3 days ago, Maor David and I had the chance to co-present and speak on Microsoft’s recent announcements for the cloud. The “World Summit of Cloud Computing” as part of IGT took place in Shefaim convention center with 400 people attending. It was published as a global event and therefore it was all conducted in English. From the feedbacks we’ve got, people were very impressed from our roadmap and offerings for Public Cloud Windows Azure Platform, our Private Cloud with Dynamic Data Center Toolkit and services running on the cloud including Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS). I will share the video as soon as I have it. For now, you can download the presentation file from here.
So what were the main messages we focused on?
Cloud Computing is the next generation of computing and it will change the way we develop applications for the next 10 years or more. The ability to outsource parts of the IT possesses many possibilities for saving costs and being up to date. Moreover, we have certain expectations from what we refer to as a cloud application model:
- We expect out of cloud environments to provide scalable and elastic hosting and on-the-fly resource allocation capabilities.
- We expect it to be service oriented and that way we can leverage our services built as part of the current generation of SOA applications and deploy them to the cloud in a phased migration.
- We expect it to be highly available and have a mechanism for supporting staged production and smooth upload of new versions of services.
- We expect our services in the cloud to be self managed by an automatic mechanism.
- We expect the cloud to support multi tenancy which allows services and data sets of different tenants to be separated so a tenant will have access only to his own data and services.
- More things we expect from the cloud is for it to be federated, model based etc.
Software + Services (S+S) is Microsoft’s long year vision to provide customers with the freedom to choose between cloud services and on premise software. The idea is to provide a deployment choice for the developer and IT professional. In addition, the idea is to provide the ability to build hybrid applications which are partly on premise and partly in the cloud since there is no one model that fits all scenarios.
S+S is the foundation of the Microsoft’s Platform moving forward. It now includes two stacks which are connected and built on the same foundations. A stack for the on premise and a stack for the cloud including an operating system for the on premise (Windows Server) and an operating environment as a service in the cloud (Windows Azure). The same goes for a relational database (SQL Server and SQL Azure) and application server and services with the “App Fabric”. On top of these we have the unified programming model of .NET and developer tools of Visual Studio. The idea behind using the same tools for both on premise and cloud is one of the themes Microsoft is committed to. The theme is to leverage developer skills and make it easy for them to develop for the cloud with the same tools they are used from the on premise development. In addition, Microsoft supports Non-Microsoft developers so they can deploy their Java or PHP applications to Windows Azure directly from Eclipse or other tools. On top of this we have the applications layer where our Servers (Exchange, Dynamics, SharePoint etc.) and Services (BPOS) exist. In addition, this is the layer where ISVs can offer their products and services when they build for the Microsoft Platform.
Figure 1 – The Microsoft’s S+S Platform
Windows Azure Platform is the offer Microsoft provides for public cloud. It consists of Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the AppFabric. The public cloud resides in data centers throughout the world: Chicago, San Antonio, Amsterdam, Dublin, Singapore and Hong-Kong. This platform as a service also keeps bridges between the on premise and the cloud with ways to sync data, transfer messages and access services. The entire cloud is monitored with the Azure Fabric Controller which is a highly parallel management system. Additional benefits of Windows Azure Platform are: Scalable and Elastic Hosting Environment, Automated Management, Durable and replicated Storage Service and a Rich developer experience for both MS and Non-MS developers.
Windows Azure and SQL Azure will be available in production on January 2010.
In Israel it will be available on Q2, 2010.
Figure 2 – A container in the Chicago Data Center with 1800-2500 servers
Figure 3 – Keeping bridges between the enterprise and Windows Azure Platform
At this stage, Maor David came up to the stage to demonstrate the Windows Azure Platform. The main ideas he empathized are the developer experience, automated management and bridges between the cloud and the enterprise. He decided to show how we can use Visual Studio 2010 to open a new project for the cloud and how we can test it locally before sending it to a staging environment on Windows Azure. He also showed the Windows Azure Platform Portal where various actions and configurations can take place. At the end, he showed how a Data Sync of Partial data can take place and how the service bus as part of the “App Fabric” can be used to connect to the on premise from the cloud and get sensitive data that we didn’t deploy to the cloud.
Private Clouds are also something we’re looking at. We released the Dynamic Data Center Toolkit for Hosting Companies and we are about to release the Dynamic Data Center Toolkit for Enterprises in H1 2009. The idea is to leverage existing data centers that want to provide more dynamic cloud-like experience for the organization or its customers but without relying on a public cloud. Places like defense organizations or places where regulations prohibit from keeping data out of the country are relevant for this. The private cloud provides a perspective guidance for organizations that want to leverage private clouds.
Figure 4 – Private Cloud for Hosters or Enterprises Slide
BPOS, Business Productivity Online Services is a set of 4 Office Servers provided as online services. The services available include Exchange Online with 5GB Mail service per user that will increase to 25GB by spring 2010. Exchange Online also provides shared calendar, contacts, connectivity with mobile devices and compliant archiving. In addition, BPOS includes SharePoint Online for portal and document management services, Office Live Meeting for virtual meetings and Office Communication Service Online for presence and instant messaging. The offering is available today in Israel and is free of charge until March 2010.
Figure 5 – Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS)
To summarize, the future looks cool and promising with Cloud Computing and Software + Services. We have announced in the event some of the services and their availability and we invite you all to get a token and start developing for Windows Azure.
תגים:S+S, Software + Services, Dev, Azure, SQL Azure, Windows Azure, Cloud Computing, Dynamic Data Center Toolkit, Project Sydney, App Fabric, BPOS
A few months ago, I was approached by Diego Dagum, a dear friend and a great architect who also happens to be the Editor-In-Chief for the MSDN Architecture Journal. Diego asked if I would like to work with him on the SOA edition for the Architecture Journal as a Guest Editor-In-Chief.
Looking back, I’d say it was a great experience to be able to impact the contents and vision of such an important edition that reaches 10,000s of architects around the world. The result was an Edition that discusses best practices, methodologies, SOA related products and a few articles on Software + Services and the way SOA enables it. I invite you to make use of this edition, read the articles, go through the guest columns and see the videos to learn more about SOA, S+S and Microsoft.
I encourage you to read Hatay Tuna’s article on “An Enterprise Architecture Strategy for SOA” that Microsoft Consulting Services has developed. The reason is the feedbacks we got from architects that this specific article helped them realize the ROI from SOA in a clearer way that could be better explained to the management. There is an article by Blair Shaw from MCS on Business Capabilities as a building block for Business Architecture. Other articles refer to SOA components such the article on “Oslo”, Microsoft’s modeling solution, and another Article on the Service Registry. Additional articles discuss EDA, Cloud from SOA and Design Consideration for Cloud Computing. And that’s not all…
Have a great reading…
Throughout these moments, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Architect is announcing the general availability of the Windows Azure Platform.
The Windows Azure Platform will provide Infrastructure & Management Services (Windows Azure), Database Services (SQL Azure) and Developer Services (.NET Services).
In the next few months, Israel will be the first country in MEA to launch the Windows Azure Platform.
In preparation for the launch, we will participate in the World Summit of Cloud Computing event that will take place in Israel in December 2nd. Throughout this event, Maor David and myself will present the Windows Azure Platform that will be launched in Israel. As you can see from the invitation below, we will participate during the keynotes.
Today I want to write about the .NET services new CTP which is part of the Azure Services Platform.
The new CTP will resemble the final release that will be commericially available after PDC 2009 (November).
The .NET services pillar of Azure provides higher-level libraries to make developers more productive. The purpose of the .NET Services is to extend the .NET framework into the cloud. .NET Services includes Access Control to help create secure connections between your applications and services, as well as an Internet Service Bus for communicating across network and organizational boundaries.
So what can we expect from the new .NET Services version?
Access Control REST Support Added - Today, developers of REST web services lack an easy, accessible means to secure their services. They lack consistency and common patterns for managing identity and access control in a way that is compatible with REST. The .NET Access Control Service will address this need and compliment other Microsoft technologies for security and identity management.
Access Control WS-* Supprort Removed - In addition, the WS-* will not be availble in the upcoming version. In future releases, we will reinstate full support for the WS-* protocols, web Single Sign On, and round out the .NET Access Control Service offering in a way that spans the REST/SOAP spectrum.
Internet Service Bus Capabilities Added:
- Services Naming System and Registry that enables opt-in service public discoverability.
- Messaging - Enable one way, request/response and peer-to-peer messaging through NAT and firewall.
- Message Buffer - Provide a FIFO data structure within .NET Services namespace and exist independent of any presence of active listeners.
Internet Services Bus Capabilities Updated - We are making core changes to Routers, Queues, WSHttpRelay Binding and External Endpoint Registration.
Some people I work with find it confusing to understand what is the overall Microsoft's solution for SOA?
Well, the answer is that Microsoft has an extensive set of solutions for SOA that are comprised of technologies, products and even methodologies. The purpose of this post is to show an answer to this question by presenting a framework that combines all the different solutions Microsoft has for SOA. The frameworks presented in this post can set a useful tool for an organization that tries to understand the SOA puzzle and Microsoft's answer to it.
The first framework is the SOA Capabilities Framework:
A master set of capabilities that an organization might look for when they wish to become service oriented. This framework has two levels of detail seen well in the figure.
The first level of detail contains the Top SOA Capabilities such as application services, integration services, service oriented infrastructure, service composition and business process, UI & presentation services, design & develop, security, governance and methodologies.
The second level of capabilities that is the Detailed SOA Capabilities contains the smaller boxes. For example: Inside the Service Oriented Infrastructure top SOA capability, we have service bus, dynamic routing, registry etc. as detailed SOA capabilities.
Browsing through this framework can help us decide what are the capabilities we need and by that the organization can plan its roadmap to SOA. Every organization and every project might need a different set of capabilities and might decide to search for solutions to only part of the boxes in figure A.
Figure A – SOA Capabilities Framework – Top and Detailed SOA Capabilities
The second framework is the Microsoft's SOA Solution Framework:
This framework can be mapped quite easily to the capabilities framework by providing at least one answer to the capabilities shown in the capabilities framework. In this framework, one can see all the different products, technologies and methodologies that Microsoft provides with its ecosystem of partners and 3rd party solutions.
The building blocks in the framework include different types of solutions:
- Existing MS solutions - e.g., BizTalk, ESB Guidance, WF, MOSS, WCF, WF
- Future MS solutions - e.g., "Dublin", "Geneva" Server and "Oslo"
- Partner Solutions that integrate with the above products – e.g., Agile Point, SOA Software, Amberpoint
Figure B – Microsoft's SOA Solution Framework – Products, Technologies and Methodologies
So, the best way to use the frameworks is:
- Decide which capabilities (top level and detailed) are relevant from the SOA capabilities framework.
- Prioritize the capabilities to see which are more urgent to implement
- Check which products, technologies and methodologies from the Microsoft Solution Framework map to the selected capabilities.
- Implement according to corresponding priorities.
A few weeks ago, I was invited to present at the VP R&D forum in Tel-Aviv.
The presentation (divided into two parts) included lots and lots of updates on the development technologies we have today and those that we will release to the market in the future. This is a presentation I use variations of with different customers and partners to show where Microsoft is and where we're going with our development technologies.
The presentation can be downloaded from my skydrive folders.
The video of my presentation, divided into two parts, can be viewed from:
- Video of First Part - .NET 3.0 & 3.5 Overview, P&P, WPF, Silverlight, WCF, WF, and Dublin.
- Video of Second Part – Dublin (Cont.), LINQ, ADO.NET Entity Framework, Visual Studio 2008 & 2010, Visual Studio Team System 2008 & 2010.
In case you're wondering, what are the topics I covered, then the following list is for you:
- .NET Overview & Roadmap – Introduction, .NET 3.0 and 3.5 Components, Patterns & Practices Announcements
- Presentation Tier with WPF & SilverLight – WPF Architecture & Demos, WPF for LOB Applications, WPF 4.0, Silverlight Architecture, the Silverlight Arilines Demo.
- Service Tier with WCF, WF and Dublin – WCF Introduction & Motivation, WF 4.0 Features, Dublin ARchitecture & Additional Features on top of IIS.
- Data Tier with LINQ and ADO.NET EF – Indluding a demo of generating an EDM model, manipulating it and querying it using LINQ to Entities.
- Visual Studio 2008 & 2010 – Multi-Targeting in VS 2008, Visual Studio 2010 Main Themes including Code Focused Development & Test Driven Development Features.
- Visual Studio Team System 2008 & 2010
- Visual Studio Team System Architecture Edition 2010 – Architecture Validation, Layer Diagram, UML Support, Architecture Explorer and generation of architecture from code
- Visual Studio Team System Test Edition 2010 – Manual Test Runner, "Camano" Lab Manager, WPF Test Automation and more.
- Visual Studio Developer and Data Professional Edition – TFS Integration, Hot Pathes, Code Coverage, Code Metrics, Test Impact Analysis in VSTS 2010, Support for Oracle and DB2 with Data Edition 2010.
תגים:.NET, Visual Studio, VSTS, Patterns & Practices, DataDude, .NET 3.5, WCF, Developers, Platform Strategy, Dev, WPF, WF, Dublin, LINQ, ADO.NET Entity Framework, Microsoft Development Roadmap
Many customers are asking us the Why question.
Why should we migrate to .NET 3.5 if we work with one of the previous versions of .NET?
In order to answer this question, it is important to know what .NET and Visual Studio versions we are using. The older these versions are, the more benefits you get out of migrating to .NET 3.5. Each version brings additional benefits that I'll try to summarize in this post.
It is also important to note that the Benefits Are Additive since each version introduced new features without deprecating older features [at least from .NET 2.0 and onwards]. This is what I like to call, the "Onion Way" of .NET: Each version wrapped the older framework with a new layer of capabilities without changing the API of the previous framework [just like in an onion].
Another bonus is also the ability to use Visual Studio 2008 that provides additional great features. To get the benefit of Visual Studio 2008, we only need to migrate to .NET 2.0 at least if we're not there yet. A cool feature in Visual Studio 2008 called "Multi Targeting" leverages the "Onion Way" of .NET and allows compiling and targetting multiple frameworks and not only .NET 3.5 but also .NET 3.0 and .NET 2.0. So, the moment we step into .NET 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5, we get the full IDE benefits of Visual Studio 2008, but that's for another post.
The rest of the post summarizes the benefits and features we get from each .NET version or service pack. This information is also available in MSDN. Let me provide an example of how it is best to read the rest of the post. If we are using .NET 2.0 today and we think of migrating to .NET 3.5, then we would need to Add Together All the Benefits from .NET 3.0, .NET 3.0 SP1, .NET 3.5 and .NET 3.5 SP1 in order to get the full picture of the benefits.
.NET 3.5 SP1 Benefits:
Updates several assemblies that were included in the .NET Framework 3.5. The updates include non-breaking changes, new API elements, and additional functionality for the technologies that were included in the .NET Framework 3.5. The following technologies are included in the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1:
For a complete list of features, see What's New in the .NET Framework Version 3.5 [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/he-il/library/bb332048(en-us).aspx ] and What's New in the .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/he-il/library/cc713697(en-us).aspx ] .
.NET 3.5 Benefits:
Provides the first additions to the base class libraries to the .NET Framework since version 2.0. The following technologies are introduced in the .NET Framework 3.5:
- Language Integrated Query (LINQ).
- New compilers for C#, Visual Basic, and C++.
- ASP.NET AJAX.
For a complete list of features, see What's New in the .NET Framework Version 3.5.
.NET 3.0 SP1 Benefits:
Updates .NET Framework 3.0 assemblies
.NET 3.0 Benefits:
The .NET Framework 3.0 requires the .NET Framework 2.0 to be installed on the computer. If a user installs the .NET Framework 3.0 on a computer that does not have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed, the .NET Framework 2.0 is installed automatically.
The following technologies are introduced in the .NET Framework 3.0:
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
- Windows Communications Foundation (WCF).
- Windows Workflow Foundation (WF).
- Windows CardSpace
For more information, see What's New in the .NET Framework Version 3.0 [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/he-il/library/bb822048(en-us).aspx ] .
.NET 2.0 Benefits:
Provides the core architectural base for all subsequent versions of the Framework. The following technologies are included in the .NET Framework 2.0:
- Common language runtime (CLR) and base class libraries.
- Support for generic types and methods.
- Compilers for C#, Visual Basic, C++, and J#.
- ADO.NET.
- ASP.NET.
- Windows Forms.
- Web services.
This is the last version of the Framework that supports side-by-side operations of the .NET Framework versions 1.0 through 2.0. For a complete list of features see What's New in the .NET Framework Version 2.0 [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/he-il/library/t357fb32(en-us).aspx ] .
In the last month, I found out that more and more customers want to hear about the benefits we are about to reveal in Visual Studio Team System 2010, also known as "Rosario".
Team System 2010 is what we call a MAJOR release with many important features. However, if I want to summarize the benefits in two words, I would definitely say Architecture & Testing. Microsoft has put a lot of effort and innovation in the Architecture and Test Editions which makes them market leader products on their own.
The Architecture Edition adds UML 2.x diagrams in addition to the previous designers introduced in previous versions. Not only that we support UML as a first class citizen in VSTS, but we also allow the developer to generate the diagrams from the code. We are also about to support an Architecture Explorer feature which generates an architecture map of the entire system allowing developers and architects to see how changes in code affect the architecture. The last feature I want to emphasize is the Architecture Validation which is the ultimate nirvana for architects. The architecture validation validates that the code doesn't break architectural rules and connections as the architect defined in the architecture.
The Test Edition adds the notion of no more excuses for developers when trying to reproduce defects. It gives power to the end of the sentence "It works on my computer". It does that by giving more details to the developer when opening a bug including the exact step where the program broke, a historical debugger (great stuff), build number and even a video, yes a video of screen of the tester when the bug was found. There is also a new Test Lab product, called "Camano" as part of the suite which allows creating virtual instances of test labs for testers and developers while maintaining the same configuration of a computer that a bug was found on. We also introduce recording of UI testing even with WPF and the ability to produce code from the recorded test using a coded UI test.
In addition to the above there are many more interesting features in the entire suite such as:
1. Support for DB2 in the Data Edition
2. Ability to realize a real test driven development by creating code from a unit test and not the opposite
3. Gated check-in that runs a personal build before check-in is committed
4. Build improvements including buddy builds, pool of build agents with queuing and WF based builds
The story doesn't end here and more features will be revealed as we get closer to the release dates.
If you wish to see a presentation covering Team System End To End including 2005, 2008 and 2010, follow this link.
Recently, I've been asked by one of our customers about what is Microsoft doing in the spaces of EII and MDM. Usually, customers who seek for these solutions have multiple data sources and they wish for an integrated view and queries of the entities in the organization.
Before I answer these questions, here's a short recap about the terms:
EII – Enterprise Information Integration - A software that combines various data sources at an enterprise level in order to support applications that present or analyze the data in new ways. EII provides a service that allows administrators, developers, and end-users to treat a broad array of data sources as if they were one large database or data service. EII is software infrastructure not an application. However, it does support the creation of applications.
MDM – Master Data Management - A discipline in Information Technology that focuses on the management of reference or master data that is shared by several disparate IT systems and groups. MDM can be described by the way that master data interacts with other data. Master data can be described by the way that it is created, read, updated, deleted, and searched. For example, in transaction systems, master data is almost always involved with transactional data. A customer buys a product. A vendor sells a part, and a partner delivers a crate of materials to a location. An employee is hierarchically related to their manager, who reports up through a manager (another employee). A product may be a part of multiple hierarchies describing their placement within a store. This relationship between master data and transactional data may be fundamentally viewed as a noun/verb relationship. Transactional data capture the verbs, such as sale, delivery, purchase, email, and revocation; master data are the nouns. This is the same relationship data-warehouse facts and dimensions share.
Btw, if you're confused about the main difference between MDM and EII, I'll state that in MDM the data is shared or duplicated while in EII it is about fedeated data.
So, what does Microsoft has to offer for EII and MDM?
(1) SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) for EII
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) together with our SQL Server Reporting and Analysis services can provide a premier EII solution. In SQL Server 2008, there have been some significant features added for the EII capabilities such as:
- Enhanced support for different adapters for different data sources in Distributed Query.
- Possibly extend existing set of adapters.
- Improved tool support for Distributed Query.
- Comparable tool support between a solution using consolidation and one using federation.
- Ease of maintenance of simple extensions to the source data.
- Allows definition of the metadata of the complete “integrated view”
- Make it easier to incrementally maintain caches of data.
It is important to note that the adapters allow access to data sources which are not only SQL Server.
(2) Stratature +EDM for MDM
Another solution Microsoft acquired, specifically for the MDM space is Stratature with its +EDM solution.
The current Stratature +EDM solution has a significant set of capabilities such as: a central management of data entities and hierarchies using a master data hub, Data modeling for entities, attributes, hierarchies, and business rules used to store and validate master data and additional capabilies like Thin Client UI, Business Rules, Human Workflow, Versioning, Transaction Logging, Hierarchy Mangement, Subscription Interface and Security.
The next version, codenamed "Bulldog" is about making Stratature +EDM a Microsoft product. Bulldog will remain almost identical to +EDM with some enhancements. Microsoft plans to improve the out of box experience, simplify setup and perform the full suite of prerelease processes such as security reviews. In addition, Microsoft will extend +EDM with improvements to the API, better integration into other applications, and better integration with the Microsoft data platform. The solution is expected to become more integrated with the current solutions including SQL Server and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server.
For more information about Microsoft's roadmap in the MDM space, visit here.
I'd like to recommend a book which can be viewed as the most up-to-date comprehensive architecture guide for software applications developed using Microsoft .NET technologies. As it says in the introduction to the book: "The purpose of the Application Architecture Guide 2.0 is to improve your effectiveness when building applications on the Microsoft platform. The primary audience for this guide is solution architects and development leads. The guide provides design-level guidance for the architecture and design of applications built on the Microsoft .NET platform. It focuses on the most common types of applications and on partitioning application functionality into layers, components, and services, and also walks through their key design characteristics."
This is a must-read book for any .NET architect.
Download here.
This has been an exciting week.
In addition to the ImagineCup competition, Microsoft in Israel has also launched DreamSpark.
DreamSpark is a Microsoft global initiative to allow FREE ACCESS TO MS SOFTWARE for students in Israel.
Students in the Technion thought there was a catch here, but believe me there isn't.
We just want students to expereince MS software while studying to develop.
The program gives access to Visual Studio, SQL Server, Windows Server, Expression Tools and more for the duration of the studies.
To register, follow this link, fill in your details and verify that you're a student. After verified, you'll be able to download the tools.
Microsoft in Israel with the Israeli students union is excited to launch ImagineCup in Israel for the first time.
ImagineCup is the Microsoft International competition for students studying computer sciences and engineering.
The competition is between more than a hundred thousand students across 180 countries who submit projects whose purpose is to answer one of the challenges the world is facing today.
On May 20th, we will host the Israeli finals from which we'll choose the winners who will win great prizes.
The 1st place winner will be sent by Microsoft to represent Israel in the worldwide finals.
Students from Israel, we invite you to register your ideas until January 20th!
You are also welcome to register a project you are working on as part of your studies in case it answers the requirements published in the site.
A year ago, I had the pleasure of delivering two talks at an architect’s forum in Helsinki. The first talk was about services and Microsoft solution for SOA. The second one was about models and Microsoft solution at that time with DSLs and Visual Studio Team Architect.
The reason I needed two talks is because those two topics were not really related to one another. During that time, I didn't really know that these two topics that I'm so passionate about would converge into a powerful solution called Oslo.
Oslo's first CTP will be available for the public during PDC two weeks from now.
Some of the components in Oslo are:
- A visual designer (codenamed "Quadrant") - A tool that helps people define and interact with models in a rich and visual manner.
- The modeling language (codenamed "M") - A language that helps people create and use textual domain-specific languages and data models. Oslo extends Visual Studio’s support for graphical DSLs, adds new textual DSL capabilities and provides a repository for models of all kinds. On a personal note, it is great for me to see that DSLs that I was evangelizing in the last three years are realizing their potential as the modeling foundation for Oslo.
- A "relational repository" - A relational repository that makes models available to both tools and platform components. Developers can use existing database tools such as Access, Excel, SQL Server Reporting or Analytical Services in addition to "Quadrant” to view and manipulate the models.
Figure - Screenshot of “Quadrant” from David Chappell's talk on Oslo during Tech-Ed Orlando
Oslo is also about services and it will make it easier to build service oriented solutions in organizations by providing models and DSLs for defining workflows and services. Over time, these models will be executed directly by the new Windows Server “Dublin” technologies, but that’s another topic for a different post. Isn’t it?
Did you know that Microsoft has a cool IDE for developing and simulating robots? I have had the chance to explore the Robotics SDK recently and found that it is so generic that it can be used not only for robots but also for a multi-sensor mission critical system.
The Robotics Studio was developed for research purposes by Microsoft Research and can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/robotics.
.jpg)
Figure - The Visual Programming IDE for Robotics Studio
If you wish to learn more, I uploaded a Technical Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Studio Presentation for you to learn from.
Recently, I have started to work with the universities in Israel and especially with the computer sciences faculties. One of them expressed specific interest in teaching Robotics as part of their curriculum.
So, in case you're a faculty or just someone who wants to learn more, you can download the following learning materials:
- Robotics Curriculum - 10 step-by-step exercises and activities for getting students started in the world of Robotics. Modules use the ER1 robotics kit. This curriculum guide is fully accredited and meets national science education standards.
- Computer Sciences through Robotics Labs - The robotics introductory courseware is a set of labs that can be completed individually or as part of an introductory course on robotics. The labs take you through common robotics concepts such as reading sensors, controlling actuators, designing simple behaviors, and having a robot interacting with its environment using Microsoft Robotics Studio.
And if you want to get excited about some of the interesting stuff we're doing worldwide with the academy specific to robotics, you'll find this short presentation pretty insightful.
מיקרוסופט ישראל מקדמת את היבט טכנולוגיות הפיתוח אל מול המגזר האקדמי. לצורך כך אנו מגייסים מוביל לתחום פיתוח התוכנה אל מול מגזר זה שיעסוק בייזום שיתופי פעולה אל מול הסטודנטים והמרצים בפקולטות למדעי המחשב בישראל. אם את/ה מעוניין/נת להיות זה שיוביל זאת במיקרוסופט ישראל, ואם את/ה חושב שאת/ה מתאים/ה לדרישות שבהמשך, נשמח לקבל את קורות החיים שלך .
מטרת התפקיד
הובלת מיקרוסופט לעמדה מובילה במגזר האקדמיה דרך בניית שיתופי פעולה וקשרים ארוכי טווח מול המרצים והדיקנים באוניברסיטאות והמכללות. הובלת השילוב של חומר אקדמי מבוסס טכנולוגיות הפיתוח של מיקרוסופט בקורסים, בפרויקטים משותפים, בתוכניות הלימוד ובפורומים לסטודנטים מתוך מטרה לתת לסטודנטים בסיס ידע נוסף בטרם ייצאו לשוק.
התפקיד הינו תפקיד מרתק ומאתגר הכולל שילוב נדיר של טכנולוגיה וחדשנות וגם של אסטרטגיה, שיווק ופיתוח עסקי. התפקיד מאפשר עבודה מגוונת ומעניינת עם השפעה וחשיפה אך דורש אדם אנרגטי בעל יכולת להציג ולשכנע קהלים מסוגים שונים. התפקיד הינו חלק מתוכנית ארוכת טווח המתמקדת בחשיבות האקדמיה והשפעתה על שוק התוכנה בארץ.
תחומי אחריות
- יצירת קשרים ארוכי טווח עם מרצים ודיקני הפקולטות למדעי המחשב, הנדסה ומערכות מידע
- קידום השילוב של חומר .NET-י בקורסים, פרויקטים ותוכניות הלימודים בפקולטות
- פיתוח מצגות ותוכן הדרכתי על שפות פיתוח, ארכיטקטורה וטכנולוגיות והעברתו לסטודנטים ולמרצים
- הגדרת האסטרטגיה ותוכנית עבודה שנתית ליוזמות מיקרוסופט באקדמיה בישראל
- ייזום פרויקטים משותפים בין האקדמיה, מיקרוסופט והתעשייה בארץ
- גיוס והובלת הפעילות של צוות הכולל מספר סטודנטים מובילים אשר יסייעו בקידום טכנולוגיות מיקרוסופט בפקולטות
- הטמעה של תוכניות מיקרוסופט מחו"ל לאקדמיה
- ארגון כנסים ופורומים לקהילת הסטודנטים והשתתפות פעילה בהם תוך העברת הרצאות
דרישות התפקיד
- תואר ראשון במדעי המחשב
- 3-4 שנות ניסיון בהובלת פרויקטים כטכנולוג בכיר / ארכיטקט / מנהל פיתוח
- 7-8 שנות ניסיון בפיתוח מוצרי תוכנה ו/ או מערכות תוכנה מבוזרות בסביבת מיקרוסופט.
- ניסיון בפיתוח מערכות על בסיס טכנולוגית .NET ושליטה בלפחות שפת פיתוח אחת (VB.NET/C#/C++)
כישורים
- תאווה חזקה לטכנולוגיות חדשות ויכולת אוטודידקטית ללימודן העצמאי.
- יכולת טכנית וארכיטקטונית גבוהה
- יכולת להכין ולהעביר מצגות והדגמות באופן מרתק, משכנע ואפקטיבי ומותאם לקהלים שונים.
- ייצוגיות, בטחון עצמי וכריזמה אישית.
- יכולת להקשיב ללקוחות, לפקוח עיניים ולהבחין בהזדמנויות חדשות.
- פרואקטיבי, יצירתי, שופע רעיונות ויוזם
- יכולת להתנהל באופן עצמאי תוך מוכוונות לביצוע ועמידה ביעדים ולוחות זמנים
- יכולת לחשוב ולתכנן מהלכים ותוכניות לטווח ארוך
- לא מוותר בקלות ויודע לחפש ולמצוא תמיד דרכים חלופיות
- כושר ביטוי בעל פה ובכתב בעברית ובאנגלית
עדיפות תינתן ל:
- ניסיון בתחומי ייעוץ או Pre-Sale
- ניסיון קודם כמרצה/מתרגל במכללה/אוניברסיטה
- תואר שני או שלישי עם ניסיון במחקר
- הכרות עם פתרונות מיקרוסופט נוספים כמו כלים או שפות פיתוח, מוצרי שרת, בסיסי נתונים.
- הכרות עם פלטפורמות שאינן מיקרוסופטיות ( Java, Linux, Oracle וכו'(
נא להפנות קורות חיים למחלקת משאבי אנוש: רח' הפנינה 2, רעננה 43107.
פקס: 09-7625200
דואר אלקטרוני: isrjob@microsoft.com
* רק פניות מתאימות תעננה
* רק קורות חיים שמציינים את שם המשרה הרלוונטית- יענו
* סודיות מובטחת
More Posts
Next page »