Using SharePoint server 2007, you can update, share, and discuss data such as customer communications; employee authored content, interactions with service providers and experts engaged on projects; and news related to the company, that too all under one roof. Taxing to and fro of emails can be dodged. In SharePoint Site, staff and management will be able to glance through or make changes in the company content right at one place. Less storage space is also required. News stories meant for the company’s intranet folio which essentially needs to be analyzed by the concerned superiors before getting posted can be done swiftly concurrently at the central space.

Using another such solution from Microsoft, i.e., Dedicated Exchange Server, employees and employers can enhance their email communication. The main advantage using Hosted Microsoft Exchange is that it can be integrated with SharePoint site. It also allows for wireless synchronization, archival of emails, download of heavy attachments even on the phone, access to contact list, so on and so forth. Cheap Exchange hosting services are available in the market. Also, application hosting and free hosting templates for project management, content management, document management, etc. are easily available these days.

Whilst you make a social network by means of SharePoint, users, private spaces, etc. are by default being developed for each user you adjoin. These individual spaces are known as My Sites, which operates similar to other existing social network sites, however with additional features and abilities. The My Site feature in SharePoint allows to see and administer data, links, calendar, associations, and other private data.

Originally speaking, in SharePoint Server 2010, each My Site has an integrated blog. Additionally, users can generate new SharePoint sites and fasten them to an on hand Team Site. This provides a blog to the team that adjoins additional content and value along with their document repositories, calendars and lists. SharePoint also allows for blog archiving which can also be indexed. Thus, it makes the blog a storehouse for combined facts and data.

People Search is an imperative SharePoint Server 2007 feature for big or emergent organizations. It helps search and find exact people much easier. Several kinds of search features are available to use, for instance the By Expertise search feature. Also, search results can be differentiated by tabs such as job title or by social distance.

Microsoft SharePoint Services also has integrated wikis for information sharing and information and group collaboration on content. SharePoint Wiki features include approval workflows and permissions, document check-in, and version history. There is also an option to use hyper-V hosting with a dedicated SharePoint server. SharePoint price is also not too expensive.

Free hosting templates, hosted blackberry, and Exchange host are also available through SharePoint hosting providers.

Internet Security Technologies : Firewall

A firewall is an application that allows the user to control and filter packets flowing in and out of the network. Firewalls effectively block probes like ping, operating system fingerprinting, port scans and other types of intrusions. Many companies offer free firewall for personal use only.

A firewall may be software or hardware. A firewall is at the entry point of the network it protects. The most basic firewall performs packet filtering. In packet filtering, the firewall is the first program that receives and handles incoming network traffic and the last to handle outgoing traffic. The policy of filtering the packets may be based on allowing or disallowing packets based on:

• source IP address
• destination port
• protocol

Circuit Relay or Circuit Level Gateway provides additional security. This operates on the Transport Layer. This firewall also determines whether the connection between both ends is valid according to a set of configurable rules. It then opens a session and permits traffic from the allowed source for a limited time period.

Application level gateway acts as a proxy for applications. It performs all data exchanges with the remote system on behalf of the applications. It also allows or disallows network traffic according to specific rules. This is the most secure type of firewall.

Source

If you want to get a grasp of what cloud computing is in the simplest way possible, I suggest that you check out Google’s newly released book, 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web. It does cover 19 other topics aside from cloud computing, but the way it presents the concept is simple enough for practically anyone to understand.

To paraphrase, cloud computing is tapping into the power afforded by the plethora of computers connected to each other all over the world. Data is stored in these computers located in various areas, and the same data is accessed by people from the four corners of the globe. Simple but powerful, isn’t it?

What are the advantages of cloud computing?

One, it is more cost effective for small to medium sized enterprises. There is an enormous amount of power afforded by the infrastructure, and since this is shared by many, the cost is spread out.

Two, cloud computing is supposed to be “greener,” again by virtue of less resources being used by more people.

Three, cloud computing offers data safety. A simple example: if your data is stored in the “cloud,” then your hard drive can crash, you can lose your computer, or whatever, and still your data can be easily retrieved.

One element that is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of cloud computing is the role that data center services play. Entities offering these services have various set ups, but there is no doubt that they play a central role in storing data and managing access to it.

Whether it is for business or personal purposes, cloud computing certainly will be changing the landscape more in the years to come.

Photo via Brian Keith May

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) :

Netscape Communications Corporation developed SSL for providing security and privacy over the Internet. The protocol supports server and client authentication. Since the protocol is application-independent, it allows other protocols like HTTP, FTP, and Telnet to be transparently layered on it. An Secure Socket Layer (SSL)-enhanced browser encrypts the data sent from the browser to the server. SSL uses encryption and certificates to authenticate websites and web users.

Ssh (Secure Shell) :

Ssh is a program used to:
1. log into another computer over the network
2. execute commands in a remote system
3. move files from one system to another

Ssh provides:
1. strong authentication and secure communication over unsecured channels
2. secure connections and secure forwarding of arbitrary TCP connections
3. provides encrypted communication
4. Ssh is proposed as an alternative to the traditional BSD ‘r’ commands-rlogin, rsh, and rcp. It replaces Telnet. The free version of the SSH protocol suite can be downloaded from http://www.openssh.com/.

Source

If you are currently tempted by unethical techniques which may help you to do better than your online competitors, stop and think about it carefully. Unethical and even illegal techniques are not beneficial for online businesses in the long run. You may think you can use them, achieve results quickly and get away with it without any repercussions but this is highly unlikely. Whatever search engine optimization services you opt for, they reflect on your business reputation and brand too.

If you use inappropriate methods to help your business to outrank your competitors and attract more traffic it will be noticed by others and you will be punished. Penalties for this type of behaviour can be harsh and can be disastrous for a business. If you want to do better than your rivals, you have to operate ethically and you have to work hard.

Firstly, you have to build as many high quality links to your website as possible. Links from websites which are relevant to your business, which are ranked highly in the search results and which feature top quality content are what you are looking for. Links like this will get your website noticed by the search engines and by suitable traffic and can help your website in many ways. If you work to have more high quality links than your competitors, your results will be better.

You also have to ensure you create as much high quality content for your business as possible. Good content is a key part of any search engine optimisation campaign. Write articles, update your blog regularly and add new content to your website when necessary to keep the search engines visiting and exploring the content you have on offer. The more attention you get from the search engines, the more likely you will be to achieve top rankings and be placed in a better position than your competitors. You will also find those that read your content will find it more useful too.

The third thing you can do to help your business beat your competitors in an ethical way is provide an exceptional customer service and manage your reputation carefully within the online community. Your relationship with your customers and how you interact with them is of great importance. Respond to any issues or complaints professionally and always look out for ways you can give others relevant and useful information. It is likely a lot of your competitors do not give their audiences the attention they deserve and so this is an area where you can excel.

Outperforming your competitors is possible if you use ethical and effective SEO techniques. We at www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk can show you how to use SEO to the advantage of your business and how to become a strong competitor within your business market.

Hence, if you glance through, Microsoft has been upgrading the SBS versions over the period of time which also meant upgradation of the Microsoft Exchange Server. For instance, Small Business Server 2003 includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 which is 32-bit only and doesn’t install on the various 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003. On the other hand, Small Business Server 2008 uses Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 product, which has introduced advanced e-mail and calendar functionality to it. Exchange Server 2007 uses a 64-bit version and delivers a seamless end-user collaboration experience and unparalleled security features. Other contrasting feature of SBS 2003 Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and SBS 2008 Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is that the later version has built-in support for Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization platform which also means that it will be relatively easy to virtualize Exchange 2007 system down the line – making it simpler to implement a disaster recovery system for email. Thus making it possible for the organizations to be in communication with its customers all the time!

Yet another interesting and glaring difference between SBS 2003 Microsoft Exchange and SBS 2008 Microsoft Exchange version is the anti-spam feature. The new version includes an anti-spam migration tool unlike the earlier version which reduce the amount of spam you get with support for content filtering and Internet IP block lists. Other improved features of Windows Small Business Server with Microsoft Exchange 2007 include improved calendaring, unified messaging, improved mobility, improved web access, 64-bit performance & scalability, command-line shell and simplified GUI, improved deployment, role separation, simplified routing, a new command-line shell and scripting language for system administration, unified messaging that lets users receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes in their mailboxes, and lets them access their mailboxes from cell phones and other wireless devices, improved database size limit, and increase in the maximum number of storage groups and mail databases per server, to 5 each for Standard Edition (from 1 each in Exchange Server 2003 Standard), and to 50 each for Enterprise Edition (from 4 groups and 20 databases in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise).

All in all, SBS 2008 with its renewed Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 component is definitely worth grabbing, and it is more affordable as Small Business Server hosting from a service provider. So if you are still using the older version, don’t forget to switch over to the new version.

Internet Security Technologies : Encryption

Encryption is the process of rendering data unreadable for snoopers. The designated receiver must have the correct key to decrypt the data. Hackers can intercept data over the network by eavesdropping, tampering, or impersonation. The strength of the encryption depends on the key length.

An encryption system can be of two types: public or private. In public key encryption, a pair of keys called the public key and the private key is used. The public key can be given to anyone and the sender uses it to encrypt the message. The receiver then uses his private key to decrypt the message. The private key is obviously not revealed. In private key encryption, the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The private key must be sent to the receiver through a secure connection.

Source

As an element of SharePoint Server 2010, Word Automation Services allows you to perform file operations on the server that previously required automating desktop Word:
* Converting between documents formats (e.g. DOC to DOCX)
* Converting to fixed formats (e.g. PDF or XPS)
* Updating fields
* Importing “alternate format chunks”
Features of Word Automation Services

Features of Word Automation Services include the following:
o Reliability – Word Automation Service was built from the ground up to work in a server environment, which means that you no longer have to worry about issues like dialog boxes that bring the process to a halt, expecting a user to provide input; creating interactive user accounts under which to run the application to avoid running into permissions issues, etc.
o Speed – The service is optimized to perform server-side file operations, and in doing so provides performance significantly better than existing solutions.
o Scalability – The service can take advantage of the processing power available on typical server hardware (multiple processors, additional memory). For example, although a single instance of WINWORD.EXE can only utilize a single core of processing power, with Word Automation Services, you can specify the number of simultaneous conversions (and the # of processing cores) to use based on the available hardware.

What Word Automation Service doesn’t do in the SharePoint Server?
One of the most important things to understand about Word Automation service is what it doesn’t do. Word Automation Service is not intended to be a 1:1 replacement for the existing desktop object model. Instead, the server is one half of a replacement for the existing object model – the other half being the Open XML SDK.
o The SDK is designed to handle tasks that don’t require application logic, such as inserting or deleting content (paragraphs, tables, pictures), inserting data from other data sources, sanitizing content (removing content, accepting tracked changes), etc.
o The service is designed to handle those few tasks that do need application logic: reading the entire document formats that Word supports, converting to the entire output format that Word supports, recalculating dynamic fields, etc.

Word Automation Service is not featured in SharePoint Foundation 2010. Nevertheless, there is still life left in SharePoint family of products including Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and WSS 3.0 that has free SharePoint templates for business use.

The logging database by default contains the following information from all servers within the farm and it is fully supported to query this database directly.

• ULS Logs
• Event Logs
• Selected Performance Monitor Counters:
o % Processor Time
o Memory Available Megabytes
o Avg. Disk Queue Length
o Process Private Bytes (OWSTIMER and all instances of w3wp)
• Blocking SQL Queries
• SQL DMV Queries
• Feature Usage
• A host of information on search crawling and querying
• Inventory of all site collections
• Timer job usage

The Logging Database in SharePoint Server is one of the many new concepts that will make the life of many SharePoint administrators quite a bit more enjoyable. So catch up on this soon! There is a lot of juice in the SharePoint family of products including Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation, SharePoint Server 2007, and associated free SharePoint templates!