Testament to the companies' strengthening strategic relationship, T-Systems in South Africa has been awarded Gold Certification for its Server Platform service by Microsoft.
The certification comes after the restructuring of Microsoft's partner certification programme, which has now been segmented into various technology competencies - 27 in total - and also features more stringent qualification criteria.
The T-Systems certification also forms part of a holistic Microsoft drive by the company which, among others, sees the team working towards obtaining Gold certifications in Desktop and Systems Management in the next few months, as well as up-skilling staff members.
About 400 employees from different support areas are currently undergoing Office 2010 and Windows 7 support training. This training is customised for T-Systems in South Africa to ensure that its customers are served according to their needs and requirements.
T-Systems is one of only 30 Microsoft Global Alliance partners worldwide.
With this new certification, T-Systems in South Africa aims to ensure it can provide Microsoft solutions and support that reflect the global status.
Comments Mari"ette Mostert from the strategic partner management at T-Systems in South Africa: “Our latest certification, as well as those we are working towards and numerous other drives, are a clear indication that T-Systems is very serious about its relationship with Microsoft.
“We have also worked tirelessly on an executive level over the last few months to fortify our strategic relationship with Microsoft, which runs parallel with our skilled team members and strong certification credentials.
“Our hard work is certainly paying off - the Gold Server Platform certification and the T-Systems/Microsoft partnership on various major projects are key examples of the fruits of our labour.”
Adds Mark Reynolds, SMS&P Director at Microsoft in South Africa: “This is a strategic relationship for Microsoft and we are delighted to have T-Systems as one of our business partners in South Africa.”
In order to obtain Microsoft Gold Server Platform certification, T-Systems met a number of revised requirements, which included:
* Five customer reference projects - completed over the last year, showcasing design and implementation of a solution using Windows Server technologies. These projects had to be approved by the relevant customers;
* Four individual Microsoft Certified Professionals qualified as Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator or Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator. Resources may not be duplicated across other competencies
* Meeting other training requirements such as individuals that have passed the Microsoft licensing overview assessment, as well as Microsoft Sales assessments.
The Gold certification confirms that T-Systems offers sophisticated solutions that have been subject to a rigorous and auditable approval process.
Furthermore, as a Gold Server Platform partner, T-Systems enjoys benefits such as access to low-and no-cost server and network infrastructure training; and internal-use rights for software related to the competency.
“The Gold Server Platform certification demonstrates to our customers that we have the expertise, as well as the commitment to meet their needs. It also confirms that training of our employees is very important in our efforts to strongly align ourselves with Microsoft and our various partnership projects,” concludes Mostert.
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