Southeast Region DNA Dev Lab CoreTech Consulting Group, Inc.

Microsoft DNA Development Lab

Southeast Region Lab

CoreTech Consulting Group, Inc. is proud to announce the opening of it's Microsoft DNA Development Lab located in our Southeast Region office in Atlanta, GA. The lab has been created through a partnership between Microsoft Corporation, CoreTech Consulting Group, Inc., and the Toshiba America, Inc.

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About the Lab
Microsoft established the first Development Lab at their corporate headquarters in Redmond, WA. This first Lab was for ISV’s who were interested in quickly porting their applications to the latest multi-tier architectures. The Lab has delivered such positive value to attendees, that demand continues to grow, requiring that another lab facility for corporate and ISV development teams be established.

The Microsoft Windows DNA Development Lab is modeled after the highly successful ISV-Lab. This Lab, strategically located near the Cobb Galleria, in Atlanta, GA, is dedicated to serving corporate and ISV development teams requiring the same powerful value proposition; Access to Microsoft Corporation resources and Microsoft specialty talent, working directly on architecting and implementing client’s live application code.

Related Links:

"Microsoft, Toshiba and CoreTech Consulting Group Unite To Deploy Solutions Lab for Windows Distributed interNet Applications"
Microsoft Press Release
October 1998

Microsoft Corp. - Southeast District

Working cooperatively with Microsoft, and Toshiba, CoreTech is privileged to be the host site for the Microsoft Windows DNA Development Lab. CoreTech is a Microsoft Solutions Provider Partner.

Lab Environment – What to Expect
One of the most unique aspects of this Lab is the environment itself. The Lab has been tailored to meet the personal and professional demands of a rapid application development "boot camp". It provides optimum focus on deliverables and rapid knowledge transfer. Attendance is limited to a maximum of 6 development team members. The agenda is structured to assure daily progress is achieved. The Lab is equipped with the latest Toshiba Magnia Servers and Toshiba Equium PC Workstations, Microsoft software, reference materials and highly skilled resources. Experts in architecture, development, support and installation staff the Lab. We’ve considered everything down to the smallest details, even providing start-to-finish meal catering. All details are directed towards achieving results.

The one-week Microsoft Windows DNA Development Lab is custom tailored to each client team. Deliverables and educational needs are agreed upon before the lab begins. The lab is then structured around a basic success template that will accomplish the mutually agreed upon goals. Normally, three segments are considered prior to accepting development teams into the Microsoft DNA Development Lab;
1) Pre-lab preparation and prerequisites,
2) the lab week in Atlanta, and
3) Post-lab support.

Pre-Lab Preparation
Before a lab begins, staff from the Lab will work with you to understand the business goals of your project, your goals for the lab and the educational needs of your team. All Lab attendees approve these goals prior to starting the lab.

Pre-lab educational efforts are oriented towards leveling the playing field between the 4 developers that will attend the Lab. Front-end training and/or consulting sessions assure that prerequisites for lab readiness have been met. Suggested prerequisites include:

Defined business, project and lab goals
MTS, ActiveX, and COM knowledge
Development tools/technologies
- Visual Studio (VB, VJ, VC)
- VBScript or Active Server Pages
- HTML or DHTML
- ODBC, RDO, or ADO

The lab segment is a compelling statement of partnership and support. The appropriate Microsoft product group representatives are made available to support Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and CoreTech Consulting Group resources that are locally staffing the Lab.

Day 1: Installation & Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) Programming Model Review
A custom software development environment is configured prior to the lab. During the first day, Lab attendees review the configuration of relevant hardware and software components
(eg. Microsoft Transaction Server, SQL Server, Message Queue Server, Internet Information Server, Exchange, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio, Toshiba Magnia Servers, Toshiba Equium Workstations, etc.).

After configuration review, the lab begins with a detailed how-to discussion on COM and MTS development. Presentations include the MTS components and programming model, ActiveX scripting and Active Server Pages, ActiveX Messaging components, and Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) components. An in-depth review of sample code (MTS, MSMQ, Active Server Pages, and ActiveX Messaging objects) reinforces discussion topics.

Day 2: Application Architecture Review
During the second day, focus shifts to application design and planning. Lab attendee’s work with the DevLab staff to design selected application services using an MTS-based architecture.

The team works together to determine the best component architecture for agreed upon solution modules. Using Visual Modeler, the team documents this architecture and related component interfaces. The team then subdivides the work into manageable tasks and deliverables.

Day 3-5: Application Development
Lab attendees work together with Lab staff to write application components for MTS. The team’s focus is on the most important proof-of-concept components in the application: key business logic, database access code (to test performance), key UI elements, etc. On the final day of the lab, course attendees learn how to package the prototype for installation and distribution at their site. Throughout the week, relevant code samples and white papers are tagged for retention, as requested by the participants. At the end of the week, Lab attendees are provided with a customized CD-ROM disk of these tagged reference materials.

Lab Deliverables
Deliverables from the lab include:

Key components and scripts
High level Application/Component architecture
High-level project plan
Code and discussions
Relevant reference materials

Post-Lab Considerations
Further Application Development assistance is available from CoreTech Consulting Group for a wide-range of follow-up consulting alternatives, depending on your development, integration and support requirements, including replication of the Development Lab concept at your site. Evaluation copies and pilot programs for appropriate Microsoft products are available.

CoreTech Client Partnership
CoreTech Consulting Group offers a full range of consulting services from strategic and tactical assessments, to education, design, deployment and support of Microsoft application solutions development initiatives throughout the business enterprise.

If you are interested in more information on the Development Lab, please contact Bill Knight, Manager Business Development, Microsoft Solutions, CoreTech Consulting Group, Inc. 800-546-8227. E-mail inquiries can be directed to info@CoreTech.com.