HA interviewed by MicrosoftFeed

A few days ago I was contacted by Ali Raza Shaikh of MicrosoftFeed and he asked if he could interview me for the site. It was actually a pretty painless process :>)

If you would like to know a bit about my history as an MVP you can read the INTERVIEW HERE

You may recognise some of the pictures and the people mentioned in the post.

Have a Great Day,
HA

Karl brings the Intel Hybrid Cloud to NC

HA takes home the grand prize!

Tuesday I drove to Charlotte for Karl’s Intel Hybrid Server Roadshow. This was a joint event between Dave’s Charlotte IT Pro Group and my own Triad SBS Group. We had close to 200 attendees. Karl did a great job, even playing off an expired password at the beginning of the live demo. Never broke a sweat, a true pro! And the highlight of the evening (for me anyways) yours truly won the grand prize an Intel Hybrid Server by Lenovo. Karl has more of these events coming up, to check if he is stopping by your area check the Official Intel Site.

Congratulations Walter Scott Named In Top 10 3rd Party Execs 2010

I wanted to offer my congratulation to my friend Walter Scott, CEO of GFI Software; he was listed in the Redmond Magazine December issue. The article was titled, 10 Third-Party Execs to Watch. I was going to post a link but it appears the article is only available in the printed magazine; whoever said paper was dead may have been a bit premature. Anyways congrats again Walt!

SBS2011 shows it’s face today

Well if you have an MSDN or TechNet Plus Subscription you can now get your hands on SBS 2011 Standard. The wait is finally over!

SBS 2011 Standard now on MSDN and TechNet Plus

Finally we can talk, Storage Server R2 Essentials Announced

Well it has been the best kept secret at Microsoft for years, but this morning they announced Windows Storage Server R2 Essentials, what is it you ask, think Windows Home Server backup functionality capable of joining a domain and you get the basic idea. Yes a lot of you (and me as well) have been begging Microsoft for this product and finally they are delivering it. Code named Breckenridge for the last year or so and now part of the Storage Server Family.

SBS vNext names and dates announced

This morning on the SBS BLOG Microsoft announced the offical names Windows Small Business Server Essentials for what was known as Aurora and Windows Small Business Server Standard for what was referred to as SBSv7, also a Premium add-on that will work for both versions was announced.

Standard should be out before the end of the year and Essentials in the first half of 2011 according to the post. I have been using them in the beta and am really looking forward to being able to roll them out to my clients. It has been a while since we had cool new stuff like this in the SBS Space!

Potential iPad Killer Sighted DownUnder

Could this be the iPad Killer

Saturday I was doing research on Facebook (ok wasting time if you want the truth) and I noticed a status update by my friend and fellow SBS-MVP Wayne Small pointing to HIS BLOG POST  talking about a potential iPad Killer. Well I had been thinking of going over to the dark side since seeing WHS-MVP Grey Lancaster’s new iPad a couple of weeks ago. But as so many of the folks that know me have said, I have the Microsoft Kool-Aid running through my veins instead of blood and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Boy am I glad I waited! This baby has all the things the iPad was lacking for me, USB Ports, Mini VGA Out, Win7 Operating System and the Right Click Functionality that HA can’t live without.

The more I read about the TEGA-v2 the more excited I got. Wayne was going to be bringing one to SMB Nation with him, but I couldn’t wait, so I pinged Wayne and asked him to introduce me to Hugo Ortega, Mr TEGA. I got in touch with him and ordered a sample for myself as well. If you are curious and will be at SMB Nation later this month both Wayne and I will have them with us, you can take a look at the first two to be in North America although one will be leaving with Wayne when he goes home. And if you ask us, we will have some special discount coupons while they last. You will be able to find me most of the time hanging around the GFI Software booth, stop by and take a look.

#8 Just in from Microsoft

Just heard I have been awarded the Microsoft MVP for Small Business Server for the eighth year running. I would like to thank all of you that belong to the SMB Community for helping to make it something I enjoy being part of and supporting so much to enable me to qualify for this award repeatedly!

Thanx for your support,
HA

Great News in the Inbox this morning

SBS 7 Install

Well first impression of the SBS 7 install is wow, it is quick. It took under 2 hours which was less time than it took to download it. So give it a try, it takes but a few minutes of your time, only two or three screens of info and it pretty much runs on autopiliot. You can get your own copy at the Connect Website

Wow that was quick!

 More to follow later after I play with it a bit, and if you are in the Triad Area I will be showing some of the new features at the next meeting of the Triad SBS Group.

SBS 7 Public Preview Ready for Download

Seen today on the SBS Team Blog at http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2010/09/21/announcing-the-availability-of-windows-sbs-7-preview.aspx

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I am very pleased to announce that Windows Small Business Server “7” (SBS7) Public Preview is available for download.

Built on Windows Server® 2008 R2, this exciting new edition of the all-in-one solution server for small businesses will include Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 SP1, Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation 2010, and Windows Software Update Services. Small business customers will find significant security and management enhancements over previous versions, as well as much richer features for providing file-and-print, email and Internet services to employees.

Together with Windows SBS code name “Aurora”, available to download here since August the 16th, SBS7 is dedicated to providing small business customers with a highly manageable, low complexity solution to help cut costs, save time and be more efficient. SBS7 offers on premise email and collaboration suite functionalities that Aurora’s customers can add through online services.

SBS7 also offers a great opportunity for small businesses with prior versions to upgrade their servers and to simultaneously take advantage of the advancements in security, reliability, and connectivity technology. For this reason, SBS7 offers enhanced migration tools, extensive pre-migration checks, and prescriptive guidance included in the software.

Furthermore, with SBS7, small businesses gain the freedom to securely access all of their communications from virtually any Web-browser or mobile device — getting more done wherever they are with the integrated Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Outlook® Web Access (OWA) capabilities.

Customers using SBS7 will also have the opportunity to view, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents online with SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft Office Web Apps. As the online companion to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel(R), Microsoft PowerPoint(R), and Microsoft OneNote(R), Office Web Apps gives users the freedom to access documents from virtually anywhere.

To learn more about Windows Small Business Server “7”, you can visit our SBS site.

The preview release is available on our Connect site and can be downloaded now. If you haven’t already signed up for the preview, you can visit our Connect site and get signed up. We have also setup a Connect feedback form to capture your reaction to the product, bugs and suggestions as well as a newsgroup where you can discuss the preview with other beta testers.

All the pieces are in place, so don’t wait any longer. Download the preview and start testing with us!

Kevin Kean
General Manager
Windows Home and Small Business Server team

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