Microsoft partners are geared up for renewed interest - and spending - on desktop architectures as customers plan their migration to the Windows 7 operating system.
Top of mind for partners are services offerings including desktop audits and application compatibility assessments and upsell opportunities such as desktop and application virtualisation.
Gen-i's service line manager for infrastructure Safi Obeidullah believes Windows 7 represents a chance for customers to "transform" their desktop environments.
"There's been a lot of focus in the backend in the past few years around server consolidation and virtualisation. The desktop has been a bit neglected," Obeidullah said.
"The desktop is users' primary interface into IT and forms their perception of how IT is performing. [Advancements] allow users to start moving forward and to work in different ways."
Obeidullah said the upgrade presents partners and customers an opportunity to re-examine application delivery to desktops.
"We've been doing a lot with Microsoft App-v and the whole VDI model using Microsoft's remote desktop services and Citrix' Xen desktop," he said.
Ensyst general manager Nick Sone is using Windows 7 upgrade as an entry point to discussing the establishment of a single standard operating environment at customer premises.
"A lot of customers have multiple SOEs so this is a good chance to reduce that [number]," Sone said.
"We're also using Windows 7 as a lever to talk about what customers are doing at the backend as well to support some of the features of the new desktop environment."
Data #3's Microsoft services practice manager Scott Gosling told CRN that desktop assessments are a key focus.
His firm is providing three levels of assessment depending on the customer size - from five-day assessments for smaller firms up to 15 days for large companies.
The assessments audited hardware, software, licensing and the customers' readiness to upgrade to Windows 7. Data #3 also offered assistance to help the customer develop a business case for the upgrade.
Gosling believes an upgrade to Windows 7 provided a good excuse for companies to check their licensing and potentially invest in a software asset management solution.
"We find a lot of customers are over-licensed," Gosling said.
"[Windows 7] will also be the first time in eight years that customers have to find all the software keys [for desktop applications]. They might consider getting a software asset management solution to [manage that and to] make sure they're compliant."
Ensyst is also offering its customers a "full Windows 7 deployment plan" including an audit of their environment, application compatibility testing and deployment options.
Gen-i also touted application packaging services.
MYOB - one of Microsoft's largest independent software vendors (ISVs) locally - has certified its products to work on the Windows 7 platform.
Its chief technology officer Jason Noorman believes the combination of its products and Windows 7 would provide opportunities for its channel of MYOB certified consultants.
"We generally find our certified consultants would be the ones to help users run their PCs" in addition to book-keeping services, Noorman said.
Remote management features in Windows 7 would make it easier for bookkeepers to offer these services to their clients, he said.
Upgrade timelines
Data #3 used its recent national roadshow on Windows 7 to conduct an exit survey of the 400 or so customers that attended in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
The customers were mid-market and up in size.
"The movement of customers to Windows 7 is certainly more aggressive than we expected," Gosling said.
"Most people are planning to move within 18 months. The majority plan to migrate within 12 months."
Gosling said most customers would be migrating "nearly exclusively" from an XP base, albeit there was considerable variance in the service pack versions they used.
Ensyst's Sone reported high levels of interest from his customers, of whom about 10 percent ran Vista environments.
"Everyone wants to know about Windows 7. I think we're going to be busy rolling it out to customers quite soon," Sone said.
"There's a few that want to go with it now and then there's everyone else who are looking at it and plan to revisit it early next year once it has been rolled out to a few big companies."
Sone believed demand would really pick up around March 2010.
How are you planning on selling Windows 7? Will you be wrapping desktop services into a package?
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