About Google+.
My Malcolm Gladwell is pretty light-on, so I’m not calling any tipping point.
Add Google+ brand pages, and it is one more significant step towards your business Internet presence having the amorphous ubiquitous attributes of the web itself. If your brand pops up everywhere on increasingly numerous media platforms, with the cohesion enabling +1’s, Like’s, re-tweets, and reblogs, then somebody insert compelling thoughtful analysis here! Because I’m still watching.
Seriously, the hard part is the “popping up” - getting traction and brand visibility. With such a level playing field where anyone can potentially create brand visibility there are no excuses. There are only those who execute well in their creative leverage of all these media platform’s, and those who don’t.
2.4 GHz spectrum is full. 5.0 GHz spectrum is filling up. Full of devices all vying for their slice of transmit time with your hapless AP. That is contention, and then there is wireless interference. For you its all pretty much interference - interfering with your desire for a quality wireless experience.
Wonderful closing paragraph here in a Tom’s Hardware in-depth review of real world wireless AP performance, employing sensational hyperbole to make the key point.
“… In the Wi-Fi arena, we’re facing a bandwidth dilemma not unlike the world’s impending oil shortage. As demand and usage continue to climb, our ability to effectively and efficiently use those resources will continue to diminish…”
Ruckus Wireless demonstrate yet again innovative wireless technology is needed to directly tackle real world RF conditions. If its nuts in 2.4 GHz spectrum and getting crazy in 5.0 GHz, then transformative adaptive technology as delivered by Ruckus is non-optional.
Two Postini resources super-handy, mandatory even. This won’t complete your arsenal of Postini resources to refer to of course, but they are the right place to start.
Postini Security Central - Whats new, Best Practices, Administrator Toolkit, Protection and Status Dashboard, and relevant knowledgebase Top Spam & Virus questions answered.
Postini News and Updates - Not just a nice to know resource, it also adds technical information on what is phasing out and in, so it is a “must stay on top of” resource.
Further establishing my credentials, skills, and experience with Google Apps for Business. Bring on my new Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialist designation.
I’m all for the Google Apps Certification Program. Even more so now I’ve passed the exam! It is always a good thing when customers can swap “taking a gamble” for proven credentials when choosing a Google Apps implementation services partner.
The Google Apps Deployment Specialist program and certification had to happen, given the company Google finds itself in - competing with Tier 1 messaging vendors who all have mature certification programs.
I’m very pleased to announce our capabilities to address the accelerating e-mail management issues businesses of all sizes face. Bunch of Cowboys is a Google Postini Authorized Reseller for Messaging Archival and Discovery, and thoroughly equipped to tackle your messaging applications and infrastructure management and policies.
How do you find that infernal email? All memory about who, when, where, what has lapsed. That’s why you need that email. You or any of your staff may have written and sent it, been copied in, received it. Three days or three years ago.
If you can find the email, then who, what, when, where will all be revealed. Now, where is it!
This March 2010 document here from Osterman Research reminds us that the majority of the content we need is in e-mail. May I add, the content you need access to is potentially in someone else’s mailbox, not neccessarily yours! Just in case you are skimming and missed it, let me say that again - the majority of content we need is in e-mail. Enter messaging Archiving and e-Discovery.
E-mail Archiving and Discovery has been a forward thinking add-on to corporate email systems for a number of years. Business IT decision makers have been increasingly aware about the importance of considering archiving as core messaging infrastructure.
Why? Disaster Recovery, e-Discovery, storage management, regulatory compliance, alleviate end-user support demands and reduce costs. Each of these topics are for further posts.
The big one in context of my introduction is Knowledge Management - exactly how can you find that email if you do have messaging Archiving and Discovery? Have a read here:
http://www.bunchofcowboys.com/google-apps/google-archiving-and-discovery
To some folks, Microsoft Outlook Notes and Tasks are an important part of their Outlook environment, and depend on them almost as heavily as email, calendar, and contacts.
Google Apps syncs email, calendar, and contacts, but does not sync notes and tasks. This is an issue if you have Outlook on multiple computers, as running Google Sync for Outlook everywhere is a vital and convenient way to keep all Outlook installations up to date across all computers, except for notes and tasks that is!
Notes and tasks do remain available in Outlook on the computer where you’ve migrated to Google Sync for Outlook, only because the migration import process brings them across to your Outlook’s local profile into your local .PST file on your computer. However notes and tasks do not sync to your Google Apps account in the Google “cloud”. So there is no way to see Outlook notes and tasks when you sign in to your Google Apps account from a web browser.
Right about now you are looking at the great Tasks app in your Gmail environment and asking why can’t we sync from/to Outlook Tasks? No can do at this time.
So now we’ve established if you use Outlook with Google Apps Sync on two or more computers (say, a desktop at work and a laptop at home), notes and tasks you create on one computer won’t be available in Outlook when you open your Google Apps profile on the other computer. What to do?
Easy. Use the Bunch of Cowboys Funambol Sync Service for Outlook. Simply install a lightweight Outlook add-in configured to connect to Bunch of Cowboys Sync Services for Outlook Notes and Tasks. You’ll have the same Notes and Tasks everywhere, just like Google Apps email, calendars, and contacts.
Download and install the Funambol Outlook client, and contact us to take advantage of free access to the Bunch of Cowboys Funambol Outlook Notes and Tasks Sync Server. Your Notes and Tasks will no longer be Google Sync for Outlook’s poor cousins!
The building blocks continue to fall into place. Google Apps is and has been pimped out with Blackberry Enterprise Server for some time, where those with Blackberry handsets can use built-in BlackBerry applications to access their Google Apps email, calendar, and contacts.
Only now do I enthusiastically say Blackberry handsets with Google Apps is a winner. I wanted to eat my own dogfood first before expressing my view. My iPhone has now been replaced by a Blackberry Bold 9000, and I’m happily having a crackberry party on the Google Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server platform.
I’d forgotten what a seamless, efficient, yes addictive experience the Blackberry handset is. Basically it still owns in this space. iPhones with all their comprehensive mobility dominance still can’t touch Blackberry mobile messaging.
For business users it is an absolute revelation to have an easy to use mobile device with great keyboard, and super quick access to relevant messaging functionality, i.e. compose, type, and send! Hands up anyone who are demoralized everytime they consider the effort of typing and sending an email on their mobile. Me too.
Research in Motion I believe are still the only handset manufacturers who know how to eliminate the steely resolve level motivation needed for using mobile phones to send email.
Try a Blackbery, because as a Google Apps user - you can. I’d be surprised if you don’t experience the same emotions as I have over the last month!
Google Apps Premier Edition’s Google Sync gets a friendlier GAL (Global Address List). Previously GAL functionality required administrators to configure a registry key, and generate/deploy XML files to every computer running Google Sync for Microsoft Outlook. Not the simplest exercise to go through just to have a Global Address List, which really should be “in the box” like any corporate e-mail competitor.
The new Google Sync 1.18 update puts the GAL “in the box” where it belongs. The updated GAL contains, users, groups, and contacts uploaded through the shared contacts API. It will also include name, email address, and telephone number (apparently support for additional data is in development). The GAL, updates automatically, and is searchable.
You can’t kiss those registry keys goodbye just yet if you upgrade.
You will need to remove the registry key previously set, or set a new registry key. See here for details on the Google Apps Updates Blog.
