SharePoint is a Microsoft productivity tool that enables businesses to safely and efficiently share documents and information through one online access site. This collaboration program is ideal for small business because it allows project members, business partners, and clients to securely share documents regardless of location.

Features

SharePoint manages documents by providing a host of tools that give project members, partners, and clients the ability to organize and share information at all stages of the project. Some of the integrated tools include:

• Check-in/check-out – this feature allows only one user at a time to access and modify any item. This feature prevents multiple copies from being created.
• Key word search – this advanced search feature will check all documents for specific words or phrases.
• Preconfigured access site – this feature allows immediate access to all tools included in SharePoint without any special installation options.
• Seamless integration with Microsoft Office 2007 – this feature allows users to create, edit, and review documents created in MS Office 2007. The enhanced calendar features allow project members to easily share key dates.
• Auto alerts – this feature sends out notifications, alerts, and RSS feeds about project changes.
• Task lists – this feature allows tasks to be assigned to specific project members, ensuring complete task ownership.
• Two-stage recycle bin – this feature helps prevent accidental deletions of important files.

SharePoint software creates a secure connection and landing site that is affordable and easy to use. This program makes it simple to include employees, business partners, and clients on all stages of project development regardless of their physical locations. SharePoint is easily and affordably customizable due to many built in program functions – customization is a snap.

Benefits

• All small businesses need to reduce infrastructure costs and complexity – SharePoint can help your small business do this. SharePoint will reduce your needs for multiple file servers and make it easier for everyone to work together.

Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 is the newest server operating system available for small businesses. Microsoft has updated its OS to offer new features to small businesses that will reduce operating costs and improve productivity.

Chances are that your small business has been using a Windows Server OS platform. While the traditional server OS could easily meet your small business’s needs, it might be costing your business more time and money than you need to spend on hardware and IT support. The good news is that SBS 2008 will provide the same features you count on but will save your business time and money.

The SBS 2008 OS is built on top of the Windows Server 2008 OS platform. While Windows Server 2008 requires many servers, SBS 2008 only needs one server. In a larger business environment, multiple servers are ideal and often needed for redundancy; however, smaller businesses don’t necessarily need that level of hardware protection. Instead, small businesses can take advantage of a Windows Server OS environment by using the more affordable SBS 2008.

Unlike SBS 2003, SBS 2008 allows multiple servers to operate on the same network. The new OS is expandable, allowing your small business to start with a single server but giving you the flexibility to add additional servers as your business grows. SBS 2008 offers two versions to meet the different needs of small businesses:

Small Business Server - is the ideal OS for smaller businesses that support between 5 and 75 users. This version will affordably give you all the basic tools to you need to run your business.

Essential Business Server - is ideal for larger companies that support between 25 and 75 users. With Essential Business Server, you will get everything you need to run your business including additional security features, enhanced remote access options, and advanced web features.

New Features

Microsoft has improved its SBS OS program to be more user-friendly. New features include:

• Microsoft Exchange 2007- is a messaging program that offers email, calendars, task lists and address books.
• SharePoint Services 3.0 - is a collaboration program that allows users to share documents, coordinate calendars, manage group tasks, and participate in discussions regardless of location.
• Microsoft Forefront Security - is a security program that scans all incoming emails for spam and viruses.
• Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA) – is a software-based firewall that protects your network from internet attacks and provides remote access to offsite users.

Virtualization is the process of installing multiple operating systems for one or more workstations or servers onto a single physical workstation or server. This is a very practical solution because the processing power of the average workstation or server is underused-most systems only use about 5-15 percent of their processing capabilities. Virtualization is beneficial for your small business for several reasons:

• It’s cheaper to have several virtualized machines residing on one physical machine than it is to purchase multiple machines.
• Server room size requirements can be decreased saving you time and money retrofitting your office space to accommodate a larger server room.
• Save money on electricity required to power the multiple machines as well as save on your server room cooling bills.
• Workstation and server maintenance and upgrades, as well as machine replacement are cheaper when you only have to worry about one physical workstation or server.
• Less hardware to babysit means less software to upgrade.

VMware is a company that makes multiple software solutions that will let one physical workstation or server simultaneously run more than one operating system. This is done by installing a VMware program onto a machine before any operating systems are installed. Once software has been installed, multiple operating systems can be installed. The great news about VMware is that the operating systems can be different versions such as Windows XP, Linux, and Windows 2007. VMware will also let your Mac platform hardware run PC platform software and vice versa.

Sure, the iPhone has got to be one of the most awesome personal tech gadgets ever invented, but “experts” have always argued against using it as a business tool. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. Apple has updated both the iPhone and its operating system, making the 3GS perfect for business use.

The Phone

The iPhone 3GS is the newest model of phone created by Apple. While the phone looks and feels similar to earlier models, the 3GS has been reconstructed to offer more business friendly features such as:

• Faster processor chip – allows for quicker launch of business applications.
• Enhanced GPS receiver – provides better driving directions for when users are out of office.
• Improved microphone and speaker system – make conference calls easier.
• 3G network – for quicker data exchange decreases the time it takes to send documents back and forth.

The Operating System

Apple has upgraded the operating system. The program looks almost identical to earlier operating systems, but has more built in applications and features than earlier versions. Two new features include:

• Application alerts – will notify you through text messages whenever you have a message from an email or networking account, even though the application is not running.
• 3rd party hardware and application support – allows users to connect specific, non-Apple manufactured peripheral devices to the phone.

Integration

iPhone applications work together and provide enhanced functionality by linking programs such as Safari, Maps, and SMS with contact lists, email, and other applications. The 3GS iPhone is also compatible with many PC programs. Most importantly, it is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, which is the preferred office communication program used by most businesses.

New features

• Email forwarding – occurs automatically when your messages are on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or 2007.
• HTML optimization – makes it easier to view web content in either portrait or landscape mode.
• Advanced search functions – make it easy to find messages on the server or your phone.
• Multi-format compatibility – allows users to view and manipulate documents in different formats such as MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, and JPEG.
• Automatic calendar updates – occur whenever calendar changes are made.
• Up-to-date attendance lists – help organizers plan meetings.
• Automatic contact syncing – can be scheduled between the iPhone and Microsoft Exchange server.

Make the iPhone work for your business.

Apple has put a lot of consideration into creating a phone that meets the needs of businesses. The new hardware, updated operating system, and Microsoft Exchange Server compatibility of the iPhone 3GS make it well suited for business use.

As a metaphor for the Internet, "the cloud" is a familiar cliché, but when combined with "computing," the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing.

Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.

Cloud computing is at an early stage, with a motley crew of providers large and small delivering a slew of cloud-based services, from full-blown applications to storage services to spam filtering. Yes, utility-style infrastructure providers are part of the mix, but so are SaaS (software as a service) providers such as Salesforce.com. Today, for the most part, IT must plug into cloud-based services individually, but cloud computing aggregators and integrators are already emerging.