Managing IT security is a constant exercise in the mitigation of risk, no sooner do you secure your organization against one particular threat, does a new one emerge that demands your attention. A security threat that could compromise your organisation’s data, privacy laws and resources. How do you keep up-to-date? How do you balance security versus productivity? We will help you understand the latest in attack trends and techniques, so that you can plan appropriately and implement effective measures to help mitigate risk. We will also provide you with an overview of the processes and technology available to you from Microsoft so you can improve your security while maintaining the level of openness and productivity that your organisation demands.

Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008 originally started as part of a single development project. With a significant number of common technologies in the platform, both operating system offer several new advancements across networking, storage, security, and management. Although many of these enhancements apply to either Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008, when organizations deploy both operting sytems, they will see how the combined client-server infrastructure provides even greater advantages. Organization will see immediate benefits when they deploy Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008 together. We will discuss these benefits that span across these 3 key scenarios; more efficient management, greater availability, and faster communication.

Explore all the new Visual Studio 2008 features, from language enhancements; improved designers; Web and smart-client development tools; to Visual Studio Team System, a suite of software lifecycle management tools poised to transform how you deliver software for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and the Web.

A discussion of Windows Server 2008 OS performance features, results and references. The session will cover the themes behind the performance investment on Windows Server 2008 and how they are applicable to real world scenarios. Some of the areas covered are File Serving, Networking advancements, Web and application serving, Virtualization, Terminal Services and general Scales-up advancements. Also discover how Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise enables you to build a highly available infrastructure. We give you an overview of the new and improved clustering architecture, describe new tools, migration strategies from Windows Server 2003, and demonstrate the improved features. Learn how the completely redesigned advanced clustering capabilities offer high avaialbility in case of a hardware failure.

The 2007 Microsoft Office system has evolved into a business application platform that developers can use to build and deploy Office Business Applications (OBAs), an emerging class of applications that address critical business problems. This session demonstrates how developers can use Visual Studio 2008 to build OBAs, customize Microsoft Office applications, and utilize the Microsoft Office platform to build scalable line-of-business solutions based on Microsoft Office.