The IO Guy

This has been around a while, but as more people deploy Exchange 2010 the question is coming up more often.

There is a new version of Outlook mobile built into WM 6.5 that exposes the new features of Exchange 2010 such as conversation view and integrated voicemail play.

However this update is also available for WM 6.1.  You do need to be running Exchange 2010 or the installation will not proceed.

The direct download for the cab file is: https://update.outlook.com/cabs/OutlookLiveSetup.cab 

You can watch a couple of videos here: http://pocketnow.com/tech-news/exchange-2010-outlook-mobile-windows-mobile-65-awesome

I have been thinking about this a lot over recent times, both from a work perspective as part of the IO work we are doing internally on the new FY11 IO models, but also as the owner of a small business.

Traditional SME technology platforms were based on Small Business Server (SBS) with a jump to the individual products when the business outgrew either the capabilities or more commonly the capacities of SBS.

The introduction of Essential Business Server (EBS) provided a middle ground for this growth profile, providing the benefits of the automation and consistency of SBS with the capacity of larger individual systems.

The question that is now being posed by many business owners and operators is what role the cloud can, or should, play in their technology stacks.

There are many considerations and angles to this analysis, and as with all such discussions, then answer seems to be ‘it depends’.  Which is why the Microsoft approach to solutions tends to be about choice.  One size usually does not fit all.

So lets take a look at some of the considerations.

This is by no means a complete list, but as you can see there is no simple answer to this.

So how about a Hybrid?

I think it’s a foregone conclusion that future releases of Microsoft solutions across the board are going to bridge the on-premise and cloud services.  This provides a ‘best-of-both-worlds’ offering.  Use the components of the on-premise solutions that make sense, and use the cloud services that make sense.

How do you see this panning out?  What are you planning?  Let me know your thoughts.

I am writing an article and need some anecdotal evidence on whether and what social media resources workplaces are leveraging to communicate with current or potential customers.

Please answer.  Please :)

A study (carried out by British ISP Easynet Connect) finds that “70% of SMEs plan to switch to cloud computing within the next five years”.

Other than some obvious challenges with such a statement (five years is a really long time frame and survey respondents would be more lenient with their estimations), this does not surprise me.

Here’s a very quick poll:

The question really is, what will the cloud deliver to SME’s?  And is it valid to compare traditional on premise services with cloud services?

Cloud services promise a lot.  They have yet to deliver fully on that promise, but the signs are positive.  There are two things that should be delivered this year that will make a huge difference and potentially make cloud services more palatable to corporate organizations: Identity Management and a Reverse Gear.

Identity Management is a key requirement for most organizations.  There are not many companies that will be 100% cloud based, so they will be split between the cloud and on premise.  So the ability to maintain control of their users identity is required.  This covers everything from a single e-mail address space through to compliance requirements for managing security access to creating users when they start and removing users when they leave the company.

The Reverse Gear is also important.  What happens if you go out to the cloud, and then for some reason want to go back on premise?  How plausible and possible is that?

I’m not convinced that 2010 will be the ‘year of the cloud’.  I think it’s more likely that 2010 will be the ‘year that the cloud became a viable option’.

I think that we will see this year a section in many organizations Strategic Plan that caters for cloud services, indicating where and how they can leverage these options.  Some organizations have such a section already, however I think we will see a more broad adoption of this practice.

Everyone should understand 3 things:

1. What is a cloud service to my organization?
2. How could we leverage cloud services?
3. Should we leverage cloud services?

The key one is the first one.  You need to understand not only what cloud services are in the definition sense, but what does a cloud service look like to your organization.

As always, the Infrastructure Optimization can help you with this. 

• Do you know what you’ve got?
• Do you know how well you’re using it?
• Do you know what you want?
• Do you have a mandate to change?

Moving to cloud services is not a utopia where all your poorly managed on premise technology suddenly becomes well managed.

I’d be interested to hear about your plans.

So I’ve been using Office 2010 on my laptop and netbook since we got access to the early internal builds. And there are a number of new features that I am using that are making some serious inroads into my ‘wasted time’ bucket.

Note: there are plenty more new features than the ones below, these are just the ones that I have adopted and have noticed they are saving me time.

General

• Paste Live Preview – the ultimate time saver
• SharePoint integration improvements
• Previous versions access
• Graphic in-place editing improvements
• Office Web Apps and SharePoint 2010
• Improved Unified Comms integration

The new File Menu

Across all the 2010 family of applications, the File Menu has been replaced with a new look that, for each application provides a huge amount of tools, information and options.

Outlook

• Fluent UI (A.K.A “The Ribbon”)
• Quick Steps
• Mail Tips
• Conversation View
• Ignore Conversation
• Multiple Exchange Accounts (no more multiple Profiles)
• TXT (SMS) messaging to and from Outlook
• The new UC pop-up window and recent contacts frame
• The People Pane at the bottom of each message

Word

• The new search bar
• Integration with Snipping Tool (for screenshot pasting)
• Improved contextual ribbon menus
• New Print previews and options

Excel

• Much better handling of data connections (and faster)
• New conditional formatting options
• Hugely improved graphing options

PowerPoint

• New slide transitions
• Video as a first class citizen
• New animation menu tab
• Presentation Broadcast (to a browser)

I am also using SharePoint Workspace and OneNote 2010 which have a bunch of new features also.

The are probably a lot more features I am using without realising it now.  But the ones above are definite time savers and have made me more productive.

What new features do you love and are saving you time?

Back in late 2006, I was working at a Microsoft partner when the next version of Live Communications Server (LCS) was ramping towards release.  This new version, Office Communications Server (OCS) touted a bunch of new capabilities, from removing some back-end constraints that LCS had, through to enterprise voice.

We jumped at the chance to be on the Voice Partner Programme (VPP) and raced against one other partner to become the first Microsoft Voice Certified Partner.  We won :)

But the reason for this little trip back down memory lane, is that even back then, we could see that OCS was going to throw the cat amongst the pigeons, and change the landscape when it came to how people connected and communicated with each other.  In a corporate sense at least.  Why fight against the big Telco’s in their game, when we could just change game and the rules?

If I look at what my communications life looks like right now, and compare back to pre-OCS days, the transformation is incredible.

In the bad old days of telephony, I was tied to a physical desk based device, with my only option if I was not within the vicinity of said desk to either forward to my mobile, or leave a message and hope that if it was important enough that the person calling would call my mobile.  And pay the exorbitant mobile calling rates.

Today, I live only on OCS.  I have a physical Ethernet based desk phone, a Tanjay that runs the Communicator Phone Edition by choice – only because I can, not because I need it – I could easily just use my laptop.  I have single number calling.  If you call my DDI, as an end user I can have that call simultaneously ring any additional numbers I want.  Every end-point to which I am connected through the Communicator client – laptop, netbook, mobile – will also alert me to the call.  I choose where and how I will answer that call.  If you leave me a voice message, it ends up in my Inbox, with a voice-to-text transcription, and I can stream that message to my Windows Phone.

I can take any USB, 3.5mm or Bluetooth headsets and microphones and use them to hear and talk into.  Any device of my choosing.  I can buy a $10 cheap headset from the local store, or go buy an expensive high-quality set.  My choice.

And from financial point of view, I am not billed per end-point.  No, you buy a user license for the capabilities that you want the user to have, and that’s it.  (OCS is licensed by standard Microsoft Server-CAL model, with a Standard and an Enterprise edition.  Check out http://www.microsoft.com/ocs).  By most calculations, an OCS Enterprise user CAL is equivalent to about 12 months phone rental to a corporate customer.  So after year 1 you are saving money AND the user is not tied to a single desk device. (you can also purchase OCS device licenses for scenarios where you have more people than machines like call centres, shift workers and check-in counters).

I am also not billed for the pleasure of calling the person down the hallway, or even for calling anyone on my Communicator list.  Because OCS uses data networks for calls whenever possible, I can call the person next to me, a person on my list from any other organisation to which we are connected (through a mechanism called Federation – more on this later) or even a person on a public messaging system such as Live Messenger.

You already have the network connectivity both inside your perimeter and to the internet.  Why are you paying for the use of this again?  Why do you pay a phone charge to call another employee in a remote office?  Or in another country? 

So think about this.  Free calling in all those scenarios.  When do you pay?  You pay when you need to make a phone call to a telephone across the PSTN, because this is when the Telco needs to carry the call.  And fair enough.  But even then, most Telco’s are offering SIP trunking now, so you can keep a lid on those costs if you are smart.

Now, back to Federation.  B2B connectivity is incredibly powerful.  When I was at the Microsoft Partner, one of the first things we did was set up the external facing server to allow for both external connectivity back into the org, but also to allow for Federation.  We could list other companies on our server, and bridge communications between the two orgs.  We could see Presence status, IM them and so forth.  That increase in communications between two organizations who work with each other is worth a lot.

This capability continues to expand, and as an example I can make a free call to a person who works at any organisation on our Federated list.  I had a 33 minute phone call with an employee of a Microsoft Partner last Tuesday night. The call path went like this:

My Netbook –> Wireless –> Internet –> Microsoft –> Federated Link –> Partner –> Internet –>Wireless –> His laptop

There was no lag, no audio drops, no ‘dings’.  And best of all, it was FREE.  Before OCS, that would have been a 33 minute mobile call.  At something like 40c per minute.  I just saved $13 on that one call.

We have also moved to OCS audio conferencing as well.  No more expensive conferencing bridge calls.  I book it in my calendar, invite people in and voila!  You can join using a Communicator client, a Communicator Web client or just dial the 0800 number and enter the conference ID.

When you add on all of the other benefits – Presence, IM, Free/Busy, Video calling and so on, the case for OCS is a no brainer.  I typically see a less than 6-12 month ROI.

OCS does have some enterprise voice top-end gaps, however these are being worked on and the roadmap and timeframes for OCS is strong.

So what are you waiting for?? 

I sat down this afternoon and read an RFP from cover to cover, and the thing that struck me the most is that “change is the new constant”.

This RFP was a modernization programme of work, moving from a monolithic legacy system to a dynamic modern solution.

And there was clear messaging that this organization recognized that their traditional strategy of “implement and bleed till death” was no longer appropriate and would not deliver value moving forward.

Technology at this point in time has evolved to the point that change is no longer something that you do on a cyclical basis, but rather something that is almost constantly in play.  Put another way, we’re moving from “lean, mean and clean” to “managed diversity”. 

Clearly there are limits to this, as being too diverse can also be bad.  But working within boundaries, technology is such that with the correct base-level management tools, you can manage some diversity, and in fact you can deliver significantly higher value to the business through technology by providing users the tools they require.

This also applies to the deployment of new versions of existing tools.  Managing a staged rollout of new versions allows for appropriate change management and things like end user training to be provided.  You can also target both power users and task workers to ensure that issues are resolved (and never believe that any rollout goes perfectly, regardless of the effort put in prior) and learning's applied as you go.

Coping with change can be a challenge to an IT department, and can out a strain on personnel if the business does not buy into this approach.  Budgets and resource allocations should be reflected by the benefits reaped by the business users.

But looking ahead, I cannot see this move to Constant Change reverting back to legacy monolithic solutions any time soon.

And next year, you’ll see our measurement tools reflecting this.  Watch this space.

The Office 2010 blogs are really starting to hum now, with a lot of new and cool content being published.

The main blog site is at: http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/default.aspx

Here’s a list of the official product blogs:

• Excel
• Word
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Publisher
• Project
• Access
• Visio
• Office Web Apps

The information in these blogs really does help to explain what Office is really about.

A new capability in Outlook 2010 is the ability to sync with multiple Exchange Servers.

To do this, you must close down Outlook and configure using the Control Panel > Mail applet.

This is useful for a number of scenarios when you maintain a mailbox in more than one organization, a connection to an SBS server at home or even with BPOS.

This article contains screenshots and descriptions of the end-user experience when using BPOS at this point in time (November 2009).

Online Services provides a portal when users login, providing links to company resources.

Users can also download client based applications. What is available depends on the type of online user is logged in.

There are 2 different types of Online Users – full and the Deskless Worker.

The Deskless Worker SKU is a reduced functionality client.

The information below is accurate for BPOS as it stands today, based on the 2007 releases of the Exchange, SharePoint and OCS solutions. 

From what I have found, the beauty of BPOS is that the experience is the same for online users as it is for on-premise users.

Deskless Worker Downloads:

Online Suite User Downloads:

Online Services Suite:

The Single sign-on application provides for the automated configuration of local applications, as well as one-click access to the local and online services.

Outlook Web Access – Premium Client:

Deskless Worker

Reduced set of services:

Outlook Web Access – Light version:

Read-only access to SharePoint sites:

I was having a ‘discussion that involved opposing views’ with a customer the other day about web browsers.  The discussion was around their view that IE8 was ‘slow’.  I naturally inquired on how they quantified the description of ‘slow’ and their response was not what I expected.  They said it was a fast browser until you opened lots of tabs.

This caught my attention, so I asked them what ‘a lot of tabs’ meant.  They said they usually have between 40-50 tabs open.  This really caught me by surprise because I had never seen someone work that way before. Don’t you lose track of what’s open? And spend more time looking for the right tab?

They showed me their running browser and across the 3 of them they had 48, 56 and 72 tabs open in their browsers!

Is that normal?  I’m lucky to get a dozen going at a time, and I shut down the browser when not in use.

So, at the risk of starting an emotional war, I now wonder what it is that makes people choose a particular browser over another and what your browsing habits look like. 

(and yes, I know there are many more reasons to choose a browser, like security and management – both of which IE8 excels, but this is an end-user usage focussed question).

I have 3 quick questions below, please take 5 seconds to answer. 

Which Browser

First step is to understand which broswer you currently use.  Rather than get into versions, I’ll just go with vendors.

How do you use tabs?

Now, how do you manage tabs?

And finally, how do you manage the browser application?

It will be interesting to see what the results look like!  Thank you for your 6 mouse clicks.

Part of leveraging technology is to leverage what is built into the products that you use.  What is your favourite Windows 7 built-in applet?

http://www.itadvisory.co.nz/pages/polls.aspx 

Productivity is something that we talk a lot about.  But what does Productivity mean?  Is productivity a generic term?  Does it apply to everyone in the same way?  I don’t think so.  I think we need to start looking at Productivity on a Role Based basis.

By this, I mean that dependent on your Role, Productivity can mean different things to different people.

Take for example a few different roles:  A production line manager, a marketing executive and a financial controller.

What does productivity mean to each of these people?

A production line manager might be interested in people information such as contact details so if someone calls in sick he/she knows who is available to be called in as cover.  And if something on the production line breaks who do they call and when.  So productivity to them might be a device that fits in their pocket that contains this information and with a couple of button presses can make calls or initiate an email.

A marketing executive might be interested in how to locate and catalogue information, or in drilling in customer information, or analyzing the effects of a marketing campaign.  So productivity to them might be a personalised business intelligence portal where they can access information, perform drill downs and get graphical representations of campaign results.

A financial controller might be interested in corporate performance results, market and share price information and expenditure versus income reports.  So productivity to this person might mean having information delivered via email each Monday morning, consolidating data from multiple repositories and providing roll-ups of fiscal information.

As you can see, other than technology there are no consistent definitions of productivity in these scenarios.

What does all this mean?  It means that when someone states “productivity gains” as either a benefit of a solution or as a desirable outcome they want, you need to ensure that you understand what that actually translates to for the people who are on the receiving end of the solution i.e. the end users.

The IO models are excellent at showing you where you can make productivity gains, but from there the best tools you have in you armoury are your ears, eyes and the grey squishy thing in between.

Today the availability of MDOP 2009 R2 has been announced.

MDOP is a set of 6 technologies (currently, this may expand over time) that increase desktop manageability, reduce your TCO, and allow for rapid technology adoption.

They are:

• Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) turns applications into centrally managed services that are never installed, never conflict, and are streamed on demand to end users.
• Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) provides deployment and management of virtual PC images to enable key enterprise scenarios, primarily application compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) provides governance and control over Group Policy through robust change management and role-based administration.
• Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS) is a hosted service that collects software inventory data and translates it into business intelligence.
• Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) reduces downtime by accelerating desktop repair, recovery, and troubleshooting of unbootable Windows-based desktops.
• Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) enables proactive problem management by analyzing and reporting on application and system crashes.

So, what’s new in MDOP 2009 R2?  (this content is reposted from the Official MDOP Blog)

App-V 4.5 SP1 also offers new capabilities and unique integration with Windows 7:

• Maintain user productivity regardless of application format - integration with the Windows 7 UI maintains the user experience and productivity as virtual applications behave just as regularly installed applications. Users are able to pin applications to the taskbar and leverage jumplists to navigate between applications.
• Increased IT control with AppLocker integration - enforcing compliance of virtual applications with AppLocker policies, and providing consistent policy management for all application types.
• Make users productive anywhere and save on IT infrastructure using BranchCache - virtual applications traverse the WAN only once and are available to users faster through local BranchCache points, eliminating the need for an IIS Server in every branch.
• Secure application delivery with BitLocker ToGo - IT administrators can confidently deliver virtual applications on a secured USB drive, as the associated applications are protected against unauthorized use. Only authorized users have access to the applications, including remote users who may not have connectivity to corporate network.
• Integrate with third-party LDAP directories - reduce administrative overhead for customers who maintain their user accounts in a third-party LDAP directory, and enable Kerberos via Active Directory trust.

Once available, App-V 4.5 SP1 can be deployed immediately to production environments running XP, Vista, Windows7, and Windows Server 32-bit platforms. For customers preparing to run App-V on 64-bit Windows Client and Server platforms they can download App-V 4.6 Beta at Microsoft Connect.   App-V 4.6 will be available in H1 2010.

Enhance Windows 7 Manageability with AGPM, DaRT, and DEM

Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) 4.0 enhances governance and control over Windows 7 Group Policies through change management and role-based administration, so you can control, review and track changes made to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) by different IT personnel. There are two great additions to AGPM that will make your Group Policy Management even easier than before:

• Manage group policies across different domain forests - ability to copy Group Policy Objects (GPOs) from one domain forest to another, even if the two domains are not physically connected, easily creating a new controlled GPO or replacing an existing one.
• Makes GPO tracking easier with new search and filter capabilities - ability to filter GPOs according to various attributes, such as name, state, or comment. You can also search for GPOs that were last changed by a particular administrator or on a particular date.

Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 6.5 enhances diagnostics of Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) with no infrastructure investment. DaRT may repair unbootable devices, and recover data from them. DaRT 6.5 makes data recovery easier for IT Pros, by presenting system drive letters, as they are mapped when logging normally into Windows

Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) 3.5 provides insights into application and operating system failures, allowing helpdesk to be more proactive in troubleshooting PCs, without installing an agent to the endpoint. DEM 3.5 now introduces new reports to enhance desktop monitoring: Top System Errors  (the top reasons for "blue screen" errors happening on the network) and Top Application Errors (the top application errors on the network in the last 60 days grouped by computer name or user name).

Facilitate your OS Upgrade Process with AIS and MED-V

Use the Asset Inventory Service (AIS) to map which applications are running in the existing environment before upgrading to Windows 7. AIS can consolidate license use data from multiple locations, even when those do not have local IT staff. AIS is an online service and does not require server infrastructure.

Address application compatibility with Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), which will enable you to run applications that are not yet supported or tested on Windows 7, in a virtual Windows XP environment.

Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and New Zealand’s most famous Number 7 – Richie McCaw, invite you to help celebrate the launch of Windows 7 and HP’s all new range of Windows 7 PC’s. 

Be part of the moment when Windows 7 becomes available in NZ and have a chance to win a new Hewlett Packard Windows 7 PC, one will be given away every 10 minutes between 7 and 8:15am.

Queen Elizabeth Square, Britomart

22nd October 2009, 7am – 8.15am

MC Frankie Stevens and music by the Auckland Samba Band.