Google App Engine Hosting

A while back, I wrote a blog post about our website going live.  Well, the site has undergone a little bit of a make-over in the past 24 hours.  Our old website was powered by PHP and hosted on some server space that we purchased from our domain registrar.  We have now upgraded the technology that our site is built on to work with Google technologies.  Leveraging the power of Google Web Toolkit, which provides many tools to make the creation of AJAX-enabled, responsive, beautiful websites very nice for Java programmers, we no longer use PHP for our website.  Google App Engine now provides the environment for our website to run in and I couldn't be happier with the robustness and smoothness of this transition.  Our site is now built on a platform that will allow growth and scalability that will grow with us as we continue our rise to the cloud!

Calendaring Done Right

Calendaring is one of the most useful systems ever invented.  From the beginning of time, people have developed and used many different types of calendars.  Whether they were based on the sun, moon or stars, all calendars are centered around organizing time.  A calendar can help you remember the past and plan for the future.  Humanity has come a long way in our use of calendars.  In modern times, people generally accept the Gregorian calendar.  When I say that my birthday is on June 3rd, everyone knows exactly what I mean.  

The world of technology has historically not been quite as unified as us humans.  Much like in the early years of our existence, there are many different formats and standards in calendaring software available today.  Some are better than others, some are designed for specific purposes.  How can we communicate and collaborate efficiently when everyone has a different calendaring system?  Enter Google.  They have simplified calendaring and made it accessible to one and all.  They have given us Google Calendar: calendaring done right.

One of the bottlenecks of running an efficient business is the management of people’s time and resources.  Getting teams to collaborate on projects has inherent scheduling difficulties.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people had somewhere to go to coordinate and organize people’s precious time?

So, what can Google Calendar do for your business?

Easily schedule appointments

Overlay multiple calendars to see when people are available. Google Calendar sends invitations and manages RSVPs.

Integrate with your email system

Google Calendar is integrated into Gmail and interoperable with popular calendar applications.

Share project calendars

Calendars can be shared company-wide or with select co-workers. A range of sharing permission controls help maintain security and privacy.

Access with your mobile device

View and edit event details, add new events, and invite guests on mobile devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone. Even receive calendar notifications via SMS.

Publish calendars

Publicize external company events by publishing a calendar to make it searchable in the Google Calendar gallery. Easily embed calendars into web pages.

Google Calendar is setting a standard that will allow everyone to be on the same page.  They’ve done calendaring better than everyone else, and they’ve done it right.

What's New in Google Apps?

Google is an amazing company.  The speed at which they come out with amazing, cutting edge software is incredible.  They provide the most comprehensive suite of applications in the cloud that I know of.  The Google way of doing things is something that I am in awe of and hope to emulate in some of my own endeavors.  To take some task or idea and simplify it to the point where it is intuitive to use, yet still very powerful, is Google's forte.

Keeping up with all of the latest and greatest features of Google Apps is not easy.  Many people ask me questions all the time about new features they notice in Gmail or Google Calendar.  The beauty of having these applications living in the cloud is that you and I are always on the latest release of the software.  These powerful, new features are instantly available as soon as they are ready for prime-time.  The move to the cloud eases the burden on IT departments everywhere.  Time and resources saved in pushing updates to all of your organizations' workstations alone can add up quickly.  But how can we stay on top of all of these updates that Google is offering?  Google has taken that complex task and simplified it the Google way.

What's New in Google Apps is a new website dedicated to letting us know about the new features in Google Apps.  It provides resources for staying on top of everything Google Apps including a release calendar, update feeds, release guides, and materials for users to get accustomed to the newest features.  This is a great place to visit often to see what is going on in the Google Apps world!

Move IT to the Cloud

One of the most common questions people ask when I talk to them about the services that CloudApp IT offers is, "Why should we move IT to the cloud?"  This is a great question that deserves a simple answer that points out some of the many benefits, as well as some of the drawbacks, to moving IT infrastructure to cloud based solutions.  After a few minutes of thought about the question, here is a list of pros and cons that I've come up with for moving yourself and your business to the cloud:

Pros

• Mobility - access your data anywhere at any time
• Affordability - cloud services are a fraction of the cost as on-premises infrastructure
• Collaboration - teamwork is king in cloud computing
• Integration - cloud based services often integrate with each other much better than desktop counterparts.
• Scalability - a cloud can expand and contract along with your business effortlessly
• Administration - less local infrastructure means less maintenance
• Business speed - deployment becomes less of a burden and businesses can change technologies quickly to keep on the edge of their industry

Cons

• Overwhelming - the cloud is a new technology that offers a new paradigm to solving IT problems that can seem new and unfamiliar
• Limitations - the cloud has limitations, like bandwidth or performance hits, that make certain applications inappropriate for the cloud 

Both a pro and a con

• Reliability - you become dependent on someone else keeping your business going, but you're often in good hands (Google Apps for Business guarantees 99.9% uptime)
• Security - web security risks will always be present, but, as with reliability, you often have smart people working to keep you safe (Google Apps for Business is SAS 70 type II certified, very secure)
• Migration - while migration of smaller, manageable projects to the cloud is easy and robust, sometimes migration can be a bottleneck that will hinder a smooth transition to the cloud.   

I've tried to be completely objective as I've attempted to make a quick list of some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with moving your business to the cloud.  We here at CloudApp IT believe that the move to the cloud is the best decision your business can make to take advantage of the amazing technology available.  The advantages of moving to the cloud, especially at this time, provide such a competitive edge.  Collaboration, mobility, scalability, reliability, affordability... now is the time to move IT to the cloud!

CloudApp IT, LLC on the web

CloudApp IT, LLC has been working diligently for the past few weeks to get everything in place to open its doors for business.  One of the areas that we've been working on lately is our website.  I've spent a little bit of time putting together a skeleton website so that people can get an idea of the types of services we offer.  This page will serve as a home base for all things CloudApp now and in the future.

www.cloudappit.com

We're really excited to start helping small business make the jump into the world of enterprise class email and productivity suites.  Click over to our website at http://www.cloudappit.com to see a little bit more about us and what we can do for you!

Welcome to the Cloud

CloudApp IT, LLC was founded this month by me, Dave, my wife, Chelsea, and my two brothers, Chris and Mike.  We're excited as we start building relationships with our customers and offering enterprise class IT solutions to smaller businesses that may not be currently taking advantage of all the technology available to them.  In my past ventures into the small business world, my companies have always used Google Apps and the infrastructure that Google provides for our IT needs.  We've thought that this service was so great and helped our productivity so much that we decided to start extending a hand to other small businesses that might have the same needs that we had.  Google Apps gives us the big IT infrastructure with none of the headache or worry about hardware.  We can show you how to get the most out of Google Apps and how its enterprise services can help your business without the enterprise cost.