Come and join fellow SQL Server and Oracle professionals and enthusiasts in a new and  unique PASS Virtual Chapter, where members come together to discuss and resolve issues related  to SQL Server and Oracle.

We have meetings on the second Wednesday of every month.  In an ongoing attempt to make the content presented useful to our members we start each meeting with a short Q&A session.  Unless noted in the meeting notes the schedule for each meeting will be:

11:00 - 11:10 - General Q&A session & Announcements
11:10 - 11:50 - Presentation(s)
11:50 - 12:00 - Question & Answer session

Topic:	Become Bilingual! Oracle for the SQL Server DBA
Date:	May 9, 2012 11:00AM EDT
Speaker:	Randy Knight (MCITP) has been working with Microsoft technology for over 20 years, focusing on SQL Server for the last 15. He is currently the owner and Principal Consultant for SQL Solutions Group, a Utah-based SQL Server consultancy. He is a nationally known speaker and trainer, having presented at numerous SQL Saturdays, Code Camps, User Groups and the inaugural PASS SQLRally. Randy may be found on linkedin  http://www.linkedin.com/in/randyknight
Location:	Link  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=8R4WRK&role=attend&pw=RG%2F652Wqq Attendee Entry Code:  RG/652Wqq Telephone Connection: +1 (866) 379-8990    Participant Code:   6489756
Overview:                      Abstract:	Become Bilingual! Oracle for the SQL Server DBA       In today's enterprise environments, it is becoming increasingly necessary to integrate data from a variety of sources. As SQL Server continues its march into the enterprise, the days of focusing 100% on one platform are over. At a bare minimum, we need to be able to communicate with DBA's for other platforms. Terminology as simple as Instance and Database mean very different things in Oracle than they do in SQL Server. In this session, we will compare and contrast the two platforms in terms of features and terminology. We will also discuss some of the best practices and pitfalls when integrating the two. .

Mean while, on deck we have  Steve Hughes,  Principal Consultant with Magenic  who will be our presenter on June 13th 2012!!!!

Abstract:
Ever needed to create a running total or rank values within a subset? Then this
session is for you. During this session, we will cover window functions in SQL
Server and Oracle. You will see how to create running totals, ranking, and other
aggregate operations over subsets of the data we are working with.  While many
of the functions are similar we will also highlight some of the differences so
you can compare and contrast.

Steve's Bio:Steve Hughes is a Principal Consultant at Magenic. He works with Microsoft’s SQL Server stack to deliver data and business intelligence solutions. He has been
working with technology for over 15 years with much of that time spent on
creating business intelligence solutions including multidimensional databases,
reporting solutions, and data marts. He is passionate about using data
effectively and helping customers understand that data is valuable and
profitable. Steve also has experience working with a large Software as a Service
vendor where he received awards for customer satisfaction and engineering
excellence. Over the past six years, he has delivered over 30 presentations on
SQL server and data architecture. In 2010, he received Consultant of the Year
honors at Magenic. Steve believes the data in the cloud will change how
information can be delivered to and consumed by the masses. He also provides
insights from the field on his blog at http://dataonwheels.wordpress.com. Steve
currently leads the Minnesota SQL Server User Group (PASSMN) and is a PASS
Regional Mentor for the Northeast.

From the chapter's side, we would love to hear from you, to hear your thoughts and any ideas that you may have with regards to topics and discussions that would benefit you and the group.

Interested in being a presenter..we would love to hear from you. Please contact Steve Simon at steve.simon@sqlpass.org

Latest news: We are happy to announce that we now have a Linkedin group called the PASS Oracle SQL Server Virtual Chapter. Please feel free to join us and we look forward to seeing you there and to hear what you have to say.

PASS Oracle SQL Server Virtual Chapter Linkedin Group