Direct Access (DA) is a game-changing technology for remote access in your company; removing the need for a VPN all together. Within Microsoft, we've seen great productivity benefits to end users. We surveyed users from our DA pilot and over 87% saw instant productivity gains, overall resulting in net benefit of ~1 hour each day for users. Furthermore, Microsoft operations is saving costs by things such as not having to convert internet connected sites to dedicated lines. For more information on the business value of DA and Microsoft's implementation, watch the Direct Access MSIT video.
Ok, you know you want to implement the DA functionality which comes with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 - but now why would you want to have Unified Access Gateway (UAG) along with it?
As discussed in the video below, here are some of the key reasons you would want to run UAG with DA:
To hear more about the business value for UAG with DA and to learn the technical information behind how DA and UAG work, watch this video:
You can also see the breakdown of what is played when by going to the original post on TechNet Edge.
Today we tend to take it for granted that somehow SPAM email is being blocked inside our company. You probably still get some SPAM messages but to an extent, your current solution seems to do its job. So, why do anything different? Here are some reasons why you might consider change and how Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange (FPE) helps:
Reduced Carbon Footprint – occurs when you get rid of a piece of SPAM email as early as possible, hence decreasing the utilization of the machine’s resources freeing it up to do other things or process more mail. This in turn might help to reduce the number of servers required in your organization. FPE has a significant enhancement over Forefront Security for Exchange and competitor solutions as it has a dynamic DNS block list (DNSBL). The block list is continually updated automatically which enables SPAM to be rejected early on in the process. The ideal situation is to also have it blocked in the cloud before it gets to your organization, but each step counts even blocking spam within your organization. Microsoft’s cloud spam solution is our Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) which can also work in conjunction with FPE.
Less email Administrator time required – FPE has been designed with a “set it and forget it” mindset for an administrator in regards to SPAM. The DNSBL and Cloudmark content filtering engines are automatically updated, unlike other competitor solutions.
User productivity – gains are seen when a user doesn’t have to spend time deleting SPAM or hopefully not, clicking on links inside of SPAM. FPE offers numerous features and functionality to remove 99% of all spam which comes into your organization.
Better Security – would happen if a user never gets spam mail to prevent clicking on potentially malicious links inside spam email. The less spam a user gets, the less chance there is for a potential security threat.
To see what I mean about how FPE can reduce your bacon, you’ll find this towards the end of the video. View the original post for this video to get a breakdown for a list of what topics are being covered at what time.
To learn more about how FPE and Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) work with Exchange 2010 for protection of SPAM and anti-virus, including further stats, check out this video with PM Mike Chan.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 change the game with how we communicate and collaborate when travelling, working remotely or needing to collaborate from home. It changes the game through a technology known as DirectAccess. More specifically, DirectAccess is a new feature in the Windows 7 client and the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems that enables users to be seamlessly connected to their resources, data and applications through the Internet. DirectAccess eliminates the need for cumbersome VPN connections or software to get connected. Collaboration and communication becomes easier than ever before. You can learn more about the Windows 7 solution through an upcoming TechNet Webcast next month.
Forefront comes into play to help make this even easier and more widely deployable through the Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) product which is built on the Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) platform for protection and firewall capabilities. Both products build upon the DirectAccess technology built into Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and extend it by providing enterprise management, flexibility and transitional capabilities. In short, UAG enables DirectAccess capabilities to all servers - especially those that are still running or limited to IPv4 addresses. This effectively provides a DirectAccess experience to legacy applications, servers and resources. Now, to provide my personal experience in using the beta internally, it changes the way I do work every day. I have the freedom to work from anywhere with my laptop and smartcard, I can get access to data and applications within seconds. I no longer have to spend time with a VPN connection or worry about unreliable Internet links. I can feel comfortable going to home or traveling on the road as I know I will have access to the resources I need wherever I go.
Forefront and Windows have already made my interaction with colleagues and my team easier than ever before. I predict in the not too distant future it will change the way businesses communicate and collaborate in the future. In my mind, this is what Business Ready Security is all about - productivity without security comprises.
David B. Cross Product Unit Manager
Many organizations are faced with making decisions on how to keep their communications secure. Some of these decisions are how do I keep from receiving spam or how do I make sure my sensitive company information doesn't leak? Microsoft's secure messaging solution helps make these decisions easier in large part due to the nature of bringing protection capabilities from multiple products together. For instance, Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS) works with Exchange 2010 and Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange (FPE) to ensure confidential messages automatically get protected with ADRMS and eliminate potential SPAM and viruses.
The following video explains more about the secure messaging solution and demonstrates the technologies.
You can download or comment on this video at: http://edge.technet.com/Media/Forefront-Secure-Messaging-screencast-and-interview/