5 Things to Know about Google Wave (from PC Mag)

With the industry buzzing about Google Wave (and Facebook and Twitter likely rethinking strategy), PC Magazine provides a good overview of things you should know about Google Wave as it approaches release.

Read the Article Here.

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.

Google Apps vs. Exchange — Part 1

Over the past several weeks, the Horizon team has received more questions about the comparison between MS Exchange and Google Apps as a communication and collaboration platform.

Here is a presentation that compares MS Exchange and Google Apps in terms of investment, management, and administration.

There are also many user features in Google Apps that our former Exchange/Outlook users really love. I will share some of these in upcoming posts.

Learning to Live wite “Live Chat”

If you have visited our website since Tuesday morning, you may have noticed the new look and feel, the expanded information about our products and services, and the ability to buy online. You may also have noticed the “Live Chat” feature we have added to the site. Through this feature, we offer pre-sales assistance, customer service, and technical support.

On the back end, the team at Horizon is getting used to be connected in real-time to our current and future customers. So far, the process is engaging and fun, except for the “telephone ring” that blasts when somebody starts a chat.

Valeo Demonstrates That Businesses Trust Google

Google recently announced that Valeo, an “independent industrial group fully focused on the design, production, and sale of components, integrated systems, and modules for cars and trucks,” is deploying Google Apps to all 30,000 employees.

Why does this matter?

Industry watchers like Dave Rosenberg see this deal as further validation that companies of all sizes trust Google and Cloud Computing. More important than the cost savings of 50% to 75% over in-house solutions, businesses and non-profits must trust the security, availability, and reliability of the solution.

Google Slowdown Yesterday Morning

Google has officially acknowledged and identified a cause for yesterday mornings “slow down” across all Google services.

Did you experience slow access??

Did you experience a full outage??

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 …

New Leaders in PC Market Indicate Changing Role of Cloud Computing

ChannelWeb, a news source for technology resellers, is reporting that Acer has passed Dell as the #2 maker of notebooks.

Why does this matter? The shift is due to Acer’s sale of netbooks.

This shift is a further indication that individuals and SMBs are comfortable with web-based, SaaS, and other cloud-based solutions. Netbooks are designed to optimize performance for web-based applications rather than locally-installed software.

Google Expands Task List Integration to Calendars

One of the unique features of Google Apps has been the ability to turn an email into a Task, allowing you to track follow up and deadlines.

Google has taken Task integration much further with the integration of Tasks into Calendar.

From within Calendar, you can now create tasks with due dates, which will be visible on your daily calendar.

Click Here to learn how to get started and to see some cool screen shots.

Coffee Break: Intro to Google Apps as an Email and Calendar Service

Join Horizon Info Services on May 22nd at 10:15 am ET for an extended mid-morning coffee break and learn why Google Apps Premier Edition may be a better email and calendaring solution for your business than your current hosted email provider or your internal email server. The brief presentation will compare features and cost, with plenty of time for questions.

Attendance is free, but space is limited.

Click Here for More Info