Get Classified with FCI (File Classification Infrastructure) in Windows Server 2008 R2.

One of the challenges facing many organizations today is how to organize all of your data.  Do you use a complex list of folders to really organize all of your data?  How easy is that to maintain or for your users to leverage?  Well Windows Server 2008 R2 is here to help with FCI, File Classification Infrastructure.

FCI allows you leverage your business taxonomy for organizing your data.  I know many spent the lengthy process to create your taxonomy to provide the definitions for key data in your environments.  In most cases this was probably a long and tedious process, which in some cases may have had very little impact on your environment.

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FCI includes the ability to define classification properties, automatically classify files based on location and content, invoke file management tasks such as file expiration and custom commands based on classification, and produce reports that show the distribution of a classification property on the file server. In other words you can now leverage your business taxonomy and start collaboration for your users!

FCI will also allow you to do this automatically.  FCI is built-in. It’s included in Windows Server 2008 R2. And out-of-the-box you get support for many typical scenarios.  It will help you organize data. If you are using metadata effectively, FCI can help with many scenarios.

  • Organize items with specific values into areas that make sense to your project teams,
  • Moving or securing sensitive, confidential, or personal files into an encrypted location
  • Create copies of certain files automatically for the sake of creating a backup.

These are just some of the problems FCI is can help you to solve.  Think of FCI as a process that can automatically apply metadata to files based on their content and the ability to do something with those files based on that classification.

Another part of this solution is that we’ve created and published an API for this functionality, so that other companies (perhaps yours) can also build solutions using these tools. Your applications might be able to benefit from getting FCI classifications, or setting them into files based on the needs of your own application.

And one early goal of this solution is also to add value to Windows SharePoint. SharePoint can see, and workflows can take advantage of, data coming from FCI.

Here are some resources for you to get up to speed on FCI, so get classified with FCI in Windows Server 2008 R2:

Welcome from John Kelbley: Who I Am and What I do Around Here
Hey everyone - I just wanted to let you know who I am.  My name is John Kelbley and I'm a Senior Technical Product Manager with the Windows Server Platform Tech Strategy Team.  Unfortunately, my title and team name don't say much about what I actually do!  I'm part of a team at Microsoft very much focused on Open Source engagement and interoperability.  While I do work with Linux and Open Source, I spend much of my time working with customers and partners helping them understand and deploy new Windows Server-based solutions.  However it happens, many data centers and infrastructures have a mix of heterogeneous technology and I hope to show you how to integrate it with Windows to save time and reduce costs.

Over the last few years my work has included lots of focus on virtualization and HPC.  I've spent a good amount of my spare time working with Hyper-V, and co-wrote Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V: Insiders Guide to Microsoft's Hypervisor.  I worked in IT infrastructure roles for many years before joining Microsoft in 2002.  I love working with storage, backup / recovery (obsessed with this when I was managing messaging systems), and finding cost effective ways to manage and maintain servers infrastructure.  Some of my thoughts and projects can be found on my personal blog.  I look forward to sharing my ideas on server infrastructure and the world of Open Source and Linux here. 

 -John

Telco Reduces Costs While Improving Datacenter Services - A Case Study

    

With over 1.4 million wireless subscribers and 400 employees, a Jordanian telecommunications company, Umniah, recently deployed Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V server virtualization technology to their enterprise.  Here's how they were able to reap the benefits of reduced IT costs (reduced hardware spend by 60%) while increasing service levels to their customers (reduced downtime by 90%).

How to Plan and Deploy with Confidence?

  1. Hire the Right Consultants - If you don't have in-house experts?  Hire them from the outside.  For example, Umniah hired consultants from Microsoft Services to deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V.
  2. Use the Right Deployment and Planning Tools - Umniah used the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit to find under-utilized servers that are good candidates for Hyper-V virtualization.  Also try other Virtualization Solution Accelerators such as the Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides that can help you with planning and operating virtualized environments.
  3. Launch the technologies in PHASES - Umniah divided up the project into 2 phases.  First they virtualized the domain controlers and application servers.  By mid 2009, they also plan to deploy all 40 Windows-based servers and 15 Linux servers to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V.

How do you get the key resources to deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V

  1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Site
  2. Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit for Hyper-V virtualization candidates
  3. Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Virtualization including Hyper-V
  4. Other Virtualization Solution Accelerators

Cheers,

Baldwin Ng (Sr.Product Manager, Microsoft)

 

Customers Ask Me: "How's the Best Way to get my Windows XP Settings to Windows 7?" - This works.

As I deliver Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 events in the field, customers are excited about Windows 7 and have one common obstacle. No Upgrade SKU or path for Windows XP, so it's important that I lay out the path for you to ensure you have a smooth upgrade experience.

FIRST: Backup up your data to a backup disk or network share!   Please don't feed the bears!!  and if you lose your data, you might as well be eaten by one ;)

SECOND: Check out the matrix covering Windows 7 upgrade scenarios

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-considerations.aspx  

THIRD: Check the Windows XP machine to see if the hardware is even supported by running the Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser found here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15 

FOURTH: You will get the Windows Easy Transfer download from the Microsoft Website at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2B6F1631-973A-45C7-A4EC-4928FA173266&displaylang=en or if you have Windows 7 already, this tool is located in the support\migwiz dir on the DVD itself.

NEXT: Watch my webcast at  http://blogs.technet.com/blainbar/archive/2009/10/06/blain-barton-records-webcast-windows-xp-to-windows-7-migration.aspx THEN GO TO the TechNet article for more info as well at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd446674.aspx

FIFTH: DONE! (well almost) - Complete the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard on the new Windows 7 by going to search and typing in EASY. Run it and point to the data reference storage for your old settings.

LASTLY: As far as applications, you will have to reinstall them using your original media and/or MSI and setup.exe programs and product keys.

I saw PC Magazine raving (4.5 red circles out of 5!)  about PCMover for moving Windows XP to Windows 7 applications (looks likes Windows Easy Transfer to me with the important hook for application migration) but have not tried it, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353299,00.asp

Have fun with Windows 7! 

I know I am.


Blain Barton
Senior IT Pro Evangelist

Blain Barton Interviews Max Trinidad around Windows Server 2008 R2 and Window 7 dealing with TCO
As my first blog post for BIEB, I decided to highlight a video Interview I had with Max Trinidad, a local IT Professional in South Florida and more recently - A Microsoft PowerShell MVP! 

I talked to Max about his work in rolling out Windows 7 during the beta and RC builds and using virtualization with Hyper-V. Max got his Windows 7 virtual machines running in just a few minutes and his management praised the O/S' stability .  Max reports strong productivity using PowerShell and the IT Pro Momentum program, please -  check it out! 

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Windows-7-Deployment-Saves-Money/

Thanks,
Blain

Welcome From Blain Barton: Who I Am and What I Do Around Here? BIEB!
Hello!

I'm Blain Barton, Senior IT Pro Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation here on the East Coast. 

I cover and manage the Southeast states of FL, AL and MS and reside in Hernando Beach Florida.

I started with Microsoft in 1988 when they had a manufacturing and distribution center in Mill Creek Washington. My first job with Microsoft was putting disks and manuals in boxes working on the assembly line. In my career I also worked on the worldwide original equipment manufacturer (OEM) system engineering team and headed up the Microsoft Visual Basic support team in 1990. I have organized and delivered a wide array of technical seminars and educational programs. I have presented at more than 800+ live events and received six top presenter awards in the last several years. In my presentations, I'm known for getting my audiences personally involved in the demos and I use to wear wigs to portray the people in the demos -  this might come back soon!!

I like to fish, swim and boat and play the drums in my studio in my free time.  Currently, I'm in the process of building a new home here in Hernando Beach Florida after a sinkhole gobbled up my old one!

I look forward to posting to this blog in the future, so stay tuned!

Blain 

You’re Here, Why Am I Here?
Good morning, good  afternoon, or good evening  everyone, I want to first thank you for checking out the Because It's Everybody's Business Blog.  It is important you are here because it truly is your business and we at Microsoft want to make sure our software helps your run your business successfully.  So why am I, Matt Hester IT Pro Evangelist, here?  It is simple really, because of you!  Although this probably sparks the chicken vs. the egg debate all over again, I do not want to digress.

I have the greatest job here at Microsoft as an IT Pro Evangelist, because I get to meet customers like you on a daily basis and talk about technology.  More importantly I get to be a part of your community, to watch it grow, have a conversation, and even speak with.  I get to hear all the stories, the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly.  The best part is I love it all, and when you have problems, I am here to help.  I do not claim to know all the answers, but I know a lot of folks here at Microsoft, after being here for over 9 years.  If I do not know them, I can certainly look them in the GAL.

My areas of passion for Microsoft, aside from having conversations with you are varied.  I am truly passionate about Windows Server and especially the newest version 2008 R2.  I think our world starts and stops with the server which is why I love it so much.  I think our search engine for the business environment built-in SharePoint Server is also a work of art. Don't believe me? Take a look at what the BDC can do.  I also really enjoy IE 8, I think it represents a huge shift in how we look at the Internet and Internet browsing world here at Microsoft.

Overall, I am geek like you and a lot of different areas attract my interest.  I love my Xbox, I am a huge movie buff with a massive DVD collection (350 and counting). I also run marathons and love golf. My father is my role model: "The older I get, the smarter he gets." Funny how that works. 

So enjoy the blog, and you can always reach me on my http://blogs.technet.com/matthewms

I look forward to hearing from you.

Matt Hester

Don't Compromise Your IT! Modernize It!

Customers that I work with, like many of you, are actively seeking ways to reduce costs.  Whether they are managing the IT department for a large organization or a small business, they are experiencing increasing pressure to do more with less.  Are you feeling the "pinch" too?

What does this mean?  It means that you must improve or, at the very least, maintain your service level of your IT services to your internal and external customers with a fixed or smaller IT budget.  Your business must continue to run well, or more importantly, run faster so you can out-perform your competitors and grab a bigger market share of a slowing market.

In other words, to survive, you MUST NOT COMPROMISE your IT services.  The only way out is to MODERNIZE your IT.  So, how can you get started?

Top 4 Ways to "Plug the Holes" and Modernize IT

1.     Consolidate Your Datacenter and Virtualize - Did you know that you can consolidate your datacenter and application servers to save money?  That's right.  It's about reducing the powering and cooling costs of your under-utilized servers, whether they are file-and-print servers, domain controllers, mail servers or even SQL database servers.  Hyper-V hypervisor technology is a great way to virtualize these machines into a smaller footprint.  Additionally, you can save money by leveraging the LiveMigration feature of Hyper-V, as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, to move workloads around when you have to recover from a disaster or when you want to simply optimize your datacenter operations.

2.     Optimize Your Desktops - Are your desktops outdated now?  Have you been allowing your desktops in your branch offices to fly "under the radar" without your centralized management?  What about the worry that confidential data from your laptops could get into the wrong hands?  We got you covered.  Windows 7, the new operating system from Microsoft that will be available in stores worldwide on October 22, will give you a better and more performing OS.  It's got faster search, very cool looking user interface and BitLocker and BitLocker-to-Go features to secure your data on your Windows 7 PCs or USB sticks.  DirectAccess, a technology that gives your mobile users a secured way to access corporate data without a VPN network, can save you a lot of time to manage your desktops.  Time is money right?

3.     Centralize Management of Your Multi-Vendor IT Environment - Over the years, your company may have been growing and deploying technologies from many software vendors.  However, when time is tight, centralized management is becoming more critical.  You may have virtualized servers by different vendors like Microsoft's Hyper-V and VMware.  Perhaps, you have a blend of Windows Server servers and Linux ones.  Fortunately, my colleagues from the System Center team have a great family of management solutions to help you centrally manage these heterogenous "mish-mash" of physical and virtual machines.  That's right, it's all done from a "single pane of glass."  Imagine yourself using a single solution to keep track of the health of every part of your IT operations like the true captain of your IT ship.

4.     Reduce Potential Security Risks - Lastly, your assets are critical and highly confidential.  However, you cannot afford to overly restrict the access of these corporate data and assets for the sake of "being safe." After all, your IT users, need the data to do their job.  Microsoft Forefront is the way to go.  This set of identity-based solutions can help you secure remote access while ensuring secured access management that meets your business and IT needs at the least cost possible.

Learn from Your Peers

Get Started with the IT Modernization

Stop letting your precious IT dollar leak out of your pocket. Start saving money!  With Less Do More.  It can be done.

Baldwin Ng

Microsoft Planning Tools for Your Server Virtualization Projects

Planning is a crucial part of every successful IT project.  Unfortunately, who can ever find enough time to plan? 

Well, Microsoft has developed a set of planning tools (called Solution Accelerators) to help you. Whether you are considering Windows Server 2008 R2 OS migration, consolidation your servers with Hyper-V, or virtualization management with System Center Virtual Machine Manager, you will find these 2 planning tools very helpful to accelerate your planning process, save some valuable time so you can focus on the actual deployment work.

Tool #1: Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides (IPD) for Windows Server Virtualization and Management

The IPD Guides are the Microsoft best practice to help you ask the right questions during the planning phase of your projects and offer you step-by-step guidance through flow-charts and diagrams.  This is especially useful if you have not designed an infrastructure for Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V or System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 before.

Tool #2: Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V

The MAP Toolkit is an agent-less inventory tool that not only discovery machines on your network for device/hardware compatibility checks regarding Windows Server 2008 R2 migration.  It can also collect performance metrics to determine where your under-utilized servers are and which ones are the best virtualization candidates through the use of Hyper-V hypervisor technology.  Also, this MAP Toolkit can analyze your desktops for Windows 7 hardware compatibility as well!

 

Enjoy reading these guides and start tooling up for your Virtualization Projects!

Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators)

Steve Ballmer leads Virtual Event - Beyond Cost Cutting: Discover “The New Efficiency”

On September 29th at 9 am (PST) please join us here on http://www.thenewefficiency.com for a kick-off discussion on “The New Efficiency” live  from San Francisco as a part of Microsoft’s Virtual Launch Event.  Join in the conversation during this must-see event and see top technology leaders across industry and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, debate the role of IT during this economic reset. 

Get a close look at how real companies are justifying IT investments across the desktop, server, the network and beyond.  You’ll also find sessions related to new releases of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Forefront, Microsoft System Center, and Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.

See http://www.thenewefficiency.com/ for more information.

Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Virtualization – Now Available
Get Started with the IPD Guides for Virtualization

Streamline and clarify your virtualization infrastructure design processes with concise planning guidance from IPD Guides for Virtualization.  Each guide addresses a unique virtualization infrastructure technology or scenario, provides critical architectural decisions to be addressed, available options, as well as a means to validate design decisions to ensure that solutions meet requirements of both business and IT stakeholders.

Download the IPD Guides for Virtualization

Multi-product planning and design guidance for Microsoft virtualization technologies are available in the following IPD Guides for Virtualization:

*updated for Windows Server 2008 R2

See the rest of the information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/ee395429.aspx.

Driving IT Efficiencies in Your Organization

During the current global economic “reset”, organizations and companies around the world are looking for more ways to do more with less. We call it the concept of “New Efficiency.”  So, let’s talk about how you can save the hard-earned IT dollars to more quickly deploy, manage and operate your desktops, servers and applications.

Over the past few months, I met with a lot of IT managers and consultants in tradeshows who want to reduce their IT costs and raise operational efficiency.  Here are their concerns and they will likely be yours.

  • I need to cut down hardware and power/facility costs.  Can virtualization and OS power management help me?
  • I know I have some or many under-utilized servers in my datacenter.  But where are these servers?  Can Hyper-V help reduce power and cooling costs?
  • Down-time is undesirable for my IT department.  Does Microsoft have virtual machine migration feature to move workloads in real-time from one server to the next?
  • Managing VPN networks is painful.  Does Microsoft offer any alternative to secure data access via desktops and laptops without VPN?

Fortunately, Microsoft has answers to all these questions. The best part - these features are part of the Windows operating systems that you are already familiar with and using:

  • Power management is available through Group Policy of Windows Server 2008 and R2. You can enforce power management easily.
  • Hyper-V and Live Migration are part of Windows Server 2008 R2 that offers server consolidation of under-utilized servers and enable you to move workloads in real-time.
  • DirectAccess is a “better-together” feature that is part of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that gives you a great way to let you gain access to corporate resources (e.g. e-mail, shared data, etc.) without the need for VPN tunnels.

Central Bank of Brazil, through deployment of Hyper-V virtualization, was able to cut power costs by 20 percent, boost IT productivity by 20 percent, and increase processing speed by 50 percent.  Check out their recent Hyper-V case study and see if you can gain the same efficiency!

Get Started Now!

Lastly, don’t forget to pass the following list of free Microsoft tools (called Solution Accelerators) to your IT managers.  They are Microsoft best practice and automated tools that help your IT department to more quickly plan, deliver (deploy), and operate your systems:

Cheers,

Baldwin

Transparent Corporate Network Access via DirectAccess

Executive Summary

Desktop software integration is part art, part science.  Desktop administration is hard and rarely leads to inspired users.  DirectAccess is going to change all of that.  With Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 you can now create an environment that is secure, always connected to the corporate network and a joy to use.  A number of benefits can be realized with DirectAccess including greater user satisfaction with the corporate desktop standard, lower training costs, more efficient network use, and a higher degree of management for the mobile workforce.

Some History of the Challenge

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) have been around for many years now.  Users tend to despise VPN because it’s an interruption to their workflow in order to grab a document or access an internal corporate resource.  Corporate network managers haven’t exactly been enamored with VPN either.  The VPN entry point into the network must be safeguarded, VPN client integration into the desktop is problematic, training users is hard, and all of the network traffic associated with the VPN connection comes to the corporate network.

split network What if you could make those connections seamlessly work for the users?  What if the traffic for the corporate connection is only the network traffic for the internal resource and not all of the typical internet browsing?  What if the connection could easily be secured at multiple levels?

DirectAccess to the Rescue 

Well you can do all of that with a new enterprise feature of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 called DirectAccess.  DirectAccess splits the traffic and only sends traffic to the corporate network that is needed to use the internal resource like a file share, SharePoint site, or internal line-of-business application.  All of the users internet traffic remains just that, destined for the internet web sites.

There are many benefits to this approach.  The first big one is that this is totally transparent to the user.  They don’t need to be trained to use complicated VPN software and procedures.  Instead, they just access the data they need as if they were sitting in a corporate office directly connected to the corporate LAN.  Internal sites work just like public internet sites as far as the user is concerned.

This was a truly eye opening experience the first time I sat down and tried it.  After thirteen years with the company I felt like my home office was finally part of the corporate network.  It was like sitting in Seattle sixteen hundred miles from Texas.  Here’s a screencast I did of that experience using the beta of Windows 7 in early 2009 :

DirectAccess Screencast

http://msinetpub.vo.llnwd.net/d1/keithcombs/screencasts/Windows7/DirectAccess/DirectAccess.wmv

Now imagine for a moment how much bandwidth is consumed by VPN users.  It you were the network manager for the company, wouldn’t you like to keep public internet browsing and the associated traffic off your corporate network?  DirectAccess helps you do that.  As you can see in the picture above, the internet traffic never hits your network and causes bottlenecks at the VPN or proxy servers. 

Let’s Talk Security

DirectAccess uses a variety of security technologies and techniques to provide a secure and manageable infrastructure.  Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) are core technologies in the foundation. 

  • Authentication - DirectAccess authenticates the computer, enabling the computer to connect to the intranet before the user logs on. DirectAccess can also authenticate the user and supports two-factor authentication using smart cards.  This is exactly how Microsoft has implemented DirectAccess for employees.  A smart card and the associated X.509 certificates are used for further identity proof.
  • Encryption - DirectAccess uses IPsec to provide encryption for communications across the Internet.  Clients establish an IPsec tunnel for the IPv6 traffic to the DirectAccess server, which acts as a gateway to the intranet. The DirectAccess client establishes two IPsec tunnels:
    • IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) tunnel using a computer certificate. This tunnel provides access to an intranet DNS server and domain controller, allowing the computer to download Group Policy objects and to request authentication on the user’s behalf.
    • IPsec ESP tunnel using both a computer certificate and user credentials. This tunnel authenticates the user and provides access to intranet resources and application servers. For example, this tunnel would need to be established before Microsoft Outlook could download email from the intranet Microsoft Exchange Server.
  • Access Control - IT professionals can configure which intranet resources different users can access using DirectAccess, granting DirectAccess users unlimited access to the intranet or only allowing them to use specific applications and access specific servers or subnets.  Granularity and flexibility is key to many implementations of Microsoft product, and DirectAccess was built with that in mind.
  • Access Protection – DirectAccess can be used with other network policies in order to force compliance with the corporate health requirement policies.  This is accomplished using the Windows Server 2008 R2 Network Policy Server (NPS) role and the features collectively called Network Access Protection (NAP).  NPS/NAP policies can be used to check and make sure a DirectAccess computer has the latest security updates, virus/anti-malware signatures and other security settings.  If the DirectAccess node doesn’t pass the health state information check, it will not be allowed to connect to the corporate network thus preventing the potential exposure of a threat to other computers.

Management Benefits

The management benefits are primarily for the enterprise desktop administrators although users may benefit in ways they haven’t seen in the past.  Because DirectAccess is an “always on” style technology, desktop administrators have a greater chance of managing remote users.  The greater the connection speed, the more that can be accomplished across the wire.

For instance, DirectAccess nodes on the network can be queried and patched in a more consistent manner than in the past.  Instead of waiting for the user to come to a corporate campus or branch location, administrators can reach out and touch the machine on a more routine basis.

Management activities might include simple inventory reporting or something more serious like responding to a zero day vulnerability with a patch or fix.  With DirectAccess, administrators can work with the nodes on the network in off hours and lower the impact to the users.  This will make your users happy.  The last thing they want is a required update in the middle of their busy day.  Now you can schedule updates at a more convenient time.

More information

There are a number of whitepapers and guides that are available for DirectAccess. For those of you that are more technically inclined, be sure to check out the Step-by-Step guide for the feature.  You can build and test this in a virtualized environment.

Welcome From Baldwin Ng: Who I Am and What I Do Around Here
Hello!  Let me first introduce myself. My name is Baldwin Ng.  I am the Senior Product Manager responsible for Solution Accelerators including Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit, Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides, and Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios Solution Accelerator - which are great tools to help you get started with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 projects.

For the past 17+ years, I have been working on product development of high tech products from virtual reality systems, wearable computing, enterprise mobile data services, online video distribution, to enterprise software applications.

One of my passion is to bring technologies to the marketplace so users from organizations large and small can benefit from the value Microsoft software can bring.  My team, Microsoft Solution Accelerators in Redmond, has been producing very powerful automated tools and best practice guidance for many years.  We designed these solution accelerators to help customers and partners like you speed up your migration and deployment efforts - so you deploy more quickly and at a much lower cost. 

The coolest part of my job is that I get a chance to work with very smart technical and business colleagues from Microsoft as well as passionate customers and partners every day.

I look forward to starting more dialogs and blogging more about Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, System Center and more in upcoming blog posts.  In the mean-time, check out my team MAP Toolkit Team Blog or the Solution Accelerators site and start accelerating your IT projects for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 today.

Baldwin Ng
Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators
http://blogs.technet.com/MAPBLOG
Welcome from Keith Combs: Who I Am and What I do Around Here

Hello,

I'm Keith Combs and I am one of the IT Pro Evangelists in the United States.  I will be a contributor here on the BIEB blog and will be focused on Windows Server 2008 R2.  Many of you will know me from the live events and webcasts I've delivered over the past years as a server specialist for Microsoft and the TechNet team.

I joined Microsoft back in 1996 as an Exchange Server expert and have continued to enjoy the many innovations Microsoft has produced over the past decade.  When I am not posting information here, you can find me on my blog or twitter.  You'll also find me at the Windows 7,Windows Server 2008 R2, and Exchange Server 2010 launch events in the Central Region of the US.

This is an exciting time for Microsoft and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences on this blog and other Microsoft community properties.  Talk to you again very soon!!!

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