Cloud Services Blog & Newsroom

Identity and Authentication in the cloud Office 2013 and Office 365

Development of the cloud has allowed Office 2013 and Office 365 to shift from computer centered authentication to now being user centered. This shift allows users to move seamlessly among devices (laptop, cell phone, pc, tablet) from anywhere in the world at any time, no longer requiring them to be stuck behind one computer at the company's office. For the IT admin, user audit trails  and compliance are also separated by identity. We know what you used to do (since your beeper days) on premises each day, but now what do you do with the advent of the cloud and hybrid?

Justin’s Tech Tip of the Week: Purging and Removing Deleted Users and Mailboxes from Office 365

Boca Raton, FL- April 24, 2013 - Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media, recently unveiled the MSPmentor 501 (http://www.mspmentor.net/top501), a global list honoring the world’s top 501 managed services providers (MSP). Champion Solutions Group was ranked #117 among the 2013 MSPmentor 200 North America Edition, which covers the top 200 managed services providers (MSPs) in North America.

The MSPmentor 501 report recognizes top managed service providers based on a range of metrics, including annual managed services revenue growth, revenue per employee, managed services offered and customer devices managed.

“MSPmentor has honored the top 100 MSPs annually since 2008,” said Amy Katz, president of Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media. “The managed services market continues to grow swiftly. Small, midsize and large MSPs worldwide deserve greater recognition for their accelerating momentum. The new MSPmentor 501 Global Edition and MSPmentor 100 Small Business Edition, along with our regional lists, fulfill that mission.”

For the full release, visit: http://mspmentor.net/managed-services/mspmentor-501-top-501-managed-services-providers-list-unveiled

The Service Upgrade for existing customers to the New Office 365 platform has been marketed by Microsoft as a non-disruptive update. However, as mentioned at the recent Cloud Champ Summits, over the past month we’ve been hearing from partners/customers that in some cases, the update has required the reconfiguration of EVERY users Outlook profile which can be a cumbersome process. MS Online support has finally pinpointed the problem to incorrect Autodiscover settings in the public and/or internal DNS settings of the affected customers. Following is an article describing how to test if autodiscover is configured correctly for each of your domains. We recommend testing each of your customer’s autodiscover domains prior to their upgrade to ensure a successful upgrade occurs and that each of your user’s Outlook profiles automatically connect post upgrade.

http://community.office365.com/en-us/wikis/manage/correcting-autodiscover-and-dns-settings.aspx

Because MS Support has identified the problem, they have assured us that going forward customers will no longer be upgraded if they have incorrect autodiscover settings. We still recommend taking the above measures as you will have to make these changes regardless (only if autodiscover is misconfigured). Also we want need to make sure that you or your client version is supported and running the latest update. The easiest way to accomplish this is by running Windows Update. The following clients are currently supported.

• Outlook 2013
• Outlook 2010 SP1 with November 2012 Cumulative Update
• Outlook 2007 SP3 with November 2012 Cumulative Update
• Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition
• Outlook for Mac 2011

Here’s another issue that you need to know about: When Exchange Online gets updated to the new platform, FOPE is not immediately updated to the new gateway platform: EOP (Exchange Online Protection). In some cases, a your FOPE is not upgraded to EOP until a month after your Exchange Online upgrade. Everything SHOULD work as before during this “In between” phase, however the customer/partner will no longer have easy access to their FOPE settings. A few FOPE related links are up on the community, check here: http://community.office365.com/en-us/wikis/office_365_service_updates/resources-for-admins.aspxand below are linked:

• Exchange Online and Exchange Online Protection Service Upgrade - FOPE Admin Center Access
• Feature Differences Between FOPE and EOP
• Learn more about the migration status report
• Login to FOPE Administration Center After Service Upgrade
• Service Upgrade Changes for Policy Rules

A few more things: Some are asking why autodiscover needs to be corrected if it was working before. We have heard that some customers were directed by support to change the autodiscover record at some time in the past to correct some other issue. That was supposed to be temporary but many left it… And some customers/partners have not used autodiscover and set the Outlook settings manually. A potential fix is running a repair on the email account in the Mail Account Settings, rather than having to reconfigure the entire profile. This prompts the user to enter their password and then Autodiscover seems to connect and the problem gets resolved. Once Outlook is opened again, the user gets prompted one more time for the password and all is well. This way a new OST is not created.

User Base, Mailbox Volume Doubles in Just 2 Months Since Launch of the First Easy-to-Use Web-based Management Portal to Simplify Office 365 Mail Admin

Boca Raton, Fla. (March 19, 2013)—Office 365 admins looking for a faster and easier way to handle mail administration tasks have flocked to 365 Command by MessageOps, the Microsoft Cloud experts, to now manage some 520,000 mailboxes with point-and-click ease.

The first easy-to-use, web-based GUI that makes it simple and efficient for anyone to perform common Office 365 administrative tasks without complicated PowerShell scripting, 365 Command now handles the mailboxes of more than 1,000 companies to save them time, money and get the most out of their Office 365 investment.  The success of 365 Command has also earned MessageOps’ parent company Champion Solutions Group recognition as a CRN Cloud Computing Superstar.

“Admins from all industries and companies of all sizes are taking advantage of 365 Command to gain control of their Office 365 environment,” said Chris Pyle with MessageOps. “365 Command brings unprecedented ease of use to the Office 365 platform with the stringent security controls that deliver the performance, security and management ease that world-class business email requires.”

With the expected release of Office 2013 or as some refer to it - Wave 15 - we've gotten quite a few questions from our customers on the impact it may have on their current service. We are hosting a Webinar on March 13^th at 2:00 PM EDT Getting Ready for the Next “Wave” of Microsoft 2013 Products for Office 365 which will go into more depth about how to get prepared. In the meantime, we've tried to answer some of the most common questions below.

When will Office 365 with Office 2013 pro plus be released?
Here are the latest updates on launch dates: (per Redmond Channel Partner as of 2/21/13)

Office 2013 - March 2013 Read more

Office 365 - Anticipated release: March 1 for Open Volume Licensing Read more

By Steven Burke

From Plain Old VAR To Cloud Superstar

Making the radical technology and business model transformation to compete in the cloud services market has proved to be a Herculean task for VARs that have built big businesses providing on-premise hardware and software infrastructure. One top executive for a cloud computing upstart estimates that less than 20 percent of the current crop of VARs will be able to make the transition to the transformative cloud model. Here are 10 VARs that have crossed the cloud computing chasm and transformed themselves into cloud computing superstars.

Champion Solutions Group

By Scott Campbell

A South Florida VAR formally launched this week a service to help other solution providers deliver more value around Office 365, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s cloud-based productivity suite that is sold direct to end users.

Champion Solutions Group signed up 20 VAR partners with more than 60,000 mailboxes in its first 24 hours for its 365 Command tool, according to the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company.

Easy-to-Use Web-based Management Portal Replaces PowerShell Command Line to Offer Intuitive, Feature-Rich Administration

Boca Raton, Fla. (February 6, 2013)—Bringing unprecedented simplicity to Office 365 administration, MessageOps, the Microsoft Cloud experts, today launched 365 Command, the first easy-to-use, web-based portal that makes it simple and efficient for anyone to perform common Office 365 administrative tasks without complicated scripting.

A hosted service, 365 Command replaces the command line interface of Windows® PowerShell with a rich, HTML5 graphical user interface that is easy to navigate and makes quick, point-and-click work of changing mailbox settings, monitoring usage and reporting. 365 Command scales elegantly to support a virtually unlimited number of seats for easy administration of any size Office 365 environment.

“Office 365 administration typically requires specialized skills and the use of time-consuming and complicated scripting,” said Chris Pyle with MessageOps. “365 Command offers point-and-click ease that makes Office 365 administration as simple as navigating any common website to perform routine tasks quickly and eliminate programming errors. Help desk staff can say goodbye to PowerShell scripts and now generating graphic-rich reports takes just a few clicks.”

Available on a per-seat subscription basis, 365 Command automatically populates the admin dashboard interface with Office 365 account data upon setup in minutes, with nothing to install, no special equipment and no user effort required. Once data integration is complete, 365 Command enables complete management of the Office 365 environment, including:

• Office 365 University $3.30
• Office 365 Home Premium $8.25
• Office 365 Small Business Premium $12.50
• Office 365 Midsize Business $15
• Office 365 Enterprise & Government $20

• Office Home & Student 2013 & RT $139
• Office Home & Business $219
• Office Standard 2013 $369
• Office Professional Plus 2013 $499

• Office 365 Small Business
• Office 365 Small Business Premium
• Office 365 ProPlus
• Office 365 Midsize Business
• Office 365 Enterprise