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Summary: With less than a year to go until support for Windows XP runs out, Microsoft warns UK businesses they will have to pay hundreds of dollars per user for not migrating to a newer Windows OS.

Microsoft is warning UK businesses they would have to pay hundreds of dollars per seat if they choose to remain on its Windows XP operating system, which will reach its end-of-life in 2014. This cost excludes possible penalties should they run afoul of industry regulations due to their persisting with the OS, it notes.

Citing a study it commissioned analyst firm IDC to conduct, Microsoft said in a statement Thursday that the opportunity cost of not upgrading is substantial. In a scenario where the company has no enterprise license agreement in a 3-year ammortization period, the total operating system migration cost is US$95 per seat/user.
MS XP India 2(Source: Microsoft)

By comparison, the cost of not migrating will be approximately US$300 per seat/user for the first year, followed by almost double the cost in the subsequent 12 months, should they choose to opt for a custom support contract to stay on Windows XP after Microsoft ends support for the OS on April 8, 2014, the study showed.

IDC said the difference in cost is primarily due to the extended support and additional cost of support due to “incompatible devices/apps/drivers”.

Furthermore, the above cost comparison does not include costs related to “business loss due to security and data breach threats, productivity loss and other similar factors”, the company stated.
The software vendor added companies in the banking sector, in particular, would put itself at risk of falling foul of regulations if they stick with the aging OS. Data security and data privacy in banks are driven by ITAA 2008, and combined with strict regulations from the Reserve Bank of India, companies in the sector will not only be answerable for the loss of revenue but severe penalties resulting from the flouting of industry rules, it said.

Amrish Goyal, director of the Windows Business Group at Microsoft India, said between 50 percent and 60 percent of the installed PC base in enterprises in India still run Windows XP. “This is an alarming situation as non-migration puts businesses at risk of security breaches and could potentially create a big dent to the company’s brand image,” he said.
Microsoft also identifed Bharti Airtel as an example after it migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7. By doing so, the telco has saved INR 2,000 (US$37) per PC, it said.

The software giant had earlier highlighted South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan as the three markets in Asia-Pacific with the highest number of PCs still powered by Windows XP. South Korea has about 14.81 million PCs with the OS, while Indonesia has 11.46 million and Taiwan has 8.86 million, Redmond stated.

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Untreated, Internet Explorer vulnerabilities could lead to remote code execution exploits

Microsoft is issuing critical security bulletins this Patch Tuesday that affect all versions of Internet Explorer and deal with an exploit that attackers are actively working.

Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are the recipients of a patch that can prevent an exploit that enables remote code execution in the browser. This affects all Windows operating systems except XP.

“We always recommend upgrading to the latest version of any software,” says Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst with Lumension, “as that’s typically the most secure. If your system is compatible with IE 10 and you’re not running it already, upgrade now.”

The vulnerabilities being addressed may include one found in IE8 running on Windows XP machines that was dealt with yesterday by a hot-fix patch issued separately to deal with a zero-day attack that was actually being exploited in the wild against U.S. government agencies, Henry says. The same vulnerabilities are rated only moderate for machines running server rather than desktop operating systems.

“The patch will include fixes for other, less critical remote code execution vulnerabilities affecting Office and Lync,” says Lamar Bailey, director of security research and development for Tripwire. “These important vulnerabilities run the gamut, impacting DoS, spoofing, elevation of privilege and information disclosure.”

A second bulleting deals with another IE vulnerability believed to be one disclosed in March at the annual Pwn2Own hacking competition. It raised some eyebrows when the problem was not dealt with on Patch Tuesday last month. “Usually Microsoft releases Pwn2Own bug fixes in April, but this year other bug fixes must have been higher priority,” says Andrew Storms, director of security operations for Tripwire.

The rest of this month’s 10 bulletins are ranked important, a step down from critical, and like the two critical ones, three others address problems that can lead to remote code execution exploits. They affect mainly Office “The most widely installed is probably Bulletin 7, which is for Word 2003 and Word Viewer,” says Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys. “Bulletin 6 covers the Microsoft Publisher included in Office 2003, 2007 and 2010, and Bulletin 5 is for Microsoft’s instant messaging modules – Communicator 2007 and Lync 2010.”

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FAQ: Phishing tactics and how attackers get away with it
Latest Anti-Phishing Working Group report shows rise of attacks on virtual-server farms at hosting facilities

Phishing attacks on enterprises can be calamitous in terms of compromised networks or damaged brand names, and the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which aggregates and analyzes phishing trends data worldwide, offers some of the best insight from industry into what’s occurring globally in terms of this cybercrime. The following list of frequently asked questions about phishing is derived from the APWG’s April report that covers the period July-December 2012 worldwide.

Q: How many phishing attacks occurred in the second half of last year?
A: There were at least 123,486 unique phishing attacks worldwide. This is more than the 93,462 attacks that APWG observed in the first half of 2012. This is due to an increase in phishing attacks that leveraged shared virtual servers to compromise multiple domains at once.

Q: How many unique domain names were involved in the phishing attacks?
A: Due to the shared virtual server hacking, the attacks used 89,748 unique domain names — up from the 64,204 domains used in for the first half of 2012. In addition, 2,489 attacks were detected on 1,841 unique IP addresses, rather than on domain names, a trend that has remained steady for three years. None of these phishing attacks were reported on IPv6 addresses though.

Q: How many of these domain names were maliciously registered by phishing attackers versus the number of domains that represent hacked or compromised ones on vulnerable Web hosting?
Of the 89,748 unique domain names, the APWG identified 5,835 domain names that APWG believes were registered maliciously by phishers. This number is down significantly from 7,712 identified in the first half of 2012, a downward trend that’s occurred since the count for maliciously registered domain names stood at 14,650 in the first half of 2011. The other 83,913 domains were almost all hacked or compromised on vulnerable Web hosting. The overall use of subdomain services for phishing fell from 14% to 8% of all attacks. Phishers continue to use “URL shortening” services to obfuscate phishing URLs but such use involved only 785 attacks in the second half of 2012. Over 65% of malicious shortened URLS use for phishing were found at a single provider, TinyURL.com.

Q: What top-level domains (TLDs) are the most popular for registration by phishers?
A: 82% of the malicious domain registrations were in just three TLDs: .COM, .TK (Thailand) and .INFO. PayPal is the most targeted brand, with 39% of all phishing attacks aimed at PayPal users. .COM contained 48% of the phishing domains in the APWG’s data set, and 42% of the domains in the world. Thailand’s .TH domain, which accounts for just over half of the world’s malicious registrations made in the .TK registry, continues its high ranking as it has for several years, and it suffers from compromised government and university web servers, according the APWG.

Q: What were the top registrars worldwide used by phishers to purchase domain names?
A: 21 registrars, several of them in China, accounted for 79% of the domains registered maliciously (a total of 2,991). These were Shanghai Yovole Networks; Chengdu West Dimension Digital technology; Hang Zhou E-Business Services; Jiangsu Bangning Science; Intenret.bs; Beijing Innovative; 1API; Bizcn.com; Directl/PDR; Hichina Zhicheng; Melbourne IT; Xin Net technology Corp; Regsiter.com; Name.com; Fast Domain; eNom Inc.; OVH; GoDaddy; Tucows; 1 and 1 Internet AG.

Q: What’s being seen in the trend toward mass break-in techniques?
A: Instead of hacking sites one at a time, the phisher can infect dozens, hundreds or even thousands of websites at a time, depending on the server. In the second half of 2011, APWG identified 58,100 phishing attacks that used the mass break-in technique, representing 47% of all phishing attacks recorded worldwide at that time. In February 2012, attacks of this nature started up again, peaking in August 2012 with over 14,000 phishing attacks sitting on just 61 servers. Levels declined in late 2012 but are still high. These attacks, according to APWG, “turn compromised servers at hosting facilities into weapons” because hosting facilities contain large numbers of powerful servers with the type of network access that supports large amounts of traffic. This break-in tactic against virtual-server farms offers the attacker significantly more computing power and bandwidth that scattered home PCs.

Q: What more is evident about the link between shared hosting environments and phishing?
A: In late 2012 and into 2013, the APWG saw increasing use of tools targeting shared hosting environments, and particularly WordPress, cPanel and Joomla installations. For example, beginning in late 2012, criminals hacked into server farms to perpetrate extended DDoS attacks against American banks. In April 2013, there were brute-force attacks against WordPress installations at hosting providers in order to build a large botnet. Tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of these shared servers have been cracked by such techniques. Access and use of these boxes is then metered out in the criminal underground for all sorts of activities, including DDoS, malware distribution, and phishing. It all highlights the vulnerability of hosting providers, the software they use and weak password management. Rod Rasmussen, president and CTO at Internet Identity and co-chair of the APWG’s Internet Policy Committee, says unpatched open-source software is a popular target with attackers hitting the hosting providers that make the software available to their customers.

Q: How long do live phishing attacks typically last these days?
A: The average “uptime” as of the last half of 2012 was 26 hours and 13 minutes. The median uptime was 10 hours and 19 minutes — said to be almost twice the historically low uptime of five hours and 45 minutes achieved in the first half of 2012. According to the AWPG, the longer a phishing attack remains active, the more money the victims and target institutions lose. The first day of a phishing attack is believed to be the most lucrative for the phisher. The virtual-server-related attacks tended to be mitigated more efficiently if only because they prompted many complaints to the hosting providers that were impacted.

Q: The APWG points out that malicious domain registrations remained under 10% of all phishing domains for the last three quarters of 2012. Any idea why?
A: Some factors may be contributing to the trend — reputation services are blocking domains and subdomains quickly, registrars and registries are more responsive to malicious registrations and have better fraud controls, and phishers may be relying more on automated scripts to exploit large numbers of Web servers using known vulnerabilities.

Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security. Twitter:

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Microsoft promises more Windows Embedded Compact 7 updates

Microsoft has revealed several Windows Embedded Compact 7 updates, one planned for the fourth quarter of this year and one for the second half of 2012. Next year’s version will get an updated kernel, faster file system, and broader hardware support, according to an EE Times report.
A 9:30 a.m. keynote was delivered Oct. 26 at the ARM TechCon show in Santa Clara, Calif. by Microsoft’s Dan Javnozon, group product manager for the Windows Embedded marketing group. At the time, we were up north in our Palo Alto batcave getting other news stories out, so we’re grateful to EE Times for reporting on what transpired.

According to writer Rick Merritt, Javnozon spilled the beans regarding two pending updates to Windows Embedded Compact 7. Building on an “Windows Embedded Compact 7 Update 3″ version that was released last month — see later — the revisions suggest that the Windows CE-based operating system won’t be left forgotten in the wake of an ARM-powered Windows 8.

Microsoft’s Dan Javnozon announcing Windows Embedded Compact 7 updates

Source: EE Times
Javnozon, pictured above, is said to have promised a Compact 7 update for the fourth quarter of this year, though apparently no details were provided. In addition, Merritt writes, he promised “Compact v.Next” for the second half of 2012 — with an updated kernel, faster file system, and “broader hardware support.”

Compact v.Next will also get boosted real-time capabilities, EE Times reports. But in a brief post-keynote interview, Javnozon declined to provide further specifics, the story added.

Microsoft’s most recent revision to Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system was announced on Oct. 17. “Windows Embedded Compact 7 Update 3″ includes approximately 125 code defect fixes, several new tools for automating testing, and available Silverlight source code for the operating system’s media player, according to the company.

Windows Embedded Compact 7 was first announced in June 2010 as a significant upgrade to the previous Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3. New features included multicore support, an upgraded Internet Explorer web browser, Adobe Flash support, user interface (UI) development via Silverlight, and the ability to share and manage content across DLNA (digital living network alliance) devices.

The operating system runs not only on x86 processors like its big brother Windows 7, but also on other architectures such as ARM — including the multicore Cortex-A9 — and MIPS. (However, Microsoft notes, Hitachi’s SH4 is no longer supported by this particular Windows CE variant, and ARMv5 is the earliest supported ARM architecture.)

According to an Oct. 17 blog entry by Olivier Bloch, chief software architect for Windows Embedded, Windows Embedded Compact 7 Update 3 is now freely downloadable. He wrote that the new release contains “approximately 125 code defect fixes” for the Compact 7 operating system, Platform Builder tools, and the Compact Test Kit (CTK).

The installer for Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Compact 7
The CTK has two new tools, Bloch adds: The Compact Automation Tool Solution (CATS) for automating test scenarios, and The Compact Stress Tool for automating stress tests. Also now included is new Silverlight for Windows Embedded (SWE) sample code for the Compact 7 Media Player, which was previously provided only in binary format. A previous dependency on the compositor in the sample code has been removed, so Media Player performance should be improved across all hardware configurations, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft originally promoted Windows Embedded Compact 7 as “bringing the power of Windows 7 across … specialized devices such as slates, portable media players, and others.” Indeed, the operating system was shown off last year on an early version of the Asus Eee Pad EP101TC (below), a tablet that was later revamped to run Android instead.

The Asus Eee Pad EP101TC originally ran Windows Embedded Compact 7
Since then, both the progress of Android devices and the announcement of a pending, ARM-based version of Windows 8 has caused Redmond to lower its sights — or so it would appear. Thanks to its low cost, simpler hardware requirements, modularity, and real-time characteristics, however, Windows Embedded Compact 7 will continue to find customers, or so its supporters argue.

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Trend’s Deep Security as a Service offers cloud-based server protection

Trend Micro today announced a slate of cloud-based security services that it says protect servers for Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers.

Trend Micro Deep Security as a Service is offered as a variety of security modules that can be activated by AWS customers, according to Kevin Simzer, Trend Micro’s senior vice president of business development, alliances and strategy. These Deep Security services for AWS servers include data encryption, firewall, malicious software detection and blocking, file-integrity monitoring, and compliance controls that can be managed through a cloud-based console hosted by AWS.

The idea is that customers using AWS can add these Trend Micro services to their Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud deployments by simply turning them on when a new AWS instance is created, Simzer says. Trend Micro is also charging for activation of the security services to suit the on-demand environment through a simple per server per hour rate, which starts at 10 cents per hour per module.

Trend Micro is able to provide the activation of the Deep Security as a Service through a close partnership with AWS. Other security providers that have similar security-activation arrangements with AWS include BitDefender, McAfee and Symantec.

Whichever Trend Micro service is activated in the AWS setup can also be tracked and recorded via any Trend Micro management platform that exists in the user’s on-premises enterprise as well, Simzer notes. More than 100 Trend Micro customers are said to be early adopters of these new services.

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Drumbeat of leaks leads to high expectations for upgrade, but pricing, form factor and apps need attention, too

Microsoft’s failure thus far to significantly spark PC and tablet sales with Windows 8 has put high expectations on an expected 2013 refresh of the OS, dubbed “Blue.”

But changes to the operating system’s feature set, tweaks to its user interface (UI) and modifications to some of its subcomponents are actually solutions to minor problems, analysts said. They point to more important issues like pricing and positioning, app shortages and enterprise reluctance as beyond the scope of an upgrade.

Microsoft has said little of Blue, the code name for the first Windows 8 upgrade, reportedly to ship this summer or fall, as well as the moniker for the company’s faster-paced development and release schedule. It’s only acknowledged the code name and touted what it’s called a new “continuous” update strategy for Windows on desktops, tablets, servers and smartphones.

For example, last week Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein used the “Windows Blue” label, and added, “With Windows 8, we are setting a new, accelerated pace for updates and innovations.”

Several long-time Windows watchers, including Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, Paul Thurrott of Supersite for Windows and Tom Warren of The Verge, have been tracking leaked builds of Windows Blue — which may be named Windows 8.1 — and describing its changes in detail.

The constant barrage of news, minor in each instance but cumulative over time, has many setting high expectations for Blue. “There are high expectations for Blue,” agreed J.P. Gownder, an analyst with Forrester Research. “It’s positioned as a much bigger release than a service pack, because it will augment the core products.”

Microsoft’s service packs, the historical form of its interim updates between new Windows editions, have included few feature changes, instead limiting themselves to collecting bug and security fixes released previously.

Windows 8 is not in danger of dying, analysts stressed, but many of them called the focus on UI changes and small-to-medium enhancements and additions misplaced. Microsoft has bigger fish to fry.

“I look at Windows 8, no matter how many iterations it goes through, as a transitional product,” said Michael Silver of Gartner. “Windows 8 is very transitional. It has lots of rough edges where the desktop and touch interfaces didn’t integrate. But the hardware is transitional, too. Really, 2013 is sort of a lost year for Microsoft and Windows.”

Future processors from Intel, including the Clover Trail and Bay Trail upgrades to its Atom architecture, will be necessary, said Silver, to put enough power and long-enough battery life into Windows tablets.

Others cited different problems Microsoft faces.
“First of all, price is a major issue,” said Peter King, an analyst who focuses on tablets for U.K.-based Strategic Analytics, in a Thursday interview. “Clearly the market wants cheaper tablets. Everyone’s ASPs [average selling prices] are declining, Android’s most of all. Windows tablets’ [ASPs] are too high.”

Microsoft does plan on addressing price this year. “We are working closely with OEMs on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows,” Klein said during an earnings call with Wall Street a week ago. “These devices will have competitive price points, partly enabled by our latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices, and will be available in the coming months.”

Analysts heard the line “latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices,” as confirmation that Microsoft will lower the price of Windows to computer and tablet makers, or provide rebates on their license purchases.

“When Microsoft conceived this [Windows 8 and Windows RT] project in 2010, tablet prices were high,” said King. “But the world’s changed very quickly. The trend is towards smaller, cheaper tablets.”

Fewer than half of the tablets expected to ship in 2013 will sport screens larger than 8 inches, King said, echoing other forecasts by the likes of IDC.

Microsoft, in other words, aimed at quickly-disappearing target with its demand for 10-in. screens for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices, and now must scramble to shift gears.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, saw an alternative reason why Windows Blue, although perhaps welcome, isn’t enough to markedly move the meter for Microsoft.

“Windows 8 sucks because Windows 8 apps suck,” said Cherry, not mincing words. “And there’s nothing in all these rumors of Windows Blue or Windows 8.1 that tells me that apps will be easier to write or that will result in better apps.”

Microsoft’s apps tally — those touch-centric programs that run in Windows RT and in Windows 8′s “Modern”-style UI — are far behind that of those for Android and iOS tablets. More important, experts have said since the October 2012 launch of Windows 8, is the lack of high-quality, must-have apps necessary to make Microsoft-powered tablets or convertible device competitive with devices relying on rival operating systems.

Cherry strongly argued that until Microsoft can solve the apps problem, nothing else it does will really matter.

“Everyone’s obsessed with the look of the thing. What do I care about a Start button in Windows 8 if I spend all my time on the desktop? It’s the lack of good applications [that's hurting Windows]. And from what I can tell, developers aren’t going to get anything from Blue. I don’t see anything about apps getting better.”

To prove his point, Cherry pointed to the apps Microsoft has created for Windows 8 and Windows RT, such as the “Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging” app.

“If that’s the best Microsoft can do, if that’s what they come up with, with their resources, it’s no surprise that there’s not a [third-party] app worth a darn,” said Cherry.

Rather than tout its new, faster release cadence, Microsoft should instead tell developers what it will do to help them make top-notch apps. Without those, Cherry questioned the entire Windows strategy. “Make a statement of intentions on development,” he urged Microsoft. “Tell developers, ‘We’re going to get you all the assistance and all the documentation you need, we will create apps that are so full-featured that they will inspire you to write great apps.’”

Microsoft may be able to solve the pricing, form factor and app problems these analysts see as critical to Windows’ transition from a desktop OS to one that works equally well on touch-enabled tablets. None are counting the company out.

Continuing coverage: Windows 8
“Never assume that the first iteration will succeed,” said King of Strategic Analytics. “For a small company, a failure could be disastrous, but for Microsoft, as large as it is, it’s just a hiccup.”

“I don’t think this is Microsoft’s last shot [at Windows 8 success],” said Forrester’s Gownder of Blue. “Microsoft has made missteps with Windows 8, but they did the same with Windows Vista. And they moved on. They have an established position in the market, and a lot to offer. They’ll get there.”

Gartner’s Silver may not have been that optimistic — “Blue isn’t going to save Windows or PCs,” he said in an interview earlier this week — but like Gownder, he conceded that Microsoft has more than one chance of making Windows 8 palatable to consumers and enterprises.

“They’d better have multiple iterations of Windows 8, because its attempt so far to blunt the affect of tablets on PC sales was pretty minimal,” Silver said. “Microsoft is right in looking toward the next release, admitting it make mistakes. At least it’s a step in the right direction.”

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However, NASA is not the first group to launch Nexus Ones into space.

NASA on Monday launched three 2010-vintage Nexus One smartphones into orbit via an Antares rocket, saying that the Android devices would be among the cheapest satellites ever devised.

The devices are part of the administration’s PhoneSat program, which is designed to ascertain the suitability of consumer smartphone processors as cheaper satellite brains.

Michael Gazarik, NASA associate administrator for space technology, said in a statement that there’s no shortage of possible applications for the space-going Android phones.

“Smartphones offer a wealth of potential capabilities for flying small, low-cost, powerful satellites for atmospheric or Earth science, communications, or other space-born applications. They also may open space to a whole new generation of commercial, academic and citizen-space

The devices contain much of the hardware needed for basic satellite functionality, including reasonably modern processors, cameras, GPS receivers, radios and a host of other small sensors.

The phones are housed in four-inch cubesat structures, and will attempt to take photos of the Earth via their onboard cameras.

The PhoneSats are also part of an elaborate game, as they transmit packets of data back to Earth, where they can be received by amateur radio operators. While some packets are simple status reports, others are tiny fragments of the Earth pictures being captured from orbit, which can be reassembled into complete photographs.

Interestingly, however, NASA is not the first to undertake this type of project – a privately-held British company called Surrey Satellite Technology Limited launched a Nexus One into space aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s PSLV-C20 mission in late February. However, the STRaND-1’s price tag – “about as much as a high-end family car,” according to SSTL – is likely significantly higher than NASA’s PhoneSat, which cost less than $7,000.

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Contents
Preface xvii
Foreword xxi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 A decade and counting of Exchange deployments 1
1.1.1 The way we were 2
1.1.2 The protocol wars 2
1.1.3 Ever increasing mobility 4
1.1.4 Third-party products and management 6
1.1.5 Some interesting projects 6
1.1.6 The not so good points 7
1.1.7 Exchange’s connection with the Active Directory 10
1.1.8 Reviewing predictions made in 1996 11
1.2 Microsoft’s themes for Exchange 2007 12
1.2.1 The happy prospect of a migration 18
1.3 Preparing for Exchange 2007 20
1.4 Installing Exchange 2007 22
1.4.1 Modifying and removing servers 27
1.4.2 Validating the installation 27
1.4.3 Third-party software 28
1.5 Server roles 28
1.5.1 Services 32
1.6 Licensing 36
1.6.1 Version numbers 40
1.6.2 32-bit Exchange 2007? 41
1.7 Support 42
1.8 Challenges for Exchange 2007 42
1.9 Into the future 45
vi Contents
2 Exchange, Windows, and the Active Directory 47
2.1 Active Directory and Exchange 47
2.1.1 Domain Designs 48
2.2 Active Directory replication 50
2.2.1 Replication basics 51
2.2.2 When Active Directory replication happens 53
2.2.3 Active Directory naming contexts 55
2.2.4 Transforming Domain controllers into
Global Catalogs 58
2.2.5 USNs and replication 60
2.2.6 Urgent replication 64
2.2.7 Intrasite and Intersite replication 65
2.2.8 High-watermark vector and up-to-date vector tables 68
2.2.9 Changes in Active Directory replication in Windows 2003 70
2.3 Exchange’s Active Directory Topology service 71
2.3.1 DSAccess (or ADAccess) 72
2.3.2 How many Global Catalog servers do I need? 75
2.3.3 Where are my Global Catalogs? 76
2.4 Recovering deleted Active Directory accounts 78
2.5 Exchange and the Active Directory schema 80
2.5.1 Updating the schema with an installation 80
2.5.2 Changing the schema 82
2.5.3 Active Directory custom attributes for Exchange 85
2.5.4 Updating the schema to allow Ambiguous
Name Resolution 86
2.5.5 Exchange-specific permissions 87
2.5.6 Exchange property sets 88
2.6 Longhorn and Exchange 2007 90
2.7 The very important LegacyExchangeDN attribute 91
2.8 Brain surgery for the Active Directory: ADSIEDIT 93
2.8.1 LDP and LDIFDE 96
2.8.2 Active Directory for Exchange 98
3 The Basics of Managing Exchange 2007 99
3.1 Exchange Management Console 100
3.1.1 The importance of filters 104
3.1.2 Managing mixed organizations 109
3.1.3 Running EMC remotely or on a workstation 112
3.1.4 No more AD Users and Computers 113
3.1.5 Changing columns 115
Contents vii
Contents
3.1.6 Visual effects 116
3.2 Why some options have disappeared from EMC 118
3.2.1 Coping with change 122
3.3 Changes in the Exchange delegation model 124
3.4 Customized Recipient Management 128
3.4.1 Adieu RUS 130
3.4.2 Recipient types 132
3.5 Moving users 133
3.5.1 Moving mailboxes 134
3.5.2 Logging mailbox moves 138
3.6 Using distribution groups 140
3.6.1 Forming groups 142
3.6.2 Group changes in Exchange 2007 145
3.6.3 Expanding distribution lists 147
3.6.4 How many objects can I have in a group? 148
3.6.5 Managing group membership 149
3.6.6 Protected groups (and users) 152
3.7 Using groups for permissions 154
3.7.1 Managing distribution groups from Outlook 154
3.8 Dynamic distribution groups 156
3.8.1 Changing filters and conditions for dynamic
distribution groups 157
3.8.2 A note on OPATH 159
3.8.3 A new UI for dynamic groups 160
3.8.4 Creating New dynamic groups 162
3.8.5 Using dynamic Distribution groups 167
3.9 Mailbox quotas 168
3.9.1 Setting mailbox quotas 170
3.10 Email address policies 173
3.10.1 Mailbox moves and email address policies 178
3.10.2 Queries that drive email address policies 178
3.11 Address lists 183
3.11.1 Upgrading Address Lists to Exchange 2007 format 187
3.12 User naming conventions 188
3.13 Server naming conventions 192
3.14 Moving from the basics 194
4 The Exchange Management Shell 195
4.1 EMS: Exchange’s management shell 197
4.1.1 Working with PowerShell commands 199
4.1.2 Exchange shell commands 204
viii Contents
4.1.3 Command editing 208
4.1.4 Getting at more information about something 210
4.1.5 Using common and user-defined variables 214
4.1.6 Identities 217
4.1.7 Working in a multi-domain forest 219
4.1.8 Profiles 221
4.1.9 PowerShell in batch 223
4.1.10 Execution policies 224
4.1.11 Sending email from the shell 226
4.2 Learning from EMC 229
4.3 Using EMS to work with mailboxes 232
4.3.1 Creating a new mailbox with a template 232
4.3.2 Setting and retrieving mailbox properties 234
4.3.3 Other ways of interacting with mailboxes 244
4.3.4 Get-Recipient 245
4.3.5 Moving mailboxes 245
4.3.6 Accessing another user’s mailbox 249
4.3.7 Different commands and different properties 251
4.3.8 Contacts 252
4.4 Working with distribution groups 253
4.4.1 Working with dynamic distribution groups 257
4.4.2 Advanced group properties 262
4.5 Delegation through the shell 265
4.6 Creating efficient filters 267
4.7 Bulk updates 270
4.7.1 Creating sets of mailboxes 273
4.8 Reporting mailbox data 275
4.8.1 Special properties 282
4.9 Using the shell for other management tasks 284
4.10 Command validation 287
4.11 Working with remote servers 290
4.12 Working with non-Exchange 2007 servers 291
4.13 Testing Exchange 2007 292
4.13.1 Client connections 294
4.13.2 Mail Flow 295
4.13.3 Miscellaneous test commands 297
4.14 PowerShell for Exchange administrators 297
5 The Store 301
5.1 Introducing the Store 301
5.2 Differences in the Exchange 2007 Store 306
Contents ix
Contents
5.2.1 Are 64 bits that important? 307
5.2.2 Trading memory for I/O 312
5.2.3 The decrease in storage costs 317
5.3 No more streaming database 318
5.4 Tables and items 320
5.5 Storage groups 323
5.5.1 Creating a new storage group and database 327
5.5.2 Working with storage groups and databases 329
5.6 Transaction logs 331
5.6.1 Circular logging 335
5.6.2 Creating new transaction logs 337
5.6.3 Reserved logs 338
5.6.4 Transactions, buffers, and commitment 339
5.6.5 Transaction log I/O 341
5.6.6 Protecting transaction logs 341
5.6.7 Transaction log checksum 342
5.6.8 Maximum database size 343
5.7 Database portability 345
5.7.1 Zero database pages 349
5.8 MAPI connections and logons 349
5.9 The Deleted Items cache 350
5.9.1 Cleaning the Deleted Items cache 356
5.9.2 Recovering items and mailboxes 357
5.10 Background maintenance 360
5.10.1 Background tasks 364
5.10.2 Tracking background maintenance 367
5.11 Fixing failed databases 368
5.12 Exchange 2007 content indexing 375
5.12.1 Using content indexing 380
5.13 Public folders 383
5.13.1 Public folders and Exchange 2007 384
5.13.2 Changes in public folders administration since
Exchange 2003 386
5.13.3 Calming replication storms 388
5.13.4 Managing public folders with Exchange 2007 392
5.13.5 Permissions on top-level folders 405
5.13.6 Referrals 405
5.13.7 Migrating public folder content 406
5.14 Removing database size limits 408
5.15 Backups 408
5.15.1 NTBackup 410
x Contents
5.15.2 Other commercial backup products 410
5.15.3 Creating a backup strategy 413
5.15.4 Backups and storage groups 415
5.15.5 Checkpoint file 421
5.15.6 The future of streaming backups 426
5.16 Moving from the Store 427
6 Exchange Transport and Routing 429
6.1 The evolution of routing 429
6.2 Change through experience 430
6.2.1 Hidden administrative and routing groups 433
6.3 Exchange 2007 transport architecture 435
6.3.1 The critical role of hub transport servers 438
6.3.2 Receive connectors 440
6.3.3 Send connectors 447
6.3.4 Linking Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 453
6.3.5 Multiple routes into Exchange 2003 458
6.3.6 Decommissioning Exchange 2003 routing groups 458
6.3.7 Handling Exchange 2003 link state updates
during migration 458
6.3.8 Foreign connectors 459
6.3.9 Authorization 460
6.3.10 Accepted domains 460
6.3.11 Transport storage 461
6.4 Routing ABC 464
6.4.1 Resolving multiple paths 467
6.4.2 Most specific connector 467
6.4.3 Connector cost 469
6.4.4 Closest proximity 469
6.4.5 The role of hub routing sites 470
6.4.6 Site link costs versus routing costs 471
6.4.7 Instructing mailbox servers 472
6.4.8 Bypassing some connections 472
6.4.9 Protocol logging 473
6.4.10 X.400 support 474
6.4.11 Bifurcation 475
6.4.12 Header firewalls 476
6.5 Transport configuration 476
6.5.1 Transport configuration file 481
6.5.2 Routing logs 483
6.6 Queues 485
Contents xi
Contents
6.6.1 The Queue Viewer 488
6.6.2 The Unreachable queue 491
6.6.3 Poison messages 493
6.7 Back Pressure 494
6.8 Delivery Status Notifications 496
6.8.1 Customizing DSNs 501
6.8.2 Postmaster addresses 504
6.9 Transport agents 505
6.10 Transport summary 506
6.11 Edge servers 506
6.11.1 Edge or hub? 508
6.11.2 Basic Edge 510
6.11.3 Edge Synchronization 511
6.11.4 Basic Edge security 518
6.11.5 Fighting spam and email viruses 518
6.11.6 Defense in depth 522
6.11.7 Microsoft’s approach to mail hygiene 523
6.11.8 Forefront for Exchange 528
6.11.9 Mail Hygiene Agents 533
6.11.10 Agent logs 535
6.11.11 Connection filtering 536
6.11.12 Sender filtering 538
6.11.13 Address Rewrite agent 539
6.11.14 Sender ID agent 541
6.11.15 Content filtering 547
6.11.16 Content Filter updates 550
6.11.17 Per-user SCL processing 553
6.11.18 Safelist Aggregation 554
6.11.19 Sender reputation 557
6.11.20 Recipient filtering 559
6.11.21 Blocking file attachments 560
6.11.22 Attachment filtering 562
6.11.23 Edge transport rules 563
6.11.24 Available Edge 565
6.12 Client-side spam suppression 567
6.12.1 Outlook’s Junk Mail Filter 568
6.12.2 Postmarks 573
6.12.3 Restricting OOF and other notifications 574
6.13 Routing onwards 580
xii Contents
7 Clients 581
7.1 Outlook 583
7.1.1 Outlook web services 585
7.1.2 Understanding Outlook’s relationship with Exchange 591
7.1.3 Deploying cached Exchange mode 596
7.1.4 Address caching 599
7.1.5 MAPI compression and buffers 600
7.1.6 Conflict resolution 602
7.1.7 Preventing MAPI clients from connecting 603
7.1.8 Outlook 2007 and Exchange 5.5 607
7.2 Offline and personal Stores 608
7.2.1 Personal folders 609
7.2.2 Mail delivery to personal folders 611
7.2.3 Configuring PSTs 615
7.2.4 PST archiving 617
7.3 Offline folder files 619
7.3.1 OST synchronization 621
7.3.2 When things go wrong with your OST 623
7.4 Out of Office changes 624
7.4.1 The big question: Is Outlook 2007 worth the upgrade? 625
7.5 The Offline Address Book (OAB) 626
7.5.1 Downloading the OAB 627
7.5.2 OAB files on the PC 628
7.5.3 The evolving OAB format 630
7.5.4 OAB and cached Exchange mode 632
7.5.5 OAB generation and distribution 634
7.5.6 Creating a customized OAB 640
7.5.7 Allocating OABs to users 642
7.6 Outlook Anywhere 645
7.7 Outlook Web Access 650
7.7.1 New features in Outlook Web Access 2007 652
7.7.2 Outlook Web Access Light 658
7.7.3 International versions 662
7.7.4 Accessing legacy data 664
7.7.5 Managing Outlook Web Access 666
7.7.6 Authentication 667
7.7.7 Segmentation 671
7.7.8 Notifications 675
7.7.9 Controlling attachments 677
7.7.10 Themes 680
7.7.11 Client settings 684
Contents xiii
Contents
7.8 Internet client access protocols 684
7.8.1 IMAP4 685
7.8.2 The Exchange 2007 IMAP server 689
7.9 Mobile clients 694
7.9.1 Selecting mobile devices 696
7.9.2 Server-based ActiveSync 698
7.10 Windows Mobile 6.0 and Exchange 2007 702
7.10.1 ActiveSync policies 706
7.10.2 Managing mobile devices through EMC 711
7.10.3 Moving mailboxes to Exchange 2007 and ActiveSync 713
7.10.4 Estimating network traffic for mobile devices 715
7.10.5 Analyzing ActiveSync logs 717
7.10.6 Wiping mobile devices 719
7.10.7 Debugging synchronization 721
7.11 Comparing Windows Mobile and BlackBerry 723
7.11.1 Processing the mail 725
7.11.2 Other messaging options for Windows Mobile 730
7.11.3 Power management 731
7.11.4 Input flexibility 732
7.12 Unified Communications 735
7.13 Unified Messaging 737
7.13.1 Client Access to voicemail 741
7.13.2 Dealing with voicemail 745
7.13.3 Voice synthesis 747
7.13.4 Pure voicemail 748
7.13.5 The magic of SIP 749
7.13.6 Speech Grammars 752
7.13.7 Phonetic names 754
7.13.8 Cross-forest UM 756
7.14 Special mailboxes 756
7.15 Clients and users 759
8 Managing Users 761
8.1 Room and equipment mailboxes 762
8.1.1 Managing properties of room and equipment mailboxes 765
8.1.2 Converting old mailboxes to rooms 770
8.2 Helping users to use email better 771
8.2.1 Eliminating bad habits 771
8.2.2 Disclaimers 779
8.2.3 Out-of-Office Notifications 781
8.2.4 The last few bad email habits 781
xiv Contents
8.3 Customizing display templates 782
8.4 Exchange 2007 and compliance 787
8.4.1 The growing need for compliance 789
8.4.2 Transport rules 792
8.4.3 Using a rule to add disclaimer text to outgoing messages 794
8.4.4 Capturing selected messages 795
8.4.5 Becoming more complicated 797
8.4.6 Creating an ethical firewall 800
8.4.7 Transport rule storage 803
8.4.8 Rules and the shell 804
8.4.9 Journal rules 808
8.5 Messaging Record Management 815
8.5.1 Managing default folders 818
8.5.2 Managing custom folders 824
8.5.3 Allocating managed folders with policies 826
8.5.4 Applying policies to users 827
8.5.5 The Managed Folder Assistant 829
8.5.6 Logging Managed Folder activity 831
8.5.7 Using Managed Folders 833
8.5.8 Harvesting information from managed folders 835
8.6 Message classifications 837
8.6.1 Adding intelligence to classification through rules 844
8.7 Copying user mailboxes 848
8.7.1 Auditing 853
8.8 Free and busy 853
8.8.1 Looking at free and busy data 855
8.8.2 Free and busy in Exchange 2007 861
8.8.3 Changes in Outlook 2007 863
8.8.4 Cross-forest free and busy 866
9 Hardware and Performance 867
9.1 Moving toward 64-bit Exchange 867
9.2 Buying servers for Exchange 2007 870
9.3 The storage question 876
9.4 RPC pop-ups 881
9.5 Clusters and Exchange 882
9.6 Continuous replication and Exchange 2007 888
9.6.1 Concepts 889
9.7 Deploying Local Continuous Replication (LCR) 892
9.7.1 How LCR works 897
9.7.2 LCR operations 900
Contents xv
Contents
9.7.3 LCR restrictions 903
9.7.4 LCR database transition 904
9.8 Deploying Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) 906
9.8.1 Comparing CCR and traditional clusters 910
9.8.2 CCR in practice 912
9.8.3 CCR failovers 915
9.8.4 Lost Log Resilience 919
9.8.5 The transport dumpster 921
9.8.6 Standby Continuous Replication 924
9.9 Continuous Log Replication: Good or bad? 924
9.10 Virtual Exchange 925
10 More useful things to Know about Exchange 929
10.1 Automated analysis 929
10.1.1 SSCP 932
10.1.2 Microsoft’s Release to Web (RTW) strategy 933
10.2 The Exchange Toolbox 935
10.2.1 Updates 936
10.2.2 Database Recovery Management 937
10.2.3 Database Troubleshooter 942
10.2.4 Mail Flow Troubleshooter 943
10.3 Messaging tracking logs 945
10.3.1 Generating message tracking logs 947
10.3.2 Log sizes and ages 950
10.3.3 Keeping track of message subjects 951
10.3.4 Accessing message tracking logs 951
10.3.5 Using the Troubleshooting Assistant to track messages 952
10.3.6 Tracking messages with EMS 956
10.3.7 Message delivery latency 959
10.4 Management frameworks 959
10.5 Utilities 963
10.5.1 Performance testing 963
10.5.2 The MFCMAPI utility 965
10.5.3 MDBVU32 968
10.5.4 ExMon—Exchange User Monitor 968
10.5.5 PFDavAdmin 971
10.5.6 LogParser 973
10.5.7 Outlook Spy 978
10.6 Bits and pieces 978
10.6.1 Where the Exchange team hangs out 978
10.6.2 Online Forums 979
xvi Contents
10.7 Conferences 979
10.7.1 Magazines 980
10.7.2 How Exchange uses registry keys 980
10.8 Good reference books 981
A Appendix 983
A.1 Message Tracking Log Format 983
A.2 Events noted in Message Tracking Logs 985
B Important Exchange PowerShell commands 987
B.1 Recipient management commands 987
B.2 Exchange server administrative Commands 990
B.3 Databases and Storage Groups 993
B.4 Address Lists and Email Policies 995
B.5 Queues and Messages 995
B.6 Edge Synchronization 996
B.7 Routing 997
B.8 ActiveSync 998
B.9 Public folders 999
B.10 Transport and journal rules 1000
B.11 IMAP and POP 1001
B.12 Active Directory commands 1002
B.13 Testing Exchange 2007 1003
B.14 Basic PowerShell 1004
B.15 PowerShell control commands 1005

Preface
By their very nature, every book that seeks to describe how technology works face challenges during its creation. Dealing with beta software and attempting to resolve the difference between how the software works and how the developers say it will work in the final version is a problem faced by any author, which is one reason why it is often best to wait to finalize text after you have a chance to work with released software. Looking back at this project, in some ways, this has been the hardest book of the seven that I have written about Exchange. I think that there are four reasons why this might be so. First, Exchange 2007 marks the boundary for substantial architectural change within the product, so it is similar to the degree of change that we experienced when we moved from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000. Second, the nature of software is that it becomes more complex over time as the developers add new features and this is certainly true of Exchange 2007. The new features have to be considered, probed, and documented, all of which takes time. Third, the Exchange development team has done an excellent job since 2004 to document all aspects of Exchange in a more comprehensive manner than ever before.

The Exchange 2007 help file, TechNet, MSDN, and the excellent Exchange team blog at http://msexchangeteam.com/ default.aspx are interesting and productive hoards of information for authors to mine. Unfortunately, there is often too much material (a good complaint to have) and the material needs to be interpreted and analyzed in the light of your own experience with Exchange. Engineers write great blogs, but the scourge of cognitive dissonance often means that they omit some detail that makes all the difference to a newcomer in understanding why a component works the way that it does. Last but not least, you should not underestimate the degree of cultural change that Microsoft has incorporated into Exchange 2007 in the transition from a predominantly GUI-centric approach to server management to the use of the PowerShell scripting language as the basis of many management operations. The need to understand and appreciate the change has to occur before you can adequately document and describe the benefits and this increases the effort required to write the book. I must admit that it took me time to realize the full benefit of interacting with Exchange through the shell, but now I am at the point where I wonder why Microsoft never provided such a powerful interface in the past! The degree of change that exists in Exchange 2007 means that it is diffi- cult to cover everything in one book. I have therefore elected to cover the parts of Exchange that I think are of most interest to the majority of administrators and have left other components for you to discover through the material that Microsoft publishes or perhaps another book, written by me or someone else. Please accept my apology if I have not covered something that you think is important and treat this as a challenge and opportunity for you to write about the topic yourself. There are many magazines, blogs, and other ways of spreading information about Exchange. From time to time, I wander back down the path to consider some aspect of Exchange 2003. While this book is firmly focused on Exchange 2007, the vast majority of companies that will deploy Exchange 2007 will do so by migrating from Exchange 2003 and will therefore run both products alongside each other for some period. For large organizations, the period might extend to a year or more as it is unlikely that few will complete their migration to a pure Exchange 2007 environment quickly. With this in mind, it is fair and reasonable to document how things work with Exchange 2003, especially when these servers operate with Exchange 2007. So what is in the book? To set the context, Chapter 1 starts with an overview of the development of Exchange from 4.0 to 2007 and then describes the themes that Microsoft employed to focus the development priorities for Exchange 2007 and some of the changes that occur in this release. All successful deployments of Exchange since Exchange 2000 operate on a solid Active Directory foundation, so Chapter 2 reviews some of the critical intersection points between Exchange and the Active Directory including replication, the schema, and Global Catalogs. Chapter 3 goes into the basics of managing Exchange 2007 through the Exchange Management Console. Chapter 4 takes the management topic further by exploring the ins and outs of the new Exchange Management Shell, perhaps the most fundamental change to the product that Microsoft has made in Exchange 2007. Chapter 5 goes to the heart of Exchange and reviews how the Store works including topics such as databases, storage groups, and transaction logs to content indexing and backups. Chapter 6 looks at how the new transport system routes messages and includes topics such as the Edge server and anti-spam protection. Chapter 7 explains how clients from Outlook to Outlook Web Access to mobile devices allow users to work with their mailboxes. Chapter 8 then moves on to consider some elements of user management, including the important topic of compliance and records management. Chapter 9 addresses one of the more

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QUESTION 1
You work as a senior developer at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a single domain named Certkingdom.com.
You are running a training exercise for junior developers. You are currently discussing the use of
the Queue <T> collection type.
Which of the following is TRUE with regards to the Queue <T>collection type?

A. It represents a first in, first out (FIFO) collection of objects.
B. It represents a last in, first out (LIFO) collection of objects.
C. It represents a collection of key/value pairs that are sorted by key based on the associated
IComparer<T> implementation.
D. It represents a list of objects that can be accessed by index.

Answer: A

Explanation:

QUESTION 2
You work as a developer at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a single domain named Certkingdom.com.
You have written the following code segment:
int[] filteredEmployeeIds = employeeIds.Distinct().Where(value => value !=
employeeIdToRemove).OrderByDescending(x => x).ToArray();
Which of the following describes reasons for writing this code? (Choose two.)

A. To sort the array in order from the highest value to the lowest value.
B. To sort the array in order from the lowest value to the highest value.
C. To remove duplicate integers from the employeeIds array.
D. To remove all integers from the employeeIds array.

Answer: A,C

Explanation:

QUESTION 3
You work as a senior developer at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a single domain
named Certkingdom.com.
You are running a training exercise for junior developers. You are currently discussing the use of a
method that moves the SqlDataReader on to the subsequent record.
Which of the following is the SqlDataReader method that allows for this?

A. The Read method.
B. The Next method.
C. The Result method.
D. The NextResult method.

Answer: A

Explanation:

QUESTION 4
You work as a developer at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a single domain named Certkingdom.com.
You have received instructions to create a custom collection for Certkingdom.com. Objects in the
collection must be processed via a foreach loop.
Which of the following is TRUE with regards to the required code?

A. The code should implement the ICollection interface.
B. The code should implement the IComparer interface.
C. The code should implement the IEnumerable interface.
D. The code should implement the IEnumerator interface.

Answer: C

Explanation:

QUESTION 5
You work as a senior developer at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a single domain named Certkingdom.com.
You are running a training exercise for junior developers. You are currently discussing the use of LINQ queries.
Which of the following is NOT considered a distinct action of a LINQ query?

A. Creating the query.
B. Obtaining the data source.
C. Creating the data source.
D. Executing the query.

Answer: C

Explanation:

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Amazon’s biggest competitor in the cloud: Salesforce.com?
Amazon and Salesforce are each pioneering companies in cloud computing, but are they competitors?

Who is Amazon’s biggest competitor in the cloud?
The go-to answer for many may be companies like Rackspace with its OpenStack platform, perhaps Google with its Compute Engine, Microsoft Azure, VMware or one of the up-and-coming cloud computing companies like Joyent.

But Mikhail Malamud, founder of cloud consultancy startup CloudAware, says another cloud company could pose the biggest challenge to Amazon’s cloud plans: Salesforce.com.

These two companies, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce.com, are two of the leading cloud providers in their respective markets of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) for AWS and software as a service (SaaS) for Salesforce.com. But Malamud believes there is one reason why Salesforce.com could be a formidable foe for Amazon in the cloud moving forward: data.

Salesforce.com’s data stash
“Data is the kingmaker in the cloud,” says Malamud, whose firm, CloudAware, provides a platform to access AWS resources.

Salesforce.com has an enormous cache of customer data, and not just any data, but some of enterprises’ most valuable data — customer information. Salesforce.com has data about who its users’ customers are, what interactions they have with those customers, and increasingly it’s been attempting to collect even more data, from human resource management to social data.

And Salesforce is building an ecosystem of products and services around that data. While the company may be best known as a SaaS-based customer relationship management (CRM) application, it also has a robust platform that allows customers to build new applications on its cloud.

Force.com and Heroku, the latter of which Salesforce acquired in 2010, are platform as a service (PaaS) tools allowing customers to leverage CRM data already in Salesforce’s cloud and build related applications that are customized to individual users’ needs. It’s where Malamud built his company’s app. A Salesforce CRM customer, for example, could build an application on Force.com that integrates with the CRM application to analyze the sales data. And Malamud says every new application that’s built in Salesforce.com’s environment is one less app that’s running in Amazon’s cloud.

Amazon: We’ve got data too
Amazon is responding in turn, though. In the past year AWS has made a concerted effort to manage more of its customers’ data. Announcements like Red Shift — the company’s headline announcement at its first-annual users conference, named re: Invent — is a new data warehousing service, meant to be a low-cost alternative to expensive on-premises database storage systems. Amazon Glacier is a “cold storage” service for storing a company’s long-term data, while Data Pipeline is a relatively new service that makes it easier to transfer all that data between various applications within Amazon’s cloud. “They’re clearly trying to get as much of your data as possible,” Malamud says.

Malamud says Salesforce will be the place where next-generation apps will be built, providing a legitimate threat to Amazon moving forward.
“It’s a legitimate theory, but it’s more of a longer term play,” says David Vellante, chief analyst at research firm The Wikibon Project, about the Salesforce.com-Amazon rivalry. The two companies are not really direct competitors right now, he says. They’re both cloud-based, but AWS at its core is about providing fast, easy and cheap access to virtual machines, storage and hosted applications in its IaaS cloud. Salesforce.com is a SaaS that is attempting to build up its accompanying PaaS.

Amazon’s bigger near-term competitors are the growing cavalry of IaaS providers looking to steal business from the company, he says. Google, Microsoft and Rackspace (with its OpenStack platform), as well as VMware, HP, Dell, Joyent, Terremark and Savvis, are just some of the whole range of IaaS providers looking to bite into Amazon’s market share that pose a more immediate threat to AWS.

Robert Mahowald, research vice president at IDC who leads the software as a service (SaaS) and cloud services practice, agrees with Vellante. “It’s not necessarily where the companies are today, but it’s certainly an aspiration of Salesforce,” he says. But he’s also on board with Malamud’s core premise of “follow the data.”

Applications that run in the cloud are fundamentally more important than the infrastructure they run on, so in that sense Salesforce has an advantage in being able to offer customers products, services and platforms that leverage data already in its cloud.

But AWS is a heavy-hitter in the cloud, too. Through partnerships with big enterprise software giants like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, AWS allows customers to migrate their existing enterprise software licenses to Amazon’s cloud and let AWS worry about all the underlying infrastructure.

Salesforce.com has a different business model: The company isn’t pushing customers to migrate their SAP, Oracle and Microsoft apps into its cloud; they want customers to be all-in with its own cloud. So far, the company has done an extraordinary job capturing the CRM market, but existing business apps aren’t being migrated into Salesforce’s cloud.

To Mahowald, that means the Amazon vs. Salesforce debate comes down to a new vs. existing apps debate. Amazon has everything in place to give customers the opportunity to outsource their packaged software onto its cloud, something enterprises are becoming more and more comfortable with. Salesforce wants to be the place where the enterprises’ next-generation business apps are built and stored.

The problem for AWS is that there are increasingly more and more competitors offering similar IaaS services. To date, Amazon has simply done it better than its competitors, Vellante says — it out-innovates competitors, has a broader range of services and continually lowers its prices. It’s tough for competitors to keep up, but a crop of providers are trying.

Some providers are carving out niches in vertical markets, offering healthcare-, government- or financial services-focused clouds, for example. Others are banking on the hybrid cloud — which combines both on-premises and public cloud resources — as being the future the industry. VMware, sensing an opportunity in the market, recently announced plans to create a hybrid cloud offering.

Salesforce isn’t competing with those offerings, though, Vellante says. Salesforce has found a niche in its ecosystem of customers and is nurturing and growing it. But Salesforce.com is not the be all and end all of cloud service providers now or into the future. “If you’re running a big data app and you need a 10-node cluster spun up today to host your analytics app, you’re not going to Salesforce,” Vellante says. “You’re going to Amazon or another IaaS.” It’s a different play for each of the providers, which is why Vellante says both of these companies — AWS and Salesforce.com — will be around for a long time, and they both likely will make a lot of money in the cloud.

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Microsoft at work designing “cool” future Surface devices
Microsoft has hired a model-maker to build prototypes
Despite shaky sales of its Windows 8 Surface tablets Microsoft is working on the next generation of the devices that it hopes will attract customer attention.

The company is advertising for a model maker/prototyper to join the Surface team as it works on new devices that will follow on the current ones, Surface RT and Surface Pro. “We are currently building the next generation and Surface needs you!” the ad reads in part.

The job calls for turning CAD data and graphic depictions of these devices into physical objects.

The posting comes as Microsoft has revised the specs for tablets that would make it possible for 7-inch tablets to be Microsoft certified for Windows 8. This involved lowering the resolution requirements for displays, which makes it possible for smaller-screened devices to win certification.

Sales of the devices have paled compared to other tablets, particularly the iPad. Since its release last fall, about 1.5 million Surface RTs have been sold and 400,000 Surface Pros over the month since it’s been available, according to estimates by Microsoft watchers. Microsoft itself isn’t giving out solid numbers.

That has led some to speculate that Surface might have been an example to demonstrate the possibilities of Windows 8, but that would be short lived as a product line.

Here’s the text of the Microsoft job ad:
“Are you passionate about building cool devices and technologies? The Surface Team focuses on building devices that fully express the Windows vision. A fundamental part of our strategy is having desirable and powerful devices that enable the experiences people want, and elicit their excitement. Creating these devices involves a close partnership between hardware and software engineers, designers, and manufacturing.

“The Model Shop Team is looking for a highly skilled and creative person to fill this role.

“Required Skills and Knowledge:
We are looking for a candidate who is an accomplished and well-rounded Model Maker in all the different disciplines of model making, from traditional model making to CNC to Rapid Prototyping.

“Candidate must have an excellent interpersonal skill as you will be working and collaborating with our existing team of Model Makers.

“You must be able to use dependencies including CAD data, artwork graphics in order to deliver high quality models and prototypes.

“Person may take on projects from end to end, utilizing internal and/or external resources to ensure quality deliverable. Person must be a creative problem solver and have the ability to make resolute decisions.

• 5 years model making experience
• Machining skills using vertical mills, lathes and other machine tool equipment.
• Soft Tool casting
• Finishing including painting and coatings
• Excellent motor skills for precise hand finishing of models and a keen eye for quality
• Minimum of BA in ID or Model Making, or an equivalent in experience
• Working knowledge of CAM programming and CNC machining
• Working knowledge of CAD, including Pro/E or Solid Works

Desired Skills:
• Knowledge of rapid prototyping technology including Objet 3D Printers.
• CAM programming using WorkNC.”

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Also: Windows RT gets dissed, iPads beware Windows 8

There are now more than 50,000 Windows 8-only applications available in the Windows Store, a big jump from when Windows 8 launched, but a far cry from what the company projected just before the launch.

According to the website MetroStore Scanner, the store has 50,341 apps on the shelves, finally reaching that number over the weekend after more or less growing steadily at 10% per month since last October. There was a spike in December perhaps as part of the Christmas rush.

ANALYSIS: What if Windows 8 flops?
But back in October Microsoft predicted it would have an inventory of more than 100,000 by the end of January, and now nearly two months later has just half that has materialized.

It’s bad news for Windows 8 and Microsoft because by the company’s own admission applications designed for the touch-friendly operating system are essential for attracting customers to it. Compelling apps mean more converts.

Getting apps has proven a challenge, with the latest enticement being an offer of $100 to developers for every Windows 8 app they get placed in the Windows Store up to 10. They can reap the bounty for an additional 10 Windows Phone 8 apps in the Windows Phone Store. “Offer good only to the first 10,000 qualified applications published in the Windows Store and/or Windows Phone Store, or until the end of the promotional period, whichever comes first,” Microsoft says.

That’s $1 million Microsoft is ponying up to stimulate apps development in this promotion alone. That doesn’t include the cost of developer trainings and a generous royalty agreement for the most popular applications.

While 50,000 apps is a benchmark, it’s coming too late for it to be considered a positive benchmark.

Jettison Windows RT?
Meanwhile, Microsoft is using the same Windows Store stats to defend Windows RT, the hardware/software platform based on ARM chips that runs a light version of Windows 8 and can handle only Windows Store Modern applications.

Windows RT came under fire recently from IDC, which suggested Microsoft dump the package. It is intended to compete with iPads, but hasn’t made strong inroads so far. Nevertheless, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows planning told CNET that “as the number of apps grow in the store, that value promise only gets stronger.”

That value promise was based on a narrow set of circumstances. “Let’s say you drop that PC in a pool. Well, you get a new one and then you just redownload [the apps],” he told CNET. “That’s the kind of model people are used to with a phone or tablet today. I can maintain all the apps in the [Microsoft] store and reset with a single switch. So, on Windows RT, the user experience stays consistent over time.”

iPads beware
Despite the attack on Windows RT, the full Windows 8 software that supports any app that runs on Windows 7 is getting praised as an operating system for tablets.

Moor Insights and Strategy says in a whitepaper that Windows 8 tablets offer more than one advantage over Apple’s tablet. “Enterprise IT can and are deploying iPads but are doing so at an increased cost, time and complexity than PCs,” the paper says.

These tablets are PCs only without the keyboard, and so have a the manageability of a laptop with the touch centricity of Windows 8. The Intel Clover Trail processor gives the devices performance per watt that is comparable to that of the iPad, the paper says. “Through the combination of Intel Clover Trail and Windows 8, HP, Dell and Lenovo have created tablets that take the best the consumer elements of the iPad and adds to it enterprise features IT wants in their next generation tablets,” it says. “Enterprises should immediately evaluate the latest enterprise tablet offerings from HP, Dell and Lenovo and make their decisions on future deployments incorporating those additional options.”

Acer likes Windows 8
Acer President Jim Wong had some nice things to say about Windows 8 tablets recently during a financials conference call.

According to StreetInsider.com, Wong expects sales of tablets in general to pick up over the course of 2013.

According to the website, “More importantly, Wong said that momentum in Microsoft Windows 8 devices has been improving. Acer Chairman J.T. Wang echoed the sentiment during the company’s conference call, saying that Microsoft “has done some good things finally” to revitalize the Windows ecosystem.”

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People who have plans of entering the field of technology must think of ways on how they can excel in the competitive and challenging world of this industry. Getting Microsoft  MB7-700 is a brilliant idea to increase ones chances to succeed. Microsoft  MB7-700 are a sure way to have a lucrative and successful career in this field. If you are an IT professional, it can be your ticket to MB7-700 success.
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Though true artificial intelligence remains futuristic in terms of practical applications, use of computers to augment our own perception of the world is pushing more prominently into view, with commercials already suggesting ways to overlay information on what we see. With augmented reality (AR) being developed to take advantage of cloud, mobile, big data and social technology — Gartner’s “nexus of forces” — is it possible AR could become a fifth component of the nexus?

AR is generally defined as a direct or indirect view of a real-world environment that is augmented in some way by computer generated input. This means your view of the world around you can be enhanced by external information as desired.

The concept itself is not really new. In fact, most people are familiar with some common uses. In football on TV, for example, the yellow first down line you see on the screen is an example of AR that has been in use for several years. However, this is not the kind of AR that promises to change the world as we know it.

AR relies on different aspects of developing technologies such as GPS, computer vision and object recognition. As such, as we see advancements in these technologies, AR stands to benefit along with them.
Mobile, cloud, big data and social tech

Intel researchers have been working on new processors for smartphones and tablets partially in anticipation of demand for AR capabilities and the power they will require. As technology makes its push into cloud computing, however, this may not even be necessary.

Google recently released the Google Goggles application, which allows users to search the Web based on an image captured using the camera in their smartphone. While this does not exactly constitute the sort of real-time AR that has the tech world talking, it does show AR can make strides toward its true potential through the cloud. As with many consumer technologies these days, mobility is the key to success. Devices supporting AR will have to be light on hardware to appeal to a mobile market, which means that the heavy lifting and storage will have to be accessed via network.

The Google Glass project — a computer worn as glasses — may be the general public’s introduction to cloud-based AR. Consumer models of the glasses are expected to make their debut sometime in 2014. Users will wear a small headband with a clear display positioned over one eye. It will record things from your environment such as conversations and images and store them in Google’s cloud. From this input, Google can provide relevant information from its search engine or Google+. [Also see: "Google Glass: A lot of hype but little information"]

However, if many people used this, the amount of data generated would be astounding. The development of big data capabilities over the next decade predicted by IT researchers will play an important role in these grand-scale AR projects as providers seek to store increasingly data-rich media from the input. On the back end, the size of the database required to provide relevant information in enough contexts for AR overlays to have mass appeal, will not be modest. Image recognition for something as simple as a company logo on the Web requires scanning through petabytes of data. Already requiring several petabytes, AR endeavors like Google Glass could quickly push storage requirements into the next few data measurement units — exabytes, zettabytes or even yottabytes.

Google is not the only contender in AR, though. Other companies are looking at ways to integrate AR by utilizing cloud and social technology. For example, NEC Biglobe and Vuzix teamed up to develop AR glasses focused on recognizing people’s faces and pairing the information up with their Facebook and Twitter accounts. AR applications in social technology like this will appeal to the masses, but businesses will also likely find interest as they increasingly utilize less public social technologies such as Salesforce’s Chatter.

It may be too early to say how large a role AR will play in the next few years, but tools that can boost profits are bound for success. AR developers are certainly keeping big business in mind.
Commerce

As AR develops, the most visible utilization will be in commerce. AR can facilitate a 3D view of a product traditionally advertised in 2D. Lego has already been using AR to allow people to get a preview of what is inside the boxes on shelves. Several other retailers are also looking at ways to integrate AR content into catalogues and magazines.

Retailers may also use AR to supplement what customers see in their stores with additional online options. Details and specifications for products can also be made readily available through AR.

In the office, AR could be used to increase the effectiveness of collaborative efforts by allowing teams to meet in person or virtually while viewing and manipulating a single set of data. Companies like Gravity Jack have already developed an indoor AR office. If this could be accessed via the cloud, it could potentially bring the bring your own device (BYOD) revolution to an entirely new level.

Augmented reality business cards are also becoming more common as people find it an engaging and more useful way to share business information (the amount of information you can make available this way is vastly greater). An AR business card has an image that, when read by a mobile device with a camera, can display everything from a headshot to a resume, LinkedIn account information, personalized video, etc. [Also see: "Slideshow: Techie business cards"]

AR has yet to prove itself in business software, but with the growing BYOD trend and the natural tendency for businesses to incorporate software that increases efficiency, AR will likely be considered as long as its progression stays on track with its promise.

Nichols is a systems analyst with a passion for writing. His interest in computers began when Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a regulation chess tournament. When Nichols isn’t drawing up diagrams and flow charts, he writes for BMC, leading supplier of cloud software solutions.

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VERITAS Certification, VERITAS Examand over 2000+
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Any of the above and other unlisted reasons can be reason for BKF file corruption. The BKF files once corrupted cannot be used or accessed normally.

The importance of backup file is known to any user and the user with higher concern about data security and who know the limitations with NTbackup utility in Windows will employ VERITAS backup facility. But realizing the fact that the VERITAS via stored BKF data is also prone to corruption is hard for the user. As the BKF file formed by both the NTbackup and VERITAS will not be restored with any system inbuilt facility.

VERITAS Backup Recovery Software: Need of the Time
The corruption and inaccessibility of the BKF files and unavailability of inbuilt facility to repair corrupted BKF files always disturbs the user, but here is solution that can be utilized for backup recovery, with perfection and comfort. Installing VERITAS backup recovery tool BKF is one option that is proved as a successful solution to get data back from the BKF file that are corrupted. VERITAS backup recovery BKF repair tool should be selected as there are so many tools which carries the label of backup recovery tool, but perform none.

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IDC: Windows 8 a factor in lower 2012 PC sales
Better acceptance of Windows 8 could help a PC rebound later this year

The final numbers are in showing that PC makers shipped fewer machines last year than in 2011, and Windows 8 is among several factors being blamed by IDC for the decline, which is expected to continue this year.

Looking back IDC found that in 2012 total worldwide shipments of PCs was down 3.7%, including desktop and portable PCs.

The trend was worse in mature markets — the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and Japan — with a dip of 4%. Emerging markets — Asia/Pacific, Latin America the Middle East and Africa — were down 1.4%.

Limited interest in Windows 8 led last year to a dismal fourth quarter, IDC says in its latest Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Volume dropped 8.3% in Q4 2012 compared to Q4 2011, wiping out a potential bump during the normally robust holiday sales quarter, IDC says. That’s the largest drop ever recorded for a holiday season.

IDC described the reception of Windows 8, which launched in October, as “underwhelming.” Also contributing to the slow fourth quarter were tight IT budgets and a continuing poor world economy.

Hurting the potential lift that Windows 8 might have provided was the lack of components for touchscreen devices — the type of machine Windows 8 was designed to work best on. That makes the touchscreen devices that are available seem expensive compared to non-touch devices, IDC says.

Still, Windows 8 could help PC sales rebound somewhat late this year, says Rajani Singh, a research analyst at IDC. “IDC expects the second half of 2013 to regain some marginal momentum partly as a rubber band effect from 2012, and largely thanks to the outcome of industry restructuring, better channel involvement, and potentially greater acceptance of Windows 8,” he says. But it still won’t be enough to register growth; IDC projects worldwide PC sales in 2013 to drop another 1.3%.

The end of support for Windows XP should force more PC upgrades later this year as well, which could help bolster shipments later in 2013, Singh says.

The study doesn’t include tablets because they aren’t the functional equivalents of PCs, but their popularity among consumers helps siphon off dollars that otherwise might be spent on PCs, says Loren Loverde, vice president for Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “Growth in emerging regions has slowed considerably, and we continue to see constrained PC demand as buyers favor other devices for their mobility and convenience features,” Loverde says.

Long-term shipments of PCs shows better but still modest growth, the report says, projecting a 9% increase between 2012 and the end of 2017.

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Windows 8 Update: Supply-challenged Surface Pros to go on sale in 6 more countries
Also: Windows 8 upgrade rumored for summer, more Windows 8 ads queued, deals on Windows 8 machines

Microsoft has run out of Windows Surface Pro tablets twice in a month but is forging ahead with plans to make them available in six more countries.

According to today’s Surface blog the six countries are Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan. The Surface Pro and Surface RT will be available there “in the coming months.”

With luck the supply of the machines will be better in these countries than it has been in the U.S. and Canada, where Microsoft has run out of Surface Pros twice. Microsoft hasn’t spelled out the reasons for the shortages.

“We are focused on meeting demand in current markets for Surface Pro and are working super hard to get new inventory into retail but recognize demand exists in other countries as well,” the blog post says. “We are committed to working with our retail partners to ensure we are delivering a great experience in the above mentioned countries for our customers.”

More promos
“Microsoft is about to embark on a second wave of Windows 8 client hardware promotions and user education,” according to a Computerworld article from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The story quotes Christopher Flores, director of communications for the Windows client division, who was interviewed at the show, where Microsoft is said to be keeping a low profile but meeting with partners off-site.

This new promotional wave might have something to do with the launch this week of Office 365, which has been redesigned for the touch capabilities that are such a key part of Windows 8. Demonstrating new Office features that Windows 8 supports better than Windows 7 might move some customers to accelerate their decisions to adopt the new operating system.

Windows Blue
Rumors have swirled for weeks that Microsoft is working on Windows Blue, the next iteration if its operating system. If the company follows past release patterns, this won’t be the major transformation that Windows 8 was. More likely it will represent what might be called a service pack in earlier Windows operating system releases.

There’s even a projected date for when Windows Blue (that’s just a code name) will reach the release-to-manufacturer stage: June 7, according to a post on a Chinese-language site that was discovered by Mary Jo Foley.

The site, Win8China, doesn’t attribute where it got its information, but seems to assert that Windows Blue will become the commercial version by the end of the summer. It’s hard to tell exactly from the translation of the site provided by Google Chrome.

Here’s how the translation reads, in part: “The development cycle time RTM version completed in the mid-term of 2013 (the beginning of the end of June -7), MSDN and other users will then use the priority, and then in August it will be open to all Win8 user upgrade download, as well as pre-installed into the new devices inside a PC, Tablet PC, laptop, ultra-extreme.”

Windows 8 tablet discount
Best Buy is knocking $100 off any Windows 8 touchscreen laptop, which in some cases represents an 18% discount.

Some people have linked the sale to the rumored availability of Windows Blue this summer, leading them to conclude that Best Buy is trying to unload current Windows 8 machines before the new version makes them obsolete.

Or the chain might have overstocked Windows 8 tablets and wants to clear its inventory. Or it might be getting ready to stock up on newer hardware due out later this year that blends features of tablets and laptops.

Windows 8 for dunking
Speaking of new hardware, Fujitsu is coming out with a Windows 8 tablet that can sit in a tub of water for half an hour and still work when it gets out.

It’s called Arrows Tab Q582/F and is on display at the Mobile World Congress. It costs about $1,350 to start.

Here’s how Fujitsu describes it: “With the terminal cap and slot cap tightly closed, IPX5 and IPX8 water resistance features protect the tablet from water damage. IPX5 designation indicates that the tablet can normally function after being sprayed with water from a nozzle with a diameter of 6.3 mm at a rate of 12.5 liters per minute from a distance of approximately 3 meters for a period of at least 3 minutes. The IPX8 designation indicates that the tablet will function normally after being immersed in room-temperature tap water to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. When the terminal cap and slot caps are tightly closed IP5X dust resistance features protect the tablet from dust damage. IP5X indicates that the tablet can be left in an environment with dust particles with a diameter of 75 µm or less for 8 hours and still function and remain safe to use.”

Windows 8 Pro mobile phone
A company called i-mate says it is coming out with a mobile phone that runs the full Windows 8 Pro operating system. That’s Windows 8, not Windows Phone 8.

When it comes out later this year, it can be purchased with a docking kit that hooks the device into a desktop phone, monitor, keyboard and mouse. The kit includes a tablet driven wirelessly by the phone, which is called Intelegent.

As a standalone, Intelegent costs $750; with the kit, $1,500 and the company hopes to launch the products this summer.

All of this is according to a column in the Seattle Times.

A company spokesman says an i-mate team is at Mobile World Congress this week and couldn’t do an interview. “The i-mate Development Inc. team is busy at Mobile World Congress. We’ll reach out if they become available at a later date,” he spokesman says in an email.

The spokesman also says the Seattle Times column is accurate on details about the phone.

It will be interesting to see whether this device actually comes into being, what its battery life will be (driving an Intel Clover Trail processor) and whether the company can line up service providers that will support it.

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Microsoft Technical Training Courses

Vendor certifications play an important part in the IT world, and Microsoft sets the industry standard. Training to gain proficiency in Microsoft products and technology allows professionals to get up to speed on the essential tools that hiring managers value today. Whether students come to technical training programs after completing a degree program or on their own, Microsoft technical courses offer a valuable service–so valuable, in fact, that the software giant claims its certification reduces downtime by 20 percent and makes teams 28 percent more productive.

Microsoft BizTalk Server Training Courses
Microsoft BizTalk Server training can help the pros connect with the skills necessary for an enterprise career. With BizTalk Server courses, IT personnel can explore the uses of this integration server for business tasks like multi-channel interactions, supply chain visibility and decision-support/reporting.

Microsoft Visual Studio Training Courses
Microsoft Visual Studio training prepares students for IT careers as professionals who build, test and debug software solutions. Developers can use this platform to launch or build an advanced career in enterprise applications analysis and systems management.

Microsoft Exchange Server Training Courses
Enterprise communications are of vital importance to today’s business world, and professionals with Microsoft Exchange Server training can provide employers with peace of mind about messaging and mail server administration.

Visual Basic .NET Training Courses
A core component of Microsoft Visual Studio, VB.NET returns to prominence as companies prepare to move custom applications to the cloud.

ASP.NET Training Courses

Once reserved for the likes of Fortune 500 companies, Microsoft’s ASP.NET platform has reached a wider group of employers who demand skilled Web developers.

Microsoft SQL Server Training Courses

With such diverse applications, Microsoft SQL Server training and certification can help IT pros prove their value to a variety of different enterprises.

Microsoft Dynamics Training Courses

From simple CRM to advanced ERP, it pays to make the most of Microsoft Dynamics. Learn about some of the training and certification options available for this software.

.NET Training Courses

Developers with .NET training are among the most in-demand pros in today’s competitive job market. Explore how .NET courses can make a difference in your IT career.

Who is best suited for Microsoft technical training?
Students come to technical training programs from a range of backgrounds. Many are adding on to existing training and degree experience, while others pair training with work experience. Some students come back to training to bring their knowledge up to date or explore new career paths. Students are often self-motivated and interested in advancing their current careers or taking their job futures in a new direction.

Which professions require Microsoft training?
Microsoft reports that 75 percent of managers in an IDC survey believe certifications are important to team performance. Because of this, workers trained in Microsoft products and technologies are found across a range of businesses. Take a look at the mean annual wages from 2009 for a few popular careers in the field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Network and computer systems administrators: $70,930
Computer systems analysts: $80,430
Computer support specialists: $47,360
Computer programmers: $74,690

While no training or certification can guarantee a particular career or salary, hiring managers are often looking for educational experience and proof of high-level skills, and Microsoft training works to provide just that.

Popular technical certification exams
While it’s not usually required to log training hours, a little formal training can mean the difference between passing and failing a costly certification exam. Consider the following certification exams offered through Microsoft:

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Basic certification for individuals looking for proof of in-depth mastery in a particular technology, such as .NET Framework, BizTalk Server, and Small Business Server 2008. ($125)
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA): Intermediate certification for those looking for proof of knowledge within network and systems environments. ($500)
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): Advanced certification for individuals hoping to design and implement server infrastructure. Candidates must pass seven exams on networking systems, operating systems and core design. ($875)

Other certification exams include Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP), Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) and Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA). The Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) is the highest level of certification, and requires 10 years of experience, 5 years of architectural experience and a $5,125 fee.

Some topics covered by Microsoft technical training
.NET: This framework allows developers to apply their work across many devices, including phone, browser, server, client and cloud
Microsoft SQL Server: A powerful database management system. Editions include Enterprise, Web, Workgroup and Fast Track
Microsoft Dynamics: Offering enterprise resource management and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions
Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET): An evolution of the standard Visual Basic programming language, including object-oriented programming
Microsoft Exchange Server: Business email and contacts across devices, including phone, browser and PC
Microsoft Windows: Family of operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Server: Manage IT needs, security, applications platforms and more
Microsoft BizTalk Server: Integrate systems between businesses and communicate flawlessly with a range of devices
Microsoft Visual Studio: Integrated development environment that ensures quality code through the application’s lifecycle
ASP.NET: Web application framework designed to help programmers build dynamic websites

With a host of certifications available for a host of products, Microsoft technical training can boost an existing or be the first step in a new career in IT.

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Microsoft Systems Engineer Certificate or MCSE 2012 is the foundation certification for IT professional who is in working in the Microsoft environment. The main concept of certification is to help any IT professional to go with the changes of technology. When you are certified in Microsoft, it offers you an amazing career opportunity.

MCSE 2012 is considered as a foundation certification for more specialized and advanced certifications. One of the basic requirements of MCSE 2012 certification is the candidate should have at least 1 year experience in the field of implementing and managing network operating system. Moreover, an experience in the client operating system and designing network infrastructure is also ideal. In order to obtain the certification, the candidate should pass the exam successfully. There are actually four basic examinations required that consists of operating systems, design skill as well as 2 elective examination. As this includes several topics, the candidate must study well to prepare for this exam.

MCSE 2012 training is a very essential means for one to pass for this certification. There are lots of programs offered online, which offer study guides that can help you pass the exam efficiently. This training may require the candidate to spend his time and energy as well as money to attend the classroom-based training. If the candidate does not have the time to attend MSCE training, he or she can also pursue online MCSE 2012 certification training

Another essential way to prepare and pass the required certification exam for you to get the MCSE 2012 certificate is by pursuing the MCSE 2012 boot camp. In this type of training, the student will able to focus on the training for the reason that they have not been allowed to go home for several days. Usually, meals and lodging are provided, of course you need to pay for this. Boot camps are typically intensive training, it is daily and till late night. This will help the student to focus on preparing for the MCSE 2012 exam effectively.

As experience and knowledge about networking and operating system are needed, the candidate should able to have enough understanding of this field before you can pass the certification exam.

MCSE 2012 is an amazing ticket for your success in this field. It requires sheer determination and perseverance when preparing for the reason that if you don’t have these qualities, it would be very difficult for you to pass the exam effectively. Knowing the requirements and how to prepare for this certification is essential.

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Hortonworks expects its Windows version of Hadoop will feature full feature parity with the Linux version

Hortonworks is bringing the popular open-source Apache Hadoop data processing platform to Microsoft shops.

The company has released a beta version of its Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) Hadoop distribution for Windows and expects to release the final, enterprise-ready version in the months to come.

HDP is “the first and only distribution of Hadoop available on both Linux and Windows,” said David McJannet, Hortonworks vice president of marketing.

According to McJannet, Hortonworks heard a lot of demand from potential customers for a Hadoop distribution that would run on the Microsoft platform.

“The real catalyst is, frankly, market demand. The significant majority of the servers running in the enterprise today are running Windows Server,” McJannet said. “We’ve seen significant interest from our customers towards using Hadoop on the platform that they rely on for their critical applications.”

Hortonworks and Microsoft have been porting the software to Windows over the past 18 months, as well as testing the software for enterprise use, McJannet said. The HDP distribution consists of a set of different software programs — including HDFS, MapReduce, Hive, Pig and others. Like the Linux version, the Windows HDP will be available as open source “so others can benefit and extend the work that we have done,” McJannet said.

Going forward, Hortonworks will release new versions of the HDP in both Linux and Windows. This first Windows beta version is based on the HDP 1.1 codebase.

Initially, the Windows beta does not have feature parity with the Linux version, though it does have all the “core components” to run Hadoop, McJannet said. But it does not include the Ambari set of management tools. Over time, however, Hortonworks does plan to duplicate all the features on the Windows version.

Hortonworks expects that the kind of workloads run on the Windows platform will be similar to those run on Linux, in terms of size and scope. “We fully anticipate some of the largest deployments of Hadoop could well be on Windows,” McJannet said.

The distribution does not support running a mixture of Windows nodes and Linux nodes in the same deployment. Deployments should be all in one OS or another. “In practice, we’d expect homogeneity across the infrastructure, though we’d have to wait and see how that pattern emerges,” McJannet said.

Over time, Microsoft will provide more support in other software products, most notably System Center, for organizations that want to move Windows Hadoop workloads in between their own data centers and a Microsoft Azure cloud service, said Herain Oberoi, Microsoft director of product marketing in the company’s server and tools division.

As of press time, Hortonworks hasn’t finalized the versions of Windows Servers upon which HDP will run, though the beta will run on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012. The product will not run on Windows desktop versions.

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