I was lucky enough to attend the SQL Server 2012 Special Ops Tour in Boston. It was a sneak preview of SQL Server 2012. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. The best part of attending I learned that in Boston. Microsoft will be offering 3 1-day boot camps on SQL Server 2012 at no charge. I am sure they will be offering these boot camps at other locations. You will have to search the Microsoft events site.
Location of SQL Server 2012 Boot Camps:

The Microsoft Technology Center
890 Winter Street, Suite 100
Waltham, MA 02451

Michael Corey
Founder & CEO, Ntirety
My Personal Twitter Account: @Michael_Corey

Register for one of the following sessions:

April 17th, 2012 www.msevents.microsoft.com Event ID: 1032508860
April 18th, 2012 www.msevents.microsoft.com Event ID: 1032508861
April 19th, 2012 www.msevents.microsoft.com Event ID: 1032508862

What You Will Learn

• How to build a highly available environment using AlwaysOn Availability Groups
• Enable separation of duties in your organization by leveraging user-defined server roles
• Improve the efficiency of developing database applications by using the new SQL Data Tools
• Rapidly explore data in a highly visual design experience using Power View
Michael Corey
Founder & CEO, Ntirety
Twitter: Michael_Corey

The premier event from the Independent Oracle Users Group, the Oracle Applications Users Group and Quest International Users Group is just 22 days away. It’s not too late to take advantage of a special office from the IOUG Virtualization Special Interest Group. Special Registration Code: AP03 (expires 04/6/2012)

Enter Priority Code AP03 by April 6 to be entered into a drawing for a $200 Mandalay Bay gift card. Only people who registered for this event using the code are eligible to win. To register for the conference…

IOUG Conference Registration

What is Collaborate 2012
Collaborate 2012 is the only user-driven and user-run Oracle conference. From April 22-26, 2012, Oracle takes Las Vegas. Thousands of Oracle professionals will descend upon the Mandalay Bay Convention Center for weeks worth of education sessions, networking opportunities and more.

The IOUG Collaborate Virtualization Boot Camp

This year at IOUG Collaborate there will be a special Virtualization Boot camp.

Virtualizing Oracle On Oracle VM–Quick Tips, Michael Corey #826

Demystifying Oracle Database Virtualization Part I of III, Charles Kim #469

Demystifying Oracle Database Virtualization Part II of III,George Trujillo #470

Demystifying Oracle Database Virtualization Part III of III, Kannan Mani #468

Virtualizing Oracle 11gR2 RAC on VMWare vSphere: Best Practices,Don Sullivan #895

Oracle VM Consolidation and Path to the Cloud on the Cisco Unified Computing System, John McAbel #543

Oracle VM Implementation and Administration, Edward Whalen #399

Using VirtualBox as your Company’s Virtualization Technology, Chris Ostrowski – #165

Virtualizing Oracle 11g/R2 RAC Database on Oracle VM 3.0: Methods/Tips, Kai Yu – #328

Plan/Configure/Deploy – Clusters/High Availability with Oracle VM, Tariq Farooq #659

What’s New with Oracle VM Server for x86, Wim Coekaerts #832

Its no secret that virtualization is the hottest trend to hit technology in 20 years. Now is your chance to learn from the experts how to Virtualized your Oracle database.

Michael Corey

Founder & CEO, Ntirety

Michael Corey
Founder & CEO, Ntirety
My Personal Twitter Account: @Michael_Corey

Oracle Aces, Oracle Certified Masters, Microsoft MVP & SAP Mentors

We have all seen the many articles and TV episodes where we see every day people saving hundreds of dollars on their grocery bill each week using coupons. This new class of shoppers is practicing extreme couponing

We also have heard of www.groupon.com – that web site that uses collective buying power to negotiate huge discounts we can all participate in. All around us are huge deals if we only know where to look.

The people in the know are able to take advantage of these special offers; people who are not in the know cannot participate. In some ways it’s the Have and the Have not’s.

Big Companies Have Resources To Share, If You Know What To Ask For

I have learned that big companies Like Oracle, Microsoft have huge resources available to you if you only know where to look or what to ask for. Well VMware is no different. The more closely I work with VMware the more I learn what is available. Recently I came across a special offer that rivals all others I have ever found from Oracle or Microsoft for technology professionals.

Oracle Aces/Certified Masters, Microsoft MVP’s & SAP Mentors — The Secret

The program is known as VMware Guru Program. In this Program, VMware will provide evaluation licenses on selected VMware fully functional products at no-cost to qualified subject matter experts in their domain.

You are probably thinking what’s the big deal. Oracle has given me free software so has Microsoft. This is the big deal: The VMware Guru’s get full support with the products. Yes I did say Full Support.

VMware Guru Program Software Included

• VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit for 6 processors (with 48 GB VRAM entitlement per processor) (VS5-EPL-AK-C)
• VMware vCenter Business Production Bundle – 25 VM Pack (VC-BPBUN-25-C) – This bundle SKU contains:
• VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 – 25 Pack (VC-SRM5-25S-C)
• vShield App 5 with Data Security (VS-APP-BUN-C)
• vCenter Operations Advanced (VC-OADV-BUN-C)
• Workstation 8 – up to 2 licenses (SKU # WS8-LW-CE)

With 48 GB VRAM entitlements per processor you can really put this software to the test with the most grueling of Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases. The best part you call support when you are stumped.

Its clear VMware wants your opinion. Many times vendors give you a “lite” version of the product and tell you go ahead and try it. With no support and a version of the software missing all the features you really want to try and stress test. That is not the case with the VMware Guru program this is an awesome offer. I have already taken full advantage of it. I have already put VMware to the test. I know first hand it can easily support the most challenging of Databases with ease. Don’t take my word for it. If you’re an Oracle Ace or Microsoft MVP. Apply to the VMware Guru program and see for yourself.

How To Apply For VMware Guru Program

If you are interested send an email to GuruLicensing@vmware.com.

Michael Corey
Founder & CEO, Ntirety
My Personal Twitter Account: @Michael_Corey