Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog

Videos from TechEd Europe…. Part 2

jeffwettlaufer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:33:31 GMT

As these are getting posted, I wanted to get them lit up in the blog for you guys. We are back from TechEd Berlin and on the PST time zone, and we had just such an awesome week, we wanted to get some videos posted of some interviews we did while at the event. This is the 2nd video of 3.

Here I spoke with a good friend and colleague Kim Johnson, Sr Product Planner, about Power Management. We hope you enjoy…..

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Videos from TechEd Europe….Part 1

jeffwettlaufer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:16:50 GMT

We are back from TechEd Berlin and we wanted to get some videos posted of some interviews we did while at the event. This is the 1st video of 3.

Here I spoke with a good friend and colleague Michael Niehaus, about Windows Deployment, MDT and System Center.

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 R2 (Videos)

SystemCenterTeam — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:02:16 GMT

Use the Service Level Dashboard to keep mission-critical, line of business applications up and running.

In these three short screencasts, IT Pro Evangelist Matt Hester shows how you can use the Service Level Dashboard 2.0 for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 to keep mission-critical, line of business applications up and running. The dashboard automatically displays application or system availability and performance in near-real time. Using the dashboard, you can easily keep track of availability and performance trends, and head off problems before they occur. The dashboard also lets you easily create role-specific dashboards to support different departments, like HR, Finance, or Operations.

Part 1: SLD overview
Part 2: How to install SLD
Part 3: How to configure SLD

- Solution Accelerators Team

LiveMeeting on Microsoft’s Integrated Virtualization Strategy: Thursday, Nov. 19, 8:00 AM PST

davemorehouse — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:47:32 GMT

Join us Thursday, November 19, 8:00 AM PST for a LiveMeeting session on “Microsoft’s Integrated Virtualization Strategy, Products and Solutions” presented by Kenon Owens, Technical Product Manager.

This LiveMeeting is exclusive to members of the System Center Influencers Program (which is also open to virtualization enthusiasts). Not a member? Visit the program overview on TechNet to learn more about the program and how to join.

Join Information Available on Influencer Portal. Members of the program will need to log into the Connect site to access the LiveMeeting join information.

Abstract: Through this 200 Level presentation, learn about the Microsoft virtualization strategy from the client, to the datacenter, to the cloud--and how it will help you cut costs and build value. In this session we review Microsoft virtualization products and discuss how you can use them to solve today's IT issues (cost cutting, consolidation, business continuity, green IT), develop new computing solutions (VDI) and build a foundation for a more dynamic IT environment, including cloud computing. This session reviews all of the latest Microsoft virtualization products, including Application Virtualization (App-V), Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, and Microsoft Hyper-V Server, as well as the System Center management platform (including Virtual Machine Manager 2008). Learn about the innovative pricing and licensing structure that allows further savings to lower both acquisition and ongoing ownership costs. Learn how you can enable IT to become a cost cutting mechanism with Microsoft virtualization and management technologies.

- dave //

What a week…..thank you for sharing your time with us.

jeffwettlaufer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:50:42 GMT

As TechEd Berlin passes the mid point and all the team start to finish their sessions, customer meetings, interviews and demonstrations, it starts to sink in how much fun, and how successful this week has been.

The event sold out, in an economic climate where travel, training and events are experiencing all time pressure. Over 7300 people joined us here in Berlin. The sessions have all been full, turning people away at the door, to avoid fire hazards. Extra staff have been roaming the halls and rooms, helping get every seat filled in the rooms, and hosting those outside the doors by running spontaneous QA for them. This has made the sessions electric.

The product pods have been very busy. The hands on labs are full. It just seems that this event is full of people passionate about learning, training, and making the most of our time together, and their access to so many experts.

We also have started showing more clarity on our futures. The next BIG wave of System Center technologies is rolling into public view, and the excitement is incredible.

It has been such a fun week, and there have been so many responsible for making it happen. Thank you to the #TEEE09 team, the support and vendor staff, the event AV people who made sure our videos, demos and decks worked, and everyone else who travelled to Berlin. You guys are rock stars and this event wouldn't be anything without you.

Time to finish this Lauwarmer Apfelstrudel mit Vanilleels (warm Apple strudel), Ein Kannchen heibe Schokolade (German Hot Chocolate), check in online and get home.

More videos coming, here are 2 behind the scenes from the big main keynote.

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Berlin rolling in success for System Center

jeffwettlaufer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:20:26 GMT

Hey everyone, it has so far been an incredible week here in Berlin. The sessions are filled to overflowing, the booth area is 5 deep with questions, and the keynote from Ryan was a demo packed success. The evenings have been exciting conversations with our friends, customers and partners at different VERY COOL places around Berlin, great food and beer……

A quick pic on our keynote room, most of the SC Demo team were on hand to rock the session with Ryan, this pic was moments before we were to start.

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Blog, Influence, and Win: A Contest for Influencers

davemorehouse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:36:09 GMT

I believe in showing our community the man behind the curtain.

Everything I’ve ever learned about online communities, in particular for technical audiences, comes back to one main point: be authentic, be transparent, be real. Otherwise, you’re just a punter, and the community can smell you out like so many dirty socks, and before you know it you’re relegated to the ignominious hamper of the outcast, unclean.

In that spirit, then, let me be more specific and get to the point of this post.

So what’s this about, this contest I mention in the title? The point is that we want to develop our Influencers Program by encouraging members of the community to blog on business-related themes (System Center or Virt topics selected monthly). You see, if all we do is pump out training content (which members of the Program can find in abundance in our portal) and host LiveMeetings, then we’re just doing same-o, same-o.

The goal is to enable the community to do something. That something is: to take what they know and help others, driving awareness and education that help the business and help those who work with System Center and Virt products and solutions day-in, day-out.

Yes, to participate in the contest you gotta be a member of the Program. But once in, you’ll find a treasure trove of resources to make the task of giving to the community—and doing your own reputation a fair turn—a feasible and even rewarding undertaking. You learn, you synthesize, you give, someone learns, they synthesize, they give—and on and on. A virtuous cycle unfolds. And you started it all.

Check out the overview [PDF] and get familiar with the rules. G’won. All you need to do is sign up in the program, get straight on the rules, consider a given month’s blogging theme, and go for it. Entries will be judged on relevance, volume of posts and attached commentary, uptake and in-linking, and overall influence. Winners get $100.00, recognition on our Web sites, and enhanced reputations in the community.

Is that not, finally, priceless?

- dave //

Compliance and Risk Process Management Pack Announced in Berlin

SystemCenterTeam — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:01:26 GMT

What a great day in Berlin. This morning, Ryan O’Hara kicked off the Management Track for TechED EMEA. As part of this Ryan announced the Compliance and Risk Process Management Pack for Service Manager. The compliance and Risk Process Management Pack will be fully integrated with System Center Service Manager 2010 and will ship following the release of Service Manager in the first half of calendar year 2010.

The goal of this solution is to help customers reduce the cost and complexity of managing IT compliance and mitigating risk. During Ryan’s session, I demoed the capability of creating a compliance program and how through the compliance library, customers can simplify the complex translation of over 350 different standards and authority documents into a harmonized set of controls and create the corresponding activities for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. And because the Compliance and Risk Process Management pack is integrated with the System Center Suite of products, customers can automate the implementation of control activities and optimize the on-going validation and test of their compliance program – making them always ready for their IT audit.

An online demo of the Compliance and Risk Process Management Pack for Service Manager will be available on November 11 at on the System Center Service Manager page on Microsoft.com and the public beta will be available the week of November 23. It will require Service Manager Beta 2, currently available for review and download.

- Clare Henry, Director of Product Marketing

Monitor Exchange 2010 with System Center … TODAY!!!

sdawes — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:05:44 GMT

Just released, the new System Center operations management pack for Exchange 2010!

I’m delighted that the availability of this management pack (MP) coincides with the general availability of Exchange 2010, which was announced by Stephen Elop at yesterday’s keynote at TechEd Europe 2009.

Covering the monitoring of all Exchange 2010 roles (mailbox server, client access server, hub transport server, edge transport server and unified messaging server), this MP helps drive down the cost of ensuring service levels for Exchange are achieved with hundreds of monitors and rules, and in-depth information.

Download the operations management pack for Exchange 2010, which can be installed on both System Center Operations Manager 2007, Operations Manager 2007 SP1, and Operations Manager 2007 R2.

Sacha

System Center at the TechEd Europe IT Pro Keynote

sdawes — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:17:39 GMT

As you read in Jeff’s blog post this morning, there’s a lot going on for System Center at TechEd Europe this year in Berlin!

In fact, System Center is one of the featured demonstrations in this afternoon’s IT Pro keynote, presented by Stephen Elop and Robert Wahbe, and starting at 3:30pm Berlin time. Jeff will be presenting our “System Center and Windows Server 2008 R2 – Better Together” story, showing a number of the exciting new capabilities that you can leverage in your environments and datacenters.

For those of you who were unable to make this outstanding event, you can watch a live stream of the keynote via the Microsoft TechEd Global Pressroom.

Enjoy the show, and give a BIG round of applause for Jeff when he enters!!

Sacha

Willkommen from Berlin!

jeffwettlaufer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:56:22 GMT

The System Center team has landed in Berlin for what is shaping up to be an incredible week with our friends from Europe. How COOL is the Bing homepage today? For those that aren't familiar, that’s Brandenburg Gate, one of the most historic sites in Berlin.

There is a buzz in this city. Monday Nov 9th is the 20th anniversary of the Wall coming down, and everywhere you look there are events, celebrations, portions of the wall and more – in memory of that historic event.

And what a day to start TechEd! Monday we commence our annual System Center coverage of releases, product updates and of course demos. The team has been hammering away in preparation for this event for months, and we cannot wait to share with you some of the cool things we are covering. Look back here for behind the scenes videos, interviews and product updates as we roll through one of the most exciting weeks in the year.

The picture on the right was taken outside our Hotel. It is an actual piece of the Berlin Wall! Samples like this are placed all over the city, for people to experience themselves. The sections are roughly 3.6 meters (12 ft) high and 1.2 meters (3.9 ft) wide. They feel HUGE when you stand next to them!

We hope to see you at TechEd Europe this year. If you are here, stop by our Product booths, and say hello!

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Chatting with Brad, Part 4

jeffwettlaufer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:57:17 GMT

Hey everyone, we continue in this posting talking with Brad Anderson - CVP of System Center. In this part 4 of 4, we talk with Brad about the capabilities of System Center to manage workload products like Exchange. We hope to see you at TechEd Berlin next week!

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Technet Webcast Rescheduled today….

jeffwettlaufer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:03:07 GMT

Hi everyone, today we were scheduled to run a webcast on TechNet entitled “Technical Overview: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 and R3 “. Due to a collection of unforeseen circumstances this ‘cast had to be rescheduled. We regret the late notice, and hope this has not caused any inconvenience to anyone who had signed up for the presentation.

We do plan to run this webcast very soon. There are 2 upcoming opportunities for you to see this content delivered. The first is at TechEd Berlin, the week of Nov 9th-11. This content will be covered in several sessions there. In addition, we have rescheduled the Webcast on Technet with the below date and time information.

MGT200 Microsoft System Center Roadmap and Strategy, Tue 11/10 | 9:00-10:15 | Paris 2 - Hall 7-1c
MGT301 What's New in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager: SP1, R2, and R3, Tue 11/10 | 13:30-14:45 | Berlin 2 - Hall 7-3a
MGT306 Microsoft System Center and the Green Client, Wed 11/11 | 15:45-17:00 | Europa 1 - Hall 7-3b

TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 and R3 (Level 200) (link)
Date: 11/24/2009
Time: 10:00 AM-11:00 AM U.S. Pacific Time

If you were registered for the webcast today, you have automatically been re-registered for the new session on Nov 24th. You should have an email from the TechNet team.

We hope to see you at one of these events soon!
Kind regards

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

Why Social Media Are Important to the Business

davemorehouse — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:27:45 GMT

Nifty YouTube video circulating around that does a fine job of presenting data on social media—how it’s changing the culture of communications and so necessarily the way companies need to shift the way they market their products and services. It also explains in global terms why I’m doing what I’m doing, sitting here on the System Center and Virtualization marketing team, tinkering w/ social media programs and initiatives, trying to find the right mix for our business and audience.

If you haven’t connected yet to our Facebook and Twitter pages and feeds, I invite you all to do so—we’re just getting started with all this, and need your help to turn it into something other than the basic broadcast engine it currently is.

Enjoy!

- dave //

Chatting with Brad continued…….

jeffwettlaufer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:16:32 GMT

Hi guys, we continue in our 4 part series with Brad our Corporate VP today as we talk about the world of Windows Server. We thought on the day Server releases, we could share our conversation.

Here is Part 3 in our 4 part series……. enjoy!

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center