I’m happy to announce that Todd Lamothe and I will be co-presenting a session on Windows 7 Deployment in Kingston next Tuesday.  This will be the first meeting of the Kingston and Thousand Islands Windows Server User Group which is a member group of KITPRO.ca.  Expect meetings to be scheduled soon for the SQL Server and SharePoint groups (stay tuned).  Here are the details of this session:

Deployment Deep Dive on Windows 7

Are you running Windows XP?  Are you feeling the pressure of creating a deployment plan? Have no fear!  Leveraging learning’s from two Windows 7 early adopters this session will give you the skills you need to proceed with your own deployment.  The session will focus on free Windows 7 deployment planning and deployment tools that customize operating system packages and automate deployment planning and network deployments seamlessly. We will dive right into:

• How to use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool to identify your current hardware and application inventory.
• How to use the Windows Automated Install Kit (WAIK) to build a customized image for your organization.
• How to use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to build, deploy and maintain Windows installation images.
• How to migrate the end users profile from their current installation to the Windows 7 installation using the User State Migration Toolkit (USMT).
• How to integrate MDT and Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to perform Lite Touch installations of Windows 7.

Finally we will look at how we can leverage the various tools to solve any application compatibility issues you might encounter.  We will look at how you can overcome common obstacles using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), or larger obstacles using Windows XP Mode and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) and even how you can leverage Application Virtualization (App-V) to streamline application deployment and ensure all your applications work!

Please note: there is no cost to attend this event.

Speakers:

Todd Lamothe

Todd is a Systems Administrator for the County of Lennox & Addington, Information Services Department. Supporting the Information Technology needs of the Libraries and Museum throughout their 12 points of service, he is responsible for managing and maintaining the entire IT infrastructure from server to desktops.

With over 10 years’ experience, Todd has a vast depth of knowledge with Microsoft technologies. Todd is a Windows Desktop Experience MVP, a Microsoft Certified Trainer and is involved in the IT community in both Kingston and Ottawa.

David E. Myers

David is an IT professional and developer at the Upper Canada District School Board (Brockville, ON).  He primarily works with SQL Server, SharePoint and Windows Client / Server infrastructure, but like many Canadian IT professionals he wears many hats.  As a SQL Server MVP and a member of Microsoft’s Springboard Technical Experts Panel (STEP) he is constantly looking to connect with people that share his passion for technology.  In his spare time David works as a contract Microsoft Certified Trainer in the Kingston and Ottawa areas.

Location:
Kingston Frontenac Public Library
Calvin Park Branch – Community Room
88 Wright Cres
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4T9

Agenda:
6:00 p.m.  Event registration
8:20 p.m.  Q & A

8:30 p.m.  Door Prizes

Registration:
http://kitpro.eventbrite.com

Notes:
Pizza and Pop will be served, Please RSVP to help us order enough of both.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Community Tour - Ottawa

(6:00 PM to 8:30 PM)

March 23, 2010 6:00 PM - March 23, 2010 8:30 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 5:30 PM

Microsoft Office

100 Queen St. Suite 500
Ottawa Ontario Canada

Please note: Due to building security, no attendees will be allowed in the building past 6pm. Sorry for this inconvenience.

Register for this Event

Synopsis:

SQL Server 2008 R2 is coming soon featuring several breakthrough capabilities that will enable your organization to scale database operations with confidence, help improve IT and developer efficiency, and enable highly scalable and well managed Business Intelligence on a self-service basis for your users.  Come and find out how these changes will impact your role as database administrator and see first-hand some of the new capabilities demonstrated in this session being delivered by Damir Bersinic of Microsoft Canada.

Speaker: Damir Bersinic

As an IT Pro Advisor for Microsoft Canada, Damir is passionate about reaching out to and engaging with the IT Pro community across Canada. He focuses on working with a broad range of audiences within the IT Pro community to foster relationships and convey Microsoft technologies and solutions. He is proud to be able to leverage his real life hands-on experience to relate to the challenges faced by the IT Pro community today.

Damir is an integral part of the Microsoft team that drives awareness, education and training through events and directly engaging with Canada's professional communities, including IT managers, infrastructure specialists and architects as well as systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and community leaders.

Before joining Microsoft Canada, Damir was Data Architect for a large building materials company, as well as a long-time consultant focusing on database and application integration issues. Before moving to Toronto he headed a Microsoft Certified Partner organization in Ottawa which provided consulting, training and systems integration services to private and public sector clients.

Damir is also an accomplished author with titles on SQL Server, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, Active Directory, and Oracle to his credit. He holds a large number of industry certifications including those from Microsoft, Oracle and other organizations.

Registration and welcome starts at 5:30PM

Register for this Event

Please note: Due to building security, no attendees will be allowed in the building past 6pm. Sorry for this inconvenience.