First Distribution Awarded Microsoft Gold
Partner Status
Distributor attains Gold Volume Licensing
Competency.
The awarding of Microsoft’s Gold Competency signifies
to the market that First Distribution has demonstrated the
highest level of skill and achievement in the Microsoft
Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) and Volume
Licensing sector.
TM
Gold Volume Licensing
In accordance with regulations, Microsoft conferred Gold
Competency to First Distribution as a result of the distributor
completing a business assessment, submitting five customer references, carrying a customer satisfaction rating of
92% and employing five qualified MCP and MCSE staff.
First Distribution’s SPLA business has grown significantly
over the past 12 months. The company has invested in
technical skills from both a back-office and account management perspective, and coupled with the fact that it has
more than 10 years of experience in dealing with SPLA, the
distributor’s understanding of SPLA and Volume Licensing
is currently of an exceptional standard.
First Distribution’s MSP Hosting Programme Manager,
Chris Richardson, commented:
“First Distribution is delighted to have this status conferred
upon us by Microsoft. In meeting the requirements for this
prestigious status, we are showing the market that we are
100% invested in providing the best level of service and
technologies to our partners.”
Chris added that “in the ever-changing IT world where customers are looking for an OPEX-based model, First Distribution’s SPLA offering takes the complexity out of licensing
while still giving the service provider and end customer
the flexibility that is needed to fit their business. The SPLA
Programme is a fantastic opportunity for service providers
to offer customers a single point through which to acquire
software services and the associated Microsoft products, so
that customers do not need to acquire and deploy their own
licensed products. First Distribution has the skills to be able
to advise service providers as well as customers, with the
best advice in deploying and servicing customers’ requirements using Microsoft SPLA.”
Microsoft SPLA encompasses every Microsoft product in
a pay-per-use model, and includes some of the following
benefits:
Pay As You Use
Customers pay for what they use and how much they utilise
– it is based on simple calculations regarding the number
of end-user licenses (SAL) or per-processor licenses (PL)
actually utilised on a monthly basis.
Zero Start-Up & Upgrade Cost
Near zero start-up costs as service providers pay for the
licenses that are used each month. The price quoted for
FIRST DISTRIBUTION
Chris Richardson, First Distributi