I spent most of last week in Atlanta attending Microsoft Convergence 2010. Convergence is a event focused on Microsoft’s Dynamics line of business products, ERP platforms and CRM. It is the only Dynamics event where customers, partners, and the Microsoft team are all together in one location to discuss their products.
Overall
There were two themes that permeated the entire conference, Microsoft Azure and Web Services. During one of the general sessions it was mentioned that currently 70% of the Dynamics development team is focused on cloud based services and in 2011 that number would climb to 90%. Microsoft’s investment in cloud services gives greater flexibility in the architecture of the infrastructure that runs the Dynamics products. The extension into the cloud is made possible through the implementation of web services. Dynamics web services running on Azure would allow for cloud based services to safely and securely connect to a back-end Dynamics platform without the need for a complex server architecture. Cloud based web services would allow for a central point of communication for external services at the same time it would limit the exposure of any back end system by limiting the external communication to one point, Azure, instead of many different services.
The conference was a huge success, however, there was a glaring need for deep technical tracks during the event. I attended 2 SQL events that were marked as “400 Level” technical classes and the material presented defiantly not what I would consider 400 Level material. I had my opinion confirmed when I discussed the material with the SQL community via Twitter. An opportunity was missed for training and knowledge sharing between developers, DBAs, the some of Microsoft’s technical staff.
This was the first year that the User Groups played a large role at the conference. These groups were not closed to only users so partners and Microsoft employees were encouraged to attend. These turned out to be not only the most productive parts of the conference for everyone. Users were able to discuss issues and features directly with the product team that Microsoft really needs to address. Partners were able to add great advice on topics like add-ons and upgrading.
Everyone that deals with Microsoft’s dynamics products would gain valuable insight and knowledge from attending the convergence event. There was not a partner, user, or Microsoft employee that I spoke with that did not find the event worth attending. I would highly recommend that anyone involved with a Dynamics product try to make it to Convergence 2011.
If you attended Convergence 2010 we would love to hear about your experience.
