Internet Solutions (IS), a leading converged communications services provider, has been running Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) 3.5 for some time and was in fact the first company worldwide to deploy HMC 3.5. HMC 4.0 offers service providers a robust platform to deliver integrated, streamlined communications services to small and midsize businesses (SMEs).
IS Applications Solutions Manager Hayden Lamberti says the sheer scale of the environment has meant careful planning and hence a somewhat belated upgrade to HMC 4.0.
“While Hosted Exchange has always had a great fit in the SME space, more and more enterprise clients are looking to Hosted Exchange as a full mail solution,” says Lamberti. “The new environment is highly geared toward this type of client with new features which are core to the enterprise such as very large mail boxes, enhanced mobility offerings, onsite AD integration and archiving, to name a few.”
“Further to this, the new service-based infrastructure design is built in a way that new solutions can be easily plugged into the new environment, the first example of this being Microsoft Hosted CRM which is set for release in the first quarter of next year.”
The provisioning and management GUI and APIs have also been greatly enhanced by Microsoft Consulting Services to cater for more functionality in a more user-friendly manner.
Key benefits of HMC Version 4.0
The new version of Microsoft's solution for hosted messaging and collaboration utilises Exchange Server 2007, the industry's leading platform for e-mail, calendaring and unified messaging. Exchange Server 2007 helps protect the organisation with built-in technologies that provide high availability, reduce spam and viruses, enable confidential communications, and aid compliance of regulatory or corporate policies. Employees benefit from anywhere access to their e-mail, voice mail, calendars and contacts from a variety of software clients and devices. Exchange Server 2007 enables new levels of operational efficiency by optimising hardware, networking resources and features that help make administrators more productive.
“Advances in the hardware, specifically servers and SAN infrastructure also mean that IS can achieve greater scale with less hardware, which ultimately means better pricing to the client,” concludes Lamberti.
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Internet Solutions
Internet Solutions (IS), is Africa's leading New Age Telco, offering end to end converged communication solutions to our clients. The people at IS are passionate about constantly innovating and delivering solutions and services that are relevant and critical to their customers. These services are built on a world-class, secure, resilient infrastructure, delivered according to global best practices and effected in partnership with the world's leading technology vendors. It is through these services and solutions that IS creates a competitive edge for their customers communication needs, and promotes sustainable business growth.
The business was founded in 1993 on the principle of developing a robust infrastructure in order for corporates and other organisations to communicate. Since then, IS has established itself as a leader in this space, attracting over 80% of South Africa's top businesses as clients. From listed companies to non-governmental organisations, local and national government and smaller companies, IS is enabling and evolving communications to meet the business needs of thousands of customers.
The company enjoys partnerships with major global players such as Cisco and Microsoft and holds Microsoft Gold certification in the hosting specialisation for hosted messaging and collaboration (Hosted Exchange and SharePoint) and managed hosting solutions - the first South African company to achieve this accreditation and the first company outside of the US to be certified as a Cisco managed security service provider (MSSP).
Today the company enjoys a leadership position as it delivers services including: hosting, access, security solutions, virtual private network (VPN), mobile solutions, VOIS, African solutions, broadband, and application services (ASP). Recent growth in the African economy has resulted in IS spreading its services across all parts of the continent as clients demand reliable and robust networking connectivity in the African market. For more visit us on http://www.is.co.za
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