Just when you thought the fantastic pace of content on our blogs would slow down a bit after completing our “31 Days of Servers in the Cloud” series, we’re starting our new series for February: “Migration and Deployment”.

“So.. is this a February series, with 28 parts and new stuff every day?”

Well.. okay, maybe not quite the same pace as we did in January.  We decided to give you (and selfishly, ourselves) the weekends off.  But, this actually lends itself to another interesting way to break up the month into specific topic areas; one topic-area-per-week.  And in each week, we’ll discuss issues of migration and deployment for and around the platform in question.

Our 4 weeks of topic areas breaks down like this:

• Week #1 (February 4-8): Windows 8
• Week #2 (February 11-15): Windows Server 2012
• Week #3 (February 18-22): Windows Azure
• Week #4 (February 25-28): System Center 2012 App Controller 

For example, we’ll be covering topics such as installation requirements and issues, methods for upgrading-in-place or the migration of documents and settings, managing policy and permissions, etc.

“Who is ‘we’?  Who are the article authors?”

The authors are me and my amazing teammates – the other Microsoft DPE US IT Pro Technology Evangelists in the United States: Chris Avis, Harold Wong, Brian Lewis, Matt Hester, Keith Mayer, Dan Stolts, Bob Hunt, Yung Chou, Tommy Patterson, and Blain Barton. 
And, as in the past, we will also occasionally call upon an MVP or other subject-matter expert to contribute.

“Are there any resources that I should have at-the-ready for doing exercises or walking through your step-by-step articles?”

GREAT question.  Yes! 

1. Get your Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation download here: http://aka.ms/win8Client
2. Get Windows Server 2012 Evaluation (.ISO & pre-installed .VHD): http://aka.ms/Server2012
3. Start a Windows Azure 90-day free trial: http://aka.ms/90DaysOfAzure
4. Download the evaluation of System Center 2012 w/SP1: http://aka.ms/PvtCld
5. Take advantage of FREE training at Microsoft Virtual Academy: http://aka.ms/MSVirtAcademy, and
6. Take a stab at winning a trip to Las Vegas and the Microsoft Management Summit through the Cloud OS Trivia Challenge: http://aka.ms/CloudOSTrivia

So.. the series is “Migration and Deployment”.  The first article (Part 1) is coming on Monday, February 4.  And we sincerely hope you enjoy it and will take advantage of the knowledge that we’re sharing.

Until then - Have a great weekend!