Microsoft will formally launch its long-awaited Systems Management Server 2003 next month at an IT event in Europe. SMS 2003 will debut during Microsoft IT Forum 2003, Nov. 11-14. The focus of the second annual show is management and messaging. About 3,000 European IT professionals are expected at this year's event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
SMS 2003 is Microsoft's change and configuration management product for Windows. Changes to SMS 2003 include simplified application deployment, improved asset management, new security patch management, mobile support for laptops and tighter integration with Windows Management Services.
Siemens Information and Communication Networks Monday will become the latest call center vendor to announce tight integration with the Microsoft CRM application. Competitors Avaya and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories also are working on similar strategies, which they trumpeted late last week at Microsoft's partner conference in New Orleans.
Those features include automated screen pops that trigger customer records when an incoming call arrives and brings them into view, a routing mechanism that uses customer information to route calls to specific service representatives, and conferencing functionality that lets call center representatives determine whether a colleague is available and enables them to add them to a customer service call.
I just got this beta insider info from Ditto...
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Welcome to the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Beta Program! We are very excited about what Reporting Services has to offer, and hope you are as well. We consider your participation in this beta as absolutely critical to our success, so please accept our welcome!
The Beta is READY!!!!
The beta is ready to go! Please visit www.betaplace.com and download "Reporting Services Beta 2" file.
By the way - the code name for SQL Server Reporting Services is "Rosetta". You may occasionally see some of us slipping and using the code name.
Can't Download?
If you have a low-speed connection or firewall issues prevent you from downloading these files, you may request a CD by sending mail to ?????@microsoft.com (you must include your Beta ID and mailing address). CDs are not sent to anyone by default, they must be specifically requested.
Newsgroups
The entire Reporting Services development team is monitoring the newsgroups just dying to hear your feedback. I can't begin to relay the excitement in the team that they are finally getting this into your hands. So, please take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions and get to know the Rosetta team.
Filing Bugs
This is a beta - so we expect you to find bugs in the product. When you come across a bug, please use the bug reporting form at www.betaplace.com to report it to us. Please include as much information as possible about the bug - can you reproduce it, what are the steps to reproduce it, do you lose data, what were you trying to do when this happened? Often the hardest part of fixing a bug is reproducing it, so a good detailed report helps. If you have product improvement suggestions, we would love to hear those as well. You can use the same Bug Reporting Form for suggestions, just be sure to categorize it as "Suggestion/Wish".
Getting Started
That's it! Get started! We look forward to seeing you on the newsgroups!
The Longhorn edition of Microsoft's Windows operating system is at least two years away--but the company is revealing some details on how it intends to create a smooth transition from today's Windows PCs. One of the most significant enhancements to Longhorn is a data storage system called WinFS, technology designed to make information easier to find and view. Clearing up long-standing confusion, a Microsoft senior vice president said that WinFS will work with--not replace--the existing file system in Windows, called NTFS, when WinFS debuts in late 2005 or 2006.
In an effort to snag more of the U.S. broadband market, Microsoft said Tuesday that it is going to offer a high-speed video player across its MSN network for free. MSN Video will use the company's Windows Media 9 Series technology, with the same on-screen interface and Windows Media 9 Series Player controls across the MSN network. It will be completely supported by revenue generated from video advertising services and contextual ads, Microsoft said.
The service is currently in beta and will be exclusively offered in the U.S.
Content offerings from NBC News and MSNBC.com will be available at launch, with plans to add other content providers shortly. Consumers will be able to access the content on-demand, condense programs, combine shows and play back-to-back video from multiple sources, Microsoft said.
Bill Gates took center stage at Telecom World 2003 to tell a nearly packed auditorium that Microsoft aims to equip enterprises, carriers and individuals with technology to bridge the PC and mobile worlds more easily, efficiently and, above all, securely. Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, speaking Monday at the International Telecommunication Union-organized event, zeroed in on what has clearly emerged as the main theme of the Geneva show -- mobility. His message was that software is vital not only to power the PC and mobile worlds but also to bridge them. And Microsoft, which spends several billion dollars annually on research and development, will invest heavily in mobility software platforms moving ahead.
Microsoft's Content Management Server has found a new home in the company. The CMS team is being folded into the SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) group, Microsoft sources confirmed Monday.
"It just makes sense. This is based on customer feedback [and] analyst feedback. The two [products] are closely aligned, so it makes sense to align them organizationally," one Microsoft source said.
Last week, Microsoft announced the availability of integration software, code-named Spark to link the current releases of the portal server (and Windows SharePoint Services) and CMS.
Tablet PC 2.0 is on its way. With the one year anniversary of Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system approaching in November, several PC makers have released or will soon release new tablet PC models designed around the OS.
Hewlett-Packard led the pack, launching its HP Compaq Tablet TC1100 on Monday. Meanwhile, Acer is working on a big-screen tablet PC, which recently appeared on its Web site, and several other manufacturers are said to be working on new models as well.
Microsoft the world's largest software maker, on Monday called on telecom companies to tap new revenue streams with its software as it stepped up efforts to muscle into a $250 billion market. Chairman Bill Gates secured a keynote speech ahead of Arun Sarin, the chief of top mobile phone firm Vodafone Group Plc, at the ITU Telecom World 2003 trade fair in Geneva, to tout his wares. His message was clear: that software is vital to the health of the telecommunications industry as it emerges from one of its most precipitous downturns ever.
Microsoft senior executive Paul Flessner gave attendees at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference here Friday a taste of the future by laying out a product roadmap that included Yukon and Longhorn.
Yukon, the next version of Microsoft's SQL Server database, is slated for a late 2004 release; Longhorn, the next Windows update, will be released in both the client and Longhorn Office editions in 2005, with Windows Longhorn Server due in 2006; and another SQL Server release, code-named Arcadia, is due in 2006 and beyond.
In his keynote address, Flessner, a senior vice president at Microsoft, also said the company will offer a free add-on next year for users of its Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition, known as BizTalk Server 2004 Partner Edition.