Australian Partner Technology Advisor SMB

Internal Usage Rights–Getting Current Part 2

2012-01-09T15:00:17Z

In the last post I mentioned some of the considerations for updating the remaining client PCs on old versions of Windows and Office, this time round it’s the cloud or on premise discussion.

Contrary to what some want you to believe, it’s not a black and white issue. The conversation isn’t radically different versus the conversations we have with customers around moving to the cloud, but I think there are a few things that are different. These differences primarily revolve around whether or not the technologies you are looking at using are ones that you need active day to day management experience with in order to support your customer base. If the technology is not core to how you make money today, or how you plan on making money in the future, my initial advice is to go cloud. This gives you faster time to deployment, less management overhead, and much lower up front infrastructure costs.

But what type of cloud solution should you look at? You could look at large public scale hosting, such as what Microsoft does with Office 365, and leave the business of running servers, managing them, keeping them patched, keeping them backed up, implementing replication etc to the hosting organisation. This is a very hands off approach for some who may be more comfortable with their existing on premise solutions and the absolute control they provide, but there are certainly steps in between. When we take a look at the different hosting options, we could be talking about co-locating server hardware in someone else’s data centre – which is giving you the benefits of their power, cooling and connectivity investments, but not really helping to improve the day to day management of the server hardware or software. You could look at running virtual machines on the hoster’s hardware, which is now removing the hardware and virtualisation management elements, but still requiring full software administration inside of the VMs. You can take this all the way to the hoster essentially doing the day to day management of all elements of your environment, but generally it doesn’t extend this far as there were probably reasons why you wanted to maintain some tighter control over the environment that you are implementing.

There are trade-offs as you move from one of these approaches to another, essentially the more control you release to the hoster, the less ability you have to configure the hardware and software. You may also find that specific features or optimisations that you need, such as extensive SharePoint customisations, for example, may be handled better in an environment where you have more control, but if you really aren’t pushing SharePoint that hard this shouldn’t be a consideration. If you aren’t sure about the different feature sets between the Office 365 components and their on-premise siblings, take a look at the Office 365 For Enterprise Service Descriptions we have published. If you are running older versions of these applications, or aren’t running them at all, I would strongly consider starting with the Office 365 internal usage rights that are delivered through the Cloud Essentials and Cloud Accelerate programs.

Going to a solution like Office 365 doesn’t prevent you from spinning up your own internal servers loaded with VMs for testing, training and development purposes, so it’s not necessarily a pure cloud versus on premise argument, and there are certainly some things you will want to keep on premise, such as your file and print servers and Active Directory, but that’s the topic for the next post.

CIAOPS Workshop - SharePoint Beyond The Basics

2012-01-06T10:22:09Z

Robert Crane from CIAOPS is running another SharePoint training event.

http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au/blog/archive/2012/01/06/sharepoint-workshop.aspx

SharePoint - Beyond the Basics

To really make the most of SharePoint you need to take it beyond the basics. This means connecting data, creating and utilizing metadata, customizing the look and feel of sites, add web parts and implement workflows. This course will show you how to do all that plus work effectively with products like SharePoint Workspace and designer to take any SharePoint installation from default to a true productivity and communications hub.

The aim of this hands on course is to provide you with the technical ability to work with SharePoint at an intermediate to advanced level as well as understand the tools that are required to craft advanced SharePoint solutions.

Venue: North Ryde RSL Club, 33 Magdala Rd, North Ryde, NSW 2113

Date: Wednesday 22nd of February 2012, from 8.30am - 5.30pm

Internal Usage Rights–Getting Current, Part 1

2012-01-04T14:08:00Z

One of the benefits of being a Microsoft partner is the internal usage rights that are given each year, for both our subscription and competency partners. Being granted these rights is fine, but actually utilising them effectively is something that doesn’t always happen. This multi-part series of posts will focus on helping you stay current with your internal usage of current Microsoft technologies, as well as make it easier to deploy new technologies when they become available. It will also provide some ideas for deploying new software or services internally, which may lead to different conversations you can have with your customers around new business opportunities.

This post will cover what to think about on the client PCs, the second post will be on deciding on what to move to the cloud versus what to keep on premise, the third will cover planning for new server deployments, and the fourth will cover the server software options. The overall goal of this project should be to deploy new technologies that really do provide a better way of working for your company. For those of you who had the opportunity to visit The Big Picture events we just ran in Sydney and Melbourne, and visited the Future Of Productivity area you would have gotten a glimpse of the capabilities that can be provided. This area highlighted solutions that the integration of SharePoint 2010, Exchange 2010, Office 2010, Lync and others can provide. At Microsoft these are technologies that we use every day, so it was great to be able to show them in action.While you may not need all of the capabilities of all of these products, there are certainly elements of each that most businesses would benefit from, regardless of size.

With all of that in mind, the first thing that needs to be done is a check on where your technology is today, and where it needs to go. Do you know what software is running across your company? If you aren’t actively monitoring this, the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit will inventory the machines joined to your domain to give you a starting point, and also something that you can report back on when it comes to showing what you have achieved. In lightly managed client environment where users are running as administrators on their machines, there are always going to be surprises in terms of what has been installed, and the inconsistency of the versions of the software that are installed across the user base.

Do you still have Windows XP installed on some machines? Well, that’s an easy first target, provided there isn’t some specific hardware or software that is preventing these machines from being upgraded. If there are software issues preventing the migration, there are several different approaches we can take to try to remediate the issues. First of all, is there a more recent version of this software available? If yes, then look at what is required to upgrade to the latest version. If not, is it mission critical, and irreplaceable? If it’s just a small utility, or a piece of software that is easily replaced by an alternative, it may not be worth doing any troubleshooting unless someone important is extremely attached to that software. Are there any ways to overcome the reasons why the application can’t run on Windows 7, or even web based applications that are dependent on an older version of Internet Explorer? We have the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to help identify and alleviate these issues. I also strongly urge you to take this opportunity to standardise on a 64 bit Windows client and retire instances of a 32 bit OS if possible.

What if these approaches don’t work, and you still have some applications that really do need Windows XP to run effectively? This is where we can start to investigate options such as running the software virtualised in XP mode, or potentially looking at a VDI scenario. You may find that your XP applications also work on Windows Server 2003, you so may be able to run a physical or virtualised instance to deliver the application via Remote Desktop Services, or Terminal Services as it was called back then. These are options that I would view as a last resort, because you are still keeping older products in the mix in your environment, and just avoiding the inevitable upgrades that will need to be done.

You will also need to take into consideration any hardware that may be older or specialised and unsupported on newer operating systems due to driver unavailability, and these can be more difficult to overcome. If it’s a USB device, then XP Mode may again be the answer, as it allows the capture of USB devices in the Windows XP virtual machine, but other device types are more problematic. The best option is to contact the hardware vendor to see what options there are, or if there are alternatives available in the market.

Old versions of Office are the next target for discussion. While there are some who choose to cling to the old familiar file menu based Office 2003 and earlier, there are good reasons to move to Office 2010, even without having a discussion about the updated user interface. Instead I will focus on the integration of Office 2010 with Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010, either in the cloud or on premise. With Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010, you will see that you get the greatest range of features when combining the two latest versions. One of the most useful features for me with Outlook 2010 is being able to connect to multiple Exchange mailboxes across organisations, making it much simpler to stay on top of multiple mail accounts, but of course you may see benefits elsewhere too, such as from conversation actions and quick steps to name a few. When you are using Office 2010 against a SharePoint 2010 server, again there are benefits from being on the latest versions allowing you to be more productive. Unlike the generally universal recommendation to go 64 bit with your new Windows client deployments, with Office 2010 it’s still a safer bet to stay on the 32 bit version due to the number of Office add-ins that people to tend to run without realising it. For more information on 32 bit versus 64 bit Office 2010 deployments check out this information from the Office Resource Kit.

If you have done development work in earlier versions of Office or have other applications interacting with Office, you will need to ensure they are compatible with Office 2010. The two main tools that you want to work with here are the Office Environment Assessment Tool and the Microsoft Office Code Compatibility Inspector to identify likely problem areas so that they can be addressed.

This is really just the starting point for what is required on the client side, as there will be line of business applications and utilities that your company requires, but with the latest versions of Windows and Office installed you will be able to start delivering a better client experience, even before we get around to updating the server capabilities.

Out with the old, in with the New Year online training schedule!

2012-01-02T16:45:00Z

For those of you who are wondering about some of the areas that you might need to work on in terms of new skills for your organisations, and to help drive internal usage of Microsoft technologies, we have a series of online events being delivered by our Global Partner Services team. These will be at an Australia friendly time, and cover SharePoint, SQL Server 2012, Desktop Optimisation, Hyper-V and more. Take a look at the list below.

Please note that these activities will consume advisory assistance hours that you receive as Gold or Silver competency partners, or as Action Pack Development and Design subscribers. If you are working your way towards one of these, and would still like to attend any of the sessions below, leave a comment and I will follow it up for you to see what we can do.

January 11, 2012	IT Pro Tools for Customizing SharePoint 2010 Platform Investments Programmability Integration Extensibility SharePoint Designer 2010 Other tools Visual Studio 2010 Visio 2010 and SharePoint InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint Access 2010 and SharePoint (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 12, 2012	Managing SharePoint 2010 Customizations Solution packaging changes and options in 2010 Sandboxed solutions Deployment Monitoring Management (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 13, 2012	A lap around Project "Crescent" for SQL Server Code Name "Denali" Overview of Project Crescent Creating Project “Crescent” Reports Demonstrations (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 16, 2012	Hyper-V Deep Dive Architecture VM Structure: Virtual Machine Files Security in Hyper-V Architecture Hyper-V Administration Delegation Manage Hyper-V with PowerShell Hyper-V Troubleshooting (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 18, 2012	CRM 2011 Online Customization & Development Fundamentals Contact via Email for the detailed agenda (*Contact via the Email above for registration information)*	200	Online
January 19, 2012	SQL Server 2012 Tools – Tips and tricks Exploring Features Various tools SSMS Resource Governor Policy based management SQL Audit Profiler SQLDiag TableDiff SQLIOSim Maintenance Plans Demos (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 20, 2012	SQL Server 2012 – Understanding the New Semantic Model What is BISM? BISM vs. UDM The significance of BISM What's new in PowerPivot and SSAS PowerPivot BI Semantic Model Connection Project “Crescent” Guidelines and Best Practices Questions (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 24, 2012	Leveraging new features of Silverlight 5 Introduction Why move to SL 5 How to leverage it (Demo) Q&A (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online
January 25, 2012	Internet Explorer 9 Developer Readiness Workshop Fast Clean Pinned Sites Interoperable HTML5 Overview CSS3 DOM and JavaScript Features (*Contact via Email for registration information)*	200	Online

And the Practice Accelerators this month

English

January 9, 2012

Optimized Desktop Practice Accelerator

Introduction of optimized desktop concepts

Comparison of offerings

Envision phase

Discovery and assessment tools

Planning and building the optimized desktop solution with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010

Image deployment using lite-touch installation (LTI) techniques

Planning and building the optimized desktop solution with System Center Configuration Manager 2007—the zero-touch installation (ZTI) approach

Image deployment using zero-touch installation techniques

Application compatibility

Stabilize phase

Deploy phase

300

English

January 9, 2012

SharePoint 2010 Practice Accelerator

Platform services

Upgrade and migration

Portal workload

Search workload

Social computing workload

Web content management workload

BI reporting and analysis workload

300

English

January 9, 2012

Practice Accelerator for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Introduction

Envision phase

Overview of VDI solution components and Deployment

Plan Phase

Characteristics of the plan phase

Considerations for implementing VDI

Considerations for application distribution

Planning and Sizing

Develop Phase

Characteristics of the develop phase

Developing components of Microsoft and Citrix VDI

Stabilize Phase

Characteristics of the stabilize phase

Beta deployment process for production pilot

VDI maintenance and troubleshooting

Deliverables and templates

Deploy Phase

Characteristics of the deploy phase

Deployment strategies

Deploying core technology

Deliverables and templates

300

Office 365 Integration Module for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Released

2011-12-30T12:52:46Z

Oops, I missed this last week, from Enrico Toro

It is our pleasure to announce that starting today the Office 365 Integration Module for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials (OIM) is freely available for download in the Microsoft Download Center. We would like to thank all the partners and customers who have participated in the beta program to help us to make it even better.

The OIM allows customers using Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials to run the core technology services they need on-premise and easily integrate with Office 365 for email and collaboration—without increasing management costs or complexity.

The OIM helps centralize user and server management, enabling small businesses to manage their users’ access to services offered both locally and in the cloud from one single place, thus saving time and money. For example, a small business with SBS 2011 Essentials that already has a number of local users and has just subscribed to Office 365 can provision them all into the cloud with a very simple wizard.

Together with the Windows 7 Professional Pack Add-in for SBS Essentials and the Windows Phone Connector, the release of the Office 365 Integration Module confirms Microsoft’s commitment to all Small Businesses to provide them with the best IT solutions for all their needs, mobility, client computing, IT infrastructure and email and collaboration.

To learn more about SBS Essentials, Office 365 and how the two together can provide a great solution for any small business, please visit http://www.myfirstserver.com/ to view Tech Essentials with Jane Applegate and try out the Virtual Server Experience.

Last minute tech gifts Part II

2011-12-27T07:41:21Z

Time for a few more pieces of technology I've enjoyed this year that would make good stocking stuffers.

4. WD TV Live Hub

While there are an abundance of networked media players in market, it was the size, internal 1TB drive, format support, and the portability that won me over. Then Christmas came early when the Windows 8 Developer Preview supported this device as one of it's DLNA playback devices, helping me to justify my decision. While those of us used to playing media back through Windows Media Center will miss some of the UI elements, as a secondary travelling device the WD TV Live Hub is great. To further strengthen its position as a travel companion the power supply connectors can be changed easily to support your destination of choice. HDMI, component and composite connections mean that it can connect to almost any television in recent history, but you may need to pack a few different cables if you don't know what you will encounter. Which again supports the Grid-It inclusion in part 1 of this article.

5. DisplayPort to HDMI adapter

You might find that your DisplayPort to HDMI cable that you purchased for your laptop doesn't support audio over HDMI (as I did), so you need to invest in something to address the issue. These are cheap devices, they do their job, and they allow you to use a standard HDMI cable which can be used for other things, such as the WD TV Live Hub mentioned above. This may lead to the question why not just use the laptop for all entertainment purposes and forgo the dedicated media playback device? Well, firstly the dedicated device can be used by others as you are using your laptop, without worrying about which application is taking focus for control. Anyone who has run Media Center in multiple monitor mode probably knows what I'm talking about. Also, the IR range for the remote is much better than any combination of travel sized Media Center remotes and USB IR dongles. But if you want to travel lighter, and don't need to consider others requirements as much, then the PC is definitely a great way to play back media while travelling.

6. The Plantronics Calisto P-820M

There are a few versions of this unified communications device in market, but the version I have is a USB audio device that I can use for Lync (or Skype =) ). I can also pair Bluetooth devices like my Backbeat Headset or Windows Phone device, and use it as my communications hub. An added bonus while travelling is that you can stand it on its side and use it as a digital clock, something I rely on. It's also got headphone and microphone in jacks, so you are pretty much eqipped for making calls from home or on the road. However, it doesn't stop there... there are also versions that include land line support, as well as a Bluetooth earpiece, so you are covered for quite a few usage scenarios.

That's just a small selection of the technology I've encountered in 2011 that has worked well for me, and maybe can help give some ideas for those of you needing inspiration for gift giving.

Last minute tech gifts Part I

2011-12-23T16:06:00Z

Maybe it's a little late, but here are a few of the small bits of tech that made life better for me this year...

1. Grid-It!

While some may accuse me of travelling with too many accessories and cables, my motto is that it's better to be prepared. Traditionally this meant either a bag with a bunch of random cables and connectors floating around the bottom, or secondly, lots of smaller bags with a variety of cables and connectors inside of them. Either solution wasn't particularly effective for me. Enter the Grid-It.

The only real downside with the Grid-It is that it can encourage a degree of OCD when it comes to getting things organised or maxing out the items it holds. It's like a game, with no end. If you think you can identify ever item in the grid, post a response!

2. Plantronics BackBeat 903+

I've been using various wired Plantronics headsets for OCS and Lync voice for quite a while now, and knowing their awesome local support, I thought it was time to dip my toes, or should I say ears, back into the Bluetooth headset world. I've never been a fan of single ear headsets, so single ear BT options aren't that appealing to me, which left the door open for the BackBeat 903+. It takes a while to get the ear piece right, and it doesn't provide isolation from external sounds, but convenience factor is great for when you don't want a cable getting in the way. Or getting caught on a door handle. More than once. On the same day.

3. Zune Music Pass

Own a PC, an Xbox, and a Windows Phone? Well, let me tell you about the Zune Music Pass. But first, a backstory. Recently I sold off all my old vinyl that had been sitting in a cupboard for an extended time period. And I mean extended. I haven't even owned a record player in at least 15 years if not longer. The process was cleansing, I didn't feel like one of those people on a hoarders reality show, and as an added bonus, some of the records I had kept turned out to be sought after, enough to pay for a new television for the bedroom. I have several drawers full of CDs that I never listen to. The thought of buying a CD is completely foreign to me now. Digital music definitely changed my consumption patterns, and now with Zune Music Pass, I can finally start to use a bigger chunk of that download allowance on my phone plan each month. As it's a subscription, you only get to listen to the music you've downloaded for as long as your subscription is current, but I don't mind that. I don't want to end up with music in other formats I'll never listen to again as time goes on. Obviously there are some people who would prefer to buy tracks or albums, and the Zune Marketplace allows that, so it caters to people who want to keep the songs indefinitely too.

To say that Zune transforms the Windows Phone experience is an understatement. Sometimes you might get a bit of a surprise at the artist images that appear when you go to use your phone, and your friends may see what your guilty pleasures are, but you can turn that feature off. On the PC the artist recommendations that come through are worth investigating, as are the Smart DJ playlists that can play back content from your PC as well as stream new tracks to you.

3. The perfect laptop bag (unfortunately it doesn't exist, for my needs anyway).

Not quite as addictive as self imposed Grid-It challenges, but unfortunately this one does take up room in the house due to quckly discovered flaws. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a perfect 17" laptop bag for my needs. First of all, the bag is going to be large. Most laptop bags can't handle a 17" laptop in the padded compartment, so that rules them out. Next up is that it need to have enough compartments, sections, secure areas to hold a variety of items. Mesh water bottle holders on the side of the bag are quite useless for me, but still they prevail. A big open space inside of the bag, instead of some degree of division just means the bag becomes a dumping ground. Somewhere that can accomodate a manila folder or plastic sleeve for protecting sheets of paper is also a winner.

I'm still searching, maybe by this time next year I'll be ready to declare a winner.

Windows 7 Exams Complete aka Get Your Cert On - Part 3

2011-12-08T05:13:00Z

As mentioned in an earlier post, I made a commitment to get some exams done this year after not doing any for a while, so that I could stay current on our latest technologies. I also didn't want to fall into the situation where none of my certifications were on current products, so I thought that Windows 7 exams would be a good place to start.

At the end of the journey, I've passed the following exams in the past half year..

70-681 TS: Windows 7 and Office 2010, Deploying
70-682 PRO: Upgrading to Windows 7 MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician
70-683 TS: Windows 7, Pre-Installing for OEMs
70-686 PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator

The first impression that I had when I did the first exams was that they either much harder than they used to be, or I really am much more removed from technology than I used to be. It took quite a while to get into study mode, and in effect I was relearning about technologies that I haven't really used much in a few years. Let me clarify that... these are all technologies that I've used recently, but mostly as a consumer of the services they deliver rather than delivering the service to others.

One thing that hasn't changed from my previous certification efforts is that I still strongly suggest taking exams in clusters. The exams listed above all have some degree of overlap with at least one, or usually two of the other exams. Even though my current role doesn't require me to deal with the OPK, exam 70-683 was a no brainer because of the focus on DISM, IMAGEX, WIM files, Win PE across the other exams. Sure there was some OEM specific content that I needed to know, but a quick scan of the exam description let me know what I needed to investigate.

Something that was quite different this time round was the scope of these exams, 70-686 being the best example. An exam that tests you on the individual components of MDOP, WDS, MDT, SCCM, IEAK and more isn't really something that is particularly easy to prepare for, and during the exam you will need to rely on your experience to pull some of the answers together. You could also say that much of the exam isn't really on Windows 7 itself, but rather the technologies that deploy it and maintain it. This means brushing up on your Active Directory skills for a start, which reminds me that I haven't done my Windows Server 2008 exams yet... TO BE CONTINUED

Take Exam 70-659: MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization at no cost

2011-12-07T22:27:00Z

Just passing on something that hit my inbox today...

For a limited time, you can take Exam 70-659: MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization, at no cost.

Take the Virtualization Challenge now.

Need more training before you take Exam 70-659?

Sign up for the Virtualization Jump Start Offer.

For only $99, you can take an online training course and get a free exam voucher.

And on a related note, I just finished another round of exams, which I will write about once the MCP site details are updated.

Regards
Mark

Open Beta for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012—Now Available for Download

2011-11-13T20:49:42Z

Beta 2 of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 is now available for download! New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever! For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 Beta 2 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions. MDT 2012 makes full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. MDT 2012 integrates with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows installation from the beginning of the deployment. Download the latest version of MDT and improve your deployment experience. Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process.

Key Benefits:

Full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment.
Improved Lite Touch user experience and functionality.
A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users.

To join the beta review program for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012, visit Microsoft Connect:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=217606

Learn more

Visit the MDT home page: http://www.microsoft.com/MDT

Get the latest news straight from the MDT team: http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus/

MDT works with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies-easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more at http://www.microsoft.com/solutionaccelerators.

Microsoft Office 365 Integration Module Beta for Windows Small Business Server Essentials now available for download

2011-11-01T18:50:30Z

David Fabritius, Senior Product Manager from Windows Server and Cloud Marketing just posted on the SBS blog that the Office 365 Integration Module is available for download in beta form. If you haven’t signed up for Cloud Essentials, or activated your Office 365 benefits, this is a good reason to jump in now.

Here’s a few excerpts from David’s post, for full details hit the link.

The Office 365 Integration Module for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials extends the features of the server Dashboard by providing seamless integration with Office 365 services. When you integrate Office 365 with the server, you can:

Subscribe to Office 365 or configure the server to use an existing subscription.
Perform the following Office 365 account management tasks from the Dashboard:
- Bulk create Office 365 accounts for network user accounts.
- Assign new or existing Office 365 accounts to network user accounts.
- Manage the Office 365 account assigned to a user account throughout the lifecycle of the user account. For example, deactivating a network user account also deactivates the Office 365 account that is assigned to the user account.
Synchronize passwords for network user accounts and Office 365 accounts. This allows network users to sign in to Office 365 using their Windows password.
Link a professional Internet domain that you have set up on Window SBS to Office 365.
View information about your Office 365 subscription.
Access your Office 365 management portal from the Office 365 page of the server Dashboard.

You can install and configure the Office 365 Integration Module at any time after completing the server installation.

Office 365 helps drive productivity by giving employees virtually anywhere access to professional-grade email, web conferencing tools, documents, shared portals, contacts, and calendars delivered through the cloud. At a glance, Office 365 includes (click here for more details):

Microsoft^® Exchange Online, offering email, calendar and contacts
Microsoft^® SharePoint Online, a central place to share documents and information
Microsoft^® Lync Online, a next-generation cloud communications service
Microsoft^® Office Web Apps, convenient online companions to the Microsoft^® Office suite

CIAOPS delivering more events in November - Office 365, Windows Intune and SharePoint Bootcamp

2011-10-24T00:01:00Z

Robert Crane of CIAOPS is once again getting the word out with two more events.

Office 365 and Windows Intune seminar

This event to be held in Sydney on Thursday the 17^th of November is focused on those using or looking to use Office 365 and Windows InTune. It provides an
overview of the products but also how to best utilize these within a business to increase profitability.
Information on the event can be found at:

http://www.ciaops.com/office-365-seminar

SharePoint Bootcamp Brisbane

This is a similar bootcamp event to what has been run in other locations around Australia. It will be held on Thursday the 10^th of November in Brisbane and aims to
provide a deep understanding of SharePoint for IT Professionals. Each attendee receives a 12 month subscription to the CIAOPS SharePoint Guide (www.wssops.com) as well as an external hard disk full of virtual machine images for testing.

Information about this event can be found at:

http://www.ciaops.com/bootcampbne

Deploying Office 2010

2011-10-18T21:22:35Z

Recently I’ve been getting a few requests from partners to help them identify some of the key Office 2010 deployment resources that we have available, so here are a collection of useful links to articles and tools to get you started. Thanks to those who have pointed out some of these links to me previously,

One of the important things to remember here is that those of you who are looking at suppling Office Professional Plus, via Office 365, or even looking to use the new software distribution features of Windows Intune, can take advantage of this information as well!

Office 2010 Resource Kit

This is always my first recommendation for anyone looking to get up to speed on Office 2010, even if not for deployment reasons. Some of the links below are also from the Office 2010 Resource Kit to make sure you don’t miss them.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303401.aspx

Planning The Upgrade

Plan an upgrade to Office 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624354.aspx

Office 2010 Migration Guides

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/office-2010-migration-guides-HA101982272.aspx

Common questions when planning Office 2010 deployments

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_resource_kit/archive/2011/04/23/common-questions-when-planning-office-2010-deployments.aspx

Addressing Compatibility Issues

Office Compatibility Tools

Office Compatibility Tools Update 1 Available for Download – includes the Office Migration Planning Manager Office Environment Assessment Tool and Office Code Compatibility Inspector. Be prepared for what you might encounter in old Office documents that could still be in use.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_resource_kit/archive/2011/08/08/office-compatibility-tools-update-1-available-for-download.aspx

Office 2010 application compatibility guide

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee819096.aspx#section5

File formats supported in Office 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd797428.aspx

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats (Co-Existence During Migration Phase)

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=3

Deployment Tasks

Precache the local installation source for Office 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179231.aspx

Use Group Policy to enforce Office 2010 settings

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179081.aspx

End User Training

Last, but not least, what about getting users ready for Office 2010? I’ve grabbed this list from Andy O’Donald from the Office team, there was no point in reinventing the wheel. I’m currently working with one of our partners on some of these items, as they prepare to move across to Office 2010 internally.

1. Productivity Hub – A key resource for raising awareness and all phases of user readiness training, the Office 2010 Productivity Hub is a SharePoint Server 2010 site collection that you can download and install to provide a fully customizable learning solution to help support ongoing end user training efforts. The Hub acts a central place for all your training efforts, and is pre-populated with hundreds of items of learning content including documents, videos, podcasts and other types of content.

2. Posters and Flyers – A great way to get people excited about Office 2010 is to post colorful posters and flyers in the cafeteria, by the water cooler, by the elevator, or in other locations where users can easily find them. A free toolkit containing posters, flyers, and other Office 2010 user readiness resources, available in 10 languages, is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

3. Home Use Program – When employees use the same software at home and work, they naturally gain more skills which helps improve productivity. The Microsoft Home Use Program (HUP) gives employees the flexibility to use the same software at home that they use at work. As users become familiar with the product by using it at home, training effort is drastically reduced.

4. Interactive Ribbon Guides – Available in 38 languages, Interactive Ribbon guides show users where their favorite Office 2003 menu and toolbar commands are located in Office 2010. You can install the guides on multiple computers, and download a printable list of Office 2010 commands and buttons in the form of a menu to ribbon reference workbook for each Office 2010 program. The guides are available in both online and downloadable formats.

5. "Getting Started" Resources – Help users transition to Office 2010 from an earlier version of Office, learn what's new, and find basic instruction for first-time use. This collection of resources includes short instructional videos, migration guides with answers to common questions, and more.

6. Office.com Training – These free, self-paced online courses include a short lesson covering various topics, a practice session for hands-on experience, a short self-test, and a Quick Reference Card the user can print for later use at the end of the course. The courses are available in over 20 languages online or in PowerPoint format.

7. Weekly Email Tips – Send tips and tricks via email to your users to help ease them into learning about the new features in Office 2010 with this zip file containing customizable email templates and the posters and flyers mentioned above.

8. MSL eLearning Courseware – If you are a Volume License customer with Software Assurance (SA), you may have access to various eLearning courseware from Microsoft Learning (MSL). Such courseware can help your employees become more productive with Office 2010 by providing them with flexible self-paced training options without impacting your budget.

9. Ribbon Hero 2 – Clippy's Second Chance is a free productivity application in the guise of a game that you can download and use to boost Office skills and knowledge around the office. The challenges focus on helping users complete real tasks with Office, but all with a fun twist. Take it one step further and run an IT-sponsored contest where every week people who complete all the challenges are entered into a random contest drawing.

There are obviously many more resources in each of these categories that are also useful, and if you have any other recommendations feel free to suggest them and I can add them in to the list to keep it alive and growing.

Windows Intune Update Now Live

2011-10-18T02:10:00Z

To stay abreast of the latest Windows Intune news, always start at www.intunedin.net.

The first update to Windows Intune has now gone live, and as could be expected there are plenty of resources ready to help get you up to speed.

The top features are cloud based software distribution and updates (via Azure), enhanced reporting capabilities, better software license management, much improved hardware reporting, the ability to execute more remote actions immediately, and more.

Learn more about what’s new

· Read:

o What’s New in Windows Intune

o Windows Intune at a Glance

o Windows Intune Product Guide

o Deploying Software and Third-Party Updates with Windows Intune

o Getting Started Guide

o Frequently Asked Questions

o Windows Intune Springboard Series

o Calculate your ROI

· Watch:

o Windows Intune Overview Video

o Software Deployment Video

o Software license management Video

o Windows Intune Policy enhancements Video

o Remote Task Video

· Interact:

Technorati Tags: Windows Intune,Cloud Essentials,Internal Usage Rights,Cloud Accelerate,Microsoft Partner Network,MPN

o Check out the forum

o Sign up for the Windows Intune Newsletter

If you already have a customer on a Windows Intune subscription, check out the team blog post here to get an idea of the migration process for existing customers..

For Microsoft Partners who aren’t already trying out Windows Intune, sign up for Cloud Essentials or Cloud Accelerate at www.microsoftcloudpartner.com to receive your internal usage rights.

Microsoft’s Instructor Led LIVE Series for IT Professionals and Technical Decision Makers

2011-10-12T07:19:00Z

The Instructor Led LIVE (ILL) series focuses on Microsoft's new and upcoming strategic products and technologies.
This is a great opportunity for you to gain insight on our solutions and capabilities, with no travel costs, no admission fees and no downtime.

The ILLs are instructor-led by subject matter experts and the curriculum is delivered in 2-hour slots providing you with:

•	Technical training
•	Instructor-led hands on learning
•	Interaction & instructor help (via LIVE conferencing) during labs

For more information on the ILL's and to register see calendar to end of December 2011 below:

October 2011

14th	Virtualisation: State of the union Learn about Microsoft’s end-to-end virtualisation strategy - from the desktop to the datacenter to the cloud. In this overview session we...
18th	Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office 365: How to set up a hybrid deployment Exchange Server 2010 was designed to support hybrid deployments of on-premises and cloud users. Come and learn how rolling out an Exchange...
18th	What’s new in manageability for Microsoft SQL Server code-named “Denali” Microsoft SQL Server “Denali” has many new features and enhancements. With a focus on manageability, this session tours new features...
21st	Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012: Overview The public beta is almost here - so be the first to see what is coming in the next generation of IT monitoring. This session provides you...
25th	An IT Pro view of Windows Azure This session takes a look at the Windows Azure Platform from an IT pro perspective. We provide a brief overview of the Windows Azure...
25th	Would you, could you with TFS? You’re considering Team Foundation Server, or perhaps you have already deployed it. You think you know what it is capable of, but do you?...
28th	What are the bridges between private and public cloud? In this session we look at the core Hybrid Cloud topologies capable with Windows Azure and Windows Server Private Cloud Architecture. We...

November 2011

1st	Microsoft Office 365: Deployment overview This session provides guidance for individuals responsible for coordinating and performing customer deployment and migration activities...
8th	Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server code-named “Denali”: A comprehensive look This session provides an in-depth look at how to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2 or how to upgrade to the next major release of SQL Server...
11th	Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012: What’s in it, and how it enables the building of private clouds and federation to the public cloud System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2012 is designed to deliver industry-leading virtual machine management, deployment and...
15th	Taking Office to the Cloud: Integrating Microsoft Office 2010 and Windows Azure Office is one of Microsoft’s best-selling, long-standing products with amazing surface area across many industries and sectors. So what does it mean to take Office 2010 to the cloud?...
22nd	Integrating Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online SharePoint and CRM is a match made in heaven! With Dynamics CRM 2011 & CRM Online, Microsoft provides out-of-the-box document integration with...
22nd	Managing Windows Azure Applications So you just made your first Windows Azure deployment. Now what? Is it healthy? How many instances do you need? What will my bill be? When...
22nd	Team Build 2010: From build definition to custom workflow activities in 75 minutes The Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Build component includes numerous improvements that let you build your solutions...
25th	Integrating the Microsoft System Center Stack for process compliance and automation In this session, see how Microsoft has integrated System Center Configuration Manager Desired Configuration Manager (DCM), System Center...
29th	What’s new in Microsoft SQL Server code-named “Denali” for SQL Server Integration Services This session shows off the new features of Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services in SQL Server code-named “Denali”. Using customer scenarios...

December 2011

6th	Microsoft Lync 2010: Audio, video and web conferencing architecture and experience This session covers Lync 2010 meeting features and architecture in Microsoft Lync 2010 Client and Server, for both on-premise and Microsoft...

CIAOPS SharePoint Bootcamp - Melbourne 27 October

2011-09-26T00:37:45Z

This is the good kind of bootcamp, not the type that has infiltrated our public parks reducing the amount of space in which dogs can roam freely, without fear of getting scolded for licking the face of a stranger doing pushups.

Anyway, back to the topic, and I quote Robert Crane of CIAOPS...

About

SharePoint is one of the fastest growing applications from Microsoft. It is available in a variety of versions and on a variety of platforms from Small Business Server all the way up to those hosted directly from Microsoft (via Office365).

The aim of this hands-on course is to provide you with the technical and business skills to confidently install, support and maintain just about any SharePoint installation. The course is aimed at technology professionals who have responsibility for SharePoint within their organizations or for their customers. It is also aimed at the technology reseller who is looking to sharpen their skills and grow their knowledge into a technology that allows them to differentiate themselves from their competition.

We will take you from the basics of understanding what is SharePoint, to installing, migrating and customizing, all the way through to developing automated solutions. You should attend this course if your SharePoint skills range from novice to intermediate.

Attendees will walk away with a comprehensive understanding about different SharePoint technologies and the platforms they run on. They'll also learn about the fundamental management of components like SQL and IIS that SharePoint relies heavily upon. Most importantly, attendees will walk away with the confidence to not only install and troubleshoot SharePoint but also develop real world solutions for business.

For more details check out http://www.ciaops.com/bootcampmel

Loading the Windows 8 Developer Preview on my Acer Iconia W500 Tablet Pt. 3

2011-09-23T06:04:11Z

So, on to part 3, but firstly a recap of what I've discovered, what you've discovered, and where we are at...

Firstly, on the driver front - while the Developer Preview will install most of the drivers you need to get the system up and running, but there are a few additional ones you will need to load as you discover things that aren't enabled. Listing them quickly, and all available for download from the Acer website.

Bluetooth driver
Device Control
Auto Screen Rotation Blocker
G Sensor

Windows Update also kindly provided an updated version of the AMD graphics driver.

All up, not a huge amount of additional software to install, and much easier when you've got a bunch of people contributing suggestions - and for that I send out a big thanks!

I've had a few requests about day to day usability, so here goes...

Because I was used to the performance of the device under Windows 7, I knew what to expect from the Explorer view, but the real question was how would it cope with Metro. I'm please to say that I've had no issues with the Metro peformance, but unfortunately the 1280*800 screen resolution doesn't allow side by side apps in Metro, which would be a deal killer for some. As you start looking at tablet devices with screens that are 1368*768 or higher, you are limited in terms of devices that are currently available, and will have to make some tradeoffs in price, size, weight etc.

Overall performance of the device leads to me using it for some specific tasks, running Office 2010, Lync, Internet Explorer and most recently Skype, but it's not a device you would want to use if you were a heavy multitasker or doing intensive tasks like video editing or transcoding. I'm looking forward to more Metro applications to become available so that I can live inside of Metro for longer time periods.

The touch accuracy under Windows 8 seems much better than under Windows 7, so my mis-taps are reduced. One of the things that I have concluded is that one of the accidental drops that my machine experienced does cause an occasional erratic Show Desktop activation, which I was also seeing under Windows 7, so it will need to go back in for repair, as well as replacing the broken F2 key after the machine decided to perform a backflip off my lap. For those of you have tried to use the docked W500 on your lap will know what I am referring to here, but the weight/balance of the machine is not suitable to any degree of rearwards tilt. Thankfully I've got some contacts at Acer who should be able to help me out here without their service teams declaring them user generated incidents.

I mentioned in one of the responses to an earlier article that one of the things i like about the competing MSI Windpad product is that it has a TPM, which is really a requirement to have a PC participate seamlessly with our corporate network policies due to TPM based Bitlocker requirements. While this isn't a major issue for most people today, as more companies roll out Windows 7 Enterprise and take advantage of it's enhanced security capabilities such as Direct Access, these hardware capabilities will become critical.

Keep the questions, hints and feedback coming, I'm just as keen to get more out of this device as you are.

Loading the Windows 8 Developer Preview on my Acer Iconia W500 Tablet Pt. 2

2011-09-19T07:53:00Z

The number of hits on my last post showed that there are more than a few of you out there loading Windows 8 onto your W500, so I thuoght I would get this post up to answer a few questions that have come through and share some more things to make it a better experience for you.

In this post I will cover some of the reader supplied tips for drivers, and how to approach the storage limitation of the device.

Firstly, drivers... here's what Device Manager looks like after the installation, I've expanded out a few of the things I want to highlight, alongside the devices that aren't working. As you can see, the out of box driver experience is very, very good. A friend with another tablet device had to spend a bit of time gathering things like the camera drivers and more, but I really only have two things to look for here.

Firstly – the Bluetooth device driver package that is downloadable from the Acer website addressed the Bluetooth error.

The second device listed with issues is AMD Away Mode. Away Mode was introduced primarily to support Media Center PCs to allow them to go into lower power utilisation modes while still being able to work with any Media Center extenders, such as the XBox 360, or some of the media devices that were previously in market from Linksys, D-Link, Toshiba and HP. If you aren't familiar with Away Mode, take a look at these articles to learn more.

Description of the new Away mode for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Away Mode In Windows Vista

At this point I don’t see a big need to spend much time addressing this missing driver, but I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to device drivers, Microsoft Update, and regular backups, so I know I will dig a little deeper into the solution.

The final thing I wanted to discuss this time was addressing using an SD Card to expand the storage capabilities. While it seems obvious, stick in SD Card, instantly have more storage available, but there are some things to look out for. There are some applications that don’t like installing to, or having default data save locations set on removable storage. There is a fairly easy away around this, and that’s to create a VHD file on the SD Card, and then mount it. If you haven’t done this in the past, here are a few screenshots for you to get an understanding of what needs to be done.

Fire up Computer Management or Disk Management to get started. Firstly, where would you like to create the VHD, and what format would you like it to be. I’d recommend sticking to VHD and Fixed Size for this exercise.

Once the VHD is created, and this could take a while depending on the size of the VHD and the speed of your device, you can attach the VHD.

You will see this dialog, where you select the VHD you just created.

And then once you have done that, you will now have a new drive letter that doesn’t experience the restrictions that a removable drive will have.

The next step – start filling it up!

Loading the Windows 8 Developer Preview on my Acer Iconia W500 Tablet Pt. 1

2011-09-14T23:18:00Z

With the release to web of the Windows Developer Preview yesterday, I chose my most suitable PC for the task to get it up and running. The W500 is a slate device with a keyboard docking station attachment, and as you can see from it's Windows 7 WEI score - it's at the low end of the scale in terms of CPU power, but is more than adequat with it's on CPU GPU.

After backing up the existing Windows 7 instance to WHS, I attached a keyboard so that I could change the default boot device to the 8GB USB flash drive I had preloaded with both the 32 and 64 bit versions, but installed the 32 bit version due to the system only having 2GB of RAM which is not upgradeable.

Setup took about 15 minutes, so there have been some obvious improvements to this process, and for those of you familiar with the setup process of Windows 7 you will find a similar folder structure, as well the as the expected WIM files. This means I can still use my favourite approach of preparing a bootable install flash drive with diskpart via the following steps within Windows. The 32 and 64 bit installs both fit onto a single 8GB flash drive, and don't really benefit from trying to apply compression as most of the space is taken up by the WIM files which are already compressed.

1. Insert USB flash drive

2. Run diskpart

3. Type "List Disk" (or "lis dis") to determine which drive is the flash drive

4. Type "Select Disk x" (or "Sel Dis x") with x being the drive number of the flash drive

5. Type "Clean"

6. Type "Create Partition Primary" (or "Cre Par Pri")

7. Type "Format FS=NTFS QUICK"

8. Type "Active"

9. Type "Exit"

10. Use your preferred ISO extraction tool to extract the files out the flash drive.

There were a few little hiccups I experienced prior to a succesful install, and that involved removing the CF Card I was using for additional storage, changing the boot device order to put the Flash Drive first and then the SSD second (the boot order I had was preventing setup from being able to select an appropriate hard drive), but then everything went smoothly, and as I also called out, quite quickly. There are still a few devices in Device Manager that need some attention, and I'll look into that when I get a bit more time to explore and play.

CIAOPS SharePoint bootcamp in Adelaide on 16th of September

2011-09-01T05:58:05Z

In AUSPTASMB land we have received news that our good friend Robert Crane is running a SharePoint Bootcamp in Adelaide, which means a couple of things...

Firstly, if you have been looking for a reason to visit Adelaide, and needed an added incentive, what more could you ask for than a SharePoint seminar? Well, maybe a certain Argentinian steak house, but that's not exactly what I'm supposed to be writing about, despite it being a required stop during tours of duty.

Secondly, or perhaps more realistically, if you are in Adelaide or the surrounding areas, and have got an itch to learn what SharePoint can help you to deliver to your customer base, then head along to get some new ideas flowing into your customer offerings. As partners look into other techonlogies that they can help their customers with, SharePoint in it's various flavours (I'm still thinking about the steak house) and versions, there are no shortage of opportunites that SharePoint can offer you. If you don't believe me, head along, and let Robert fill you with some of the enthusiasm and passion that he has had for SharePoint for many years now.

More details here.

Adelaideans can probably guess the restaurant without too much trouble.

Australian Partner Conference 2011 - My session summaries...

2011-09-01T05:48:00Z

I just thought I would do a quick post-APC2011 update to give a summary of the sessions I was involved with in the SMB track, and post some of the links that were shared. I will add links to the slides when they are published shortly.

Better Together: Increase your sales with Dynamics CRM Online, Office 365 and Windows Intune - Co-Presented with Ross Dembecki and Isabel Boniface

This sessioncovered some of the synergistic aspects of our online services, but really focused on how partners who are already offering their customers one cloud service should be investigating the additional opportunities this gives their customers. In my Windows Intune component, I mentioned the upcoming release's ability to deliver packaged software applications via Windows Azure's sotrage capabilities, with the example of using this to distribute the Office 365 Pro Plus subscriptions out to users in remote locations. Isabel spent some time discussing the Microsoft Cloud Solutions Partner Profitability Modeler Tool, which helps partners do some modelling of their existing on premise revenue earnings versus cloud offerings. Ross spent his time discussing CRM Online, and how partnering with some of our existing CRM partners can help you reach deeper into your customers and offer them something they may not have had access to previously.

Win new customers with Windows 7 & Windows Intune in SMB

While this session did cover the online capabilities of Windows Intune, including a demo of the features currently in beta, the bigger push within the session was around taking advantage of the Windows 7 upgrade and deployment opportunity that is within so many customers at the moment. A push for partners to make sure that their technical staff are pursuing their Windows 7 MCP certifications to ensure that they are capable of fast deployments and effective support was also a focus. The reason behind this inclusion was that many in the OS deployment field may have been very removed from the new tools we have introduced to assist with the rapid deployment of WIndows Vista and Windows 7, and instead are still mostly skilled in the tools of Windows XP deployment, which are becoming less and less relevant for most. Simply using Windows 7 as the day to day OS isn't enough to learn about the capabilities, so hopefully we will see a few more people attaining the desktop focused MPN competencies.

Bridging on-premise and cloud with Windows Server 2011 Essentials - Co-Presented with Dean Calvert, Calvert Technologies, Microsoft Australia Small Business Partner of the Year 2011

This session built on some of the material covered in the earlier two sessions, so I made sure there wasn't too much doubling up for those who stayed in the SMB track. The focus here was on some of the different add-ins that are available for SBSE 2011, such as a preview of our Office 365 Add-In, as well as our Windows 7 Professional Add-In. Partner offerings were called out as well, with the ability to locate these offerings via Microsoft Pinpoint. The KeepVault online backup was shown, and Dean joined me to discuss how this recent member of the SBS family helps to reach new types of customers, as well as engage differently with existing partners for whom cloud services may be the preferred option next time a major platform refresh is being considered. As a long serving member of the SBS community in Australia, it was great to have Dean on stage, and publically congratulate him for his award. Again, well done Dean!

I will revisit this article once the presentations have been published on the partner site so that you can download them easily.

The Re-Cert Redux, aka Get Your Cert On - Part 2

2011-08-01T22:17:00Z

Back in late June I published that I was going to revisit the wonderful world of certification after abstaining for close to four years, and thought I would share the experience, knowing there are quite a few of you in the same boat out there.

FIrstly, I found it much harder to get back in to the groove of studying and exam preparation, in fact it wasn't until the looming deadline of the exams was only a few days away that I really jumped into it. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to finish a few exams pass by, so it was into the MS Press training kits that I purchased that I dived, keen to get my certifications current, starting with Windows 7. I started with Windows 7 because I thought it would possibly be the best (read easiest) re-entry. One of the other reasons that drove this is that we are seeing that many customers are ready for Windows 7 deployments, but many of us hadn't spent alot of time with the Windows 7 deployment tools. As I was in the OEM Engineering Services group for the WIndows Vista and WIndows 7 releases I certainly got alot of exposure to the updated OPKs (the OEM version of WAIK), I hadn't spent alot of time with MDT, which I knew was a weakness.

As I did the exams, a couple of things hit me pretty hard. Firstly, as our roles change and we move away from deeper technology into more generalist roles, there are things we forget, or things we hadn't even considered staying current on from a technology perspective. Secondly, the exams were much harder than I remembered them being. Part of it may related to role changes and not working as deeply with the technologies, but it also seemed that the knowledge base the exam was pulling from was very broad. I see this as a positive thing though, because I wouldn't have gotten through these exams without doing some preparation beforehand, and I really should have done a bunch more.

The end result? I have added three new certifications to my list of Microsoft certifications, MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7, MCTS WIndows 7 Configuration and MCTS Windows 7 and Office 2010 Deployment. I have to admit that I did screw something up during the process, which was working on the assumption that one of the upgrade exams I did would also give me MCITP Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7, but that can be purely attributed to human (me) error (very wrong). What that means is that while I've still got my brain in study mode I will get 70-686 Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Administrator done, and maybe revisit old times and sit MCTS 70-683 Windows 7, Preinstalling for OEMs, considering that I'm already up to my ears with WAIK, DISM, IMAGEX and other related technologies due to the other exams I've sat.

If you haven't done exams for a while and want to see what options are open, make sure you take a look at the Certification Planner which shows your progress towards different certifications, you may be closer to some than you realise. After I finish all of the Windows 7 exams I've listed, I'll be turning my attention to the virtualisation exams, and move my Windows Server 2003 certifications up to 2008.

So here are the updated logos I now have, with more to come.

SMB Tour 2011

2011-08-01T22:02:32Z

Do you work with SMB clients?
Do you want to be able to provide the latest technology to your clients that's both secure and cost effective?
Do you want to keep ahead of the learning curve with great training that's professional, focussed and FREE?

SMBiT Professionals is proud to present the SMB MVP Community Tour, sponsored by HP and Microsoft.

HP and Microsoft recognise that choosing traditional on-premises servers remains a valuable concern for many SMB customers, and the option for cloud deployments isn’t one size fits all! Traditional on-site server deployments in the SMB space are still very much part of the solution set that most IT Professional consultants, resellers and partners want to have as an option. This road show is to educate you on these options, and answer your questions without any "marketing hype".

Every solution you will see is an on-premises server product specifically designed for SMB scale deployment. Each can be extended with additional local resources, or integrated to the cloud to whatever degree you wish.

Register today for the event in your city and hear directly from recognised experts who face the same issues you do on a daily basis.

Seats are limited so register now!

Upcoming Office 365 Bootcamp

2011-08-01T21:58:27Z

CIAOPS is running an Office 365 workshop in Sydney on August 17. Some of the details are as follows.

- An introduction to Office365
- How to purchase Office365
- What is the right Office365 license for my business
- What are the limitations of Office365
- Opportunities provide by Office365
- Deploying in a non server environment
- Deploying into a server environment
- Deploying into a Small Business Server Environment (Essentials and Standard)
- Migrating data
- Managing and maintaining

Hit this link for full details

Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Practice Accelerators open for registration

2011-08-01T03:11:00Z

The Global Partner Services team still has slots open on these Practice Accelerators, being deliver this month.

English

August 8th, 2011

August 11th, 2011

SharePoint 2010 Practice Accelerator
Platform Services

Enterprise Portals

Social Computing

Web Content Management

Business Intelligence Reporting and Analysis

English

August 22nd, 2011

August 25th, 2011

Exchange 2010 Practice Accelerator
What Are Service Offerings?

Introduction to Partner Delivery Training for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Offering

Envisioning – Setting your project up for success

Planning – Defining the architecture

Developing – The Physical Design

Stabilizing – Validating the Design and Approach

Deploying – Deploying the solution

Follow the links for more information, these are currently open to Silver and Gold partners.