Peers of mine are launching a new monthly webcast for both infrastructure and software architects. Dubbed the Architect Innovation Café, these folks will be publishing new 90-minute webcasts each month starting in October and running through June 2010. These webcasts will focus on the latest industry trends and technologies and how those technologies can align with your business needs.

First Up – An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3, October 27, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST
Kicking the series off will be a webcast featuring Tim Heuer, a program manager on the Microsoft Silverlight team. For those new to the term, Silverlight is a web technology aimed at delivering rich internet experiences to users. Before his current role, Tim was a developer evangelist serving the Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and Utah areas aiming to strengthen and support communities and software developers in these geographies.

His presentation, An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3, will step back from a detailed implementation of the technology and instead take a broader look at Silverlight from the architect’s perspective. Tim will discuss the types of applications where Silverlight makes sense and some scenarios where Silverlight may not be the appropriate technology. He will also delve into some of the architectural decisions you must consider when writing applications for this platform and where some of the tradeoffs may lie.

Next Up – Deploying Windows 7 from an Infrastructure Architect’s Perspective, October 28, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST
Following Tim is Doug Klokow, a member of Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) for the past 9 years focused on client desktop deployment scenarios. He is part of the Virtual Deployment Practice, focused on driving early customer deployment on Microsoft client technologies and he also supports Microsoft’s Desktop Virtualization capabilities and service offerings.

His presentation, Deploying Windows 7 from an Infrastructure Architect’s Perspective, will discuss five key areas centered on deploying Windows 7:

• Developing business justification – Evaluate the capabilities provided by Windows 7 and develop a plan for how to realize business value from these solutions
• Where are you today – Explore the differences of preparing for Windows 7 based on your current desktop operating system
• Application readiness – Explore the tools and resources available to gain insight into your readiness to deploy Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, and/or Office 2007/2010
• Deployment readiness – Explore the tools and resources available to create a design and deployment solution for your enterprise
• Training your employees – Discuss available resources for training your IT Staff and End Users