Brief History of DevOps

Brief History of DevOps

I just ran into a great summary of the History of DevOps by Damon Edwards. Very nice explanation he published back in Sep 17, 2012  (Very glad it is still available) It is cool he mentions Andrew  Shaffer, and his 2008 presentation called  “Agile Infrastructure”   — His talk can be seen in YouTube here With all of…

Windows 10 Version Feature Comparison

Windows 10 Version Feature Comparison

Good quick summary chart from Microsoft on the Windows 10 features  by version.. Windows 10 Enterprise will come with key features for enterprises, including Direct Access,  AppLocker, BranchCache, and Start Screen Control with Group Policy.  However, Windows 10 Pro also comes business-ready  features, like Domain Join, Bitlocker, Enterprise Mode Intenret Explorer, Assigned Access 8.1, and…

System Center 2012 SP1 Released.

System Center 2012 SP1 Released.

  Back in December Microsoft released System Center 2012 SP1 (Service Pack 1) to manufacturing.   Much has been written about it since…   The good news is that   it was officially released (general availability)  yesterday. With System Center 2012 SP1, you get the most cost effective and flexible platform for managing your traditional datacenters, private and…

BrianMadden.com refocus

BrianMadden.com refocus

If you are in this business, you are well aware of the great work Brian Madden and his team have done in producing fantastic content and guidelines on the topic of Virtualization… A recent blog article, Brian Madden makes some excellent points regarding the current state of Mobility Management,  IT Consumerization and Desktop Virtualization. Mobility Device…

Microsoft adds Windows 8 Upgrade Course

Microsoft adds Windows 8 Upgrade Course

Just received note that a new course was published  to get tech-folks ready for enterprise-level deployments of Windows 8, specifically on how to go about Windows 8 upgrades. The course, now available at the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA),  is under the heading Planning and Preparing for Windows 8 and consist of the following modules: Assessing Compatibility of…

MCU in the Cloud

MCU in the Cloud

Article written by Rob West If you’ve got Lync, or another Voice over IP and collaboration solution in your organization, you’ve likely also got another video conferencing solution. Or, let’s say that you only have one, but your clients and partners have another one or two or three. What happens when you want to bridge…

MMS2012 content available

MMS2012 content available

Could not attend MMS2012 in Vegas this year?   Not to worry! Microsoft has posted all of the PowerPoint and videos for free at http://www.mms-2012.com/digitalmms regardless if you attended or not.  You can register and browse through the sessions… Thank you Microsoft!! For those of you that want to download the content for offline viewing: Videos:…

Updated IPD from Microsoft

Updated IPD from Microsoft

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides series have been updated to reflect the version upgrades and changes to the Microsoft product line in the past few months. Definitely worth the review: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc196387.aspx As a reminder: The series is a collection of documents that leads the reader through a sequence of core decision points to…

Microsoft Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V

When considering VMware to address the Server Virtualization environment, take a moment to consider another more cost effective alternative: Microsoft Virtual Server. Although Virtual Server does not currently offer VMware features such as VMotion, Site Recovery, Converter, etc. Microsoft is spending a lot of development dollars making sure that the Virtual Server environment is in…

Office 2010  Deployment Kit for App-V

Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V

  Just in case you missed it,  Microsoft released the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V   which will is  required for sequencing and deploying Office 2010 client products with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). The toolkit must be installed on the App-V sequencing station prior to monitoring the Office 2010 client installation, and on the…

Windows Intune – Cloud-based Desktop Management

Windows Intune – Cloud-based Desktop Management

The beta version of Windows Intune, formerly known as  System Center Online Desktop Management,  it is now officially part of the Microsoft Online Services. is now in full beta.  Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance. Windows…

Windows Intune: Cloud Desktop Management

Windows Intune: Cloud Desktop Management

The beta version of Windows Intune is now in full beta. Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance. Windows Intune delivers cloud-based management and security capabilities that can be administered through a single Web-based console, enabling your…

Windows 7 N

Windows 7 N

A qiick post, with something I learned today…. I am not sure if you have noticed or not, but on Technet and the VLSC download site, you will notice a downloaded titled “Windows 7 N” The N version represents a version of Windows 7 that does not have Windows Media Player included and is intended…

[SOA World] is your App Infrastructure based on a the Postal Service’s Model?

[SOA World] is your App Infrastructure based on a the Postal Service’s Model?

Article written by Rob West This is a thought-provoking article from LORI MACVITTIE on SOAWorld Magazine that poses an interesting point-of-view: …the US postal service doesn’t determine whether postage may be due or not until the package arrives at its destination. If the addressee isn’t willing/able to pay that postage due, the package is of course…

New Microsoft Partner Competencies & Requirements

New Microsoft Partner Competencies & Requirements

If you were at any of the Microsoft partner events in the last couple of years,  you would know that  Microsoft has been in the process of revamping the Microsoft Partner Program and its ecosystem.  The changes officially started this past July when they renamed the Microsoft Partner Program to Microsoft Partner Network (MPN), partly…

BPOS Migration Tools

BPOS Migration Tools

As we have mentioned in the past, many organizations are now moving from on-premises to a hosted solution (cloud computing).   One of the greatest values out there (for what it contains) is Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) —    We expect to have many, many customers to continue to migrate into this platform. With a  set of…

Summer blues…

Summer blues…

Wow – It is hard to believe how fast the summer came and went. As you can probably gather from the frequency of posts, it was a very busy time for all of us at the InfraOps team.  Busy working with clients and getting to know updated technologies.   Lots of activity, including  some much needed…

Microsoft Assessment MAP Toolkit and Planning Toolkit 4.0 Released

Microsoft Assessment MAP Toolkit and Planning Toolkit 4.0 Released

Some of us have been using it already, but just in case you did not know, MAP 4.0 is now officially released. As you would expect,most of the changes are around Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V, but there is much more.   Definitelly a good upgrade!   According to the official release, key new features…

Webcast ahead: How Microsoft IT Deploys Application Virtualization

Webcast ahead: How Microsoft IT Deploys Application Virtualization

Upcoming  Webcast: How Microsoft IT Deploys Application Virtualization The MDOP team has announced that on May 26th TechNet will host  a  webcast  to discuss how Microsoft uses App-V 4.5 and ConfigMgr 2007 to deploy and manage applications within their environment.  if it is anything like the one at MMS2009 it should be an interesting one.  Click…

MMS 2009

MMS 2009

One of our esteemed contributors, Jorge Pereira, has the good fortune of being at #MMS09 this year, and has been energized by what he’s heard. He’s probably gearing up for some posts outlining his thoughts on what’s happening in the center of the Microverse.

@InfraOps

@InfraOps

If you’re a twitaholic, and you like our posts, you may want to follow us on Twitter: Tweets by infraops We’re doing more of the short one-off posts there, and expanding the more interesting bits into articles here. Hope you’ll tune in and tweet with us!

MDOP 2009 released

MDOP 2009 released

A new version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) was realsed early April and includes includes MED-V v1.0, a cummulative update to App-V andupdate to  AIS.    This update  has been a much anticipated primarily because of MED-V which is finally available under the Microsoft name.   The official posting at the MDOP blog…

The InfraOps Blog…

The InfraOps Blog…

Article by Rob West …was reborn this month. We’ve been traveling, speaking and writing so much that we haven’t had enough time to write to this blog. Well, that’s dumb, and has to stop, so I’m personally committing at least 2 hours of my week to doing the bare minimum: hunting down a few cool…

Microsoft Optimized Deskop strategy presentation

Microsoft Optimized Deskop strategy presentation

PDF of a slide deck on Microsoft’s vision for the Optimized Desktop. This sounds very familiar to us old hats. Download details: The Microsoft Optimized Desktop Strategy by Jeff Johnson, Enterprise Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation Presentation Deck The Microsoft Optimized Desktop Strategy by Jeff Johnson, Enterprise Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft will spend $8B to catch up in cloud computing

Microsoft will spend $8B to catch up in cloud computing

A stunning piece of news that I would have been incredulous to hear if I hadn’t been there when they said it. I think Microsoft is taking some great steps in a thought-leadership position. Sure, they’re buying their way into markets, but that’s what they excel at, and if you’re watching closely, and ignoring the…

[GreenIT] SMS Companion v3 – Advanced Scheduling and Power Management

[GreenIT] SMS Companion v3 – Advanced Scheduling and Power Management

I always visit SMS SCCM Expert in my rotation of must-check-for-update websites. They really develop some excellent addons and enhancements for my favorite systems management platform. One of their products that I had not really heard too much about struck me today. Let me back up: I’ve been wondering more and more about what part…

Updated WAIK documentation

Updated WAIK documentation

Hey Deploymentfolk – Getcher red-hot documentation updates for the WAIK. The following site links to Microsoft downloads, and provides replacement documentation for the RTM version. Download details: Windows AIK User’s Guide and Unattended Setup Reference (Documentation Update 1) The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is designed to help Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), system builders,…

Windows 3.11 is dead

Windows 3.11 is dead

Say it ain’t so… SOURCE: John Coyne’s Embedded Blog : It’s the End for 3.11!! It’s the End for 3.11!! for those that were not aware, we recently announced that effective November 1st, 2008, OEM’s will no longer be able to license Windows for Workgroups 3.11 in the embedded channel. Now we all know that…

Getronics North America – Sold

Getronics North America – Sold

We heard today that Compucom has agreed to aquire Getronics’ North American operations including operations in the United States, the operations in Canada and the Global Service Centre in Mexico. You can see the press release from both companies at the following: Compucom: CompuCom Systems Signs Definitive Agreement Getronics:    Getronics enters into strategic partnership…  

Recognition for our work!

Recognition for our work!

We are extremely  pleased and honored that Microsoft has recognized Getronics work and continued support in fiscal year 2008. Specifically for our USA team, we were selected as a finalist in the category of   Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Systems Management (LiveID required) for our Getronics Virtualization Services : Enabling adoption and management of virtualization technologies in enterprise…

Crosspost: Tech-Ed Keynote Highlits “Dynamic IT” and Virtualization

Crosspost: Tech-Ed Keynote Highlits “Dynamic IT” and Virtualization

Not to brag, but we’ve been preaching this message since we were knee-high to a rack full of blades. It’s good though: the more this story gets out there, the more everyone who listens will win. Tech-Ed Keynote Highlights ‘Dynamic IT’ and Virtualization June 10, 2008 • by Kurt Mackie Microsoft’s Tech-Ed North America event…

2008 Year of change

2008 Year of change

Windows Vista has been out for a while now and hardware and software vendors have had time to update their drivers, apps, interface, etc. to the new operating system. Nevertheless (and this happens all the time) some specialized application vendors still will not support Vista and as a result, Windows XP and 2000 will remain…

New Data on Vista Adoption

New Data on Vista Adoption

With 150 million licenses shipped in FY’2008 (see Steve Balmer’s report,) we are always looking for news on Vista adoption. A list of recently posted articles on the Microsoft site follows: The white paper entitled “Windows Feature Comparison” compares the features and capabilities of Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1 based on five categories:…

A Good Week for MDOP

A Good Week for MDOP

Last week we had the pleasure of spending time with Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Product Management for the enterprise at the Redmond stop of his week-long press tour.. It was great to see first hand how much has MDOP plays a strategic role in the Microsoft’s desktop stack… He told the press that…

It’s 11:00 PM – Do you know who your Remote Workers are and how they connect to the your network?

It’s 11:00 PM – Do you know who your Remote Workers are and how they connect to the your network?

In a recent survey done by Gartner of 260 enterprises, 90% of enterprises worldwide have remote workers, but 25% of those organizations don’t know exactly who those remote workers are. Again, according to the survey, the IT departments often have no idea who they’re providing remote access to. Are they executives, sales, engineering, etc. ?…

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 – beta available

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 – beta available

Now on Microsoft Connect, the beta of the excellent new SCVMM 2008. The sign up for the beta is easy and installation is simple and fast on Server 2008 (which I am way digging these days). What’s the coolest thing about SCVMM 2008? Probably the ability to manage non-Microsoft hypervisors (e.g. ESX.) Top 10 Features…

Virtualized Banking Can Save Real Money

Virtualized Banking Can Save Real Money

Microsoft’s “Virtualization in Banking Survey 2008,” conducted by independent, Washington, D.C.-based research firm KRC gives some insight into virtualization findings for US and UK banking institutions: TMCnet had this to say about key finding from the survey: 53 percent of those implementing virtualization reported that it eases centralization of deployment and management of applications as…

Unified Messaging for Exchange 2007

Unified Messaging for Exchange 2007

OVA is one component of the new Unified Messaging server role now included in this latest version of Microsoft’s email server. Unified messaging’s goal is to consolidate as many communication types as possible into a single inbox and Exchange does this by treating email, faxes, and voicemail as just another message which can be accessed through corporate Outlook, Outlook Anywhere (Formerly Outlook over the Internet), Outlook Web Access, Outlook Mobile Access and now using just using your phone while on the run.

DaaS and SaaS – ” …dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”
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DaaS and SaaS – ” …dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”

Desktone (http://www.desktone.com/) and more pointedly the generic term DaaS or desktop as a service is being bandied about and will help (I say “help” in jest) to muddy the terminology waters and give us a new buzz word. Really, I think DaaS has legs and will see favorable acceptance with the “greening” of IT with…

Green IT & Infrastructure Optimization: Are they compatable?
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Green IT & Infrastructure Optimization: Are they compatable?

Infrastructure Optimization opens the door for Green Computing with the ability to reduce overall costs via reducing power consumption through virtualization and by making better use of IT resources by more efficiently distributing workload amongst idle system resources rather than introducing additional systems.

Virtual Desktop Visionary Stoneware, integrates Google Apps

Virtual Desktop Visionary Stoneware, integrates Google Apps

These are exciting times – when the humble world of HTML and JavaScript have been leveraged to the hilt, and AJAX applications now rival traditional executables in functionality and behavioral metaphors. Stoneware seems poised to deliver what many of us have dreamed about for as long as bandwidth has been increasing.

Virtually Speaking: Presenting — Presentation Virtualization – redux
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Virtually Speaking: Presenting — Presentation Virtualization – redux

Amy Newman over at ServerWatch.com in her VirtualzationWatch column helps to clear the virtual haze that is virtual presentation. Glad someone is speaking to this – in the 30 plus years of virtualization each market segment hasn’t been able to define itself all that clearly. Thanks Amy. The cool thing about application virtualization with Microsoft’s…

Citrix + Softricity + Microsoft – Softricity = ?
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Citrix + Softricity + Microsoft – Softricity = ?

In the old days, Softricity was a partner of Citrix. Citrix is a partner of Microsoft. And Softricity was a partner of Microsoft, but is now part of Microsoft. See where this is going? When Softricity was acquired, there was some industry speculation as to what would happen to the great interoperability between SoftGrid and…

Sun buys Virtualbox

Sun buys Virtualbox

Not to be left out of the Open Source buying frenzy, Sun has recently acquired an OS virtualization product called “VirtualBox” that looks to be a boon for developers and for IT Administrators looking for standalone lab environments. Sun already had a server consolidation virtualization product (datacenter grade) in xVM Server, but didn’t have a…

Free Webinar: Desktop Management – The Business Value of Application Virtualization

Free Webinar: Desktop Management – The Business Value of Application Virtualization

I thought some of you might be interested in a free event that our team is putting on, centered around the business value of virtualizing applications. For Infrastructure Optimization wonks like myself, this technology is poised to become the centerpiece of many future IO engagements for me and our team. Registration is free, and the webinar is an hour long.

MDOP 101 – What’s so great about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack?

MDOP 101 – What’s so great about the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack?

If you haven’t already heard of it, you will: The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, or MDOP for short, is an add-on subscription for customers with Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) coverage for their Windows desktops. The five core components of MDOP are SoftGrid Application Virtualization, System Center Desktop Error Monitoring, Asset Inventory Service, Diagnostics and Recovery…

Got your decoder ring? One blogger’s predictions for Virtualization in 2008

Got your decoder ring? One blogger’s predictions for Virtualization in 2008

While I’ve not finished parsing it, Tarry Singh’s article caught my eye. I don’t normally read all of the links that come in through the ITToolbox newsletter, but anything with “virtualization” in the title tends to give me pause. Tarry’s article provides a (rather dense and obviously knowledgeable) collection of predictions for the future of…

Virtualized Infrastructures

Virtualized Infrastructures

During a client-call yesterday, once again, we heard the “very many challenges” that data centers have with all of the issues that come with the incredible and never-ending demand for application services within enterprises. A solution that’s well-tested and well-vetted for these ever-increasing demands for applications is the propping of virtual infrastrucutres. Nothing new here:…

Server-Side Application Virtualization

Server-Side Application Virtualization

Doing some research this week, I ran into a website called www.jumpbox.com which is a company that provides server-based software installations using Virtualization technology… Essentially they do all of the hard configuration and settings work, and provide a Virtual snapshot of the application ready for it to be used… They have several open-source server-based applications…

VMWare buys Thinstall

VMWare buys Thinstall

VMWare has recently purchased Thinstall. This puts some heavy muscle behind one of SoftGrid/AppVirt’s competitors. One can only speculate what the San Francisco to Palo Alto move will mean for the product, but personally, I hope they invest heavily in bringing Thinstall’s feature set into parity or dramatic competition with AppVirt.