Architect Opening on our Team in the Bay Area

We are looking for a Sr. Architect Evangelist to join our West Region team in the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) group.  If you are passionate about new, bleeding edge technology, and helping companies envision how that technology solves business problems, this is a great role for you!  The role focuses on innovative new Microsoft platform technologies and works with both customers and partners.

If you are interested or know someone that might be interested, see the job posting here.

Architect Innovation Cafe – Webcast Series

Each month through June 2010, we’ll bring you a 90-minute Architect focused Webcast to educate on the latest trends/topics and how new technologies can align with your business needs.

 

October 27, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST

Title:  An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3

Presenter: Tim Heuer

Abstract:  Many .NET developers are becoming more and more interested in the Rich Internet Application development space, and in particular Silverlight.  In this session we will step back from a detailed implementation technology and take a higher level look at Silverlight from the architect’s perspective.  We will discuss the types of applications where Silverlight makes sense and some scenarios where Silverlight may not be the appropriate technology.  We will also delve into some of the architectural decisions that the architect must consider when writing applications for this platform and where some of the tradeoffs may lie.

Event ID:  1032427862

Link to Register:  An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3

October 28, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST

Title:  Deploying Windows 7 from an Infrastructure Architect’s Perspective

Presenter: Doug Klokow

Abstract:

We’ll discuss 5 key areas centered on deploying Windows 7:  Developing business justification – Evaluate the capabilities provided by Windows 7 and develop a plan for how to realize business value from these solutions; Where are you today – Explore the differences of preparing for Windows 7 based on your current desktop operating system; Application readiness – Explore the tools and resources available to gain insight into your readiness to deploy Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, and/or Office 2007/2010; Deployment readiness – Explore the tools and resources available to create a design and deployment solution for your enterprise; Training your employees – Discuss available resources for training your IT Staff and End Users.

Event ID:  1032427863

Link to Register:  Deploying Windows 7 from an Infrastructure Architect’s Perspective

SPEAKER BIOS

Tim Heuer

I currently work for Microsoft as a program manager for Microsoft Silverlight, a web technology aimed at delivering rich internet experiences to users.  Before this current role, I was a developer evangelist for Microsoft serving the Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and Utah areas aiming to strengthen and support communities and software developers in these geographies.

 

 

Doug Klokow

Part of Microsoft Consulting Services for 9 years focused on client desktop deployment solutions.  He is part of the Virtual Deployment Practice that is focused on driving early customer deployment on Microsoft client technologies and is also supporting Microsoft’s Desktop Virtualization capabilities and service offerings.

Architect Cafe | Webcasts

 

ARCHITECT CAFÉ | Webcasts

DAY 1 – September 28, 2009 at Noon PST

From the Trenches: Using Architectural Skills to Increase Solution Adoption Success Rates

Event ID: 1032424600 

Jim Wilt

Products, Solution Frameworks, and Development Tools are too often touted by vendors and development teams as solutions to customer business problems. Why do development teams, customers, and users seek products to fill this gap? When solutions fail is it too easy to blame a given platform than for those really responsible to take responsibility? It more often has to do with one’s level of problem solving skills, planning, and ability to align technology with business strategy. This session introduces proven field architectural practices in leadership, communication, and some strategy tools that will assist stakeholders in becoming owners of their solutions–taking responsibility for their outcomes. This results in greater customer satisfaction, as the focus is all about enabling problem solvers, not expecting products to deliver successful solutions.

Link to Register: Day 1 Registration

DAY 2 – September 29, 2009 at Noon PST

Software as a Service in the Cloud

Event ID: 1032424657

Michael Stiefel

Architecting and building a Software as a Service application requires solving a series of problems that are independent of a particular software platform. First, SaaS architecture follows directly from the fundamental principles of the business model. Second, a series of difficult technical problems must be solved in addition to providing the business functionality. These include certificate security, low-IT-capable clients, business continuity when connectivity is lost, provisioning of services, scalability as the number of clients increase, database design for clients, how to use virtualization, and how to integrate and release service functionality over several different client applications. Third, you have to effectively use the platform technology such as WCF and ASP.NET. If you approach building a SaaS application on these three levels, you can then leverage your work into new platforms such as Windows Azure.

Link to Register: Day 2 Registration

SPEAKER BIOS

Jim Wilt

Chief Software Architect for Metrics Reporting, Inc.

Michael Stiefel

Principal of Reliable Software, Inc. is a consultant on software architecture and development, and the alignment of information technology with business goals. He is also a Microsoft Solutions Architect MVP.
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a Interdisciplinary PhD degree in Nuclear Engineering, Political Science, and History of Technology; M.S. in Nuclear Engineering; and B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He is an active member of the IEEE Consultants Network.

ARCast – Interview with Ward Bell on Silverlight for RIA at UFC Gyms

I interviewed Ward Bell recently and we discussed using Silverlight for building Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) for UFC Gyms and New Evolution Fitness.

You can view the interview on Channel 9’s ARCast.TV here.

ARCHITECT COUNCIL | Innovation is the Name of the Game

 

Adverse times are also best times for innovation! Choosing the right battles to fight, and reinventing ourselves with less resources are par for the course today.  However, not all innovation needs to be revolutionary or transformative. In fact, in the current economic crisis, opportunities for innovation can be found in aspects of our core competencies, and implemented as incremental and iterative changes.

For this series of Architect Council LIVE WEBCASTS on August 24 and 25, 2009, we will discuss two of the many ways architects can innovate by recognizing the impact to architects, and learning how to effectively leverage cloud computing beyond just another place to host existing assets.

 

DAY 1 – August 24, 2009 at Noon PST

Role of the Architect in Turbulent Times  –  Event ID:  1032423112 

Miha Kralj – Architect, Microsoft

With faltering economies and the resulting shift of priorities – architects must be ready for change in their role. Innovative new technologies such as Cloud Based Computing, Software as a Service and Virtualization open up new and exciting opportunities for architects to show value in their organizations.   In this session we will discuss how the role of the architect has changed, introduce new architectural patterns, and show how to “do more with less”.

Link to Register:  ARCHITECT COUNCIL | Innovation is the Name of the Game Day 1 Live Meeting

DAY 2 – August 25, 2009 at Noon PST

A Closer Look at an Internet Service Bus  –  Event ID:  1032423113

Clemens Vasters – Program Manager .NET Online Services, Microsoft

Look under the hood of the Microsoft .NET Services service bus – the protocols we use- and how to use the services from non-Microsoft platforms and languages.  Learn which part of the messages and requests the Building Block service inspects, which parts are not inspected, and how you can verify this.  Also, learn how to work through NAT and Firewall limitations.   Lastly, hear about architecture on the Data Center side that enables “Internet scale”.

Link to Register:  ARCHITECT COUNCIL | Innovation is the Name of the Game Day 2 Live Meeting

SPEAKER BIOS

Miha Kralj

As a senior architect on the Microsoft Platform Architecture Team, Miha Kralj is responsible for leading architectural communities, helping the architectural profession to mature and grow, and coordinating activities within professional architectural organizations and bodies. Miha is a Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). He was also a founding member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) chapters in Slovenia and Yugoslavia.

Clemens Vasters

Clemens Vasters is a Principal Technical Lead in the .NET Services team, working in an architect role on the ‘Service Bus’ feature area and acting – more behind the scenes – as the architect for the Billing feature area and as the architect/lead developer for the internal Provisioning infrastructure of .NET Services. Before joining Microsoft some 3 years ago, Clemens spoke at many conferences, taught technology, and helped companies with software architecture in over 35 countries.

Architect Council Webcast Series (slides)

If you missed the “Pragmatic Patterns for Architects” webcasts last week, you can go to the Strategy and Architecture Council (Microsoft Developer & Platform Evangelism U.S. West Region) site and view the slides or view the recordings. 

 You will find all 3 days there:

Day 1 – Patterns for Moving to the Cloud

Day 2 – Building Silverlight & WPF Applications with Prism

Day 3 – Patterns for Parallel Computing

Architect Council | Webcast Series – “Pragmatic Patterns for Architects”

“Cloud computing will supersede traditional IT”, “SOA will enable business agility”, “my way or the highway”, etc. We’ve all heard this type of proclamations before, as many look to the “next big things” in technology to exact sweeping changes and solve many issues; truth is, technologies and tools aren’t as instrumental in influencing progress, as the design and discipline in applying them to specific issues. When used appropriately, technologies and tools can be powerful enablers that bring about change.

To address this, and trying to be a bit more green, our team is hosting a series of live webcasts at noon PST on June 9th – 11th, 2009, which will focus on guidance and patterns for some of today’s hottest topics. Just another excuse to have lunch at your desk (if your time zone is nearby)!

Patterns for Moving to the Cloud – June 9
Larry Clarkin & Wade Wegner

Everything that you read these days seems to suggest that you should be moving to the cloud. But where do you start? Which applications and services should be moving to the cloud? How do you build the bridge between on-premises and the cloud? And more importantly, what should you be looking out for along the way? In this session, learn architectural patterns and factors for moving to the cloud. Based on real-world projects, the session explores building block services, patterns for exposing applications, and challenges involving identity, data federation, and management. This session provides the tools and knowledge to determine whether cloud computing is right for you, and where to start.

 

Building Silverlight & WPF Applications with Prism – June 10

David Hill

Prism provides guidance, via design patterns, to help you build robust, flexible and modular Silverlight and WPF applications. These patterns support unit testing, separation of concerns, loose coupling and the ability to share application logic between Silverlight and WPF applications. Prism includes source code for the library itself, extensive documentation, and a sample application that shows how the patterns work together in a real-world application. It also includes a Visual Studio add-in to help you easily share code between WPF and Silverlight. This session provides an overview of Prism, and shows how you can use Prism to design and build composite Silverlight applications.

Patterns for Parallel Computing – June 11

David Chou
With recent advances in cloud computing, service-oriented architectures, distributed computing, server virtualization, multi-core processors, etc., we are now seeing parallel computing techniques being implemented across the spectrum, and towards mainstream applications such as internet-scale web applications, massive data processing, graphics rendering, etc. But the myriad of choices also present a number of questions on when and how to utilize parallel computing. This session explores the architectural patterns and trade-offs between different forms of parallel computing, approaches for utilizing them to improve application performance and optimize use of existing infrastructure, and how concurrency can be applied towards day-to-day enterprise information processing needs.

For more details and registration, please visit http://blogs.msdn.com/sac/pages/council-2009q2.aspx

Architect Councils | The Importance of the Client

Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of innovation around technologies that make it easier for the end user of an application to interact with systems.  These innovations have been a boon for the end user because it has provided them a more natural interface with systems that span the web, computer, and phone.  However, this has caused the complexity of systems architecture and development to increase.  The focus of this session will be on how to prepare and manage this complexity within your organization.

Facilitated by Microsoft, the premise of this event is to provide an open forum where architects can meet to discuss technologies with their peers.  This forum will provide first-hand experience and best practices that will enable its members to learn from each other and transfer knowledge. Please join us for this great opportunity to learn, share and network with your peers and other company leaders.

EVENT SUMMARY

The Value of the Client – In the past, the choice of how an end user interacts with an application has been dictated by IT and often without regards to the usage.  Recently, as the population has become more tech savvy and are experiencing interactions on the web, computer, and the phone their expectations have increased tremendously.  Many organizations now have to support multiple standards and technologies to accommodate their user base.  We will discuss the opportunities and challenges this presents.

The Changing Face of the Web – The web has changed from a static collection of data to an application platform.  In many cases, JavaScript and AJAX have enhanced the experience to enable more advance application scenarios.  In other cases, the Rich Internet Application using technologies such as Silverlight and Flash can bring the experience to a new level.  In this session we will discuss the web and in particular the investments Microsoft is making in this technology.

Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices – The web has been a boon to application development and deployment, but it doesn’t always fit every scenario.  There are certain classes of applications which provide a better experience when running on a device and utilizing local hardware.  The ubiquity of the mobile device has also extended the expectations of users with anytime/anywhere access. 

The Future of the Client – The pace of change in client technologies over the past few years has been tremendous and is expected to continue to evolve.  From support of new device types such as tables and walls, to continued improvements in interactions on the web, client, and the phone the client will become more and more important from a technology perspective and more strategic to the organization.

AGENDA

12:15 PM  Arrival

12:30 PM  Lunch and announcements

01:00 PM  The Value of the Client

01:45 PM  The Changing Face of the Web

02:45 PM  Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices

03:45 PM  The Future of the Client

04:15 PM  Raffle and close

SPEAKER BIO

Joe Shirey

Senior Architect, Developer & Platform Evangelism

Microsoft Corporation

http://www.joeshirey.com

Joe Shirey is a Senior Architect Evangelist for Microsoft based in the Denver area. In this role, Joe works closely with customers and the community to help them understand where Microsoft technologies fit into the architecture of their solutions. Prior to joining Microsoft, Joe was a Vice President at Interlink group where he was responsible for service and delivery for Interlink’s Denver market. In the past, Joe was a Microsoft Regional Director, a member of the Microsoft Architect Advisory Board, and sat on the .NET Partner Advisory Council. Joe has more than eighteen years of hands-on technical and functional experience in project management, systems analysis, design, development, and implementation. Joe attained his Microsoft Certified Architect award in 2005.

Woody Pewitt

Technology Evangelist, Developer & Platform Evangelism

Microsoft Corporation

http://blog.pewitt.org/

Woody is a Technology Evangelist with Microsoft in Southern California. He gets to work with all kinds of people who are interested in Microsoft development technologies. He is an experienced teacher/trainer and is a part-time instructor at University of California San Diego.

Before joining Microsoft in 2005 he worked for as a Principal Engineer for a Microsoft partner, InterKnowlogy. He has been involved in software and system architecture, code, development and infrastructure reviews and analysis of several fortune 500 companies for salability, security, performance and standards & practices. He is also an accomplished author, having written Microsoft Official Curriculum and has authored several published magazine articles.

Locations

Click on the city name for details and to register

3/24/2009 – Bellevue, WA
3/25/2009 – Mountain View, CA
3/26/2009 – San Francisco, CA
3/31/2009 – San Diego, CA
4/1/2009 – Irvine, CA
4/2/2009 – Los Angeles, CA
4/7/2009 – Denver, CO

Series on Cloud Computing and Microsoft

David Chou, an Architect Evangelist at Microsoft (friend and colleague), has a great series (ongoing) on cloud computing and related concepts, and the Microsoft platform and strategies.  The post will serve as an index of related posts on his blog, and will be updated periodically. 

You can find the ongoing Series on David Blog here.

Here are some of the topics specifically on Cloud Computing (see his blog for more!):

Cloud Computing

• Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Platform (2009.01.13)
• Multi-Enterprise Business Applications (MEBA) as Cloud-Based Next-Generation B2B Business Processes (2008.12.01)
• Cloud Computing and User Authentication (2008.08.19)
• Cloud Computing and Microsoft (2008.07.31)
• Cloud Computing and Software Clients (2008.07.31)
• Describing Cloud Computing (2008.07.25)

Strategy and Architecture Council Site

Last week, my team launched a new site for the West Region Strategy and Architecture Council Community. 

In addition to the MSDN Architecture Center, you can find content for the Architect Council event at Microsoft’s Mountain View campus on Tuesday, November 18, 2008.  The session was on the topic of Cloud Computing and Impact on Architecture (which I posted information and invitation for here).

I would like to thank everyone who joined us for the session, and sharing your feedback.  You can find the slides on the site as well as links to blogs and other resources.

Thank you!