Cisco Press User Group Newsletter—
Coming in March!
Cisco Press Cisco User Groups will receive a monthly, program-exclusive newsletter starting in March. All leaders will automatically be subscribed to the distribution list. Please invite your group members to email usergroup@ciscopress.com with "Newsletter Subscription" in the subject line if they are interested in receiving the newsletter directly.

19th Annual Jolt Awards Finalists
The Jolt Awards are considered the "Oscars" of the software development industry. This year, we are very pleased to announce that these three Addison-Wesley titles are Jolt Award finalists, in two categories:

To learn more about the Jolt Awards and view all the finalists please visit www.joltawards.com/finalists.html. Winners will be announced in March.

Just Released! Cert Flash Cards Online
Cert Flash Cards Online is an exciting way to prepare for a certification exam. This online service provides flash card review, learning, and exam practice that is a valuable late-stage tool to help you succeed on your certification exam. Visit www.certflashcardsonline.com to watch a demo.

Thomas Erl's latest book, SOA Design Patterns, is an innovative catalog of 85 design patterns for service-oriented architecture and service orientation that documents the most proven and successful design techniques for succeeding with modern-day SOA.

The OnSOA podcast channel has recently launched 6 new conversations with Thomas Erl and SOA journalist, Joe McKendrick. Listen to the world's top-selling SOA author now:

• Podcast: Introduction to SOA Design Patterns
  Thomas discusses the creation of his 5th book, SOA Design Patterns, and the launch of the SOAPatterns.org community site that allows anyone to post new candidate patterns.
   
• Podcast: Service Governance Patterns for SOA
  Governance is one of the most important and least understood areas of SOA. Thomas explains how SOA design patterns can address governance problems.
   
• Podcast: Understanding the Service Inventory and Related SOA Design Patterns
  Learn about service inventories—collections of independently designed and governed services. Thomas discusses the popular Domain Inventory pattern commonly used when enterprise-wide SOA adoption is not possible.

For more information or to subscribe to this channel, visit www.informit.com/onSOA. An entire suite of new SOA podcasts from many contributing authors are scheduled to launch in the weeks ahead – don’t miss out!

LiveLessons: Self-Paced, Personal DVD Video Training from the World's Leading Technology Experts

Today's technology professionals are confronted with the dual challenges of acquiring the ever-evolving skills necessary to maintain a competitive edge within the workforce, while simultaneously keeping the cost of their ongoing professional training to a minimum. LiveLessons—competitively priced quality DVD training labs are published by the imprints of Pearson Education—are designed to meet this challenge.

LiveLessons are available for a number of different technologies, including Java, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, C#, PHP and MySQL, SQL Server, Windows OS and applications, project management, and more. Visit www.mylivelessons.com to see all available products, and watch sample videos.

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code to receive your 35% discount! • See all titles

February 2, 19 & 22—Cyber Crime Fighters Book Signings
Meet authors Felicia Donovan and Kristyn Bernier of Cyber Crime Fighters: Tales from the Trenches.

• 2/5/09: Wiggin Memorial Public Library, 6:30 p.m., Stratham, NH
• 2/19/09: Water Street Bookstore, 7:00 p.m., Exeter, NH
• 2/22/09: Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 1:00 p.m., Newington, NH

February 18-21—Black Hat DC Briefings
The Black Hat Briefings are a series of highly technical information security conferences that bring together thought leaders from all facets of the information security world. The environment is strictly vendor-neutral and focused on the sharing of practical insights and timely, actionable knowledge. Visit www.blackhat.com for more information.

February 20-22—SCALE: Southern California Linux Expo
SCALE's mission is to bring developers together and promote the advantages of Open Source Software. Take advantage of technical seminars and visit vendor booth product displays, software demonstrations and tutorials. For more information, visit http://scale7x.socallinuxexpo.org/.

February 23-27—VSLive!: Visual Studio® Developer Conference
Get tips and techniques from Microsoft Development Team Managers and renowned industry experts on new and existing technology, including: VS2008, VSTS, ASP.NET, WWF, WPF, SQL Server, LINQ, SharePoint, Silverlight, and more. Visit www.vslive.com to learn more.

February 25—Great Lakes Cisco Users Group
Cisco Press author Dave Bateman, of Configuring CallManager and Unity: A Step-by-Step Guide, will be speaking to the Great Lakes Cisco Users Group in Southfield, MI. Visit www.glcug.com for more information.

February 28—Harvard Club of Maryland
Harry Lewis, author of Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion, will speak at the Harvard Club of Maryland in Baltimore.

Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
E-mail details to usergroups@informit.com for consideration in next month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject line.

Save 40% on select Microsoft titles
Use discount code Business when shopping on informit.com* to receive 40% off the following books during the month of February:

• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 on Demand
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
• Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows Vista All In One
• Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Office 2007 All In One
• Easy Microsoft Windows Vista
• SE Using Microsoft Windows Vista

* Please note discount code is case-sensitive.

Join the Conversation—InformIT Product Review Team
InformIT has an opportunity for you to join an exclusive team of reviewers who provide valuable feedback and suggestions on new products from our family of information technology publishers and brands of Pearson. In exchange for posting reviews on various industry sites, we offer a complimentary review copy and the opportunity to impact our editorial process. Help us to continue publishing the best new titles available on key technology topics.

• Now Recruiting: Graphics & Web Design. Apply by February 28 at www.informit.com/productreviewteam.

Safari Books Online: 2009 User Group Discount Code
Safari Books Online offers a special 15% discount to InformIT User Group members on annual Safari Books Online subscriptions purchased in 2009. You must be a registered InformIT User Group Member to receive the discount. Subscriptions must be purchased at http://safari.informit.com/subscribe. Enter coupon VCKUOXA at the time of checkout to redeem your discount.

Offer Details: Not valid with any other offer. Coupon is good for a one-time 15% discount on a yearly Safari Library or Safari Bookshelf account. Offer valid for new subscribers only.

Connect with InformIT via Twitter and Facebook
See a complete list of links to Pearson pages at www.informit.com/socialconnect. Join and follow us today!

Questions?
Please contact usergroups@informit.com and include your user group name, relevant topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example: "Southern California Cisco Users Group – Networking").