|
 |
| Lantium provides specialized services to meet the diverse needs of small and medium sized businesses. Click here to learn how Lantium can save you time and money and still be provided unequalled IT Support. |
|
 |
| Lantium has highly qualified IT Support personnel and management services at all levels of expertise for short term and long term projects. Click here to learn how Lantium can better supplement or manage your IT Support team. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
| Web Application Hosting |
|
MS Microsoft Exchange Hosting
|
|
|
ASP Services
|
Exchange Hosting Overview
|
|
FAQ
|
| What is Microsoft Exchange? |
| Exchange is Microsoft's entry into
the email/groupware server space. It makes it easy for
users to communicate and collaborate over the Internet
and/or Intranet using a variety of clients on various
desktop operating systems. |
| What is Microsoft Exchange Hosting? |
| Exchange Hosting is available for
customers who have a need for the features available from
Microsoft Exchange, but do not have the facilities and/or
expertise required to host the system themselves. By subscribing
with an Exchange Host provider, the customer can take
advantage of all of the benefits of Exchange, without
the additional hassle that is involved in maintaining
such a system. |
| Who needs Microsoft Exchange Hosting?
|
| Organizations with a need for robust
email and collaboration can benefit greatly by using for
using the features of Microsoft Exchange within their
business. Smaller companies that do not have the IT staff,
or the facilities to create and maintain an Exchange network
are perfect candidates for working with an Exchange host
provider. |
| Is there a need to have my own dedicated
Microsoft Exchange Server? |
| That would depend on the your particular
usage of the server. Normally, an Exchange hosting provider
will set up several Exchange accounts for several companies
on the same box, similar to shared web hosting. Customers
with higher volume requirements, or who wish to be segregated
from the other customers can opt for a dedicated Exchange
server. This is nominally more expensive than shared Exchange
hosting, but does have its obvious advantages. A dedicated
Exchange server is usually suggested for any Exchange
hosting account that exceeds 100 users. |
| What features are available to me
when I use Exchange Hosting? |
| These features depend greatly on
the hosting provider. Firstly, all of the functionality
of Microsoft Outlook is immediately shared between your
users. Calendars, Files, Folders, Tasks, Contact Lists,
Address Books all become integrated and sharable among
all users of Exchange. Advanced features such as Virus
Scanning and Instant Message can normally be made available
at an additional price. |
| What requirements do I need to meet
for Exchange Hosting? |
| In order to be a candidate for Exchange
hosting, you need to have Internet connection(s) capable
of supporting the required traffic, and the appropriate
client software (Microsoft Outlook) and licenses for all
users who will be using the services of the Exchange server. |
| How will I transition from my old
mail system to Microsoft Exchange? Will there be a disruption
in my email service? |
| After purchasing the Exchange email
service, you will automatically receive an email with
detailed instructions on how to migrate from your existing
mail provider to your new server. The instructions will
be different for the mail administrators and the end-users. |
- The mail administrator will be able to create user
accounts in the new server with the option of using
an intuitive wizard or using a bulk-import utility
provided by HostLabs. Easy-to-use tools will also
be provided to migrate system-wide aliases and mailing
lists.
- End-users simply have to add the new mailbox to
the set of accounts polled by their desktop client
(such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or Eudora).
|
| With these simple steps, you will
be able to transition seamlessly to the new system with
no downtime or lost email. |
Benefits - Overview Content
- Shared Calendar
- Contact Management
- Public Folders
- SharePoint
- Advanced Spam Filtering
- Web Access
- Blackberry
|
| Shared Calendar |
|
Time is precious. And as the pace of the business
world continues to gain momentum, the way you and
your company plan and spend that valuable time will
continue to grow as a critical factor to success.
That's why the benefits of the Microsoft Outlook shared
calendar system are a fundamental component of Microsoft
Exchange hosting, as provided by MEL Microsoft Exchange
by Lantium. |
| As soon as you start using
the shared calendar tool, you will notice less time
spent on scheduling meetings to plan work to be
done - and more productivity in work completion!
Microsoft Exchange's shared calendar system allows
a member to view the calendars of one or more other
members to determine availability for a particular
meeting day and time, as well as view the availability
of conference rooms and meeting equipment, such
as an LCD projector or demonstration tool. And if
that does not sound easy enough, use the AutoPick
function and it will pinpoint a convenient time
for all parties and elements needed! |
| Once the scheduler is ready
to invite the meeting participants, a simple meeting
request is sent via email, seeking attendance confirmation.
To prepare ahead of time for the meeting, files
or contact information can be attached and the members
of the group can communicate additional details
without leaving their computers. Meetings can be
customized by importance and can even be labeled
private, while timed reminders will leave no excuse
for absences! Recurring appointment schedules can
be arranged based on a calendar date, weekday or
week in a month so that a standing meeting remains
on schedules, and groups can also be created for
regular meeting participants to allow easy updates,
with those both within the company and even outside,
using iCal, an Internet-based meeting request tool.
|
| Of course, the shared calendar
system is most effective when all members use it
to their best advantage. Your employees will be
glad to have built-in organization tools at their
disposal - which will lead to higher productivity
for your business. Each calendar can be customized
to work best with each user. Simple steps, such
as an employee noting whether they are "busy," "tentative,"
"available," or "out of the office," will eliminate
the need for follow-up phone calls to schedule meetings.
Personalized fonts, colors, toolbars and screen
views allow all of the users to set up the calendar
in the manner most conducive to their personal preferences.
Various forms and formats for saving meeting information,
including the option to synchronize schedules with
a wireless device such as a Blackberry, will create
a system that can coordinate with virtually every
work style. Busy employees can even allow other
users to manage their appointments, and, should
a meeting notice go missing, Text Search will bring
it right back to the screen. |
| Imagine never having to
have another meeting just to schedule another meeting
- or having to leave several phone messages just
to determine a staff member's availability! The
Microsoft Exchange shared calendar system, using
the convenience of Outlook and provided by MEL's
hosting service, is a must-have for today's working
environment |
| Contact Mgmt |
| Question: How many times
have you found yourself saying "where did I put
that vendor's phone number" or "what was the name
of the contractor I met at the meeting last week?"
Answer: too many times, if you don't have a good
system for collecting and organizing important contact
information. Using MEL's contact management system,
based on Microsoft Outlook and available to you
through Microsoft Exchange hosting, you can develop
a database that is easy to create and use on a daily
basis. |
| Certainly, a data entry
professional could quickly input names, phone numbers,
addresses and other pertinent information into a
document. But then what? These contacts are not
going to strengthen your business unless they are
put to work for you. That's where Microsoft Exchange's
contact management comes in. Once that data is inputted
into the program, it can be organized into categories
and viewing formats that make the most sense for
your working style - and that of each of your employees.
For example, does one of your employees have trouble
remembering names with faces? He or she can even
include an image with a contact file! And the contact
list becomes an automatic electronic address book
- keeping the information you need right at hand,
not on a piece of paper or business card. |
| One of the main values
of a contact list is the ability to share it with
others and have colleagues provide access to their
preferred resources. The contact management program
enabled through Microsoft Exchange allows users
to share data and utilize others' lists. Further
effortless integration is made possible by Microsoft
Exchange through the ability to import and export
contacts from other programs, add Windows SharePoint
contacts to an Outlook list, and simply move the
details of electronic distribution recipients from
an email right into a contact file. |
| Going beyond the mere organization
and centralization of data, contact management tools
have the potential to truly change - and improve
- the way you do business. Perhaps your industry
involves a unique type of contact information or
description - you can create a specialized field
or folder to capture, track and analyze that data
in a useful manner. |
| Microsoft Exchange hosting,
through functions such as those provided through
Outlook's Business Contact Manager, will enable
you and your employees to customize communications
to suit the preferences of your clients and learn
from your collective work histories. From minor
but effective improvements like the removal of duplicate
contact listings, to the ability to monitor exactly
when you interact with each client, greater efficiency
will be noticeable almost immediately. Additional
features include the ability to draft messages and
meeting requests right from a contact listing, attach
notes regarding tasks to be completed for a particular
client, and even directly reach out to a contact
via technology such as NetMeeting or Instant Messaging
- positioning your company as one that goes out
of its way to work with a client's preferred mode
of doing business. |
| If you have never considered
how much the way in which you gather and organize
contact information affects your company's success,
contact management, available through the Microsoft
Exchange hosting provided by MEL, may just revolutionize
the operation and, most importantly, bottom line
of your business. |
| Public Folders |
| In today's hectic work environment,
it may seem near impossible at times to efficiently
keep track of and up-to-date on information and
material relevant to the entire organization or
even particular internal groups. The public folder
system available through MEL's Microsoft Exchange
hosting services creates an electronic holding place
for a wide range of files, documents and other data
for easy access, high accuracy and top-level productivity.
|
| Need to publicize company
announcements or update staff forms? By utilizing
public folders, lengthy staff meetings and the distribution
of written memos are can be virtually eliminated.
Instead, existing content is updated and new information
is posted on an internal network accessible to all
employees. One office-wide calendar can incorporate
important notices such as holidays and company events,
as well as the meeting schedules and vacation dates
for individual employees. If you have an issue to
discuss or topic to address with your staff, you
can start a discussion on an electronic bulletin
among the relevant parties, with the option to choose
levels of content moderation and approval, as well
as the recipients of specific responses. And intra-office
communication is much more time-effective, since
members of your organization can also send and receive
Outlook-provided Contacts, Tasks, Calendar items
and Notes. Ideal for workers who travel or work
out of the office, public folders, through Microsoft
Exchange hosting, keeps all project contributors
updated on deadlines and progress made and are available
to be formatted for off-line access. Now, everyone
can get in touch and up-to-speed without needing
to disrupt their co-workers. |
| Beyond a mere exchange
of information, public folders bring employee collaboration
to another level, eliminating significant amounts
of time spent in update meetings or simply making
phone calls to retrieve feedback or input from another
colleague. The functions available with public folders
supported by Microsoft Exchange can create an electronically-hosted
sounding board for preliminary ideas or even simply
a holding ground for first drafts, to test integration
into a plan involving several co-workers. Once information
is prepared and organized, it is ready to be shared
via public folders. Even if one employee is not
sure where a co-worker stored needed information,
a simple search can be conducted for quick retrieval.
Also, you can rest assured that permission levels
can be set and managed for various information and
full security is available for sensitive data. |
| Keeping shared work organized,
current and productive are the priorities of Microsoft
Exchange's public folders system - and even further
increased performance is offered if you utilize
Outlook 2003's cached Exchange Mode, which MEL can
also integrate into your company's services. Employee
collaboration is critical to your company's success
and public folders create a network to make that
collaboration as efficient as possible. |
| Sharepoint |
| Let's say your company is
in Michigan, working on a project for your top client,
who is in California, and your most reliable outsourced
vendor needed to complete the assignment is in New
York. Time to run up your expense accounts and overnight
mail bills? Not with Microsoft Windows SharePoint,
a unique collaboration system available with MEL's
Microsoft Exchange hosting services. By enabling
your employees to create and modify their own website,
accessible internally and externally, SharePoint
brings the advantages of intra-organization file-sharing
beyond your office doors, and delivers significant
savings in time, money and hassle. |
| Here's another scenario
to demonstrate the basic efficiencies of the SharePoint
system. Your employees are working on a new brochure
that needs to be produced in a short period of time.
Your team drafts the goals for the brochures, writes
the content, and creates the artwork and layouts,
all while your preferred printing company awaits
the final version to turn the files into finished
products. As your staff creates the necessary components,
they post them to their SharePoint website, to which
your client has access and can review, revise and
approve as he or she sees fit. While the client
- or any one - is working on the document or material,
SharePoint can track when and by whom an item is
"checked in" and "checked out" and what exact changes
were made. More direct communication can be implemented
through the use of online surveys and discussions
that can be initiated and responded to, including
interactions in real time or via email. In addition,
several versions of one file can be saved to avoid
any accidental deletions - enabling the parties
to even return to a previous version, should they
choose. Authors can declare how their files may
be accessed and edited by others, and built-in alerts
can let project participants know when material
has been reviewed, changed and, ultimately, approved.
Relevant company information, such as calendars
and announcements, can also be communicated through
SharePoint. In short, questions can be answered,
corrections can be made, and final products can
be delivered without lengthy meetings or the potential
confusion of several drafts of one document. |
| The SharePoint system is
easy to set up and operates with commonly-used Microsoft
Office applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint
and InfoPath. The formats are highly customizable,
including the option to use asp.net features in
the .NET framework, and the information is completely
secured via SSL encryption. For employees short
on time or frequently on the road, SharePoint can
be accessed with a web browser from any computer,
a user can see whether other users are online and
information can be retrieved more quickly than with
more traditional shared network systems. |
| The ever-developing world
of technology opens your company up to opportunities
not limited by geography and allows you to deliver
results in less and less time. To maintain top quality
work and the competitive edge, you need Microsoft
Windows SharePoint, the one-of-a-kind external collaboration
tool. MEL can provide this service to you and your
clients and partners through the convenience of
Microsoft Exchange hosting. |
| Advanced Spam Filtering
|
| Email is probably the most
time- and cost-efficient mode of communication -
and thus the most prevalent in today's business
world. However, as with any significant advancement,
there are challenges to its ideal functioning. Spam
continues to be an obstacle to top-level productivity
via email - but the multi-layered advanced spam
filtering available through the Microsoft Exchange
services offered by MEL provides you with sophisticated
defenses against the setbacks of spam. |
| One of the most important
aspects of spam management is defining exactly what
qualifies as spam to you, your individual employees
and your organization as a whole. Certain senders
and topics that may not be of use to one company's
network may be critical to another. Spam filtering
is therefore a very customized feature built around
the preferences and practices of your particular
organization. Microsoft Exchange's capabilities
enable the creation and management of categories
of email addresses and how they should be treated
upon attempted entry onto your network. A white
list consists of approved sender addresses, to ensure
that you receive messages from contacts of importance
to you and your business. Clues such as keywords
and domain names can also be added to the white
list to more accurately classify important messages.
The black list, on the other hand, contains addresses
of senders and domain names from which you do want
to receive messages and that will be automatically
blocked from access to an Inbox. This is an ongoing
process, as more addresses are added to both lists
and the systems becomes familiar with your company's
particular indicators, but with Microsoft Exchange
service, you can simply classify an incoming message
as spam, just as you would move it to a legitimate
mail folder using "drop and drag" tools. In addition,
individual users can develop their own spam management
system and can have the option of reviewing a message
to determine whether it is spam. |
| So how does this spam filtering
work? The services provided by MEL via Microsoft
Exchange utilize several indicators to identify
and re-route spam. The tools evaluate entire messages,
including keywords and headers, in a variety of
languages. Bayesian filters analyze several factors
of a message to determine its status as spam, using
data learned from both inbound and outbound messages.
The system effectively identifies the occurrence
of a false positive (when a valid message is incorrectly
labeled spam), helps avoid the dangerous trap of
fabricated non-delivery reports (??), and also includes
preventive measures to avert the hazards of phishing.
|
| Spam does not have to consume
a large - and frustrating - amount of your company's
time and your network's space. Without the need
to even install any special anti-spam software,
MEL will enable you to reduce these factors through
the resources provided by Microsoft Exchange. |
| Web Access |
| Flexibility is a fundamental
component of keeping your clients happy and productive
in their work environment. Microsoft Exchange, as
provided by MEL, enables remote availability to
Outlook applications, so that being "out of the
office" does not have to mean being out of touch.
|
| Web access to email is
available from any computer via Internet Explorer
service and even works through compatible mobile
devices. The remote user is able to view, utilize
and manage the many features that make Outlook such
an indispensable workplace program, including calendars,
task lists and contact information. The connection
provides 128-bit data encryption and supports HTML,
Plain Text and Rich Text email formats. Full synchronization
of email between the in-office network Outlook connection
and the web connection, presented in the accustomed
- and customizable - views, assures seamless updating
of electronic communication and maintenance of personalized
features such as signatures and sorting preferences.
|
| In eras gone by, being
out of the office for business travel or opting
to work from home meant being out of touch with
the forward momentum of client projects and the
workplace environment. With Outlook web access,
meetings can be scheduled and tasks created. The
flow of information continues with the Microsoft
Exchange hosting tools that make your ckberry organization
looks its best, including spell check, confirmations
that mail has been received and/or read, and file
attachment capabilities. The high level of security
provided through Microsoft Exchange service is also
maintained during web access, with full privacy,
including an automatic log-off component and the
ability to change passwords, and with the management
of junk email. |
| In addition to web access
to Outlook email, Microsoft Exchange can make public
folders accessible and allow users to utilize their
filtered folder tools for better organization. The
employees working remotely can even post new documents
to the shared network and integrate their work with
Microsoft SharePoint Portal Services, provided by
MEL. You will notice increased productivity when
"out-of-the-office" does not have to mean work time
lost. |
| Blackberry |
| Handheld devices such as
the Blackberry have completely revolutionized how
the world does business, making geographic boundaries
and conflicting time zone workdays basically irrelevant.
MEL recognizes the innovative convenience and increased
productivity provided by a Blackberry and, through
reliable Microsoft Exchange hosting, enables your
employees to be on the cutting-edge of business.
|
| Blackberry devices are
an ideal, company-wide solution to keep all employees
in touch, not matter where their life may take them.
Without the need to install desktop software, users
can access their email accounts, files, contacts
and calendars in a secure and simple manner that
utilizes your company's current infrastructure and
technology. The service provided through Microsoft
Exchange hosting uses end-to-end Advanced Encryption
Service or Triple-Des Encryption and now supports
JavaScript and animated GIFs, as well as partial
support for cascading style sheets. This completely
wireless Blackberry usage comes with back-up and
full wireless IT policy enforcement, and is programmed
to eliminate spam and viruses. Your employees will
be able to access company information, as well as
Internet and Intranet networks, in a manner synchronized
with desktop and other applications, without compromising
the integrity or confidentiality of the content.
And should a Blackberry be lost or stolen, its contents
can be remotely removed. |
| As handheld devices continue
to evolve in the sophistication of their capabilities,
MEL's Microsoft Exchange hosting provides the technology
needed to keep your workers fully up-to-speed in
a timely and efficient fashion. With Push-Based
access to email and other information, users can
perform many of the same functions that they would
from their office desk, including opening attachments,
using a personal signature and responding to meeting
requests and updates. Client response via email
is prompter than voicemail, questions can be answered
through handheld, simultaneous access to other tools,
and regularly scheduled tasks can be programmed
to be automatic. Also available is short messaging
service, extensive address field support and image
manipulation features, such as zooming and rotating.
|
| The possibilities for continued
- and improved - employee productivity are limitless
with the use of a handheld device such as a Blackberry.
It is an invaluable benefit for every member of
your company to be able to access and manage email,
calendars and client materials no matter where they
are - from a trade show to the beach. And upon return
to the office, all work and updates completed off-site
will be fully reflected and updated on regularly-used
desk versions. For the very best in strategic and
economic efficiency, you simply must make handheld
Blackberry access an option for your employees.
And MEL is ready to offer it you through its Microsoft
Exchange hosting services. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
