Communication and Collaboration – Page 29

DirSync and Distribution Group Self Service Management

6th of May, 2014 / Andy Walker / 2 Comments

If you’re an Office 365 Exchange Online customer and currently utilizing Directory Synchronization (DirSync) to synchronize between an on premise Active Directory and the Azure Active Directory you’ll be all too familiar with the limitations that are imposed around the management of distribution group membership. Namely an Exchange online user specified as the owner of a distribution group will not be able to manage the membership of that group through the standard Outlook Address Book interface as detailed here

In the background, if we think about this in relation to DirSync functionality, the group is being pushed from the on premise Active Directory to the Azure Active Directory in a one way sync.… [Keep reading] “DirSync and Distribution Group Self Service Management”

Removing an Exchange Hybrid Configuration

5th of May, 2014 / Andy Walker / 7 Comments

I was recently working with a customer who were performing an organization led de-merger, for the purposes of this blog entry lets refer to them as ‘CompanyA’ and ‘CompanyB’. Prior to the de-merger CompanyA hosted an on premise Exchange 2013 environment that both CompanyA and CompanyB utilized for the purposes of mailbox/public folder hosting. At the point of the de-merger, CompanyA were going to retain their existing Exchange environment and CompanyB were planning to move to O365.… [Keep reading] “Removing an Exchange Hybrid Configuration”

Switching Between Office 365 Plans

4th of May, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / 2 Comments

One of the challenges with earlier versions of Office 365 was the inability to switch plans. Once you set up a tenant, there were certain aspects of the tenant which could not be changed. For example, if you set up a small business tenant with 10 users, you could not increase the size of the tenant beyond the 25 user limit. There was no way to convert a small business tenant into an enterprise tenant. This meant that a small business growing rapidly might exceed the capacity of its Office 365 tenant.… [Keep reading] “Switching Between Office 365 Plans”

SharePoint Online Storage Improvements in Office 365

4th of May, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / 1 Comment

The following new features are now available in SharePoint Online as part of Office 365:

◦ A 1 TB site collection limit for OneDrive for Business and team sites
◦ Infinite tenant storage scale

1 TB site collection limit increase for OneDrive for Business and team sites

A 1 TB will let you create large team document centers that teams can use without needing to introduce multiple websites and unneeded complexities. All SharePoint Online site collections can now have up to 1 TB of storage allocation.… [Keep reading] “SharePoint Online Storage Improvements in Office 365”

Secure File Sharing with OneDrive for Business

16th of April, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / No Comments

Many customer today find it convenient and useful to store their files in the cloud. There are many companies who provide solutions in this space such as Microsoft (OneDrive), Dropbox, and Google Drive. The benefits of cloud storage are:

1) Easy access to your files from any location and any device

2) Reduces the risk of data loss if your device is lost or stolen

3) Cheap and easy to use

The downside of cloud storage is that it requires that your device is connected to the Internet in order to access your files. … [Keep reading] “Secure File Sharing with OneDrive for Business”

Protect Your Identity in the Cloud With Multi-Factor Authentication

16th of April, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / 2 Comments

Multi-factor authentication is now available for both administrator and end user accounts. This service is now available Office 365, Windows Intune, and Microsoft Azure.

One of the risks of cloud technologies is that they are accessible from anywhere. This means that any hacker can try to log into your account from anywhere in the world. User names are usually public and widely known (i.e. an email address). The only thing standing between the hacker and your personal data is a password. … [Keep reading] “Protect Your Identity in the Cloud With Multi-Factor Authentication”

Office Click-To-Run 2.0

15th of April, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / No Comments

I receive a lot of questions on the benefits of upgrading to new versions of Office. Many people feel that they only use very basic features of Office. Therefore, there is no real benefit of upgrading because they will not use any of the new features. It is true that there are some advanced new features in Office 2013 that may not be of interest to the average user, there are some great new capabilities from which EVERY user can benefit.… [Keep reading] “Office Click-To-Run 2.0”

End of Life for Office 2003

15th of April, 2014 / Harris Schneiderman / No Comments

Every software vendor has a support lifecycle for its products. They release a product and then provide updates and support for a period of time. At the end of the support lifecycle, customers need to upgrade to a newer version in order to continue receiving support from the vendor.

Microsoft’s standard software lifecycle is 10 years for most of their products. This includes 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support. In some cases, Microsoft will continue support for longer than 10 years in response to a particular situation.… [Keep reading] “End of Life for Office 2003”

MEC ‘14

15th of April, 2014 / Joel Neff / No Comments

Earlier this month I attended the Microsoft Exchange Conference in Austin, Texas, which was a fantastic opportunity to find out what is in store for the future of Exchange and to connect with other peers and people from the product groups at Microsoft. There were over 100 sessions meaning MEC was packed with loads of quality information – although it was impossible to get to see it all. It was great to see these sessions presented by the Program Managers, Lead Developers, MVPs and Masters.… [Keep reading] “MEC ‘14”