The difference between P and E

One of the most common questions customers ask about Office 365 is the difference between the P (Small Business and Professional) and the E (Enterprise licenses). Hopefully, this will help.

1. P Plans cannot be upgraded to E Plans

Probably the most important thing to consider when selecting between P and E Plans. Once you move onto a P Plan the only way to change to another plan is to migrate the data out, cancel the P plan, buy a new plan and migrate the data back.

2. P Plans do not support advanced Exchange features

The P Plan does not support the following advanced Exchange features:

– Unlimited inboxes

– Legal hold

3. P Plans are aimed at no more than 25 users

The absolute maximum limit for P Plans is 50 users but it is recommended that they don’t exceed 25 users.

4. Plans do not support all the advanced SharePoint features

P Plans do support the following advanced SharePoint features:

– Office Web Apps read/write

– Access Services (for databases in the cloud)

P Plans do not support the following advanced SharePoint features:

– Form services

– Visio Services

– Excel services

– Encrypted traffic for SharePoint (i.e. all sites are http:// not https://)

– Multiple intranet sites (they have a single site collection only).

– Addition of extra space for SharePoint sites. P Plans only have 10GB to start with + 500MB per user max.

– My site

– Unlimited external (non-Office 365 users). P Plan is limited to 50.

5. P Plans do not support identity synchronization

P Plans do not provide the ability to link your local user list (Active Directory) to Office 365. Thus, with P Plans you will always have two distinct sets of users, on premises and one in Office 365 that both require maintenance. This typically means with P Plans you need to main 2 sets of user logins and passwords.

6. P Plans require DNS moved to Office365

DNS is basically a record of where information about Internet servers are located (i.e. web servers, email servers). By default, the P Plans require that these records be moved to and managed by Office 365.

7. P Plans only have community support (outside Australia)

For regions outside Australia P plans have not support apart form that found on the Internet. In Australia however P Plans are supported by Telstra via phone 24/7.

8. P Plans do not allow the management of mail security

Exchange Online as part of Office 365 is protected by Microsoft Forefront Protection for Exchange (FOPE). P Plans do not permit the administration or customization of this. Thus, with P Plans you are unable to set custom email white and black lists, block IP, etc.

~~9. P Plans have lower email receipt limits~~ – limits removed Feb 2012. see – http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au/blog/archive/2012/02/09/recipient-rate-for-office-365-p-plans-goes-up.aspx

P Plans ~~have a reduced amount of email that can be sent per day per user.~~ Limits can be found at:

http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/dd630704.aspx

~~with P Plans the limit is basically 500 1500* mail recipients per day. Now *1500 as of the end of December 2011.~~

10. P plans are limited to 50 online meeting participants

P Plans have access the Lync client software but are limited to having only 50 participants maximum attend any meeting. Thus, if you are planning to do webcasts to large audience 50 will be the limit with a P Plan.

Hope that makes things a little cleare.

Additional Security settings in Office 365

Exchange Online in Office 365 is protected by Forefront Online Protection for Exchange [FOPE] (at no extra charge mind you). In BPOS you could look at the FOPE console but couldn’t make any changes. Not the case in Office 365, where you have much more control.

To access the FOPE console login to your Office 365 console as an administrator. Select the option to Manage Exchange.

From the menu on the left hand side select Mail Control and you should see a screen similar to:

On the right hand side you will notice the following under Additional Security Settings.

You can actually click this and when you do it will open up the FOPE control panel like so:

Be very careful what you change here as you really need to know what you are doing. Selecting the wrong option can block mail for your Office 365 organization.

Apart from the configuration settings you will find some handy features like email reports. Which are pretty sweet as you can see:

FOPE is an excellent part of Office 365 that probably doesn’t get the acknowledgement it should as part of the offering. So if you are using Exchange Online with Office 365 take a look at what FOPE can provide.

The other advice I would give you when it comes to FOPE is that it REALLY works best when viewed through Internet Explorer and also without an lingering Windows Live ID around. So if you want to access FOPE, open a new Internet Explorer windows, login to the Office 365 console as an administrator and go from there.

Podcast Episode 20 with Brett Hill

Been too long since my last podcast but I have managed to produce another one for your listening pleasure.

In this episode you’ll hear from Microsoft MVP Brett Hill all about Office 365 and what it has to offer for both customers and resellers. You’ll get a good idea of the product as well as some of the challenges cloud computing faces in general along with Brett’s tips and tricks for a better implementation.

You’ll find the episode at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/01/03/episode-20-brett-hill/

with information about Brett at http://www.office365answers.com.

All the previous episode are available at http://ciaops.podbean.com so take a look.

Remember, I’m always looking for guests. So if you have something you’d like to discuss please contact me (director@ciaops.com). Alternatively, if there is someone or something that you would like to hear please also let me know and I’ll try and arrange it.

Awarded Microsoft MVP

I awoke today to an email from Microsoft informing me that I had been awarded a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for Office 365 in 2012.

You’ll find out more Microsoft MVPs at http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/aboutmvp.

It is a great honour to given such a unique award and I hope that I can live up to the example of many other fabulous MVPs whom I know. I look forward to working more closely with Microsoft and helping improve their products for all users and spreading the word about what these products can do for resellers and end users.

Again, I say what an honour it is and very welcome start to 2012.

I’m looking for podcast guest

One of the things that I really enjoyed doing last year and has unfortunately dropped away has been my podcast. You can find previous episodes at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com

Just to set the record straight, it hasn’t been through lack of trying that there hasn’t been a podcast for a while. I can tell you that I have asked a whole lot of people and nobody wants to come on. What the hell? They all can’t have stage fright, surely? I am I really that ugly that it comes through on a podcast?

I make the process pretty easy. We pre-record it over Skype at a time that suits you. We talk about a topic you nominate and you can even bring on additional guest if you want. If you have any doubts how easy it is just have a listen to a few previous episodes and ask a few of those guests. I can assure you they all went onto greater fame and fortune. Honestly.

As I said, if you have an interesting topic that you’d like to share then I’m all ears as I am sure many others are out there. So please don’t be shy, I’ll make it as easy as I can for you, all you have to say is that you are willing to give it a go.

Email me at director@ciaops.com if you are interested.

Bueller? Bueller?

Reading material

Things are generally a bit slower this time of the year so it nice to catch up on some reading. Here’s a list of titles I would recommend you spend some time going through.

Business

The E-Myth – Michael Gerber

This book helps you understand that you are not your business and that you need to look at it as a system.

The Millionaire Fastlane – M.J. DeMarco

Don’t get put off by the title, this book is an excellent read. It explains to you the realities of running a business and what is important in actually making money.

The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

Want to understand why social networking is so important to business, this book will help you understand why. You don’t need to be a prophet you just need to ‘network’ with one.

SharePoint

Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 – Callahan

One of the few books that focuses specifically on SharePoint Foundation. Still a great foundation for work with SharePoint Server but most wouldn’t think so. Know you know.

Professional SharePoint 2010 Administration – Todd Klindt

This book covers more of SharePoint 2010 Server and is a highly recommended for those looking to up skill to this product.

Strategy

The Art of War – Sun Tzu

One of the oldest books known to man and still as relevant today as it was the day it was written.

Fiction

Daemon – Daniel Suarez

If you like technology then I’m pretty sure you’ll love this book. There is a sequel but I think one is better.

You can find all the books I recommend over at:

http://amazon.ciaops.com

which if you buy from there gives me a few pennies commission. Also, don’t forget that all of these are available on the Kindle which I also highly recommend.

Year 2011 in retrospect

So here’s a few thoughts on the year that was in 2011.

Office 365 – one of the more important things to become available in my opinion. Although still far from a perfect product it certainly is a marked improvement from BPOS. The upgrade to the latest versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync as well as the inclusion of Office makes this product a real winner in my opinion. The result has been the adoption of Office 365 from the two extremes of the market towards the middle. By that I mean, I have seen Office 365 begin widely adopted by large enterprises as well as very small businesses. From here I expect that to start moving towards the middle of the market and encompass traditional small to medium businesses that traditionally relied on products like Small Business Server (SBS).

In short this means that I expect to see more businesses adopt Office 365 this year, especially in the traditional SBS market. I was also amazed this year ay how many businesses are still running on old versions of server software like SBS 2003. The main reason? Costs. It is a tough market out there and that isn’t likely to change in the near future either so moving to the cloud is certainly a way that many businesses see in reducing their IT overhead, rightly or wrongly. This IS the way things are moving.

IPad – having the second generation released in 2011 has really grown the adoption of this product. Hell, I even got one myself and am amazed at how useful it is for business and pleasure. The average consumer wants simplicity, especially when it comes to technology, and the iPad does this in spades. So many technology people I know deride the tablet or look to Android equivalents but I can tell from what I see with customers is that firstly the tablet is here to stay so deal with it and secondly the competition to the iPad has a long way to go.

The other change in my thinking this year, brought about by the iPad, is the question of apps. These are what makes a platform. They also make life much simpler for consumer and also represent a massive opportunity for developers. To my way of thinking, we are now in the age of developer and standard old IT support is so passe (given tools like search engines). The real money now is in developing apps but not only for iOS but also Android, Windows Phone 7 and even the Xbox as I have mentioned in a previous blog post.

Kindle – This is the year that I got serious about e-readers and bought myself a Kindle. As I have mentioned many times, I love the device and everybody I know who has one, even if they are a book reader, love their Kindle.

To me the Kindle and the Amazon ecosystem just works so well. I have bought so many more books this year because of that fact. Conversely, I have also read many more books for that reason. Honestly, if you haven’t looked at e-readers then I recommend that you give them a go (they are so cheap now) and for my money the Amazon Kindle is the best by far.

So there are some parting thoughts for 2011. I’ll take this opportunity to thank anyone who reads my blog. I also thanks those who have left comments or contacted me directly about what I have written. It make doing this so much more worthwhile when you get feedback, good or bad I welcome it all.

See you all in 2012.

I’ve seen the future

It isn’t all that often that I am really blown away with changes in technology. Sure, they are cool, interesting and in some cases astounding but something that really blows me away is rare. I can report that I have recently had one of those experiences with my Xbox.

Microsoft has just updated the interface on the Xbox to be more Metro like (a la Windows 8) but that isn’t the big change. The big change in my mind is the ability to allow third party apps to be downloaded and installed to the console. It goes to show you how powerful apps concept is in our technology world these days as pioneered by Apple. But even that is not what I found earth shattering. My epiphany came when I installed the ABC iView, SBS on Demand and YouTube apps.

The ABC iView and SBS on Demand apps allow you to watch TV from two popular channel here in Australia. This is fantastic but still does have some limited content in what is available. However, it is when I started to look at the YouTube app that my brain exploded.

With the YouTube app on my Xbox I can watch just about every YouTube clip right on my TV set! I started with watching some of the clips that I have saved as favourites on my channel. I then moved into looking at what YouTube recommended and then finally trawled through some popular picks including shorts for upcoming movies. I could have stayed up all night watching YouTube (which contrary to popular belief does have some very interesting and engaging content).

Think about this for a moment. ALL of the content on YouTube is now available on your TV. You can use the YouTube app to tee up what you want to watch during the day and then come home a play it. You can view all the latest movie trailers on your TV WHENEVER you want. Why would you ever go back to watching normal network TV? Why would you pay for cable TV? The Xbox makes this available ONTOP of all the other great things the Xbox does.

Now, also throw into the mix the ability to control and access your YouTube preferences from your mobile device (say an iPad). You can then potentially stream onto your TV or this device as well as you move about. YouTube becomes your personal TV station where you control the content. The possibilities are endless. The possibilities are also endless for Microsoft as it positions one of its devices into the living room of consumers.

The one thing that I waiting for is for my DVD services (Quickflix) to become available on the Xbox (HURRY UP). That will give me access to a huge range of movies and TV shows on demand. However, with iView, SBS on Demand and especially YouTube now available for the Xbox I think I’ll be busy enough until Quickflix becomes available.

It’s still early days for this but I can see what a potential game changer this is for traditional media businesses. With YouTube you can watch the content just about anywhere you have an internet connection. The integration of the service across devices like the iPad and iPhone but down to consumer devices like TVs is going to open up even more people to viewing the wonders of YouTube. Like I said, if you sit down and think of the possibilities here your head will explode!