PROOF-OF-CONCEPT (The role of web parts)
I first saw Bamboo Solution products at the Orlando DevConnections Conference in 2006. I was impressed with their efforts in the SharePoint aftermarket space; they offer great value with their plug-n-play parts for a fraction of the cost it would take for me to develop like functionality.
I am currently involved in several pre-sales POC projects as we here at Axispoint, Inc. are also a solutions provider under the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner umbrella. In an effort to demonstrate the utility of pre-built 3rd party commercial web parts in general, I installed the Bamboo World Clock and Weather Web Part on one of our MOSS 2007 sites. The entire process of download, install, deploy and configure was measured in minutes earning high marks in technical support “wow factor.” As for the web part itself, delicious eye candy!
Axispoint operates offices in mutiple time zones, this web part eliminates the mental gymnastics endured in calculating local time from EDT/EST. More than that? A time saver that eliminates the conference call conversation starter banter “how’s the weather over there?” Now we have to start with Olympics news.
On the technical achievement front, the Bamboo Solutions Time and Weather web part demonstrates the use of foreign web services, an example of data visualization and ease of user programmability (setting N locations to track). In other words, for the uninitiated SharePoint client, a demo of deploying this web part closes the imagination gap. It is proof of SharePoint’s ease of extensibility.
Walt Sully, MCSE, MCAD, MCTSSolutions ArchitectAxispoint, Inc.55 Broad St.New York, NY 10004www.axispoint.com
