Managed Computer Services

If you use or are thinking about using Exchange for file storage, you need to read this article at TechRepublic. We’ve long advocated that dynamic document management is the path to secure, version controlled document file management. You do not even need a local server to pull it off.

Please contact us if your interested. See the content of the article below:

1: Microsoft says they’re going awaySince before the release of Exchange 2007, Microsoft has been telling us that public folders will eventually be discontinued. This hasn’t happened just yet though. Public folders are alive and well in Exchange 2010. Even so, public folders probably won’t be supported in the next version of Exchange.

2: Public folder stores can be resource intensive (full text indexing)Public folders can rob your Exchange Server of memory, disk, and CPU resources. By offloading your public folder data, you may be able to improve your Exchange server’s performance.

3: Public folders are not designed for archiving dataMany public folder stores are misused. According to Microsoft, public folders are not designed for archiving data. If you use public folders to archive Exchange data, you would be better off using a journaling mailbox instead.

4: Public folders are not designed for document sharing and collaborationMicrosoft also says public folders are not designed for document sharing and collaboration, yet that is exactly what many organizations use them for. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is much better equipped for collaboration tasks and for document sharing than public folders have ever been.

5: Public folder data can be difficult to restoreIn Exchange 2007, Microsoft introduced the recovery storage group feature as a way of making it a whole lot easier to perform granular restorations of mailbox data. Although public folders are a part of the information store, just like mailbox databases, they can’t be restored using recovery storage groups. This means that if you ever have to restore a public folder, you may be in for a headache.

6: Public folders are finally optionalPrior to the release of Exchange 2010, public folders were used for storing free/busy data, and they were also used for OAB (offline address book) downloads. In Exchange 2010, however, public folders finally became an optional feature. As long as all of your clients are running Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010, you can get rid of your public folder store.

7: The concept of public folders is dated (long filenames, indexing)At one time, there was a good reason for using public folders. Back in the days of Exchange Server 4, not many organizations were using long file names yet, and server indexing was still primitive. Public folders provided organizations with a great way of describing their data in granular detail and indexing it. Today, though, there are better tools for the job.

8: Public folders have been deemphasizedIn Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft decided to deemphasize public folders. They’re still fully supported, but no new features were introduced. Public folders are also supported in Exchange 2010, but once again, there aren’t any new features. Essentially, this means that public folders are a stagnant feature because they have changed very little since Exchange 2003.

9: The management tools leave a lot to be desiredWhen Microsoft initially released Exchange Server 2007, you had only two options for managing public folders. One option was to manage public folders from the command line, using EMS commands. The other option was to keep an Exchange 2003 server on your network and use the Exchange System Manager for public folder management. SP1 for Exchange 2007 contains GUI-based public folder management tools, as does Exchange Server 2010. Even so, the tools aren’t anything to write home about.

10: Public folder data tends to collect dustSeveral years back, I worked for a large organization that had an absolutely massive public folder hierarchy. The problem was that most of the public folder data had been in place since the days of Exchange 4. None of the current employees had a clue what the public folders had actually been used for, but nobody wanted to take responsibility for deleting them. My point is that you may have unimportant public folder data that’s just taking up space. What better time to prune the archives?

With over 200,000 premium hosted Exchange mailboxes under management in four datacenters, Intermedia is the world’s most trusted choice for Exchange hosting. More small and medium-sized business people rely on Intermedia than any other Exchange hosting provider. Our Exchange Concierge™ team uses industry leading migration tools and services to switch you over to our Exchange hosting service – typically in minutes. Sign up today!

Intermedia Exchange Hosting Benefits:

• Guaranteed 99.999% reliability. Intermedia’s SLA guarantees less than six minutes of downtime per year. If you need support, the wait time to speak with our Exchange hosting experts averages less than 40 seconds.
• Switch in minutes. Each month, we help hundreds of companies switch to Intermedia’s hosted Exchange. When you switch, there is no disruption to historical email or files. Our Exchange Concierge team will manage your migration free of charge.
• Eliminate large upfront expenses and reduce costs. An Exchange server costs thousands – even more to add Blackberry support. Hosted Exchange is a service. No hardware, no upfront expenses. Our per-user monthly fee is a fraction of the cost of maintaining Exchange in-house.
• Protect the data you need to generate revenue. Just as financial assets are kept in a bank, your business email, calendars, and contacts should be kept in a datacenter. Intermedia protects our customers’ information in four datacenters.

Why Hosted Exchange?

Microsoft Exchange server is the most popular email and collaboration platform for business. It helps business better communicate with partners and customers, and boosts employee productivity. However, building and managing an Exchange server environment is costly and complex. It requires a large investment in hardware, software, and technical expertise to install it, configure it, and manage it on a daily basis. Exchange hosting allows SMBs to enjoy all the productivity and collaborative benefits of Exchange, without any of the frustrations of managing it in-house.

Why Intermedia Exchange Hosting?

Email is a critical communications tool for SMBs, often more important than the telephone. Intermedia understands this and is exclusively focused on providing the highest quality and reliable Exchange hosting service. Intermedia was the first company to offer Exchange hosting 10 years ago, and today hosts over 200,000 premium Exchange mailboxes – and 400,000 mailboxes overall. Our experience has made us experts in providing enterprise quality service. Intermedia’s four world-class datacenters hosts a premium infrastructure that delivers 99.999% reliability to ensure your email is working when you need it most – always.

Sign up today!

The flow of email in most companies is constantly increasing—the average corporate email user sends and receives 167 messages per day. To comply with regulatory requirements, a company must give employees constant access to their email accounts and retain copies of every important email, which makes managing email more difficult than ever.

Since email contains so much valuable information, many employees are reluctant to delete old messages. They create their own “personal email filing cabinets” using Personal Storage Table (PST) files. Since these files are stored on users’ work stations rather than on a centralized server, they present difficult management challenges and business risks. For example, with PST files stored on many computers throughout a company, searching for and retrieving important information can be very difficult. PST files can have a huge impact on a company’s storage and back-up requirements; they’re susceptible to loss and corruption of data; and they can increase the cost and effort of discovery in the event of litigation.

Most companies impose quotas that limit the amount of storage each employee can use for emails. Without these quotas, server disk drives would overflow and email systems would crash. As email volumes rapidly grow, a hosted archiving solution can solve a number of problems, including controlling and managing the steady growth of email messages; helping to guard against data loss; and enabling organizations to comply with document-retention regulations.

Learn how a secure hosted email archiving service can help companies address the many challenges of email management. Ask us how Google Apps Premier Edition with Postini can solve your email management problem. In the meantime, learn how Outlook can integrate with Google Apps.

Log in to your existing Google Apps account using your [user]@[your domain].com email address

Download Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook tool to sync Outlook with Google Calendar

After sync is completed, look at Google Calendar and Gmail and compare with Outlook Calendar and Email Stop and contact Google support if there appears to be any sync problems

We prefer that clients maintain complete control over their Google Apps account, so we create the account in our client’s name, then document the setup and configuration information for our clients to reference in the future. We can assure you that the collaborative effect of Google Apps on your organization is well worth the effort.

Many companies do a great job hosting Exchange, but business people have a difficult time deploying without help. Google Apps at $50 per user per year hits a nerve with an SMB market used to $100s of dollars per year per user with Exchange.

Please contact us to help your company get started with Google Apps today.

Email, Messaging and Internet access are the most mission critical needs we have for modern business to stay competitive and be successful. Only a few short years ago, business could get by with private networks and not be too concerned with the Internet. That’s no longer the case.

More transactions are conducted across the Internet than are conducted using the telephone. Business can no longer afford to have third rate messaging, email or Internet communications access.

An astute businessperson can leverage the lessons learned by Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations, because you now have access to vast amounts of systems information on the Internet and newly developed resources. But, information overload can come quickly and you can become quite confused about your options.

So, we would advise you to remember these significant points:

1 – Get the notion of building and managing in-house EMAIL and MESSAGING systems out of your mind. When was the last time you constructed a car to drive around town? Probably, High School was your time to experiment and play with cars. You cannot afford to experiment and play with EMAIL and MESSAGING systems.

2 – Websites are for business. Internet access is for business. Take a business perspective to considerations relating to the WEB. Just as you would build a fence around your place of business and the property you are trying to protect, place security perimeters around everything concerning the Internet.

Yes we can build an email server and locate it in your business’s air conditioned telco equipment closet. We can even build and manage a full blown Microsoft Exchange Server or a Small Business Server for your business. But, the landscape changed. It’s no longer economically feasible for you to utilize a local server.

We have better methods and many options, technologies that were not even around just a few short years ago.

We work with several tier one web hosting can service the needs of light email use and standard website demands. Transfer or create your domain name with BlueHost and enjoy the benefits of low monthly costs and service second to none. BlueHost offers only one high performing, non constrained product, making configuration easy for even a novice.

      

Microsoft Exchange Server, the de facto standard for messaging and collaboration handles the heaviest of email loads and integrates all major smart phone technologies. Intermedia stands head and shoulders above all other providers. Their services can convert your existing Exchange server or transition you from any other email service to MS Exchange.

If you need more information or assistance with your email services, please contact us. We would be glad to help.