UK events roundup: SharePoint, CRM, Longhorn and more

Microsoft and its partners have a busy event schedule in March and here is a selection of highlights.

First up, Gold Partner ICS Solutions presents “A Strategic Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint 2007” at its .NET Solutions Campus in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on March 13. This free half-day series of seminars will cover all the key aspects of SharePoint 2007’s business benefits, as well as detailed technical demonstrations.

Presented by business and technical managers who understand SharePoint inside and out, the event is designed for both a business and technical audience.

More details and registration are at the website: http://www.icssolutions.co.uk/pages/Seminars%20and%20Workshops.aspx ICS

Core also presents a free SharePoint and Workflow seminar entitled “Create a Complete Picture of Your Business” at London’s City Conference Centre on March 14 which will cover all elements of SharePoint and K2 Workflow with live customer demonstrations.

Core was an original launch partner for SharePoint Portal Server and has been developing solutions based on the technology for more than six years. More details can be found on the Core website at http://www.core.gb.com/seminars/sps+seminar+14+mar+07.htm?MS_Events .

Staying in the capital, March 14 and 15 sees Microsoft’s TechNet team bring security and infrastructure author and speaker Jon Craddock to town for a two-day event that looks at security, Active Directory and disaster recovery.

As well as his consultancy work in the field, Craddock co-authored “Investigating and Managing Objects and Attributes for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003” which is part of the Active Directory Forestry series. He lectures internationally and has written and presented technical sessions at MTB, MEC, TechEd, Microsoft IT Forum, JDP and deployment conferences. For this event he is joined by his collaborator and co-author, Sally Storey.

Fees apply to this event, which is at the Novotel in Euston, and you can find out more at the Microsoft events website: http://www.microsoft.co.uk/Events/registermulti.aspx?event=JohnCraddockLondon

Later in the month, Quest Software presents “Exchange 2007, are you ready?”, a free seminar at the Microsoft Campus in Reading on March 27. This event has been added due to demand after touring Dublin, London, Leeds and Edinburgh. Quest has migrated more than 10 million mailboxes to Exchange and the half-day event will include sessions on assessing your Exchange 2007 readiness, options for migrating to Exchange 2007 (from 5.5, 2000, 2003, Notes or Groupwise) and managing the new environment.

More info and registration at Quest’s website: http://www.quest.com/events/ListDetails.aspx?ContentID=4907 .

Moving north of the border, Company Net addresses what is still one of the hottest tickets in IT with a showcase entitled “Driving Business Success Through CRM” at the company’s Edinburgh offices on March 30. This event encompasses products like NET, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Outlook and SharePoint Portal Server and its aim is to provide an insight into how Microsoft CRM can work “out of the box” or be adapted, customised and used as a development platform in any organisation.

More info at Company Net’s website: http://www.company-net.com/events.aspx .

Staying in Scotland, Quality Training is holding a number of its Dive Deeper Masterclasses covering Vista, Longhorn and Exchange throughout March in Inverness and Stirling, culminating in a Longhorn session in Stirling on March 23.

As Quality Training is headed up by Andy Malone, its events are well worth a look. Malone won a Speaker Idol award at TechEd in Barcelona back in November and, indeed, is something of a teachers’ teacher as he was recently invited to speak to an audience of 450 Microsoft Certified Trainers from 54 countries and his sessions on Longhorn reportedly went down a treat.

Fees apply. More info from the Quality Training website: http://www.quality-training.co.uk/Masterclass.htm .

Jim Stirling