More Task Features

If you use Tasks in Google Apps, you can now email task lists. With the ability to have multiple lists, emailing task lists makes delegation easier.

Most Companies Underedstimate the Cost of Messaging

Do you know how much you really spend on email and related services?

A September 2009 study by Osterman Research finds most businesses under estimate the full cost of messaging services, often by more than 50%.

Sending Email from Multiple Addresses

It is no longer uncommon for some users to manage multiple email accounts. Whether covering email addresses for support or customer service, or providing administrative assistance to an executive the "on behalf of" label can be distracting to the email recipient.

Google Apps Premier Edition (and Education Edition) now allow users to send emails from multiple addresses without the "on behalf of" label in the sender address.

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Google Releases the Google Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server

After an extended period in Beta testing, Google has released its connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server.

• Messages sent to your Gmail inbox are pushed to your BlackBerry within 60 seconds.
• Emails read/deleted on your BlackBerry are marked as read/deleted in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• Emails archived/starred on your BlackBerry are archived/starred in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• BlackBerry folders are synchronized with labels in Gmail.
• You can search for contact information of coworkers from the global address list on your BlackBerry.
• Contacts in Gmail are automatically synchronized with your BlackBerry address book.
• You can view your Google Calendar schedule with the native BlackBerry application, with one-way synchronization from Google Calendar to your BlackBerry device.
• Administrators can use the management and security tools that are part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

There is One Caveat:

• Two-way calendar sync with the ability to accept, decline and schedule meetings from your BlackBerry device is not available with this release but we are working on it.

Contact us for more information.

SPAM Continues to Trend Upward;

So how do spam trends related to cloud computing? It all depends on how you block and fight SPAM.

According to the Q2 2009 Spam Trends report published by the team at Google Postini Services, spammers have developed means of releasing days worth of spam in just hours. If you are manage spam from within your network, this means your Internet connectivity and servers are more susceptible to performance degradation and failure.

Across our customer base, ~92% of email is spam. Most spam is sent to invalid email addresses. This traffic chews up bandwidth inbound. If it hits your servers, it increases the disk space used for log files as well as outbound bandwidth for non-delivery report messages.

If you stop spam in the cloud, you protect your network and server performance regardless of the volume of spam targeting your domain.

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MV=P2 The Law of Meeting Coordination

How may attendees does it take to schedule a meeting?

While it sounds like the lead-in to a good punchline, the reality is that most organizations thrash when it comes to arranging meetings.

James Gaskin, in his Smart Tech for Small Biz blog on ITworld.com, may be the first to quantify the problem with The Law of Meeting Coordination.

"MV=P2. This formula stands for Mail Volume = Participants Squared"

James makes a compelling case for sharing sufficient calendaring information that attendees can negotiate times and availability without the flurry of "I am/I am not available" emails.

I could not agree more. As we finish our migration from Exchange to Google Apps across all of our businesses, we are experimenting with public access to free/busy information in Google Calendars.

Will You Catch the Google Wave?

What if some of the most create web developers decided to rethink email, IM, and Internet communications from scratch? What if they worked for a company with the resources to let them think and create for years? What is you could mix the real-time communication of Twitter and Facebook with the organization of email and contacts?

The answer: Google Wave. Take a sneak peek here.

SPAM Volume Jumps 1.2% PER DAY in First Quarter

Google Postini Services issued its quarterly Threat Advisory. Even with the dismantling of the McColo Botnet in 2008, the volume of spam is increasing at a daily rate of 1.2%. This compares with a daily increase rate of 1% during the same quarter last year.

If you have spam protection, why does this matter?

If you run in-house spam filtering using Barracuda, GFI, or other appliance or software solutions, the continued increase in spam is hurting your network and system performance. In-house solutions may keep spam out of your inbox, but they do not keep spam from consuming your Internet bandwidth. Many solutions also do not prevent your Email server from wasting resources processing spam messages.

Hosted, or cloud-based, solutions stop spam and viruses before they hurt Internet and email server performance.

Click here if you want to learn more ...