Internet Solutions (IS), South Africa's leading converged communications service provider, and SharePoint360, a SharePoint professional services company based in the USA and Cape Town, have teamed up to deliver something new in the Hosted SharePoint space.
"Whilst the IS Application Solutions division has indeed had a Hosted SharePoint offering for a number of years, we have not seen the rapid uptake in the market that we had expected," says Hayden Lamberti, Manager Applications Solutions at IS.
Lamberti says there are several reasons for this but primarily include:
* Incorrect billing model
* Lack of local supporting professional services
* Complexity of native SharePoint and its diverse nature.
"This partnership with one of the USA's leading SharePoint services providers - SharePoint360 - together with the IS Hosting Messaging and Collaboration version 4.0 (HMC 4.0) environment, allows us to offer our customers a highly available and redundant Hosted SharePoint which is easier to use and with more functionality than SharePoint has in its native state," says Lamberti.
"SharePoint360 has recognised that local markets need the resources of professional services, the ability to facilitate training and customisation and provide a higher level of support - which has been traditionally missing in the Hosted SharePoint space in southern Africa," says Gary Finberg, Managing Director, SharePoint360 (Pty) Ltd.
There are other features that will be available to IS SharePoint360 users, continues Finberg: "Giving customers the freedom to build custom workflows in a shared, hosted environment has been a challenge from both a skills and security perspective. K2's BlackPoint, which is integrated into the product, lets SharePoint users rapidly build powerful workflows and process-driven applications directly inside the browser, without code or complexity."
And at the same time, a change in cost structure moves the IS SharePoint360 offering to a per company billing model from a per user model, thus catering to the requirements of a wide spectrum of companies, from SMEs to Enterprise.
The IS SharePoint360 system will be introduced and demonstrated at the forthcoming 4th Annual Knowledge Management and Intranets Conference 2008, 13 - 16 October, 2008, at Gallagher Estates, Midrand.
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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 promote 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 was the first company outside of the US to be certified as a Cisco Managed Security Service Provider.
Today the company enjoys a leadership position as it delivers services including: hosting, access, security solutions, virtual private network, mobile solutions, VOIS, African solutions, broadband, and application services. 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 www.is.co.za
SharePoint360
SharePoint360 (Pty) Ltd is a leading SharePoint consulting and hosting provider. We are a 100% SharePoint focused Microsoft Gold Certified Partner committed to providing effective Web-based solutions to organisations worldwide.
Since the product's release in 2001, SharePoint360 team members have completed numerous Microsoft SharePoint implementations and development projects for a variety of public and private organisations resulting in increased revenues, saved time, reduced headcount, and labour costs. Our study and focus on Microsoft SharePoint technologies has culminated in an unrivalled expertise regarding technical solutions and development. Every member of our team is a software industry expert with years of experience in building and implementing Microsoft-based business solutions and platforms. Our services include:
Core Competencies
* MOSS Installation, configuration and administration
* WSS Installation, configuration and administration
* SharePoint architecture, design, development and implementation
* Business intelligence design and implementation
* Custom workflow and BPM development
* Development of custom Web parts and Web services
* Back-Office and LOB application integration
* Document management (integrating hard and digital documents)
* Integrating other SharePoint-enabled applications (Live Communications Server, Project Server, etc.)
* Designing from a scalability and extensible perspective
* SharePoint best practices
* SharePoint training
* SharePoint branding and Web design
* Network security (specifically SSL - VPN relative to SharePoint)
* User interface and taxonomy issues
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