App-Stick is a great resource for applications that can be run from your USB drive. They have a wide variety of programs, from Firefox to Open Office to games.

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There are certain problems associated with sending mail out through Postini with Exchange 2003 – this presentation describes many of those issues.

Our consultant, David, developed this Powerpoint presentation to help explain the differences between each method:
Comparison of Outbound E-mail Delivery Strategies (.ppt).

There are distinct pros and cons associated with each of the three methods! We used this presentation to help one of our valued clients better understand their options for sending mail out of their systems.

Direct Delivery Characteristics

Advantages to the originating mail server administrator

• High degree of visibility into the email delivery process
• No additional components or outside services needed
• Simple, minimal, configuration minimizes points of failure

Disadvantages to the originating mail server administrator

• Server and IP address are directly visible on Internet
• Server administrator needs to handle resolution of blacklist issues
• Administrator needs to perform monitoring and troubleshooting
• Mail delivery may be affected by connectivity of mail server
• Server needs to be able to handle size of queues and retries

Smart Host Characteristics

Advantages to the originating mail server administrator

• The originating server does not need to perform queue management
• Monitoring is simplified, server becomes almost “maintenance free”
• Originating server is isolated from the Internet; remains anonymous
• Delivery troubleshooting is handled by the Smart Host administrator
• Resolution of blacklisting is handled by the Smart Host administrator
• Outgoing bandwidth reduced for multiple-recipient messages

Disadvantages to the originating mail server administrator

• Loss of visibility into the delivery process; can’t status messages
• Smart Host is a potential additional point of failure in delivery
• Traffic from other Smart Host users could increase blacklist risk

Postini SMTP Relay Characteristics

Advantages to the originating mail server administrator

• Originating server is isolated from the Internet; remains anonymous
• Resolution of blacklisting is handled by Postini service
• Outgoing mail is scanned for viruses

Disadvantages to the originating mail server administrator

• Administrator needs to perform monitoring and troubleshooting
• Interjection of Postini in mail path complicates troubleshooting
• Exchange cannot manage the queue optimally with Postini
• Server needs to be able to handle size of queues and retries
• Postini service is a potential additional point of failure in delivery
• Traffic from other Postini users could increase blacklist risk

Comparison Between Methods

Exchange SMTP queues

• Postini: One queue for all messages, problem deliveries mixed in
• Direct: One queue per destination, only problems will have a queue
• Smart Host: One queue for all messages, queue will remain empty

Content filtering

• Postini: Service provides content scanning of outgoing mail
• Direct: Any scanning would be performed on originating server
• Smart Host: Service might or might not provide scanning of mail

Visibility of servers

• Postini: Mail appears to come from Postini addresses
• Direct: Mail would show IP address of originating server
• Smart Host: Mail appears to come from the Smart Host

Delivery performance

• Postini: Problem destinations might affect delivery of other messages due to shared link state and intermingling of messages in queues
• Direct: Problem destinations will only affect those destinations since each message is maintained in a separate queue
• Smart Host: Messages leave server immediately and queue stays empty, Smart Host manages delivery of messages and retries

Monitoring and troubleshooting

• Postini: Server administrator performs delivery troubleshooting, having Postini as an intermediary complicates diagnosis
• Direct: Easy to monitor for issues, server administrator needs to perform all troubleshooting of deliveries
• Smarthost: Very little that administrator can do, Smart Host performs all monitoring and troubleshooting

Aside from Postini’s own documentation – there isn’t much information available online regarding Postini’s outbound relay methodology and the pros and cons it presents to their customers.

Feel free to call us, (858) 654-4080, for more details on this subject; or any other technical support needs you might have.

Chris

Mint

Mint integrates with your various financial institutions in one secure location. It provides easy to understand presentations of your budgets, income, expenses and much more.

Mint is an entirely new approach to personal financial management. You don’t work for Mint, it works for you. We think you’ll love Mint because it’s:

• Easy to use: You’re up and running in under five minutes. And Mint does virtually all the rest.
• Comprehensive: Mint provides detailed visibility into virtually all your financial relationships with a single, secure login
• Visual and Analytical: Mint gives you powerful insights into your finances - making it easier to make good financial decisions
• Constantly working to find you savings: Mint typically finds users $1,000 in savings opportunities in their first session – minutes after registering. And Mint keeps looking for new ways for you to save every day — continuously comparing your needs to product, service and bank offerings most relevant to you.
• Secure: Mint provides bank level data security and industry leading identity protection. Its security and privacy have been validated by VeriSign and TRUSTe.
• Always On: You’re automatically notified of upcoming bills, low balances, and any unusual activity in any of your accounts, through one (m)interface.
• Anywhere/anytime access: You can get to Mint anywhere, anytime over the web
• And it’s Free!
  About Mint

Mint may not replace your trusted accountant. It will, however, save you many hours in keeping track of your money.

There are many pre-built platforms that are expensive and either time consuming to customize or leave you with a cookie cutter site that lacks originality. Wouldn’t it be nice to take your existing web site and add e-commerce functionality? Wouldn’t it be great if this only took a few hours to accomplish? Amazon has just released that functionality.

Amazon’s Pay Now Widgets

Your customers can now purchase items on your site and enjoy the security and features of an Amazon.com purchase. Amazon’s simple “Pay Now Widgets” allow you to add a checkout component to any web site. The customer will finish the order in the Amazon environment.

Amazon Web Services recently released an easy tool to integrate with Amazon Flexible Payment Service (Amazon FPS). The “Pay Now” Widget provides a simple HTML interface allowing anyone to accept Amazon Payments on their Web site. Utilizing Amazon FPS, the “Pay Now” Widget lets you set the price and payment rules, while giving your customer access to a familiar Amazon payment experience and fraud protection.
Amazon Web Services

Other E-Commerce options

• Yahoo! Small Business - Recently updated e-commerce platform and site builders used by millions of shoppers every day
• X-Cart - easily configurable e-commerce platform. You should have a security professional, such as Bayside Networks, review your site before launching a site with a widely used platform such as this. Its popularity invites hackers to exploit any weaknesses.
• Paypal Widgets - Paypal offers an equally easy-to-use widget for adding e-commerce functionality. This is still in beta testing but should be a great alternative to Amazon.

We need to share our workspaces. Companies share their data. People spend countless hours sharing their labor on open-source projects. The biggest sharing of all comes with the peer-to-peer sharing networks where digital files are spread around the world at breakneck speeds.

More importantly, it is becoming easier and easier to share the work process within your office. Several companies have begun offering online collaboration tools that allow people around the world or in the same office to collaborate on documents securely and seamlessly.

Microsoft Office Live

Microsoft is the biggest player in this game. They’ve recently released Office Live, an extension to Office 2007. Office Live allows you to work natively in your Office programs on your personal desktop or via their online product. Documents can be shared, updated, and distributed via a central online repository.

Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington gave this new platform a glowing review:

Among the additional applications was an office document collaboration tool. You can share an office document real time with others, allowing them to view and edit it.
Office Live will be a huge productivity tool

Office Live has hooks for many third-party applications, such as payroll, accounts, and more. It also features an updated web site platform that allows small companies to quickly build a free web site.

Other online tools

Microsoft may be the biggest player but they are far from alone. The list of companies that offer free to inexpensive online collaboration and productivity support is growing daily.

• Google Gears/Google Docs online and offline document creation/sharing
• 37 Signals: Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise, Campfire - The original and easiest online collaboration packages
• Amazon S3 - Online database and web services
• Zoho - Complete online Office alternative

Contact Bayside Networks in San Diego (Phone: (858) 654-4080 ) to set up Office Live in your company. Bayside Networks provides training and network support to enhance your company’s productivity.