Penton's Technology Group delivers education targeted to IT professionals at IT/Dev Connections

FT. COLLINS, USA: IT/Dev Connections, a part of Penton's Technology Group and the premiere annual professional development and networking event for the Microsoft technology community, today announced the targeted educational opportunities the conference offers to IT professionals. IT/Dev Connections has been educating the technology industry for 13 years.

IT/Dev Connections will take place October 1-3, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. The pre-conference workshops are September 30, 2013 and post-conference workshops are October 4, 2013.

"As the premier training event for IT professionals, our event provides attendees with the real-world solutions that will give them a competitive edge when implementing the latest technologies. Our workshops provide IT professionals with hours of in-depth classroom training that they would otherwise have to pay thousands of dollars for these consultants to visit onsite," said Penton Technology market leader, Peg Miller. "We look forward to providing attendees with an environment to learn and network from peers as well as top industry experts."

Several special events are planned, including a book signing with Microsoft Technical Fellow and novelist Mark Russinovich, who has just released his second book entitled "Trojan Horse: A Novel". The book signing will take place on Thursday, October 3 at 4:30 p.m.

Attendees will be able to watch a live broadcast of Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott, during their weekly podcast episode for Windows Weekly. Laporte founded the TWiT Netcast Network and produces some of the most popular podcasts in the world, including this WEEK in TECH, Security Now!, Windows Weekly, MacBreak Weekly, This Week in Google, and The Giz Wiz, with more than 5 million listeners each month. Foley is a well-known Microsoft watcher who covers the products, people, and strategies that make Microsoft tick. Thurrott, is a world-renowned technology blogger, published author, podcaster, and news editor for Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows and Windows IT Pro magazine. He regularly writes news, previews, and reviews of beta and completed Microsoft products.

Key panel discussions with industry experts include:

* Mary Jo Foley and Paul Thurrott on The State of Microsoft: Foley and Thurrott discuss current and upcoming Microsoft technologies, including Windows 8.1, and answer questions from the audience.

* UC Architects - Live!: Join the UC Architects in a live recorded session as they debate the state of Exchange, Lync, and anything else to do with Microsoft collaboration technology. The Architects always have some surprising guests along to cause a little disruption and this session will be no difference. Come hear some unvarnished opinions about what's right and what's not with Exchange, how third-party vendors are building some good add-on devices for Lync, whether "the service" is really living up to Microsoft's expectations and what's hot at IT/Dev Connections.