SADA & Microsoft BPOS Proof of Concept Case Study: Den-Mat Holdings, LLC

Customer
Den-Mat is the leader in consumer and professional dental products. Launched in 1974, Den-Mat has been advancing the aesthetic dentistry career landscape by creating innovative breakthroughs in the science of cosmetic dentistry serving both patients and professionals alike. Den-Mat employs approximately 450 people around the United States and is headquartered in Santa Maria, California. The company owns or has exclusive licenses covering more than 100 patents.

Partner
SADA Systems, Inc. (www.sadasystems.com) is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm founded in 2000. SADA is not only one ofMicrosoft's first Online Services partners, specializing in the Business Productivity Online Services (now Office 365) suite and migration and deployment services, but proud to be one (1) of only nine (9) Elite Cloud Accelerate Partners in the country. SADA has been a Microsoft Gold Partner since 2003 and has experience migrating over 2 million mailboxes to the cloud. SADA Systems is a Microsoft cloud services leader and has built a significant part of its business around the implementation of cloud computing solutions all around the world.

Business needs
While Den-Mat is widely recognized as a global cosmetic dentistry leader, their network infrastructure was not adequate for facilitating collaboration amongst its 450 nationwide office staff. Established in 1974 in a highly specialized field, many of Den-Mat’s employees were veteran Microsoft Office users with set methodologies. Den-Mat required that their solution be easy to use, have a high user adoption rate and aligned with existing work flows for a seamless but upgraded user experience.

Solution

In an effort to increase collaboration and productivity, Den-Mat reached out to SADA Systems to test out Microsoft Online (BPOS). In order to avoid a heavy change management process, SADA Systems was engaged to deliver a Proof of Concept (PoC) that focused supporting a more agile communication system while still providing full functionality and feedback of the suite. SADA systems worked to:

• Demonstrate how Microsoft Livemeeting and Office Communications Online can streamline communication processes and increase productivity while reduce the sales cycle.
• Train and consult administrators to facilitate transition to Microsoft Online (BPOS) and familiarize them with new administration consoles.
• Simplify existing workflows avoid unnecessary work (such as directory synchronization and data replication) with custom SADA Microsoft Online applications.

SADA’s Microsoft Online (BPOS) PoC includes:

• Comprehensive infrastructure assessment
• Set up BPOS accounts
• Blueprint of mail migration
• Heavy technical documentation and guidance of process to help streamline full BPOS deployment
• 1-on-1 admin consultation
• Validation and acceptance--SADA will work with your company’s POC stakeholders to collect their feedback, assess any compatibility concerns and discuss next steps.

Results
During Den-Mat’s Microsoft Online pilot, SADA was able to effectively enhance security and boost productivity. Den-Mat was able to enjoy a greater level of collaboration through the use of LiveMeeting. Thorough demonstrations of LiveMeeting’s video conferencing capabilities lead by SADA’s technical team in addition to web console and platform integration, the organization was able to embrace the new technology quickly.

AD Sync (Dir Sync) helped the company conserve IT resources. This tool synchronizes data in the on-premise Active Directory and sends it to the cloud. With this tool, Den-Mat was able to avoid the need to replicate data creating a seamless feel to the BPOS Suite.

Many of Den-Mat’s infrastructure processes were streamlined during the BPOS PoC. SADA assisted Den-Mat’s IT department with the criteria for fully evaluating a BPOS platform. Den-Mat was able to properly evaluate how BPOS complied with their needs.

Jonathan Green, Vice President of Information Technologies at DenMat, explains that “SADA was one of the BEST companies I have had the pleasure of working with. Their communication, understanding, delivery and follow up have been second to none.” He looks forward to working with SADA again post-PoC. Green goes on to say that “While we ultimately needed to stay on premise for our BPOS needs, SADA’s work made the cloud environment easy to understand, integrate with and ultimately gave us a clear view of our needs.”

Interested in learning more about BPOS, Office 365 or other Microsoft Cloud products and services? Email mssales@sadasystems.com.

AuthMagic for Microsoft Online password sync featured on BPOS Solution Showcase!

Our BPOS (now Microsoft Office 365) password sync solution has been featured on the Microsoft Online Services Partner Solutions Showcase Migration Solutions! AuthMagic for Microsoft Online (AMMO) is a comprehensive enterprise level solution provides secure, fast password synchronization for BPOS customers.



Download the AMMO white paper to learn more about what this solution can do for your company!

SADA says "Hello!" to new Microsoft Office 365

As part of their continual investment to the cloud, Microsoft has released the next generation of its Online Productivity suite, Microsoft Office 365, bringing together the latest versions of its cloud and desktop line of products for businesses and organizations of all sizes. Microsoft Office 365 includes:

• Office Professional Plus
• Exchange Online
• SharePoint Online
• Lync Online

Everything works together seamlessly with Office 365! Your office tools software will be available on the desktop as well as the cloud meaning that you will never lose a day of productivity. Bring the next generation of document sharing and collaboration to your office with the security features you’ve come to trust with the help of a seasoned Certified Microsoft Partner. Office 365 is automatically upgraded with each new production release.

As a Gold Certified Partner and seasoned Microsoft solutions provider, SADA knows that this means that business already in the Microsoft cloud or looking at cloud services options get a more unified and streamlined experience. Existing Microsoft Online (BPOS, Live@edu) customers will be able to transition to Office 365 over the course of the year after global availability.

Be sure to check out our Office 365 success stories (formerly BPOS and Live@edu success stories) on our blog to learn more about how we help organizations move forward. Or up, rather. Like Microsoft, “ We’re all in!”

AuthMagic for Microsoft Online password sync solution self-service checkout now available!

That just means there is one less step between you and that password sync solution you so desperately need. Our award-winning password sync solution, AuthMagic Password Sync for Microsoft Online (AMMO), is currently being used by large research organizations, universities, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses to relieve the strain on tight IT resources. AMMO helps save organizations time and money during:

• Automated password rotation policy
• Environment changes
• Active directory changes on premise
• Improving password strength
• Lengthy password lock-outs/resets
• Fickle and forgetful employees

So why is self-service so awesome? For large BPOS applications such as AMMO, you typically would have to contact the company, endure lengthy sales calls, draft up a proposal for the tool and other applicable services, etc. AMMO’s self-service functionality allows you to enter in all the necessary criteria such as the number of BPOS subscriptions, the number of domains you wish to apply the tool for, pricing for additional maintenance and support and more. You'll be presented with a customized BPOS password sync tool package specif for your needs.

SADA is committed to creating simple cloud computing solutions with a no-frills purchasing process. Get what you want, when you want it.

Interested in purchasing our password sync tool? Check out our self-service checkout for AuthMagic for Microsoft Online at CloudToolKit.com.

Interested in becoming a reseller? Your BPOS clients will rejoice! Close deals faster when you can deliver solutions that clients need. Contact us at 866-997-0000 or sales@sadasystems.com to inquire about this program.

SADA wins Microsoft's Excellence in Competency Award

And the awards keep piling up for SADA! The team was recently invited to a Microsoft Managed Partner event where SADA Systems and our cloud app development team were recognized for AuthMagic for Microsoft Online (AMMO). Microsoft’s Excellence in Competency Award recognizes Microsoft partners who identify new ways to improve profitability, deepen partnerships and streamline operations for BPOS customers. This password sync solution has helped not only our BPOS clients, but countless others outside of SADA’s network save time, money and resources by streamlining this process.

Microsoft Partner Account Manager Eric Trimble goes on to praise SADA and the AuthMagic Password Sync Solution for BPOS, "The Southwest Area Partner Team at Microsoft, is proud to award SADA with this award for Excellence in Competency because of the great work they have done in developing AuthMagic for Microsoft Online."

Driven by the need to facilitate the end-user’s cloud computing experience, our cloud app development team created Authentication Magic for Microsoft Online (AMMO) as an add-on to effectively and securely sync passwords from Active Directory to Microsoft Online. SADA began to develop the MSO cloud application in late 2009 to deliver a password sync tool based on a request from a client that specifically needed password sync between Active Directory and the Microsoft Online Cloud. As one of Microsoft’s top partners with a proven track record of innovation, SADA delivered a flawless password sync tool that satisfied both client and developer. AMMO is a popular BPOS password sync tool and is currently being used in several top tier organizations around the world.

SADA’s goal was to not only solve one customer’s issue, but to make this password sync solution widely available for other BPOS customers needing to address password sync between AD and the cloud. SADA’s BPOS apps development team approached password sync for BPOS by first addressing 3 main issues:

1. Seamless backend password sync that with no manual intervention required
2. Secure password transmission and synchronization
3. Easy set-up and configuration

The outcome? SADA developed a password sync solution that would improve overall productivity for all BPOS customers. Frustration and skepticism often occurs when a user is prompted with an external application for confidential tasks such as password changes. Therefore the tool was built to process password syncs entirely in the backend and be completely transparent to the end user. Security highlights include:

• Passwords are securely encrypted
• Passwords are never stored physically at any point in time
• Buffer is cleared immediately after encryption
• Secure encryption designed to resist cryptographic attacks

Overall, using Authentication Magic for Microsoft Online in conjugation with Microsoft Online Services will reduce the amount of time IT will spend on password and user management. Automated password rotations, environment changes, Active Directory changes on premise and lengthy password lock-outs or resets are a thing of the past with AMMO. Customers will save time, resource and money with AMMO adding value to the Microsoft BPOS and Exchange Online product. True to SADA’s motto, “We Make IT Easy.”

See what satisfied customers are saying about this password sync app on the AuthMagic Microsoft Pinpoint Reviews page.

SADA recognized on CRN Fast Growth 100 2010

Even after an entire decade in information technology and cloud computing services, SADA Systems continues to collect impressive industry awards and accolades! Everything Channel, a division of United Business Media, recognized SADA as the 57th fastest-growing VAR solution provider in the technology industry. SADA posted an impressive two-year stretch of net-growth with a 52.17 percent revenue growth rate of over over $3.5 million in net sales between 2007 and 2009.

“SADA is in great company on the CRN’s Fast Growth 100 list. The Cloud continues to be the driving force behind our growth in relatively tough economic times - it allows the creation of great efficiencies and cost savings for organizations - something our clients continue to be willing to invest in,” remarks SADA Systems CEO Tony Safoian. “Our ranking on CRN’s Fast Growth list is an honor. It’s something we will strive to be part of for years to come.”

SADA maintains strategic alliances and partnerships with Google and Microsoft to deliver top tier cloud computing and IT services. SADA contributes its explosive growth to a dedicated team and strong relationships with clients such as Northwestern University, Kaiser Permanente, the City of Los Angeles and more (see full client list).

We are all looking forward to the CRN Fast Growth 100 2011 list!

About Cloud Computing Services Provider SADA Systems, Inc.

Founded in 2000, SADA works with its client base to develop innovative information technology solutions to business problems. SADA is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm founded in 2000. SADA is proud to be one of the world’s first Google partner for Apps having participated in the Google Apps official launch in February of 2007, as well as one of Microsoft’s first Online Services partners specializing in Business Productivity Online Services BPOS migration and integration services.

SADA has a demonstrated track record and competency in providing cloud computing consulting services, implementation and customization. SADA designs, delivers, deploys and supports a holistic and cutting-edge suite of best-of-breed technologies, allowing organizations to leverage information technology to achieve the highest levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and collaboration.

Microsoft features SADA Systems BPOS case study

Microsoft features SADA Systems BPOS case study highlighting customer’s 65% IT overhead savings

SADA is committed to helping our clients find the right cloud computing solution for them. We're happy to have Microsoft feature our BPOS case study where we helped our client reduce IT costs by 65%, enhance security and boost overall productivity with a move to Exchange Online.

Customer
Our client is the go-to IT and business consulting firm that provides services for business intelligence, MDM and data governance. Comprised of a team of hand-picked experts, our client offers decades of experience in a wide range of industries and technologies.

Challenge
This IT and business consulting firm was a long-time managed-services customer who relied on a third-party hosted Microsoft Exchange 2007 server for their communication and collaboration needs, but wanted to do more to conserve resources during these tough economic times. Our client looked to us to find a scalable budget-friendly solution where they could easily add more or less users as necessary while preserving messaging and collaboration security.

Solution
As the client's trusted IT solutions provider, SADA understood the customer's technical and business needs for a low-cost solution. SADA evaluated a variety of solutions and discovered that Microsoft Exchange Online, an Internet-based version of Exchange Server and part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, delivered exactly what the client was looking for at the time.

Result
By moving the client to Exchange Online, SADA was able to effectively help the client save over 65% off their previous IT costs while enhancing security and boosting productivity. Exchange Online's flat, per-user pricing makes this solution scalable to the client's growth. As a consultancy dealing with multiple clients from all over the world, our customer can also depend on an email system that has earned a variety of security certifications, including SAS 70 and HIPAA-compliance.

About Microsoft Partner SADA Systems
SADA Systems, Inc. (SADA) is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm founded in 2000. SADA is not only one of Microsoft's first Online Services partners, specializing in the Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) suite and BPOS migration and integration services, but proud to be is one (1) of only nine (9) Elite Accelerated BPOS Partners in the country. SADA has been a Microsoft Gold Partner since 2003 and has experience migrating over 2 million mailboxes to the cloud. SADA Systems is a Microsoft cloud services leader and has built a significant part of its business around the implementation of cloud computing solutions all around the world.

Google Apps Gmail Can't Interpret Emails Sent by BPOS / Microsoft Online Services - winmail.dat issue

As the pace by which organizations are migrating their email to the cloud, all types of anomalies and gotchas are discovered by our engineers - and this is expected. This is all new, after all.

One of the most surprising, however, is the simple fact that email sent by the BPOS / Microsoft Online Services exchange servers is unable to be interpreted by recipients who use Google Apps Gmail. Since its creation, email has had the key benefit of being very standards based - users from any platform X have been able to send emails to users on any platform Y with general ease.

Now, we’re not the first to report this issue - in fact, discussions around the Google Apps Gmail & MS Online issue seemed to have been taking place since December 2008. Also, Google Apps Gmail is not the only destination server which seems to have this problem when receiving email from BPOS (interpretation issues from Groupwise & Lotus Notes have also been reported). This is a known issue in Microsoft Exchange servers - however, in the on-premise world, this is a setting that’s possible to configure. In the BPOS world, it is not.

What does it look like?
What do emails in Gmail look like when sent from the BPOS platform? See below:



Essentially, all content (text images, etc...) gets translated into a illegible winmail.dat file.

You read the same email inside of Outlook, using POP3, IMAP, or even the Google Apps Sync tool for Outlook, and the email looks just fine.


Technical Cause
The reason this happens is because BPOS servers default to sending email in a Microsoft-proprietary Rich Text Format called TNEF. And on the recipient side in Google Apps, this is only reported when mail flows through Postini / Google Message Security servers. In fact, when BPOS sends emails to retail Gmail addresses, the emails are interpreted just fine.

• BPOS to Retail Gmail = Success
• BPOS to Google Apps Gmail, no Postini = Success
• BPOS to Google Apps Gmail, with Postini, email read via Browser/Default Interface = FAIL
• BPOS to Google Apps Gmails, with Postini, email read through Outlook (POP or GASMO) = Success

Proposed Solution
Below is a proposed solution as posted on the TechNet blogs. We have attempted this, and worked closely with Microsoft and Google for a resolution, but there does not seem to be a known resolution at this time.



No resolution: Reply from Microsoft Online Services Support
Concerning your service request 100609-000749 thank you for the message header. I appreciate it. I researched this issue further and unfortunately, the issue why you cannot receive e-mails sent from a Microsoft Online company is that TNEF data sent by our servers is not supported by Postini, your message filtering service with Google. TNEF data is not a ratified standard data format for message data by the RFC organization. The best point of contact will be Google and see if they can enable support for TNEF data on your filtering service.

Issue Workaround:
• Due to TNEF data not being supported by Google, BPOS users sending to Google e-mail account is not supported.
• Please contact Google to discuss enabling TNEF compatibility on your Postini filtering service.
• Migrate completely to Microsoft Online will resolve issues also.

No resolution: Reply from Google Apps Support
This is a known issue with the TNEF format messages in Gmail shown as winmail.dat attachments (sans search will bring up a lot of results). The solution is not to send messages using TNEF format to Gmail recipients. This is the KB describing how to setup Exchange not to send Winmail.dat file to Internet Users:


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138053

It is impossible for Gmail to fully support TNEF format since limited information about this format is disclosed. As the MSFT support puts it: "... TNEF data is not a ratified standard data format for message data by the RFC organization ..."

You will need to open a support request with Microsoft Online Services to configure these settings. Actually I found this post online about the similar issue:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/onlineservicesexchange/thread/5392fd81-471f-4338-9559-a79f9f2bd828

Tony Safoian Discusses the Strategic Value of Online Space

Bytes by TechNet, an IT Professionals and IT Solutions discussion forum hosted by Microsoft, recently invited SADA Systems CEO, Tony Safoian, to talk about data migration and implementation of Microsoft's cloud based services. SADA is one (1) of only nine (9) Elite Accelerated BPOS Partners in the Country specializing in Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) suite and related cloud migration and integration services. Listen as Tony discusses common concerns and challenges that routinely plague enterprises as well as small businesses with on-premise solutions and the outstanding successes to be achieved by migrating to cloud based technology.

For example, password resets and management are a huge strain on IT resources. SADA Systems provides a quick and painless solution with AuthMagic for Microsoft Online Service/BPOS that seamlessly synchronizes passwords any time an end-user changes their Active Directory password. Easy for users, easy for IT.



What are some immediate benefits to moving to the cloud?

• Reduced IT costs
  
• Increased efficiency
  
• Improved strategic value of IT initiatives
  

And we'll leave the rest to Tony:

End of Q1: SADA Says Thanks!

We would like to take a moment to extend a personal thank you for helping SADA Systems grow this quarter. We genuinely appreciate you helping “spread the word” about our company and the services we provide. In case you may not recall all of the services we provide, please visit this page on our website, which lists everything. Maybe there are needs you have we may not be providing yet - if so, please let me know. We'll be more than happy to help.

Also, we would like to extend a $25 Visa gift card for any future referral as a small token of our appreciation. If a referral turns into a SADA client, we will forward an additional $250 Visa gift card. Hey, in this economy, every little bit goes a long way.

Referring clients to SADA is easy, simply click here, and fill out the form.

We look forward to continuing to work with you for the rest of 2010
and beyond. Thank you for your continued business.

Buzzer About to Sound on SADA's Cloud Computing March Madness! Google Apps, Microsoft BPOS Deals Expire March 31st!

Want to save some dollars on deploying a great cloud solution? Don't wait to make it a buzzer beater! Contact us NOW for great deals on Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS.  We're offering awesome discounts and free valuable services for support, deployment, migration, etc.  For details click here.   These offers expire March 31st, 2010!


To get started call us at 866.997.0000, option 3 or click here.