Johann's Unified Communications : photos

Views from Tech’spresso

jkruse — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:13:31 GMT

On Friday morning I attended Dimension Data’s Tech’spresso on OCS R2 in Sydney. It was a full house, and great stuff from Roland Leggatt and Tim White.

OCS VoIP in a disaster zone

jkruse — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:56:22 GMT

Massive storms in Brisbane recently left many people homeless, and in fact it was declared a disaster zone.

One of the people who had their home destroyed in this storm was my mate Bill Lockett from Dimension Data. Our best wishes and thoughts are with him and his family during this time as they rebuild.

Bill’s house lost all power and landline communications, but fortunately Telstra’s NextG network was still online.

Bill was able to use a generator to power his laptop, and with a Polycom CX200 USB handset (which in fact he had to dry out as it was in an inch of water) and Office Communicator 2007 he was still fully able to use his work phone. No special hardware, software, or VPN required. Microsoft’s adaptive RTAudio codec ensured that call quality was excellent, despite the conditions.

Nice one Bill :)

I’m back

jkruse — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:36:40 GMT

I’m back from a long period of silence, but I have some very good reasons for going dark – my wedding, honeymoon, and new house. It’s been a life-changing couple of months – sometimes stressful, but overall some of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

Veronica and me getting married

Krabi, Thailand

Panorama of Phranang Beach, Krabi

Infinity Pool at Evason Phuket

A lot has also happened in the world of UC while I was away, not least of which is our OCS 2007 R2 announcements.

I’ve been back in the office for a week, and still have a million things to catch up on – but one of the great things this week was when I caught up with Greig Sheridan from 3D Networks. He has just picked up himself a very nice Audi S3, and check out his number plate…

Greig Sheridan’s new car

And in more recent news, I am of course once again taking part in Movember……

Clean-shaven on Movember the 1st

Movember is a fundraising event held during November each year that raises awareness about male health issues.

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

The official website is http://au.movember.com and more information on the Movember Foundation is at http://au.movember.com/outcomes/content/Movember-Foundation

To sponsor the Microsoft Mo Bros…….

Click this link https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1728386&country=au and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
Write a cheque payable to ‘Movember Foundation', referencing our Registration Number 1728386 and mailing it to:
                                            Movember Foundation
                                            PO Box 292
                                            Prahran VIC 3181
All donations over $2 are tax deductible (in Australia).

And keep an eye out for updates now that I’m back online :)

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!

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Back from Vietnam

jkruse — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:48:00 GMT

I'm officially back in the office after a couple of weeks holidaying in Vietnam. Completely off the grid - no phone, no Internet, no computer, no news, no anything. Very relaxing, and much needed.

On a technology note however, I did pick up a new camera - an Olympus SP550.

It an awesome camera - great lens, great picture quality, and an 18x optical zoom.

Below are some photos I took of the trip - more can be found on my Flickr site, and some personal ones will be on my Facebook page tonight.

I knocked off most of my emails yesterday - now it's time to catch up on all the news!

And of course I played with Windows Live Photo Gallery panoramas :)

Technorati Tags: me, travel, vietnam, photos

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IM me!

OCS Voice Ignite - Day 1

jkruse — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:16:30 GMT

I'm at Darling Harbour this week for the OCS Voice Ignite Sydney event.

Hundreds of partners are here for a 5-day deep-dive on Exchange UM, OCS VoIP and conferencing; as well as integration with other systems such as TDM and IP PBXes.

This is going to be a fun week!

Finding the registration desk

The first session of the week kicks off!

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IM me!

Technorati Tags: ocs, ignite, voice ignite, uc, photos

I'm lovin' Live Photo Gallery

jkruse — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:55:49 GMT

I've been playing with Windows Live Photo Gallery and absolutely love it!

I went through a bunch of old photos that were not taken with panoramas in mind, but it did an awesome job of stitching them together.

The Great Barrier Reef

Koh Phangan, Thailand

Halong Bay, Vietnam

South Island, New Zealand

Krabi, Thailand - this one wasn't even originally digital - the photos were scanned from prints!

Not too bad :)

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Technorati Tags: live, photos, gallery, not uc