Media Center University Like Never Before - EHX Spring 2009

Once again, the Electronic House Expo will offer its most popular conference, the Media Center University (MCU).

The two-day course has reached a new level of professionalism, thanks to curriculum developed by the Media Center Integrator Alliance, sponsors of MCU.

"We have about five Media Center Universities behind us," says Microsoft's Todd Rutherford, MCIA Education Working Group Chair and a former integrator. "EHX Spring 2009 marks the debut of a brand new program developed by a team of committed professionals involved with Windows Media Center. We incorporated lessons learned from hundreds of integrators who have attended Media Center University in the past and many subject matter experts using Media Center in their installs today."

Perhaps the biggest difference between this MCU and previous versions is that Media Center has gained much greater traction among home systems integrators.

“Our biggest challenge today is driving the trial of Media Center”, Rutherford says. “Most integrators know about Media Center from our past efforts, but getting them to install it in their showroom or, better yet, in their own homes, is the objective for this year. Once they experience it on their own, they will want to provide this great experience to their customers”

Because of that, Rutherford explains, there is no longer the need to spend an inordinate amount of time on awareness and the basics.



"You can still get caught up quickly if you're relatively new to Media Center," he says, "but experienced integrators have been pretty vocal about wanting deeper, more technical training as well."

In addition to the two-day MCU, the MCIA will have Media Center experts available on the third day for one-on-one time with all EHX attendees.

From the MCU Agenda:

This day is dedicated to open format Q&A and demos. Representatives from all MCIA Member Sponsors will be on hand to answer questions, demo products, discuss techniques, share designs, and review case studies. Feel free to come by and share your stories, challenges, and questions with a group of Media Center experts. Additionally, Microsoft will be demonstrating Windows 7 and Windows Home Server and answering questions about these products.

MCU Overview

The following is an overview of the MCU schedule. The complete curriculum is detailed on the EHX Web site.

Wednesday, March 11
8:00am – 12:00pm: Optimizing Media Center PCs
1:00pm – 5:00pm: Setup and Troubleshooting of Digital Cable

Thursday, March 12
8:00am – 12:00pm: Residential Networking for Media Distribution
1:00pm – 5:00pm: Designing a Media Center Ecosystem

Friday, March 13
8:00am – 5:00pm: Open House - OPEN TO ALL EHX ATTENDEES!

More Information

The Electronic House Expo is March 11-14 in Orlando, Fla. The show floor is open March 12-14.

The Media Center Integrator Alliance is sponsoring Media Center University. Founding members of the group include Microsoft, HP, AMD, Crestron, Intel, Lifeware and Niveus.

To learn more about MCIA visit mediacenterintegrator.com

To learn more about Media Center University at EHX, please post your questions below.