Foreword by Lilian Quek

SE Asia Community Program Manager

On a global scale, there are a growing number of individuals sharing their technical expertise, real world experience and general knowledge of Microsoft © products with current and potential users. This is not just being done in classrooms and industry trade events; rather it is being done in Microsoft technical communities that encourage peer-to-peer support of our products and technologies. Social and technical communities are highly valuable to the people who use Microsoft® technologies. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft has recognized the top contributors to these voluntary communities with the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award. The program is a testament to the importance of the individual and their impact on Microsoft, our industry and our community. The MVP Award recognizes inspiring, trusted, and independent experts who voluntarily share their passion and knowledge of Microsoft products with others. In Singapore, the members of this highly select group come from all walks of life. Yet they have one thing in common: a deep commitment to their communities and willingness to share their knowledge. The intent of this gazette is to share more about our Singapore MVPs, their accomplishments and vibrancy of their activities. MVPs also offer feedback to Microsoft, representing the voices of thousands of people from technology communities across the world. Explore the pages to read more about these outstanding individuals! If you are interested to learn more or see how you can work together with the Singapore MVPs, contact the SE Asia MVP Team (seamvp@microsoft.com) for a discussion.

SE Asia MVP Team proudly presents the

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SINGAPORE MVPs’ GAZETTE ----------------------------

Singapore MVPs‟ Gazette is a publication of the SE Asia MVP Team exclusively distributed

to Microsoft staff. The opinions and views in this gazette are those expressed by the

authors. All rights reserved.

The SE Asia MVP Team reserves the right to edit articles for length, clarity and style. For

enquiries/feedback, please email seamvp@microsoft.com

---------------------------- Editor-in-Chief

Lilian Quek, Community Program Manager

Editorial Consultants Howard Lo, APGC Team Manager

Clarisse Ng, MVP Program Specialist

Contributors Achinta Chatterjee, Aloysius Cheang, Alex

Choo, Alvin Lau, David Lim, Jay-R Barrios, Jay Paloma, Jeffery Tay, Lee Wei Meng,

Loke Kit Kai, Lo Toong Yang, Mohd Nizam Ali, Maung Maung Phyo, Milton Tan, Michael Sync,

Razi Bin Rais, Riwut Libinuko, Sarbjit Singh Gill, Sainath K.E.V, Shawn Toh, Tan Chee,

Tan Tian-An, Triston Wan, Wely Lau

Driven by

Passion Fueled by

Technology

ACHINTA CHATTERJEE Exchange Server MVP

ACHINTA CHATTERJEE is a Senior Consultant with an IT Services company. He leads large scale mission critical Microsoft Exchange deployment and migration projects for government and corporate organizations. His key strength lies in designing, deploying and troubleshooting High Availability solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007/2010. Achinta is one of the community leaders of Singapore MessagingTalk User Group (MTUG).

“Being an MVP allows me to represents the voice, strength and value of the community, connects with customers and provides more value to the marketplace.”

ALOYSIUS CHEANG Consumer Security MVP

ANDREW CHENG Management Infrastructure MVP

ALOYSIUS CHEANG is a Senior Information Technology (IT) executive with extensive experience in managing and delivering direct business values in strategic, complex multi-million dollar IT program and business projects for Global 500 organizations worldwide. He has led numerous IT security audit, security review and security penetration testing engagements, provided business continuity management and disaster recovery services, and supported clients in digital forensic and investigation.

Aloysius says, “I would like to encourage all to participate in their respective professional community and contribute their technical knowledge as this will not only augment the community knowledge base and leave behind one‟s legacy, it will also serve to enrich one‟s experience in his area of work and in the process of sharing, improve one‟s comprehension of his technical expertise.”

“Being an MVP serves to enrich one‟s experience in his area of work and in the process of sharing, improve one‟s comprehension of his technical expertise.”

ANDREW CHENG is a certified instructor including where his experience covers a wide range like trainer, consultant, administrator, network engineer and public speaker. Andrew manages the Singapore Windows User Group (SWUG). He also speaks frequently for Microsoft (TechNet events, CTU events, Partner Readiness, Workshop).

Andrew says, “I would like to encourage people to become an MVP because it allows you to access NDA information and discussion. With the product experience, you are able to feedback and help Microsoft to produce a better product.”

“Being an MVP allows

Microsoft to keep in touch

with the community and

provide companies with an

alternative to give their

valuable feedbacks. “

JAY-R BARRIOS Setup & Deployment MVP

JAY-R BARRIOS is a Singapore based Filipino Technology consultant for an IT company and is involved in a project that is focusing on building and delivering Windows 7 for a large number of clients within Singapore. Jay-R is a dynamic individual, who has a great passion for technology.

Jay says, “ I would like to encourage others to become an MVP because the technical community needs more people with passion for technology who dedicates in spending their spare time to reach out and share their expertise through blogging, forums and conducting/participating in technical events to make technology easier for everybody. His aspiration is to be more involved in the community activities for Microsoft Singapore.

“Being an MVP has

provided me with lots of

learning and sharing

opportunities with fellow

MVPs around the world

which provide adequate

information, best

practices and real-world

solutions.”

DAVID LIM Lync MVP

DAVID LIM is working at Sapientia Holdings Pte Ltd as a Senior Consultant where he provides consultation service on Microsoft Unified Communication (Voice), solution architect design, PoC, and pilot to customers. David encourages one to become a MVP, “It can benefit the community with the sharing of knowledge and experiences from these Subject Matter Experts.” His aspiration for the Singapore technical community is the hope that the community becomes more open-minded.

“Being anMVP gives

me more opportunities

to promote Microsoft

Lync to others.”

JAY PALOMA is working as a Technical Consultant at Microsoft Singapore, specializing in infrastructure projects. During his spare time, Jay creates technical videos on Microsoft products and technologies, sharing his knowledge and passion with others. Jay feels that being a MVP gives industry recognition as a technical expert, recognizes his effort and contributions to the community, and brings him a step closer connecting with Microsoft and other MVPs.

Jay encourages one to become a MVP, “To become technology evangelists and contribute to the technical community!

“Be passionate about

the technology and

share your knowledge

and experience and help

the technical community

grow and develop. Let

the community

experience be a reward

in itself!”

JAY PALOMA Enterprise Security MVP

LO TOONG YANG Dynamics CRM MVP

TAN CHEE Group Policy MVP

SAINATH K.E.V Directory Services MVP

LO TOONG YANG is working as a Technical Consultant at Arvato Systems Singapore, whose responsibilities include, customizing and providing value added services on Dynamics CRM to fulfill client business process, helping sales team to configure specific CRM system demo environment and Microsoft SharePoint project implementation.

Toong Yang encourages one to become a MVP, “I believe the key element to becoming a MVP lies in the passion and willingness to share.” His aspiration for the Singapore technical community is that that there will be more CRM MVPs in Southeast Asia because MVP is the volunteer army that supports the CRM community. He also looks forward to have a CRM user group so that all can gather for a sharing session.

“The MVP award has

been a great benefit as

it opens a channel for

me to communicate

with the product team,

to receive first hand

news from Microsoft

and knowledge sharing

among MVPs.”

SAINATH K.E.V is working as an Infrastructure Technology Consultant for Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, providing homogeneous to heterogeneous solutions to SME and large scale enterprise customers. With over 8 years of industry experience, he has expertise on Active directory, Exchange ,SCOM,SCVMM, Microsoft Lync, App-V, WAIK technologies, win32 , C++ , Device Driver programing.

Sainath encourages one to become a MVP, “MVPs are independent experts who share their real world experience to the entire world at free of cost and Microsoft recognizes these experts and provide better, powerful tools and support to the individuals to be more passionate about technology.”

“The MVP award ensures

you are on top of

technology. It allows you

to participate in Beta

programs and provide

discussions with product

team openly. It is always

an honor to be a MVP and

its challenging to maintain

the award.”

TAN CHEE is working in NCS Pte Ltd as a Senior IT Consultant. He handles the design and implementation of the Active Directory Domain for one of the Singapore Largest IT Project - Schools SOE. Since year 2003 during AD 2000, AD 2003 era till today - ADDS 2008 R2, Tan Chee has been using domain GPO methodology approach to manage his IT infrastructure.

Tan Chee is also one of the community leaders who runs the monthly Singapore Windows User Group (SWUG) meet-ups. He says, “After many conversations with the local IT Pros, I realized that many are not using GPO effectively yet. Thus, I would carry on to share my experience on how to use Group Policy to manage the IT infrastructure; and love to see more and more local IT Pro starts to use GPO and use it effectively!”

“The MVP award gives

me the extra motivation

to explore deeper into

the technology.”

TRISTON WAN Exchange Server MVP

TRISTON WAN is working for a local establishment that manages an extremely complex infrastructure for its customer that comprises nearly 100,000 user accounts and mailboxes. He manages the operations for the Messaging and Collaboration infrastructure to ensure the stability of the messaging and collaboration related services. On top of that, he is also involved in on-going messaging related projects to ensure the smooth transition from engineering team to operation team. Triston would like to encourage others to become an MVP in order to make the Singapore technical communities more vibrant.

His aspiration for the Singapore Technical Community is to grow MessagingTalk User Group into the best messaging user group in Singapore as well as Southeast Asia!

“I would like to encourage individuals who

are interested in computers and Microsoft

technology, to work towards being a

Microsoft MVP. The recognition I get, both

online and in the real world will help gain

people‟s assurance and confidence when

working together.”

MILTON TAN Consumer Security MVP

MILTON TAN is a student studying IT and has a strong interest in technology, art and photography. He gained recognition through a tech forum which he started at www.GeekPolice.net – a site dedicated to helping PC users solve security and general computer related issues for free. He has an awesome team of about 10 tech enthusiasts who voluntarily assist him in operating the site and together, they have a free online malware removal school known as the GeekPolice Academy.

One thing he hopes to see locally is for more Singaporeans to get engaged in technology and to make use of the Internet to connect and share their knowledge.

“The MVP program is not just about gaining

popularity for individual. It is also about sharing

knowledge, helping and motiving each other.”

ALVIN LAU ASP.NET/IIS MVP

LOKE KIT KAI SharePoint Server MVP

MAUNG MAUNG PHYO Visual Studio ALM MVP

ALVIN LAU is your average Joe in the Application space and has 8 years of experience in terms of getting Microsoft solutions from concept to „delivery‟ mode. He is working as a Solutions Consultant in Dimension Data and is involved in conjuring .NET solutions which fits for the business purposes of the customer. Alvin runs the Singapore .Net User Group (SGDOTNET) together with a bunch of „passionates‟. His areas of interest currently resolve around SharePoint, SQL Server (BI) and Azure (Cloud).

Alvin says, “The small geographical location of Singapore has made the local MVP community a very close and cohesive one, and we frequently organize our own outings and gatherings.” His aspiration of the local community, “A hotbed of passionate and professional individuals who‟re willing to share their experience and expertise.”

“Being a MVP has

opened up my network of

„helpline‟ to the

recognized and

competent individuals.

Whenever I need some

expert opinions about

products / technologies

which I‟m not familiar

with, my fellow

„comrades‟ will rise to the

occasion and help provide

tips and advices.”

LOKE KIT KAI is one of the first SharePoint MVPs awarded in Southeast Asia. Currently Kit Kai works at Dimension Data as a Senior Consultant in the Professional Services group. Kit Kai is involved in the Singapore .NET user group, (SGDOTNET) as well as trying out new Microsoft products in a mini lab established at home. Outside of SharePoint, Kit Kai‟s interests include business intelligence, Search, Lync, Exchange, Forefront and for fun he is also a Xbox Gamer and hobbyist photographer.

Connections within the MVP program are valued by Kit Kai. “I can always count on my local network when I need advice outside my product competencies, as the MVP program recognizes people who are passionate and selfless that shares their knowledge to anyone. MVPs support each other with their real life project experiences.”

His aspiration for the local technical community is to continue to grow as a vibrant community, where ideas and discussion continue to flow unhindered by any business agendas.

“Being a MVP has

opened up my network.

It not only helped

established solid

relationships with other

local MVPs, Microsoft

and other IT

practitioners, but also

networking opportunities

with worldwide MVPs

and the SharePoint

product group.”

MAUNG MAUNG PHYO is working at NCS as a solution architect whose responsibilities include providing technical guidance and resolving challenging issues - performance tuning, security, server configuration, and more. Maung Maung feels that being a MVP gives industry recognition as an enthusiastic technical expert and brings him a step closer to the product team where he can provide feedback, learn about the product in-depth and be updated with the latest news. Maung Maung encourages one to become a MVP, “If you believe you have the passion to share what you know and willingness to help others overcome technical challenges.”

His aspiration for the Singapore developer community is to help them understand how they can be better and happier developers by leveraging application lifecycle management features available in the latest Visual Studio ALM. (*grin* I am not selling VS ALM here).”

“Being a MVP gives

industry recognition as

an enthusiastic

technical expert.”

RAZI BIN RAIS SharePoint Server MVP

RAZI BIN RAIS is working as a Global IT Architect for a US based company, where he leads a team of consultants to deliver projects on the latest Microsoft products and technologies, including SharePoint Server 2010, Office 365, Azure and Windows Phone 7. He is also a published author and a frequent speaker in conferences around the globe.

Razi says, “I always enjoy participating in Singapore technical communities as the landscape they provide to learn and share your knowledge is amazing. From community technology update events to monthly user group meetings there are endless opportunities to keep your-self updated on cutting edge Microsoft products and technologies and connect with practitioners from the field.”

“Being an MVP is both a privilege and a responsibility as

MVPs are always expected to stand out from the crowd and

demonstrate both technical excellences along strong

character towards leadership.”

JEFFERY TAY ASP.NET/IIS MVP

RIWUT LIBINUKO SharePoint Server MVP

SARBJIT SINGH GILL SharePoint Server MVP

JEFFERY TAY manages the development team for all elearning services at the National University of Singapore. His team migrated NUS‟s Integrated Virtual Learning Environment from ASP.NET 2 to ASP.NET 4 and implemented Windows Identity Foundation for single sign on solutions; currently they‟re focusing on mobile development and data analytics.

Jeffery says, “I would definitely encourage one to become an MVP as good things are meant to be shared, and being a MVP is one of them, the more there are the merrier! His aspiration for the Singapore technical community, “Work hard and be noticed so that you can be part of the big MVP family!”

“Being an MVP helps me

raise my profile and

enabled me to gain first-

hand knowledge from

product groups so that I

can make better and

more informed decisions

during my work. “

RIWUT LIBINUKO is working as a SharePoint Architect in Crédit Agricole CIB, the Corporate and Investment Banking arm of the Crédit Agricole Group. His responsibilities include ensuring consistent architecture design and quality for all SharePoint projects and safeguarding SharePoint production for Asia-Pacific and the headquarters in France. He brings 7 years of experience in SharePoint product and technologies, demonstrating professionalism and integrity to his clients and delivered solutions for different sectors of business.

Riwut was also the key person who helped drive success to Plasmedia (Microsoft Gold Partner, Indonesia). Riwut was also involved in many SharePoint forum discussions, writing articles and code projects, contributing in various ways to the community.

“Being an MVP allows me

to join a wider community

network, gain more

exposure and provides

positive impact to both

the community and my

personal career. “

SARBJIT SINGH GILL leads Unify2's business in the Asia-Pacific region. Sarbjit brings 21 years of IT experience working with the Microsoft server and communication platform. Prior to Unify2, Sarbjit led the Unified Communications initiative in Asia Pacific for British Telecom. He presented BT‟s Microsoft UC initiatives to enterprise customers in Singapore, Korea and India. Sarbjit also speaks at Microsoft events regionally including TechEd, TechNet, MSDN, product launches and customer/partner initiatives.

“For my employer,

they can market

themselves as having

a MVP as an

employee. For my

customers, they

know they will be

working with

someone who stands

out in the community,

has deep knowledge

on Microsoft

technology and close

relationship with the

product team.”

WELY LAU Windows Azure MVP

WELY LAU is working as a Solutions Architect, focusing on Cloud Consultancy and Delivery, specifically on the Windows Azure Platform in NCS Pte Ltd. He got excited about Cloud Computing especially in Windows Azure Platform in 2010 and his expertise was successfully switched to Windows Azure in late 2010.

Wely says, “Being an MVP provides us with many valuable benefits and opportunities such as channels to Microsoft product group, interactions with MVPs worldwide, access to limited CTP products etc. Of course the most important thing is the spirit of sharing to community and I encourage one to become part of the MVP Award Program.“ His aspiration for the Singapore technical community is that we could become the most active, exciting, largest technical community, not only recognized in Southeast Asia, but all over the world!

As an MVP, we are standing as individual

who are involved in community building and

knowledge sharing on certain expertise. We

learn and grow together with the community

members, and that's where we expand our

networking as well as experience.”

MICHAEL SYNC Silverlight MVP

MICHAEL SYNC is working as a Solution Architect for Memolife International IDA where his team is focus on developing Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 games for brain training. Prior to his award, he was also invited by the Product team to join WPF/Silverlight insider team to play around with early builds of Silverlight and help provide feedbacks.

Michael says, “The MVP award is given to those who wants to help other people and you learn something new by helping others to solve their problems. In return, people will appreciate and respect you for that. At the same time, you also build a good reputation for yourself, make connections with people worldwide, get to engage with the Microsoft development team and participate in product group interactions to discuss about the technologies that you love with the people who created those technologies.”

“Being an MVP allows me to gain access to the early

builds of new products so that I can get familiar with it

before the whole world does. Microsoft will give you

very good attention on your feedbacks.”

ALEX CHOO Windows Phone MVP

LEE WEI-MENG Windows Phone Development MVP

SHAWN TOH PowerPoint MVP

ALEX CHOO is working in Hewlett Packard as a Technical Specialist dealing with ink cartridges for his company. During his free time, he would think of projects to improve the production line yield and am also focused on safety as he is involved in the ISO 14/18K team. Alex frequently surfs the web for new and interesting mobile devices. He also help users with their Windows Phone problems and updates them with the latest news in the Windows Phone arena in the Mobinauts forum. Apart from gadgets, Alex loves to run and taking part in marathons.

Alex says, “I would encourage other people to become an MVP. If I see someone actively participating in technical communities and constantly providing help to others, I feel that he/she needs some recognition and with this award, I believe one will feel more motivated to contribute even more.”

“After being an MVP, I

started to give more

talks to the public on

Windows Phone. I have

been approached by

MS Singapore to

promote Windows

Phone 7 which is a

whole new experience

for me. I have also

made friends with other

Singapore MVPs .”

LEE WEI-MENG is a technologist and founder of Developer Learning Solutions - a technology company specializing in hands-on training on the latest mobile technologies. He has many years of training experiences and his hands-on approach to learning programming makes understanding the subject much easier than reading books, tutorials, and documentations. Wei-Meng‟s key interest lies in the use of mobile applications to improve the productivity of businesses.

Wei-Meng would like to encourage other people to become an MVP because the MVP award opens up new opportunities that you would normally not be able to obtain otherwise. He says, “Demonstrate your passion for a particular technology and go for it!”

“The MVP award has

brought me closer to the

core development team

at Microsoft. Through

this program, I am able

to better understand why

things are done certain

ways and how to help

my customers succeed

with Microsoft

technologies.”

SHAWN TOH is an undergraduate in the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is the founder of the PowerPoint Heaven website and frequently works with other foreign PowerPoint communities (eg Korea‟s PowerPoint Expert Club and China‟s RapidPPT). He has been interviewed by major media such as Forbes and The Straits Times Newspaper. He also doubles up as a freelance presentation consultant and conducts workshops and seminars for corporate and education sectors.

Shawn says, “I would encourage anyone with the knowledge and passion on any Microsoft related software to start off by helping out on the Microsoft Forums as it is through the community, which ignited my interest in PowerPoint and led to the creation of PowerPoint Heaven.”

TAN TIAN-AN Office System MVP

TAN TIAN-AN is a Training Portfolio Manager with Avantus Training Pte Ltd, managing product based training sales. With more than 9 years training experience behind him, he speaks frequently on a wide range of Microsoft Office topics at Microsoft seminars and provides consultancy in solving Office problems. With helping others improve personal productivity as a major life purpose, Tian-An also manages the Singapore Office User Group (SGOG) which deals with the wide range of Office servers and client applications.

“The MVP program is a worthy recognition of

community participation and contribution. Being an

MVP these past years, I have also grown in

knowledge and have been encouraged to break new

frontiers together with Microsoft and customers.”

MOHD NIZAM ALI Xbox MVP

MOHD NIZAM ALI is an avid Xbox gamer since the days of the first Xbox console. Started off as a moderator for the local Xbox forum „Brotherhood of the Box‟, he subsequently moved to an administrator role when he was employed in 2007 by PlayWorks. Currently, he is working as a paralegal for a law firm. Nizam has been helping to promote games through blogs and social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MSN. He also write games reviews for TODAY Newspaper.

Nizam says, “I would like to encourage people to come forward as I feel that they deserve to be recognized for their efforts and for sharing and learning from like-minded peers, which would in turn enhance their tools, vision and expertise frontiers together with Microsoft and customers.”

“Being an MVP allows me to gain insights into facets of a global community building program and has enabled me to interact with Xbox MVPs from various regions.”

“Being a MVP has

motivated me to

continuously improve

my knowledge on

PowerPoint through

helping the community

and keeping in touch

with the PowerPoint

team.”

Singapore MVPs

Fast Facts!

Fact 1:

As of July 1st 2011, Singapore MVPs make up 20% (35 Singapore MVPs) of the Southeast Asia MVP population

Fact 2:

Conducted 8 bi-annual Community Technology Update (CTUs) events since 2007. Over 800 attendees touched by Singapore MVPs through these engagements up to date

Fact 3:

Convened and facilitated 576 user group meetings since 2005, reaching out to over 14,400 attendees up to date

Fact 5:

100% of Singapore MVPs have presented at events, participated in Microsoft product launches, conducted user groups, maintained and updated a technical blog/website

Fact 6:

Over 57% of Singapore MVPs (~20 Singapore MVPs) have participated in our quarterly Singapore MVP roundtable session since 2005

Fact 7:

Over 22% of Singapore MVPs (~8 Singapore MVPs) have participated in our annual MVP Global Summit @ Seattle/Bellevue since 2005

Fact 4:

8% of Singapore MVPs (3 Singapore MVPs) attended the MVP Open Day @ Hyderabad, India in 2010

Fact 8…our very first

4 Singapore MVPs „bared‟ it all to bring joy and laughter in the Singapore MVP remix of the APAC MOJO Dance for MGX in 2009

Fact 9…our very first 7 Singapore MVPs climbed up the Via Ferrata Wall – Asia‟s first and World‟s Tallest indoor rock climbing wall (30 meters high) to form the number „7‟ for the Windows 7 Launch

“All Work and No

Play Makes Jack a

Dull Boy”

Our fondest memories of the Singapore technical community are very much shaped by people and friendships,

the special moments and the memorable spaces that we have enjoyed. I am glad to say that the SE Asia MVP

Team is continuing to make special efforts to advance on all these fronts, to foster a much richer experience and

environment for our Singapore MVPs and their technical community. In particular, we continue to create more

social and informal activities that our technical community and local office can enjoy, and which foster greater

interaction, deeper friendships, strong networks and substantially, enhance the „buzz‟ within the technical

community. Check out some of our activities held over the past years and witness the vibrant and synergy of the

community!

Down on memory lane @ the MVP

roundtable sessions and MVP Global

Summit.

SINGAPORE MVPs GAZETTE COPYRIGHTS 2011 MICROSOFT CORPORATION Website: www.mvp.support.com

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SEA MVP Blog-a-holic: http://seamvpblogaholic.wordpress.com Email: seamvp@microsoft.com