TechNet Flash - Volume 12, Issue 15: July 28, 2010

Top Stories

ts1FindYourBest
Find Your Best Option for Creating Workflows

Workflows are core to business functions, and a key component of an enterprise-class collaboration platform is the ability to automate workflows. In this edition of TechNet ON, we examine various tools and procedures for building workflows in SharePoint 2010.

ts2DownloadWindows
Download Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta

IT professionals can now download Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta through the TechNet Evaluation Center. This combined service pack includes changes to both Windows platforms. The beta release is not available to home users.

Download Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Beta
Forefront Endpoint Protection simplifies and improves endpoint protection while greatly reducing infrastructure costs. It builds on System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, allowing customers to use their existing client management infrastructure to deploy and manage endpoint protection.

Video: SharePoint 2010 Features with Shane Young
Harold Wong discusses SharePoint 2010 features with Shane Young, founder and owner of SharePoint911.com. Their conversation covers Shane’s favorite SharePoint 2010 capabilities, such as Service Applications and improved search features -including fast search, scalability, multiple crawl servers, and query servers.

Microsoft Debuts Windows Azure Platform Appliance
Announced at the recent Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington D.C., the new Windows Azure Platform Appliance is a turnkey cloud platform that customers can deploy in their own datacenters, across hundreds to thousands of servers. The appliance hardware will be delivered by a variety of partners, and comprises Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and a Microsoft-specified configuration of network, storage, and server hardware.

Video: Overview of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 8
Hear an overview of the threat findings included in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 8 (SIRv8). In this Security Talk, Microsoft’s leading security experts and Khalid Kark, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, discuss topics such as security policy best practices and whether new software means fewer security vulnerabilities.

Get the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 CTP
You can now test a community technology preview of the next service pack for SQL Server 2008. The service pack contains the cumulative updates up to SQL Server 2008 SP1 cumulative update package 8, and fixes issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms. These updates include supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting.

Download System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal (SSP) 2.0
System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal (SSP) 2.0 lets you build the foundation for an on-premises cloud infrastructure, enabling you to deliver IT as a service for your organization. Using SSP, you can respond more effectively - and at lower cost - to the rapidly changing needs of your organization. SSP is freely available, and fully supported by Microsoft.

Download the Hyper-V Architecture Poster
Similar to the Windows Server 2008 R2 component poster, the Hyper-V poster is a great visual tool to help in the understanding of the key features and components.