Kansas City's Quiet Partner - Microsoft

Image via Wikipedia

Recent Kansas City tech events have been on fire with Google Fiber this and Google Apps that, but there's another technology leader in town that has been a solid partner, if a little more quiet, to Kansas City for much longer than Google... Microsoft.

First, a little history and information - Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, does nearly $70 billion in revenue world wide, and employs 90,000+ workers.  They produce hundreds of products across many markets and their Windows desktop operating systems and Office productivity suites and have become the de facto standard for business operations as well as for consumers.


What many of you may not know is that Microsoft has an office right here in the Kansas City area.  According to LinkedIn, there are over 100 local Microsoft employees based in the KC metro.  Along with other offices in the Midwest the local office supports Microsoft's North Central District which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska.

Image via CrunchBase

Back to the story... Microsoft has a history of partnering with Kansas City.  They are a member of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Circle - a group that works on behalf of Kansas City in Washington D.C., Jefferson City and Topeka.  Together, members support efforts to enhance quality education, encourage regional cooperation, develop Downtown and encourage growth in the life sciences industry among other issues.  Recently, they sponsored the Gigabit Challenge in collaboration with Think Big Partners and a virtual who's who of Kansas City companies.

Microsoft has either directly delivered or provided guest speakers for literally hundreds of local events over the last 10 years.  They've hosted huge release events for Windows and Office in Bartle Hall.  They've presented to user groups and corporate boards.  And they regularly host partner companies in their own offices for a great variety of events.

Microsoft has engaged with Kansas City.  Their local office is an invaluable resource for the hundreds of area technology companies that depend on Microsoft for their technology and partnering support expertise and resources demanded by the ever-changing and accelerating Information Technology race.

According to Microsoft's career website there are 35 open positions that mention the Kansas City area.  There appear to be 107 open Microsoft-related positions in Kansas City according to a job search on LinkedIn.  If you search on Indeed.com for "Microsoft" it appears there are 2,180 open Microsoft-software related positions in the Kansas City area.  That's a lot of high-tech computer, business and sales jobs that depend on Microsoft software and their partner ecosystem!

Recently, Microsoft announced the opening of a new Microsoft Retail Store at Oak Park Mall. The grand opening event is scheduled for June 28.  See the announcement from May 17th.

So, remember as your company considers new technologies like "cloud services" that you have a partner - actually 84 Microsoft Partners according to Microsoft's Pinpoint and seven for Cloud Computing alone - in Kansas City.  No matter which industry you fall within - manufacturing & distribution, financial, local / state / federal government, legal, professional services, education, healthcare, etc - there is a Microsoft Partner match for you that specializes in providing technology services specifically to customers that look like you.  The hundreds of Information Technology workers across those 84 Microsoft Partners can provide the expertise and personal attention you expect from a top service organization like Microsoft - backed by Microsoft itself with all the resources and know how of the premier business computer technology company in the world.

PS. Scott Cameron is not an agent of nor does he represent Microsoft directly in any way.  This article was not reviewed nor approved by Microsoft.  All information is publicly available.

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Microsoft Store Coming to Kansas City Area?

Check out my updated article with pictures and my impressions of the Overland Park Microsoft Store!

If you're at all interested in retail or retail management it appears there are opportunities to work at a newly opening Microsoft Store in the Kansas City area!

While reviewing local Microsoft news I found several job openings via a web search.  If you check out indeed job search you'll see 9 open positions including Assistant Manager, Teacher, Product Advisor and even a Community Development and Events Specialist.  The Assistant Manager job is also listed on the Microsoft Career website.

According to the job postings it appears the store will be in Overland Park.  I've contacted Microsoft but have no confirmation yet.  All signs point to "yes" though.

I haven't had a chance to visit a Microsoft Store yet, so I for one am excited!  I'm glad to see that Microsoft is continuing to invest in their presence in the Kansas City area.

Related articles

• Microsoft Plans to Open Dozens More Microsoft Stores (pcworld.com)
• Apple Stores and Microsoft Stores by the numbers (tuaw.com)

Gigabit Google - Kansas City Event Summary

This evening I attended the IASA Kansas City quarterly event and their topic was "Google Fiber and Kansas City."  Rachel Hack, the local Google Community Manager for Kansas City spoke about their plans for our area and had lots of good information.  Some of it I've seen other places and some not.

Here's a summary of what I heard and thought was notable:

1. Google is running fiber in to homes, not businesses.  They have no timeline or significant plans to run it for businesses, even small ones.  So, if you want Google fiber for your business buy a house in Kansas City and start a home office!
2. Google wants to enable everyone in the community with high speed internet access, especially those currently without it.  This means they like the diversity of Kansas City's neighborhoods.  They like that they can find lots of places with the wealthy and the financially challenged literally within sight of each other.
3. They're interested in municipal buildings like libraries and schools and hospitals.  I heard the word "free" although I'm guessing I heard wrong.  It's an interesting idea though... put in free internet in public places to encourage communities and neighborhoods to work with Google on the rollout.
4. The installation will be in Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO proper ONLY at this point.
5. There are no current plans to go to other cities.  Rachel was asked about this several times and stayed with the company line: this is just about Kansas City right now.
6. Rachel was asked about whether this was just a short-term test or if Google was in Kansas City for the long haul.  She said that the cost to deliver fiber to the home is significant and Google plans to make their investment work.
7. Google will be evaluating neighborhoods based upon demand.  In neighborhoods where lots of people want Google fiber, they'll be higher on the list.  She said that Google will factor in neighborhoods where there aren't a lot of highly educated people that know to raise their hands and ask for the service.
8. I asked about whether Google plans to give network preference to their own services over those of competitors.  I specifically asked about Microsoft's Office 365 products versus Google Apps.  She said that no, Google isn't planning on preferring anyones services over anyone else's.
9. Someone asked about privacy over the fiber connection.  She said that Google takes people's privacy very seriously and will consider that.  By the way, it's harder, but not impossible to tap fiber than it is older copper wire infrastructure.  It should be somewhat more secure just because of the medium.
10. Rachel mentioned that Kansas City, KS. schools give their kids laptops and that the lower income kids didn't have internet access at home to take full advantage of them.  Google hopes to remedy this and enable everyone.
11. Google doesn't plan to open a local office anytime soon and is doing all their work with local contractors at this point.  There is one open position in Kansas City though for a "Technical Project Manager, Google Fiber - Kansas City" listed on the Google website.  if you've got lots of experience with fiber and project management this might be a job for you!
12. Google is planning to encourage local entrepreneurship through partnerships with organizations like ThinkKC and the Kauffman Foundation's StartupWeekend.  The next Startup Weekend will be in April and Google may be a sponsor or partner of some sort.

I'll do some analysis on the event later.  The one thing that really surprised me was that Google doesn't plan to make their fiber available to businesses anytime soon.  Rachel really stressed that this move was about homes and helping bridge the digital divide.

Thanks to the KC IASA chapter for putting on the event!

Impressions of a trip to Seattle

On a more personal and non-technology front, after selling my business I decided to take a short break before going back to work, so I took my family up to Seattle.  I had not been to the Northwest US before and we all needed a break from the Kansas heat.

The trip out was uneventful except for on the second leg of the flight when we flew by a large circular lake with an island in the middle, tall cliffs all around and a mountain off to one side.  Any guesses what it is?  I'll post the answer at the end of the post.

So, Seattle.  After recovering from a trip out with small children in a confined space we started our scheduled activities.  This is where the fun started.  We made a hiking excursion to the Dungeon of Spit (actually the it's the Dungeness Spit - a 5 1/2 mile long and very narrow strip of land on the north end of the Olympic Peninsula just west of Seattle - my kids made up the Dungeon thing and I thought it was funny).  Anyway, I saw a hiker with a Microsoft t-shirt on.  You know the t-shirts... the geeky looking ones that Microsoft hands out at events that nobody ever wears and end up as car wash rags.  He was wearing it proudly and hiking through the wildlife refuge.  I stifled a snigger.  You wouldn't be caught dead in one of those back home in Kansas, but I was close to the home of Microsoft, so I just accepted it and moved on.

Throughout the trip, even from people I knew didn't care for Microsoft I heard what good things they've done for the community in Seattle... how the city has thrived due to the employment of thousands and service projects and whatnot.  What was going on?  Steadfast Microsoft haters saying good things about Microsoft?

We also spent time at Hurricane Ridge, canoeing on a lake, visiting Paulsbo (a beautiful little town with a Norwegian heritage), going up the Space Needle, visiting the Seattle Aquarium and more.

I noticed something else both while in Seattle proper and in the surrounding areas.  There were people... lots of people... around.  I mean... they were out, doing stuff, not hiding indoors just getting in and out of cars like we do in Kansas City.  There is a sense that Seattle is a real community where the people like to get out and around other people and see each other.  I've bragged in the past about how we have more freeway miles of roadway in Kansas, per capita, than anywhere else in the US.  Now, I'm not sure that's as good a thing as I thought.  Since we spend so much time in our cars in the KC area we see each other walking about the city less.  We interact with each other less.  We get in the car each morning, go to work, see the people there, get back in the car and go home.  In Seattle you might drive or walk down to the ferry, motor across Puget Sound, then take a bus or light rail to your destination.  All the while you talk with and are around other people.

It's a very different style of living in the Northwest than here in Kansas.  The suburbs of KC and the residential area around Seattle couldn't look more different.  In KC the fairly level ground makes it easy to plan grid-like streets and subdivisions of houses.  In Seattle the hilly an heavily wooded terrain make that kind of development much harder or impossible.  So, instead, they develop around the natural features of the land, giving the area a much more outdoorsy feel.  In KC you can see the sky from horizon to horizon, you can see the weather coming and aside from some tornadoes it's really fairly predictable.  In Seattle, there are numerous micro-climates including one of two rain forest regions in North America.

The city itself is much different also.  Actually, the Seattle area is really several cities, and there is more than one downtown... all within 1/2 hour of each other.  And the water... its everywhere!  Seattle sits between the Pugot Sound and lake Washington.  There are little fingers of the sound that dive in and out of the shore areas and create all kinds of interesting features.  I went to Venice a long time ago and the amount of water in and around Seattle reminds me a bit of that, although otherwise the two are nothing alike.

In any case, I'm back in dear old Kansas now, getting back to work.  My wife and I haven't really thought about moving outside the area much although we talked about it some after we got married.  We're both thinking about it a little more now though.  It's hard not to be impressed by the Northwest.  Especially when the temperature up there never got above 85 while the thermometer topped 110 at home.

Oh, and that lake I mentioned at the top... it was Crater Lake in the north of Oregon near the border with Washington.  The lake was formed when the volcano blew up and created a caldera.  It was amazing to look at from the plane and I would consider making a trip back to the area just to see it again.  Off to the side is Mount Scott, a stratovolcano (a tall volcano unlike the wide ones in Hawaii which are shield volcanoes).  The Mount Scott volcanoes tired themselves out thousands of years ago and left us some of the most spectacular terrain in North America.

Crater Lake, Oregon