The Liquidator : Architect Professional development

This blog is moving ..........

Mark.Carroll — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:07:00 GMT

The Liquidator blog is moving - go check out http://markcarrollnz.wordpress.com/

For those of you who don’t know as a result of Microsoft’s steps to manage costs announced in January 2009 the role I have filled for the last five and a half years from the Wellington office was disestablished about a month ago. I elected to make today ,18 June, my last day at Microsoft now that I have completed a couple of projects I had on the go.

I want to take this opportunity to thank every one of you who subscribed to this blog and those in the MS architect community for your contribution. I have totally enjoyed sending out the architect newsletter, hosting both the Architect forums and Architect councils as well as working with a number of you individually on various projects. There has been some lively debate and discussion generated at times and as a huge bonus a number of you have become good friends.

If you have any questions about the areas I have been engaged in for Microsoft going forward please don’t hesitate to contact Scott Wylie at Microsoft.

New Zealand Sharepoint Community Conference 2009 , 2 – 3 July 2009

Mark.Carroll — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:22:00 GMT

Wow – talk about value for money !

This conference is being organised by the NZ Sharepoint user group community – for a two day conference it represents incredible value at only $500 per head.

Highlights;

- 36 Sessions including 3 streams;

- 7 International Speakers - Excellent Line up of Local Experts across multiple industries

- Conference sessions are grouped into three tracks of Business (B), Technical (T) and Voice of a Customer/ Vendor (V) that indicate the target audience for those sessions

For more details and to register use this link.

Coming events .... May - June 2009 UNPLUGGED Roadshow

Mark.Carroll — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:04:00 GMT

Mike Zeff, Nigel Parker and Nathan Mercer are hitting the road again to bring you the latest and greatest around Windows 7, Windows server 2008 R2 and Silverlight. There are two streams for this roadshow – The Technet Stream and the MSDN Stream.

Locations are Palmerston North, Tauranga, Hamilton, Auckland, Chsritchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.

Get into it – should be awesome – more details including registration are here.

Upcoming sessions - How to become a software architect (or: What do software architects do?) by Amir Shevat

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:47:00 GMT

Every year we run a series of architect forums for folk who are interested in getting some basic insights into developing their skills so as they can either become an architect or develop their existing architect skills.

The sessions are being held in Auckland (April 23), Wellington (April 30) and Christchurch (April 21) and will last about an hour. This is a great chance to spend an hour in 'self development' so please take a look at the invitation below or encourage your staff / peers to do so.

Please do use the appropriate RSVP link if you intend coming along.

Title: How to become a software architect (or: What do software architects do?) by Amir Shevat

Software architecture is a critical, complex and exciting role that bridges between business and technology. Software architecture is also one of the roles that arguably is less understood then other roles in software development. In this session we will talk about what it means to be an architect. We will understand how architects contribute to the business and to the development process. We will also review the major challenges and software aspects an architect is responsible for, and explore the ways one becomes a successful architect.

About Amir Shevat:

Amir Shevat is a senior architect in Datacom Systems in New Zealand with over 10 years experience in software development and architecture. Previously, Amir served as an Architect Advisor at Microsoft working with enterprise and startup companies, helping them to utilized and develop software over the Microsoft stack. Amir also held the position of a Software Architect in Comverse as well as several other technical roles in startups worldwide. Amir believes in the “keeping it simple” approach to software architecture and development rather than complex and cumbersome solutions. He tries to keep is designs as simple and as close to the business domain as possible.

Venues and Dates – see Under Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington

Christchurch - 1:00pm Tuesday April 21 2009

Where is the Event: Telecom Customer Briefing Centre, Ground Floor, Telecom House, 109 Hereford Street, Christchurch

When do I need to RSVP by: Friday 17 April 2009;

How to RSVP for Christchurch: To accept click on this accept email link and send the email created with the accept subject line.

Auckland - 12 Noon Thursday April 23 2009

Where is the Event: Microsoft’s Auckland offices – MPC Room, Level 5, 22 Viaduct Harbour Ave, Auckland (next door to Vodafone, the building is bounded by Halsey St and Viaduct Harbour Drive))

Where to Park: There is a Wilson car park which you can access from Halsey or Gaunt Streets (turn off Fanshawe at Halsey and head towards the harbour, Gaunt St is first on left)

From Rail (Brittomart): Allow 15 minutes for the walk – Head down Customs St West towards the Harbour Bridge – Custom St West changes into Viaduct Harbour Drive – keep going until you see the large Vodofone sign just before Halsey St;

When do I need to RSVP by: Tuesday 21 April 2009

How to RSVP for Auckland: To accept click on this accept email link and send the email created with the accept subject line.

Wellington – 1pm Thursday April 30 2009

Where is the Event: Microsoft’s Wellington offices, Mana Room - Level 12 Vodafone on the Park (formerly Mobil House), 157 Lambton Quay (the building behind Midland Park)

When do I need to RSVP by: Tuesday 28 April 2009;

RSVP Details:

How to RSVP for Wellington: To accept click on this accept email link for 1.00pm session and send the email created with the accept subject line;

TechNet UNPLUGGED Event: Windows 7 Technical Overview and Installfest - April 2009

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:21:00 GMT

Heads up ! - the excellent Mr Nathan Mercer is doing the rounds again this time focusing on Windows 7.

This is a must if your into all things Tech Net and comes highly recommended for developers and architects as well. Lets face it most of us will using this technology or at least touching it within the next 12 months so here is a chance to get up to speed earlier rather than later. If you are not in Auckland, Wellingon or Christchurch then there is a live meeting option so you dont miss out entirely whereever you are.

TechNet UNPLUGGED Event: Windows 7 Technical Overview and Installfest - April 2009

Come along and learn about Windows 7 and get the opportunity to install the beta on your PC too.

Windows 7 Technical Overview for IT Pro’s – 90 minutes

The Windows 7 beta is out and everyone is excited about it. In this TechNet UNPLUGGED update we’ll feature what the new Windows 7 release means for the IT Pro in NZ. We will cover off both the new business and consumer technologies in this jam-packed-demo-filled session including: the new UI, taskbar and shell, Federated Search, BranchCache, DirectAccess, UAC, IE8, AppLocker, BitLocker To Go, the new Problem Steps Recorder as well as the updated Management, Compatibility and Deployment tools.

At the end of the learning session, stay around and load Windows 7 beta onto your machine -

Windows 7 Installfest – 60 minutes

This is your opportunity to install the Windows 7 beta on your own machine. You bring your computer - we bring the Windows 7 installation and a Microsoftee to help.

A test PC for the Windows 7 Beta should meet these minimum hardware recommendations:

· 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

· 1 GB of system memory

· 16 GB of available disk space

· Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)

· DVD-R/W Drive or machine that supports booting from USB

Please bring a spare, non-production computer to install the beta software onto. We will help with loading Windows 7 onto your machines, and will have wired or wireless Internet connections available for drivers and updates. If for some reason, Windows 7 does not have the appropriate driver for your computer hardware, we will do our best to download drivers off the Internet and get them onto a USB key for you. We won’t be able to provide “support” afterwards, but we’ve created an online forum where you can ask questions.

If you didn’t get a chance to download your own copy of Windows 7 beta we will have a supply of Windows 7 DVDs.

What you need to know before installing the Beta

Presented by Microsoft Technical Advisor, Nathan Mercer. This is a Level 300 event for IT Pros. Registration is free, dates and locations below.

AM Sessions: 9 - 11.30am

Wellington 2 Apr: Register
Auckland 14 Apr: Register
Christchurch 16 Apr: Register

Live Meeting 9 - 10.30am 21 Apr: Register

PM Sessions: 4 - 6.30pm

Wellington 2 Apr: Register
Auckland 14 Apr: Register
Christchurch 16 Apr: Register

April 1 2009 - Microsoft Tech Days - Be part of History

Mark.Carroll — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:36:00 GMT

OK OK I know April 1 is usually a day associated with making people look stupid (April fools and all that) but if you are a developer, have staff who are developers or want the anonymity of the web to brush up on some developer skills then Virtual Tech Day could be of interest to you.

It is a chance to participate in 95 live sessions over a 24 hour period and learn heaps.

If on the other hand you are too busy doing April 1 stuff (running about with armfuls of whoopy cushions and that sort of thing ... tsk tsk) then keep hold of the link anyway because the sessions will be recorded for later viewing.

MSDN UNPLUGGED Developer Event – South Island: Take your Applications to the Cloud and Beyond – PDC, Visual Studio, Azure, Office 14 and Windows 7

Mark.Carroll — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:49:00 GMT

MSDN UNPLUGGED continues in February 09 with South Island locations. We will be sharing principles, practices, patterns and tools announced at PDC in October. Come and join us to start your applications journey to the cloud and beyond. Presented by Microsoft Developer Advisor Mike Zeff and Microsoft Architect Mark Carroll. Click here for more information. We will be giving away PDC 2008 Top Session DVDs to attendees too.

Sessions from 4pm – 5.30pm

Registration is free. Location and dates below.

Invercargill 17 Feb: Register

Dunedin 18 Feb: Register

Christchurch 19 Feb: Register

Nelson 20 Feb: Register

Note: This is a 300 Level event for Developers

Unplugged - Take your Applications to the Cloud and Beyond

Mark.Carroll — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:15:00 GMT

MSDN UNPLUGGED Developer Event: Take your Applications to the Cloud and Beyond – PDC, Visual Studio, Azure, Office 14 and Windows 7

Today we will be sharing principles, practices, patterns and tools announced at PDC in October. Come and join us to start your applications journey to the cloud and beyond.

Using computers in the cloud can make a great deal of sense. Instead of provisioning part or all of your infrastructure you can instead exploit Internet-accessible servers and let others worry about keeping systems up to scratch. But why just stop at the cloud? Some applications may have their code and data both operating in the cloud, others may run inside an organisation storing data in the cloud or relying on other cloud infrastructure services. Applications that run on desktops and mobile devices can use services in the cloud to synchronise information across many systems or in other ways. Whatever approach makes sense exploiting and extending the cloud’s capabilities can open up new choices for applications hosting, storage and interoperability.

Presented by Microsoft Developer Advisor Mike Zeff and Microsoft Architect Mark Carroll. Click here for more information. We will be giving away PDC 2008 Top Session DVDs to attendees too.

Registration is free. Location and dates below.

Auckland 8 Dec: Register

Hamilton 8 Dec: Register

Tauranga 9 Dec: Register

Hawkes Bay 10 Dec: Register

Palmerston North 11 Dec: Register

Wellington 12 Dec: Register

Note: This is a 300 Level event for Developers

Just released - Patterns and practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0 Beta 2

Mark.Carroll — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:05:00 GMT

Just announced today - ...

Patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0 Beta 2. It’s our Microsoft Playbook for Application Architecture. This is our guide to help solution architects and developers make the most of the Microsoft platform. It's a distillation of many lessons learned. It’s principle-based and pattern-oriented to provide a durable, evolvable backdrop for application architecture. It's a collaborative effort among product team members, field, industry experts, MVPs, and customers. This is the guide that helps you understand our platform, choose among the technologies, and build applications based on lessons learned and proven practices.

Browse / Download the Guide

You can browse or get the guide here: http://www.codeplex.com/AppArchGuide

TV ONE NZ – Forget full drives, embrace “The Cloud”

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:15:00 GMT

Forget full drives, embrace "The Cloud" (1:58) is the name of a clip which appeared on TV ONE news this evening.

There is a linkage between this clip and our next series of architect events scheduled for November through February.

This clip basically describes how Microsoft is building large data centres which operate ‘in the cloud’ and discusses some of Microsoft’s efforts in this area, Microsoft’s competitors efforts and attempts to give a brief description of the likely changes ‘cloud computing’ will bring about.

For those who have been attending our architect forums or keeping track of MSDN you will recognise this clip as referring to what has become known as Software plus Services (S+S).

The timing of this clip could not be more perfect – we have just released a downloadable white paper entitled “Introducing the Azure Services Platform”. The Azure services platform is a group of cloud technologies, each providing a specific set of services to application developers. To put it another way, quoting from the white paper: “At a high level, Windows Azure is simple to understand: It’s a platform for running Windows applications and storing their data in the cloud.”

The components of the Azure Services Platform can be used by local applications running on a variety of systems, including various flavours of Windows, mobile devices, and others. *1

For additional information here is a link to Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Architect, discussing Azure at PDC.

The Azure services platform is one of the new technologies being announced at PDC which is now on in Los Angeles. We have a number of folk, mostly customers and partners, who are either currently at PDC or who are attending follow up events. These folk will be presenting back to the rest of the NZ Architect community at our architect events in November through February next year. So there you go – there is the link to what you saw on TV One tonight and a way of learning so much more ... respond to your invites to the next lot of architect events and do check out that downloadable white paper .

*1: Those components include:

- Windows Azure: Provides a Windows-based environment for running applications and storing data on servers in Microsoft data centers.

- Microsoft .NET Services: Offers distributed infrastructure services to cloud-based and local applications.

- Microsoft SQL Services: Provides data services in the cloud based on SQL Server.

- Live Services: Through the Live Framework, provides access to data from Microsoft’s Live applications and others. The Live Framework also allows synchronizing this data across desktops and devices, finding and downloading applications, and more.

NZ Events: November Unplugged – Technical sessions for Developer and Support professionals

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:54:00 GMT

For those of you who have never been to an unplugged event before they are a lot like our architect forums but with a more operational ‘hands on’ focus. They have been running for just over a year now and have proven to be very popular.

In current times money can get a little tight for things like training – Unplugged events are one way that you can help keep those valuable technically focused resources up to speed.

So if you want to attend a more operational ‘hands on’ focused session or if you have staff who could benefit from the subject matter described below then either register yourself and / or cut and paste the entries below and distribute them to appropriate staff.

November TechNet UNPLUGGED Update – Double Sessions

Join us in November for the last TechNet UNPLUGGED sessions of 2008. Come to two technical morning sessions and learn about Windows Vista Deployment, and deploying Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Centre Virtual Machine Manager.

Free registration, sessions begin 9.00am and concludes 12.30pm. Click here for more information.

Christchurch Tue 11th Nov: Register

Wellington Thu 13th Nov: Register

Auckland Tue 18th Nov: Register

Note: This is a Level 300 technical event

November MSDN UNPLUGGED Update - Double Sessions

Join us in November for an MSDN UNPLUGGED Update. Come to two technical afternoon sessions to see next Generation User Experiences WPF 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio Tips and Tricks to increase your productivity.

Free registration, sessions begin 1.30pm and concludes 5.00pm. Click here for more information.

Christchurch Tue 11th Nov: Register

Wellington Thu 13 Nov: Register

Auckland Tue 18 Nov: Register

This is a Level 200 technical event

Attend the TechNet or MSDN UNPLUGGED Update in November to be in to win some fantastic prizes*

· 3 x XBOX 360

· 3 x Samsung 22” LCD Monitors

· 3 x Office Professional 2007

· 3 x Windows Vista Ultimate NFR

· 6 x Microsoft Explorer Mice

Events - Architect forums in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:14:00 GMT

Title: Just like being there – Combining video with geo-spatial data by Matti Seikkula

Combining the visualisation of being there with the knowledge of where you are and with relevant information about that particular location is a powerful concept. Its potential uses include;

- Management of transport infrastructure assets such as highways and railways;

- Providing a preview for tourist and field experiences for tourism operators and emergency services;

- Providing training experiences based on real world locales;

In this presentation Matti Seikkula of Microsoft partner e-Spatial will outline some of the ‘being there’ experiences they are developing combining Virtual Earth, Silverlight, SQL Server 2008 and other technologies to provide a cost-effective and thin n-tier browser-based viewer that combines video, geo-spatial information and context relevant data. He will be discussing their experiences with managing customer requirements, working with the newer technologies they are leveraging and how to deal with some of the tricky architecture issues surrounding geo-spatial data representation and its synchronisation with video and back-end information stores.

About Matti Seikkula:

Matti has more than 18 years experience in systems design, software development, architecture and data modelling and over 12 years experience in spatial integration. Specializing on geo-spatial, e-Spatial have to be industry and technology independent, which means that Matti needs to maintain a constant process of research and development. This ensures that e-Spatial is always aware of the implication of new technologies, development environments and standards. Matti is also a recognized expert on New Zealand and international geospatial standards.

Matti holds a Masters degree of Computer Sciences from Joensuu University, Finland, 1990.

Venue Details:

When are the Events: Wellington is Fri 26 September 2008 (1pm and 3pm), Christchurch is Monday 29 September (1pm), Auckland is Thursday 2nd October (12 noon);

If you are working as an architect or are looking at moving into an architects role as part of your career planning and would like an invitation then send an email to nzac@microsoft.com with the wording 'Invite please for " AKL or WLG or CHC in the subject line.

Events - Unplugged sessions of interest to solutions architects and web designers

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:05:00 GMT

These Unplugged sessions by Nigel Parker are very much complimentary to the current series of Architect forums. We figured it would make sense to showcase some excellent work done with Silverlight via the architect forums at the same time Nigel was discussing the more nitty gritty aspects of Silverlight, WPF and several other technologies that drive towards service enabled rich client development.

Details including registration links available here > http://www.microsoft.com/nz/events/unplugged/msdn-oct08.mspx

Events - Unplugged sessions of interest to Infrastructure architects

Mark.Carroll — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:39:00 GMT

I always feel a bit guilty about the amount of stuff we do via the MS Architect community for Infrastructure architects as oppossed for the Strategic and Solutions lot.

The excellent Mr Nathan Mercer, just back from his gig in Singapore, is holding a series of unplugged sessions up and down the country later this month through early October. These are more technically focused than our Architect forums - Nathan always does a great job of communicating new technologies and what they are good for. I think Nathan should pay me for saying such nice things about him even if they are all truthful - if you go any of these sessions which I highly recommend I think you should tell him that :)

Details including registration links available here > http://www.microsoft.com/nz/events/unplugged/technet-oct108.mspx

Tech-ed 2008 is dead - Long LIVE Tech-ed 2008 !

Mark.Carroll — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Tech-ed live is on-line !

In the opinion of yours truly who has been to absoluley every Tech-ed ever in New Zealand this years event was another success. For sure one may refelect that last years Tech-Fest was better than the year befores etc but on balance the event continues to grow in popularity and stature. This year sees the introduction of Tech-ed live which makes it easier to access presentation recordings and other materials.

Tech-ed Live - content from Tech-ed including access to session notes etc ; See http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/live.aspx

Tech-ed live architecture track - Details on the architecture track, sessions and exclusive interviews (most less tha 10 minutes) : See http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/live.aspx

Further direct links to areas in Tech-ed live shown below;

By Track;

· Developer - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/developer.aspx

· Office & UC - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/office-unified-communications.aspx

· Security - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/security.aspx

· SOA & Architecture - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/soa-architecture.aspx

· Virtualisation - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/virtualisation.aspx

· Web - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/web.aspx

Keynote

· Full keynote video - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/keynote2008.aspx?m=1&autostart=true

· Keynote highlights video - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/keynote2008.aspx?m=2&autostart=true

· Studio Interview with Amit Mital & Nigel Parker - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/keynote2008.aspx?m=3&autostart=true

Full Session Recordings

Code	Session	Speaker	Location	TEL Deep URL

DAT302	Overview of SQL 2008 – New Features	Jeremy Boyd	NZ Room 1	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/soa-architecture.aspx?m=3&autostart=true
SEC305	Virtualisation and Security – What does it mean for me?	Steve Riley	Sky City Theatre	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/security.aspx?m=1&autostart=true
SVR315	Windows Server 2008 Hyper V Architecture, Scenarios & Networking Deep Dive	Ben Armstrong	NZ Room 2	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/virtualisation.aspx?m=1&autostart=true
WEB304	Web Futures – The next 18 months	Panel	NZ Room 1	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/web.aspx?m=2&autostart=true
WEB309	Silverlight 2 for Developers	Jonas Folleso	NZ Room1	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/web.aspx?m=1&autostart=true
SVR319	Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Deep Dive	Tony Murray	Sky City Theatre	http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/virtualisation.aspx?m=4&autostart=true