What is SharePoint?

What is SharePoint 2010 exactly, and why is it so important?

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 makes it easier for people to work together, but SharePoint isn’t just a tool, it’s a toolbox.  Using SharePoint 2010, your people can set up Web sites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions.  Below are just a few of the options you have with SharePoint 2010.

-SharePoint 2010 Sites provides a single infrastructure for all your business Web sites. Share documents with colleagues, manage projects with partners, and publish information to customers.

-SharePoint 2010 Composites offers tools and components for creating do-it-yourself business solutions. Build no-code solutions to rapidly respond to business needs.

-SharePoint 2010 Insights gives everyone access to the information in databases, reports, and business applications. Help people locate the information they need to make good decisions

-SharePoint 2010 Communities delivers great collaboration tools—and a single platform to manage them. Make it easy for people to share ideas and work together the way they want.

-SharePoint 2010 Content makes content management easy. Set up compliance measures ”behind the scenes”—with features like document types, retention polices, and automatic content sorting—and then let people work naturally in Microsoft Office.

-SharePoint 2010 Search cuts through the clutter. A unique combination of relevance, refinement, and social cues helps people find the information and contacts they need to get their jobs done

If any of this seems confusing to you, don’t worry we have you covered.  Below is a list of our upcoming SharePoint classes that will get you off and running.

SharePoint 2010 at Babbage Simmel

   SP726: SharePoint 2010 for Business Users, Power Users, and Site Owners 1/4/12-1/6/12

M-10175: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development 12/5/11-12/9/11 and 1/16/12-1/20/12 and 2/6/12-2/10/12

M-10174: TS IT PRO: Configuring and Managing MS SharePoint 2010 1/9/12-1/13/12 and 1/30/12-2/3/12 and 2/27/12-3/2/12

M-10231: Designing a MS SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure 12/19/11-12/23/11 and 1/23/12-1//27/12

   M-50354: SharePoint 2010 SharePoint Designer 1/5/12-1/6/12 and 2/23/12-2/24/12

   M-50429: SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence 1/30/12-2/3/12 and 2/13/12-2/17/12

   M-10232: Designing and Developing MS SharePoint Server 2010 Applications 2/6/12-2/10/12

-Matt

Cloud Computing can open new doors for IT professionals

Cloud Computing promises new career opportunities for IT professionals. In many cases, existing core skill sets transfer directly to cloud technologies. In other instances, IT pros need to develop new skill sets that meet the demand of emerging cloud job roles.  Companies that consider moving to cloud computing will want to educate their IT professionals about the potential opportunities ahead so that they can build staff capabilities and skills ahead of the change.

Many IT professionals feel as though the Cloud will take away key job roles and applications.  This is incorrect.  The bulk of an IT professional’s skills remain relevant in a cloud environment.  System configuration tasks such as creating routing rules, configuring archiving, and managing policies are still necessary.  The change is moving from building and supporting local IT infrastructure to managing IT services in the cloud, which requires, an extension of skills and capabilities.  This means employers will be looking for IT professionals with these types of skills.

One way IT professionals become more essential in the cloud era has to do with their ability to implement public cloud services like Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Azure.

As I mentioned before, instead of decreasing an IT professional’s role, the move to cloud solutions opens up many new opportunities.  Key technical skill sets become more critical to career success, including custom application development and deep technical knowledge of the various collaboration products such as Exchange Server.

Tasks that remain include monitoring, configuration, and integration with existing on-premise services such as Active Directory, while activities such as purchasing hardware, installing operating systems and managing patches are no longer needed since they are handled by the cloud provider.

Once IT professionals learn more about the cloud and they see there’s a big change that will help them in the future, it will become clear to them that they will have a job that is more challenging than just being an administrator.

Developers will have to focus on innovation, integration, and rapid delivery on business requirements. They also will find more design opportunities beyond what they currently manage.  IT security will be prevalent as ever.  Cloud solutions have new security implications for consideration.

Organizations in different industries have divergent requirements regarding privacy and data retention. This means that the solution selected by an organization or an enterprise must be carefully evaluated to ensure that the selected services allow the organization to remain in compliance.

Below are the three types of cloud services companies will be migrating to in the near future.

• A private cloud is a set of standardized computing resources that is dedicated to an organization, usually on-premises in the organization’s datacenter. It works with the current capital investment and delivers the new functions as a service.
• A hosted private cloud has a dedicated infrastructure hosted by a third party, inaccessible to other organizations.
• A public cloud consists of computing resources hosted externally but shared with other organizations and dynamically provisioned and billed on a utility basis — the customer will pay for what is used as they use it.

The IT industry will continue to evolve, just as it always has.  The more understanding that companies and IT professionals have of these new technologies will help secure their futures.

-Matt

Virtualization is the Way of the Future

Lead your company into the future. Take the Microsoft Virtualization Challenge

Virtualization is picking up speed. Are your skills keeping up?

Lead your company into the future with Microsoft training and certification.

Information technology is moving to the cloud. Virtualization is the foundation.
Every IT professional is looking for ways to more effectively use their infrastructure, respond to new business opportunities, and adapt to change. With cloud computing, a new world of computing power is within your reach. Using virtualization as the foundation, skilled IT professionals are able to deploy creative solutions to meet the business challenges of today.

Virtualization is the future. Get ready.

Be relevant. Be different. Be specialized. Become a virtualization expert
In a world where technology is rapidly evolving, becoming a virtualization expert could mean the difference between getting ahead or getting lost in the crowd. When you need to show what you know, certification will set you apart.

Success today means having the wisdom and ingenuity to guide your company into the future. In a world where technology is rapidly evolving and virtualization is the way to the cloud, becoming a virtualization expert could mean the difference between getting ahead or getting lost in the crowd. When you need to show what you know, certification will set you apart.

As today’s companies expand their efforts around virtualization and the cloud, they need employees with the skill and understanding to lead them in the right direction. You have the opportunity to inspire an IT evolution in your company. Become a virtualization leader today with Microsoft Certification.
Take the next step in your virtualization training. Get certified.

If you’ve taken classes here at Babbage Simmel, then we’ve got a great offer for you!  Call your Learning Solutions Representative to get a free test voucher for the 70-659 Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization exam and test your skills.  If you pass the exam, congratulations!  You are at the forefront of an IT evolution and you will have earned the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification. If you aren’t able to pass the exam on your first try then we have the solution.  Our M-10215 class, Implementing and Managing Microsoft Server Virtualization, will prepare you to pass the exam.  Once you’ve completed the class, you will receive another free test voucher for the 70-659 exam!
Here are the dates for the class:

M-10215: Implementing and Managing Microsoft Server Virtualization  1/23/12-1/27/12 and 2/6/12-2/10/12

Below is a list of the other courses we offer on virtualization technologies.

M-10215: Implementing and Managing Microsoft Server Virtualization
1/23/12-1/27/12 and 3/12/12-3/16/12

Vmw-1300: Vmware vSphere 5.0 with ESXi and vCenter
12/5/11-12/9/12

-Matt

Does IT certification mean higher pay?

According to NetworkWorld, no, but that doesn’t mean the IT profession is in trouble.  Indeed, the premium pay gap between non-certified and certified IT skills is the largest it has been since late 2000. Employers are paying 8.5% more for employees with non-certified IT skills, compared to 7% more for employees with IT certifications. 

"It seems that when it comes to IT hiring, employers may prefer demonstrated experience over certification, plus they are seeking more skills in areas where there are no certifications," said David Foote, CEO of Foote Partners, who surveys the IT field. 

Even though employers aren’t paying extra as much for certifications, the IT field will have a larger budget for companies across the United States in 2012 than it did in 2011 or 2010, and that’s a great sign for IT professionals.

Here at Babbage Simmel, we prepare you for a certification, but more importantly we prepare you for a career.  The knowledge and experience you gain from our classes and top notch trainers will allow you to flourish in your current position or any future positions you may seek.  Whether it’s for a big deployment of new technology you’re rolling out in your organization, or just for a refresher, we’ve got you covered with just the class you need.

"In general, what CIOs are looking for in IT workers are understanding of the customer or the solution set, subject matter expertise and customer know-how," Foote said. "The tech skills are fourth or fifth on their list of priorities."

When it comes to subject matter expertise, we have that covered with Certified Instructors who have real world experience and years of practice on these same technologies.

Our partnerships with Quickstart Intelligence and Sunset Learning allow us to run nearly any technology class you might need for your profession.

You can check out the full articles about IT Certification and IT budgets on NetworkWorld here and here.

-Matt

Virtualization, VMware vSphere 5.0, IT Trends 2012

Virtualization, VMware 5.0, IT Trends 2012

Of the top ten key IT trends for 2012, Network World ranks Virtualization as number one. 

At the Gartner Symposium IT/Expo, David Cappuccio, managing vice president and chief of research for the Infrastructure teams with Gartner, said the Top 10 Trends show how IT is changing in that many of them in the past been outside the traditional purview of IT, but they will all affect how IT does its job in the future.

The evolution of virtualization: Cappuccio says virtualization will ultimately drive more companies to treat IT like a business. The danger during the next few years will be in following a specific vendor's vision, though it is unlikely that any one vendor's vision will prevail. Users should have their own visions of architecture control, and build toward it with a constantly updated strategic plan.

The good news is that here at Babsim we recognize this, and we have just what you need to get your virtualization skills up to par.  On November 7^th, we will have our brand new VMw-1300: VMware vSphere 5.0 with ESXi and vCenter course. 

This class is suitable for:  

-Anyone who wants to learn how to extract the maximum benefit from their investment in Virtual Infrastructure including System architects or others who need to design virtual infrastructure. 

-Security specialists responsible for monitor managing securing and administering Virtual Infrastructure. 

-Operators responsible for day to day operation of Virtual Infrastructure.  Performance and capacity analysts who need to understand provision monitor and performance tune Virtual Infrastructure. 

-Backup Administrators who need to understand the impact of existing and new back up strategies in a virtual environment. 

-Business Continuity specialists responsible for disaster recovery and high availability.

-Storage administrators who need to understand how VMware ESX uses Fibre SAN and iSCSI.

-SAN volumes and NAS data stores.

-Managers who need an unbiased understanding of virtualization before committing their organization to a virtual infrastructure deployment 

Social Networks were number 6 on the list, which is very fitting, as this week’s Facebook promotion is for the VMware 5.0 class.  Like our page and get some savings on the class price.  Now there is no excuse for you not to sign up!

You can check out the full article from Network World here.

-Matt

Windows 7 and Virtualization

With the fall semester in full swing here at Babsim we are filling up classes fast!  This week I wanted to highlight a few popular classes that still have a couple seats available.

First let’s start with our Windows 7 class on 11/2/11. 

The primary audience for this course is the Enterprise Desktop Support Technician (EDST) providing Tier 2 support. The secondary audience for this course is the Desktop Support Technician (DST) in an Upper MORG Organization.

In addition to their professional experience, students who attend this training should already have the following technical knowledge:

·         Networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP/User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Domain Name

·         System (DNS)

·         Microsoft Active Directory principles and management

·         Microsoft Windows Server 2008 fundamentals

·         Microsoft Windows Client fundamentals

·         Fundamentals of using the 2010 Microsoft Office system or the 2007 Microsoft Office system

This course is also eligible for our promotion this week if you’re following us on Facebook.  If you aren’t following us then you’re missing out on all kinds of great offers and savings on great training!

Next I want to talk about our newly released VMware 5.0 class on 11/7/11.  With courseware from ESX Labs this is what students can look forward to:

This powerful 5-day class is an intense introduction to virtualization using VMware’s vSphere™ 5.0 including VMware ESX™ 5.0 and vCenter™. Assuming no prior virtualization experience, this class starts with the basics and rapidly progresses to more advanced topics. More than 40% of class time is devoted to labs so concepts, skills and best practices are developed and reinforced.

Initial labs focus on installation and configuration of stand-alone ESXi servers. As the class progresses, shared storage, networking and centralized management are introduced. The class continues on to more advanced topics including resource balancing, high availability, backup and recovery, troubleshooting and more. Disaster recovery, rapid deployment, hot migration and workload consolidation are also covered.

Another great class available on 11/14/11 is the M-10264: Developing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

In this course, students will learn to develop advanced ASP.NET MVC and Web Forms applications using .NET Framework 4 tools and technologies. The focus will be on coding activities that enhance the performance and scalability of the Web site application. ASP.NET MVC will be introduced and compared with Web Forms so that students know when each should/could be used. This will also prepare the student for exam 70-515.

-Matt

Hot IT Skills for 2012

Slowly but surely, many U.S. companies are loosening their vise-like grips on IT hiring and looking to add new staffers to bolster business growth in the year ahead. That trend is reflected in Computerworld's annual Forecast survey. Nearly 29% of the 353 IT executives polled said they plan to increase IT staffing through next summer. That's up from 23% in the 2010 survey and 20% in the 2009 survey. Altogether, it's a 45% increase in hiring expectations over the past two years.

Here are a few areas that Computerworld talks about.

Programming and Application Development

• 61% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, up from 44% in the 2010 survey.

This large year-over-year jump doesn't surprise people like John Reed, executive director of staffing firm Robert Half Technology, who sees demand for a variety of skills in areas ranging from website development to upgrading internal systems and meeting the needs of mobile users. "Web development continues to be very strong" as companies try to improve the user experience, he says, adding that there will also be a lot of effort to develop mobile technologies to improve customer access via smartphones.

A great course on our schedule for Programming and Application Development is the M-10264 on 11/14/11.

Project Management

• 44% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, up from 43% in the 2010 survey.

Big projects need managers, but they also need business analysts who can identify users' needs and translate them for the IT staffers who have to meet those needs and complete projects on time. "The demand has been more for business analysts than project managers," Reed says -- in other words, those who can help deliver projects rather than merely oversee and monitor them.

That's what Sean Masters discovered when he embarked on a job search in March. "When I was framing myself as a systems, network, security or other administrator role, I was hardly getting any attention," says the IT professional from Worcester, Mass. "As soon as I shifted my résumé to list those specific technologies used in accomplishing specific projects, I was suddenly framing myself as an engineer who could not only manage systems, but also plan, design and implement them."

We have an amazing Project Management class with an Amazing instructor, Dave Wirick.  Our PMP class scheduled for next week is nearly full, but there are still a couple spots available.  If you can’t make it next week we have one more offering before the end of the year on 12/12/11.

Networking

• 35% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, down from 38% in the 2010 survey.

Robert Half's Reed says IT professionals with networking skills continue to be in high demand and have been "for a few quarters." That demand has been fueled, in part, by virtualization and cloud computing projects. In fact, during his recent job search, Masters says he saw heavy interest in virtualization skills.

Reed says hiring managers are looking for people with "practical work experience" in the networking arena, especially if they have worked in an organization that has migrated to a virtualized or cloud-based environment. In particular, they're looking for people with VMware and Citrix experience.

For Networking, check out our VMware 4.1 class on 11/7/11, as well as our Citrix course on 10/24/11.

Security

• 17% plan to hire for this skill the next 12 months, down from 32% in the 2010 survey.

The one-year drop may be surprising given that information security threats are a moving target, but security is a top-level concern for many organizations, especially those that are considering cloud computing as part of their IT strategies, says Reed.

Corey Peissig, senior vice president of technical operations at Mortgagebot, a Web-based mortgage software provider, says security is a top priority at his company. "Strong technical security and auditing skills are in high demand in our business," he says. "The challenge is that good talent in this arena is sometimes difficult to find."

For security we offer a great CISSP class, and it’s scheduled for 10/31/11.

You can view the entire Computerworld article by Rick Saia here.

-Matt