The first day’s keynote out of the way, online chatter about TechEd Europe 2010 turned to session reporting, the announced naming of Configuration Manager 2012 (formerly “v.Next”), and continued absorption of Microsoft’s initiatives in cloud computing, Hyper-V Cloud in particular.

To give you a kind of wrap up of the goings-on of the past several days, and, as previously, to give a virtual shout-out to some of the more notable voices from the community, here are some blog posts we found interesting, along with a small selection of Twitter personalities. I’m also including an aggregation of the related videos that we’ve put together, including those that TechNet Edge’s David Tesar, Joey Snow, and Adam Carter (BOMB) shot on site in Berlin….

See the System Center Team Blog for the full post.

Like I said in a recent post, you're probably already running the basic foundation for a private cloud. But that doesn't mean there isn't work to do. IT Pros looking to delve into private cloud computing this year, should prepare with these 6 steps:  

• Improve data quality in your identity infrastructure - audit existing users and groups to ensure your ad store is running only accurate data
• Enable Federated identity - self-explanatory, but it's a big part of bridging the gap between public and private clouds
• Enable all the building blocks of a private cloud - that includes Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, an optimized Active Directory store and System Center (notably Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager).
• Standardize and automate your processes and workflows - to take the best advantage of a private cloud infrastructure, you'll need to build standardized server, platform and application packages and templates. That's only possible if you've done your homework and standardized the processes and workflows that those software packages will support.
• Think about how the IT Pro role needs to change - the cloud enables huge efficiencies in the data center. Be a hero today as you enable the cloud, but work to become a Director tomorrow. Combine a deep knowledge of your business' needs, future directions and work processes with your expertise in technology. Use this combination and the power of the cloud to not just enable IT for your business, but to actually turn IT into a competitive edge the business can directly convert into new business and revenue. That's the big win for tomorrow's cloud IT pro.
• Last, take advantage of Microsoft guidance - We'll be releasing lots of guidance, both technical and higher-level, regarding the journey to cloud computing in the coming months. Check the Microsoft cloud pages, TechNet's cloud resources and especially the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track pages for in-depth technical guidance. There's much more to come, so check back often.

Oliver Rist

SCPM

We’ve been seeing quite a bit of chatter on the “internets” about the goings-on at TechEd Europe 2010 in Berlin, and it’s great to see the diverse impressions of attendees as the event happens.

Net Noteworthies

The announcements and news about a range of things—including Hyper-V Cloud, the VMM SSP 2.0 release, and RC availability of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010—garnered comment and tweets aplenty. Here are a few from the community that stood out for us among the hubbub of official announcements and journalist/analyst reports (in no particular order)….

Check out the full post on the System Center Nexus blog for the rest of the story.

- Server & Cloud Platform Team

Worried about having to implement lots of new software to build your private cloud? You may not have to. Enterprises that have standardized on Windows Server 2008 R2 are, like as not, already running all the building blocks they need to configure a private cloud. And that foundation will extend as your cloud computing ambitions grow. That's because Microsoft is leveraging the skills and technology investments you've already made to build a familiar and consistent platform across traditional, private and public cloud environments. At its core, our private cloud requires three pillars:

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Hyper-V, and
• System Center.

By using these three building blocks as your foundation, you not only get a powerful private cloud infrastructure, you also benefit from the deep integration and ecosystem that Microsoft provides, including future product and platform features as well as detailed guidance and training.

You'll also be able to more easily bridge the gap between private and public cloud computing. Microsoft's identity (Active Directory), management (System Center) and developer (.Net and Visual Studio) technologies span across traditional, private and public cloud environments, helping to keep current your infrastructure and in-house applications as cloud computing evolves. This evolution will likely incorporate solutions from third-party vendors; for example, with the System Center suite, Microsoft enables you to manage across hypervisors from multiple vendors today. That means you can build your private cloud environment on existing infrastructure across multiple vendors, including Microsoft and VMware.

The key to turning your current Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V and System Center installations into a private cloud foundation is guidance - and we're providing a lot of it. Get an overview on building a private cloud here; then check out the Hyper-V Cloud programs mentioned in the post below. With this program you can get deployment guides, pre-validated configurations and even cloud-savvy service providers. And don't forget to check out Windows Azure for resources on combining your private cloud with the power of public cloud computing. Check back often as we'll be providing more information, IT Pro guidance and customer success stories over the next several months.

If you're looking to get started implementing a Microsoft private cloud infrastructure, the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program can offer invaluable help by delivering pre-validated reference architectures. The Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track solutions are currently being offered by 6 Microsoft hardware partners, who cover a broad swath of the Windows Server hardware market.

Hit the Fast Track site and you can browse solution briefs from all these partners, including:

• Dell
• Fujitsu
• Hitachi
• HP
• IBM
• NEC

Each partner will be enabling their own Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Web presence, containing information on their Fast Track configurations as well as related offerings and how to get started. Specifically, you'll learn how each of these partners takes their compute, network, storage and management technologies and combines those with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center to provide a comprehensive stack for private cloud infrastructure.   Check back often for updates!

With the announcement of Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track at TechEd Europe today, some of the partners have also blogged about their participation. Check out these blogs from Dell, Hitachi Data Systems, HP and NEC.

If you'd like to know more about Hyper-V Cloud. Patrick O'Rourke writes about the all up Hyper-V Cloud Program on the Virtualization blog.

Scott Rosenbloom

Senior Product Manager

Windows Server Marketing