As part of Microsoft’s commitment to help our customers deploy the most current versions of Microsoft® desktop products, we’ve created a free 3-day Business Desktop Deployment Hands-On-Lab (BDD HOL) for Microsoft’s Windows® Vista & Office 2007.  In this three-day event, you will receive practical technical information and proven techniques to help simplify the deployment of Windows® Vista and Office 2007 products. 

This 3-day *free* course is designed to provide a deep dive into the deployment how-tos of migrating to Windows Vista and Office 2007.   Building on the proven Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment 2007 methodology, this 3-day HOL demonstrates a set of best practices, tools, and procedures proven to eliminate the challenges of deployment. In addition, the course will introduce attendees to all of the new deployment features designed into both Windows Vista and 2007 Office. 

Topics covered include:

Introduction to Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment 2007

• Building a master Reference Computer Image
• Lite Touch Deployment
• Zero Touch Deployment
• Preparing Multi-Language for deployment

Understanding Windows Vista and 2007 Office deployment technologies

• Windows Image based setup
• Windows Automated Installation Kit
• Windows Deployment Services
• Office Customization Tool

Security challenges and solutions for Windows Vista & 2007 Office

• BitLocker configuration during deployment
• Building a secure reference image
• Security configuration for 2007 Office

Easing migration to Windows Vista and 2007 Office

• Application Compatibility
• Office Migration and Planning Manager
• Office File Conversion tools

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THIS FREE TRAINING EVENT (and you’re a customer of mine), PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION.  THIS EVENT IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Business Intelligence Hands-On Lab
October 17, 2007

Learn how you can implement a Business Intelligence solution using Microsoft SQL Server 2005, PerformancePoint 2007, and the Office suite of products in this one day hands-on lab. Topics include:

• How to create and manage powerful OLAP and data mining solutions.
• Learn how to create different types of reports and build reporting models.
• Learn how to use Report Builder in SQL 2005.
• Design and deploy planning models, scorecards, and dashboards using PerformancePoint Server.
• Utilize SharePoint Server 2007, Office 2007, and SQL Server 2005 to build an integrated BI solution.

What is a hands-on-lab?
This isn’t your typical IT class. This hands-on lab is for experienced IT Pros who want to "try it out." You’ll spend most of the day getting hands-on practice and experience with the new product features and scenarios in your own lab environment with very little instructor presentation.

Who Should Attend:
This hands-on lab is for Database Administrators and Developers who are familiar with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or 2005 and are considering or planning to deploy a business intelligence solution for OLAP, data mining, analytics, reporting, or performance management.

Prerequisites:
To get the most from this course, you will need knowledge of SQL Server 2000, 2005, or SQL Server 7.0, including administration experience, experience creating a database, database and server architecture, database security, and have experience with monitoring and dashboarding techniques.

Course Modules

• PerformancePoint Server – Planning
• PerformancePoint Server – Monitoring and Analytics
• OLAP Analysis in Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Using Report Builder in SQL Server 2005

RSVP:
This special, no charge training event will fill quickly and space is limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.

IF YOU ARE A CUSTOMER OF MINE AND INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION & THE RSVP CODE.  THIS IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY CUSTOMERS AND NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

How Forefront^™ and System Center can Empower your Business Hands-On Lab
October 18, 2007

Every day IT Professionals need to manage complexity and costs while providing their business with a flexible infrastructure to drive new business opportunities. At the same time, they face increasing challenges in protecting information and controlling access. Through Forefront and System Center, companies at all stages of infrastructure maturity can help create an IT environment that is security enhanced and well managed.

This Hand-on Lab event will give you a chance to try out the Forefront and System Center portfolio of products, which are designed to maximize productivity, simplify administration, and integrate with existing infrastructure so that you can reduce costs, empower your business, and maintain control.

These Hands-on Labs cover two key tracks of "Security" and "Management", so you can choose by track or by lab which features to try out.

What is a hands-on-lab?
This isn’t your typical IT class. This hands-on lab is for experienced IT Pros who want to "try it out." You’ll spend most of the day getting hands-on practice and experience with the new product features and scenarios in your own lab environment with very little instructor presentation.

Who Should Attend:
This course is for IT Professionals who work in organizations of all sizes and are concerned with the installation, configuration, security, and maintenance of a variety of server types. The actual job roles of the individuals may vary, but in general they will fall within the categories of Systems Administration, Server Administration, and Systems Engineering.

Prerequisites:
To get the most from this course, you should be experienced (skill level 200+) with the technologies included in Forefront, System Center, ISA Server, and Windows Server.

Management Track:

• Deploying Configuration Manager 2007
• Deploy Vista with Configuration Manager 2007
• Installation Operations Manager 2007

Security Track:

• Forefront Client Security
• Forefront Server Security
• Forefront Edge Security and Access

RSVP:
This special, no charge training event will fill quickly and space is limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.

IF YOU ARE A CUSTOMER OF MINE AND ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO REGISTER.  THIS IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY CUSTOMERS AND NOT AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE PUBLIC.

Exchange Server 2007 – Hands-On Lab
October 16, 2007

For most businesses today, e-mail is the mission-critical communications tool that allows their people to produce the best results. For IT professionals, delivering a messaging system that addresses these needs must be balanced against other requirements such as security and cost.

Join us for this one-day hands-on lab to try out Exchange Server 2007’s new features and capabilities. This event will show how the benefits and new technology can help support and address real problems through these three pillars:

• Built-in Protection: Exchange Server 2007 offers built-in protective technologies to help keep your business moving, reduce spam and viruses, enable confidential communications, and help your company to be compliant.
• Access Virtually Anywhere: With Exchange Server 2007, employees get access to their e-mail, voice mail, calendars, and contacts from a variety of clients and devices.
• Operational Efficiency: Exchange Server 2007 enables new levels of operational efficiency through capabilities that optimize hardware and networking investments and features that help make administrators more productive.

What is a hands-on-lab?
This isn’t your typical IT class. This hands-on lab is for experienced IT Pros who want to "try it out." You’ll spend most of the day getting hands-on practice and experience with the new product features and scenarios in your own lab environment with very little instructor presentation.

Who Should Attend:
This course is for system administrators and engineers who work with the installation, configuration, and maintenance of a variety of server types and have two to three years of experience managing enterprise-level Microsoft Exchange Server environments.

Prerequisites:
To get the most from this course, you will be experienced (two to three years experience) with the technologies included in Microsoft Exchange environments.

Course Modules

• Exchange Overview
• Compliance and Retention
• Operational Efficiency
• Mobility
• Security

RSVP/REGISTRATION:
This special, no charge training event will fill quickly and space is limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.

IF YOU ARE A CUSTOMER OF MINE AND ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY.  THIS IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY CUSTOMERS AND NOT AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE PUBLIC.

The Ultimate Steal for Office 2007 is a special program for students with a University email address.   College students (any student w/university email address) will be able to obtain a copy of Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95.

Send the students you know to:  http://theultimatesteal.com

In case you hadn’t heard, Silverlight 1.0 released.  Download it… it’s small and you’ll love what it can do for the web!

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/#4_0

For Silverlight apps and experiences, check out:  http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/
or
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/#

SharePoint^TM 2007 Education
Administrator, Developer,  Designer 2007 and Power End-User Tracks
Instructors: Ben Curry, James Curry, Corro’ll Driskell and Amy Alexander
Las Vega, NV | October 1 – 5, 2007

• ADMINISTRATOR:
  This 5-day course is designed to give SharePoint Administrators basic and intermediate information and skills they need to design, deploy and manage a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 implementation.
• DEVELOPER:
  This 5-day course is designed to provide SharePoint Developers basic and intermediate information and skills they need to extend, customize, and support a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services version 3 (WSS v3) implementation.
• DESIGNER 2007:
  This 5-day course is designed to give the student the tools and knowledge to further customize SharePoint sites by using SharePoint Designer 2007. The course covers all aspects of design, as well as external data integration and custom workflows.
• POWER END-USER:
  This 3-day course concentrates on SharePoint 2007 from the perspective of users who will be assigned the role of a SharePoint Member and Site Owner. This course is aimed at a non-technical user who will view, edit and contribute content to a Windows SharePoint Services Site and administer those sites.

Join us for the best opportunity to gain hands-on experience and learn about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services v3 implementation. 

For class syllabus, site details, and registration information

Benefits of a Mindsharp Education
When you’re looking for an exceptional educational experience that addresses all your SharePoint needs – look no further than Mindsharp. Over the years, Mindsharp has established an outstanding reputation for delivering timely, cost-effective education. Some of the strengths that set Mindsharp apart are:

• A pool of extraordinarily experienced educators that speak and train all over the world.
• Years of real-world experience allow Mindsharp instructors to not only provide the best educational experience you’ll find anywhere, but also answer questions you face every day on the job.
• Mindsharp’s working relationship with a global community of world-class companies and experts helps us stay a step ahead of technological changes.
• Multiple tracks meet the educational needs of everyone in your organization based on differing levels of experience, knowledge, and job descriptions.
• Mindsharp’s unsurpassed courseware provides a thorough, hands-on approach to learning, which is the best way to master concepts and understand new technologies.
• All of Mindsharp’s courseware has been tested and peer reviewed to ensure accuracy.
• Mindsharp’s courses provide the knowledge you need to design a stable portal infrastructure and environment.
• Hands-on Labs demonstrate the best practices of portal development that will dramatically reduce the time it takes your organization to implement and deploy a SharePoint portal.
• Mindsharp courses provide you with problem solving skills that enable you to troubleshoot portal issues and resolve stalled portal deployments.

For More Information About Mindsharp Training Call:

Kristian McKenzie
952-230-6509
kristian.mckenzie@mindsharp.com
www.mindsharp.com

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Mindsharp | 435 Ford Road, Suite 165 | St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Come to the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 launch event!

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 allows diverse systems inside and outside your business to talk to each other without complex and costly integration – enabling you to achieve a true Service Oriented Architecture and pervasive business process automation.

You are invited to the Microsoft BizTalk R2 launch event where you will learn:

• Enterprise Service Bus Guidance for BizTalk
  Marty Wasznicky, Principal Program Manager – Connected Systems Division, Microsoft

• RFID From the COO’s Perspective  (previously recorded)
  Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft

• Best Practices for Service-Oriented Architecture Governance
  Frank Martinez, Executive Vice President, SOA Software

• What’s new in BizTalk Server 2006 R2
  Chris Romp, Technical Solutions Specialist, Microsoft

View Full Agenda | Register Now

 
EXTENDING THE
CONNECTED ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
9:30 am to 2:00 pm
The Westin

191 North Los Robles
Pasadena, California 91101
Self-parking and lunch included

 
Discover how BizTalk Server 2006 R2 allows you to:

• Automate complex business processes with minimal additional investment
• Vastly reduce the amount of complex integration required
• Maximize the potential of your existing IT infrastructure

As of the October, Product Use Rights (PUR) customers can now use three of the five MDOP components (AIS, DaRT and AGPM) on their servers covered in the same domain as their MDOP covered desktops.  The below new use rights go into effect:

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (DOP) for Software Assurance.
Active Windows Vista Business Software Assurance coverage provides you with eligibility to acquire licenses for DOP for Software Assurance. These licenses are an optional and separate purchase from Software Assurance. See the Product List for details. If you invoke this benefit, you have the rights below for each DOP for Software Assurance license you acquire.

a) Installation and use rights. The “licensed device” is the device to which you have assigned your corresponding qualifying license and Windows Vista Business Software Assurance coverage.

Licensed Device. You may install and use the software on the licensed device. Some functionality in the software is designed to manage software on the licensed device. 
You may use that functionality on other devices solely to manage software running on the licensed device.  You may also use the following components to manage software on servers within your domain, so long as the desktops within that domain are licensed for MDOP:

• Advanced Group Policy Management
• Asset Inventory Service
• Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

(Before you read the boilerplate on this toolkit, I want to point out that the really interesting component of this download is the release of the EFS Assistant.  The EFS assistant is a client-side tool primarily for Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista laptops that automatically ENCRYPTS certain files or folders using EFS depending on their type/extension.

Basically, an organization can set up a central "policy" on their network using Group Policy that dictates what filetypes should automatically be encrypted on people’s machines.  This prevents the need to encrypt every Tom, Dick, and Harry file on people’s PCs causing "CPU encryption storms" common within many security solutions.

More information on how EFS Assistant works is available here:
http://www.codeplex.com/EFSAssistant/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Mini-Evaluator%27s%20Guide&referringTitle=Home

————————-

DESCRIPTION:
The Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs describes how to effectively use both EFS and BitLocker to help address your organization’s requirements to protect data on mobile PCs. The Toolkit also provides you with software tools and scripts to help you centrally configure, deploy, and manage encryption settings on all your mobile PCs.

The Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs includes the following four components:

• Executive Overview. This document provides a broad survey from a business and regulatory perspective of how mobile data is at risk and how the Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs can help. It also provides information about how you can use the guidance and tools in this Solution Accelerator as well as tools you may already have licensed to mitigate these risks.

• Security Analysis. This guide provides an in-depth review of how EFS and BitLocker can help you address the unique risks associated with data on mobile PCs.

• Planning and Implementation Guide. This guide describes how to plan for, configure, deploy, and operate EFS and BitLocker in your organization.

• Microsoft Encrypting File System Assistant. The EFS Assistant is a software tool you can use to centrally control EFS settings on all your PCs (the EFS Assistant also works with desktop PCs). The EFS Assistant can help you encrypt the sensitive files on your users’ laptops, regardless of where those files are located. In addition, the EFS Assistant operates transparently to end users, eliminating training issues or other impacts. Note that you can obtain the EFS Assistant in one of two ways. The Microsoft version of the tool is available on this page. A community version of the tool is available for download from CodePlex, Microsoft’s shared source development site at www.codeplex.com/EFSAssistant.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1a99576a-fe67-418f-88b1-81e2055fe977&displaylang=en&Hash=hH47UaHr0Haz8CS68tuhKOAdfTrlhVDuUl1aJ3sfA%2bSt8BIIBuOMluMkea8CSqzeqnuXQW8k9oNyZXHTCPH4QA%3d%3d