Microsoft Press publishes another free e-book: "Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2" by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner.

The authors' purpose in "Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2" is to point out both the new and the improved in the latest version of SQL Server. As you read this book, you will find that there are a lot of exciting enhancements and new capabilities engineered into SQL Server 2008 R2 that will have a positive impact on your applications, ranging from improvements in operation to those in management. It is definitely not a minor release!

This book is for anyone who has an interest in SQL Server 2008 R2 and wants to understand its capabilities. We assume that you have some familiarity with SQL Server already before reading this book.

PART I   Database Administration

CHAPTER 1   SQL Server 2008 R2 Editions and Enhancements
CHAPTER 2   Multi-Server Administration
CHAPTER 3   Data-Tier Applications
CHAPTER 4   High Availability and Virtualization Enhancements
CHAPTER 5   Consolidation and Monitoring

PART II   Business Intelligence Development

CHAPTER 6   Scalable Data Warehousing
CHAPTER 7   Master Data Services
CHAPTER 8   Complex Event Processing with StreamInsight
CHAPTER 9   Reporting Services Enhancements
CHAPTER 10   Self-Service Analysis with PowerPivot

Download the free e-books at the Microsoft Press blog post.

Live webcast on 11 May 2010 at 18:30 CET. More info and registration.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 introduces numerous advances in performance, scalability, and reliability, while lowering the total cost of ownership. In this webcast, you'll get information on the Exchange Server 2010 deployment within Microsoft IT. The session includes descriptions of the Exchange Server 2010 roles, design criteria, hardware choices, and operational changes.

Presenter: Luisa Garcia Zapata, Microsoft IT Service Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Luisa joined Microsoft a few years ago and is currently a service manager in the Business Online Services Group. This group is responsible for running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 internally and also for multiple enterprise customers. Luisa is responsible for the end-to-end e-mail experience for all Microsoft employees worldwide. This includes overseeing e-mail availability and multiple aspects of the service, such as support, total cost of ownership (TCO), feature deployments, and end-user education. A recent project was the full migration of Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2010. In this effort, "dogfooding" played a critical role in shipping a high-quality product to Microsoft customers.

Want to know more about how Microsoft does IT? Visit the Microsoft IT Showcase website and find best practices and experiences from Microsoft IT that give a unique, inside view into how Microsoft plans for, deploys, and manages its own enterprise solutions.

TechEd Europe announced on Twitter that the conference will be held in Berlin 8-12 November 2010. Register before 5 July and save 500 EUR.

Join the mailing list to get the latest news and get informed when registration opens.

CODit invited Jon Flanders to give a deep-dive training on Windows Server AppFabric (code name "Dublin") and Workflow 4.0 Services. Hands-on labs will be part of the training. 

The training, scheduled at June 15th – 18th, will provide a detailed overview of Windows Server AppFabric, AppFabric caching, Workflow Foundation and WCF 4.0.  AppFabric focus will be on monitoring, scalability and management.  

Advanced workflow concepts like transactions, persistence and correlation will be discussed.  And next to that an overview of the Azure AppFabric services will be given, providing insight in the cloud effort around ESB and integration.

• Target audience: Developers and architects with experience in Microsoft .NET, WCF and distributed applications
• Level: 300 - Advanced

CODit is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and provides solutions, products, training and support around Microsoft integration Technologies. 

More info & registration: www.codit.eu/deepdiveintoappfabric

Via the Belgian & Luxembourg architects community blog.

Best of Microsoft Management Summit 2010 Event

“Best of MMS 2010” will provide the opportunity to learn more about IT management solutions from Microsoft and how you can adopt them in your datacenter. MMS is an annual event in Las Vegas where we deliver deep technical content on our latest management solution offering.

In a year packed with new management product releases, MMS 2010 provides the latest technical updates on Desktop, Datacenter, Device and Cloud management features and solutions from Microsoft. This year 5 of our Belgian Experts from the System Center User Group attend this event and bring back valuable information and present this to the Belgian IT professional community.

You have the choice to either attend this event in person or follow it online by using LiveMeeting.

• Date: 11 May 2010
• Time: 9:00 – 17:30 and networking drink afterwards
• Location: Zaventem or online
• Cost: free of charge
• Topics covered:
  • System Center Configuration Manager
  • System Center Essentials
  • Opalis IT Process Automation
  • System Center Operations Manager
  • System Center Data Protection Manager
• More info & registration