Tech-Ed: Microsoft Executive Keynote
- By Peter Varhol
- 06/10/2008
Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for the Server and Tools Business,
launched Tech-Ed IT Professional today by building on the "Heroes Happen
Here" theme associated with the launch of Windows Server 2008 earlier this
year. (You can watch a video of his keynote
here.)
Interoperability played a key role in Muglia's
talk. Using Windows Communication Foundation, Muglia showed that Web services
could be used to integrate application components, even those on non-Microsoft
systems. He hosted a demonstration that included tying together components from
Windows and Linux systems, emphasizing the ability of Windows to interoperate
within the enterprise environment.
Then Muglia shifted the focus to virtualization, noting that the Hyper-V management
console was built entirely using PowerShell, which demonstrates the power and
flexibility of the Microsoft scripting language. He also emphasized application
virtualization using SoftGrid technology, both as a vehicle for seamlessly delivering
applications without installation, and as a way of hosting older applications
that aren't compatible with your current environment.
Muglia also hosted a demo of Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2, for which
the company announced the availability of beta 3. Identity Lifecycle Manager
2 provides features for individual user management, credential management, group
management and server policy management.
Are identity, interoperability and virtualization hot topics in your organization?
Let me know at [email protected].
Symantec Brings Storage Management to Virtualization
Today at Tech-Ed Symantec announced Veritas
Virtual Infrastructure, a storage management solution for the Citrix XenServer
virtualization environment.
This product serves the needs of IT pros who find it a challenge to map physical
storage to large numbers of VMs. In particular, Veritas Virtual Infrastructure
enables IT to more easily provision storage across the virtual environment,
and to manage that storage from a single console.
Do you find it a challenge to manage storage in a virtual environment? Let
me know at [email protected].
Special Operations Software Announces New Password Policy
Release
Also at Tech-Ed today, Special Operations Software announced Specops
Password Policy 3.0, a flexible way to manage multiple password policies
from a single console.
It integrates with Active Directory to understand and manage group policies
that are already defined, and can also be used to define new policies. Specops
Password Policy 3.0 supports Windows Server 2008, and provides the ability to
use regular expressions to define policies. It also interoperates with Specops
Password Reset to help reset expired passwords.
Are passwords a problem in your organization? How do you deal with them? Give
me a hint at [email protected].
About the Author
Peter Varhol is the executive editor,
reviews of Redmond magazine and has more than 20 years of experience as a software
developer, software product manager and technology writer. He has graduate degrees
in computer science and mathematics, and has taught both subjects at the university
level.