"All in all I am very pleased and impressed
with their service. The tech support staff helped
me make this a very smooth transition. They are
undoubtedly professionals in this field and I'm
glad we made the move to their service. Only
wish we did it sooner."
:: Rick Heyn
[more]
Burlington, MA - July 7, 2008 - groupSPARK — a mindSHIFT company, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions including hosted Exchange Server 2007, hosted SharePoint Services 3.0, and hosted Dynamics CRM — announced today that groupSPARK’s founder and senior executive officer, Ravi Agarwal, will speak at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), held in Houston, Texas, July 7-10, 2008. Agarwal will draw upon groupSPARK’s success as a leader in the SaaS industry and will address the benefits and opportunities available for resellers through private-label hosted services. groupSPARK was named 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year, in the Advanced Infrastructure, Hosting Solutions category.
The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference brings together 10,000 Microsoft Partners to gain insight into business growth opportunities and Microsoft product innovation. Through a series of presentations and events, partners will also share insights and experiences on the latest industry issues and strategies on business success. groupSPARK was invited to join Microsoft in speaking on a number of topics including how to build a steady stream of recurring revenue through private-label hosted software services and the pros and cons of deploying an in-house SaaS solution vs. partnering with a private label provider. groupSPARK’s presentation schedule follows:
* Monday, July7th 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM, 2:30 - 3:35 PM, 310 BCEF
Small Business Symposium: Transformation To Software Plus Services: Expand Your Business By Selling Hosted Services With Your Brand
Speakers: Greg Olsby, Microsoft, and Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK
Do you want to add new revenue streams to your existing portfolio? Are you working to retain existing customers and attract new ones to your software-plus-services offerings? Hear how other Microsoft partners are successfully evolving their businesses to offer private-label hosted services.
* Monday, July 7th 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, 351 E
Industry Partner Forum: Hosting and Delivering Your Online Services
Speakers: Greg Olsby, Microsoft, and Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK
Learn about the revenue opportunity in targeting other Microsoft partners — including value-added resellers, independent software vendors, and systems integrators — for private-label hosting. Discover how Microsoft partners like groupSPARK can help you capitalize on this vast opportunity.
* Tuesday, July 8th 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM, 352 EF
Build a Recurring Revenue Stream: Resell Branded Hosted Services
Speakers: Michael van Dijken, Microsoft, and Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK
With more companies looking to outsource IT to a service provider, there is tremendous opportunity for you to build a hosting business with minimal risk. Grow your business by reselling branded hosted services from a Microsoft hosting partner. Learn about this opportunity, hear from successful partners such as groupSPARK, and sign up today.
* Tuesday, July 8th 2:00 - 2:30 PM, 5:30 - 6:00 PM - Microsoft Hosting Pavilion
Build vs. Partner: When Is It Better to Partner With A Private Label Provider vs. Rolling Out Your Own SaaS Solution?
Speaker: Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK
Interest in SaaS is exploding as SMBs demand anytime, anywhere access to their mission- critical data. Service providers see the potential revenue and customer retention benefits of selling SaaS solutions. The question is whether it is more advantageous to build your own in-house infrastructure or partner with a private label provider? Time and cost of deployment, quantity of hardware, software, and training involved and need for experienced personnel are just a few of the many issues to consider. This session will weigh the benefits and drawbacks to rolling out your own SaaS solution vs. partnering with a private label provider.
“The SaaS market continues to grow at a rapid pace as small and mid-size businesses discover that they can take immediate advantage of industry-leading Fortune-500 messaging and collaboration tools as hosted services at a price they can easily absorb. Therefore, resellers are searching for a way to offer these services to their customers under their own brand, increasing customer retention and recurring revenue per user,” says Ravi Agarwal, founder and senior executive director of groupSPARK, a mindSHIFT company.
“Through these sessions we will discuss how Microsoft partners can begin reselling private label hosted services to their customers in as little as 30 minutes, with no risk, and capitalize on this significant business opportunity. The ability to resell hosted Exchange Server 2007, hosted SharePoint Services, hosted Dynamics CRM and provide support for mobile devices under their own brand gives resellers a significant advantage over their competitors,” Agarwal said.
Worldwide Partner Conference attendees can visit with groupSPARK personnel on the Expo floor at booth #1070 as well as inside the Microsoft hosting pavilion. Additionally, the company will be accepting the 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Hosting Solutions category for its demonstration of both technical and business marketing innovation. The award was announced on June 16, 2008 and will be officially presented to groupSPARK at an Executive Luncheon on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at the Worldwide Partner Conference.
About groupSPARK
Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK, a mindSHIFT company, is a leading provider of SaaS services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, private label 24×7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. For additional information, visit www.groupSPARK.com.
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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
BURLINGTON, MA - May 13, 2008 - groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted software services including hosted Exchange Server 2007, hosted SharePoint Services v3.0, and hosted Dynamics CRM, announced today that groupSPARK senior executive officer, Ravi Agarwal, will be speaking at the ISPCon Spring 2008 conference and trade show.
ISPCon Spring 2008 will be held at the Donald E. Stephens (Rosemont) Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois from May 13-15, 2008. The event brings together 2500+ internet industry professionals including ISPs, webhosting providers, VoIP providers and numerous other internet industry professionals to discuss all facets of internet business including ways to increase revenue and develop new business opportunities.Â
Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK senior executive officer, will speak to attendees on Thursday, May 15, 2008 on ways for ISPs and the service provider community to successfully compete in the expanding hosted services arena. His presentation titled SaaS vs. Software + Service: How You Can Survive Microsoft’s Entry into the Hosted Services Market, will speak to the trepidation now felt by resellers of hosted services worldwide regarding Microsoft’s decision to enter the market with their own hosted services offerings. Mr. Agarwal will address the explosive growth in the market and offer strategies resellers can employ to stand apart from the competition and provide value added products and services to their small and mid-size business customers.Â
“The hosting industry is growing dramatically as more and more SMBs discover that they can pay a small monthly fee and achieved the same level of productivity as large companies by using enterprise class messaging and collaboration tools in a hosted environment. As a result, resellers are looking to take advantage of this trend and offer these services to their customers. However, the recent press surrounding Microsoft’s entry into the hosted Software as a Service market is making many resellers reconsider their decision as they are unsure whether they will be able to compete,” said Ravi Agarwal, senior executive director, groupSPARK division of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. “This fear is completely unfounded. There are many ways resellers can differentiate themselves and continue to thrive in this rapidly growing market. There is enough room for everyone to be successful.”Â
One of the ways that groupSPARK continues to thrive in a competitive market is to offer a full breadth of private label hosted software services through their reseller channel to SMBs who would otherwise be unable to deploy the applications in-house due to their significant cost. Services include hosted Exchange Server 2007, hosted SharePoint Services 3.0, and hosted Dynamics CRM as well as 2-way wireless synchronization with BlackBerry Enterprise Server®, Windows Mobile and Good Mobile Messaging. groupSPARK also offers all resellers live 24 x 7 technical support via phone, email and online chat which is staffed by experts based in the United States.
About groupSPARK
Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK, a mindSHIFT company, is a leading provider of SaaSÂ services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services v3.0, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, private label 24×7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. For additional information, visit www.groupSPARK.com.
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The RIM and BlackBerry families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of and trademarks or registered trademarks of Research In Motion Limited - used by permission. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Contacts:
BURLINGTON, MA – June 18, 2007 – groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of private label services including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Dynamics CRM and Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 announced today that groupSPARK chief executive officer, Ravi Agarwal, will be speaking at LT PACT 2007.
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LT PACT 2007 will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 20-22, 2007. The event brings together hosting industry professionals including customers, partners and the media to gain insight into hosting’s explosive growth and how to increase revenue with improved business practices. Attendees will also be able to network with industry leaders and can interact with the latest products in technology workshops.Â
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Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK chief executive officer, will participate in panel discussions entitled SaaS and Your Profit Future & Solution Integration and SaaS. These panels will focus on how companies can profit from SaaS services and what products and services are leaders in SaaS offerings. The discussions will also instruct companies on what to be aware of and what questions to ask when determining whether or not to deploy outsourced services and what types of companies are best suited for hosted services.Â
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“groupSPARK offers a complete SaaS solution and can provide a high-value, profitable service to companies who want to take advantage of the explosive growth in the hosting industry,†stated Ravi Agarwal, chief executive officer of groupSPARK. “According to analysts, the hosted Microsoft Exchange Server market alone will grow by $600 million over the next year and we want to make companies aware of how they can participate.â€
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About groupSPARK Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK is the leading provider of SaaS Â services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, SharePoint Services v3.0, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
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Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, 24×7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities.
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Contact Info:
Lisa Masiello Â
groupSPARK
781-273-6248 x652
lmasiello@groupspark.com
BURLINGTON, Mass. - May 14, 2007 - groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leading Private Label Microsoft Exchange Hosting provider, announced today that groupSPARK chief executive officer, Ravi Agarwal, will be speaking at ISPCON Spring Internet industry conference and exhibition. Â
ISPCON Spring will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida from May 23-25, 2007. The event brings together 2500+ wired and wireless ISPs, CLECs, webhosts, VoIP providers and other Internet industry professionals to discuss all facets of Internet businesses. ISPCON will shine the spotlight on the ‘how’ behind the best technologies and business opportunities of the Internet industry. Attendees will be able to visit with groupSPARK representatives in booth 414 to discuss Private Label Exchange Hosting services.
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Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK chief executive officer, will participate in a panel discussion Strategies for Growing Your Hosted Business Messaging Service. This panel discussion will focus on how consumer ISPs can broaden customer reach and create new revenue streams by addressing critical needs such as messaging within the enterprise segment. The discussion will also include challenges faced by businesses in keeping pace with security, legislation and eDiscovery demands on email, the types of services that comprise an attractive hosted messaging suite, and practical first steps.
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Ravi Agarwal, chief executive officer of groupSPARK states that he will discuss “how companies can take advantage of the explosive growth in Microsoft Exchange and provide a high-value, profitable service to their customers with our 100% Private Label Hosted Exchange solution.” He went on to say that “2007 is the year of Microsoft Exchange and we are pleased that with our leadership role in the hosted Exchange market we were asked to participate on this panel.”
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About groupSPARK Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK is a leading provider of hosted services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SharePoint Services, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
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Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey Private Label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, 24×7 U.S. based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities.
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Burlington, MA August 11, 2006 – groupSPARK today announced plans to be one of the main sponsors at this year’s Hosting Transformation Summit in Las Vegas, NV. The 2006 Hosting Transformation Summit: Hosting 2.0 will focus on the future of the hosting and Internet Infrastructure Services (IIS) industry as it grapples with the opportunities and challenges that accompany heightened attention, increased capital investment and an onslaught of Web2.0 start-ups.
The event will cover the evaluation of leading Internet brands (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay) as a hosting platform for businesses Discussion of how the Web2.0 start-up spree is helping and/or hurting the sector Insights into changes in the pricing model for various Internet infrastructure services and discussion of technologies that help reduce cost and complexity in the hosting platform. Â Real-life case studies of enterprise customers’ experiences with outsourced hosting. Â First-ever details on a new T1R market forecast for IIS services by target customer size. Â Discussion on the sustainability of the investment climate for these services In-depth analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOTs) for key companies along with an ‘ask-the- analyst’ panel on both days to address your specific burning questions.
groupSPARK CEO, Ravi Agarwal, will be on hand to present information on Hosting, the challenges and opportunities that the future will provide.  “This is a good opportunity for us to continue to use the momentum of groupSPARK to help other understand the opportunities that exist already as well as the impact hosting will have on their business going forward,†said Mr. Agarwal.
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The summit will take place Sept 19-20 at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Visit www.tier1research.com for more information.
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About groupSPARK Â
groupSPARK is the leading provider of hosted services, such as Microsoft Exchange Hosting, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, that can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.
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Its GAIN partners utilize its turnkey Private Label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, 24×7x365 support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities.
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groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is a privately owned company. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts it is the leading provider of Private Label Microsoft Exchange Hosting.Â
For more information please contact:
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Burlington, MASSACHUSETTS, August 30, 2006 – groupSPARK, the #1 Private Label Exchange Hosting provider, today announced their plans for upcoming conferences in the fall of 2006. groupSPARK has decided to build on the momentum from their summer conferences and has plans to attend three more shows through the rest of 2006.
After the success of both the Microsoft World Wide Partner Conference and HostingCon, both in July, they have added the Hosting Transformation Summit, the ITExpo, and ISPCon to their 2006 conference plans.
The Hosting Transformation Summit takes place in Las Vegas, NV Sept 18-20 which draws in executives from all across the industry to network and discuss the future of the market. Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK’s CEO, will be speaking on a panel on hosting software as a service and the challenges that the industry will see in the future.
groupSPARK will also be attending the Internet Telephony Expo in San Diego, CA Oct 10-13. The ITExpo is the largest west coast conference on IP communications. Show exhibitors can expect to see around 9,000 people coming through the doors. Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK’s CEO said “This is a new direction for groupSPARK. We get questions all the time from companies in the IP communications market segment and while the industry is still very new, we feel that this will be a big part of our plans in the future.â€
groupSPARK will be attending their third ISPCon in Santa Clara, CA Nov 7-9. ISPCon has been a very good fit for groupSPARK in the past and their attendance at another one demonstrates how important the show is to their continuing efforts with the internet service provider market place. The difference between this ISPCon and the previous ones is that groupSPARK’s CEO Ravi Agarwal will have a speaking engagement during the conference on the topic of Hosting Reliable and Profitable Exchange Services.
About groupSPARK
groupSPARK is the #1 provider of Microsoft Exchange Hosting services that can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving their clients hundreds of thousands in development and support costs.
Its 400+ GAIN partners utilize its turnkey Private Label platform to provide Hosted Exchange services to thousands of their users. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, 24×7x365 support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. They also offer mobility, Server-Side SPAM filtering, and SharePoint options.
groupSPARK is a privately owned company. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts it is the one of the largest Private Label Microsoft Exchange Hosting providers and is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
Burlington, MASSACHUSETTS, June 22, 2006 – groupSPARK, the #1 Private Label Exchange Hosting provider, today announced their plans for upcoming conferences in the summer of 2006. groupSPARK has stepped up their conference attendance by participating in two new shows this summer.
Microsoft has invited groupSPARK to be in their booth in the Software Hosting Pavilion for the Microsoft World Wide Partner conference in Boston, MA in mid-July. Ravi Agarwal, groupSPARK’s CEO, said “This is a big honor for groupSPARK. Only two other companies have been asked to participate in the conference.â€Â The conference draws attendees from all over the globe and Microsoft expects at least 6,000 people to show up for the three-day event.
groupSPARK will also be attending this year’s HostingCon in Las Vegas, NV the week after the Microsoft World Wide Partner Conference. This will be the first HostingCon event that groupSPARK has attended but given the feedback they have been receiving, the show will be another success for them. Microsoft has asked them to participate in their booth at the show again so in addition to their own booth, groupSPARK will have a tremendous presence at the show.
About groupSPARK
groupSPARK is the #1 provider of Microsoft Exchange Hosting services that can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving their clients hundreds of thousands in development and support costs.
Its 400+ GAIN partners utilize its turnkey Private Label platform to provide Hosted Exchange services to thousands of their users. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, 24×7x365 support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. They also offer mobility, Server-Side SPAM filtering, and SharePoint options.
groupSPARK is a privately owned company. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts it is the one of the largest Private Label Microsoft Exchange Hosting providers.
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images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks
of Research In Motion Limited — used by permission. Research
In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, BlackBerry Enterprise Server
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