Commissions (NCC) as the Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolutions Unit and had responsibility for coordinating NCC’s adjudication process, drafting and reviewing contract agreements, legal documents, telecommunications guidelines and regulations, and establishing NCC Dispute resolution centres, amongst others.

Abidemi Ajagbe, a distinguished salesman, is now the Zonal Business Manager, South East Zone in the South Region of Airtel and has been assigned the tasks of managing the Sales team in the South East Zone comprising Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu and Imo states.

Abidemi who brings over 20 years of sales experience to his new role at Airtel has previously worked with GlaxoSmithKline, where he rose to the position of Head of Channel Development and until recently, Elizade Nigeria Limited where he was the Deputy Head of After – Sales group.

Also, Oladokun Oye has been appointed Head of Zonal Business (Post paid and Corporate), Lagos Region at Airtel. A graduate of Hertfordshire, UK, Adekunle Ajasin University, Lagos State University, and Lagos Business School, started his career as Assistant Brand Manager, Trans-Global Market International, before joining Avdel Limited (formerly Act Global Technologies) UK as Senior Sales Manager.

At Avdel Limited, he was responsible for managing customers in Northern UK and Scotland, managing key portfolios that included Ford, Jaguar, Electrolux, Roll Royce, Caterpillar, Siemens and Scheider, coordinating concessionaires/ distributors in Norway, Finland and Holland as well as managing ongoing product forecast, implementing product training programmes for the sales force, amongst others.

Samsung Becomes Microsoft’s Latest Android IP Infringement Target

Over the last few weeks, Microsoft had gunned down a number of Android smartphone and tablet manufacturers and reached a licensing agreement with those companies as Microsoft claims that by making and selling products utilizing the Android operating system, these companies are misappropriating patent technologies that Microsoft owns.

Microsoft has gone as far as going after some of its long-time and key partners in the mobile space, and it is believed that Windows Phone and Windows Mobile manufacturer HTC had agreed to a $5 per handset licensing fee per Android smartphone that it sells. Now, Microsoft may be going after Samsung, which makes Windows Phone, Android, and Bada OS devices, with a licensing fee as high as $15. The licensing fee that is speculated to be requested by Microsoft from Samsung is on the high side, and at $15 per Android phone, that fee would be the equivalent of a license of Windows Phone.

Neither Samsung nor Microsoft are commenting on the issue, though it is believed that Samsung may ask that the licensing fee be dropped down to around $10. Other companies being targeted by Microsoft in the past include Winstron, Velocity Micro, and Itronix, for example.

While it is interesting that Microsoft’s patent licensing business could rival and top its Windows Phone licensing as Android’s popularity continues to grow, it does present new market opportunities for Microsoft as well. In the future, rather than ask for royalty payments, Microsoft could work out agreements with manufacturers where it could undercut Google in key areas where the search giant is utilizing Android to monetize its core business. Rather than asking for money from Android licensees who infringe on Microsoft’s mobile patents, Microsoft could ask manufacturers, for example, to make Bing search and Bing Maps the default search and mapping tools on Android smartphones.

This would be a clever strategy as it would help Microsoft grow its mobile search shares and build out its Bing franchise without having to rely on Windows Phone. Android smartphone makers have been also targeted by Apple as well, with Apple having filed lawsuits against Motorola and HTC in the past.

Although the Android operating system is given free to manufacturer to use from Google, Microsoft’s latest claims and Apple’s claims in the past shows that Android is in fact not free to use in the marketplace. With manufacturers having to pay Google’s rivals in the mobile space for technologies that are present in Android that the OS infringes upon, the cost of these royalty payments are either absorbed by manufacturers like HTC or are passed down to consumers through higher phone prices.

Microsoft’s move comes as Samsung is dedicating more of its resources to Android. The Korean phone-maker has gained the position of the leading Android smartphone maker and is expected to de-thrown Nokia for the position of top smartphone maker.

Recently Microsoft publicly asserted for the first time that Google's Android operating system infringes on its intellectual property.  Microsoft has taken the position, according to those close to the company, that Android infringes on the company's patented technology and that the infringement applies broadly in areas ranging from the user interface to the underlying operating system.

In a statement, Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that, although Microsoft prefers to resolve intellectual property licensing issues without resorting to lawsuits, it has a responsibility to make sure that "competitors do not free ride on our innovations."

Curtain Falls on ex-giant Nortel...sells patents for $4.5b

One hundred and sixteen years after its founding, Nortel Networks has reached a deal to sell all its remaining patents for a remarkable $4.5 billion to a consortium of six high-tech giants - Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony.

The price easily trumped an opening bid of $900 million by Google for all 6,000-plus Nortel patents, and emerged after four days of bidding at the New York offices of Nortel's lawyers. Canada's Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009 and has been selling assets since then, raising about $3.2bn in the process.

Assuming the deal passes all the regulatory hurdles, it will be very good news for Nortel creditors - from pensioners and suppliers to debt holders. The amount exceeds the $3.2 billion raised to date through the sale of all of Nortel's active businesses - involving wireless, optical and telephone gear.

Nortel's top remaining executive said the bidding was "very robust." "The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world," said George Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel.

The patent haul is also far greater than the several hundred million dollars former CEO Mike Zafirovski reckoned Nortel would pull in. Of course, Zafirovski's estimate was made in 2009 near the depth of the stock market crash.

Nortel expects to close the sale of its patents by Sept. 30, at which point the firm should have about $7 billion available to distribute to its various creditors. The total value of the claims against Nortel is still guesswork.

Nor is it yet clear how the proceeds will be divided among the different jurisdictions - mediation efforts led by former U.S. federal district court judge Layn R. Phillips failed in April.

Creditors in various countries have filed motions in favour of their preferred allocation of the proceeds. Three weeks ago, the Canadian and U.S. bankruptcy judges indicated it would be some time before they ruled on the motions. In the meantime, they suggested mediation efforts continue.

Nortel was the biggest telecommunication company in the world in 2000, with sales of more than $30 billion. Even after accounting scandals and mismanagement, it was generating $11 billion in sales in 2008 - before filing for bankruptcy in January 2009.

The $4.5 billion raised in the patent auction could play in favour of Canadian creditors. That's because the Canadian estate is believed to own most of the patents. The cash from their sale would therefore come to Canada. However, in previous sales of Nortel assets, judges have been careful to note that the proceeds should be held in escrow, with no bias attached to how the cash is allocated.

Nortel began assessing interest in its extensive patent portfolio in May 2010, eventually holding talks with more than 100 potential buyers. Forty companies were keen enough to sign confidentiality agreements and study the intellectual property in detail.

The patents run the full range of communications technologies - including 4G wireless, optical, voice, Internet, data networking, semiconductors and even social networking.

While Nortel had lost its lead in many of the technologies, the patents are considered useful in a number of ways.

Research In Motion, which has a relatively small portfolio of patents of its own, can use the Nortel assets to develop new products of its own, or defend itself against patent lawsuits.

Wireless giant Ericsson - which already has an extensive library of wireless patents - likely made a different calculation. The Swedish firm earlier paid more than $1 billion to buy Nortel's wireless technology business, including a number of patents. Unknown was what percentage of those patents was acquired outright, or merely licensed. Ericsson may have purchased Nortel's patents to avoid paying royalties on them.

Signal Alliance Nigeria partners Microsoft to deliver SharePoint 2010 workshops

Leading enterprise systems integrators Signal Alliance in partnership with Microsoft Nigeria has just concluded a series of workshops titled “Business Productivity at its Best” based on the new Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform.

The special workshops programme, held at the Microsoft Nigeria Head office at Ikoyi, focused on the advantages of implementing and using SharePoint 2010 platform as a key tool for business productivity and growth.

The company’s Head of Technology Support, Onoh Okwara said that Signal Alliance aims to sensitize customers on the company’s competency in delivering the highest level of specialization for design, implementation and support of the latest Microsoft SharePoint platform.

“As SharePoint Gold Partner our domain knowledge goes beyond understanding the technology we deploy but understanding how to use technology to leverage on the business of our clients to achieve maximum value and output”.

The programme, the company says, was organized to provide customers already on the SharePoint platform, the improved features and capabilities of the new version of SharePoint in areas like Enterprise Content Management, Workplace productivity, Enterprise Search and Enterprise document management. Customers that came for the seminar cut across industry segments including banking, insurance, oil and gas and telecoms.

He called on IT-reliant organizations in Nigerian to take advantage of the Microsoft Sharepoint platform to enhance workplace productivity and increase sales and services and concluded by stating that Signal Alliance remains focused on its leadership role as one of the leading solutions experts in and out of the country.

Speaking further, he explained that as Microsoft Gold Partner, Signal Alliance has further built a team of qualified professionals to offer its customers excellent delivery in SharePoint solutions such as, Content management, Document management, Business intelligence and Enterprise search. The Microsoft SharePoint platform, according to Okwara, is more strategic in the delivery of IT workplace productivity.

Microsoft and Signal Alliance have in the past worked together on such programs to broaden customer knowledge in other Microsoft solutions including Unified Communication, Software Asset management for Enterprise customers both in the private and public sector.

According to Kelechi Nwosu, Partner Business Manager for Microsoft Anglophone West Africa “Microsoft and its partners will continue to deliver world class services to our valued customers to help them realize their full business potential. He maintained that there is no substitute to excellent delivery and encouraged Signal Alliance to continue to provide options by delighting our customers and making them derive full value for their investment in Microsoft platform. Also this is a clear testimony to the fact that our local partners have stepped up in building competency and capacity necessary to deliver cutting leading edge solutions from Microsoft. In the end, customers, partners and Microsoft all benefit “

In a reaction to the event, attendees’ feedback was very positive. One of the participants, Michael Madukairo from BUA Group, was happy with the event. His words: “Very impressive. I highly appreciate this demonstration and wish Signal Alliance & Microsoft will organize more of it.”

Signal Alliance has achieved highest level of specialization for the design, implementation and support of The Microsoft Share-point Platform and is viewed as the industry leader in Portals Management and Enterprise Content Management.