One of our largest UC events, TechEd, is almost here...

It's been a busy few weeks for the Microsoft UC team - we've just completed our annual Microsoft Australia Partner Conference and spent a very productive week planning the year ahead.  A big thank you to all of the participating UC partners and special thanks to those who contributed time, presentations, and support toward this event - we're very appreciative of all of your efforts.  Here are a few pics from the Partner Conference - can you spot the MSFT team members?

The coming weeks are just as busy - for those already registered, I'll look forward to catching up with you at TechEd during September 2-5th.  There are some tix still available so be sure to check out the registration page here: http://www.microsoft.com.au/teched/.   If you are a student, be sure not to miss the free student day on Tuesday, September 2nd - we have 2 sessions, 1 for high school students and 1 for uni students ( http://www.microsoft.com.au/teched/pre_days.aspx). 

And for those who really want to focus on UC (like me), we'll deliver more than 20 sessions over 3 days just focused on UC during TechEd - this is one of the largest tracks during this event so there should be something for everyone - overview to technical and lots of great speakers (from around the world).  So why TechEd? It's the best place to see and find out everything about Microsoft UC in one location over a short period of time.  And most importantly you can bring your questions and meet the experts.

One early piece of news  - you may be interested in joining - those attending TechEd will be able to attend the first meeting of the new community UC User Group.  I'll be providing a lot more details going forward but our official launch will be at TechEd so we hope to see you there.

I also want to highlight the ongoing improvements we are making to our UC website: http://www.microsoft.com.au/uc.  Be sure to download the new UC Guide covering all you need to know about getting started with Microsoft UC.  The UC self assessment will tell you what you need to get started with UC, and also check out the latest video case studies including Gibson Guitars to see how UC is being used today.  If you're new to UC or looking for technical insight, this site is designed with you in mind.  Of course if you're looking for a UC expert to help your business you can find Microsoft UC Certified partners too.

And finally, a stat that makes me think a lot about the impact we are having on our planet:

"5 years before the Arctic could become ice-free in summer. Sea-ice last year shrank to 22% below the previous record low level, a low that had not been expected to be reached until 2030-50, opening up the Northwest Passage."

Source: The Millennium Project; World Federation of UN Associations I oS research 2008

If you'd like more info about the Millennium Project you can find them here: http://www.millennium-project.org/

Check back again soon and watch this space for more UC updates & industry discussion - and please help our planet  whenever you can.