One of my favorite little “almost hidden” features of Kerio Connect is it’s excellent implementation of ActiveSync for mobile devices.  Let me explain.

Normally, when using your favorite mobile device with ActiveSync to access your Exchange account, you are only able to see your own account folders (your email, your calendars, your Contacts). Of course, you can also access and search the Global Address Book.  Meanwhile, back on your computer, you are able to see all of your company’s Public Folders and Calendars, and even your co-worker’s mail folders, calendars, and address books (at least those who’ve been sharing things with you).

It’s just not fair that you can’t see these “extras” on your phone or iPad.  That’s what Kerio thought as well.  Let’s give the people what they want!   OK, but wait, there’s more.  Not only can you gain access to these “extras”, you can also use the same great feature to hide any of your own folders.  So you can hide those archive folders that you really don’t need to see on your phone while adding your group calendar, and Joe’s project email folder.  Now we’re talking!!

So if you have a Kerio Connect account, and want to begin using this feature, just follow this easy guide.

Begin by logging into WebMail on your computer. Whatever you can see here, is what you can manage from your mobile device. Public folders are already here, but you will need to subscribe to any other user’s shared folders so they are visible here in webmail.

Using the Settings menu, select “Subscribe Shared Folders”. Then type in your coworker’s email address and hit return. Whatever they have shared to you will be available to subscribe to. Check those boxes for each folder, then click OK. Now you will see those folders in your WebMail folder list.

Now the fun part. Using your Mobile Device, open it’s web browser and go to your Kerio WebMail URL. You should see a similar login screen, but do not log in here. Look to the bottom of the login area for the phrase “Set up my phone”, and tap it.  Now tap on “Folders to sync” and log in with your credentials.

Finally, you’ll see the same folder list that you usually see in WebMail on your computer, but this time you can check and uncheck any of them.  This is where you manage things. Scroll straight to the bottom and check the box next to any Public folder, or coworker’s folders, then uncheck any of your extra folders you do not wish to see on your mobile device. When you’ve finished getting it all straight, tap the Save button.

That’s it, you are finished, and now all of those extra folders will show up in your mobile device’s appropriate application for email, calendars, and contacts.  See. I told you this would be cool.  You won’t see this feature on Microsoft Exchange. This is a Kerio exclusive.  Just one more reason to host your email with us on our RocketFast Kerio Connect server. Or talk to us about migrating your company to your very own Kerio Connect server. You will not regret it.

Hi Everyone!

Long time Kinetic employee, first time blogger. But better late than never, right? As many of you by now have purchased the awesome iPhone 4, you have probably been on a quest for the perfect case. While there are a lot of options out there, I came across a new company called DefaultCase that has developed a unique case design for both the iPhone 4 and 3Gs .

The thing that really caught my eye about this case is that it is initially being offered for just 1 cent. What? Yes that’s right, just one cent. That is 99.9% off the regular purchase price of $34.98 for those of you who struggle with math. Isn’t it about time we did something with those smelly little coins that collect in our pocket or car console. We don’t want to throw them out but what are we saving them for? iPhone cases my friend, iPhone cases!

Apparently DefaultCases’s 1 cent marketing strategy is paying off for them as the case is becoming very popular. I waited about 7 business days for mine, but they kept me in the loop on shipping and were very quick to respond when I emailed them inquiring about my shipment.

Ok, enough of the pitch, the really cool thing is the case. It is very low profile with a smooth but not slippery texture. The case has hundreds of tiny holes which, according to DefaultCase is part of the uniqueness to the case design, allowing for better antenna reception. I will add that since using my iPhone 4 with this case I have noticeably fewer dropped calls than with my old case which shall remain nameless Incase you were wondering. It also just looks cool and comes in a variety of colors to suite almost anyone or any mood. Heck! you could buy one for each day of the week at these prices. Shipping will run you $3.99 which brings your DefaultCase to a grand total of $4. Compared to other cases of this quality you are still saving lots of pennies.

So why am I blogging about this? Not because I am getting a kick back from DefaultCase, although a free case would be nice, but because I like to pass on info about products and services that I believe in. My new DefaultCase is one of those great products and is really turning heads with the ladies. Shipping aside, what have you got to loose but a penny? And if you don’t have a penny you can snag one from your local convenient store check out counter. Tell them you need it to buy an iPhone case.

So if you did not get in on Apple’s iPhone 4 Case Program, this is your opportunity to get a great case at an unbelievable price.

Thanks for reading.

For any Entourage user, the reality of finally getting a Mac version of Outlook is almost surreal. And we applaud Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit for finally tackling the job.  But as with any completely new Application, the first one can be buggy and missing features. Outlook 2011 is no exception.  While there are many articles being written about what Outlook 2011 for Mac can and can’t do, I want to focus on something else.

For us, and almost 90% of our client base, we use Kerio Connect to manage our email, our calendars, and our cluttered address books. Most of us rely on our Kerio Connect server to simply work with whatever client application we decide to use.

Our reality is that Outlook 2011 for Mac only supports Exchange 2007 and 2010 servers (out of the box) to connect to an enterprise account (mail, calendar, contacts) as it relies on a fairly new technology named “EWS” or Exchange Web Services. The good news is that Kerio is already working to add this technology to their Kerio Connect server. The bad news is that we will all need to wait a month or two for this updated version to be ready. Kerio Connect 7.2 will support Outlook 2011, but to what extent, we’re not sure. It’s obvious that Kerio is committed to supporting as many features as it can that are present in the final product.

What is our advice?

Feel free to buy your Office 2011 upgrade when it releases later this month. We strongly recommend that you purchase a “Volume (Open) License”, directly from Microsoft, CDW or SHI, as this makes it so much easier for us to manage your software deployments.

But whatever you do, DO NOT use Outlook 2011 until we have had the opportunity to test it with Kerio Connect 7.2 first, and then upgrade your Kerio Connect to 7.2, for your company.  If you are a RocketFast hosted account, we will be upgrading the RocketFast servers just as soon as we feel that 7.2 is stable and ready for prime time.

I love this news story about Kraft Foods and their new “Bring Your Own Computer” to work program. Essentially, if you have a qualifying Mac or PC, and you prefer it over your work computer, just bring it on up and use it instead. Appleinsider reported on this Friday.

The silver lining is that you can bring your Intel Mac with Snow Leopard to work, assuming you have one.

You have one, don’t you?

My guess is that a large percentage of corporate employees that are chained to PCs all day, go home to a Mac that they love and adore and wish it could be their everyday computer. But in “corporate america”, the employees don’t make those decisions. In most companies, it’s the CIO or IT Dept that makes policy and enforces the status quo.

Today we are seeing a growing trend where CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs are increasing using a Mac at home, and wishing they could simply bring it to work and plug it right in to the mix. More and more, small and medium sized businesses that have been wholey based on WIndows are switching over to the Mac and loving it. They still have some PCs, and often a Windows server, but it all plays nicely together.  The great news is that it’s pretty easy to integrate Macs into your existing Windows based network. We’ve been doing it a long time, and we can say with confidence that a mixed platform Utopia can exist.

Sure, there are challenges, like home folders for all, and cross-platform printer support, and even Active Directory Group Policy support for the Mac. But it can all be done.  If you are wanting to push forward into a bright future of PCs and Macs playing happily together, give us a call. We would love to help you find the solution that best fits your company’s goals and personality. That’s what we do.

I Can Do Anything © 2008 Apple Inc.

Yes, we are very personable IT guys.  And yes, we pride ourselves in looking just a little bit cooler than your average computer geek.  But we also like to stay on top of our game, and make sure our skills exceed your expectations every time.

To that end, I thought I’d mention that we are now Apple Certified in the latest Snow Leopard certifications. These are just little badges of honor that tell you that we know what we are doing. The Apple Certified Support Professional, and Apple Certified Technical Coordinator mean that we have the skills not only on the client side of things, but are totally proficient on the Server side of things.

Snow Leopard Server is easier in some ways, but is more complex in other ways.  So if you are needing help with your Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard server, I think you’ll be glad you called us first.

In the world of Mac based IT services, one of the most elusive and thorny issues facing the OS X Admin is how best to monitor his servers and networks under his care.  For most of us, we manage small pockets of Mac servers, and simply can’t afford the pricey Enterprise tools that big companies use. We need it to be cheap or free. For the admin who only takes care of one room of servers, Lithium 5 is a great choice and does an excellent job.  But for us, we needed more.  We needed a way to reach out from one central place and check the pulse and vital stats of groups of servers all over town – each group hiding behind a firewall. Each group providing a unique mix of services for that client.

Sure, we all wish we had a fancy little iPhone app and server piece that could do all of this with Apple style and simplicity, but sometimes the best solution is one that was not built for the Mac, but can still work with it.

Our search ended last year as we settled on an amazingly powerful yet free product called Hyperic HQ.  Yes, they have a paid enterprise solution (HQ E), but they also provide a free version that seems to do just about anything we want it to.

In short, Hyperic allows us to monitor all of our managed servers, their availability and the health of their individual services. We setup triggers and alerts with escalation and then just wait for the email or SMS text to tell us when and where a problem occurs.  Through the Hyperic web console we can see trends and historical data to determine if any of our servers have an impending problem. And for any server behind the firewall, we only have to open one port to allow communication to either one server or many.

And just to show off and let Lithium know who’s the boss, any Hyperic agent running on a Mac can be setup to reach out to other resources on the local network and monitor them and report back to the mothership. It’s basically distributed monitoring at it’s best.

On the technical side, we did a few things to make it easier for us.  We built our own package installer for the Hyperic Agent that allows us to deploy it in about a minute.  After the install and a quick Q&A in Terminal, the new managed server is reporting in to the Hyperic server and we can assign preset triggers and alarms.

Using Hyperic is just one way we are setting ourselves apart from and above our competition in the DFW area. We love it. And an unexpected upside is that it allows us and our clients to sleep better at night. Thanks Hyperic.

Now, when I hear about something, see, read or experience it, I dive in deeper to learn more about it. I search and research to learn the root of the subject. I always want to know more.

Example: My wife and I just saw the movie, The Blind Side. By habit, when I got home after a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory with some friends, I opened my computer and started researching the story. Before I knew it, it was 1:00am and I could carry on an intelligent conversation about Michael Oher as if I knew him for years.

So, Why am I telling you this? From time to time I come across things on the web and I get excited and feel the need to share the information. Now, not only will I be able to share with the guys on the team and my friends, I will be able share oodles of knowledge with you as well. Just visit my blog from time to time. The information will range from things like web technologies, to cool iPhone apps, to many things in our daily lives.

I loved watching The Wonder Twins as a kid.  Somehow, two ordinary heroes would use their special powers to achieve crazy cool results.  Apple and Kerio are two such heroes.

I wanted to follow up our previous post by looking at the mini server landscape, and drawing some conclusions that may help the small business owner make an informed decision when looking to buy their own mini server.

First, let me point you to Daniel Eran Dilger’s latest post at AppleInsider. Please read this.  He does a fantastic job painting the picture of cost, features, performance and overall value in the mini server marketplace. He also points out all of the limitations of Microsoft’s Small Biz Server. Something Snow Leopard Server does not have.

Dan is right, as usual, except for one line (in my opinion). He states about the Mac mini Server, “There’s no missing features, no usage limitations, no client access licensing, and no essential server software that has to be purchased separately.”  If you have read my last post, then you know that although Snow Leopard Server excels in an all Mac environment, if you have to include Windows users and mobile devices besides the iPhone, the paradigm breaks down.  Kerio MailServer does an excellent job of stepping in as the 2nd Wonder Twin, to make this mini server “Activate”.

I won’t bother to cover all of  Snow Leopard Server’s features. Nor will I dive into all the great features of Kerio MailServer.  There are plenty of pages dedicated to their superpowers individually. But I do want to look at the combined cost, and ease of use of these two. I mentioned last time that Kerio does add to the cost of the Mac mini Server, but that any self respecting small business person will see the inherent value and shell out the cash.  But how much more cash are we talking about? Let’s take a look. Here are the 3 choices compared by Dan Dilger. I’ve split up the cost of the Mac mini and Snow Leopard Server just to compare the hardware and operating system cost more easily.

If you ignore the glaring performance gap in the PC vs. Mac hardware comparison, then you are looking at an extra $300 to $500 investment up front.  That’s pretty cheap.  If your business needs more than 10 email accounts (let’s say 30), then you will be spending another $400.  Still, not much in the scheme of things.

As for ease of use, Kerio does an even better job than Apple, who obviously does a smash up job compared to Microsoft. All of your Kerio MailServer settings are managed in the simple (iTunes like) Kerio Admin Console.  A few of the best features are , Open Directory integration, live highlighted text in the log files, and insanely great SPAM controls. Kerio also offers McAfee virus protection as an affordable add-on. (Some Kerio features are setup within WebMail – but it’s still a simple task to undertake, and will allow your staff to share and collaborate more freely)

As you manage your Mac mini Server, you’ll be using either Apple’s Server Admin, or Server Preferences. Here you can see Server Admin in action.

All 3 of these management tools are simple enough for the “tech inclined” business owner to figure out.  As with any server, mail or otherwise, there’s a lot of tech under hood, and things can go wrong with a few innocent mouse clicks. If you fear messing something up, then by all means, contact your local Apple Consultants Network member for help. (If you are in the DFW area, by all means, give us a call).

When sticking to 30 users or less, Apple’s Mac mini Server loaded up with Kerio MailServer is an amazingly powerful Wonder Twin for any small business. If you are stuck using an aging Small Business Server from Microsoft, it’s time to yell “Wonder twin powers – Activate”!!