Every Friday, we'll highlight the most important Cisco partner news and stories of the week, as well as point you to important Cisco-related content you may have missed along the way. Let's have it.

Off The Top

We're continuing to evolve our leadership team inside the Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), and as you hopefully saw earlier today, we're once again moving a familiar face into a new role. Andrew Sage, well-known for his work with Small Business channels and most recently as VP, Worldwide Partner Led, is taking over as our new VP, Americas Distribution.

"Andrew will be responsible for all aspects of sales, marketing, operations and logistics for the Americas Distribution Channel, which represents over$6.3 billion in revenue and is a cornerstone of our Partner-Led sales strategy," wrote Julie Hens, VP, Worldwide Distribution and Wendy Bahr, SVP, Americas Partner Organization, on the Channels blog Friday.

Send congratulations to Andrew, and read on for all of this week's hot topics. 

Midmarket Momentum

Speaking of Partner Led and Cisco's midmarket channel strategy, there's a lot we're doing to keep that momentum going. As Gordon Mackintosh, director, SMB sales, wrote this week, partners should consider the major midmarket announcements from this year's Cisco Partner Summit as only the beginning of the journey ahead.

"Stay tuned as we announce even more support resources, incentives, marketing campaigns and partner community forums for Select Partners in the coming months," Gordon says. "Remember: Today | Tomorrow | Together we can capture this global midmarket opportunity!"| Tomorrow | Together we can capture this global midmarket opportunity!"

Check out Gordon's discussion and a video where he highlights out the priorities for Cisco and partners in the lucrative midmarket.

Cisco, Microsoft and Joint Partner Power

If you've been following the action at this week's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, you probably caught our major announcements, including that Cisco and Microsoft will be providing a range of resources to joint partners going after opportunities in the data center.

Along with go-to-market alignment, we also confirmed the following Microsoft-centric updates:

• Nexus 1000V Switch for Windows Server Hyper-V is a distributed virtual switching platform that provides advanced network virtualization features with tight integration with the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V
• FlexPod with Microsoft Private Cloud integrates Cisco compute and networking, NetApp storage and Microsoft Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V, and System Center 2012
• EMC VSPEX Solution for Microsoft Private Cloud integrates Cisco server and networking components with EMC storage and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V

Good Reads

Highlights from around Cisco this week:

• Pankaj Patel announces Cisco's receipt of its 10,000^thU.S. patent
• Sheila Jordan talks about why she chose a STEM career
• Brett Belding looks at enterprise apps as the next wave in mobile transactions
• Joseph Bradley examines IoE as a pivot point not only in technology, but also thinking
• Elizabeth Houston spotlights social media's impact at on- and off-line events
• Tom Richards explains the difference between standards and interoperability

Keep An Eye Out

• Healthcare is a hot market for Cisco partners. Check out our upcoming webinar on 802.11ac for healthcare environments
• Are you doing all you can to use social media for events? Join us for a special event on July 31, part of our ongoing social media training for partners and Cisco stakeholders.
• As always, head to our Marketing Velocity page for full details about all of our upcoming and archived webcasts.
• Swing on by the Cisco Partner Event calendar for the latest information on Cisco partner gatherings.