I am lucky enough to be heading over to Houston along with around 500 partners from the UK and a host of Microsoft folks to learn what we have in store for partners next year. I always get a huge buzz from these types of events and feel energised as a result, I know from speaking to many of you - you do too.

Our conference is now hosted online too and you can watch keynotes either live or on demand - really nicely built site for you web devs out there - check it out by clicking on the image above.

Hopefully see you in Houston!

Nice new site showcasing Microsoft's work around the Environment, lots to look at and the following article caught my eye immediately: High-Performance Computing: Enabling Climate Change Analysis, as did the following:

Energy Efficiency Best Practices in Microsoft Data Center Operations 

The article on the polemic facing the IT industry as a whole was really worth a read - not too long but faces up to the challenges ahead and how industry as a whole can deal with it: How Can Technology Sustain the Environment in the 21st Century?

I also liked the business solution area of how real customers are using our technologies to lower their carbon footprints.

Enjoy!

Working on HPC at Microsoft we have not said that every day, however now it is time to restate the facts on software and what is really the fastest in the world! And don't believe me - check out the customer story below!

Kudos to Ryan Waite and the team:

The NCSA cluster is amazing. 1200 nodes, each with 8 cores, creating a 9600 core cluster. NCSA installed Beta 1 of Windows HPC Server 2008 and ran the benchmark. The results were outstanding: 68.5 teraflops and 77.7% efficiency. Using our beta software NCSA beat their November score by over 10%. This is the fastest Windows cluster to date. Check out the customer video and case study.

Get the full story here.

Couldn't miss the opportunity of letting you all know about this, click on the link below and learn from the best of the best!

And the fast facts are:

What is IBF 24?

IBF 24 is the world’s first online gathering focused on intranet innovation

· Go on live tours of 12 of the world's best intranets - including those run by non-IBF members American Electric Power, IBM, IKEA, Microsoft, Nissan and SAP. This is your chance to show your colleagues what other leading global intranets are accomplishing

· Hear acclaimed speakers including former Al Gore speechwriter and Whole New Mind author Dan Pink, Dave Armstrong of Google, Ethan R.R. McCarty from IBM, and Kirk Koenigsbauer of Microsoft, the man they call the ‘King of SharePoint’

· Learn from master classes by expert practitioners

· Take part in online breakout sessions in which you can debate the hot topics with peers from hundreds of organisations worldwide – IBF members and non-members alike

Enjoy!

I was at the last one and it was fab, you might want to go along this time:

UK HPC User Group

I wanted to let you know about the UK HPC User Group meeting coming up in June 26.  Registrations are here.

This meeting is intended for customers, partners and developers to “meet and mingle”, and compare notes.  And to provide Microsoft with direct input into our product and offerings. 

On the day speakers will hear:

- The latest news on Windows HPC 2008

- New software solutions in Finance, Engineering and Defence

- The latest in MS enabling technology like Microsoft ESP & MS Robotics

- The winners of the UK HPC student competition, and

- Customer stories.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour the Imperial War Museum. 

Think about registering here.  And if you know of someone who might be interested, please forward this on.

The event is being organised by the UK Microsoft HPC User Group, chaired by Professor Simon Cox, School of Engineering Sciences, at the University of Southampton.

Enjoy!

Love cars?

Check out this blog: http://jalopnik.com/

Just fab!

Well why not...

ICS Solutions are a Microsoft Gold Partner and experts in delivering business solutions based on SharePoint technologies. We present a free and interactive seminar where you can learn how Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can be used to deliver and manage public facing web sites.

You will see live demonstrations of SharePoint’s Web Content Management features including Content Authoring, Branding and Controlled Deployment; you will hear expert opinion and advice which will help you assess SharePoint 2007 for use within your organisation from both a strategic and technical perspective; you will learn how ICS have helped clients to streamline business processes around the management of corporate web sites using SharePoint 2007.

What will the seminar cover?

• What is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
• What is Web Content Management?
• How to evaluate SharePoint 2007 for your Web Content Management requirements?
• What are the key considerations in building a SharePoint Server farm for a Web site?
• How to get started with your Web Content Management Project
• Over one hour of live demonstrations
• Q&A

When?
Date: 14th May 2008
Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Frequency: ICS run seminars every 2 weeks throughout the year, please click here for further details.

Where?
Microsoft Victoria, London
For directions, click here

Who should attend?
Business and Technical Managers

Who are ICS?

• ICS are a Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in Information Worker solutions
• ICS has the UK's largest pool of SharePoint experts with over 300 specialists
• ICS has implemented over 100 SharePoint projects successfully

To find out more about ICS, click here.

Why should I attend?

"ICS are one of Microsoft's most respected SharePoint partners with a well deserved reputation for delivering SharePoint solutions to the highest standard" - Rob Gray, Microsoft SharePoint Product Marketing Manager

t: 01256 403 800   e: events@ics.net   w: www.ics.net

ICS Solutions Ltd, .NET Solutions Campus, Skippetts House, Skippetts Lane, Basingstoke, Hants RG21 3HP

So those not accustomed to how Microsoft do acquisitions it kind of goes like this:

1. Offer made

2. Accounts and business reviewed in detail, final price agreed and purchase completed - regulatory approvals etc

3. Business is run as a subsidiary of Microsoft

4. Products go through the security development lifecycle so it is ensured they meet the standard Microsoft security policies and procedures

5. The Microsoft brand is then given to the business and the product appears on our price lists so our usual channels can access the tools and sell the product in the usual fashion

We are at step 3 with FAST. The customer FAQ is here, and there is a handy email address if you have any questions: fastq@microsoft.com

Enjoy!

Oh Yes it doesn't get much better than this - 18 hours of free training on MOSS 2007 all online so you can peruse it at your pleasure courtesy of 'english-tiger' training!

Technical Backgounder

Before you learn from the online version of the deep three-day class (below), ensure you are up to speed by viewing the technical backgrounder on Enterprise Search Architecture.

» Enterprise Search Architecture

Full three-day training class!

Module 1 - Introduction

This module introduces the full three-day class.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 2 - Enterprise Search Overview

This module provides some astounding figures as to why organizations require Enterprise Search Solutions! We recommend that you do not skip this module.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 3 - SharePoint Search Walkthrough

This module is more than an overview. It cuts through the marketing hype in an informed, intelligent manner! We recommend that you do not skip this module.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 4 - Search Architecture and Deployment

This module provides essential insights, discussions, and very deep technical information on architecture and server layouts.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 5 - Crawl and Query Processes

This module provides the 'under-the-hood' story about what happens at crawl and indexing time, and follows up with essential information about the query-time processes. This is how Search in SharePoint actually works, regardless of what you see in the user interfaces.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 6 - Relevance Ranking

If relevance ranking is perceived to be inaccurate by your users, they will simply stop using your solutions. This module explains in detail how you can tune the relevance ranking subsystem.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 7 - Customizing the End-User Experience

This module shows you ALL that can be achieved by customizing Search Center in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, without requiring additional development effort. It is the definitive guide to customizing Search Center.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 8 - Developing Search Solutions

Where Search Center cannot be customized sufficiently to suit your needs, you might need to develop your own solutions. This module shows you how! Developer topics include the KeywordQuery syntax, the FullTextSQLQuery syntax, the Search object model, the Search Web service, and the Search Administration object module.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 9 - Business Data Catalog Search

This module shows you how to set up BDC search from scratch. It also highlights some common pitfalls.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 10 - Extensibility and Integration for Search

This module provides more information about the crawl and indexing process by focusing on iFilters and Protocol Handlers. It also discusses full and incremental crawls, as well as providing guidance around 32-bit/64-bit architecture.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 11 - Search Administration

This module provides a comprehensive discussion of search administration.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 12 - Security for Search

This module covers a variety of topics from search accounts, through Information Rights Management, to crawling Forms-based authenticated sites.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 13 - Performance, Scalability, and Capacity Planning

This module provides invaluable discussions of indexer requirements, query server requirements, and other scalability approaches. Most importantly, it discusses how you can plan disk space requirements for indexing large corpuses.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Module 14 - Search Operations

This module concludes the class by discussing operations and management tasks for enterprise search solutions.

» Streaming @ 300K

» Streaming @ 500K

Enjoy!

Our very own marathon running Partner Technical Specialist Jeremy Palmer has kicked off some monthly LiveMeetings for everyone who wants a simple way to stay in touch with the UK SharePoint Team. Links for registering for the May and June ones are here:

Title

May 2008 - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server - Monthly Partner Live Meeting

Description

This Live Meeting aims to update Microsoft Certified and Gold Certified Partners holding the Information Worker competency with the latest news about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Registration Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/microsoft1/Registration.aspx?pageName=c91ln9k48dsrkhj8

June 2008 - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server - Monthly Partner Live Meeting

Registration Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/microsoft1/Registration.aspx?pageName=q8rqwcq6fndmtq05

Look forward to speaking to you!

Cool new event - check it out:

SharePoint Deployment in Financial Services - Alleviating the burden of compliance and TCF

Friday 2nd May 2008, Microsoft Offices - Victoria, London

SWORD's SharePoint Consultancy is chairing this forthcoming event in association with Contrast Training.

This free morning event, hosted by Microsoft, will address how Microsoft's SharePoint enables organisations to create, distribute and manage policies, procedures, rules, regulations and the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) infrastructure using SharePoint.

Guest speakers include Roger Cotterill from Endsleigh Insurance and Gerry Morgan of City Capital Consulting.

Delegates will learn how, with SharePoint, they are able to improve compliance procedures, reduce the burden of compliance on senior managers and assist with managing the TCF infrastructure.

Great to see some of our new partners getting out there and making some noise!

I really want a UK partner to win the Enterprise Search Partner of the Year Award!!!!

Come on make sure you get what you deserve and submit yourself for an award at out annual Partner Conference in Houston Texas - YeeHah!

You only have two days to go - so get your creative writing hats on!

More customer and partner workshops - back by popular demand!

Enterprise search doesn't have to be complicated. In fact Microsoft recently announced that quick, easy and powerful search will soon be available for FREE in the form of Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, a fantastic addition to the Microsoft Enterprise Search solution.

The free one day Microsoft Enterprise Search workshops, delivered by a technical consultant, are designed to present customers with a solid understanding of Microsoft Enterprise Search capabilities. Providing an overview of the Enterprise Search solution from Microsoft, demonstrating the products and providing an effective evaluation of the Enterprise Search functionality and benefits in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Search Server 2008.

Agenda

09:00 Registration and coffee

09:30 Introductions

09:45 Setting the Scene — What is Enterprise Search and why does it matter?

10:15 Microsoft Enterprise Search Strategy — Introducing Microsoft's products and services for delivering Enterprise Search Solutions

10:45 Coffee break

11:00 Configuring indexing and search using MOSS 2007 — Solution architecture and design; Configuring indexing and search across content, people and applications; Ongoing administration

12:30 Lunch

13:15 Improving relevance and information find ability — Using technical and non-technical tips and tricks to improve relevance and find ability of information

14:00 Beyond the intranet — Exploring alternative and future search solutions – web-based, desktop and mobile devices

14:45 Coffee break

15:00 Getting started with Microsoft Search Server MSS 2008 Express Edition — Installing and configuring MSS 2008 Express Edition. Attendees who bring their own laptops can be assisted in setting up their own instance of MSS Express to take away

16:00 Summary, Q&A — Review and wrap-up

16:30 Close

To register just click on the link below!

18 March: Register here location Microsoft Chertsey

26 March: Register here location Microsoft Chertsey

1 April: Register here location Microsoft Manchester

9 April: Register here location Microsoft Chertsey

22 April: Register here location Microsoft Edinburgh

28 April: Register here location Microsoft Chertsey

Enjoy!

- Are you using Microsoft Search Server?

- Would you like to tell us how it has helped your organisation and why you chose our software (thanks!) over other alternative software platforms?

- Cos guess what we would love to hear your views! Just click on the link below for a very simple web form to start the ball rolling!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Some of you will know the great man Lord Waite (they tell me the House of Lords is considering this upgrade to the existing Mr Waite as I type..) who looks after Windows HPC development alongside a team of merry men. He is currently on bended knee asking for your help; be you a customer or partner to help in checking the new and highly exciting Windows HPC Server 2008. Check out what you need to do below:

Windows HPC Server 2008 Beta Survey

Overview

You’ve been invited to provide data to Microsoft about the beta of Windows HPC Server 2008. Your feedback is valuable and will help shape future versions of Windows HPC Server. Thank you thank you thank you.

In exchange for completing this survey we’ll mail you a copy of the brand new Microsoft Press book, “Windows Server® 2008 Inside Out” by William R. Stanek. This 1500 page book provides detailed information about administering Windows Server 2008. For more information on this book please go to: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/11448.aspx#AboutTheBook.

There are 5 steps to completing this survey: 1) Install our beta, 2) Complete our written survey, 3) Provide HPC Server diagnostics to Microsoft, 4) Provide SQM data to Microsoft, and 5) package up and mail the results to Microsoft.

Here is more information about each of the steps:

1. Install the Beta

The Windows HPC Server 2008 beta is available from Microsoft Connect at http://connect.microsoft.com. To sign up for the beta go to http://connect.microsoft.com, click on “Available Connections” and select “Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 Beta” from the list. Follow the instructions for signing up for the beta.

Install the beta on one or more x64 servers.

Support is provided in the newsgroups at http://connect.microsoft.com. We will respond to questions within 48 hours, and often within 24 hours.

2. Complete the Written Survey

Please complete the attached survey (attachment at the base of this post)

3. Provide Diagnostics Results

Windows HPC Server 2008 provides diagnostics tests to help administrators identify problems with their clusters. Please follow these steps to provide diagnostics results.

1. Start the Windows HPC Server 2008 Administration Console

2. Click on “Diagnostics” in the lower left hand corner of the console

3. Run all diagnostics tests against all nodes in your cluster

4. Copy the results of diagnostics tests into Microsoft Word or a text file.

4. Provide SQM Data

SQM (Software Quality Metrics) is a tool that provides information about usage of Microsoft products back to Microsoft. You may have seen SQM in products like MSN Messenger where you’re asked if you want to participate in the “Customer Experience Improvement Program”.

If your server has Internet connectivity then it will automatically provide SQM data to Microsoft during the beta. You can disable SQM. Please note, SQM is not turned on by default in released Microsoft products. In released products users must “opt-in.”

If you do not have Internet connectivity from your cluster collect the .SQM files from:

%ccp_home%\data\logfiles\

5. Mail Results to Microsoft

Please package up the Survey, the Diagnostics results, and the SQM files in a .ZIP file.

If you were invited to participate in this survey by a Microsoft employee please send the .ZIP file to that Microsoft employee.

If you were not invited by a specific Microsoft employee please mail the .ZIP file to me and my colleague Alex Sutton directly. My address is ryanw@microsoft.com and Alex’s address is asutton@microsoft.com.

Thank you again for taking the time to provide this valuable feedback.

Best regards,

Lord Waite

(Nota Bene: I may have changed Ryan's title for the sake of mirth and merriment he is also known as Group Program Manager – Windows HPC)