I'm very glad to announce that BEPS Engineering has been awarded again Embedded Excellence Partner for Community Leadership, together with other worldwide Microsoft Embedded partners. Thanks to my boss and my colleagues for the great, hard work we're doing!!

The full press release is available on the official Microsoft Embedded site.

Yesterday all BEPS Engineering trainers attended a Train The Trainer course about Windows Embedded 8 Standard in Microsoft France, Paris.

The class was composed by a number of trainers from all over Europe, but BEPS people (in the photo, from left to right: Marco, Salvatore, Dorangela, Gianni and Beppe) counted for more than half of the class!

During the day we collected lots of useful information and material to teach the official Microsoft course about the new Windows Embedded 8 Standard.

Hope to see you soon in our next workshops!

As announced a few weeks ago, Microsoft Windows Embedded 8 Industry is finally available. Windows Embedded 8 Industry is the new version of Windows Embedded POSReady 7, a trusted platform for building differentiated devices that are part of an Intelligent System. It is a fixed platform solution based on Windows 8 that provides the capabilities devices in Retail, Financial Services and Hospitality Industries require.

Today Microsoft announced the general availability of the Windows Embedded 8 family of Operating Systems which extends Windows 8 technologies to the Embedded world. They helps enterprises capitalize on the Internet of Things with the platform to capture, analyze and act on valuable data across IT infrastructures. For OEMs and developers, Windows Embedded 8 delivers the power, familiarity and reliability of the Windows to create advanced commercial devices: the Windows 8 innovations coupled with additional embedded functionality will help them quickly and efficiently deliver differentiated solutions with security enhancements, a refined application model and touch-first industry experiences.

DotNetCampania association, in collaboration with TinyClr community, organizes the first Microsoft Embedded Conference, on January 26th, 2013 in Naples, Italy. It will be a full  day of technical sessions about Embedded system development with Microsoft technologies. The most important Italian experts (also Beppe Platania) will talk about Microsoft Embedded technologies and will introduce the attendants to the Embedded world. They will discover how to create a fully customized "Intelligent System", how to develop .NET Micro Framework applications and will see a preview of the new Windows Embedded 8 Standard, a modularized version of Windows 8, designed for embedded systems.

The event is free, but availability is limited.

In order to attend the event, registration is required on the official site.

Avnet Embedded is partnering with Silica, Kontron, BEPS Engineering, Interval Zero (easiTEC) and Microsoft Innovation Center to introduce a series of Windows Embedded training programs.

All workshops are free of charge, but places are limited, so make sure you register your place soon!

Some days ago Microsoft shared with the world a detailed roadmap about its upcoming Windows Embedded products.

The most interesting update is that a new version of  Windows Embedded Handheld is coming. Microsoft hasn't released a new version of this operating system since it delivered  Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 (based on the Windows Mobile 6.5), back in July 2010.  Windows Embedded 8 Handheld - about which "more information will be available in early 2013" - is going to be based on  Windows Phone 8 technologies. This will be a product for the ruggedized/enterprise handheld device market.

A few days ago the Release Preview of Windows Embedded 8 Standard has been announced and made available to Microsoft partners.

What's New in Windows Embedded 8 Standard

• Rich Line of Business Experiences
  Delight your customers with smooth, responsive, immersive experiences powered by Windows 8 applications, Multi-Touch, Internet Explorer 10 and more.

• Connected
  Deliver a solution that stays up and running, and allows you to connect to the things that matter most inside and outside the four walls.

• Targeted
  Deliver a targeted device experience with powerful OS development tools and enhanced lockdown and branding capabilities to meet the line of business needs of your customers.

• Intelligent Systems Ready
  Create a device that can be secured, managed and connect to IT systems to extend intelligence through the business process.

• Secure
  Utilize Windows 8 technologies to protect the device, data, and network to keep business running smoothly.

At work, together with my colleagues Beppe Platania and Marina Sabetta, we've already built some images and installed it on a number of devices. It is simply great!

Stay tuned for more updates in the next weeks.

On November 20th, at the Microsoft Innovation Campus in Milan, there will be the Italian Intelligent Systems Launch Tour appointment. If you are an Engineer or an Embedded OEM decision-maker, you are invited to join Microsoft and its Italian Embedded partners (there will be also Beps Engineering), to discover and learn about the future of Windows Embedded and Windows 8. Microsoft will present the Windows Embedded roadmap, with a preview about the new technologies and Embedded features, and you will have the opportunity to talk first-hand with Embedded experts.

For details and registration: http://aka.ms/pxmskf

This is just a bookmark to the great article about Windows Embedded Standard 7 UI Filters, written by Windows Embedded MVP Beppe Platania. Together with my colleague Marina Sabetta, I've been the technical reviewer of the article. It has been published in Italian on Microsoft MSDN, but the same contents are available in English on Beppe's blog.

If you missed it, it is also available another interesting article by Beppe, about Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1 Keyboard Filter (in English on Beppe's blog).