Johann's Unified Communications : TechEd Australia

Tech.Ed Australia and New Zealand Call for Content Now Open

jkruse — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:59:01 GMT

Coatsey has announced the Call For Content for TechEd 2009.

If you’re interested in presenting at TechEd please read his post for details. I am track owner for Unified Comms (assisted by Paul Dolley in NZ), so will be reviewing and accepting content for anything Exchange/OCS related.

Submitting a topic

So how do you go about submitting a session? Go to the Call for Content tool and register with your email address and the RSVP code TechEdANZ. Fill in all the details and hit submit. You can come back to the site at any time to update or review the progress of your submission.

Feel free to ping me with questions using the email link on my blog, or by sending me an IM if I’m online.

TechEd 2009… it’s coming!

jkruse — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:02:03 GMT

Wow time flies!

This morning I opened Outlook to see an email from Coatsey asking if I’d like to be track owner for Unified Communications again this year at TechEd in Australia & New Zealand. Of course I’m a sucker for punishment, so I gleefully accepted.

TechEd this year is on the Gold Coast from September 9-11 (with the opening party on the evening of the 8^th), and in Auckland from September 14-16.

This year is going to be huge for UC – we have awesome content to share, there will be some rockstar international speakers, and of course it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ll be posting more detail as things progress.

Pencil the dates into your diaries, and watch this space!

OFCCT201 - All-Up Unified Communications and Collaboration Demo

jkruse — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:37:00 GMT

At Tech.Ed Australia Ian Palangio and I did a 75 presentation that contained no PowerPoint slides. It was a complete demonstration of Unified Communications and Collaboration technologies available from Microsoft including:

Office 2007
Office Groove 2007
Office SharePoint Server 2007
Office Communicator 2007
LiveMeeting Hosted Service
Office Communications Server 2007
Exchange Server 2007 including Unified Messaging

An interesting thing is that we completely performed our demonstration live on Microsoft infrastructure - the real stuff that Ian and I (plus 100,000 others) use every day. We connected remotely into Microsoft's network and completed a complete project centric demo. Ian was connected via VPN, and I was VPN-less on a very slow network. My (very) slow network actually wasn't deliberate, it was due to infrastructure issues at the event - but it ended up showing some of the capabilities of our technologies on low-bandwidth/high-latency networks quite well.

Ian has created a Word document of what our demonstration script was, and screen shots of what was shown. For those that attended, you can follow through this content easily. For others, it is a long demonstration scenario around how a company could run an Innovation or R&D type project - in our case it was around the development of a Bluetooth integrated Bicycle Helmet.

You can download this Word demo script document (5MB) from Ian's Windows Live SkyDrive at:

http://cid-e7db9bf957528709.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/OFCCT201%20UCC%20Demo/OFCT201%20UCC%20Demo%20Script.docx

Share this post :

Tech.Ed 2008... what a week!

jkruse — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:54:00 GMT

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!

Share this post :

TE08NZ: UC interview

jkruse — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:56:00 GMT

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).

Share this post :

Tech.Ed Australia.. the first morning

jkruse — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:24:59 GMT

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)

Share this post :

Tech.Ed New Zealand

jkruse — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:04:48 GMT

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

Share this post :

Sydney UC community to launch at Tech.Ed 2008

jkruse — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:32:00 GMT

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

Share this post :

TE08: Who will be The Ultimate Expert?

jkruse — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:35:00 GMT

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.

Share this post :

Is that an analog PABX in your pocket?

jkruse — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:39:30 GMT

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.

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!

Share this post :

Exchange 2007 SP1 Virtualisation and Licensing Announcements

jkruse — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:18:17 GMT

Two big announcements for Exchange 2007 SP1:

Microsoft now supports Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running on Hyper-V or other hypervisors validated under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP).
Microsoft is waiving its 90-day license reassignment policy to enable customers who virtualise Exchange to move their licenses between servers within a data farm as often as necessary.

I recommend reading the following articles for all the necessary information:

Microsoft Virtualization and Licensing Announcements - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/08/19/449621.aspx
Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx

And if you're coming to Tech.Ed in Australia or NZ make sure you attend UNC306: Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Hyper-V where we will be doing a deep-dive on this topic - all the official technical information, recommendations, and some of the gotchas.

Share this post :

Tech.Ed 2008... less than a month to go!

jkruse — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:19:32 GMT

I've been very quiet on the blogging front recently due to a number of things: overseas travel, trying to organise a wedding (I'm getting married in October), illness, but most of all due to the amount of planning and work we're putting into Unified Comms and Mobility at Tech.Ed!

We've now pretty much locked in almost all of the content, and our speakers are now hard at work finishing their decks and building their demos.

So what is Tech.Ed going to look like in Sydney/Auckland this year? Here's an up-to-date sneak-peek at the content we'll be covering across the two countries:

Windows Mobile: Overview & Roadmap

Unify Your Communications

Introduction to Microsoft Online Services for Messaging and Collaboration

Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, and Windows Mobile: The Ultimate Ingredients for Mobile UC

Office on the Beach

Smackdown!

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Architecture and Design in Microsoft IT

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Tips and Tricks

High Availability and Disaster Recovery in Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging Deployment

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Hyper-V

Microsoft Messaging Security and The Next Generation of Virus and Spam Protection

Advanced Protection of Exchange Server with Data Protection Manager

Going Big! A Discussion on Deploying Large Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2007 without Breaking the Bank

Office Communications Server 2007 - Architecture and Deployment Best Practices

How Microsoft IT Architected and Deployed Unified Communications

Planning Voice Architecture and Deployment in Office Communications Server 2007

Office Communications Server PBX Interop... in Real Time!

Conferencing with Office Communications Server 2007

Office Communications Server 2007 Security: Architecture and Edge Services

How to build a Unified Communications Proof of Concept in a few hours

I would love to hear your thoughts/feedback :)

Share this post :

Hyper-V is here.. what about Exchange?

jkruse — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:58:00 GMT

In case you haven't heard the news, we have released Hyper-V into the wild. In fact did you know that 25% of microsoft.com is already running on Hyper-V VMs?

So what about Exchange Server?

As we recently announced at Tech.Ed USA, Microsoft will be publishing a support statement with respect to Exchange Server on Hyper-V within 60 days of today.

Some of the more noteworthy bits of info from the session are:

Within 60 days of Hyper-V's RTM, the Exchange team will publish a detailed support statement for Hyper-V, and a TechNet article with best practices.
Customers should not deploy Exchange on Hyper-V until our support guidance is available.
Early results show that performance of Exchange 2007 on Hyper-V is quite good, and that it scales very well from 1-4 processors per VM.

In terms of best practices and requirements, the following guidance was released:

We're only supporting guests running Exchange Server 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008.
We're only supporting fixed disks, and not dynamic disks.
Storage should be on spindles that are separate from the Guest operating system VHD physical storage.
Storage must be SCSI passthrough or iSCSI (with a preference of SCSI passthrough for queues, databases and log files).
All Exchange server roles, except for the Unified Messaging server role, will be supported.
There's a limit on VHD size of 2040 GB.

It was also mentioned that Hyper-V is a good fit when Exchange servers in branch offices cannot be consolidated to a central datacenter (for example, because of bandwidth or connectivity issues).

In terms of workload, not every workload is a candidate for virtualisation. For example, server roles such as Client Access and Hub Transport can be good candidates, but a more heavy hitter like the Mailbox role (which often uses all available resources on a physical server) might not be the best candidate for virtualising.

So what's the really great thing about this soon-to-be-released guidance?

60 days from now is just in time for Tech.Ed Australia and New Zealand!!!

So of course will be doing a deep-dive on running Exchange 2007 SP1 on Hyper-V based on the official supported guidance :)

In Auckland this will be presented by Sandy Millar, Lead Architect in APAC for MCS; and in Sydney it will be presented by Mario Tevanian and Sander Valkhoff, lead Exchange consultants for MCS Australia.

So make sure you're there to hear all of the official guidance and advice. The Auckland event is sold out, but there are still spaces left in Sydney. Come on kiwis, jump on a plane and visit us in Sydney! We've already committed to our USA speakers that the weather in Sydney will be perfect :)

(also, today (27th June) is the last day for early-bird registration which will save you $250!)

Share this post :

Update on Unified Comms and Mobility track (Australia)

jkruse — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:20:00 GMT

Here is an update to the draft I recently posted for the Unified Communications & Mobility track at Tech.Ed Australia.

These sessions are still not 100% finalised - a few are missing and some names are subject to change - but this should provide a good idea of the kind of content we'll be delivering.

New Zealanders stay tuned - more detail on Tech.Ed NZ will be released in coming days....

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Architecture and Design in Microsoft IT

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Tips and Tricks

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Storage Deep Dive

High Availability and Disaster Recovery in Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging Deployment

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Introduction to Microsoft Online Services for Messaging and Collaboration

Securing Exchange Server with ForeFront, EHS, ISA and IAG

Advanced Protection of Exchange Server with Data Protection Manager

Unified Communications Overview and Roadmap

Office Communications Server 2007 - Architecture and Deployment Best Practices

How Microsoft IT Architected and Deployed Unified Communications

Planning Voice Architecture and Deployment in Office Communications Server 2007

Conferencing with Office Communications Server 2007

Office Communications Server 2007 Edge Drilldown: Remote Access and Federation

Windows Mobile: Overview & Roadmap

Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, and Windows Mobile: The Ultimate Ingredients for Mobile UC

Office on the Beach

Smackdown!

There will also be some interactive "chalk-talk" sessions including:

How to build an OCS Proof of Concept in 2-3 hours
Unified Comms in the Real World - customer examples

What do you think?

Share this post :

Talking Smack!

jkruse — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:40:00 GMT

Yesterday I caught up with Roger Lawrence and Rick Anderson and we recorded a video discussion about Mobility Smackdown!, one of the most popular sessions at TechEd Australia.

Hear about the history of Smackdown! as well as what's planned for this year. It's going to be massive - demo-offs, competitions, prizes, and best of all no Death-by-PowerPoint!!!!

Video: TechEd 2008: Smackdown! discussion

Smackdown always fills up, and although this year we've secured one of the largest theatres we still expect it to be full. In the lead-up to TechEd keep an eye out here and at Roger's blog for information on how to secure preferred seating!

And of course stay tuned for more information on UC and Mobility at TechEd in Australia & New Zealand.

Share this post :

Technorati Tags: TechEd2008ANZ,TechEd Australia,mobility,smackdown,video,vodcast,Tech.Ed,TechEd