Coming up for our September 7th meeting (Happy Birthday Lynne) we will have Jason Martin of Zenith InfoTech. He will be going over their Managed Services with bundled NOC, Business Continuity, and the launch of their new Smart Style Cloud Computing solution. He will be doing a high level short PowerPoint presentation and then would like to lead a open discussion about the changes in the industry with peers and even competitors. Jason feels this is a very necessary exercise to do from time to time. In addition he is hoping to stir some talk about the cloud movement, and our views on where it is going.

Jason and Zenith InfoTech would also like to spring for dinner, so we will be bringing in Pizza and Sodas, so please drop me a note and let me know if you are planning on attending, so I can get a reasonable head count.

Coming up for the October 5th meeting I will be doing a walkthrough of the Aurora install process, you did hear the public beta has been released right? You can signup at http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/beta.aspx

Then on November 2nd we will have a demo of Eriq Neale’s favorite new mail server Kerio, details to follow later.

Good info in the Cyber Slacking post at http://www.gfi.com/blog/control-cyber-slacking/

Keep an eye on the ever growing SBS 2008 Build Doc, we are up to revision 78 now, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/small-business-server-2008-build-document.aspx

 Upcoming FireStarter Events this year, http://blogs.technet.com/b/yungchou/archive/2010/08/18/2010-technet-firestarter-events.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage Charlotte is the closest offering unfortunately.

Free Windows Server 2008 R2 E-Book Offer http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/windowsserver.aspx#offers
Learn about the features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, written by industry experts Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker along with the Windows Server team at Microsoft.

The first ever Windows Home Server MVP Grey Lancaster (Grey was also one of the first batch ofSBS MVPs as well, but recently jumped ship to WHS) will be doing a demonstration of Microsoft Windows Vail (the next version of WHS) and Microsoft Windows Aurora (the recently announced cross-premise SBS family addition) for our August meeting on 8/3/2010. I have seen them both and they have some really cool new features, you will not want to miss this meeting. Especially if you missed WPC!

Make sure to sign up for the betas, details at http://forums.redmondmag.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?tid=7184&pn=1

Keep an eye on the community build doc for SBS 2008, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/small-business-server-2008-build-document.aspx

Also time permitting I will give you a peak at the new Take Control feature in MAXrm, which gives you the ability to remote into attended or unattended workstations and servers with a couple of clicks of your mouse.

Meeting Space compliments of 

Read the entire write up on Eric’s Blog

At SMB Nation’s Spring Conference, fellow MVP and IT Guru Amy Babinchak of Third Tier introduced me to the folks at Equus and I have really been impressed with their products as well as their service. They seem to be one of the best kept secrets in IT. Well the secret is about to be exposed, I asked them to come in and tell the group about their offerings and they accepted. Jim Lewis will be coming out to talk to us. Here is a bit about Equus

Equus Computer Systems, Inc. is one of America’s largest manufacturers of build-to-order desktops, notebooks and servers.  Equus is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Microsoft Platinum OEM, and they are Intel’s 7th largest customer in North America.  Over 2,000,000 Equus desktops, notebooks and servers have been built since 1989, primarily distributed to business and educational institutions through our extensive network of Value Added Resellers. 

 Some of the things that make Equus different from your typical computer manufacturer include: average 48 hour build time for custom desktops and notebooks; assembly and support in the USA; open-architecture / non-proprietary desktops so Resellers can support clients with off-the-shelf components; name-brand components for consistent and predictable high quality; ability to private-label your systems; talk to the same dedicated account manager each time; 100% employee-owned.

Hope you can make the meeting and learn why this is such a better solution than the tier ones and how to keep more money in your pockets.

Meeting Space compliments of

2010 SBS Migration Conference

Come meet the folks who are living and breathing the Migration issues, you are or will be facing as you do your own upgrades and your client’s. Mingle with the movers and shakers in the SBS Community and get invloved yourself. I’ll be there will you?

It was great to see all my peeps and old MS friends again and meet the new folks in the HSBS product groups. I learned a lot ( yes I remember the entire week is under NDA) and hopefully provided some useful feedback as well.

I would also like to send out a job well done to Al, Kym and the gang at Steward Transportation, most of you won’t even know who they are, but that is because of the great job they do getting us where we need to be, when we need to be there. It makes them invisible, believe me a few years ago the busing was a complete cluster and since they have taken over, it is almost a pleasurable experience, well it is sill a bus ride after all :>)

So long gang, travel safe back to your respective corners of the world, I am headed to Calif before making the trek home to the east coast.

• Do you sell to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)?
• Do you provide your SMB customers with Microsoft technologies and related services?
• Do you want to differentiate yourself in your marketplace?

If you answered “Yes,” have you considered joining the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC), a group of 6,500 trusted technology advisors focused on selling to Small Business customers. Benefits of joining include access to exclusive marketing dollars, recognition from displaying the SBSC logo, support from an Online Technical Community, and increased exposure to partners and customers through the Microsoft Partner Finder and Solution Finder.

As an SBSC Advisory Council member, let me tell you why I am part of this Community.  Proving my company not only has the technical skills necessary to serve small businesses but the understanding of how technology must be applied differently than as the one-size-fits-all mentality applied to most larger business solutions. The Small Business Specialist competency shows our customers we “get” small business.

You too can become a Small Business Specialist in just 2 easy steps, as an Action Pack Subscriber:

Currently, Microsoft is offering a 100 percent off voucher applicable to exams 70-653: TS: Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring and 70-654: TS: Windows Essential Business Server 2008, Configuring. Alternatively, we are offering a 50 percent off exam voucher to complete the other three exams.

Call 877-254-6825 or send a message to msppexp@microsoft.com by March 15, 2010 to pick up your voucher, and an expert agent will guide you through the sign-up process.

Tarheel AITP & Triad SBS Groups Present Windows 7
Presenters: Yung Chou and John Baker, IT Pro Evangelists, Microsoft

In association with the Tarheel AITP Group we are putting together a morning presentation with Microsoft. Two of the best presenters I know will be delivering the Windows 7 content. The agenda is below. We were only able to book a room large enough for 75 people so this event will fill up fast and we will not be able to extend it. You will need your confirmed reservation to attend. You can sign-up now at http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=145662 . Please do not wait to sign up, I will feel terrible if I have to turn you away. There is no cost to attend this event except your time and attention!
Keep an eye on our website for updates www.tSBSg.org

Agenda
Pre-Session 7:30AM Breakfast and Registration

Welcome & Introductions 8:30AM

 Session 1 = 8:45AM Cloud Computing Overview and Direction

Session 2 = 9:15AM: What’s New and Why Windows 7
Windows 7 uplifts Enterprise IT abilities to address business needs to a new dimension with many new innovations and improved functions. This session highlights the new features and capabilities of Windows 7 by walking through Windows 7 desktop fundamentals and business scenarios using Windows 7 optimized desktops including BitLocker to Go, Windows XP Mode, Direct Access, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Break = 10:15am

Session 3 = 10:30AM: Windows 7 Deployment
Deploying Windows 7 is easy if you’re using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010. This session will walk you through the various tools that can help simplify your deployments. We’ll drill down in the MDT Workbench and look at how the MDT process helps you create a reference image, which can then be easily deployed to the target computers. We’ll look at how to configure the deployment environment, show how you can add operating systems, applications, drivers, and language packs using the Deployment Workbench, and then finish up by creating a task sequenced deployment to a target computer.

Closing = 11:45AM
Q&A, user group and communities information sharing, prize drawings, etc

 You can sign-up now at http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=145662

Mitch Tulloch, one of my favorite geeks, just did an independent review of the recently released GFI WebMonitor. Take a look at his impressions of the new release HERE. He also does a nice walk through of the installation in the article, including a gotcha with Win7 and Vista clients to watch out for.

You can get a 30 day demo of GFI WebMonitor try out yourself  HERE and currently there is a   on new licenses.

Please note: I did not add you to any mailing list, I just used MarketAmerica’s new “tell a friend” mailing system and imported my contact list to it. No DL’s, no yahoo or google groups, just e-mail addresses from my own contacts. I must know too many people because it went haywire. Once again let me apologize for this nuance, if you were a receipient.  I really do feel terrible and wish I could undo it!

For those of you who are fellow MarketAmerica partners, take this as a warning to you. Do not try to import a large list of names into “tell a friend” all at once, the system cannot handle it. I would not try more than a half dozen at a time, if I were you.

Thank You for Your Understanding,
HandyAndy

PS if you are wondering about the cash back progam and were one of the few who did not get bombarded by my mailing you can get details at http://www.marketamerica.com/shopmabc/index.cfm?action=services.custLanding&landingID=csmcp_maCash