Ed Tittel

Dan Balter is the Chief Technology Officer for InfoTechnology Partners, Inc., a Microsoft Certified Partner company. He works as an IT consultant and trainer for both corporate and government clients and has worked with several different network operating systems throughout his 20-year career. Dan takes pride in turning complex, technical topics into easy-to-understand concepts. Dan is a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST), a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) on Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003. He specializes in Microsoft networking technologies, firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), and other security solutions in addition to designing and implementing messaging and business solutions for large and small organizations.

Dan is the author of Exam Cram 2: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment and a co-author for the best-selling books Exam Cram 2: Windows XP Professional and Exam Cram 2: Windows 2000 Professional, all published by Que Publishing. Dan frequently speaks at conferences across North America, including Advisor DevCon conferences and Windows & .NET Magazine Connections conferences. A graduate of USC's School of Business in 1983, Dan has authored more than 300 video-based and CD-ROMߢased computer training courses, including instructional titles on installing, configuring, and administering Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. He is also a featured video trainer for courses on Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook, and Intuit's QuickBooks small business accounting software. Dan is the video trainer for ExamBlastߗindows XP Professional and for the QuickBooks Pro training series on video and CD-ROM from BlastThroughLearning.com.

Dan and his family live in the Santa Rosa Valley area in Southern California, near the city of Camarillo. Dan lives with his lovely wife, Alison; their 8-year-old daughter, Alexis; their 5-year-old son, Brendan; and their golden retriever, Brandy. When he's not writing, researching, or consulting, Dan enjoys traveling with his family, swimming, playing racquetball and basketball, rooting for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team and the L.A. Lakers, going for long walks, listening to music, and exploring new age spirituality. Dan can be contacted via email at Dan@TechPartners.info.

Philip Wiest is a nationally known professional technical trainer who has presented more than 1,200 Cisco and Microsoft seminars to more than 37,000 students throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia since 1989 for Skillpath Seminars, CompuMaster Seminars, Prime Learning International, and Dun & Bradstreet. He has earned several prominent certifications, including the MCSE; CCNP; CCDA; Network+; Server+; Security+; A+; and, most recently, the new MCDST designation.

He delights audiences by crashing (often with little effort) and then resurrecting (often with much effort) unsuspecting software programs and network applications. His unique, irreverent, solutions-oriented style is at once humorous and insightful.

Philip's clients include The Walt Disney Company, the FBI, American Express, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, ARCO, Bank of America, KPMG, Sony, EMI Records Group N.A., the National Association of Realtors, Warner Bros., and on and on.

Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he has published more than 200 newspaper and magazine articles, received dozens of national training awards, and completed 15 marathons. He resides in Santa Monica, California, never more than a stone's throw from a keyboard or a microphone.

Ed Tittel

Ed Tittel is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry who has worked as a programmer, a technical manager, a classroom instructor, a network consultant, and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli, and NetQoS. He has written and blogged for numerous publications, including Tom's IT Pro, PearsonITCertification, and GoCertify; and is an author on more than 100 computing books with a special emphasis on information security, Web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems.

Alain Trottier

Alain Trottier observes the .com warfare of Southern California as a technology management consultant (Strategic Business Resources) and an adjunct professor at Vanguard University. He has been in the tech sector for two decades. On the electronics side, he has worked with RF gear, nuclear power plants, and electromechanical devices. On the IT side, he has held roles as a technologist, a developer support specialist, a programmer, an architect, and a manager. Alain got a kick out of being in the U.S. Submarine Navy (nuclear power division), and he was impressed with his bosses at Chevron's world-class research center. He was astonished by the .com bubble while at Adforce and then Winfire, where he experienced a meteoric IPO and then a subsequent flameout. He has been through a get-it-right-at-all-cost experience in a Fortune 30 company, and he also has witnessed the other extreme, in which one bets it all on a get-it-out-there-at-no-cost venture.

Alain enjoys a difficult technological challenge and likes the people even better. He believes that his degrees in religion (Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts with a specialization in the linguistics of ancient religious texts) is a terrific way to broaden one's abilities. He has certifications from both Microsoft and Sun, so his bias is simply what works best for a given situation. If you have a question, comment, or even a challenge, the author would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact him (think Chief Technology Ambassador) from the book's Web site, at http://www.inforobo.com/scwcd/examcram.

Steve Heckler is a freelance programmer and IT trainer specializing in .NET, Java, ColdFusion, Flash ActionScript, and XML. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he works with clients nationwide. In addition, he is the author of the Sun Certification Instructor Resource Kit (310-025, 310-027): Java 2 Programmer and Developer Exams and Sun Certification Instructor Resource Kit (310-080): Java 2 Web Component Developer Exam. He is currently writing an ASP.NET-related book for Addison-Wesley.

Before being self-employed, Steve served nearly seven years as vice president and president of a leading East Coast IT training firm. He holds bachelors and masters degrees from Stanford University.

Alain Trottier

Alain Trottier observes the .com warfare of Southern California as a technology management consultant (Strategic Business Resources) and adjunct professor at Vanguard University. He has been in the tech sector for two decades. He has been on the electronics side, working with RF gear, Nuclear Power Plants, and electro-mechanical devices. On the IT side he has had roles as technologist, developer support specialist, programmer, architect, and manager. He got a kick out of being in the U.S. Submarine Navy (nuclear power division). He was impressed with his bosses at Chevron's world-class research center. He was astonished by the .com bubble while at Adforce, and then Winfire, where he experienced a meteoric IPO, but subsequent flame-out. He has been through get-it-right-at-all-cost in a Fortune 30 company, but also the other extreme where one bets it all on a get-it-out-there-at-no-cost venture. He enjoys a difficult technology challenge and likes the people even better. He feels his degrees in religion (B.A., M.A. with specialization in the linguistics of ancient religious texts) is a terrific way to broaden one's abilities. He has certifications from both Microsoft and Sun so his bias is simply what works best for a given situation. If you have a question, comment, or even a challenge, the author would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact him (think Chief Technology Ambassador) from the book's Web site at http://www.inforobo.com/scwcd.

Steve Heckler is a freelance programmer and IT trainer specializing in .NET, Java, ColdFusion, Flash ActionScript, and XML. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he works with clients nationwide. In addition, he is the author of the Sun Certification Instructor Resource Kit (310-025, 310-027): Java 2 Programmer and Developer Exams and Sun Certification Instructor Resource Kit (310-080): Java 2 Web Component Developer Exam, and is currently writing an ASP.NET-related book for Addison-Wesley.

Prior to being self-employed, he served nearly seven years as vice president and president of a leading East Coast IT training firm. He holds bachelor's and masters degrees from Stanford University.

Marcus Green has been working with PCs since 1986 and with Internet technologies since 1992. He has written extensively on Java Programmer Certification and runs a Web site on that subject at http://www.jchq.net. He has written database-backed Web sites using Perl, PHP, and JSP, and he uses Linux as his default operating system.

Bryan Basham is a courseware developer for Sun Microsystems concentrating on Java technology and object-oriented design principles. In the 1980s, Bryan worked for NASA in Houston, Texas, developing advanced automation software using Artificial Intelligence techniques. In the 1990s, he worked for a medium-sized software engineering consulting firm. His development expertise has focused on the design and development of database business applications. Bryan has worked for Sun Educational Services for three years. In that time, he has worked on a large range of Java courses, including Sun's core Java programming course, the JDBC course, the J2EE overview seminar, and the Servlet/JSP course. Bryan is a practicing Zen Buddhist, Ultimate Frisbee player, audiophile, and telemark skier.