• [00:45] Windows Server 2012 RTM Dates Announced
• [01:50] An updated System Center Operations Manager MP was releaded for Windows Server 2008 R2 (and earlier) http://aka.ms/SCOMUpdateJuly
• [02:35] System Center SP1 CTP2 is available as VHDs for several System Center 2012 components http://aka.ms/SC2012CTPVHDs
• [03:45] The Windows Server 2012 licensing model has been announced http://aka.ms/Server2012Editions
• [06:20] System Center 2012 "Self-Study" resource guides are available http://aka.ms/SC2012StudyGuides
• [07:20] Feedback is wanted on the beta version of the System Center 2012 VMM Infrastructure Planning & Design (IPD) guide http://aka.ms/VMMIPDBeta
• [08:15] The beta for the Virtual Machine Servicing Tool (VMST) has been released http://aka.ms/VMSTBeta

Technical Interview: At [10:25] Symon met with Stephen Baron, a Senior Program Manager Lead for System Center, to discuss VMM Service Templates.  Stephen first provides a list of challenges with traditional virtualization templates then talks about the changes and new features in System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager.  Next they talk about what can be used within a Service Template and Stephen explains the different deployment tiers and networking options.  Stephen then talks about the benefits of standardization in the private cloud and how templates help achieve this goal to benefit both the IT team and application owners.  Finally they discuss the changes coming in System Center 2012 SP1.  At [29:25] Stephen shows a series of demos for configuring and managing Service Templates.

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• 17 Private Cloud demo videos have been released as part of the Private Cloud Demo Extravaganza
• Check out the new Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) course of Solution Accelerators
• The Microsoft Assessment & Planning (MAP) Toolkit 7.0 Beta can be downloaded
• The System Center 2012 Cloud Services Process Pack has been released
• The System Center 2012 Update Rollup 1 is now available

Technical Interview: At [06:50] Symon met with Adam Hall, a Senior Product Marketing Manager for System Center, to discuss operations and management for applications in a private cloud. Adam first provided a historical overview of monitoring with System Center 2012 Operations Manager, including the AVIcode acquisition, and why monitoring is important for not just availability, but also for performance.  Next they discuss the relationship between the infrastructure or operations specialist and the developer of the application, and how the barriers between the two parties has been reduced with this release.  Adam then demos Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and connectors between Operations Manager and Team Foundation Server (TFS).

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• Windows Server "8" will be called Window Server 2012
• The Release Candidate (RC) build for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 will be early June
• Join David for the Consumerization of IT Jump Start on May 15th and 16th
• The General Availabilty (GA) of System Center 2012 was annouced at MMS
• The next version of Windows Intune is coming soon
• The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 is just released
• For Private Cloud deployment information, check out the evaluation guide
• 14 new Private Cloud guided labs are available for testing

Technical Interview:
At [04:55] Symon met with Sean Christensen, a Senior Product Marketing Manager for System Center, to discuss management features of the service delivery and automation layer in a private cloud. Sean focused on some of the reporting challenges that IT shops face, and how they can be overcome by new Service Manage features which use Excel (including PowerPivot) and SharePoint for streamlined and dynamic reports.

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