I am happy to announce that our new book MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-653): Configuring Windows Small Business Server 2008  ISBN: 9780735626782 (Microsoft Press) is due out by early July of this year (2009).

This training book is co-authored by yours truly and co-author Walter Glenn who has published several Microsoft titles including most recently the Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Companion. Walter and I are currently working hard on getting the chapters together to cover the exam objectives of Microsoft Exam 70-653 TS, Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring.

All I can tell you so far is that the new exam is much different from the 70-282 (for SBS 2003), I passed the beta on the 70-653 back in September 2008 and I was pleasantly surprised as this exam really requires you to have some hands-on with SBS 2008 in terms of knowing the interface as well as technical knowledge pertaining directly to SBS 2008.

Walter and I will cover the exam objectives in depth, not just walk-throughs, but really explain what is happening under the hood. The MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit book will also include practice exercises that you will be able to complete in Hyper-V or if you have a physical set-up of an SBS 2008 server and at least one client machine.

Needless to say I am incredibly geeked about the MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-653): Configuring Windows Small Business Server 2008  as Walter and I are exchanging chapters to ensure readers will get the maximum benefit (Regardless if you are brand-new to SBS and taking a Microsoft exam or a seasoned SBSer, there will be plenty of nuggets and insights for you). We also have several technical reviewers from Microsoft and by the time the book is through the review/editing/other stuff processes you will have an excellent guide for tackling the 70-653 exam, and then some!

The book is now available at Amazon