Smart IT Sessions

Case Study: Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs with Windows 7

9am ET/6am PT

CDW stays on the leading edge of technology so that it can not only take advantage of increased efficiencies but also offer hands-on expertise to its customers. The company recently deployed the Windows 7 operating system and has experienced faster deployments, increased user productivity, and enhanced security as a result. CDW also anticipates reduced costs due to a decrease in help-desk calls and the elimination of some third-party licenses.

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Doug Miller

Practice Architect

http://www.cdw.com/

Doug Miller is the Practice Architect for CDW

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

Support Windows 7 Migration with Virtual PC

10am ET/7am PT

Learn how Virtualization can help you support Windows 7 migration and protect access to legacy systems.

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Ben Armstrong

Author and Program Manager, Microsoft

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/

Ben Armstrong (Virtual PC Guy) is a Program Manager on the core virtualization team at Microsoft, as well as the author of top blog, “Virtual PC Guy’s WebLog.” He has also written Professional Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

Is Windows 7 ready for Enterprise Use?

11am ET/8am PT

This session will cover the new features, secrets, and tips for Microsoft’s latest operating system, as well as evaluate Windows 7’s place in the enterprise organization. Is Windows 7 ready for immediate deployment? Enterprises generally like to wait, but with most running on a creaky, Windows XP-based infrastructure, now just might be the time. We’ll examine the TCO benefits of migrating to Windows 7 as well as look at the new features and improvements that will delight users and IT admins alike. We’ll also touch on the “better together” scenarios that are fulfilled when you add Windows Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 releases to the mix as well.

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Paul Thurrott

Technology Analyst, Author, Editor

http://www.winsupersite.com/

Paul Thurrott is a technology analyst for Penton Media and the news editor at the SuperSite for Windows (http://www.winsupersite.com). He writes a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE (http://www.windowsitpro.com/email), a daily Windows news and information email newsletter called WinInfo Daily News (http://www.wininformant.com), and a monthly column called “Need to Know” in Windows IT Pro Magazine. He also blogs daily via the SuperSite Blog (community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul), posts regularly on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/thurrott), and appears weekly in the highly rated and hugely popular Windows Weekly podcast with Leo Laporte (http://www.twit.tv/ww). He is the author of over 20 books about Windows and related technologies.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

KeyNote:  Microsoft in 2010: What IT Managers Need to Know

12pm ET/9am PT

This presentation will provide a roadmap, complete with the latest known (and rumored) Microsoft ship date targets for everything from SharePoint 2010, to SQL Server 2008 R2 and synergies between different Microsoft products that are set to launch in the near term.

This presentation will provide some much-needed guidance for those attempting to plan which new Microsoft products to purchase and deploy.

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Mary Jo Foley

Author, Editor of All About Microsoft

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/

ZDNet Blogger and Microsoft strategy, products and technologies expert. Editor of the “All About Microsoft” blog (blogs.zdnet.com/Microsoft) and author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era (Wiley, 2008). Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning “At The Evil Empire” column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

SharePoint ECM, the Vision and Reality

1pm ET/10am PT

In this session, we will cover the vision for Enterprise Content Management through Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. We’ll discuss the roadmap to achieve the vision including the next version of SharePoint, and review a real world case study implementation. Attendees will learn how SharePoint is able to help IT solve the key issues of managing content across a variety of sources and provide a means for information workers to find and access the data they need.

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Andrew Hopkins

MIcrosoft Veteran and Principal Consultant, Chrysalis BTS

http://www.chrysalisbts.com

Andy Hopkins is a Partner/Principal Consultant at Chrysalis BTS which focuses on vision and strategy, development and deployment, and process management of Information Management solutions for their clients. Andy started his career at Lexis-Nexis where he spent 13 years in various roles from developer of search solutions to Director of Systems Engineering. Andy joined Microsoft in 2000 and spent his first 3 years in Microsoft Consulting Services as a Partner Strategy Consultant working with global system integrators to develop their Microsoft capabilities and to build out key industry solutions. Andy then joined the Enterprise and Partner Group (EPG) as a Technology Development Manager. In this capacity, Andy worked with leading enterprise partners in the area of Enterprise Content Management and Enterprise Search to extend their solution portfolio of Microsoft based solutions.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

Office 2010: Separating Fact from Fiction

2pm ET/11am PT

As is always the case with new Office releases, the first thing most business users want to know is whether there will be enough new features to make an upgrade worth their time and money. (The short answer: Maybe.) But with this release, there are other considerations too: Whether your organization has interest in a Web-based version of key Office apps; the extent to which your company might use mobile versions of Office apps; and what kinds of changes are coming in SharePoint and SharePoint Online that may impact your business.

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Mary Jo Foley

Author, Editor of All About Microsoft

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/

ZDNet Blogger and Microsoft strategy, products and technologies expert. Editor of the “All About Microsoft” blog (blogs.zdnet.com/Microsoft) and author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era (Wiley, 2008). Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning “At The Evil Empire” column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

Microsoft Project 2007 Tips and Tricks and a First Look at Project 2010

3pm ET/12pm PT

Microsoft Project 2007 has new and exciting easy to use, powerful planning, tracking and communicating tools. With this short tips and tricks session we will enable you to review the benefits of using Microsoft Project 2007. You will see how to get up and running fast, while obtaining a foundation of success to enable utilization of Microsoft Project 2007 throughout the organization. This session will also reveal some of the key innovations coming in the late spring release of Project 2010 announced on September 16, 2009 at the Microsoft Project conference in Phoenix Arizona.

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Robert Happy

PMP, Project Management Practice, Inc.

http://pm-practice.com

Working in both private and public sector organizations that span many industries, Robert Happy has consulted with hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees establishing effective Project Management practices. Robert is also the author of “Implementing An Effective Project Management Culture.” He is an authorized Senior Level II Consultant with Franklin Covey Corporation, has been a member of the Project Management Institute for over 10 years, and is fluent with the application of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Robert continues to work with organizations around the world to implement successful project management solutions applying proven and effective techniques. He is a shareholder/executive of the Project Management Practice, a FranklinCovey alliance partner.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!

Microsoft Project Server 2010 Overview: Enterprise Project Management

4pm ET/1pm ET

In this session you will learn what is coming in 2010 for Microsoft Project Server and Enterprise Project Management. We will look at the intended goals for the application; demand management framework; portfolio analysis inclusion; business intelligence; and infrastructure requirements.

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David Blair

MCP, MCTS, PMPi

http://pm-practice.com/

David Blair, MCP, MCTS, is a Senior Associate with the Project Management Practice, Inc. David has been involved at every level of design and development of project management software products for over 18 years. Working as a lead consultant, David has implemented and provided practical administrative and end user training for tools that support effective enterprise project management processes, utilizing Microsoft Project Server 2003 and 2007 for a variety of organizations around the world. Most recently, David has been certified as a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and Technical Specialist (MCTS) in Microsoft Project and Project Server 2007.

Can't attend live? All sessions will be recorded and available ondemand to registered attendees!