Renewed as an MVP for 2020 - 2021!

The 1st of July is known to Microsoft MVP's all around the world as 'F5 Day' - mainly because many keyboard F5 buttons get worked extra-hard when MVP's are refreshing their inbox and/or online MVP profile to see if they've been re-awarded for another year!

Thankfully for me, I didn't break my F5 button while finding out I've been renewed as a Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP for 2020 - 2021!

This is my ninth year in the MVP program and I'm really proud that I made it this far. It's not easy to maintain the high level of standards required for renewal each year, especially with hectic work and family commitments so it's a testament to all of the MVP's across the world who have managed to remain in the program for this coming year.

The Cloud and Datacenter Management (CDM) category I've been renewed in ties in nicely with the Azure projects we've been diving into lately and which we have planned for the coming year. Azure management technologies and services such as Azure Monitor, Azure Governance, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery and Azure Migrate are some of the areas covered by the CDM award and it also includes hybrid management and connectivity scenarios (e.g. Azure-attach solutions) with on-premises environments.

I'm very thankful to have an employer (Ergo) that supports me and my colleagues on this MVP journey where we get the projects, tools and learning time that we need to help us stay current within our specialist areas - which in turn, helps me to contribute back to the community through this blog and my public speaking engagements.

Some of the community contributions I've submitted for award renewal this year and which have kept me busy include presenting at events such as Experts Live Europe, the Global Azure Bootcamp, the Cloud and Datacenter Conference Germany and even a couple of bucket-list presentation slots at Microsoft Ignite in London. I've also managed to squeeze in some time to complete the authoring process with my MVP friends on the latest edition of our recently released (and free) 'Inside Azure Management' book.

Although 2020 has been a very strange year with the global COVID-19 lockdown affecting community gatherings across the world, the MVP Community have come together with many other community leaders and contributors to re-imagine conferences as digital-only events for now. These have worked out well in many cases however, we all wait in hope for when the in-person events return and we can all catch up again to talk tech.

Thanks everyone for all your support over the last year!

Renewed as an MVP for 2019 - 2020!

For all Microsoft MVP's around the world, yesterday (1st July aka 'F5 Day') was the day that we all receive notification as to whether or not we've been renewed as MVP's for another year. Thankfully someone in Microsoft thinks I'm doing a good job for the community and I was happy to see my inbox lighting up with the all-important email stating I'd been renewed as a Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP for 2019 - 2020!

I was awarded my first MVP (in the System Center category) in 2012 and no matter how long you're in the program, it's always a welcome relief to see that email land with confirmation that you're good to go for another year.

With many of my MVP peers moving over to the Azure specialty, the Cloud and Datacenter Management category that my award relates to gives me a unique opportunity to work on and present content to the community and my customers across the hybrid-cloud space. This category covers many on-premises management technologies (including SCOM 2019, which is still very much alive and kicking with our customers) and it also includes Azure management technologies and services such as Azure Monitor, Azure Governance, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, Azure Migrate etc.

Through the MVP program, I also get to network and hang out with some very smart people across many different technical spectrum's and I'm very lucky to work for an employer (Ergo) that supports me and my colleagues on this journey (we also have two other MVP's working here!).

In the past year, I've kept myself busy in the community by presenting at events such as Experts Live Europe, the Cloud and Datacenter Conference Germany, the Global Azure Bootcamp and the Microsoft Tech Summit. I've also managed to squeeze in the time to complete the authoring process with some awesome MVP friends on our recently released 'Inside Azure Management' book.

Hopefully this coming year as an MVP will help me bring more of these contributions to the wider community!

Awarded Microsoft MVP 2018 for Cloud and Datacenter Management!

Last Sunday (1st July) I received a very welcome email into my inbox stating I'd been renewed as a Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP for 2018!

This email from Microsoft confirms that I'm now moving into my 7th year as an MVP and it's always a relief when it comes in as there's no guarantee that any of us will get renewed - no matter how much you think you've contributed to the community over the past year.

The MVP program enables me to network and interact with some of the best technical brains in the industry and I'm very lucky to work for an employer (Ergo) that supports me on this journey. Each year, they have given me the projects, tools and time that I need to enable me work with Cloud and Datacenter technologies in the Microsoft space - which in turn, helps me to contribute back to the community through this blog, my social media channels and to attend/speak at conferences where I can maximize my learning curve.

Due to some internal changes to the MVP award program, this year is the first time my renewal has come up in July (I'm originally an October awardee) and as such, it's 18 months since my last renewal date. Over those last 18 months, I've kept myself busy in the community by presenting at conferences such as Experts Live Europe, the Cloud and Datacenter Conference Germany, Experts Live NL and SCOM Day Sweden. I've also spent some time authoring with some awesome MVP friends on the 'Inside the Microsoft Operations Management Suite (v2)' book.

Thanks to my family, to everyone in Microsoft and the MVP community for their help and advice over the last year and also thanks to my friends and work colleagues at Ergo for helping me get this far in the program!

Awarded Microsoft MVP 2015 for Cloud and Datacenter Management!

With everything that I've had going on lately I nearly forgot today was my MVP renewal date. I say nearly, because as an MVP, when you notice the #MVPBuzz Twitter posts stacking up in your feed, you quickly go into 'DEFCON 1' mode.

In DEFCON 1 mode, you immediately begin to feel sorry for the poor F5 key on your keyboard that will undoubtedly feel the pain as the wait for the annual 'email' draws nearer and you can't help but keep frantically refreshing your email client until the mail finally arrives!

Thankfully, in between some customer presentations I was delivering this afternoon, the following email landed in my inbox....

This email brings confirmation from Microsoft that I've been awarded my 4th MVP in the System Center Cloud & Datacenter space and no matter how hard you work throughout the year, there's no guarantee that you will ever see that email coming in so it's always a very welcome relief.

So far over the past 12 months, I've started working on another book, been to Chicago to attend the Microsoft Ignite conference, had the opportunity to present two sessions at the awesome System Center Universe Europe conference and have been invited to present alongside some friends at the Dutch WMUG NL group.

Next month I'll be heading over to Seattle to attend the MVP Summit and will then take another trip back to the Netherlands to present a session at the Experts Live 2015 event.

The amount of work you have to put in blogging, tweeting, writing books, working the forums and presenting at events to obtain and hold onto an MVP is not easy (most of it is carried out on your own time after the day job is finished) but it's certainly worth it!

Thanks to my family, to everyone in the MVP community for their help and advice over the last year and also thanks to my friends and work colleagues at Ergo for giving me the opportunity to work on some epic System Center projects this year too!

Awarded Microsoft MVP 2014 for Cloud and Datacenter Management!

I've just seen 'the email' that all MVP's anticipate every 12 months - which is when their existing MVP is up for renewal.

I'd nearly forgotten that today was my own renewal day as I was busy delivering some webinars on DevOps to the community.

Thanks to all my friends and colleagues that I've worked with and shared knowledge on CloudOS with over the last year - it's great to see the 'Number of MVP Awards' counter on my profile go up by one each year!

I'll be at the MVP Summit in November and if you've been renewed or are a first time MVP awardee, then we might catch up over there for a beer! For now though, I'll just bask in my own glory for an hour or so!

Awarded MVP in System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management for a 2nd Year!

Today I've been honoured with the award of Microsoft MVP for System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management (SC CDM) for the 2nd year running.

This is a massive deal for me as the benefits of the MVP program and the interaction with the brilliant technical minds of the community that surrounds it is invaluable to IT Pro's and consultants working in the Microsoft space. These past 12 months as an MVP sure have flown by and I remember my pal Marnix Wolf telling me this time last year to "Hold onto your seat because it's gonna be a blast" - he was so right!

This year alone, I've had the opportunity to travel to Seattle, Las Vegas and Switzerland with another trip back over to Microsoft HQ in Seattle booked for next month! The amount of work you have to put in blogging, tweeting, writing books, working the forums and presenting at events to obtain and hold onto an MVP is not easy (most of it is carried out on your own time after the day job is finished) but it's certainly worth it.

Thanks to everyone in the MVP community for their help and advice over the last year and also thanks to my friends and work colleagues at Ergo for giving me the opportunity to work exclusively on System Center for the last number of years- let's hope the next 12 months can be just as much fun!

Windows Server & System Center MVP Pro Speaker Series Kicks Off This Week!

This week sees the beginning of an excellent series of FREE online speaker events being led by Microsoft. There will be different sessions each week and the content will vary depending on the speaker but will all revolve around Windows Server and System Center 2012.

I can't wait to watch these sessions as I understand that some of them will be content that didn't quite make the final cut of presentations at MMS 2013 but will now be given the run they deserve online.

This MVP Speaker Series is open to everyone and if you can't watch the sessions live, then don't worry - they'll all be made available for download as offline viewing material.

Check out these links for more information:

Windows Server/System Center MVP Speaker Series Starting This Week!

Announcement: Special Windows Server/System Center MVP Speaker Series presentation taking place on Thursday 4/25/13