Ceryx: High-Availability, Hosted Exchange

Ceryx’s very own Director of Solutions Architecture, Marcelo Tamaki will be speaking at the Microsoft Tech Days 2011 conference in Toronto, Canada held from Oct 25th-26th. His session will focus on how to set up a hybrid deployment between Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office 365. Attendees will learn how rolling out an Exchange 2010-based server in their current environment prepares them for seamless integration with Exchange Online in Office.

Microsoft Tech Days is an annual conference that brings together thousands of technical professionals and technology experts in cities across Canada to discuss the latest trends and changes affecting Microsoft technologies. The conferences offers an excellent opportunity for these professionals to network with peers and experts and learn about the latest technologies. With a huge variety of technology sessions and hands on labs, professionals have a chance to up-level their skills by getting hands on with the technology they use every day.

Visit www.techdays.ca for more information, speaker session descriptions and timelines.

For real time updates, follow us on Twitter @Ceryx

 

Ceryx has been chosen as one of CRN’s 2011 Next-Gen 250- a select list of solution providers who are leading the charge on lucrative and emerging technologies in cloud computing, mobility, virtualization, unified communications, business analytics and business intelligence.

The award recognizes IT industry and channel up-and-comers that focus on new business models that meet the demands of a changing market. Ceryx was accredited with providing a cost-efficient solution for organizations looking to gain the efficiencies of cloud computing without giving up the control of an on-premise solution: the best of both worlds for the security-conscious enterprise consumer, who had previously discounted an outsourced messaging solution due to its inherent out-of-box limitations.

The Ceryx Private Dedicated Cloud solution was recognized for its ability to overcome these obstacles and provide an enterprise grade solution with the platform flexibility to meet complex or changing client requirements, integrate with existing and 3^rd party applications and provide exceptional user control through Cloud Control™, a proprietary user management portal.

CRN.com delivers strategic information and useful business tools that Solution Providers and other Channel professionals use every day.  CRN has been in existence for almost 30 years, covering the evolution of the IT industry and channel and the players who make it all happen.

Read more at: How 3 Next-Gen VARS Mastered Mobility http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/231500303/how-3-next-gen-vars-mastered-mobility.htm?itc=refresh

-Ceryx Marketing

On Thursday May 12^th, Ceryx’s David Penny will present at the Help Desk Institute’s Trillium Chapter conference in Toronto. Dr. Penny will deliver several practical insights on how to leverage cloud-based solutions to optimize Help Desk processes, while increasing customer satisfaction and lowering costs. 

Dr. Penny will introduce a new model for managing administration — for large enterprises — that will prove exciting for all senior Help Desk professionals who wants to reduce “support ticket” costs and customize the levels of administrative control.

Dr. Penny will discuss a unique, sophisticated and user-friendly control panel technology that allows administrators to securely manage administrative/users’ accounts and details. At the same time, this technology empowers administrators to address issues without needing to escalate them — thereby saving considerable time and reducing costs by as much as a factor of 7. 

Does this sound like an intriguing solution? Join Dr. Penny at the HDI’s Trillium Chapter conference on May 12^th from 9:40 am to 10:40 am.

If you are unable able to attend the HDI conference on May 12^th, send us an email at MarketingInsights@Ceryx.com and we will send you a checklist to help you determine if your enterprise can leverage cloud-based solutions — after the conference. Please provide your name, title, company and email address.

On May 12^th 2011, Ceryx’s CIO Dr. David Penny will be speaking at the Help Desk Institute’s Trillium Chapter conference.  Dr. Penny, a Ph. D in Computer Science, will provide practical insights for optimizing help desk processes, reducing costs — by as much as a factor of 7 – and increasing the customer’s experience. Drawing from industry best practices and Ceryx’s unique quantitative research, Dr. Penny’s discusses how Help Desk professionals in large enterprises can easily leverage private cloud solutions to achieve significant and measurable benefits.

Since 1990, the HDI Trillium Chapter has provided its members with targeted information about the technologies, tools, training and latest trends of the Help Desk and the Customer Service Support industry. The conference brings together professionals, encouraging numerous opportunities for networking and professional development. Since 2009, Ceryx’s has stayed connected with the local HDI Chapter to stay on top of industry trends, improve support processes and share these insights with the Customer Support community.

To register or obtain more information, please visit http://www.hditrillium.com/index.php

-Ceryx Marketing

With all the computing lingo surrounding the cloud, it can be quite the challenge to sort through the terms and get to the bottom of what you are actually looking for. Stemming from such a simple concept at its core, the ‘cloud,’ which basically implies outsourced services over the internet, is actually an all-encompassing term for acronyms like SaaS, IaaS, PaaS. The ultimate goal of these seemingly complicated but actually simple acronyms is to deliver useful applications to end users in the most efficient way possible, making use of an outsourced, contracted service provider. More so than ever, organizations are turning to the cloud as an alternative to performing key functions in house. Cloud deployment for the organization implies the company does not buy or rent data center space, buy or lease computer hardware or software licenses or, in certain cases, manage the applications themselves when accessing cloud services. Instead they outsource for one or all of these services, depending on their requirements.

There are three standard ways the Enterprise can access the cloud;

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) refers to the raw computing infrastructure provided as a service, but not the applications, such as email, messaging or other collaboration services, that would run on it. What is being offered here is the computing power and storage space, the physical servers, the nuts and bolts, to run your own services on a cost per month basis. Companies who look for this kind of service, have the resources to create and/or deploy their own software in-house but lack sufficient resources, such as processing power, storage and network bandwidth that can scale to handle current or future software requirements.  The model is based on the principle of virtualization when referring to server portioning or flexible storage.[1] Whereas normally, without outsourcing, you’d have to run a virtual image on a partition existing on a physical server in your data centre, IaaS allows you to run your software on a virtual machine you have created in the cloud. This type of outsourcing is efficient, allowing you to create your own specialized software in-house while still attaining benefits by outsourcing noncore functions such as infrastructure and achieving optimal scalability (like on-demand storage increases) and cost savings in the process. Amazon’s EC2 (“Elastic Compute Cloud”) service is an early example of IaaS.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): If IaaS is the foundation on which cloud computing is built, then PaaS is the next step up. PaaS provides a platform in the cloud, upon which web based applications can be executed.[2] It provides the forum and the space for a company to host, scale and manage their own applications. As a service it provides the computing platform that facilitates the development and deployment of various applications and services, without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying physical components, like hardware and software.[3] PaaS is therefore used to scalably host custom developed web applications, with all of the system-oriented details taken care of. PaaS offerings facilitate application design and development, testing, database integrations, state management, application versioning, and storage, to name a few.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): the final step in the cloud model is SaaS, through which actual software applications are provided to end users. SaaS is the heart of a cloud offering, providing the actual strategic applications and services that facilitate business operations. Instead of buying, installing and running software programs themselves, companies can now outsource their service needs to outsourcers who can customize specific applications and services pertinent to company requirements. Companies that provide SaaS are as diverse as the companies they serve and range from delivering complete application suites, providing all or most of the services needed for a company to conduct normal, everyday business, to those whose services are designed to simply complement an already set-up internal operational structure.[4] The services or software solutions they provide can include anything from messaging, communication, and collaboration to customized portals, security and document sharing needs, and are charged on a usage-based model, usually on a monthly basis from a SaaS provider.

Once you sort through the cloud and really begin to understand what is being offered, it becomes a much easier process to determine what specific solution is right for your company. Depending on requirements and capabilities, an organization should choose a cloud strategy that maximizes resource and cost efficiencies while complementing core competencies. If your organization has the internal capabilities and scalability to develop and deploy services and applications in-house, and it remains efficient and strategic to do so, you could choose to outsource Infrastructure or platform only, or vice versa. Once you make that decision to outsource, determining the perfect combination of out-sourced versus in-house services could be a major driver for future organizational success.

With the increasing hype surrounding the ‘cloud’ and the prevalence of cloud technologies nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a time when we weren’t referencing this buzzword in every day conversation and working it into our IT strategies. However, believe it or not, this really wasn’t that long ago. The ‘cloud’, a relatively new phenomenon that seemingly came out of nowhere and cast its shadow directly over the Enterprise, has come a long way and lived many lives in its short life span, including re-imaginings and re-births that have lasted well into the present.  But the storm came on so fast many of us didn’t even notice when the first ‘cloud’ popped up in the sky; we never saw the progression. And the truth is, despite its immediate popularity, ‘cloud’, is still a concept that many of us have not completely grasped. It’s a term that everyone has heard of but only a limited few can actually tell you what it is. It’s important before we go any further to get down to the basics and have some formal introductions. What is the ‘cloud’? When did this phenom start? What does it mean for me? And most importantly, where is this storm heading? In terms of understanding, it feels like we are always one step behind and it’s time we stop chasing the storm and find some answers.

In its simplest form, the ‘cloud’ refers to outsourcing, and outsourcing is not new. As they apply to the enterprise, basic economic principles suggest outsourcing to be one of the most viable ways for a company to keep costs down and increase efficiency. And as corporations grew and became multinationals, escalating costs of operating and increased competition dictated that to stay alive they needed to do just that. One of the best ways was to outsource; delegating non-core competencies to specialists meant freeing up important resources internally, saving money (by not doing it yourself) and focusing on your core line of business. Strategic outsourcers specializing in things like payroll were enlisted because they could complete the task cheaper, in less time and often better than the company could do internally. For large multinationals or small start-ups, it’s really all about creating efficiencies and in a cut-throat, competitive landscape any edge you can get might put you on top.

The word ‘cloud’ really originated when outsourcing began to refer to the IT world.  The basis of the word itself actually goes back to a network diagram. When architects would draw the topology of a network, they would use a cloud symbol to indicate abstraction, or an undefined service. The most basic of this type of service would be the Internet itself. So it’s no surprise, the growth of the internet, particularly the widespread commercial availability of the internet for the average person, meant the growth of the ‘cloud’ offering. “Since the internet only started to offer significant bandwidth in the nineties, cloud computing for the masses has been something of a late developer.”[1] When strategic outsourcers saw the benefits, both specialists and mainstream software firms began scrambling to deliver enterprise applications through a simple website.[2]

Back then of course it wasn’t referred to as the ‘cloud”. What we have come to know as cloud computing today has evolved through a number of aliases which include grid and utility computing, application service provision (ASP) and Software as a Service (SaaS).[3] Most recently we’ve seen cloud-like developments from everyone from Salesforce to Rackspace to heavy hitters Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Cloud today can apply to almost anything that you would need to do your business that requires the use of a computer- everything from CRM applications, to email to document sharing. It is a theoretical holding place where IT services, applications and even infrastructure are provided and consumed over the internet.

The future of the cloud will be shaped only by the boundaries of IT development, which is in no way poised to slow down soon. As many of us are still trying to grasp this highly conceptual idea of the cloud, the very real, concrete business results that stem from this fluid concept position it as the most critical new trend in IT, no doubt living up to its own hype. Anything that can help make an organization more productive and cost efficient is a no-brainer, and should easily be widely adopted and implemented.  The ‘cloud’ platform supports applications and services that are flexible and customizable, and with so many options, including public, private and hybrid cloud offerings of SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS, we have only begun to discuss the opportunities for the complex needs of the Enterprise. One thing is for certain, with the ability to access programs and data at any site from anywhere, buy new services on-demand, all while achieving lower costs, greater efficiencies and spanning the boundaries of multiple device platforms, it looks like this cloud is here to stay.[4]

---

[1] http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/10/235429/A-history-of-cloud-computing.htm

[2] http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/10/235429/A-history-of-cloud-computing.htm

[3] http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/10/235429/A-history-of-cloud-computing.htm

[4] http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/news/1367626/Cloud-computing-Appeal-origins-and-economics

While the Super Bowl may be over, Ceryx’ love for chilli has lingered well into the month, as is evident by our 3^rd Annual Chili Cook off held this past Friday the 11^th in our head office. The office was well in preparation all week for this monumental event, organizing teams, finalizing recipes and actually preparing the chilli after work hours. And a heated battle it was, quite literally- with sweat dripping over their brows the judges, begrudgingly I’m sure, tasted each of the teams’ creations, ranging from white chicken chilli to all meat with pineapple with every level of spice in between.  

In the end it came down to a battle of meat vs. kick between the aptly titled ‘Spice Boys’ and ‘Spice Girls.’ While, the ‘Spice Girls’ ruled in consistency all across the board, the ‘Spice Boys’ extra spicy chilli delivered that final kick that blew the competition away and solidified their status as the 2011 Ceryx Chili Champions. Congrats Ross, Elia, James and Jeff!

For the rest of us, there’s always next year…

It’s always the little things that are the spice of life,

Ceryx Marketing

There’s no doubt today that email has become one of the most important tools in the workplace for driving productivity, collaboration and simply getting things done. For most of us email is the means through which we complete our work, by collaborating on various tasks and assignments with our colleagues, communicating with vendors and outside contacts, setting meetings and distributing our completed work. With such a vital importance in our job function, it’s no wonder most of are glued to our BlackBerries and are constantly checking our inbox for any new messages.  However, as much as this messaging platform does make our lives easier, it too is not exempt from occasional hiccups on the road to productivity bliss.

The problem comes when people misuse or ignore certain unspoken but very crucial email etiquette rules. In a collaborative email set, if just one person fails to comply with certain etiquette rules, it can hinder the productivity of the whole group. How many times have we been cc’d, and left on an email thread that has no relevancy to our position or work function? How frustrating is it when someone doesn’t fill out the subject in an email, and we are left wondering what they need? How much do we wish that a certain email would just get to the point? There are several implicit guidelines that should be followed when sending an email. Some of the most important ones to consider are:

• Be concise and straightforward[1]: make sure your email has a relevant and straightforward subject, and limit unnecessary small talk and outside information. This ensures all emails are professional, easy to read, locate, decipher and as a result easier to respond to.
• Uses appropriate language and tone: When writing your email, make sure to always include a greeting and convey an easy going, assertive (not aggressive) tone. Use appropriate language (no slang) and always say please and thank you. Avoid doing things like using all capitals and make sure to re-read the email before you send it for flow, grammar and relevancy.
• ‘Cc’, forward and ‘reply all’ appropriately: the ‘Cc’ and forward function can be useful tools to bring in appropriate and relevant individuals as consults or additional team members on various projects and discussions. Take caution not to ‘Cc’ too many people, or leave people in threads that no longer apply to them, spamming their inbox with unnecessary mail. Likewise, be sure to only hit ‘reply all’ if everyone in the mailing list is relevant to the discussion you are creating. Remember, before you forward or unload responsibilities to someone else, make sure you can’t solve the problem by yourself.

There is a need for a predetermined, prescribed way of communicating with people through email in a professional setting. If everyone followed these rules with regards to email correspondence, your office would be a professional, efficient, compliant and functional environment. Unobstructed communication is the building block to a successful and proficient organization. These rules, coupled with a reliable and integrable solution, such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange 2010 can help elevate your workplace productivity in this New Year.

-Ceryx Marketing

---

[1] http://www.emailreplies.com/

The extent of the social media reach over the last couple of years has been undeniable, with the number of professional user clubs on webpages like Facebook and LinkedIn swelling up more than 10 fold or over 1000%[i]. Perhaps owing to the recent economic downturn, more and more companies have taken marketing efforts to the internet, utilizing social media as an effective way to save costs and foster an intimate relationship with their consumers. It’s no wonder then, with recent headlines boasting of multi-billion dollar valuations of popular vehicles, Twitter and Facebook, social media companies and start-ups have been able to grow at an exponential rate. With these companies being valued at such astronomical amounts, there’s no doubt social media is valuable, but the question remains; how valuable is it to the organization?

As popular as the medium is, many organizations, particularly the B2B lot, have not adopted this medium because they are not convinced it will lead to tangible benefits and bottom line realizations for the firm. Nonetheless, for whatever reason (convenience, ease, breadth of information) the internet is quickly becoming the consumers’ go-to resource for seeking out the company they want to do business with. As a result of this, social media will become an important way the organization delivers its messaging and communicates with its intended audience. Social media’s omnipresence and monopoly of the internet has shifted the question from: ‘why should we, as a business, care’, to ‘how can we get involved?’ It’s no longer an issue of if you should participate but rather, what is the best way?

There are many social media options available to the corporation but not all are relevant. For the B2B organizations, who do not deal directly with consumers, the use of social media is better justified if it contributes directly to the bottom line or has positive ROI. Many business leaders want to use social media but are not sure about its costs, benefits or which particular forms would be most effective. Financially, social media is not a large investment. Since most social media companies get their revenue from advertising, signing up for these platforms is free, the only costs incurred being other resources like time (to manage the medium) which is a small price to pay given the simplicity of use. And although, there are no immediate tangible benefits of using social media, it can lead to intangible benefits that will ultimately, if used consistently and effectively, lead to bottom line realizations for the firm.

Among the most popular and effective forms of social media, especially for the B2B case, are social networking (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and blogs[ii]. Twitter is an effective communication tool that can at the simplest level be used to deliver information directly to your audience, about product offerings, new launches, company news, etc. It is a free form of advertising, with all of your consumers, literally at your fingertips. Blogging is a form of communication that hits at a deeper level, and has a more humanistic element. Since blogs are usually light-hearted and content can vary beyond company-based information, they allow you to create a distinct brand identity and personality, establish likeability and create a more inclusive relationship with your customers.

One of the greatest advantages, and some would say disadvantages of social media, is the aspect of real-time. The ability to deliver your message immediately has changed the face of advertising and marketing. Being able to reach your customers at a moment’s notice, getting them the information as soon as possible so that they can make decisions immediately, is pertinent. The ability to control your corporate identity in real time is powerful, even if for the sole reason of damage control. With Twitter, you are able to deliver immediate retractions, corrections, apologies, respond to customer complaints, and even locate disgruntled customers and correct their problem. This is crucial, especially with a consumer culture rooted in immediate gratification and entitled satisfaction where no one wants to wait for support or help. A company whose business relies on their ability to support their customers, a company who guarantees immediate response, needs to be able to respond to their customers on all levels, social and not, to create and maintain a congruent image and ideology.  In this way, these mediums become an active corporate image management tool, with you in the driver’s seat.

Furthermore, there are many other benefits of social media. Firstly, it lets your customer define who you are. Through these mediums you get access to free market research, in terms of what your customers are saying about your brand, product, service and competition.  You then have the ability to alter or manage your offering or image based on their needs and wants. Secondly, you have the ability to engage and entice current customers, keeping them interested in who you are and what you are doing. Lastly, by creating the appropriate keywords, links and tags in social media site profiles, blog posts, articles and forum discussions you can lure the desired target market to you. Many viable, prequalified leads can be directed to your content automatically through search engines. By searching for something they were obviously interested in, need is matched with demand and a mutually beneficially relationship arises.[iii]

Social media is and will continue to be a valuable resource for the organization, in its future marketing and branding efforts. It will serve as a benchmark of innovation and indicator of company agility and progress. The key will be to use social media intelligently and effectively pertaining to your specific industry and target consumer. Done this way, you will achieve optimal results with minimal efforts and resources. Value can be defined in many ways (financial, social) and it means different things to different organizations. While the value of social media may not be completely measurable, it is becoming clearer that this medium cannot be ignored and disengaging from it will definitely lead to negative consequences for the firm in the future. When it comes to social media, just simply choosing to participate will identify you as a player in the game. The future is social, so get off the bench and join the party!

---

[i] http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/how-can-implementing-a-social-media-presence-on-the-internet-be-effective-for-the-firm-owner-or-marketing-manager-3745132.html

[ii] http://kevinmcintosh.com/social-media-marketing/different-types-of-social-media

[iii] http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/how-can-implementing-a-social-media-presence-on-the-internet-be-effective-for-the-firm-owner-or-marketing-manager-3745132.html

Now that the dust has settled, the presents have been opened and the champagne has been poured, most of us find ourselves back to the daily grind of regular business activities. With the New Year upon us, many use this time to carve out a fresh path and update our goals. January is a month of fresh beginnings, second chances and most importantly, resolutions. Each year we vow to make this one better than the next, whether it’s by improving our health, fast-tracking our career, or simply learning how to relax. While, personal resolutions are a given, why not try sprucing up every aspect of our lives, including that of the health of our business. Try following these resolutions to see big changes this year.

 “I will trim my costs”- forget your waistline, trimming costs from the IT budget will make you much more appealing, not to mention lighter and more agile. While it is important and often necessary to perform pertinent IT functions in-house, the industry landscape is changing, with many companies now outsourcing non-core competencies to specialists and saving money in the process. With gains including diverse technical expertise, increased support and functionality, and more time for in-house IT to devote to core issues, outsourcing will create internal efficiencies and get you the competitive edge in today’s environment.

“I will embrace the ‘cloud’”- sometimes it’s a good thing to have your head in the clouds! Speaking of outsourcing, this internet-based SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offering, houses all of your services and technologies in one easily and instantly accessible place, making for easy real-time delivery. Replacing your in-house managed services, the cloud can manage your platform of services and architecture more efficiently and cost effectively, freeing up valuable company resources in the process. However, not all clouds are built the same, and concerns surrounding control, security and functionality are real considerations. With a flexible solution that focuses on your unique business needs and the highest security standards, the Ceryx platform is the optimal managed service offering providing all of the benefits of the cloud, without the compromise in control or functionality.  

“I will protect my assets”- this is the year you will start taking security seriously. Your knowledge is the most important asset you own, so protecting it should be at forefront of your practise. Security has always been a top priority at Ceryx through the continual development and implementation of new security features through our offerings. Our CC offers a wide breadth of features aimed at upholding and improving security, like two factor identification, granular permission set, configurations and Security audit logs. Furthermore, add-on services like Echoworx Encrypted Mail Gateway, Global Relay’s eDiscovery services and ones from our own Ceryx platform, like Office Communications Server (OCS) further help you protect the flow and preservation of information.

“I will communicate more with my clients and colleagues”- There’s no better resolution than one to connect more with those closest to you, and the office environment shouldn’t be an exception. Messaging and communication is pertinent to the organization as it facilitates knowledge transfer. The proper messaging solution will perform with minimal interruption, increase collaboration, efficiency and productivity within your work environment. Ceryx has long been providing optimal, customized and reliable messaging solutions, aimed at improving communication and collaboration. With a platform that includes Microsoft Office Communication Server, Microsoft Exchange, and ultimate collaboration tool-Microsoft SharePoint, among others, we have successfully solved the complex messaging needs of many companies in diverse industries.

This year take your resolutions to another level, and incorporate these complementary commandments into your corporate strategy. Resolve to trim your costs, focus on the cloud and streamline communication, to create a stronger and better corporation for the future.

-Ceryx Marketing