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Tech.Ed 2008 has finally wrapped up... I was in Auckland for Tech.Ed NZ on Monday and Tuesday, and then in Sydney for Tech.Ed Australia from Wednesday to Friday.
It was a hectic and somewhat exhausting week as I was the track/content owner for Unified Communications and Mobility, and I also presented or co-presented 9 sessions. But more importantly it was a fun week... I met literally hundreds of my peers and associates in the local technology industry, we launched a local Sydney UC community, we had a great party on Thursday night, and the vibe of the whole event was simply amazing!
Here are some photos and videos from Sydney....
Some of the local Microsoft UC team - Alan Cardenas, Steve Edmonds,
Mario D'Silva and Colin Lee
" It was this big! " - Mario D'Silva presenting UNC305 (Exchange 2007 UM)
RFID scanners
Who will be The Ultimate Expert?
Sydney UC kick-off lunch
Me on the left, Brendan Carius on the right: setting up before UNC314
(OCS/PBX Interop... In Real Time!)
Brendan and me presenting UNC314 (OCS/PBX Interop... In Real Time!)
Mexican Wave during Mobility Smackdown! Filmed with a Treo Pro
Colin Lee chats to some Women In Technology about Tech.Ed
In case you haven't heard, Tech.Ed 2009 will be at the Gold Coast. See you there!
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I was interviewed yesterday at Tech.Ed New Zealand by Nic Romaniuk about my views on Unified Comms, and how it's changing the way people work.
Check it out at http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/office-unified-communications.aspx (click Johan Kruse (SIC) under Other Videos on the right).
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Tech.Ed in Sydney has kicked off. A great vibe, and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves so far.
Blurry photo of the keynote
Jonathan Lewis presenting UNC301 (How MSIT does Exchange)
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I've just got back to Sydney after two days in Auckland for Tech.Ed New Zealand. From tomorrow morning I'll be at Tech.Ed Australia. Here are some photos.....
Rick Anderson and Mauricio Freitas after UNC117
Behind the lectern in UNC314
Brendan Carius setting up just before UNC314
Sky City - the venue
Colin Lee presenting UNC302
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At Tech.Ed next week we're launching a new community for Unified Comms in Sydney - Sydney UC!
If you work in, are passionate about, or just enjoy Exchange, OCS, VoIP, video, or comms in general - this is the place for you to network with your peers, learn from the experts, see the technologies and roadmaps, and of course have fun.
The group will be driven by several well-known experts in the industry including: Derrick Buckley (OCS MVP, owner of SWIUG), Craig Pringle (MVP) James McCutcheon (MVP), and Dr. Neil (MVP, Microsoft Regional Director).
We'll be kicking off Sydney UC at lunchtime on Thursday at Tech.Ed, and of course will be available via LiveMeeting for those who can't attend in person.
Come and join us!
More details at http://sydneyuc.org
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After a lot of whining, begging and stalking DonK, I finally managed to get my hands on a loaner Palm Treo Pro for Tech.Ed next week.
Palm Treo Pro on the left, Palm Treo 750 on the right
Great device! Read my brief review over at the Windows Mobile Oz blog.
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At Tech.Ed Australia next week we are doing something new with Ask The Experts night... at Commnet you can submit questions beforehand and nominate Experts to answer them.
In the panel of Experts your nominee will then answer your question, and their answers will be voted upon. Then after several rounds of elimination there will be a final "Expert-off" and one will be crowned The Ultimate Expert!
What's in it for you?
People who submit questions are in the running to win a HP TouchSmart IQ505a multi-touch PC, or one of several HP iPAQ Travel Companions.
HP TouchSmart IQ505a and HP iPAQ Travel Companion
So what are you waiting for??? Go and submit your questions! Take a look at your schedule builder to see who are the speakers/experts in your areas of interest.
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Sure is! (but I am also happy to see you) This beast was recently purchased on eBay and is currently sitting in Microsoft's Melbourne office.
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I love seeing the old 1950s phone next to the Communicator Phone Editions (aka Tanjay). In UNC314 we will get these talking to each other.
Brendan Carius and Steve Edmonds are building out their demo environments for Tech.Ed next week, and this PABX will be used in two sessions:
UNC313: Planning Voice Architecture and Deployment in Office Communications Server 2007 and UNC314: Office Communications Server PBX Interop... in Real Time!
UNC314 in particular should be fun... it is a 100% demo-based session - in 75 minutes Brendan and I will get this PABX talking to both OCS 2007 and Exchange 2007 UM. We will have Exchange providing voicemail to analog phones, and will move live PSTN phone numbers between the PABX and OCS.
In the end it should look something like this......
See you in Auckland on Tuesday or Sydney on Friday!
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Confused about Edge Server configuration and security? The best idea is to come to UNC316: Office Communications Server 2007 Security: Architecture and Edge Services with Derrick Buckley and Craig Pringle at Tech.Ed in Sydney next week :)
But if you can't make it to Tech.Ed then it might be worthwhile checking out the Edge Planning Tool.
The Edge Planning Tool asks questions about your proposed or current edge server deployment. The tool uses your answers and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 best practices to generate the following reports:
- Settings that you can use to configure your certificates, DNS services, and firewalls
- Custom documentation for configuring your edge servers, reverse proxy, and next hop server
- A comparison of your answers to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 best practices
Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=149e5dd5-eaae-46b6-afba-01c31e88a275&displaylang=en