Today you can hardly have a conversation with IT professionals without the buzz words, “cloud computing”, “in the cloud”, “cloud solutions”, etc popping up.

What do these terms mean? To over-simplify the definition, it means that something is not stored at your location. It is stored “in the cloud”, or on a remote server, and accessed via the internet. The “it” could be data, as in your databases, email, files, or it could be programs / applications, such as web based suites of software like Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word or custom applications.

All this talk about moving to “the cloud”, a term which is generically used for the internet, has people thinking about how it can be used for their business. Let’s take our own small business and use it as an example.

Currently, we use a large server which has Microsoft Server 2008 loaded on it and functions as our domain controller, DNS, DHCP, and other standard server tasks… It also serves as our file server, and it hosts Microsoft Exchange for our in-house email. Other tasks this one piece of hardware is responsible for are: TFTPd for management of our VoIP phone system’s configuration files, backup of data (Using multiple backup systems such as Servosity Online Backup Solution, an “in the cloud” product, and MozyPro) and Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Advanced for anti-virus and anti-spam.

We have a second server which hosts additional files, Blackberry Enterprise Server (not currently in use due to the switch to Android phones), and is a test bed for us. Then we have two other servers, a Voice over IP server based on Linux OS which is in control of our phone system & voice mail, and a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for storage of video from our CCTV cameras.

In order to reduce some overhead, we could potentially maintain a smaller main server with only Windows 2008 R2 running on it as a domain controller, then utilize Microsoft Aurora, or even Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), allowing mail storage and transport to take place outside our building.

We could then switch from Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Advanced to the Trend Hosted solution, relieving our server from those duties.

Since we are already using a remote backup solution, we would not have to worry about that, and our backup requirements would actually drop since we would no longer need to backup the Microsoft Exchange Store (Microsoft would handle that for us with the BPOS solution).

As you can see, eliminating the main server entirely from the equation here is not going to be possible, however a considerable amount of storage, backup, and resources could be moved elsewhere.

One thing to take into consideration before moving to these hosted solutions is, what if our internet is down? That is a good question which still has many people concerned about these technologies. In the case of online file storage, if you do not have cached storage at your location, you simply have no access to it. In the case of mail, if you are caching the information locally, you CAN see your old/existing email, but you cannot send or receive new mail until the connection is reestablished. It is important to note that cloud based email will still RECEIVE email when your business is without an internet connection and you will get it as soon as the connection is reestablished, something that doesn’t happen now if you use an onsite Exchange Server, unless you are using a mail hold & forward (spool) system at your ISP or other provider.

Should you desire to discuss your needs and how products like Microsoft Aurora, BPOS, Google Apps, Servosity and other cloud services can fit into your infrastructure, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for a free consultation!  We are partners with Microsoft, Google, Servosity, MozyPro and other cloud providers. We also offer a full line of computer, server & network service, support, sales and consultation here in Greenville & Upstate SC!

Microsoft is offering a free 30 day trial of their Business Productivity Online Suite if you would like to see it in action.

Google Android

Homeland Secure IT is stuck in the past! That’s right, a high-tech business is using what most consider to be antiquated technology.

It isn’t because of the cost, it is because of the features. We are actually paying more per month for our cell phone plan than if we were using the latest devices and connectivity.

What we use and why we use it:

Our handheld devices are Blackberry Curve 8350i smart phones, on the Nextel / Sprint network, using iDEN with Direct connect and Blackberry Enterprise Server connectivity. As mentioned, this is an expensive data plan. And it is a slooooooooow connection. However, we use what we have because it provides:

• Instant communications with our techs via Direct Connect (a phone call takes so much longer, and we can DC multiple techs at once in an instant)
• Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) provides us with INSTANT transfer of mail, contacts, calendars from our Microsoft Exchange Server. Mail generally moves in a matter of seconds, instead of minutes with ActiveSync Push
• The Blackberry Curve has a very fat-finger-friendly physical keyboard on it that allows rapid typing, without even looking at the display.

What we dislike about this:

• iDEN transfer speeds are horrible. Try browsing on one of these phones if you are not around a WiFi connection sometime.
• Cell calls are dropped CONSTANTLY and we are out of range constantly (Verizon phones have a signal, almost always when ours do not)
• People who call us while we are in a Direct Connect conversation get “Please hold while the subscriber you are trying to reach is located”
• If you try to direct connect someone while the phone is being used for email, you get “User busy in data”
• Many times the phone will never ring, but we will get a voice mail notification (presumably because we had no signal)
• This service is expensive in comparison with Verizon

That list is just off the top of my head, I’m sure I will think of a few more points after I hit submit.

What we would like:

• A major reduction in service interruption due to signal path. Verizon appears to be the best bet in regards to that.
• Instant mail transfer to allow our clients to send/receive email INSTANTLY with no delays, like we have with BES. Our customers are used to getting responses in a few seconds after sending their email, going from that to a delay of several minutes means that a conversation spread out over a half-dozen emails could take 10-15 minutes to complete due to the transport delays.
• A push-to-talk experience like Direct Connect, or something very similar. Of course, there are some push-to-talk Apps for the Android, but they are not “instant” in functionality, they actually appear to record your comment, then send it, and play it on the remote end. I am unaware of a Push-To-Talk Verizon Android phone, and obviously, iPhone does not offer it at all.
• An Android or iPhone rather than the old Blackberry, but with a good keyboard on it, not just a touch screen. Something we can run the latest and greatest apps on and feel a little more “with it”. The only Android phone offered for iDEN is the Motorola i1 which has Android v1.5 (lagging behind the rest of the world by far)

So here we are, stuck in the past, and feeling unhappy, but unable to make a move.

We could move to Verizon, get a modern Android phone like the Droid 2, with a keyboard, have great signal most everywhere we go, and give up Direct Connect as well as suffer with slower email, but make up for it with faster internet browsing.

We could move to the Motorola i1 Android device on Nextel, but still have slow internet, and an outdated Android…

We COULD go back to carrying two phones, one for feel-good experience, and one for Direct Connect and email.

If you have any comments, I would love to hear from you. Especially if you have used a “walkie talkie” or “push to talk” app on Android that gives a more “Direct Connect” like feel, closer to real-time communication.

This morning I was having a discussion with a potential client and we were talking about the “Homeland Secure IT” name, the individual mentioned that they understood the play on words, however they were simply not sure how to take “IT”, because they thought of “IT” only in the terms of “Information Technology”…

I explained that the “IT” in our case is an all encompassing catch-all term that covers just about anything you plug into the wall. We sell, service, repair, support a wide range of technologies, not just a computer, server or network, but VoIP systems, CCTV and network security camera systems, firewall appliances, anti-virus software and software in general.

So basically, whatever IT is, we can help you with IT!

I am unsure of a way to indicate everything we work with, but suffice it to say, it is not limited to just a notebook computer fix, or a simple virus cleanup. While we DO those things, we also deploy Blackberry Enterprise Server so your mobile users can stay connected. We help integrate wireless devices like Androids, iPads and more into your Microsoft Exchange. We configure VPNs that allow a mobile workforce or a branch office to connect to your data as if they were physically in your office. We design and deploy Voice over IP phone systems. We offer biometric and card swipe time clocks.

Again, if it plugs into your network, or connects wirelessly, or you WANT it to, we can help. Give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to discuss your unique needs! We serve the Greenville & Upstate SC area!

Deploying a Microsoft Server 2008 R2 with Microsoft Exchange 2010 into an existing MS Server 2003 / Exchange 2003 environment has some challenges, but when you add in a Blackberry it takes a little foresight.

When a client has an old version of BES or is using Blackberry Professional Server, they should know in advance that it will NOT work with Exchange 2010 – unless they keep the BES account on the legacy (2003) server and the mailboxes of each of the users who will be using a BB.

BIS is also sketchy with Exchange 2010 and OWA. Be well aware that you can’t decide to just dump the BES or Blackberry Professional Server and use BIS & the OWA on your Exchange 2010 server, as it probably won’t work.

What WILL work?

As mentioned, keeping the mailboxes of BB users and the BES mailbox itself on the legacy server…

Upgrading to the latest version of Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Optionally you could just sit back and wait until the recently announced Blackberry Enterprise Server Express is released before moving to Exchange 2010

Other things to consider might be your Anti-Virus / Exchange Anti-Virus/Spam solutions. In our case, Trend Micro Worry Free Security Advanced 5.0 had to be upgraded to WF 6.0, then patched with the service pack. And the messaging protection would not work either, so Trend gives you a free version of their ScanMail to use until WF 7.0 is released. That will be a phone call to Trend to obtain.

Backup Exec 12.5 and below does not fully support Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010. So you will need another solution for this.

Other than those few issues, we are very pleased with the Microsoft Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010 combination. This is our first experience with a production environment and we are looking forward to the next one!