IT/Dev Connections 2014 Speaker Highlight: Dieter Wijckmans

Part of an ongoing series, we're highlighting the excellent speakers selected by the community to present phenomenal and extremely valuable content at IT/Dev Connections 2014.

Today's speaker highlight is Dieter Wijckmans

Speaker's IT/Dev Connection sessions:

Running Operations Manager in the Cloud: Don't Let the Fog Blind You…

In this session we'll investigate the real benefits of running your Operations Manager environment in the cloud. Is it useful to do this? Is it expensive? What about SQL? I've gotten a lot of these questions during my onsite visits with clients who've already embraced the cloud in their environment. Check out this session to get a good view of the do's and don'ts and the pros and cons. Clear the fog around running Operations Manager in the cloud.

Can System Center Operations Manager Monitor Stuff Other than Windows?

Go beyond the borders of Windows machines and expand the horizon of System Center Operations Manager. You can monitor virtually anything from Operations Manager! In this session we'll explore cross-platform capabilities and beyond, such as getting data out of API applications and Linux machines. I'll showcase the fact that Operations Manager can be the heart of all your monitoring needs and even monitor your home if you have the correct connected devices. Join this session to open the door to getting everything in your console and letting Operations Manager become your central point of monitoring.

Recently, we asked Dieter to give us a little information about himself. Here's what he shared:

WITPRO: Give us a brief introduction to yourself.

Dieter: My name is Dieter Wijckmans. I’m a technology enthusiast based in Belgium (Europe) with a strong focus towards Microsoft System Center but healthy interest in other technologies. I’m working with System Center products for almost 5 years now. I specialized in Operations Manager and Service manager because of my ITIL background. During my 12 years in the IT industry I’ve visited a lot of customers with various procedures and needs to streamline their IT. It’s these visits that gained me the insights I use every day to examine and monitor the IT processes in the IT environment of my customers. I’m a true believer of the System Center Community as a great medium to get knowledge about the new trends and see different aspects of the products I love to use. The community was (and still is) a great help in the beginning of my wanders through the System Center products. As a board member of System Center User group Belgium (scug.be) I’m now giving back to that community via my blog (http://scug.be/dieter) and by speaking at events about my experiences. Apparently these contributions got noticed because in April 2014 I was rewarded with the Cloud and DataCenter Management MVP award.

WITPRO: Describe the sessions you are presenting and why you feel the topic is important.

Dieter: Session 1: Can SCOM monitor my non windows thingies?

During this session I’ll showcase the different options of monitoring non-windows platforms with Operations Manager. As I get in touch with a lot of companies I see that they have properly implemented monitoring on their Windows based environment with Operations Manager. Good! But there are still other tools floating around in the environment to monitor the non-windows platforms like Linux, Unix… Sometimes the support team just don’t know and other times it’s because the admins are afraid to let go of their systems. In this session I’ll go over the different options to monitor these non-windows systems to give you enough ammunition to get the admins convinced of the power of SCOM to become the one tool to monitor them all. We’ll talk about Linux, PowerShell to get data and I’ll even showcase how you can use these technologies to get data of devices where it’s not possible or allowed to install an agent. Heck I’m even monitoring my own home with SCOM right now!

Session 2: Running SCOM in the cloud. Don’t let the fog blind you.

This session started from a simple question I asked myself and apparently a lot of SCOM admins are asking themselves the same question: Can you run SCOM in the cloud… With new technologies approaching fast a lot of companies are looking towards the cloud to run their infrastructure. So is it possible to run the Operations manager infrastructure in the cloud as well? Is it a cost effective alternative or will it never leave the “hey look what I managed to do” atmosphere. In this session we’ll talk about the different scenarios and approaches you can use to install and maintain your operations manager environment in the cloud and we’ll go over the pro’s and cons of these different scenarios. When you’ll leave this session you’ll have a better, and hopefully clear, view on what’s possible when you get the same question of your manager: “is it possible and how much will it cost….”

WITPRO: What should attendees expect to be able to take away from your sessions?

Dieter: Session 1: The attendees will hopefully have a better understanding about Operations Manager’s ability to monitor much more than just the Microsoft products. They will have a better knowledge that SCOM has a solid framework of getting custom data in and you are in control of monitoring your environment as long as you can get a value from something you can monitor it.

Session 2: The attendees will have a more clear understanding whether running Operations Manager in the cloud is beneficial for them and their environment. Whether it’s running it entirely in the cloud or just extending to the cloud it always has to be a functional cost effective way of working. You are sometimes limited by technology but most of the time by your own knowledge of it.

WITPRO: What is your primary reason to be excited about IT Connections?

Dieter: The fact that this is not a specific tech conference but a mixture of different technologies will give it a broader approach and audience. It will be a challenge and an opportunity at the same time to showcase the technology and its possibilities in a comprehensive way for all attendees.

WITPRO: What is the one key technology you believe is changing IT right now?

Dieter: That must be the Azure cloud and the way that Microsoft products are no longer limited to Microsoft platforms. It’s a real cool thing to see that a lot of cloud services for business and consumers are now made available anytime, anywhere on any platform. Whether it’s a Mac, Android, Windows tablet you have all your files / mails at your fingertips. I don’t believe that this shift in technology will threaten the ITPRO as such. It will just give them more time to focus on the real stuff instead of building and maintaining the platform.

WITPRO: Do you think Satya Nadella can rebuild Microsoft into a Cloud powerhouse?

Dieter: This shift was already started. It’s now indeed a more clear strategy of Microsoft to go all-in on Cloud. I believe that the approach inside Microsoft was already started but is now more actively marketed to the outside world. Time will tell whether the Cloud powerhouse was a good way to go but I’m convinced it will have a significant role in the near future and we’ll see how this new balance will turn out in the long term. By choosing to support other platforms for Microsoft products like office 365 and OneDrive Microsoft is more and more embracing the users of other platforms and hence creating a broader user base.

WITPRO: To get to know the real you, give us one thing about yourself you believe will be of most interest to attendees.

Dieter: I’m a real community guy. I like to share my knowledge and see how this is beneficial for everyone in the room and the readers of my blog. I always try to put a little humor in my sessions and love to interact with the audience.

Last but not least I live by my motto to get things done: “It’s doing common things uncommonly well that brings success…

IT/Dev Connections runs from September 15 – 19, at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas. IT/Dev Connections has been designed specifically for IT.

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Windows, System Center, and Cloud Sessions

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