Exchange Hosting Blog

123Together.com – a mindSHIFT company and the leading provider of hosted enterprise-class messaging and collaboration solutions such as hosted Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, today announced its immediate support of hosted Exchange for Apple’s new iPhone 3G.

With Apple’s integration of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and its new iPhone 3G, 123Together.com hosted Exchange Server customers and iPhone users can now have anywhere, anytime access to their business email with two-way wireless synchronization. This enormously popular consumer smartphone can now be used by business owners, sales executives and other mobile employees as a leading business tool.  Email, calendars and contacts are wirelessly “pushed” from123Together.com’s hosted Exchange Server to the users’ iPhone, giving them immediate and secure access to workplace resources, increasing productivity and communication with their co-workers and customers. In addition, IT staff members can remotely “wipe” a user’s device if lost or stolen so that the user’s corporate and personal data cannot fall into the wrong hands.

Support for Apple’s iPhone 3G is the latest addition to 123Together.com’s Hosted Exchange Mobile Services offering which, along with ActiveSync, provides full synchronization support for mobile devices compatible with BlackBerry Enterprise Server and Good Messaging Server, enabling mobile users to take advantage of enterprise-class messaging and collaboration solutions such as hosted Exchange and hosted SharePoint.

“Mobile employees who currently use their iPhone to w

Unified Communication is emerging…And Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) taken its place to address this area. Microsoft has also been testing this offering online which enables you to enjoy leading collaboration functionalities without the hassle of managing your own infrastructure, hardware, network, data enter etc. Also, hiring the subject matter experts to setup and operate the unified communication systems is no simple effort.

Why Microsoft Office Communications Server when there are many free tools available in the market, sounds obvious question! Microsoft OCS online is all about providing a secure environment for employees to collaborate for sharing intellectual property (IP) than using public collaboration tools. Collaborating through Office Communication Server is nothing but the basic use of instant messaging (IM) and presence service in an organization, including the support for live meeting, whiteboard, desktop sharing, file transfer, voice and video communication.

So, how organization benefits from Office Communications Online solution? Yes, this service ensures people in the organization be more productive by enabling them to communicate easily with others in different locations or time zones using a range of different communication options mentioned above. Specifically, text based instant messaging, voice, and video. Integration with programs across the Microsoft Office system-including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Groove, and SharePoint Server-gives information workers many different ways to communicate with each other via a consistent an

Burlington, MA – July 7, 2008 – groupSPARK — a mindSHIFT company, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions including hosted Exchange Server 2007, hosted SharePoint Services 3.0, and hosted Dynamics CRM — announced today that groupSPARK’s founder and senior executive officer, Ravi Agarwal, will speak at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), held in Houston, Texas, July 7-10, 2008.  Agarwal will draw upon groupSPARK's success as a leader in the SaaS industry and will address the benefits and opportunities available for resellers through private-label hosted services.  groupSPARK was named 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year, in the Advanced Infrastructure, Hosting Solutions category.

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference brings together 10,000 Microsoft Partners to gain insight into business growth opportunities and Microsoft product innovation.  Through a series of presentations and events, partners will also share insights and experiences on the latest industry issues and strategies on business success.  groupSPARK was invited to join Microsoft in speaking on a number of topics including how to build a steady stream of recurring revenue through private-label hosted software services and the pros and cons of deploying an in-house SaaS solution vs. partnering with a private label provider.   groupSPARK’s presentation schedule follows:

Monday, July7th 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM, 2:30 – 3:35 PM, 310 BCEF
Small Business Symposium: Transformation To Software Plus Services: Expand Y

As I mentioned in my previous blog, everyone at Exchange Hosting business might have a top agenda in its action list to quickly analysis Apple's new iPhone 2.0 software and integrate into its Exchange hosting infrastructure. There are already few hosters in the market started providing the services as soon as Apple announced the iPhone 2.0. For Steve Jobs, this will be a great test as his plans are to penetrate the both corporate IT and SMB market using iPhone being primary Mobile messaging platform in Exchange Server environment. If Jobs can achieve his success criteria, Apple will surely establish a strong footprint in the corporate IT as well as SMB market with this revolutionary iPhone.

As you aware, MS Exchange as SaaS is an emerging market. Hosting providers can seamlessly integrate iPhone capability to its users without substantial change in their Exchange Server & Active Directory Infrastructure (Refer Fig 1.1)

What are the requirements in network to allow Exchange ActiveSync?

SSL Port 443 must open at the firewall side. This is already open in the case of Exchange Hosting provider, as they already offer ActiveSync using other devices such as Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Motorola's Good Messaging etc. Also, this port is required for accessing Outlook Web Access.

Server certificate is another essential component at Client Access Server. Again, this must be an existing component at the Exchange Hosting provider's infrastructure. Anyways, for new environment the server certificate must be installed and activate SSL for the Exchange ActiveSync virtual direct

Insurance wholesale broker Swett & Crawford sends and receives more than one million email messages each month, and for its 900+ users, the availability and reliability of an email solution is critical to business. Swett & Crawford was still relying on the IBM Lotus Notes-based email infrastructure that was using when it divested from its parent company two years earlier, and it was increasingly difficult to find resources to maintain that infrastructure. Swett & Crawford decided not only to migrate off the Notes platform, but it also decided to seek an external partner who could maintain the entire messaging infrastructure. Its choice? USA.NET and its hosted messaging solution based on Microsoft Exchange server.

Read the full story on how Swett & Crawford freed their IT team to work on critical business tasks by outsourcing to USA.NET.

End of a long wait! It's time for planning to have your users with iPhone 2.0 devices. If you already have users with iPhone 2.0, it's the time to learn how seamlessly you can integrate with your existing environments. Deployment scenarios, infrastructure design and device configuration will change depending on which email server the organization is using and also, what level of security you wish to implement along with iPhone.

Apple already announced the support for following:

Microsoft Exchange Server (both Exchange 2003 & Exchange 2007)
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) using Cisco
WPA2 Enterprise/802.1x
iPhone and IMAP

Microsoft Exchange Server Support

Exchange hosting providers rejoice with the launch of iPhone 2.0! Now they can offer more to its users on the Wireless Messaging option.Using iPhone 2.0 software, users are able to connect directly to the Microsoft Exchange Server using Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Thereby users having the ability of push email, contacts, and calendar. As usual with Windows Mobile Device, Exchange ActiveSync constantly maintains a connection between Microsoft Exchange Server and iPhone. This allows the iPhone to get immediately updated as soon as new mails or meeting requests arrives. If your hosting providers are currently supporting Exchange ActiveSync on Exchange Server 2003 or 2007, you are all set to go with push mail services using iPhone 2.0 and you do not require further configuration or additional infrastructure."Mobility, reliability and security are among the most important trends impacting messaging today. When Appl

GULF BREEZE, FL, June 17, 2008 – AppRiver LLC, a leading provider of Microsoft Hosted Exchange email service, today announced it is ready to offer Apple iPhone 2.0 users the only network optimized for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync enabled devices.

Apple unveiled a new, upgraded iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference that allows a whole new set of mobile business users to take advantage of Microsoft Exchange. iPhone 2.0 software directly communicates with Microsoft Exchange Server via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, giving Apple users push email, calendar and contact syncing on their mobile devices.

“We are pleased Apple is adding the iPhone to the growing number of mobile devices that connect with Exchange,” said Michael Murdoch, CEO of AppRiver. “Like Apple, AppRiver strives to provide groundbreaking innovation as demonstrated by being the first — and only — Hosted Exchange provider to integrate Akamai’s IP acceleration technology, delivering dramatic improvements in security, connectivity and performance to our Microsoft ActiveSync customers and especially to the iPhone 2.0 community.”

Understanding the need for high performing, always available applications, AppRiver teamed up with Akamai to make the Internet behave more consistently for business-quality application delivery. By implementing the Akamai platform within its service, AppRiver assures its users will always have quick and reliable access to Outlook, Outlook Web and Mobile Device applications, regardless of their location or what is happening on the Internet.

“Mobility, reliability and security

BURLINGTON, Massachusetts – June 16, 2008 – groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted software services including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, today announced that it has been named by Microsoft as its 2008 Partner of the Year in the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Hosting Solutions category.

The Microsoft Partner of the Year Award recognizes partners in a number of categories who are industry leaders and have a proven track record of developing and delivering to their customers best-of-breed, comprehensive Microsoft-based solutions to help them achieve outstanding business success.

groupSPARK was chosen for this prestigious award from a pool of over 2,000 entrants worldwide. The selection as the top Hosting Solutions Partner was based on the company’s demonstration of both technical and business marketing innovation. Its integration of Microsoft technology such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows SharePoint Services and Dynamics CRM with proprietary, industry leading automation tools enables groupSPARK resellers to go to market more quickly and cost effectively with a full suite of private label hosted services under their own brands.

“We are pleased to see groupSPARK present reselling partners with increased opportunity to deliver richer applications and the power of choice,” said Robert Deshaies, Vice President, U.S. Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “Partners of any size can now offer hosted Microsoft Exchange Server based on groupSPARK’s service i

Private Label Hosted Exchange is a perfect way to resell hosted Exchange to your customers without the need of having to host a complex exchange infrastructure. Some providers offer Fully Managed Private label Exchange hosting, which allows you to offer Exchange service to your client's .Your customers will never know that you & private label hosting providers are involved each other. You can buy Exchange hosting at low prices and sell it to your customers at a profit without the hassle of managing Exchange infrastructure.

Businesses from small scale to large scale are exploring ways to drive efficiencies and hosted exchange is becoming its preferred option. Radicati has predicted that Microsoft Exchange will continue to increase its market share of the global messaging software with 200 million users by 2009. So exchange hosting companies are equipping them to tap this opportunity by increasing revenues from existing & new clients.

Challenges for in-house hosting

It better & beneficial to build and maintain the infrastructure in-house OR use a private label service to deliver hosted products to your customers?

Whatever the challenges are, the hosted services delivered to the customers are mission critical business applications, e.g., E-mail and other collaboration tools. Therefore, it is vital to mitigate the downtime and make the services available to your customers reliably. To ensure this reliability, genuine hardware is primary requirement with appropriate software. Last but not the least, it should be configured, maintained and supported by experienced

Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

Register: http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=111294&s=1&k=7C4…f=usan

Webcast Description:
Today’s competitive environment demands that a business be mobile. Deadlines are tighter. Expectations are higher. Customers are more demanding. An organization cannot afford to have employees tied to their desks, or be out of touch when out of the office. Osterman Research estimates that by mid-2009, nearly 28% of employers will be providing mobile messaging to their employees. This is due to the fact that mobility helps employees turn travel and out-of-office time into productive working time. Staying connected is a key to not only business success but to survival.

The decision to deploy wireless capability seems like a straightforward goal but as you begin to develop a mobility strategy, your team will quickly be confronted with many challenges such as: platform conflicts, security issues, difficult users and support nightmares. In short, welcome to the Wireless Wars!

Join our webcast to hear the latest reconnaissance of the wireless landscape including:

— Today’s Wireless Battleground: A comparison of the popular devices such as Blackberry® and iPhone™

— The Latest Intelligence: Trends that impact a business mobility strategy

— Battle Planning: The IT challenges and methodologies for deploying an effective mobile strategy

— The Neutral Zone: The features and benefits of the hosted Exchange model that minimize the risks, and maximize the performance of a mobile messaging system

Reporting live