Category: Events

On June 12th the Irish Windows User Group will be running a session on Exchange 2010, also known as Exchange 14. The speaker, Nathan Winters, is an Exchange MVP, consultant and author with huge experience and a growing international reputation. As you can see from the session agenda, the world of email has evolved into a world of communications and collaboration, introducing many new technologies and offering new ways to access existing technologies with solutions for the major corporates and the small businesses. This will be an interesting session that will explain what’s happening now and in the near future.

Agenda

– Introduction: Nathan will discuss the history of email with a particular focus on Exchange, this sets up the rest of the presentation which is about the future of email (Microsoft Style!)
– Software + Services: Whether this is the future or not, what Microsoft is doing, the BPOS suite, limitations, benefits, and customers who have used it. Nathan will also show a demo. He will touch on Exchange Lab@Edu which leads into Exchange 2010 – Approx 20 mins
– Exchange 2010 will be the main section of the presentation: The basics (roles, prerequisites etc). Nathan will take a look at the aims of the product group and dive into depth around the new features related to each of the roles
– A brief intro to Unified Communications: This section will give a very brief intro to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and then end with a demo of some key work scenarios and features
– Summary and Questions

Where and When

June 12th from 09:30 until 12:00.  Registration starting at 09:00.

Microsoft European Development Centre (EDC), South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland, driving directions

Live Webcast

We will be using LiveMeeting to share this presentation live to the world!  You can sign in here using this code: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=46G74S&role=attend

Please use the free installed client instead of the web client.  The web client has issues regarding audio sharing.

About Nathan Winters

Nathan Winters is a Lead Consultant for Dimension Data. He is responsible for the Microsoft Exchange practice in the UK. Nathan has been working in I.T. for six years and specializes in Exchange and Office Communications Server.

Midway through 2006 Nathan founded the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group UK which holds regular meetings in the UK to discuss topics related to Exchange. In April 2007 Nathan was awarded an MVP (Exchange Server) for his work with MMMUG and regular contributions to the Mark Minasi Forum. Nathan is a regular contributor to the MSExchange.org website and Nathan’s other articles have been published by Penton Media (Exchange and Outlook Administrator newsletter), Microsoft (TechNet Industry Insiders) and on the MMMUG website. 

Registration

Anyone wishing to attend the event should register.  This event is being held in Microsoft so registration is mandatory.  As usual, there is no cost associated with this event.

The Irish Windows User Group will be running two events over the next 2 months.  The details are below.  Note that anyone outside of Ireland or not near these venues can still attend online using Live Meeting.  We’re also planning to host the recordings on a new Microsoft TechNet Ireland portal.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Deep Dive (This Thursday)

At TechDays for IT Pro’s 2009 there will be some sessions on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This will include some information and demonstrations on the new version of Hyper-V. However, due to time constraints, we won’t have time to get into the deep details of how and why things work.

Aidan Finn (C Infinity) will be talking about the new technologies that will be included as part of Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. This includes new functionality and improvements in performance thanks to cooperation between Microsoft and their hardware partners.

Dave Northey (Microsoft Ireland) will be doing some demonstrations of the technology in action, including the much anticipated Live Migration.

Who’s Speaking?

– Aidan Finn – C Infinity

– Dave Northey: Microsoft Ireland

When and Where?

07:30 until 10:00 on April 30th.

Swift Suite 2, Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland (Near St. Patricks Cathedral)

Registration

You can register for the event here: http://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=137699. 

Anyone who registered for the event using the old event system does not need to re-register.

Online

The Dublin event on April 30th at 07:30 GMT will be web cast using Live Meeting.  You will need to install Live Meeting to watch.  The entry details are:

Attendee URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=H73KPG&role=attend
Meeting ID:  H73KPG

Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (aka Terminal Services)

Windows Server 2008 R2 sees Terminal Services being expanded and rebranded as Remote Desktop Services.  MVP Alex Yushchenko will be once again presenting for the Windows User Group and sharing his wealth of expertise and experience.  And be sure to check out his own event that is running in Dublin, PubForum.
This presentation will cover the following:

–       New features of Remote Desktop Services (previously known as Terminal Services) in Windows 2008 R2
–       Migration from W2003 or W2008 to R2
–       VDI – Virtual Desktop Architecture built-in
–       Application Delivery, TS Web Access, Session Broker & Load Balancing and Licensing
–       Powershell in Remote Desktop Services
–       Virtualization of Terminal Server?!
–       How to get the most of Remote Desktop Services and maybe even replace your Citrix farm and save costs

About Alex Yushchenko
Alex Yushchenko a.k.a Dr.Conti is a worldwide recognized Virtualization and Server Based Computing expert. He is a Microsoft Terminal Services MVP and Citrix CTP of which there are only about 25, worldwide. With over 10 years of experience in the application virtualization field he often attends Microsoft events as part of “Ask the Experts” team across the globe and is regularly presenting on application virtualization related topics. He is also founder and organizer of European Wide Virtualization and Application delivery Event called PubForum.net in Dublin in June this year. Alex holds a M.Sc. Degree in Information Technology.

Where and When?

May 20th Wednesday
Galway – 9.30 – 12.30: Days Inn Hotel
Cork – 18.30 – 21.30: Rochestown Park Hotel
May 21st Thursday
Dublin – 9.30 – 12.30: Microsoft Atruim Building Block B
Belfast – 18.30 – 21.30: Wellington Park Hotel 

Location details on the event registration pages.

Registrations
There is no fee for attending the event.  You can register for each individual event:

May 20th Wednesday
Galway – 9.30 – 12.30
Cork – 18.30 – 21.30

May 21st Thursday
Dublin – 9.30 – 12.30
Belfast – 18.30 – 21.30

Online

The Dublin event on May 21st at 09:30 GMT will be web cast using Live Meeting.  You will need to install Live Meeting to watch.  The entry details are:

Attendee URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=6PC9BQ&role=attend
Meeting ID:  6PC9BQ

The annual MinasiForum conference has wrapped up and the last stragglers have just returned to the hotel from dinner.  Today we had Joe McGlynn talking about SBS 2008 and James Summerlin talking about SQL Reporting Services.  I had the last (rescheduled) session on Windows 7 for digital photographers.  Yesterday we had (Dynamics MVP) Curt Spanburgh talking about cloud computing/SaaS, (deployment MVP) Rhonda Layfield talking about the latest NetMon and Mark Minasi talking about W2008 Active Directory.  We also tried something new: 3 mini sessions with new speakers which included DR/business continuity, a home lab and how to install MacOS onto a non-Apple computer.

I got some more photography done 🙂  I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon and making my way back to wet Ireland.  We’re already planning next year’s conference and I can’t wait to return.

I’ve just booked my hotel for Minasi Forum 2009.  It’s being hosted by Mark Minasi in Virginia Beach from April 19-22.  Mark will, of course, be talking about what’s coming in the Windows World.  Often in the past, he has debuted his presentations at this conference for the new “season”, e.g. TechEd North America.  There’s lots of other notable names and MVP’s speaking about a range of topics that are relevant to those of us that work in Microsoft-based IT infrastructure.  I’ll also be talking about Hyper-V:

• The architecture and what we can do now
• What’s coming in R2
• What the long term strategy appears to be

I’m looking forward to it.  It’ll be great to meet up with some friends from all over the place again, not to mention spending a few days in the warmth and maybe getting out with the camera gear for a while.  I bought a new Computrekker AW bag while I was up in Belfast (saved about 33% over buying it in the Republic) so I can bring the essential camera gear and my laptop.

I am back home after the last gig in Belfast.  I had a lot of fun working with the guys.  A big thank you goes out to Enda, Dave and Will for asking me to be involved.  Others such as Niall Flanagan and David Gargan deserve a lot of credit too.  Nick Whittome added his unique approach to everyone’s entertainment and benefit in Dublin.  And we were graced by the ever professional Rhonda Layfield.

I am exhausted.  I’ve to catch up on a lot of work stuff.  I’ve a couple of Hyper-V presentations to prepare for the Windows User Group and Minasi Forum 2009.  And I want to get back into writing my document on Hyper-V.  I’ve some other stuff I need to do too that I can’t talk about yet.  We’ve also started preparing the May events for the Windows User Group in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.

Right now, my feet are going up and I’m going to watch the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica.

EDIT:

Don’t rely on things like hotel Internet if you’re doing live demonstrations or hotel A/V systems if you’re trying to record those sessions.  We were trying to do both this week and the hotel systems let us down.  I don’t know if we got anything good enough to put online; I’ll be sure to link if we did.

We’re coming to the end of the TechDays tour in Ireland.  Tonight we have the Belfast “IT @ Home” gig where I’ll be doing my Win7 and digital photography session followed by Will and Dave on Windows Home Server, X-Box, etc.  Tomorrow will be the IT Pro and the BI sessions – I’ll be doing the W2008/W7/Hyper-V session with Dave and I have a quick few words at the start of Niall’s accidental DBA session.

Dublin was interesting.  We definitely had the most interaction with a crowd so far on the tour.  We were stunned at how many had already been using Windows 7 and even more so when we found out one particular organisation that was already using it in widespread production.

The session with Dave was fun.  We had a longer time slot than in Cork so I wasn’t speed-talking.  We had more time for demo’s too.  We had big plans.   The demo I’m most worried about is the BrachCache demo because it uses pre-beta OS builds.  It worked out perfectly yesterday.  However, Dave was bravely going to build from scratch a Hyper-V R2 cluster and show live migration in action.  Our server hardware plans didn’t work out so the “servers” were actually laptops.  For live migration you need at least 2 non-wifi NIC’s … a tough ask with laptops so there was some fudgery to make the wifi appear like wired NIC’s.  That ended up being our undoing as the live migration demo didn’t quite work out.  Trust me … the stuff works … it just doesn’t work with wifi and that’s why it’s not going to be supported.  We think we have a solution for this at the Belfast gig.  We also had internet issues at the venue.  This prevented Will’s branch cache demo from working.

Not to worry though, they guys will likely have things OK for tomorrow’s Belfast gig.  We’ll be recording those and I’m sure they’ll do some controlled environment demos too for the new IT Pro blog that Enda, Will and Dave are running.  And we’ll be doing lots of demos at the Windows User Group Hyper-V R2 session.

The final dates in the MS Ireland community TechDays for IT Pro’s tour of 2009 will be this week. 

There’s 2 events in Dublin on Tuesday and 2 events in Belfast on Thursday.  There is still time to check out the details and register.

There’s an added incentive.  I’ve just been informed that there will be a draw prize of a Windows 7 NetBook at each of those events for people who register, attend, stay for the entire event and fill out their feedback forms.

We’ll also be having an "IT Pro @ Home" event in Dublin tonight and in Belfast on Wednesday night.  Details are also on the above link.

I will be speaking at BizCamp Limerick tomorrow morning on behalf of work.  It’s a late addition so it’s not on the shared official schedule yet.  The subject will be choosing the right online computing services for the start-up business.  The right solution will be different for every business.  In my dealings with start-ups and developers, they’re often not aware of what is out there, the advantages and disadvantages of each option.  Hopefully I can open up some new options to people, clear up some misconceptions and help someone out.

I’ll be in room KBG16 from 10am until 11am.  I’ll have some time to hang around afterwards to talk to anyone who has questions.  But I’ll have to leave to hit the road to Wexford after lunch.

Here’s the PowerPoint slide deck from the session I did last month at the Irish Windows User Group event on branch office infrastructure:

Windows IT Pro Magazine and Dan Holme are bringing a SharePoint roadshow to Europe, including Ireland.  Not all the dates are published yet.  More details can be found on their announcement. 

Windows IT Pro magazine features lots of writers and editors who are MVP’s, e.g. Eric Rux, Kimberly Tripp, Mark Minasi, Rhonda Layfield and Curt Spanburgh.  Due to the format, it can’t really get into great details on technical subjects but it can serve as an introduction to the subjects in question to get you started.  Also watch out for their Windows Connections conferences that run in Orlando (once a year), another city in the USA (often Las Vegas, once a year) and sometimes in Europe.  “WinCon” is like a smaller version of TechEd where you can get to speak more to the presenters and often get a more open conversation than you can at a Microsoft event *ahem* 😉

EDIT: I talked to one of the organisers and the Irish event may be much later in the year.