Kurt Shintaku's Blog

On the eve of 08.08.08 and the excitement around the XXIX Olympiad, Microsoft and NBC Sports have teamed to deliver event coverage on a scale never seen before on the Internet, let alone on TV.  NBC and Microsoft will be streaming more than 3,500 hours of Olympics video to millions of online viewers in the United States, including LIVE coverage of every minute of competition from 25 sports.

This is the largest media event ever done on the web, an unprecedented moment in the history of the Internet.  MSN is providing distribution of NBC Olympics video content —  which lives exclusively on the MSN network — to all of our US visitors. The site itself is designed to handle more than 2.3 terabytes/second of traffic and will provide a flawless viewing experience for customers.  Silverlight 2 is the core technology behind the Olympics video player and provides the high-quality, interactive experience. The combination of this unprecedented amount of video coverage from NBC and Microsoft technology will change the way people experience live sports.

Here are all the ways you can experience the 2008 Summer Olympics from Microsoft and NBC:

• Click http://www.nbcolympics.com/video to jump right in and experience high-quality, interactive video using Silverlight.  This could even be better than being in Beijing! Get amazing, crisp HD video quality on the web that’s always optimized for your connection using Silverlight’s new adaptive streaming capability, watch up to four live streams simultaneously in the same player, and get expert commentary (hot-linked so you can go back right to the exact moment that Michael Phelps touches the wall for gold) all within a rich Silverlight application running within the browser.
  
  
  
• Beginning tomorrow and throughout the Games, the MSN homepage will prominently feature a dynamic Olympics module which will enable people to see results (or hide them if you don’t want any spoilers), get the latest news and see exclusive video coverage. Our partnership with NBC and the world-class editorial team in MSN will make MSN the best portal for up-to-the-minute Olympics coverage.

• Get the latest medal counts by sport or by country, or find out about all 10,000 of the athletes competing in the 2008 Summer Games using the Live Search Olympics Instant Answer

• Install the new MSN Toolbar that gives you one click access to the medal tally and many other highlights.
• Beginning August 9th, Zune Marketplace will kick off a series of daily 2008 Olympic Games videos from NBC Sports, giving viewers special on-the-go access to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. For approximately 99 cents–$1.99 per episode (with post-Games content TBD), footage will include memorable highlights from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, “best of” compilations, “best match” replays and a post-Games wrap-up feature. Users will be able to download each episode onto their Zune device for viewing whenever and wherever they go. 

  Additionally, XBOX users will be able to purchase and download a daily wrap-up of the day’s events from NBC Sports, with a complete wrap-up at the end of the Games. And as you saw earlier today, from Windows Media Center, head for NBC Olympics On the Go service in the Online Media strip.

For a behind-the-scenes look at what was involved, check out:

• the Olympics channel on onTen
• and CNET’s take here

…along with press coverage of Microsoft’s participation in the Games, including yesterday’s Seattle Times and today’s Seattle P-I.

We are pleased to announce we are launching NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service from NBC Universal powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic platform. This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA.

For more information visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/olympics.mspx
(Note:  This application is intended for Windows Vista users only. It will not appear in Windows Media Center for XP users)

Please try it out and give us your feedback!  You simply launch Windows Media Center and scroll down to the Online Media strip where you will find a link to NBC Olympics On The Go in default view. Follow the simple one-time installation steps and you’re ready to go.

With NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, you will get:

• NBC Sports’ complete on-air HDTV coverage of the Beijing Olympics on the NBC, USA and Universal networks – even when you don’t have a TV tuner for your Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC
• 225 hrs of long-form Olympics video over 17 days
• 24 sports, full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage
• Up to HD quality, with the vast majority of the video delivered in 840×480 progressive scan resolution at 1.5 Mbps bit rate, plus several events per day delivered in 1080i resolution

This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA:

• NBC’s in-house download offering, NBC Direct, will offer only short-form highlights from the Olympics
• While Olympics events not chosen for on-air broadcasts will be available only through NBC’s Silverlight player on www.nbcolympics.com, the NBC Olympics experience in Windows Media Center will deliver the video at a higher bit rate and play more reliably since videos will be stored on the users’ PCs.

Features of the NBC Olympics On the Go service in Windows Media Center furthermore include:

• Easy to install
• Select the sports you want and get automatic downloads of all available coverage for those sports during the Olympics
• Content becomes available as soon as NBC completes its primetime on-air coverage on the West Coast (i.e., beginning at 3 am EDT)
• Watch online or offline – during your morning commute or through any Extender device
• Rewind, fast-forward and re-watch your favorite Olympics moments

We are very proud of the collaboration with NBC and TVTonic and the resulting consumer experience. Please give it a try and let us know what you think.

The Media Center Team

November 18-21, 2008
Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle WA.

The PASS Community Summit 2008 is the single largest gathering of Microsoft SQL Server professionals in the world, bringing together the entire community – from the brightest and the best, to the newest SQL Server users.

LINK: http://summit2008.sqlpass.org/
(Note:  Register by August 30th to get an Early Bird Discount of $300)

Attendees receive top-rated industry advice and expertise on the best ways to develop, deploy and manage their entire SQL Server environment and will walk away with an in-depth and hands-on look at all things SQL Server.

Delivering three full days of in-depth learning, PASS Summit provides unparalleled access to the Microsoft SQL Server development team and face-to-face networking in a fun, focused environment. PASS Community Summit 2008 provides the perfect opportunity to sharpen and perfect your SQL Server technical skills. Register for the PASS Community Summit 2008 today.

Who Should Attend?

Microsoft SQL Server users who:

• Manage and support SQL Server data platforms
• Design, architect and implement database solutions
• Architect and develop SQL Server applications
• Architect and develop Business Intelligence solutions

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting the 2nd Annual Microsoft BI Conference 2008 from October 6 – 8, 2008 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown Seattle, WA. We hope that you will plan to join us for the 2nd annual worldwide event for customers and partners.

LINK:  http://www.msbiconference.com
(Note:  Register by August 22nd, and get an Early Bird Discount of $300)

This exciting and informative conference will showcase Microsoft’s market-leading business intelligence (BI) products, solution expertise and customer successes. The event is designed to educate customers and partners on every aspect of Microsoft’s BI offering. You can also expect even more educational tracks and sessions by Microsoft product and industry experts, customer best practices sessions, the second-annual Microsoft BI Customer Awards presentation, hands-on labs, and much more!

What You Will Learn
You and your colleagues should plan to attend — You’ll gain insight from industry thought leaders, learn about the success of other Microsoft BI customers from your peers, discover best practices and gain valuable product knowledge from Microsoft’s product experts.

Why You Should Attend
CIOs and CTOs, and IT Professionals as well as business decision makers, analysts, seasoned BI professionals or users new to business intelligence should attend this 3-day conference to see how Microsoft Business Intelligence can help you drive increased business performance at strategic, tactical and organizational levels. You’ll gain in-depth product knowledge from Microsoft product experts, learn best practices for designing, building and deploying robust, yet cost-effective, business intelligence applications for everyone in your organization, and network with peers from around the world.

Microsoft Business Intelligence Resources
In the meantime, take this opportunity to learn more about Microsoft Business Intelligence products and solutions, upcoming events, resources and our partner community at www.microsoft.com/bi.

Revisit the 2007 Conference
Revisit the keynotes, news, podcasts, webcasts and other events from the first-ever Microsoft BI Conference held May 9-11, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. Revisit the 2007 Conference.

Please contact askBIC@microsoft.com if you have any questions.

SQL Server 2008 has been released and is ready to deliver a rich set of integrated services that enable you to do more with your data, such as query, search, synchronize, report, and analyze.

RTM Evaluation Download of SQL Server 2008
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9333553

Overview Videos on SQL Server 2008:

• SQL Server 2008
  http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9333556
• Webcasts: 24 Hours of SQL Server 2008 for IT Professionals
  http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9333557
• Webcasts: 24 Hours of SQL Server 2008 for Developers
  http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9333558

TechNet Magazine content:

• Overview of the key changes and what you can expect from SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/magazine/cc434690(TechNet.10).aspx
• Overview of the various editions and components of SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ms144275(SQL.100).aspx
• Tutorials of SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ms167593(SQL.100).aspx
• SQL Q&A Column
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc671180(TechNet.10).aspx

Planning and installation guidance:

• Planning a SQL Server Installation
• Installing SQL Server 2008
• Quick Start Installation
• Installation How-to Topics
• Locating Previous Versions of SQL Server for SQL Server 2008 migration using Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

Optimization guidance:

• Configuring SQL Server 2008
• Database Engine Tuning Advisor Overview
• System and Sample Databases

Information about transitioning:

• Guidance for Upgrading to SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/bb677622(SQL.100).aspx
• Migrating to SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/bb677619(SQL.100).aspx
• Using Upgrade Advisor to Prepare for SQL Server 2008
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ms144256(SQL.100).aspx

My brain has been burnt to a crisp recently and I’ve been looking forward to visiting Las Vegas.  While I’m there, you can bet that I’ll be stopping by the Rio’s iBar.

(And yes, I know about the hilarious parody.  No need to email me.  Seen it and ROFLed ‘til it hurt.)

Bank of America

Global Financial Leader Deploys Solution for Compliance and Operational Advantages

Posted: 07/17/2008

Bank of America, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, provides its services through 6,100 retail banking offices and nearly 18,500 ATMs. For a large and complex organization like Bank of America, compliance with the numerous U.S. and international financial regulations is of vital importance. One of the most significant of those regulations is the Basel II Accord, which establishes rigorous requirements designed to ensure that banks hold capital reserves appropriate to the risk to which they are exposed. To comply with the operational risk aspects of Basel II, the bank created a portal solution based on Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Developed and deployed in just four months, the solution has been rapidly adopted by managers and staff, who are using it to comply with Basel II and to better measure and address operational risk throughout the enterprise.

Business Situation
Bank of America needed a robust and scalable way of meeting the compliance challenge of the Basel II Accord, which mandates specific ways of assessing and mitigating operational risk.

Solution
With the help of Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and other Microsoft technologies, the bank developed and deployed a portal solution that aggregates operational-risk data from 200 business units.

Benefits

• Ease of development, deployment, and adoption
• Greater motivation for staff to maintain risk data
• Faster trend assessment and understanding
• Easier risk mitigation at all levels

Software and Services

• Active Directory Directory Services
• Excel Services
• Feature: Reporting Services
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• Windows Server 2008

• VIDEO:  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/resources/Files/4000002415/BankofAmericavideo.wvx
• TEXT:  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002415

The session list for the PDC 2008 got posted a couple days ago.

• PDC 2008 Session List
  https://sessions.microsoftpdc.com/public/sessions.aspx

Folks – I normally don’t talk much about development being that my brain hung up the developer gloves over 13 years ago, however based on some information I got recently from my trip to Seattle, I have to let you in on a little something I got while I was in Seattle last week:  PDC is the start of something big.  Really big.  And if you’re a developer you really ought to do everything in your power to get to the Los Angeles Convention Center.  This is the big enchilada, baby.

• PDC 2008
  http://www.microsoftpdc.com/

Yep.  There’s a reason there was no PDC 2007. 

And that’s all I have to say about that. 

For you App-V (Softgrid) sequencers out there, here’s a document that J.C. Hornbeck wrote on how to sequence Office Professional 2007 for your organization in just a few easy steps.

Admittedly, I skimmed through the paper and it really is quite easy to understand, even if you have a relatively limited knowledge of App-V 4.2.

Introduction:
The goal of this document is to demonstrate one particular way that Microsoft Office 2007 can be sequenced using Microsoft SoftGrid 4.2. It’s not the only way, or the best way, it’s just one way that seems to work well for me. I have not fully tested every single Office related function within this package so it’s possible there could be issues although I’ve yet to come across any.

Before you begin your own Office sequencing project I would highly recommend that you read this document fully along with KB939796 – Prescriptive guidance for sequencing 2007 Office programs in Microsoft SoftGrid. All of the steps are in here for a reason so failure to follow any one can potentially lead to total failure of your package.

DOWNLOAD:
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/attachment/3096090.ashx

Go ahead.  You can say it.  “FINALLY!”

Yes, we’ve finally released the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Packs for Windows Server 2008.  For those paying attention, we’ve been missing these since the release of Windows Server 2008 (only having the mgmt packs for Windows Server 2003) and thankfully we finally have them available.

• Windows Server Operating System Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007
  The Windows Server Operating System Management Pack provides the fundamental monitoring basics for computers running the Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 Operating System.
• Terminal Services Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007
  The Terminal Services Management Pack monitors the individual Terminal Services components on Windows Server 2000, 2003 and 2008.
• Windows Server 2008 Application Server Management Pack for System Center OpsMgr 2007
  The Windows Server 2008 Application Server Management Pack provides fundamental monitoring for the Application Server role of Windows Server 2008 Operating System.
• Microsoft Windows Key Management Service MP for SC OpsMgr 2007
  The KMS MP monitors core Key Management Service offered by Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and Vista.

Note that ALL SCOM Management Packs are listed here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/scp/opsmgr07.aspx