Exchange 2007 Server Hosting Services: Enterprise-class Data Center, Microsoft Gold-certified Support Services
Introduction to Progent's Hosting Services for Microsoft Exchange
Email is a vital technology for businesses of any size and requires a host environment that offers world-class dependability, security, and IT support. Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Microsoft Exchange offer small businesses with limited network budgets and overstretched executive bandwidth a low risk, economical, and hassle-free alternative for deploying Exchange by delivering the robustness of a world-class data center plus the skill of Progent's Microsoft Gold-certified group of support engineers.
Business Benefits of Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Exchange
By utilizing a hosting service for Exchange, small and midsize businesses can derive a range of benefits. The most straightforward benefit is saving money. Gartner Group has calculated that colocation can eliminate from 20-35% of the cost of building and operating an in-house facility. Benefits such as decreasing executive hassle and increasing system availability and protection are harder to quantify, but these are clearly significant advantages. Some of the key benefits of utilizing a hosting provider for Microsoft Exchange include:
Lower Capital Expenses
By using a hosting service for vital business applications such as Exchange, small businesses on a tight budget are able to avoid the substantial costs of designing and building a computer facility with sufficient physical security, environmental control, power backup, fire detection and suppression, and redundant Internet connections. Hosting services also save the cost of software and of fault-tolerant technology like clusters and fault-tolerant disk subsystems. Expanding network capacity when your business grows is also inexpensive and simple.
Lower Operational Costs
Progent's Hosting Services for Exchange reduce operational costs by leveraging the services of Progent's network support engineers and Contact Center team. Small and midsize businesses receive the advantages of having access to a big IT services staff without having to pay for one. Small and midsize businesses also avoid the expense of the computer facility's 24x7 internal security personnel and full-time operations team.
Improved Executive Management Focus
By utilizing Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Microsoft Exchange a small company's executive management group is spared the distraction and hassle of ensuring that the crucial messaging environment is continually operational, secure,current, safely archived, and efficiently managed. Real or supposed client problems can be handled by Progent's Help Desk, and management duties like adds, deletions, and security changes can be taken care of by Progent's Exchange experts. All of these services allow managers to focus on fundamental business challenges where they can add the most help to the company.
Enterprise-class Protection
The site security offered by Progent's enterprise-class hosting facility is well beyond the level that typical small to midsize businesses could expect to achieve with an internal facility. In addition to a 24x7 staff of onsite security personnel, Progent's data center offers advanced intrusion monitoring and blocking devices as well as secure barriers to prevent unauthorized access. Progent also integrates software security such as a high-level firewall, 24x7 server monitoring, spam and virus filtering, prompt and thorough security patch installation, and a seasoned on-call group of data recovery experts.
Improved Fault Tolerance and Dependability
Progent's facility for hosting Exchange features UPS electrical power, redundant air conditioning, and non-stop Internet connectivity to deliver a high degree of availability. The site is also located in a seismically neutral area for safety against earthquakes. Progent's virtual server architecture for supporting Exchange provides even greater availability thanks to technologies such as server clustering and non-stop hard disk subsystems.
Regulatory Adherence
If your company needs to or desires to adhere to regulatory requirements such as SOX, GLB, or HIPAA, using Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Microsoft Exchange helps your IT organization to meet even the toughest security requirements.
Business Continuity
The non-stop and secure features of Progent's data center reduces the chances that an incident could disrupt your Microsoft Exchange server. In case of a catastrophic failure, Progent's consistent backup procedures and virtualized architecture allow rapid system restoration to ensure that you can immediately continue business operations.
World-class Hosting Facility
No small business can afford the expense of planning, implementing, and maintaining an enterprise-class data center. Progent enables small and midsize businesses to get more from their information systems investment by providing Microsoft Exchange Hosting and Management Services based in a data center trusted by some of the world's largest companies for hosting mission-critical applications. Important features of the data center Progent uses for hosting Exchange are:
24-hour Staffed Security Plus Advanced Security Electronics
Progent's data center features tight security for controlling and monitoring physical entry to the site. Internal security personnel are on duty on a 24-hour basis and an advanced electronic security infrastructure incorporates cameras, motion detectors, badge readers, and biometric access control systems. The perimeter of the data center is surrounded by armor plated glass and internal areas are secured within steel reinforced protective barriers.
Full-time Operations Center
Progent's data center for applicatiion includes a full-time operations center with qualified engineers and technical experts who monitor and manage the infrastructure and security of the data center and resolve technical problems.
zero-downtime Broadband Internet Connectivity
Progent's facility for Exchange hosting features failsafe BGP4 Internet connectivity through a sophisticated failover system that incorporates double, spatially separated fiber cabinets interfaced to multiple carriers. Each vault is serviced by a different TELCO central office. Two self-healing SONET rings support totally diverse network routing to hosts. Internet access is supported by multiple tier 1 providers.
In-depth Power Backup Infrastructure
The facility used by Progent for application hosting has its own utility district substation and transformer on the property. The substation is fed by redundant regional substations. The data center has four diesel-powered generators, each configured with redundant components. The generators have switch units for fast delivery of backup power and are fueled to power the whole facility for a week. The data center also has uninterruptible power supply systems, redundant power distribution units, and gel cells capable of powering the entire data center while the generators are switching.
Redundant Computer Room Air Conditioning
Progent's data center for Microsoft Exchange hosting is equipped with backed up server area cooling units configured in a closed loop configuration using water-cooled chiller components that are rotated monthly.
Fire Detection and Control
Progent's facility for application hosting features a VESDA detection system tracked by the 24x7 facility operations center staff and by an external third-part service. The fire control mechanism features a dual interlock dry pipe system that uses 10' x 10' zones to reduce damage to computer equipment near any actual fire.
Seismically Neutral Site
The facility that supports Progent's Exchange hosting equipment is located in a seismic-neutral region with no known tectonic faults and no recorded earthquakes. The data center building is also fitted with a steel-beam superstructure designed to withstand a substantial earthquake.
Progent's Integration and Support Services for Exchange Hosting
Progent's hosting services for Microsoft Exchange feature full incorporation of Exchange Server with your existing information system and also include an array of ongoing support services that will keep your messaging solution performing optimally with enterprise-class security, fault tolerance, management efficiency, and end user support. All operating system and application licenses are purchased by Progent and are the property of Progent, and all maintenance of systems and other hardware is implemented at no charge to clients. Progent's fast and non-stop Internet connections deliver 3 MBPS throughput.
Integration and support services offered as part of Progent's Exchange hosting include:
Transparent Integration with Your Information System
Progent's hosting service for Microsoft Exchange is invisible to your employees, clients, and associates. Your current domain name is retained in addition to your email addresses, contacts, file organization, and group configurations. Your email will also be accessible anywhere via Outlook Web Access (OWA) or Microsoft Exchange mobile service. Progent will also set up Exchange Server to support remote synchronization with Window Mobile-powered handheld appliances including Windows Pocket PCs and smartphones.
Spam and Virus Filtering
Progent's hosting service for Microsoft Exchange includes E-Mail Guard spam blocking. E-Mail Guard is based on Postini’s Perimeter Manager, a managed service which routes all your email traffic to secure data centers — the same ones used by world class companies like Google, eBay, and Yahoo — where messages and file attachments are filtered using state-of-the-art rules technology. E-Mail Guard supports the security management of enterprise email by performing continually updated spam and virus screening, message content filtering, and protection from email-based directory harvesting and DoS attacks. E-Mail Guard also features traffic monitoring, management reporting, and content management tools plus transmission filtering to assist you to troubleshoot your messaging system and define and police corporate messaging policy.
24x7 Security and Performance Monitoring
Progent's hosting for Exchange includes continual monitoring of the efficiency and security of Microsoft Exchange using Microsoft Operations Manager, an advanced network monitoring solution that automatically detects network problems and tendencies. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager works by automatically tracking event history, then filtering, organizing, and analyzing these system events based on an extensive built-in database. When MS Operations Manager comes across problems or a potentially harmful trend, the software can initiate special repair processes or generate alarms to alert Progent's messaging support personnel.
Update and Patch Management
As part of the support provided with Progent's Microsoft Exchange hosting, Progent's Exchange administrators make sure that patches, security updates, and service packs are installed consistently and non-disruptively. Progent will also make sure that all other software supportive of Microsoft Exchange Server stays up to date. In case the Exchange Server host system must be momentarily turned off for routine maintenance, Progent uses a maintenance interval from 10:00 pm Friday evening to 6:00 Saturday morning Pacific Time. Progent notifies customers before any scheduled downtime in order to reduce business impact.
Daily Backup and Rapid Disaster Recovery
Progent's backup practices for hosted Exchange systems feature 30 days of per-day data backups, full server backups every week, differential backups every day, and full backups with off-premises archiving monthly. Progent's virtualized server configuration allows quick data recovery in the event of a catastrophic failure, and in case a severe host collapse Progent will migrate the hosted Exchange Server environment to another host system within four business hours.
Helpdesk Support
Progent's Helpdesk services are available to support Progent's hosted Microsoft Exchange systems. Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC) provides all Helpdesk support and is available via phone, email, or Progent's web site. Supported by Microsoft-qualified professionals who are expert at providing email support, Progent's TRC group can quickly resolve virtually any issue associated with Microsoft Exchange and can also offer expert help for a wide range of IT issues such as network infrastructure, business software, multi-platform integration, and system security. Progent's TRC group can in addition escalate highly complex issues to Progent's world-class engineering team which includes Cisco-certified CCIE infrastructure experts, CISSP and CISM accredited security professionals, Linux OS consultants, and Apple Mac consultants.
Exchange Administration Support
Progent's Help Desk Call Center provides all Microsoft Exchange administration needs including adding or removing mail boxes, modifying security privileges, or resolving performance issues. As with every service provided by Progent structured on Progent's Contact Center model, Progent's Technical Response Center offers the broad and deep technical expertise and dependable service of a world-class service group, plus the visible trouble-ticket monitoring and follow-through of an efficiently managed Help Desk.
Progent's Virtual Server Hosting and Management Services
Progent's Virtual Server Hosting and Management service offers comprehensive hosting for a small company's network and application in an environment that delivers the top levels of dependability, security, and scalability and is also economical and easy to move to a different environment. Progent's Data Center Hosting and Management services are based on advanced virtual server technology that permits small companies with mixed environments to save significantly on the costs of computers and peripherals, network support, and system administration while achieving world-class availability and an unprecedented level of host independence.
In contrast to conventional Software as a Service (SaaS) hosting packages, Progent's Virtual Server Hosting covers all network and application servers in a single centrally managed solution and can handle mixed platform and non-standardized environments that are common for small businesses but are troublesome for conventional hosting services. Progent's Virtual Data Center Hosting and Management services put ownership of the OS and application software in the customer's hands so that migrating to a new virtualized environment is quick, safe, and easily affordable. This prevents becoming captive to a specific hosting provider while still offering all the cost benefits inherent with Application Service Provider (ASP) and SaaS hosting service models.
In order to ask Progent about technical support for Exchange Server technology or to learn more about Progent's Exchange hosting services, phone 1-800-993-9400 or e-mail exchange-help@progent.com.
