To help customers accelerate their testing and deployment of Windows 7, we are really pleased to announce an update to the ACT Connector for Configuration Manager. The Application Compatibility Toolkit Connector (ACT Connector) assists administrators with collecting the necessary computer and application compatibility information to help plan for a Windows deployment. More information here. Download here.
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In December 2009, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Opalis Software and added important technology to the System Center family.
Opalis delivers IT process automation capabilities, including task orchestration across different systems (including BMC, CA, IBM, HP, …), standardization of processes, automation of repetitive tasks, and integrates with System Center and many third-party tools.
Opalis software will be granted to any existing or new SMSE (Server Management Suite Enterprise) or SMSD (Server Management Suite Datacenter) license with active Software Assurance coverage as of December 10, 2009.
More information:
Extra: attending TechDays 2010 on 31 March & 1 April in Antwerp? Don’t miss the session on Opalis and System Center…
Now available for download: a set of two Virtual Machines for evaluating and demonstrating Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 (beta).
Virtual machine “a” contains the following pre-configured software:
Virtual machine “b” contains the following pre-configured software:
The two virtual machines are 13.500 MB in total to download. Please read the system requirements, performance considerations and instructions before starting to download.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 RC provides IT professionals in mid-sized organizations a unified physical and virtual IT management experience. It enables you to better secure, update, monitor, and troubleshoot from a single console, so you can efficiently and proactively manage your IT environment in three ways:
The new Exchange 2010 webcast series is live! Register to watch or download the recorded video or podcast. A full list of topics and presenters is below. Each webcast is approx. 60 minutes in length. Looking for something shorter? We also have a new series of “How Do I” videos dedicated to Exchange 2010 that can be found in the Exchange TechCenter.
Don’t forget, you can also attend a preconference day on Exchange 2010 at TechDays 2010 on 30 March.
TechNet Webcast: Introducing Exchange Server 2010
Presented by: Rand Morimoto
In a time when your organization requires its communication tools to be cost-effective and flexible, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 enables you to achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that can simplify your administration, help protect your communications, and delight your users by meeting their demands for great business productivity. In this webcast we introduce you to Exchange Server 2010, as well as highlight and demonstrate key investments made in this latest release.
TechNet Chopsticks: Discover what’s new in Exchange 2010 and how you can use this rich set of technologies
(French: part 1 / part 2 – Dutch: part 1 / part 2 – English: part 1 / part 2)
Presented by: Ilse Van Criekinge
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 brings a new and rich set of technologies, features, and services to the Exchange Server product line. Join us and and we will provide you with an overview of some of the important new features and functionality, which you can use when you're planning, deploying, and administering your Exchange 2010 organization.
TechNet Webcast: Discover the New OWA: Outlook Web App
Presented by: Gary Danoys
The new Outlook Web App provides the most robust Web experience for accessing your Microsoft Exchange Server. With OWA 2010 users will get even more ways to communicate from the Web. From the new OWA IM and SMS Sync features to the incredible changes to the conversation view; new communications types and presentation methods abound to make users more productive. New features like MailTips, Side-by-side calendars, Delegate access, Delivery reports, and more are demonstrated. The new Exchange Control Panel (ECP) also makes end-user self-service features greatly enhanced meaning users can more easily manage their own issues. This webcasts focuses on the new end-user functions available in OWA 2010 as well as walks through the configuration of IM with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and helping IT pros troubleshoot common configuration errors in setting up OWA IM.
TechNet Webcast: Upgrade and Coexistence with Exchange Server 2007 and 2003
Presented by: Harold Wong
Walk through the process for introducing Exchange 2010 servers into an Exchange 2003/2007 organization. Learn the pre-requisites, steps required, and the impact to client access for MAPI, Outlook Anywhere, OWA, ActiveSync, and POP/IMAP clients after the upgrade has occurred.
TechNet Webcast: Information Protection and Control in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
Presented by: Michael Smith
Worried about employees accidentally leaking valuable corporate e-mail? This webcast introduces new methods of information protection and control powered by Exchange Server 2010, including new transport rule for moderation, dynamic signatures and application of rights management. A discussion of the use of Active Directory Rights Management Service in parallel with Exchange is included, as well as an introduction to how these new features can be applied to real-world messaging control scenarios.
TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2010 High Availability
Presented by: Devin L. Ganger
Welcome to the future! The future of Exchange high availability, that is. In this webcast we reveal the changes and improvements to the built-in high availability platform in Exchange Server 2010. Exchange 2010 includes a unified solution for high availability and disaster recovery that is quick to deploy and easy to manage. Learn about all of the new features in Exchange 2010 that make it the most resilient, highly available version of Exchange ever.
TechNet Webcast: Getting the Most out of Exchange Server 2010: Performance and Scalability
Presented by: John Fullbright
Selecting the right server hardware for an Exchange 2010 deployment becomes much easier when you know the product team's scalability and performance guidelines. This webcast provides a look at the product team's guidance for the processor and memory requirements of each server role in Exchange 2010. A number of key performance enhancements from this release are discussed, and you also learn about how to use related tools like the Exchange Storage Calculator, Exchange Profile Analyzer, Loadgen, and Jetstress to take the guesswork out of server sizing.
TechNet Webcast: Deploying and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Transport Servers
Presented by: David Elfassy
The transport server role in Exchange 2010 provides some exciting new management functionality to make mail flow issues easier to monitor and diagnose. This webcast shows you how you can best leverage this functionality including Direct Deliver, Shadow Redundancy, and transport SLA measurement and reporting. Learn how to plan for the most efficient transition -- whether you're moving from Exchange 2003 or 2007.
TechNet Webcast: Addressing E-mail Archiving and Retention
Presented by: Kamal Janardhan
As e-mail volume continues to grow, we recognize your user's desire for an infinite inbox and the IT Admin's goal to be able to preserve and discover these mailboxes in a cost-effective manner. To help address these needs, Exchange Server 2010 introduces integrated archiving along with message retention and multi-mailbox discovery capabilities. This webcast offers a technical deep dive and some demonstrations of the user and IT Pro archiving experience in Outlook and Outlook Web App, as well as Exchange Management Console and PowerShell. The session also highlights the message retention capabilities through Move and Delete Policies in Outlook, OWA and PowerShell, Hold Policy to preserve data for recovery in legal or accidental deletion scenarios, and e-Discovery with multi-mailbox search in the Exchange Control Panel.
TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2010 Management and Operations
Presented by: Oliver Moazzezi
Exchange Server 2010 includes new capabilities that make the operation of your Exchange environment more efficient. Learn how we've made the Exchange Management Console more powerful, extended the reach of PowerShell, made it easier to delegate management tasks, and built Web-based tools to make the job of managing Exchange easier than ever.
TechNet Webcast: Calendar Sharing and Federation in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
Presented by: Joel Stidley
Federation is a key part of the architecture of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, powering new organization-to-organization sharing scenarios. Attend this webcast to learn how to implement free/busy and full calendar sharing with your business partners using Exchange Server 2010.