Binary Tree's Good Migrations Blog

Water Cooler "Cloud Chat" with Walter Monasterio

Posted by Walter Monasterio, Microsoft Corporate & Regional SI Alliance Manager

In my day to day, I have a lot of conversations/debates around cloud application platforms and the services they offer for different workloads. The conversation topics are usually around application features, security, development, interoperability, and management. In terms of business productivity, Google is mentioned, Salesforce.com for CRM, and perhaps Google or Amazon for cloud application development. It seems to me that the mix and match of on-premises and cloud solutions, compounded with multiple cloud services, somewhat dilutes the value proposition that these solutions offer. Among the value propositions, presented are simplicity, ease of use, cost savings, and end user satisfaction. As far as I can see, Microsoft is the only provider that can deliver on these value propositions in a mixed application and location environment.

If I were an enterprise looking to move to the cloud to try and “do more with less” (yes …I said it), I would start my ROI/TCO homework by taking a look at what we have, examining my on-premises and cloud options, the cost to get there, and evaluate my in-house and partner IT skills. Then, I would like to see an example of my end state infrastructure (POC?) working together so I understand what my end users and subsequently, help desk, could expect. In a non-Microsoft scenario that would seem to involve negotiating with multiple vendors to get the individual products up and running, identifying and deploying viable and supported interoperability solutions, or find a partner to do this on your behalf. I suspect partners would find this equally as challenging and costly. Cloud Migration

Microsoft tries to simplify this challenge by offering Exchange on-premises and Exchange online for email; SharePoint on-premises and online for Collaboration, Portals, Development, ECM, Search, Wiki’s, and Blogs; Dynamics for CRM online; and Azure for hosted infrastructure, application development, and management. In addition to the applications themselves, they offer an array of resources, events, and partners that will let you come in and experience your future state.

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Posted on 4/28/2011 10:00:00 AM | with 0 comments

Benefits of a Streamlined Migration to Exchange 2010

A Binary Tree Webinar: Benefits of a Streamlined Migration to Exchange 2010

Over the years, Microsoft Exchange Server has become a more capable and complex product. If your organization still uses Exchange Server 2003, the jump to Exchange 2010 will be a significant undertaking. For organizations that are preparing to upgrade from Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010, Binary Tree E2E Complete can help reduce the stress and costs associated with the migration.

Join Binary Tree's Val Vasquez, Senior Solutions Architect, on Wednesday, April 26, 2011 as he compares and contrasts manual migration methods versus the streamlined methods enabled by Binary Tree’s E2E Complete software when migrating from Exchange Server 2003/2007 to Exchange Server 2010 within the same Active Directory (AD) forest.

Attendees will learn how to realize the benefits of a streamlined migration:

How to reduce the time and cost to migrate
How to reduce the risk of email downtime for end-users
How a shortened migration enables cost savings by retiring the legacy infrastructure sooner

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Posted on 4/22/2011 9:00:00 AM | with 0 comments

Using Remote PowerShell to Provision Exchange 2010 Users

By Robert Phillips, Senior Architect

This is a re-post from Rob's personal blog where he publishes valuable information to assist individuals and organizations who are migrating their Lotus Notes email platforms to Microsoft Exchange.

Provisioning Exchange 2010 Users with Remote Powershell in Windows XP/2003

Exchange 2010 provides us with some new PowerShell features in order to run commands remotely to a CAS server. However, there are a few prerequisites you need to know in order to do this. First of all, Windows 2003 or XP, out of the box, does not provide this feature. You'll have to download the "WINRM" update patch that installs Windows PowerShell. Here is the URL for the download:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=F002462B-C8F2-417A-92A3-287F5F81407E

Also, you need to enable remote PowerShell on your Exchange 2010 CAS server with the following PS command:

'Enable-PSRemoting'

Then choose "YES" to configure Firewall ports if necessary and then ensure that the 'WINRM' service is running on the CAS Server. There is a command to verify that you have the necessary authority to run the commands. The command is:

'get-user (username) | fl'

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Posted on 4/15/2011 9:00:00 AM | with 0 comments

Building a Partner Channel for Growth

Posted by Walter Monasterio
Microsoft Corporate & Regional SI Alliance Manager

A partner channel business model is a great way for technology companies to expand their addressable market. More inroads to customers will mean more business opportunities, plain and simple. In return, the partners are allowed to re-package and re-sell the solution for profit or receive a fee for distribution. So there it is in a nutshell, Partner Channel 101.

As a channel manager at Binary Tree, there's one question I always hear; “what is it that helps build a good partnership?" The obvious answer, of course, is shared customer leads and mutual business opportunities, but I don’t think that's the complete story. In my humble opinion, the customers will vote with their budgets for the most effective partnerships. It's our job to meet a customer’s business needs. If we can bring more “full-featured” solutions to the table through a partnership that leverages the unique value of each organization, then it’s a win-win-win.

When customers come to Binary Tree looking for help to re-platform their messaging system to Exchange, or to migrate their legacy business applications to SharePoint, it is a huge, potentially career altering decision. It usually involves large budgets, some tolerance for risk, and the real willingness to look for business value beyond “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it”. At Binary Tree, we’re successful when we work with our partners to minimize the perceived risk in taking the journey to the Microsoft platform.

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Posted on 4/7/2011 9:00:00 AM | with 0 comments

Takeaways from Exchange Connections

Posted by Valentin Vasquez , Senior Solutions Architect, E2E

Greetings from sunny Florida! This week I'm attending the seasonal DevConnections show in Orlando. This is a great event as it brings together Microsoft infrastructure focused technologists all under one roof and offers sessions ranging from SilverLight programing to SQL tuning. And of course, no event would be complete without a healthy dose of discussions focused on Microsoft Exchange.

I’ve been in the software industry for 10 years, and one thing I’ve learned is that you can never talk to enough people or get too much feedback. For all of the phone calls (oh so very many) and customer visits, there's nothing really comparable to the interactions you experience at a conference. You’ve got 30 seconds to find a technology fit, gauge interest, scan a badge, and schedule a product demonstration.

And when you find a match, the results can be awesome. I’ve been working on Binary Tree’s Exchange migration tool, E2E Complete, from the very beginning, and I can deliver a concise sound bite with nary a thought. So even though I dread the long hours of a conference, I am well suited to work these events. So when you get people staring at your booth and they say, “So what do you guys do?”, I can hit them lickity split.

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Posted on 4/1/2011 9:00:00 AM | with 0 comments