Exchange Hosting Reviews

Real Estate Services Provider Transitions to Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based Solution For Network of 12,000 Sales Representatives

TORONTO - June 19, 2007. Ceryx, the leading provider of secure and reliable hosted and managed Microsoft® Exchange Server, email messaging and collaboration software, today announced that it successfully deployed a Microsoft Exchange Server-based email solution for Royal LePage’s network of 12,000 sales reps. In addition, the company migrated 80 Royal LePage Franchise Headquarter employees onto its high availability Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based service with mobile device integration.

Royal LePage had been using anti-spam and anti-virus tools from another provider but the solution had proved to be highly unstable, and was impacting productivity. Issues included dropped messages, faulty updates, and inconsistent quarantining of ’spam’ messages resulting in an excessive number of false positives. Agents were frustrated by the system and were clamouring for a change. In January 2007, the decision was made to replace the existing anti-spam and anti-virus system and select a new vendor. After short-listing three companies, Ceryx was chosen. “Ease of use, availability, performance, and customization were the selling points for us,” says Joanne Lockman, Director of Operations.

Originally, Royal LePage had only sought an anti-spam and anti-virus solution to replace the problematic one in place. Ceryx was able to demonstrate that a Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution would provide enterprise class messaging to Royal LePage’s stakeholders without having to make a significant investment in infrastructure and that it would not be significantly more expensive than the anti-virus and anti-spam solution they had already committed to. The Ceryx Hosted Exchange solution offered some compelling benefits, including matching features to user requirements on an as-needed basis. Many of the Royal LePage stakeholders leverage advanced communications to stay close to their market and serve their clients better. The high degree of integration to Smart phones and BlackBerry devices was of particular interest to a community that doesn’t make money sitting behind a desk but needs to stay connected. The decision was made to deploy Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution with BlackBerry integration immediately to many of their Royal LePage Franchise Headquarter users.

It is particularly challenging for franchise organizations like Royal LePage to make a Microsoft Exchange Server solution available to all of their stakeholders affordably, as they may not be able to take advantage of Microsoft Enterprise Agreements the same way other large enterprises can. Royal LePage initially rolled out Ceryx’s solution to their agents, which is a specialized Ceryx offering that provides the flexibility of Hosted Microsoft Exchange for users who don’t require all of the collaborative features. Agents have the option of upgrading to the full collaborative Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution at any point with a simple plan upgrade through Royal LePage Franchise Headquarters.

“Companies are under growing pressure to find cost-effective ways to seamlessly manage their networking and email environments, and as a result, we are increasingly seeing customers turn to hosted services as an efficient way to help fulfill this need,” says Bryan Rusche, Product Manager, Exchange Server, Microsoft Canada Co. “With Microsoft Exchange Server, companies like Royal LePage can get enhanced security, manageability and the ability to create a highly integrated unified communications environment to help run their business.”

The rollout involved migrating more than 12,000 users from the old platform, training their admin resources, and some customization to the web admin interface. “Ceryx wasn’t afraid to get their hands dirty and work through a number of variables that allowed us to migrate in a shorter time and in a way that was economically viable for us,” says Scott Webb, Director of IT. “They went above and beyond to find and resolve our pain points and they even solved problems that we didn’t even know we had.”

Considerations included:

Aggressive timeline. Royal LePage wanted to roll out very quickly as the existing solution was having a material impact on their business. Ceryx met and exceeded all timeline scenarios and the full cutover was done over 24 hours.
User scenarios: Three different feature configurations were deployed,
An Ultra Lite version of Microsoft Exchange for the sales rep network who have the option of upgrading to full collaboration, hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution;
Full collaboration hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution;
Hosted Microsoft Exchange-based solution with mobility for tighter integration with Blackberry and ActiveSync smart phones.
Migration: Ceryx guided Royal LePage through the migration of their corporate users from GroupWise to the new hosted Microsoft Exchange-based platform.
Anti-spam and anti-virus: Ceryx’s lauded and proprietary anti-spam and anti-virus solutions allow the user greater flexibility in managing their quarantined email, including digests of blocked email and easy user management of miss-quarantined messages.
User administration: Ceryx’s web-based administration tools made setting up and managing user accounts much easier for administrators.
“Royal LePage is a demanding client with high standards and high expectations. Ceryx always takes our requests seriously and has far surpassed our expectations at every level,” adds Lockman. “Ceryx’s mandate is to provide an affordable, reliable and flexible service that matches feature sets to user requirements - no matter if it is 2 people or 20,000,” says Gus Harsfai, President and CEO, Ceryx. “Our ‘customizable’ approach respects the diverse needs of our clients, providing them with the services they need, where and when they need it.”

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ABOUT CERYX
Ceryx is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner and a member of the Gold Certified Excellence Program, that helps businesses achieve email reliability by bringing together operational experience, advanced infrastructure, proprietary research and product development with leading messaging and collaboration solutions. With operations in Toronto and New York, as well as Tier 4 redundant data centers in both cities, Ceryx’s team of senior messaging professionals have met Fortune 500 companies’ messaging needs across North America for more than 17 years. Ceryx offers clients a suite of messaging services that include hosted and managed email systems, and email security. Visit www.ceryx.com for more information.

ABOUT Royal LePage
Royal LePage is Canada’s leading provider of franchise services to residential real estate brokerages, with a network of over 12,600 sales representatives in 600 locations across Canada operating under the Royal LePage, Johnston and Daniel, and Realty World brand names. Royal LePage manages the Royal LePage Franchise Services Fund, a TSX listed income trust, trading under the symbol “RSF.UN”. For more information, visit www.royallepage.ca.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Karla Goldstein
Sequentia Communications
[email protected]
(416) 203-3656 ext. 224

Bill Di Nardo
Ceryx Inc.
(416) 482-9659 ext. 107
[email protected]

Ceryx recognized among Microsoft’s elite partners demonstrating multiple competencies in the Microsoft Partner Program

TORONTO, June 6th, 2007 - Ceryx announced that it has become a member of the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Excellence Program. The Excellence Program recognizes Canadian Microsoft Gold Certified Partners who have achieved four or more solutions competencies in the Microsoft Partner Program, as well as, providing the innovative solutions and value that their customers demand.

Ceryx helps businesses achieve email reliability by combining operational experience and advanced infrastructure, along with proprietary research and product development in order to deliver industry leading messaging and collaboration solutions. Ceryx has established itself as a leader in Microsoft technologies and is a Gold Certified Partner with Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Information Worker Solutions, Mobility Solutions, and Networking Infrastructure Solutions competencies.

Ceryx is the only Hosted Exchange provider in the world that offers a fully replicated solution with data mirrored between two geographically dispersed Tier 4 data centres. This architecture provides the highest level of redundancy in the industry and supports the 100% Service Level Agreement that comes with this high availability solution.

“We have been committed to being a leader in Microsoft technologies for more than15 years and have invested heavily in developing our team and expertise around the Microsoft messaging platform of solutions. We were very proud to find out that we are among the top 10% of Microsoft’s partner community based on competencies and expertise,” said Gus Harsfai, President and C.E.O. of Ceryx. “The Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Excellence Program has certainly helped to raise our profile in the Microsoft community.”

Ceryx had to achieve four or more solutions competencies within the Microsoft Partner Program in order to qualify for the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Excellence Program. Microsoft Competencies are designed to help differentiate a technology partner’s capabilities with specific Microsoft-based technologies to customers looking for a particular type of solution. Each competency has a unique set of requirements and benefits, formulated to accurately represent the specific skills and services that technology partners bring to the industry.

“Accompanied by valuable training and business development resources, Microsoft Competencies provide technology partners with a competitive edge in the marketplace,” said Lora Gernon, Director of Partner Group, Microsoft Canada Co. “We are pleased that Ceryx is a part of the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Excellence Program, showing their dedication and expertise in providing customer satisfaction using Microsoft products and technology.”

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ABOUT CERYX
Ceryx helps businesses achieve email reliability by bringing together operational experience, advanced infrastructure, and proprietary research and product development with leading messaging and collaboration solutions. With operations in Toronto and New York, as well as Tier 4 redundant data centres in both cities, Ceryx’s team of senior messaging professionals have met Fortune 500 companies’ messaging needs across North America for more than 17 years. Ceryx offers clients a suite of messaging services that include hosted and managed email systems, and email security. Visit www.ceryx.com for more information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bill Di Nardo
Ceryx Inc.
(416) 482-9659 ext. 107
[email protected]