Partners

In order to deliver the best possible training to our students, we've joined forces with several leading companies in the industry as strategic partners. Through these partnerships, our customers win by receiving quality training from published experts – without even having to leave Minnesota.

Microsoft

Since 1992, Benchmark Learning has been accredited as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. We distinguished ourselves in the marketplace by becoming the first Microsoft Gold CPLS partner in the country. Benchmark Learning has been recognized by Microsoft in many ways for our innovation in developing and delivering learning solution to our clients in Minnesota and throughout the globe. Currently, we are one of only 48 national Gold CPLS that are directly managed by Microsoft. We presently hold the following competencies as MSFT Gold partner:

Learning Solutions
Networking Infrastructure Solutions
Advanced Infrastructure Solutions
Active Directory and Identity Management
Data Management Solutions
Business Intelligence
Mobility Solutions
Information Worker

Over the past 15 years we have received numerous awards from Microsoft to include the following below:

2009 - Benchmark Learning is a finalist for a the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards in the Innovative Learning Solutions category. Learn More >>
2008 - Benchmark Learning's Phil Hinderaker is nominated to be a member of the CPLS Advisor Council.
July 2006 - Microsoft Learning nominated Benchmark Learning to be a member of an eight-panel group to represent 373 CPLS in North America regarding the development and release of Microsoft Official Curriculum.
June 2005 - Microsoft awards Benchmark Learning the Central Regional U.S. Partner Field Award for Teamwork. The award is the culmination of a year-long partner awards program that Microsoft implemented at the beginning of their fiscal year.
May 2005 - Benchmark Learning receives an award for Partner Marketing at the Microsoft Channel Partner Summit in San Diego, California. The award was given to the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Learning Solutions that has shown excellence in the area of partner marketing. During the measured period, Benchmark Learning trained the highest number of students in the Microsoft Hands on Lab campaigns
June 2004 - Instructor Bob Krone is nominated by Microsoft to be on the board that governs Microsoft Certified Leaning Consultant program.

Microsoft® BizSpark™ is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups by providing key resources when they need it the most:

Software. Receive fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. There is no upfront cost to enroll.
Support. Get connected to Network Partners around the world — incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters — that are equally involved and vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship who will provide a wide range of support resources.
Visibility. Achieve global visibility to an audience of potential investors, clients and partnersAs a Microsoft BizSpark member, you’ll be tapping into a rich, vibrant ecosystem of peers, partners and support resources around the globe, helping you grow and succeed. Microsoft BizSpark is the quickest way to get your Startup fired up.

ITIL

Fox IT is our chosen partner for ITIL curriculum. They've been involved with the practical implementation of Service Management techniques since 1981, and many members of Fox IT's Team of Service and Systems Management Consultants have been instrumental in developing ITIL since its inception. Fox IT was commissioned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to manage the 2001 update of the ITIL guidelines and to co-author Planning to Implement Service Management.

Citrix

Benchmark Learning is a nationally recognized CALC and a Citrix Center of Excellence. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, we were selected for the Citrix Strategic Partner of the Year Award. We have completed several beta projects and focused on having the most up-to-date training offerings.We've partnered to deliver unique, value-add events to explain the benefits of integrating both Microsoft and Citrix products in a heterogeneous environment. Since the beginning of our partnership in 2003, we've participated in accelerated Citrix training launches and provided custom offerings to customers throughout the education network. Our entire Citrix schedule is offered both virtually and with Instructor-led Training.

Microsoft SQL

We're proud to feature high-end SQL offerings through our Solid Quality Mentors partnership. All Solid Quality Mentors are experts in their area and work with Microsoft, publish articles and speak at international conferences. They're committed to providing unparalleled service to the SQL Server community, and they have just one goal: offer deep training and mentorship to help your company provide the best service to your customers by maximizing the integrity of your database systems and applications.

Advanced Transact-SQL Querying, Programming and Tuning for SQL Server 2005 and 2008, Itzik Ben-Gan

T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2005, Itzik Ben-Gan

Itzik Ben-Gan is one of the founders and Principal Mentors with Solid Quality Mentoring. He teaches, lectures, writes and consults about SQL Server internationally for Solid Quality Mentoring. He's been working with databases since 1992 with a focus on SQL Server since 1998. He authored the T-SQL Black Belt column in SQL Server Magazine, co-authored the Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000 and is a columnist at TSQL Solutions.

Enterprise ETL with SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Erik Veerman

Erik Veerman is a Mentor for Solid Quality Mentors focusing on training, mentoring and architecting solutions on the SQL Server BI platform. His industry recognition includes Microsoft's Worldwide BI Solution of the Year and SQL Server Magazine's Innovator Cup winner. Erik has designed dozens of BI solutions across a broad business spectrum-telecommunications, marketing, retail, commercial real estate, finance, supply chain, and information technology. His experience with high volume multi-terabyte environments and SQL Server 64-bit has enabled clients to scale their Microsoft-based BI solutions for optimal potential.

We are also honored to work with Kalen Delaney, Inside SQLearning Inc. She has been working with SQL Server for over 21 years and has been writing about SQL Server for over 15 years. She has, on numerous occasions, been invited by Microsoft to present special internal training. Kalen has spoken at Microsoft Technical Education Conference (TechEd), and worked in the SQL Server Lab at several conferences.

SQL Server 2008 Architecture, Internals and Tuning, Kalen Delaney

Northwest Cadence

Northwest Cadence is our partner for Visual Studio Team System. Not only have they worked with numerous companies around the globe on Team System implementations; they’ve authored books, presented at national software developer conferences, written courseware and articles, and have been awarded several designations from Microsoft applauding their excellence in and commitment to VSTS.

Steven Borg is an expert in VSTS from Northwest Cadence. He’s worked with numerous companies around the globe on Team System implementation and authored books, presented at national software developer conferences, written courseware and articles, and been recognized by Microsoft for excellence in and commitment to VSTS. Steven has extensive knowledge of the .NET Framework and .NET development, including VB.NET, C# and ASP.NET, including all XML aspects of .NET. Steven has involved knowledge of object oriented development using the Component Object Model (COM/ActiveX), and object oriented design using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). He also has advanced programming skills in Visual Basic .NET, C#, XML, XSL, XSLT, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic for Applications and is knowledgeable in Java and SQL.

Cisco

GlobalNet Training is our partner for our Cisco curriculum. Their Cisco curriculum was developed by founder Todd Lammle who has over 20 years experience in the industry. He's the author of the world's best selling networking book, SYBEX CCNA Study Guide , and the winner of certcities.com's prestigious "Best Study Guide Author." His hands-on experience was instrumental in designing complex, difficult-to-understand networking concepts easy and fun to learn.

Novell

We began our partnership with Novell in August of 1988 as the first Novell reseller in the Midwest. Not long after becoming a Novell partner, we also became a Novell Authorized Education Center offering the latest classroom training on Novell products. We offered training on the first commercially available 32-bit operating system for an Intel 80386 CPU (NetWare 386). We've been a Platinum Novell Authorized Education Center since 2003 which means Novell values our relationship as a key partner to provide quality training that our customer can trust. We've seen the value in maintaining our partnership over the years and recently been honored with becoming one of only five Novell's Linux Center for Excellence in September 2006.

Oracle

ONYX is our partner for Oracle curriculum and training. This learning company provides comprehensive, quality instructor-led training and mentoring for employees developing or using Oracle for business applications. They specialize in teaching SQL for data retrieval and reporting, PL/SQL for programming and database administration. Learning is achieved in different ways: by doing, listening and reading. Courses cover all aspects of learning:

Listening to educator's classroom lectures which provide real world experience
Doing thorough hands-on computer lab exercises
Reading the complete Student Guides for reference during and after class

Our team of educators has software development experience, teaching experience and excellent communications skills. Founder Ann Kalin has over 30 years of experience in applications design and development. Our curriculum has been written to address real work situations as well as to prepare the student for the Oracle certifications. So whether you're interested in learning how to program with PL/SQL, advanced querying and reporting, day-to-day database administration or tuning and troubleshooting, Benchmark Learning and Onyx have the training solution for you. View the educators' resumes.

United Training

United Training is a consortium of independently owned and operated Information Technology training centers from around North America. United Training's member companies are committed to training excellence, growing the IT marketplace, the career development of each student, and enhancing the performance and productivity of each company we work with. United Training provides businesses with a way to obtain high quality IT training on a national level, from the very best regional providers.

IBM

As an IBM Authorized Independent Training Provider, Benchmark Learning provides software training that's approved by IBM. As an IBM Authorized Training Provider, our company is a valuable, one-stop resource for IBM Lotus software training and education that can lead to professional certification. We provide customers with essential training on Lotus software from IBM, making it easier for our Lotus customers to get the skills they need to maximize the capabilities of their IBM software. We play a key role in enhancing the performance of your staff.

Inetium

Inetium, >www.inetium.com, is a technology consulting company focused on customer relationship management (CRM), portals and collaboration solutions, application development, business intelligence and managed services. Inetium’s vision is to empower their customers to work measurably smarter by applying their technology solutions. Through a combination of quality, innovation and initiative, Inetium prides itself on their longstanding customer relationships.

Founded in 1998, Inetium has a commitment to the Microsoft software platform and can service a broad base of customers from their headquarters in Minneapolis.

DFC Consultants, LTD

DFC Consultants, LTD is a team of experts who have exclusively sold, installed and supported Microsoft Accounting and Business Management solutions for almost 20 years. In addition to offering expertise for their clients in these areas, they also train and support their solutions providing continuity and consistency to their clients.

DFC Consultants, LTD work intimately with their clients to become familiar with the organization – and therefore recommend the right solutions, at the right time – and identify the challenges and goals of each specific group.

Benchmark Learning and DFC Consultants, LTD have partnered to offer their clients an extension of training/consulting resources that makes sense for today’s organization. Benchmark Learning provides cutting-edge solutions to DFC Consultants, LTD training center through their remote learning modality. Remote learning allows students access to the training they need without the expense of travel.

Customer satisfaction is a must-have priority for both CPLS partners and they seek to offer the most robust solutions. Benchmark Learning and DFC Consultants, LTD can offer you the widest array of Microsoft technical training and support. Contact DFC Consultants, LTD at 701.281.6112 or Benchmark Learning at 952.896.6800 for more information.

asp.netPRO

asp.netPRO is devoted to professional developers who use Microsoft’s ASP.NET (Active Server Pages.NET) technology to build Web-enabled applications and business solutions. It targets the professional ASP.NET developer, not the hobbyist. To satisfy our readers, asp.netPRO will feature a wide variety of ASP.NET-related technical information. This includes monthly articles on topics such as (but not limited to):

ASP.NET and the .NET Framework
Migrating from ASP “classic” to ASP.NET
ADO.NET, XML, and data access
N-tier development
Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit

DutchInc

DutchInc is our selected partner for the distribution of our CareerBooster and SMART Skills Assessments in the European Union. The company and its team have established outstanding records in the Learning Industry. They aim to evolve the market by providing in-depth knowledge about educational purchase and career planning for Corporate Organizations as well as Trainings Centres.

DutchInc provides a strong local client- and technical support point and works closely with Benchmark Learning in the continuing process of updating and expanding the multilingual Skills Assessments product line.

RBA Consulting

RBA Consulting is a rapidly growing and recognized leader in technology and consulting services with core competencies in Advanced Infrastructure, Business Intelligence, Business Solution, SOA and Business Process, Custom Development, Mobility Solutions, and Information Worker. Our broad portfolio of technology and business solutions is based on a solid understanding that technology must deliver positive business outcomes. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, RBA has a great deal of expertise in developing Microsoft solutions that maximize the utilization of the software and providing clients with a solid return on investment.

Convergent Solutions Group

Convergent is a Unified Communications and Voice Specialized Microsoft Gold Partner who is a nationwide leader in delivering Communications Enabled Business Processes.