Microsoft Certified Consultants

Benefits of Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Microsoft Exchange
By utilizing an outsourced hosting service for Microsoft Exchange, small businesses can derive a range of benefits. The most straightforward benefit is saving money. Gartner Group has calculated that colocation can save from 20-35% of the cost of building and operating an internal facility. Advantages such as reducing management distraction and increasing network availability and security are harder to estimate, but these are clearly significant advantages. Examples of the specific benefits of using a hosting service for Exchange include:

• Reduced Capital Requirements
  By utilizing a hosting service for vital applications such as Microsoft Exchange, small and midsize businesses on a tight budget are able to avoid the significant costs of designing and building a computer facility with adequate physical access security, cooling, power backup, fire detection and suppression, and redundant Internet access. Hosting services also save the expense of software licenses and of fault-tolerant computer equipmen such as clusters and fault-tolerant hard disk arrays. Expanding network capability when your business grows is also inexpensive and simple.

• Savings on Operational Expenses
  Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Exchange cut ongoing costs by leveraging the expertise of Progent's IT maintenance engineers and Help Desk team. Small companies receive the benefits of having a large network services staff without needing to pay for one. Small and midsize companies also save the expense of the data center's 24x7 internal security staff and full-time operations team.

• Improved Management Focus
  By utilizing Progent's Hosting Services for Microsoft Exchange a small or midsize company's management team avoids the time loss and hassle of making sure the crucial email environment stays continually operational, secure,current, safely backed up, and effectively administered. Actual or supposed client issues can be resolved by Progent's Help Desk, and management duties such as adds, deletions, and security authorization modifications can be implemented by Progent's Microsoft-certified professionals. These services free managers to focus on fundamental business issues where they know how provide the most help to the company.

• World-class Protection
  The site security offered by Progent's enterprise-class data center is far beyond the level that typical small to midsize businesses could expect to achieve within an in-house data center. In addition to a 24x7 staff of onsite security officers, Progent's data center offers advanced access monitoring and blocking devices as well as reinforced structures to prevent unapproved entry. Progent also integrates software protection that includes a high-level firewall, round-the-clock network monitoring, spam blocking, prompt and thorough security update management, and an experienced on-call team of data recovery professionals.

• Greater Fault Tolerance and Reliability
  Progent's facility for hosting Exchange features uninterruptible electrical power, redundant air conditioning, and non-stop Internet connectivity to achieve a high level of availability. The data center is also located in a seismically stable region for safety from earthquakes. Progent's virtual server architecture for hosting Microsoft Exchange offers even greater availability thanks to technologies such as clustering and non-stop disk arrays.

• Regulatory Compliance
  If your company needs to or desires to adhere to regulatory standards like as Sarbanes-Oxley, GLB, or SAS 70, using Progent's Hosting Services for Microsoft Exchange positions your IT organization to meet even the strictest security mandates.

• Business Continuity
  The fault-tolerant and secure features of Progent's data center lowers the chances that an event could bring down your Microsoft Exchange system. If there is a disastrous breakdown, Progent's disciplined data back up routines and virtual configuration allow fast data restoration to ensure that your company can quickly continue business operations.

Enterprise-class Data Center
No small business can justify the cost of planning, building, and managing an enterprise-class hosting facility. Progent allows small businesses to leverage their information systems investment by offering Microsoft Exchange Hosting Services based on a data center trusted by some of the world's largest companies for hosting crucial applications. Key features of the data center Progent uses for hosting Microsoft Exchange are:

• 24x7 Staffed Security Plus Advanced Security Electronics
  Progent's hosting facility features tight security for controlling and monitoring personal access to the site. Internal security personnel are on duty on a 24x7 basis and a sophisticated security infrastructure includes cameras, motion sensors, badge readers, and biometric access control devices. The perimeter of the data center is protected with armor plated glass and inside locations are secured within steel reinforced security barriers.

• Round-the-Clock Network Operations Center
  Progent's data center for applicatiion includes a full-time staffed operations center with certified engineers and technical experts who oversee the operations and security of the facility and troubleshoot technical problems.

• Non-stop Broadband Internet Connectivity
  Progent's facility for applicatiion hosting provides redundant Internet connectivity via a sophisticated switching architecture that incorporates double, spatially separated fiber vaults interfaced to multiple network carriers. Each cabinet is serviced by a separate TELCO central office. Two self-healing SONET rings support totally diverse network routing to host equipment. Internet connectivity is served by multiple tier 1 ISPs.

• In-depth Power Backup Infrastructure
  The data center used by Progent for application hosting has its own municipal utility district substation on the property. The substation is powered by multiple area substations. The data center has four diesel generators, each with redundant components. The generators have switch and paralleling gear systems for fast transfer to emergency power and have the fuel to power the whole data center for a week. The facility also has UPS systems, power distribution units, and gel cells (N+2) capable of powering the entire facility while the diesel generators come on line.

• Redundant Computer Room Air Conditioning
  Progent's data center for Exchange hosting has redundant computer area cooling units configured in a closed loop system with water-cooled chiller components that are rotated each month.

• Smoke Detection and Fire Suppression
  Progent's facility for application hosting is equipped with a Very Early Smoke Detection System tracked by the 24x7 facility operations center staff and by an outside monitoring service. The fire control mechanism includes a double interlock dry pipe design that covers 10' x 10' grid areas to reduce damage to computer equipment near any fire.

• Seismically Stable Location
  The facility that houses Progent's application hosting equipment is situated in a seismically stable region with no discovered faults and no recorded earthquakes. The facility is also fitted with a steel-beam superstructure designed to withstand a serious earthquake.

Progent's Integration and Ongoing Support Services for Exchange Hosting
Progent's hosting services for Microsoft Exchange include full integration of Exchange with your existing IT system and also include an array of continuing services designed to keep your Exchange environment operating at peak efficiency with a high degree of security, availability, administration efficiency, and end user service. All operating system and application licenses are paid for Progent and are owned by Progent, and all servicing of servers and other hardware is performed at no cost to customers. Progent's fast and fault-tolerant Internet connections deliver 3 MBPS throughput.

Integration and support provided with Progent's Exchange hosting services include:

• Transparent Integration with Your Network
  Progent's hosting for Exchange is transparent to your workers, clients, and partners. Your existing email domain name is preserved in addition to your internal email addresses, contact information, file organization, and work groups. Your email will also be accessible anywhere via Outlook Web Access (OWA) or Microsoft Exchange mobile service. Progent will also configure Exchange to handle remote synchronization with Window Mobile-powered computing appliances such as Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

• Spam Screening
  Progent's hosting service for Microsoft Exchange features E-Mail Guard spam and virus filtering. E-Mail Guard is based on Postini’s Perimeter Manager, a managed service that routes all your email to high-security data centers — ones also used by enterprises such as Google, eBay, and Yahoo — where messages and file attachments are filtered using advanced rules analysis. E-Mail Guard handles the security management of enterprise email by performing continually updated spam and virus filtering, content filtering, and safety from email-based directory harvesting and denial of service attempts. E-Mail Guard also include traffic monitoring, management reporting, and content management utilities plus outbound filtering to assist you to troubleshoot your messaging system and set and police company-wide email policy.

• 24x7 Security and Performance Monitoring
  Progent's hosting for Microsoft Exchange features constant monitoring of the efficiency and security of Microsoft Exchange using Microsoft Operations Manager, an advanced network management solution that automatically detects network problems and tendencies. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager works by proactively scanning event records, then screening, organizing, and analyzing these system events based on a massive built-in knowledge base. When Microsoft Operations Manager comes across problems or a potentially dangerous trend, the software can initiate special remediation processes or transmit warnings to alert Progent's network maintenance experts.

• Update Management
  As part of the services provided with Progent's Exchange hosting, Progent's Exchange administrators make sure that patches, security updates, and service packs are installed promptly and non-disruptively. Progent will also ensure that additional software supportive of Exchange Server stays up to date. In the event that the MS Exchange Server host machine needs to be temporarily shut down for ordinary maintenance, Progent uses a support interval from 10:00 pm Friday night to 6:00 am Saturday morning Pacific Time. Progent alerts clients before any scheduled downtime in order to minimize business impact.

• Regular Data Backup and Rapid Disaster Recovery
  Progent's data backup practices for hosted Exchange systems include 30 days of per-day data backups, full server backups once a week, differential backups each, and complete backups with off-premises archiving every month. Progent's virtualized architecture permits quick data recovery in case of a disaster, and in case an extreme hardware collapse Progent will move the hosted Microsoft Exchange Server system to another virtual server within four business hours.

• Help Desk Call Center Support
  Progent's Help Desk services are provided to support Progent's hosted Microsoft Exchange environment. Progent's (Technical Response Center provides all Help Desk support and is available via phone, email, or the web. Staffed by Microsoft-qualified professionals who are expert at delivering Exchange support, Progent's Help Desk can efficiently resolve virtually any problem associated with Microsoft Exchange and can also offer high-level help for a broad array of network issues such as system architecture, business applications, multi-platform integration, and network. Progent's Help Desk can also escalate highly complicated issues to Progent's top-level consulting team which includes Cisco-certified CCIE infrastructure specialists, CISA, CISSP, CISM, and GIAC certified security professionals, Linux experts, and Mac consultants.

• Microsoft Exchange Administration Services
  Progent's Technical Response Center handles all email administration needs including adding or removing mail boxes, changing security privileges, or resolving connectivity problems. As with any service offered by Progent structured on Progent's Help Desk model, Progent's TRC offers the broad and deep technical expertise, consistency of service, and 24x7 accessibility of a world-class service group, as well as the transparent trouble-ticket tracking and follow-up of a well managed Help Desk Call Center.

Progent's Virtual Server Hosting Services
Progent's Virtual Data Center Hosting service provides full-service hosting for a small organization's network and application in an environment that achieve the top degree of dependability, data protection, and expandability and is in addition affordable and simple to migrate to a different environment. Progent's Server Hosting services are based on proven virtualization technology that permits small businesses with mixed environments to save significantly on the expense of capital equipment, network maintenance, 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 models, Progent's Virtual Server Hosting supports all network and application servers in one centrally managed environment and can support multi-OS and non-standardized environments that are common for small companies but are troublesome for conventional hosting providers. Progent's Virtual Data Center Hosting and Management services put ownership of the software platforms in the customer's control so that moving to a new virtualized host is quick, safe, and easily affordable. This prevents becoming a prisoner to a specific hosting service while still providing all the cost savings associated with Application Service Provider and SaaS hosting models.

Learn additional information about Progent's Virtual Data Center Hosting Services.

Progent's Consulting Services for Microsoft Technology
For small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, or anywhere in the U.S., Progent's Microsoft-authorized consultants offer computer help and IT consulting services for the whole array of Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers, Windows 2008 Server, and Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. Progent's planning, installation, optimization, and support capabilities cover network architecture, configuration, and administration help for project analysis and documentation, local and off-site technical help and network troubleshooting, Help Desk Support, comprehensive security consulting, full-service outsourcing, and hosting services.

In case your business needs urgent online support from a Microsoft certified consultant, visit Progent's Urgent Online Network Help.

Find out more about Progent's Consulting Services for Microsoft Servers.

If you wish to get in touch with Progent about engineering help for Microsoft Exchange Server integration or to learn more about Progent's Microsoft Exchange hosting services, call 1-800-993-9400 or send email to exchange-help@progent.com.