A Microsoft Certified Partner (MCP) is a firm that provides Microsoft-related products or services, or support for such. It is part of the Microsoft Partner Network.
They are confirmed by Microsoft to be official, and that they work effectively, and help customers with a range of information technology (IT) projects and specific products and services. While not accredited to provide support to the same level as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Support Services, many MCPs offer support as part of their services.
MCPs provide Microsoft services on behalf of Microsoft worldwide, spanning many fields including original equipment manufacturer (OEM), education, software providers, and technical support. They have 24-hour access to Microsoft Support, which enables them to provide reliable customer support. Every MCP has been in business for at least 5 years, has passed several tests, and has proven skills in their particular field. Microsoft rewards these partners with discounts in tools that are applicable to their activities. For example, in the educational field this might take the form of licenses to Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.
In return for participating in the program, partners gain support services and tools from Microsoft, often at a significant discount to their retail prices. However, over the lifetime of the contract some risk is transferred from Microsoft to the MCP in return for the benefits of the association with Microsoft and the ability to sell the support services. [1]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partners are Microsoft's most highly accredited independent technical support providers. They must offer support for data management and software development. Becoming a partner requires the use of Microsoft technology as the primary platform for the firm. [2]
A Microsoft Certified Training Partner is an IT training company, independent of and unowned by Microsoft, that is officially approved by Microsoft to provide technical training and expertise for Microsoft products a part of the MCP Program.
The content of the IT training courses provided by Microsoft Certified Training Partner companies are certified by Microsoft regarding the accuracy of the instruction given. To receive the certification, a Microsoft Certified Training Partner must demonstrate a broad range of expertise in Microsoft Products. Microsoft Certified Instructors are required to have real-world expertise in Microsoft products as well as hold current Microsoft IT Certifications.
Microsoft Certified Training Partner is the basic level of the Microsoft Certified Training Partner Program. They have paid a fee to become certified, and must pay to use Microsoft tools and support.
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner is the highest level of the Microsoft Certified Partner Program. These firms have free access to the tools and support they need from Microsoft.
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.
The Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation is an international standard for computer security certification. It is currently in version 3.1 revision 5.
The ISO 9000 family of quality management systems (QMS) is a set of standards that helps organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of QMS, including the seven quality management principles that underlie the family of standards. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard must fulfill.
A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined finish; regardless of industry. Project managers are first point of contact for any issues or discrepancies arising from within the heads of various departments in an organization before the problem escalates to higher authorities, as project representative.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) consists of a set of extensions to the Windows Driver Model that provides an operating system interface through which instrumented components provide information and notification. WMI is Microsoft's implementation of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) and Common Information Model (CIM) standards from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).
Technical support refers to services that entities provide to users of technology products or services. In general, technical support provides help regarding specific problems with a product or service, rather than providing training, provision or customization of the product, or other support services. Most companies offer technical support for the services or products they sell, either included in the cost or for an additional fee. Technical support may be delivered by phone, e-mail, live support software, live chat or website, or other tools where users can log an incident. Larger organizations frequently have internal technical support available to their staff for computer-related problems. The Internet can also be a good source for freely available tech support, where experienced users help users find solutions to their problems. In addition, some fee-based service companies charge for premium technical support services.
The National Ocean Service (NOS), an office within the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is responsible for preserving and enhancing the nation's coastal resources and ecosystems along 95,000 miles (153,000 km) of shoreline bordering 3,500,000 square miles (9,100,000 km2) of coastal, Great Lakes, and ocean waters. Its mission is to "provide science-based solutions through collaborative partnerships to address evolving economic, environmental, and social pressures on our oceans and coasts." NOS works closely with many partner agencies to ensure that ocean and coastal areas are safe, healthy, and productive. National Ocean Service scientists, natural resource managers, and specialists ensure safe and efficient marine transportation, promote innovative solutions to protect coastal communities, and conserve marine and coastal places. NOS is a scientific and technical organization of 1,700 scientists, natural resource managers, and specialists in many different fields.
TickIT is a certification program for companies in the software development and computer industries, supported primarily by the United Kingdom and Swedish industries through UKAS and SWEDAC respectively. Its general objective is to improve software quality.
A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone else. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc.
Certification is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit. Accreditation is a specific organization's process of certification. According to the U.S. National Council on Measurement in Education, a certification test is a credentialing test used to determine whether individuals are knowledgeable enough in a given occupational area to be labeled "competent to practice" in that area.
Cisco Certifications are the list of the Certifications offered by Cisco Systems. There are four or five levels of certification: Associate (CCNA/CCDA), Professional (CCNP/CCDP), Expert (CCIE/CCDE) and recently Architect, as well as nine different paths for the specific technical field; Routing & Switching, Design, Industrial Network, Network Security, Service Provider, Service Provider Operations, Storage Networking, Voice, Datacenter and Wireless.
There are also a number of the specialist technician, sales, Business, data center certifications, CCAI certified instructor.
A computer repair technician is a person who repairs and maintains computers and servers. The technician's responsibilities may extend to include building or configuring new hardware, installing and updating software packages, and creating and maintaining computer networks.
Established in 1991, the non-profit Network Professional Association (NPA) is a professional association for computer network professionals.
The Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors is a program to sponsor students majoring in disciplines related to technology. The MSP program enhances students' employability by offering training in skills not usually taught in academia, including knowledge of Microsoft technologies.
An independent test organization is an organization, person, or company that tests products, materials, software, etc. according to agreed requirements. The test organization can be affiliated with the government or universities or can be an independent testing laboratory. They are independent because they are not affiliated with the producer nor the user of the item being tested: no commercial bias is present. These "contract testing" facilities are sometimes called "third party" testing or evaluation facilities.
Kainos Group plc is a software company headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland that develops information technology solutions for businesses and organisations particularly in the public, healthcare and financial services sectors. Kainos has offices across the UK, Europe, the US and Canada, providing consulting and support services to its customers around the world.
DNV is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides services for several industries including maritime, oil & gas, renewable energy, electrification, food & beverage and healthcare. DNV GL was created in 2013 as a result of a merger between two leading organizations in the field — Det Norske Veritas (Norway) and Germanischer Lloyd (Germany). In 2021, DNV GL changed its name to DNV, while retaining its post-merger structure.
HP CloudSystem is a cloud infrastructure from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) that combines storage, servers, networking and software.
Pythian Services Inc., commonly known as Pythian, is a Canadian multinational corporation that provides data and cloud-related services. The company provides services for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Hadoop, Cassandra and other databases and their supporting infrastructure. It also provides transformation services that include cloud migration services, cloud managed services and analytics data platform design and management products and services. Pythian has partnerships with major public cloud vendors including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Absolute Software Corporation is an American-Canadian company that specializes in endpoint security and data risk management. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Austin, Texas, with regional offices in Reading, UK; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Absolute is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).