TechNet Flash, Volume 12, Issue 9 - May 5, 2010
TechNet Flash Editor's Note from Mitch Irsfeld

What to do with all these releases? Call the wiki warriors

It's been an incredible two weeks covering Microsoft technologies for IT pros. I'm counting six important releases and that's even before the upcoming launch wave, which will keep me busy for the next edition. Where do I start?

How about with today’s announcements of solutions to help enable secure collaboration? Collaborating across network boundaries is not only possible with Microsoft SharePoint and Office technologies, it's made even simpler with the 2010 versions of those technologies. But such sharing requires protection from malware and out-of-policy content, and today Microsoft has launched two solutions.

Microsoft Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint uses multiple antimalware scanning engines to prevent users form uploading malware to, or downloading sensitive information from, SharePoint libraries.

Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 is a server role in Windows Server that enables organizations to securely share digital identities across enterprise boundaries and facilitates access to applications - for both on-premise and cloud services.

The best way to come up to speed on these secure collaboration products is to try them out.

• Download the Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint trial
• Download the Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 trial

You can also learn more about these secure collaboration products in these upcoming webcasts:

• Collaboration Using Office and SharePoint Server 2010, AD RMS, and AD FS 2.0 (Level 200)
  May 18, 2010, 1:00 P.M. Pacific Time
• What's New in Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint
  May 20, 2010, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

Also check out these AD-FS 2.0 case studies:

• Company to Save Months of Development Time with New Programming Framework
• Systems Manager Offers Security-Enhanced, Hosted Solutions with Programming Framework
• Company Cuts Costs by $150,000, Speeds Development with Programming Framework

Late in April, Microsoft released to manufacturing SQL Server 2008 R2. You can get up to speed on the enhanced capabilities for application and multi-server management, complex event processing, master data services, and end user reporting by taking the SQL Server 2008 R2 Digital Tour. Then really get you feet wet by downloading the SQL Server 2008 R2 trial.

Speaking of trials, three System Center products were released and you can download the evaluation versions:

• System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010 for backup and recovery
• System Center Essentials 2010 for managing IT environments in midsized organizations
• System Center Service Manager 2010 for automating IT service management best practices

With all these new products to talk about, we need help from the community. So I'm calling on all you wiki warriors to help us out on the new TechNet Wiki. As you gain experience with these new releases, the wiki is a fantastic way to document your own findings, share best practices and tips. The TechNet Wiki is a great way to find content authored by the community and Microsoft, and to edit that content based on your own experience. Keith Combs has started a weekly posting of the hot new content. Follow Keith Combs' Wiki Pick of the Week.

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Thanks for reading,

Mitch Irsfeld
Editor, TechNet Flash

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