Linux Web Hosting Updated to PHP 5.3
Over the weekend our Linux web hosting infrastructure was upgraded to PHP 5.3. The previous release of PHP 5.1.6 was getting out of date for a lot of social applications that dominate todays deployment base. You will now be able to run the latest WordPress, Joomla and other CMS and shopping cart sites without a problem.
If you have any legacy PHP applications that were written in PHP4 and early PHP5 days, you may notice that some functionality does not work. Consult your software vendor for an update that functions with PHP 5.3 and above. If your application is not supported on the new platform of PHP and you do not have the resources to make an immediate switch to an alternative, we do have a www2legacy web infrastructure in place that will support older applications. We will make the accommodations and the switch to the legacy platform for a small one-time fee but do keep in mind that the legacy platform will be discontinued in March of 2013. We have provided more than a 1 year announcement of our intention to upgrade our network infrastructure to the latest PHP so if this caught you by surprise we will still do what we can to make sure you have a smooth transition.
For a list of features in PHP 5.3.x and old deprecated functions:
Enjoy the new web apps and upgrade as fast as you can. If we can accommodate your legacy applications just let us know.
Thank you for your business.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
Introducing ExchangeDefender CloudShare
It’s a great pleasure to introduce everyone to CloudShare: ExchangeDefender powered file sharing and syncronization platform. Available today absolutely free of charge (1GB) our platform will allow you to install our CloudShare software on any PC or Server and pick folders to sync between your systems with documents always securely stored in the cloud and available to you whenever you need them, where ever you want them.
The big idea, quite simply, is to move your file server into the cloud where it can be:
– Distributed: copied to multiple servers
– Secure: Encrypted transfer, encrypted storage
– Trusted: Every access is logged and can be tracked
– Redundant: Every file is copied to two geographically redundant servers
The best part? Even though your files are copied to the cloud for easy access, backup and replication they will still be on your hard drive. This means you will interact with those files the same you do now, with the same applications you use now. For example, you could use Microsoft Word to edit a document, save it, and it will automagically be sync’d with your CloudShare and changes applied to the copy that is sitting on your laptop, home PC or anywhere else you have CloudShare saved.
There are many similar solutions out there but CloudShare is simply the one that is actually built for business.
This fall we will be releasing an ExchangeDefender CloudShare appliance which will be an affordable way to bring all your cloud data back to your office at a fraction of the cost of owning a server and without all the expensive management and continuity software.
To hear a more detailed discussion of this solution please download a copy of the webinar we held last week:
ExchangeDefender CloudShare Webinar (30mb)
You might need a GoToWebinar Codec
This is one of the most exciting solutions we have ever launched and probably the most timely one ever as well now that Microsoft has announced the death of Microsoft SBS solution that was beloved and used by so many small businesses. It’s clear that everyone has decided that the cloud and mobility is the future of computing in SMB – and we don’t argue that – but many of our partners and clients feel that they still want to control all of their precious data and we are making that possible. Just because you are going to be mobile and leverage the cloud doesn’t mean you want to be irresponsible with your data and not have any control over it at all, right?
Besides, it’s free. So contact your ExchangeDefender partner and have them show you the best way to configure this new technology to safeguard your business.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
ExchangeDefender Managed Messaging
The sites are done and marketing campaign starts towards the end of next week. As we’ve told you in the last webinar, we’re going to be extremely aggressive in bringing the most complete messaging solution to market.. and it starts now.
ExchangeDefender Managed Messaging (click here for details) is ready to go.
It’s the the best technology around. Email. Security. Compliance. Instant messaging. Desktop Sharing. Online Conferencing. Encryption. Business Continuity. Exchange. SharePoint. Portals. Web File Sharing. Web Filtering. Geographic Redundancy. File Storage.
It’s so much more than technology. 24/7/365 Phone Support. Billing, service, management and support from the single provider. Unmatched service levels and a diversified service portfolio. Onboarding assistance. Migration assistance. Remote user management. Outlook deployment.
It’s designed for business. No anonymous service. No lack of human contact or support availability. No fingerpointing.
In a nutshell, if your organization needs communication services we can help. It’s just $20 / user / month. That is the total cost of ownership – we handle the Outlook deployment, email migration, SharePoint setup, ExchangeDefender setup and account provisioning, ongoing maintenance and the full suite of Microsoft and ExchangeDefender technologies for security, business continuity, email, chat, online presentations and more.
If you have not spoken to us about the partnership opportunity around this product there is no time like the present. Feel free to reach out to me directly. We are taking it upon ourselves to usher our partners into the cloud business model without risk, without expensive training, without commitment and without losing your client to a third party.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
Quarterly Meeting Summary
On Tuesday we held our quarterly meeting and announced our new roadmap for the rest of 2012 season. If you missed it by any chance don’t worry, it was recorded and I encourage you to watch it.
ExchangeDefender & Shockey Monkey Quarterly Meeting
Length: 45 minutes, 1:10 with Q&A
You may need a GoToMeeting codec (download)
This is the most important webinar we’ve ever held. You need to see it.
Everything that was announced will be launching over the next 30 days and just about everything will impact you.
In short, ExchangeDefender Security now includes advanced encryption (lexicon, pattern matching, recipient policies, smart routing and compliance officer support). ExchangeDefender organizationally is launching Managed Messaging, a full 360 online communications product that includes presales, onboarding, email migration, Outlook setup and 24/7 support. We’re also enhancing our security and extending the capabilities of Level 1 support to open tickets and help troubleshoot issues over the phone (previously reserved to higher tiers). We are making our tech savvy partners more equipped to take a larger share of the communications pie while enabling companies that don’t want to run into the cloud a way to have us do it all on their behalf.
We’re effectively doubling our scope of services and our business. All in hope that it makes us your biggest partner.
Over the next two weeks we will be introducing you to the concepts here as well as my take on my personal blog. The feedback on our direction has been amazing so far – and on behalf of the ExchangeDefender teams, I look forward to working hard for you to continue making you successful.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, Own Web Now Corp
vlad@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x500
New Changes Coming to our Hosted Exchange
Today is a very exciting day for our Hosted Exchange team as we have finally approved the use of Address Book Policies in our provisioning process (Introduced in Exchange 2010 SP2).
Address Book Policies
Address Book Policies allow Exchange Administrators to easily assign and separate address lists for clients so that clients only see objects from their organization without using ACLs or AD splicing. Prior to the approval of ABP we’ve always used ACLs to control address list segregation in our Hosted Exchange offering. In short, when a new “company” is added to Exchange, we take their primary domain and group all users based on original domain. For the most part, this approach worked well. However, there were certain situations that this would not fare well. For instance, if a new company was split into two sub companies and they joined hosted Exchange then each sub company would only be able to see their own users UNLESS all mailboxes were added with the same primary domain in the order.
With Address Book Policies we now have the ability to create an overall policy for the “Company” which links the appropriate address lists and offline address books to each user. This change will allow companies to utilize multiple primary domains and still see all users in the company. By default we will still create companies as “separate” organizations, but partners can now request that domains for a company be linked together.
The change to automation will be introduced to Rockerduck and LOUIE this week and monitored for a week before rolling the change to all 2010 servers.
Travis Sheldon
VP, Network Operations, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x757
travis@ownwebnow.com
Choosing Your Customers!
Can you choose your customers???
Yes, you can choose them, not always the other way around. You can choose your customers with your pricing, your content, your promotion, your marketing strategies, and your product line.
When choosing your marketing efforts, and thus your customers, you should consider:
Based on what you are offering, how much does this type of customer need you/depend on you?
How difficult is this sort of customer to find/reach?
What does this type of customer need?
How valuable is a customer like this?
How demanding will this customer be?
It’s not a matter of who can benefit from what you sell. It’s about choosing the customers you’d like to have and helping them benefit from what you have to offer.
By asking yourself these questions you can better attract the types of customers that you would like to work with.
At ExchangeDefender, our efforts have brought us a partner base that we truly enjoy working with! All of our partners know what to expect from the partnership upon their signup. We clearly state and outline what they get as part of partnering with ExchangeDefender. Our terms of service, TOS, outlines the way that our technical support and business support works, and the best way to get assistance when it is needed. Also, all of our products and services are heavily promoted, documented, and made available for partners to have access to and we provide materials which make it easier for you to be profitable.
Also, we make it easy for customers to choose us. We work closely with partners and are available for help and questions 24x7x365! Also we offer great deals and promotions that help our partner base benefit! Check out www.exchangedefender.com/promotions.php to keep up with promotions that we are running! Currently we are running the Valentine’s Day Hosted Exchange and Exchange Essentials Promotion!
Stephanie Hasenour
VP Marketing, ExchangeDefender
stephanie@ownwebnow.com
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
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
Exchange Identity Switcher
One of the most common questions that our support team receives with Hosted Exchange is “How can my client choose which email address I want to send as?” and many partners are shocked to hear the answer “You can’t”.
The above limitation has always existed in Exchange as you can only have one “outgoing” address. Sure, you can create another profile in Outlook and send via SMTP or create a distribution group and add send-as rights..but what do you do if you’re on hosted exchange and you don’t have the freedom to control addresses and configurations at will or find it rather rudimentary?
*Drum roll*
Now you can…
For the first time (as far as I can tell for any hosting provider) partners/clients will have the ability to control their outgoing address in our Hosted Exchange.
Utilizing our API and a brand new API designed by the ExchangeDefender team for direct client Exchange interaction we now can extend the ability for clients to control their outgoing address on the fly.
The current beta product is a windows based application and will soon be converted to an Outlook 2010 plugin.
If you or your clients are interested in test driving this software please reach out to me directly: travis@ownwebnow.com.
Note: This only applies to rockerduck.
Travis Sheldon
VP, Network Operations, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x757
travis@ownwebnow.com
How to Position Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 So That Anyone Will Want to Buy it
You may be saying “Wait, this sounds impossible” or “It is too good to be true.” That would be because it really is.
It is not possible to honestly position any one email product so that absolutely everyone will see real value in it – there are just too many varying sets of needs and requirements out there. But you can quickly and easily get a few pieces of information that you can use to show your clients how they can take advantage of the wealth of value within Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 from ExchangeDefender.
Your first task when you begin the sales conversation with any new client or prospect is to find out what Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 can do for them. How do you do that? By focusing NOT on the hosted exchange product or service, but rather on the client himself (or herself) and asking them the right questions, the right way.
In this questioning process you will find out what email service they are currently using, what issues they have with that service at that time, and how those issues are affecting them. The implications, or how their issues with their email service affect them, are the real meat that you are looking for.
What can Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 from ExchangeDefender do for them? Chances are good that once you understand the issues and how they are affecting the client’s business, you can very easily illustrate how Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 will alleviate those affects by eliminating the issues.
For example, if you hear from a small business client running someone else’s web-based email that the limited support is extending downtime and costing the client business, then you know that a brief mention of the quick and effective 24×7 support available through ExchangeDefender might be highly enlightening to them, and may serve to enhance your value proposition significantly.
Remember, positioning any product is all about building value proposition and painting a picture. Our CEO, Vlad Mazek, calls it “Selling the Dream” – help the client see exactly how much better their lives and business will be with Hosted Exchange 2010 + SharePoint 2010 from ExchangeDefender and closing the sale becomes the natural, easy result of the conversation.
Do you find this information useful?
If you would 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