TechNet Flash - Volume 16, Issue 4: February 19, 2014
Top News Worldwide
President Bill Clinton to keynote SharePoint Conference 2014
Free MVA course: Improving Windows performance and using the Windows Performance Toolkit
New blog series: Disaster recovery and business continuity best practices for IT professionals
Power BI and Windows Azure HDInsight: Making big data work for everyone
Top Downloads
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
Get Microsoft Cloud OS products and services alerts
Your Featured Content
Power BI for Office 365 empowers data analysis, visualization, and collaboration
Power BI for Office 365 is now generally available. Take a look at how this tool empowers all kinds of business users to find relevant information, pull data from Windows Azure and other sources, and prepare compelling business intelligence models for analysis, visualization, and collaboration.
Video: An overview of Power BI for Office 365
Power BI can help you discover, analyze, and visualize your data more easily. You can then share your insights and collaborate with colleagues without relying on complex tools. Learn how in this video overview.
Edge Show: What’s new in Windows Intune and System Center Configuration Manager
Explore new features in Windows Intune – both as a standalone solution and when it’s combined with System Center Configuration Manager. And discover new capabilities designed for managing iOS devices.
Simplifying business intelligence through Power BI for Office 365
This blog post explores the power of simplicity. See how the accessibility of Power BI allows everyday business users to easily discover insights from data without having to learn new or complex tools.
Edge Show: A guide to vRSS and networking
In this episode, Gabriel Silva discusses vRSS (virtual receive side scaling). You can also learn more about the general availability of Hyper-V Recovery Manager, the Lync update for Windows Phone and iOS devices, and the recent change from SkyDrive to OneDrive.
Forrester Wave: Enterprise Data Warehouse, Q4 2013
Once again, Microsoft has placed as a “Leader” in this report from Forrester Research. And Microsoft has improved its scores in all three categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. Read the full report.
Advance your database career with a limited-time offer and free certification exam prep
Show you have the skills and insights for developing and maintaining mission-critical environments. With SQL Server training and certification, you’ll get an edge in a career as a database administrator. Register now for a limited-time SQL Server certification offer and gain access to free exam prep from Microsoft.
New posters now available: Windows Server 2012 R2 private cloud virtualization and storage
Download visual references that detail key private cloud storage and virtualization technologies in Windows Server 2012 R2. These newly available posters cover Hyper-V and failover clustering, SMB, storage architecture, and more.
Join the brain trust at TechEd 2014
TechEd 2014 is where you can discover what’s new with cloud computing, delve into the consumerization of IT, explore application architectures, and more. Get hands-on with the latest technologies and be prepared to expand your understanding of what’s important in tech this May 12–15 in Houston. Register today.
Free training from MVA: What’s new in VDI for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1
Check out this new expert-led course to learn about the end-to-end process for implementing desktop virtualization using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.
Download the Power BI Datasheet
Discover how Excel and Power BI for Office 365 can give everyone in your organization a powerful new way to work with data and find valuable business insights. Download the Power BI datasheet now.
TechNet Radio: Discover how PoliticalTracker uses Windows Azure
The folks from PoliticalTracker.com join Technical Evangelist Tommy Patterson to discuss why they chose Microsoft technologies to power their daily operations. They describe a bevy of real-world scenarios that rely on Windows Azure, Office 365, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Skype.
Discover the benefits of applying patterns when implementing cloud applications – especially when they will be hosted in Windows Azure – and get practical guidance on how to implement recommended patterns.
Training and Books
Free MVA course: Windows Performance
In this recorded session, you will get in-depth training on how to use the Windows Performance Toolkit to discover and fix real-world performance issues that can impact organizations running Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Free training from MVA: What’s New in VDI for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1
Check out this new expert-led course to learn about the end-to-end process for implementing desktop virtualization using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.
Recommended Windows 8.1 MVA training:
• Windows 8.1 To Go
• Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 8.1
• What’s New in Windows 8.1 for IT Professionals
• What’s New in Windows 8.1 Security
Events
The Microsoft Power BI journey: From insight to impact
Join this live webinar on February 20 for an overview of and discussion about Power BI. You’ll discover how your organization can focus more time on delivering business insights by using Power BI and Office 365.
Windows Azure virtual machines: Hands-on with SQL Server AlwaysOn
In this live event on February 25, PoliticalTracker.com will demonstrate the step-by-step process for spinning up Windows Server 2012 virtual machines running SQL Server 2012.
President Bill Clinton to keynote SharePoint Conference 2014
Be the first to hear about the exciting new features Microsoft is delivering across SharePoint, Yammer, and Office 365 to help increase your organization’s collaboration and engagement and focus your technology on delighting your customers. Don’t miss SharePoint Conference 2014 in Las Vegas on March 3–6, 2014.
Gigaom Structure Data 2014: Where strategy meets data
Join Microsoft, big data practitioners, technologists, and executives on March 19–20 in New York City to learn how you can turn big data into business value. And you can save 25% by choosing Microsoft’s Sponsor Discount Ticket option.