VMware Clouds Their Vision

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As widely reported and covered in this ChannelWeb article, VMware is promoting a cloud computing strategy with the potential to integrate internal clouds and vendor clouds.

A few thoughts:

  • Is an “internal cloud” really a “cloud”, or just an traditional data center abstracted across virtual servers and resources? Are you getting full benefit from your internal cloud if you need to manage the virtualization systems and utilities, as well continue to manage and support hardware and applications?
  • Can VMware create enough partnerships to move beyond infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings?

The answers to these and other questions will come over time. Stay tuned ….

Gartner Recommends Buying Google Apps from a Reseller

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In a publication titled “Google Apps Reseller Channel Puts ‘Feet’ on the Street”, Gartner recommends companies purchase Google Apps through the reseller channel.

“Procure GAPE via the reseller channel and drive toward a
cost plus price, which could potentially reduce the overall GAPE price by
almost 20%.”

With bundled implementation, migration, and integration services, Gartner identifies qualified resellers as a means of managing the overall cost of the service.

Levels of Cloud Computing

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“Cloud Computing”, as a term, is quickly becoming a catch-all term for any service available over the Internet. This post from the vendor Rightscale provides a great definition of the three basic levels of Cloud Computing.

Hamilton Beach Blends Savings with Gmail

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Reviewing newsletters, I ran across an interesting article from TechTarget in mid-January. Hamilton Beach Brands made the case for moving from an in-house email solution to Google Apps Premier Edition. With a large IT staff, they managed the project in-house, buying direct for Google.

For many SMB’s, reseller expertise can speed the planning, implementation, and integration effort for a successful transition.

Helpful Hint: Google Apps Contacts

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Do you have duplicate contacts? Select the contacts and use the “merge these contacts” link.

Incremental Features Address Security Concerns

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In a feature enhancement for Google Apps Premier Edition in January, Google greatly enhanced security with the addition of new administrative features.

Administrators can now:

  • Set minimum and maximum password length requirements for their users
  • View visual indicators of the strength of their users’ passwords

With these features, administrators can now better implement password requirements in line with corporate and regulatory guidelines.

Spreadsheets and Forms Get A Boost

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The following new features are available in Google Spreadsheets:

  • A mobile-friendly view with filtering, sorting and row-by-row editing
  • The ability to define attributes of a cell and require that input meets those data validation rules, improving how spreadsheets can be used to gather and manage data
  • A form summary page with information about completed responses, making it easier to review response information saved in the underlying spreadsheet

With these features, Google has improved the capabilities of Forms as a tool for data gathering and entry.

Google Calendar User Interface Upgrade

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Last week, Google added five new User Interface improvements and features to Google Calendars (all editions):

  • Collapsable screen area for all-day events
  • Ability to add Google Docs files to events
  • Streamlined settings for sharing, unsharing and deleting calendars
  • New ‘Save and send emails’ option for new events
  • Better accessibility with improved support for screen readers

Being able to include documents with event invitations and the streamlined buttons for sending emails when you save the event both enhance Calendars for most users.

Previewing the Print Preview Feature

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In early February, Google announced a new Print Preview feature for Google Apps (all editions). For those familiar with Google’s nearly flawless PDF generation capabilties, the preview function looks familiar.

In fact, Google is using the PDF engine to provide the Print Preview, with a helpful index of page thumbnails as well.
If you haven’t created PDFs from your Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presenations, try it out as you try out the print preview. The accuracy and clarity is impressive.

Google “gets it” with Groups

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Google Apps Premier Edition has been update with new email list features. As importantly the provisioning APIs available to qualified resellers makes it easier to use these features.

Google Apps email lists are now called “groups”

Admins can now set permissions to determine who can send to each group:

  • Group owners
  • Group members
  • Domain members
  • Anyone in the world

Groups can now contain other groups, making it easier to reuse frequently-referenced groups of users.