Breaking News: New Microsoft Certs Align to Cloud–The MCSE is back!

Hot off the newswire: Today Microsoft announced some changes to the certification program for IT Professionals, in order to address the growing need for people being able to prove their expertise in all things cloud-related. “Wait.. you said that “the MCSE is back’.  Huh?!” That’s right.  What was the well-known “Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer” acronym … Continue reading Breaking News: New Microsoft Certs Align to Cloud–The MCSE is back!

BREAKING NEWS: Windows Server 8 Beta is now AVAILABLE!

Finally!  After the long wait, and expectation growing as the day approached, we are finally able to announce to the world that the Beta of the next version of Windows Server, currently codename: Windows Server “8”, is now available for download. From the download page: Windows Server "8" is the broadest, most scalable and elastic … Continue reading BREAKING NEWS: Windows Server 8 Beta is now AVAILABLE!

Just Released: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 RC

I received an e-mail late last night informing me of the release of a new RC (Release Candidate) for the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012.  “MDT 2012?  Does that mean…” Yes.  This version is being built to support the latest-and-greatest solutions and technologies that are on the near-horizon and coming soon, such as Windows 8 and … Continue reading Just Released: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 RC

Breaking News: Free IT Camps – “Being What’s Next In IT” – Open for Registration!

Our next set of IT Pro events (“IT Camps”) in the US Central Region have been scheduled and are now officially open for registration!  The events are free, go from 9:00am to 3:00pm, and include some light breakfast and lunch.  But most importantly, they are full of new and useful information that all IT Pros … Continue reading Breaking News: Free IT Camps – “Being What’s Next In IT” – Open for Registration!

And now for a little shameless bragging…

Good morning, all.  I interrupt the normal cadence of this blog to bring to you just a little bit of bragging.  And a challenge. “Oh great.. what did you do now, Kevin?” This week I’m in Seattle, Washington, attending Microsoft’s bi-annual internal technical training event, “TechReady” (TechReady 14 to be specific.)  One of the benefits … Continue reading And now for a little shameless bragging…

Breaking News: Free Private Cloud “Jump Start” Training

Microsoft has just scheduled a FREE 2-day training course entitled “Creating and Managing a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 Jump Start”, happening on February 21st-22nd, 2012 from 9:00am to 5:00pm PST.  Adopting this exciting new computing paradigm provides a whole new landscape of technology and career direction for IT professionals. Microsoft Learning and the … Continue reading Breaking News: Free Private Cloud “Jump Start” Training

Breaking News: New System Center 2012 Licensing Model Announced

Today during the “Private Cloud Day” live webcast event, Microsoft announced a pretty big change in how we think of and purchase the System Center suite.  Bottom-line.. it’s no longer a separate set of products, but it is just one product: System Center 2012.  (Well.. actually two.. but different only in terms of licensing.)  In … Continue reading Breaking News: New System Center 2012 Licensing Model Announced

Impact on PRO when upgrading SCOM and SCVMM to System Center 2012 (So many Questions. So Little Time. Part 4.)

This question was asked by Aubrey M at our Kansas City TechNet Event last week… “If you have PRO enabled between SCOM 2007 R2 and SCVMM, how will that affect the upgrade process for these two systems?” (For those of you who haven’t heard of PRO, check out this resource.) The short answer is that … Continue reading Impact on PRO when upgrading SCOM and SCVMM to System Center 2012 (So many Questions. So Little Time. Part 4.)