ExchangeDefender Essentials Launch Webinar
Last week we launched ExchangeDefender Essentials to our partner base and unveiled the new products, the new pricing, the new business model behind it (and the ability to sell it directly) as well as a lot more details. This is a private preview for our partners and the official press release will follow on March 1st.. but for now you can check out the video and be ahead of the curve.
Download ExchangeDefender Essentials Launch Video
Or you can order it today in the Service Manager and be way ahead of the game. The feedback so far – on the price alone – has been tremendous. We look forward to adding you to the ExchangeDefender family and giving you yet another way to compete in the marketplace and earn more business.
Don’t give your clients any reason to say no!
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek, MCSE
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
(407) 536-VLAD
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone from ExchangeDefender!!!
Everyone check your mailbox! We love our partners and we want to give you all a special promotion for this Valentine’s Day!
We are running an Exchange promotion! For a limited time, we are offering Hosted Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010 for $8.00/mailbox and Hosted Exchange Essentials 2010 for $6.00/mailbox. The promotion will run from February 14th – March 14th and be valid on any and all new accounts that are signed up during the promotional period when using the coupon code given.
Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 Includes:
*Microsoft Exchange 2010
*Microsoft SharePoint 2010
*ExchangeDefender:
*SPAM & Virus Filtering
*Web Filtering
*Web File Sharing
*Encryption
*Compliance Archiving
*Live Archive Business Continuity
*Outlook License
Hosted Exchange Essentials:
*Microsoft Exchange 2010
*ExchangeDefender Essentials
*SPAM & Virus Filtering, Business Continuity
Check your mailbox for a postcard or go to www.exchangedefender.com/promotions.php for more information and to get the coupon code.
Stephanie Hasenour
VP Marketing, ExchangeDefender
stephanie@ownwebnow.com
Rockerduck Maintenance
On February 9th – February 11th 2012 the ExchangeDefender staff performed maintenance on the Rockerduck cluster in which two separate individual ‘outages’ affected client access on the late half of the evenings and early half of the following morning on February 9th -10th and February 10th-11th .
On the eve of Feb. 9th 2012 (~11:30 PM Eastern) we began upgrades on a failed/failing VPN device that is used to connect ROCKERDUCK:DAL and ROCKERDUCK:LA active directory and internal communication between sites. During the upgrade we began to notice random network related events in which communication seemed saturated and sluggish and randomly affected across the entire network. After various attempts (and configurations) to bring the new VPN router online we determined that the new VPN device was occasionally malfunctioning and flooding the network with ‘dead packets’. Unfortunately the massive flood of packets from the VPN device caused the Database Availability Group (DAG) on ROCKERDUCK to lose communication between nodes and eventually lose quorum. Once quorum was lost between nodes all databases between both sites were automatically dismounted as the DAG was considered unhealthy to Exchange. For the next few hours we worked to restore service to RD clients by replacing the failed VPN routers with our backup VPNs (new vendor) and restoring communication with Los Angeles. After communication was re-established clients were able to access their mailboxes. This outage affected all clients and lasted between the hours of midnight and roughly 3:15 AM.
On the eve of Feb. 10th (~10:30 PM Eastern) we began work to finalize the VPN communication by consolidating both VPN devices in California to the one backup vendor VPN device. The reason we elected to replace the ‘working’ VPN device in California was due to the fear of the abnormal workings of the similar VPN device in Dallas. As part of our protocol to ‘down’ a data center in Exchange hosting we paused SMTP services on Rockerduck. After replacing the VPN device in California we resumed all services (including SMTP) and mail resumed normal flow. Around 5:30 AM Eastern we started to receive alerts about back pressured queues in Rockerduck which would amount to delivery delays. Upon investigation it was discovered that the issue was mail delivery between the EDGE server network and the HUB server network on RD. After two hours of investigating the issue internally (and opening a case with Microsoft) we were able to determine that our course of action would be reapplying the SP2 update to the edge networks. Once SP2 was reapplied to all EDGE nodes mail delivery returned on ROCKERDUCK by 9:15 AM Eastern.
Finally there were about 5% of users who were left in a disconnected state through Outlook but had service through OWA (and some through active sync) between Saturday and Sunday as the database their mailboxes were housed was moved to Los Angeles for the content index database in Dallas to rebuild for RDDB9. Service was restored to these users by noon Eastern.
Travis Sheldon
VP, Network Operations, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x757
travis@ownwebnow.com
This Week in Development…
This week the development team here at ExchangeDefender has been working towards internal fixes and upgrades across several platforms. The next few months are going to be jammed packed with a lot of exciting additions, which will help us assist you and your clients more efficiently. We’ve also made several additions and corrections inside of the Shockey Monkey service manager module.
A few areas we addressed internally were in regards to account creation and error handling when it comes to provisioning Hosted Exchange accounts. We have addressed the rare instances where an account(s) would get stuck in the “pending” state upon attempting to create a new mailbox. We were also receiving reports of several issues with the service manager when using “Internet Explorer”; we have corrected these issues as well. Essentially we’ve been trying to smooth the entire ordering process out and help make new account creations and modifications a more pleasant experience.
In regards to new features inside of the service manager, users now have the ability to add or remove distribution group account aliases. What this feature does is allow the distribution group to receive email from more than one address and still distribute the message as if it was sent to the primary email. We decided to implement this feature now because it became a request that kept growing and growing as more and more partners were creating distribution groups for their clients.
I’m looking forward to discussing the future products and changes that will occur within the next few months and helping shed light on the technical aspect of how these new products will function throughout you every day routines.
Hank Newman
VP Development, ExchangeDefender
hank@ownwebnow.com
Three Reasons Why the ExchangeDefender Launch Webcast is Going to Be Awesome!
1.) How much time do you and your team spend each month administering your client relationships that can’t be billed back to them? That is a number good business owners are constantly working to drive down. You’ll find out how we have eliminated the most difficult part of managing ExchangeDefender products and services.
2.) Whatever the specific size and scope of your clients’ needs, the ExchangeDefender suite including Essentials can help you deliver just the services that your clients really need at an unbeatable price. You’ll find out how you can make a bigger margin while delivering “right-sized” solutions.
3.) Understand how delivering built-in free business continuity can permanently change your client relationships for the better. What if you could add this value to every client engagement without increasing your costs?
Join us for the ExchangeDefender Essentials launch webcast on Thursday, February 16th at Noon EST.
Register here: http://www.exchangedefender.com/blog/2012/02/essentials-launch/
Do you find this information useful?
If you’d like a lot more in-depth discussion about the cloud and how it affects you and your clients, visit Looks Cloudy http://www.lookscloudy.com where I blog daily about the adoption of the cloud in SMB, conduct live webcasts and podcasts with industry leaders, and much more.
Kate Hunt
VP Community Development, ExchangeDefender
kate@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x777
Essentials Launch
Please join us next Thursday, February 16th, at noon EST for the launch of ExchangeDefender Essentials suite.
Click here to register now, limited capacity:
We have blogged a lot about ExchangeDefender Essentials, E^3, Emergency and we’re officially launching it next week. This is our biggest competitive product launch so please make sure you tune in for special pricing offer that will be extended only during the webinar (you can lock it in, no purchase necessary).
Talk to you next Thursday!
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek, MCSE
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
(407) 536-VLAD
How Buzzwords and Jargon Get in the Way of Selling Compliance Archive
ExchangeDefender Compliance Archive is a secure, long term storage, recovery and eDiscovery system that ensures compliance with regulatory requirements established by IRS, HIPAA, SOX and SEC. ExchangeDefender Compliance Archive functionality is provided free – we only charge for the cost of storage. ExchangeDefender Compliance Archive uses the latest Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server technology to archive, index and replicate messages safely and securely. All data is further encrypted and backed up offsite to ensure ultimate resiliency in case of a disaster.
Makes perfect sense, right? The problem is, when you say something like this to many small business owners, it makes them feel very uncomfortable, even if meeting a compliance requirement is really important to them. And as we all should know, uncomfortable clients tend to keep their wallets closed.
The key to selling Compliance Archive to the small business is very simple: lose the buzzwords and jargon. Think about it this way: those small business owners are experts at some line of business that is NOT technology, and are choosing both to trust in and to pay for someone else’s knowledge and expertise in their chosen line of business, which IS technology.
Certainly, small business clients usually need some education, particularly during the sales process. That’s a part of your job as the technology expert, too. Rather than deliver your message in jargon and acronym-laden tech and compliance speak, though, the better way to win is to highlight the benefits of compliance email archiving beyond just actual compliance itself. It’s as if we are losing something by leaving our clients to “translate” for themselves, and it makes it harder to sell compliance archiving services.
It turns out that may be exactly what it is. We’ve learned from our partners that small business clients rarely care about all the regulatory compliance acronyms and regulation language or details – they just want the peace of mind of knowing they meet the requirements. Business decision makers also don’t like the idea of paying for “regulatory compliance,” but they love the idea of being able to find any email they sent or received over the past 10 years without having to buy extra servers, more software or deal with cumbersome MS Outlook. Even better, most everyone understands and is comfortable with a flat per-user storage fee (just $3.99 per month) that isn’t dependent on any measured unit of storage.
When you address the real problems and speak in a language of true benefits that people want, you’ll find there are far fewer objections over price and questions about features they don’t understand, and that deals close more quickly and more smoothly.
Do you find this information useful?
If you’d like a lot more in-depth discussion about the cloud and how it affects you and your clients, visit Looks Cloudy http://www.lookscloudy.com where I blog daily about the adoption of the cloud in SMB, conduct live webcasts and podcasts with industry leaders, and more.
Kate Hunt
VP Community Development, ExchangeDefender
kate@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x777
Core Stability & API Extensions
These past few weeks the development team has been focused on improving internal core processes across our Shockey Monkey and ExchangeDefender products. The goal was to encompass all of the changes and issues reported throughout last year and implement solutions going forward. We’ve also been working on developing the foundation for many exciting additions that will premiere at various times throughout this year!
One of the core implementations that happened last week was a revision to our Hosted Exchange account automation software. This component is responsible for handling the ordering process for Hosted Exchange, Public Folders, Distribution Groups, and External Contacts. What this translates into is a “faster & more accurate” ordering process for our partners and their clients. We’ve also implemented a more intelligent logging system that will allow us troubleshoot and possibly script automatic corrections when an issue does occur within our software.
We’ve also been making several additions to the public API as we speak with more and more partners who are interested in having a viable integration into our software. We recently added the ability to limit results based on a ‘lastupdate’ timestamp and implemented several invoice methods to retrieve information from the accounting module. We are still working on and exploring the possibilities of enhancing the current Restful API and implementing a SOAP counterpart.
So in summary, we have finished our January goals and have completed the majority of the core framework for our future projects. I can’t discuss these projects yet, but once they get closer to release I will provide a technical overview of how they work and what to expect when using these applications.
Hank Newman
VP Development, ExchangeDefender
hank@ownwebnow.com
How Customers and Communication Has Changed Marketing
As the world gets more and more socially in tune and connected, it is vital for marketing to change in order to effectively reach those social networks. As I explained in my last blog post, the traditional 4 P’s of marketing are essential to effectively market your products and services. That is still true; however, there is also a new theory or approach of marketing that has been outlined by a few sources as the new wave of marketing. This change is due mainly to the way that the world communicates and the way that the world engages in doing business has changed.
The strategy of the 4 P’s of marketing has been in use and referred to since the early 1960’s. Obviously, a lot has changed in the business world since that time. Marketers and businesses set the stage and controlled the markets as a whole. There were not a lot of differences or features associated with products and services. Nowadays, the marketing world is completely different!!! Now, the client/customer is in control, most markets have separated or fragmented into multiple ones making it harder to reach groups. Also, there are so many alternatives, choices, and competition when it comes to products and services. Social media and the way that people communicate have been major players in the change of how successful marketing is done.
As with anything, especially in business, as trends change, you must adapt if you want to stay ahead of the curve and be successful with your business. To apply that way of thinking into marketing, here is a new idea for a fresh marketing framework, replace the 4 P’s with the 4 E’s: 
Product > Experience
Place > Everywhere
Price > Exchange
Promotion > Excitement
Product > Experience
In the old model, the first “P” was “Product”, which is about highlighting a single product or service. Now, products change constantly, features are added, the design changes, etc. By switching the first element to an E for Experience, you can stop focusing on just the product and start thinking about the overall experience for your target market. A great way to start doing this is to discover the process that a customer goes through when looking for something to purchase. To help to pinpoint your customer’s experience with your product or service, start asking yourself questions: How do customers shop for their products and services?, When do purchases occur?, Who or what influences buying decisions?, What happens after something is purchased?, Do they buy again? If you aren’t asking yourself these types of questions it will be hard to understand the customer experience, thus being able to better market your offerings to them. This is important because when you focus your marketing efforts to revolve around the experience rather than just the product you can really tap into what is most important for your customers.
Place > Everywhere
In the old model, the second “P” was “Place”, but now it is not about bringing customers to a certain place it is about being where the customers are. Start by switching the second element to “Everywhere”, because everywhere your clients are, you can be! Now to grab attention you don’t have to interrupt and pester, you have to intercept and capture consumers in their time and meeting them on their terms. A great way to take advantage of this is to advertise and market where your clients are. Use social media; take advantage of Facebook and Twitter, etc. Social media is a great avenue to announce changes, promotions, offers, etc., because customers don’t have to search for things, it is brought to their attention while they are engaging in their normal everyday habits; thus, making the process easier for them, and also making buying decisions easier for them.
Price > Exchange
In the old model, the third “P” was for “Price”. Literally meaning, we provide you a product and you give us money to pay for the product, period. By switching the third element to “Exchange”, you can highlight the value of the product. In this part of the equation you should ask yourself: What is my client paying for?, What does my client want in our products or services?, What are we willing to offer them? These questions will help you to determine the exchange that will happen when something is purchased. There will not only be a monetary exchange, but also an exchange of value. You will provide value to your clients because your products and services give them a solution to their problems or needs.
Promotion > Excitement
In the old model the fourth “P” was for “Promotion”. With the new model, in essence, it hasn’t changed because there will always be a promotion or offering with marketing, however, now that focus has shifted to the “Excitement” that surrounds the promotion. The key ingredient to reach people is to target what matters to them, hitting on emotions, needs, etc. When you can generate energy and passion in what you are selling to your market, excitement is born. When there is excitement about a product or service people talk about it! This is where the new wave of communication takes over. Coupled together, word-of-mouth and social networking take that excitement and create a buzz about your products and services.
How is ExchangeDefender Utilizing the New 4 E’s of Marketing?
Experience: We understand the “Customer Experience” in working with ExchangeDefender. We want to make the experience great for our partners and very simple. We make all of our solutions very user-friendly and easy to use. We provide training materials, whitepapers, support documentation, videos, and marketing collateral to make it easy and beneficial to have a partnership with us.
Everywhere: We go where our market is! We attend and sponsor the same tradeshows and conferences that our partners and target markets attend. We know that you are looking for solutions and partners that will help you to more effectively service your clients and offer them valuable products and services that will help to better run your businesses. We also stay plugged in with social networking, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and post blogs to keep you updated on what we are doing and how we can help you be successful.
Exchange: With all of our offerings there is a lot more than just an exchange of money for services. We offer our partners value! All of our offerings are all-inclusive – we don’t nickel and dime for advanced features. We believe in an all-you-can-eat strategy, which in turn provides value for you. We also provide free support, training, and best practices to our partners.
Excitement: We provide excitement with our products and services by catering to what the channel and our partners are looking for. We listen to word-of-mouth, social networking hype, and the needs of our partners and strive to fulfill those needs with our solutions. Also, we create excitement around our company because we are very passionate about our offerings and our partners and truly believe that we provide great solutions to our partner base.
Stephanie Hasenour
VP Marketing, ExchangeDefender
stephanie@ownwebnow.com
ExchangeDefender Essentials Emergency
Last quarter we launched a slimmed down version of ExchangeDefender to be packaged with Exchange Essentials 2010 and as a standalone product. This product was launched to provide a similar price point and feature set as some less robust Spam & Security solutions out in the channel. However, we were never comfortable with not offering a bundled-in business continuity solution. Enter… ExchangeDefender Essentials Emergency.
Emergency is the business continuity solution that is now bundled in with ExchangeDefender Essentials. It will capture a copy of all incoming email in similar fashion, but only inbound mail with a retention policy of 5 days for all items. This email is accessible via web portal and POP3/IMAP4 (although currently we are limiting the ability on the POP/IMAP to just download messages (to avoid open relay situations). So your clients will be able to continue to do business with the ability to receive, reply to, and create new emails from their real email address during an outage. Remember, that our 7 day spooling/mail bagging system is still in place so a combination of the two should minimize your client’s inconvenience.
The web portal is available at:
https://emergency.exchangedefender.com
Credentials:
Your primary user email address with ExchangeDefender (you cannot log in with an alias address) and your current ExchangeDefender password.
Once you log in all of your email will be available, with your identity pre-configured for use. There is no additional set up required. You can start reading and firing off emails as quickly as you can type.
Setting up Outlook (remember Read/DL message access only currently)
Fill out the information as below:
Your email address and user name are the same as your primary address in ExchangeDefender. The POP3/IMAP4 server is emergency.exchangedefender.com. Everything is on the standard ports for both SSL and non.
Our CEO, Vlad Mazek, will be providing a broader overview on emergency and its feature set when we officially roll it out in the next 2 weeks.
Carlos Lascano
VP Support Services, ExchangeDefender
carlos@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x737