Mi8 Corporation Announces Plans For Microsoft Exchange 2000 Launch, Enahncements
NEW YORK – October 18, 2000 – Mi8 Corporation, the leading application service provider (ASP) for small and mid-size organizations, today announced detailed plans for its launch of Microsoft Exchange 2000. Mi8 will offer customers new application services using Exchange 2000 beginning in November, becoming one of the first ASPs to offer Exchange 2000 services. The company also announced the industry's only solution for Network Address Translation (NAT) networks and a partnership with Outlook and Exchange expert Bill Dyszel.
The announcements were made today at Microsoft's Exchange 2000 Product Launch in New York City, where Mi8 is the only ASP participating.
Mi8 offers Microsoft software solutions over the Internet, virtual private networks, and point to point connections – a solution the company calls "netsourcing." Netsourcing transforms complex software applications into easy-to-use services. The software run on Mi8 servers running in world-class data centers, and users access the systems through standard client software running on their local machines or via Web-based interfaces - and their experience is exactly as if those servers were running internal to their company, with full functionality and performance. This approach offloads internal IT departments from having to manage email, calendaring, contact management, document sharing and collaboration, and allows companies to refocus their IT resources on their core business functions.
Mi8 Solves Industry NAT Issue
With today's announcement, Mi8 is the only ASP to overcome the complications that NAT causes for remotely hosted applications. Commonly used by small and mid-sized organizations, NAT is a method of allowing privately addressed computers to connect to the Internet (or any other Public IP network). This is accomplished by translating the private, non-routable, IP address to a publicly registered IP address. This approach can cause connection problems between users and remote servers, such as organizations using software hosted in a remote data center – a central architectural premise of the ASP model. Mi8 is the only ASP to overcome this limitation and maintain an active connection between an Exchange Server running within Mi8's data centers and an Outlook client running on any user's desktop, through a NAT gateway or firewall. Mi8's solution ensures that the server and client always know where each other are, and the application services remain available and responsive.
"The technology hurdles that ASPs face as we service our customers can be substantial," said Dave Castellani, CEO of Mi8. "That's why we've built an amazing team of technology specialists – some of the world's leading experts on applications and networking. This team enables us to deliver what our customers want – flawless, seamless
service." Mi8 Signs Bill Dyszel as Subject Matter Expert
Author of Microsoft Outlook for Dummies and Palm Computing for Dummies, Mr. Dyszel will help Mi8's customers get a quick start as they begin using Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. In order to ensure that users best utilize these rich programs, Mi8 is leveraging Mr. Dyzsel's expertise to create training and reference materials, as well as daily and monthly tips that describe the use of advanced features.
"I've found that most people who use Outlook only figure out about 10% of its features, so if we can help them understand 20%, users of this software are taking a significant step in the right direction," said Mr. Dyszel. "Mi8 is doing a great job of reaching out to the public and showing them what services are available. This knowledge, along with the modest price of Mi8's ASP model, makes Outlook and Exchange a more accessible and easy option for more people."
"Too many ASPs think of ‘applications' first and ‘service' second, but we clearly put servicing our customers as our top priority," said Mr. Castellani. "Adding the expertise of Bill Dyszel helps us help our customers, ensuring that they get the most value from our application services. We find that they're often more interested in how to use existing features than they are in new features in new versions of software."