If you start looking around in the Exchange Hosting offering,
everyone prides about their great features, industry experience, etc…In
this post, I expect you to understand what you should be expecting at
the base and as a minimum in the bundle.
Lots of free goodies are now “standard” set when they sell hosted mailboxes such as Spam/anti-virus protection,
license for Activesync/outlook, 30-day money back guarantee, instant
activation, flexible contracts etc. Hosters should also provide the
full backups, shared calendar/contacts and outlook anywhere. These are somewhat necessary features to start with.Read more here.
I am rushing… couple of travel plans this week and then to KL, Malaysia for the exciting event - TechEd SEA 2007. So, this could be my last call to you for TechEd SEA 2007.
Promotions!
Grab promotions for this premier & largest annual conference in the South East Asia region – which will be held from 10-13 September 2007 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Malaysia. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so by 31st August, 2007 in order to take advantage of the 999 RM.
4 Top reasons why must one attend TechEd and what keep them coming back?
I can’t think of missing a TechEd in my area ever since I attended the Singapore TechEd 2005. Few reasons are:
Great Speakers - The majority of speakers who appear in the TechEd lineup are from the Product Groups at Microsoft Corporation (the masterminds who build the software and those who know it best) & top industry gurus like subject matter experts, MVPs, recognized industry gurus etc - they are at your disposal to meet, connect with, share the experience and get answers from.
Breakout Sessions – For example, if you are keen on Messaging & Collaboration, check out this link and block your time accordingly.
Networking with Microsofties & your peers – As you spend time and walk around TechEd SEA venue, all you can see are positive energy and 2000 enthusiastic likeminded folks (mostly IT pros and developers). TechEd crowd is like no other…
Live FEST – Last but not the least, get ready for Live Fest. According to Microsoft. “LIVE Fest is the playground and party for delegates to let their hair down, and mingle in a fun and casual atmosphere after a long day of conference. LIVE fest will kick start TechEd SEA 2007 with a galore of interesting activities with lots of attractive prizes to be given away. So gear in your fun side you have not LIVE till you experience the LIVE Fest.” Read more here.
Overall, this is going to be a great learning time, knowing more latest Microsoft products, technologies & its envisions, networking opportunities, get to know the true geeks, industry gurus, MVPs and lot more….
Who attends TechEd?
Mostly IT pros & developers – they continue dominating such events to seek priceless knowledge & get exposed to the latest Microsoft Products & Technologies. Since I am an IT pro, I am more interested in highlighting below some of IT pro tracks:
Improve the management of your existing IT infrastructure with the latest management technologies in Microsoft System Center.
Increase infrastructure and user security with Microsoft Forefront products.
Upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and learn in depth how you can unify your company’s communications.
Prepare to take advantage of all that is new in Microsoft Windows Server code name “Longhorn.”
Prepare to deploy Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.
Install an end-to-end enterprise collaboration solution with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Groove 2007.
Why one must attend TechEd?
IT pros & Developers get more exposure, new products awareness, get to know the latest Microsoft cutting edge Technologies on various business scenarios and priceless networking with fellow IT pros, developers, Microsofties, partners and many more. A rare event which happens once a year in selected cities.
What is the Agenda of TechEd SEA 2007?
4 days are packed with full of creative & knowledge brain storming activities. There will be breakout sessions, Hands-on lab, trade-shows at TechEd expo hall where Microsoft partners showcase their solutions and some fun activities such as Live FEST, and get connected with other likeminded folks around. I am stretching most of the days with packed schedules which get extended to late evening with activities such as MVP gathering & other Microsoft get together. For detailed agenda, download it from the following link:
With the following 7 tracks, TechEd SEA 2007 going to be the biggest ever sofar. Here are the tracks details and I will be mostly attending Track#2 & Track#1
As per Microsoft site, the above agenda is subject to change. So keep watching on the following link:
Where will I be in TechEd SEA 2007 & what would I like to do?
Unfortunately not at the speaker’s podium L - Hope to make that happen in next year TechEd. For this TechEd, I will be keen on attending Messaging & Collaboration Track, then little bit on Windows server 2008.
As you may aware, I am running the following sites for Microsoft communities. Those who are interested to know my online community activities, feel free to approach me. If you can’t search me at the TechEd venue, drop by at the MVP booth in the Exhibition hall (I guess there will be a booth) and pass your contact. I will surely get back with you…
MessagingTalk.org (I have been running this site with my friends for the last one and half years, this is where we would like to share some tutorials, research articles)
DigWin.com (A Social Networking site for those who work in Microsoft Technologies, share interesting news/stories and rate them to the home page if they are good – a recent initiative from MessagingTalk.org Team)
MessagingBlogs.com (Along with MessagingTalk & DigWin, we started an exclusive blog site to write about Messaging & Collaboration trends in the industry. In future, I also would like this platform to be a “Group Blogging” site – where a group of bloggers share the same site (platform) for blogging on Messaging & Collaboration. So far, I am the only one…)
And lot more to do….See you at TechEd SEA 2007, KL - Malaysia.
The following “screen capture” says it all Yes, one of my july blogs about TechEd became the winner entry for the TechEd SEA 2007 Blog contest. See my winning blog here. Thanks to Microsoft, I just love the wireless optical desktop 700 kit.
So why wait? You can win too…start scribbling and share your experience about the TechEd. That stands a chance to win the grand prize - Zen Vision W.
For more exclusive report on the TechEd SEA 2007, get your RSS feeder to grab Ed’s blog
I just happened to see the tracks from Microsoft site for the upcoming techEd SEA 2007 in KL, Malaysia. I was expecting more sessions on Unified Collaborations & Exchange 2007. It looks Office/Sharepoint sessions are dominating throughout the Messaging tracks. I find missing of some sessions which I think its very key - Exchange 2007 High Availability (e.g. CCR, LCR & SCR).
Where is the session for Forefront and Exchange Hosted Services? Also, it would be worth having a session on “Transitioning to Exchange 2007″ as many of the organizations are preparing for it. I guess, Its not too late to include those sessions.
Session :
Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM 4.0)
Session code :
OFC314
Synopsis :
Adam Cogan will introduce Microsoft CRM which has been designed to provide a complete suite of powerful marketing, sales, and customer service capabilities, all with a familiar and consistent user experience based on Microsoft Office and the Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client. Presenter : Andre Ngo
Security Mobile
Synopsis :
Session to highlight the key benefits of Windows Mobile for Enterprise customers outlining benefits in the overall platform as well as the experience for the mobile information worker. Presenter : Andre Ngo
Security
Session :
Top 10 Security Concerns of Going Mobile (And How to Overcome Them)
Session code :
OFC236
Synopsis :
Windows Mobile devices are becoming increasingly attractive to organizations due to their portability and capability. Security however is the number one consideration for planning any deployment. This session will provide guidance on how to overcome the top 10 security considerations and issues typically encountered by enterprise customers. You will learn about best practices, policies and technical guidance on how to ensure you can deploy Windows Mobile whilehelping your Security team sleep at night. Presenter : Dele Akinsade
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Planning and Deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007
Session code :
OFC243
Synopsis :
A new range of deployment configurations of Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 can now support everything from high availability and scalability requirements, to high availability and simplicity requirements, to the need for economical and simple deployment. This session talks about how you can plan to deploy these configurations for companies from 1000 users to one-million users across one or multiple locations. Learn how to control the OCS 2007 capabilities delivered to an individual user or a set of users and manage Office communicator client versions in your enterprise. Topics include: OCS 2007 topology design; hardware planning for various server roles; planning for IM/Presence to Conferencing to VoIP scenarios; Edge servers and Remote access designs; backup, restore and high availability strategies. Presenter : Joel Oleson
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007: Administrative Architecture and Planning for Deployment, Part 1
Session code :
OFC212
Synopsis :
This session describes the new Deployment and Administration Architecture for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) version 3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Learn about Logical and Physical design architectures, planning and deployment considerations, as well as Inter-Farm and Intra-Farm Shared Services Capabilities. Also, understand the Administration Components and Administration Security considerations throughout the platform. Presenter : Joel Oleson
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007: Deployment and Advanced Administration Topics, Part 2
Session code :
OFC425
Synopsis :
This session is the second of a two-part series on Deployment and Administration in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Learn about advanced configurations and deployment architectures including Extranet Deployments. Gain an understanding of global architectures and Advanced Administration techniques and capabilities for the SharePoint Farm including Disaster Recovery, Capacity Planning, and Caching. Presenter : Joel Oleson
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Guidance
Session code :
OFC234
Synopsis :
The most important thing you ’ ll do to ensure a successful deployment is create an Information Architecture. Overlooking Information Management can lead to chaos. Come learn key SharePoint Governance Models which can help you balance the security and control that you need while continuing to support an easy to use, easy to manage platform. Presenter : Say Leong Lim
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
An Overview of Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007
Session code :
OFC111
Synopsis :
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 delivers streamlined communications for your users so they can find and communicate with the right person, right now, from the applications they use most – like Microsoft Outlook. Your organization can deliver these benefits on an extensible VoIP foundation. At the same time, your IT department can deliver these enhanced instant messaging, web / video and audio conferencing capabilities and provide operational control alongside your existing Exchange and Active Directory infrastructure. Presenter : Say Leong Lim
Microsoft Office
Session :
An Overview of Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007
Session code :
OFC124
Synopsis :
Live Meeting gives you the power to work together with colleagues, customers, and suppliers, no matter where you are. For online meetings, training, and events, Live Meeting is the effective meeting solution that enables you to collaborate with either individuals or large groups—without leaving your desk. With meeting attendees participating from their PCs, you can kick off a project, brainstorm ideas, edit files, collaborate on whiteboards, and negotiate deals at a fraction of the cost and hassle of travel. Presenter : Milan Gross
Microsoft Office
Session :
Building Applications with the MOSS 2007 Excel Calculation Services
Session code :
OFC326
Synopsis :
This seminar will show developers how they can leverage Excel workbooks stored in SharePoint 2007 as logical components in enterprise applications. We will show how to use the Excel Services Web Service to reference a workbook instance from remote clients Presenter : Nitin S Paranjape (Dr)
Session :
MS Information Worker Platform Worst Practices
Synopsis :
The MS Platform has many products, toolkits and components. It is possible to use it as well as misuse it easily. This session covers the most common inappropriate usage scenarios across MS Platform. Special coverage is included for Office 2007 IW Platform as this is often the most misused / misinterpreted toolset. The coverage is aimed at preventing similar mistakes from happening in future. Corrective measures are also covered in case some of the participants are already suffering from ‘ worst practices ’ Presenter : Nitin S Paranjape (Dr)
Microsoft Office Business Value
Session :
Top 20 Benefits of Office 2007 Platform for IT Pros and Developers you may not know about
Synopsis :
The session covers some very useful but rarely known features and functionality from Office 2007 platform. Whether you are an IT Pro, Developer or Architect you will benefit from this session. The session will contain 20 demos. The topics covered will include functionality useful invarious activities like troubleshooting, search, documentation, security, learning, presentations, teamwork and privacy. The products covered will include Office core, SharePoint, Visio, OneNote, MS Project, InfoPath and SQL server. Presenter : Praveen Srivatsa
Business Value
Session :
Designing collaboration Solutions using Forms Server Workflow
Session code :
OFC342
Synopsis :
This session covers details about easily designing forms for data collection, and hosting the same form using MOSS making it available over the browser. Using workflow, we can design collaborative applications with minimalistic code. Forms server reduces the work on designing forms across the enterprise. By enabling forms to be integrated into any application hosting scenario, it enables reuse of the forms across the entire enterprise. Presenter : Praveen Srivatsa
Microsoft Office
Session :
Reporting solutions in Office 2007 and SharePoint 2007
Session code :
OFC322
Synopsis :
This session covers the details about hosting SQL Reports in SharePoint. It also showcases Excel Services and how to use Excel Services to generate server side reports with charts and graphs and render it in the browser. It showcases Key performance indicators in SharePoint and how it can be used to track operational metrics. Presenter : Raj Natarajan
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Technical Overview of Exchange Server 2003 Unified Messaging
Session code :
OFC213
Synopsis :
Exchange Unified Messaging (UM) is a new capability of Exchange Server 2007 which brings together e-mail, voice mail and fax into Exchange. This session will provide a high-level overview of Exchange UM. It is meant for those who are unfamiliar with Exchange UM and are looking for a brief introduction to the product. The session will also cover some common configurations and there will be interesting demos. Presenter :Raj Natarajan
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Enabling Regulatory Compliance in Exchange Server 2007
Session code :
OFC232
Synopsis :
As e-mail becomes the standard of business communication, companies are increasingly looking for better ways to control their messaging systems. Not only is the sheer volume of e-mail a challenge, but the information stored in them is generally unregulated and can leave a company exposed to litigation. In this session, you’ll learn how to deploy compliance and policies within your environment using the various capabilities in Exchange Server 2007. You’ll see how you can provide end-users with the capability to keep what needs to be kept; and to expire what is no longer valuable by implementing a Messaging Records Management solution. You’ll also learn how transport rules, journaling and other capabilities in Exchange Server 2007 can help you stay compliant with key regulations. Presenter : Sarbjit Singh Gill
Infrastructure Optimization Microsoft Office
Session :
ISA 2006 – Publishing Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007 using ISA 2006 new Features
Session code :
OFC335
Synopsis :
See how MOSS 2007 can connect people, process and information to provide a complete end-end to Intranet capability. The main core features which will be demonstrated and presented include Collaboration, Portals, Enterprise Content Management, Business Process and Forms, Business Intelligence. A case study featured will showcase the talked aboutcapability of MOSS ’ s Document Repository. Presenter : Steffen Krause
Microsoft Office
Session :
Document Management in Office SharePoint Server 2007
Session code :
OFC241
Synopsis :
Document management is everything from structured management of documents, metadata management and versioning to a complete document lifecycle solution with workflow, policies and records management. See a live demo of how all the new document management features fit together, from document metadata, content types and workflow to records management and client integration with custom property panels. Presenter : Syed Abbas
Infrastructure Optimization
Session :
Advanced Provisioning Concepts/Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Provisioning
Session code :
OFC321
Synopsis :
In an enterprise environment administrators are mandated with a lot more tasks than creating identities in connected target directories. Creation of users home folders, applying initial permissions on folders, setting up the terminal server profile, and interacting with external applications are some of the common tasks. This session will discuss provisioning and automation of these tasks using in-band and out-of-band processes. Additionally some advanced provisioning related topics will be discussed such as Exchange Server 2007 mailbox provisioning, mailbox attribute mapping, state management, and effective use of operational management agents Presenter : Foo Shen Wu
Session :
Integrating Line-Of-Business Data withSharePoint Business Data Catalog
Session code :
OFC344
Synopsis :
This session will showcase SharePoint as a consumer forLine-Of-Business data from various back-end systems, and how we can do more by leveraging on SharePoint ’ s capabilities to search, enable collaboration and aggregate information. With SharePoint ’ s Business Data Catalog, we can bridge portal and existing business applications with almost zero-code.
Technorati Tags: teched_sea, teched_2007
With Exchange 2007 enterprise edition, administrators can subdivide the storage groups up to 50 independent units whereas Standard Edition allows only maximum 5 storage groups. In Exchange 2003, the corresponding limits were 20 & one. There has been always requirements from companies to subdivide its users within the multiple storage groups for various reasons from its organizations such as, VIP, Legal users, sales, marketing, HR etc. I believe following are the 3 key reasons why companies requests for subdividing the storage groups in Exchange 2007.
Mitigating the data disaster – if users are spread across multiple storage group databases, the single storage group catastrophe affects only part of the organization. So the benefit here is like partial high availability of employees in such events where one of the storage groups becomes unavailable within the Exchange 2007 environment.
Greater reduction in restoring the system – Data for a single storage group can be restored more quickly from backup than the entire message database. This is great! Isn’t it? I remember the instance where my customer had only one Storage Group in Exchange 2000, and it caused about a day productivity lost for the entire organization as the data corruption happened just about the day began! Hmm… We could have avoided this to great deal if we had exchange 2007 released that time and implemented storage group subdivisions. J
Flexible Administration – breaking the storage group into multiple databases provides easy way to delegate accountability for specific groups of users to different administrators. You can give different groups of users different mailbox attributes, for example, mailbox storage capacity limits. You have the convenience of defining different service level agreements (SLA) for different set of users, for example, take more frequent backups for your legal department & assign different mailbox quota for VIP users.
In short, Microsoft Exchange 2007 enterprise edition (EE) will still make substantial differentiation by offering maximum 50 Storage groups compared to Standard Edition’s 5 storage groups. So Exchange EE edition is recommended if you want to make use of the above benefits to its fullest. See the table here in a glance to see the highlights of difference between Standard Edition & Enterprise Edition.
BlackBerry Curve is beyond smartphone since it includes all the technology you need to stay in touch and be productive. This is quiet handy, lightweight in design. So you can carry it easily.
Here are the few highlights of the features you will enjoy with blackberry curve,
Smartphone - Make calls easily with voice-activated dialing, speakerphone, mute button and conferencing. This is Bluetooth ready and capable of global roaming.
Email and text messaging - Integrate several accounts and receive all of your business and personal email automatically, including attachments. Enter your messages easily on the full QWERTY keyboard.
Instant messaging - Works with popular IM communities such as Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk.
Web browsing - View web sites in full color and use your thumb to navigate easily with the trackball. Bookmark your favorite sites and return to them with one click. Beware of “blackberry thumb”
Camera - The 2.0 megapixel camera includes digital zoom and built-in flash. Send your photos instantly via email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger.
Media player - Listen to musics & podcasts while you respond to your messages, or download and watch video clips on the bright, colorful screen. The expandable memory allows you to store all your files on microSD cards.
Organizer - A calendar, address book and task list allow you to plan your day and stay in touch with business contacts and friends.
Maps - Just type an address (or click one in your list of contacts) and get turn-by-turn directions almost anywhere.
I do not prefer Google Apps for small business organizations if their email and other applications are business confidential (e.g., docs, sheets, calendar & IM). Especially, if they are dealing with intellectual properties, mega deals with government agencies, doing patents related work etc..Following are my five key reasons why those companies never prefer Google Apps.
Trust - Companies are not comfortable with storing confidential documents on Google Public Server.
Wireless Email Service - No Push mail Support for PDA users.
Appliance - Google Apps does not have appliance concept. Appliance concept will be good to attract companies who does not have any trust in Google’s Public Server.
Support - Support is not based on any SLA (Service Level Agreement). Use it on your own risk
Interoperable - No proper interoperability with other commercial application and no guarantee that it will exist tomorrow.
There are very many other things that Microsoft office does better than Google Apps. We haven’t heard that enterprises are using it with confidence except testing and long term piloting here and there. If you are more keen to see the demo of Google Apps, here you go:
The fundamental idea of Grand Central is “Have one phone number for all your phones, for life.” Generally, when you change jobs, homes, relocate to new cities and change cell phones, you will need to let others know your recent phone numbers and it cost in many ways.
So the Grand Central comes into this picture to solve your problems whereby you can provide a single phone number and let rules handle all your phone numbers. In other words, whenever a person calls your “one number”, the call will reach based on the person’s relationship you set in the rules and the your “presence” at that point in time. There are so many other features they are offering, check this here.
I guess the following demo gives a better picture of understanding how Grand Central service works, click below on the YouTube from the founders Craig & Vincent
Sounds cool..! Great innovation..and no wonder why Google behinds this most exciting startup. You can count on Google as they begin to integrate Grand Central with Gmail & GTalk. Eventually, Google presence in small business sector will get strengthen to next level.
After all, this innovation will simplify the users life by having a single phone number and handle the calls based on the rules.
The below picture shows iPhone’s settings to get hooked with Microsoft Exchange. More iPhone pictures are found here.
Earlier, there were many corporates who sent out bulletin to its employees advising that company’s messaging system will not support iPhone and hence not to buy it. These companies were not very sure about its Microsoft Exchange Support and also did not want to bring more complexity into their existing Mobile Messaging environment where blackberry, Windows mobile and others are already in place.
I also heard from intermedia.net that they will be the first to offer Exchange email in iPhone. Read more details here on Intermedia.net’s plan.
Will iPhone capture the already congested Wireless Email Direct Push market?
Yes, one of my july blogs about TechEd became the winner entry for the TechEd SEA 2007 Blog contest. See my winning blog 
