Microsoft TechNet Ireland Blog : Communications and Collaboration

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Technical Overview

endaf — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:41:00 GMT

The Irish Windows User Group will be running a session focusing on OCS, aka Office Communications Server. The speaker is John McCabe, a senior engineer with CDSoft.

Mobile users and mobile computing have enabled a more flexible workforce but there is a challenge in enabling communications that are just as flexible and mobile. OCS can be used to resolve these issues. For most of us, this is an alien world and we just wouldn't know where to start. This session aims to show you how you can use OCS to resolve communications issues in your business.

About The Speaker

John McCabe works for CDSoft Limited based in Celbridge, Kildare. He has worked for over 12 years in the IT industry in various different fields ranging from telecoms, security, deployment and design. Over the last 12 months he has focused his attention on pushing Unified Communications in the Irish market place. He has presented alongside Microsoft on “Tech Days” about Unified Communications and many times in Microsoft “Envision” Centre. John has attained the 088-924 and 074-924 Voice Specialization Exams from Microsoft further complementing his UC skillset

Where And When

Registration is mandatory for attending the in-person event at Microsoft.

The event will be held in Building 1 at the Microsoft European Development Centre (EDC), South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18.

July 9th 2009

Registration: 09:00

Event: 09:00 until 12:00

Registration

To attend in person you must register.

Live Meeting

Although the best experience is to be on site for the presentation, we will be live webcasting the event using Live Meeting. You should use the installed (not the web) client.

There is no need to register for the live event if you only wish to tune into the webcast.

The URL for the meeting is: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=OCSOverview&role=attend

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Excellent Exchange 2010 Session Coming Up on 12th June

endaf — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:42:00 GMT

On June 12th the Windows User Group will be running a session on Exchange 2010, also known as Exchange 14. The speaker, Nathan Winters, is an Exchange MVP, consultant and author with huge experience and a growing international reputation. As you can see from the session agenda, the world of email has evolved into a world of communications and collaboration, introducing many new technologies and offering new ways to access existing technologies with solutions for the major corporates and the small businesses. This will be an interesting session that will explain what's happening now and in the near future.

Agenda

Introduction: Nathan will discuss the history of email with a particular focus on Exchange, this sets up the rest of the presentation which is about the future of email (Microsoft Style!)
Software + Services: Whether this is the future or not, what Microsoft is doing, the BPOS suite, limitations, benefits, and customers who have used it. Nathan will also show a demo. He will touch on Exchange Lab@Edu which leads into Exchange 2010 – Approx 20 mins
Exchange 2010 will be the main section of the presentation: The basics (roles, prerequisites etc). Nathan will take a look at the aims of the product group and dive into depth around the new features related to each of the roles
A brief intro to Unified Communications: This section will give a very brief intro to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and then end with a demo of some key work scenarios and features
Summary and Questions

Live Webcast

We will be using LiveMeeting to share this presentation live to the world! You can sign in here using this code: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=46G74S&role=attend

Please use the free installed client instead of the web client. The web client has issues regarding audio sharing.

About Nathan Winters

Nathan Winters is a Lead Consultant for Dimension Data. He is responsible for the Microsoft Exchange practice in the UK. Nathan has been working in I.T. for six years and specializes in Exchange and Office Communications Server.

Midway through 2006 Nathan founded the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group UK which holds regular meetings in the UK to discuss topics related to Exchange. In April 2007 Nathan was awarded an MVP (Exchange Server) for his work with MMMUG and regular contributions to the Mark Minasi Forum. Nathan is a regular contributor to the MSExchange.org website and Nathan's other articles have been published by Penton Media (Exchange and Outlook Administrator newsletter), Microsoft (TechNet Industry Insiders) and on the MMMUG website.

Registration

Anyone wishing to attend the event should register. This event is being held in Microsoft so registration is mandatory. As usual, there is no cost associated with this event.

Please spread word of the event to anyone you think may be interested.

Tech Days: Galway March10, Cork March12 (7pm-9.30pm)

endaf — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:29:00 GMT

Tech Days, a joint effort between Microsoft and the IT Pro community, is bringing exceptional up-to-date technical content to Galway and Cork. Register and learn more about these evening events @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/technet/techdays.aspx

Galway will cover Windows 7 and Client Deployment Tools, a session for the 'accidental' (or involuntary) DBAs and a great Integrated BI Solutions session.

Cork will look at Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (Live Migration!) as well as excellent technical demos and best practice sharing on Unified Comms and SharePoint.

There is no cost for attending the event and what's more, the TechNet team have sweeeeet prizes for give-away on the evenings: an Xbox elite and two TechNet Plus Subscriptions in each city.

Enda

Microsoft Community Tech Days

ieitpro — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:47:00 GMT

The countdown is on for MS Community Tech Days!...only two weeks until Galway and Cork at the time of posting this (Galway 10th and Cork 12th March). Blindingly good technical content to be caught! Learn more and register @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/technet/techdays.aspx.

Tech Days are a collaborative effort between Microsoft and the IT Pro community to re-deliver the highlights of Tech Ed Conference to IT Pros across Ireland. Register now to avoid disappointment! The core content will focus on Infrastructure, BI and Unified Comms & Collaboration. Most of the sessions will be delivered by a combination of Microsoft and Community technical presenters and we promise they will involve as much time spent demoing the technology, as possible.

March will see the four-city tour stop for evening events in Galway and Cork, with full day events in Dublin and Belfast. Our special guest speaker in Galway, Dublin and Belfast is Rhonda Layfield, who was voted one of the best technical presenters @ Tech Ed Europe and North America. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to get up-to speed on the latest Microsoft technology (technical level 300) at no cost! We hope to see you there. Learn more and register here.

We are also running ‘Microsoft @ Home’ sessions in Dublin and Belfast in March, the timing of which line up nicely with the Tech Days. These sessions will look at Home Networking, Windows 7, Securing your Home and Digital Photography. So if you’re someone who has even thought about, using your Xbox 360 as a media extender for example, then you’ll certainly like this session. Learn more and register here.

Enda

Inaugural SharePoint User Group Meeting in Shannon

ieitpro — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:13:00 GMT

Great news for those of you over in the mid-West of Ireland! On March 3^rd, Westpark Business Centre will host the inaugural Shannon SharePoint User Group Meeting. The breakfast event will run from 8am until 10.30am and has some terrific speakers representing both multinational technology firms and local technology partners.

See below for the agenda and how you can register.

When: 3^rd March, 8.00-10.30am

Where: Westpark Shannon Ltd, 4000 Atlantic Avenue in Shannon (061 479111).

Email nforan@central-solutions.com to register for this event.

07:45 Registration & Complimentary Breakfast.

08:30 Introduction & Welcome.

08:40 Introduction to SharePoint: A brief overview of SharePoint, Quick wins with SharePoint, 5 ways to save money with SharePoint and a real life case study. Daragh Morrissey - Senior Microsoft Services Consultant.

09:10 Case Study by Central Solutions Ltd: Demonstration of SharePoint in managing cost centres, facilitating collaboration, managing projects and deploying intranets/extranets. Paul Conheady, Central Solutions.

09.30 Experiences with SharePoint: Dell's perspective on the use of SharePoint for cost savings and information management. Kieran Fitzgerald, Dell.

09.45 A User’s Perspective: Collaboration, Team and Project Management. Rick Dunphy, Intel.

10:00 Panel Discussion / Q&A.

10:30 Close

Enda

SBS 2008 BusinessSpeak and GeekSpeak with Harry Brelsford & Philip Elder LIVE SBS 2008 Server-side Setup

ieitpro — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:15:00 GMT

Your chance to see the SBS 2008 server-side setup process, learn more about the pre-requisite step of configuring your router\firewall.

6pm December 7^th, location tbc. Please register to receive updates. You must be logged in to register for this event.

There is a 5euro charge for this event; all money raised is to be given to charity, decided by attendees. To register click the lick, become a member of the site and register for the event here: http://www.partneroutreach.com/Events/tabid/54/ctl/Details/Mid/373/ItemID/4/Default.aspx?selecteddate=12/7/2008

Small Business Server User Group: Remote Monitoring tools

ieitpro — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:09:00 GMT

Presenting - Hound Dog, N-Able, and Microsoft System Center Essentials. Places are limited for this event, so please register early. To register click the link and login: http://www.sbsireland.com/Events/tabid/55/ModuleID/514/ItemID/37/mctl/EventDetails/Default.aspx?selecteddate=12/11/2008

11th December (Dublin 5.30pm-8.30pm):

SharePoint User Group Kick-off in Dublin: a forum for IT Professionals interested in SharePoint

ieitpro — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:50:00 GMT

Wahoooo!...Last night saw the inaugural meeting of the SharePoint User Group in Ireland and it got off to a flying start! The meeting took place in Sandyford in Dublin and the introdcutory topic was 'Setting up a MOSS Farm'. Stephen Cummins (local SharePoint User Group Lead and SharePoint MVP) presented for the kick-off sesion but attendees from customers, partners and MS all contributed to open discussion.

You can expect to see SharePoint UG meetings taking place in Dublin on a monthly basis, the next topic is planned to be 'SharePoint Governance'. A meeting is also planned for Belfast on January 16th and watch this space (or http://www.sugie.org/) also for details of a meeting taking palce in Munster.

Here's some of the useful resources that were mentioned by the Microsoft Consultants last night (thanks Aidan and Donal):

þ Patterns and Practices SharePoint Guidance: http://www.codeplex.com/spg

þ Best Practices Resources Center: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb736746.aspx

þ Governance Resource Center: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb507202.aspx

þ Interactive Road Map: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/bb497969.aspx

þ Application Templates for WSS 3.0 (Fab 40): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb407286.aspx

þ The same Fantastic 40 but deployed on a MOSS site so potential users can try them before downloading: http://www.wssdemo.com/application/default.aspx

SharePoint User Group Launching in Ireland!

ieitpro — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:49:00 GMT

It's been on the cards for a while now...but I'm delighted to announce that, SharePoint MVP, Stephen Cummins is going to head up the Irish SharePoint User Group, which is due to have its inaugural meeting on the evening November 17th! Stephen is actually going to be the first speaker too - the opening topic is Planning and setting up your first MOSS farm: Hardware, Software, Licences, Capacity and Availability.

Please see http://www.sugie.org/ for full details of meeting and another date to be announced for a Belfast meeting.

Microsoft Unified Communications & Collaboration Seminars

ieitpro — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:48:00 GMT

For those of you considering undertaking SharePoint or OCS projects, or generally interested in Collaboration & Unified Comms, this seminar should be good learning...

13 November 2008, Dublin: 21st Century Communications and Collaboration register here.
20 November 2008, Belfast: 21st Century Communications and Collaboration register here.

Who Should Attend: The seminar is primarily intended for technical decision makers including: CIO's, IT Directors and IT Managers

Summary: Eircom predicts annual savings of "just under a million " through their adoption of Microsoft's Unified Communications and Collaboration tools. This event will introduce you to the "New World of Work" Eircom have achieved, which uses Microsoft's Unified Communication and Collaboration technologies to save money and increase efficiency. The event will feature customer presentations (including Eircom), in-depth product demos and a panel discussion.

Ask the Unified Communications and Collaboration Expert

ieitpro — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:45:00 GMT

Q I'm developing a search strategy for my organisation we currently have SharePoint 2007 but it is not currently deployed should I build my search strategy on MOSS or Windows Search Server 2008 Express?

A SharePoint Server 2007 provides a comprehensive search solution for organisations as it supports, document shares, SharePoint libraries, inter/intra net sites, Exchange public libraries, people search and Line of Business Data via the BDC, since the release of SharePoint 2007 Server SP1 we also now support open search standards to provide federated search scenarios and connectors for vendor solutions such as EMC Documentum. More information on Microsoft search and partner solutions can be found here.

Q I am an Office 2003 user, lately my business contacts have been sending me Microsoft Office documents that are stored in a new format, what can I do apart from ask them to resend them in the Office 2003 format?

A Great Question, Microsoft released an add-in called the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats which is available here. Gartner have advised organisations to proactively deploy the Office File Compatibility Pack to aid migration and just these scenarios.

Q I'm developing a SharePoint 2007 deployment for my company. Is there a single place which shows me the best practice approach?
Q We're using instant messaging extensively in our organisation. Can we use this away from our PC's?
Q What are the bandwidth requirements of OCS? Do I need to change anything in my network to accommodate VoIP and video?
Q My company are deploying the Office Professional Plus2007 clients to our desktop estate and want to ensure existing users can find the features they traditionally accessed by menu’s what can I do?

See more helpful answers @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/connect/ask/

Collaboration Feature Article: Transitioning from File Shares to SharePoint

ieitpro — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:32:00 GMT

While currently most files are designed to be stored on standard file systems, the move to a web based system – SharePoint – is happening because of the added benefits for users. These include check-in/out, workflow, auditing and records management. SharePoint can perform the same functions as a file share: there is item level security, and a recycle bin, and SharePoint Explorer view can be used to perform file share like actions. SharePoint Explorer's interface contains many of the same characteristics and functionality as Windows Explorer. These are still however many types of file not designed for storage in SharePoint. The standard kinds of documents to put into SharePoint are MS Office documents, but also PDFs and ZIP files. For SharePoint to crawl the content of these, additional ifilters must be installed and configured.

Other Considerations

Offline access is also a consideration. Tools like Outlook 2007 and Groove can be used to sync with SharePoint, but this is not as simple as using the local hard drive on a laptop. File Shares are also easier to replicate and backup. SharePoint is a complex mix of IIS, file shares and SQL Server data. SharePoint does not always integrate with some 3rd Party applications either. It is difficult to copy attachments to and from Lotus Notes clients for example. Lots of applications can see UNC paths but not HTTP. SQL Storage is also more expensive than file storage, so must be definite productivity benefit in moving to SharePoint and a clear ROI.

Using SharePoint requires training. Most users know how to upload a file to a share, and use Save As... and Open. But SharePoint is not as simple. There is an additional cost involved here, as well as the time taken to transition and train users with the new system. There is also training users how to move content around within SharePoint and how to navigate the system, as well as use new functionality like versioning and Check-in/out.

Linked Files and Documents
Linked documents and files cannot be run from a SharePoint site, as the dependency on an external sources isn’t captured in SharePoint. For example, the URL references created in a linked Excel file when it is uploaded to a SharePoint site are not translated by Excel, and the links will not work. The creator of an AutoCad file would be responsible for ensuring the file was either not linked to other files or are consistently created in the appropriate file format (*.dwf). In all situations, SharePoint is unable to resolve embedded links in documents/files.

Database, Configuration, and Log Files
In order to properly use database files, configuration files and log files, they need to be open and in a locked (writable) state. For example, in a normal file server scenario, shared MS Access databases need have several instances of the database open and locked to allow for users to update it. Similarly, log files and configuration files must be locked and in a writable state. Outlook *.pst files are designed to be used locally, as they have a one to one relationship with the *.pst file owner. SharePoint is not designed to manage locked files (.llck) and therefore it would not be a best use of the platform to run these types of files from a SharePoint site. They can, however, be stored in SharePoint, but would need to be downloaded to the local machine to work effectively. Common examples include: Access database files, Windows configuration files, application log files, Outlook personal stores and archive stores (.pst) and offline stores (.ost).

Large files

Large Audio/Video and Streaming Media and other large archive read only media such as DVDs, CDs storage (.iso, .wmv, .ram, .vhd) are too big and costly to store and share via SharePoint. Linking to these from SharePoint is the best option.

Application Developer Resources (i.e. Visual Studio)

Visual Studio and similar application development suites are designed so that developers can build applications and deploy them to others. This application work is often broken up into project files during development, with the goal of compiling the project files into a final executable file.

While the project files can be uploaded to SharePoint to be shared with other developers, the best practice is to use a file compression utility (i.e. WinZip) to collect and upload the *.zip file to SharePoint.

Source Control

While SharePoint is an excellent document control/document versioning tool, it is not designed to be replacement for a Source Code Control solution like to Visual Source Safe.

Application Distribution: Batch, Command Scripts, Executables (.exe, .vbs, .cmd, .bat)
SharePoint is not designed to be a host for Product or Application distribution similar to the functionality provided in Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), or as a replacement for a network server that is used to distribute application packages. The recommended application here would be to create a SharePoint site and provide hyperlinks to the server location where the application packages are stored.

Conclusion

Simply for storage, file servers are a better option, but for standard user generated content, SharePoint adds additional functionality that will make most users jobs easier. There will continue to be a need for some file storage however in most organizations.

Stephen Cummins, SharePoint MVP, runs the popular SharePoint blog www.spsfaq.com. He is a Microsoft Technologies Consultant who has specialised in SharePoint for the past seven years. He has managed in excess of thirty SharePoint Implementations to clients including: The Disney Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Deloitte & Touche, Kraft Foods International, McAfee, BP, The International Criminal Court, European Patent Office and Intel.

Stephen is going to be heading up the Irish SharePoint User Group, which is due to launch in the second half of November. See http://www.sugie.org/ for details of the inaugural meeting!

Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility Briefing Event 2008

ieitpro — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:00:00 GMT

We are hosting a really GREAT Mobility Event on February 21st.

Business right across Ireland are demanding more manageable integrated mobility solutions. To date, mobile devices have often been rolled out in a haphazard fashion and the management of those devices has often been achieved in a non-integrated way. If you subjected the mobile phones and PDAs accessing your corporate network to the same rigours of IT risk and management policies that you do your laptops, how would they measure up?

This event will provide you with an answer to some of your key mobility questions. We will bring you through the Windows Mobile roadmap and also take a comprehensive look at Microsoft's System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. Mobile Device Manager is Microsoft’s comprehensive mobile device management solution that provides greater reliability, reduces maintenance costs, simplifies manageability, and easily scales to support thousands of Windows Mobile users. It also integrates with your Active Directory/Group Policy implementations and with security-enhanced mobile VPN, on-device encryption, remote device wipe, and more. Mobile Device Manager gives users more secure access to the corporate data they need to stay productive virtually anytime and anywhere, including line-of-business applications, SharePoint servers, document libraries, and file shares.

Prizes will be given out on the day!

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Briefing 2008

Speaker: Jason Langridge (Mr Mobile Blog!) – Biography below.

Date: 21 February 2008

Location: Microsoft's Atrium B Building, Carmenhall Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18
Who should attend: IT professionals, IT Managers, Exchange Administrators.
Registration: Click here to register

Full Agenda

08.30 – 09:00 Light breakfast and registration

09:00 – 09:10 Welcome and Introduction

09:10 – 10:10 Windows Mobile Update and introduction System Center Mobile Device Manager.

System Center Mobile Device Manager is a comprehensive mobile device management solution that provides greater reliability, reduces maintenance costs, simplifies manageability, and easily scales to support thousands of Windows Mobile users. With security-enhanced mobile VPN, on-device encryption, remote device wipe, and more, Mobile Device Manager gives users more secure access to the corporate data they need to stay productive virtually anytime and anywhere, including line-of-business applications, SharePoint servers, document libraries, and file shares.

10:10 – 10:40 We will also be showing Case Studies highlighting Windows Mobile Deployments: showing the simplicity and benefits of Windows Mobile.

10:40 – 10:50 Coffee and break

10:50 – 11:20 Unified Communications Update.

The value of the Windows Mobile platform with other Microsoft products is clearly demonstrated in the release of Office Communicator Mobile 2007. Communicator Mobile extends Microsoft’s Live Communications Server’s capabilities to mobile devices, enabling companies to deploy IM and presence-enabled solutions that provide a consistent real-time communications experience across PCs and smart mobile devices.

11:20 – 11:50 Customer Success Story – Northern Ireland Wildlife Ambulance Board and ALK

11:50 – 12:15 How to engage and get started.

12:15 – 12:30 Summary, Q&A, close

Windows Mobile 6: New Datasheet for IT Professionals

ieitpro — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 18:49:00 GMT

With a host of new features and enhancements, Windows Mobile 6 helps your organization extend previous investments in Microsoft software, infrastructure, and training. Read the full article