TechNet Events are Back!

** UPDATE: We’ve rescheduled the Kansas City and Saint Louis events!  See you January 10 and 17!

Greetings!

Well, it’s that time again.  It’s time to look at your calendar and look at our list of TechNet Events in the central US to see if you’ll be able to spend the day with us.

“A day?  I thought you guys usually do the 1/2-day TechNet Events.”

Yeah, that was then.  This is now.  And now is going to be.. well,  9am-5pm (or whenever we want to end), and at a event location hopefully near you.  We’re going to spend the first part of the day doing our traditional presentation/demos/videos/hilarity, and then after lunch (which is on us, by the way) we’ll be holding more of an “IT Camp” style event.  Minimal PowerPoint.    We want to give you opportunities to install and configure some trials of the solutions we covered in the morning, as well as talk about certification. 

The official title for these events is “A Day with Microsoft Virtualization, Hyper-V, SCVMM 2012 and SCOM 2012…Oh My”, but I wanted to call them “Microsoft Virtualization: Why VMware Sucks”.  I guess cooler heads prevailed. 

“Seriously?  Did you just say that?”

No.  Well.. yeah.  Sorry.  A bit strong, I know.  And not entirely true.  VMware does virtualization well.  And most companies are using it.  And I’d be crazy to think that you’ll just pull out your current virtualization platform and replace it completely.  But what many people don’t realize (yet) is that Microsoft has a solution that performs just as well (sometimes better), has broader, well-integrated, and more complete management solutions, and will move you to a cloud that suits your company’s needs; on your terms.  (And oh, by the way; in many ways we can manage VMware better than VMware can.)

“I knew that.”

Of course you did.  You’re smart.  You read my blog.  Maybe you should forward the link to all of your friends.

Anyway.. the goal of these events is to educate you on why I believe what I just said about Microsoft Virtualization.  And it will also be a great opportunity for you to get an early peek at some new product versions.

I think the official event description says it pretty well…

• Are you currently a VMware administrator?
• Are you looking to understand what cloud (public, private, hybrid) is and what it can do for you?
• Have recent industry announcements made you want to take a look at alternative ways to take your datacenter to the next generation?
• Do you want to learn about the next set of Microsoft Virtualization technologies?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then come spend an exciting day with your Microsoft TechNet IT Pro evangelists. You will take a technical look at how the Microsoft Virtualization technologies can provide you the Cloud on Your Terms?

Microsoft virtualization technologies provide you a solid foundation for delivering IT as a Service to take your business to the private cloud. Our Private Cloud solution is not just about virtualization. We offer strong management capabilities, using which you can holistically manage all of your services and applications, which is where you’re true business value lies, not in VMs or physical servers. Using our solution, you can get deep application insights and therefore deliver business SLAs with confidence. Microsoft offers virtualization that spans from desktop to data center to the cloud. We offer a comprehensive and customer-centric solution with more choice, flexibility, and cost savings than VMware.

In the morning session we will take a look at the Microsoft virtualization technologies including Hyper-V, SCVMM 2012, SCOM 2012 and all the products to take your DC to the next level. Hyper-V offers best-in-class performance for Microsoft workloads (SharePoint, SQL Server, and Exchange) and you can rely on Hyper-V to virtualize Tier-1 data center applications with confidence. System Center 2012 provides a common management offering full visibility and control for your IT pros across your hybrid environments. At the same time, we continue to empower your application owners with self-service to make sure they can deliver agile app experiences to their businesses. System Center 2012 technologies, you can take advantage of existing datacenter investments with 3rd party integration and provides your infrastructure cross platform management and automation from the metal up. We know that you have made existing investments in your datacenter, and we can integrate and extend upon existing systems.

In the afternoon session you will be allowed to explore the technologies on your terms:

Do you want to install some of the technologies and take it for a test drive like?

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Configure Hyper-V for best Practices
• Configure a test environment (networking , a DC VM, a VM for SCVMM)
• Download, install, and fire up SCVMM 2012

Are you looking to take a Microsoft Certification exam? Exams we can talk about:

• 70-659 TS: Windows Server 2008 R, Server Virtualization (Hyper-V + VMM)
• 70-400 TS: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, Configuring

Or do you just want more Technical nuggets?

We are here for you in the afternoon, and will be there to help answer the questions you really care about!

“Sounds great, Kevin.  Where will you guys be holding these events?”

Here are the dates, locations (with links) to the registration for the cities we’re covering.  (Events I’ll be co-presenting with my friend John Weston are in bold.)

Will I see you there?  Let me know!  And if you have some pressing issue you’d like to investigate during our afternoon “IT Camp”, let me know that ahead of time and we’ll come prepared!