Canadian IT Managers

Chat with Judea Pearl ACM Turing Award recipient in 2012 (Nobel Prize of Computing); Legendary pioneer, world-renowned distinguished researcher and professor UCLA

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:21:00 GMT

Judea Pearl is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory.

Before joining UCLA in 1970, he was at RCA Research Laboratories, working on superconductive parametric and storage devices. Previously, he was engaged in advanced memory systems at Electronic Memories, Inc. Pearl is a graduate of the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 1965, he received a Master's degree in Physics from Rutgers University, and in the same year was awarded a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Among his many awards, Pearl is the recipient of the 2012 Harvey Prize in Science and Technology from the Technion, and the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computers and Cognitive Science from the Franklin Institute. He was presented with the 2003 Allen Newell Award from ACM and the AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence). His groundbreaking book on causality, Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, won the 2001 Lakatos Award from the London School of Economics and Political Science "for an outstanding significant contribution to the philosophy of science."

Pearl is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of AAAI and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He is President of the Daniel Pearl Foundation www.danielpearl.org, named after his son.

Pearl's Work
Judea Pearl's work has transformed artificial intelligence (AI) by creating a representational and computational foundation for the processing of information under uncertainty. Pearl's work went beyond both the logic-based theoretical orientation of AI and its rule-based technology for expert systems. He identified uncertainty as a core problem faced by intelligent systems and developed an algorithmic interpretation of probability theory as an effective foundation for the representation and acquisition of knowledge.

Focusing on conditional independence as an organizing principle for capturing structural aspects of probability distributions, Pearl showed how graph theory can be used to characterize conditional independence, and invented message-passing algorithms that exploit graphical structure to perform probabilistic reasoning effectively. This breakthrough has had a major impact on a wide variety of fields where the restriction to simplified models had severely limited the scope of probabilistic methods; examples include natural language processing, speech processing, computer vision, robotics, computational biology, and error-control coding.

Equally significant is Pearl's work on causal reasoning, where he developed a graph-based calculus of interventions that makes it possible to derive causal knowledge from the combined effects of actions and observations. This work has been transformative within AI and computer science, and has had a major impact on allied disciplines of epidemiology, economics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and statistics.

ACM Turing Awards announcement:
http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2012/turing-award-11/
http://amturing.acm.org/keywords/pearl_2658896.cfm

Author Profile, ACM Digital Library:
http://dl.acm.org/author_page.cfm?id=81100419881

Research subjects and home page:
http://amturing.acm.org/keywords/pearl_2658896.cfm
http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/jp_home.html

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:34:
Judea, you have a lifetime of outstanding research contributions influencing diverse domains with lasting significant global impact. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise, deep accumulated insights, and wisdom with our audience.

:01:01:
When did you hear of this extraordinary honour, recipient of what is widely considered the Nobel Prize in Computing, the 2011 ACM Turing Award? How did you feel at the time? The reaction from your colleagues? From your family?
"....It was a combination of pleasure and surprise because my main focus to research is not considered mainstream computer science....I was happy to see the awards committee appreciate the impact of my work on both the AI and on the peripheral fields now in computer science...."

:04:14:
What specific challenges in your education in Israel were catalysts to inflection points in your lifetime of contributions and how/why did this happen?
"....I constantly remind myself and my audience that I owe a lot of what I've done to my education and to the spirit of nation-building in Israel...."

:09:55:
You talked about the fact that at the time, even though it was the early days and a time of austerity in Israel, there were no budget cuts and there was passion, excitement and interaction in the classroom. How would you contrast that with the current education system in the United States?
"....I think it has to be revamped. Mathematics and sciences in general ought to be taught in the way it was discovered, in historical context and not hierarchical in terms of the logic of the subject matter....That gives students the idea that science is not a dry subject, but a human subject...."

:11:52:
Professor Pearl talks about how his work at RCA and his move into academia became catalysts or inflection points for his lifetime of contributions.
"....At the time I had to find a job and I went to academia. It was easier at that time to go from industry to academia because industry looked down at academia...."

:16:39:
How has your work specifically and lastingly contributed to the following components: machine reasoning, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, computational biology, econometrics, cognitive science, statistics, philosophy, psychology, epidemiology and social science?
"....The list may give the impression that I'm expert in all these fields which would be wrong. You will notice that all the fields that you mentioned have one thing in common and this is uncertainty. They are embedded in uncertain and noisy data and they all need to have principles of filtering out the noise and extracting out meaning...."

:34:12:
I guess the causation research that you did really ties into philosophy itself?
"....The question is why did they explain causation in terms of counterfactuals and not the other way around? It must be that counterfactuals are more cognitively plausible, less problematic, more deeply entrenched in our intuition...."

:40:54:
Additionally, can you profile your extensive research history, their lasting impact and valuable lessons you wish to share from each of your top research areas?
"....I can summarize my lessons in three sentences: People reason with probabilities....People do not reason with probabilities, but people reason with cause-effect relationships....People do not reason with cause-effect relationships, they reason with counterfactuals....The impact itself is in the algorithms that are developed....One should classify the impact of my work into three layers: probability, causality and counterfactuals...."

:42:11:
I can see the progression in your work and as you gained insights, your insights evolved and that became inflection points not only in your life, but also major inflection points in your field as well.
"....It has had impact on the field. It has given researchers in AI the comfort and the confidence that they can encode knowledge in the form and perform inferences on that knowledge, and also it's had a tremendous impact on the peripheral fields...."

:48:39:
You mentioned this concept of robotics; do you believe a robot with free will can be developed?
"....When you asked the question 'would the robot be able to be equipped with free will', one could argue that every chess-playing machine has free will otherwise it wouldn't have chosen the move that it chose. It's a superficial way, but it's a very deep philosophical question....Most scientists that I talk to believe that free will is an illusion...."

:53:46:
Can you define what will be the outcomes of your current research and their applications?
"....I cannot define; I can only hope that it will lead to more friendly conversation between man and machine; that it will lead to a more effective communication among robots when it comes to issues such as social good, collective aspirations. All these concepts that move us to actions, if we can transfer them to robot communities, will be a great achievement in terms of the ease in which we could communicate with robots....This counterfactual is a basic building block in social interaction...."

:57:46:
What are your most difficult challenges in research and what valuable lessons do you wish to share from these challenges?
"....My greatest challenges were the transformation from one language to another, from probability to causal and from causal to counterfactual....I know if I had to teach young people from my experience the thing that I would encourage them most would be to have a flexibility to shifting languages...."

:59:03:
How do you create that ability to shift from one language to another?
"....By demonstrating that you cannot solve a certain class of problems within one language and you can solve it easier within another one and demonstrate the ease of transformation...."

:01:01:36:
There's always this possibility of group-think where people are resistant to change. Why do you think that's so?
"....With its many components I focused on the transformation from one language to another. Language is the greatest guardian of dogmatism, a propagator of dogmatism. People learn languages in their childhood and then they cannot shift and this happens in science too...."

:01:05:30:
Can you describe other areas which you may consider controversial or cause much discussion in the areas that you research?
"....There is great controversy now in statistics whether counterfactual reasoning is beneficial. You cannot measure counterfactuals, you cannot refute counterfactual statements because it is introspective about things that didn't happen (what would have happened had I not done what I actually did). So these are philosophical questions and there's great controversy whether statisticians should resort to such a language...."

:01:07:56:
Another area of controversy would be this idea of religious myths being metaphors for genuine ideas that are difficult to express. Can you comment?
"....I find the communication in believers to be meaningful. It is loaded with metaphors....Algorithmically it makes a lot of sense...."

:01:12:35:
Judea, you laid many of the foundational pillars as one of the top ground-breaking visionary innovators. Distilling from your experiences, what are the greater burning challenges and research problems for today's youth to solve to inspire them to go into computing?
"....The greatest advice I could give to youth would be to listen to their intuition and to listen to their centuries old curiosity to understand themselves...."

:01:14:17:
To our youth with an interest in a future of computing but without the educational foundation, how would you explain your work in probability, causation, and calculus of intervention, Bayesian networks and counterfactuals?
"....Students get an appreciation for the general strategy of taking an area that has not been encoded before and encoding it and seeing how your intuition gets amplified by formal algorithms. The amplification is universally appealing to all students, for all young people regardless if they are in computer science or outside computer science...."

:01:20:24:
Upon reflection what specific qualities make you excel and why?
"....I can give you two answers:....lazy, lazy, lazy....hard work, hard work, hard work...."

:01:21:33:
Past, present, and future — name three (or more) who inspire you and why is this so?
"....I was very influenced by stories about great scientists....Present day scientists if I were to choose would be Boole and Shannon...Einstein...."

:01:25:53:
You continue to make significant historical contributions. How will your growing status contribute to your vision for the world, society, industry, academia, and technology?
"....When you have a greater status people expect you to say something smart and wise on every topic and I should resist it because I could not comment on every topic....In social science I do have a humble opinion about how the media distorts cause-effect relationships and I could utilize my expertise in this area, but I generally decline from commenting on fields on which I do not have expertise...."

:01:27:30:
You choose the topic area. What do you see as the top challenges facing us today and how do you propose they be solved?
"....Education, education and education....It includes science education. It includes social education...."

:01:35:04:
Please provide us with some history and your aspirations for the Daniel Pearl Foundation?
"....When you have an image that immediately evokes the willingness to act, we can rally people to do good things. We are focusing on three areas: journalism, music, and dialogue...."

Nick Malik: International Top Authority in Enterprise and Business Architecture, Author, Speaker, Principle Microsoft EA - Part 1

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:09:00 GMT

Nick Malik is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, blogger and innovator in Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture. Co-author of three books and a popular speaker at conferences, Nick brings his 32 years of high-tech experience to bear as he creates Enterprise Architectural models and solutions to the CTO of Microsoft IT, his current employer. Developer of a number of novel methods in Enterprise Architecture, including the Enterprise Business Motivation Model, and the Minimal Sufficient Business Integration method, he strives to improve the maturity and professionalism of the practice of Enterprise Architecture worldwide.

Nick has a background in product development, internal software development, management consulting, and business operations accumulated across such diverse industries as hospitality, health care, insurance, high tech, and financial services. You can find his musings online at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickmalik or on twitter as @nickmalik

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:55:
Nick talks about EA Core diagrams.
"....The Core Diagram is an image like an architectural model (in some sense it is higher level than most architectural models). The goal is to get everybody on one page about one particular aspect of your enterprise architecture. That's very important. Different aspects are important to different companies...."

:03:27:
Nick outlines the Minimum Sufficient Business Integration (MSBI) method in detail.
"....MSBI is fairly simple, but it's a number of steps..... I'm currently blogging about it on my blog so for folks who might have a hard time following along on this podcast can check out my blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickmalik....The whole basis of MSBI is that you start with one basic recognition and that is that most businesses large enough to need an Enterprise Architect are doing more than one business, and the challenge is how many businesses are you in....."

:11:49:
Can you explain the unsung roles of business models in business architecture?
"....There are very few people in the Enterprise Architecture space who are talking about how business models work and very few people in the business model space who are talking about how to execute on a business model, how to organize your company to support multiple models....If you don't map the business models you can't connect the strategy to business models. If you don't connect the strategies to business models you can't use the business model itself as an element in prioritizing....It's absolutely critical and yet very few of the business architecture works today talk about business models. I'm a big proponent of changing that...."

:21:42:
I can see the value at the board level if you're mapping out the different business models and how it aligns to strategies, or when you need some kind of assessment when a corporation is getting confused or they are disseminating confusing messages to their different stakeholders. The board may go to their executive team and the executive team may not be able to clearly define what the issues are. Can you comment?
"....It's very important from an alignment level and from a human sense, so that the folks involved can understand how their organization is working and they can make key strategic decisions that are above and beyond the point specific implementation decisions that business architecture tend to be wrapped around....It's very useful from an information standpoint at the board level...."

:30:58:
Why is there a growing need to clarify Enterprise Architecture and how would you define EA?
"....To me, enterprise architecture is: the people who do (the business function itself), the thing you develop (the output) and the team of people at work (the enterprise architecture team). So if I break it down into those 3 things I can define each one of them. So now I have 3 definitions depending on what it is you are talking about enterprise architecture....I often have to ask: what is it that you mean when you are talking about enterprise architecture, are you talking about a thing, the business function, or are you talking about the humans? Once we can get past that we can come to a very quick resolution on what we mean when we are talking about enterprise architecture...."

:38:44:
In your mind, to whom does the team report?
"....You're going to have to make a trade-off....If you house the enterprise architecture team in the part of the business most focused on innovation, developing new business strategies, it might be called a strategic planning team or a strategic PMO....The other trade-off is to house it with the team of people who are most focused on optimization and effectiveness....The two places that I tended to see it located is under IT or under finance....It just depends on what trade-off you want to get....I don't think it should ever report directly to the CEO except in medium to small companies...."

Dr. Maria Klawe: Pioneering World-Renowned Computer Scientist and Executive Leader, Shares her Early Career Years

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:59:00 GMT

Harvey Mudd College is led by Maria Klawe, HMC's fifth president who began her tenure in 2006. A renowned computer scientist and scholar, President Klawe is the first woman to lead the college since its founding in 1955. Prior to joining HMC, she served as Dean of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. During her time at Princeton, Maria led the School of Engineering and Applied Science through a strategic planning exercise that created an exciting and widely embraced vision for the school.

At Harvey Mudd College, she led a similarly ambitious strategic planning initiative, "HMC 2020: Envisioning the Future." Maria joined Princeton from the University of British Columbia where she served as Dean of Science from 1998 to 2002, Vice President of Student and Academic Services from 1995 to 1998 and Head of the Department of Computer Science from 1988 to 1995. Prior to UBC, Maria spent eight years with IBM Research in California, and two years at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. (1977) and B.Sc. (1973) in Mathematics from the University of Alberta. Maria has made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science including functional analysis, discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, human-computer interaction, gender issues in information technology, and interactive-multimedia for mathematics education.

Her current research focuses on the development and use of multi-modal applications to assist people with aphasia and other cognitive impairments. Maria is a past president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) in New York, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in Palo Alto, and a trustee of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics in Los Angeles and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. In the past Maria has held leadership positions with the American Mathematical Society, the Computing Research Association, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the Canadian Mathematical Society.

Maria is one of 10 members of the board of Microsoft Corporation, a newly elected member of the Broadcom board, a board member of the nonprofit Math for America, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and past chair of the board for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in Palo Alto, Calif. She was elected as a fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery in 1996 and as a founding fellow of the Canadian Information Processing Society in 2006. Other awards include Vancouver YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Science and Technology (1997), Wired Woman Pioneer (2001), Canadian New Media Educator of the Year (2001), BC Science Council Champion of the Year (2001), University of Alberta Distinguished Alumna (2003), Nico Habermann Award (2004), and honorary doctorates from Acadia University (2006), Dalhousie University (2005), Queen's University (2004), the University of Waterloo (2003) and Ryerson University (2001).

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:34:
Maria, you are an icon in so many domains where your innovations and accomplishments laid foundations in science, education, leadership, innovation, and research. This is the second in an interview series where we will explore your considerable history from your early years and into your professional life of notable distinction and significant outstanding contributions in a number of fields including societal causes. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise, deep accumulated insights, and wisdom with our audience.

:01:14:
Maria, in these series of questions, we are taking a chronological journey from your 20's starting with three takeaways from our first interview. However before we begin mining your history, let us discuss your experiences at the World CIO Forum, board retreat, Grace Hopper conference and work with world leaders.

:01:36:
While at the World CIO Forum (WCF), you visited a school. Please share your experiences.
"....I was lucky to have the opportunity to visit an experimental school (Kindergarten through to 12th grade) in Shenzhen, one of only five schools in China that are allowed to use different curricula from the standard state mandated curricula....This particular school emphasizes music, art, fitness and leadership development in addition to the usual academic courses....I was really impressed by the vision of the founder and the enthusiasm of the students...."

:02:32:
Your WCF keynote created much discussion before and after. What triggered this and what were the wins?
"....The reason I agreed to be a speaker at the World CIO Forum was I wanted to talk about increasing the participation of females in computing careers, because this is an issue all around the world and I thought that is would be a good venue to really cover that subject....From my perspective it all turned out to be fine but it was definitely an interesting experience...."

:07:07:
From your experiences at the WCF, what work still needs to be done?
"....It's clear that the low participation of females in computing careers is a problem in just about every country....It's clear that if institutions are willing to put some effort into it they can really change the situation. They've got to think about changing their curriculum and particularly think about changing their culture among their CS students...."

:08:38:
From your board retreat, where is Harvey Mudd heading and why?
"....At Harvey Mudd we have a long tradition of being extremely innovative in how we approach undergraduate education both in terms of how we do science, math and engineering education (which is what we're specializing in), but also the way that we include humanities, social sciences, the arts, teamwork, communication skills, all those kinds of things and a lot of hands on learning. What we're trying to focus on right now is: one, how do we sustain that and secondly, how do we disseminate it better because we're such a small institution...."

:12:01:
Can you share updates from the Grace Hopper conference?
"....Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, was the first keynote....I'd like to repeat the five pieces of advice that she had for young women (applies to young men too) because I completely agree with them....Believe in yourself and keep on pushing forward even if you doubt yourself....Dream big....Choose the right partner....Don't leave before you leave....Talk about women's issues...."

:18:16:
You have ongoing relationships with many programs and notable world leaders. Can you describe some of the programs and share some stories about your experiences with some of these notable experts and leaders?
"....I feel really lucky to have met a number of people who are doing really wonderful things in the world. The first one is Math for America's Jim Simons....Another program that I'm excited about is called Reasoning Minds. I got exposed to Reasoning Mind really because Neil Lane....The third is I'm very lucky to have participated in the opening of the Annenberg Sunnylands Retreat Center on Feb. 11th....Being President of Harvey Mudd College and because we have such a strong commitment to education, allows me to engage with education at levels and with institutions far beyond just at Harvey Mudd College..."

:26:12:
Looking back to the prior interview where we talked about some of the earlier years can you summarize some of the shareable lessons from your early years?
"....How important it was to develop my own set of values and to understand what mattered to me....Really coming to terms about how important my commitment to mathematics and art was....Discovering that with enough hard work I could learn absolutely anything....The importance of persistence....We're often told do what you're passionate about, but sometimes you have to balance that with other needs...."

:32:48:
What triggered your first academic position choices?
"....I ended up going back and doing a second PhD in computer science. Within five months of my starting at the University of Toronto they hired me as a regular faculty member there....What they cared about was that I was capable of learning and teaching and they thought that I was going to be able to do a really good job...."

:36:48:
What were your research interests and their lasting impact?
"....My initial research in mathematics was in functional analysis....In terms of the research that I did in theoretical computer science, I tend to like problems that are easy to state but hard to solve....I would say early on I just had this passion for working on hard problems and occasionally create structures that are useful to solve other problems, because I much more enjoy creating things that are new and finding new approaches to do things than in applying well-known structures to new problems...."

:39:11:
Describe your good and bad experiences at that time and how they influenced you?
"....The magic of just understanding and learning that I could work in theoretical computer science and I could do mathematics and it was all going to be okay...."

:40:51:
During this period, how would you describe yourself - your attitude; your aspirations, your approach to societal contributions, family, friends, activities, interests, hobbies, life in general, your intended career path?
"....At that time in my life my most important thing that I wanted out of life was I wanted to be a leading theoretical computer science researcher, I wanted to spend time with students but most of all I wanted to find a partner and have kids. It wasn't until a bit later I really thought about changing the world...."

:45:42:
Maria can you further describe those years and some pivotal events that shaped you?
"....Learning that I could love computer science....Seeing positive role models in the computer science faculty at the University of Toronto....Meeting Nick....How amazing the opportunities in theoretical computer science were compared to just about any area in mathematics....The realization there really are areas where there are more opportunities...."

:48:13:
You've taken industry positions. What motivated you at the time?
"....The two things that we looked at was for me to go work for IBM Research which would mean that his work environment would stay stable or for both of us to be in academic positions...."

:50:02:
Describe your industry research contributions, their lasting impact and your career journey.
"....I thought the smartest people would have the most impact but it was while I was at IBM that I had the revelation that it's not about how smart you are, it's about setting goals, developing strategy and bringing together the resources — particularly the people support — to achieve that goal and persistence and that's how you have the most impact in the world...."

:55:50:
Describe your industry-based good and bad experiences at that time and how they influenced you?
"....IBM had an incredible commitment to career development for their managers and had some of the best leadership and management training in the world at the time, and I benefited incredibly from that....At the time (this has changed enormously) they had an incredibly rigid management system...."

:01:01:12:
Who were your mentors in industry and how did they influence you?
"....Other than Nick....Pat Selinger....Ralph Gomery...."

:01:04:59:
Which did you find most satisfying at that time, your academic or industry work, and why?
"....While I valued being there (IBM Research), and I think it was a great foundation for what I was going to do for the rest of my life, I believe in education so deeply I knew I would be coming back to academia....."

:01:05:38:
You are always working on the hard questions and challenges - what were they?
"....One of them was building collaboration between mathematics and theoretical computer science. Another one was getting women to be taken seriously in the mathematical and computer science research community. A third one was getting IBM to understand why academic computer scientists wouldn't use IBM hardware or software....Balancing children with having an ambitious career...."

:01:06:45:
What were the areas of controversy?
"....The whole idea of just being able to enable collaboration....Wearing shorts to work...."

:01:11:43:
Based upon those years, if you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....If you had it to do over again would you go to IBM Research at that point in your life?....Why did you leave IBM Research?....Did you miss IBM Research after you left?...."

:01:14:47:
Maria, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your substantial wisdom with our audience.
This is the second in an interview series where we explore Maria’s considerable history from her early years and into her professional life of notable distinction and significant outstanding contributions in a number of fields including societal causes. In the next interview, we will delve into Maria’s later professional career as an academic and as an entrepreneur.

Windows Phone Welcomes AlignIT

Jonathan Rozenblit — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

The AlignIT experience as you know it today consists of the AlignIT portal, the Canadian IT Manager Connection, the alignitca Twitter handle, and Facebook page. It also has a discussion group on LinkedIn where some of you are already networking and sharing your thoughts (if you’re not a member of the group yet, you’re invited! Join us.) and a monthly show, AlignIT Manager Tech Talk (available as video as well as audio podcast), with news, feature presentations, and live guests.

You can now enhance that experience by taking AlignIT on the go with you with the brand new Windows Phone app released into the Windows Phone Marketplace yesterday.

Get the app >>

These screenshots will give you a teaser of the app:

In this first version, you can:

Get the latest news from our news feed
Read posts on the Canadian IT Manager Connection online or offline
Download and watch episodes of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk while on the go
Share or email post and videos links to your friends
Get to know us, the team behind AlignIT by checking out our bios, social networks, recent posts, tweets, etc. You can even pin one (or more of us) to your Start Menu for quick access to us!

Go ahead, get the app and get tuned in. Then, share your feedback and ideas for new features it the AlignIT LinkedIn group. Also, don’t forget to share the news with your colleagues and friends on Twitter and Facebook!

Special thanks to the man that made the app possible, Sébastien Lachance!

Sébastien Lachance is a developer with 12 years of experience and 18 months of Windows Phone programming. For less than a month, Sébastien is working at the new Montreal office of Mirego, a company innovating in mobile development, looking to bring his Microsoft development expertise to the company. Sébastien is passionate about Microsoft technologies especially about Windows Phone/Windows 8 and the new Metro design. When he’s not in front on a computer, he’s playing bridge (he’s even written an app for that), biking, and reading technical books.

More apps by Sébastien >>

IFIP/IP3 invites you to the ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP World Summit on the Information Society May 16 2012

Stephen.Ibaraki — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:26:24 GMT

You are invited to join remotely in the provided “adobeconnect” rooms on Wednesday May 16 between 7:15am-9am PDT / 10:15am-12:00 EDT (1615 and 1800 local time (Geneva Switzerland)). For registration please visit the WSIS Forum website at http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2012/Information/WSISForum2012.aspx.

The title of the Thematic Workshop that IP3 will lead is "Improving Economic Development, Regional GDP, Innovation, Education, Skills, Sustainability and Security by creating and growing a professional ICT workforce." The workshop will present as panelists IP3 Marketing Director Ms Moira de Roche, Immediate Past President & Fellow Computer Society South Africa; IP3 Chair Ms Brenda Aynsley, FACS, IP3 Representative Australian Computer Society; IP3 Member Mr Lawrence Gudza, Immediate Past President, Computer Society of Zimbabwe and Mr Stephen Ibaraki, CIPS Fellow, CIPS, Canada.

In this session, you will learn that the common denominator for sustained growth in economic development, GDP, innovation, sustainability and security is a professional workforce supported by internationally accredited industry, relevant education, demonstrated skills development, recognized ethical conduct and adherence to proven best practices and standards. This involves the collaboration of business, industry, governments, academia, and professional societies. The UNESCO-founded international ICT consultative body IFIP has the IP3 program to provide guidance and mentorship to its members to ensure the creation and sustained growth of a professional ICT workforce. In support of this presentation, representatives from countries which have started the journey to creating a professional ICT workforce will present their case studies. Their talks will encompass:

motivation to begin the journey;
steps taken so far including who are their partners in their journey;
results delivered so far;
barriers and obstacles; and
measures of success.

-----------------------------------------

ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP welcomes all WSIS Stakeholders to the WSIS Forum 2012 which will be held from 14th to 18th May 2012 and will provide structured opportunities to network, learn and to participate in multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation. This event builds upon the tradition of annual WSIS May meetings, and its new format is the result of open consultations with all WSIS Stakeholders. The 2012 WSIS Forum will be hosted by ITU and will take place at the Conference Centre of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Remote Participation will be an integral component of the Forum and details are available at the WSIS website at http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2012/Information/WSISForum2012.aspx.

REMINDER: Confidence in the Cloud–LIVE Tomorrow

Jonathan Rozenblit — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:11:46 GMT

Recent surveys indicate that while cloud computing is a top priority for Canadian CIOs, assurance in cloud services remains the principle inhibitor for adoption. 2012 is proving to be the year of accelerating adoption as organizations gain a deeper appreciation of cloud services and how they can be adopted in a trusted manner. Join Ruth Morton, myself, and guest, John Weigelt, National Technology Officer for Microsoft Canada, as we explore the security and privacy considerations of Cloud Computing.

May 10, 2012 – 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM ET

Add to Calendar»
Watch Live »

Featured Guest

John Weigelt
As the National Technology Officer for Microsoft Canada, John Weigelt is responsible for driving Microsoft Canada’s strategic policy and technology efforts. In this role, Mr. Weigelt helps business and governments innovate with technology while avoiding the unintended consequences that might arise. He leads Canadian outreach for Economic Development, Environmental Sustainability, Accessibility, Privacy, Security, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Government 3.0, Interoperability and other policy related activities.

Prior to joining Microsoft, John held the position of Senior Director of Architecture, Standards and Engineering at the Chief Information Officer Branch of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. John is also a board member for Supply Chain and Logistics Association Canada and is also a member of the Science and Technology Advisory Council of Innovacorp. He holds a Master’s Degree in computer and communications security engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada.

About the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk series

The AlignIT Manager Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm EST. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air.

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About the AlignIT program for IT managers

The AlignIT program is dedicated to keeping IT leaders informed about what matters in business and technology. We do that through in-person events, web casts, our blog, newsletter, the Tech Talk video series and the IT Manager audio podcast series among other things. You can find more information about the Align IT program at www.alignit.ca. If you have comments, suggestions, and ideas for future topics please let us know by connecting with us via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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New Release: OneCode Sample Browser v5

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:59:00 GMT

In partnership with MSDN Samples Gallery, Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework just released a brand new version for its Sample Browser, which introduces a big search expansion to over 3500 quality code samples, the new Favorite Searches and Favorite Samples functions for managing your beloved samples, the integration of social media sharing, the enriched query conditions & more. Its Zune-style user experience is still stunning. This is a big refresh of Sample Browser since the last release half a year ago. I know that worldwide developers will love it!

Click here to read more and download.

Awards for Professionalism Announces Award Winners

Stephen.Ibaraki — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:48:10 GMT

NPA Honors Individuals for Excellence in the Networking Industry

This news story profiles the winners: http://www.networkcomputing.com/interop/232901072

Here is more on the awards:

The Awards for Professionalism are the computing and networking industry's highest honor and represent the global hall of fame for the industry. Working with award consortium partners of Interop Conferences / NetWorld+Interop, Network Computing Magazine (CMP/UBM), Network World Magazine (IDG), later joined by Microsoft, Cisco Press (Pearson Publishing), Windows ITPro (Penton), GITCA, AgileIT, Tech Team Global, Information Week, Que SAMS, National Seminars Group, Pearson Technology Group, and an array of industry leaders, The Network Professional Association (NPA) began honoring professionals in the computing and networking community in 2002.

This year’s award winners are:

Award Category: Best Networking Professional — Career Achievement Award This award honors a network computing professional who has demonstrated years of the highest ideals of the network computing professional. This individual serves as a role model in the network computing community and may be considered by peers as an industry luminary.

Awardee: Professor Tadao Saito, CTO Toyota, Global Top Pioneering Leader, Inventor, Researcher and Innovator

Tadao is a living legend and pioneer in the global industry. A Global Hall of Fame and highest industry award for Awards for Professionalism Career Achievement Award winner.

Inventor of digital switching, which is the basis of all telecommunications, digital communications and the internet
Chair of several Japan Commissions responsible for developing policies and regulations that are the model for the world and let to Japan leading the world in broadband
CTO Toyota-Info Technology Center
Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo
Former president of IEICE (Institute of Information, Electronics and Communication Engineers)
Life fellow of the IEEE
Honorary member and life fellow of the IEICE
Official Japan Delegate to IFIP GA and Technical Committee 6 (Communication Systems)

Professor Tadao Saito, CTO Toyota, is a global top pioneering leader, inventor, researcher and innovator shaping business, industry, research, education, government policies, international standards and society. Toyota is a global Fortune 8 company with revenues of 221.7 Billion. Prior to joining Toyota, Tadao invented digital switching that laid the foundation for “all” digital communications including voice communications and the internet.

Award Category: Top of the Mark — Volunteer Award

This award honors the networking professional who has made the most effective combination of the ideals of professionalism and is a notable example of the best in giving back through selfless effort.

Awardee: Ravikanth Chaganti, Engineer – Dell Inc., Bangalore IT Pro User Group Leader , Microsoft Share Point Expert.

Ravikanth has over 11 years of experience in the IT industry and is known for his willingness to share his knowledge with his peers and the technical community. Ravikanth has been one of the instrumental personalities behind the success of Bangalore IT Pro user group (http://bitpro.in). He joined the group in 2009 and was awarded the community star award for that year. He soon became one of the four leads of this user group and started working on improving the user group experience. Through his leadership, Ravikanth enabled UG meets at Dell Inc. offices and this helped the UG speakers showcase exciting demos of the technology they were introducing. Ravikanth also worked with several of his coworkers at Dell to encourage them to speak at Bangalore IT Pro user group meetings.

Visual Studio Webcasts

Stephen.Ibaraki — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:08:55 GMT

Collecting Feedback from Stakeholders with Visual Studio 2011: 1 May

Plan for Visual Studio 11 by Leveraging Your SA Benefits: 2 May

Deployment Automation Challenges with vNext: 3 May

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 12 Released

Stephen.Ibaraki — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:56:00 GMT

On April 25, 2012, Microsoft published volume 12 [PDF] of the Security Intelligence Report (SIR). This report analyzes the threat landscape of exploits, vulnerabilities, and malware using data from Internet services and [more than] 600 million computers worldwide. To learn more, see the Microsoft Security Blog.

Chat: Michael Jenkin, Innovating Business Executive, International Microsoft Technology Expert

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:10:00 GMT

Michael Jenkin is a recently announced 2012 SMB 150 Awards recipient, recognizing the top 150 Small & Medium Business professionals. In addition, Michael received media attention for founding a rapidly growing company and for his innovative business leadership. Sharing his insights for success, in our extensive chat, Michael answers these questions and more:

What are your top 5 recommendations and resources on virtualization?
What are your top 5 recommendations and resources on Azure?
What are your top 5 recommendations and resources on the Private Cloud?
What are your top 5 recommendations and resources on Windows Phone Apps?
What you are top 5 recommendations and resources on Windows 8 and Windows 8 Apps?
Please share your top best practices on SMB?
Can you profile recent wins concerning your business and what value you provide?
Can you profile your role with GITCA and what value does GITCA provide?
What are the five top challenges in your current non-profit and business roles?
What are your thoughts on computing as a profession and on professional certification?
What are areas of controversy?
What are the top 5 disruptive technologies and how will they have impact?
Please share your deep insights and a candid discussion on emerging technologies — CIO vs CTO.
Please share your deep insights on Governance/Board and a candid discussion on what the board is really thinking.
Why do you volunteer?
What made you go into business for yourself?
In technology, in any time, who would you want to meet? Why?

Michael Jenkin is a SMB IT specialist and long serving community leader.

Michael Jenkin has been working in IT for over 20 years. He started his IT career completely by accident. Starting at University where he studied Electrical Engineering, he drifted into programming and building early computers. He was quickly swayed into IT and never looked back.

He brings real world computing to the table and takes in-depth looks at emerging technology and trends. His various associations have led him into providing training and giving presentations on behalf of Microsoft in New Zealand, Singapore, Redmond and in Australia. Michael was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) from 2004 to the end of 2008.

Since retiring from the MVP program he has dedicated his time to other community outlets including an occasional talkback slot on the radio, writing articles for IT industry magazines and he represented millions of members of IT professional user groups as the Vice Chairman of pre-GITCA APAC. More recently, in 2010, he became the chairman in the APAC region for the Global IT Community Association (GITCA).

Michael runs his own community SMB IT website, participates as a volunteer in many programs to assist the less fortunate to get computer equipment, and is constantly on the lookout for any opportunity to help.

Michael was the IT Manager for the Australian National Scout Jamboree in 2004, Youth convention NCYC 2005 and other events which has led to an Australian Premier's Award and scouting merit.

Michael has been the technical reviewer for many IT books and has provided advice and reviews on many applications. In addition, his community projects have led him to be the Executive Producer of a South Australian short film and also the senior engineer for the philanthropist company, Digital Intermediately; all this whilst maintaining his role within his own IT company.

Michael started Business Technology Partners with his business partner in 2008 and considers this his biggest challenge. Michael is a Small Business Specialist and concentrates on Microsoft products and partners with other IT professionals to service other technologies.

DISCUSSION:

Q:
Michael, thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience.
A: You are very welcome, thank you for this chance to share a little of my part in the technology world.

Q:
What are your top 5 recommendations on virtualization?
A: Virtualization is not always the answer. You need to first understand the required business services, software services and finally your client's needs. Virtualization helps to fill a noticeable technology gap and is certainly taking over the mainstream physical server roles; however, you need to achieve what is best for your client, meet their expectations, and keep to their budget.
My top 5 recommendations are a mix of understanding your client first, and then IT.

Examine carefully your client's needs. Listen to them. Get them to explain in their words what they want and what they expect. Be sure to know why virtualization suits them. Is it ROI? Security? Redundancy? A whim? Or a business need/advantage? Do they understand what virtualization really means?
Know your product. Test your solution. Use it like your client will use it and then compare the speed and usability to the systems they currently have. Plan. Test. Rebuild.
Pick your battles. If the product does not perform in a virtualized world, don't be scared to look for other solutions. Your reputation as a vendor is on the line. Seek other people's advice.
Don't put too many services into any particular virtual server. Don't try and squeeze everything into the one child session. Build a stable of servers to supply the overall required services. Be sure to build and design it in a reliable and efficient way. Your customer will benefit and thank you in the end.
Don't underestimate the hardware platform you choose. Update the firmware and drivers. Test the solution with pass-through drives and don't buy the cheapest hardware. Put together the best solution you can (within reason) and if you need to cut back, let that be the client's decision.

Q:
And your top resources on virtualization?
A:

Your best resource is those around you who have been down the path before you.
- Look online in the forums.
- Attend user groups.
- Talk to your peers.
Turn to the hardware vendors. Look at their websites and confirm that the hardware you are planning to use has been tested for virtualization. Take note of the patches needed for certain chipsets or processors. Take note of special network card drivers or high performance disk I/O drivers. Read their forums and ask them questions about what you plan to do.
- As examples, download the Dell, IBM and HP HyperV guides from their websites.
Read the Microsoft whitepapers. Look through the TechNet forums.
- Download the Microsoft "Hyper-V Product Overview Whitepaper" from the Microsoft download section.
Follow those in the community who are working with it daily. Each new release of virtualization software and patches comes with new challenges and features. Follow those who have their fingers on the pulse.
- http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/
The best resource is your experience and your time. Invest in yourself. Build a server and break it. Search online for the answers and dig about in the system. It will take you time upfront but in the long term you will save money and time.

Q:
What are your top 5 recommendations on Azure?
A:

Think about security. Microsoft has given you dependability, high availability and scalability. You need to design your solution around security. Your Azure service is likely available anywhere in the world. You need to interact with it in a secure way and ensure others do the same.
Make sure you understand the business requirements. Azure has come a long way; however, there are some situations where it is not the correct solution and there are other situations where Azure is the only solution that makes sense.
Carefully consider your backup strategy. You have high availability and many other built-in Microsoft tools; however, you need to plan your own independent backup.
Check the legalities. Where is your Azure database? The cloud has blurred the invisible lines that are drawn between continents and countries. Does your local law prohibit you having your data offshore? Are you breaking any laws or industry specific rulings? Do you need to carefully plan where your Azure server is and will you need to seek a local hosted service?
Capacity planning. Make sure you, your provider, or engineer gets it right. Your client deserves the best service.

Q:
And your top resources to find out more?
A:

Your number one stop for security:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ff934690.aspx
Azure limitations:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee336245.aspx
Backup strategies:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/1792.sql-azure-backup-and-restore-strategy.aspx
Capacity Planning:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hanuk/archive/2011/02/01/windows-azure-capacity-assessment.aspx

Q:
What are your top 5 recommendations on the Private Cloud?
A:

I have mentioned it before and it still applies. Capacity planning. Make sure you take the client's business into consideration and have a strategy that matches their direction and growth. Being a private cloud they likely have a vested interest in the hardware, its lifetime and how it will be migrated in the future. They need ROI so plan and get it right at the beginning.
Just because this is a private cloud, it does not mean you can't expand like the public cloud. You need a scalable system. With a private cloud, you are scaling via physical provisioning and you are the one in charge of the plan. Make a choice early on if you are using virtual servers, blade servers, external RAID packs or Sans.
Another common tenet would be security. You can never overestimate security and can never analyze it too much. You are giving access to your data from anywhere, on any device, and from whoever happens to be able to authenticate (even though it is in your private cloud). Put steps in place to reduce the attack surface. Don't overlook physical security at the premises. If you are hosting your private cloud offsite, check your supplier has the security you expect.
If you are managing this private cloud, don't forget patch management and maintenance. These devices are in your loving care and will not look after themselves. Don't limit this to the software. Check the environment, the dust levels, moisture and all things that can damage equipment. Pay attention to the power protection and cooling. If you are hosting offsite, you are likely limited to the software maintenance. Always check your contract that the physical will be maintained.
On premises equipment: Build your infrastructure in a way that is neat, modularized and tidy. If something breaks, you need to trace cables or parts easily and quickly. You will receive the emergency phone calls when things break. You can't pass these onto a provider. The buck stops with you. Make your life easy and document, plan, and test every step of the physical infrastructure.
Offsite equipment: Demand to see the location up front and look at the current equipment being hosted. Ask about the vendors repair track record and ask to see their emergency plans and risk analysis. Check you can get access in an emergency.
Always recommend and supply the best warranties available in the industry. Always get the extended warranties with onsite service. You need the backing of reputable companies with quick, efficient and well respected onsite support. Make sure you can get these agents onto the premises in a rush, if required.

Q:
And your top resources to find out more?
A:

Q:
What are your top 5 recommendations on Windows Phone Apps?
A:

Flashlight 7 (for those times when you are tracing cables)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/5192e2d0-60e1-df11-a844-00237de2db9e
Network Suite (When you need information instantly)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/98997f33-3af1-df11-9264-00237de2db9e
SkyDrive (When you need to transfer diagnostic logs quickly to your work machine)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/ad543082-80ec-45bb-aa02-ffe7f4182ba8
Cloud Recorder (Recording on the go)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/706e2c02-b1ae-4836-aa04-70bc7a0eaf7d
Adobe Reader (Reading manuals and other documents)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/bc4f319a-9a9a-df11-a490-00237de2db9e

Q:
Your top resources?
A:

Q:
What you are top 5 recommendations on Windows 8 and Windows 8 Apps?
A:

If you are an IT person, you will tire of the additional clicks needed to get to many items you previously had direct access to. Learn the shortcuts. It will save you stress and time.
Be careful what you link your Windows 8 machine to. You might end up with your fiends Flickr, SkyDrive and Facebook account hooked in when you log in with your Windows Live ID (bound to your Windows logon).
If you are inclined to not like the Metro feel, give it time to grow on you. We all have to learn new things and I have found that from an end users point of view, it is faster and easier to accomplish tasks with this new design.
Take a look at the Wordpress App, an excellent way to bring your blogging world together with a new pleasant viewing interface.
I also like the Evernote App.
Finally the Skydrive App.

Q:
Your top resources?
A:

Q:
Please share your top best practices on SMB?
A: I feel that there are two categories of best practices when working in SMB. Your business, which is likely an SMB itself, and your clients, who are likely in the SMB space.
Best practice for you, as an SMB working in the SMB field, is to partner with other professionals. Don't take on everything, carefully pick your battles and have partnerships with those that can help you, and can work with that which you can't handle.
Partner at a business level with those who are experts to help you run the business, including legal, accounting, planning and general support. Partner at an IT level to support products you don't normally handle. Leverage contracted engineers on jobs where you don't normally have the capacity and manpower. Networking and partnering amongst your peers helps you grow your business and your standing in the IT community. The SMB space is no place to be selfish, territorial or overly competitive. Work with your peers.
Best practice with clients is to learn their business enough to appreciate their needs and desires. Listen to the clients. Be honest and helpful. Build long term relationships and let your client base build though the momentum of your contacts. The SMB world is large. There are many more SMB companies out there than large-enterprise companies. They all network together and plan strategies to be successful. Be a part of their strategy and you will grow with them.

Q:
Can you profile recent wins concerning your business and what value you provide?
A: We have had two recent large projects occur purely because their existing IT support did not listen to them. We have also acquired many small clients who were given bad experiences by managed service providers.
One of the large clients needed cheap economical systems but within the guidelines that performance was important. Unfortunately the final virtualized solution gave very poor performance and the network design showed a complete lack of understanding of the business and the client needs. We have moved the client to a model that supports the business in its market and gives the performance it needs. The solution was not as we first expected, however came about from analyzing the business needs and listening to the client. As we took the time to listen and include them in the design process, they were very excited to implement our ideas and support us.
The smaller clients (of which there were many) were using managed service agents on their workstations and servers. All have the same complaint. They hardly see the people who support their network and yet get billed for badly performing workstations. They get invisible support for the network and are ruthlessly billed monthly.
Managed services is a great tool, if used correctly. The "set and forget" attitude of many MSP's is leading to the technology gaining a bad reputation. We again listened to the clients, discussed their needs and made sure we met their expectations.

Q:
Can you profile your role with GITCA and what value does GITCA provide?
A: GITCA is made up of groups of volunteers (in each region), who seek to support IT user groups and the wider IT community. My role is to look after the Asia Pacific Region, with my group of supporting volunteers.
We assist in many ways including the promotion of user groups and their events, providing funding, resources and support. My role is to grow the membership in the APAC region and identify people with whom I can partner with and invite into the GITCA system. I provide support to those in my region and spend many hours answering questions including giving general advice.
We have many Microsoft MVP's in the GITCA family and access to some of the brightest thinkers available in Information Technology. We have access to some of the biggest technology firms in the world and are able to provide connections between these firms and the members. Over the years we have been able to provide many benefits from Microsoft, and also provide online resources including training and seminars.

Q:
What are the five top challenges in your current non-profit and business roles?
A:

"Time is an illusion" - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
We all think we have enough time. The internet has made the world smaller and more reactive. We previously waited patiently for things to happen but now need instant gratification. This is a very large challenge when working in business and managing a client's expectation.
As we all grow time poor, it is also hard to find time to be a volunteer. In my non-profit GITCA role I need to appreciate that volunteers have lives, jobs and other items to attend to. I can't expect it to be easy to manage my GITCA role and I constantly need to work at it. The only way I can achieve the goals in GITCA is to use the team as a resource and delegate. As volunteers have other priorities, this is a task in itself.
Funding. A non-profit group as large as GITCA (and with as many members) needs to find a source of funding. It needs to revisit that source over and over and supplement it along the way with other sources. With the global financial crises and with our own personal funding worries in our own lives, this has become a survivable but consistent challenge.
In business, funding has also been a source of concern. Not so much for my business but my clients. We have had to work with our clients and give them as much support as we can. They have made a commitment to us in choosing us as their IT support; we have made a commitment to them that we will support them.
Staff. All members of the team, in business or in my life at GITCA, need to be driven to the same goals and understand the same rules. In today's society where we are working with many different generations and age groups, finding the correct mix has become a challenge.
Life quality. Long hours at the office, a long commute home, a long conference call at midnight and urgent work to be done thousands of miles away. Our lives are becoming more complicated and we are having less time available for ourselves.
Skill shortages. In business we are finding it very hard to locate the correct people to fill the roles available. In the non-profit world, you often get many volunteers, but their skills also do not align with the roles at hand.

Q:
What are the top 5 disruptive technologies and how will they have impact?
A:

Social networking. Personally I love Facebook. I can contact long lost friends and catch up. I can also give my "one line blog" on Twitter and promote myself on LinkedIn. Used correctly, these tools are fantastic. Used during the work day they can be invasive, distractive and sources of leaked communications. They can sap time purely from the fact they generate sounds and popups on your screen when you are working on something else. They provide a window into your life, when you should be busy elsewhere. Ultimately if used incorrectly, they are stealing time and assisting people in producing substandard work. Our workplaces are changing and these tools are reducing staff effectiveness.
Online streaming. Staff addicted to the latest viral joke on YouTube. This can be used appropriately for training or fun afterhours; however the streaming technologies also can distract people for long lengths of time and cause inappropriate material to enter the workplace. It can cause embarrassment and offence. This is again stealing time and in some occasions, showing visual techniques and processes that are simply dangerous.
Online shopping/auctions, the instant gratification of buying something and then waiting for the courier to deliver. Hours spent hunting online, distracted from your work. This can deliver the best prices, the best delivery times and sometimes the best service. It has its place. Unfortunately it is helping the world to learn to expect smaller timeframes.
Smartphones. Smartphone apps. The latest ring tone, paired Bluetooth game, online game/gambling, online Twitter and Facebook. Staff always needing to have the phone, displayed and facing them. Always watching for the next message. Shortened attention spans and aggravation if the phone sits still for too long. People are getting too easily distracted and not concentrating on what needs to be done.
They are also a great email, contact and calendaring tool. They have some great benefits. The challenge of the future is allowing the phones for the good of the business life, but avoiding the pitfalls.
Online storage. People swapping large files at work (not necessarily your company secrets). Photos, movies and music. It is opening your business to possible piracy and time wasting.
It is also a great way to get your technical tools from point A to point B. Again a challenge that provides advantages and disadvantages.

Q:
What specific challenges and opportunities should IT practitioners and businesses embrace today and in two years and five years?
A:

Embrace the general lack of money in the marketplace. Now is a time to get back to basics, talk to your clients and support them. New hardware and software might be a ways off however their existing network needs your care. You have the chance to learn your client better and make your offerings better suited to them.
Look to the cloud. Its current penetration is nowhere near where it was expected; however, it will get to the point where it is the solution we all need. Start looking now and moving towards it now. Look towards staff management systems, job ticketing systems, and accounting systems that are cloud based. Let someone else fix the bugs and keep it up to date. Take that overhead away from your business.
Build partnerships. There are too many technologies out there. You can't know them all. Plan to find the right mix of partners. In 5 years' time, you can't predict the operating system on the desktop or server (if they exist). Partner with enough diverse technology experts now and build a strategy that helps give you a marketplace early warning system, for when you need to look to new technologies.

Q:
Describe five areas of controversy in the areas that you work.
A:

The cloud. Has it made server engineers redundant? Should we pack up and learn a new trade? Absolutely not. Some clients can't move to the cloud for bandwidth or legal reasons. There will be servers for quite some time yet.
Should you be an MSP? The hype has said yes. Everyone should be an MSP and then they can relax and take it easy. Seriously, if you do it right, you will succeed for now and into the future. If you are going to sit back and relax, letting software agents do your work, you had better have a backup plan.
Should you start providing HaaS services? Is there any money in selling hardware or should you rent to your clients per month?
I think clients can still see ROI on purchased hardware. I don't think the HaaS model applies to all clients (or even a significantly large section).
Should you start your own data centre? Should you be a cloud provider? Is the traditional SMB specialist going to fail as servers move to the cloud? I can't be sure however, I am working on the in-house server model and use the cloud to fill the gaps where it is appropriate. I certainly don't have the finances to start a data centre and if needed, I can resell space in data centres.
Virtualization, is it slow and pointless? It is seriously a matter for the situation to dictate. There are some tasks where this is a great technology and there are other tasks where you need to spend too much money to get the service level required.

Q:
What is the value in professional associations for computing professionals?
A:

The biggest value is the support of your peers.
Learning from others in a friendly and informative way.
In some cases, buying power or enough member numbers to effect change.
Having a charter and a level of respect. A measure that you meet.

Q:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized non-licensing based credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
A: After seeing the mistreatment of computers and clients through 20 years of observation, I wholeheartedly support a code of ethics that is transportable from country to country. An understanding that a person meets a specific level and can be trusted is invaluable.
IT professionals work around the clock, handle very sensitive information, and need to be held to the highest code of ethics and then be proud to be a valuable, respected member of the profession.
The IT industry is very much a negative service industry. Let me clarify. It is a service industry where most people are contacting you in a negative light as something has gone wrong or is going to cost lots of money. They rarely call to say "something has gone right". They always remember the things that have failed. Being a profession with a code of ethics helps a client who is always finding fault trust the industry and let the professionals do their job. It will also help clients seek out those that have proven they meet the standards.
It could help drive better training and support for those that are members, and partnership markets formed alongside the profession will hold it in high acclaim.

Q:
Please share your deep insights and a candid discussion on emerging technologies — CIO vs CTO.
A: In the SMB space, most clients do not have a CIO or CTO. Most often the accountant or owner of the business tries to fulfill the role of both the CIO and CTO with advice from their trusted IT consultant. They try and use existing technologies to solve business issues and see them through (similar to the CIO), and rely on the IT consultant to point them to any new technologies or provide the new technological advancement, much like a CTO.

Technology to grow revenue vs technology to increase efficiencies.
In the SMB sector, many businesses aim to increase efficiencies through technology, thus keeping more of their profit. Their aim is to eventually invest in new technologies to grow revenue, but they rarely get to that point. They spend most of their time finding efficiencies and saving money and then starting the process all over again. They need a trusted IT professional to explain to them that the time is right and the systems efficient enough that they need to start growing revenue. Many who run the businesses are in CIO mode and can't grow by themselves into a CTO role.
Impact of business driving the technology decisions.
Good business drives profit up, drives staffing numbers up, drives marketing to sell more and then makes the owner satisfied. IT is rarely budgeted for and is often an emergency expense pointed out by an IT professional. No matter how much profit is made or how good business is, the IT expense is often unexpected. One of the many exceptions; if a particular vertical market sees an opportunity to make money though better technology, there will be a drive to that new technology by the market members.
Good business needs to be pushed by external factors to spend the surplus on technology (or it needs to be an emergency). Unless the industry is technology driven, good business is not always a sign a company will invest in new technology.
Bad business drives an increase in patch management and rarely sees new infrastructure. All technology decisions, good or bad, are stressful and under duress in bad business.
Technology perspectives from the customer's point of view.
In the SMB sector, technology is in the background and their business is in the foreground. They need to work on their craft and the technology needs to silently enable them. Their skill is in something other than IT and technology and they do not want to be affected by the technology or involved in it. They have their business to run. They want the experts to make the technology happen with the least inconvenience to them.
Are CIOs becoming the Chief Innovation Officers?
In my experience, the CIO is mixed with the CTO and is indeed heading towards the Chief Innovation Officer. They are expected to find innovation, provide innovation and stand by their innovations (and still do the work of the CTO and CIO).
What are other hot topics?
Should the CIO / CTO be on staff or outsourced?

Q:
Please share your deep insights on Governance/Board and a candid discussion on what the board is really thinking.
A:

The Board's top 3 concerns as it relates to the integration of technology and business:
- How much downtime will this cause and will the cost include sending staff on holidays or will they be away for training?
- What is the backup plan and risk mitigation? Am I at risk?
- Why does it cost so much when there are cheaper "unqualified" solutions/services on the market?
Who board members rely on within the organization:
- Accounting team
- Sales manager
- General Manager (usually in this order)
Deploying an IT governance program:
- What is the maximum time we can keep equipment before it affects staff?
- What is the least we can work with?
- What are our goals and do we need to increase IT to support it?
- Can we improve our use of IT without upgrading?
Innovation and its impact on the organization's future success:
- How long before the training and upheaval will be paid for and the innovation will be paid off?
- Will we need a further innovation to replace this one before we get ROI?
- Do we have the right people to see this innovation bedded in and keep it running?
Preparing the work force for the future:
- Can we bring in fresh staff that can already work with this?
- Do we find a champion amongst our staff to train and then pass on the knowledge?
- What do we need to do to be able to support the staff to cope with this and can we put someone in place to do the support?

Q:
From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share three stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
A: Story One:
While representing Microsoft as an MVP and speaking at a not-for-profit gathering, I recanted the experience of running the IT for 11,000 scouts on the side of hill. We had built a small city from nothing. We had placed infrastructure across the site for IT and telephony. We had transported many buildings to the site and had many struggles. Many, many things had gone wrong and there were many moments when giving up was the easier solution. I was after all a volunteer, I was sure someone else could fill my shoes. I had given three years to the project and felt I had done my time.
I did not give up. I pushed on, found servers that were sponsored and very cheap computers. I arranged free internet and established a well-run helpdesk and emergency system. I had achieved a fantastic result and was very proud. It was this that led me to speak. I was there to motivate other volunteers and show that these things could be done. After the speech as the room cleared, a wheelchair bound man who had lost the use of his limbs approached me. He said, "You have inspired me to volunteer. I will forget my own troubles and go out and find something to do. Thank you for speaking today."
This is one of those moments that everything "clicked" and felt right. I felt that I had inspired one person and achieved my goal. This person has struggles but will overcome these and make big things happen.
Story Two:
On one trip to New Zealand, I presented on Small Business Server and remote facilities. I could sense the hunger for knowledge in the room and the session went many hours longer than intended. Walking back to the hotel room, delegates came with me to talk more on the subject. One particular delegate wanted to start an SBS users group and wanted to know what to do. After swapping business cards and promising to stay in touch I headed back to Australia. A while later, I was the technical reviewer on a book about Small Business Server. I sent the New Zealand contact a copy, to help him start his user group library. I thought not much more of it.
More recently, the place I had visited in New Zealand was destroyed by the Christchurch earthquake. I had concerns for this person and his group. Oddly enough, he had been evacuated to Australia, to my home state of South Australia. Our chance meeting in New Zealand led to us sharing a walk around the South Australian Museum and a coffee. He paid for it and treated me like a guest in my own state. He put aside his troubles and thought it fit to show me his appreciation.
It is strange how the people you meet and influence often come back to be a bigger part in your life.
Story Three:
I recall my first presentation on Microsoft Home server. It was the biggest group I had spoken in front of at the time. I had 220 pairs of eyes looking at me and I was very nervous.
I was on stage to display the merits of the technology and the projector started playing up. I then found that the home server (Beta software) was failing and that the script I was following was not going to work. I had to cut short the demonstration by considerable time and throw to the crowd for questions ahead of schedule. I was nervous, shaking and worried. The questions and answers session went on for some time. Towards the end a person from the crowd came to the microphone and said, "Thank you for the best presentation on a Microsoft technology I have ever seen."
I almost passed out in shock. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the questions and answers and hardly realized anything had gone wrong. It goes to prove, communication is key. Keep it flowing and get everyone involved and it will be a success.

Q:
If you were conducting this interview, what 3 questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
A:

Why do you volunteer?
It opens new horizons for me and pushes me out of my comfort zone. I have learned so much and meet many great people. I have had the opportunity to do far more than I normally would have.
What made you go into business for yourself?
I was a very successful engineer working for someone else. I felt that what I really wanted to do, I could not do unless it was for myself. It was not an easy decision, and being self-reliant for skill and income was scary, however I am glad I did it. It was truly out of my comfort zone but an essential part of me growing.
In technology, in any time, who would you want to meet? Why?
Many IT people want to meet Bill Gates. They wanted to meet him when he was the world's richest man and the founder of Microsoft. I am not going to disappoint you. I would like to meet Bill Gates, now. Not back when he was at Microsoft. Now, when he is on the fields, trudging through the dirt, volunteering his time to solve riddles and put his money towards cures. I briefly met Bill Gates in 2004 in Redmond. That was exciting, but meeting him now, that would be my dream. I would love to get him talking about how he is helping people.

Participate in the IFIP World Computer Congress 2012

Stephen.Ibaraki — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:33:30 GMT

The World Computer Congress 2012 is the unique event in 2012 for IT professionals from all over the world to join together with invited international top speakers in the analysis of the most important IT topics and to start together drawing blueprints and designing road maps for these items.

From September 24 to 26, countless professionals like you and 40 speakers will share in this 2.5 day event in the very innovative but also touristic capital city: Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For the latest news check www.wcc-2012.org

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #11: Making the Case–Development Platform vNext

Jonathan Rozenblit — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

February 29^th was a big day for Microsoft. Both the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Visual Studio 11 Beta were released. Development teams around the world were taken aback with the new possibilities in application development.

While it’s great for the developers to get excited about all the shiny and new features, you now have to make the case for upgrading your organization to the next version of the development platform. You may have just upgraded to Visual Studio 2010 or you haven’t and are still using an older version. This is the time to evaluate your options and see why and how to bring Visual Studio 11 into your organization when it releases.

With upcoming pricing changes and discounts available now for upgrades, you are probably contemplating whether or not you will go ahead with making a case for an upgrade. What will you gain by upgrading and what will it mean to you, to the development teams, to the infrastructure teams, and to the business stakeholders? What are the pros and cons of making this move and do they make it worthwhile? Make the right decision for your team.

In this episode of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Ruth and I are joined by ObjectSharp partners Dave Lloyd and Barry Gervin for a healthy debate.

Watch Online

Resources

To see the changes for yourself, download Visual Studio 11 Beta and give it a try.
Take advantage of current prices and discounts before things change with the next release.
Watch Adam Gallant's DEV380 – What's New in Visual Studio 11 Beta on TechDays Online.

Featured Guests

	Dave Lloyd Dave Lloyd is a founding partner of ObjectSharp. He has 25+ years of experience in the IT industry designing and building software solutions for a large number of clients in varying industries. Dave is a seasoned project manager with a great deal of experience implementing process into development teams, from small and large ISV’s to in house development teams. Because of Dave's experience in the many roles of a software development team it's only natural that he would gravitate toward Team Foundation Server and the ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) world. A lot of Dave's assignments involve helping teams with their development process and to better utilize Team Foundation Server to enhance their Software Development Lifecycle. Dave has received the Microsoft MVP award for ALM.

	Barry Gervin Barry Gervin is a founding Partner of ObjectSharp. As a Principal Consultant and Instructor with ObjectSharp, Barry provides technical leadership to his valued clients, staff, and the development community. Over his 17 year career in the IT industry, he has helped many development teams architect and successfully deliver large software projects within tight schedules and budgets that consistently perform for their end users. He currently holds several technical designations including MCSD.NET, MSF Practitioner and MS Certified Trainer. Barry currently serves as a MS Regional Director in Southern Ontario and has received the Microsoft MVP Award for Solutions Architecture for the past 3 years.

Podcast

This episode is also available as an audio podcast.

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About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk series

The AlignIT Manager Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm EST. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air. Add this series to your calendar >>

About the AlignIT program for IT managers

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On the Next Manager Tech Talk: Confidence in the Cloud

Jonathan Rozenblit — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:11:14 GMT

May 10, 2012 – 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM ET

Add to Calendar»
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Featured Guest

About the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk series

Chat: Susan Ibach, Empowering Developers to Improve the World

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:46:00 GMT

Susan shares her best practices for success in software development, software design and architecture. Her leadership lessons will further empower you including decision pointers for CIOs, CTOs, and Boards. She spotlights the top resources for universities, faculty and students; the DreamSpark program, Microsoft Research, and the Imagine Cup. Susan discusses disruptive innovations that you should be preparing for. Increasingly leaders must blog in forums and connect with communities and Susan provides meaningful blogging tips for growing your audience.

Susan Ibach is a developer evangelist at Microsoft Canada. She has taken an interesting road to get there. Starting off with a degree in Electrical Engineering, she tried working at Bell Northern Research until she discovered she preferred software to hardware. Her next stop was Accenture, where she worked in a variety of roles including programming, testing, roll-outs, database administrator, even business process re-engineering. But her challenge was finding a way to combine her love of technology with her passion for sharing what she was learning with others. She decided to become a full time technical trainer and taught databases, programming, ITIL, and business analysis for a number of years. Always interested in growing her own skills and in helping others, she started to help out Microsoft Learning and other trainers through conferences, meetings, and webinars.

Last year she found herself accepting what can only be described as a perfect position for her skillset. Susan is now the Academic Developer Evangelist for Microsoft Canada; in her role she gets to share her passion for the latest developer technologies such as HTML5 and Windows Phone with students and faculty across the country. She still gets to talk about her favorite toys: Visual Studio and SQL Server to programmers across Canada as well. She has great fun talking to developers, professors, managers, and students. She also spends her time presenting and writing blogs for the Canadian developer and student blogs. "My job is to geek out with others on technology! What could be better than that?"

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:48:
Can you detail your major prior roles and some shareable lessons you learned from each role that the audience will find valuable?
"....Some lessons: The value of having a process in place....For some people the best way to manage or mentor them is to give them room to make the mistake....Learning that it's okay to say you don't know the answer...."

:05:21:
Can you extend the last question to your current role and some lessons you've learned in your current role?
"....Technical evangelist for Microsoft....Lessons: Prioritizing your work....Leveraging everyone around you and working together....The importance of walking out the door from time to time and getting out there to an event or user group or conference to get re-energized...."

:09:54:
How are you supporting universities?
"....DreamSpark program allows universities to get software for free....Guest lecturers for faculty....We sponsor conferences....(Extends to any higher education institution)...."

:11:40:
What are some of the other ways that you empower faculty members from across the country?
"....Microsoft Research has some great resources....We have a number of software development kits that make it easier to leverage our technology....We also have a whole website and a series of newsletters which is called the Faculty Connection...."

:12:53:
Project Hawaii, isn't that something that has to do with universities too?
"....That's an example of what Microsoft Research is doing. What they've done with Project Hawaii is that they've created a number of Azure services in the cloud....They've created services and written software development kits that can be reused by faculty. We try to provide tools and components that are very reusable for professors doing research...."

:14:14:
How are you enabling students to live their dreams?
"....One of the things we do is the DreamSpark program. There's DreamSpark programs for universities and there's also DreamSpark programs for students, so we make sure that students have access to free software as well....The Imagine Cup is something we use to inspire students to take their ideas and to implement them and try to make a difference in the world.... "

:15:22:
What is the Imagine Cup and how can the audience support the Imagine Cup or get connected?
"....The idea of Imagine Cup is that students are asked to solve a problem using technology. This is a worldwide competition and every country will be encouraging university students and college students to participate in the program by competing....They even have grants now which they are offering to some of the Imagine Cup participants to give them a chance to actually implement their ideas....How can your audience get involved and support it? ....Spreading awareness....Getting involved in sponsorship...."

:19:29:
Profile what makes for good software architecture and how can it best be done.
"....Be reusable....Be maintainable....Be adaptable....Think about cross-platform and cross-platform support....Some ways to implement:....Good object-oriented design....Separating responsibility....Cloud services....Web services...."

:22:17:
Susan profiles the evolution of Microsoft technologies to better support design.

:28:11:
What are some specific insights you can share in software development?
"....Common sense is not always common practice. It still comes back to the basics....When writing code, assume your code is going to live forever and that someone else is going to have to figure out your code....Requirements will change so be prepared for that, make sure that your process or code will allow for that...."

:34:36:
What are the top resources that you use?
"....If I'm already in the tool and I'm stuck on something specific in code, I'll start with online help....MSDN articles....Books (when learning something new)....Co-workers or other people I know (either in person or through social media)....Search....Forums (ie. Developer build)....Blogs...."

:38:36:
What are the disruptive technologies and how will they have impact?
"....There are tons of products out there that do specific things very well, but I think those technologies are disruptive when they don't play well with others. They have a negative impact on us in the long term when new technologies or new products come out and we need them to talk to each other...."

:40:33:
What specific challenges and opportunities should IT practitioners and businesses embrace today and into the future?
"....The cloud....The mobile world....New user experiences...."

:45:48:
What innovations should we be watching for in the next five years?
"....More virtual environments....More remote working...."

:51:31:
Can you describe some areas of controversy in the areas that you work.
"....The agile versus the waterfall debate when you are doing development....The cloud versus on-premise....Open Source....Is touch going to be the future?...."

:58:02:
What is the value in professional associations for computing professionals?
"....Provide a sense of community....Give you a way of networking....Great for staying informed...."

:01:00:44:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized non-licensing based credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....When you can have a recognized credential it gives you some credibility; it gives a confidence level....I think there's a lot of value in getting it more recognized as a profession and formalizing some of those skills so that an employer can really feel like this person not only has the skills, but they have the understanding as well and are they going to be ethical in their practice at their company....Having it recognized from a professional association with some core skills and principles would make a lot of sense...."

:01:04:02:
Susan shares her deep insights into some of the emerging discussions about technologies that are happening such as CIO versus CTO, technology to grow revenue versus technology to increase efficiencies, the impact of business driving the technology decisions, technology perspectives from the customer's point of view, this concept are CIOs becoming the chief innovation officer and some other hot topics.
"....I'm a big believer in using technology for both growing revenue and increasing efficiencies as long as you have clear expectations up front of why you are implementing that technology and you're not just implementing that technology because it's there.... "

:01:09:24:
Please share your deep insights into the governance of board and the candid discussion among the board about things like: what are the board's top 3 concerns as it relates to the integration of technology and business, who do board members rely on within the organization, in terms of deploying an IT governance program, how should the board be involved in innovation and its impact on the organization's future success, and should the board be involved in preparing the work force for the future?
"....Often there is this disconnect between the business plans and vision and the technology team, so you need a broader plan when you're thinking about your technology....I'm a big believer in IT governance if it helps avoid this disconnect between what the business is trying to achieve and what the tactical teams are trying to achieve, and making sure they're all working towards the same goal..."

:01:15:40:
Susan shares some interesting stories from her extensive speaking, travels and work experiences (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
"....It's made me think any time I'm in a company, where do I have work that I can bring someone in to do that otherwise might have difficulty finding a job?...."

:01:20:47:
You recently gave this seminar on blogging. Can you share some two or three tips from this presentation you gave?
"....When you write a blog post, put a two sentence summary right at the beginning of your blog that basically describes what this blog post is going to tell the reader....Use lists; our eyes are naturally drawn to numbered lists and bullet points....Include an image or screenshot — the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words...."

:01:23:46:
If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....What technology are you excited by?....What technologies should a company or school be investing in right now to make sure they are staying on top of things?....Where do you imagine yourself being in 5 years?...."

Register Your Developers: Cloud Workshops

Jonathan Rozenblit — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

A recently released IDC study talks about how the Cloud will deliver more than 70,000 jobs in Canada by 2015. Similarly, the D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE special entitled Current IT Market Conditions and Hiring Trends in 2012 discussed the increasing need for developers to have Cloud Computing knowledge and skills here in Canada.

The Cloud is where our industry is heading and with so much opportunity on the horizon‚ now is the time to get your team onboard‚ stay ahead of the curve and invest in their training. Whether you have developers that are new development or are seasoned developers, register them (or have them register themselves) to attend a Windows Azure Developer Workshop. The workshop is a full day hands-on-training workshop that will cover everything from basic Cloud Computing concepts to designing‚ developing‚ and deploying applications using Windows Azure. Your developers and/or architects will learn from experts in an interactive way and get hands-on time to apply what they’ve learned.

By the way, if you’re not currently using or don’t have plans to use Windows Azure in the near future, that’s just fine. The workshop is about developing new skills to support future development efforts. Encourage your developers and architects in their career development.

Registration is free. Seating is limited.

Location	Date	Time
Toronto	May 16, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM
Vancouver	May 16, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM
Calgary	May 23, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM
Montreal	May 28, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM
Mississauga	June 4, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM
LIVE Virtual Learning	June 4, 2012	9:00 - 5:00 PM

Additional information about the Windows Azure Developer Workshop can be found on the workshop’s registration site.

Trust Me. Why? Because I’m Trustworthy.

Jonathan Rozenblit — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Even though it’s been a while since the movie Deep Blue Sea, one line said by Michael Rapaport’s character “Tom Scoggins” has always stuck with me – “Trust Me. Why? Because I’m trustworthy.” But what does it mean to be trustworthy? Everyone will define this differently, but when it comes to Microsoft, in his 2002 whitepaper, Microsoft’s Craig Mundie defined being trustworthy as having a framework that addresses four key areas:

Security
Privacy
Reliability
Business Integrity

While working with trustworthy technologies and providers is always top of mind, it is even more top of mind when it comes to hosting applications in the Cloud. Understandably so, given that you’re essentially handing over control of those 4 areas to someone (a company) outside of your own company.

In a post on the Canadian Developer Connection blog, Putting Your Cloud Security Worries to Bed, I introduced developers to a blog series that looked at security and how that’s addressed. Now let’s take a look at the next area of concern – privacy.

For your company’s security architects, chief security officer (CSO), and you, the management, when developers or solution architects suggest to put an application in the Cloud and they “pitch” you the Cloud as a platform with technical and development advantages, I’m guessing that one of the first things that comes to your mind is privacy considerations. Traditionally, you and your organization have been/are accountable for all aspects of data protection, from how personal information is used to how data is stored and protected on your servers. Applications hosted in the Cloud differ in that information is stored and transmitted from datacentres owned and managed by cloud providers. Understanding who is responsible for what and the obligations for security and privacy between you and the cloud providers will become a new challenge for you.

These videos discuss the importance of privacy in the cloud with Microsoft’s Chief Privacy Officer, Brendon Lynch. Brendon explains the three tenets of Microsoft’s approach to cloud computing privacy: responsibility, transparency, and choice.

Additional Information

Continuing the mission of equipping you with the information you need in order to ease worries around Cloud Computing, check out these additional videos:

A Million Different Directions

These types of conversations can go in a million different directions. If you get into a situation where you’re trying to educate yourself and others in your organization about the different aspects of Cloud computing and you get stuck, start a new discussion in the AlignIT group on LinkedIn. Myself and other Cloud experts are part of the group and are there to help you as best we can. Plus, you’ll also be able to get the perspective of others who may be experiencing the same thing in their organizations and be able to learn from those experiences.

Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon…with Microsoft Private Cloud

Ruth Morton — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:24:00 GMT

These days around the Microsoft Canada office and particularly in my little corner of the world, everyone is laser focused on getting IT folks downloading, learning and certified on Microsoft technologies…specifically private cloud technologies.

And just to give you a bit of incentive, we’ve come up with The Skyrocket Sweepstakes. Y’know…for anyone in IT who wants their career to “take off”.

What could you win? Up to $10,000 just for trying the very latest in Microsoft Private Cloud Solutions.

How do you enter? Go here and sign up.

How do you get increase your chances of winning? Get up to 11 entries by downloading evaluation software. Get 10 more by showing proof of having passed your 70-659 exam between March 28, 2012, and June 30, 2012.

How do you increase the prize? Every entry boosts the final prize to be won, so tell all your friends!

***

A side note to all the folks out there busy studying for the 70-659 exam: A little while ago I wrote this post about writing your 70-659 exam – what special offers are available, what study resources are out there and how to get $75 for passing your exam. I’m continuing to update that post with new information so check back! Note that all the free vouchers have been given out, but there is a new 2 for 1 exam voucher deal that you can sign up for. Plus the last 2 online study groups start up this coming Sunday and Monday nights, so be sure to sign up soon if you’re interested.

Join 24 Hours In A Private Cloud, May 10

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:22:24 GMT

Use the registration site link for all digital assets.
Registration Link– http://bit.ly/24hipc

Event Description

Every organization has the power to employ cloud technologies in their own way, at their own pace and with their own terms. The use of private cloud technologies help transform how organizations manage infrastructure resources, provision applications and automate services for their business. It also helps them leverage and manage public cloud services that expand their current infrastructure and application capabilities. As an end result, organizations increase IT operational agility, improved business focus and achieve value-add economics that evolves their IT infrastructure into a strategic asset.

Over 24 hours, you will hear from top industry and technical professionals from around the world to help you better understand the private cloud technology solutions that are available today. You will hear from industry organizations about how they view the public cloud and how the role of the IT Professional will evolve as more and more organizations begin a private cloud transformation. Listen to the number of technical professionals who will be on hand talking about the required components to simplify private cloud creation and management. Talk with them and your peers about the numerous operational efficiencies that come from deploying a private cloud with the reduction of servers and the benefits of provisioning and managing virtual applications across multiple platforms.

We hope that you will come away from this event with the knowledge and experience to help you in your private cloud infrastructure decisions and be prepared to have thought-leadership based discussions focused on building and managing your organization’s agile and efficient private cloud environment.

Keynote Speakers

· Jim Reavis, Founding Director, Cloud Security Alliance

· Kevin Smith, Marketing Director, Private Cloud, Dell

· Dejan Milojicic, IEEE Fellow, IEEE-CS

Technical Areas of Focus

· Private Cloud Infrastructure

· Infrastructure Components

· Application Management

· Service Delivery and Automation

Chat with Brian Schwartz Acclaimed International Leader in Talent Management and Career Planning

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:24:00 GMT

Brian Schwartz Profile
36 years and over 1700 individual career planning clients who have designed their career direction from the inside out. Over 20 years organization development experience building participative management cultures in the USA and Europe. Visionary for 21st Century online tools to assess career fit and talent management strategies for individuals and organizations using CareerDNA, TalentDNA and TeamDNA products and services.

Chairman of BenchmarkAsia Consulting Company, providing employment readiness training and assessment to university and high school students as well as consulting, training, assessment and research services to companies and government agencies throughout China. Career assessment programs are based on my Six Factor Career Planning model.

Currently Founder and CEO of SuccessDNA, LLC and now forming new partnerships in the USA and building consulting and career/talent management company in China, Malaysia and Singapore. Now Senior Advisor and Visiting Lecturer at Tsinghua University's Yangtze Delta Regional Institute and forming strategic brain trust for their education and training department.

Specialties
Training career counsellors and coaches, career and executive assessments, career counselling/planning/management. Talent management consulting, executive coaching, organization development consulting, succession planning, performance management, career transition.

LinkedIn profile: http://tinyurl.com/88zam7r

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:21:
Brian, thank you for sharing your work and experiences with our audience.
"....It's an incredible opportunity to take advantage of the modern technologies we have to share information...."

:00:52:
Brian talks about differences in entrepreneurship between China and the West.
"....China is a very traditional and conservative culture and in terms of societal organization it's an authoritarian culture. Entrepreneurship very much relies on innovation, creativity and freedom of expression....The fascinating thing is there is a far more sophisticated industrial policy and talent development and education policy around these challenges than exists anywhere in the West....The Chinese central government plan issued in mid 2010, that every single political entity in China had to develop a talent development program for its area in order to promote, amongst other things, far more entrepreneurship than is currently the case..."

:05:11:
When I sometimes talk to my Western colleagues they still exhibit a lot of doubt about China. Why do you think that is?
"....I think that doubt, at least in part, is based on lack of information....I think the world is going through a time in which there is flattening of the advantage that the West has had, (certainly since the onset of the colonial period several centuries ago) and we are seeing a seismic shift in the general distribution of wealth, intelligence and brainpower all over the world...."

:09:22:
An interesting perspective. I remember hearing one quote saying that when the 'sleeping giant awakens the world will shake'.
"....I think that China is much more interested in investing its national treasure in raising the economic well-being of people but also in maintaining some of the best of its traditional culture than it is in expansion....The world will shake, but not shake in its boots...."

:11:08:
Brian further profiles his background.
"....There is so much pain that people experience around trying to figure out who they are and where they need to go with their work life. Mental health and happiness is built on love and work, so my mantra over the years has been 'if you can figure out what kind of work you can really enjoy then at least you have one leg to stand on'...."

:19:35:
What usable lessons can you share from your career history?
"....The power of synchronicity....Failure and mistakes in life are the best university for people....Employee engagement is itself based on intrinsic factors, things inside all of us....Human beings really thrive when they are in environments that provide freedom to explore and freedom to innovate, but also challenge people to be who they really can be...."

:26:28:
What are your current roles and how will you achieve your goals for each role?
"....I have a tremendous interest in organizational life and talent development practices so I've recently been appointed chairman of the new consulting and training company based in Suzhou, China, called BenchmarkAsia....I am also a strategic advisor to Tsinghua University based in Beijing....In addition, I have signed a contract with the biggest workforce development company in Philippines to use my online application in career development...."

:30:45:
What are your best practices for Talent Management?
"....The 6-factor model is what underlies my approach to talent management and if we have the good sense and the good will as employers, partners and colleagues to have a more open and transparent environment in which we get to know each other better and at a deeper level, we will find ways of finding the most productive, fruitful and most potentially beneficial sides of ourselves as a human race...."

:44:24:
What are your best practices for Career Planning?
"....I consider it a privilege and honour to have clients trust me enough to share with me who they really are and then to allow themselves to go on a journey of self-discovery, which they actually grow the answer organically for themselves of who they are and what they should be doing with their lives. You talk about best practices and I think that about sums it up....See iTV-Asia interview...."

:48:45:
Please share useful lessons from your work training career counsellors and coaches.
"....I've developed a program based on what it is that I have come to learn about career counselling....It focuses on different models for who human beings are on a developmental psychology basis, so career counsellors have some sense about how people become who they are...."

:52:28:
Profile your top recommendations in executive coaching?
"....Executive coaching is a term that covers a whole variety of activities and goals....My kind of executive coaching is really oriented to helping the executive unleash the power within himself or herself. I take a depth approach...."

:55:29:
How can organization development consulting be of benefit?
"....It really does speak to the core of who people are and how that collectively gets organized into the mission and strategy and other objectives of an organization....The Organization Development people really are the catalysts for greater understanding and communication between teams and people and layers of organizational life...."

:58:29:
What are your recommendations in succession planning?
"....What I discovered was that people in leadership positions (who have the responsibility for the longer-range health and welfare of the organization) need to understand who the talent is and that has been the guiding principle that I have used ever since....If we do succession planning and we don't take into account the changes that can unfold over the next 2, 3, 4 or 5 years, then we will be doing succession planning in a stagnant and ill-conceived way...."

:01:03:07:
How do you get the most from performance management?
"....A good performance management system is all about what Judith Glaser calls 'vital conversations' ⁚ the quality of the communication and the authentic communication between people all looking to help the organization to be as effective as it can be in a teamwork basis. All of the parts of the organization working together for some positive end...."

:01:05:28:
What factors do we need to consider in career transition?
"....For me career transition is basically people discovering the true core of who they are....We all need to live a far more authentic life on our selected field of destiny....Overcome our internal barriers....Challenge the parts of ourselves that say we don't believe in ourselves....Identify what our strengths are...."

:01:11:26:
Describe some areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you work.
"....There is much discussion on employee engagement....Another area is the use of assessment instruments...."

:01:14:04:
What innovations in your areas of expertise should we be watching for in the next five years?
"....We all need to increase our mixing of social media and mobile applications to provide communities of common interest in people; information sharing being a critical factor in the drive for personal authenticity and development....Greater use of technology to ensure 'best fit' between talent and employers of whatever kind...."

:01:19:29:
What specific challenges and opportunities should IT practitioners and businesses embrace today and in five years?
"....The socio-political changes that are taking place in the world at rapid speeds are all running up against what Gallup found out in their first global poll back in 2007. The most compelling need that people have, (actually trumping, believe it or not, health and security), is having a good job...."

:01:21:39:
From his extensive speaking, travels, and work, Brian shares some stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
"....If you know how to mine the talent you will find incredible treasures in what appears to be the most unlikely places....There are reasons why we find each other in our respective orbits and so every situation is pregnant with possibilities we can never imagine unless we keep our hearts and our minds open...."

:01:27:36:
If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....In the neverending 'pursuit of happiness', how do we mortals in whatever professional and work situation stand a chance of maximizing the possibility for that pursuit of happiness?....What is the role of career and organizational/talent management professionals in the changes taking place in global job markets and organizational life?....How do we plumb the depths of who we are to understand our natural talents, our immutable brain wiring and the careers that it often points us to?....Why are you in China....what is your mission there?...."

MCSE is Back–and Better Than Ever!!

DamirB — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:31:42 GMT

I remember getting my first MCSE certification in the mid-1990s and feeling really proud of the accomplishment. Many of my peers at that time also pursuing an MCSE felt that it was a certification that would increase their likelihood to get hired over a candidate that did not hold the certification. Things were good and we were all doing well.

Over the years, the MCSE was replaced by the MCITP certification, which, in my mind and that of some of my peers, did not have the same “cachet” as the MCSE certification. In fact, many companies were still specifying MCSE instead of MCITP (a search on www.workopolis.ca that I just ran for MCSE returned 115 results versus 30 for MCITP – results may vary based on when you do it). That’s why it is nice to see that the MCSE designation is back – and improved to boot! But why are we doing this?

The Cloud Changes Everything

The need for cloud computing skills has been pushing the market for months. Solution providers are seeking cloud-ready employees to bring their businesses to the next level. The cloud computing market is evolving at such a pace that while the number of job postings is skyrocketing, the talent isn't there to fill the positions.

In the past 20 years, Microsoft Certifications have been THE tool to address the skills gap. To be relevant, certifications need to continue to be the tool needed and recognized in the market.

That’s why we have reinvented our certification program—to certify a deeper set of skills that are mapped to the Cloud and to real-world business contexts. Rather than testing only on a component of a technology, IT Professionals and Developers are now tested on more advanced skills and a deeper understanding of the technology.

Today’s Big Announcement

Today, we announced that we have reinvented our certifications to validate the skill sets needed to develop, deploy, and maintain Microsoft technology solutions. These certifications recognize IT Pros and Developers who have skill sets that run both broad and deep. Certifications are available at three skill levels:

Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)

The Associate (MCSA) level is the prerequisite certification necessary to get your Expert level certification. This certification validates the core skills you need to get your 1st job in IT.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) &
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)

The Expert level is Microsoft’s flagship set of certifications validating that your skills are relevant in the constantly changing tech environment. The Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) is the destination for established IT Professionals who have expertise working with Microsoft technology solutions. The Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) is the destination for established Developers who have expertise developing solutions with Microsoft tools.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM)

After you have achieved your Expert level certification, Master is the next destination. This certification is for the select few who wish to further differentiate themselves from their peers and achieve the highest level of skills validation.

The picture below, found on the Microsoft Learning web site provides a mapping between the existing certifications and the new cloud-first certifications (MCSA, MCSE, MCSM):

Get Certified as an MCSE for the Private Cloud and SQL Server 2012 Today!

MCSE certifications are available today for Microsoft’s Private Cloud and SQL Server 2012 technologies today.

The requirements for the MCSE Private Cloud certification take advantage of existing exams and skills you may have already taken, such as the 70-659 exam that can be taken in place of the 70-247 exam until January 31, 2013. Don’t forget that you can also get a free exam voucher and a $75 gift card if you pass the 70-659 exam before May 31, 2012 – see Ruth’s blog post on this for more details!

The full path can be found on the MCSE Private Cloud page on the Microsoft learning web site, and a quick view of what is needed is as follows:

Details on becoming an MCSE for SQL Server 2012 can also be found on the Microsoft Learning web site, however there are two distinct certifications for SQL Server 2012 to allow those with expertise in the Database Platform to showcase their skills, as well as those whose focus is on Business Intelligence. The available options for SQL Server are as shown below with full details on the SQL Server 2012 certification page on the Microsoft Learning web site.

New Certifications Are Available Now

You can find a lot more information about the reinvented program and the first new certifications: Private Cloud MCSE, Database MCSE & Business Intelligence MCSE and the links below. There is also a 2-for-1 exam offer from ProMetric that you or your staff may want to look into.

Microsoft Certification overview page: http://aka.ms/MSCerts
Microsoft Certification overview video: http://aka.ms/MSCertsVideo
MCSE information page: http://aka.ms/MCSE
MCSE video on YouTube: http://aka.ms/MCSEvideo
MCSE Private Cloud: http://aka.ms/MCSEpvcloud
MCSE Data Platform: http://aka.ms/MCSEDP
MCSE Business Intelligence: http://aka.ms/MCSEBI

Get your staff to start the journey to the MCSE certification today or look at what is needed to upgrade an existing certification to the new MCSE. Having skilled IT professionals knowledgeable on the latest Cloud-enabled technologies can only help to ensure a more robust IT infrastructure in your or your client’s organization.

Chat with Jerrard Gaertner International Leader in IT Security, Forensics, Governance, Auditing

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:52:00 GMT

Jerrard Gaertner CA•IT/CISA, CEGIT, CISSP, CIPP/IT, CIA, CFI, I.S.P., ITCP
Jerrard Gaertner is Director, Technology Assurance Services at a major accountancy and advisory firm. He is a graduate of MIT and a chartered accountant specializing in information technology and information systems auditing. Jerry is certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (ISACA), a Certified Information System Security Professional (ISC2), Certified Internal Auditor (IIA), Certified Forensic Investigator (ACFI) and Information Technology Certified Professional (CIPS), among other professional designations. He is also a trustee in bankruptcy and Officer of the Court in Ontario, Canada.

Jerry's career spans 30 years and encompasses the development and growth of the IT audit and systems assurance professions; the emergence of privacy and IT security as a concern and then ultimately a specialty practice; the investigation and prevention of computer crime; and the social and political ramifications of technology on the way we live. Jerry is also recognized as one of the leading figures in the emerging field of digital legacy and digital estate administration due diligence.

Jerry has conducted engagements ranging from statutory computer audits and system certification to software quality reviews, computer fraud investigations and advising Boards of Directors on technology strategy, governance and risk management. In addition, his current practice encompasses advising and supporting a variety of technology start-ups. Jerry has testified as an expert in court and has performed litigation support work regarding the valuation of software. His clients have included governments, Crown corporations, public companies, professional firms, owner-managed businesses and non-profits.

Jerry is a recognized expert in his field and has been featured in broadcasts and newspaper articles on many occasions. He is highly regarded as a speaker and has given presentations at the Canada Revenue Agency, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, ISACA, ACM, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), Ontario Bar Association and a number of universities, among numerous others.

Jerry has co-authorized 3 books on business failure (Carswell Publishing). He serves on the Boards of Directors of the Association of Certified Forensic Investigators (Canada) and Canadian Information Processing Society (Ontario), where he is President. Jerry is also a member of the CICA IT specialist certification subcommittee.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:30:
Jerry profiles his major roles in his career.
"....Undergrad at MIT....Brief stint at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine....Price Waterhouse accounting firm....McGill University first as a student in the Chartered Accountant program and then as an instructor....Formed a company that provided consulting services in privacy and cryptography and biometrics....Art school....Trustee in Bankruptcy firm first as an accountant and then as a Trustee....Wrote three books on bankruptcy....Information Technology/Assurance/Governance professional practice....Also currently President of the CIPS Ontario Chapter...."

:02:38:
From your remarkable career of success choose three pivotal moments and then some usable lessons to share from each of these moments.
"....Price Waterhouse as a very junior accountant. Lessons: If you see an opportunity to do something better, no matter if you are the most junior employee or the most senior, you should at least give it a shot. Change can be very slow and people are very resistant to new ideas if they are not presented in a very non-threatening way. How important it is to know your audience and communicate the message the appropriate way....My experience with data privacy. Lessons: The difficulty of getting a business off the ground. The importance of having partner(s) with complementary talents. Knowing your stuff is a prerequisite, but it is not enough to make a business grow....When I got my Trustee license. Lessons: The power to be judge and jury over someone's life - that was a very eye-opening experience for me. Some of the things I learned from my bankruptcy clients. People have a tendency to be willfully blind when things are bad. Probably 90% of my clients found that the reality of going bankrupt was much less difficult or onerous than they had contemplated...."

:09:21:
What are the five top reasons for business failures?
"....Poor planning and unrealistic expectations....Poor financing....Not knowing your customer and not observing changes in your environment....Not measuring your results properly....Owners not recognizing their own limitations...."

:14:26:
What are the disruptive technologies and how will they have impact?
"....Futurist's view of semantic web, expert systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, nano technology....Constantly connected....Intellectual resources....Crowd sourcing....New social structures....Future of technology on the professions...."

:26:04:
With regards to security, what does this mean, "Pandora's box is open"?
"....You've seen over thirty to forty years a huge increase in the number of attack vectors, in the sophistication, financing and motivation behind the attacks, in society's dependence on all the devices, systems and applications that are being attacked — that's like a triple-whammy. That's what I meant when I said 'Pandora's box is open'...."

:29:40:
What are the five top reasons for security failures?
"....Human error or social engineering....Failure to follow the procedures, control protocols....Lack of understanding of the way systems interact and communicate....Sloppy coding and testing....Embedded weaknesses in hardware, software, firmware...."

:33:03:
What are your views on digital assets?
"....Digital assets constitute everything from the IP sitting on a corporate computer to the Linden currency you have in Second Life - there are a lot of different kinds of digital assets. A digital asset can be an online business, a blog, a website, a domain name. The area in which I've become involved in the past couple of years is helping people keep track of these kinds of assets...."

:36:52:
Where do you see privacy and security heading and why?
"....The modality for security is going to morph to some extent and we are going to see much more biometrics because how many passwords can somebody manage? We'll see heavier reliance on cryptography until quantum computing arises. In terms of viruses I think you're going to see more whitelisting. You are going to see more security as a service or security monitoring by a third party....Switching gears and talking about privacy, I'm not sure where we are going. Really the big elephant in the room that privacy specialists don't talk about is 'who are you trying to be private from and why?'...."

:43:26:
Where is the computer auditing profession heading based upon your view from your years of experience?
"....I see the profession as becoming more technological, more data and process oriented, much more real time, very much into complex terabyte analysis and really intelligent modeling going forward. I see a merger between security and (to a lesser extent) privacy and computer audit, providing assurance from the development cycle right through to the end application, even third party certification...."

:45:04:
What are the top 5 reasons for auditing failures?
"....Management override....Failure to follow up small clues....Failure to keep skeptical....Sampling issues....A tendency not to see the forest for the trees...."

:49:09:
Is professionalism necessary and why?
"....Professionalism is absolutely essential with a big 'P' and equally essential with a small 'p'. The small 'p' means the individual takes responsibility for the quality of the work, doesn't look at the clock but looks at the result, considers their client's interest above theirs, is committed to doing the best possible job in the circumstances, takes responsibility for their own training and knowledge, and won't accept an engagement if they don't have the training and knowledge....Big 'P' professionalism is the way society protects itself and ensures that the really important things are done properly and if they're not, someone is there to be held accountable...."

:51:13:
Is there a role for professional certification and why?
"....Professional certification doesn't necessarily mean exclusivity of right to practice and information technology is a great area to explore that. Certification basically means that a third party organization, presumably objective and at arm's length, has said that this individual has certain skills, knowledge, practical experience, ethical standards, has passed the exam and has committed to maintain standards going forth at the risk and penalty of losing their certification if they don't. That to me seems an excellent way to ensure quality....Another aspect is the third party component where you've got a big organization with a governance infrastructure in play basically standing behind the work, and as an end consumer that gives me much more comfort...."

:54:08:
What is the value in professional associations for computing professionals?
"....The association supports and maintains the body of knowledge....Administers the discipline and complaints mechanism....Advocates for the profession and for the professionals....Examination and recertification process....Provides networking opportunities....Educational opportunities....Starting point for research....Gives the individual practitioner a much larger voice...."

:56:41:
Can you specifically talk about the value of Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)?
"....In Canada it's the only IT professional organization that has been mandated by statute. It's a forum for knowledge sharing, manages a body of knowledge, it has a disciplinary process, certification process, accredits university programs, provides great opportunity for networking, for employers it provides a great clearinghouse if an employer is looking for a certain kind of professional...."

:01:01:40:
What specific challenges and opportunities should IT practitioners and businesses embrace today and into the future?
"....I think the important areas today are the integration and alignment of systems and business processes....Into the future all of the trends active today, artificial intelligence, expert systems, you are going to see who is in control and who should be in control becoming much more important....seamless interface becoming much more ubiquitous....perpetual connectivity....new ways of living and interacting...."

:01:06:05:
For those thinking of becoming entrepreneurs, how does one engage investors?
"....A really good idea....Enthusiasm....Good presenter....Strong business plan and cash flow....A realistic vision where you want your company to be in 1, 2, and 5 years....A good team....Credibility and track record of the people involved....When you look for investors, look not only for financing, but also people who can provide guidance and even hands-on assistance...."

:01:09:14:
Jerry shares some stories from his extensive speaking, travel, and work experiences.
"....The message is about communication; make sure your assumptions are correct and real happiness comes from inside not from measuring yourself against others...."

:01:17:13:
If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....Why did you jump around so much in your career and what would you recommend to your children?....What in your career has been the most satisfying?....What do you hope to do in the next 20 to 30 years?...."

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #10: Managing Your Private Cloud with System Center

Ruth Morton — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:32:00 GMT

There’s no denying that virtualization has transformed our datacentres and redefined how we do IT, giving us more capacity and savings. Now, private cloud capabilities take us one step further providing the agility IT needs to truly provide IT as a service.

The beauty of a private cloud is that it takes characteristics of a public cloud (resource pooling, elasticity, self-service, and pay per use) and combines those characteristics with management and security built on dedicated resources to provide services to a select group. System Center 2012 brings you that single pane of glass you need to manage your applications and services across your public, private, hybrid or traditional infrastructure. Within the System Center suite, Endpoint Protection provides give you control and security while Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 provides world-class virtualization through Hyper-V.

In this Tech Talk, we’re joined by Islam Gomaa, IT Manager for E-Academy, Inc., and William Bressette, Network Architect for Horn IT Solutions, to discuss the challenges of managing a private cloud and the capabilities of System Center 2012, an integral part of Microsoft’s Private Cloud solution.

Watch Online

Resources

Download Private Cloud evaluation software (System Center 2012 + Window Server 2008 R2) http://aka.ms/sceval
Find free online training modules on Private Cloud http://aka.ms/mvacademy

About our guests

Islam Gomaa

Islam Gomaa is a Data Protection Manager MVP from Ottawa, Canada, specializing in System Center Products, disaster recovery and system infrastructure running on the Microsoft server technology stack. Islam brings over 12 years of expertise in helping organizations align their business goals using Microsoft technology and deploying Microsoft-based solutions for the private and public sector. He is also a member of the Windows Springboard Technical Expert Panel [STEP] for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 having delivered STEP presentations in Ottawa.

He has authored several webcasts on Data Protection Manager 2007& 2010 including "Protecting Applications with DPM2007" and "DPM and Opalis Automation for Disaster Recovery". Islam presented at TechEd 2011 in Atlanta Georgia, and the I365 Worldwide summit in Salt Lake City. He is a frequent presenter for both OWSUG in Ottawa and MITPRO in Montreal.

Islam has a B.Sc. in computer science from Montreal University, and holds several Microsoft technical designations. He is an active member of the IT community. Islam enjoys sharing his adventures and ideas about system administration through his blog at http://owsug.ca/blogs/islamGomaa.

William Bressette

With Horn IT Solutions since 2007, William is an award-winning member of their team (2010 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award and of the "Impact Award 2008" for Infrastructure Design). William is responsible for implementing and managing Horn IT Solutions participation in the Microsoft Partner Program and for Horn achieving Gold Certified membership Level with 5 competencies: Advance Infrastructure, Network Infrastructure, Infrastructure Worker, Licensing and Security solutions along with Small Business Specialist.

As Network Architect William performs Network and Data Center Design for medium sized organizations across Canada, implements network monitoring tools for customer sites and creates and manages IT Policy for customer locations. His excellent project management skills are applied to small and large customer projects as he manages technical services as well as development and management of the Microsoft Packages Service Program at Horn IT.

He graduated from Georgian College in Barrie in 1996 with a major in mathematics.

Podcast

This episode is also available as an audio podcast.

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About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk series

The AlignIT Manager Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm EST. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air. Add this series to your calendar >>

About the AlignIT program for IT managers

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April 12 ACM Webinar: "Security: Computing in an Adversarial Environment"

Stephen.Ibaraki — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:22:42 GMT

The ACM is the world’s largest educational, scientific and professional association well known for their Turing Awards (the Nobel Prize of Computing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award) and their special interest groups (http://www.acm.org/sigs).

What You'll Learn:
· The security mindset—what it is, why it's needed
· The social side of security—usability, adoption, identity, trust
· A deeper dive on insider threat as a case study—what it is, how to detect it, how to prevent it

To find out more and register, go to: http://tinyurl.com/d7jptbz

join the developer movement

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:15:00 GMT

Get rewarded for developing with Windows Azure.

Have an idea for a cool app? Maybe you’ve already built your app? If it uses Windows Azure services, you could qualify to receive gift certificates for ThinkGeek.com, where you can choose from a whole selection of awesome gadgets, cool t-shirts, and geeky knick-knacks.
See the rewards »
THINK BIG WITH WINDOWS AZURE
Windows Azure is a flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build and deploy applications that can grow and shrink as you need, without paying any upfront costs.

Think websites that can be hosted in different places around the world.
Think phone apps that can do and store just about anything.
Think games that can be played with different people using different devices in real-time.
Think social apps that can handle 1 or 1,000,000 users at a time without a hitch.

When it comes to apps, Windows Azure has the power to help bring your big ideas to life. If you're not familiar with Windows Azure, the Developer Movement can help make it easy to get you up and running. You'll gain access to exclusive Windows Azure training just for registering.

Canadian IT Managers

Chat with Judea Pearl ACM Turing Award recipient in 2012 (Nobel Prize of Computing); Legendary pioneer, world-renowned distinguished researcher and professor UCLA

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

Nick Malik: International Top Authority in Enterprise and Business Architecture, Author, Speaker, Principle Microsoft EA - Part 1

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

Dr. Maria Klawe: Pioneering World-Renowned Computer Scientist and Executive Leader, Shares her Early Career Years

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

Windows Phone Welcomes AlignIT

IFIP/IP3 invites you to the ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP World Summit on the Information Society May 16 2012

REMINDER: Confidence in the Cloud–LIVE Tomorrow

New Release: OneCode Sample Browser v5

Awards for Professionalism Announces Award Winners

Visual Studio Webcasts

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 12 Released

Chat: Michael Jenkin, Innovating Business Executive, International Microsoft Technology Expert

DISCUSSION:

Participate in the IFIP World Computer Congress 2012

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #11: Making the Case–Development Platform vNext

On the Next Manager Tech Talk: Confidence in the Cloud

Chat: Susan Ibach, Empowering Developers to Improve the World

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

Register Your Developers: Cloud Workshops

Trust Me. Why? Because I’m Trustworthy.

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon…with Microsoft Private Cloud

Join 24 Hours In A Private Cloud, May 10

Chat with Brian Schwartz Acclaimed International Leader in Talent Management and Career Planning

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

MCSE is Back–and Better Than Ever!!

Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) & Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)

Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM)

Chat with Jerrard Gaertner International Leader in IT Security, Forensics, Governance, Auditing

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #10: Managing Your Private Cloud with System Center

About our guests

April 12 ACM Webinar: "Security: Computing in an Adversarial Environment"

join the developer movement

Get rewarded for developing with Windows Azure.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) &
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)