One of these major services is Gmail.  Gmail is a rebuild of messaging as we know it, for the ground up.  It has built in email, chat, video, online calendars, online documents, archiving and many other features.  Unlike other email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and others, this free email service is designed to scan the content of every email in the mailbox so that Google might serve targeted advertisements to user based on their emails.  They can ‘profile’ a user to establish their likes, dislikes, and areas of interest.  Many privacy advocates raised concerns about emails being scanned for anything other than security and virus threats.

In February 2007, Google went into the hosting business.  They started a service called Google Apps.  Google Apps is an online adaption of their Gmail service.  The difference is that a company can use their own company domain on the Google service.  Individuals can also use personal vanity domains on the service.  They provide the service for free saying, don’t throw anything away.  They give you free POP3 email, IMAP, online schedule sharing, mobile access… basically everything other companies are actually charging to support.  How can they do this?  The answer to most is online advertising.
As the IT managers for the best companies in the Asia Pacific region, AINEO has tested Gmail/Google Apps two separate times so that we can give proper feedback to our client partners.  A couple of our engineers use it for personal email.  We are very familiar with the services as well as many other services in Japan and abroad.  We have officially tested Google Apps once in December 2008 and again in January 2010.  Here are some of our observations about their service that we can share;

Apps Observations-
-Importing of email could not be done via IMAP to IMAP accounts as it timed out repeatedly.  We had to use POP3 and let Google Apps/Gmail slowly import 200 messages at a time.

-As paid users ($50 USD/user/year), we were still intermittently served up ads from our mail scanned even after ‘turning off’ this service several times.

-The service is supposed to work with RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES Server).  This is a bit misleading as those sites wanting to use BlackBerry have to install a BES server themselves.  Google provides a BES software connector for those users who have paid accounts.

-Paid users are on the exact same servers as free users.  There seems to be no technical differentiation between paid and free users.

-Paid users are assured telephone support.  We were unable to get anyone via their telephone support numbers with paid accounts.  We called the US helpdesk and waited on hold for 43 minutes before giving up.  Thinking it might have just been a bad day for Google (there were no outages those days), we called the UK support number.  We were unable to raise any support after 37 minutes on hold via their UK-based number either.  It seems they do not answer their phones.

-Users are required to verify their personal or corporate domains.  This is a bit of a pain and something you see at no other major web hosting company.  This verification could be seen as a security tactic, but it seems a silly exercise as only domain administrators can control access to their domains by changing their DNS through their registrars..

-Deleted mail is not actually deleted.  For a simple test, if you delete a message and empty it from your trash, you will intermittently find that your deleted mail comes up with a search on a word such as ‘the’ or some other content of a message.

-The user interface is simple, however everything you want to do seems to open another browser window.  As a user, it is easy to get lost in the browser windows.

-In their T&Cs, there is no assurance that your data will be completely deleted from their systems even if you delete your data.

-The system slow for users in Japan. Upon a bit of checking, we found that there is no Google Apps/Gmail data in Japan.  All of the data is in the United States.

-There is only one person in the Google Japan office supporting Google Apps.  He is a sales manager and not doing support only promotion.  When we met him, he was unwilling to give any comment to help clarify any of our questions raised other than describing how secure Google datacenters in the US were.

-Google also keeps track of every IP address you access their service from.  Whether it be access via browser or IMAP.  If you access from home, they have your home IP and your corporate IP.  If you use Google for web search (their service is definitely still the best at this time), then they can aggregate that information with your websearch profile to your email content thereby knowing a lot more about you or your users than you may want them to know.

Conclusions-
From our research on the net and testing, Google is providing this service for a specific reason.  It seems they want your data as they encourage you not to delete anything (presumably so that you can search it later).  Google wants to know everything about you so they can serve adverts to you.  The more they know about you, the more accurate advertising they can serve up.  Privacy experts show concern that this data will be aggregated and compiled regarding you.  For a corporation Google Apps/Gmail has some areas to improve;

-There is no live customer support or telephone support is available.  All support is via their website.  Basically, if there is no support as there is no one to call.  Not a comforting word for corporations.

-Blackberry Enterprise Server is ‘technically’ supported, but in actuality you still have to get a BES server locally as they do not provide this as a part of their service.  Why would an organization host (or outsource) your email just to install a BES server at your office?

-Google should clarify what they are doing with your data and why they don’t promise to delete your data from their system when you or your users do.

-All your data is in the United States.  That means, no how matter how advanced the Data Centre is, your data can be subpoenaed by any lawyer in the US or the US government itself.

One security and privacy expert has described Google Apps as a basket of eggs.  With all that data and personal information in once place, it would be a prime target for someone to break into.  Our conclusion is if you have no budget, Google Apps/Gmail might be the choice for you as it is basically free (if you don’t mind seeing a bit of advertising).  However, if the content of your email is important, private, or sensitive, you may need to confirm with your corporate lawyer regarding the location of your data.
Once Google can allay the fears data jurisdiction, implement proper Customer Service for paying clients, and clarify what they are doing with your data, Google Apps could become a serious service to consider.

They are an excellent company with its roots in advertising, so customer support may not be their area of expertise, however if they can get some firepower behind this service and clarify their intentions they could become a force to be reckoned with.  Until then, we recommend you continue to use Google for what they are great at… web search.  You can easily switch web search providers, but if your communications and email is locked in a proprietary cloud in another country, web-based support may be a huge disappointment.  Information Technology is still far from perfect therefore is very important to have someone responsive to call or email when there are systems troubles.

VMware has purchased Zimbra.  What does this mean?

For VMware, they get an amazing product and great team of people with a complete product.  Sumitomo brought Zimbra to Japan initially.  I think AINEO has done a great job of getting it out there in our AINEO Secure product line.  AINEO migrated all of our hosted Microsoft Exchange servers and partner users to Zimbra.  The best technical and business decision we could have every made.  We gain more and more users each month and don’t have all the unnecessary instability of MS Exchange 2007.

Back in the 1990s Sun Microsystems was saying the Network is the computer.  Not until 2008, when we began this service, did we really see that.  With Zimbra in our datacenter, it no longer matters if you are on a windows machine or an Apple Mac.  Even LINUX desktop users are able to do their job on their Unbuntu machines.  Whatever you want to do can be done with MS Outlook (if you like) or better yet, on any machine with a browser.

The sale of Zimbra continues to bring concern for the future of Yahoo.  Google needs a good competitor, but outsourcing their search to Microsoft was probably a nail in Yahoo’s coffin from what we gather from experts.  Yahoo seems to be a fading star that just could not reinvent itself.  We really hope not.  We hope Yahoo can pull themselves back into a competitive state.  Is it true that the Yahoo CEO is selling her stock?  We hope not as that is really bad for internal morale.  Well, we wish Yahoo the best, they made a very good choice in purchasing Zimbra.

VMware should be able to bring Zimbra to the next level as VMware is a great company owned by storage giant EMC.We have spent a few hours with the EMC CEO were very impressed with his understanding of his business.  VMware was a great purchase on the part of EMC.  Zimbra is another good choice on the purchase of VMware. Go Zimbra!

For years, most of us PC users have been paying 35 to 50 USD a year (3-5,000 yen) to protect your PCs against viruses.  The answer has been a resounding ‘YES’!  If you are a Mac user, you were usually just smiling as Apple’s OSX seems to be less popular to attack so there was no reason to worry.  Recently, things have changed.

The market leader for security software has been Symantec’s Norton Antivirus.  Other players are AVG, Kapersky, McAfee, and products from our local provider Trend Micro (the name depends on the market, Virus Buster in Japan).  Using a PC wisely (link to steps) always required you to have AV (antivirus software on your PC.

In 2009, Microsoft has released a product called Microsoft Security Essentials.  The application is free and is managed and updated daily.  As personal AV licenses have expired over the last 10 months, I have replaced the software with MSE.

What do you think?
We have worked with AV at AINEO for 12 years.  It is a pain as we have had Symantec mess up some Microsoft Exchange services when the server applications quarantined the whole mail store for Exchange and took the mail server offline.  That was the end of Symantec on any mail servers at AINEO.  Overall, we have found Symantec to be generally good.  We have also had good experiences with AVG.

With MSE, you can stop spending money on AV software and do some other things.  As we are all purchasing MS software it is nice to have the supplier provide support against security and virus risks that we have from using their software.

The big thing now is that Trend Micro, Symantec, MacAfee, and the others are going to look for other sources of revenue. If you are using MSE, you don’t need to buy their products.

If you haven’t checked out Microsoft Security Essentials, we recommend you give it a shot.  Our internal tests showed it effective and actively supported by MS.  Yes, you still need to have AV on your Windows computers, but at least now you don’t have to pay for it.

Thank you to our partners for a great 2009! 

We have seen the success mutual and we are honored to be supporting your systems.

For the new year, offices will be closed for the Japanese Holiday’s from 30 December and reopening at

9AM- 4 January 2010

If you are a partner and require urgent support please contact our helpdesk (in your support agreement or welcome package) via telephone or email.  We are always happy to help.

Warm Regards,
The AINEO Team

会場では、BlackBerryをお試しいただけるのはもちろんのこと、BlackBerryを活用する企業導入事例や、皆様のビジネスを加速させる様々なアプリケーション、サービスをご紹介します。

また、スペシャル・セッションとして、慶應義塾大学教授の國領二郎氏、経済ジャーナリストの伊藤洋一氏、およびBlackBerry導入企業のシスコシステムズ合同会社より廣﨑淳一氏をお招きして、「ワークスタイルの変革」をテーマにしたセッションをご用意。さらに、リサーチ・イン・モーション本社のヴァイス プレジデントより、BlackBerryが提供する企業向けワイヤレスソリューションをご紹介するセッションもご用意しております。

ぜひ、この機会にBlackBerryをご体験いただき、皆様のワークスタイルの変革につながる「発見」をしていただければ幸いです。皆様のご来場を、心よりお待ちいたしております。

開催日
2009年11月26日（木）13:30-18:00

2009年11月27日（金）10:00-18:00

詳しくはこちら

Nowhere else will you find an application with full email, contact, calendar, document management and offline access features for free! (Take a look at this comparison guide.)

You can find out more about Zimbra desktop here.  Better yet, you can use Zimbra Desktop at your company for free with AINEO Secure.  AINEO Networks’ Groupware solution for business and the enterprise.  Look for the plan that matches your business here.

More on Zimbra Desktop-
Key features
Email, contacts, calendar, and documents all in one application
Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail email, contacts and calendars
Read email from any POP or IMAP email account including AOL, Hotmail or business email
Works on Windows, Apple, or Linux desktop computers
No limit to the size of your email storage
It works online and offline
Available in 20 languages

Email
Easily compose, edit, delete, reply, or make drafts
“Drag and Drop” messages into new folders or the Trash
Supports plain text and html message formatting
Add email signatures for each account and automatically reply with the correct “from” address
Compose email even when you are not online-messages you send are saved in the “Outbox” and are sent when you connect again
Supports any POP or IMAP email plus Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL and Hotmail

Conversation Views, Tags, and Search
Collapse email threads into a single Conversation View to simplify your inbox
Tag messages as important from people you care about
Quickly search your mailbox for pictures, documents or text-even with attachments
Use Advanced Search to easily search by folder, date, person, subject or attachment
Save searches as Virtual Folders- for example “All email with attachments from Joe”
Now features built-in support for Yahoo! Inquisitor

Web mash-ups
View addresses as Yahoo! Maps
Automatically detect your location and find points of interest with Yahoo! Local
Preview web pages at thumbnails instead of opening a browser
See your calendar schedule from within an email message if you hover over a date
Web Search powered by Yahoo! is built directly into Zimbra Desktop
Automatically save pictures to Flickr

Contacts
Store all your contacts in one place for all your accounts
Create groups and tags to organize them
Add photos to contacts
Auto complete email addresses when composing email
Easily import new contacts from other applications as .csv files or export contacts as .csv files for backup
Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail contacts

Calendar
Manage multiple color-coded calendars
View calendars in Day, Week, Work Week, Month or List view
“Fisheye” in the Month view let’s you easily view and edit events
Drag and drop’ events to new days or to change times
Import public web calendars (iCal format), such as sports schedules
Invite others to meetings and view free/busy times
Syncs Zimbra, Yahoo! and Gmail calendars

Documents, Tasks, Briefcase
Edit Documents including add images, tables and spreadsheets; share them in email
Track your to do’s including start and end dates, percent complete
Save attachments in Briefcase rather than as message attachments
Works with any account you set up

Extra features with Zimbra Collaboration Suite on AINEO Secure Hosting
Email, contacts, calendar, documents, tasks synchronize to the Zimbra Server
Access to shared data from peers (email, contacts, calendars, etc)
Works with both Open Source and Network Edition (ZCS 5.0+ servers)
Existing user preferences (folders, signatures, settings, etc) are imported
Access to mobile devices, the Zimbra online Web Client and much more

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Presents:
***********************************************************************
WINNING AGAINST THE ODDS: BUILDING A NEW BUSINESS IN A MARKET OF MAMMOTH, ENTRENCHED COMPETITORS John Combs, Chief Executive Officer, ShoreTel Inc.

DATE: Thursday, April 23, noon to 2:00 p.m.
VENUE: Hotel Monterey in Akasaka
MAP (Japanese):
COST (lunch included): Members: 5,900 yen, guests: 6,900 yen REGISTRATION & CANCELLATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, April 21
HOST: Information, Communications and Technology Committee (AK)
NOTE: This meeting is OFF THE RECORD
***********************************************************************

EVENT OVERVIEW:

Looking back at the stock market 75 years ago, you will find most of the U.S. listed companies no longer exist or have changed their business models. In the ideal business model, people go in and create a new market for their products and services. However, some businesses are becoming a part of every business, and our reliance on technology is a perfect example of that. The effective use of technology is what separates our business from our competition.

We will have the opportunity to hear first hand from the CEO of ShoreTel, Mr. John Combs, who will be in Japan briefly for the launch of the ShoreTel business in Japan. While old technology stalwarts are struggling with solvency, replacing executives, and working to re-invent themselves, ShoreTel has become a brand of choice for market leading corporations and firms around the globe.

How do you take a product from an idea, to a start up firm, and eventually a publically traded company while not losing your focus?
How do you go from a Silicon Valley start up, to a national brand, and a global game-changer in 12 short years? What is the balance of sales, services, and client satisfaction?

Mr. Combs has overseen the expansion of ShoreTel in the U.S. as well as hundreds of sites in every major market of the world. ShoreTel has offices in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, as well as new offices opening throughout Asia and the Middle East. ShoreTel has been named one of the fastest growing companies by Deloitte in 2008 and has numerous awards for innovation, leadership, and high client satisfaction.

Darren McKellin and Ann Rollins, Communications and Technology (ICT) Committee (AK)

TO REGISTER: Visit and log in using your member ID and password. If you have any questions, please contact Aska Kuwabara at 03-3433-8393.

Member: _______________________________________________ ID: _______________

Firm: _______________________ Phone: _________________ Fax: _______________

Guests: ___________________________________________________________________

___ Sorry, I must cancel.

NOTE: If you cancel after the stated deadline, the full meeting fee will be charged to your account. All guests must be accompanied by an ACCJ member.
Sorry, no substitutions or walk-ins.

ACCJ Phone: 03-3433-5381 Fax: 03-3433-8454
Web:

Zimbra is both a company and the software made by the company. Founded on Christmas of 2003 and having raised more than $30M and reached self-sustainability in only a few years, Zimbra is a software manufacturer based in San Mateo, California. Purchased by Yahoo! in September of 2007, and as of August 2007 supporting more than 8 million paid mailboxes not including their summer 2007 deal for Comcast’s MM customers, Zimbra’s primary product is the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS), a server-based groupware product that started by providing web-based enterprise e-mail, calendaring, and contact sharing.

As of Zimbra 5, released Dec 31, 2007, offline and online ZCS delivers document sharing/versioning, file sharing, secure auditable chat, task lists, and SOX/HIPPA-compliant archiving. ZCS’ primary online (SaaS) competitor is Google Apps, and off-line competitors are Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes, differentiating itself by delivering an innovative, secure, rich experience through the web first, data portability, open customization/integration, and also providing multi-platform desktop and PDA synchronization to iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices.

The Zimbra web experience is the same across Windows, Mac and Linux through your favorite web browser, and also synchronizes with popular desktop clients including Outlook, Mail.app, iCal, AddressBook, Evolution (open source) and Thunderbird. The Zimbra server software runs on Red Hat Linux, Mac OS, and Linux variants. Zimlets are open-source based Zimbra plug-ins that extend Zimbra’s capabilities by integrating third-party applications, services and data sources.

In September 2008, AINEO management adopted Zimbra into our AINEO Secure service line.  The AINEO Networks team was originally rolled onto Zimbra server clusters with intensions of going back to Exchange.  After using Zimbra, our management team proclaimed, “Finally, the network is the computer”.  Other users in media, interactive, and our NPO were rolled onto Zimbra.  We are Zimbra fans!

More information-
On Wikipedia
What’s different about Zimbra?
Zimbra Awards

AINEO Networks originally started as a phone company in 1997.  We started with AT&T (now Avaya) phone systems and moved into NEC with the incoming engineers from NEC group companies.  As a company with over half of our clients as multinational corporations (MNC), we had to build our Cisco Call Manager skills to support these partners (clients). We developed a niche with NorTel systems in 2003 with the best NorTel engineering team in Japan.  In 2007, we began searching for the web 2.0 version of IP telephone systems.  We discovered ShoreTel and feel they are the best in class for any office or facility.  Of course, Avaya is still great in call centers.  NEC has also introduced some great new products.

From about 2005 i n Japan, we have seen limited interest in Asterisk open source IP phone systems built on LINUX.  A FREE telephone systems for everyone!  All you have to buy is the hardware.

Well, we’ve all learned in life, “You get what you pay for”.  That is true for open source as well.  For example, Microsoft is plugging all their security holes on their servers OS lately, so what will people attack next?  LINUX, of course.  The same seems to go true for telephone systems at this point.

We did a bit of research and for telephone systems, Asterix Guru Brian Miller in the US made the following comments.  About the systems he knows and ‘loves’.

Asterisk is
1) Fully customizable- Good but also an easy way to get hamstrung if your engineer leaves your business (as he/she knows exactly how it was set up)

2) Not as stable as a truly supported IP PBX.

3) Has no distributed architecture and therefore IS a single point of failure

To summarize, we expect voice to become more and more packets on the network. Everyone is going UC (Unified Communications).  However, your telephones are still an important part of most business.  Therefore, having a fully-supported system with a solid maintenance team (such as AINEO) and supplier behind them is a must for must business.  The market seems to be demonstrating that open-source telephone systems will continue to be for people with no budget, tinkerers, and companies that are not really leading their industries.  Definitely something to consider.