If You Can, You Should Attend TechEd 2013 Europe

It’s that time of the year again, when TechEd is coming closer. I’m attending the European Edition in Madrid, Spain. But I can guarantee you I will be on line a lot during the USA edition as well. At be attending the USA edition this year if I could but work, time and budget wise I can’t make that happen. This isn’t because the European edition is less, absolutely not. The reason is that at MMS2013 in Las Vegas last month we got the heads up that Microsoft will start talking publicly about the new version of Windows and I’m game for that. Windows Server 2012 is the best Windows version ever but I know what I’d like to see in there to make it even better. I’m kind of curious if anyone at MSFT follows my thinking on this subject. I hope so!

So yes I’m a TechEd advocate, you bet! If you want to know why, read my blog post here on http://workinghardinit.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/why-i-find-value-in-a-conference/.

Come and learn amongst your peers, network with them and industry experts. To become competent and gain expertise you are going to have to get out there and expose your ideas, insights and thinking to your peers around the globe. That’s how it works. To those who dismiss quality conferences like this I can only say that you are wrong. To those who claim it’s a paid holiday I can only say that to a liar all other men are liars and to a thief all other men are thieves.  Enough said. Invest in knowledge and competence development, it will pay of better than some extra thousands of € in the bank!

So if you can please join me and attend TechEd. It’s a blast and a tremendous learning experience. I never ever miss attending TechEd, not even at times it wasn’t easy for me to do so. You can register here. I hope to see you there!

I’m Presenting At The Belgian TechDays 2013

A little end of year news flash for you all. I already mentioned the contribution the local Belgian MVPs and MEET members are making to the TechDays in 2013 and now I can tell you I’m joining them for a presentation as well on March 7th in the 16:15-16:30 time slot . In the talk Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Networking Evolved I’ll be discussing some of the network improvements in Windows Server 2012. Some are very well known others a bit less but they all work together to make Windows Server 2012 a very capable operating system that’s future proof.

Hyper-V benefits from a range of new features introduced across the entire network stack in Windows Server 2012. Some of these are native networking improvements in the operating system itself. Others leverage technology that requires supported Network Adapters & Switches that benefits Hyper-V hosts and the virtual machines that run on top of it. Come and see how even the most demanding workloads can now be virtualized without sacrificing performance, reliability, security or scalability. These features vary from easy & transparent, with almost zero configuration, to complex, requiring more design and implementation considerations. Join me for an overview of these network improvements, how they work and what they can do for your business.

We’ve been running Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V in production since August & September 2012. So we put our money where our mouth is. If you hurry up and register before the end of the year you can still get the early bird price.

Your company cannot lose here. You gain insight & knowledge, your employer gets a well prepared and motivated employee. How’s that for a nice new years gift?

TechDays 2013 Belgium

 

In case you haven’t heard already, the Belgian edition of Microsoft TechDays 2013 has been announced.

TechDays has established itself as a quality local event that delivers some great content. Speakers include top international but also some impressive local talent like Kurt Roggen, Michael Van Horenbeeck, Kim Oppalfens … So basically things are looking very promising both in quality and delivery of the content. The good news is there is still time to register at the early bird rate. So don’t delay and register. You’re boss will be happy with your extra knowledge & value in these tough times, especially at reduced rates.

Carsten Rachfahl Interviews Me On Windows Server 2012 Storage Improvements

Carsten Rachfahl, a German Hyper-V Expert, friend and fellow MVP, interviewed me after the joint MVP effort at TEC 2012 in Barcelona. The subject was storage in Windows Server 2012. We found a great setting in the garden and got into quite a nice discussion on the subject.

It’s no surprise to anyone I guess that I’m very enthusiastic about what Microsoft is doing with storage on all levels in Windows Server 2012 and is trying to achieve for us, the customers from both a cost and performance and reliability perspective. It was a lot of fun to do and I see blinking lights in our eyes at many moments during this interview. Yes, working is important for many reasons, but when you can enjoy your work and have fun whilst doing it, life is pretty good . So enjoy, we certainly did.

I’m Presenting at the Technical Experts Conference 2012 Europe

I’ll be speaking at the Technical Experts Conference 2012 Europe in Barcelona on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and it’s storage and network related improvements and promising new features. Some of you might know that I’m a Microsoft MVP in the Virtual Machine Expertise (i.e. Hyper-V), but these sessions are not marketing or vapor ware. Being an MVP is about sharing knowledge and experiences with you. I’m are early adopter in production from the day the RTM bits became available and we’re already reaping the benefits of those features, so it’s more than just lab work and theory.

I won’t be there alone, as my friends, colleagues and fellow MVPs Aidan Finn (@joe_elway), Carsten Rachfahl (@hypervserver) and Hans Vredevoort (@hvredevoort) will be there as well to present and share their knowledge, which is extensive, I assure you. It’s great to have the chance to come together again and talk about our technology passions.

You can find an overview of the session agenda here

So I hope you can join us for an interesting conference and interactive event where we can discuss your challenges and ways to address them. Trust me when I say that talking to other customers and technologist is a great way to learn, understand the needs and find opportunities. We learn a lot from presenting and talking to you. I’ve attended a lot of conferences in my career now and I still find them valuable. The return on investment for my employers has been great. Motivated and skilled employees can save a business 10 fold the cost spent to keep them that way.

Haven’t heard of TEC  before?

Neither did I before a couple of years, but by good fortune I had the opportunity to attend as a delegate and found it very worth while in both content and networking opportunities. As it turns out The Experts Conference Europe 2012 (TEC) has been running for over a decade now and it delivers level 400 sessions on core Microsoft technologies. It focuses on Active Directory and Identity, Exchange, Virtualization and User Workspace Management.

TEC Europe is held at the Hotel Rey Carlos in Barcelona from 22-24 October 2012. Quest , as an alliance partner of Microsoft, welcomes program management, product management, development staff from Redmond and a number of field team members to the event every year to support the training requirements of its users. This means two things: It’s a valuable event and, I admit, I’m honored to be invited to speak at this event.

Budgets are tight

A great tip. Quest is offering a discount rate of 850 Euro to delegates who register by 21 September! You can get a discount code for registration by sending an email to TEC2012@quest.com

Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference – Vienna May 25th-27th 2012

I’m attending and speaking at one the of the best  small scale virtualization conferences out there. I’m talking about the Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference (E2EVC) organized by Alex Juschin for many years now. I’ll be speaking at the conference on “Making Sense of  RSS, DMVQ, SR-IOV, RDMA and other advanced networking features”. We’ll see where Windows Server 2012 & the new generation of Hyper-V is at in regards to these technologies, how it stacks up against some other solutions and what looks promising. In other words what we are looking at to use in real live once Windows Server 2012 goes RTM.

I have the good fortune to attend some pretty big, impressive & high quality industry events. These are excellent places for networking and getting up to speed with the latest of the greatest form the big vendors and the ecosystem around it. But they are pretty expensive and large scale, so most people are so crazy busy at those you often miss out on some of the interaction, there is just to much going on.

E2EVC is special and adds a different kind if value that goes beyond its low cost. For one, nobody is trying to sell you anything. All attendees and all speakers are IT Pro’s that design, build, work with and support the technologies that are discussed. Hence the name, Expert 2 Expert. It’s a reality check on what are people really using, trying, evaluating. You’ll see what is really hurting us and what really works.  An event like this isn’t driven by marketing. It’s driven by interests, passion for technology and even more important from a business perspective the solutions they can and do deliver in real live. This proves that you don’t need to charge premium prices to keep the riff raff out. The fact that 2 days of this conference are in a weekend tells you the attendees are going there with intend and purpose.

The guys & gals attending & presenting are top notch. They don’t look  like slick advisers and analysts. It’s all very informal and relaxed. But make no mistake, these people are sharp and at the top of their game. Discussion and interaction is stimulated and lively. The aim is not to breed or create rock star speakers but to get people to share their experiences and knowledge. And here in lies the value. I really commend Alex Juschin for having succeeded in this.

My Recommendations For Our IT Pro at TechDays 2012 Belgium

I’m very busy with storage at the moment and as I’m already doing some other conferences this year we’re giving some other members of our IT the opportunity to attend TechDays 2012. That doesn’t stop me from giving some hints to the junior but very smart & fast learning IT Pro that’s in our delegation (4 developers & 1 IT Pro) and I might as well share those hints with you. The idea of sending him to TechDays is to expose him to a variety of subjects that are related to current and future needs/trends in the industry and in our line of business. It’s not just focused on training. I want him to look at the bigger picture of all parts in the puzzle. It’s about getting some context and tasting the possibilities. It’s also good to see some of our local IT talent (like Mike Resseler and Kurt Roggen) in action. Naturally I leave it up to him to make his own choices, and I hope he does. So here are, in chronological order, my recommendations:

February 14th

10:45-12:00
Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012

12:00-13:00 (If you want to lunch & learn)
Manage VM’s and Services across Private Clouds and Windows Azure with System …

13:00-14:15
Take the Spaghetti out of Windows Azure – an insight for IT Pro Techies Part 1 (John Craddock)

14:30-15:45
Take the Spaghetti out of Windows Azure – an insight for IT Pro Techies Part 2 (John Craddock)

16:15-17:30
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012, Fabric Management, creation and consumption of the cloud (Vijay Tewari)

17:45-19:00
Windows 8 Dynamic Access Control (John Craddock)

February 15th

09:00-10:15
Windows 8 Hyper: Availability (Bryon Surace)

10:45-12:00
Discover what’s new in Windows 8 Active Directory (Paul Loonen)

13:00-14:15
The Private Cloud, Principles, Patterns and Concepts (Tom Shinder)

14:30-15:45
Toolmaking for Administrators using Windows PowerShell (Jason Helmick)

16:15-17:30
Windows 8 Disk Dedupe (Speaker: Mike Resseler)

17:45-18:45
What’s new in PowerShell V3! (Jason Helmick)

February 16th

09:00-10:15
Private Cloud Day Session 1- Building your Private Cloud Infrastructure (Kurt Roggen)

10:45-12:00
Private Cloud Day Session 2- Creating & Configure your Private Cloud (Kurt Roggen)

13:00-14:15
Private Cloud Day Session 3- Monitor & Operate your Private Cloud (Mike Resseler)

14:30-15:45
Private Cloud Day Session 4- Automating & Delivering Services in your Private Cloud (Mike Resseler & Kurt Roggen)

16:15-17:30
Private Cloud Day Session 5- A Solution for Private Cloud Security (Tom Shinder)