We recently had a client who was looking to implement Exchange 2010 personal archives. For those that aren’t familiar with the feature, personal archives are essentially a second mailbox associated to a user’s primary mailbox. By creating a personal archive, companies can potentially get away from PST files for archiving of old mail. The personal archive can be stored on a different mailbox database, and isn’t cached if you’re running in cached mode. Nifty.

Of course it’s pretty well known that Microsoft requires a premium Exchange CAL to use Personal Archives, and that you also must be running the Enterprise Edition of Exchange Server 2010. Fair enough, even though I think personal archives is a feature that every company small or large can really benefit from and should be something Microsoft is pushing harder. What ends up being a confusing topic is what version of Outlook is needed to access the personal archive, and this is where our client ran into snags.

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What a rewarding 2010 it was here at Walker IT Group, LLC. First and foremost, we’d like to thank our customers over the past year that contributed to us getting off the ground. Your business was most appreciated, and we’re thankful for all the positive feedback and referrals to new customers.

It was a full year, and we’ve had the opportunity to work on some great projects such as Exchange 2010 migrations, Office Communications Server pilots, VMware migrations, and a host of other technology challenges. So busy in fact that it’s been tough to keep the blog up to date!

I’d like to share with everyone some exciting news. Every once in a while one of our customers comes to us and asks if we can procure hardware and software for them. The answer has always been that we can put them in touch with the right folks thanks to our industry connections, and we at Walker IT Group, LLC will help ensure everything is spec’ed out correctly.

This has happened often enough that after much consideration and planning, we are pleased to announce that we have officially become a reseller of IT equipment and software! We’ve put agreements in place with two distribution powerhouses: Ingram Micro and Tech Data. Through our relationship with these firms, we’re now able to offer our customers a wide selection of products from thousands of different manufacturers. When it’s time to purchase new equipment, please think of us, we’d love the opportunity to present you a free, no-obligation quote.

Additionally, we’ve also partnered with select companies that align well with our offered services in order to give the customers that ask for it the ability to have a “one-stop shop” for their IT Infrastructure needs. Please see our “Partners” page for more details on the current roster. We will periodically review our relationships and maintain a suitable mix based on the needs of our customers.

We of course recognize that many of our existing customers prefer to buy their equipment and software through their own sources, and we’d like to reiterate this doesn’t present a problem at all. The service you’ve come to expect from us will continue to be available regardless to where you’ve purchased your equipment or software.

Finally, while these partnerships are important to us, let me re-assure everyone that we primarily think of ourselves as a service provider. To that end, if the right solution for your business is from a vendor that we don’t have as a partner we won’t hesistate to recommend that solution for you – arriving at the right answer for our customer’s businesses is more important to us than proposing an alternate solution just because we happen to sell it. At the same time, we’ve carefully selected our current partners because we feel they offer some of the best solutions in the industry.

We’re excited about the opportunity to expand our offerings to our customers, and we weclome your feedback and comments.

In my travels recently (which explains the paucity of blog entries) I have noticed a lot of organizations seem to be struggling with Microsoft’s Key Management Services (KMS). Today I’ll briefly cover the technology and how it can help your business.

What is it?

Microsoft KMS is a service that companies who have volume licensing agreements for their Microsoft Products can activate installed copies of their software.

What’s covered?

As of this writing, KMS covers all volume licensing editions of Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Office 2010.

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Cloud computing has some strong elements, but be mindful of your legal exposure. Having your business information stored on the cloud does not appear to afford the same legal protection as storing it on your office PC.

IT has a history of latching onto hot trends and buzzwords, and the latest is no different: cloud computing. Let me first say that it’s an exciting concept, but not necessarily a new one. While it has evolved over the years, it’s had a number of names that date back to the early days of IT and MIS. Here’s a few you might have heard in previous decades: application service provider, hosted service provider, network computing, time-sharing, multitenancy. All of these are variations on the same theme – someone else hosts the system or application, the client using the system pays for only the portion they use, without the overhead expense of maintaining the infrastructure.

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Welcome to the Walker IT Group, LLC blog. We’re excited to be in business and look forward to serving our customers in the Tri-State Area.

Please bear with us as we work to get the website operational and content uploaded. Of course, your feedback is welcomed.

We plan to use this blog to talk about items of interest to the technology community, so please check back regularly for new posts. If you have a specific topic you’d like us to cover please let us know!