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Home » Service Description |
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OVERVIEW
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The External IT Solution provides our clients with all of the capabilities of a Fortune 500 IT department in one single outsourced and managed service: guaranteed application delivery, a professional helpdesk, access from anywhere, network administration, infrastructure management, bulletproof security, total redundancy, disaster recovery, and much more. The foundation of our solution is eliminating the dependence on client-side equipment, software, and helpdesk personnel. In doing this, External IT essentially replaces the mundane tasks of an in-house IT department, freeing up staff for more important managerial and strategic IT roles. There are no servers to manage, no software to install, no computers to maintain, and no upgrades to perform. Users simply require an Internet connection (or point-to-point MPLS) and a browser. Everything else is delivered by External IT.
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We become your IT
Department
With External IT,
software and files no longer run on
users' individual computers or local
file servers. Instead, all applications,
data, and email are delivered from the
External IT Data Center.
With the reliance on PC configuration, local
servers, and software removed, your core
IT function is greatly enhanced. The External
IT Data Center provides the maximum in
security, scalability, and performance -
far superior to any internal IT department that our clients could
accomplish on their own. This, combined
with our expert New York and San Diego based technical
staff, means that we can respond to any type
of individual request 365 days a year.
It also forms the core of the most reliable
and pampered IT experience available on the market today.
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Getting Setup
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Access from anywhere
External IT users can login and work from
any computer connected to the Internet -
from the office, their home, a hotel, or a friend's
house. They access their applications, data,
and other digital resources via the External.Net
Portal, our proprietary web-based
portal, accessible on the Internet at http://www.external.net.
All they need is a browser and any Internet
connection - DSL, T1, wireless, or dial-up.
The approximate bandwidth required
for a single active user is 35 kbps. In
an office environment, the required bandwidth will depend
on the number of users sharing the connection
and the level of concurrency.
Use any kind of computer
External IT users are free to use any compatible electronic device, for
example, PC, Macintosh, Windows CE, or thin clients. Wherever and whenever users run applications, they'll look and run exactly the same. Additionally, internal employees as well as outside third parties can be given secure access to specific programs or resources. External IT becomes a single virtual roof for users working from multiple locations.
Watch
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The External.Net™ Portal
To access your network, users log into the
External.Net Portal with their username,
password, and company. Following authentication,
they're presented with the portal home page, which features
all of their digital resources, including programs,
shortcuts, recently used files, announcements, and
service messages. Users can also request
support, create shortcuts, and post messages
from this page.
With External IT, the user's
experience is the same as it is with their
computers today.
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GUARANTEED APPLICATIONS HOSTING AND DELIVERY
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Productivity
software (including File Manager and Adobe
Acrobat Reader)
• Business applications • Client/server
applications • Hosting of any Windows-based application
• Maintenance and upgrades • Full
laptop and offline mode support • 24/7 monitoring
• Multiple redundant application servers
• Fully supported printing/scanning •
Printing to PDF • Ability to add applications
as needed
Application Hosting
Applications are launched via the External.Net Portal and are accessed using a combination of technologies including Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services. Applications are published in seamless windows, and they appear exactly the way local applications do.
Your users will not notice a difference. All applications are deployed and tested on multiple servers in order to provide full redundancy (at the application server level). Different companies
as well as different individuals within a company can have access to completely different applications based on their needs, job functions, and preferences.
Types of applications
External IT can host 99% of Windows-compatible applications, including Microsoft Office, Visio, QuickBooks, Peachtree, Adobe, ACT!, Great Plains, MAS, Solomon, Goldmine, and SalesLogix as well as almost any industry-specific or custom-built Windows-compatible application. You can also request that any software title be added to the list of applications hosted by External IT. Certain applications require a minimum number of users.
Application monitoring
Application performance is monitored regularly. In addition, our application servers are constantly monitored for health, speed, load, temperature,
and memory usage. Throughout the year, we regularly add equipment to improve performance, replace aging equipment, and accommodate growth. Our goal is for applications to perform equally well or better than if they were running on a local computer. We deliver this level of performance regardless of the resources required.
Maintenance and upgrades
All application maintenance performed by External IT is included and is not subject to any additional fees. Depending on the specific application, maintenance may be a once-a-year task or a daily one. Tasks include updates, patches, log file examination, upgrades, and testing. For larger upgrades, External IT will establish a temporary test environment using exact or comparable hardware to test the upgrade before it reaches your system.
Software licensing
Licensing for all business applications is not included in the External IT product. Clients must ensure that their organization owns the correct number of licenses for the applications that we host. Microsoft offers perpetual software licensing for many of its software titles. External IT makes all perpetual software licensing available to clients at no additional premium to published SPLA pricing.
Currently, the price of Microsoft Office Standard is $10.99 per month/user and
Microsoft Office Professional is $12.99 per month/user.
A complete price list is available upon request.
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UNLIMITED REMOTE IT SUPPORT SERVICES
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Guaranteed quick response time • 24/7/365 availability • Desktop support • Wide support coverage (at home or while traveling) • Incident tracking system with client reporting • Contracted escalation policy • Training for new hires
User support
All External IT users have unlimited access to telephone and screen-sharing support from our support department.
We will resolve problems, provide training, answer questions, and give technical
advice. At any time, our support technicians can provide shadow support. If
granted, our support technician can view the user's monitor and share the use of
the keyboard and mouse with them. Another option is for our support technician
to take full remote control of the user's PC. Before a support technician can
shadow a user's session or be granted control of a user's desktop, they must be
given explicit permission via a verbal confirmation as well as a visual
confirmation by clicking the appropriate dialog box on their screen. Support is
available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Non-critical issues are not
handled between 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM EST. A sophisticated ticket tracking system
is used to manage helpdesk operations. As support requests are submitted, each
request becomes a tracked ticket, recording the user who made the request, the
time, nature, and priority of the request, and the resolution of the issue.
Training
In addition to support, External IT's support department is responsible for providing each new hire (due to expansion or turnover) with an orientation session on how to properly use
the External.Net Portal and all of its features and functionality. This orientation session is almost identical to the training that all users receive during the initial migration process.
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Local issues
Because of the nature of External IT's services, most technical issues will not occur on the user's computer
since only local hardware is required for accessing the Internet, launching a Browser, and connecting to
the External.Net Portal. Nevertheless, issues may arise having to do with local hardware,
for example, network connectivity issues, local/network printing issues, spyware, virus issues,
or local hardware failure. External IT will help you resolve all of these
issues as well as any other reasonably related local technology problem that
prevents or hinders you from properly accessing the External.Net Portal. In the event that a hardware failure is diagnosed, External IT's support
technicians can make the necessary arrangements to resolve the problem, including ordering a replacement part or reporting
a problem to the hardware/warranty vendor.
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EMAIL, VIRUS/SPAM FILTERING, AND PORTABLE DEVICES
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Microsoft Exchange® Servers • Multiple,
redundant clustered mail servers •
Spam filtering • Virus scanning • BlackBerry and other PDA synchronization*
• Advanced email archiving and compliance*
• Outlook Web Access • Generous
mailbox quotas (1 GB/2 GB) • Automatic/manual
email archiving • Monitoring and logging
Microsoft Exchange® and email
External IT's farm of Exchange Servers delivers enterprise-level email and groupware to all of our users.
Exchange has been configured to take
advantage of all groupware features,
including public folders, distribution
lists, group scheduling, and resource
sharing. Clients can have multiple
domain names and individual users can
have an unlimited number of email
aliases pointing to their mailbox.
Outlook Web Access, accessible from any
browser, is provided for all users. It
can deliver much of Outlook's
functionality within the browser,
providing a convenient and quick way to
access your mailbox from a public
computer, airport, or hotel. Mailbox
limits are 1 GB for standard users and
2 GB for high-volume users
(numbering no more than 10% of the
client's total number of users).
Virus and spam filtering
All email traffic that enters the External IT Data Center is received, scanned, and cleared of any viruses outside of the perimeter of our network. Our partner vendor for this service is Postini ( www.postini.com), which processes over one billion messages per week. Their systems guarantee that all messages containing malicious code are removed well before they arrive at
the External IT Data Center. In addition, advanced spam filtering is included with every user account. External
IT, in conjunction with its partner vendor, Postini, successfully blocks unwanted spam messages with
more than 95% accuracy and less than a 1% false positive ratio. These messages are removed automatically. Users are able to view these messages via a proprietary interface. This interface offers the ability to create user-, company-, and industry-specific black and white lists, in-depth reporting, and flexible policy definitions.
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BlackBerry
devices and
other PDAs
External IT supports synchronization
with BlackBerry and other portable devices. Although we support other
devices, BlackBerry is our recommended solution for mobile messaging and
personal information management (PIM). Our BlackBerry Enterprise Servers handle synchronization between our Exchange Servers and users' BlackBerry devices.
Our synchronization servers are redundant and enable users to send and receive email, open attachments, access their contacts, calendars, and task lists, and perform other functions from absolutely anywhere. Aside from BlackBerry, External
IT is able to deliver similar results with other devices,
including Treo, Pocket PC, and Palm.
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BlackBerry/Treo/PDA
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Real-time
synchronization of emails, contact, and calendar information. Enterprise-level functionality. Operate as if you were at your
own desk by launching programs, sending emails, and opening files.
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MOST SECURE AND
RELIABLE DATA CENTER FACILITIES
THE UNITED STATES STATES
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Bulletproof physical security • 24/7 monitoring of all equipment, software, and services • Fire protection systems • Power backup via diesel fuel generator • UPS battery backup • HVAC climate control systems • Unlimited redundant bandwidth • Disaster recovery site
The External IT Data CenterThe
External IT Data Center exceeds all industry standards for security, performance, and quality, providing unrivaled security, power availability, infrastructure flexibility, customer support, and much more. Since we have a virtually unlimited amount of bandwidth at our disposal, Internet connectivity is fully redundant. External IT continuously monitors each piece of hardware and every service running within the
Data Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Access to the Data Center is limited to authorized personnel only, and it features 24/7 on-site security guards. In addition, surveillance cameras, biometric hand scan, and centralized security monitoring are all utilized to ensure security. External IT's network is designed for reliability, security, and speed and uses only Cisco equipment. The electrical power system is fully redundant, reducing the possibility of power failure to the lowest level. The system consists of dual parallel, uninterruptible power systems (UPS) and a 2,000 KW diesel backup generator. Fire protection and HVAC systems are also in place, ensuring little or no damage in the event of an emergency.
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SECURE AND PRIVATE FILE SYSTEM
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Flexible file structure • My documents/public/departmental
file storage areas • Access to local drives • Custom directory permissions upon request • No storage restrictions* • Guaranteed daily backup • Weekly off-site backup
to our second data center facility • Unlimited data restore • Complete privacy
The File System
External IT provides its clients with a secure, privately hosted file system. Just as you would have on a local network, we offer shared folders, public and private file storage areas, and file permissions. By default, we employ a standard structure - public shares, departmental folders, and private user directories. However, External IT can accommodate any custom file and directory permissions structure. Although not recommended by us as a
location to store files, users are also able to access and save data to the local drives of their computers. File storage limits are tailored toward our clients' specific needs.
Backup
At 1:30 AM EST, our backup system begins the daily task of copying all data that resides within our Data Center to tape. These tapes are kept for
two weeks before being recycled, providing us with the ability to restore specific files if they are lost, accidentally erased, or overwritten. On a weekly basis, data is
backed up to our second data center facility. In addition, monthly backups are retained for 90 days before being recycled. There are no additional fees for restoring data.
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EASY IT ADMINISTRATION
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Common administration tasks via support request or easy-to-use web interface: adding and changing users, departments, passwords, email addresses, assigned applications, permissions, access restrictions, and more • Custom changes by request • Password control • Guaranteed confidentiality of data • Reporting
Easy-to-use web interfaceThe External IT Solution includes all IT administration related tasks. Web-based administration tools are provided for common tasks, such as changing users, security settings,
and application assignments.
In addition, clients can choose not to use these tools and simply submit change requests using
our support department. Custom configuration changes are also available by request via External IT's support department.
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* May affect pricing
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Pricing
