Workshop: Microsoft Azure Expert Technical Training (13-16 November, Warsaw, Poland)

Wrapped up the 3 days training on Azure (Nov 13th - 16th), in organized by Ingram Micro Poland. I got excellent mix of IT Pros and Sales people attending this course, including couple of Ingram Micro colleagues. Primary focus is on Infrastructure-as-a-Service model, with demos and hands on labs focusing on predefined scenarios in operating, planning, creating and configuring the infrastructure and services.

Day 1 was focused on Azure Fundamentals: Welcome and introduction, Azure Portal, Resource Groups, Storage Accounts, Virtual networks and Network Interfaces (incl PIP, VPN, Gateways and Peering), Network Security Groups, Virtual Machines, VM Extensions, Scale and Availability Sets, Load Balancer, Traffic Manager.

We finished strong with deploying WordPress Multi-tier app and Acronis Backup Blueprints.

Day 2 was reserved for more Blueprints - Remote Desktop Services (Small Business Server Replacement) and CheckPoint Blueprints.

Day 3 was focused more on Business Development Managers Track, focused on the business side of partner transformation, driving business transformation and its impact on the partners, pricing model and how to calculate the cost (Azure Pricing Calculator), as well as comparison with other licensing programs.

Event: Thrive conference (November 8th - 9th), Rimske Terme, Slovenia

We just wrapped up Day 1 of the event. It was a busy day, packed with activities and sessions. It all started this morning with the keynote, hosted by Branka Slinkar, backed up with Eoin Bailey, Paolo Pialorsi, and Spencer Harbar. 

It is an combined CxO, IT Pro, Dev and End User event, happening in Rimske Terme (Slovenia). The event gathered pretty large group of speakers (33), from different locations around the world, in front of the local attendees. The tracks are divided by interest, and they vary between: SharePoint PRO and DEV, CxO, BI, Exchange, End User, Cloud, and Development. It is a great place to learn about technologies; connect with people and build your network; share the knowledge and ideas; get answers to your questions; and just enjoy being here.

The first day I did a session titled "Migration to Office 365 - Step by Step", and enjoyed the Q&A and discussion during it.

During the second day, we had a full day ahead. Lots of sessions, from old friends (Adis Jugo, Dubravko Marak), but also from new friends (Aleksandar Draskovic, Brett Londsdale, Pennelope Coventry, Todd Klindt and few more).

I did a follow up session on "Exchange 2016 and Office 365 in a Hybrid World" with a Q&A session on specific business scenarios and samples from the audience.

It was a privilege to be a part of this event. Lots of great speakers, topics, meetups and discussion with the attendees.

 
More info can be obtained at:


https://www.facebook.com/ThriveITConf/
http://www.thriveconf.com/en-us/Pages/thrive.aspx

Event: Macedonian IT Pro User Group Meet up - November 2017

Together with my fellow IT Pro's - Vladimir Meloski, and Gorana Koevska-Jankoska, we held another monthly user group meetup, on November 1st @Microsoft Macedonia offices.

We did an overview of past and upcoming conferences, followed by my session on "Microsoft Azure Updates & Road-map", based on analysis and review of sessions from this years Microsoft Ignite. You can download the PDF from here.

We wrapped up with Vladimir's session on Microsoft 365.

Event: Ingram Micro Days (26-27 October, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Just wrapped up my session at Ingram Micro Days, in Cluj-Napoca (Romania). It  was 2 days event, supported from different vendors and our local Ingram Micro teams. First day was focused on sales aspect, where Microsoft Cloud was covered on a high level, by a joint session done by Marius Danescu (Microsoft Romania) and Mihalea Babeanu (Ingram Micro Romania).

The second day was all about technical stuff and demos. I did one hour technical session titled "Azure Fundamentals and implementation scenarios", with demos and interactive chalk talk segment.

Event: Macedonian IT Pro User Group Meet up - November 2017

Its time for our monthly IT Pro User Group meeting.Its scheduled for November 1st @ Microsoft Macedonia Office (starting from 15:00 till 16:00).

You will have a chance to get first hand infro from Microsoft Ignite 2017, what was announced and what we should expect in near future. As well as info on regional events that occur.

The event is co-organized with my colleagues Vladimir and Gorana.

Please refer to the following link for additional information and register for seat allocation: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/517399318618127

Workshop: Microsoft Azure IaaS

It was inspiring and intense 3 days (Oct 16th - 18th) in our Utrecht Office, during our Microsoft Azure European Team meeting and workshop. Both of our sales and technical team members, in one room, discussing, brainstorming, and sharing experience and knowledge on Microsoft Azure IaaS.

I did a Microsoft Azure Security session, covering the Security, Trust, Privacy and Data Protection models within Azure, with discussion on customer/partner concerns that they might face.

Looking forward for our next workshop ....

Event: Ingram Micro Days (28-29 September, Iassi, Romania)

Just wrapped up my session at Ingram Micro Days, in Iasi (Romania). It  was 2 days event, supported from different vendors and our local teams. First day was focused on sales aspect, where Microsoft Cloud was covered on a high level, by a joint session done by Marius Danescu (Microsoft Romania) and Mihalea Babeanu (Ingram Micro Romania).

The second day was all about technical stuff and demos. I did an hour technical session titled "Azure Fundamentals and implementation scenarios", with demos and interactive chalk talk segment.

Looking forward for the next event, in Cluz (Romania).

Event: Microsoft Ignite 2017

Today is the official start of the annual Microsoft Ignite conference, held this week in Orlando, Florida.

Tune in to https://ignite.microsoft.com, to get info on the sessions, access to online events and of course, Satya Nadella's Keynote session (Starting @ 15:00 CET).

Event: Macedonian IT Pro User Group Meet up - September 2017

On 13.09.2017, we held the September Macedonian IT Pro User Group meeting where our colleagues and enthusiast from IT world got together, shared thoughts and ideas on Microsoft technologies. The turnout was 20+ people, which means we have chosen the right topics for the event.

The first half of the meeting was dedicated to some of the past and future conferences in the region and world-wide, wich was presented by Gorana Konevska, and Vladimir Meloski.

In the second part of the event, I did an overview of Microsoft Azure core services, such as

Resource Groups, Storage and Network, Virtual Machines, connectivity and security aspect, while providing real life examples and tips&trick while implementing cloud technologies within the organization.

We had a great discussion and chalk talk session fora little bit more than 2 hours. Looking forward for our next meeting in October. :)

Event: Macedonian IT Pro User Group Meet up (Announcement)

As part of our monthly Community Events, on September 13th, I will conduct an Azure session titled "Scenarios for implementation of Microsoft azure within Your organization". The session will cover the fundamentals of Azure, steering towards few scenarios of how you can integrate your infrastructure with the cloud, or even completely migrate to it.

Event info: Macedonian IT Pro Meet up
Date: September 13th, 2017
Location: Microsoft Macedonia office

Workshop: Microsoft Azure Expert Technical Training (3 days)

Wrapped up the 3 days training on Azure (Sept 5th - Sept 7th), in Microsoft Croatia office, organised by Ingram Micro Croatia. I got excellent mix of IT Pros and Sales people attending this course. Primary focus is on Infrastructure-as-a-Service model, with demos and hands on labs focusing on predefined scenarios in operating, planning, creating and configuring the infrastructure and services.

 Day 1 was focused on Azure Fundamentals: Welcome and introduction, Azure Portal, Resource Groups, Storage Accounts, Virtual networks and Network Interfaces (incl PIP, VPN, Gateways and Peering)), Network Security Groups, Virtual Machines, VM Extensions, Scale and Availability Sets, Load Balancer, Traffic Manager.

We finished strong with deploying WordPress Multi-tier app and Acronis Backup Blueprints.

Day 2 was reserved for more Blueprints - Remote Desktop Services(Small Business Server Replacement) and CheckPoint Blueprints.

Day 3 was focused more on Business Development Managers Track, focused on the business side of partner transformation, driving business transformation and its impact on the partners, pricing model and how to calculate the cost (Azure Pricing Calculator), as well as comparison with other licensing programs.