Microsoft has announced a Service Update for January 2011 which includes new features and enhancements to improve the service experience for both administrators and users.
Many of these changes have been requested by BPOS users, so it will be a pleasant surprise for those for sure…
This is from the bulletin released on January 5th, 2010:
All service upgrades in this Service Update will be performed on your behalf. These changes are a mandatory upgrade for all users, so it is important that you are aware of them and understand how they may impact you.
The following features and capabilities are included in this Service Update:
Microsoft Online Services Blackberry Administration Console Enhancements
Two enhancements have been introduced to the Microsoft Online Services Blackberry Administration Console (MOSBAC). These enhancements are relevant for customers who subscribe to the Microsoft Online Services multi-tenant Hosted Blackberry service.
User Search
Hosted Blackberry administrators can now search for users in the Microsoft Online Services Blackberry Administration Console. The new search function is similar to the user search function in the Microsoft Online Administration Center (MOAC).
Management of Users with Different UPN and SMTP Address
Customers can now use the Microsoft Online Services Blackberry Administration Console to manage users whose UPN is different from their STMP address.
Administration Console Localization
The Microsoft Online Services Blackberry Administration Console has been localized into the following 19 languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmal), Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
PowerShell Self-Service Administration for Forwarding Rules and POP Access
New commandlets have been added to Microsoft Online Services PowerShell capabilities to allow administrators to modify email forwarding rules and grant or remove POP email connectivity for users. Additionally, a link to Microsoft Online PowerShell documentation has been added to the Microsoft Online Administration Center.
Updated Versions of Live Meeting Client and Outlook Add-In
The Office Live Meeting November Client and Add-in is now available. It includes several administrative and back-end updates including improvements to reading of uploaded PPT files, and German localization. Also includes option to encourage “Exit and End” session behavior. Please refer to this Live Meeting General Discussion forum post for details.
Messaging Records Management
To provide the best service experience for Exchange Online users, Microsoft utilizes Messaging Records Management (MRM) to manage mailbox item counts in critical path folders in Outlook.
Microsoft recommends the following maximum item counts for critical path folders:
- Inbox: 20,000 items
- Sent items: 20,000 items
- Deleted items: 20,000 items
- Calendar: 5,000 items
- Contacts: 5,000 items
MRM helps your users manage the number of items in critical path folders and improves the performance of their mailbox as well as the performance of Exchange for others in your organization. Read this FAQ for information about MRM, how it is applied to users’ mailboxes. The FAQ also includes Powershell commands for determining item counts in your users’ mailboxes. You can also contact Microsoft Online Services Technical Support for a list of high item count mailboxes in your organization.
Service Update Timeline
Deployment of this Service Update into production data centers has started, with deployment to all regions anticipated to be complete by the middle of January, 2011.
The deployment schedule is subject to change. Updates to the deployment schedule will be announced via the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog.
Additional Information
If you have additional questions, there are several resources at your disposal. The Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal provides information about how to contact Microsoft Online Services Support. You can also read the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog for the latest news about the Service Update, participate in technical discussions on the Microsoft Online Services TechNet Forums, or follow the Microsoft Online Services Twitter account.
Sincerely,
Microsoft Online Services
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If you would like more information about BPOS or other SaaS / Cloud Computing Solutions, we are partners with Microsoft and Google and would love to assist you! Please call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. You can also try Microsoft BPOS out today by clicking the Free Trial link above…
Word travels fast on Twitter! And word was that there were outages affecting some Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite customers over the past few weeks… In light of that, Microsoft has stepped up to the plate with their Online Services Health Dashboard and made it available to all customers and partners in all regions.
This is direct from their newsletter:
Introducing the Microsoft Online Services Health Dashboard
Microsoft Online Services is pleased to make the new Microsoft Online Services Health Dashboard available to all customers and partners in all regions.
The Health Dashboard is a step forward in our efforts to continuously improve our ability to provide customers and partners with up-to-date, accurate, and complete information about our dynamic services. It provides a greater level of transparency into the status of all Microsoft Online services and tools with detailed current and historical information for our three regions: Americas, serving customers in North America and Latin America (NOAM); Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC).
For more information on the Health Dashboard, please refer to the Public Announcement on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog.
If you would like to see what all the hubbub is about regarding Software As A Service (SaaS), In-The-Cloud, or Cloud Computing, you can try Microsoft BPOS for free with a no obligation trial.
You get a virtual Microsoft Exchange server which you can use with Outlook Web Access, or your own Outlook, shared calendars, Microsoft SharePoint, and more!
Homeland Secure IT offers both Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS and can help you decide which is best for your application. Please email info@homelandsecureit.com, call 864.990.4748 or visit HERE for more information….
Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 With BPOS Goodness
So you are setup with a FREE trial of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite and are enjoying all the online apps but something is missing, you don’t want to use web apps, you want to use all the features of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or 2010 that you have already paid for and know your way around.
Well it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! *IF* you signed up for the BPOS Standard trial instead of the “Deskless Worker” trial, then you can configure your Outlook to view the same Exchange data you see with Outlook Web Access. You will see the same emails, the same contacts, the same tasks, folders, public folders, calendars etc!
Wait, you didn’t get the Standard version of the BPOS demo? That’s okay, you can log back into the portal and activate the Standard version, then deactivate the Deskless Worker product and not even lose your configuration. YOU MAY lose your emails though and have to start over, but hey, it’s just a demo, you didn’t have that much anyway!
Okay, so back to task at hand, getting Outlook configured. It’s EASY, relatively speaking to accomplish this. First you log into your online mail app (OWA) at http://mail.microsoft.com and once in there, click on OPTIONS at the upper right hand corner, then, select ABOUT from the left hand menu. You will see something that looks like this:
Data to gather from OWA to setup Outlook
The important information for you to gather will be the “Outlook Web Access host name”, and the “Mailbox server name”.
Now, close out Outlook on your desktop and go to START/Control Panel and select Mail (If using Win 7 64 bit, once you open Control Panel, type “mail” in the Search Control Panel input at the top right hand side and select “Mail (32-Bit)”).
Select “Show Profiles” and add a new one… Let’s call it “BPOS”. Next, select the checkbox for “Manually configure server settings or additional server types” then hit “Next >”. Select “Microsoft Exchange or compatible service” and hit “Next >”.
In the “Server:” field, put the information you gathered from Outlook Web Access for the Mailbox Server Name… (Ex: A3DIAXVS251.RED001.local). For “User Name:” enter your email address, then select “More Settings”. Don’t bother hitting “Check Name” as it will not function (yet)…
Select the “Connection” tab, at the bottom, select “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP” and then hit the button “Exchange Proxy Settings…”, for “Use this URL to connect to my proxy server for Exchange:”, you need to enter the Outlook Web Access hostname from OWA (Ex: red001.mail.microsoftonline.com) and do not include the “https://” or the “/owa” here, just the hostname.
You can select to “Only connect to proxy servers that have this principal name in their certificate” if you wish, but not necessary.
DO select both of the checkboxes at the bottom for “On xxxx networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP”, and set the proxy authentication settings to “NTLM Authentication”.
Click OKAY and apply those settings and now try to open Outlook… You should be prompted with a login.
Sounds complicated? Kinda-sorta, but it works well, and you only have to do it once. You can also use the Microsoft single signon client if you wish, which will remember your login and password and allow you to open Outlook without any issue, but some company policies may not allow you to install additional software, or automatic login applications so the above should work for you.
If you get stuck, please reply here or shoot me an email at info@homelandsecureit.com and I will try to give you a hand.
Microsoft BPOS
Are you tired of dealing with POP3 or IMAP mail from your ISP? Tired of SLOW email? Do you want to share calendars between coworkers? Do you want to see the same contacts, calendar entries and emails on your phone as you do in your Outlook on your desktop and also via a web interface? Do you want your mobile workforce to have access to the same resources you do, including public / shared calendars & contacts? Want support for your Mac, Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry?
Then Microsoft Exchange is the way to go, however, there are costs associated with hosting your own Exchange server that are unattractive to many smaller businesses.
Fortunately there are Hosted / In-The-Cloud alternatives, such as Microsoft’s Own BPOS, the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite which features a Hosted Exchange server, SharePoint, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. Using BPOS can eliminate the need to purchase, deploy, maintain, backup and eventually upgrade a Microsoft Windows Server with Microsoft Exchange Server. The services are hosted “in the cloud”, in a data center, where all maintenance and upgrades are maintained FOR you. No need to worry with backups either.
This solution isn’t right for everybody, but it could be the answer to your problems if you have a smaller office, a large mobile workforce, a small budget or possibly no central location to place a server at. Would you like more information? Please call us at 864-990-4748 ext 201 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to arrange for a free, no obligation consultation.
Free 30 Day BPOS Trial
Optionally, you can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial of BPOS - Business Productivity Online Standard Suite - This trial includes 20 user licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online.
Homeland Secure IT offers Hosted Microsoft Online Services including the full BPOS / Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting & Office Communications Online) as well as the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite (Exchange Online & SharePoint Online), and each service individually.
If you are in the Upstate / Greenville SC area, we can assist you with configuring your Outlook to work with the Hosted Exchange Online service at your location or ours.
We also offer full remote support and phone support to clients anywhere in the United States.
Many people from investment bankers to video and photo editors have been using multiple monitors on their desktops for years, but the majority of individuals have not realized the value in adding video “real estate” to their desktops.
A typical computer worker will have a 19″ monitor on their desk, and spend a good part of their day flipping between applications. They will open Microsoft Outlook, and read emails, flip back to Excel and work on a spreadsheet, copy some data from that and paste it into an email or start up Microsoft Word and continue this routine of flipping between applications to view the most important one at that moment.
Windows 7 allows you to quickly move two programs to opposite sides of a display to view them simultaneously
Some workstations are lucky enough to be equipped with a larger, say 20 or 22 inch widescreen monitor, and Microsoft Windows 7 which allows you to easily snap one program to one half of the screen and another to the other half, sharing that one monitor to view Word and Excel simultaneously.
While this solution is much better than the constant flipping, it does have a few drawbacks, such as limited display area due to screen size, unless you are one of the very few who are fortunate enough to have a 30″ display, and if you are one of those, you can just close out this site now, because we all hate you. (Of course I am only kidding, really).
A much more elegant solution is to use two monitors, hopefully of the same model and place them side-by-side or use a specialized mount to hold the monitors in the perfect position for you to see them. These mounts have come down in price considerably and are worth looking into, especially if you have MORE than 2 monitors.
Dual monitors can increase your productivity
For those who have not experienced multiple monitors, having two monitors allows you to keep your Outlook open on one, while working in Word or another application on another. You move seamlessly between them, when your mouse gets to the right edge of the left monitor, it moves to the left edge of the right monitor. You can move open windows and applications between these monitors as if they are one large display.
I currently have two 24″ monitors on my desk, and could not work with less than that after maximizing the use of these monsters. If I had a larger desk, I would add another monitor!
Going multi-monitor is a snap. You first need a computer that supports this, or to purchase a dual output video card. Then you need a 2nd monitor and cable. It’s really that easy. Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 supports multiple displays, but Windows 7 does the best job of it. Apple Mac OS X Machines also support multiple monitors.
The Nexlink Business computers we offer come dual monitor ready, so if you have one of these systems, you only need the additional monitor.
If you would like more information on dual or multiple monitors (no need to stop at 2, why not add 6!?), monitor stands, multiple output video cards, or our Nexlink Business computers, please call 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com – We offer sales of monitors, computers, video cards and installation in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area.
