Houston IT Professionals (HIP)

January's HIP Meeting Notes

HIP Meeting Notes

Date: 1/14/2010

Attendees: Please see attached spreadsheet.

Location:  Bubbas on Washington

Agenda:

· Introduce Group Objectives

· Introduce  Attendees

· Discuss Meeting Logistics

· Determine preliminary  list of topics to be discussed

Meeting Notes:

· 13 attendees

· Standing Meetings set for 2^nd Tues of each mo.

· Keep meetings monthly

· Officially last 1 hr. 

o   Option to stay for 30 after to additional Q&A

o   Rotate between Ergos & Poplabs offices

§  Need confirmation from Ergos

· Need to develop Google Group to communicate w/ HIP meeting participants

o   Use to announce speakers

o   Use to take recommendations

o   Use to for attendees to post questions prior to monthly mtg

o   Keep using Linkedin group to recruit from member list

· Discussed Potential Topics

o   Cloud Computing –

§  First topic

§  Lead by Gurerin Woodgate

o   MS CRM

§  2^nd Topic

§  Lead by Richard Weck

o   Exchange 10

o   Sharept 10

o   Ms Office Communicator

o   Google App Development

· Group needs to establish a leadership structure!

Post Meeting Summary

The HIP Group met in November to talk about how to tackle 2009 for the group. The first request was a request to move the meeting to the 2nd Tuesday of the Month. So the first meeting of HIP in 2009 will be the second Tuesday of January!

The next debate was where to meet! If anyone has any suggestions definitely speak up as this can be a difficult logistic. Ideally the new meeting location will have a phone and some quiet and potentially offer some ability for the sharing of food.

Other key items. The group is going to retain a similar format to the past HIP Meetings which includes industry professionals presenting on areas of expertise with a Round Table discussion to follow.  

 

Pictures from the Meeting

I keep forgetting to get pictures at the meetings so this time I took out my cell phone and grabbed a couple of shots. In this first shot John Paul Cook brought up Hyper-V on his laptop and the group gravitated to the screen.

Hyper-V Meeting

The Houston IT Professionals group met on Tuesday night, under the fans and stars at a restaurant close to downtown called Open City. The topic for the night was Hyper-V and we were privledged to have two great speakers on the subject.

Nate Shea-han is a Microsoft Sr. Technology Specialist who works with Enterprise accounts on Virtualization. This includes not only all things Microsoft Hyper-V, but also many of the management tools created and releasing to support the more complex enterprise environments.   

John Paul Cook is a Microsoft MVP on Virtualization and an active community member. John Paul also spends a great deal of time with the Enterprise accounts and is a well recognized author in multiple industry specific magazines. John Paul is a specialist on Microsoft SQL 2008 and contributes to the increased technical knowledge of all through his contributions to the SQL blog and other writings.

A major thanks to both John Paul Cook and Nate Shea-han from the entire group!

July's Meeting Summary

Tim has a new hat (happens at Microsoft every July 1) and is commissioned with diving into Software PLUS Services. Tim is our Microsoft Sponsor and Champion for the Houston IT Professionals group. For this month it was a perfect fit for our subject for discussion is both S+S and SaaS.

We roundtable discussed all the different variables of Software plus Services, from running everything OnPremise to the mix of some OnPremise and some in the cloud, to totally ramped in the cloud.

Tim filled us in on the newest terminology in the Software PLUS services world. Finished Services (including windows Live, CRM Online, SharePoint Online and Exchange Online), Attached Services (XBox Live, windows Live OneCare, Exchange Hosted Services and Forefront) and the core Building Blocks (LiveMesh, Virtual Earth, Silverlight Streaming, SQL Server Data Services and BizTalk Services). 

Just a ton coming and what are partners suppose to do? Be Agile, Be Open and Be Diligent in ramping up, bundling and partnering!

June's Meeting Summary

Major thanks to Todd for digging into and sharing the portals and partner access look and feel of the Zenith InfoTech Toolet!

We also had a lively discussion on a number of other tools available for pro-active monitoring of networks and computers including the solutions from n-able, Level Platforms, Kaseya, and Hound Dog.

Collectively the discussion was lively and the subject matter jumped between the tools, the vendors behind the tools and technology topics totally outside the scope. We discussed recycling options for client computers, we rated the local computer stores and lastly came to the conclusion that we will be moving the meeting location.

So make note : The next meeting of HIP will be in a new location that is closer to town AND provides a bit of afterhours refreshments.

If you missed June, reach out to a few of the other members to tap into content and mindshare!

Excellent Meeting in May!

We had an excellent meeting last night of the Houston IT Professionals (HIP). La C (as in LaCie) sponsored the dinner and offered an opening presentation on all their very cool hard drive, external hard drive, rugged drive technologies. I can't believe we can personally have terabytes of data well stored, redundant and reasonably priced in small business environments and even home environments!

Additionally this technology is so sweet, that a key comment should be noted. "Yes, we have seen these drives dangling off various servers" even in the large environments. Why? Hey, if the building is on fire, there is something to be said for grabbing the LaCie drive(s) (as opposed to trying to unplug, unscrew or dismount a critical server). OK, ok don't roll your eyes almighty best practicing CTO's and CIO's - The reality is that the director of many a midsized IT firm has been creative in their careers based on budget restrains and various other barriers to the ultimate best practices and an external NAS drive from LaCie can be oh so sweet.

The main event for the meeting was a roundtable discussion on Microsoft SharePoint 2007! Thanks again to SMBology for stepping up and leading this roundtable. Our guest speaker was open and shared much of what they run into in the field. Additionally we had key contacts from Microsoft piping in with their field experience and core consultants who also had much value to add! We definitely love the technical sharing and interaction at HIP!

As a summary not only did we talk about smaller easy practical uses to get started with SharePoint in the smallest of departments or companies, but we also had deeper discussions about key "pain" points we want answers too. The biggest question... How to implement SharePoint roles based on a tie to Active Directory. You will see some threads in our yahoo group over the next few days on that core subject. HoustonITprofessionals@yahoogroups.com   and if you have questions feel free to join in the fray! send mail to houstonITprofessionals-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

April's HIP Meeting

I must admit that Wayne Small can definitely compete with Jeff Middleton when it comes to covering his many, many, many detailed list of awards and business accomplishments. Wow how incredibly impressive!

What a great group of people. We have at least four new faces and certainly some good Microsoft involvement. Major thank you to Timothy for organizing Microsoft Houston and for being at tonight's meeting and to Sue for staying late to meet some of the people. I also want to say thank you to Bass Computers for sponsoring the April meeting dinner! If you want a custom built machine check out Bass.

The subject of the meeting tonight ranged from Windows Essential Business Server, to Small Business Server 2003 to techniques for running a smooth support department. Stephen offered insight from the Dallas SMB Summit that he had just returned from and a few in the audience piped up with what they had heard as well both on SMB Summit and EBS. Additionally we talked about some outstanding issues, such as my strange CPU bottleneck on a VISTA machine when unplugged (solved) and a bit of feedback from the field.

Wayne also summarized the meeting and included a picture of the group! For a bit of a different perspective.

All and all a great third meeting! Mark your calendars for the fourth Tuesday of May!

March Meeting Summary!

Great Meeting last night! Our little group continues to grow and our options for speakers and content is expanding quicker than there are months in the year.  The attendees to last nights meeting received Pete's PowerPoint presentation and contact details and the ability to request his custom white paper direct from the source.. 

Additionally here are some other items that came up during our presentation. 

Data Center Information and connections

http://www.cyrusone.com, Todd Smith, CTO, Tsmith@cyrusone.com

Houston, Great direct connect to CTO, CTO very proactive in doing more within Houston and the technology community

http://www.chinookhosting.com,  Greg Williams, Owner , Chinook Hosting,  gregw@chinookhosting.com

Seattle area, New Initiatives, Good connect

http://www.ownwebnow.com/ , Vlad Mazek, CTO, v@vladville.com

A focus on SMB and expertise with SBS (can be difficult to get a hold of)

Pete’s Contact Information

Pete Heles

Founder and Senior Partner

Framework IT

pheles@frameworkitllc.com

O-317.769.3550

C-317.439.2909

www.frameworkitllc.com

BC/DR For the 21st Century

View Pete Heles's profile

Other Affiliated SMB IT Professional Groups

               

                www.SBSGroups.com

                www.SMBTN.org

Next Month: April 22^nd with Wayne Small at Microsoft Houston.  Wayne is a professional speaker and you are all in for a treat from his presentation on Microsoft Small Business Server trouble shooting and Cougar 2008 - Remember next month we are meeting at Microsoft Houston, next to the BMC building.

Key Questions I need input on

1)       Who wants to be a writer on the group website? (the tool (typepad.com) is easier than word)

2)       Please sign up for the Yahoo group so I can send any follow-up to the meeting to the yahoo group e-mail address

3)       We don’t have a logo, anyone wants to tap into their creative side?

Roy - Thanks for coordinating the Pizza delivery this months meeting!

.

1st Meeting Summary

The first meeting was a budding success. We had 8 people in attendance and the subjects ranged from each of our technology passions (Servers, Operating Systems, Security, CRM, Vista and more)  to what type of speakers we were interested approaching. (Backup, Managed Services, DR/BC, SPAM Control, etc) 

The group is focused on providing an ongoing opportunity for technically astute consultants in Houston to share knowledge. Helping to solve the ever increasing need for opportunities to stay current while also bouncing off ideas, concepts and knowledge among trusted peers.

Next Month the meeting will be on the 4th Tuesday from 6:30 - 8:30 and we have a special remote guest speaker, Pete Heles from Framework IT, LLC.

Watch for the upcoming announcement.