SARS Scare Prompts Move Of Annual Microsoft Partner Event From Toronto

Citing partner concern about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Microsoft decided Monday to move its annual partner confab to New Orleans from Toronto, a company spokeswoman confirmed. Microsoft said it will alert its partners Tuesday.

The show will keep its original dates of Oct. 9-12. This partner event, the first to combine the Fusion conference typically held for "classic" Microsoft partners and Stampede, the conference for Great Plains partners, has been renamed The Microsoft Partner Momentum Event, the spokeswoman said.

Microsoft opted to shift the venue after considerable input--both solicited and unsolicited--from its channel allies, who expressed concern about the health risks associated with SARS, the spokeswoman said.

The continuing SARS saga has knocked the wind out of business sails worldwide since it was identified earlier this year. In mid-March, the World Health Organization issued a travel advisory citing the illness after hundreds of people fell ill in China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. The impact was particularly harsh in the Far East and in Toronto, where a jet carrying infected passengers from Asia landed.

On Monday, two more SARS-related fatalities were reported in Toronto, bringing the death toll there to 33. The total of reported active cases there is now 70, according to published reports.

Conferences like this one, which is expected to draw 5,500 people, are gold to cities in this down economy. To cushion the blow to Toronto, Microsoft has committed to hosting next year's partner gathering there.