Bamboo Web Parts & Components Year in Review with Jeff Kozloff
Published 01/06 courtesy of Bamboo Solutions Community
Editor's note: As we continue our annual Year in Review series with a look back on 2010, you'll notice a number of new faces among the participants this year. Our goal with this year's offering was to offer the most holistic glimpse into the "year in Bamboo" to date ... and what a year it was, including the release of SharePoint 2010 as well as the continued growth of Bamboo, as evidenced by the double digit increases in our product line, revenue, and staff.
As the product leader for Bamboo's Web Parts & Components, what are the accomplishments over the past year of which you're most proud?
All I can say is what an action-packed year Bamboo Solutions had in 2010. With 10 new products and over 10 major releases, Bamboo is very proud of what we added to an already wide offering of 63 products ranging everywhere from Alerting, Visual Aids and Project Management products to User and Profile Management; varying in type of products including Web Parts, Custom Columns, Packs/Suites (multiple products in a discounted package) to actual applications (such as SharePoint Project Management Central). Bamboo Solutions is truly a one-stop shop for all your SharePoint needs.
Oh, sorry about that, I sort of got away from myself there. What did you ask me? Oh right, what am I most proud of. I would have to say two things:
- The very exciting launch of major releases of our 3 biggest (and oldest) products, Alert Plus, Calendar Plus Web Part and List Rollup Web Part. What, you didn't hear about their launch? Luckily, I have the URL of the product release announcement handy for your reading pleasure.
- The successful porting of all our products to SharePoint 2010! For more information about our SharePoint 2010 support, including our policy in regards to licensing, check out the trusty SharePoint 2010 page on our Storefront.
Can you give us a preview of any new Web Parts planned for 2011?
Jeez, I just told you we released 10 new products in 2010, isn't that enough? No? OK, OK... we have in the works 4 new products and over 20 major releases of existing products planned for 2011. Our focus will be improving the existing product portfolio, utilizing features in SharePoint 2010 (as well as in SharePoint 2007). I can't show you all my cards of the exciting products to come, but I will give you a hint... one of the new products will focus on the SharePoint 2010 Ribbon. See, now I may have already told you too much...!
Has your team developed any new products yet that are intended exclusively for SharePoint 2010? Where are the key feature gaps in SharePoint 2010?
If you promise to keep this just between us, I can tell you that we are working on our first SharePoint 2010 exclusive product for 2011. As I hinted before, this is the product that will have to do with the new SharePoint 2010 feature Ribbon. Another feature gap we are looking to fill (and this is not SharePoint 2010 specific, but also in SharePoint 2007) has to do with Discussion Boards.
If you could recommend that a customer buy just one Web Part from Bamboo, which one would you recommend?
Hands down Bamboo Ultimate Suite! Ha. But seriously, every department in a company has different needs, though one product that absolutely everyone can use is a powerful calendar. So I would suggest Calendar Plus Web Part. Such a great product, and it's consistently one of Bamboo's top sellers.
You recently spent several weeks working out of our Technology Center in Vietnam. How did that go?
One word... INCREDIBLE! And I'm not just talking about the fantastic food! The people there are awesome and they know our products inside (our developers) and out (our Quality Assurance and Support Teams). Have you noticed the recent changes to our storefront, including the new pop-up form when you add a product to the cart for choosing which version of SharePoint you are running? That's thanks to our Business Information Systems team in Vietnam. And let's not forget about the awesome graphics produced by our Web Design team! Sending out a Một Hai Ba... Yo! to the Vietnam teams! (That is their cheer where Một Hai Ba means 1...2...3.)
As always, there were a number of new Web Parts released throughout the year. Any breakout hits from the class of 2010?
Hmm , of the new products, there is actually one new product and one new package I would like to highlight:
- List Consolidator for Users is a new data aggregation product Bamboo released with the end user in mind. This is not a supplement to our powerful List Rollup Web Part (which was designed for SharePoint administrators) though, as List Consolidator for Users was designed for the end user. With both a designer and viewer built into a single Web Part, end users can now build their own rollups to meet their needs without breaking other users' rollups. Administrators can even give users a starting point by building a default rollup.
- Bamboo Technical Library is a powerful new package aimed at developers and integrators who are building solutions on their development machines, seeking to have inexpensive products to use in testing their potential solutions. The Bamboo Technical Library includes the entire Bamboo product portfolio at a low annual cost of $2,495 per developer license. A steal if you ask me.
What were the top-selling Bamboo Web Parts in 2010? Did that list change since 2009?
You know, there really has not been much change in Bamboo's top sellers. Our product rock stars are some of our oldest products! Including: Calendar Plus Web Part, List Rollup Web Part, and Password Change Web Part. But one contender that has not been around as long as the other three but which has been strong in the past two years is the Bamboo Project Management Suite. I wonder if it is because of the breadth of incredible components included, or the fact that the extremely popular SharePoint Project Management Central is included... I suggest checking them out and deciding for yourself.
Read the entire 2010 Year in Review series:
- The Year in Review with Bamboo COO Lam Le
- Bamboo Product Strategy's Year in Review with Wes Bryan
- Bamboo Web Parts & Components' Year in Review with Jeff Kozloff
- Bamboo Applications & Accelerators' Year in Review with 'Bamboo PM Girl'
- Bamboo Tools & Technologies' Year in Review with Jeff Tubb
- Bamboo Support's Year in Review with Mike O'Brien
- Bamboo Marketing & Online Operations' Year in Review with Steve Gaitten
- Bamboo Nation's Year in Review with John Anderson
- Bamboo Partner Program's Year in Review with Jill Kunkel
- Bamboo Enterprise's Year in Review with Rob Manfredi
- Bamboo Services' Year in Review with Daisy Anand
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