Microsoft Australia has chosen Hilton Travis of Quark IT as the 2008-09 Small Business Specialist Community Partner Area Lead (SBSC PAL).  Hilton follows on in Dean Calvert's footsteps.

A quote from Robbie Upcroft, the Microsoft Australia Product Manager for SMB Servers, when announcing this decision:

"An active member of the Brisbane SBS Users group & vocal contributor to the global SBS forums, Hilton was selected for his passion, knowledge of Microsoft SMB solutions & blistering honesty when it comes to providing feedback.

I understand that some of you may not have heard of the SBSC PAL program before & so an overview is located here: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40011087?PS=95000124. In summary though, it is:

· A Microsoft Corporate program designed to foster better relationships between SBSCs & the wider Microsoft SMB / Partner teams

· A way for SBSCs to channel feedback through to Microsoft, and for us in turn to hear a rolled-up summary of issues

· A 12 month appointment with the PAL being nominated by Microsoft

I would expect him to be a rather passionate, vocal representative of the community on all things SBSC – the good, the bad & the ugly. Amongst other things he will be involved in quarterly conference calls, meet the local Microsoft partner executive team & participate in feedback sessions with the MS Corp owners of the SBSC program at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston in July."

Hilton's blog, for things SMB and other, can be found at http://hiltont.blogspot.com/.