Microsoft Gold-Certified Consultants

Business Benefits of Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Microsoft Exchange
By using a hosting provider for Microsoft Exchange, small companies can derive an array of benefits. The most obvious benefit is monetary. Gartner Group has estimated that outsourced hosting can save from 20-35% of the expense of creating and operating an internal data center. Benefits such as decreasing management hassle and increasing system availability and security are more difficult to estimate, but these are clearly major benefits. Examples of the specific advantages of utilizing an outsourced hosting provider for Microsoft Exchange are:

• Lower Capital Requirements
  By using a hosting provider for vital applications like Microsoft Exchange, small companies on a restricted budget are able to eliminate the significant costs of designing and building a data center with sufficient physical access security, cooling, power backup, fire detection and suppression, and redundant Internet connectivity. Outsourced hosting services also eliminate the cost of software licenses and of fault-tolerant technology such as clustered servers and fault-tolerant hard disk subsystems. Increasing IT system capability as your company grows is also more affordable and simple.

• Lower Operational Expenses
  Progent's Hosting and Management Services for Exchange cut operational costs by utilizing the services of Progent's network support professionals and Helpdesk team. Small and midsize companies receive the benefits of having access to a large IT services group without needing to finance one. Small and midsize companies also avoid the expense of the computer facility's round-the-clock internal security staff and 24-hour operations center.

• Improved Executive Management Focus
  By using Progent's Hosting Services for Exchange a small or midsize company's executive management team avoids the time loss and stress of making sure the crucial messaging system stays continually operational, protected,up to date, consistently archived, and efficiently administered. Actual or supposed user problems can be resolved by Progent's Help Desk, and administrative tasks like adds, deletions, and security authorization changes can be taken care of by Progent's Microsoft-certified professionals. These support services free executive to concentrate on core business challenges where they know how add the most help to the company.

• Enterprise-class Protection
  The onsite security provided by Progent's enterprise-class hosting facility is far beyond the quality that typical small to midsize companies could expect to achieve within an in-house data center. In conjunction with a full-time staff of security officers, Progent's data center features state-of-the-art access monitoring and blocking systems plus reinforced barriers to prevent unauthorized entry. Progent also provides software security such as a high-level firewall, 24x7 server monitoring, spam and virus blocking, fast and thorough security update installation, and a seasoned online group of system recovery experts.

• Greater Fault Tolerance and Reliability
  Progent's facility for hosting Exchange offers UPS electrical power, fault tolerant cooling, and failover Internet access to deliver a high degree of fault tolerance. The site is also located in a seismically stable area for safety from earthquakes. Progent's virtualized infrastructure for supporting Exchange offers even greater fault-tolerance thanks to technologies like server clustering and non-stop hard disk arrays.

• Regulatory Compliance
  If your business needs to or wishes to adhere to regulatory standards such as SOX, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, or SAS 70, using Progent's Hosting Services for Exchange helps your IT organization to comply with even the toughest security mandates.

• Business Continuity
  The fault-tolerant and secure features of Progent's hosting facility reduces the likelihood that an event could bring down your Microsoft Exchange system. If there is a catastrophic breakdown, Progent's consistent data back up routines and virtual architecture enable rapid data restoration to make sure that your company can immediately resume operations.

World-class Hosting Facility
No small company can afford the cost of designing, implementing, and maintaining an enterprise-class hosting facility. Progent enables small and midsize businesses to leverage their information systems investment by providing Exchange Hosting and Management Services based in a hosting facility utilized by some of the country's largest businesses for hosting mission-critical applications. Key features of the facility Progent utilizes for application hosting include:

• 24-hour Staffed Security Plus Sophisticated Security Systems
  Progent's data center provides high-level security for controlling and monitoring physical entry to the facility. Internal security personnel are present on a 24x7 basis and a sophisticated electronic security infrastructure includes cameras, motion sensors, pin pads, and biometric access control systems. The perimeter of the facility is surrounded by armor plated glass and internal locations are protected by steel mesh protective screens.

• Full-time Staffed Operations Center
  Progent's hosting facility for applicatiion includes a full-time network operations center with Certified engineers and technical experts who oversee the operations and security of the data center and resolve technical problems.

• fault-tolerant High-speed Internet Connectivity
  Progent's facility for Microsoft Exchange hosting offers fault-tolerant Internet routing via a sophisticated switching architecture that incorporates double, spatially separated fiber cabinets interfaced to a variety of network carriers. Each cabinet is supported by a different TELCO central office. Two self-healing SONET rings provide dual network routing to host equipment. Internet connectivity is served by multiple tier 1 providers.

• Extensive Electrical Power Backup Infrastructure
  The facility used by Progent for application hosting has a dedicated utility district substation and transformer on the site. The substation is powered by multiple regional substations. The data center has four diesel-powered generators, each with redundant components. The generators have switch and paralleling gear units for rapid delivery of backup power and are fueled to run the entire data center for a week. The data center also has UPS systems, power distribution units, and gel cells capable of handling the entire facility while the backup generators are switching.

• Fail-safe Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC)
  Progent's facility for Exchange hosting has backed up computer area cooling units configured in a closed loop configuration with water-cooled chiller units that are rotated each month.

• Fire Control
  Progent's facility for Exchange hosting is equipped with a Very Early Smoke Detection System tracked by the 24x7 facility operations center team and by an outside third-part service. The fire control system features a dual interlock dry pipe design that covers 10' x 10' grid areas to minimize the impact on computer equipment near any actual fire.

• Seismically Stable Site
  The data center that supports Progent's Exchange hosting servers is located in a seismically stable area with no discovered tectonic faults and no recorded earthquakes. The facility is also built with a steel-beam system engineered to withstand a substantial earthquake.

Progent's Integration and Support Services for Exchange Hosting
Progent's hosting services for Microsoft Exchange include complete incorporation of Exchange with your current IT network and also include an array of continuing services that will keep your Exchange environment performing at peak efficiency with enterprise-class security, availability, administration control, and client service. All software licenses are purchased by Progent and are the property of Progent, and all servicing of servers and other equipment is performed at no charge to customers. Progent's fast and non-stop Internet interfaces offer 3 MBPS throughput.

Configuration and support services offered with Progent's Exchange hosting include:

• Seamless Integration with Your Information System
  Progent's hosting for Exchange is invisible to your workers, clients, and partners. Your current domain name is retained in addition to your email addresses, contacts, file set up, and group configurations. Your email will also be accessible anywhere through Outlook Web Access (OWA) or Exchange mobile service. Progent will also set up Exchange Server to handle remote synchronization with Window Mobile-based computing devices such as Pocket PCs and smartphones.

• Spam Filtering and Email Encryption
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's email spam and content filtering platform that incorporates the technology of top information security vendors to provide centralized control and comprehensive security for your email traffic. The powerful architecture of Email Guard managed service combines a Cloud Protection Layer with a local gateway appliance to offer complete protection against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, DHAs, and other email-based malware. ProSight Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer serves as a first line of defense and blocks the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your security perimeter. This reduces your vulnerability to inbound attacks and conserves network bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's onsite gateway device adds a deeper level of analysis for incoming email. For outbound email, the local security gateway provides anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and encryption. The onsite security gateway can also help Exchange Server to track and safeguard internal email that stays inside your corporate firewall.

• Continual Server Monitoring
  Progent's hosting service for Exchange includes continual monitoring of the performance and security of Microsoft Exchange by means of Microsoft's System Center Operations Manager, a powerful server monitoring solution that automatically detects network problems and tendencies. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager works by automatically scanning event records, then filtering, organizing, and analyzing these system events according to a massive built-in knowledge base. When Microsoft Operations Manager comes across problems or a possibly harmful tendency, it can run customizable repair processes or transmit warnings to notify Progent's email maintenance personnel.

• Update and Patch Support
  Included with the services provided with Progent's Microsoft Exchange hosting, Progent's Exchange administrators make sure that patches, security revisions, and Microsoft service packs are installed consistently and non-disruptively. Progent will also make sure that all other software associated with Microsoft Exchange Server stays up to date. In case the Exchange Server host system needs to be momentarily shut down for ordinary software maintenance, Progent uses a maintenance window from 10:00 Friday night to 6:00 am Saturday morning Pacific Time. Progent alerts customers before any planned downtime so as to reduce business disruption.

• Daily Backup and Rapid Disaster Recovery
  Progent's data backup practices for hosted Exchange systems include 30 days of per-day data backups, complete server backups once a week, differential backups every day, and complete backups with off-premises replication monthly. Progent's virtual server configuration permits quick data recovery in case of a catastrophic failure, and after an extreme hardware collapse Progent will move the hosted Microsoft Exchange Server environment to another virtual server within four business hours.

• Contact Center Support
  Progent's Helpdesk services are provided to maintain Progent's hosted Microsoft Exchange systems. Progent's (Technical Response Center provides all Contact Center services and is accessible by telephone, email, or the web. Supported by Microsoft-expert professionals who are expert at providing Microsoft Exchange support, Progent's Help Desk can quickly handle virtually any issue related to Microsoft Exchange and can also offer high-level support for a wide array of network issues such as network infrastructure, business software, multi-platform interoperability, and network. Progent's Help Desk Call Center can in addition escalate highly complicated issues to Progent's world-class consulting team which includes Cisco-certified CCIE network specialists, CISA and GIAC certified security professionals, Linux OS consultants, and Apple macOS and OS X support professionals.

• Microsoft Exchange Administration Services
  Progent's TRC provides all Microsoft Exchange administration services including adding or removing mail boxes, modifying security privileges, or troubleshooting connectivity problems. As with any service provided by Progent based on Progent's Help Desk model, Progent's TRC offers the broad and in-depth technical expertise and consistent service of an enterprise-class IT support organization, plus the transparent ticket tracking and follow-up of an efficiently managed Helpdesk.

Progent's Private Cloud Hosting and Management Services
Progent's Private Cloud Hosting service provides full-service hosting for a small company's network and application in an environment that delivers the top degree of availability, data protection, and scalability and is in addition affordable and simple to migrate to a different host environment. Progent's Server Hosting and Management services are built on advanced virtualization technology that allows small businesses with multi-platform environments to save dramatically on the costs of capital equipment, network support, and system management while benefiting from enterprise-class reliability and an unparalleled degree of vendor independence.

In contrast to common SaaS hosting packages, Progent's Private Cloud Hosting covers all network and application servers in one centrally managed solution and can support mixed platform and non-standardized networks that are typical of small companies but are troublesome for most hosting services. Progent's Virtual Data Center Hosting services keep ownership of the OS and application software in the customer's control so that migrating to a different virtualized environment is quick, reliable, and inexpensive. This avoids becoming a prisoner to a specific hosting service while still providing all the investment savings inherent with Application Service Provider and SaaS hosting models.

Find out more about Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting and Management Services.

Progent's Consulting Services for Microsoft Technology
For organizations of any size throughout the U.S., Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can provide low-cost remote computer help and IT consulting support for the entire family of Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers. Progent offers Microsoft Windows Server 2022 planning and migration services, Windows Server 2019 upgrade expertise, Windows Server 2016 hybrid cloud integration, Windows Server 2012 R2 upgrade assistance, Windows Server 2008 R2 expertise, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 upgrade help. Progent's planning, installation, optimization, and consulting capabilities include system design, deployment, and administration help for project management and documentation, on-site and off-site technical support and network diagnosis, Help Desk Outsourcing Services, certified security consulting, full-service outsourcing, and ProSight Virtual Hosting service.

Progent in addition offers a full range of remote PC desktop support and troubleshooting services including Windows 11 planning and upgrade support, Windows 10 configuration assistance, Microsoft Windows 8.1 consulting, Windows 7 support, preparing for to 64-bit computing, Microsoft Office desktop and Microsoft 365 integration, and automating Business Desktop Deployment.

In case your business requires urgent remote help from a certified engineer, visit Progent's Emergency Online Computer Help.

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

To contact Progent about professional help for MS Exchange Server technology, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.