Serving the Triangle, NC area - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Apex, Cary, Morrisville
Let me be frank; I’m an e-mail and personal information management software junkie. Regardless of the fact that in my own small business it’s a case of “Outlook only”, I constantly download trial versions and demos of other similar applications simply because I really love to play around with them.
But the best client-side application for e-mail, calendaring, tasks and information sharing is the humble Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). By itself, IE can’t really do all that much, but use it in conjunction with Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 and the term “freedom of information” takes on an entirely new meaning.
Let me digress for a few lines. When Microsoft released Exchange Server 5.0, it featured Outlook Web Access (OWA), which provided users with the ability to access their e-mail, calendaring and tasks via a Web browser. Now this could be done either from a PC within the company’s network or – and this is the best part – via the Internet.
OK, back on track now. With SBS 2003 and OWA, the new look-and-feel of the recently released Outlook 2003 is right there in the Web browser. Surprisingly, I’ve spoken to many SBS users and there are a large number who haven’t even been aware that this functionality exists (actually, it’s part of the SBS 2003 Remote Web Workplace).
Just like many other small business owners, I’m out of the office quite a bit – meeting clients, pitching for new business … the list goes on. And again, just as with many other small business owners, I don’t have the luxury of a personal assistant who can take care of my e-mail while I’m out of the office or check that a meeting I’m about to schedule doesn’t clash with anything else in my Calendar.
Thanks to the enormous proliferation of Internet access points – Internet cafes, Internet terminals in airports, Internet-connected PCs in meetings rooms, etc – what I do have is almost anywhere, anytime access to all my calendaring, tasks, e-mail and contacts. As long as there’s an Internet connection and Web browser, I have immediate access to all the information for which I would normally use Outlook.
Installation of SBS 2003 and configuration of Exchange Server 2003 is something best left to the experts! Regardless of the fact that the SBS development team have done some brilliant work on making the installation easier and quicker than in previous versions (SBS 4.5 and 2000), there are an enormous number of traps just waiting for the DIY SBS 2003 installer. I’ve learnt this from bitter experience and I strongly suggest that if it’s the SBS 2003 and OWA/OMA path you intend to travel, get someone in who is certified by Microsoft on the installation of Small Business Server.
One other thing. If you want to exploit fully the SBS 2003 OWA functionality, then an Internet broadband connection is almost essential; and the most important point to note when looking around to purchase one is the ability to have a static IP (Internet Protocol) address. In short, when you connect to the Internet your connection is automatically assigned a unique address that looks something like “202.58.42.209”. When your browser requests a page from a website, for example, the HTML that is used by the browser to display that page is sent back to you via your assigned IP address.
It’s a similar situation when using OWA. Provided everything has been set up properly, you simply enter your IP address in any Web browser and you can gain secure access to your network and the SBS 2003 Remote Web Workplace. If your broadband ISP (Internet Service Provider) can’t provide you with a static IP address, then knowing where to look for your network across the Internet is going to prove somewhat problematic.
Fortunately, most of the broadband ISPs now offer static addresses as standard, but there are some that force you to pay extra – again, I’ve learnt this one from bitter experience.
While OWA affords almost anywhere, anytime access to your SBS 2003 Exchange Server information there’s still the problem of what to do when you’re not in front of a Web-enabled PC. Enter, Outlook Mobile Access (OMA), which takes advantage of Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 and SBS 2003’s Exchange Server – a combination set to transform even further the way in which small business can gain access to information.
New mobile phones with Windows Mobile provide users direct wireless access to their business networks. Powerful hand-held devices featuring in-built Web browsers mean the Bill Gates vision of information at your fingertips comes even closer. Most importantly, it all means small business users have the same tools and advantages exploited at the bigger end of town.
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