Microsoft Exchange 2010

Email archiving is extremely important to business as well as personal users. Email backups are another method of saving emails beyond and above saving them in an inbox. Users do not need to keep an email in their inbox once they have saved it in email archiving. They simply need to hit the archive button or send it to the archive folder. Once the file is sent to that area, they do not need to worry about it.

That is, until they need it. There may be a question about an older order or someone may be confused about a detail of a meeting. They can consult the older email archiving feature. That way they will be ready to go and not have to contact the other person again. Email archiving increase productivity by over 50% among individuals who use it within their web mail or desktop email clients. Email archiving is quite similar to search through your email. A user is typically able to pull up an email by entering the email address, subject line or keywords that they are looking for. The more details they know, the better luck they will typically have with accessing the email.

Email archiving is a relatively new feature to be added to many web mail programs as well as desktop clients. Google Mail commonly known as Gmail is infamous for its archive button. Google is also the king of search and their email archiving product is extremely good. Businesses who are interested in using it can sign up under the Google Apps for Business program. This program gives each business user an email address under the corporate domain name as well as access to Google Docs and Calendar. Email archiving on Google Apps for Business can save a business time from having to contact customers to ask for clarification as well as time searching for an old email conversation.

Email archiving also makes it easy for bad people to access your email. You need to ensure that you have a strong password. Criminals who are smart can search for “credit card password” or “bank statement” and find which bank you bank with. They also can reset these passwords and delete these emails from your account. This takes a matter of minutes, thanks to the email archiving software. However, with a secure password this will never become a problem for you.

Have a to do list that needs to be updated? Well, check your recent client requests with client archiving. Need to see which unread messages have been sent to the archive? No problem! Email archiving software does not have to be difficult to use either. Even older users or younger users who have never used it before understand the basics of how to use the software. Best of all, users are able to quickly consult emails and then get back to the task at hand. Secretaries for email at some major companies have already been eliminated. Interns are able to search for keywords through email archiving software, solving the problem of an onslaught of email.

Our love for email only increases as time goes on. It’s quick, convenient and offers huge advantages over “snail mail”. Business has adopted the technology with gusto as it saves time, money and can be tracked, stored and investigated as the business sees fit. With technology comes responsibility, and HIPAA email compliance is something that every organization has to content with when they provide medical insurance, or deals with anything to do with employee health.

The most relevant rules fall under the Administrative section of the Privacy rule of HIPAA. They stipulate that adequate safeguards are in place to protect email and any other media electronic or otherwise that contains Personal Health Information (PHI). Any record that includes details about your health or medical information is regarded as PHI and falls under the HIPAA email compliance rules. The Privacy rule is a stipulation of what we would all hope was what most organizations would consider good email etiquette anyway. Practices like making emails secure, checking the address before sending to prevent information being sent to the wrong people, and checking attachments and records to ensure the right information gets to the right people.

HIPAA Email Compliance is one of the many parts of the legislation that is enthusiastically enforced. It’s something that both the government and the consumer both agree on, and should take steps to ensure is complied with. We all know that information is a commodity, and is a valuable resource that many entities would pay good money to access. Ensuring your own medical information is secure is as important as the government ensuring compliance of HIPAA.

The cost of becoming compliant was significant for many organizations when the law was first passed in 1996. Fortunately, the measures needed to become compliant benefit the business as a whole, so while it was a significant effort to comply with the HIPAA Email Compliance rules, it wasn’t wasted money.

To become compliant, companies have to secure their IT systems, especially email servers and storage. They also had to increase building security, employee security and ensure their email system was safe and secure. These are steps that many companies were taking anyway to secure proprietary data. Others weren’t so careful and had to spend thousands of dollars securing systems, upgrading security and taking other measures to safeguard information. The added benefit of this was that every company involved lessened the risk of their own data being accessed as well as that of their clients or employees.

Of course now, HIPAA email compliance is only one of the myriad of legislation that business has to contend with in order to be completely legal in the American marketplace. Since Enron, there has been a raft of new accountability legislation from several entities that stipulates that email has to be stored securely, used securely and be available for inspection at any time. The modern marketplace is a complicated one and the average company needs expert legal assistance to even start trading.

So we have heard that in some circumstances upgrading to Exchange 2010 isn’t such a good idea. The expense, the basic archiving functions, the server overhead for indexing functions and the allegedly clumsy way of email retrieval. There are positive points to the new system though, and we shall highlight a few of them here.

While Microsoft doesn’t hide the fact that it’s going to cost more than the last version, it does cite the benefits. Upgrading is going to be a significant burden on IT departments that are already squeezed tight, but a study released by Forrester alleges the cost of ownership can be recouped within six months for the average rollout. This can be done by making savings in other areas.

There are a few assumptions made, but in an ideal world, they do make sense. The first is that an organization can save money by not having to purchase SAN solutions. Improvements in Exchange I/O handling means it now plays nicely with slower storage. So the extra capacity you’ll need to use the archiving doesn’t have to be at a premium price.

There is the first assumption. To be able to use the new function, you’re going to need more storage. The spin here is not mentioning the need for the storage, but the fact you can spend less money on it that you might have had to. Neat trick huh?

One definite benefit of Exchange 2010 is its ability to take voicemail. The assumption here is that once you use it to take voicemails, you won’t need other systems to do it for you. Therefore, saving money on a separate system. Another great theory, and if you can find me a medium to large organization that uses only one system, has no legacy systems or who uses nothing but Blackberries then they will be the ones who will save money.

The inclusion of the archiving element to Exchange 2010 has already been mentioned in the storage area of the benefits, but can also be highlighted again in its own right. The ability to archive its own mail is an added benefit, and one of the reasons the platform is more expensive. The cost saving implication is that you don’t have to use third party vendors for email archiving.

The assumption here is that you have enough IT staff to index emails, retrieve them from storage, can extract them and make them usable. Also that you don’t mind having your Exchange servers running the significant processing overhead of full-text indexing to allow this to happen.

For those organizations who are committed to use Microsoft products and have the spare budget, Exchange 2010 will be a good investment. It can do more, offers more and is easier to manage and use than Exchange 2007. The ability to have voicemails translated to text is a good feature, as is the archive function. From the beta, Exchange 2010 looks to be a polished and capable platform for future email messaging. If you have the budget to cope with the upgrade.

The impending launch of Microsoft Exchange 2010 got quite a few SaaS vendors worried when they first heard about it. The new built-in archiving features of the platform were one of the main reasons they were in business.

I don’t think it is the end of SaaS email archiving services, not by a long shot. Firstly the email archiving is basic, and requires the clients to use Outlook 2010, which isn’t out yet except in beta as part of the Office 2010 suite.

Secondly using Exchange 2010 involves a significant investment in hardware, software and support. Something which many organizations just can’t afford right now. Considering many vendors offer the equivalent benefits already for a much lower cost, take up of Exchange and Outlook 2010 is expected to be limited for a year or so. Or at least until the economies of the world pick up.

The Exchange archival model also depends on the storage capabilities of the company. Unless many companies drastically improve their storage solutions, mailboxes will be limited, or restricted and the archive facility will lay idle. While hard drives are relatively inexpensive, they are still an added expense.

Many organization don’t allow full-text indexing on their Exchange servers. We all know this puts quite an overhead on the Exchange server, and will only work efficiently on low scale or low use platforms. Larger scale organizations simply can’t afford the slowdown in performance full indexing involves. The multi-mailbox search in Exchange 2010 depends on full-text indexing to work, therefore is largely useless.

Email archiving is based on three requirements. Storage, discovery and compliance. Exchange 2010 only addresses two of these concerns and those only on a basic level. The storage needs a hardware solution to make it work. Exchange has done much to improve how it handles storage by allowing multiple copies of databases, mailboxes and data. E-discovery is only addressed on a basic level, and as we see indexing involves compromises. Also emails can only be copied to another mailbox, not extracted from the system and provided immediately.

Compliance isn’t even touched by the new platform, so many organizations, especially those regulated by the SEC will still need a third party solution.

Exchange a made great strides in increasing management, usability, scalability and seems to be trying to drive down the cost of ownership. There are compromises though, the initial installation will cost a lot, both in time, resources and money. A new infrastructure will most likely be needed, involving the hardware, software and network. Then training for the support staff, as the new platform has many new features, and ways of doing things.

So SaaS email archiving vendors don’t have too much to worry about just yet. It’s going to be a year or three before Exchange 2010 is rolled out across the globe.

In this world, it require some time for various things to get settled. What ever it is whether we talk about the new products or some software, people need to accustom themselves with this new change. And people will appreciate it only if it passes their criterion. By criterion, we mean to say that the effectiveness of the software and products is worth investing. You might find it amazing, but 5 years back, people were unaware of Face book, Twitter and other social book marking site. And now no one can resist without these exciting sites. So in accordance to this laid strategy, most of you might have a question in mind that will Microsoft exchange 2010 cope up with the present competitive era. Well yes, the results which have come so far are truly amazing. But can not jump to the result rapidly. We should wait and watch and then decide about it. No doubt Microsoft has understood the changing trend and in accordance to that they have launched this new software. Microsoft have learnt from their past weakness and tried to cover them in this software. And to some extent they have got success as well. Let’s see what the serious changes which Microsoft has brought out are.

Microsoft in their software has laid a great emphasis on the practical life of the people. They have tried to provide the people what they wanted. This Microsoft exchange is also a good example of that. You all can use it in your house, offices or in other platforms. Basically Microsoft exchange 2010 is a communication tool, but you all can do it in style using it. Communication is not limited to the mail receiving and sending but you all can start live voice conversation with your client when ever you wanted. The reliability of Microsoft exchange 2010 is also quite awesome. You all just cannot find a better alternative of this software. There is nothing which you will complaint of. Every thing has been laid down in the desired format and style, so you will surely appreciate it. More over, the complex task which you find in the previous version of exchange has been paid proper attention and to some extent they have been simplified as well. This software will make you more independent in your approach. You do not need to depend upon the Microsoft exchange support in order to rectify various tasks. Now you will decide when to take help and when to not. Microsoft exchange 2010 is immense software with innumerable thing for you to explore. This is just the beginning of it.

It is always a better option to be safe than sorry. And in this tough economic era, people really don’t want to take any risks. That’s why many of you look for the trial version of Microsoft exchange 2010, in order to get themselves accustomed to all the features and concepts which this software includes. So you all can install the software, it is available at present. The installation process is simple and quite similar to the others software. You don’t need to do any thing new to get the task completed.

The basic requirement of this software is Windows Server 2008. Without the support of this Windows server, you may find some problem in the installation process of Microsoft exchange 2010. A good alternative to it is its Enterprise version. The basic reason behind it is that many of the Exchange 2010 features works only on these Windows system. So, there is not much option available to you in this respect.

Ok so after you successfully installed the software, now is the time to for you to install several pre requisites related to it. Such components including Web server, Web database, Web Net framework and so on. There is a whole lot of list for that. It will be better to install all the requisites for the proper functioning. However, a lot of components have been reduced in the Microsoft exchange 2010. You might have heard about Fail over clustering, you do not need to install it. Like this many other complex things have also been eliminated.

All these tasks will be performed by you only. You just need to select the options which you want in the Microsoft exchange 2010 and then all will be done. There is a feature in which you can dynamically install the mail lists along with the installation of the software’s requisites. So, this will save your lots of precious time. You need to click on various things before the actual install button appears. So, just have a little patience. If you will do all the thing with a cool mind, then your mind will not feel the tiredness. But once you get over with the installation process, it is time for you to start some serious work. Though it might take some time, but think of the benefits which you are going to experience afterwards.  It is really tempting to think about it.

Microsoft is a user friendly company and has always listened to the complaints of the users and this is the main reason why their products are so much in demand. They never hesitate to bring new innovation in their products and have often come out with some thing new. This can be easily seen from the Microsoft Exchange 2007 and now from Microsoft exchange 2010. They have always moved a couple of step ahead than us. This latest software has been recently released and from its first glance it seems to be the real gift for the people. Users will find all the complex task in Exchange 2007 in a simplified manner in exchange 2010.

In Microsoft exchange 2010, all the previous features have been updated and presented to you all in a new style. Most of the problems which administers used to face in its previous versions have been sorted out. Though the basic task of the Microsoft Exchange 2010 is still the same, but certainly there are various new things for you. The first novelty which you will find in this immense software is RBAC or Role based Exchange control. Most of the users demand of performing tasks independently. They do not want to kill their time each time with the interference of the Exchange interface. This demand has been granted in the form of RBAC. So have a good look at it.

Moving a bit forward, another interesting point for you all is Web based exchange control panel.  Microsoft exchange 2010 is a web based interface in which all the tasks can be completed with few clicks here and there. It will release the tension of administers a large extent. Management of messages, or the creation and deleting of distribution list can be easily accomplished in this Web based interface. Every thing will be taught to you like: how to use various features, how to operate them, and stuff like this can be easily understood with the help of the tutorial which they have for you. So just check it out.

But the significant development which took place is in the field of voicemails. In the previous version of Microsoft Exchange, users are only limited to access the mail box and check messages, but you can start a voice realm using exchange 2010. There is a feature named voice mail preview in which you can start the exchange of text and voice conversation with your client. This is extremely beneficial from the business perspective. What do you say about it?

Microsoft Exchange is one of the most widely used Microsoft Services, which have created a deep impact on the whole world. In today’s era, a large number of people depend upon Microsoft exchange to get their task fulfilled. The most exciting point about it is that you can use it out without having a physical email setup or server (what ever you may feel like calling it). And with the launch of Microsoft Exchange 2010, its demand has seriously increased. Now the question arises is that what is so special about this Microsoft Exchange version that it is so in demand, don’t we worry, we will make you available the answer to this question right here.

What to explore in Microsoft Exchange 2010:

•    A new inbox setup which has a feature named voice mail preview, which allows you an opportunity to have a chat session with your client right there.
•    New rules have been setup for the answering of the calls, which have made this setup some what easy for you. You can now decide that which call you need to attend and which to avoid.
•    You will be provided certain mail tips, by following which you can avoid making common mistakes in your emails.
•    It is more reliable than its other versions due to its high availability in any surrounding, back up facilities and the recovery of various data and other files. This is what most people wished for. Isn’t it?
•    It is really cost effective software to enjoy all the exciting features.
•    There is a huge inbox storage capacity provided to you. In fact, there has been a reduction of more than 50 percent of the mail storage costs.
•    Comprehensive safe software to be used. All your files, data and other documents will be entirely secured from any kind of misuse. You can be rest assured about that.
•    Ease in performing various administrative tasks is also a focal point of this software. You will be offered more freedom for performing different tasks. All the tasks have been simplified so it will save lots of your time.
•    You will get the text preview or more precisely we should say the alert in your PC or notebook regarding the delivery of a message. You can either reply him back by mail or can even conversate with him. It will not require much of your time to start the conversation.
•    Apart from all these, there are various technological benefits as well, which you will find beneficial when you start using it. So keep that in mind.

Microsoft Exchange 2007 introduced a new concept to of log shipping. This log shipping feature allows you to replicate data to local disks, we more precisely say it Local continuous replication. You can also replicate your data and other files to a server situated else where. This same log shipping feature has been made the core characteristic of Microsoft Exchange 2010. Microsoft has presented the same with a new touch, in order to make this feature more productive and useful. Users will find using it more convenient as every thing has been organized correctly. We have listed four of the notable core features, which Microsoft have included in the Exchange 2010. Let’s see what they actually are:

• The foremost among them is the elimination of complex concepts, concept of storage group for instance. This feature has been found really significant as it allows the users to utilize the database more appropriately. Database will serve like a major management unit. As in log shipping, only one database is included in the storage group, so this action from Microsoft seems to be really a nice one. I am sure that users will appreciate it.

• Another good step taken by Microsoft is the elimination of copy clusters (single), from the Microsoft exchange 2010. This step makes us aware of the fact that there is a gradual change in the ideology of Microsoft. They have shifted from the storage of data in the single system to the multiple of copies of data in various different setups. This actually increases the reliability and performance of the Microsoft Exchange 2010. The LCR or Local continuous replication has also been eliminated from the core support, as it offers only a limited option to the users.

• A new core support of database availability groups (DAGs) can be found in exchange 2010. DAG allows a user to practically create a group of servers (depends upon you to determine the numbers) and one can mark or unmark various databases in this group for replication. In the long run, you will definitely be benefited from the feature. As such DAG is a very wide concept to understand. But we don’t need to go too deep right now.

• The client access has also been widened in Microsoft exchange 2010. This has been done by the introduction of RPC Client Access layer. If you are using this concept then you are allowed to decide that which hosts will serve the mailbox and keep you update of the messages. You just need to click some option here and there and then it is set. So don’t worry about its complexness.

Despite the significant expense, there are compelling reasons for some businesses to migrate to Exchange 2010, and we shall discuss five of them here.

While the recession may have bottomed out, and the talk of “green shoots” increasing, confidence is still low and money still tight. You couldn’t imagine a worse time for a company to launch a new platform, even if it is Microsoft and even if that platform is the long-awaited Exchange 2010.

Businesses are facing unprecedented pressure to cut costs and save money. Why then are some considering spending time, money and effort on improving a system that already works quite well? Here are five reasons why.

Voicemail

Exchange 2010 has a feature called Voicemail Preview which allows users to view a transcription of the voicemail within Outlook. Voicemail has always been something of a clunky technology. Noise or interference at either end of the conversation can render it useless. Unless a voicemail system is rigorously maintained, it has a tendency to lose, overwrite or not even record messages. It is also too easy to accidentally delete them. The ability to have a transcript of the message allow users to use it much more freely, cut and paste it, forward it on to other parties and have a permanent record of the transaction.

Information Security

We all worry about data loss, either by accident or on purpose. Exchange 2010 comes with an enhanced Information Rights Management feature that can automatically identify predefined keywords in all emails. This allows a much stricter approach to users being able to share internal information and can reduce data leakage significantly. There are plenty of third party applications that can do this, but having it built in to the system is a bonus.

Data Sharing

One the other side of the coin from information security is the ability to share information with partners and other approved organizations. Information such as calendars, tasks, distribution lists and other data with external partners as if they were part of the same organization. This adds a valuable feature for project oriented companies that use a lot of external talent, but needs to co-ordinate them all.

Reliability

The new Database Availability Group feature (DAG) allows database replication across an entire infrastructure both remote and local. This allows for multiple failovers without loss of service. While this adds complications to the migration and maintenance, it is ideal for high availability environments who depend on email.

Storage

Email has always been a storage heavy entity. With Exchange 2010 the storage requirements are much lower, up to 70% in fact. SAN expenditure is significant for many large organizations, and the introduction of this new system should save on storage costs. Direct-attached storage (DAS) technology can also be used in place of SAN to lower costs even more.

So while the thought of migrating to Exchange 2010 is still a daunting prospect there is still a case for doing it. These five benefits make may the difference for an organization and make the whole process worthwhile.