Microsoft BPOS users are being notified to plan now for a transition to Microsoft Online Services in the next 30 days.
If you are currently using BPOS, you should have received an email by now, if not, you should visit the Microsoft Online Services transition center web site for more information.
As a Microsoft partner, Homeland Secure IT can help you establish cloud solutions through Microsoft’s Office 356. Please let us know if we can offer any information or support by calling 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
The Microsoft issue today that prevented millions and millions (over 300 million) of people from getting to their email for several hours serves as a reminder that “The Cloud” is not perfect yet.
While most businesses who have a typical Microsoft Exchange Server might experience an outage that affects their users, when a cloud provider has a glitch, it affects a massive number of individuals and businesses. Keep in mind that it is not limited to just Microsoft, large providers such as Amazon and Google have both had similar issues recently.
The Microsoft outage was blamed on a DNS problem and affected the users of Hotmail, Office 365, SkyDrive and many other “Live” systems.
If you manage a business and are thinking about a switch to the cloud, this type of issue should be taken into consideration.
Should you want to discuss how to, or if you should move your business from a localized mail solution to a cloud based solution, a cloud solution to a localized solution, or how blending the two technologies can work for you, please give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer Microsoft, Google and other cloud solutions in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area!
As a Microsoft Partner, we keep abreast of all the offerings that MS has that may be of interest to our clients. One area of interest has been The Cloud as momentum in Cloud Computing / Cloud Services has been building slowly but steadily as businesses search for ways to save money and reduce personnel & IT costs.
Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) have really taken off as a way to possibly avoid having a mail server onsite and to save money on the purchase of office suite software, since the mail client is web based (or you can combine it with your out client, such as Outlook).
Earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled their Office 365 product, which is designed to attract those who hate the idea of purchasing a product, and would prefer to license a service or product.
In theory it is good… You are renting the software and it is cloud based. In practice, it may not be realistic for your business if you have lousy internet connectivity.
A ZD Net article the other day also claims that lack of bandwidth will be the downfall to these types of services. Find it here:
If you have a business in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area and would like to know whether a cloud solution such as Office 365 can work for you, please call us and let’s talk! 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com – We are Microsoft Specialists!
Every year about this time, millions of people spend hours or even days cleaning up their computers. They weed through mail, files and other data, trying to determine what is to be kept and what should be deleted.
I suggest NOT cleaning. Sure, you can ORGANIZE, but why risk losing an important file?
External hard drives are inexpensive and easy to connect, as in plugging in! Then you can use the built-in archive functions in your Microsoft Outlook to move mail to a .pst file that can be saved to the USB drive.
I also advise using MULTIPLE means of archiving, whether it is a DVD disk and a USB drive, or two USB drives, just something that will be stored elsewhere. You could try one of the various cloud computing solutions as well, like DropBox…
With files stored on your system, say in the Documents folder, you can sort them by the date they were last modified and then move them to an external drive. Again, having data in more than one place is always desirable. You can never have too many backups in my humble opinion!
What do YOU do to archive your data, mail or do you? Do you just delete it?
Those of you who are using a notebook computer or mobile device such as an iPad, iPhone, Android or Android tablet and connecting to those public free wifi access hotspots may want to just ditch the WiFi after what I heard about today…
In spite of what I said about safe browsing from public wi-fi hotspots using a VPN a while back, it sounds like a “proof of concept” is about to be published which states that the mere action of connecting to a public WiFi hotspot, then establishing the VPN can potentially give away the VPN credentials. This could potentially happen whether it is an open (unsecured) access point, or a rogue (man-in-the-middle) AP.
If this is true, which we should know in a few weeks, then it sounds to me like ditching WiFi all together is not a bad idea if your data is valuable. 3g and 4g connectivity through your wireless provider may well be the best bet.
Obviously, this is not platform specific (Mac would be just as vulnerable as a Windows PC), and it is not a bug in the operating systems or VPN software.
I will be posting more information should it be proven to be a legitimate threat. Until then, stay safe….
Cloud Computing
With more and more cloud computing / SaaS offerings becoming available to us, just who is promoting them?
Hunter Richards, a Market Analyst in the field of accounting has a poll on the SoftwareAdvice.com site asking “Are accountants recommending the cloud yet?” That is a great question, unfortunately there was only a “Yes” or “No” answer. If there had been a “Sometimes” option, I would have selected it.
In our experience we have seen a couple clients move to cloud based solutions based on suggestions from their accountants. One of them seems to be happy, and another is currently not happy, but mainly due to a bandwidth issue which may be cleared up soon for them. We have another one that it has been suggested to, however they have not made the move.
What holds accountants in particular back from suggesting cloud solutions to their clients I can’t tell you, but here are some reasons I have heard from our own clients for not accepting the technology:
- Fear of the unknown (Fear of change)
- Potential for internet outage and data being unreachable
- The recurring financial burden
- Possible requirement to increase their bandwidth (and in turn recurring costs)
- Loss of control of data (applies mainly to system admins)
- Security concerns (compliance, breaches, etc)
- No urgency to make a change (what they use works fine)
- Don’t wish to learn how to use a new system
- Fear that the online provider could fold
- Fear that once using the online system, rates may not remain stable
- Nobody they know is using online solutions
- Waiting for cloud computing to become more mature
While some of these reasons may seem minor, the one that comes up more than any other is not about expense, but concern that an internet outage would put them out of business. With the turmoil in the Middle East and Egypt effectively shutting down the internet for several DAYS, this may be of even more concern to certain industries, even though we are told to rest assured that the Internet Kill Switch would never be used here in the US.
When we are consulting with our Greenville and Upstate SC based small and medium business clients regarding a move to a cloud based solution, we have to offer the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the technology to them as we do not wish to leave any stone unturned. We are striving to provide a reliable network and have the “big picture” in mind. On the other hand, an accountant could find that suggesting SaaS results in recurring revenue for them, but if the service is not up to their clients expectations, they could ultimately lose a client. So that may be why more accountants are not actually steering their clients towards cloud computing.
It is my suggestion that a business contemplating the switch to a cloud based solution as recommended by their accountant also get their IT service professionals involved during the planning stages in order to avoid any pitfalls.
Should you wish to discuss a similar move for your business, or if you are an accountant that is interested in discovering more about cloud computing or want to team with a local IT provider, please call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
Motion CL900 Windows 7 Tablet
I can hardly contain myself! One of our favorite vendors, Seneca Data, just announced a new line of ruggedized tablet computers that they will be offering in the coming months!
The Android and iPad tablet wars are going full strength, but it looks like Microsoft’s Windows 7 isn’t out of the running just yet.
Oh I already hear what you are saying, “Why Windows!??!?!” The Samsung Galaxy S tablet running Google’s Android OS, the well established Apple iPad and coming 2nd generation iPad are all fun machines, but fall flat when it comes to business applications. Don’t get me wrong, there ARE people using them for business, and there are a growing number of applications for both platforms. However, Microsoft Windows 7 is the cock of the walk when it comes to business use. Over 90% of the applications our clients use are written specifically for Windows, with no support for Apple Mac OS X or mobile / tablet operating systems at all. Most of these Windows applications do not even have comparable or competing applications on other platforms.
That brings us to just why I am excited about the Seneca Data Motion CL900. ALL these Windows applications will run on it because it is running a full Windows 7 Professional OS. That means, our clients who have legal, medical or other proprietary software will no longer have to use a remote desktop application to run the program on a server, they can run it directly on their tablet.
While you would not want to use this type of device for AV editing (I would say Photoshop is out for sure…) it should offer plenty of power to run typical suites of applications, from Microsoft Office, to Prevail, and certainly all cloud computing / SaaS solutions.
Possibly of more importance to many people, this tablet, unlike the current Android and iPad devices, is a ruggedized! It can survive a 4 foot drop as well as being water, dust and splash resistant!
The CL900 allows the use of optional external devices. Currently, the list of devices includes a magnetic stripe readers and a biometric / finger print reader that mount securely to the side of the unit to expand the capabilities.
There is also an optional docking station that permits easy docking for charging, and more comfortable desktop usage…
Some specifications of the CL900 are:
- Intel Atom 1.2Ghz processor designed for tablet computers
- Connectivity via Mobile Broadband, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
- Ruggedized case. Display features Corning Gorilla Glass
- 10.1” screen featuring HD 1366 X 768 resolution
- Multitouch & active stylus capable
- 10.9″ x 7.06″ x 0.61″
- 2.1 lbs
- Up to 8 hours battery life
- Expandable
- Quick charging
We should have one in our hot little hands to test as soon as it is available and will report back here our thoughts. Until then, we will hang back and wait.
If you would like more information or would like to be notified when the Motion CL900 becomes available, you can reply to this post, or email info@homelandsecureit.com
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
—
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…
Everyone else has been making their predictions for the coming year, so I thought I might do the same…
These predictions are based upon industry news, social media and blog rambling as well as some personal wishes.
Will any of it come to fruition? I guess at the end of 2011 you can remind me how wrong I was.
A few IT Predictions for 2011:
- Google Android based devices will continue to dominate the market in smartphones, pads, and everything else from alarm clocks and personal weather stations to set top boxes.
- Wireless carriers will discover that loading their own “value added” bundled software on top of the phones they sell is really a turn off and that keeping the smartphone just as the manufacturer and OS provider intended it to be will enable a faster rollout of updates and make for happier customers.
- Dish, DirecTV & cable TV providers have a fight on their hands… Services like Netflix and a whole slew of streaming providers will fight to bring first run movies, and streaming of networks via the internet. We will see many new set top boxes, TVs with built-in streaming capability. The most exciting thing will be an the legal battles around this, not really the technology itself.
- Tablet and pad wars will continue. Apple’s iPad II will provide some stiff competition for the Android pads, but be prepared for Android based pads to spring up everywhere as more are cleared for import to the USA.
- Internet Tax? Yep, 2011 is the year. So much revenue is being lost that I predict we will see taxes placed on our online purchases. I believe it will be both good and bad. Some online retailers may no longer be able to beat out the local brick and mortar prices, so that could be good for us smaller guys, but it may slow down the injection of money into the economy. Either way, it’s coming.
- Cloud Computing: Over half of all businesses will look into using cloud based services, whether it is online storage, online backup, online applications like Microsoft BPOS or Google Apps, hosted anti-virus, hosted anti-spam or even hosted VoIP solutions. Of these, 10% will actually make the switch, and half who do make the switch will be totally happy, with the other dissatisfied due to bandwidth or network reliabilty. The number of fully satisfied people will go up as the technology matures.
- Malicious software will affect more Macs and Linux based machines in 2011. We’ve already seen a sharp increase in the number of exploited machines, expect this trend to continue. Add to this smartphones as a target.
- Network Connectivity: Charter Business has just come out with a 75×5 meg Pro75 package. This is great, but I expect this to reach 100×10 by the end of 2011, possibly as a free upgrade like they upgraded the 20meg to 30meg…
What do you think the very near future has in store for us? More solid state storage devices? Hard Drives reaching 5TB?
Either way, we hope you have a very Happy New Year!
Yes, I keep beating this horse, but not a week goes by that we are not reminded how important backups are for businesses and individuals!
Happy New Year 2011
This week, a gentleman sent us his Lexar 16 GB memory stick, which had been purchased in order to backup his data to it. Normally I would be cheering for this, but, apparently this memory stick actually became his main storage location and there was no backup of the data on his hard drive or other media.
As you have probably guessed, this story does not have a happy ending. The memory stick has malfunctioned and no data can be read off of it. It is a hardware issue, and the memory stick is damaged and overheating.
So, what could this gentleman have done to protect himself? He could have had more than one copy of his data. Storing it on one memory stick is the equivalent to putting all your eggs in one basket. (Or all your investments in one company).
A simple solution would have been to have kept the data on his computer, then copied it regularly to the flash drive, or multiple flash drives, external USB hard drives, or even DVD media.
A more elegant solution would be to use an online backup service like our Servosity offering. Servosity is a fully automated application that runs during a particular time window to upload files from your desktop or notebook computer, and/or your company server. The storage is in-the-cloud (located on remote servers), completely encrypted, so you have no need to worry about the security of the data.
You get a daily email that explains that your data was indeed backed up and you don’t have to give it another thought. In the event you delete a file, or lose a folder, or something becomes corrupted on your end, you can log into a web based interface and download the data, or you can even restore an entire drive.
Servosity Online Backup is the primary cloud computing backup solution that we use here and highly recommend to all of our customers. It works on Microsoft Windows desktop & notebook operating systems, Apple Mac OS X desktops and laptops, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange Mail Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Linux/Unix/*nix, Solaris and more!
With offerings like Servosity there is really no excuse for not backing up, so we are offering a free 30 day trial to give you a chance to check it out!
If you would like more information about Servosity or physical backup solutions like LTO & DAT tape, RDX (Removable Disk Storage), tape autoloaders, NAS or SAN solutions, Symantec Backup Exec, or continuous backup systems, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer complete sales, service & consultation in Greenville and Upstate SC!
Click here to check out our free Servosity Online Backup trial!
