2009 Technology Showcase Registration

Information Technology for Business
"Ideas that Work"

Click here for presentation schedule!

Ian J. Watson, CISSP
Senior Technology Specialist
Microsoft Canada

Ian Watson has been designing and deploying enterprise solutions in the private and public sectors for over 20 years.  As a Senior Technology Specialist at Microsoft, Ian represents Microsoft’s Core Infrastructure products and works with partners and customers across Western Canada.  In this role Ian works with the Virtualization, Server, Systems Center, and Forefront product teams at Microsoft who are building exciting software and services to meet the needs of customers.  Specifically, Ian ensures that customers and partners realize the full extent of Microsoft’s vision and value proposition for Core Infrastructure products.

Watson joined Microsoft in early 2006.  His background is as a security and infrastructure consultant, but he combines this experience with a strong focus on strategic business execution.  Drawing on experience in the Financial, Retail, and Telecom industries, Ian enjoys taking an objective and pragmatic approach to solutions architecture using Microsoft technology.  As a subject matter expert in Microsoft Virtualization, Management, and Security solutions Ian is frequently called upon to present at many Microsoft events.

Ian Watson will be presenting on:

Maximum Agility - Helping to reduce costs while maximizing efficiency with your core software foundation
The strength of a house depends on a solid foundation. The strength of a business depends on a solid core IT infrastructure. An optimized core infrastructure can help minimize maintenance costs, maximize IT resources, and enable the business to run with steadfast agility. Security, performance, and the ability to provide reliable Microsoft Windows-based platform services are closely tied to system managing and monitoring.
In this session, we will look at the key infrastructure enhancements that are now available, along with some specifics around new capabilities and offerings that end users can take advantage of to optimize resources.
We'll discuss:

• Building a roadmap towards core software foundation optimization.
• The role virtualization plays in IT cost and productivity goals, along with optimal virtualization scenarios.
• System management and security capabilities that can help manage, protect, and secure your environment in an optimized manner.
• Best practices in establishing a cost-effective and highly productive core software infrastructure.