Are you using Microsoft Exchange for email and productivity collaboration? If not, you might want to take a look. According to the RadiCati Group [doc], in 2009, there have been 280 billion emails sent every day. Thanks to great SPAM filtering products like Barracuda and IronPort, however, most of those messages don’t reach your inbox. For the messages that do, Microsoft Exchange is a great place to house them for better management, sharing and security. Exchange commands 57% of the corporate messaging software market demonstrating a strong showing in email and productivity collaboration tools.

Microsoft has released numerous versions of Exchange since its inception in 1996. Today, many companies host Exchange 2007 which incorporated significant changes from Exchange 2003 such as a 64 bit architecture for increased RAM utilization, the introduction of multiple roles (allowing an administrator to separate out all functionality of the system into various physical servers or virtual servers for greater load manageability), greatly improved high availability/redundancy features that can withstand an entire server failure with zero impact on the end users, an introduction of Unified Messaging integrating voicemail with your mailbox, and a multitude of other enhancements. It was a complete redesign of Exchange 2003 and, from our experience, a vastly superior product. For more information, you can visit Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2007 Product Overview site.

If you prefer being at the leading edge of technology, Exchange 2010 was just Released to Manufacturing (RTM) by Microsoft on October 8th, which means Microsoft has officially signed off on the new code and it will soon be available to the public for purchase and installation. New features of Exchange 2010 include Role-Based Access Control Permissions providing an administrator more granular control of permissions, new Exchange Management Console features, integration with Active Directory Rights Management Service, new transport and routing functionality along with many enhancements for Outlook Web Access (OWA) resulting in an interface more closely resembling the standard Microsoft Outlook client. For a complete list of the new features and enhancements please visit the Microsoft Exchange 2010 website for more information.

Microsoft has continued to improve each new release of Exchange Server, meeting the challenges of the ever-changing infrastructure and addressing end-user requests and needs. With the many user experience enhancements in addition to Administrator benefits Microsoft has implemented, it is easy to see why Exchange is so prevalent and commands such a strong share of the messaging market.

Contact your Keller Schroeder Senior Account Manager to learn more or discuss the benefits of implementing this Microsoft Exchange 2007 or 2010 within your environment.

As you continue to review and improve your voice infrastructure, the time to update your Cisco Unity voice messaging system has arrived. Back in early 2008, Cisco announced End of Support (EOS) for version 4.x of Cisco Unity products. The most recent version – Cisco Unity version 7.x – is available to Unity 4.x customers with specific support agreements (contact your Sr. Account Manager for details).

Unity’s remaining product lifecycle is detailed in the table below:

Those currently utilizing the Cisco Unity version 4.x may want to visit the official announcement that lists each of the product part numbers affected by the original announcement:

A few additional links you might find of interest:

Lotus Notes and Domino Version 8.5.1 was released for download on October 12th and adds to the already impressive array of new features that have been introduced since version 8 was released in August 2007.

Several new features have been added that users have been asking for. Some of the most requested Client features include in-line spell check, capturing Recent Contacts for repeated use, Immediate Out of Office notifications, and Federated Calendars (display additional calendars at once) which include internal as well as external calendars such as Google Calendars and iCal Feeds. The calendar can also display invitations that haven’t been accepted yet as ghosted entries.

The iNotes client (web access) has been greatly improved where it’s difficult to tell the difference between it and the actual Notes client. In addition, now there is an option to automatically sync the local contacts with the iNotes contacts. Response time has been greatly improved and new display modes have been introduced such as Lite Mode for slower connection speeds and UltraLite mode for the iPhone.

Traveler was introduced in 8.5 and recently enhanced in 8.5.1. The new enhancement lets you run a free Traveler client on your Windows Mobile Phone or iPhone that connects back to a Lotus Traveler server you setup at your own location. Traveler lets you sync your mail, calendar, and contacts over the air with just a personal data plan from your cell phone carrier.

On the Server side, new compression and attachment storage features have been introduced that will let your organization save 40 to 60% on server disk utilization. In addition to potential disk savings, upgrading to Domino 8 can reduce CPU and I/O utilizations on most platforms.

On the Management side, the new ID Vault can be implemented to allow users to automatically recover damaged, lost, forgotten id files and administrators can reset individual passwords as easily as they would a Windows password. And as of 8.5.1, the Domino Developer client is now available for free without the need for an additional license.

For additional information on these and many more new features, please refer to these articles on the IBM website:

Contact your Keller Schroeder Senior Account Manager to learn more or discuss the benefits of implementing the Lotus Domino upgrade within your environment.

Keller Schroeder’s annual Client Appreciation Event was once again a dual success – an opportunity to say thank you to our clients, and an opportunity to make a positive impact on our community.  This year’s event (held on October 2^nd) sported a Hawaiian theme and included good music, abundant food, and great conversation between Keller Schroeder employee-owners and over 250 client attendees. 

Attendees were asked to join Keller Schroeder in bringing food items that could be donated to the Tri-State Food Bank for the event.  In all, over 2000 dry food and produce items were collected and donated by Keller Schroeder employee-owners and clients.  In addition, Keller Schroeder partnered with Marx Barbeque to donate 500 lbs of fresh meat to the Food Bank.

Keller Schroeder’s strong relationships with key vendors were on display, as the event was supported and attended by Cisco, NetApp, LifeSize Video, and IronPort.

Information technology companies can be creative in the use of white papers, webinars, and ad campaigns to tell their success stories.  But, “Nothing speaks more credibly about us than the very words of our clients”, says Keller Schroeder President Larry May.

Those words came through loud and clear from Keller Schroeder clients in this year’s customer satisfaction survey, administered by Microsoft and required of all its leading Partners.  Keller Schroeder received an overall performance rating of 94 percent, compared to the average score for all Microsoft Partners of 65 percent.  Loyalty ratings for Keller Schroeder were 100 percent, compared to 86 percent for all Microsoft Partners.

As part of an ongoing qualification process, Microsoft Gold Certified Partners participate in an annual evaluation which includes a customer satisfaction survey completed anonymously by active clients.  “We are passionate about seeing our clients succeed,” says May, “and it is gratifying when they tell us so resoundingly that we are impacting them in a positive way.”

Since becoming the first Evansville-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in 2007, Keller Schroeder has seen its Microsoft business grow faster than any other segment.  While some firms specialize in infrastructure-related Microsoft tools (such as server and data management software), and others specialize in applications-related tools (such as SharePoint and .Net development), Keller Schroeder’s expertise includes the full spectrum of Microsoft solutions for businesses of any size. 

The firm’s reputation for excellence extends well beyond the Microsoft space.  Keller Schroeder received the 2007 Cisco Outstanding Indiana Customer Satisfaction Award, the 2008 Cisco Outstanding Growth Award, the 2008 Spirit of United Way Award, and was named as one of Indiana’s “Best Places to Work” in 2006.

Is your desktop environment becoming more and more difficult to manage? Are you worried about the security of your data on mobile devices such as laptops and smart phones? Has desktop patch and update management become a nightmare? Are you under pressure to reduce your desktop operational costs? Are you being asked to improve user’s mobility at the same time? These seemingly conflicting goals are huge challenges that IT managers face today.

How are IT managers addressing these challenges?

Virtualization. As always, VMware is leading the virtualization charge in this area as well. VMware has a suite of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products that address each of these challenges head on. VMware View and it’s optional complimentary products (Composer & ThinApp) work with VMware’s server virtualization infrastructure (VMware ESX / vSphere / vCenter) to address these desktop security, mobility, and management issues.

How does VMware View work?

VMware View works by creating virtual desktops on robust, scalable VMware servers in the data center that provide centralized management, high availability, rapid provisioning of desktops, and instant backup/recovery, all inherited from the server virtualization infrastructure. VMware View adds to this by adding a unique feature called “linked clones” that allows admins to provision multiple desktop images from a “golden” desktop image, either manually or automatically based on policies, and compartmentalizes the base OS, application, application data, and user data into separate areas for quicker and easier desktop provisioning, patch management, and security policy control. This also saves a lot of disk storage space by using thin provisioning and deduplicating all the redundant data.

What about the desktop users?

By moving the desktop environment to the data center, you can satisfy all the security, backup, & management needs of IT administrators, but what about the desktop users? How will their experience be improved? The biggest advantages that end users gain from desktop virtualization is they can now access their desktop or a set of desktops from many different devices at work, at home, or even while traveling, all w/ optional SSL connectivity for optimal security. They can even check out their virtual desktop to their laptop to run as an image in “Offline Desktop” mode, then check back in or just resync w/ the virtual desktop the next time they are on the network. End user devices include existing desktops and laptops, thin clients and smart phones. Great strides have been made in the past couple years to make the end user virtual desktop experience as good or better than stand-alone physical desktops. You can connect local USB drives & printers and use multiple monitors w/ most thin clients today. Boot time is typically much faster than a stand-alone desktop and overall performance is typically the same or better for most users.

The Advantage of View

VMware View’s biggest advantages over competing desktop virtualization products is their ability to compartmentalize the OS, application, and data, providing the most efficient provisioning and patching procedures; minimizing the storage footprint of all the virtual desktops using thin provisioning, and/or linked clones; rapidly and automatically provisioning virtual desktops based on desktop pool profiles; providing finite control over each user’s desktop authority; offering flexibility in pushing patches to groups of users or individuals; and creating one-to-one or one-to-many user to virtual desktop relationships in either persistent or non-persistent modes. All innovative features that allow administrators maximum security and manageability of desktops, while allowing end users maximum functionality, performance, and mobility.

Contact your Keller Schroeder Senior Account Manager to learn more or discuss the benefits of implementing this technology within your environment.

You may already know that Keller Schroeder provides highly-skilled IT consultants on a contract basis through both our “core staff” employee-owners and our network of independent contractors sourced by our Staffing Solutions Group. What you may not know is the extent to which we can provide customized staffing options to help you get exactly what you need, when you need it.

A proper mix of recruiting, hiring, contracting, and variations of each of these strategies are necessary during challenging economic times to ensure that you have the right people in place at the right time for your organization.

In addition to traditional contracting services, Keller Schroeder’s Staffing Solutions Group offers a full array of workforce acquisition and outsourcing options, including contract-to-hire, payrolling, and fee-based recruiting. We can even provide onsite recruiting assistance.

Recently, a client wanted to fill a full-time position but could not obtain approval to add headcount immediately. They enlisted Keller Schroeder to assist with a contract-to-hire placement. Through our recruitment and screening process, we placed a contractor initially on an hourly fee basis, but we included contract language to allow the client to hire this individual full-time for a discounted recruiting fee after a window of time when circumstances were more favorable for them to fill the position.

Several of our clients have successfully brought back former employees using our payrolling service. In one case, an employee resigned to move out of state, but our client wanted to continue a contracted engagement remotely. In another recent case, the client wanted to reengage with a retiree. Keller Schroeder handled all the paperwork and payroll details, offering a reduced pricing arrangement reflecting the fact that we invested less time in the recruiting/screening process.

Keller Schroeder’s Staffing Solutions Group has a wealth of HR and recruiting experience. We have provided fee-based recruiting services to help our clients fill full-time positions. We have also provided recruiting services on a contract basis to help hiring managers navigate through the time-consuming process of soliciting and screening candidates, setting up interviews, and qualifying and hiring the best candidates.

Contact Susie Mattingly, our Director of Staffing Solutions, to discuss your workforce acquisition and/or outsourcing needs. Or, visit our Staffing Solutions page on our website to learn how we can help you round out your staffing options!

For many years, companies have struggled to find a data collection technique that crosses platforms, facilitates data analysis, handles both structured and unstructured data, and enables business processes. In contrast to many IT challenges where there are an abundance of tools but no clear approach, in this case the tools were just not up to par. Sure you could create forms using Word and/or Adobe PDF’s – you could even allow users to fill in the blanks online and print or email the form – but actually validating that data, extracting the data out of the form for analysis or launching workflows has proved to be both cumbersome and expensive. As a result, custom web pages have often been used to facilitate simple data collection – requiring specialized programming skills and valuable IT resources for what seemed to be rudimentary requests.

Enter Microsoft Office InfoPath – Microsoft’s answer to data collection challenges. InfoPath is a power user/novice developer tool that enables forms development based on an open XML format. The benefits of InfoPath are numerous:

By integrating with SharePoint, InfoPath offers an enterprise-level forms solution complete with business process automation and legacy software integration. Additionally, you are able to build your project teams with professionals of varying skills and levels of experience.

The InfoPath client (designer and viewer) is available as a stand-alone product or is part of the Microsoft Office Professional Plus, Enterprise and Ultimate suites. The client version integrates with Windows SharePoint Services which is included free with the Windows Server operating system. InfoPath Form Services is part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition.

Contact your Keller Schroeder Senior Account Manager to learn more or discuss the benefits of implementing this technology within your environment.

“Going green” in the data center is quite simple; reduce machines and utilize storage more efficiently by reducing disk drives. Simply by deploying VMware and virtualizing the data center it’s common to see a 90% reduction in the number of physical machines required. This means that 10 machines that exist before virtualization can be reduced down to one machine. Adding NetApp to the recipe not only allows VMware to operate at its best, but through the storage efficiencies inherent to the NetApp platform, additional savings are also provided by reducing the needed number of disk drives.

Any device in your data center that consumes power produces heat, so by reducing power consumption we naturally reduce cooling costs. Reducing one server in your data center over a year period of time will drop the amount of carbon emissions by over one ton. By reducing your server foot print you now have room to expand that didn’t exist before implementing these technologies.

Data Centers consume huge amount of electricity. Within the US alone they consume 4.5 billion kilowatt hours annually, which is 1.5% of the total US consumption. By leveraging VMware virtualization technologies combined with NetApp storage solutions, significant power within the computing cloud can be reduced, which not only adds green to our planet but also to your budget.

Contact your Keller Schroeder Senior Account Manager to learn more or discuss the benefits of implementing this technology within your environment.

Keller Schroeder President Larry May has been elected to the Board of Directors for the United Way of Southwestern Indiana. “As a fan of United Way for many years, I consider it an honor to have the opportunity to serve the organization as a Board member,” May said. He pointed out that the employee-owners of Keller Schroeder have been strong and consistent supporters of the United Way, and that, “We will look at this appointment as another way to be a helpful resource to an organization that has a huge impact on our community.”