July 2006
On 7th July 2006 John, Andy and Chris are going to Boston, USA. The trip is the culmination of all the hard work provided by the team over the last couple of years, the dedication of the staff and the fantastic relationship they have built up with Microsoft.
Andy has been invited to speak as a panelist at the Microsoft Small Business Symposium on the 10th July, all will be attending the Microsoft Conference over the following 3 days with an awards ceremony being held on the 12th July. NCI have been selected as a finalist for the Networking Infrastructure Solutions Category.
Travel itinerary and preparation
We would all like to thank Lynn for her patience and efforts in making this trip as smooth as she could. Booking the flights, accommodation, travel plans etc and then changing them as circumstances arose was all taken in her stride. We couldn't wish for a better P.A.
7th July 2006
We have arrived. The flight from Ottawa went smoothly, a good trip into the City of Boston via cab and the fastest friendliest check in at the Raddisson hotel you could wish for.
For some reason this is now the second hotel we have all been put on separate floors, it is like they know us.
Looking out of the rooms into the city is breathtaking, bustling with people, skyscrapers one way, a river the next, we just know Boston has things to offer everyone who visits.
View from the hotel at dusk
8th July 2006
Our day off sightseeing. No schedules booked, no rehearsals or conference activities we decided to explore Boston and find ways to get around.
View from the hotel by day
Our first challenge was to navigate the transport system which was achieved relatively easy, underground. taking a trip to the Prudential building we opted to purchase tickets for the duck tour, unfortunately all the seats for the whole day had been taken already at that site but we managed to bag 3 tickets for the tour leaving from the science museum at 2:30 - another trip on the subway.
After a quick look around the shops discovering no items had price labels on them (if they dont show you the price you probably can't afford it) we headed to the science museum vicinity to see what else we could do. On arrival we decided to go into the science museum for a couple of hours, some interesting things we found including a section on computer science with a Sony dog mistaking a ball for a bone.
The duck tour. This is something that if you ever come to Boston you cannot miss, even if you only do it once you'll never regret it. Being driven around town by someone who only escaped from an asylum the week before who is telling you the history of Boston, showing you the sights and sounds whilst forcing you to shout quack quack at every opportunity is truly memorable. And then the vehicle that is driving around town turns into an amphibious thing and goes into the river still being steered by the person you are least likely to vote as the most sane person in the world.
The Duck Mobile
On our return we decided we needed a swim and gym at the hotel followed by an evening meal at a local mexican place. the food was, well, mexican, and the friendly staff must have had the night off.
9th July 2006
As soon as the conference was booked and knowing that Sunday morning was free, Andy arranged a whale watching trip for the guys and other partners, inviting Microsoft staff along too. This turned out to be very successful, quite a few turned up and took photo's and video's of different types of whales out at sea including minke and humpback. If you are into nature you won't be dissapointed booking, you can even sponsor a whale in an effort to protect them from extinction.
2 humpbacks feeding together 40 tonnes of whale follow me, foods this way
Part of the afternoon was rehearsals for Andy, getting ready for his presentation on Small Business Server 2003. Powerpoint slides prepped, notes made, fellow speakers all working together to give a really good presentation and finding out the conference is fully subscribed is making him just a little nervous. He has been asked to speak at a second session due to the popularity of the event.
10th July 2006
The small business server symposium started at 7:30 with a hectic schedule ahead, the week is full of appointments, meetings and keynote sessions for all of us.
The morning consisted of keynote sessions with presenters speaking on marketing, sales and the way to grow your business. Lunchtime everyone was given a lunchbox with CD's inside, in reality lunch was very nice served by the hotel. John managed to crack the SBS Release 2 puzzle set at the table so they gave us all puzzles to take home.
The afternoon was spent in private sessions, very enjoyable. one was hosted purely by UK people including Susanne Dansey from Readycrest, Mark Taylor from Chorus IT and Tom Crosbie from Crosbie IT. They made us proud, Andy was a presenter of 2 sessions, the first session ran over time so was cut slightly short but the second presentation went extremely well with all helping the other partners get the most out of the session. We all then met with other partners worldwide and the Microsoft executives.
11th July 2006
The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference was started today by Steve Ballmer who gave an exceptional presentation on the future of Microsoft software and the ongoing relationships with its partners. Small Business Server 2003 release 2 was officially launched today and is expected to hit the shelves in late August.
Office communications server was demonstrated on stage with impressive results, a product that is the future technology.
Office 2007 and Vista were also demonstrated showing fantastic search capabilities and integration as well as great graphics.
Exchange 2007 showed features all worth moving to.
All products mentioned will be shown on our Microsoft Solutions page in the coming weeks with the facility to link to demonstrations online.
Andy, John and Chris had lunch with Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) and Allison Watson (Vice President) who answered questions from all the Gold Certified partners attending.
Steve and Allison getting grilled by a partner
The afternoon was spent meeting potential strategic partners, Directors of Microsoft and other solutions providers as well as attending hands on labs allowing us to get to grips with pre-released software. We all went separate ways to get the most out of the sessions available and all have new things to contribute to making NCI the only company to get support from.
The Award nomination boards were put up today, we found out who our competition is.
12th July 2006
The news we have all been waiting for.....
Netsurit won the award and we congratulate them for their efforts. NCI are still proud to be the only company in the UK selected as a finalist in the Networking Infrastructure Solutions category and we will strive to greater heights next year.