Omar Droubi

Rand Morimoto, Ph.D., MCSE, CISSP, has been in the computer industry for more than 30 years and has authored, coauthored, or been a contributing writer for dozens of books on Windows, Security, Exchange, Office 365, and Microsoft Azure. Rand is the president of Convergent Computing, an IT-consulting firm in the San Francisco Bay area that has been one of the key early adopter program partners with Microsoft. Convergent Computing implements the latest Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Windows Server 2016, System Center 2016, Windows 10, Azure Stack, Office 365, and Azure (public) in production environments months before the initial product releases to the general public.

Jeffrey Shapiro, MCSE, MCT, leads MISIQ, a technical consulting company specializing in all areas of Microsoft systems, including Windows Server, SQL Server, IIS, PKI, all aspects of .NET software development, and Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. He helps CIOs and CTOs plan, architect, and manage their network and IT operations assets. He has nearly 30 years’ experience in all aspects of information technology and has authored and co-authored more than 20 books from software engineering to IT infrastructure and computer and network systems. He began architecting Windows Client-Server systems as early as 1993 and supported numerous Windows NT networks for most of the 1990s. A prolific IT writer, he was one of the first authors to cover the advent of Active Directory in 1999, and has written extensively on Windows Server technology. His books cover Windows Server NT, and Windows Server 2000 through Windows Server 2016.

Jeffrey is also a high-availability expert and has architected some of the world’s largest Windows Server networks, some of them consisting of 100s of servers and server clusters all over the world. He has consulted for some of the United States’ largest corporations, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Con Edison, Disney, Universal Studios, and several counties and cities across North America. He is an expert SQL Server DBA and .NET Programmer.

Guy Yardeni, MCITP, CISSP, MVP, is an accomplished infrastructure architect, author, and overall geek-for-hire. Guy has been working in the IT industry for more than 16 years and has extensive experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise technology solutions. Guy is an expert at connecting business requirements to technology solutions and driving to successful completion the technical details of the effort while maintaining overall goals and vision. Guy maintains a widely read technical blog at www.rdpfiles.com and is a Windows MVP.

Omar Droubi, MCTS, has maintained a successful career and delivered quality work as a senior Information Technology professional for more than 20 years by keeping current with the latest technological developments and trends. As a writer, he has co-authored several Sams Publishing best-selling books, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed through Windows Server 2012 Unleashed. Omar has also been a contributing writer and technical reviewer on several Microsoft Exchange Server books and publications. He has been deeply involved in testing, designing, and prototyping Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 for the past few years, and has assisted organizations in getting the most out of the latest features included in these products.

Michael Noel, MVP, is an internationally recognized technology expert, bestselling author, and well-known public speaker on a broad range of IT topics. He has authored more than 20 major industry books that have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. In addition, Michael has presented at more than 200 technical and business conferences in more than 70 countries around the world. Currently a partner at Convergent Computing (cco.com) in the San Francisco Bay area, Michael’s writing and extensive public-speaking experience across all seven continents leverage his real-world expertise in helping organizations realize business value from Information Technology infrastructure.

Andrew Abbate, MCITP, enjoys the position of principal consultant and partner at Convergent Computing. With more than 20 years of experience in IT, Andrew’s area of expertise is understanding a business’s needs and translating that to process and technologies to solve real problems. Having worked with companies from the Fortune Ten to companies of 10, Andrew has a unique perspective on IT and a grasp on “big picture” consulting. Andrew has also written eight industry books on varying technologies ranging from Windows to Security to Unified Communications.

Chris Amaris, MCITP, MCTS, CISSP/ISSAP, CHS III, is the chief technology officer and cofounder of Convergent Computing. He has more than 30 years’ experience consulting for Fortune 500 companies, leading companies in the technology selection, architecture, design, and deployment of complex enterprise and hosted cloud integration projects. Chris specializes in leveraging Microsoft Azure, Windows 2016, and System Center to achieve a high degree of on-premise to cloud integration, automation, and self-service, reducing the level of effort and time-to-market for organizations while providing high levels of fault tolerance and availability. Chris is also an author, writer, and technical editor for a number of IT books, including System Center 2012 Unleashed, and conducts trainings and seminars on Azure, Windows, and System Center technologies worldwide.