MCSA MCSE or Platform Leadership

MCSA/MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Network Simulator

Author: James Chellis

Get the Hands-on Experience You Need at a Fraction of the Cost of an Actual Windows 2003 Network Lab.

If you're serious about attaining your MCSA or MCSE certification, you need hands-on experience with Windows Server 2003 software in a network environment. The MCSA/MCSE Windows Server 2003 Network Simulator from Sybex gives you everything you need to accomplish this, and more! Get the skills you need to approach the Windows 2003 exams with confidence by practicing on labs that cover key topics for exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, and 70-294. An affordable alternative to products and courses costing hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, this Simulator allows you to work at your own pace, on your own time, so you get the most out of your exam preparation efforts.

Includes 160 lab exercises designed to sharpen the skills needed for the four core Windows 2003 exams:

• 70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment

• 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

• 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

• 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure

New interesting textbook: No Future Without Forgiveness or The Much Too Promised Land

Platform Leadership

Author: Annabelle Gawer Gawer

It is the fundamental challenge of the high-tech sector: A firm must innovate internally to succeed-yet its success may equally depend on corresponding innovations by external firms. Whether a company develops a ubiquitous operating system or the software that runs on it, a VCR or the movies we play on it, every participant in a high-tech network is vulnerable to the innovative moves of its partners and competitors.

Yet, in spite of this perilous situation, some firms have developed strategies that have made them industry powerhouses and world-class innovators. How? By becoming platform leaders-companies that provide the technological foundation on which other products, services, and systems are built. Platform leadership is the Holy Grail of high-tech industries, but it is difficult to achieve.

In Platform Leadership, high-tech strategy experts Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano reveal how Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco, as well as companies including Palm and NTT DoCoMo, have orchestrated industry innovations to support their products-and, in the process, established dominant market positions. Based on these in-depth case studies and on incisive analysis, the authors present their Four Levers Framework for designing and implementing a successful platform strategy-or for improving an existing strategy:
1. Determine the scope of the firm: Is it preferable to create product complements internally or let the "market" produce them?

2. Design product technology strategically: What degree of modularity is appropriate? Should product interfaces be open or closed? What information should leaders disclose to outside firms?

3. Shape relationships with external complementors: How can the company balance competition and collaboration with outside players?

4. Optimize internal organizational structures: What processes and systems will allow the company to manage internal and external conflicts of interest most effectively?

For executives, strategists, and entrepreneurs in many high-tech arenas, this book shows how firms can orchestrate innovation to ensure their own competitive futures-and drive the evolution of their industry.

Booknews

Management scholars Gawer (INSEAD, France) and Cusumano (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) began with a case study of Intel's platform strategies and technologies, then expanded their research to include the other companies. They show how platform leaders can drive a broad network of innovation within and around their industries. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)