• [00:10] Office 2013 is now code complete! Learn more at: http://www.office.com/preview
• [00:30] Microsoft Press has released many new books for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. See them here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/Microsoft_Press     
• [01:25] There are two new Microsoft Jump Starts coming soon! Sign up for the Windows 8 (http://aka.ms/Windows8JumpStart) and the Windows Server 2012 (http://aka.ms/Server2012JumpStart) Jump Starts today!
• [02:35] Take our 6^th Annual IT Pro Survey so we can learn more about the industry's demand for salaries and skills: http://aka.ms/ITProSkillSurvey

Technical Interview: At [04:25] Symon talks with Justin Incarnato, a Senior Program Manager for System Center, about the upcoming changes in System Center 2012 SP1 for Orchestrator. After explaining the release cycle for Service Pack 1, Justin gives an overview of Orchestrator and its history in joining the System Center 2012 family after Microsoft's acquisition of Opalis. Symon and Justin then talk about the importance of integration in a private cloud environment and how Orchestrator has the ability to support and automate processes for virtually any piece of software or hardware in the datacenter, including VMware. Next they discuss the enhancements made for SP1, including: improved System Center integration; new Integration Packs for Azure, REST, FTP, and Exchange; support for Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012; and globalization efforts that give the product many new language options. At [12:25] Justin demos a series of workflows, including cloning VMs in a VMware vSphere environment, integrating alerts with HP Operations Manager, and updating calendar appointments with Exchange with Office 365.

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Bob explains why Riverbed selected Windows Azure for their customer to backup data into the cloud, how data is secured using security keys in conjunction with the Whiteware appliance. Bob explains why Azure is an important component in an enterprise back up strategy and for disaster recovery.

Architectural Overview

For an architectural overview of how Whitewater works with Windows Azure storage, see ISV Case Study: Cloud Storage Gateway Provides Backup into Windows Azure. 

About Whitewater

Whitewater automates enterprise backup to the cloud. The product from Riverbed is a gateway that combines data de-duplication, network optimization, data encryption, and integration with Windows Azure storage services through a single, virtual, or physical appliance.

No longer do enterprises need to use tape and move the files from disk to disk. Nor does an enterprise need to pay for a traditional disaster recovery site.

Whitewater cloud storage gateways and public cloud storage provides secure, off-site storage with restore anywhere capability for disaster recovery (DR). Data can be recovered by Whitewater from any location. Public cloud storage offers excellent DR capabilities without the high costs associated with remote DR sites or colocation service providers. With the public cloud and Whitewater cloud storage gateways – any size organization can significantly reduce its business risk from unplanned outages without the large capital investments and running costs required by competing solutions.

Additional Resources

Getting started with Windows Azure

See Also

Riverbed Whitewater

Windows Azure Storage

Video: Inside Windows Azure storage: what's new and under the hood deep dive

For the first time, we now have a definitive guide to all of these tools: Windows Sysinternals Administrator's Reference.

Mark Russinovich, Technical Fellow working on the managed cloud OS kernel—you know this as the Windows Azure Fabric Controller—is the primary author of these powerful tools - all written in C and C++ (so, Mark's an expert native and managed dev). Aaron Margosis, meanwhile, is a Microsoft Consultant and Sysinternals user with expert-level knowledge and experience using Sysinternals tools. They are an important part of his job. Aaron yearned for a book that encapsulates detailed information about all of the Sysinternals tools. Mark agreed and asked Aaron to coauthor it with him—be careful what you ask for! 

Here, we talk about the book, Mark demos a really cool new Sysinternals tool for GPU analysis that's not in the book, Charles randomizes the conversation, and we head all over the place (taking advantage of having Mark's undivided attention!) and even geek out a little on security. If you use Sysinternals tools, then this conversation is for you! Truly incredible work. It's hard to believe that for Mark this stuff is just a hobby.

Tune in.

This updated Remote Desktop management program is an improvement upon the Remote Desktops MMC Snap-in which I used exclusively for multi-server management back in the day.

Like the original snap-in, RDCMan lets you maintain a list of remote computers, in an Explorer-like window. In RDCMan, however, the servers can be grouped and organized to your liking and – get this – it lets you see live thumbnail previews of each one.

This particular program was an internal Microsoft-owned tool originally written by Julian Burger, a principal developer on the Windows Live Experiences team. Now, thanks to both Julian and David Zazzo, the necessary legal, trademark, compliance, etc. hoops have been jumped through in order to offer this tool as a public download. And it’s available here.

Anyone in charge of remote server management should definitely grab this one right away, it’s a real timesaver.

Zubair demos how IT Pros use CionSystems' product Active Directory Manager to simplify user provisioning and AD administration through a Web interface. The solution features a Dashboard UI for IT Pros to view and manage the full user lifecycle, along with automating tasks and generate reports on Active Directory environment.

About CionSystems

CionSystems is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leader in Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions. CionSystems offers innovative Active Directory tools that enhance security, reduce administration costs and increases IT productivity.  CionSystems work with your existing Active Directory Management enterprise to build scalable solutions that leverage and optimize a secure, compliant and policy driven environment seamlessly.

Other ISV Videos About Windows Azure

For other videos of ISVs using Windows Azure, see:

• Quark/Sir Speedy Azure Case Study
• Aspect leverages storage + compute in call center application
• Scaling Web Sites with Azure and Local Cache
• Vidizmo - Nadeem Khan, President, Vidizmo talks about technology, roadmap and Microsoft partnership

Other ISV Videos

For videos on Windows Phone 7, seeL

• Teenager Makes Money Writing Windows Phone 7 Apps with AdCenter
• Talking  with Karmak.com about business applications on Windows Phone 7
• BinaryDads talk about building applications for Windows Phone 7
• Game Design and Development in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7
• Credit Card Processing for Windows Phone 7 on Windows Azure

For videos on Windows Azure Platform, see:

• Accumulus Makes Subscription Billing Easy for Windows Azure
• Azure Email-Enables Lists, Low-Cost Storage for SharePoint

For other videos about independent software vendors (ISVs):

• Quark Extends SharePoint for Dynamic Publishing
• ProModel Adds Simulation, Visualization to Microsoft Project
• Slingbox Maker Sling Media Describes Cross-Platform Commitment to Silverlight

For more news, tips, and links to developer training, see the US ISV Community blog.

SysExpertez helps an IT System Manager / Administrator manage the resources / assets within a Microsoft Windows network domain. It automates and simplifies the repetitive, error-prone and time-consuming tasks to provide accurate results quickly and easily.

Alok Chakrabarti, CEO of SARANGSoft, talks with Bruce Kyle, ISV Architect Evangelist, about how SysExpertez features light up in Windows 7.

About SARANGSoft

SARANGSoft is a Microsoft Certified Parther with the ISV Competency. The company offers a set of tools and utilities for the Windows users to help with the day to day tasks, such as data management (backup & restore, file copy & delete), IT administration, animation file editing & playback, scheduling tasks etc. Their applications help various types of users at home and at work by making their work simple, efficient, and accurate.

Also see another SANGRASoft video on Channel 9: SARANGSoft Data Backup, Data Recovery Software Lights Up on Windows 7

More ISV Videos About Windows 7 Light Up

 
• Social Networking Site Supports Eco-Friendly Activities on Windows 7, Windows Phone 7
• RES Software Lights Up Personal Desktops on Windows 7
• From Paper to the Cloud Part 2 -- Epson's Windows 7 Touch Kiosk For Marksheets
• Marketron Partners for Improved Business Intelligence, User Experience
• AnswerPoint Medical Systems leverages native features of Windows 7 for EMR Solution
• BumpTop brings 3-D Desktop to Windows 7 users
• Panopto utilizes Windows 7 features in Presentation Recording solution
• QuarkPromote Lights Up Windows 7 with RIA Web Application on Windows Azure 

Other ISV Videos About Compatible with Windows 7 Software Logo

• How Attachmate Earned Windows 7 Software Logo
• Attachmate Describes Benefits of Joining Front Runner for Windows 7

Other ISV Videos

 For videos on Windows Phone 7, see:

• Teenager Makes Money Writing Windows Phone 7 Apps with AdCenter
• Talking  with Karmak.com about business applications on Windows Phone 7
• BinaryDads talk about building applications for Windows Phone 7
• Game Design and Development in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7
• Credit Card Processing for Windows Phone 7 on Windows Azure

For videos on Windows Azure Platform, see:

• Accumulus Makes Subscription Billing Easy for Windows Azure
• Azure Email-Enables Lists, Low-Cost Storage for SharePoint

For other videos about independent software vendors (ISVs):

• Quark Extends SharePoint for Dynamic Publishing
• ProModel Adds Simulation, Visualization to Microsoft Project
• Slingbox Maker Sling Media Describes Cross-Platform Commitment to Silverlight

For more news, tips, and links to developer training, see the US ISV Community blog.

Datacastle CEO Ron Faith talks with Bruce Kyle, ISV Architect Evangelist, about how users and ITPros protect laptop data from in the cloud. He also describes the lessons learned in moving the server software to the cloud.

About Datacastle

Datacastle provides a way for businesses to protect high business impact information assets with data backup, recovery, encryption, and even data shredding if laptops are lost or stolen.

Datacastle RED includes secure data deduplication and is available as a hosted solution in Windows Azure or as an on premise implementation. Datacastle RED's features can be self-managed by end users or centrally-managed by IT using the administrative console that runs in Windows Azure. Datacastle's Web Services interface in the Windows Azure Platform also allows ITPros to integrate with other management and reporting consoles.

Other ISV Videos

For other videos of ISVs using Windows Azure, see:

• Quark/Sir Speedy Azure Case Study
• Aspect leverages storage + compute in call center application
• Scaling Web Sites with Azure and Local Cache
• Vidizmo - Nadeem Khan, President, Vidizmo talks about technology, roadmap and Microsoft partnership

Other ISV Videos

 For videos on Windows Phone 7, see:

• Teenager Makes Money Writing Windows Phone 7 Apps with AdCenter
• Talking  with Karmak.com about business applications on Windows Phone 7
• BinaryDads talk about building applications for Windows Phone 7
• Game Design and Development in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7
• Credit Card Processing for Windows Phone 7 on Windows Azure

For videos on Windows Azure Platform, see:

• Accumulus Makes Subscription Billing Easy for Windows Azure
• Azure Email-Enables Lists, Low-Cost Storage for SharePoint

For other videos about independent software vendors (ISVs):

• Quark Extends SharePoint for Dynamic Publishing
• ProModel Adds Simulation, Visualization to Microsoft Project
• Slingbox Maker Sling Media Describes Cross-Platform Commitment to Silverlight

For more news, tips, and links to developer training, see the US ISV Community blog.

In this video ISV Architect Evangelist Bruce Kyle talks with CTO Bob Janssen about how and why they company offers both SQL Azure and SQL Server storage options for their customers.

RES Software is the proven leader in user workspace management. They driving a transformation in the way today’s organizations manage and reduce the cost of their PC populations. Designed for physical or virtual desktop platforms, RES Software enables IT professionals to centrally manage, automate and deliver secure, personalized and more productive desktop experiences for any user.

For more information about how RES Software users access their desktop information in the cloud, see RG021 – How to create a MS SQL Azure Database on their company blog. 

For other videos showing ISVs using Windows Azure, see:

• From Paper to the Cloud -- Epson's Cloud App for Printer, Scanner and Windows Azure
• Quark/Sir Speedy Azure Case Study
• Aspect leverages storage + compute in call center application
• Scaling Web Sites with Azure and Local Cache
• Vidizmo - Nadeem Khan, President, Vidizmo talks about technology, roadmap and Microsoft partnership

For more news, tips, and links to developer training, see the US ISV Community blog.

However, if you’re an I.T. Professional or developer, your concerns about what’s new in IE8 will go beyond just wanting to know about its UI changes. You’ll also want to learn about things like deployment best practices, compatibility and migration issues, and add-on development procedures. For all of you folks, Microsoft is hosting a daylong event where you can learn everything you need to know about deploying and administering IE8 in a business environment.

The upcoming event is called “Internet Explorer FireStarter” and it’s going to be held on March 26th, 2009 beginning at 8:15 AM PST. The event will be hosted on Microsoft’s campus (Building: Redwest-E – Room: Emerald Auditorium) but for those outside of Redmond, you can register to attend FireStarter virtually instead.

The IE8 FireStarter event will begin with a Keynote speech by Dean Hachamovitch then will delve into new features, especially those that relate to enterprise deployment. You can see the full schedule here if you want to pick and choose just the sessions which are relevant to you.

You can follow Mithun Dhar’s blog for more details about this, too. On the day of the event, his blog will host a chat site where you’ll be able to submit questions to the various FireStarter speakers. The chat will be handled by a few Microsoft moderators who will help everyone’s questions get answered during the Q&A’s.  Stay tuned here for more information.

The AppDeploy program also allows for sharing project files with others in the AppDeploy community as it utilizes a specialized file format which contains no personal info or binaries. It works because no registry data is actually contained in the project file – it only points to variables in the registry instead. So when a project file is used to create an MSI, all the files and registry data are based on the contents of the local system. To use one of these project files, you just install, license, and configure the software as desired then build an MSI file using the shared project file. There’s no need to perform a snapshot first. In the future, the shared project files will have their own portal where users can upload, download, rate, and comment on the submissions. Until then, a special forum has been set up to house the files instead.

This program only handles file and registry data, so more complex setups requiring services, device drivers, environment variables, and INI file entries may not work. To use the tool, you’ll need XP SP2+, Vista SP1+, 1 GB RAM, and a clean system for performing repackaging. The download is available from here.