Around the world with Microsoft security training

Last week’s issue about Microsoft’s hands-on security training brought a few notes to my inbox which, while not actually complaining, did point out that this large series of free labs were only being presented in U.S. cities.

I’ll take some of the blame for this U.S.-centric view after all, I do live in the U.S. Alright, I live in California, which not all Americans consider a fully integrated part of the U.S., but we mean well.

Microsoft gets some blame too, but as I write for a U.S. publication, there’s some justification for only notifying me about U.S.-based events. Still, if there’s one lesson we should have learned over the past dozen years it’s that the world is one vast interconnected network.

Information and data flow across artificial political boundaries just as easily as they do across formerly insurmountable geographic boundaries (oceans, mountains and the like). People all over the world read this newsletter – and should encourage their friends to do so, too – and their network needs are little different from the needs of network managers here in the U.S. Fortunately, there is a way for you to find out about resources in countries other than my own.

Browse over to the Microsoft Events Web site (https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/globalsites.aspx) where you can search or list events in over 60 countries: Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Spain, Finland, France, U.K., Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong SAR, Honduras, Croatia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Malaysia, Nicaragua, The Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Paraguay, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, El Salvador, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, U.S., Uruguay, Venezuela, and South Africa.

If you still can’t find an event close to home that meets your needs and you don’t want to travel to New Jersey or another U.S. cultural center, there are always online resources you can use that offer a number of benefits. You can view these resources at a time convenient to you, you won’t need to drive anywhere and pay outrageous sums to park, and – perhaps best of all – there’s no need to actually put clothes on to be able to learn about the latest Microsoft technologies.

To find upcoming Webcasts, browse to the Microsoft Events home page (https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/default.aspx) and click on the Search button (the one with the binoculars icon).

While the search page will say “Search for events in United States” (or whichever country the Web site thinks you are in), if you enter the word “webcast” (without the quotes) in the keyword field, the results page will only show you Web events that, of course, can be accessed from anywhere. Further refine the search by indicating “Windows servers” in the products field and a very manageable dozen or so events will come up, all taking place within the next month. You can, of course, check further out than the next month but – as events are constantly being added – do recheck to be sure you aren’t overlooking an important session.