Today Microsoft announces new IT solutions to streamline PC and device management, empower productivity and enable the modern enterprise, highlighting the release of Windows Intune, System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 and the next version of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

See the full press release here - and download System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 today!

IT pros involved with planning cloud projects for this year or next have a new training resource. Earlier this week, Microsoft launched a new virtual training portal aimed at IT professionals who want to learn new skills and enhance existing ones for cloud computing environments.

We went live at the Microsoft Management Summit 2011 in Las Vegas, and so far the response has been great, with over 4,000 IT pros signing on in under a week.  The Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) offers at-no-cost training for IT professionals that will take you right to the heart of the latest advances in Microsoft cloud computing, offering guidance through real-life deployment scenarios and the latest technologies and tools. The academy will provide a series of content tracks and progress tracking using a points-and-rewards system. 

As well as a variety of training courses based around Microsoft cloud technologies including Windows Azure and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, IT professionals who subscribe to MVA can select from whitepapers, webcasts, training videos, forums and access to community experts. I was personally involved with the Private Cloud track, so be sure to check that out and give feedback.

You'll also get regular statistics on your performance and professional progress, and as active members you'll also eligible for certification voucher discounts, coupons for training centers, as well as preferred access to Microsoft events and other benefits. And be sure to check back often as we'll be adding new courses, new tracks and updating existing tracks on a regular basis in the near future.

Oliver Rist

Microsoft Server & Cloud Marketing

From the sold-out Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, Brad Anderson posts about empowering our customers with Private Cloud computing.  This post comes directly from the Official Microsoft blog.  View the associated press release here.

Private Cloud Computing: It’s all About the Apps

This is a big week for Microsoft and many of our enterprise IT customers. We’re hosting the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, a sold-out IT conference where I have the honor of delivering two keynote addresses to approximately 4,000 attendees.

The theme of MMS is “You. Empowered,” which is particularly relevant to cloud computing – especially private cloud computing. In this new computing paradigm, we see the ability for IT organizations to empower their companies to more effectively deliver the business applications they need to compete and succeed.

We have just undergone a period in IT where cost pressure drove an intense focus on server consolidation and virtualization. It is important, however, that our industry recognizes that the promise of cloud computing is different from virtualization. While virtualization benefits were “all about the infrastructure,” cloud computing will prove to be “all about the application”.

In fact, an agile infrastructure that is disconnected from the applications it supports simply does not serve the business. I hear this every time I speak with IT leaders. They tell me service level agreements for applications are top of mind, including speed of deployment, troubleshooting and overall visibility. Ultimately, they are looking to ensure that their apps reliably do what they are intended to do for employees and customers.

In cloud computing, I see great opportunity for these customers. If you think about it, cloud computing is, at its core, focused on applications. In the very large cloud centers, where we run the Windows Azure,  Office 365, Xbox Live, and Bing services (among others), application service levels are all that matter.  We have optimized everything – the facility, the infrastructure, the processes – to deliver on-demand, standardized IT services that run on shared resources. While Microsoft’s investment in these types of cloud centers is unique, the best practices can be directly applied to every IT environment.

So, how does a company get there? Certainly virtualization is an important step, and many organizations are at that phase in their “journey to the cloud.” (Case in point: retail leader Target Co. using our Hyper-V technologies.) But how can you be sure your company is well positioned to move to cloud computing, ready to meet the business demands for faster, more reliable application services?

You start with a management infrastructure that is designed to empower IT. A management infrastructure that brings together the network, storage and computing islands into an integrated fabric. A management infrastructure that can create clouds with just a few clicks. Management that empowers the business to build, deploy and scale applications on their terms. And management infrastructure that is not just “virtual machine aware,” but delivers the application insight that your business depends upon, spanning both private and public cloud services.

That kind of management can make the difference between IT really delivering business value and just managing cost and complexity. In addition, IT administrators will find that it unlocks career opportunity, as well. Just as we move from individual servers to infrastructure fabric, server administrators will see an opportunity to lead the journey to the cloud.

That’s what we’re showing at MMS today. (You will soon be able to view my keynote speeches and read our news announcements here.) Our management offerings are designed to help IT organizations build private cloud solutions that deliver application services, not just virtual machines. With our approach, the applications drive the IT infrastructure, not the other way around. The management technologies at the center give both IT managers and application managers throughout the company a unified view into applications in private, public and hybrid cloud scenarios.

Finally, with a Microsoft private cloud, customers can use the infrastructure they know and own today to build and deliver private cloud computing as a managed service, including other vendors’ tools, platforms and virtualization technologies. We emphasize putting our customers’ needs ahead of any particular technology.

If you’re interested in more details, I invite you to watch my keynote speeches here, or visit our Hyper-V Cloud web site. Let us know your thoughts!

Posted by Brad Anderson

Corporate Vice President, Management and Security Division, Microsoft

A press release published today confirms that Target Corporation has 1,750 stores running Hyper-V and, in a related case study, it shows how Microsoft’s Virtualization solution will save the company millions of dollars in hardware, electrical, and maintenance costs.

We have all been moved by the seriousness of the situation in Japan and looking for ways to help wherever we can.

We have received urgent requests from customers in Japan for content on how to deal with power outages and disaster recovery issues. The Server and Cloud Divisin Information Experience Team, SCD iX has established a page on the TechNet wiki that contains links to our guidance on this subject.

Here is the link to the wiki page: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/windows-server-emergency-management.aspx.

Included in this page are links to content on:

·         Procedures for backing up/restoring data

·         Procedures for shutting down servers

·         General disaster recovery guidance

·         Information about migrating to Azure

The wiki page is being surfaced to customers via the following:

·         The Windows Server Tech Centers have been updated to point to the wiki page:

§  2008 R2: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb310558

§  2003: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb512919

§  2000: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb643141

·         There is also a support page in Japan (http://support.microsoft.com/?ln=ja) that will point to the wiki page

Other teams at Microsoft are lining up localization resources to translate the wiki page into Japanese. We are also contacting the Windows Server community PMs to see if they know of additional content that would be helpful.

If you think you can help with this effort please join our Wiki and contribute.

We hope this content is helpful for everyone in need.

Kevin Beares

Senior Community Lead

Server and Cloud Division