SMB Nation Last Minute Content Added

Just in from Harry 

SMB Nation Fall 2010 Hybrids Happen Here!

BEST PRICING EXPIRES IN DAYS!
SAVE OVER $300!

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Folks weve just added more value to the 8th Annual SMB Nation Fall 2010 conference with amazing new content:
GS108: Independent Deep Dive: SBS 7 and Aurora
GS109: MVP GeekSpeak Panel
GS110 Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My: Making sense of server offerings in the SMB space
BS106: MSP Future Speak A Panel Discussion (Speaker: Joe Panettieri, Josh Peterson, David Schafran, George Sierchio)
BS110: The Greatest Opportunity Health Care IT in 2010/2011

View ALL of the content HERE and see over 30 sessions!

Its a “hybrid world” in SMB IT today! SMB Nation Fall 2010 is where the cloud meets on-premises IT. /span>This 8th annual community confab brings together long-time community members including MVPs with day-to-day computer guys and gals for a three-day weekend of professional development. This is the one conference you should attend to prepare yourself to grow into the next generation of SMB technology to better serve your customers.

Attend over 30+ educational sessions in GeekSpeak, BusinessSpeak, & CloudSpeak tracks to learn about:

What’s in store for 2011?

Health care technology (the time is now deadlines approaching DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS)

Hybrid sever solutions the reality of today and immediately seize the opportunity

Pivot to cloud computing solutions be an early adopter and profit!

Achieve new, deeper levels of customer intimacy

Next generation sales methodologies new speakers, new thinking, new and improved results

Much MORE from the industry’s TOP SPEAKERS and BEST TRAINERS. You will get to learn directly from over 20 of the industry’s most experienced, influential and well-known experts in the SMB space.

“How To” knowledge you can use the following week to make more money!

To be honest changing times require changed behaviors. Consider this your Executive Pocket MBA weekend to improve yourself and elevate your A game in a hybrid world.

Early Bird & Alumni Rates expire September 15th so do not delay!

Sign-up at www.smbnation.com

See you October 22-24, 2010 in Las Vegas!

PS – Don’t forget our infamous “Hallway 101″ peer-to-peer networking where life-long connections are made and the real knowledge transfer occurs! Think of it as an instant peer group!

PPS – Don’t forget our amazing Pre-Day events from leading experts!

SMB Nation, Inc. 12715 Miller Road NE Suite 202 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Upcoming Triad SBS Group Meeting

Our Next Meeting is 6:00pm September 7, 2010

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.

Triad SBS Group Meeting Aug 3rd

Our Next Meeting is 6:00pm August 3, 2010

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 

Local Gal Makes Good

Well who would have thought, just yesterday I was writing about my friend Amy Babinchak and today I hear she is awarded the Microsoft Small Business Specialist of the year. Way to go Amy and chasing right behind her is runner-up Andy Trish fellow SBS MVP. Congratulations to both of them!

Read the entire write up on Eric’s Blog

Triad SBS Group Next Meeting

Our Next Meeting is 6:00pm July 6, 2010

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

The Best Kept Secret in SMB Jeff’s 2010 SBS Conference

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?

Good By Bellevue, thx for the memories #MVP10

Thankx Microsoft for arranging such great weather for the summit this year :>) It was a wonderful summit, and you guys really rolled out the red carpet for the 1400 or so of us you herded into Bellevue for the event this year.

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.

Become an SBSC! (Free Exam Vouchers)

Copied from Mark Crall’s Blog, Plagiary is the sincerest form of flattery :>)

• 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

Our Next Meeting is Something Different
  March 4, 2010 Different Venue, Different Time (this meeting only)
Last meeting was January 5, 2010 (due to weather in February)

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

GFI WebMonitor Reviewed by Mitch Tulloch

Hi Gang,

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.