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Until recently, IT Partners hosted POP and IMAP accounts, mostly to small business and friends and family who had domain names. The problem was that we also had hosted Microsoft Exchange (with a big gotcha – we didn’t want to expose the Exchange server to the public internet). So we had some complex routing, firewalling, and proxy issues to deal with that made diagnosis of faults interesting.
With our datacentre 2.0 project, we didn’t want those compromises so we settled on Exchange 2007 using proxied RPC over HTTPS and Outlook Web Access. This was a major piece of work, especially the proxy configuration – if you are an IT Manager and want a copy of our how-to document – email me.
To add some additional complexity (the team just LOVE when I do that), I also wanted to continue to offer BlackBerry Enterprise Server functionality to our hosted clients.
Having no POP or IMAP worked for most users, until we came across users who already had Microsoft Exchange servers connected. Outlook won’t allow multiple Exchange Server accounts (though you can have separate profiles). We also needed to support Apple Mac users who have no support for RPC over HTTPS.
So, the net result for some clients is that we have embraced the Cloud, with Google Apps. The standard edition has a lot to offer, and is relatively easy to setup (just a couple of DNS changes). We manage the transition. Our clients, friends, and family get a world class service – especially when it comes to spam - and get POP or IMAP access as required.
As for the cloud, well, we continue to move services to the internet where possible. The latest is our partnership with YouSendIt – a great and easy to use service that has had a fantastic uptake. The ability to securely send large files (without breaking email), track delivery and downloads, password protect, and certify delivery (all from within Outlook) is very cool.
Most people see IT as the guy who will pop over when a problem can’t be fixed remotely, there’s a new application to be installed, or new faster hardware is being deployed. Of course, in our attempts to fix problems, we occasionally create another (something we always try to avoid).
What is not seen, especially with IT Partners is the research and development and product testing we do. What we want to avoid is a multitude of products from a range of vendors, so we spend time upfront trying to find the best solution. For example, we want to move to RADIUS authentication (using the same login credentials your desktop uses) for wireless full network access, but retaining guest login provision with only internet access. Enterprise products from vendors like Ruckus (who we partner with) do the job, but start at $600+ for an access point. We want a more everyday product, so Carl Buckley is working on this.
Another example is patch management. Even though WSUS (an automated update deployment tool for desktops / notebooks) we still need to manage the server deployments. Today’s Reuters article discusses the deployment of 31 security flaws fixed in the latest updates. At least Microsoft has good methods of telling us about these updates (this month’s bulletin can be found here). With some vendors, you only find out through the media.
A number of us are now running Windows 7 (release candidate). The great relief for us is that it just works, performance is an improvement over both XP and Vista, and Microsoft have added some nice features.
Expanding on the “just works” part, the install is painless. I have installed both the 32 bit and 64 bit editions with no problems. I eventually went for the 64 bit edition, due to its ability to handle more than 3GB of RAM. RAM is cheap, even for laptops. The price to upgrade my HP 8530p was $55 for an additional 2 GB of RAM, bringing the total to 4GB. However it does seem that 2 GB DIMMs are the sweet spot, as 4 GB DIMMs are about $500 each. Global excess capacity in memory production bodes well for significant continuing reductions in price per GB. There is one small gotcha. Unfortunately, older devices are more expensive to upgrade, so work out the sensible economic life of a machine before upgrading.
Devices were detected easily. I have installed Windows 7 on a variety of machines, from the latest and greatest HP 2730p (with Solid State drive) to a 4 year old IBM / Lenovo SFF Pentium 4 based machine with only 700 Mb of Ram – no problems.
Performance is an improvement over both Windows XP and the dog they called Vista. Whilst I have no hard numbers, the startup and shutdown times seem faster, with the real improvement being from when you turn the machine on to when you can actually start using it. Optimised for Solid State drives, it screams along – can’t wait for these to become mainstream (and with the recent announcement by Toshiba of a 500GB SSD it can’t be long).
In terms of nice features, they are incremental rather than revolutionary. Something different is how easy they have made virtualisation of another OS, in fact you get a copy of XP with Windows 7 to run virtualised, allowing you to deal with any apps that can’t run natively.
We actively discouraged Vista adoption. We had a few machines running internally, but it was buggy, and thus never ready for practical deployment to our clients. Windows 7 is ready for prime time, and we look forward to its release.