From the EditorTo Friends, Both Old and New

We must begin this month on a bittersweet note. Sadly, the time has come for us to wish a fond farewell to Joseph Davies, The Cable Guy, who concludes his TechNet Magazine column in this issue. We've been extremely fortunate to have an expert of Joseph's caliber to educate us on myriad Windows networking topics. Alas, Joseph has recently taken on a demanding new role at Microsoft, and so a monthly column is a task he must leave behind. All of us here at TechNet Magazine thank him for his terrific contributions over the years and wish him the very best of luck in his new endeavors.

As sad as we are to see The Cable Guy depart, the show must go on. So in our next issue we will debut a new column titled "Inside SharePoint." In the past year, we've received an overwhelming amount of feedback requesting more education and guidance on SharePoint. And since SharePoint is an exciting and fast-growing technology, we can't think of a topic more deserving of a monthly column. Pav Cherny will kick it off, starting back at the beginning with an architectural overview of SharePoint infrastructure. Over the coming months, we'll discuss security, availability, performance, troubleshooting, and much more. If you have any SharePoint topics you'd like to see us cover, please send them our way! E-mail tnmag@microsoft.com.

We must also extend an enormous debt of gratitude to two of our senior editors, Terrence Dorsey and Nancy Michell. Terry and Nancy have been with us since the beginning, together bringing their extensive talent and experience to bear on shaping TechNet Magazine into the publication it is today. Beginning with this issue, however, Terry and Nancy turn their full attention to our sister publication, MSDN Magazine. Two of our other extremely talented senior editors, Matthew Graven and Sharon Terdeman, will in turn say goodbye to their MSDN Magazine tasks to focus fully on TechNet Magazine. Fortunately, Terry and Nancy won't be going far, and we still have every intention of relying on their insights and expertise as TechNet Magazine continues to grow.

So with that housekeeping taken care of, I leave you to enjoy this month's issue. Largely devoted to the upcoming launch of SQL Server 2008, we discuss a variety of new features that will help you store, protect, manage, and leverage your data, which, given its ever-increasing quantity and expanding scope, is arguably your most critical business asset. —Joshua Hoffman

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