Andrew Abbate

Rand Morimoto, Ph.D., MVP, MCITP, 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, BizTalk, and Remote and Mobile Computing. 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, implementing the latest Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, System Center 2012, Windows 7, Exchange Server 2013, Windows Server 2012, and SharePoint 2010 in production environments more than 18 months before the initial product releases.

Michael Noel, MCITP, MVP, is an internationally recognized technology expert, bestselling author, and well-known public speaker on a broad range of IT topics. He authored multiple major industry books that have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. Michael has presented at over one hundred technical and business conferences in more than fifty countries around the world and on all seven continents, including the first ever IT conference in Antarctica. Currently a partner at Convergent Computing (www.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.

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 15 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, MCSE, 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 coauthored several Sams Publishing best-selling books, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed, Windows Server 2008 Unleashed, and Windows Server 2008 R2 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 8 and Windows Server 2012 for the past several years and plans to assist organizations in getting the most out of the latest features included in the products.

Andrew Abbate enjoys the position of principal consultant and partner at Convergent Computing. With nearly 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 20 years experience consulting for Fortune 500 companies, leading companies in the technology selection, design, planning, and implementation of complex information technology projects. Chris has worked with Microsoft System Center products such as Operations Manager and Configuration Manager since their original releases in 2000 and 1994. He specializes in messaging, security, performance tuning, systems management, and migration. Receiving his first Microsoft technologies certification in 1993, Chris is a current Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) with multiple Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications in System Center technologies, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with an Information System Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP) concentration, Certified Homeland Security (CHS III), a Novell CNE, a Banyan CBE, and a Certified Project Manager. Chris is also an author, writer, and technical editor for a number of IT books, including System Center 2012 Unleashed, Network Security for Government and Corporate Executives, Exchange 2010 Unleashed , and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed.

Alex Lewis

Alex Lewis, MCITP, CISSP, has a mixed background in technology and business spanning 20 years. He has worked with a wide range of environments, from small organizations to large enterprises requiring complex or custom communications solutions, and is responsible for architecting and implementing some of the largest Lync and Skype for Business deployments in the world. Alex is a strong believer in aligning technology to business goals to create a competitive business advantage. Including titles on Active Directory and Exchange, and three on Lync, Alex has participated in writing nine books from 2004 to present. He is currently Vice President at Event Zero, the global leader in real-time analytics for Skype for Business. In his spare time Alex enjoys scuba diving and beach volleyball.

Pat Richard is a Unified Communications consultant and PowerShell Developer who began working with Microsoft Exchange and evolved into working with the full Microsoft Unified Communications stack. He has been involved in some of the best-known deployments and migrations in the world, including those in the defense, finance, government, real estate, manufacturing, and services fields. Pat maintains the renowned ehloworld.com blog, which focuses on solutions, ideas, scripts, and information centered on PowerShell and Unified Communications. His PowerShell scripts, Excel design calculators, and other tools have been used by many of the major consulting firms, large enterprises, small- and medium-sized shops, and even Microsoft Consulting Services to deploy and manage millions of seats on Exchange Server, Lync Server, and Skype for Business Server. Pat is the host of the popular Exchange/Lync/Skype for Business/Office 365 focused podcast “The UC Architects” and has been recognized by Microsoft and awarded the Microsoft MVP award more than 10 times across three products. He has contributed to several books, spoken at international conferences, and has been spotlighted by some Microsoft marketing campaigns.

Phil Sharp is a Unified Communications consultant with over 10 years of experience working with Microsoft Unified Communications solutions. His career in Microsoft UC began with one of the first Office Communications Server 2007 voice deployments in the U.S. He has extensive experience architecting, implementing, and supporting Microsoft Active Directory, Office Communications Server 2007/R2, Lync Server 2010/2013, Skype for Business, and Exchange for organizations of all sizes and verticals. In Phil’s current role at Modality Systems, he leads a world-class team of Microsoft UC consultants who specialize in telephony integration of Lync and Skype for Business.

Rui Maximo started in the Microsoft Skype for Business product team at Microsoft since the early days of RTC in 2003. As a lead program manager, he managed multiple areas of responsibility on the server side, including AD schema, topologies, management, setup, Enterprise Voice, and CWA. Rui has authored over 40 technical articles, training videos, whitepapers, and multiple books.

In addition to writing technical books, Rui is the principal software architect of the Security Filters (www.lync-solutions.com), a suite of seven security products that protect Skype for Business Server against denial-of-service (DoS) and over 20 different types of attacks, provide granular control of federation traffic, and restrict access to only authorized mobile devices. He consults and does contract work for clients looking to integrate their products with Skype for Business Server 2015.

Tom Pacyk

Alex Lewis, MCITP, CISSP, has a mixed background in telecommunications, IT, and consulting, with more than 15 years of experience. He has worked with the Lync family of products since the Exchange 2000 instant messaging service and a number of other solutions, including Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Shoretel, and NEC. He has worked with a wide range of environments from small organizations to large enterprises requiring complex or custom communications solutions, and he is responsible for architecting and implementing some of the largest Lync deployments in the world. Alex is a strong believer in the power of business and technology alignment using technological solutions to reduce costs and drive revenue and leveraging Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) to accelerate business success. Including titles on Active Directory and Exchange, and two on Lync, Alex has participated in writing eight books from 2004 to present. He is currently principal consultant at Modality Systems, a boutique international consulting firm focused on Microsoft unified communications. He loves a challenge and brings a wealth of experience to each new engagement. In his spare time Alex enjoys scuba diving with sharks and beach volleyball.

Tom Pacyk is one of only a few people worldwide to hold both the Microsoft Certified Master certification and the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award for Lync Server. Tom works as a Principal Systems Architect at ExtraTeam and is currently based in Chicago, Illinois. He began his career as a systems administrator and has moved into working as a consultant for the past seven years, designing and implementing collaboration solutions for large and small customers. His Unified Communications work began with the original Exchange 2000 instant messaging service, and he has been involved with implementations of every version of the product up to Lync Server 2013. Outside of work Tom runs a blog related to Microsoft Lync and Exchange topics, and he enjoys writing thrilling nonfiction books such as this one.

David Ross, MCITP, VCP, CCEA, CCSP, has more than 14 years of experience in IT consulting, the majority of which has been spent playing the lead architect role on network design and implementation projects throughout the San Francisco Bay area. David is currently acting as a principal engineer for Convergent Computing, and he develops hybrid solutions involving multiple vendor technologies for organizations of all sizes. Specialties for David include Active Directory, Exchange, Lync, Citrix technologies, virtualization solutions using VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, and Cisco routing, switching, and security technologies.

Randy Wintle is a Unified Communications Architect specializing in planning, architecture, and implementation of enterprise unified communications solutions. Randy has an exceptional track record for driving success on large enterprise deployments of Microsoft OCS and Lync Server 2010. He has successfully guided several large organizations in their development of strategies to enhance their business through Microsoft UC solutions. Randy is both a Microsoft Certified Master and a Microsoft MVP for Lync Server 2010, a rare combination and evidence of his technical prowess and recognition as an industry expert. Randy frequently participates in community and Microsoft-sponsored technical events. He helped develop the Microsoft training and certification programs for Lync and OCS. Randy has been previously published in the book Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit. He has also contributed to many online whitepapers and has a very successful UC blog.