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Computer Training Magazine™Volume 1 Issue 3

Mary ShacklettConsulting Editor

Nicholas Ntovas Marketing Manager

Contributing WritersTom ClancyJeff FurmanBill GatesKevin S. GoffTim LandgraveAndrew RamdayalMary Shacklett

Advertising SalesPaulson AmbookanPublishing & Distribution Manager646.747.5682

Design TeamAnthony Ribando

Corporate InformationRussell Sarder, CEO

Titu Sarder, COO

Adam Chng, CIO

Therese Switzer, CTO

Mudit Mittal, General Manager

Brian Ciufo, Sr. Apps Developer

All rights reserved. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Contents

Advertisers IndexEnabling TechnologiesMicrosoftNew Generation Software SystemNetCom Information TechnologyPacePC ExpertSOX InstituteTech Expo

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For training contact:NetCom Information Technologyat 888.563.8266 or visit www.netcominfo.com

Computer Training Magazine350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 717New York, NY 10118Phone: 888.563.8266www.computertrainingmag.com

Featured Articles

Letter from the CEO ____________________________________________________ 3

NetCom Information Technology Microsoft Learning Solutions Partner of The Year _ 4

More Organizations Seek to “Reinsource” Critical IT Skills ______________________ 5

The Age of Software-Powered Communications _____________________________ 6

Haven’t yet upgraded to SQL Server 2005? __________________________________ 8

The Secrets to Passing Certification Exams _________________________________ 10

Educational Alignment Bridges Industry Skill Gap __________________________ 11

Cisco Wireless Network and Security Education & Best Practices _______________ 13

Cisco Wireless Certifications and Training are in Full Swing ____________________ 14

Office 2007 Is the Ultimate ECM Opportunity _______________________________ 15

Building Office Business Applications _____________________________________ 16

Internet Security Threat Forecast for 2007-2008 _____________________________ 17

NetComs Advanced Project Management/PMP Prep Class ____________________ 18

Industry News

Companies are Making the Move to IP Telephony ___________________________ 20

Are you making what your worth? 2007 Salary Survey _______________________ 22

Cisco Changes Networking Certification Levels to Address New Market Needs ____ 24

CISSP-Certified Technologists are in High Demand __________________________ 25

Tech Tips

Getting a Handle on Wireless Technology __________________________________ 26

Now is the Right Time to Start “Boning Up” for Vista __________________________ 28

Extending Corporate Data to the Portal ___________________________________ 30

Creating a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word _____________________________ 31

Trace Evidence _______________________________________________________ 33

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Letter from the CEO

Sincerely,

Russell SarderPresident and CEO

2007 is a year in which enterprise CIOs and industry-leading technology firms have grown increasingly vocal about a shortage of on-shore networking skills in the U.S.—and the need to reinvest in training that is relevant to enterprise IT infrastructure. These executives and managers want training that makes a difference—in corporate service levels, and in the bottom line.

What has happened to bring all this about?

The past few years have seen a growing number of U.S. firms outsource critical IT functions like network support and management. The value proposition seemed right at the time: budgets were tight, and offshore network outsourcing appeared to offer dramatic cost savings. Additionally, the economic outlook was uncertain. Outsourcing was a viable op-tion that allowed companies to add to and subtract from network support staff levels with greater ease and less complication than hiring full-time employees.

Now, the cost of these offshore resources is on the rise, and offshore operators are actually considering opening facilities in the U.S. At the same time, enterprises are being pressured by industry regulators and others in areas like enterprise network security—while both end business users and IT executives are recognizing that instantaneous situation response and sensitivity to corporate business and technology goals are best at-tained with your own staff, and not from offshore operations that are thousands of miles and several time zones away.

The obvious solution is to invest in the knowledge and skills levels of your internal network staff—or to hire those skills into your organization. Unfortunately, young persons choosing their careers and educational focuses have also been witnessing the impact of outsourcing over the past few years. As a consequence, many U.S. colleges and universities report that students have not opted to pursue IT careers. As more enterprises make the transition back to internal IT staff with strong networking skills, they will be competing for a smaller group of skilled people, and net-work skills will be at a premium.

Today’s corporate IT training is a $22 billion dollar industry. It is a proven solution to the current shortage of skilled network professionals. The certifications and classes offered here at Netcom cover all of the major products and technologies of key industry players like Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Intel and others. In many cases, these certifications and classes have been revised to reflect new needs of companies and new technology trends. One example is Cisco’s entry level CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician), a new “first step” in its networking certification program that joins its level two CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate) and level three CCNP (Cisco Certified Networking Professional) cer-tifications. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Windows Vista Configuration and Windows Server 2008 certifications provide network professionals with skills development not only in up and coming products and technology concepts—but in critical enterprise technology initiatives like virtualization, self-healing systems and network automation.

We offer over 1,000 technology courses at Netcom that reflect constantly changing technology innovations--and we uniquely combine the very best of Internet distributed technologies with more traditional instructor-led classroom training. The end goal is always to maximize the success-ful training of our students, and to meet the needs of each of our customers with utmost quality.

We know that best-of-class training delivers critical skills back into the IT workforce. It prepares the next generation of IT networking profession-als for the challenges and the opportunities of the future. Our instructors know what quality of technical excellence is, and they perform at the very highest level to provide the top professional services in their respective industries. Our customers always come first. We strive hard every day to realize that belief.

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On, July 12, 2007, Microsoft Corporation announced NetCom Information Technology as the winner of the 2007 Microsoft® Learning Solutions Partner of the Year Award. This prestigious award recognizes the

Microsoft Gold Certified partner that delivered the highest quality learning solutions for their customers during the past year. NetCom was chosen from a group of finalists from around the world, based on its unparalleled use of dedicated Microsoft technologies to provide customers with exemplary training services and state-of-the-art learning facilities. The announcement was made at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007, the company’s premier annual event for industry partners, held this year in Denver.

“NetCom Information Technology has created a Central Management System to seamlessly connect all tasks sur-rounding a training operation; integrating marketing, sales, delivery, content, scheduling, and customer service”, said Robert Deshaies, Vice President, U.S. Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “We applaud partners like NetCom, whose focus is placed on understanding the client, their technology and their training needs, in turn enabling the partner to help clients make technology decision in conjunction with training”, he added.

NetCom Information Technology’s Learning Solutions Partner of the Year Award recognizes its commitment and ability to deliver high-quality learning services using a consultative engagement model. This award validates the impact that utilizing the finest educators, free skills assess-ment testing, student mentoring and Microsoft Certified Professional exam preparation have on customer satisfaction and performance.

“We are very pleased that Microsoft has recognized NetCom as a company that understands customer needs and offers high quality, consulta-tive solutions. Although NetCom has come a long way in a very short time, and has become the only training company to provide authorized training for seventeen vendors, this recognition marks a new beginning”, said Russell Sarder, President and CEO, NetCom. “We are committed to offering the best possible training solutions to our clients and the amazing capabilities our Central Management System presents, makes it a simple and enjoyable process for our team”, added Titu Sarder, COO, NetCom.

NetCom Information Technology, headquartered in the Empire State Building, is the Technical Training Leader™. Recognized by Microsoft as its 2007 Worldwide Learning Solutions Partner of the Year, NetCom offers training solutions for more than 1000 tech-nical, application and project management courses to Fortune 500 companies, busi-nesses, government agencies and individuals. NetCom’s leading subject matter experts provide authorized hands-on education in the latest technologies from leading vendors including Adobe, Autodesk, Check Point, Cisco, Citrix, CIW, CompTIA, EC-Council, EMC, Intel, ITIL, Linux Institute, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, PMI, SOX and Zend. NetCom is an authorized testing center for Sylvan Prometric, VUE and Certiport. NetCom is also a NY and NJ Workforce Training Provider and a Licensed School registered with the New York State Education Department. For more information about NetCom please visit www.netcominfo.com .

NetCom Information TechnologyHonored as The Worldwide Microsoft Learning Solutions 2007 Partner of The Year

2007 Learning SolutionsGOLD CERTIFIED

Partner PARTNER OF THE YEAR

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For the past few years, outsourcing has been an attractive option for large IT organizations seeking rapid skills acquisition—and for

smaller organizations with limited resources for an IT staff.

Often this outsourcing occurred in network and data center mainte-nance, at the same time that IT retained its own people to manage the mission-critical software applications that run the business. Now, however, there are new trends toward “reinsourcing” that are revers-ing outsourcing decisions. Some organizations originally sold on outsourcing are now recognizing that there are disadvantages to out-sourcing, too—especially when you are relying on someone outside of your company to meet the corporate goals that you are ultimately responsible for. Information security (and the value of keeping infor-mation “inside”) is very critical—as is the ability to maintain your own internal expertise on the infrastructures and networks needed to run the business.

Here are several key areas that businesses are “reinsourcing”:

Corporate Security

Security is the number one “career threat” listed by corporate CIOs. Numerous stories of major universities and commercial enterprises losing data and being hit by security breaches have hit the presses over the past 24 months. A colossal breach can compromise a corpo-rate reputation in minutes—and command the CIO’s resignation. Even if the security breach is not well known outside of the enterprise, the risk management and time spent to mitigate that organizations now spend for security breach control and containment is in the hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

Organizations that have outsourced their data centers and networks are taking a hard look at maintaining internal security management and skills. In many cases, it is what their auditors and examiners are demanding. These same regulators are looking for comprehensive skill sets from internal IT. These skill levels are best verified by showing regulators and others the levels of formal security certifications that IT staff possess.

A CISSP (Certified Information System Security Professional) is a highly valued corporate credential. Increasingly important is security expertise in technology areas where IT is experiencing growth. These growth areas include security training in wireless, Linux and Internet (E-commerce).

E-Commerce and Internet Technologies

Even the most “low tech” companies have recognized the business power of Internet-based applications. Companies that conduct a majority of their business through e-channels have special priority for Web-based applications—but even those that just use the Internet for research or communications recognize its value.

Internet-based technology from an IT perspective has three tiers: the end client machine that sits on the end user’s desk; the servers in the network that route e-traffic and manage security; and the backend databases that store records from e-commerce transactions.

Training on Dreamweaver and other Web development technologies give IT professionals who work on Website development the tools needed for top-notch corporate work. Dreamweaver today is recog-nized as a “best of class” Website development software. Certification and/or experience and training in Dreamweaver will enhance any Website developer’s resume.

On the middle, communications server tier of the Internet, more busi-nesses are looking for expertise and training in infrastructures in key technologies like Zend’s PHP….and on the backend database side, some of the more popular databases for which expertise and training are being sought include Oracle and SQL Server.

Wireless Technology

The exponential growth of wireless devices, applications and security issues make wireless technology and security expertise high on the list in most businesses. Wireless engineering and security certification and training are especially valuable. The challenge for most compa-nies is immediate development and deployment of mobile technology for corporate advantage. Some companies might employ third parties to help them implement—but ongoing support and development have to be owned by corporate IT if mobile technology is to thrive as a corporate technology direction.

Linux

Everywhere, organizations are looking to implement standalone or vir-tualized Linux in the IT infrastructure. They have seen the value of the operating system, which is highly resistant to security attacks—and the wealth of Open Source applications that Linux makes available. Linux promises reduced costs of computing to many companies—but for these organizations to be successful, they need IT staff trained in Linux skills. Basic introductions to Linux, courses in Linux engineering and training in Linux security are all valuable assets for an IT organiza-tion, and for individual IT practitioners. –CTm

More Organizations Seek to “Reinsource” Critical IT Skills

About the author:

Titu Sarder is a founding member of NetCom Information Technology and is the Cheif Operating Officer of Netcom. He works with companies to help them define their IT strategies and training needs.

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These and similar advances have delivered remarkable results. The ability to access and share information instantly and communicate in ways that transcend the boundaries of time and distance has given rise to an era of unprecedented productivity and innovation that has created new economic opportunities for hundreds of millions of people around the world and paved the way for global economic growth that is unparalleled in human history.

But few people would argue that there is no room for improvement. Although we have once-unimaginable access to people and informa-tion, we struggle today to keep track of emails and phone calls across multiple inboxes, devices, and phone numbers; to remember a grow-ing number of passwords; and to synchronize contacts, appointments, and data between desktop PCs and mobile devices. The fact is that the proliferation of communications options has become a burden that often makes it more difficult to reach people than it used to be, rather than easier.

In 2006, I wrote about how unified communications innovations were already beginning to transform the way we communicate at work. Be-cause you are a subscriber to executive emails from Microsoft, I want to provide you with an update on the progress we’re making toward achieving our vision for unified communications. I also want to share my thoughts on how rapid advances in hardware, networks, and the software that powers them are laying the foundation for groundbreak-ing innovations in communications technology. These innovations will revolutionize the way we share information and experiences with the people who are important to us at work and at home, and help make it possible to put the power of digital technology in the hands of billions of people around the globe who have yet to reap the benefits of the knowledge economy.

Moving Beyond Disconnected Communications

A fundamental reason that communicating is still so complex is the fact that the way we communicate is still bound by devices. In the office, we use a work phone with one number. Then we ask people to call us back on a mobile device using another number when we are on the go, or reach us on our home phone with yet another number. And we have different identities and passwords for our work and home email accounts, and for instant messaging.

This will change in the very near future. As more and more of our communications and entertainment is transmitted over the Inter-net thanks to email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and other protocols, a new wave of software-driven innovations will eliminate the boundaries between the various modes of communications we use throughout the day. Soon, you’ll have a single identity that spans all of the ways people can reach you, and you’ll be able to move a conversation seamlessly between voice, text, and video and from one device to another as your location and infor-mation sharing needs change. You’ll also have more control over how you can be reached and by whom: when you are busy, the software on the device at hand will know whether you can be interrupted, based on what you are doing and who is trying to reach you.

One of the best examples of how communication is changing-and how technology is integrating the way people share experiences across devices-starts in the world of video games. With Xbox Live, the online gaming and entertainment network for Xbox 360, people can play games with friends who are in distant locations. Xbox Live also provides a comprehensive range of communications options including video chat and instant messaging, as well as text, voice, and picture

The Age of Software-Powered Communications

By Bill Gates, Chairman Microsoft

If you’ve been in the work force for 20 years or more, you can remember a time when the pace of business-and life in general-was quite a bit slower than it is today.

Back then we read newspapers and magazines and watched the network news to stay informed. Faxes were just becoming a common way to share written business information. A phone call might elicit a busy signal or no one would answer at all. In those days, no one expected to send documents to coworkers on the other side of the globe instantly, collaborate in real-time with colleagues in distant cities, or share photographs the very day they were taken.

�messaging, all seamlessly integrated into the video game experience. With more than 7 million subscribers, Xbox Live is quickly redefining the way people access entertainment of all kinds. And it is enabling them to share experiences with each other in real time without being constrained by the limits of location.

But that’s just the start. We recently launched Games for Windows - Live, which links Xbox 360 gamers with the millions of people who play games on their PCs. Now, Windows and Xbox 360 video game players can compete and communicate with each other without being constrained by the limits of devices.

The communications expectations that young people-and anybody else who has adopted the latest digi-tal communications tools-bring to the workplace are already changing how we do business. To them, the desk phone is an anachronism that lacks the flexibility and range of capabilities that their mobile device can provide. A generation that grew up on text messaging is driving the rapid adoption of instant messaging as a standard business communications tool. Accustomed to forming ad hoc virtual communities, they want tools that facili-tate the creation of virtual workgroups. Used to collecting and storing informa-tion online, they look for team Web sites, Wikis, and other digital ways to create and share information.

All of these expectations are prompting companies to adapt by implementing new communications strategies and technologies. Those that do are already seeing a wide range of benefits including significant cost savings and important productivity gains. At Microsoft, for example, we replaced our old voice mail system with Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging, a move that is saving the company $5 million annually by lowering hardware and maintenance costs. More importantly, Exchange Server 2007 provides a software solution that enables integration of traditional telephone infrastructure and VoIP with corporate messaging, calendaring, and directories. This conver-gence of telephony and messaging increases employee productivity and decreases the administrative workload for IT professionals.

The Next Wave of Communications Technologies

Today in San Francisco, Microsoft is launching the next wave of enter-prise VoIP and unified communications products for business. Among the products we’ll launch are Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, which bring together a broad range of communications options including voice, instant messaging, and video into a single, consistent experience. Office Com-munications Server 2007 and Office Communicator make it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate with each other in real-

time by letting them see at a glance if the people they want to contact are available. They will also be able to initiate a conversation by email, voice, video, or instant messaging from within Microsoft Office system applications, making communication and collaboration an integral part of day-to-day work processes, rather than an interruption. In ad-dition, when they use the new version of Office Communicator Mobile that is launching today, they will be able to stay connected using Windows Mobile-powered devices.

We’re also announcing the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, an advanced video and VoIP conferencing device that provides a 360-degree view of a meeting room, along with wideband audio and video that tracks the flow of conversation between multiple speakers. With

RoundTable and Office Live Meeting or Office Communications Server, meeting participants in different locations will be able to converse and share informa-tion as if they were in the same room. RoundTable also enables companies to

record meetings for later use.

All of these products are important steps toward achieving our long-term vision for streamlined, integrated com-munications that will enable people to be more productive, more creative, and to stay in touch more easily without being limited by the device they have at hand or the network they are con-nected to.

A Foundation for Future Innovation

It would be hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are coming. Standardized, software-powered communications technolo-gies will be the catalyst for the convergence of voice, video, text, ap-plications, information, and transactions, making it possible to create a seamless communications continuum that extends across people’s work and home lives. This will provide the foundation for new prod-ucts, services, and capabilities that will change the world in profound and often unexpected ways.

This will happen not only in developed countries where access to digi-tal technology is the norm, but also in emerging economies around the world. Currently, about 1 billion of us have a PC, just a fraction of the world’s 6 billion people. As we make technology more accessible and simpler to use-often in the form of affordable mobile devices-we can extend new social and economic opportunities to hundreds of millions of people who have never been able to participate in the global knowledge economy. And as more and more of the world’s people are empowered to use their ideas, talents, and hard work to the fullest, the results will be new innovations that make everyone’s lives richer, more productive, and more fulfilling.

We recently launched Games for Windows - Live, which links Xbox 360 gamers with the millions of people who play games on their PCs.

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SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition provides some-thing for nearly everyone. SQL Programmers

have a more powerful version of the Transact-SQL (T-SQL) lan-guage, plus the ability to write certain functions using any .NET language. Business analysts have a more robust set of tools (SQL Analysis Services) for analyzing data. Developers have a new Integration Service (SSIS) that replaces DTS for integrating information from other data sources. Finally, developers/power users have a new version of a reporting tool for working against data. If you’re still debating on whether to upgrade to SQL Server 2005, this article will provide a detaiedl list of the capa-bilities of SQL Server 2005 to help you decide.

SQL Server 2005 Language Enhancements

Microsoft hit a home run with new SQL language enhancements to improve developer productivity. Some enhancements are based on customer requests, and others increase Microsoft’s compliance with the ANSI SQL-99 standard. As a speaker, one of my most popular sessions over the past year was, “T-SQL 2005 for Application Devel-opers.” I presented code samples from “real world” situations, how I handled them in SQL 2000, and how I could handle them more easily in SQL 2005. (You can find the code samples on my Website, at ww.CommonGroundSolutions.net/TSQL2005.ZIP.) Here are the new language enhancements:

A PIVOT statement to convert rows of data into analytical views.

A new variable TOP N feature so that developers don’t need to resort to Dynamic SQL.

A new APPLY operator, to more easily integrate table-valued user-defined functions into queries.

New OUTPUT and OUTPUT INTO statements that provide access to the SQL Server Inserted and Deleted system tables.

New RANKING functions to assign sequential ranking values to result sets.

New INTERSECT and EXCEPT statements as cleaner alternatives to existing IN/NOT IN syntax.

A new Isolation Level that takes a Snapshot of data so that devel-opers can query committed data without using shared locks – or wait for locks to clear.

Improved ERROR HANDLING, so that developers can implement nested TRY…CATCH logic, and raise exceptions back to the call-ing application – all resulting in a more robust error-handling environment.

An entire set of XML language enhancements and functions to more easily work with XML data. This includes new XML query language called XQUERY, so that developers can query XML data.

New Common Table Expression and Recursive Query capabilities, which provide incredible power for querying hierarchical data.

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CLR/.NET Framework Integration

Prior to SQL 2005, database developers sometimes coveted the language features of C# and VB.NET when performing certain CPU-intensive calculations. For example, a programmer writing a special database function to compute commission rates might prefer the object-oriented constructs of .NET languages and the rich functional-ity of the .NET framework, instead of the using the procedural nature of the T-SQL language. SQL Server 2005 now makes this possible through integration with the .NET Framework and .NET Common Language Runtime. The new architecture allows developers to write stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions in the .NET language of their choice.

Analysis Services

Microsoft completely rebuilt Analysis Services to provide more power-ful tools for data warehousing, data mining and on-line analytical processing (OLAP). Here are some of the major new features in SSAS 2005:

Developers can now create Business Intelligence Solutions with Visual Studio, using new templates to organize data sources, OLAP cubes and dimensions.

SSAS 2005 utilizes and supports the Universal Dimensional Model (UDM), which simplifies working with data sources.

There are new Multidimensional Expression (MDX) functionality and language features in SSAS 2005.

SSAS 2005 provides support for Failover clustering (four-node clustering for 32-bit systems, and eight-node clustering for 64-bit systems).

Users have the ability to create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to quantify business objectives.

There is full integration with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).

Integration Services

Microsoft has transformed Data Transformation Services (DTS) from a service into a full-blown platform known as SQL Server Integration Services, which integrates data from different sources. Here is a partial list of new key features in SSIS 2005:

Graphical tools and wizards for creating, debugging, and deploy-ing SSIS 2005 packages.

SSIS Programmer APIs, and the ability to create SSIS packages in Visual Studio 2005.

More powerful options for aggregating, merging and copying data from different sources.

An email messaging interface.

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Haven’t yet upgraded to SQL Server 2005?Here’s what you’re missing out on…

�SQL 2005 Reporting Services

Microsoft has added several new enhancements to Reporting Services to improve the process of building and deploying reports. These enhancements include:

New Windows Forms and Web Forms Report Viewer controls for Visual Studio 2005, and a .NET programming interface.

The ability for reports to query against XML Web services.

The ability to use Analysis Service queries.

Packaging of Reporting Services with SQL 2005 Express.

Additional features:

SQL Server 2005 contains several other important enhancements:

A new security model for DBAs to manage permissions at a granular level. SQL Server 2005 contains a new database object ownership model, which separates the owners and the schemas in the SQL Server administration space. Additionally, SQL Server 2005 contains built-in encryption capabilities and can encrypt client/server communications.

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64-bit and Itanium 2 and x64 support.

A new Query Notification Service that notifies .NET code when any DML operations are performed.

Support for Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS) so that .NET devel-opers can use multiple readers on a single database connection object.

The ability to expose SQL Server stored procedures and user-de-fined functions over HTTP (or secure HTTP), by setting up native SQL Server Web services. -CTm

About the author:

Kevin S. Goff is a software developer / consultant, as well as a profes-sional writer, speaker and trainer. He has been a Microsoft .NET MVP since 2005. He is a the author of Pro VS 2005 Reporting using SQL Server and Crystal Reports, published by Apress. Kevin is currently working on a second book. He can be reached at info@computertrainingmag.com

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Integrate Integrate data from any data source. Build, manage and deploy scalable integration solutions or populate

your data warehouse and build a holistic view of your business.

Report Report on enterprise-wide data. Create, manage, and deliver server-based reports with interactive views

that provide valuable insights into where business is heading.

Analyze Analyze results. Provide a consolidated view across all business dimensions as the foundation for all relational, multidimensional, and predictive analysis, enabling deep insight into the key drivers impacting businesses today.

Step # 1 MCTS: SQL Server 2005 - Boot CampStep # 2 MCTS: SQL Server 2005 - Business Intelligence Developer- Boot CampStep # 3 MCITP: Database Administrator (SQL Server 2005) - Boot CampStep # 4 MCITP: Database Developer (SQL Server 2005) - Boot CampStep # 5 MCITP: SQL Server 2005 - Business Intelligence Developer - Boot Camp

Career Track

NetCom Information Technology 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 717 New York, NY 10118

www.netcominfo.com Phone: 888.563.8266

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Certification exams can be extremely difficult to pass. I have been taking certification exams since the late 1990’s, and have heard

many stories from my students about their experiences with exams. In this article, I will share my experiences and some of these student stories with you – along with what I think is a “sure fire” way of passing any certification exam, from A+ to the CISSP and even the CCIE.

I remember sitting for my first technical certification exam about ten years ago. It was the A+ test. I had taken a class about two months before, and had studied with the book that was given in the class. The exam consisted of a two-part test, and I had studied for about three weeks straight. I took the first test and passed. It was the greatest feeling in the world, knowing I had passed the test. I went out party-ing that night. The following week, I took the second part of the exam and I FAILED. It was the most awful feeling in the world. I had spent a great deal of money and had invested a lot of time studying for the test. I took the test three days later, and passed with almost a perfect score. After this experience, I made a promise to myself that I would never fail another test.

I know most of you are thinking that I am going to say that you should study for nine thousand hours and you will pass any exam - but who has that many hours to study when you have to take care of family and work a full-time job?

In June of 2002, I taught a CCNA class and there was a student who was really excited about the class. The student had done well in the class, and was one of my top students. After the class ended, I asked the student when he would be taking the exam, and he said in two weeks. I told him that if he needed any help, he should let me know. Eighteen months later, he came back to the school and I asked if he was ready for the next level, which was the CCNP. He told me that he hadn’t taken the CCNA yet. His reason was that he got a little busy after the class and never really had any time for it - and that he was now back to the take the class over, because he had forgotten a lot of the material. When the second class ended, I took him over to the computer and made sure that he signed up for the exam two weeks later. He passed the test and is now a CCNP, working for a major tele-communications firm as a network engineer.

The first secret to passing an exam is to first sign up to take it. I know most people wait for their class to finish and then take the exam. I think this is ineffective, because when you finish the class, you might convince yourself to “take a break” and resume studies in a week. When the vacation is over, you have other things in your life that make you postpone studying for another week. One year later, you are still on vacation. The best approach is to register for the exam when you sign up for the class or during the class, because this will keep you focused on the test. How much time should you give yourself after the class? I would recommend a minimum of two weeks. If you feel you

need less time or more time after the class, you can always reschedule the exam. This works well because no matter how many breaks you want to take, you still have to take the exam. Until you have taken it, the exam will be a weight on your shoulders, since you know that you will have to study for it.

I had one student who registered for the Security+ exam two weeks af-ter the class had ended, but kept postponing the exam. Three months later, I met her and asked, “How was the test?” She said she hadn’t taken the test yet, and that she was having a hard time studying for it. I sat down with her and created a study plan for her to pass the test in two weeks, which she did.

The second secret to passing an exam is to have a STEADY study plan. Steadiness is critical. I always had a study plan for every exam I took, and I love to help my students create study plans. An efficient and effective study plan begins with identifying the books and labs you need to read and practice - and then to schedule days and times. After defining this, I would then open my Microsoft Office Outlook calendar and input my plan. An example would be that on Monday, May 1, between 10-11p.m., I would read Chapter 2 and finish labs 2 and 3. I would try to just input a plan for Monday through Friday, because I knew that if I would miss one or two days, I would have Saturday to make up the study time. This is a great way to know if you are on schedule. It also lets you know if you need to extend or reduce the date of your exam.

The third secret is to diversify your study material. Almost all certifica-tion exams have multiple study guides. Some are easy to compre-hend, while others are more difficult. For best results, you should read at least two study guides and review a couple of Websites that relate to your exam topics.

About one year ago, I met a student who had taken an A+ class and had passed one part of the exam, but had failed the second part twice. It was the same part that I had failed many years ago. I asked the student how the class was, and she said that the teacher was great and the book was ok. She had gone over the book at least five times. She didn’t know what to do and didn’t want to fail for the third time. I asked her if she had read another book besides the current book, which she hadn’t. I recommended that she read another book. She passed the exam one week later with the use of other book.

I hope these secrets help you to pass your next exam. It has helped me to pass more than 25 exams with no failures since the time I failed the A+ exam so many years ago. These secrets have helped many of my students pass their certification exams. I am certain that they can help you, too. CTm

The Secrets to Passing Certification Exams by Andrew Ramdayal

Andrew Ramdayal is an instructor at NetCom Information Technology.

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When your industry is characterized by explosive growth coupled with an increasing demand for ever more scarce experienced

professionals, you need strong alignments to reach business goals. In fact, many businesses just don’t realize how critical developing true alignment with customers and their needs is to survival.

EMC’s alignment strategy, refined by customer input and by lessons learned internally, has delivered beneficial results to EMC, its custom-ers, its partners and its industry. During the past two years, EMC has aggressively sponsored and conducted industry surveys to identify the challenges facing global IT organizations.

In a recent EMC survey of more than 1,200 IT managers, respondents overwhelmingly reported that their employees’ skills need to be developed to meet the growing complexity and volume of data. In addition, these same managers forecasted aggressive plans for hiring storage professionals during the next twelve months, preferring to hire experienced professionals. With the looming storage skills gap, managers said they would accept hiring certified individuals as an alternative. They are concerned about finding and retaining storage talent.

IDC’s research validates this concern. In the “The Expanding Digital Universe” (http://www.emc.com/about/destination/digital_universe/pdf/Expanding_Digital_Universe_IDC_WhitePaper_022507.pdf), IDC predicts that the amount of digital information created, captured, and replicated will grow to 988 exabytes (988 billion gigabytes) by 2010. In a separate study, EMC concluded that one million more storage professionals will be needed by 2012 to manage all this data.

Until recently, storage talent had to be developed on-the-job by experienced IT professionals. Many of the top performers within IT infrastructure management groups were focused on storage issues because of the complexity of this IT discipline, and they consequently became experts. These IT professionals learned through experience,

which placed an even higher premium on retaining that key talent.

While on-the-job training and self-study are certainly options for developing storage knowledge, they do not qualify storage profes-sionals, nor do they ensure the consistency of storage practices or performance. To address this lack of formal storage education, EMC developed a first-of-its-kind Storage Technology Foundation certifica-tion track as part of the EMC Proven Professional™ program. The track is targeted to IT professionals wishing to expand their knowledge of storage concepts and principles, offering Associate, Specialist and Expert levels of certification.

Nevertheless, existing IT professionals cannot fill the growing storage knowledge gap alone. For this reason, EMC developed the Academic Alliance program, partnering with colleges to provide courses that are focused on storage technologies. Courses are taught by college fac-ulty, using EMC Education Services materials. The curriculum is “open,”

focusing on storage concepts rather than on EMC-specific products. There is no cost for colleges and universities to join the EMC Academic Alliance and to obtain the supporting resources.

This storage curriculum is now offered at more than 125 colleges and universities worldwide. Storage Technology Foundations furnishes a comprehensive introduction to storage technology, providing aware-ness of storage management topics in an increasingly complex IT environment. Students learn about the latest storage architectures, such as Storage Subsystems, SAN, NAS, DAS, CAS, IP-SAN, replication technologies for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, and infor-mation security. Upon completion of the course, students have the opportunity to take the Storage Technology Foundation’s certification exam and to achieve an EMC Proven Professional™ certification. The openness of the curriculum allows students to work at any company in a storage discipline, regardless of what products and vendors the company uses.

Recent Pennsylvania State University graduate Timothy Reiner said, “Higher education has missed out on an increasingly important part of the computer sector, and this course provides an invaluable service to all who take it.”

Reiner credits the Storage Technology Foundation’s course for provid-ing him with an advantage when interviewing for jobs. In fact, he strongly believes that his storage knowledge earned him his current technical position. Today, he provides integration and implementation services at customer sites. “Becoming certified is very important,” says Reiner, “It sets the playing field and gives everyone an opportunity to excel in the industry....(and) employers and peers respect it.” He highly recommends the program to anyone serious about working in the storage industry.

The Academic Alliance program is the latest initiative of an EMC Edu-cation Services vision that began five years ago with the goal of using

EMC: Educational Alignment Bridges Industry Skill Gap Tom Clancy, Vice-President of Education Services and Productivity

1�an educational alignment strategy as a competitive advantage. At that time, education at EMC was primarily “event oriented.” The train-ing professionals functioned more as “order-takers,” and were viewed within the company as vendors rather than as business partners.

Through a series of strategic organizational realignments and a com-mitted focus on forming alignments at all levels of the organization, EMC Education Services has successfully demonstrated the power of transformation with a focus on consulting and partnering with internal and external customers. The conversations identify business prob-lems, determine if training is the appropriate solution, and present holistic solutions. Our internal customers now think of EMC Education Services as part of their own organization rather than as a separate entity to engage with only when the need arises.

Last year, a request was received for new hire training sessions. Rather than providing a standard response, the requestor was engaged to determine the business problem. The issue turned out to be far more complex than simply educating new hires. The consultation involved determining how to reduce the time senior consultants spent on low-level engagements. This business discussion resulted in the creation of a new entry level role. Recent college graduates were hired to fill these positions and perform the less complex technical tasks for-merly assigned to highly skilled employees. Ultimately, this program achieved millions in cost savings and was expanded into other organi-zations.

EMC’s strategy is to create a learning framework that can be applied broadly across an entire company to quickly adapt and “scale” within a constantly changing environment. Each framework is built once and “reused” many times. This strategy of building flexible learning frame-works and aligning them into new businesses and global markets has made training a competitive and strategic tool to address critical skill

shortages and create new business opportunities. Training has tran-scended from knowledge transfer and skill readiness to a foundation for business strategy, execution, and competitive advantage.

This conversion takes training beyond a post-sales support utility and transforms the education services organization into a strategic dif-ferentiator and business enabler. Education service professionals know that a strong training portfolio creates product loyalty with customers and is essential to building and maintaining a highly proficient and world-class service organization. In today’s tumultuous marketplace, businesses must focus on staying deeply aligned to their custom-ers’ evolving needs in order to succeed and prosper. Only through a relentless commitment to listen to customers – both internal and external - and to continually developing appropriate services to meet those customers’ needs - can an organization achieve truly transforma-tional change –CTm.

Tom Clancy is Vice President of Education Ser-

vices and Productivity for EMC Corporation. In his

career at EMC, Tom has held various field and cor-

porate roles, primarily in partner management of

Original Equipment Manufacturers, Independent

Software Vendors and Channels. Prior to Educa-

tion Services, Tom managed Global Sales Productivity, focusing

on field development, best practices and change execution. Since

2002, his chief responsibility has been to re-align training initiatives

to meet the requirements of EMC’s business model transformation

from a hardware product company to a technology-led provider

of systems, software and services. Under Tom’s direction, EMC has

transitioned from traditional ILT to a much more blended JIT and

situational learning approach for specialization and consulting.

Historically, the conventional means of boosting processor performance has been to increase clock speed. Today the industry is leaping ahead with a new paradigm that delivers dramatic performance gains by employing multiple execution cores in each processor pack-age. Concurrently, on the software side, parallelism has also become essential to getting the best possible performance out of this new generation of multi-core processors. You can take full advantage of parallelism by threading your software now with tools that simplify getting it done right the first time.

NetCom Information Technology is offering a 3-day comprehensive course in Parallel Programming great for any developer seeking maximum performance of their applications on threaded, multi-core and multi-processor systems.

For more information visit www.netcominfo.com/vendors or call 888-563-8266

Programmers tackle scaling, correctness, easeof programming and maintainability. Intel helps.

The road ahead demands threads

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Installing wireless networks has been on the agenda of many corporate IT departments—but it has been tempered by concerns

over security. Since Cisco network solutions and products are broadly implemented by nearly everyone, Cisco has been a key to how aggres-sively organizations are pursuing wireless networks.

Cisco has responded to this with its Cisco Unified Wireless Network--an enterprise-equipped, standards-based wireless LAN (WLAN) solution with robust security measures.

The Unified Wireless Network supports Wi-Fi Alliance security certifica-tions for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2). It also has mutual authentication and dynamic encryption key management via support for IEEE 802.1X, and data encryption using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or Temporal Key Integrity Pro-tocol (TKIP). It supports the broadest range of 802.1X authentication types, client devices, and client operating systems on the market, and mitigates against both active and passive network attacks.

Cisco Unified Wireless Network integrates with other Cisco solutions, such as the Cisco Self-Defending Network and Cisco Network Admis-sion Control (NAC). It supports Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) capabilities and advanced location services with real-time network visibility, while providing indoor/outdoor Wi-Fi security convergence with Cisco’s wireless mesh solution, and Management Frame Protec-tion (MFP) for strong cryptographic authentication of WLAN manage-ment frames for the detection and prevention of 802.11 management frame attacks.

Most organizations implementing the Cisco solutions framework for wireless, take a first logical step in securing the WLAN. This is ac-complished under the Cisco Unified Wireless Network architecture by extending the Cisco Self-Defending Network Strategy. As part of this strategy, communications are secured by encrypting data and authen-ticating network users. Cisco recommends using a strong encryption formula such as over-the-air encryption-IEEE 802.11i, VPN, or Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption. It suggests that this encryption be combined with the use of VPNs or WEP combined with MAC ad-dress control lists to secure business-specific devices.

During the network security implementation process, management ports are secured, access points are secured, and physical monitoring procedures for the building and the site are also instituted.

The goal of Cisco wireless security solutions is to deliver the same level of network security to wireless networks that is available in a wired LAN. Cisco has applied itself to this task by delivering consistent, reli-able and industry-leading WLAN security services.

Of course, there are many different security solutions in the marketplace. The importance of the Cisco approach rests in the fact that so many businesses use Cisco networks and equipment—and that, despite its presentation of open standards for network integration and for security solutions, there are still pockets of Cisco technology that are proprietary.

Training in specific Cisco Security and wireless LAN solutions is an ef-fective way to stay on top of Cisco technology. NetCom offers the CCIE Security Certification (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert), and also the following courses and boot camps for Cisco wireless networks and security:

CSVPN—Cisco Secure Virtual Private Networks v. 4.0;

CWLF-Cisco Wireless LAN Fundamentals v. 1.0 Boot Camp;

CWLAT-Cisco Wireless LAN Advanced Topics v.1.0 Boot Camp;

IPS-Implementing Cisco Intrusion Prevention Systems; and

ISCW-Implementing Secure Wide Area Networks v. 1.0.

These certifications and courses promote a common set of WLAN best practices, such as:

Creating a WLAN security policy that covers authorized use and security;

Securing the wired network against wireless threats by installing intelligent protection switching (ISP) devices to prevent rogue access points, and by permanently removing any rogue devices using location tracking;

Defending the organization from external threats by equipping mobile devices with similar security services as the company network (firewalls, VPNs, antivirus software, etc.), and by ensuring mobile device security policy compliance with the Cisco Clean Access network admission control (Cisco NAC) appliance; and

Encouraging employees through education to help safeguard networks, since most employees are unaware of network risks without training. –CTm.

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Cisco Wireless Network and Security Education & Best Practices

by Mary Shacklett

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Nearly every organization has some type of “mobile” plan that allows its employees and business partners to tap into enter-

prise communications via wireless links. From a business standpoint, wireless capability makes sense because workers are now mobile and literally distributed throughout the world. The Internet, as well, has proven itself capable of carrying enormous communications loads.

IT professionals work in business environments that already have wired corporate network backbones. They must now decide how to further architect wireless networks for integration into established wired networks in a seamless fashion and with excellent security. Since almost every enterprise has Cisco equipment, Cisco wireless training and certifications are logical (and popular) choices for net-work professionals tasked with wireless network building, integration and deployment.

Simply stated, a wireless LAN (WLAN) is a local area network that doesn’t rely on wired Ethernet connections. A WLAN can be either an extension to a current wired network or an alternative to it. Use of a WLAN adds flexibility to networking. A WLAN allows users to move around while keeping their computers connected, without having to depend on Ethernet cables.

In exchange for the convenience of wireless communications, wireless LANs typically do not have the speed of their wired counterparts. Voice and data traffic flowing over a wireless network is also not likely to be as reliable. Finally, wireless LANs (and their hub connecting points) are very open--making them vulnerable security and informa-tion breach points.

Recognizing the importance of mobile, wireless communications in businesses of all sizes, Cisco offers several training and certification programs for the use of its products in the design, build and support

of wireless networks. It offers certification programs for the Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Design Specialist, where the ability to suc-cessfully design solutions with the Cisco wireless products advanced feature set must be demonstrated. The Advanced Wireless LAN Design Specialist certification is also based upon a solid understanding of WLAN 802.11a, b and g radio technology standards, Radio Frequency (RF), and antenna theory.

For those just getting their feet wet with Cisco in a wireless environ-ment, there is a boot camp course that examines the fundamentals of Cisco’s wireless LAN technology. Topics include the concepts of autonomous and lightweight access points and controllers, network management solutions and security. After completing this course, learners will be able to discuss the configurations and the manage-ment of both autonomous and lightweight wireless networks using Cisco solutions.

There is also a boot camp designed to give students a firm under-standing of the components, features and proper deployment of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network. The course focuses on advanced WLAN design, and on integrating Cisco wireless components into a wired infrastructure. Deployment topics include managing the WLAN by using the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS), commanding the WCS advanced feature set and using the CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solutions Engine (WLSE) to manage the core feature set. Security top-ics focus on integrating WLAN security using the WLAN controllers and lightweight access points, as well as the autonomous access points in conjunction with the Cisco Secure ACS, and Network Access Controller (NAC). Security also includes Cisco WCS and CiscoWorks WLSE Intru-sion Detection Systems. –CTm

Cisco Wireless Certifications and Training are in Full Swing

by Mary Shacklett

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Office 2007 Is the Ultimate ECM OpportunityFor as long as companies have used the personal computer, IT departments have tried to find a way to manage and secure their organizations’ assets. Office 2007 may be the long-awaited solution.

When the first business user plugged in a personal computer and began creating spreadsheets, IT managers worried. The concern stemmed from the difficulty of managing assets created on the personal computer. The problem has escalated dramatically with the personal computer becoming the de facto desktop device.

In fact, the situation has become even more problematic because technology now allows people to carry around their desktops in the form of laptops and PDAs. They can also access corporate networks through their home computers using virtual password network con-nections and Remote Procedure Call/HTTP solutions.

The government has several security and process mandates (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Sarbanes Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) that require companies to protect the content of documents and validate the processes by which they are created and maintained.

Many companies have addressed the issue with proprietary docu-ment management systems (DMS), record management systems (RMS), or some combination of the two.

The Next Generation of Enterprise Content Management

Companies are just now coming to terms with the realization that 80 percent of the content they own does not reside on the corpo-rate mainframe. Instead, it exists in spreadsheets, word processing documents, and Microsoft Access databases on employees’ PCs. Companies can’t continue trying to force users to learn new ways to work that are foisted upon them by the proprietary DMS and RMS implementations.

For example, the corporate technology officer of a large organization recently revealed that he has five full-time contractors working on his Documentum system, and he isn’t sure what they actually do on a daily basis. He does know that the vast majority of the intellectual assets in his organization exist outside of the system the company is paying in excess of one million USD a year to maintain!

Rather than continue to rely on these older, proprietary, non-inte-grated systems, companies are beginning to look at a new breed of content management called Enterprise Content Management (ECM). ECM recognizes the way people already work and seeks to enhance that experience, rather than to replace it. ECM spans four major areas:

Document management: This is the practice of creating standard content types, controlling the document versioning process, enabling document workflow, and encouraging collaboration on documents.

Records management: This entails establishing processes for storing and indexing immutable records and then establishing appropriate (and legal) retention and expiration policies. These

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policies have to include the company’s email as well.

Web content staging and distribution: This means implementing systems that allow departments to take control of their Websites (both Internet and intranet) without requiring IT supervision, but still honoring the privacy and permission restrictions that are already in place in the organization.

Forms management: This allows users to easily create their own data collection and maintenance forms, and to attach the forms to new workflows that can be integrated into the organization’s systems. Significant investment of IT time to create and man-age these forms is not needed. There are thousands of Access databases in use in corporate America today that were created for this purpose.

Office 2007: The New ECM

Many partners have helped small and midsize enterprises introduce simple document management systems using the current releases of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Portal Server. Unfortunately, the current offerings have significant gaps including:

No item level permissions in SharePoint lists and document libraries.

Workflow only through low-level event handler coding or third-party add-ons.

No concept of the record as an immutable object.

The recently announced SharePoint Server 2007 does more than close these gaps; it enables a new age of ECM. The platform will provide the fundamental document, records, Web content, and forms manage-ment capabilities required for an ECM. It does so in an integrated platform that allows users to work within the familiar Office environ-ment while consuming and contributing to the ECM.

The Office client has been greatly enhanced to support the needs of an ECM. Moreover, because Office has always been a development platform and not just a product, there are huge partner opportuni-ties for building on and extending the ECM capabilities of Office 2007 servers. By building on the Microsoft platform, customers and partners can reuse applications, code, and Website content within a common development environment. IT professionals will also have a common, well understood mechanism for rapid solution deployment and lower overall training costs.

ECM systems provide enormous opportunities for partners in areas such as training, development, deployment, process consulting, architectural consulting and systems integration. For the Microsoft partners who invest in learning not only the technology but also the business reasons behind its adoption, ECM systems represent one of the best business opportunities over the next 18 to 36 months.–CTm.

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by Tim Landgrave

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For training related to technologies mentioned in these articles see NetCom’s course catalog page 23

.NET Framework 2.0

SharePoint Server 2007

BizTalk Server 2006

Office 2007

Windows Vista

Discover how you can start reaping the rewards of the new Microsoft Office 2007 system by building integrated Office business applications that your customers can use today.

Now that the 2007 Microsoft Office system is in the hands of en-terprises around the world, you can begin to turn your attention

to helping corporate customers leverage the platform’s new capabili-ties. The biggest issue most partners will face is choosing which of the myriad new technologies they should embrace first. However, rather than looking at the challenge from a technology standpoint, in this article we’ll examine some of the major areas you should focus on when considering how you can use the platform to build the next generation of Microsoft Office business applications.

What is an Office Business Application?

Knowledge workers have access to a set of line-of-business (LOB) sys-tems—such as accounting, manufacturing, and CRM systems—that allow them to get the information required by the business. To get their work done, knowledge workers must combine the data from these LOB systems with personal applications, processes and prac-tices. Office business applications (OBAs) allow users to encapsulate these personal tools in an agile application based on a collaborative platform—Microsoft Office. The combination of Office client ap-plications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, InfoPath, OneNote, Project, and Groove) and collaborative servers (Office SharePoint Server 2007, Groove Server 2007, Project Server 2007, and SQL Server 2005) pro-vides a robust platform on which to build these new OBAs.

Where do I start?

It will take months for most partners to learn all of the new capabili-ties of the platform, so let’s look at the top five areas I’ve identified where you can start building now to reap immediate rewards:

Workflow. With Windows Workflow Foundation providing the basis for workflow capabilities in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft has created a great opportunity to help custom-ers build OBAs. Not only are there out-of-the-box workflows for common approval or issue tracking applications, but SharePoint

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Designer can be used to build moderately complex applications with no code.

Business Data Catalog. Building OBAs will require access to corporate data, and helping companies devise a strategy to ex-pose their LOB data to OBAs will be big business. You can use the Business Data Catalog (BDC) to help customers expose enterprise data that can be used by SharePoint Web Parts, InfoPath Forms and other server applications.

Enterprise Content Management. By incorporating the capa-bilities of Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 (MCMS) into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft has cre-ated a comprehensive platform for managing content, including Web content, documents, and records.

Search. Effective use of content implies that you not only create it, but also organize it, find it and retrieve it. Enterprise Search in Office SharePoint Server provides a suite of extensible con-tent-gathering, indexing, and querying services that support full-text and keyword searches. Searching can take place across SharePoint Server content, BDC sources, SQL Server databases, Exchange folders, and even external Websites.

Business Intelligence. I’ve been involved in several enterprise data warehouse projects, and the number one problem that plagues these initiatives is the time it takes to get to a meaning-ful result. Using complex tools with the process of extracting, cleansing, staging, preparing, and exposing corporate data to consumers inevitably adds up to a time-consuming ordeal. Although the 2007 Office system doesn’t exactly provide a pana-cea, the combination of data exposed through the portal and the BDC—and the ability for users to create simple dashboards from these sources without writing code—will drive more business intelligence adoption in the next three years than has happened over the last ten.–CTm.

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Building Office Business Applications

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Internet security threats to corporate and individual data continue to thrive in 2007—and will also be challenging in 2008. What is inter-

esting is that so many of the threats can be mitigated though effective education of corporate employees--and through sound IT policies and procedures that are understood and endorsed by upper management. Central to this process are fully trained and/or certified IT professionals that organizations can entrust information and IT asset stewardship to.

The top five Internet security threats in 2007 are:

Malicious Code–where software “bombs” destroy company programs and code generators, costing companies millions and even billions of dollars as they execute disaster recoveries and work to reassure key stakeholders and clients. The ultimate costs to companies of these security “bombs” is almost incalculable, since company “goodwill” and customer relationships are affected well into the future—potentially reducing revenues and forcing employee layoffs.

Stolen or Lost Mobile Devices–Each month, Los Angeles International Airport reports that 400 mobile phones are lost in its facility. PointSec, a data encryption developer, reported that London’s Heathrow airport auctions off 730 unclaimed laptops and 1,460 unclaimed mobile phones annually. Industry research firm Gartner recently projected that companies with more than 5,000 employees could save between $300,000 and $500,000 annually by tracking and tagging personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones. Gartner also estimated that the cost of an unrecovered PDA or mobile phone is at least $2,500 per unit because of the expense of compromised proprietary data. Over 250,000 mobile phones and handheld devices will be left behind at U.S. airports alone annually this year, with a 25-30 percent recovery rate, according to recent information from the Wisconsin Technology Network

Spam and Phishing–In the normal course of a business day, employees at large companies can receive thousands of spam and phishing emails. At their most innocuous levels, these emails are a waste of company time and money. At their most mali-cious heights, these emails can invite serious security and data breaches that can ruin an organization’s reputation in an eyeblink. Whenever employees encounter unusual email messages, they should contact IT—but they don’t always do that, unless they have been through a comprehensive corporate security training process.

Unsecured Wireless Internet Networks–Wireless Internet networks and public hubs are “wide open” and subject to security breaches and data interceptions when encryption is not used on data, along with two-level user authentication and secure tie-ins to corporate VPNs with strong firewalling. All of this requires strong technical security knowledge—and the ability to define and implement security “best practices” that safeguard corporate information.

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Insider/Disgruntled Employee Threats– Through lack of secu-rity education, or through malicious intent, employees are a high risk area for corporate information. There are many cases of dis-gruntled employees walking out the door with sensitive company information—or of employee efforts to delete or destroy mission-critical information. Combined with this are “innocent” employee security breaches, such as shouting a password over a partition to another person, or failing to terminate an online computer ses-sion. Employee security practices are an area of focus in the CISSP program.

Of course, just as you think that you have everything under control, new security threats begin to surface. The security threat forecast for 2008 recently released by McAfee includes:

An increase in password stealing through the use of fake Websites that emulate popular sites like eBay;

More mainstreaming of adware;

A greater number of mobile phone attacks;

Targeting of video files to distribute malicious code;

Malware infections that are more difficult to detect and combat;

The use of Instant Messaging to transmit malicious payloads that coax users into releasing sensitive data;

Spoof calls over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to gain access to confidential information;

Ramp-ups in bots, which are principally used to send large vol-umes of spam;

Continued email worm activity, especially in worms that attack Windows applications;

The launch of security attacks targeting Web 2.0. –CTm.

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Internet Security Threat Forecast for 2007-2008 by Mary Shacklett

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In addition to the many technical certifications which are very much in-demand in today’s job market, a hot certification many IT Manag-ers and Project Managers are going for today is the PMP, or Project Management Professional, from PMI (Project Management Institute) the world’s leading organization for Project Managers.

NetCom’s Comprehensive 5-Day PMP-Prep Class

NetCom offers its students a popular and highly effective 5-Day Ad-vanced Project Management / PMP Prep class, in its Manhattan-based flagship training facility in the Empire State Building. In a fast-paced, fun, and interactive environment, students learn a broad spectrum of current industry best practices and state-of-the-art project manage-ment fundamentals, ranging from Earned Value Management (EVM) to Critical Path Analysis of Project Schedule Network Diagrams. These are just some of the many skills emphasized in the class that help contemporary Project Managers make their projects more successful in many ways, including more likely to come in on-time, on-budget, and with higher quality and reduced risk.

PMP Project Management – Not Just “Soft Skills”

Although Project Management training traditionally was considered soft skills learning, the current version of the PMP Exam (Version 3) covers a fair amount of math and formulas as well as people skills. In these days of outsourcing, offshoring and ever-tighter profit margins, Project Managers are required to know the latest industry-favored methods for cost tracking and forecasting, including the many Cost Variance formulas tested for on the PMP Exam.

NetCom’s PMP-Certified instructors lead their students through many practice drills and exercises using these equations, giving our students the hands-on knowledge, experience and confidence they need to pass the exam, as well as to bring these new skills back to their com-panies.

Geared Toward The Exam, But NOT JUST Toward The Exam

NetCom’s students appreciate that instructors of our PMP Prep Class have dual experience both a) as instructors and b) as “real-world” PMP-Certified Project Managers. This enables us to gear the courses heavily toward passing the PMP Exam, while also toward the students’ true improvement as a PM and business professional.

Our instructors have received many kudos from their students thank-ing them not only for helping them pass the exam and obtain their PMP certification, but also for improving their practical day-to-day Project Management skills and truly making them better managers. Course evals and thank-you letters also often credit our instructors for “going the extra mile” in many ways that make the difference and make our students glad they chose NetCom for their PMP training.

Unlike “cram courses,” NetCom’s PMP Prep course is evenly-structured and

comfortably paced, and focused on real-world application and retention of the knowledge. Our students not only do very well on the PMP Exam, but some some of the skills they learn in the class not only help them in their current jobs, but also lead them to whole new career paths, such as lucrative areas like Risk Analysis and Earned Value Management!

Did You Know The PMI Cert. Comes In More Than 1 “Flavor?”

Many Project Managers are not aware that PMI now offers 3 flavors of the Project Management Certification, including a brand-new credential that just became open to the public: the PgMP (just became available to the public October 1st, 2007).

Below are short descriptions of all 3 Project Management Certifica-tions currently offered by PMI. The descriptions can help you as well as your managers in making the best decision about which track is best for you and your team-members.

PMP – Project Management Professional PMI’s primary and highly-respected Project Manager Certifica-tion, considered the world’s most-valued cert for PMs. To qualify,

managers need to document either: a) 4,500 hours of prior management experience (if they hold a

Bachelor’s Degree), or b) 7,500 hours of management experience (without the Bache-lor’s). In addition, they also must have 35 hours of Project Manage-ment training (requirement satisfied by NetCom’s PMP Prep class).

CAPM – Certified Associate In Project Management The CAPM offers a great way to Fast Track your career onto a management path, even if you don’t have the above experience needed for the PMP - PMI’s CAPM is a certification available for professionals who either: a) have worked on projects for 1,500 hours (not necessarily as the PM) or b) for candidates who have at least 23 hours of Project Manage-ment Training. (requirement ALSO satisfied by NetCom’s above PMP Prep class).

NOTE that the CAPM exam is based on the same PMI Body of Knowl-edge (PMBOK) as the PMP exam, so NetCom’s PMP Prep Class prepares students for both the CAPM and PMP Cert. The main difference is that the CAPM Exam is 25% shorter in duration and questions, with more questions based on the PMBOK and fewer based on managerial scenarios.

PgMP – Program Management Professional (new, just available Oct. 1st, 2007) In the last year PMI began offering as a Pilot Pro-gram (by invitation only!) a more advanced certification, PgMP, for Program Managers. This is an ideal credential for leaders who have managed multiple related projects (programs) or who themselves

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NetComs Advanced Project Management/PMP Prep Classby Jeff Furman, Senior Instructor and Certified PMP Project Manager

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have managed other Project Managers. A good example would be a high-level director who has implemented her organization’s PMO (Project Management Office). Requirements for the PgMP are even more stringent than for the PMP. The exam is tougher, with many “situational” questions test-ing real Project Management experience in addition to thorough questioning on the PMI processes and knowledge areas tested for on the CAPM and PMP exams. The PgMP also has specific requirements for verifiable experience as a Program Manager. And in addition, the PgMP Cert is unique in requiring its candidates to go through a mandatory Peer Review Process (think: 360 Review!) which must be completed by the applicant’s a) Peers, b) Subordinates, and c) Managers, all of whose names must be submitted to PMI as part of the application process.

Note that as of this writing, there are only 31 Certified PgMPs in the world! So if you obtain this very prestigious new certification, it is highly likely you would be the first not only in your department, but also in your company!

Since a strong component of the PgMP exam is based on the PMBOK (like the PMP and CAPM exams) NetCom’s Advanced Project Manage-ment / PMP class will prepare PgMP candidates for much of the core knowledge tested by the PgMP exam (though additional study for the unique Program Manager-specific scenario questions is also recom-mended by PMI as preparation for the PgMP exam).

Conclusions – Some of the Many Benefits of the PMI Certifications (CAPM, PMP, PgMP)

Marketability & Salary – Nearly everyone in the project management field is aware that the above certifications strongly increase your job marketability. They not only make a difference in landing some jobs, but they literally are pre-reqs even for obtaining the interview in many cases. And the certifications can definitely bring a higher salary once you get the job offer.

Networking Benefits – Graduates of NetCom’s PMI class often cite the many networking benefits which the camaraderie in the class opens up for them. And it’s often through the class that the students first discover PMI (sponsor of the PMP family of certifications) which offers numerous networking and educational benefits, including, but not limited to:

Many excellent and active PMI Specific Interest Groups (SIGs) in industry areas, such as Risk Management, Government, Metrics, Women In Management, Information Systems, and more,

Numerous opportunities to attend PMI-sponsored seminars, featuring speakers on leading-edge Project Management and IT-related topics,

Strong local member chapters, for example, the award-winning and flourishing New York City Chapter, which holds several well-attended meetings each month in the Microsoft offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas (near Rockefeller Center).

For more info on PMI and its Manhattan chapter see www.PMI.org and www.PMINYC.org.

How do you move ahead of the competition?

Contact Netcom Information Technology to find out about the requirements for earning these prestigious credentials.www.netcominfo.com or call (888) 563-8266

Certification Name Exam MOC DATE How?

MCTS: Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project

70-632 5927-3 days Available

MCTS: Project 2007 & Project Server 2007 Combo Boot Camp -5 DaysMCTS: Enterprise Project Management

with Microsoft Office Project Server 200770-633 5928 -3 days Nov 07

MCITP: Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007

70-634 5929 -3 days Feb 08 Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) -9 days

Gain the Advantage with Microsoft’s hottest PM certifications

�0

The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) revolution has transformed companies into IP-based telephony and away from the traditional

analog voice that characterizes TDM (time division multi-plexing). This is not to say that businesses aren’t continuing to operate traditional voice networks and PBXs—but increasingly, TDM is being phased out and is now in “hybrid” PBX and network deployments with VoIP that require network and telephony professionals to understand both the voice and the data worlds.

Within IT, melding traditional telephony with data management and support over networks has also presented its challenges. In the past, IT usually had two separate departments: one for telephony and one for data-based network support. The two different areas supported different disciplines, technologies and performance standards.

All of this has now changed with the convergence of voice and data. The end result has been a need for greater sensitivity to both voice and data—and a need for businesses to redefine the performance and security requirements of new hybrid voice-date networks that converge voice and data.

For instance, voice technicians know that their end users expect 99.9999% uptime and superior quality all of the time, simply because they have always had it with TDM. Now with the digital-based voice technology that characterizes IP telephony, sound waves are sampled instead of transmitted in waves. This does not permit the experience of the full sound spectrum, so voice quality is no longer as good. Add to this the fact that VoIP using a hybrid or dedicated VoIP PBX and a data network, is subject to the same rates of failure that traditional data-based networks are. That failure rate is significantly greater than the failure rate that characterized highly reliable, traditional telephony. This means that new QoS (quality of service) expectations will have to be learned and understood by IT professionals coming to voice from the data side of networks—where these quality and uptime metrics have always been lower. Telephony people, on the other hand, have to acclimate themselves to the world of data.

A second area of new IT competence is network design for converged data and voice. Do you combine voice and data and run them both over the same network, assigning different priorities, or do you have separate networks for voice and for data? Since voice requires more bandwidth and higher QoS and quality than data, many organizations opt to deploy voice and data on separate networks. This allows IT to more effectively plan for and project overall load balancing and strong network performance.

As IT organizations combine the telephony and network functions, corporate network professionals are requiring training in telephony while telephony experts need training in data and networks. The majority of companies are attacking this need for cross training by subscribing to individual courses and certifications on technology that support both networks and telephony.

If you are using Cisco technology, there are several certification pro-grams that address data and voice convergence in IP telephony and VoIP networks:

The Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialist Certification was devel-oped for those who design IP Telephony multi-service network solutions. Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialists can design a scal-able, converged network using QoS, Cisco Call Manager cluster-ing, H.323, MGCP, or SIP signaling protocols, and assess the scope of work required to integrate legacy TDM PBXs and voice mail systems into an existing data network.

The Cisco Certified Voice Professional Certification (CCVP) recognizes the increased importance placed on IT professionals of today who are responsible for integrating voice technology into underlying network architectures. Individuals who earn a CCVP certification can help create a telephony solution that is transparent, scalable, and manageable. Earning a CCVP certifica-tion validates a robust set of skills in implementing, operating, configuring, and troubleshooting a converged IP network. The certification content focuses on Cisco Systems CallManager, qual-ity of service (QoS), gateways, gatekeepers, IP phones, voice appli-cations, and utilities on Cisco routers and Cisco Catalyst switches.

The Cisco IP Communications Support Specialist Certification was designed for those whose primary responsibility is to install and support IP Telephony multi-service network solutions. Cisco IP Communications Support Specialists can configure and trouble-shoot complex Cisco Call Manager platforms using multiple-call control, call admission control (CAC), and basic call routing and dial plans. They possess a solid understanding of traditional PSTN technology and can resolve the connectivity issues related to legacy PBX and voice mail systems.

The Cisco IP Communications Express Specialist Certification vali-dates the fundamental VoIP technology skills required to install and maintain multi-service network solutions. Cisco Call Manager Express (CCME), and Cisco Unity Express (CUE) are emphasized in this foundational IP Communications program.–CTm.

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Companies are Making the Move to IP Telephony

by Mary Shacklett

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��

Base Salary,Microsoft CertificationCertification $

0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000 150,000

No Microsoft Certification

MCP

MCP+Internet

MCP+Site Building

MCSA, Windows 2000

MCSA, Windows 2003

MCSA: Messaging, Windows 2000

MCSA: Messaging, Windows 2003

MCSA: Security, Windows 2000

MCSA: Security, Windows 2003

MCSE, NT 4.0

MCSE, Windows 2000

MCSE, Windows 2003

MCSE: Messaging, Windows 2000

MCSE: Messaging, Windows 2003

MCSE: Security, Windows 2000

MCSE: Security, Windows 2003

MCSE+Internet

MCAD, VS .NET

MCSD, VS 6.0

MCSD, VS .NET

MCDBA, SQL Server 7

MCDBA, SQL Server 2000

MCT

MCDST

MCTS: SQL Server

MCTS: SQL Server BI

MCTS: .NET Web

MCTS: .NET Windows

MCTS: .NET Distributed Apps

MCTS: BizTalk 2006

MCTS: Office Live Comm. 2006

MCTS: Exchange 2007 Config.

MCTS: SharePoint (any version)

MCTS: Windows Mobile 5.0

MCTS: Windows Server 2003 Hosted

MCTS: Vista Config.

MCTS: Vista/Office Desktops

MCITP: Database Developer

MCITP: Database Administrator

MCPD: .NET Web

MCPD: .NET Windows

MCPD: .NET Enterprise

Microsoft Certified Architect

MCITP: BI Developer

MCITP: Enterprise Support Tech.

$78,158$70,906

$78,411$79,150

$68,582

$71,691$73,056$70,383$71,493

$77,079$73,898$74,273$78,656

$74,308$73,472$72,673$78,535$82,323$85,539$91,124

$86,225$80,511$82,322

$57,595$85,056

$132,000$78,266

$71,440$70,800

$108,300$71,000

$52,000$83,156

$118,400$65,000$64,167

$95,750$102,643$105,188

*

$54,750$74,079$74,125

$85,285$95,000

$73,089

* Insu�cient data to report results. It pays to work withdata warehouses, as this year's results show: Those who claim the MCITP: SQL BI certi�cation made $132,000.MCPs with BizTalk and Windows Mobile titles also did well. Those with an MCDST and MCSA on Windows2000 brought up the rear.

Are you making what your worth? 2007 Salary Survey

SALARIES ON THE RISE!!The results are in – the salary surveys from Redmond magazine’s 2007 IT Salary Survey confirm that IT professionals are continuing to get higher base and bonuses.

Data from the U.S. Department of Labor corroborate the evidence. Of the 797,000 jobs available from 2004 through the year 2014, US DOL foresees com-puter support specialist and systems administrator jobs growing 18 percent to 26 percent (source: “Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2007-07 Edition”).

What does the continued growth mean? An increasing demand in a specialist segment means that those entering the job market have a decisive advantage with their first salary negotiation, as typically the supply of talented individuals is less than the demand.

Several factors can affect salary. Some of the most important ones are:

certification that an individual possessesexperience that an individual has in the relevant field, educational background of the individualllocation where the individual is based.

So, what really do employers value? The answer is whether you are an expert in implementing technology. And the best way to prove that? Experts say if you can show employers that you know what you say you know, your chances increase significantly. The best and easiest way to prove your skills to potential employers is by becoming certified in the area of your expertise.

Certifications make it easy to filter and screen resumes for employers, and then the actual work experience and projects that you put on your resume can be read by the employers. Without certifications, you might not even make it through the initial process and the projects that you had worked so hard to highlight, might not even be read.

Looking at the data from the survey, Microsoft technology specialists, who claimed expertise in Identity Integration Server, can walk away with a relative king’s ransom at $104,333. Those with Oracle, software design, e-commerce and extranets expertise come out above the $80,000 mark this year. The most important are the building blocks, like help desk support, at $66,062, and backup and storage management, at $70,855.

Security remains the hot-button specialization for a variety of reasons, includ-ing increases in cyber crime, emerging regulations affecting the extent to which systems need to be secured and a trend toward better accountability in information security extending throughout organizations. It comes as no sur-prise that salaries for U.S. information security specialists remain on top, with IT pros in this field reporting they earn $93,500 a year on average, an increase of just $710 over 2005’s reported average, but $14,590 higher than two years ago.

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Salary by TechnologyExpertise

$

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000

Accounting Software

Backup and Storage Management

Customer Relationship Management

Data Warehousing

Database Administration

Database Development

E-Commerce

Extranets

Hardware Design

Help Desk Support

Intranets

LAN/WAN Interworking

Linux

Messaging/E-Mail

Novell

Oracle

Outsourcing

Portable/Embedded Computing

Research/Development

Routers and Switches

Security

Software Design

Strategic Planning

Systems Integration

Systems Management

Telephony

Training

Unix

VPN/Remote Management

Web Services

Web Site Development/Management

Windows 2000/2003 Testing/Planning/Pilot

Wireless/Mobile Computing

$72,603$70,855

$75,547$82,201

$75,105

$81,959$81,516

$74,763$66,062

$73,903$70,156$72,146$72,143$74,056

$81,889$78,963

$75,562$81,159

$71,023$72,978

$80,835$82,149

$78,889$73,256$70,812

$81,116$70,876

$77,870$75,147$74,027

$70,624

*

$78,761

Technology

We asked respondents to tell us the type of technology they specialized in. The more special-ized the skill, such as strategic planning or research and development (which, in 2006, topped the list), the better the compensation.

* Insu�cient data to report results.

2007 Salary Survey Continued

*Source: Microsoft certified professional maga-zine online. Redmond Channel Partner Magazine. Copyright 1996-2007 1105 Media Inc. Full article is available at http://mcpmag.com/salarysurveys/

*CertMag’s 2006 Salary Survey, MediaTec Publish-ing, 2007, full article at www. Certmag.com/articles

For Certification preparation boot camps please visit

www.netcominfo.com/bootcamps or call (888) 563-8266

Network design, Storage, System Integration, Database Administration and System Design are the remaining five of the top six hot areas, after Security.

With a strong US economy to boot, IT professionals can’t help but feel upbeat about their job prospects and the money they’ll be making in the coming year.

Becoming certified requires proper training, self study and test preparation, along with relevant experience. What should you look for in choosing a training provider? Do your research. Some things to look for and ask before you decide include:

Who would your instructor be? Does he or she have the certification you are going to be studying for? How many years of teaching and industry experience does the instructor have?

Who would be the other students in your class? Does the company make any efforts to filter out students who may not be the right fit for the class?

What kind of materials and courseware does the company use?

What kind of test preparation tools does the company use?

What kind of facility, classroom setup and equipment would be available to you?

Where would you take the exams once you feel ready? Can this be done at the training location or do you have to schedule it separately?

Most importantly, always ask for references or look for testimonials!

NetCom – Your technical training partner.

Increase your marketability

Improve your job performance

Get instant return on your training investment

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On June 26, 2007, Cisco announced plans to add an entry level CCENT (Cisco Certified Networking Technician) as the first step in

is networking certification program.

The networking certification program now has three steps:

CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician)—level one;

CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate)—level two; and

CCNP (Cisco Certified Networking Professional)--level three.

“Cisco recognizes that it has to offer a certification program that can span many different levels of corporate and individual needs in net-working skills development,” said Jeanne Beliveau, Cisco Senior Direc-tor of Learning. “For example, there are new students just entering the workforce, and older IT professionals seeking retraining. Beyond entry level, there are also advanced skills development needs in networking.”

In the past, the Cisco networking certification process started with the CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate) step. The program was targeted at individuals desiring to become high level networking professionals at some point in their careers.

Now, however, many companies and individuals are looking for a fundamental networking skillset that meets basic enterprise needs in networks or serves as a skills subset for a “blended skill” function such as manning a corporate help desk.

“The CCENT allows enterprises and individuals to invest in a basic subset of Cisco networking skills mastery to meet immediate needs,” said Jeanne Beliveau. “Once individuals have this basic networking certification under their belts, they can use it as a “stepping stone” to the CCNP and CCNA.”

Always attuned to the IT marketplace, Cisco’s decision to pursue a new entry level certification program for networking came on the heels of a detailed evaluation of IT jobs in the U.S. and around the world.

“It was during this analysis that we recognized that there was a high demand among employers and individuals for a certification program that could transfer basic networking skills and understanding,” said

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Laura O’Hafer, Cisco Performance Manager. “In both cases, parties were looking for a rudimentary level of certification in Cisco networking technologies that they could choose to build upon.”

In developing the new entry networking technician certification pro-gram, Cisco took a subset of skills that the CCNA certification program contained and adapted it to an entry level course. This skillset encom-passes basic routing and switching, basic security and basic wireless technology. It is intended to train and certify a person to support a small branch network, or to assist a network manager. Later, when individuals require enterprise-level networking skills such as the ability to support multiple local area networks (LANs), they can continue with the CCNA certification program.

Like the CCNA and CCNP, coursework in the CCENT is 30-50 percent hands-on practice. This assures immediate productivity in hands-on skills that businesses demand from their network professionals. Like the CCNA, the CCENT course also runs over a five-day period.

“The CCENT course is ideal for most entry-level network positions,” said Laura O’Hafer. “It also is an excellent certification for an individual who must know networks as part of his job, but not exclusively. This might be someone who is running a help desk function, or assisting network managers.”

In addition to the certifications, Cisco training is also available. The primary difference between training and certification is that certifica-tions require the taking of exams that involve written questions and network simulations, and training does not.

“Right now, there is a major skills gap in networking in the U.S., and we believe that a variety of certifications targeted to different levels of expertise will help to address this,” said Christine Yoshida, Cisco Senior Manager of Performance Management. “We are also looking at ways to expand our certification programs to address a global skills gap.”

For more information on Cisco CCENT and other Cisco certification and training programs, contact Netcominfo at 888-563-8266 or online at www.netcominfo.com. –CTm.

Cisco Changes Networking Certification Levels to Address New Market Needs by Mary Shacklett

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Across the board, there is no more critical category of certifica-tion for enterprises than security—and the “king” of all security

certifications is the CISSP.

The CISSP, which stands for Certified Information Systems Security Professional Certification, is a registered mark of the International Information Systems Security Consortium. It is a highly sought-after security certification that is pursued by IT consultants, managers, security policy writers, privacy officers, information security officers, network administrators, security device administrators and security engineers. CISSP is one of the many certification programs offered by NetCom.

To qualify for the CISSP designation, a candidate must pass a sepa-rately administered CISSP examination and have at least four years of experience in one or more of the following ten domains as stated by (ISC)2. These domains are:

Access Control;

Application Security;

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning;

Cryptography;

Information Security and Risk Management;

Legal, Regulations, Compliance and Investigations;

Operations Security;

Physical (Environmental) Security;

Security Architecture and Design; and

Telecommunications and Network Security.

The career stakes for CISSP are high.

Over 70 percent of corporate IT security positions now require a CISSP certification--and for good reason. Billions of dollars every year are lost or put at risk through major security breaches that embarrass corporations and undermine the confidence of their shareholders and clients. In industries like financial services and healthcare in particu-lar, one of the areas that industry regulators look at in determining corporate security “strength” is the qualifications of internal IT staff to see if the corporation has the “right stuff” when it comes to protecting corporate information assets. For most of these industry examiners,

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the “right stuff” is experienced information security professionals with CISSP certifications.

In a recent IDC research report, over 4,000 information security profes-sionals from more than 100 countries rated the following security areas as most critical to their organizations:

Management support of security policies;

Users following security policies;

Qualified security staff;

Software solutions; and

Hardware solutions.

The same group of people said that organizations were gaining greater awareness that security provisions must go well beyond those provided by hardware, software and networks alone. For instance, some of the most critical areas of security awareness and management are in the fields of policies, procedures, processes and people. All are areas that the CISSP certification addresses.

At the end of the day, organizations want to proactively secure and protect their information. They are understanding that this can only be achieved by creating a balance between people, policies, processes and technology that effectively manages security risks.

To meet these objectives, organizations are spending more of their security budgets on personnel and training. Nearly 85 percent of corporate hiring managers stress the importance of having employees on board who possess security certifications—especially the CISSP. The CISSP is critical because of its span of technology, people and poli-cies—all of which most be woven into an appropriate security “fabric” for the end organization.

At the same time, many organizations have or are implementing new technologies with new security challenges. These technologies include wireless communications and security, biometrics, intrusion detection and other new security-assisting tools and methodologies. Fresh security approaches that safeguard corporate assets are needed. Additionally, there is the growth in corporate awareness in security risk management.–CTm.

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CISSP-Certified Technologists are in High Demandby Mary Shacklett

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With aggressive moves to mobile communications, businesses are finding themselves scrambling for IT skills in wireless.

There are several key areas that companies are concerned with:

the security of wireless devices and communications;

the integration of wireless and wired technologies; and

the behavior of internal employees who use wireless devices.

People: The Real Enablers of Wireless

Like preceding technologies such as laptops, what has driven wireless device use in businesses over the past five years has been the adop-tion of wireless devices by business executives, sales personnel and mobile workers. Many times, these adoptions were made without the inclusion or the awareness of IT. In fact, it was and still is not uncom-mon for a company President or Sales Manager to simply subscribe to a cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or Blackberry through a wireless provider, or to stop at a technology store and pick up a device. The purchase is made with an eye toward convenience. Other con-cerns such as corporate security are more often afterthoughts to these executives—who are looking for immediate needs satisfaction.

Enter IT.

In businesses where end users informally acquire wireless devices, IT gets called into the picture when these same end users want access to corporate networks for the devices that they have purchased. In other cases, IT is called when security is breached, when wireless devices are lost or stolen—or when regulators demand it. There are also orga-nizations where IT is ahead of the wireless curve and can determine implementation and security strategies for wireless in advance of use. In the majority of cases, businesses have a mix of both planned and unplanned wireless adoption.

Regardless of scenario, here is a list of the most common wireless is-sues businesses are facing:

Upper Management Support

Many times, company CEOs and other managers simply obtain their own mobile devices and then tell IT to integrate them. They expect IT to take care of security and planning, but this can turn into a challenge if the device is not standards-based, or has other compatibility issues with corporate wireless and wired networks. IT can best get ahead of this “curve” by pre-publishing lists of compatible wireless devices for network integration.

Employee Camera Phones

Already used to their PDAs, cell phones and Blackberrys for home use, employees bring all of their domestic use habits into the workplace. Unfortunately, some of these habits foster security risks.

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One of the most common employee information security risk areas rests with the home cell phones that employees bring along to work. Many of these phones now come equipped with cameras—which is a security risk for businesses in the financial, technology and other business sectors. The issue is employees’ ability to take photos of confidential and proprietary documents. To mitigate this risk, many businesses have forbidden the presence of camera phones on work premises.

Usage Policies for Corporate Mobile Devices

The ubiquity of mobile communications has brought new challenges on what is appropriate employee use of mobile technology. Should a service technician who is out in the field 95 percent of the time be allowed to use a company asset like a cell phone to call home to check on a child? Many companies are evaluating policies in this area. In the “old” days, one used to be able to use a business telephone at work to call home—as long as such use was not excessive. Many businesses have adopted similar policies for mobile technology. Still other orga-nizations have made it clear to employees in written policies that cor-porate cell phones are only to be used for official company business. Mobile device usage is a critical policy area for IT, Human Resources and executive management.

Lost Wireless Devices

Many company employees travel during the course of business—and as mobile devices get smaller, it is easier for them to fall out of a pocket or to inadvertently get misplaced. This is why it is imperative for IT to have procedures in place for lost mobile devices. Many com-panies opt for remote security and device access software that can “find” a lost device and lock it down remotely. Another strategy is the automatic encryption of all device-resident data.

Security Risk of Remote Access

Employees on the road often use public wireless hubs in airports, hotels and other commerce centers to stay in touch with customers and the home office. These public network hubs are unsecured—and a major risk area of corporate information leakage. To combat this, IT implements robust firewalling on internal networks, along with two-level identify authentication at VPN access points and data encryption on mobile devices.

System Upgrades

As wireless system upgrades are made, many IT departments now have software in place that will automatically “push” these updates into mobile devices of end business users when the users turn the de-vices on. In other cases, end users have a simple upload function. The final result is a reduced need for IT to personally upgrade every field device. To implement the strategy, IT must first determine the types of system upgrades that will be needed for the network and the end

Getting a Handle on Wireless Technology by Mary Shacklett

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Microsoft Exchange 2007 Uni�ed Messagingbridge the gap between standard telephony and the data-centricworld of converged applications.

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bridge the gap.

Exchange 2007 with Uni�ed Messaging contains many signi�cant technological advances withvoicemail, email and fax in a single store - Microsoft Outlook. Whether considering an enterprisedeployment or a small test pilot, Enabling Technologies Corp. can insure your project is a success.

Discover why more clients are selecting Enabling Technologies for their next migration project toExchange Uni�ed Messaging 2007.

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Unified Communication

Telephony/IP voicemail platforms

devices—and a streamlined method of conveying updates in a secure environment.

Failover

Wireless communications have been godsends when wired commu-nications have failed—as witnessed in recent disasters like Hurricane Katrina, where only those companies with wireless communication networks were able to remain online and conduct business during the crisis. This means that more network planning will be going into combinations of wireless and wired networks, the distribution of communications payloads, network failover procedures and multiple ISP switching for both wireless and wired communications to assure uptime during disasters.

Best Practices

Wireless is still an emerging technology in its business implementa-tion. There is no codified set of best practices that runs the gamut from security to performance and the delivery of rich feature sets to end users. It is once again up to IT to take the lead in this area. IT can be successful in developing a cohesive set of wireless best practices by:

Working with regulators and others in the industry who already have sets of best practices for wireless;

Working internally with other company departments and manag-ers on wireless policies;

Pursuing ongoing training and certifications in wireless technol-ogy to assure that corporate IT has a solid foundation in wireless skills to build on. –CTm.

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by Mary Shacklett

Microsoft’s Vista operating system offers new tools and capabili-ties that Windows-based OS’s don’t have—a compelling reason

for IT professionals to get educated on new Vista features, and how to best install, configure and deploy Vista.

Larger Vista Images will Command New Thinking on Throughput and Devices to use at the Desktop and on Network Servers

With Windows XP and Windows 2000, images can easily fit onto a 700MB CD. This is not the case with Vista, where the size for com-pressed images begins at about 2GB and where deployed images can average around 5GB in size. Network administrators will need to re-visit network capacity since 10MB networks or non-switched networks will not be able to handle the larger Vista images. On the desktop, it is likely that DVD drives will be installed over their CD counterparts, since DVDs have individual capacity of 4.7GB. It is also likely that more USB memory keys will be deployed as they continue to grow storage capacity into 4GB or more, with shrinking price points.

New Security Features Solve Some Support Issues but Also Force Rewrites of Company Security Policies

With Vista, configuring security to support users without Administra-tor rights is easier—and non-Administrators can also load drivers. This reduces calls to the Help Desk. An enhanced Vista firewall can also control both inbound and outbound traffic—and the BitLocker feature allows the entire operating systems volume to be encrypted. The enhancements will improve network administration and overall security—but any security policy and procedural changes must be planned, defined and understood by IT first—and then conveyed to end users via training and policy publications.

A Newly Componentized Architecture Presents Flexible Configura-tion for Vista

The Vista operating system is completely componentized for flexible configuration. Security updates, language packs, service packages and drivers are all components, and tools like Package Manager (PKGMGR) can be used to apply these to Vista in both online and offline environ-ments. The keys are defining the customized configurations that are optimal to your network, and identifying the toolsets that you will use to apply these choices to Vista.

Toolsets that Microsoft recommends for Vista configuration that may require IT training, are:

SYSPREP (updated and modified for use with Vista);

SETUP (a new Vista installation tool that replaces WINNT and WINNT32);

IMAGEX (command line tool for creating WIM images);

PEIMG (for customizing Windows PE 2.0 images);

Windows Deployment Services (a new version of RIS that sup-ports Vista);

PNUTIL (for adding and removing Vista drivers);

PKMGR (for servicing the Vista OS);

OCSETUP (for installing Windows components in Vista);

BCEDIT (for editing boot configuration data);

Application Compatibility Toolkit (for evaluating whether applica-tions are Vista-compatible);

User State Migration Tool 3.0 (for capturing and restoring user states);

BitLocker (for Vista data encryption).

Changes to Installation, Boot and Configuration Procedures

There is no more text-mode installation with Vista. Instead, a new setup program performs installation by applying a Windows Vista im-age to the computer. This image is then customized by IT.

Vista also has a new boot loader, called Bootmgr. Bootmgr takes the place of the Boot.ini file used by Windows systems. The bootloader reads data from a BCD file, and a new Vista tool called bcdedit.exe maintains the contents of the BCD.

Vista configuration information is stored in XML files—a change from the text files of Windows-based systems, which IT commonly edited with Notepad. The new edit tools that are recommended for Vista are Windows System Edit Manager and User State Migration Tool (USMT) 3.0.

Hardware is Less of an Issue

With Vista, there is no longer any need to maintain multiple system images for different hardware platforms. Vista is able to detect the dif-ferent platforms and calibrate the operating system accordingly.–CTm.

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Now is the Right Time to Start “Boning Up” for Vista

Improved security makes Vista more appealing to clients. Are your skills up-to-date to work on Microsoft’s latest operating system?

Get the training you need at NetCom Information Technology (Page 37 in the catalog section)

MCTS: Deploying and Maintaining Vista Client and Office 2007 Desktops - Boot CampMCTS: Windows Vista Configuration - Boot CampMCITP: Enterprise Support Technician - Boot Camp

••• www.netcominfo.com

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Disaster recovery planning is a vital component of an organiza-tion’s business continuity planning.

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Extending Corporate Data to the Portal

Learn how to enhance the capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with new technologies that simplify database integration into portals

When companies ask me to help architect their portals, one of the first issues we address is how they define “portal.” Some

customers identify the portal as a one-stop shop for information about their customers and processes—in other words, a search site. Others view it as the entry point for all corporate applications—an application site. And still others see the portal as the primary platform that enables their employees, and sometimes customers, to inter-act—a collaboration site.

Although these portal visions all have unique attributes, they share a common need: access to vast amounts of data generated by the organization’s backend systems.

Partners who build customer portals using standard Web develop-ment tools have been frustrated by the need to also build myriad interfaces on customer backend systems in order to provide data to portal users. While the advent of Web services makes this somewhat easier by minimizing some of the security and protocol issues, the overall challenges of providing data from operational systems remain. With the release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft is including Business Data Catalog, a new feature that will vastly simplify portal access to corporate data.

What Is the Business Data Catalog?

The Business Data Catalog (BDC) is a set of application interface defi-nitions—or connectors—that define a standard interface for any set of backend data. This deceptively simple concept enables a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) portal to integrate with line-of-busi-ness and other corporate applications by presenting a unified view of the data to the portal designer.

The BDC uses ADO.NET to connect to practically all popular databases with native ADO.NET providers for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Oracle; to OLEDB providers for SQL Server 2000; and to ODBC drivers for older databases. The BDC can also use a Web services proxy to connect to any Web services-based API. The net result is that once configured, BDC connectors can be used by a portal designer to dynamically retrieve and display business data on the portal, without writing any code.

For partners, the BDC represents a catalog of business applications that can be used in the implementation of their customers’ MOSS por-tals. The BDC is the key to this solution, because it closes the gap be-tween the portal and the business applications by allowing customers to access live data from within MOSS. Once an administrator registers business applications in the BDC, the data in those applications is immediately available to MOSS users. The net result is that once configured, the BDC connectors can be used by a portal designer to

dynamically retrieve and display business data on the portal without writing any code.

Using the BDC to Access Corporate Data

Making the connection is the first step toward leveraging corporate data. The real work begins with designing sites that provide that data. Anticipating this need, MOSS includes four out-of-the-box Business Data Web parts: Business Data List, Business Data Items, Business Data Related List, and Business Data Actions. All of these Web parts support the standard Web-part connection interface, adding an extra level of compatibility and flexibility. Building on the BDC, the main function of these parts is to display business data in a portal applica-tion, without the need for any programming.

Once an entity is registered in the BDC, the portal designer can enable Web parts to display data from it. Allowing connections between these Web parts extends portal capabilities, enabling the display of customers and orders; or invoices and line items.

The following BDC Components and Benefits are included in MOSS:

The Business Data List allows you to display a list of any of the entities defined in the BDC catalog. Use this part to display an up-to-date list of customers, and use standard SharePoint views to arrange or filter the list.

Business Data Items display all of the details for a specific item. You might use this part to display information for a particular customer or product when developing a collaboration site for that item.

Business Data Related List joins two entities based on a com-mon key—for example, showing all the invoices for a particular customer. It’s especially useful, because it only cares that the two entities are related in the BDC—not whether the entities are sup-plied by the same backend system.

Business Data Actions allow the BDC architect to enable actions on any of the BDC entities. You can leverage this feature to allow internal help desk portal users to navigate directly to the source system, or to launch an InfoPath form that can update the ad-dress or other information about a customer in the backend system.

By combining the standard site design features of MOSS with these BDC Web parts, you can create rich, interactive interfaces that provide corporate data directly from the database. BDC is a key enabling technology for driving significant integration revenues, if you take the time to learn how to sell, use and deploy it. –CTm

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by Tim Landgrave

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Microsoft Word has several features for handling large documents. One of the most common is the table of contents (TOC), which

essentially works the same way in all versions of Word.

There are three ways to create a table of contents in Word:

using built-in styles supplied with Word;

using styles that you create yourself; and

using outline levels, and manually marking text.

In each case, Microsoft Word will recognize which text in your document is supposed to be copied and listed in the TOC.

Going out in style

Creating a TOC from built-in styles is the easiest way to create a Table of Contents. Styles are a great feature in Microsoft Word and in other applications. You can use them for quick and consistent formatting, and for quickly changing formatting throughout a document. Simply put, a style is a collection of formatting attributes – such as typeface, point size, and the use of boldface or italics -- that you can quickly ap-ply to paragraphs.

Rather than formatting each paragraph or heading individually, we create styles with names like Main Heading, and then decide which text gets tagged with those styles. When you change the formatting of a style, all paragraphs tagged with that style name instantly change.

To make it easier, Word comes with pre-made styles, called Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3. Here’s how to use them to create a table of contents:

Apply Heading 1 and Heading 2 to all major and minor headings in your document. Click in a major heading, then press Ctrl + Alt + 1 to apply Heading 1. Click in a minor heading, then press Ctrl + Alt + 2 to apply Heading 2. Ctrl + Alt + 3 will apply Heading 3.

Click the spot in your document where you want the TOC to go. Select Insert/Reference/Index and Tables, and then click the Table of Contents tab.

Click the Options button. The dialog box that appears is what controls which of the TOC methods you use.

Select the Styles checkbox, and then deselect the checkboxes for Outline levels and Table entry fields. Notice the check marks next to Headings 1, 2 and 3, and notice that they are set to produce TOC levels 1, 2 and 3. If you want to prevent any of these three Headings from appearing in the TOC, just click their checkmarks to deselect them.

Click OK, and then click OK again.

If you applied all three heading styles, your TOC should now look something like Figure 1, with the three headings in the text corre-sponding to the three levels in the TOC:

•

•

•

•

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Figure1. The heading styles you apply to your text are reflected in the levels used in the table of contents.

That’s all there is to it! If you change any of the text in the document that’s formatted with these heading styles, you’ll want to update the TOC. Right-click it, then choose Update Field from the popup menu. (Or click the TOC, and then press F9.)

Creating TOC entries from custom styles is similar to creating TOC en-tries using the built-in styles. The difference is that rather than relying on ho-hum labels like Headings 1, 2 and 3, you can format text with more meaningfully named styles – using any names you choose, such as Chapter Heading, Major Heading or Minor Heading. You then apply the typeface, font size and spacing that suits your needs.

The next process is creating the styles. The steps below apply to Word 2003; the process works a little differently in older versions of Word:

Select the first line of text in your document that will be a major headline. Use the formatting toolbar or the Font dialog box (Ctrl + D) to format it.

Display the task pane, if it isn’t already visible (Ctrl + F1).

Click the small, down arrow at the upper-right corner of the task pane, and then select Styles and Formatting.

With the cursor in the text you just formatted, click the New Style but-ton. Type a name for the style (like Major Heading), then click OK.

In the task pane, click the style name you just created. The text won’t change appearance, but it will now be defined by the style name you just clicked.

Click in the next headline that should look the same as the last headline you just formatted, and then click the style name in the task pane. Repeat until all headlines are formatted with your new style.

If you want headers that are subordinate to your major headline, repeat the first six steps, using a new style name.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Creating a Table of Contents in Microsoft Wordby Bob Flisser

Heading 1 / Level 1Heading 2 / Level 2

Heading 3 / Level 3

Heading 1 / Level 1Heading 2 / Level 2

Heading 3 / Level 3

��Once all your major and minor headlines are tagged, insert the TOC al-most the same way you did when you followed the previous directions for applying built-in styles:

Click the spot in your document where you want the TOC to go. In Microsoft Word 2003, select Insert/Reference/Index and Tables, then click the Table of Contents tab.

Click the Options button.

Select the Styles checkbox, and deselect the checkboxes for Out-line levels and Table entry fields.

Delete the numbers in the text boxes to the right of Headings 1, 2 and 3.

In the same list, find the style names you created earlier, and put the appropriate numbers in their text boxes – 1 for the first TOC level, 2 for the second TOC level (if any), and so on.

Click OK, and then click OK again. You’ll now have a table of con-tents that uses your own, custom styles.

The other two methods for creating a table of contents involve basing the entries on outline levels and text that you specifically mark as TOC entries.

Structured outlines

In Microsoft Word, Outline View is used for creating structured out-lines. To use it:

Click the Outline View icon in the lower-left corner of the program’s screen, as shown in Figure 2.

Use the Outlining toolbar to mark text as a heading level or as body text (or press Tab to indent text to a lower level heading and press Shift + Tab to mark text as a higher level heading).

When your outline is finished and you’re ready to insert your table of contents, click the Options button as before, and select only the Outline Levels checkbox. Click OK, and then click OK again.

The final way of placing document text in a table of contents is to manually mark the text. Since this can take a lot of effort for a long document, use it only if you need to put text in a table of contents that can’t be formatted like the rest of your headings. This takes only a few steps:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.

2.

3.

Select the first line of text that should go into the table of contents.

Press Alt + Shift + O (that’s “O “as in “Oscar”) to display the Mark Table of Contents Entry dialog box, shown in Figure 3. The text you selected will be listed, with a table identifier of C and a level of 1. The C means you’re creating a table of contents, and the 1 means the text will be the first TOC level. You can change the let-ter, if you want a different sort of table (like “I” for index, or “D” for diagrams), but that’s a discussion for another day.

Leave this dialog box open (drag it out of the way, if necessary), then select the second line of text to go into the table of contents.

Click the Mark Table of Contents Entry dialog box to have this second line of text listed. Change the level if you need to, and then repeat.

When you’ve marked all the text you want, insert the table of contents by choosing Insert/Reference/Index and Tables, then click the Table of Contents tab. This time, be sure to select Table entry fields.

One last word about tables of contents: there’s no rule that says you have to use only one method or another. If you have a very long docu-ment, you can use all the methods discussed above in conjunction with each other.–CTm.

Bob Flisser is co-author of the acclaimed Just the tips, man™ series of books of tips, tricks and shortcuts, published by Nerdy Books (www.nerdybooks.com).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Figure 3. The Mark Table of Contents Entry dialog box.

Figure 2. Click the Outline View icon in Microsoft Word to enter Outline View.

Outline View icon

Outline View Icon

��

Creating vector graphics based on tracing photo outlines is a very useful technique for any graphic designer. It’s extremely helpful for generating almost any kind of illustration, even when drawing from scratch is not your strong suit. This technique also can be used to cre-ate good-looking, visually unified graphics such as a series of Website graphics or icons. Magazine and newspaper art directors can use this approach to add unique effects to ho-hum or mismatched photos—for example, creating similar photoillustrations based on staff writers’ photos.

Photos are examples of bitmap images, which are comprised of pixels. By contrast, vector images are created through mathematical formu-las expressed through curves and points. Accordingly, you can resize vector images in Adobe Illustrator without losing any quality, making them very well-suited for illustrations and drawings. In contrast, enlarging bitmap images in a program like Adobe Photoshop can produce fuzzy results.

The Live Trace feature in Illustrator CS2 provides a straightforward process to convert photos to vector artwork. Previous versions of Illustrator provided a Trace tool that, in comparison, was extremely limited. Below, we’ll examine step-by-step how to create this effect by first prepping your image in Adobe Photoshop and then completing the effect using Illustrator CS2.

The illustrations shown here are from a real-world example. My client wanted to create an online regional directory for physicians. Each category of medical specialists needed its own custom illustration. In addition, these illustrations needed to look especially good when grouped together on the site’s index page. The medical-themed im-ages in my collection of stock art are drab at best, so I wanted to use Illustrator to apply a common, colorful look-and-feel to these images.

Step 1. Plan your artwork.

First, you’ll need to choose the images that you want to use as a tem-plate for your vector artwork. Once you’ve chosen an image to start with, open the image in Photoshop. The next step to take depends on what kind of an image you’re working with.

If the image you’re using is a photo, a good approach is to reduce the number of colors used in order to make it simpler to trace later on. As shown in Figure 1, you can do this by selecting Adjustments from Photoshop’s Image menu, then choosing Posterize. Experiment with the number of levels to posterize. The lower the level number, the simpler your image will appear.

Instead of—or even in addition to posterizing—you can use the Blur filters (like Gaussian Blur) in Photoshop to further soften any intricate edges.

In case you’re tracing a penciled line drawing, you should darken the image in order to emphasize the lines. To do so, choose Adjustments from Photoshop’s Image menu, then choose either Levels or Curves. The exact settings to use will depend upon how much you need to darken the image’s lines.

Step 2. Place and trace.

You’re ready to trace your image, which will generate a series of vec-tor paths, instead of the pixels used in the original. Within Illustrator, choose Place from the File menu. After you place your bitmapped graphic, take note of the control palette at the top of your work area. You can click the Live Trace button in the control palette—or choose Live Trace from the Object menu—to determine the settings used for your image tracing. As you make changes to the settings, these op-tions are updated in real time, which gives the “Live” part of the “Live Trace” name its meaning.

The Live Trace options include choices for determining how detailed the tracing should get, and whether the shape fills should be black-and-white or in full color. If the shape fills are in color, you can specify how many colors should be used. You can reach this Tracing Options dialog box, shown in Figure 2, from either the control palette or by choosing Tracing Options from the Live Trace submenu under the Objects menu. The Tracing Options dialog box lets you control the number of colors, the preset, the minimum size that will be traced, how many paths the object contains, how many anchor points are used, and more.

Trace EvidenceAdding Vector Effects to Photoillustrations with Adobe Illustrator

by Eileen Mullin

Figure 1. Posterizing an image reduces the number of colors it contains, which makes it easier to trace.

��

Live Trace also includes a Presets menu with a series of options for automatic tracing. These are useful for experimenting if you are not entirely sure of what you want your final photoillustration to look like. The choices range from creating a simple black-and-white version of your traced photo to a Photo High Fidelity option that lets you pro-duce vectors that really do look like photos.

Step 3. Expand to paths.

When you’re done making changes to the Live Trace options, click the Expand button. This will convert the tracing to full-blown vector paths. At this point, you can now edit the artwork as you would any other vector image in Illustrator.

You will likely want to enhance the illustrated quality of your traced image. You can smooth out jagged shapes by removing points along the paths, and replace areas of color with new hues and gradients.

Step 4. Color with Live Paint.

One easy way to fill in new areas of color in your image – and in a way that’s similar to using Photoshop’s Paint Bucket tool – is to convert your vector artwork into a Live Paint Object. To do so, choose the Live Paint tool in the toolbox or select Live Paint from the Object menu.

When you position the Live Paint tool over your image, each select-able area appears bordered in red. Click inside an area to apply the current color or gradient. Figure 3 shows an example of an original photograph transformed into a more colorful, interesting piece of vector artwork.

Step 5. Move into the background.

Once you’re done editing the vector paths and shapes that comprise your new photoillustration, pay attention to the image’s background, if necessary. Some images you’ll trace will be silhouetted and will not require a background at all. Some images may need to be extracted from a complex or unnecessary background. You can either do this early in the editing process with Photoshop’s Extract command, or by deleting or simplifying the background once you’re in Illustrator.

Be sure to save your photoillustrations in a vector file format, such as .ai, .eps, or .pdf. This way, you’ll have them available in a versatile format for easily resizing or for high-resolution printing.–CTm.

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Figure 2. The Tracing Options dialog box provides adjustable controls for your image tracing.

Figure 3. A bitmapped image at left is traced to create the vector image on the right.

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