A recent Microsoft whitepaper highlights the critical role that consulting services and in particular MCS, can play in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the desktop environment. Check it out here… " Survey: Consulting Services...

  Thinking about deploying Window 7 but not sure what to consider regarding Active Directory? Let me share the main Active Directory elements that are essential for a Windows 7 deployment. Active Directory is a requirement for any large image deployment...

At TechDays for IT Pro’s 2009 ( http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/technet/techdays.aspx ) there will be some sessions on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This will include some information and demonstrations on the new version of Hyper-V. However...

Microsoft IT usually deals with all Microsoft products and Technologies before they get the street. Because we are early adopters we also have the opportunity to develop good administration practices and we like to share those practices with our customers...

Live Mesh is a very cool new technology that Microsoft is developing and during the Tech Preview we want you guys to experience it (as users and by developing to the platform) and share your thoughts. What’s Live Mesh? Live Mesh, enables you to...

The Windows Server 2008 User Group Ireland ( Aidan Finn ) is organizing two cool events, as usual, please pass on the news to your colleagues and friends. Hyper-V and Virtual Machine Manager 2008 "We will be running an event on Hyper-V and Virtual...

This site has gone live recently - great resource to check the Vista compatibility status of hardware or software: Windows Vista Compatibility Center   There's a lot (lot) more compatible devices/applications than some people might think.... if you...

I'm a heavy mind map user - in my experience you either don't use them at all, or you use them all the time.   If you fall into the latter camp, there are quite a few mind map tools on the market. What a lot of people don't know, myself included...

The last week we had some interesting notes related with the Virtualisation topic that I thought it would be worth sharing. First Microsoft IT Showcase has published its Guide to select loads candidates for virtualisation Microsoft IT Showcase is pleased...

ILM "2" Beta 3 has recently been posted for download on the connect website. This beta release is a major milestone in the release roadmap for the product and contains most of the features of the product that a lot of people have been waiting...

As I'm sure most of you are already aware, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 is a 32-bit application. Installing SCCM SP1 on 64-bit Windows 2003 and 64-bit Windows Server 2008, is of course fully supported. However, given that SCCM is still...

One of the most impressive features of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 is Operating System Deployment (OSD) which began life as a feature pack for SMS 2003. An integral component of OSD is a new site role in SCCM called the PXE service...

Having just deployed Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007 into a customer site, I thought I would share some of my experiences, specifically around DNS and Certificate requirements. OCS Features Installed Audio & video conferencing Web conferencing...

Let’s talk Windows Vista security begins 17:00 GMT. Microsoft Technical Fellow and desktop guru Mark Russinovich will again be hosting a live, interactive Springboard Series virtual roundtable—this time on the topic of Windows Vista security...

One of the most important things of a Windows Vista deployment is managing change. The end users will at the end of the day have a new operating system with a massive amount of new features they will have to discover in order to take full advantage of...

In some environments it may be necessary to implement Key Management Services (KMS) activation across domains. An example of this can be illustrated by the requirements of a recent project that I was working on. The customer in question is in the process...

I have been working recently on a large Vista deployment project for an Enterprise customer. An integral component of the project required the installation and configuration of Key Management Services (KMS) to activate all newly deployed Vista computers...

Identity Lifecycle Manager “2” builds on Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 to provide solutions for management of users, credentials, access, and policies that automate identity lifecycle tasks and balance the load between IT professionals,...

This is the second post in this series. In the first one I talked about Microsoft's philosophy and vision for Identity Management. In this post I'll look at our current offering, Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 brings together...

HMC 4.5 brings together powerful Microsoft enterprise products such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, and now gives you Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, which manages all real-time communications such as...

No IT project can be successful unless the specific network environment is well understood.  To help IT professionals and Microsoft Partners solve common migration issues and assist them in planning their virtualization efforts, the Microsoft Solution...

Let’s talk Windows Vista security! On Wednesday June 18 th at 9:00AM Pacific Time, Microsoft Technical Fellow and desktop guru Mark Russinovich will again be hosting a live, interactive Springboard Series virtual roundtable—this time on the...

Microsoft has  launched the new Windows Client TechCenter, merging the Windows XP and Windows Vista TechCenters with the Springboard Series lifecycle approach to ease the adoption path and give desktop IT pros a one-stop source for all of the Windows...

Microsoft IT Showcase is pleased to announce the publication of Physical Security at Microsoft: Taking Advantage of Strategic IT Convergence , which discusses how building a strategy for physical security that relies on available technology and the existing...

In a previous post I promised to delve a little deeper into our Identity Lifecycle strategy and roadmap, so this post is the first of three to do exactly that. We'll start with Microsoft's philosophy on Identity Lifecycle Management. Future posts in the...