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.

Jason Zandri

Jason Zandri currently holds the position of Technical Account Manager at Microsoft Corporation and has worked as a technical trainer and consultant for a variety of corporate clients in Connecticut over the past six years. He has also written a number of CompTIA and Microsoft prep tests for Boson Software as well as a number of published articles for 2000trainers.com, MCMCSE.com, Serverwatch.com, and Certification Magazine.

His professional CompTIA certifications include A+ Certified Technician, I-Net+ Certified Technician, Server+ Certified Technician, Network+ Certified Technician, and Security+ Certified Professional.

His professional Microsoft certifications include Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Professional—NT4/W2K (MCP), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator—W2K (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security—W2K (MCSA: Security), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer—NT4/W2K (MCSE), and Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet—NT4 (MCP+I). Other accredited certifications include Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) from ISC².

When not parked in front of his computers, you can find Jason and his wife, Renia, sifting through their movie collection looking for the "right" movie for that particular evening.

Please feel free to email Jason with your comments at Jason@Zandri.net. Please be sure to put "70-293" (or something similar) in the subject line.

Best of luck in your studies!

Jason Zandri

Jason Zandri currently holds the position of Technical Account Manager at Microsoft Corporation. He has worked as a technical trainer and consultant for a variety of corporate clients in Connecticut over the past six years. He also has written a number of CompTIA and Microsoft prep tests for Boson Software as well as a number of published articles for 2000trainers.com, MCMCSE.com, Serverwatch.com and Certification Magazine. His professional CompTIA certifications include: A+ Certified Technician, I-Net+ Certified Technician, Server+ Certified Technician, Network+ Certified Technician, and Security+ Certified Professional. His professional Microsoft certifications include: MCT, MCP, MCSA, MCSA: Security, MCSE, MCP+I. Other accredited certifications include: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) from ISC2.

Series Editor Ed Tittel runs LANWrights, Inc., a training and writing firm that specializes in networking, computer security, and markup languages. Ed is the originator of the Exam Cram series.