MS Partner Conference

The Microsoft Partner Conference in Boston took over the city. The WHIR reports: "Since the vast majority of Microsoft's partners fall into one of the software vendor, equipment manufacturer or systems integrator categories, hosting service providers were a thinly represented element among both the attendees and the sessions. Most of the information on offer had to do with software development, or employing the features of Microsoft's new tools in the office environment. Hosting played a role in the proceedings however, with the few Web hosting partners visibly in attendance consciously eyeing what might be described as niche opportunities.... A big part of Microsoft's message at the conference was its commitment to the SaaS model. The company is betting big with its own Windows Live undertakings and is encouraging software partners to pursue the delivery of their solutions in the same way." Dynamic bandwidth allocation. On-demand infrastructure. Hosted Exchange. Hosted Dynamics. Sharepoint. "Many of the attendees were potential customers" for hosting companies.