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Posts Tagged ‘cloud’

Office 365 Exchange Online Implementation & Migration Book

by on May 1st, 2012

Late last year Packt Publishing asked fellow MVP Loryan Strant and me if we were interested in writing a book on Office 365. I’ve certainly written a few technical blogs, but never a book with this much detail. Since the topic of this book is right in our wheelhouse, we couldn’t pass it up. Integrating Office 365 and performing Exchange migrations is what we do, so it only made sense to move forward.

If you are Small Business to an Enterprise and are planning to integrate and migrate to Office 365, then this book is for you. Loryan and I approached this book in four parts. The first part covers general setup of Office 365. The second part really focuses on how to plan, prepare, and migrate a Small Business to Office 365, using various supported approaches by Microsoft. The third part covers how to plan, prepare, and setup ADFS, Directory Synchronization and Exchange Hybrid in a Mid- to Enterprise environment, followed by migrations to 365. We finally close with various cleanup and references to other helpful reading materials on Office 365.

Since Office 365 will continuously be updated over time and newer versions of Exchange will be available, I would expect that this content is updated through upcoming editions, etc. Thankfully, we were still updating the book when Small Business Server 2011 and Exchange SP2 were released. We great had an opportunity to keep this book up to date throughout the whole process. Keep your eyes open for it or pre-order it now. We expect the book to be released in late May. http://www.packtpub.com/microsoft-office-365-exchange-online-implementation-and-migration/book

Microsoft Poised to Enhance Enterprise Social Business Solutions

by on March 14th, 2012

Mark Fidelman of harmon.ie wrote an article for Forbes today outlining Microsoft’s current position, in which they are poised for a launch into social business tools and solutions for the enterprise. He argues that Microsoft, with their business technology foothold in the enterprise, is best positioned to become a primary leader in the social business space.

Here are some key highlights from his post:

  • “At least 75% of the organizations surveyed have deployed or plan to implement a social solution to increase information sharing this year. Yet according to Gartner, through 2012, over 70% of these social business initiatives will fail. “
  • “So what does the Social Enterprise look like according to Microsoft? It is mainly comprised of four things: the cloud, social technologies, mobile and analytics.  Each helping to power a connected, contextual user experience where people getting things done is the focus – technology is NOT.”
  • “For Microsoft, Azure and Office 365 will power the vision, enabling companies to easily and cost effectively support the next generation knowledge worker.”

I noticed that Fidelman does not outline what specifically Microsoft will be now be offering in social business solutions beyond the solutions they’ve already created in cloud, big data and collaboration tools. But his article certainly makes me excited to see what comes next.

FINALLY, Microsoft Embraces Social — And It’s Going to be Big

Windows Azure Marketplace

by on January 19th, 2012

The Windows Azure Marketplace why would I want to use that? There are several reasons why you may want to use this Marketplace. If the core value of my business was the data I capture an API or an application in which I want to setup a subscription based offering why wouldn’t I want a Marketplace. Look at it this way, you most likely have a smart phone, whether it be a Windows Phone/iPhone/Android/… you have a Marketplace to purchase applications you use every day. I think it is great to have the same options available to a broader audience.

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Microsoft //BUILD Conference Webinar #2– How Windows 8 / Metro will Affect Enterprise IT, and How You Can Prepare

by on September 22nd, 2011

Date: October 27, 2011

Time: 1:00-2:00 PM EST

Register Now! http://microsoftbuild2.eventbrite.com/

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We have changed the date of this webinar to October 27, 2011.

Windows 8 is a product that is initially both exhilarating and confusing. The Metro Style UI first experienced in Windows Phone 7 is at the forefront of Windows 8. It is fresh and inviting to the user while providing the information users need to keep up to date without drilling into applications. One of Perficient’s Microsoft experts, Chris Woodruff, has compiled details and analysis from the BUILD conference. Chris is a member of Perficient’s Microsoft Competency Center specializing in Application Architecture and Development, and he leads technical business development for Windows Azure.

On the server side there are also changes coming with the new announcements regarding Windows 8 Server. Windows Server 8 will allow IT shops and Enterprises to build and manage infrastructure for large multi-tenant Clouds, drastically increase scalability and reliability in the areas of Virtualization, Networking, Clustering and Storage, as well as have significant security improvements and enhancements.

Chris attended the BUILD conference and many of the Windows Server 8 sessions regarding this exciting upcoming Windows release. In the second webinar in this four-part series, Chris will provide an glimpse of what is coming for enterprise customers and Windows users as well as how internal IT and enterprise development teams can leverage the news coming from //BUILD about Windows 8 and Windows Server 8.