Context & Continuity

Press Release: CenterBeam Awarded Highest Microsoft Partner Status

CenterBeam in Top Four Percent of All Microsoft Partners

SAN JOSE, CA - July 26, 2005

Today, CenterBeam announced Microsoft has awarded it Gold Partner status in recognition of the company’s expertise in implementing and managing Microsoft products. Microsoft’s Gold Partner status is awarded to less than four percent of Microsoft partners worldwide.

"CenterBeam’s clients already know we do a great job: our customer satisfaction scores reflect that,” said Kevin Francis, CenterBeam president and chief executive officer. “For businesses that aren’t on CenterBeam’s service, Microsoft’s endorsement is another important confirmation that the CenterBeam team is second to none.” Microsoft’s Gold Partner status singles out CenterBeam’s team for being experts in managing a broad range of services, from messaging to operating systems to office applications.

Infoworld, 1/12/5: The last word on outsourcing

Today's practical realities trump devotion to old-fashioned, do-it-yourself IT principles

CTO Connection, By Chad Dickerson
July 12, 2005

Last week's column about the commoditization of IT services elicited spirited responses from IT professionals once again, especially those working in desktop support. (To those of you thinking, "Gosh, I really wish this Dickerson character would get off his desktop support kick," note that this time I'm using the topic as a springboard to loftier ideas.) One reason desktop support sparks interest is that it's a universal IT problem. At the same time, conventional wisdom among IT professionals dictates that it's a hands-on, in-house job.

That's where I profoundly disagree -- and where the more general lesson of IT comes in. That lesson is simple: If you think a well-defined function can't realistically be automated and then outsourced, chances are that you are wrong. Nothing in IT is immune from the march of automation, which after all is the heart and soul of IT.