QuickStart Intelligence's QuickTips and QuickLooks @ Technology

Are you ready for SQL Server 2008 R2? The next generation of data management and business intelligence data platform released so far from Microsoft. It introduces a number of new features and enhancements including new editions, enhanced business intelligence, enterprise-level scalability for mission-critical operations, and a better integration with Microsoft Office 2010.

Workflows in SharePoint are usually one of the last programming tasks that a developer is asked to accomplish. It is also arguably the least documented SharePoint feature. I will attempt to explain the topic from a business perspective as to what you can achieve and deliver for your business by attaching workflows to your SharePoint Lists and/or Libraries.

Microsoft has bet big on a new technology called Windows Azure. In its simplest form it is an operating system in the cloud (over the internet). The Windows Azure platform offers a simple, comprehensive, and powerful platform for the creation of web applications and services. It allows companies to have Microsoft handle the maintenance of your hardware, and pay only for the bandwidth and services you need.

Today, as I was looking over the new site templates for SharePoint 2010, I ran into the new method for adding users to sites as well as creating new SharePoint Groups. There are some interesting changes, so I thought it would be good to review them.

Only a few years after the long anticipated SQL Server 2005 release...Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is here. So why should you upgrade only a few years after a major (and long overdue) product release? Well, there are actually a lot of improvements that make SQL Server 2008 a move worth making, here are my first six reasons...

When a new software release is introduced we (IT professionals) are faced with the dilemma, upgrade or wait. The new Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 release is an upgrade that you should strongly consider upgrading to sooner rather than later. There are six strong reasons why you should migrate to Exchange 2007.

Organizations, small and large, have been using various means to collaborate from Email to SharePoint and internet instant messaging (IM) services to web conferencing. However, with third-party IM services running in an organization, the lines between corporate and personal messaging can be blurred. The threat of confidential information being leaked and/or a new means by which viruses can be transferred into an organization can haunt both corporate management and the IT security team.

SharePoint products and technologies have become a fast friend to many organizations for quick, intuitive, and flexible information collaboration since its second iteration in 2003. In Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 users will see it's biggest makeover while revisiting functions we haven't seen since 2001.

As administrators continue to lock down secured networks, one option is to block unwanted protocols at the firewall level. One of these protocols is RPC (Remote Procedure Call). With the configuration of RPC over HTTP, Outlook 2003 can connect to your front-end Exchange server that is sitting behind your perimeter firewall.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005's new Reporting Services feature provides Business Intelligence Developers a built-in reporting tool that can substitute many popular report design and management tools like Crystal Reports and Crystal Enterprise. BI Developers use the Report Designer (included in the BI Studio) to design and publish reports to the web based Report Manager.

Microsoft recently announced the release of Vista Beta 1. Vista will be formally released December of 2006. Here are a few of the things to look forward to with Vista…

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise edition provides a high-performance, scalable, secure environment for storing, retrieving, and modifying data in relational or Extensible Markup Language (XML) format and, provides the basis of a powerful business intelligence solution that supports Online Analytical processing applications and data mining.

With information work becoming so diverse and disconnected, the average information worker has found that locating, aggregating, collaborating and utilizing information with the most efficient methods available grows increasingly difficult and frustrating, if any workflow methods are available to them at all.

Visual Studio.NET has hundreds of predefined keyboard shortcuts, as well as hundreds of additional useful commands lacking predefined keystroke sequences that you can customize. How do you toggle the code editor window to full screen?

Today, businesses are getting more demanding with regards to their IT infrastructure. They are requiring a more reliable network that meets the diverse connectivity issues of the business and provides a specific level of application and network services. The new catch-phrase among savvy IT specialists is, "Just let MOM do it."