Microsoft NZ TechNet Blog

NZ TechNet Flash: 5th Annual NZ SharePoint Conference

2013-03-07T02:05:00Z

7 March 2013 // Subscribe to the TechNet Flash

Debbie Ireland

Managing Director

ShareThePoint

5th Annual NZ SharePoint Conference to feature insight into Microsoft’s latest innovation and product roadmap.

The 2013 New Zealand SharePoint Conference is coming up fast and will be held at the Langham Hotel, on the 16th and 17th of April in Auckland.

After a frenetic 6 months of Microsoft product launches, the first morning of the event is dedicated to a keynote themed “The Microsoft New Wave of Innovation”. This is to be presented by Microsoft directors Richard Riley and Alexander Oddoz-Mazet who will share the future vision and promises to be a major highlight.

Local Microsoft experts Zaid Alkadhi and Paul Dolley, will also demonstrate some of the amazing new features in the Office suite and the latest technology in Microsoft’s unified communications platform, Lync.

Of course, this session is only the beginning of what is in store. An excellent array of case studies will be delivered. Speakers spanning a range of industries from Education to Utilities, from Tourism to Insurance, show how SharePoint has been used to solve a wide range of business challenges.

Are you ever tasked with managing records in your organisation? Or perhaps you are after how to make more from what you have and do more with less? The business track specialises in anything from process automation to information visualisation.

More techy? Are you the Infrastructure Expert? Or Reluctant Admin? Look out for sessions from top ranking USA speakers Michael Noel and Dan Holme on Ultimate Best Practices. For developers, deep dive into any of the subject areas from writing testable code, AGILE, TFS, Custom Branding and the new 2013 Apps model!

Looking to extend SharePoint - attend a series of demonstrations, focused around work streams. The conference is fortunate to attract world renowned speakers. It is a once in a year opportunity to get face to face with these people and talk through your own experiences and issues. Connect with us before the event using SharePoint 2013 Live! Register Now!

Win an Xbox 360 Prize Pack including - Kinect, Forza Horizon and Halo 4!

Attendees who complete at least one lab at our Windows Azure IT Pro Camps will go into the draw to win an Xbox 360 Prize Pack, including: 250GB Console, Kinect, Halo 4 and Forza Horizon!

Try Office 365 ProPlus: Learn how new telemetry tools can speed up testing and deployment

Office 365 ProPlus uses several technologies to deliver new user and administrative experiences to support Office as a service, and geo-redundancy for maximized uptime. This is the full evaluation version of Office - not just web apps. You will be able to try Office 365 ProPlus applications and manage up to 25 users!

Office delivered: See what's new for IT and get the trial

Office Professional Plus 2013 is the future of productivity. Office Professional Plus 2013 includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher, and Lync. Installation and deployment videos, white papers, and library articles are available now with your free evaluation.

New MVA and Jump Start content for IT Pros

New MVA courses and Jump Start content are now available here, specifically around Windows Server, Hyper-V and System Center.

7digital Music Store

Shop for new music with 7digital. Choose from over 20 million high quality tracks in our store; buy, download, sync and listen to your music on the go.

Jelly Jigsaw

This is a modern-day, digital twist on a classic toy that is fun for all the family. Puzzle pieces move and feel like real jelly! Complete pre-designed puzzles or for even more fun, make puzzles from your own photos and the webcam. The free Lite version gives you six puzzles to complete with three difficulty levels.

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows 8 for IT Professionals

March 14 in Wellington. March 13 and March 18 in Christchurch (all other Camps are fully booked!)
Microsoft IT Camps are no-cost, hands-on technical training events for IT professionals led by Microsoft experts. Learn about the new features and capabilities of Windows 8 that make migration, deployment, and management of tomorrow’s environments easier for IT while improving the end-user experience.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows Azure Overview for IT Professionals

March 15 from 1:00pm - 2:30pm (N.Z. Time)
A lot of customers are aware of the cloud but are often asking WHY Cloud? In this session we will go through the reasons to consider cloud computing and then discuss Microsoft’s offerings in the Private Cloud and Public Cloud areas.

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows Azure for IT Professionals

March 26th in Auckland and April 8th in Christchurch
To learn more about our Infrastructure as a Service platform, we invite all IT Professionals to join local Microsoft experts as they introduce you to the Microsoft cloud platform, dive deep into Windows Azure Virtual Machines, and help walk you through hands-on demonstrations of the power of IaaS on the Windows Azure platform.

SharePoint Conference

April 16-17th in Auckland.
Come to connect with peers, learn from world renowned experts and engage in the wider SharePoint community.

Auckland Windows Infrastructure User Group Meeting

19th March in Auckland.
Marty Pine, who recently swtiched from Google to Office 365, will go through how he solely managed this transition, along with why he made the switch to Office 365.

Get a second shot at Microsoft Certification for free

Prove that you have the knowledge and skills in the most current and specialized technologies and solutions by earning a Microsoft Certification. Passing the exams needed to demonstrate those skills can be tough, but for a limited time, you’ll get a free second chance to succeed.

Microsoft’s Certifications Reinvented for the Cloud

Cloud-related IT jobs will grow at 32 percent per year to more than 2.3 million in Asia Pacific by the end of 2015. In anticipation of the technology evolution to the cloud, Microsoft recently announced that it has reinvented certifications specifically for the cloud, including the forthcoming certifications in Windows 8, which have cloud-computing focus areas.

© 2013 Microsoft Corporation Terms of Use :: Trademarks

"Windows Azure XBOX Prize Pack" Competition - Terms and Conditions: Eligibility 1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. 2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident. How To Enter 3. To enter to win the XBOX prize pack, you must complete at least one hands-on lab at one of our two Windows Azure IT Camps (26th of March and 8th of April). Thereafter, one of the instructors will approve your lab/s and submit your name to go into the random draw. Note, each attendee can only enter once. 4. The competition is open from 7th March 2013 to 9 April 2013 5. The sole prize is an XBOX Prize Pack comprised of a 250GB XBOX 360 console, an XBOX 360 wireless controller, a KINECT sensor, a copy of the HALO 4 game, and a copy of the Forza Horizon game. General 6. Prizes will be allocated by the 15th of April 2013 by random draw, and winners will be notified by the 20th of March 2013 - via the email address provided when registering for the event. 7. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid. 8. Prizes will be delivered to a New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense. 9. It is a condition of accepting any prize that the prize winner agrees to participate in publicity generated by Microsoft (or Microsoft’s marketing partners), and agrees to the use of their name and photo for promotional purposes. 10. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter. 11. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner. 12. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize. 13. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prize for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price. 14. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the email address used to register for the event. 15. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms and conditions without notice. 16. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the competition or any element of the competition for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control. 17. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 18. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions. 19. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize. 20. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw. 21. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize. 22. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 23 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com. 23. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have. 24. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online Privacy Statement.
If you would prefer not to receive this newsletter any longer, click here to unsubscribe.
To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here.

The Privacy Officer // Microsoft New Zealand Ltd, PO Box 8070 Symonds St, Auckland 1150, New Zealand

NZ TechNet Flash: Windows Azure: Open. Flexible. Rock Solid.

2013-02-25T23:16:26Z

21 February 2013 // Subscribe to the TechNet Flash

Andrew McMurray

Technical Evangelist

Microsoft

Windows Azure and your infrastructure.

Hi Everyone!

As I’m sure you are all aware, Windows Azure has been available for quite some time now and is a great platform for application development, database hosting and a whole slew of other capabilities. Traditionally, Windows Azure is seen as more of a developer resource than something IT Pro’s are concerned with. However, there have been some major advances in Azure Virtual Machine hosting that bring Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) into the firing line as something you might want to start investigating.

When it comes to VM hosting, Azure has a number of capabilities:

Windows Virtual Machines – Easily create Windows Server Virtual Machines in the Cloud
Linux Virtual Machines – Full support for certain Linux distributions when running within Azure Virtual Machine services
Virtual Networking – Provision and manage Virtual Networks allowing you to migrate workloads to Azure without the pain of retooling IP addresses
Storage – Easily provision, attach and manage storage

For those of you interesting in exploring our capabilities further, there are a slew of recorded sessions from TechEd 2012 which you can check out and you can also be sure that we will be covering this technology this year also at the conference. Check out the Azure Virtual Machine landing page for even more information on pricing, and also for links to the VM Depot where you can get community developed preconfigured VM’s for use in Azure, and also the documentation sites for Windows and Linux VM’s for deeper technical information.

Sounds interesting? Sign up for a free 90-day trial to give Windows Azure a try! Also, for local training we have Windows Azure IT Professional camps coming to Auckland and Christchurch, check out the events section below for more details.

Till next time!

Cheers!

Macca

LAST CHANCE: Win an XBOX 360 prize pack with Kinect and Halo 4! Entries close February 28th

Download System Center 2012 SP1, email us a screenshot showing 100% completion and you're in the draw! It's that easy!

New Seats added: Windows 8 for IT Professionals IT Camp (March 13th in Christchurch)

Due to the high demand of our Windows 8 IT Camps in Christchurch, not only have we added an additional camp on the 18th of March, but we have also added new seats to the previously booked out event! Register now to secure your spot!

Windows Azure Media Services

You now have everything you need to quickly build great, extremely scalable, end-to-end media solutions for streaming on-demand video to consumers on any device. For example, you can easily build a media service for delivering training videos to employees in your company, stream video content for your web-site, or build a premium video-on-demand service like Hulu or Netflix. Last year several broadcasters used Windows Azure Media Services to stream the London 2012 Olympics.

Big Data on premises or in the Cloud

Microsoft's Big Data solution allows users to gain business insights from structured and unstructured data of virtually any size and activate new types of data irrespective of its location.

ESPN Cricinfo

The ESPN Cricinfo Windows 8 app provides comprehensive coverage of cricket from around the world from espncricinfo.com. With live ball-by-ball scoring, comprehensive news, features and editorial content, it’s the most beautiful way yet to follow cricket.

ESPN FC

ESPNFC is the global site for the global game, with worldwide football coverage 24/7. Our Windows 8 app features comprehensive football coverage, with live scores, results, fixtures, tables, club profiles, player profiles – all beautifully presented.

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows Azure for IT Professionals

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows 8 for IT Professionals

February 26 and March 14 in Wellington. March 13 (new seats added!) and March 18 in Christchurch (all other Camps are fully booked!)
At this event, get first-hand technical, hands-on experience with Windows 8 in the workplace. Explore the new features in Windows 8 while you dive deep into key scenarios around management, deployment, security, desktop virtualisation, application development, sideloading and desktop recovery. Microsoft IT Camps are no-cost, hands-on technical training events for IT professionals led by Microsoft experts. Learn about the new features and capabilities of Windows 8 that make migration, deployment, and management of tomorrow’s environments easier for IT while improving the end-user experience.

Upcoming Auckland SQL Server User Group sessions: SQL Server in Census 2013 / Project Hekaton

March 5th in Auckland
SQL Server powers the backend of the entire Census system, including the website. Come along to this session to find out some of the challenges that we've overcome - including earthquakes - and get a full appreciation of how the whole end to end solution relies upon the SQL Server eco system. Hekaton is Greek for "hundreds" and a feature of the next version of SQL Server was given this name for its ability to speed up database function 100x (potentially). It certainly increases application speed by 10x and nearly 50x for new, optimized applications. In this session we're going to look at what Hekaton is, how it works, and how it can be best utilised.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows 8 Desktop Security Strategy

March 1 from 1:00pm - 2:30pm (N.Z. Time)
Come join us to learn more about Microsoft’s strategy for securing Windows PCs. In this session we talk about our approach to desktop security and how a comprehensive security solution can be achieved when using Windows client, Windows Server, Microsoft System Center, Microsoft Office, and Windows Internet Explorer.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows Azure Overview for IT Professionals

TechNet Security TechCenter: Security support for IT Professionals

The TechNet Security TechCenter is the hub of everything security-related for IT Pros. Find the latest security bulletins, download tools to assess your organisation’s vulnerabilities and improve security. Access videos, webcasts and other e-learning resources. Search the TechNet community forums for assistance with security-related issues.

Windows 8 is here: are you fully aware of the implications for your organisation’s security?

Start by watching this video detailing the investments Microsoft has made into making Windows 8 our most secure OS yet and what you need to do to get ready for it.

© 2013 Microsoft Corporation Terms of Use :: Trademarks

"Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 XBOX Prize Pack" Competition - Terms and Conditions: Eligibility 1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. 2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident. How To Enter 3. To enter to win the XBOX prize pack, you must email technetnz@microsoft.com with a screenshot showing 100% completion of the Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 download. 4. The competition is open from 29 January 2013 to 28 February 2013 – all entries must be emailed to us before this date. 5. The sole prize is an XBOX Prize Pack comprised of a 250GB XBOX 360 console, an XBOX 360 wireless controller, a KINECT sensor, and a copy of the HALO 4 game. General 6. Prizes will be allocated by the 8th of March 2013, and winners will be notified by the 15th of March 2013, via the email and/or contact phone number provided when the application link/description was emailed to technetnz@microsoft.com as specified in clause 3 and 4. 7. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid. 8. Prizes will be delivered to a New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense. 9. It is a condition of accepting any prize that the prize winner agrees to participate in publicity generated by Microsoft (or Microsoft’s marketing partners), and agrees to the use of their name, photo, and screenshot image for promotional purposes. 10. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter. 10. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner. 12. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize. 13. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prize for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price. 14. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the screenshot. 15. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms and conditions without notice. 16. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the competition or any element of the competition for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control. 17. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 18. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions. 19. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize. 20. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw. 21. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize. 22. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 26 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com. 23. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have. 24. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online Privacy Statement.
If you would prefer not to receive this newsletter any longer, click here to unsubscribe.
To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here.

The Privacy Officer // Microsoft New Zealand Ltd, PO Box 8070 Symonds St, Auckland 1150, New Zealand

NZ TechNet Flash: Win an XBOX 360 Prize Pack

2013-02-14T23:08:00Z

14 February 2013 // Subscribe to the TechNet Flash

Gabriela Spindler

Audience Marketing Manager

Microsoft New Zealand

Your feedback is important to us:
Your responses drive us to improve.

Your experience with us here at Microsoft New Zealand is our responsibility.

We want to ensure that you feel satisfied in your dealings with Microsoft. Therefore, we ask you twice a year about your feedback on a list of themes. We are aware of the fact that this can be time-consuming for you, as well the fact that you may receive many requests for surveys, but your feedback will directly help us improve our products, services and offerings. Every single one of your comments is read by us here in New Zealand, and we take your feedback seriously!

The last two surveys we conducted brought in exceptionally pleasing results. Due to your continued support, we have seen improvements in several areas, including:

overall strong ratings for Microsoft products showing that you see us as an innovative organisation
the resources we provide and communicate to you
continued positive feedback on installing and deploying of our offerings

Respondents from the last survey continued to give positive feedback on TechEd New Zealand, as well as the technical IT Camps with Hands-on Labs that we implemented in the last 12 months. This allowed attendees to connect with one of our best evangelists in person - and providing free 180 day product trials, a significant contributing factor to the success of these events. Based on the results of this survey, we will be working on the following improvements, moving forward.

For 2013, we have identified four overall areas to improve:

Windows Azure & Microsoft Cloud platform - we have moved beyond using 'cloud' as a buzz word, and can now shift focus on its benefits.
Security support – although we have moved our focus away from security in the past, we should provide resources to the IT Professional audience
Technical support – previous results show we are improving, but we believe we can do even better!
Licensing support – this is a difficult area to address. Licensing is not a 'one size fits all' for businesses. Yes, we are complex in this area, however, we offer you a broad range of options to satisfy your needs.

We put ourselves in your shoes, and have heard that these three topics are areas in which you require more support. We would like to address that. As a first step, we have assembled select resources to provide accessible information. In the future, we plan to offer more information around Windows Azure and Microsoft Cloud.

We read all your comments and we thank you for positive feedback. Here are a few examples:

”I've been very impressed lately with Windows 8, Office 2013 Release Preview and the smooth integration with cloud services.”
“In its simplest form, everything works. The help systems, are becoming better organised and the vocabulary is getting easier for my students to understand. Windows 7 was a great improvement.”
“Good TechEd (best so far). Exciting new products (eg Windows 8) AX 2012 a good progression from AX 2009, with many known problems addressed. CRM 2011 a similar progression in maturity.”
“Extremely happy with all the extra training on the products that Microsoft release. Very happy also with the services online that are available”

There were a few feedback comments that made us aware of challenges we need to work on. We thank you for your honesty. Here are a few examples:

“Improve Security and uptime”
“Issues with SBS generally software is expensive”
“The licence structure is very hard to understand. We run isolated networks and the new licence process is very difficult to use.”

Our next survey kicks off in March, and will take about 10-20 minutes of your time to complete. Between the 4th of March and the 12th of April, you may receive an email invitation from ‘feedback@e-mail.microsoft.com’ with a link to an online customer satisfaction survey. If you utilise a spam filter, please adjust the settings to allow email from the domain: ‘@e-mail.microsoft.com’. I assure you, this is a completely valid Microsoft survey.

Also, please be assured that Microsoft and the survey vendor will keep your information and responses to this survey strictly confidential in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

Thank you in advance for your participation and valuable input. You have our commitment that the results of the survey will be used in our efforts to meet your needs better.

Win an XBOX 360 prize pack with Kinect and Halo 4!

Download System Center 2012 SP1, email us a screenshot showing 100% completion and you're in the draw! It's that easy!

Use the BI Solution Builder Tool

The Microsoft BI Solution Builder helps you discover the business intelligence capabilities of your current Microsoft technologies, and provides customized upgrade paths and resource links.

Join 1,000,000 customers on Microsoft Virtual Academy

Microsoft Virtual Academy is growing. More than a million users rely on MVA for free technical training on Microsoft technologies such as Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Office 365, System Center 2012, and more.

Ancient Frog

A contemplative puzzle game set in a range of beautifully rendered natural environments. Guide a variety of species of frog through dozens of levels of twisty turny fun. Guide your frog one leg at a time across the board to a delicious fly. Take your time. There's no hurry. Just you, a frog, the gentle interplay of dappled light, and the sounds of the forest.

Chelsea Recipe Club

If you love baking, cooking or just eating delicious homemade goodies then you’ll love being part of the Chelsea Recipe Club. With hundreds of tried and tested recipes at your fingertips, this is the must have app for kiwi bakers!

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows 8 for IT Professionals

February 26 and March 14 in Wellington, March 18 in Christchurch (all other locations are fully booked!)
At this event, get first-hand technical, hands-on experience with Windows 8 in the workplace. Explore the new features in Windows 8 while you dive deep into key scenarios around management, deployment, security, desktop virtualisation, application development, sideloading and desktop recovery. Microsoft IT Camps are no-cost, hands-on technical training events for IT professionals led by Microsoft experts. Learn about the new features and capabilities of Windows 8 that make migration, deployment, and management of tomorrow’s environments easier for IT while improving the end-user experience.

Auckland Windows Infrastructure User Group Meeting

February 20 in Auckland
IPAM: Throw away your IP spreadsheets! A deeper dive into the IP Address Management (IPAM) Server feature in Windows Server® 2012 , What is it? How does it work? How can I install and use it?

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows 8 Desktop Security Strategy

March 1: 1:00pm - 2:30pm N.Z. Time
Come join us to learn more about Microsoft’s strategy for securing Windows PCs. In this session we talk about our approach to desktop security and how a comprehensive security solution can be achieved when using Windows client, Windows Server, Microsoft System Center, Microsoft Office, and Windows Internet Explorer.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows Azure Overview for IT Pros

March 15: 1:00pm - 2:30pm N.Z. Time
A lot of customers are aware of the cloud but are often asking WHY Cloud? In this session we will go through the reasons to consider cloud computing and then discuss Microsoft’s offerings in the Private Cloud and Public Cloud areas.

Microsoft support portal

On this recently-updated portal, you will find links highlighting our top support issues, top downloads, contact details, and can get specific support by product.

Contact the Microsoft Customer Service support team

To contact Microsoft Customer Service about a specific problem you’re having, you can simply email our customer service team – they are surprisingly responsive, and are best briefed to deal with a broad range of issues.

NZ TechNet Flash: Win an XBOX 360 Prize pack with Kinect & Halo 4!

2013-01-28T19:22:00Z

29 January 2013 // Subscribe to the TechNet Flash for kiwi IT Pro's

Nathan Mercer

Technical Evangelist

Microsoft New Zealand

Step 1:

Download System Center 2012 SP1

Step 2:

Email us a screenshot

(Make sure your screenshot shows 100% completion!)

System Center 2012 SP1 is a major new release for New Zealand IT Pros, uniquely delivering unified infrastructure, application and cloud management capabilities in a single product offering. Get a head-start now and start testing an evaluation version in your environments today. As an incentive we’re offering you an opportunity to win an Xbox 360 with a Kinect sensor and Halo 4!

Microsoft's Cloud OS vision provides one consistent platform for your apps, infrastructure and data, spanning the private cloud at your datacenters, hosting service provider datacenters and the Microsoft Public Cloud.

A Microsoft private cloud dramatically changes the way your business produces and consumes IT services by creating a layer of abstraction over your pooled IT resources, enabling you to offer true self-service infrastructure capability and optimize the way you manage application services.

Microsoft private cloud solutions are built on System Center and Windows Server.

System Center 2012 SP1 empowers you with a common management toolset for your private, hosted and public cloud infrastructure and application services.

Have you seen the competition above?

Download System Center 2012 SP1, mail us a screenshot showing 100% completion and you're in the draw! It's that easy!

New Virtual Lab: Get To Know Windows Server 2012

Virtual labs are simple, with no complex setup or installation required. Learn about the open application platform for both today's software applications and tomorrow's hybrid cloud solutions.

Free Windows InTune training

Windows Intune training is now available on Microsoft Virtual Academy. We have added 3 new courses to help IT professionals plan, deploy, manage, and operate Windows Intune.

Featured Windows 8 App: Trade Me Toolbox

Trade Me Toolbox connects you to Trade Me using the great new features of Windows 8. See your buying and selling details at a glance - both in the application and on live tiles.

Featured Windows 8 App: Tweetro+

Tweetro+ is an elegant Twitter client for Windows 8 and regarded by many as the best Twitter experience on the platform.

Microsoft IT Camps – Windows 8 for IT Professionals

February 26 and March 14 in Wellington (all other locations are fully booked!)
At this event, get first-hand technical, hands-on experience with Windows 8 in the workplace. Explore the new features in Windows 8 while you dive deep into key scenarios around management, deployment, security, desktop virtualisation, application development, sideloading and desktop recovery. Microsoft IT Camps are no-cost, hands-on technical training events for IT professionals led by Microsoft experts. Learn about the new features and capabilities of Windows 8 that make migration, deployment, and management of tomorrow’s environments easier for IT while improving the end-user experience.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows To Go

February 1: 1:00pm - 2:30pm N.Z. Time
Join this session to get an in-depth overview of Windows To Go, a new feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that offers new possibilities in mobile productivity through hosting an entire corporate image on a USB device and booting any Windows capable hardware.

Webinar: TechNet LIVE: Windows Server 2012: IPAM Overview

February 15: 1:00pm - 2:30pm N.Z. Time
Windows Server 2012 introduces the in-box IP address management (IPAM) feature - a central framework for monitoring and managing the IP address space and the associated infrastructure servers. Apart from the core offerings, IPAM also provides support for auto-discovery of infrastructure servers in Active Directory forest; supports migration of IP address space data from legacy tracking tools and enables integration with other address provisioning systems such as SCVMM.

Download to Donate: Child Cancer Foundation

2012-12-10T02:18:00Z

For each download of a Microsoft System Center 2012 or Windows Server 2012 180-day trial in New Zealand this December, Microsoft New Zealand will donate $2 to the Child Cancer Foundation.*

This not-for-profit charity in New Zealand provides services to ensure that children and their families are supported, informed and well cared for on their journey with cancer.

The Foundation is one of more than 40,000 non-profit organisations involved in Microsoft’s global donations programme – providing software, training, and monetary grants to these valuable organisations.

© 2012 Microsoft Corporation Terms of Use :: Trademarks

*Limited to the first 1,500 downloads in December - a donation of NZD$3,000.
Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online Privacy Statement.
The Privacy Officer // Microsoft New Zealand Ltd, PO Box 8070 Symonds St, Auckland 1150, New Zealand.

Get Your Head In The Cloud: Win a $1,000 Travel Voucher Thanks to Windows Azure!

2012-11-30T00:18:00Z

30 November 2012 // Subscribe to the TechNet flash update for kiwi I.T. professionals!

Thiago Almeida

Technical Evangelist

Microsoft New Zealand

Windows Azure has evolved considerably. You will be pleasantly surprised - either by the ease of use and fluidity of our HTML5-based management portal (how you can spin up an ASP.NET, Node.js, or PHP Website in seconds!) or the fact that you can create and run your own Windows Server or Linux Virtual Machines.

We really want you to give Windows Azure a try (even if you just take the management portal out for a spin!) so I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new competition today:

GET YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUD: WIN A $1,000 TRAVEL VOUCHER!

To enter the random draw to win this awesome travel prize:
•  Sign up for a free 90-day Windows Azure trial...
•  Set up a new site from the Windows Azure Web Sites Gallery...
•  Email us the URL to your new site along with your contact details.

The portal makes it amazingly easy to create a new site...
Just tap NEW -> COMPUTE -> WEB SITE -> FROM GALLERY.

Check out this YouTube video for an example of how to deploy a WordPress site in seconds. This competition is open until December 20th but, if you act quickly, there could be a small bonus for you - the first 50 people to enter the competition will each receive two cinema vouchers, as a thank you for acting quickly!

Competition Terms and Conditions below...

Windows Azure Web Sites Competition - Terms and Conditions:

Eligibility

1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Windows Azure subscription.

How To Enter

3. To enter to win the $1,000 Travel Voucher (“Be Lucky” Competition) you must:

(a) email msdnnz@microsoft.com with your contact email, phone number, and a link to your Windows Azure Web Site.

4. To win two Hoyts Movie Vouchers (“Be First" Competition) you must:

(a) be one of the first 50 eligible submissions from 3(a).

5. The competition is open from 30 November to 20 December 2012 – all entries must be emailed to us before this date.

6. Restrictions on Applications: Whilst entries do not need to be free for users to download from the store, .xap files need to be included in your email to msdnnz@microsoft.com if the entry is a paid app.

7. Prizes:

(a) “Be Lucky” Competition: Of all the eligible entries submitted within the promotion period, one will be randomly selected as the winner of a $1,000 Flight Centre Travel Voucher.

(b) “Be First” Competition: The first 50 eligible entries submitted within the promotion period will receive two Hoyts Cinema Vouchers, available to use at every cinema listed here.

General

8. Prizes will be allocated by the 10^thof January 2013, and winners will be notified by the 15th of January 2013, via the email and/or contact phone number provided when the application link/description was emailed to msdnnz@microsoft.com as specified in clause 3 and 4.

9. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

10. Prizes will be delivered to a New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense.

11. It is a condition of accepting any prize that the prize winner agrees to participate in publicity generated by Microsoft (or Microsoft’s marketing partners), and agrees to the use of their name, photo, website name(s), and website URL(s) for promotional purposes.

12. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter.

13. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

14. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

15. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prize for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

16. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the Windows Azure Subscription used to publish the Windows Azure Web Site. Applications submitted in to the draw must be submitted by the actual owner of the Windows Azure Subscription.

17. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms and conditions without notice.

18. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the competition or any element of the competition for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control.

19. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

20. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

21. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

22. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

23. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

24. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 26 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

25. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have.

26. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

Running Open Source? Consider Windows Azure.

2012-10-30T04:47:00Z

This event has been cancelled in favour of 1:1 meetings with interested organisations.

Please contact Thiago Almeida to request a meeting with our international speakers.

For more information about Microsoft and Open Source, make sure to check out this blog.

The Open Source & Windows Azure event in Wellington on November 27^th will look at the role Windows Azure can play when you’re running open source. We have senior strategists, engineers, and evangelists flying down from Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, so this is your chance to learn more about Windows Azure’s open source capabilities from the world’s foremost experts. Hear the latest updates, ask questions, and get to know the team.

We are running two different sessions, for two different audiences. Think about who from your organisation would get value from attending each session. The morning session is based around our Strategy Keynote, and is aimed at IT Managers and decision makers from your organisation. The afternoon session is based around our Technical Keynote, and is aimed at technical audiences – including but not limited to IT professionals and software developers. After this technical keynote, attendees will be able to attend two of our four technical breakout sessions.

Agenda _

Morning Session for IT Managers (Register Now)

Microsoft has changed as a company and is becoming more open in the way that we work with and collaborate with others in the industry, in how we listen to customers, and in our approach to the cloud. We contribute to (and partner with) open source communities, and promote interoperability to make it easier and less costly for customers to develop and manage mixed IT environments. We actively participate in the standards setting process and support established and emerging standards in our products. In the cloud, we support key standards that provide the building blocks for open, interoperable cloud services, and we support developer choice of programming languages. We support data portability and believe customers own and control their data, no matter where it resides.

10:00am Registration

10:30am Strategy Keynote – Rob Craft

12:00pm Lunch

Afternoon Session for Software Developers & IT Professionals (Register Now)

Microsoft has made big investments to ensure that our public cloud platform is open and flexible, empowering teams to choose not just their programming language, but the framework, tools, operating system and architecture for their applications – whether they are building applications for the cloud, or moving applications to the cloud. Specifically, Windows Azure supports the development languages and frameworks you want to use – including .NET, Java, PHP, Ruby, and Node.js amongst others. We have enabled Linux to run first-class on our Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering, and you can develop for Windows Azure on your Windows, Apple and Linux machines.

12:00pm Lunch & Registration

1:00pm Technical Keynote – Rob Craft

2:15pm Breakout Sessions…

Breakout Sessions for Software Developers

Cloud platforms that enable multiple programming languages and runtimes and provide access to cloud resources through Web services facilitate the development of interoperable customer solutions. This approach also broadens the community of developers that write for a given cloud platform and therefore enhance the quality of services that the platform offers to customers. Windows Azure provides first-class support for a variety of programming languages, each of which can take full advantage of Windows Azure services.

Session #1 – Node.js on Azure – Mark Cowlishaw

Session #2 – PHP on Azure – Cory Fowler

Breakout Sessions for IT Professionals

Customers with existing investments in on-premises computing capacity typically will want those investments to co-exist with the cloud. They should have the option to choose to migrate some or all of their computing needs at their own pace. Windows Azure offers system integrators and developers a wide range of capabilities to ease migration and deployment of cloud services and applications. Existing applications running on Windows, CentOS, SUSE Linux, and Ubuntu can be migrated to Windows Azure virtual machines, and mixed mode applications (with resources on web/worker roles, virtual machines, and web sites) are also supported.

Session #1 – Linux on Azure – Thiago Almeida & Ryan CrawCour

Session #2 – Open Source Databases on Azure – Cory Fowler

Speakers _

Rob Craft

Senior Director, Platform Strategy Group – Microsoft Corp.

Rob is a 12 year veteran of Microsoft, joining the company at the end of the web bubble in 2000 after two fun startups. Initially focused on scalable application design in Windows, Rob moved on to become an Architect focused on helping customers and partners modernize and re-architect their applications on the latest technologies. He is passionate about the opportunity for companies to build amazing experiences on the Microsoft platform and was asked to lead the technology work with the top 200 ISVs worldwide for Microsoft. Doing deal negotiation and looking after execution of those deals occupied the next while, and then he was able to lead the initial Microsoft team focused on business development and technical efforts with key Cloud pure companies. Recently, Rob has returned to Redmond from Paris where he led the business operations for Microsoft International – all countries except US and Canada. This provided him with good perspective and customer feedback to his current role, where he is focused on the Microsoft strategy for delivering the best cloud platform in the world. He attended the United States Military Academy, and is a graduate of the Microsoft MBA program from the Kelly School of Business.

Cory Fowler

Windows Azure Technical Evangelist – Microsoft Corp.

Cory Fowler is a Windows Azure Technical Evangelist focusing around PHP on Windows Azure. Before joining Microsoft Cory referred to himself as a Developer as a Service and was one of the inaugural members of the Windows Azure group of Microsoft MVPs. Cory takes great pride in being both Canadian and a Ginger. You can find Cory on twitter under the handle @SyntaxC4 or read up on Windows Azure and other insightful things on his blog blog.syntaxc4.net.

Mark Cowlishaw

Senior Engineer, Windows Azure Node.js Team – Microsoft Corp.

Mark is an engineer on the Windows Azure Node.js team. Mark’s team at Microsoft develops Open Source libraries and tools for hosting Node.js applications in Windows Azure, including the IIS HttpModule for Node.js (iisnode), the Node.js libraries for Azure services, the Node.js cross-platform command line deployment tool for Azure, and The Windows Azure PowerShell commandlets.

Ryan CrawCour

Windows Azure Incubation Technical Evangelist – Microsoft NZ

Ryan is an adventure sports enthusiast with a deep-set passion for IT. With over fifteen years' experience architecting, designing and implementing solutions on the Microsoft platform, Ryan has achieved a solid track record in all things distributed & connected. Ryan has been working with the Windows Azure Platform since its early days and has seen it grow and mature to be a serious offering in the exciting and evolving world of Cloud Computing. He now spends his time assisting others in their adoption of the platform.

Thiago Almeida

Windows Azure Technical Evangelist – Microsoft NZ

Thiago has over ten years of experience working as a solutions architect and technical leader with a proven track record in designing and delivering solutions in the Asia Pacific region. A native of Brazil, and a graduate of Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Thiago now spends time helping Software startups and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) with Microsoft technologies. When he’s not taking time off to return to his home country, Thiago spends time with his lovely wife Karla.

Fees _

This event is brought to you by Microsoft New Zealand, and is provided free of charge. However, delegates are responsible for booking and paying for their own travel and accommodation.

Questions _

Feel free to email technetnz@microsoft.com with any questions.

Although the events are free, places are strictly limited.

This event has been cancelled in favour of 1:1 meetings with interested organisations.

Please contact Thiago Almeida to request a meeting with our international speakers.

For more information about Microsoft and Open Source, make sure to check out this blog.

Movie Madness - Want two movie tickets? Back by popular demand!

2012-10-23T22:58:00Z

That's right, "Movie Madness" is back!

Do you want two movie tickets?

Then send us two screenshots!

Back in March, we ran our first 'Movie Madness' competition to encourage IT Professionals in NZ to download the Windows Server "8" Beta. Hundreds of people entered the promotion, and each walked away with two movie tickets as a token of our gratitude for them trying out the beta version and the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

A lot has happened since then - most importantly, New Zealand was the first country in the world to launch Windows Server 2012. So the time has come for us to re-launch our 'Movie Madness' promotion, to encourage you to try the finished product! By shamelessly bribing you with movie vouchers, I hope that you will spare a few moments to give it a go.

We've tried to make this as simple as possible. First register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy - once you're logged in, take a screenshot of the dashboard to prove it. Then download a free trial of Windows Server 2012 - once the download is complete, take a screenshot of the download manager to prove it. Finally, email us your details and your two screenshots.

Yes, it really is that simple - we'll post you two movie vouchers. Just make sure that we get your email by 11:59pm on Monday the 12th of November 2012.

Ends on Monday November 12th!

Limited to the first 500 entries!

So what are you waiting for?

1. Register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy

(Once you're logged in, take a screenshot of the dashboard to prove it!)

2. Download a free trial of Windows Server 2012

(Once the download is complete, take a screenshot of the download manager to prove it!)

3. Email us your details and attach the two screenshots!

(Make sure you send the email by 11:59pm on Monday 12th November 2012!)

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I am already registered for the Microsoft Virtual Academy?
That's okay, you are still eligible! All you need to do for step one is log in, and take a screenshot of your MVA dashboard. This screenshot will need to show your name, near the upper-left corner of the browser window. Then move on to step two!

What if I have already downloaded Windows Server 2012?
As you will need a screenshot of the completed download to be eligible, you may need to download it again.

At which cinemas can these movie vouchers be used?
Eligible entries will be mailed Hoyts cinema vouchers, that can be used at any of the following cinemas:

Auckland - Berkeley Mission Bay
Auckland - Berkeley Takapuna
Auckland - Hoyts Botany Town Centre
Auckland - Hoyts Hibiscus Coast
Auckland - Hoyts Sylvia Park
Auckland - Hoyts Wairau Park
Blenheim - Top Town Cinema 3
Christchurch - Hoyts Moorhouse
Christchurch - Hoyts Northlands
Christchurch - Hoyts Riccarton
Christchurch - Regent on Worcester
Dunedin - Hoyts Octagon
Hamilton - Victoria Cinemas
Hamilton - Hoyts Te Awa at The Base
Havelock North - Cinema Gold
Levin - Focal Point Cinemas
Mt. Manganui - Bay City Cinemas
Nelson - State Cinema 6
Oamaru - Movie World 3
Palmerston North - Cinema Gold
Palmerston North - Downtown 8
Paraparaumu - Downtown Cinemas
Tauranga - Bay City Cinemas
Timaru - Movie Max 5
Upper Hutt - The Ascot
Wanganui - Embassy 3
Wellington - Empire Cinema
Wellington - Island Bay
Wellington - Paramount Cinemas
Whakatane - Whakamax (Cinema 5)

Terms & Conditions

Eligibility

1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident.

How to enter

3. To enter you must:

(a) email microsoftevents@avenues.co.nz before 11:59pm on Monday the 12th of November 2012, with your full name and delivery address, and attach the two screenshots described below;

(b) the first screenshot must show clearly that you have registered for the Microsoft Virtual Academy. Once logged in, your full name will be displayed near the top-left corner of the webpage. To be eligible, the screenshot must show this name, and this name must match the name you submit in clause 3a.

(c) the second screenshot must show clearly that you have completed the eligible download: the 90-day trial of Windows Server 2012 (downloaded from this webpage). To be eligible, the screenshot must show 100% completion for every item in the download manager.

4. Prizes and award criteria:

(a) The first 500 valid entries submitted will each receive two Hoyts Cinema Vouchers.

(b) No one individual can enter the promotion more than one time. As such, no one individual can receive more than two Hoyts Cinema Vouchers.

5. Vouchers will be posted by Friday the 23rd of November 2012, to the delivery address specified when submitting in clause 3.

6. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

7. Vouchers will be delivered to the New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense.

8. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter.

9. Vouchers are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your cinema vouchers, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

10. If you accept a voucher you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

11. If for any reason the advertised voucher is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised voucher for another voucher which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

12. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the valid entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the entry (in clause 3). Entries submitted in to the draw must be submitted by the actual owner of the email address.

13. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter, and may modify these terms and conditions without notice.

14. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the promotion or any element of the promotion for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control.

15. The judge's decision in relation to the eligibility of the entries, the screenshots, or any other aspect of this promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

16. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this promotion, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

17. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this promotion or accepting anything of value.

18. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this promotion, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this promotion.

19. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the promotion or receiving (or not receiving) any prize.

20. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 21 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

21. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have.

22. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

TechEd Pre-Conference Event: Microsoft I.T. Camp!

2012-07-15T22:28:00Z

SAVE THE DATE

We are planning a hands-on I.T. Camp for the day before Microsoft TechEd New Zealand 2012.

That is, on Monday 3rd September 2012.

It will be held at Cliftons Auckland, on Level 2 of 45 Queen St.

Topic TBA. Watch this space!

What Does Big Data Mean To You?

2012-07-06T01:37:00Z

New Zealand :: 6 July 2012

Corina Oliver
SQL Product Manager
Microsoft New Zealand

What does Big Data Mean to you?

There has been interesting media coverage about the data explosion and the growing importance of roles like the Data Scientist recently. One of the most common definitions of big data talks about the three v's: volume, velocity and variety. Data sets are becoming so large and/or diverse that you need new ways to deal with them. Volume means the massive amount of data generated and collected by organisations; velocity refers to the speed at which the data must be analyzed; and variety means the vast array of different types of data that is collected. Microsoft solutions are designed to address all three dimensions of big data with the analytical tools required to make sense of it all.

Check out one company's success with big data by watching this video about how Klout leverages Hadoop and Microsoft BI technologies to manage big data. Afterwards, join our discussion on big data and how NZ companies can benefit on the Microsoft New Zealand Business Intelligence Professionals Group on LinkedIn. Be sure to play with the technology yourself by downloading an evaluation copy of SQL Server 2012. Finally, don't miss the Business Intelligence Academy, a TechEd pre-conference event in Auckland and Wellington.

Immersive Insight, Wherever you are:

However you define ‘Big Data’ in your organisation the core objective is to gain insight out of your information. You might not be a Data Scientist but expectations from both technical and business users are that information is easily available and presented and in a way that allows users to collaborate. Microsoft delivers Business Analytics as part of the world’s most widely used productivity tools in Microsoft Office so that organisations can empower all users with self-service capabilities through familiar tools designed with these increasing user expectations in mind.

Microsoft enables immersive insight with rapid data exploration and collaboration with PowerPivot and Power View, delivered through Excel and SharePoint. PowerView, generally available with SQL Server 2012, is a highly interactive, browser-based data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience for users of all levels—from business executives to information workers. Now anyone can create a report in just seconds, transform the “shape” of data with a single click, add powerful timed animation sequences to quickly identify trends or anomalies, and make a more convincing case through rich presentation from the insights they discover on any data. See demos and build your own report on one Click BI.

Rapid data access is necessary for effective data exploration and interactivity. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 provides a generational leap in performance with the new xVelocity in-memory technologies allowing typical improvements of 10X-100X for Analytics and DW. xVelocity In-Memory technology is built into the platform and available on the desktop with a PowerPivot, in the analysis engine with SQL Server 2012 Analysis Service, and for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2012 Data Warehousing. Microsoft is the only vendor that makes true in-memory technology available as part of a complete data platform, saving you the expense of dedicated in-memory appliance solution.

Microsoft is also providing IT administrators with the insight and oversight they need through tools for monitoring and managing user created content, dramatically streamlining compliance without hampering user agility and creativity.

Connecting to the World’s Data:

The more data available, the more opportunity there is for deep understanding and insight. Consider converting raw data into useful information through data transformation and advanced analytics, and mashups with external data.

With the release of SQL Server 2012, Microsoft provides a complete Enterprise Information Management (EIM) suite built with data enrichment in mind. You can utilize out-of the-box tools, such as SQL Server Integration Services and Data Quality Services for data transformation and cleansing. Master Data Services continues to make it easier to manage master data structures (such as dimensions and hierarchies). The new release introduces the Excel MDS Add-In which facilitates data management and maintenance. Also new to this release is Data Quality Services, helping to improve data quality and providing connectivity to 3rd party reference data available on the Windows Azure Marketplace. This aides in reliably profiling, cleansing, and matching your data.

Any Data, Any Size, Anywhere

A modern data management platform that handles data of all types and scale will enable you to realise the value of big data. Microsoft offers an integrated platform for managing data whether it’s structured data in relational databases, unstructured data with Hadoop, or streaming data with StreamInsight. We bring the simplicity of Windows to Hadoop, extend your data warehouse with Hadoop and offer the elastic scale of the cloud to Big Data.

You can gain Windows simplicity and manageability for Hadoop with simplified setup and management, enhanced security and great performance. You can install and configured Hadoop on Windows in under three hours instead of days or weeks for Hadoop on Linux. In addition, the Hadoop based service of Windows Azure dramatically simplifies deployment since customers don’t have to install Hadoop locally can deploy a Hadoop cluster on Windows Azure in under 10 minutes!

Other Resources

There are a lot of other resources online and coming soon with Tech Ed. We’re even announced a Business Intelligence Academy as a pre-course for TechEd! Register today to reserve your place in Auckland or Wellington.

Other handy resources:

- Get answers to your technical questions about SQL Server for implementation, development, and other topics with the Microsoft Big Data Solution Datasheet (PDF), Microsoft Big Data Solution Brief (PDF), and SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse Connectors for Apache Hadoop (PDF).

- Learn how SQL Server 2012 provides customers with large-scale data warehousing and analytical solutions backed by IT management and insights in the SQL Server 2012: What's New Breakthrough Insight whitepaper.

- Watch this video: Introduction to the Hadoop on Azure Interactive JavaScript Console

- Check out the Microsoft Business Intelligence website and the Microsoft SQL Server website.

Thanks,

Corina

Windows 8 for IT Professionals

2012-06-22T02:25:00Z

New Zealand :: 22 June 2012

Andrew McMurray
Technical Evangelist
Microsoft New Zealand

Hi Everyone!

The Windows 8 Release Preview has been available to download for a few weeks now, and a lot of you might be thinking of turning your hand to evaluating this release and examining how to start your deployment plans for your enterprise. There is an awful lot of information available for the RP and it’s easy to get lost in all the weeds, so I thought I would point you to a few useful resources to help you not only evaluate the product, but also to show the value of Windows 8 to business decision makers, assisting them in putting forward their business cases.

The all important overview and business case

The first thing you should do while waiting for the 6 gigs of download to finish is to grab a copy of the Windows 8 Product Guide. This is a PDF document that goes through all the major new features of Windows 8, at a high level perfect for business decision makers and can also be used to identify areas you need to know more about. While you are checking this out, make sure you keep up with the Building Windows 8 blog as this is a great place for breaking news, and also a good area for the business to see the advances we are making with this release of the OS as they come to light.

Installation and Deployment

When it comes to getting the OS onto a single PC to test, it’s a pretty easy install routine and you’ll be up and running in no time, but what about larger scale deployments? Firstly, you can’t go past the recently released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 for working out your multi machine deployments. Mr Niehaus and company in the Solution Accelerators team have once again smashed it out of the park with a workbench that allows us to get the OS deployed in Lite Touch Mode to multiple machines. For those of you with a more Zero Touch mindset, especially those using our System Center 2012 – Configuration Manager component, you will be pleased to know that we announced Windows 8 support in Configuration Manager SP1 last week at TechEd North America 2012. The CTP of SP1 will be available any day now, so keep an eye on the download center just in case it drops overnight!

Look and feel

There’s no doubt about it, this ain’t your mother’s version of Windows so you need to get ready for the fact that it looks and feels very different, and this is likely to be a learning curve for your users as well. As much as you can, provide users with information they need to get up to speed on what to expect when this hits their desktop so they can get a flying start on stuff like metro style apps, Internet Explorer 10 and Cloud connectivity options. This stuff is truly exciting and we believe everyone who uses it will fall in love with the new Windows 8 User Experience.

New and improved features

Windows 8 RP introduces a bunch of new and improved features that you should seriously be examining as you start your evaluation. The most exciting of these has to be Windows To Go, a feature that allows you to put an enterprise SOE onto a USB stick and boot any Windows 8 capable hardware from it. This truly opens up a new raft of options for the “Bring Your Own Device” paradigm becoming more popular with today’s enterprises. As per usual, volume activation will be required for large scale Windows 8 deployments so it is a good idea to be up to speed on what will be required for your environment when getting this version of the OS out to your fleet of machines. Windows 8 also offers major advances in security capabilities in a number of areas, such as Bitlocker, Applocker, Secure Boot, Trusted Boot, and TPM. The great thing is that there is a ton of information available right now on all these topics, so there is no reason not to get down and dirty straight away. Lots of people are also really excited about the Windows Store and how we might manage this in the enterprise and we provide plenty of information regarding this as well.

Overall, we are in a really exciting phase of the race towards release of Windows 8 and there is no better time to start checking this OS out seriously. I hope you have as much fun exploring Windows 8 as I have had, and I am looking forward to typing to you again soon!

Cheers!

Macca

Convince Your Boss: TechEd 2012

2012-05-24T05:29:00Z

Dear [Your boss' name]

Wouldn’t you love to get bang for your buck while investing in me being here? There is a way: Microsoft TechEd New Zealand 2012. This year, the annual event will be held in Auckland from September 4 to 7 and it is the best way for me to develop my skills - to add value to our team, and to our bottom line.

Microsoft TechEd 2012 is New Zealand’s largest technology conference, and it always has the best content because they bring down speakers from overseas. I can get the most comprehensive training on Microsoft products, even those that haven't been released yet.

An added benefit this year is that I can gain industry certification on-site, as well as the skills that will help our organisation better understand, deploy and manage technologies. The registration fee is $1,900 (+GST), but group discounts are available - making it less expensive for teams to attend.

In addition to over 160 unique breakout sessions with Microsoft and industry speakers, the conference would offer me the chance to connect face-to-face with peers who share our challenges, and to learn from Microsoft experts who know the most about the products we use everyday.

I’d really like to talk to you about this opportunity. In the meantime, you can find out more on the TechEd 2012 website.

Thanks,

[Your name]

'Implementing the Private Cloud' IT Camp: Free hands-on training in Auckland & Wellington

2012-05-06T21:10:00Z

Please note that these IT Camps have been cancelled, due to trainer injury.
We will be running more IT Camps later in the year - subscribe to the NZ TechNet Flash to be invited!

i.t. camp - implementing the private cloud

Never heard of an IT Camp? This is a two-day workshop that offers deep-dive technical training. Join your peers for a hands-on, highly-interactive and engaging learning experience around Microsoft technologies and solutions. Have real-world discussions and work with technology experts and your peers to solve scenario-based problems. Bring your PC, log on to our remote server, and work through different scenarios with your trainer.

The cloud is coming, but are you prepared to transform your datacenter to the next shift in enterprise computing? This camp will prepare you to understand, deploy and manage a Microsoft Private Cloud with System Center 2012. See how you can combine hardware, software and management processes to update your datacenter to gain new levels of automation, elasticity, resource virtualization, efficiency and self-service. Dozens of technologies will be covered, including Windows Server, Hyper-V, Solutions Accelerators, and the System Center 2012 suite.

Free two-day workshop:

Your Invite to IT Camps & System Center 2012 Launch

2012-04-12T23:12:00Z

Please note that these IT Camps have been cancelled, due to trainer injury.
We will be running more IT Camps later in the year - subscribe to the NZ TechNet Flash to be invited!

New Zealand :: 13 April 2012

David Steele
Developer & Platform Evangelism Group,
Microsoft New Zealand

I write to you today with an invite to our upcoming IT Camps, and to the System Center 2012 Launch.

Today we're announcing three new IT Camp topics - enabling the consumerisation of IT (one-day workshop) preparing your datacenter for the private cloud (one-day workshop), and implementing the private cloud (two-day workshop).

We are presenting each of these workshops in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Our first set of IT Camps, covering Virtualisation, became fully-booked in just two days - so make sure to register a seat as soon as possible!

Never heard of an IT Camp? These are one- or two-day workshops that offer deep-dive technical training. Join your peers for a hands-on, highly-interactive and engaging learning experience around Microsoft technologies and solutions. Have real-world discussions and work with technology experts and your peers to solve scenario-based problems.

And finally, I would like to invite you to join us for the System Center 2012 Launch. Come along to see what the future of cloud computing looks like, now.

i.t. camp - enabling the consumerisation of i.t.

The culture of work is changing. Tech-savvy and always-connected, people want faster, more intuitive technology, uninterrupted services, and freedom to work anywhere, anytime, on a variety of devices. It's time to give people the freedom to get things done their way. In return, you'll unleash passion and productivity like never before. Learn how our products offer experiences that your people will love. Whether they are using PCs, phones, tablets, or all of the above, Microsoft technologies are flexible to match the unique needs and styles of individuals. Best of all, our enterprise-grade solutions are designed to help you maintain security, streamline management, and cut costs.

One-day workshop:

i.t. camp - preparing your datacenter for the private cloud

Is your core Windows Server Infrastructure outdated and clinging to the x86 server architecture? The time is now to move the critical services this infrastructure supports to new more modern hardware along with the current supported revisions of the Windows Server Platform. Bring your questions on essential services such as Active Directory, Group Policy, DHCP, DNS, File/Print, Certificate Services and Hyper-V virtualization to this unique Microsoft event where we will SHOW you real life answers to real life questions. No death by Powerpoint here. This camp will provide you with interactive demos and hone your skills in a hands-on lab environment - migrating x86 Windows Server 2003 servers to x64 Windows Server 2008 R2.

One-day workshop:

i.t. camp - implementing the private cloud

The cloud is coming, but are you prepared to transform your datacenter to the next shift in enterprise computing? This camp will prepare you to understand, deploy and manage a Microsoft Private Cloud with System Center 2012. See how you can combine hardware, software and management processes to update your datacenter to gain new levels of automation, elasticity, resource virtualization, efficiency and self-service. Dozens of technologies will be covered, including Windows Server, Hyper-V, Solutions Accelerators, and the System Center 2012 suite.

Two-day workshop:

system center 2012 launch

New Zealand's IT infrastructure is going through a change, and Microsoft wants to be there with you. Cloud computing is the future and having the right tools in place to manage cloud environments will be critical for IT Departments of the future. Microsoft's Private Cloud solutions are built with an eye to what's next, and we believe that whether it's today or years from now, you are going to need more from your IT infrastructure. Please join us for the System Center 2012 launch to see what the future of cloud computing looks like, now.

Two-day event, come to one or both days:

Microsoft Customer and Partner Satisfaction Survey - We want your feedback!

2012-04-09T23:27:00Z

In our continuing efforts to improve your experience with Microsoft New Zealand, we would love to hear from you on what areas we are doing well in, and where there is room for improvement.

You will soon receive an invitation to the Microsoft Customer and Partner Satisfaction Survey. This survey gives us a sense of whether or not we are providing value to IT Professionals in New Zealand and what improvements can be made in terms of products, service and the local team. I would really appreciate it if you could take the time to complete it.

You may not be aware but I am held personally responsible for your satisfaction with Microsoft New Zealand, and its a big part of my job to come up with ideas and plans and help you have a better experience with Microsoft NZ.

Over the past year we have listened to your feedback and responded with improvements to TechEd 2011 back in August, TechDay Roadshow in November, the more deep technical IT Camp’s which we organised and are free of charge to provide you a good learning experience and hands-on with on Hyper-V and System Center, or the free learning online offering Microsoft Virtual Academy, and don’t forget all the regular information on our TechNet Newsletter.

What do you think? Where can we do better?

We understand you are busy, but we would appreciate if you took 15 minutes to complete the survey. We need your candid feedback to make improvements that are meaningful and effective for you. If you’re been invited to complete the survey, you will receive an email invitation from feedback@e-mail.microsoft.com with a link to an online customer satisfaction survey. If you utilise a spam filter, please adjust the settings to allow email from the domain@satisfaction.ipsos.com. This is a valid Microsoft survey.

Thank you in advance for your participation and valuable input. You have our commitment that the results of the survey will be used in our efforts to better meet your needs locally here in New Zealand.

Nathan Mercer

Technology Evangelist

Microsoft New Zealand

technetnz@microsoft.com

Fred's Top Tips for Office 365 Greatness!

2012-04-05T02:46:00Z

Fred’s Top Tips for Office 365 Greatness!

Are your companies and customers starting to show an interest in cloud computing? How do you migrate your customers email and data? What is the best way to deploy Office Pro Plus? Is your data safe with Office 365? Where do you start?

In this TechNet NZ article I’ll be sharing a few tips on how prepare your company to plan & successfully deploy Office 365 – in your organisation, or for your first customer – and we will highlight a couple of pitfalls along the way.

1. Where do I start?

Head over to the Microsoft Virtual Academy then select the Office 365 for the IT Pro - Platform as a perfect introduction. I’d also recommend that you see how different a day can be for an IT professional with Office 365, versus Google’s offering here. I can guarantee you will find the answers to the majority questions answered about the different offerings in the service descriptions for Small Business & Professionals and Enterprise Plans. If you are a Microsoft Partner, Quickstart Online Services (Live ID login required) includes a wealth of partner resources around, sales, technical, and programmatic information for Office 365 and Windows Intune. For more in-depth technical training videos, access the Office 365 Jump Start series that was made specifically for IT professionals.

What tools & resources are available to me?

Choosing the right Office 365 plan is essential. The Office 365 Advisor tool is great for this. The tool will ask you a series of questions and, based on your answers, it will propose the either the P (Small Business) or E1 – E4 (Enterprise) plans. The tool only covers the P and E plans and does not cover standalone plans.

Note that there is no migration path between the P & E SKU’s. Think of the P Plan as an island onto itself in that you cannot mix and match other plans with it. In the event you have a customer that needs to migrate from P to E, see steps on how to achieve this manually here, or see how IT Professional Services achieved this with the third party tool MigrationWiz.

For those of you familiar with PowerShell, Office 365 cmdlets are available. Also recently released is the Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell. Script Explorer provides an integrated community and Microsoft resources to help you unlock the power of Windows PowerShell, as well seamless searching across online repositories to locate script samples relevant to you.

Is your current internet connection going to cope with the additional demand on latency? Use this Performance Test for Internet Connection to Microsoft Online Services. The tool will measure the response times, bandwidth, and overall connection quality from your site to the Singapore Datacenter.

Within the Office 365 Admin portal, you have the ability to create an Office 365 custom deployment plan (O365 Login required) which provides more detailed information about topics such as self-deployment, partner-led deployment, domain re-delegation to Microsoft, single sign-on, Active Directory synchronization, and mailbox migration. For large enterprises with cloud and on-premise deployments whose users require single sign-on with corporate credentials, you can get started with our Microsoft Office 365 deployment guide for Enterprises.

3. Any common issues in deployment?

DNS Re-Delegation is the component within Office 365 which either goes off without a hitch, or ends up stopping a deployment dead in its tracks. There are a few pointers to remember here.

Firstly, Office 365 Enterprise Plans use a partially re-delegated model where you manage your DNS settings at your registrar, or at another non-Microsoft DNS manager (i.e. SRV, TXT, CNAME records maintained at the Registrar). Office 365 Small Business uses a full re-delegated model, where you point your DNS name servers to Microsoft (MS) and the DNS settings are then managed by MS. If you do this, then any DNS changes you make at your registrar other than to the name server have no affect – since the name servers point to MS and MS is managing your DNS. Note that most registrars won’t allow you to make any other DNS changes once the name server settings have been changed.

It is possible to use partial re-delegation with Small Business; however, you can’t use full re-delegation with Enterprise and the MS DNS Manager.

Secondly, when planning DNS re-delegation, find out who has administrative access to the DNS hosting tool and test access by adding a TXT record in. You will be asked to do this as part of the DNS verification process. Some tools will not allow you to enter SRV or @ records. In this case, contact your DNS Registrar and request for these records to be inserted manually by them.

Also take a look at a few more great links for technical and support resources. The Troubleshooting Tool - Answer four easy questions about the issue you're experiencing and you'll instantly be presented with links to possible solutions. The Office 365 Community page is full of information from Microsoft and people who are using the product every day. This site also includes information about product updates and commonly asked questions. The Office 365 Technical Blog is a great technical resource as it's managed by our engineers, so you truly get answers straight from the source. And finally, the Office 365 Forums & Wikis cover just about everything related to Office 365.

4. How secure is my data and are there any inbound/outbound email limits?

Data Security and Sovereignty have always been important topics raised in relation to Cloud Computing. Learn how Microsoft adheres to these by visiting the Office 365 Trust Centre. Microsoft proactively answered a broad range of security and privacy questions the Cloud Security Alliance suggests every customer should ask of their cloud service provider. The products that are covered by the trust center content are mentioned here. If you or your customers are likely to be sending mail to a large list of recipients learn about Office 365 Mail Limits.

Thank you for reading!

I hope my article has given you enough information to get you started with Office 365.

For additional information, or if you have any questions, please email nzcloud@microsoft.com

Alternatively, you can reach out by following us on http://twitter.com/msnzcloud

Cheers,

Fred.

Fred Piliu
Solutions Specialist,
Microsoft New Zealand

technetnz@microsoft.com

Microsoft Imagine Cup - New Zealand Finals!

2012-03-22T00:39:00Z

An Invitation to NZ IT Professionals!

You are invited to join Microsoft, and our universities’ brightest technical
students, for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 New Zealand Finals – at the
Auckland Town Hall on the 30^th of April.

Click here to register online!

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world's premier student technology
competition, enabling student innovators around the world to use creativity
and technology to solve the toughest problems we face today – making a
positive impact that will transform the world in which we live.

The competition encourages the world's most talented designers, programmers,
developers, and technology enthusiasts to tackle issues related to disaster
relief, poverty, secure energy systems, education, disease control,
healthcare, the environment, assisting people with disabilities, the fight
against hunger, and many other critical problems.

The culmination of a year-long endeavour, the National Finals event at the
Auckland Town Hall will bring the top 20 teams together from universities
across the country. Here, they will find out who New Zealand’s top four teams
are – and these teams will present their technology solutions to a
prestigious panel of judges, in front of 1200 technology enthusiasts.

Come to support your favourite team (or to pick one!) and be in to win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones, or 1 of 4 XBOX360+KINECT bundles.

Click here to register online!

Although it is free to attend, we have limited seats available.

Please make sure to register your interest as soon as possible.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 TechNet Virtual Labs Available To You Online, plus more Small Business Server 2011 resources

2012-03-19T02:25:00Z

Windows Small Business Server 2011 TechNet Virtual Labs Available To You Online, plus more Small Business Server 2011 resources

One of the most requested things that we get requested here at Microsoft is the ability to learn about our products via our virtual labs environment. I am pleased to announce the release of a complete Small Business Server 2011 environment that allows customers and partner to get up to speed on SBS 2011.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Virtual Labs

In addition to the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Virtual Labs, here are a few other Small Business Server 2011 resources that I thought you might also be interested in:

Please take advantage of all of the Windows Small Business Server 2011 information and resources we have available to you and share these with any of your peers or counterparts that you think could benefit from these as well. I’d also love any input or feedback from you on these resources and what you think about them.

Thanks,

Bradley Borrows

Senior Product Manager Windows Server & Tools

Movie Madness - Want two movie tickets? Send us two screenshots!

2012-03-19T01:40:00Z

Calling all IT Professionals who are film buffs!

We've been trying to get you to take advantage of FREE online training and FREE software downloads, for a while now. By shamelessly bribing you with movie vouchers, I hope that you will spare a few moments to give them a go.

We've tried to make this as simple as possible. First, register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy - once you're logged in, take a screenshot of the dashboard to prove it. Next, download a free trial of either the Windows Server "8" Beta or the Microsoft System Center 2012 Release Candidate - once the download is complete, take a screenshot of the download manager to prove it.

Finally, email us your details and attach the two screenshots. Yes, it really is that simple - we'll post you two movie vouchers - just make sure that we get your email by 11:59pm THIS Sunday, the 25th of March 2012. So what are you waiting for?

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I am already registered for the Microsoft Virtual Academy?
That's okay, you are still eligible! All you need to do for step one is log in, and take a screenshot of your MVA dashboard. This screenshot will need to show your name, near the upper-right corner of the browser window. Then move on to step two!

What if I have already downloaded one of those two?
As you will need a screenshot of the completed download to be eligible, you may need to download it again. Alternatively, if you have already downloaded Windows Server "8" Beta, why not download the Microsoft System Center 2012 Release Candidate? Or if you already have the Microsoft System Center 2012 Release Candidate , why not download the Windows Server "8" Beta?

At which cinemas can these movie vouchers be used?
Eligible entries will be mailed Hoyts cinema vouchers, that can be used at any of the following cinemas:

Arrowtown - Dorothy Browns

Auckland - Berkeley Mission Bay
Auckland - Berkeley Takapuna
Auckland - Hoyts Botany Town Centre
Auckland - Hoyts Hibiscus Coast
Auckland - Hoyts Sylvia Park
Auckland - Hoyts Wairau Park

Blenheim - Top Town Cinema 3

Christchurch - Hoyts Northlands
Christchurch - Hoyts Riccarton

Dunedin - Hoyts Octagon

Hamilton - Victoria Cinemas
Hamilton - Hoyts Te Awa at The Base

Mt. Manganui - Bay City Cinemas

Nelson - State Cinema 6

Oamaru - Movie World 3

Palmerston North - Downtown 8

Tauranga - Bay City Cinemas

Timaru - Movie Max 5

Upper Hutt - The Ascot

Wanganui - Embassy 3

Wellington - Empire Cinema
Wellington - Island Bay

Whakatane - Cinema 5

So what are you waiting for?

1. Register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy

(Once you're logged in, take a screenshot of the dashboard to prove it!)

2. Download a free trial of either the Windows Server "8" Beta or the Microsoft System Center 2012 Release Candidate

(Once the download is complete, take a screenshot of the download manager to prove it!)

3. Email us your details and attach the two screenshots!

(Make sure you send the email by 11:59pm on Sunday 25th March 2012!)

Terms & Conditions

Eligibility

1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident.

How to enter

3. To enter you must:

(a) email microsoftevents@avenues.co.nz before 11:59pm on Sunday the 25th of March 2012, with your full name and delivery address, and attach the two screenshots described below;

(b) the first screenshot must show clearly that you have registered for the Microsoft Virtual Academy. Once logged in, your full name will be displayed near the top-right corner of the webpage. To be eligible, the screenshot must show this name, and this name must match the name you submit in clause 3a.

(c) the second screenshot must show clearly that you have completed one of the two eligible downloads - either the Windows Server "8" Beta (downloaded from this webpage) or the Microsoft System Center 2012 Release Candidate (downloaded from this webpage). To be eligible, the screenshot must show 100% completion for every item in the download manager.

4. Prizes and award criteria: The first 500 valid entries submitted will each receive two Hoyts Cinema Vouchers.

General

5. Vouchers will be posted or couriered by Friday the 13th of April 2012, to the delivery address specified when submitting in clause 3.