Google Launches Sites for Google Apps! R.I.P. SharePoint?
As predicated back on February 6th, Google Sites (Wiki / JotSpot resurrection) is now part of Google Apps! This makes Google Apps an even more powerful and valuable set of tools. Now anyone can build dynamic websites and collaborate on them in real-time! This really makes Google Apps a "Sharepoint" killer. The amount of licensing fees, infrastructure requirements, hosting fees, just overall management and administration it requires to run SharePoint is overwhelming - even for an IT company like SADA. So this is definitely going to be one of those tools we use!
Google Apps that makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document.With Google Sites, people can quickly gather a variety of information in one place-- including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text -- and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, their entire organization, or the world.
Google Sites is the new version of JotSpot, which was acquired by Google in late 2006.As a former JotSpotter, it's particularly gratifying to see our wiki-based collaboration product surface on Google.com.
As noted on Google's blog post by Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead for Google Enterprise, "The Toolkit joins a few other open source projects that work with Google Apps, including the Google Email Uploader for migrating Outlook mail to a Google Apps mailbox and the Google Apps LDAP Sync project."
CSBA soft-launches Technology website for Small Business
I'm very proud to see the fruits of the labor which many amazing people have worked so hard to help bare. The California Small Business Education Foundation, made possible through a grant from the AT&T Foundation, has just quietly soft-launched TechForSmallBusiness.org.
The objective of the site is to provide an web 2.0 experience for Small Business owners who feel lost when it comes to technology, and are not quite sure to leverage it in today's marketplace to gain and maintain a competitive edge. It also aims to connect such small business owners with a 'certified' group of Information Technology services companies (like SADA) who are "small business friendly".
SADA has been involved in designing the standards by which other IT services companies can earn this distinction, and participated in the interview and screening process to help certify the first group of such companies which can be found here.
We are passionate about this because we understand how technology has leveled the playing field for those who know how to leverage it, allowing small business to compete with much larger ones IF (and it's a big IF), they understand technology from a business prospective. This is something we help our small business companies achieve, and we are excited about participating in an endeavor of this scale, which aims to fulfill this mission state-wide!
More information to come - though I wanted to post this, and thank Betty Jo Toccoli for taking this project on from the CSBA, to Terry Bibbens, who has a record and history in the IT industry far to long to name here, Abdi Ahmed from NetServe Systems and IT company which shared our vision, and the rest of the wonderful and dedicated team of individuals who have worked hard to make this a reality! This is only the beginning!
SADA helps sell Cisco Unified Communications for Pennies a day
Great article in Channel Insider:
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Selling Unified Communications for Pennies a Day
Cisco moves closer to hardware-as-a-service with a per-user, per-day pricing plan that charges about as much as for a daily newspaper and includes upfront costs.
Do your customers like the idea of unified communications but balk at the upfront price tag? A new financing option from Cisco attempts to jump that sales roadblock by breaking down UC costs to a per-user, per-day price for the end user.
The program, announced Feb. 25, uses financing from Cisco Capital to create an HAAS (hardware as a service) model for selling unified communications to small and midsize businesses. VARs set the end-user price, and can use a calculator on the partner portal to determine what that price should be.
"If we break the price into monthly chunks, that's a much easier conversation than 'Could you write me a check for $30,000?'" said Brad Kowerchuk, president of Bralin Technology Solutions, a Cisco partner in Saskatchewan, Canada.
"I think hardware as a service is where we ultimately can go with this," Kowerchuk said. "Photocopier guys have known this for decades. You pay them a maintenance fee, cut them a small check every month. With hardware as a service we are really just going in those footsteps."
Typically the per-day, per-user prices will be around the cost of a daily newspaper, according to Maryann Von Seggern, director of worldwide channels at Cisco Capital. Cisco showed some prepared examples of how the program could be implemented. For 22 users on a 36-month term, the price offered could be as low as 82 cents per user per day. On a 60-month term, pricing would drop to 62 cents per user per day. For 73 users a company would pay $1.15 per user per day for a 46-month term, or 86 cents per user per day for a 60-month term.
Provisioning large numbers of user accounts can be time consuming for administrators deploying Google Apps. The open source toolkit addresses the basic account provisioning needs of Universities, portals, and enterprises that are moving to Google Apps. The toolkit runs on any system that supports Apache, PHP, and Python, and is also available for download as a VMware appliance.
The toolkit was designed to address two common use cases: bulk provisioning and updating user accounts from information stored in a CSV, LDAP, or SQL data source, and enabling users to self-register their own new account through an authenticated web page. Commenting on the tool's performance, Tony Safoian, President/CEO of SADA Systems, Inc., said, “This solution will make it much easier for administrators to move their users to Google Apps. It also happens to be very fast, averaging 20 new accounts per second.”
SADA developed the toolkit in partnership with Google Enterprise. "SADA is a Google Enterprise partner with domain experience in provisioning large numbers of Google Apps users for Universities and enterprises. It made a lot of sense to tap in to their experience and collaborate with them on this open source project," said Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead for Google Enterprise. "This toolkit joins other open source projects like the Google Email Uploader that offer immediate value to users while also supporting commercial-friendly open source development."
SADA Systems, Inc. is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm founded in 2000. SADA works with its client base to develop innovative technology solutions to business challenges. SADA designs, delivers, deploys and supports a holistic, cutting-edge suite of best-of-breed technologies. This allows organizations to leverage Information Technology to achieve new levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and collaboration. SADA is headquartered in North Hollywood, CA, but participates in projects world-wide. For more information, visit http://www.sadasystems.com/. Google, Google Enterprise, and Google Apps are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Cisco's SMB IP Telephony System - up to 96 users by March
SADA has learned that Cisco's IP Telephony system we blogged about on Feb 14th will get a major upgrade in capabilities in March!
This is unofficial, and not publicly announced yet - but word is, the system will soon support up to 96 users. This is up from the cap of just 52 users at any single site or office - so this is nearly double the number of telephones, and opens up the market quite substantially.
Cisco would formerly NOT recommend the UC500 / UC520 platform for customers with as many as 45 telephones, with fears that projected growth would render the system incapable of scaling to meet the customer's needs.
This is great news for Cisco, and certainly, wonderful news for Small Business (now, with up to 100 employees as 96 users at any single site!
Run the Google Apps Provisioning Toolkit on VMware
Now your organization can run the open source Google Apps Provisioning toolkit in a virtual environment. Please visit the project site for more details - but here are some links:
Google Apps for the Enterprise - New and Improved!
We are happy to announce the launch of brand new services suites geared around getting a company of any size a QuickStart with Google Apps for under $2,000!
We've learned a lot since we launched, and Apps has become more powerful than ever. We have completely updated our Apps for Enterprise offerings accordingly:
You get more for less. Prices are lower, services are more inclusive.
You get Postini configuration for email Archving - free for the 90-day plan.
Excellent dual-delivery. You get Business Email Continuity free with proper deployment.
Both on-premise and hosted provisioning and user synchronization options.
Simple, flat-fee, packaged pricing - free of per-account fees.
SADA Achieves Cisco Select Certification, starts IPTelephony and VOIP practice.
I'm happy to announce SADA's entrance into the IP Telephony business with our achievement of the Cisco® Select Certification. This is a major achievement for SADA, and something we have been looking forward to accomplish for a long time.
IP Telephony and Voice over IP is such a core part of IT Services today - touching every conceivable part of a client's network, that it can no longer be ignored by leading and agile companies like SADA.
We said years ago "We would get into Voice, when Voice turns into Data." That's the reality of today. And with the price-point of the Cisco® IP Telephony solutions has gotten to such a level that they are comparable with any digital phone system - the only difference it, Cisco is best is class! And who can beat having the broad selection of stylish and functional telephones on your desktop, the very same phones seen in more movies and TV shows than any other.
The UC500 platform allows SADA to merge all basic network core function into a single, solid-state, hardened device, bringing networking, power, firewall services, switching, wireless, Video, VPN, and of course, a great phone system into one unit.
YouTube also has some great videos which talk about the product:
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North Hollywood, CA – February 15, 2008 – SADA Systems Inc. announced today it has achieved Select Certification from Cisco®. The Select Certification, a new certification level in the award-winning Cisco Channel Partner Program, recognizes Cisco channel partners whose primary focus is on the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market.
To earn Select Certification, SADA fulfilled the training and exam requirements of the new SMB Specialization, demonstrating that the company has invested in achieving the sales and technical skills needed to deliver integrated network solutions tailored for the SMB market. SADA also met the personnel, training, and post-sales support requirements set forth by Cisco.
“The Cisco Select Certification was created in response to customer demand for channel partners to be capable of designing and implementing Cisco SMB-specific solutions" said Edison Peres, vice president and chief go-to-market officer for Worldwide Channels at Cisco. “With the Select Certification, SADA has secured the training, skills and knowledge to play a pivotal role in meeting this increasing demand of SMB customers.”
“Cisco has made great strides in developing new products which fit the needs of one of our target market segments,” says Tony Safoian, president and CEO of SADA. “We are especially excited to be able to offer innovative products and solutions around wireless, telephony, and unified messaging to our existing and future client base.”
The Cisco Channel Partner Program provides state-of-the-art technical and sales training to help Select Certified Partners increase their ability to deliver services related to Cisco SMB solutions and maximize their customers’ productivity.
As a Cisco Select Certified Partner, SADA earns several benefits: It may use the Cisco Certified mark to validate the company’s SMB expertise; acquire demonstration equipment and training; benefit from specialized business and technical training built from the ground up for SMB, and be listed in the Cisco Partner Locator.
About SADA Systems Inc.
SADA Systems, Inc. is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm founded in 2000. SADA works with its client base to develop innovative technology solutions to business challenges. SADA designs, delivers, deploys and supports a holistic, cutting-edge suite of best-of-breed technologies. This allows organizations to leverage Information Technology to achieve new levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and collaboration. SADA is headquartered in North Hollywood, CA, but participates in projects world-wide. For more information, visit http://www.sadasystems.com.
This was just released today! Check it out – an email Migration tool by Google, for Google Apps. Check out the FAQ’s:
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Q:The Email Uploader is still running from yesterday, but isn't making any progress. What will happen if I restart the tool now?
A: We recommend a restart if you're not seeing any progress. Restarting the tool will not cause duplicate email to be imported.
Q:Why does the Email Uploader report different numbers in "message failure" count and in the summary screen?
A: There are two reasons a message can fail to upload: (1) when the Email Uploader was unable to read a message from the email client, and (2) when the Email Uploader was unable to upload the message to Google's migration server. The summary screen does not reflect messages that couldn't be read from the email client, which include calender events, tasks, sticky notes, etc.
Q:Why is the "Add another mailbox" link disabled on the Customize screen?
A: To add another mailbox, you first need to select which email program you want to add a mailbox for. This option is used to add archived mail. Once you select an email program, the link becomes active.
Q:How do I set up a proxy for the Email Uploader?
A: Add the following to the GoogleEmailUploader.exe.config file in your Uploader installation directory. If this file does not exist, create one.
Q:I added a mailbox by mistake. How do I remove it?
A: Assuming you haven't uploaded your mail yet, go to your Google Email Uploader data directory open the UserData.xml file. Remove the entire <Store ...> element corresponding to the mailbox you want to remove.
Q:What happens if I start an upload but don’t finish it, or if new email is downloaded after I do an import?
A: The Email Uploader recognizes the previous state of the upload and restarts from that point., uploading any email that hasn't yet been migrated. However, changes in your email program, including different folders structure, newly downloaded mail, etc., may not be accurately reflected. This is because the Email Uploader is designed to be used as a one-time migration event. If you've made significant changes to your email program and want to do a new upload, go to your Google Email Uploader data directory and clean out the UserData.xml file. The Email Uploader will rescan your email program and you'll need to redo the upload configuration process.
Q:How will I be able to distinguish between imported email and the email I already had in Gmail?
A: All imported mail will have a label applied indicating which email client it originated from (for example "from Outlook Express".
Q:Can I pick and choose which emails to import?
A: The Mail Uploader reads the folder structure in your email program and lets you select which folders to import. You can designate specific emails for import by first going into your email program and grouping the email you want to import into folders. Then you can import only those folders containing the emails you want.
Q:The mail folders I set up in Thunderbird are not showing up in the Email Uploader. How do I import these emails?
A: If you stored emails in directories outside of the Thunderbird “Profiles” directory, the Email Uploader does not detect these files. You can add these directories by adding them as new Thunderbird mailboxes in the Select Mail customization screen.
It’s a sad day (sort of), when someone who was ‘first’ in something – and a true innovator, distruptor – all those things, calls it quits. We’re fortunate enough to have Firefox now (and Mozilla) to provide a good alternative to IE, but no one will ever forget the first time they used Netscape!
Twelve years ago, Netscape's still-young (though already in its second version) Navigator Web browser took home its first Editors' Choice award from PC Magazine. We said it "pushed the technology envelope in every direction, from embedded multimedia to advanced HTML." It was all so quaint. And now it's all so over.
AOL, Netscape's parent, will officially put a stake in the heart of the Netscape browser operation on March 1. Version 9 (wow, we made it all the way to 9!) will be the last Navigator. I read the news with a combination of resignation and sorrow. Resignation because Netscape's browser had ceased to be the smart, simple, leading browser I used a good eight years ago, and sorrow because I loved that old browser. For me, Netscape Navigator Gold was the gold standard in Web browsing.
What most people forget (and, of course, none of the young adults, teens, and kids coming online today know) is there was a time when Netscape ruled. Web pages were designed to work with Netscape's browser. Netscape owned 90 percent or so of the browsing market. Back in the day, we all laughed at Microsoft's lame attempts to lure Web surfers onto the Internet Superhighway with Internet Explorer.
Okay, that's a lie. None of us laughed. In fact, we thought Microsoft Internet Explorer (as it was officially called back then) was quite good, and though Netscape was "ubiquitous," IE had features Netscape users had never seen before, including exotic things like tables, moving marquees, and AVI video animation. It also had something that was far more important, though I don't think we knew it at the time. Instead, we mentioned it in our March 12, 1996 review almost in passing, "Many will use it just because it's there, it's free, and it dovetails with Windows 95."
And so the foundation was laid for a near-decade-long antitrust battle and the eventual demise of Netscape Navigator. IE, as one of the first free browsers and the only one to offer tight integration with an operating system, was a real departure from Navigator and virtually every other browser on the market. Navigator also cost $49, and Netscape's sluggishness in realizing how compelling "free" could be was the first of many missteps. Perhaps the biggest slap in Nestscape's face was that I, like many Netscape Navigator Gold devotees, actually used Navigator to download IE 2.0 from the Microsoft Web site.
Google Street View: See Where You're Going Before You Get There
Have you checked out a great feature of Google Maps called Street View? Google Maps Street View provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
Google's just announced 12 new cities added to those available in Street View: Juneau (Alaska), Boise (Idaho), Salt Lake City (Utah), San Antonio (Texas), Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill (North Carolina), Manchester (New Hampshire), Kansas City (Missouri), Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Albany, Schenectady (New York).
Besides being fun, there's a lot of great uses for Street View - maybe you want to see where the parking lot is at a new restaurant, what the terrain around a Metro station is or perhaps what property in an area you want to locate your business in looks like.
One caveat is that the imagery in Street View is (at least not yet) real time. Much of the imagery used in Google Maps Street View could be a few years old such as I found in the image to the right of our favorite local grocery store here in the NoHo Arts District, home to SADA Systems, Inc. The photo shows HOWS Market (the location of a great in-store wine tasting bar by the way) still under construction; probably about 18 months ago.
Here's a video showing how Google Maps Street View works:
Google has made it easier for people to find friends across various social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.
Using the Social Graph API developers have a fast and comprehensive Google people connection search index to build applications. The end result being that users can enjoy dramatically streamlined "add friends" functionality and other useful features
In this video, Google developer Brad Fitzpatrick explains how it works.
Eleven months left in 2008, and the year's recurring tech theme is already resounding loudly: Windows Server 2008. Get used to it, because you'll be hearing it over and over for the foreseeable future. The new server OS promises a load of fresh goodies for Microsoft-platform devotees, with more stuff to follow. Does this really apply to small and midsize businesses? You bet, and as ever, there's good and bad.
The Upsides
VIRTUALIZATION: You might think this feature has "enterprise" written all over it, but Microsoft's virtualization package is going to give expensive platforms like VMware a run for their money. SMBs will be able to deploy more servers with fewer headaches, less hardware, and lower costs.
A BETTER NETWORKING STACK: That means better bandwidth-to-traffic management, faster network processing, and support for the latest network hardware (including faster RAM and 10-Gbps connections right to the server). Happily for SMBs, much of this happens under the covers, especially remote access.
POWERFUL MANAGEMENT: Way more than the basic Microsoft Management Console here, folks. The freshly baked Server Manager has a new look, new rules built on an XML-based rules engine, and the ability not only to manage individual server functions but also to thread them together for custom tasks. This means squeezing more out of what you already have, rather than simply layering more software on top of it.
CHEAP RELIABILITY: A new high-availability feature is like automatic failover for mere mortals. Server 2008 is optimized to keep two servers in sync, not just bring up one to take over for another. Beyond that, it can react based on rules (not just situations) and do it all as part of the base OS. You'll do far less worrying about sudden server death syndrome, since the tool to combat it is built into the OS—instead of for sale from some high-priced consultant.
COUGAR AND CENTRO:Small Business Server 2008 (code name Cougar) won't make the same splash as Windows Essential Server 2008 (code name Centro). Like its predecessors, Small Business Server is designed for companies with fewer than 50 users—and has a hard-license limit to enforce this. Centro, however, scales to 250 users and across three or more physical servers. Despite this, Microsoft has maintained a straightforward management interface that lets your in-house IT geek configure features that once would have required expensive consulting help.
The Downsides
VIRTUALIZATION: First, virtualization isn't included as part of the initial release; it will arrive up to 180 days afterward, according to Microsoft. Second, there's still no definite word on how Microsoft will license virtual servers, except to say that the Data Center SKU (the most expensive, of course) will have unlimited virtual licenses.
NEW HARDWARE: It's a 64-bit world, and Server 2008 is no exception. Companies looking to upgrade should take this into account. Not only will you need to ensure your upgrade coincides with new server hardware purchases, but you'll also have to institute a thorough testing and upgrade plan for all server-side software.
TRAINING: Server 2008 incorporates lots of tools to make specific features easier. But 2008 is a huge departure from 2003, so the learning curve will exist, no matter what. The new Centro interface helps with the basics, but accessing all that advanced functionality is still going to require consulting help or IT staff training.
NEW LICENSING: Hey, Microsoft is the richest software company on the planet, so you knew this wouldn't be free. But get set for an all-new licensing scheme with new possibilities for virtual machines, as well as new restrictions for straight hardware deployments—the range of costs has yet to be announced.
The Bottom Line
We're looking at more good news than bad—especially for midsize businesses with decent hardware budgets. Still, most SMBs should wait a bit before deployment. And not just until Server 2008's initial bugs have been worked out. We caution SMBs to move slowly until they've fully investigated Centro (due out later this year) and taken into account exactly how much all this new glitz is going to cost: beyond the price of Server 2008, there will be outlays for things like new client-access licenses, virtual machine licenses, and new hardware, too. "Windows Server 2008" may be Microsoft's mantra for the year, but mine is "Look before you leap."
In a surprise move at the annual Consumer Electronics Show which took place last month, Warner Brothers announced they would be dropping their support of the HD-DVD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Toshiba, the chief manufacturer of HD-DVD has been in a heated battle for format dominance with Sony's Blu-Ray. The "format war" has been hotly contested for months with major studios and producers in the entertainment industry backing one format or the other. Warner Brothers had been supporting both formats for the duration of the format war, but made the decision to move to blu-ray exclusively this month. According to chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers, Barry Meyer, the only party being hurt by the format war was the consumer. This was a major factor in the decision at Warner Brothers. For Mr. Meyer's comments see this post on Wired Magazine's blog.
So what does this mean for consumers? On the one hand it has an immediate economic impact as Blu-ray is significantly more expensive. Blu-ray is also a new technology. The name is derived from the laser used to read the disc. Instead of the standard red beam used in DVD and HD-DVD players the blu-ray player uses a higher intensity blue laser. The discs themselves are a new technology, capable of storing much larger amounts of information than either the standard DVD or HD-DVD formats. That said, the new technology used in the blu-ray player will still play the standard DVDs consumers have been accumulating for years.
The positioning of Blu-Ray as the format of choice begs the question, "So what?" Consumers have good reason for a degree of cynicism as movies and television are more and more becoming available for download, even in high-definition formats. That said the online content doesn't have the high-end bit rate of either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, and is restricted to a resolution of 720p, so the quality of online media isn't quite as good...yet. As more and more content becomes available for download more consumers may move away from movies on removable media in favor of downloading their favorite movies and television shows. Sony should savor the taste of victory, because it may be short-lived.
When archiving or deleting emails from OST or PST files, this leaves ‘white space” where the item was, not actually reducing the file’s size. You must perform a ‘Compress” to regain the space AND then defrag the OST/PST file using CONTIG (Since windows defrag hates large files and generally ignores them).
1.Archive, delete or otherwise cleanup outlook data. Try to keep files under 2 gig – even though larger files are supported.
2.Compress data file
a.Tools -> Options -> Mail Settings -> Data Files -> Select Files -> Setting – “Compact Now”
b.This can take a long time, perform during lunch break for 400mb or less, or end of day for large changes.
Google Apps Team Edition - You're in control, not I.T.
Google announced the latest edition to its Apps Suite – Team Edition. More than anything else released recently in the Software as a Service world, it exemplifies the power shift – AWAY from the I.T. department, and in the hands of you, the productivity worker.
Tens of thousands of people have signed up for Google Apps in the past, only to be halted in their tracks because they did not have the support from their I.T. departments to take the necessary steps to ‘migrate’ them or ‘activate’ their accounts.
There is a lot of buzz about team edition already. Just click here to check out what the world is saying!
This is true productivity, empowered, with no boundaries. Is this a sign of things to come? You bet it is. Utility computing, productivity with a switch, with NO direct I.T. involvement, or infrastructure to support. Zero Infrastructure (ZEROi), coming soon to a company near you.
After much anticipation, Google Sites, the replacement to Google Pages, and the result of over a year of integration work with the JotSpot platform acquired by Google late 2006, is going to be released *some time* in Q1 2008. This is from a trusted source.
Google announces a great new API for mapping people and profiles across different social networks. We’ve been saying for months how this is the next natural step in social networking. “Can we be friends if you’re on Linked-In and I’m on Facebook? I don’t want to create *another* profile!”.
Google is using its Postini acquisition to offer security features for any e-mail system.
The company is set to launch several new security products on Tuesday that are part of its Google Apps platform but are targeted at organizations that aren't using Gmail and other Web-hosted applications from Google.
The Powered by Postini services are message filtering with spam and malware filtering, for $3 per user per year; message filtering plus enhanced virus detection, content policy management, and other support to stop e-mail data leaks, for $12 per user per year; and message discovery, which adds one year of message data archiving, retention, and discovery to help companies comply with legal and government regulatory compliance requirements, for $25 per user per year.
The message discovery service will appeal to executives who are increasingly worried about employees downloading copyrighted content, such as MP3 files, at work and leaking confidential information in e-mails, said Sundar Raghavan, a product marketing manager for Google.
The packages are available online, as well as directly from Google or through channel partners.
The policy management and 90-day message discovery services are available as part of the Google Apps Premier Edition, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Start Page for creating a home page.
Last year's Postini acquisition has given Google the security services necessary for it to truly compete against Microsoft, Cisco, and Symantec among others in the e-mail market.
I asked Raghavan whether offering security and compliance-type of services for e-mail still fits with Google's mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." He replied that the apps allow people to get to information hidden in corporate databases and e-mail systems, as well as to act on information and share it, and that keeping the data secure is part of keeping it useful.
