Cisco was front and center at Microsoft's worldwide partner conference in Toronto recently. We had prime real estate at the entrance to the exhibit hall, engaging the 16,000 people in attendance to share howCisco is helping Microsoft partners deliver value.

Not only did we win two awards and rocked out to Gwen Stefani, but we had a blast, and our partners did too!  What really stood out for us was how incredibly exciting it was to engage with many non-traditional partners -from Solution Integrators to ISVs. They were so interested in wanting to talk to us about how Cisco can help them deliver better customer outcomes.

Partner-to-Partner with Cisco and Microsoft SQL Server 2016

While April 2016 marked the end of support for SQL Server 2005,the end of support for SQL Server 2008 is not far behind. This means that thousands of enterprise customers are planning mission-critical application migrations now. This represents an opportunity for you.

With Cisco you can help your customers transform their operations by delivering an environment optimized for SQL Server 2016. Learn how you can differentiate your go-to-market offerings with Cisco, Microsoft and combine with your  value-added services. Simply register for this informative webinar and learn how you can grow your market share.  Topics covered include:

• What's new in SQL Server 2016
• Benchmark test results of the combined solution
• Performance, economic, and manageability benefits
• Customer case study with SQL Server environment on Cisco UCS and SanDisk flash storage

And the Winner Is ......

The Microsoft Canada red carpet awards event was held at famed Roy Thompson Hall. The Microsoft IMPACT awards recognize how the Microsoft partner ecosystem is making a difference by helping customers transform and innovate. Hundreds were in attendance and Cisco was delighted to be recognized -along with partners TELUS and NetApp -by Microsoft Canada for our hybrid cloud offerings built on Microsoft software. The new TELUS Hybrid cloud features Cisco CCA for Microsoft and NetApp for storage, as well as a fully leveraged Microsoft Azure hyper-scale option. Way to go team!

Recognition by Partners, for Partners

Probably one of our most satisfying wins came on Tuesday at WPC when the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) selected Cisco and NetApp together for our work with Microsoft partners in Asia. Together Cisco and NetApp have been helping partners, not only in Asia, but all around the world, to modernize their infrastructure to deliver advanced managed services for customers.

IAMCP is the leading independent global organization for business networking in the Microsoft partner ecosystem with 80+ chapters in more than 40 countries. Cisco has been working with IAMCP members to deliver Cisco validated solutions specifically designed for the Microsoft platform.

Are You Working with Cisco?

Cisco has a wide range of programs specifically designed to help Microsoft partners add value and compete to win. We operate a broad ecosystem so that partners can choose how they want to deliver solutions -as a Cisco reseller or in partnership with a traditional reseller. Our ISV community is growing and we are going-to-market with applications certified for Cisco -from the Internet of Things to Cloud to Vertical/Industry solutions, learn how Cisco can help you grow your partner-to-partner business today.