Exchange Hosting News: 123Together Hosted Exchange

Welcome to our May Exchange hosting newsletter! In this issue we will discuss how to migrate painlessly and cost effectively to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1. You will learn about the new features included in this version and how 123Together.com’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1 will provide you with guaranteed uptime, enhanced collaboration and immediate access to the industry’s #1 email solution for a small monthly fee.

If you have suggestions about what you’d like to see included in future newsletters, please let us know by sending an e-mail to feedback@123Together.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely –

Erick Ordonez
sales@123Together.com
www.123Together.com
781-273-6245

123Together.com’s Hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Have you been thinking about migrating to Exchange Server 2007 but, like many, wanted to wait until the first service pack was released? Well, wait no longer! Last month we announced the availability of migration tools and assistance for small and mid-size businesses to painlessly and cost effectively migrate e-mail from a previous version of Microsoft Exchange, or any other e-mail system, to our hosted Exchange service. This is a great opportunity for you to increase productivity and responsiveness with the industry leading messaging and collaboration tool and take advantage of 123Together.com’s best-in-class hosting features.

By utilizing 123Together.com’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1 you will get:

- Live 24×7 U.S.-based phone and e-mail support
- Web-based administration interface
- More user friendly Outlook Web Access (OWA) interface
- Create, modify and access public folders via Outlook Web Access
- Shared and dedicated (including cluster dedicated) server options
- 99.9% uptime guarantee on shared servers
- 100% uptime guarantee on dedicated servers
- Support for up to 15GB mailboxes
- Convert Word, Excel and PowerPoint files to HTML for easy viewing on mobile devices
- Advanced integration and migration tools enabling migration to hosted Exchange overnight or on a weekend
- Encrypt outgoing messages and attachments so they can only be read by the intended recipient
- Full support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Windows Mobile and Good Mobile Messaging
- Daily, weekly and monthly backups
- 24 x 7 server monitoring and maintenance
- Piece of mind from working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

Sign up now and start enjoying the benefits of 123Together.com’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1 immediately. It’s as easy as 1-2-3! Contact us at sales@123Together.com, by calling 1-781-273-6245 for additional information or sign up directly on our website.

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 - Obstacles to In-House Deployment

Does this look familiar to you?
It’s a common site for IT departments who face daily server challenges. In addition, uptime requirements, the hiring of new employees, the inability to maintain and monitor the servers 24 x 7, and unfamiliarity with the intricacies of Microsoft Exchange are just a few of the obstacles faced by IT departments deploying a previous version of Exchange or another email program in-house. Like many, you may be interested in migrating to Exchange Server 2007 SP1 but need to take into consideration some of the pitfalls and roadblocks to a successful on-premise migration.

64bit Hardware Requirement
One of the primary obstacles to in-house deployment of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is the requirement for new 64bit hardware. This new requirement causes a number of difficulties including the need for a significant capital outlay because in place upgrades are not possible. All new hardware and software must be purchased. Although this new 64bit hardware requirement assures faster performance, many small and mid-size businesses may be unable to allocate a large amount of capital for this purpose.

Training and Hiring of IT Personnel
In-house deployment of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 will also require additional investments in training of existing IT personnel and/or hiring of new employees. Exchange Server management can no longer be done via a graphical user interface as it was in previous versions of Exchange and requires staff to be retrained on the numerous commands necessary to ensure proficiency with the new command line interface.

Server Maintenance, Monitoring and Upgrades
As email has become THE mission critical business application, the requirement to ensure continuous uptime has become a key obstacle to an in-house deployment. You will be required to invest additional time and money in continuous system maintenance, monitoring and backup. Anti-virus and mobility software may also require significant upgrades in order to support the new features of Exchange Server 2007 SP1.

The large capital expenditure, new hardware and software requirements and training of key personnel will make the migration process more time consuming and cause lengthy delays in in-house deployment.

The Hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Alternative
Why go through the hassle, expense and delays of deploying your own Exchange 2007 SP1 server when you can be up and running immediately with 123Together.com? Take advantage of the same industry leading messaging and collaboration features of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 with our hosted Exchange service. Get your email at any time from anywhere in minutes and let us maintain, monitor and upgrade the hardware and software for you. Add, modify and delete users via our easy to use web-based administration interface and contact our U.S.-based technical support staff 24 x 7 with any questions you may have. We will also support your mobile business users with full BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), Windows Mobile and Good Mobile Messaging support. With 123Together.com’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 SP1 you can have enterprise-class email at a small business price. Sign Up Today!

May Dedicated Server Special

Get 6 months FREE Postini with purchase of a dedicated Exchange server.

Requirements:

1. Contract and initial payment must be received no later than the close of business on April 30, 2008 to take part in this month’s special offering.
2. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

For more information contact sales@123Together.com

123Together.com Welcomes Apple’s Support of ActiveSync

Apple recently announced their support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in the beta release of Apple’s iPhone 2.0 software. Although a popular mobile device with consumers, the iPhone has not been widely accepted as a business tool due to its lack of two-way wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server. With Apple’s licensing of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the full features and functionality of our hosted Exchange service with mobile support previously only available to users of BlackBerry, Treo, PocketPC, SmartPhone, and Windows Mobile devices.

Although two-way wireless synchronization will not be widely available on the iPhone until June, users can take immediate advantage of 123Together.com’s hosted Exchange service to access their email wirelessly through IMAP in addition to their office PCs, laptops or from any online device via a web browser.

Collaborate Across Town or Across Continents

Modern corporate culture is changing and because of globalization, growing mobility and an increase in the importance of networking, people’s work habits are changing as well. More and more people prefer to work in teams, but not necessarily face-to-face. Some employees work from home while others collaborate across remote offices or even across continents. The tools needed for modern businesses to succeed are increasingly collaborative but may not be accessible to small and mid-size businesses primarily because of their high implementation and maintenance costs. 123Together.com’s hosted Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 is the solution. Hosted SharePoint Services allow users to share work schedules, compare notes and work together with colleagues and partners from other locations on virtually any type of file. It provides access to documents from any location at any time via a web browser. 123Together.com’s hosted SharePoint Services may also help you launch and maintain web sites, intranets, picture libraries and bulletin boards.

Outlook Tip of the Month

In Microsoft Outlook 2007, the work week is by default set from Monday through Friday with a work day extending from 8 am to 5 pm. The first day of the week in the calendar is Sunday. Users can choose the days of the week that are a part of their work week, the time when their work day starts and ends, and the day of the week with which they want to start their work week. It can be done by selecting Options on the Tools menu, then clicking Calendar Options, and changing the settings under Calendar work week. This is primarily used to check users’ availability for meeting requests from other people.

Did you know? Default reminder for today quick flag in Outlook 2007 is 1 hour before the end of user’s work day. Tomorrow, This Week and Next Week flags default to the time of the start of the workday as set in Calendar Options. These times are controlled by the start and end of the work day. The only way to change them is to change the work day time.

We’d Love to Hear From You

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our May newsletter and that you found the information useful. As always, please feel free to let us know if there is anything that you would like to see in upcoming issues.

Unread messages, by default, are highlighted with a bold font. You can easily change this to give it a completely different look by changing color, size, or font.
· First, select View -> Arrange By -> Current View -> Customize Current View from the menu bar.
· Choose Automatic Formatting.
· Select Unread Messages.
· Click on Font….
· Make all the changes to the font and color that you would like.
· Click OK.
Now, you will see that your unread messages all conform to what you just specified.

Distribution lists help you easily send emails to a larger group of people without having to add individual email addresses.  Set groups of friends and colleagues or create an “all” list that will mail to every email that you have.
To set up a mailing list in Outlook:

• To begin select File -> New -> Distribution List  
• Type the desired name of your new list under Name (Such as Sales Team, New Project Team, or Friends)
• You can add new members to the list immediately with the Add New… and Select Members… buttons.
• Click Save and Close.

Now, when you add new recipients to your email list you will be able to choose your new distribution list rather than all the individuals that it contains.

If you’re like most people you have Outlook open literally all day (and night).  There is no need to have Outlook take up space in your task bar when you aren’t using it – have it minimize to your system tray.

• Click on the Outlook icon in the system tray (look in the bottom right part of your screen) with the right mouse button.
• Select Hide When Minimized from the menu.

Now, when you minimize Outlook is will disappear from the task bar. To open Outlook again, double-click on the Outlook icon in the system tray.

Check the status of our services

In our continuing effort to help you support our customers, we have launched the new Status Page for 123Together (http://status.123together.com). Now, if a problem is known to us, you can easily refer to this page for any information that we hay have about it.

To make things even easier for our resellers, we have created a page that has no branding which you can incorporate into your website if you would like : http://status.123together.com/Server_Status.php. You can point your users to the unbranded page, or enclose it in an iframe as part of your own site

Ever misspell a word? Even with the spelling and grammar notifications in Outlook, we find that people still send out emails with spelling errors. Follow the link to learn how to have every outgoing email checked by the spell-checker

Begin by going to: Tools -> Options

Click the Spelling tab

Check the 2nd checkbox, Always check spelling before sending

Click OK

Now, every time you send an email out, you will be warned by Outlook if there are any spelling errors in the message you are trying to send.

Did you know you could use colorful stationary for all outgoing emails instead of just the usual white page?

To begin click Tools -> Options -> Mail Format (tab at the top)

Under Message format and beside Compose in this message format: notice what your current format is

Click the drop-down list, and see your other choices

Choose HTML (it should be the only choice)

Under Stationery and Fonts choose Stationery Picker

You can choose the type of stationary you like now

Click OK and OK

Now, when you send an email it will have the pattern on it that you have chosen.

First, go to Tools… ->Options… -> Calendar Options…

Click on Time Zone…

at the bottom of the pop-up window, you will see the show additional timezone section. Choose the alternate timezone.

Now that you have set the additional timezone, you can go to this section and just click on Swap Timezone… to switch Outlook to the new one.

Add a second time zone and switch between time zones for all Windows-based programs. Click Swap Time Zones in the Time Zone dialog box (Tools menu, Options dialog box, Calendar Options dialog box).

What is the best way to find a very specific email you are searching for without having to go through Outlook visually scanning emails?

1. Click on Tools > Find
2. Choose Advanced Find… (ctrl+shift+F)
3. You can now use the pop up box to find specific words in the subject line or body of the email, from/sent-to lines, and other advanced searching features.  You can also use the advanced searching features on meetings, files, contacts, tasks, or notes.

Contact Form in Outlook 2007

 

In Outlook 2003, there was a field in the lower right called Contacts which you could use to link a contact to an item which would then show up on the Activities tab. In Outlook 2007, it is hidden by default.
 

To make it visible, go to Tools > Options > Contacts Options button and add a check to the option under Contact linking to show it on forms.

 

Advanced Searches

 

What is the best way to find a very specific email you are searching for without having to go through Outlook visually scanning emails?

1. Click on Tools > Find
2. Choose Advanced Find… (ctrl+shift+F)
3. You can now use the pop up box to find specific words in the subject line or body of the email, from/sent-to lines, and other advanced searching features.  You can also use the advanced searching features on meetings, files, contacts, tasks, or notes.

 

Appointment Reminder Times

 

Is it possible to change the calendar meeting time reminder so that it isn’t always fifteen minutes?

All appointments made in your calendar have the default reminder warning time of 15 minutes.  This means that 15 minutes before every item on your calendar comes due, a reminder notice will pop up on your screen.

When setting up the meeting you have the option to choose from a predetermined list of reminder times but what if you want to have a distant reminder, say one that reminds you to begin prep for the meeting weeks in advance.

You can easily set any other reminder period you want, not just what is listed in the dropdown. If you want to set the reminder to 11 minutes, type 11m in the reminder field. If you want 2 days, type in 2d in the field. 4 weeks, type in4w.
When changing the time period make sure you type in the right letter value:  m for minutes, d for days, and w for weeks.