Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Back in November 2015, Microsoft Azure announced the availability of Blockchain-as-a-Service via Ethereum, in partnership with the leading Enterprise provider of Ethereum Blockchain solutions, Consensys.

Since then, our Financial Services CTO, Marley Gray, has been posting nearly every other week nearly every other week about the new partners Microsoft has in this space.  We currently have 20 Blockchain providers waiting to join the Microsoft BaaS program.

And it’s gained steam, as reported in Nasdaq.com.

• NASDAQ: Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain As a Service Program Gains Momentum
  http://www.nasdaq.com/article/microsofts-azure-blockchain-as-a-service-program-gains-momentum-cm562389

Recently, Microsoft has a glut of Blockchain providers interested in being part of the Azzure BaaS program as an offering along side Ethereum:

• NEW YORK BUSINESS JOURNAL: Why Microsoft’s blockchain service has 20 companies waiting to be accepted
  http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2016/01/21/why-microsofts-blockchain-service-has-20-companies.html

Marley did a demonstration of a transaction over Ethereum on YouTube:

• Blockchain CryptoSwap – A Total Return Swap Demo using Ethereum on Azure Blockchain as a Service
  [LORES] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCAU5dJ3Mk&feature=youtu.be
  [HIRES] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl_R9ZndeNs

For a list of updates on Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain-as-a-Service, visit:

• Microsoft Azure BaaS Posts
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/tag/blockchain/

For an explanation of how Blockchain technology works, visit the following sites:

• https://www.quora.com/How-does-the-block-chain-work
• http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/41868/how-does-the-blockchain-work-explained-in-layman-terms
• http://gizmodo.com/whats-the-blockchain-and-why-does-bitcoin-depend-on-it-1698025216

Lync has joined the Skype family and is now Skype for Business!

Skype for Business brings together the familiar experience that users love about Skype, with the enterprise security, compliance and control from Lync. Skype for Business builds on Microsoft’s world class productivity platform Office 365 resulting in a truly modern collaboration platform. Join Microsoft to experience how Skype for Business simplifies and unifies the different tools people use to collaborate for work. It’s all about connecting business and people, and it starts here!

We have prepared an exciting event featuring the Skype for Business Product Group, local Microsoft experts and certified partners where we will discuss these important items through a combination of demos, use cases and partners solutions:

• New Era of Collaboration: Introducing Skype for Business
• Skype for Business product, service and platform futures
• Productivity through devices
• Lync Room System (LRS) Futures and Surface Hub
• Enabling Mobile collaboration
• Simplify ‘Click to Call’ with Call via Work
• Empowering LOB apps with WebRTC & ORTC
• Skype enabled Contact Center

Agenda

This is your opportunity to get your questions answered by Skype for Business experts and Microsoft Partners, and see how Skype for Business will meet your business needs.

*There is no fee to attend.*

Skype for Business Summit Sponsors:

Win prizes and giveaways courtesy of our sponsors!

• Date:
  March 4th, 2016
• Location:
  Microsoft Playa Vista
  13031 W. Jefferson Blvd Suite 200
  Playa Vista , CA 90094
  See map and/or driving directions
• Registration:
  https://www.microsoftevents.com/profile/
  form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x92455e301

Furthering Microsoft’s commitment to cross-platform development & a mobile future, we announced yesterday that we’ll be acquiring Xamarin:

In conjunction with Visual Studio, Xamarin provides a rich mobile development offering that enables developers to build mobile apps using C# and deliver fully native mobile app experiences to all major devices – including iOS, Android, and Windows. Xamarin’s approach enables developers to take advantage of the productivity and power of .NET to build mobile apps, and to use C# to write to the full set of native APIs and mobile capabilities provided by each device platform. This enables developers to easily share common app code across their iOS, Android and Windows apps while still delivering fully native experiences for each of the platforms. Xamarin’s unique solution has fueled amazing growth for more than four years.

Microsoft’s Announcement:
http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/02/24/microsoft-to-acquire-xamarin-and-empower-more-developers-to-build-apps-on-any-device/

We founded Xamarin more than 4 years ago with the mission to make native mobile development fast, easy, and fun and to help C# developers build beautiful mobile apps and reach billions of devices. We love the native iOS, Android, and Mac APIs and we love C#, and this acquisition is an ideal next step for us and for our customers.

Xamarin’s Announcement:
https://blog.xamarin.com/a-xamarin-microsoft-future/

WHAT IS XAMARIN?
For 3rd party commentary on the pending acquisition and an explanation of what the acquisition means, here’s an excerpt from Windows Weekly 454 about the subject:

Oh boy. Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, James Whittaker, just got added to the docket of the upcoming TechNet Virtual Conference.

JAMES WHO?
For those of you who don’t know who James Whittaker is, he’s gotten a Ph.D in Computer Science from UT & is former Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology.  He worked for Microsoft for 3 years, left for Google for 3 years, then came back to Microsoft.  And he’s one of the most dynamic speakers we have.

He doesn’t pull punches and he usually has no filter.  And he LOVES BEER.  In fact, he’s known to drink on stage & that’s when folks in the audience lean in, wondering, “Damn, what’s James gonna say next?”  There’s never been a James Whittaker presentation where I haven’t walked away with some mind-bending insight.  (I’m curious however if he’s gonna rail it in a little given that this is a video broadcast.)

In short however, if you’re invested in Microsoft technology, you’ll definitely want to check out DocJamesW’s presentations at the TechNet Virtual Conference.

• Date/Time:
  March 1st, 2016
  11:00AM PST
• Registration:
  https://www.technetvc.com/

Protecting Your Organization in a Mobile-First, Cloud-First World

It seems nearly every week a new cyberattack is announced, against a corporation, a government agency, or a nonprofit organization. This has made cybersecurity a top issue for IT and security professionals, as well as their peers in line of business and the boardroom.

What are the facts?

• Cybercriminals have evolved. They have become better organized and are using more sophisticated techniques.
• Enterprise security has failed to keep up. Traditional security measures are proving largely ineffective and attackers are exploiting gaps between disconnected point solutions.
• The cost is high. Cyberattacks cost organizations $400 billion a year. This makes cybersecurity a boardroom problem.

The threats are wide-ranging and plentiful, but there are best practices and solutions you can adopt to keep your organization safe.

By attending the Virtual Security Summit, you will:

• Learn about the modern cybercriminal and their evolving tactics
• Hear how cyberwar and cyberterrorism affect you and your organization
• Learn from leading security experts about how they keep their organization safe
• Discover tools you can use to keep your people, platforms and devices secure

Join us for a packed three hours of content specifically geared toward better understanding today’s Enterprise Security industry.

• Date/Time:
  Tuesday, March 29, 2016
  9:00am -12:00pm PT
• Registration:
  http://aka.ms/virtualsecuritysummit

It was announced today that the Department of Defense will be broadly standardizing on Windows 10 and migrating 4 million PCs by January 2017.

This will be the largest Windows 10 deployment to dates & follows a public memo issued by DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen and a verbal directive from the US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, this month.

Windows 10 & Surface, additionally, have been certified as meeting the specific government criteria, strict security standards, and interoperability requirements set by the Department of Defense.

You can read more about the Department of Defense’s announcement here:

• US Department of Defense Commits to Upgrade 4 Million Seats to Windows 10
  https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/02/17/us-department-of-defense-commits-to-upgrade-4-million-seats-to-windows-10/
• Department of Defense directs DoD agencies to standardize on Windows 10
  http://enterprise.microsoft.com/en-us/industries/government/?post_type=articles#fbid=2iff4wM8PCv
• Surface now approved for U.S. Department of Defense
  https://blogs.windows.com/devices/?p=250683

The prior memo from DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen is located below:

• CIO Memo – Migration to Microsoft Windows 10 Secure Host Baseline
  The Office of the Chief Information Officer of the DoD released a memo on 20 November as notification that in order to improve our Cybersecurity posture, lower the cost of IT, and streamline the IT operating environment, the Department will transition to Microsoft Windows 10. The DoD will direct Combatant Commands, Services, Agencies and Field Activities (CC/S/As) to rapidly deploy the Windows IO operating system throughout their respective organizations starting in January 2016, and the Department’s objective is to complete the deployment by January 2017. You can read the entire memo below.
  http://www.esi.mil/download.aspx?id=5448 (.PDF)

Greetings! The second preview of Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016: Mission-Critical Applications, Deeper Insights, Hyperscale Cloud is now available for download. Enjoy!

With Microsoft SQL Server 2016, a variety of new features and enhancements to the data platform deliver breakthrough performance, advanced security, and richer, integrated reporting and analytics capabilities. In this Preview 2 ebook, we introduce three new security features: Always Encrypted, Row-Level Security, and dynamic data masking; discuss enhancements that enable you to better manage performance and storage: TempDB configuration, query store, and Stretch Database; review several improvements to Reporting Services; and also describe AlwaysOn Availability Groups, tabular enhancements, and R integration. This book is a preview edition because it’s not complete; the final edition will be available Spring of 2016.

Read more about the eBook here.  Download the eBooks below:

• DOWNLOAD: “Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016: Mission-Critical Applications, Deeper Insights, Hyperscale Cloud, Preview 2”
• Desktop PDF:
  http://aka.ms/IntroSQLSvr2016PE_dsktp_pdf
• Mobile PDF:
  http://aka.ms/IntroSQLSvr2016PE_mobile_pdf

We’re happy to announce the release of our newest free ebook, Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Technical Overview (ISBN 9780735696976), by Ed Bott.

Overview

Get a head start evaluating Windows 10—with technical insights from award-winning journalist and Windows expert Ed Bott. This guide introduces new features and capabilities, providing a practical, high-level overview for IT professionals ready to begin deployment planning now.

This edition was written after the release of Windows 10 version 1511 in November 2015 and includes all of its enterprise-focused features.

The goal of this book is to help you sort out what’s new in Windows 10, with a special emphasis on features that are different from the Windows versions you and your organi­zation are using today, starting with an overview of the operating system, describing the many changes to the user experience, and diving deep into deployment and management tools where it’s necessary.

Read more about the eBook here.  Download the eBook below:

• DOWNLOAD: Free MS Press eBook, “Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Technical Overview”
  http://aka.ms/introwin10/PDF

Hands-On with Microsoft Azure Marketplace

Join us for an informative hands-on workshop to learn about Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace.

The benefits of the Cloud are well known to many IT professionals. But knowing what, when and how to develop or deploy to the Cloud can seem challenging.

This one day, focused training session, will provide you with a valuable onboarding experience to Azure, Microsoft’s Cloud for modern business. You will learn how to search and deploy your own solutions from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace providing benefits such as:

• Growing ecosystem of 3,000+ offers
• Easy discovery and evaluation of customer offerings all in a single location
• Streamlined configuration, deployment and management
• Integrated platform experience

Lunch will be served and we will provide parking validation. Space at this event is limited so register today! We hope to see you there!

Date:
Thursday, March 3, 2016

Location:
Microsoft Technology Center
3 Park Plaza – Suite 1600
Irvine, CA 92614
Directions

Times:
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Lunch & Parking Validation Provided

Presented in Partnership With:

• Barracuda
• Chef
• DataStax
• Hanu
• Hortonworks

Register:
https://www.microsoftevents.com/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x82499d962

And now, a brief word from Azure Active Directory Engineering:

Hi!  We are the Microsoft Azure Active Directory Customer Partner Engineering Team.

Are you looking to deploy Azure Active Directory quickly and easily? We are offering free webinar briefings on key Azure Active Directory deployment topics!

The same session is offered at three times in February:

Getting Ready for Azure AD Option 1 Tuesday February 16 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Getting Ready for Azure AD Option 2 Tuesday February 16 – 11:00am  GMT-8	Getting Ready for Azure AD Option 3 Tuesday February 16 – 7:00pm  GMT-8
Manage Your Enterprise Applications with Azure AD Option 1 Wednesday February 17 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Manage Your Enterprise Applications with Azure AD Option 2 Wednesday February 17 – 11:00am  GMT-8	Manage Your Enterprise Applications with Azure AD Option 3 Wednesday February 17 – 7:00pm  GMT-8
Secure Your Identities with Azure AD Multi Factor Authentication Option 1 Thursday  February 18 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Secure Your Identities with Azure AD Multi Factor Authentication Option 2 Thursday  February 18 – 11:00am  GMT-8	Secure Your Identities with Azure AD Multi Factor Authentication Option 3 Thursday  February 18 – 7:00pm  GMT-8
Streamlining Password Management Using Azure AD Option 1 Friday February 19 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Streamlining Password Management Using Azure AD Option 1 Friday February 19 – 11:00am  GMT-8	Streamlining Password Management Using Azure AD Option 1 Monday February 22 – 7:00pm  GMT-8
Accessing Your Organization’s Internal Applications via Azure AD App Proxy Tuesday February 23 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Accessing Your Organization’s Internal Applications via Azure AD App Proxy Tuesday February 23 – 11:00am  GMT-8	Accessing Your Organization’s Internal Applications via Azure AD App Proxy Tuesday February 23 – 7:00pm  GMT-8
Azure AD Reporting, License Management and Securing Social Media Accounts Wednesday February 24 – 7:00am  GMT-8	Azure AD Reporting, License Management and Securing Social Media Accounts Wednesday February 24 – 11:00pm  GMT-8	Azure AD Reporting, License Management and Securing Social Media Accounts Wednesday February 24 – 7:00pm  GMT-8

Each one-hour briefing is designed to support IT Pros in quickly rolling out Azure Active Directory features to their organization. All webinars are free of cost and will include an anonymous Q&A session with our Engineering Team. So come with your questions!

Capacity is limited. Sign up for one or all of the sessions today! If you have any questions about the free webinar offer, please let us know by emailing us.

For registration and more information visit:

• TRAINING: Microsoft Azure Active Directory: "Talk to the Experts!" Webinars [FREE]
  https://info.microsoft.com/AADP-Webinar-CLE_AADP-Main-Landing-Page.html