Event Info 2015_3: Microsoft Ignite

May4-8, 2015
Chicago, IL
McCormick Place Convention Center

Make sure you attend this event in Chicago if you are curious about where technology is heading.
It is the technology conference of the year and do not miss it.

An earlier posting here:
http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2014/12/microsoft-ignite-2015-is-announced.html

Review the sessions list here, 365 in all:
http://ignite.microsoft.com/Sessions#fbid=xLhDyuK-AHn

One of the interesting topics is about Skype. How is it going to evolve? How is it going to work with Office 265 and Lync? Understand diffeerent topologies for Skype. For this and other interesting topics ther arre some 24 sessions.

If you are focused on Internet of Things, I am afaid there are only 3 sessions. Could they ignite you???

Bulk of the sessions, some 123 of them focus on Office 365 and SharePoint. With SharePoint Server 2016 docking in 2016 it looks like SharePoint is here to stay. There is going to be a demo of an early version according to Redmond Magazine.
http://redmondmag.com/articles/2015/02/19/sharepoint-server-2016-ignite.aspx

Watch this promo video from Microsoft:

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Lync lassos a lot of Microsoft stuff

Microsoft most recently released Lync (17 Nov, 2010). Download a free version here (http://www.lync.com). It's a communication software consisting of Servers and Clients that helps users to connect and stay connected in new ways wherever they are with a single client interface. It is managed quite simply integrated with Active Directory.

Some major features from Microsoft documentation reproduced here:

Secure IM Messaging:

(MSN,Yahoo,WindowsLive,AOL). Presence Status such  as available/busy supported.

Conferencing:
IM Conferencing: Audio and Web Conferencing; Application Sharing; Impromptu as well as scheduling. Dial-in is also OK through PSTN. Automatic scaling (from few users to thousands) very much like a cloud service.

VOIP also known as Enterprise Voice:
IM, Collaboration etc. Full service including call answer, hold, forward, transfer etc

Remote users support:
Remote users outside company firewalls supported with Edge Servers. This also helps federation with partners and vendors

Integration:
Integration with other Microsoft products such as Outlook 2010,Exchange, Office and SharePoint 2010. Outlook will have a hear audio message button.

Easy deployment: 
Wizard driven Planning tool(Prelease version) and Topology builder

Simply Managed:
Active Directory Managed;
Control Panel Management GUI;
Command line support leveraging Windows Powershell

Servers and Clients alike need recommneded 64-Bit CPU