Category Archives: Community

Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference – Vienna May 25th-27th 2012

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I’m attending and speaking at one the of the best  small scale virtualization conferences out there. I’m talking about the Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference (E2EVC) organized by Alex Juschin for many years now. I’ll be speaking at the conference on “Making Sense of  RSS, DMVQ, SR-IOV, RDMA and other advanced networking features”. We’ll see where Windows Server 2012 & the new generation of Hyper-V is at in regards to these technologies, how it stacks up against some other solutions and what looks promising. In other words what we are looking at to use in real live once Windows Server 2012 goes RTM.

I have the good fortune to attend some pretty big, impressive & high quality industry events. These are excellent places for networking and getting up to speed with the latest of the greatest form the big vendors and the ecosystem around it. But they are pretty expensive and large scale, so most people are so crazy busy at those you often miss out on some of the interaction, there is just to much going on.

E2EVC is special and adds a different kind if value that goes beyond its low cost. For one, nobody is trying to sell you anything. All attendees and all speakers are IT Pro’s that design, build, work with and support the technologies that are discussed. Hence the name, Expert 2 Expert. It’s a reality check on what are people really using, trying, evaluating. You’ll see what is really hurting us and what really works.  An event like this isn’t driven by marketing. It’s driven by interests, passion for technology and even more important from a business perspective the solutions they can and do deliver in real live. This proves that you don’t need to charge premium prices to keep the riff raff out. The fact that 2 days of this conference are in a weekend tells you the attendees are going there with intend and purpose.

The guys & gals attending & presenting are top notch. They don’t look  like slick advisers and analysts. It’s all very informal and relaxed. But make no mistake, these people are sharp and at the top of their game. Discussion and interaction is stimulated and lively. The aim is not to breed or create rock star speakers but to get people to share their experiences and knowledge. And here in lies the value. I really commend Alex Juschin for having succeeded in this.

I’m off to Attend MMS 2012 In Las Vegas

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Life is good people. I have to good fortune to work in an interesting industry, doing great projects with modern technologies. On top of that my employer allows me to fully develop my skills . In that respect it makes a serious difference to have a good boss & management that understands the benefits of ongoing education. They look a both the short & long term value of people educating & developing themselves a lot more than at that nagging Excel sheet on the screen. Professional development is not just a cookie cutter 4 day training course once or twice a year but real opportunities to become a better professional if and when you’re willing to put in the effort. They’ve figured out that you cannot just use utmost cost reduction to catapult both your business and employees in to prosperity & wellbeing. You need to keep learning, evolving, networking, … The contacts I make and the education I get by working with and learning along very smart & motived people are priceless. Sure it costs money and effort form everyone involved but it beats doing nothing and saving a few € as a long term strategy for growth & success. On top of that I feel appreciated & valued for my contributions and the efforts I put in.So to the tunes of some eighties rockers I’m off again.

Here I go again on my own, goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known.
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. An’ I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time. I’m attending MMS 2012

Alone, heck no, many thousands of us will be descending on Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) to attend the summit. This event sells out fast each year. A friend told me to register a.s.a.p. or miss out, so I did as soon as I got the go ahead to attend, securing my spot. So now I’m travelling over LHR to LAS following my buddies & other attendees journey from their respective countries to Las Vegas on line, mostly via Twitter.

If you can’t come, whatever the reason, you can always enjoy a good number of sessions here MMS 2012 goes digital: LIVE streaming and On-Demand for attendees AND non-attendees! 48 hours after the live presentation.

I don’t have to tell you what System Center 2012 means to the IT Pro in the Microsoft ecosystem. Combine that with the RTM of Windows 8 later this year and I just had to go and attend the Microsoft management Summit 2012 in Las Vegas.  It’s more than training. It’s networking and an education.

Apart from the formal agenda & sessions I already a have some meetings lined up with vendors, colleagues from around the globe. We’re making the most of this opportunity to meet face to face with people we other wise only get to talk to on line and often with huge time zone difference.

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I’ve you’re going and you read my blog or follow me on twitter. Give us a shout out and perhaps we can have a meet & greet.

To all my geek & nerd friends, colleagues, MEET members, business partners, Microsoft employees & MVPs in route to Vegas & the Summit at The Venetian, I’m looking forward to seeing you all again! But first I have some traveling to do in the next 24 hours, to make my way over there.

On Route To The MVP Summit 2012

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So here I go. I’m off the United States of America, Washington State, Seattle, Bellevue/Redmond. I’m travelling there to attend the MVP Summit 2012. I mentioned this already in a previous post I’m Attending The MVP Summit 2012

That means I’ll be rather quiet the next week. For one I’ll be very busy, both during the day as well as at night with all the meet ups and networking opportunities that are planned. On top of that all of the content & such is subject to a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). So no blogs, no tweets, nothing. If I see the Space Needle or visit any other interesting venues I might let you know Winking smile.

It’s great to see so many friends & colleagues converging to the Summit. I’ll be happy to meet up again and talk shop. A good number of them I have never met in person before and it will be fun to finally do so.

Right now I’ve parked myself in LHR waiting for my connecting flight to SEA. Sunny, day mild weather and I got a very friendly lift to the airport. Thanks! Time to grab a drink and spend some time looking at the airplanes landing & taking off. We’re an industrious little lot us humans, judged by the amount of travelling we do.

I hope I can grab some sleep on the flight over the big pond & I’m not to weary after that long haul. If not I have some books, music & movies to help pass the time. But it’s all good. I’m very fortunate to be able to attend the MVP Summit and I have every intention to make the most of this opportunity.

I’m Attending The MVP Summit 2012

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I’ll be attending the MVP Summit 2012 in Redmond from the 27th of February to the 2nd of March. I consider myself very lucky to be able to do so and I’m grateful that my employer is helping me make use of this opportunity. I appreciate that enormously.

So my hotel is booked, my flights are scheduled. It’s a long flight with a lengthy stopover in Heathrow. I actually spend a day travelling to and from the event. But I’m told it’s very much worth the effort Smile and I got some great tips from some veteran MVPs in the community. For newbies who can use some information on the MVP summit take a look at What to expect at your first MVP Summit by Pat Richard.

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I also look forward to meeting so many peers in person and attending all the briefings where we’ll learn a lot of valuable new things about Hyper-V. I cannot talk about them as they are under NDA but there will be many opportunities to provide feedback to the product teams in my expertise “Virtual Machine’” (i.e. Hyper-V). I have a bunch of questions & feedback for the product teams.

From my colleagues I have learned it’s also a good way to help pass feedback from others on to Microsoft. So this is your chance. Take it! What do you like or need in the virtualization products. What should be enhanced and what is hurting you? What works and what doesn’t?  What is missing?

With Windows 8 going into beta by next month don’t expect immediate actions and changes based on your feedback. But if you want to have your opinions taken into consideration you have to let them be heard. So don’t be shy now! Let me know. Sincere & real concerns, along with problems, challenges and feedback on your experiences with the product are very much appreciated.

So, if you have any remarks, feedback, feature requests you’d like to share with the virtualization product teams let me know. Just post them in the comments, send me a e-mail via the contact form or message me via @workinghardinit on twitter. My colleagues tell me the program managers in the virtualization area are a very communicative and responsive bunch. I think that’s true from my experiences with them in the past.