Ken Simons is a database administrator/developer specializing in MSSQL Server and .NET. He has been working in the IT industry since 2000 and currently holds certifications for MCP, MCAD, MCSD, MCDBA, and MCTS for SQL 2005.

Ken is highly active in the in the online community and often participates in the SQL forums on MSDN and SQLServerCentral.com. He enjoys sharing tips by writing articles for SQLServerCentral.com and MSSQLTips.com. He has also formed a SQL Server users group in Columbus, Georgia, to provide a local faucet for SQL Server professionals to come together to share knowledge and resources. When he is not working, Ken enjoys traveling with his wife Susan and son Nathan, and can often be found on a cruise ship, at a Disney resort, or at the beach in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.

SYLVESTER CARSTARPHEN is a senior database administrator for a CRM company, where he is leading its performance-tuning efforts on its VLDBs. Sylvester started his database administration career almost six years ago at a Fortune 500 company, where he rapidly progressed from DBAI, DBAII, and senior DBA to manager (working manager) of database support in four years. His role consisted of managing six SQL Server DBAs in an environment of 100+ SQL Server instances with 150+ application databases. In search of opportunities to increase his performancemonitoring and tuning skills, Sylvester took on a new role with the CRM company to help solve its major performance issues.