Tech Days 2008 - Microsoft's investment in us ... an investment we can make in us

Tech Days 2008 Canada:

Microsoft Tech Days Canada 2008

An early bird special of 50% off the price for either the one day or two day events is on until October 15, 2008.

Here are the grids for the two day that I will be attending in Calgary:

Microsoft Tech Days Day 1

The two tracks that I will be focused on are the Virtualization and the Infrastructure ones.

The decision for which session is going to be tough too, especially with the last one being a tie between SoftGrid application virtualization (MPECS Inc. and our clients are on Vista SA which includes SoftGrid) and the PowerShell and WMI session for the Infrastructure track.

For now, PowerShell and WMI will win out, with the ultimate decision being made when I can find out a bit more about the meat and potatos in each session.

Sessions registered for:

• Planning Successful Physical to Virtual Server Migrations with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit.
• Streamlining Administration of Your Active Directory Deployments Using Group Policy Preferences, Templates, and Scripting.
• Managing Your Virtual Infrastructure Using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.
• Automating the Management of Windows Servers using PowerShell and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

The second day grid:

Microsoft Tech Days Day 2

The sessions that I will be registered for:

• Successful Migration Techniques For Migrating To Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
• Windows Deployments the Way You Want Them: Unleashing the Power of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Customization.
• Security in a Virtual World - How to Lock Down Your Virtual Environments.
• Virtualization Chalk Talk.

Many of these sessions are directly applicable to the infrastructure solutions we have and are putting together for our clients and for our own company.

There is no replacement for taking the time to sit in the presence of experts who are demonstrating the abilities and features of the various products we work with.

Training, especially training that we pay for, is a very valuable part of our professional development. We work in an industry where things are constantly evolving and out right changing. Training is both an investment in our clients and our own businesses.

We cannot afford to sit on our laurels with what we believe to be a good knowledgebase and experience base in our heads and hands. Doing so places our client's infrastructure and thus their livelihoods at risk. We are responsible to provide our clients with the best possible solution to fit their business needs.

That infrastructure solution is not necessarily the one we think is the best, but the one that will be made up of hardware and software products that will best fit for them. If we don't know the products, then we either get to know them or get someone who does know them involved to collaborate with us in providing the solution.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

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