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Windows Networking Solutions User Group WiNSUG, Where IT Meets...After Hours!
Serving North County and the greater San Diego County in Southern California USA
If you have attended one of our meetings in the past, please join our Yahoo Group to stay in touch with the latest area and group happenings: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/winsug/ |
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Culminis Alliance Pathways Member
| IT professionals becoming involved in helping our community. A Special Thanks - Received 4/21/05To One and All!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Active participants from WiNSUG included the following: Rick Joyce Byron Leonard Alan Watchorn Paula Mellon Karen Christian Jackson Norskog Michael Brunson Andrew Papas Press ReleaseFor Immediate Release Parkinson’s Disease Association of San Diego gets Technical Assistance from WiNSUG User’s Group Swing Migration Facilitates Computer Upgrade Process SAN DIEGO — February, 2005— Project planning and preparation has begun to upgrade the Parkinson’s Disease Association of San Diego’s (PDASD) computer system using a Swing Migration method. WiNSUG (Windows Networking Solutions User Group) will be donating their technical expertise to the Association. “Knowing the high degree of professionalism in the WiNSUG Members,” said Andrew Papas, a WiNSUG Member and PDASD client, “I asked if they would help in a major expansion of the PDASD IT facilities. Many of the group’s members are Microsoft Certified Professionals, providing technical support to businesses in the San Diego area, and they readily volunteered!” The PDASD existed for 20 years before the Board of Directors decided that they needed more visibility and more growth to reach out to a larger audience. They wanted to serve more people by adding services and making information easily accessible to its members. “With a small staff and limited resources, we knew technology would enhance our ability to communicate and share information with a much greater audience,” stated Dr. Ron Hendrix, CEO of PDASD. “It was time to look at what we have. With technology changing so rapidly we have the opportunity to work with WiNSUG members to maintain our technological edge.” PDASD is currently using an installation of Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2000 and seven client PCs with earlier versions of Windows. The staff uses Microsoft Office 2000 as their primary office productivity tool. The server is currently backed up using tape. WiNSUG members will perform a Swing Migration Method to upgrade the SBS 2000 to SBS 2003. The new solution based on Small Business Server 2003 will provide standardized company wide messaging and scheduling, improved server reliability, and remote access to files and information. Swing Migration Methodology As Jeff Middleton, the author of Swing Migration explains, “This is a unique technical solution for upgrading software that can put an end to “business shutdown” or "weekend software upgrades." Swing Migration delivers a clean installed platform, retaining the same server name and same domain. This process keeps customer's domain in production and even solves complicated Exchange based organizations on a single domain controller. A technician can work offsite or offline and with an open-timeline if you are adding new server hardware for your migration scenario.”
The project is expected to be completed in April 2005. Founded in 1989 Parkinson’s Disease Association of San Diego is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals, their families, health care professionals and volunteers. Founded in April 2004, WiNSUG is a user group providing forums for collaborating on product knowledge and business development of Microsoft Windows® networking and server solutions. WiNSUG fosters communication and cooperation among business professionals who decide, influence, recommend, or maintain the deployment of Information Technology in businesses of all sizes. _______________________________________ Microsoft, Windows, Small Business Server, and Exchange are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. For more information: Press Only Paula Mellon, 760-751-2142, paula@pmellon.com
Parkinson’s Disease Association of San Diego
Windows Networking Solutions User Group (WiNSUG)
Sponsors and Volunteers http://www.winsug.org/PDASD.htm
Swing Migration Method Community Service ProjectDecember 3, 2004: We're gearing up to work on an upcoming San Diego County based opportunity to work on a production Windows SBS 2000 to Windows SBS 2003 upgrade for a most deserving non-profit organization (Parkinson's Disease Association of San Diego - PDASD). This offers an exciting opportunity for interested members to work, learn and give back to the community. Byron Leonard (WiNSUG Steering Committee) will be leading the effort along with Andrew Papas (project initiator and overseer) and Rick Joyce (technical support coordinator). If you'd like to find out more, contact Byron at byron@softwareblueprint.com. There will be a need for a wide variety of support including preliminary site analysis and documentation, vendor contact, promotional and marketing efforts, the upgrade (which we plan to 'swing' at this point in time) and may also include a mock upgrade or swing, and follow-up support. Tentative project time frame is now through March 2005. You won't want to miss out on getting involved at some level with this awesome project!
At the December 2 meeting, the project was formally presented to the members with a handout explaining some of the details (many are still evolving of course). The reception from the group was tremendous. There was lots of communication going on during the break and after the meeting surrounding interest in this project. In addition, during the featured presentation by Yosemite Technologies, Jake Swim, WW Senior OEM Systems Engineer, offered to provide this project with backup software! Of course there was a round of spontaneous applause expressing everyone's sincere thanks. During Byron and Andrew's initial visit to the site on December 1, a number of problems and issues were noted in this 5 client network. Many of these are quite common in small businesses and we'll be working with them to resolve them. One issue that required immediate attention and could not be ignored was failing backups. While onsite, Byron was able to free up some space on their hard drive such that the CEO sent an email to him noting the success with the backup the next day and saying "thanks for your help with our technology". We applaud Byron's efforts and support him 110%. PDASD Project Sponsors & Volunteers
Can we add your name to this growing list of supporters?
Future Opportunities
We'd like to continue to identify other opportunities for our group to help out in our community. If you have suggestions or are affiliated with a non-profit organization that may benefit from our collective expertise, please contact any of the Steering Committee members. |
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