IT Technology News and Progent IT Solutions

Microsoft debuted the next release of Small Business Server and Essential Business Server. These software platforms bring the capabilities of Windows high-end server platforms to smaller organizations in an economical package. Targeted for businesses with as many as 75 PCs, Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 is an integrated server platform engineered to help companies make their data more secure and their organization more productive.

MS Small Business Server 2008 is available in basic and premium editions. The standard package includes Microsoft Windows 2008 Server, Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server, SharePoint Services, and Windows Server Update Services 3.0. The premier version adds MS SQL Server 2008.

Essential Business Server 2008 is targeted for organizations with up to 75 users and offers network staff greater manageability of their environment by eliminating complications and automating common tasks. With support for Windows Mobile phones, SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 can significantly help boost productivity by providing connectivity to corporate messaging, calendars, addresses and information to users who are not at the office. To read Microsoft's press release, refer to Microsoft Announces Availability of SBS 2008 and EBS 2008.

How Progent's Microsoft-certified Engineers Can Help You to Deploy MS Windows SBS 2008
The optimal configuration of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 requires a network support company with real-world expertise and a broad background in designing and building data-driven end-to-end business technology applications. The background of Progent's Microsoft-authorized consulting group, with an average of over a decade of working in Microsoft products, ensures you results in designing, deploying and managing MS Small Business Server solutions that are thoroughly integrated with Microsoft's product family of servers.

Progent's consulting experts can assist you to integrate the major pieces of the Windows SBS and Windows EBS 2008 packages and can also provide a variety of other low-cost services to improve the productivity, dependability, security, speed, and maintainability of IT systems built around SBS 2008 or EBS 2008:

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Integration
Progent provides a range of Windows Server 2008 planning and integration support that can assist small businesses to get the most from Windows Server 2008. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you to understand the areas where Windows Server 2008 could enhance the productivity of your IT system in order to cost-justify an upgrade. Progent can help you test Microsoft Windows Server 2008 in order to assess its stability, responsiveness, and compatibility handling realistic workloads. Progent can help with developing a deployment plan, evaluate and improve your current network environment, document backup and recovery processes, evaluate security mechanisms and policies, assist in integrating actual and virtualized servers, design fault-tolerant strategies including server and storage clustering, train your in-house IT management team, and set up automated server monitoring processes to track system protection and performance.

Exchange Server 2007 Planning, Installation, and Troubleshooting Services
Progent's Microsoft certified consultants can show you how to design and deploy an efficient Exchange Server 2007 upgrade plan that minimizes network disruption, reduces ongoing service demands, and makes your Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 easy to administer. Progent's Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 help, troubleshooting, and design offerings include expertise with the integration of outside vendor enhancements of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and the design of unified messaging solutions powered by Exchange 2007 Server. Progent's services include integration with your business network, connectivity with handheld communication devices, automated monitoring of performance and network security, spam filtering, patch and revision control, Contact Center services, per-day backup, and comprehensive email management services.

Microsoft SharePoint Server Help
Progent can offer help for planning, deploying, and managing successful Microsoft Office SharePoint Server installations that can dramatically improve key areas of your information system including collaboration, intranet portal, company-wide search, forms-driven business processes, delivery of management intelligence, and content control. Progent's Microsoft-certified engineers can help your company to evaluate the business case for adopting SharePoint Server 2007, provide setup and installation support, help your business to configure SQL Server 2008 as a back-office database engine, optimize your network infrastructure, integrate your standard and specialized business software to operate with Office SharePoint Server 2007, create a company-wide security plan that includes portal solutions, and provide online and on-site repair and Help Desk Call Center services.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Design and Support
Progent's SQL Server consultants can help your small business installs SQL 2008 efficiently, and that your SQL-powered RDBM solution is integrated seamlessly with your application software. Progent offers 24x7 network monitoring to make sure your business network is healthy, and Progent's online Help Desk is available to provide quick resolutions for SQL issues. Progent's certified computer protection consultants can assess your business-wide security processes and mechanisms and recommend improvements for more complete protection. Progent's application developers can assist you to develop or customize line-of-business applications or web sites utilize databases managed by SQL Server.

PC Desktop Support Services
Progent's Microsoft-certified desktop support experts can deliver a broad array of cost-effective consulting and support services to help you business to install, configure, troubleshoot, and administer workstations and notebooks powered by Microsoft Windows. Progent can provide onsite or online help for individual machines or laptops or help you to plan and implement a network-wide migration to the most current version of Windows. Progent can also install Office or Microsoft Dynamics business applications on your client PCs so they integrate productively with all Microsoft applications, products from third-party vendors, SQL databases, and key services throughout your network. Progent can also provide consultants and technical workers to assist your company to prepare for and implement a site relocation or consolidation designed to produce minimal interruption to your productivity.

Network Security Inventory Bundles
Progent offers two ultra-affordable service packages designed to allow small businesses to receive a professional network security evaluation from a CISM and CISSP-premier security engineer. With Progent's External Network Security Inventory Scan, a security engineer administers an extensive examination of your network from beyond your company firewall to uncover possible weaknesses in the security profile you present to the public. With Progent's Internal Security Inventory Scan, a security expert runs a system scan from an authorized computer inside your firewall to determine your exposure to inside attacks. The two security inventory packages are configured and run from a secured external location. The process is managed by a consultant with top security accreditations who produces a report that details and analyzes the data collected by the security scan and proposes practical remediation if call for.

Live Virtual Instruction for Desktop Applications
Progent offers live virtual learning for a range of desktop applications and environments including Office Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, Acrobat, Photoshop CS, Crystal Reports, and Windows XP and Vista. Live online education offers the advantages of traditional classroom sessions, including immediate interaction between students and teachers, but eliminates the costs of transportation and the challenge of attempting to synchronize the schedules of many trainees. Available to single students or classes of any size, virtual instruction permits the teacher to run the seminar from an online office while the clients can be dispersed across a campus or across the country. Virtual instruction utilizes powerful teaching aids like broadcast white boards, electronic hand-raising, and collaborative desktops. Sessions can be brief and personalized for specialized topics or longer in duration and wider in scope. Teachers and clients can work through examples individually or as a group.

Emergency Remote Troubleshooting
Progent's Technical Response Center provides nationwide remote support for Windows and Cisco-based small office information networks. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-Certified service engineers offer telephone support and remote direct network access to troubleshoot and resolve network problems quickly and economically. The scope of IT expertise available from Progent's team of nationwide support professionals allows Progent to escalate even the most difficult problems to appropriate specialists as required.

For more details concerning Progent's support for MS Windows SBS 2008, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.