In which area does the customer feel more pain? if you ask this
question to most of the systems integrators or solutions providers
there will be one answer for sure; the response to this question would
be “Managing and running the messaging environment!”
Every customer has a unique story to tell about its Messaging
infrastructure, starting from design, installation, technology refresh,
maintenance, so on and so forth. On top of this, worrying about uptime
if not equipped with a costly high available mechanism. On the other
side, the messaging managers have a hard time convincing the top
management of its organization for engaging and retaining the expertise
& costly workforce to manage this complex environment in Microsoft
Exchange. Unfortunately, this cost is one of the most expensive in the
Information Technology labor pool. Read more here
I am rushing… couple of travel plans this week and then to KL, Malaysia for the exciting event - TechEd SEA 2007. So, this could be my last call to you for TechEd SEA 2007.
Promotions!
Grab promotions for this premier & largest annual conference in the South East Asia region – which will be held from 10-13 September 2007 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Malaysia. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so by 31st August, 2007 in order to take advantage of the 999 RM.
4 Top reasons why must one attend TechEd and what keep them coming back?
I can’t think of missing a TechEd in my area ever since I attended the Singapore TechEd 2005. Few reasons are:
Great Speakers - The majority of speakers who appear in the TechEd lineup are from the Product Groups at Microsoft Corporation (the masterminds who build the software and those who know it best) & top industry gurus like subject matter experts, MVPs, recognized industry gurus etc - they are at your disposal to meet, connect with, share the experience and get answers from.
Breakout Sessions – For example, if you are keen on Messaging & Collaboration, check out this link and block your time accordingly.
Networking with Microsofties & your peers – As you spend time and walk around TechEd SEA venue, all you can see are positive energy and 2000 enthusiastic likeminded folks (mostly IT pros and developers). TechEd crowd is like no other…
Live FEST – Last but not the least, get ready for Live Fest. According to Microsoft. “LIVE Fest is the playground and party for delegates to let their hair down, and mingle in a fun and casual atmosphere after a long day of conference. LIVE fest will kick start TechEd SEA 2007 with a galore of interesting activities with lots of attractive prizes to be given away. So gear in your fun side you have not LIVE till you experience the LIVE Fest.” Read more here.
Overall, this is going to be a great learning time, knowing more latest Microsoft products, technologies & its envisions, networking opportunities, get to know the true geeks, industry gurus, MVPs and lot more….
Who attends TechEd?
Mostly IT pros & developers – they continue dominating such events to seek priceless knowledge & get exposed to the latest Microsoft Products & Technologies. Since I am an IT pro, I am more interested in highlighting below some of IT pro tracks:
Improve the management of your existing IT infrastructure with the latest management technologies in Microsoft System Center.
Increase infrastructure and user security with Microsoft Forefront products.
Upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and learn in depth how you can unify your company’s communications.
Prepare to take advantage of all that is new in Microsoft Windows Server code name “Longhorn.”
Prepare to deploy Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.
Install an end-to-end enterprise collaboration solution with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Groove 2007.
Why one must attend TechEd?
IT pros & Developers get more exposure, new products awareness, get to know the latest Microsoft cutting edge Technologies on various business scenarios and priceless networking with fellow IT pros, developers, Microsofties, partners and many more. A rare event which happens once a year in selected cities.
What is the Agenda of TechEd SEA 2007?
4 days are packed with full of creative & knowledge brain storming activities. There will be breakout sessions, Hands-on lab, trade-shows at TechEd expo hall where Microsoft partners showcase their solutions and some fun activities such as Live FEST, and get connected with other likeminded folks around. I am stretching most of the days with packed schedules which get extended to late evening with activities such as MVP gathering & other Microsoft get together. For detailed agenda, download it from the following link:
With the following 7 tracks, TechEd SEA 2007 going to be the biggest ever sofar. Here are the tracks details and I will be mostly attending Track#2 & Track#1
As per Microsoft site, the above agenda is subject to change. So keep watching on the following link:
Where will I be in TechEd SEA 2007 & what would I like to do?
Unfortunately not at the speaker’s podium L - Hope to make that happen in next year TechEd. For this TechEd, I will be keen on attending Messaging & Collaboration Track, then little bit on Windows server 2008.
As you may aware, I am running the following sites for Microsoft communities. Those who are interested to know my online community activities, feel free to approach me. If you can’t search me at the TechEd venue, drop by at the MVP booth in the Exhibition hall (I guess there will be a booth) and pass your contact. I will surely get back with you…
MessagingTalk.org (I have been running this site with my friends for the last one and half years, this is where we would like to share some tutorials, research articles)
DigWin.com (A Social Networking site for those who work in Microsoft Technologies, share interesting news/stories and rate them to the home page if they are good – a recent initiative from MessagingTalk.org Team)
MessagingBlogs.com (Along with MessagingTalk & DigWin, we started an exclusive blog site to write about Messaging & Collaboration trends in the industry. In future, I also would like this platform to be a “Group Blogging” site – where a group of bloggers share the same site (platform) for blogging on Messaging & Collaboration. So far, I am the only one…)
And lot more to do….See you at TechEd SEA 2007, KL - Malaysia.
The fundamental idea of Grand Central is “Have one phone number for all your phones, for life.” Generally, when you change jobs, homes, relocate to new cities and change cell phones, you will need to let others know your recent phone numbers and it cost in many ways.
So the Grand Central comes into this picture to solve your problems whereby you can provide a single phone number and let rules handle all your phone numbers. In other words, whenever a person calls your “one number”, the call will reach based on the person’s relationship you set in the rules and the your “presence” at that point in time. There are so many other features they are offering, check this here.
I guess the following demo gives a better picture of understanding how Grand Central service works, click below on the YouTube from the founders Craig & Vincent
Sounds cool..! Great innovation..and no wonder why Google behinds this most exciting startup. You can count on Google as they begin to integrate Grand Central with Gmail & GTalk. Eventually, Google presence in small business sector will get strengthen to next level.
After all, this innovation will simplify the users life by having a single phone number and handle the calls based on the rules.
Tech-Ed is the event of assorted geeks where you see enthusiasm, networking of Microsoft technologies, with Microsofties, IT pros, developers, vendors etc. Upcoming Tech-Ed for South East Asia will be held at Kula Lumpur Convention Center from 10-13 September, 2007. This is the place where “Microsofties” deep dive into the “SEA” & empower themselves with emerging Microsoft Technologies.
I will be off to make my mark at Tech-Ed 2007 SEA at KL, Malaysia, and spend valuable time to learn from the experts, share my knowledge with some of you guys, hands-on at the lab with latest & greatest in Microsoft especially Exchange 2007, OCS 2007 & MOSS 2007.
So why wait? If you are not registered yet, here is the link and below shown is current promotion as I write this blog post now. To answer most of your Tech-Ed related questions, visit here and Ed Quek scribble exclusively about Tech-Ed 2007 SEA event, so don’t forget to visit his blog.
Tech-Ed brings benefits in many ways to many people. I still remember, I started my site MessagingTalk.org and got the inspiration to get my MVP after attending Tech-Ed 2005 at Singapore. Every Tech-Ed is a win-win event for me personally, as I get more ideas from the experts around and I make connections with Technologists, entrepreneurs, IT pros and developers. If you can’t make it for Tech-Ed 2007 SEA, there are other places in Asia where you can make your mark. Here is Tech-Ed worldwide site.
What actually you can expect from Tech-Ed 2007 SEA?
2007 is “Year of release” for Microsoft and MS community started discussing about chain of new products and technologies. Every year, Tech-Ed event is getting to be huge and mining the precious of gold among the large number of sessions is challenge. In messaging and collaboration perspective, I would like to guide you on what to look for during Tech-Ed 2007 SEA.
Hmm…This could be a spark. You will also be eager to see what vendors could be offering on Exchange 2007. As you aware, the new High Availability & disaster recovery options built into Exchange 2007 might have caused some upheaval in the vendors offering.
In MessagingTalk.org, we have recently added Product DB section. This category is targeted for vendors who develop and sell solutions for MS Exchange customers in particular, e.g. Anti-Spam, High Availability, outlook plug-in, mobility & wireless etc.. Below are more detailed category:
We encourage you to limit the product summary to 200 words, you can also make use of tagging to categorize it better. Include the pricing if possible, otherwise just mention it as “Please call for a sales quote” and then include your contact as well. Below is a sample product db submission by Avepoint for its Public Folder Migrator product
Do submit your product under Product DB section. If the product is relevant to MessagingTalk’s visitors, we will accept the submission for a subscription fee of USD 100/- for the period of one year.
I recently reviewed GFI FAXmaker for Exchange, and tested in my lab. This product provides a connector into the native Exchange environment, and leverage a user’s existing experience in Microsoft Outlook.
GFI FAXmaker for Exchange, the server acts as the centralized facility for the sending and receiving of faxes, while also handling message routing functions. As soon as fax messages are received by GFI FAXmaker for Exchange, it will route those faxes to the correct users according to the rules created by the administrator. For example, messages can be forwarded to the mailbox of an individual user, to a common mailbox dedicated for faxes, or to an Exchange public folder. These routing features make GFI FAXmaker for Exchange such a powerful product.
What will be the kind of impact to the customer having a fax server in its email system?
Due to legal issues, many of the business documents just cannot be sent in electronic form via e-mail, due to the requirements of legal signatures and confirmed delivery. Recent surge of spam e-mails and viruses, it becomes even more challenging to confirm delivery of the documents that move business.
Read my review here to know little bit more about my comments
