Today, Microsoft announced the releases of IIS Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit RTW and IIS URL Rewriter 2.0 RC – both extensions for IIS.

The IIS SEO Toolkit helps Web developers, hosting providers, and Web server administrators to improve their Web site’s relevance in search results by recommending how to make the site content more search engine-friendly. The IIS SEO Toolkit helps to improve the volume and quality of traffic to your Web site from search engines, control how search engines access and display Web content, and inform search engines about locations that are available for indexing.

IIS URL Rewriter 2.0 adds support for outbound response rewriting and enables Web administrators to create powerful rules to implement URLs that are easier for users to remember and easier for search engines to find. IIS URL Rewriter 2.0 helps to easily define rules that match URLs or HTTP headers to generate more friendly and consistent URLs, protect content and assets from unauthorized linking and scanning, and integrate with existing IIS features to improve management, performance, and troubleshooting.

Also just released is our learning section on Running PHP Applications on IIS. We have a ton of brand new and updated content to help provide PHP on Windows users a single source of end-to-end guidance.

For more information or to download, please visit the IIS SEO Toolkit RTW page and the IIS URL Rewriter 2.0 RC page.

Microsoft today announced the availability of the Windows Azure platform at the Professional Developers Conference.  In his opening keynote, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, described Windows Azure and SQL Azure as core elements of the company’s cloud services strategy.  The company also announced a set of new Windows Azure features, Windows Server capabilities, and marketplace offerings that make it easier for developers to build profitable businesses from their Microsoft-based solutions.

Bob Muglia also announced today the company’s plan to offer Windows Server virtual machine support on Windows Azure, enabling customers to more easily support virtualized infrastructure across the continuum of on premises and cloud computing, and the release to manufacturing of Windows Identity Foundation, enabling developers to provide more secure, simplified user access to both cloud and on-premises applications with open, identity-based claims.

For more information about today’s announcements at PDC visit www.microsoftpdc.com and follow the latest on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pdc09 and www.twitter.com/ch9live.

Today at the Microsoft Tech•Ed Europe 2009 conference in Germany, Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop announced that Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is now available worldwide to help businesses reduce costs, protect communications and delight e-mail users. Along with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 is part of a generation of solutions designed for increased business productivity and cost savings.

In today’s challenging economic environment, innovative use of new information technologies can result in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs. The combination of cost savings coupled with improved productivity and innovation is defined as “the New Efficiency.” Elop also announced the release of Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server, which helps Exchange Server customers further safeguard business information.

Additionally, Microsoft announced the final release of IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) 2.0 RTW.

Customers - such as hosting providers, Content Delivery Network (CDN) providers, and IT Professionals are changing the way they do business as a result of ARR 2.0. ARR 2.0 delivers cost savings, elastic scalability, and flexible deployment options. With IIS 7.5 and ARR 2.0, customers can create a native Silverlight infrastructure and configure their CDN so that it provides superior live and on-demand media offerings for their users. Customers can implement new capabilities in their CDN and as a result, can replace Apache Squid on their edge servers and cut costs. By deploying this new solution based on ARR 2.0, customers can provide a better viewing experience for Web consumers, boost the scalability and level of control they have over their CDN, and enhance the reports they can provide their users.  For more information or to download, please visit the IIS ARR 2.0 RTW page.

For more information check out the TechEd Global Press Room, Windows Server Division Weblog or the Forefront Team Blog.

TechEd Europe 2009 is just a few days away - one of the world’s leading IT Pro and Developer education and networking events.  We hope to see you at TechEd Europe 2009, but if you are not able to make it to Berlin, we would like to invite you to watch Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, and Robert Wahbe, corporate vice president of the Server and Tools Marketing Group, give the keynote address live online at 6:30 a.m. Pacific/9:30 a.m. Eastern/3:30 p.m. GMT.

Immediately following the keynote speech, join Microsoft executives in a post-keynote speech videoconference to discuss the latest news and technologies including Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

o   There will be time to ask questions following a brief introduction.

o   Submit questions during the teleconference or submit them at any time leading up to or during the teleconference by tweeting with the Twitter hashtag, #TEE09.

Please visit the Microsoft Tech•Ed Global Pressroom to access live streaming of the keynote speech and participate in the post-keynote speech Q&A with Microsoft executives.

At the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas today, Microsoft announced the official name of Project “Gemini,” now Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel.  PowerPivot for Excel helps drive timely and informed business decisions by empowering end users to access, integrate and analyze massive amounts of data on the desktop and share information using the familiar Microsoft Excel tools.

In addition, PowerPivot provides IT departments the ability to monitor and manage user generated solutions by integrating seamlessly with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.  With PowerPivot for Excel, users and IT departments can: 

·         Integrate massive amounts of data on the desktop from virtually any source

·         Perform lightning-fast calculations and analysis on large data volumes

·         Share and collaborate on user generated analysis through integration with SharePoint

·         Monitor and manage user generated applications

With powerful analysis capabilities delivered through agile and familiar tools like Excel and SharePoint, organizations can expect faster end-user adoption, lower training time and reduced costs.  For more information on PowerPivot for Excel, visit http://www.powerpivot.com.

Today Microsoft is announcing a schedule and strategy update for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, a component of the upcoming Forefront Protection Suite (previously codenamed “Stirling.”)

Microsoft is delaying the release of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 - anti-malware for Windows desktops and servers - until the second half of 2010.  Based on customer feedback and market trends, Microsoft has made the strategic decision to build Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) on System Center Configuration Manager, Microsoft’s solution to comprehensively assess, deploy, and update servers, clients, and devices.  This approach better aligns with customers’ client management and security infrastructure, helping simplify deployment and reduce costs.

Please visit the Forefront Team Blog for more information about this announcement and the release timing of other Forefront products.

Today, Microsoft announced the release of System Center Service Manager Beta 2, with over 300 customers participating in the product’s Rapid Deployment Program. In their early evaluations, these customers have seen how through the power of Service Manager’s integrated platform they can easily adapt and automate IT Service Management best practices. 

Other Service Manager benefits:

·         Service Manager will provide built-in processes based on industry best practices for incident and problem resolution, and change control. Through its configuration management database and process integration, Service Manager will automatically connect knowledge, workflow and information from System Center Operations Manager, System Center Configuration Manager and Active Directory.

·         Service Manager will reduce support costs and improve responsiveness to end users through the self-service portal for provisioning and self-help, and through easy-to-use templates and rule-driven notifications to effectively and quickly guide IT professionals. 

·         Service Manager will optimize resources to align to an organization’s business goals and adapt to the ever-changing business requirements. Using SQL reporting services, Service Manager will support informed and cost-effective decision making. Through Service Manager’s integration with Desired Configuration Management (DCM) a core feature of System Center Configuration Manager 2007, customers will be able to support end-to-end configuration compliance.    

For more information on this beta release, please visit the System Center Service Manager website: http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/service-manager.aspx

Microsoft Security Essentials, the new no-cost, anti-malware service that helps protect consumers against viruses, spyware and other malicious software, is available today.  It requires no registration, trials or renewals and will be available for download directly from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials.

For more information about this release check out the Forefront Team Blog.