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There is a great event on June 7th that MTUG.ie (Microsoft Technology User Groups in Ireland) have organised. The Irish Microsoft Technology Conference is an event by the Irish Tech Community for the Irish Tech Community.  There is a brilliant line-up 18 expert tech sessions to choose from, covering a breadth of Microsoft technologies.  This is one tech conference you can't afford to miss!

You had better register for it fast as I know it's selling out FAST!

Where: Cineworld complex, Dublin
When:  Dublin - June 7th, 9am till late.
Register Online NOW

Here is the list of sessions – you will get to attend six. For more details click here.

• Building Silverlight Applications using .NET (Part 1 of 2)  - by Tim Sneath
• Building Silverlight Applications using .NET (Part 2 of 2) - by Tim Sneath
• Visual Studio "Orcas" and AJAX - by Steve Marx
• Exploring Ajax Patterns - by Steve Marx
• Designing Ultimate Experiences with Expression Studio - by Carrie Longson
• Hacking Websites for fun and profit - by Barry Dorrans
• CLR User-Defined Types in SQL Server 2005 - by Hugo Kornelis
• How to Use Indexes to Speed Up Your SQL Server Database - by Hugo Kornelis
• Service Broker - processing work asynchronously - by Simon Sabin
• Windows Server Code Name ‘Longhorn’ - by Dave Northey
• Visual Studio for DB Pros (aka Datadude) - by Alan Crowley
• Microsoft’s Virtualisation Strategy and Products - by Dave Northey
• Forget Passwords! Implementing CardSpace in Web Apps & Services - by Dominick Baier
• Windows Mobile Development - by Andy Wigley
• Game development with XNA - by Robert Burke
• BizTalk and RFID - by Gar Mac Criosta
• WCF Basics - by Paul Fallon
• WCF Advanced - by Paul Fallon

I'm delighted to announce that I'm bringing John Craddock and Sally Storey to Belfast to host an event on End-to-End Infrastructure Security on June 27th in the Water Front Hall.

Like many IT professionals, you’ve probably attended security seminars and sessions over the years and gained an appreciation of the various security technologies available. But when, where and how these technologies can and should be leveraged can often be confusing.

Infrastructure security is frequently only considered once server roles and network connectivity has been implemented, a problem made worse by inadequate training.  When security technologies are not deployed until late in a project, the result can be poor implementation, weak documentation and compliance testing.

Topics covered:

Identifying business assets

Threat modeling

Security policy and response planning

Deploying IPSec for domain and server isolation

Building rules and filters

Identifying protocol and port requirements

Firewall configurations

Managing server roles and lockdown policies

Patch management and compliance testing

Creating Software Restriction Policies (SRP)

Least privileged user access

Establishing client security and software policy

Client and server attack vectors

Managing through group policies

Network Access Protection (NAP)

Vista security enhancements

Biographies:

John Craddock has designed and implemented computing systems ranging from embedded high-speed industrial controllers through to distributed IT solutions. John works as a consultant providing services to industry leaders including Microsoft. He was a key player in the Government Gateway Project, has designed high-availability web portals and help companies build Active Directory solutions to support their business critical environments. In addition to his role as a consultant, he has written over 20 technical training courses that have been published worldwide. He co-authored 'Investigating and Managing Objects and Attributes for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003' which is part of the Active Directory Forestry series. John lectures internationally and has written and presented technical sessions at MTB, MEC, Tech•Ed, Microsoft IT Forum, JDP and deployment conferences.

Sally Storey has worked in management and consulting in the IT industry for Novell, Microsoft and now, independently. Sally works as a consultant on enterprise infrastructure projects in operations, logistics and deployment roles. Sally is ITIL qualified and specializes in building process that keep systems highly available and secure. Sally co-authored the Active Directory® Forestry series with John Craddock.

For any of you who are trying out the Longhorn Beta at the moment and/ just want to learn more you could check out the "Longhorn" – Learning Portal 

There are some great e-Learning courses that have just been put up.

The Microsoft Technology User Groups (MTUG) in Galway and Limerick are putting on a session by Dave Northey on Longhorn Server.  Please see more detail below -

Longhorn Server Master Class

Galway

Date:  02 May 2007 19:30 - 21:00

Limerick

Date:  03 May 2007 19:30 - 21:00

Microsoft Windows Server code name "Longhorn" is the next generation of the Windows Server operating system that helps information technology (IT) professionals maximize control over their infrastructure while providing unprecedented availability and management capabilities, leading to a significantly more secure, reliable, and robust server environment than ever before.

In this session, Dave will cover some of the scenarios which will make "Longhorn" server a must-have for IT organisations when it comes out later this year. Scenarios covered will include: Server Management, Security & Policy Enforcement, Branch Office, Centralised Application Access, Web & Application Platform, Server Virtualisation and High Availability.

Galway - For more information and registration visit this website:

http://www.gamtug.mtug.ie/Events/EventInfo.aspx?ID=372596b8-6005-4a13-aa83-3ed74f81db39

Limerick - For more information and registration visit this website:

http://www.limtug.mtug.ie/Events/EventInfo.aspx?ID=0f3e4108-b357-4a75-9cbd-432a5e114b9a

Microsoft Virtualisation Event: NIMTUG Belfast - May 24th 19:30 - 21:30

For more detail and registration: http://nimtug.org/events/33/default.aspx

Microsoft’s Virtualisation Strategy

Microsoft’s Virtualisation Products: Today
Virtual PC
Virtual Server
SoftGrid
Clustering, Terminal Services, MOM
 
Microsoft’s Virtualisation Products: Tomorrow
Windows Virtualisation
System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Q&A Throughout

Location
Wellington Park Hotel
21 Malone Road, Belfast, BT9 6RU 
http://www.wellingtonparkhotel.com