Alvin Morales

Nigel Cain (lead author) leads the Customer, Architecture, and Technology (CAT) team for the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Group in Asia Pacific, Japan, and India. He and his team work closely with service providers (hosters) and enterprise customers, helping them take full advantage of Windows Server and System Center. He has a keen interest in cloud computing from both a business strategy and technical viewpoint and has presented sessions on building and managing private/hybrid clouds at a number of industry events. Nigel is the lead author of the ebook Microsoft System Center: Building a Virtualized Network Solution (Microsoft Press, 2013) of which the current ebook is an updated edition. Nigel graduated MBA from Warwick Business School in 2010. For more information and to connect with Nigel, see https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelcain. 

Alvin Morales (co-author) is a senior IT operations engineer at Microsoft CSS Labs and works closely with the Windows Server and System Center engineering team. His current focus is on integrating Microsoft System Center in the datacenter and private and hybrid cloud computing in service providers (hosters) and enterprise customers. He has presented sessions from an operational standpoint to help enterprise customers manage private and hybrid clouds. Alvin graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez Campus, and he completed his MBA in cybersecurity at the University of Dallas. For more information, see http://www.linkedin.com/in/alvinmorales. 

Michel Luescher (co-author) is a solution architect in the worldwide Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure Center of Excellence (CoE) at Microsoft Corporation based out of Switzerland. Primarily, Michel is focused on hybrid cloud solutions (Hyper-V, System Center, and Microsoft Azure) and works with Microsoft’s enterprise customers and service providers to define and guide the new landscape and architecture. Michel joined Microsoft in 2009 and works closely with the different divisions, including the various product groups. He is a well-known virtualization specialist, presenting at different events, and his is also the publisher of books on cloud and virtualization. Internally at Microsoft, he is considered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for datacenter and is involved in initiatives such as the Cloud OS Network (COSN). Michel also has a blog called Server Talk (www.server-talk.eu) where he posts technical articles about the Microsoft cloud platform. You can follow him on Twitter at @michelluescher.

Damian Flynn (co-author) is a Microsoft MVP (System Center and Datacenter) and a Cisco Champion. He is an Infrastructure Technical Architect for a large multi-national organization, and a freelance consultant focused on cloud technologies in the converged and hybrid datacenter, with perspective on service management automation for repeatable processes in dev/ops scenarios, leveraging software defined networks (SDN) and Microsoft Azure Pack. He has a keen interest in cloud computing from both a business strategy and a technical viewpoint and has presented sessions on building and managing private/hybrid clouds at a number of industry events. Damian is co-author of titles, including Microsoft Private Cloud Computing (Sybex), Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration Guide (Sybex), and Microsoft System Center: Building a Virtualized Network Solution (Microsoft Press, 2013). Damian is active in many technology preview programs, blogs at www.damianflynn.com, tweets at @damian_flynn, and has published a number of white papers, technical articles, and webinars. His motto is “Making incredible software incredibly simple.” 

Uma Mahesh Mudigonda (contributing author) is a Senior Program Manager in the Enterprise Cloud Group at Microsoft India Development Center, Hyderabad. His areas of expertise include cloud computing, software defined networking (SDN), routing, virtual private networking (VPN), IPsec, IPV6, domain name systems (DNS), distributed systems, and optical networks. He holds multiple patents and research publications, and he co-authored the ebook Microsoft System Center: Network Virtualization and Cloud Computing (Microsoft Press, 2013). He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Osmania University Hyderabad and master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. 

Aanand Ramachandran (contributing author) is a Senior Program Manager in the Windows Server Networking organization where he leads the multi-tenant cloud gateway and remote access efforts. He has been with Microsoft for over 9 years, working on various networking technologies, such as Remote Access Client and Server, VPN NAP, DirectAccess, and the Extensible Authentication Protocol framework. Prior to joining Microsoft, Aanand worked at T-Mobile, U.S.A as a network engineer in the Data Platforms Engineering Group, managing T-Mobile’s nationwide ATM network, and at Cisco Systems, U.S.A, where he worked on multi-service switching products. Aanand has a master's degree in computer networking and telecommunications from the University of Missouri - Kansas City and a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from Pondicherry University, India.

Mitch Tulloch is a well-known expert on Windows Server administration and cloud computing technologies. He has published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of technology sites and has written, contributed to or been series editor for over 50 books. Mitch is one of the most popular authors at Microsoft Press--the almost two dozen ebooks on Windows Server and System Center he either wrote or was Series Editor on have been downloaded more than 2.5 million times! For a complete list of free ebooks from Microsoft Press, visit the Microsoft Virtual Academy at http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks. 

Mitch has repeatedly received Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his outstanding contributions to supporting the global IT community. He is a ten-time MVP in the technology area of Windows Server Software Packaging, Deployment & Servicing. You can find his MVP Profile page at http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Mitch%20Tulloch-21182. 

Mitch is also Senior Editor of WServerNews, a weekly newsletter focused on system admin and security issues for the Windows Server platform. With almost 100,000 IT pro subscribers worldwide, WServerNews is the most popular Windows Server—focused newsletter in the world. Visit http://www.wservernews.com and subscribe to WServerNews today! 

Mitch also runs an IT content development business based in Winnipeg, Canada, that produces white papers and other collateral for the business decision maker (BDM) and technical decision maker (TDM) audiences. His published content ranges from white papers about Microsoft cloud technologies to reviews of third-party products designed for the Windows Server platform. Before starting his own business in 1998, Mitch worked as a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for Productivity Point. 

For more information about Mitch, visit his website at http://www.mtit.com. You can also follow Mitch on Twitter @mitchtulloch.