NETNew WebLog

Good luck to Chris Liddell at GM!

2009-12-21T18:48:56Z

Wow it was announced today that Chris Liddell will be the new CFO for General Motors – a big challenge at one of our automotive industry team’s biggest customers. Best wishes to Chris in his new role!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704304504574610010455604176.html

Technorati Tags: microsoft,chris liddell,general motors,CFO

Boeing 787 Dreamliner first flight December 15 – Congrats to Boeing - it’s been a long journey!

2009-12-17T05:12:51Z

Congrats to Boeing on the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner!

I remember a couple of years ago when the Microsoft industry team led an effort to support the public launch of the 787 at Boeing Field. It’s been a long journey but as a former aerospace industry guy, it thrills me to see the first flight from such a complex and ambitious program. Here’s a few shots from the launch party in July 2007, including the Flight Simulator booth at the Museum of Flight (Peter Wengert, Marc Monplaisir), the 7-series lineup on the runway, a Rolls-Royce test engine mounted on a 747 airframe, and the Dreamlifter:

Best wishes to one of the Puget Sound area’s iconic companies!

787 Launch website is at http://www.newairplane.com/

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Boeing,787,Dreamliner,Flight Simulator,Dreamlifter,Monplaisir,Rolls Royce,747

Saks 5th Avenue Holiday Windows powered by Windows 7

2009-12-14T19:40:27Z

I got to walk past the display on 5th Avenue today, and it was packed.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows 7,Saks fifth avenue

Microsoft voted #2 “best place to work” in New York!

2009-12-07T22:30:00Z

Today, Dec. 7, Microsoft was awarded second place in the top-ranked large businesses category in Crain’s New York Business’ annual “Best Places to Work” issue. As part of the recognition, reporter Kira Bindrim interviewed Microsoft’s New York Metro General Manager Laura Wallace about the culture and benefits of working at Microsoft that resulted in a short article and inclusion in the publication’s online video coverage.

The article can be found here.

Using the Microsoft Technology Center as a background, the video features Laura talking about the great perks Microsoft offers to employees, such as the healthcare benefits and initiatives that help employees stay fit. The video also features some great shots of Microsoft employees and the Microsoft New York office.

The video can be found here. Microsoft coverage starts at 1:13.

I’m proud to be part of the New York Metro Microsoft team!

Technorati Tags: crain's,microsoft,new york,microsoft technology center,laura wallace,kira bindrim,best places to work

Upcoming webinar on Upstream Oil & Gas: How BP Derives Business Benefit From Technology-Driven Initiatives

2009-12-01T16:30:47Z

Join Microsoft and our partner OSISoft for a HART Energy Webinar on December 8, 2009 at 11:00AM Central, to hear a brief presentation from Dr. Paul Stone, a BP technology director with considerable experience in deriving business benefits from technology initiatives, including the use of predictive analytics. You’ll be able to ask Dr. Stone your questions and, in addition, listen in as he discusses technology, business management and cultural issues with oil and gas industry managers from leading technology providers.

Our own Oil & Gas expert Mike Sternesky will also be on the agenda.

Technorati Tags: oil and gas,BP,british petroleum,upstream,OSISoft,Microsoft,energy,Hart Energy,oilandgasinvestor,webinar,mike sternesky

Join us for an upcoming webcast with RedPrairie and Microsoft on December 8, 2009

2009-11-25T15:10:14Z

RedPrairie is one of our premier partners in supply chain execution, focusing on warehouse management and transportation planning. We have a webcast coming up on December 8, 2009 at 11:30 Eastern featuring Tom Kozenski, VP Product Strategy for RedPrairie, and Greg Walker, Supply Chain Market Development Manager for Microsoft.

The webcast will cover:

How to have complete visibility to supply chain data in a familiar Microsoft Office environment
How to get sophisticated supply chain solutions at a fraction of the expected cost
How Microsoft's proven scalability can support the largest manufacturers, distributors and retailers
How leading customers are using this technology to realize benefits today

Please join us by registering here.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

Technorati Tags: supply chain,redprairie,microsoft,warehouse management,transportation planning.

Microsoft Windows 7 to sponsor Saks Fifth Avenue holiday windows!

2009-11-23T20:14:39Z

This year, the Saks Fifth Avenue holiday windows will be powered by Windows 7 to bring life to the children’s book Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Flake with 3-D animations and interactive window displays. In addition, there are two PC lounge areas on the 8^th and 9^th floors where customers can check out Windows 7 PCs. And, a live Twitter feed in two windows on 50^th Street will allow everyone to share their holiday wishes with the world – and New Yorkers visiting the Saks windows in person by using the Twitter tag #holidaywindows.

If you are in midtown NYC today, head over to Saks (Fifth Ave. between 49^th and 50^th Streets) at 6PM for a special concert featuring Kristin Chenoweth!

Technorati Tags: microsoft,windows 7,kristin chenoweth,saks fifth avenue,holiday windows,new york,twitter

Upcoming webinar on smart energy reference architecture with OSISoft

2009-11-23T19:50:00Z

OSISoft is one of our premier partners in the process and energy industries, and are extending their reach into new markets such as energy management for large data centers, including Microsoft’s own. Join us for an upcoming webcast with this great partner, hosted by Warren Causey of Energy Central, in which OSIsoft and Microsoft will discuss Microsoft's Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA), a document intended to help utilities understand how Microsoft technologies address their implementation of the smart grid and smart energy ecosystem.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 1PM EST

Register here!

Technorati Tags: OSISoft,smart grid,SERA,smart energy,utilities,energy central,microsoft,data center

Check out PTC’s Social Product Development blog!

2009-11-23T19:41:00Z

PTC is one of our premier partners in the Product Lifecycle Management space. We have some great customer case studies together, and Microsoft itself uses PTC solutions in some areas of product design. PTC recently participated in the Sharepoint Conference annoucements around Sharepoint 2010 as they are making a big bet on the concept of "Social Product Development”. The concept is that traditional PLM systems are primarily in place for governance and rigor once an idea has made it far enough to enter the formal NPI process at a company. But there are a lot of ideas floating around before that happens, and with the advent of social media, it’s anticipated that many of those collaborative interactions will happen outside of traditional PLM systems.

Specifically:

High-performing development teams need a way to have a “team” presence to foster morale, improve productivity, and share successes with other teams.

“Communities of practice” exist in which engineers or developers from different disciplines may share best practices, and social media is one of the best ways to do this.

Product developers need to have a two-way conversation with customers way in advance of putting a design proposal on paper. It’s well recognized that social media is one of the best ways to interact with customers in a non-marketing, low-cost way to solicit feedback on what they want.

Check out PTC’s Social Product Development blog for some of this great thinking and a demo, and check out Owen Allen’s blog for his commentary on how this relates to Sharepoint 2010.

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,ptc,plm,product lifecycle management,microsoft,manufacturing,owen allen,social product development

Sitting in on an OSISoft Regional Seminar in New York

2009-09-16T04:24:16Z

I've looked forward to this session at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. The focus is on power generation, distribution, and process industries, with speakers from Con Edison, Rock Tenn, and Mohawk. Our own Brian Willson will be speaking later this afternoon on how Sharepoint is being used to connect the real-time data in the OSISoft Pi system to executives who need the "morning reports" and KPIs, and how Microsoft is using the Pi system for energy and performance management in our data centers. OSISoft is a great partner in the process industries and I'm impressed by the customer base they've been able to draw, which in NYC is a tough thing to do.

Topics on the agenda:

The new market of corporate data centers - massive facilities that rival large plants in terms of monitoring points and energy consumption (20-60 MW). How to incorporate server management, virtualization, and building/facilities management systems to maximize energy efficiency.
Microgrids - applying power measurements and knowledge to manufacturing processes and generating revenue from energy savings by selling the excess back to the grid.
Using Microsoft Virtual Earth and Bing Maps to visually represent real time performance data on the steam infrastructure beneath Manhattan.
Correlating high-resolution oscillo data at the cycle level with monitoring and SCADA data to pinpoint what equipment caused a fault or transient and to plan voltage step-up/step-down needs based on forecasted demand.
Correlating operational data down to the unit or equipment level in power plants with fuel commodity data in real time to maximize fuel buys on the commodity markets.
How in October OSISoft will be integrating Office Communications Server into the Pi system, taking personalized notifications, team collaboration, presence, and workflow to the next level.

Good stuff from an industry leader and great partner!

Technorati Tags: OSISoft,utilities,microsoft,times square,power grid,power generation,power distribution

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,office communications server,instant messaging,virtualization,microgrids,virtual earth,bing,power quality,PUE,data center,SCADA,Pi

Microsoft Tag featured on New York 1 today

2009-04-14T18:21:00Z

Today, New York 1, NYC’s 24 hour cable news channel, is running a piece on Microsoft Tag featuring an interview with mobility specialist Kevin Kerr.

Advertisers Only A Snapshot Away With ‘Tag’ Technology

April 14, 2009

New York 1 Story

It's a use for the mobile phone that's taken off in Japan, and now Microsoft is hoping to bring the same excitement to the United States. In Japan, they're black and white and called "quick response" or QR Codes. Here they're color and called Tags. Tags are kind of like high-tech barcodes that you take a picture of with your cell phone's camera. The image then immediately takes you to wherever the creator of that tag wants to take you online.

"Using the camera on your phone, you can read a Tag and be taken to a website for information, you can get contact information, you can be provided text information," said Kevin Kerr, Microsoft. "So imagine reading a Tag at a movie theater and being able to play the trailer for that particular movie, or reading a Tag for a particular product at a store or a sign at a bus stop to understand when the next bus in coming for that particular bus stop. So these Tags can exist in magazines, you can put them in posters, on websites, digital signage."

While these types of technologies have been tried in the past with little success, those who own a G1 Google phone have recently warmed to the idea thanks to an application that lets you snap shots of barcodes on products and instantly comparison shop online.

In fact, those QR Codes started a test run a year ago in San Francisco. So why do Tag developers think their concept is the one that will finally take hold? And the other obvious question -- why not just link to barcodes that are already all over the place?

"The QR Code and those other things are black and white. They were designed for industrial usage. These are colors, so we have the ability to do logos and other things that are much more interesting," said Kerr. "If you want to target demographics with this new type of mobile technology you have to do something interesting as well as functional."

Tags work on just about any phone with a camera, including iPhones. Go to www.gettag.mobi for the free download to make it work.

Right now, Tags are in beta, or development, which means anyone can go to tag.microsoft.com and create a Tag for free. What that Tag points to can be updated every day, or even every hour if you want. Microsoft says if, down the line, it does start charging to create tags, any created during the beta period will be grandfathered in and remain free forever.

Technorati Tags: microsoft tag,QR code,RFID,windows mobile,New York,microsoft

Just released case study - ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) - web presence based on Sharepoint

2009-04-13T21:38:00Z

A new case study was just released on ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), about how they chose to revamp their web presence using Sharepoint in a externally-facing way supported by our partner Avanade. This is a trend we are seeing among larger companies as they recognize that their external web presence needs to be less about static content publishing and more about the ability to manage dynamic content, provide advanced customized user experiences, and particpiate in inbound/outbound content syndication as a social network.

Another case study showcasing Sharepoint as an external web solution is Cadence Design Systems: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000003532

Technorati Tags: ADM,Archer Daniels Midland,Sharepoint,Cadence,Avanade

Wall Street Journal Article on cyber security for utilities

2009-04-08T15:29:01Z

Interesting article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal about cyber security issues in the nation's electric grid and some of the emergin threats in this area. Part of the issue seems to be slow adoption of NERC compliance around the asset protection, including virtual assets.

Jon Arnold penned an article on his power and utilities blog about how to use Sharepoint to make compliance easier and less costly.

Microsoft's utilities home page contains information on NERC compliance, solution providers that can help, and other solutions.

Technorati Tags: utilities,power grid,wall street journal,NERC,Jon Arnold

This is cool - GM/Segway P.U.M.A. vehicle on the streets of New York today!

2009-04-07T18:35:21Z

Now here's some forward thinking worthy of some investment - today GM and Segway are demonstrating their new P.U.M.A vehicle in New York. Kind of like a pedicab "rickshaw" without the driver. Even in NJ I could use one of these for days when I have a simple commute. We need something from GM to feel good about given the last few weeks of news - way to go Detroit!

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=15888

Technorati Tags: GM,General Motors,Segway,New York,ZDNet

DigiGirlz NYC - opening technology careers to women

2009-04-07T17:48:54Z

Great Huffington Post article on the DigiGirlz events held recently in NYC that aim to introduce high school girls to the possibilities of high-tech careers and a love of technology in general. I am proud to work for a company that does this type of outreach.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/betsy-perry/a-digi-dud-does-digigirlz_b_182236.html

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,DigiGirlz,Huffington Post