Cloud Integration Services
Microsoft 365 Integration with On-premises Environments:
Hybrid Exchange Planning, Deployment and Troubleshooting
Microsoft Exchange Online is one of Microsoft's cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 family of products supported by Azure. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced investment in physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand capacity, data protection, plus other advantages associated with public clouds instead of on-premises datacenters. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange Server, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Hybrid environments combine on-premises resources with cloud products and services to create a unified IT solution.
Typical motives for combining local Exchange deployments with Exchange Online are adherence to government or industry mandates or corporate policies that prohibit certain mailboxes from being moved off premises, performance requirements associated with server virtualization or cloud latency, the need for more administrative flexibility, the ability to support certain home-grown or outdated environments, company culture, or disaster recovery plans. In addition, hybrid systems are often on the critical path for migrating non-disruptively from an on-premises to a Microsoft 365 Exchange Online cloud-based environment.
If you want a temporary hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment as part of a full move to the cloud or you intend to create a robust hybrid ecosystem, Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you with any facet of planning, configuring, administering, and troubleshooting your hybrid solution. Progent's Exchange consultants can deliver occasional assistance to help you through stubborn integration issues and also can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your hybrid Exchange Online implementation is completed on schedule and on budget.
Progent's Exchange Server consultants have valuable experience teaming with the Microsoft 365 technical support personnel to fix complicated technical issues and Progent offers as-needed support services to assist you to maintain and tune your hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online solution as your needs evolve. Progent has 20 years of experience providing organizations of all sizes advanced consulting services online, and Progent can also provide on-premises support in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. (Refer to Progent's client testimonials.)
Hybrid Integration Services for Exchange Online
A hybrid deployment of Microsoft 365 Exchange Online and on-premises Exchange supports a mix of local and cloud mailboxes and brings other important features including:
- Secure mail routing with a domain namespace and an Outlook on the Web address shared between local and Microsoft 365 cloud networks
- A shared GAL with full recipient details
- A shared free/busy calendar
- Management of bi-directional mail travel across Microsoft 365 cloud networks
- Simple movement of mailboxes between on-premises Exchange and Microsoft 365 Exchange Online including automatic Exchange ActiveSync profile redirection
- On-premises Exchange Administration Center (EAC) for unified mailbox administration
- Multi-mailbox search across local and Microsoft 365 Exchange Online mailboxes
- Microsoft 365 Archiving for local and cloud-hosted mailboxes
- Transparent integration with on-premises and/or cloud-based implementations of Skype for Business and SharePoint server
- Support for Microsoft Edge Transport server to protect against spam and enforce mail flow transport policies
- Single sign-on (SSO) via Azure Active Directory Connect, password synchronization, or AD Federation Services
- Active Directory Federation Services allows multi-factor authentication and adheres to Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
Exchange Online supports a variety of hybrid architectures. Careful planning with Progent's solution design experts can save significant effort and expense, since re-structuring a poorly conceived deployment can be complex and disruptive. Building an efficient hybrid Microsoft 365 ecosystem can be intimidating. The degree of difficulty depends on the makeup of your existing email system and the features you hope to achieve. Basic tasks are:
- Define your essential requirements for your hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment
- Evaluate your existing infrastructure and modernize as needed
- Plan and validate your new system architecture
- Create a deployment plan and select migration tools
- Identify on-premises vs. Microsoft 365 users
- Choose required Microsoft 365 services and acquire subscriptions
- Add and verify the domain of the cloud portal
- Change/Add DNS records
- Use IdFix to clean up local AD issues reported by Azure AD Connect and configure on-premises Active Directory and optionally AD FS
- Configure SSO and Directory Sync
- Assign licenses and create Accounts/mailboxes in Microsoft 365
- Export mailboxes to PSTs and move them from PSTs to Microsoft 365 mailboxes
- Integrate smartphones and tablets
- Move public folders
- Verify services
- Optimize performance
- Update and test firewalls and proxy servers
- Train IT management staff and clients
In the process of implementing a hybrid Microsoft 365 deployment, important decisions must made concerning on-premises network topology, mail flow, identity, synchronization, security, performance, disaster recovery, mailbox retention rules, management, delegation, mailbox size restrictions, smartphone registration, integration with other onsite and cloud applications and services, and additional issues that impact the architecture and implementation of your hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online solution. Typically your on-premises Exchange system will need to be updated.
Microsoft provides a variety of utilities to help you to streamline many of the tasks needed to create a hybrid environment for Exchange Online. These tools include the Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW), PowerShell, the Exchange admin center, the Microsoft 365 Deployment Readiness Toolkit, and the IdFix tool. Realistically, many phases of configuring a hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment are prone to technical missteps. Progent's Microsoft-certified experts have dealt extensively with issues related to planning and implementing hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployments and can show you how to you follow best practices to avoid problems, solve them quickly, and protect your clients from service disruptions.
How Progent Can Help You to Combine Microsoft 365 Exchange Online with Your Local Environment
Progent can help you in every step of moving to Microsoft Microsoft 365 and integrating your on-premises Exchange system with cloud-hosted Exchange. Progent can help you to define your strategic goals, evaluate the readiness of your current network infrastructure, plan the architecture for a hybrid environment, create a deployment process, configure and test a pilot system, install your hybrid network, automate administrative functions, optimize performance, manage licenses, provide consulting for disaster recovery plans, assess security compliance, and provide training for your network management team and clients. Progent can provide cost-effective remote consulting services to help you to deal with stubborn technical issues, or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing services to ensure you complete your hybrid deployment of Microsoft 365 Exchange Online on schedule and on budget.
Besides Exchange Online, Microsoft offers other software packages that are part of the Microsoft 365 product family. Included among these are Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business Online, SharePoint Online, and Project Online. All of these applications can be integrated with one another in cloud-centric or hybrid models. Progent's Microsoft-certified Microsoft 365 configuration experts can help you to create hybrid solutions that combine Microsoft 365 packages and local resources by delivering services such as Windows Server expertise, Exchange expertise, Microsoft Teams migration support, Skype for Business maintenance and troubleshooting, SQL Server integration and development, SharePoint planning and development, Microsoft 365 configuration and training, Microsoft Project consulting, and Dynamics GP support.
To help you to administer your hybrid deployment, Progent offers System Center 2016 consulting services, System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) expertise, SCOM consulting, Configuration Manager consulting, System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) hybrid cloud configuration expertise,
Common samples of remote and on-premises consulting services provided by Progent's experts to help organizations to integrate Exchange Online with local Exchange deployments include:
- Clean folders before exporting them into Microsoft 365
- Configure authentication with Microsoft 365 and local Domain Users
- Configure Microsoft 365 and allocate purchased licenses
- Rebuild profiles of Windows clients
- Migrate Google Gmail accounts
- Carry out manual mailbox migrations as necessary
- Add accounts to iOS and Android devices
- Define and configure Microsoft 365 Archiving
- Set up on-premises or hybrid email filter appliances from third-party vendors
- Fix Exchange Online synchronization problems with Active Directory clients and AD Global Security Groups
- Troubleshoot Outlook autodiscover issues
- Fix issues with .PST and .OST files
- Specify, configure, verify, and troubleshoot mail flow
- Resolve Active Directory Federation Services and AD Connect identity management issues
- Deploy PowerShell for management, diagnostics, and migration
- Work together with Microsoft staff to identify and resolve problems at Microsoft's end (e.g., a misconfigured Connector)
- Troubleshoot Microsoft 365 Message Encryption issues
- Update on-premises Exchange Servers to current versions of Exchange and upgrade equipment
- Train HR on steps to delete email accounts for terminated employees
If you need assistance with any facet of interfacing your on-premises Exchange environment with Microsoft 365, call Progent at
Additional Public Cloud Integration Services from Progent
The choices available for public cloud products and services are increasing rapidly, making it hard for information system managers to select the optimum cloud strategy for their organization. Progent has in-depth experience assisting companies of all sizes to design, deploy, and maintain hybrid networks that integrate various cloud services from major public clouds. Progent's cloud integration experts can assist you to evaluate the relative benefits and shortcomings of different public cloud options and can show you how to create a cloud-based or hybrid network that delivers maximum business value.
Public cloud products supported by Progent's consultants include:
Progent's Azure cloud integration experts can help you with every phase of Microsoft Azure integration including requirements definition, readiness evaluation, solution architecture, pilot testing, implementation, centralized management, performance optimization, license management, disaster recovery preparedness, security policy enforcement, and compliance assessment. Progent can assist your IT staff to configure and troubleshoot firewall appliances and VPN tunnels so that your clients can securely connect to Azure resources, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consulting experts can assist you set up critical Microsoft technologies to work in Azure including Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also help you to set up a hybrid ecosystem that transparently integrates physical datacenters with Azure services.
Progent's certified Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 consultants can help businesses to incorporate Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as Office Excel, Office Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Access, Project and OneNote into a cohesive solution that provides fast return on investment and promotes improved business outcomes. Progent can help your company to interface Office or Microsoft 365 apps with one another and with other key Microsoft platforms including SharePoint, Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server running on-premises or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can also assist you to resolve compatibility issues between various versions of Microsoft Office and can provide live online Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 training to individuals or groups.
Progent's Amazon AWS cloud planning and integration experts offer cost-effective remote consulting to help companies of any size to integrate Amazon AWS cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual machine hosting, Amazon S3 for expandable cloud storage, and Amazon Glacier for low-cost long-term archiving. Progent can help you with every aspect of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, readiness assessment, system design and review, pilot testing, configuration, administration, performance optimization, software license management, disaster recovery mechanisms, and security strategies. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewalls and VPN technology and can help you create all-cloud or hybrid networking models that efficiently incorporate Amazon AWS services. Progent offers occasional consulting or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing services to help you move smoothly to the Amazon AWS cloud platform.
Amazon Marketplace Web Service is an integrated library of APIs that enables Amazon sellers to streamline their operations by automating crucial sales functions such as listings, orders, shipments, fulfillment, and reports. By tapping into Amazon's extensive online ecosystem and automating their sales, vendors can expand their market, lower their operating costs, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service consultants can work with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring to help you cut development time and costs and expedite your ROI.
Progent's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration experts offer cost-effective remote and onsite support to help companies to move any portion of their critical network resources to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save time and hardware costs and enable access to Google's state-of-the-art AI and machine learning tools. Progent can assist you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform integration including requirements analysis, readiness evaluation, architectural design, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance optimization, licensing management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security and compliance.
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Progent's remote access and wireless synchronization experts can help you to design and deploy secure access solutions for remote desktop PCs, notebooks, and smartphones so they work seamlessly with your IT network, enabling you to improve the productivity of your off-site workers.
NetApp MetroCluster and FlexPod Professional
NetApp MetroCluster Troubleshooting Engineer
NetApp MetroCluster is a high-availability and disaster recovery platform that uses array-based storage clustering along with replication to deliver rapid, zero RPO disaster recovery between sites located up to 185 miles (300km) apart. Progent's team of seasoned network consultants can assist your business to design, configure, manage, upgrade, test and repair a disaster recovery system built around NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can help you to select a topology for your MetroCluster deployment that meets your functional requirements and IT budget. Progent can ensure you adhere to leading practices for configuring your MetroCluster solution by providing help with procedures like assigning disk pools and shelf IDs, determining aggregate layout, provisioning volumes, setting up NetApp Snapshot, provisioning switches, designing a tiebreaker mechanism, setting up a TCP/IP configuration replication network, and verifying your MetroCluster DR system to verify compliance with information assurance standards and government requirements.
Immediate Dynamics GP 2015 R2 Integration Consultancy
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Dynamics GP 2015 R2 (formerly Great Plains) introduces a revamped design that improves cloud readiness, supports the most popular handheld devices, allows single login with Azure Active Directory, and tightens security and compliance. Dynamics 2015 R2 also simplifies reporting, includes nine new Workflows, expands the Web Client, and delivers more than 100 improvements to its library of applications. Progent's team of Microsoft-certified and Cisco-certified consultants offer the broad technical skills and hands-on experience to resolve the critical technical and business issues associated with upgrading to Dynamics GP 2015 R2 and can help your organization to perform an efficient migration that will maximize the business value of your investment in this mission-critical product.
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Cisco CCIE Remote Information Technology Manager
Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network infrastructure consultants can assist your business to set up, manage, upgrade and debug Cisco network products. Progent offers Cisco, Meraki and Nexus switch consulting, ASA firewall expertise, Meraki and Aironet Wi-Fi access point support, Cisco VoIP phone support, and CUCM/CallManager software expertise.
24/7 Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V Services
Citrix Workflow Studio Specialist
Progent's Citrix experts can help you to assess the potential strategic benefits of the available versions of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V, help you to integrate Citrix management utilities in your Hyper-V environment, and show you how you can deploy Citrix Essentials to improve the responsiveness, availability, consistency, and recoverability of your virtual environment while reducing the cost of resources and support and streamlining management processes.
Technology Consulting Services ISA 2004 Enterprise Edition Server
Microsoft ISA 2004 Server Technology Consulting Services
Progent's Microsoft certified consultants provide small and medium sized businesses expertise for Microsoft Forefront TMG and ISA Servers. Microsoft's Forefront TMG and ISA Servers include a full featured application-layer aware firewall that can secure your business system from attack by external and inside sources. Forefront Threat Management Gateway and ISA Server perform thorough inspection of Internet protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which allows these products to uncover many attacks that can elude traditional firewalls. The integrated firewall and VPN structure of Forefront Threat Management Gateway and ISA Server permit stateful filtering and inspection of all VPN streams. ISA Servers are the mainstay of Microsoft's system security strategy, and Progent's Microsoft-certified engineers and CISSP, CISA and CISM certified security consultants can help you enhance your IT security through experienced design and integration of Forefront Threat Management Gateway and ISA Servers. Progent's Microsoft consultants can assist your company to deploy Microsoft Forefront TMG 2010, manage and troubleshoot all versions of ISA Server, or upgrade smoothly from ISA Server environments to Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway.
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Progent can assist small and mid-size companies to configure and troubleshoot video conferencing applications to enable their at-home employees to communicate productively with teammates and clients.
Google Cloud Disaster Recovery Technology Professional
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Progent offers cost-effective remote and on-premises support to assist organizations of any size to move any part of their critical network infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and equipment costs and allow the use of Google's state-of-the-art AI and machine learning tools. Progent can help your IT team with every phase of Google Cloud Platform migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, readiness assessment, architectural design and review, testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery mechanisms, and security.
SQL Server 2014 In-memory ColumnStore Troubleshooting
IT Services SQL Server 2014 In-memory OLTP
SQL Server 2014 incorporates significant improvements in critical areas such as performance, availability, security, and cloud integration. SQL Server 2014 is the first release of Microsoft SQL Server that includes in-memory capability that operates transparently across all workloads including Online Transaction Processing, data warehousing, and data analytics. Progent's Microsoft-certified SQL Server 2014 consulting team can provide cost-effective remote and onsite services that include planning, configuration, management, remediation, and software development expertise to help organizations of any size to realize maximum business value from their SQL Server 2014 deployment.
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Largest SCOM 2012 Fabric Monitoring Computer Engineer
Progent's Microsoft-certified consulting experts have more than a decade of experience designing, deploying, enhancing and fixing System Center Operations Manager environments and can provide companies of any size expert remote or onsite consulting services for SCOM 2012. Progent can assist your company to plan an architecture for SCOM 2012 servers that delivers the responsiveness and availability required to watch over your datacenter effectively, whether your datacenters are onsite, cloud-based, or a mixed solution. Progent's SCOM consultants can also assist you to install and customize Microsoft SCOM 2012 management packs according to leading practices for monitoring network infrastructure and both Microsoft and 3rd-party applications and services. In addition, Progent can provide responsive remote or onsite troubleshooting to assist you to remediate serious issues uncovered by System Center 2012 Operations Manager.
Network Engineer Aironet Ruggedized APs
Aironet Wi-Fi AP Management Configuration
Progent's certified wireless experts can help businesses of all sizes to plan, implement, administer and repair Cisco Aironet wireless AP environments to achieve the performance, coverage, capacity, scale, security compliance and ease of management required for seamless access between wireless and wired network infrastructure. Progent can provide efficient remote and on-premises consulting services for legacy and new-generation 802.11ac Aironet access points and Progent can help your business plan and maintain wireless solutions that include indoor and outdoor Aironet Wi-Fi APs.
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