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Architecture Forum 2015 - Agenda

September 23, 2015

Currently finalising the Agenda for our 8th Architecture Forum, and will update the content here as it is confirmed. Actual running order may vary.

.NET’s Voyage into Open Source - Martin Woodward, Executive Director, .NET Foundation

In 2014, Microsoft open sourced .NET Core, the .NET Compiler Platform (aka “Roslyn”) and launched the .NET Foundation. In this presentation, Martin Woodward will discuss the transition the .NET teams in Microsoft made into working in the open. He will also cover how development teams at Microsoft are adjusting to working in a new way and how the community has become an integral part of the .NET open ecosystem.

Martin Woodward is the Executive Director of the .NET Foundation where he helps foster open development and collaboration around .NET. He is also a Principle Program Manager on the .NET team in Microsoft. Before joining the .NET Foundation, Martin worked on the team that introduced Git into Visual Studio and was responsible for ensuring that Mac and Linux developers could be successful collaborating with Visual Studio Online and Team Foundation Server.

Understanding your application’s architecture with Visual Studio 2015 Code Maps - Giles Davies, DX Evangelist, Microsoft UK

Understanding your application’s architecture is key to both improving the architecture and being able to understand the impact of a change. Sometimes you won’t be very familiar with the codebase, or a part of it, and trying to visualise what you have can be challenging.

This session will show how Visual Studio 2015 Code Maps can be used to understand the overall architecture of an application and to understand the impact of a potential change using dependency maps and drilling progressively deeper into the architecture all the way down to the code level.

Giles Davies works in the Developer Experience and Evangelism Group in Microsoft UK as a technical specialist covering Visual Studio, Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Online. Giles has had various roles including that of developer, technical lead, software architect, consultant and project manager. He has used a range of development processes including formal methods, Rational Unified Process and Scrum and is a regular speaker at both Microsoft and independent events.

Cortana Analytics Suite - The World of Disappearing Technology - Andrew Fryer, Data Evangelist, Microsoft UK

One slide, 20 technologies and one girl. During this session we will show you that any specifically advanced technology will ultimately disappear into your apps, making them smarter and more relevant.

Andrew Fryer works in the Developer Experience and Evangelism Group in Microsoft UK as a technical specialist focusing on data management, manageability and security.

Nano Server in Windows Server 2016 - how to 'contain' your excitement with Ed Baker

Windows Server 2016 is currently in Technical Preview and brings with it a tiny headless server called ‘nano’ as well as the much acclaimed ‘container’ technology. This session will explain and demonstrate both these ground breaking revolutionary advances in the Microsoft Server family.

Ed Baker is an Infrastructure Technical Evangelist with Microsoft UK. This takes him all round the UK presenting and demonstrating the latest and greatest things in Microsoft Server and Client technology as well as all things Azure.

The Intelligence of your Things - Azure IoT Suite - Amy Nicholson

The Internet of Things (IoT) starts with your things—the things that matter most to your business. IoT is at an inflection point where the right technologies are coming together and we are able to connect devices to the cloud and leverage streams of data that was previously out of reach.

In this session we will look at how early adopting businesses are leveraging the IoT trend and the architectures they are using with Azure IoT Suite and Cortana Analytics. Welcome to the Internet of Your Intelligent Things.

Amy is a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft after completing a Computer Science degree and an internship at Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. She is passionate about data science and IoT and always keen to share experiences and expertise with like-minded individuals and organisations. She blogs, presents and you’ll find her online at TechNet and Techdays Online, as well as in person at events like the Data Culture series. You can follow her on Twitter and on her blog.

Real world 2 speed IT - Powered by Microsoft Azure & Integration with Michael Stephenson


In this session Mike will discuss some of the aspects of a 2 speed IT model which can be enhanced through the use of the cloud. Mike will also use some innovative demos combining the Microsoft Azure Cloud and Minecraft to simulate business scenarios from real world projects where Microsoft Azure has been used to supercharge the sprinter teams in a 2 speed delivery model.