Free/Busy & Global Address List Synchronization for ExchangeQuest Collaboration ServicesAre you in the midst of a company merger or acquisition? Are you dealing with the challenges of a “multi-forest/multi-org” Exchange Server environment? Quest Collaboration Services makes Global Address Lists (GAL) and Free/Busy synchronization between Exchange organizations easy. Administrators can eliminate the time-consuming, manual task of maintaining contact information in several address books. End users using Microsoft Outlook can schedule meetings with users in other forests and also view up-to-date free/busy calendar information. With Collaboration Services, administrators can securely synchronize Active Directory and Exchange data (such as users, groups, distribution lists, and contacts) between forests while maintaining administrative boundaries and security isolation between the organizations. Administrative Autonomy and Security IsolationCollaboration Services is a secure directory and free/busy synchronization solution. It has the following benefits compared to other directory synchronization solutions: - No trusts, VPN tunnels and supplementary accounts between forests are required
- Opening directory access port (LDAP port) for outbound access to let other forest accounts query your directory and Exchange data is not required
- Provides full administrative autonomy. The administrator of each forest chooses which objects and data from their forest will be available in other forests, and vice versa
- All Collaboration Services communications between forests are encrypted and signed
- No security-related user data, such as security IDs (SIDs) or passwords is ever transmitted or stored anywhere
Ease Migration TimelinesSince email is often considered one of the most critical applications within a company, properly planning an Exchange Server migration is imperative. By implementing Collaboration Services, companies no longer need to worry about email communications before, during, or even after the Exchange migration. The tool is completely non-intrusive to an organization’s current environment and does not require any changes to the Active Directory or Exchange configuration. Collaboration Services does not require any trust relationships between forests, VPN tunnels, additional open ports, or schema extensions. It helps maximize end user productivity by allowing users to schedule meetings with their co-workers and obtain email addresses literally minutes after a merger/acquisition is finalized.
Transparent to End UsersCollaboration Services provides a completely transparent experience for end users; they simply continue to use Microsoft Outlook for email and scheduling activities. Whether a user is sending an email or creating an appointment, users from other forests appear as if they are within the user’s own forest. This transparency eliminates the costs associated with training and supporting users on a new collaboration tool. The ROI goes well beyond simple reduction of IT overhead, but reaps the rewards of increased productivity of every employee across the board.
Getting StartedDownload a trial copy of Collaboration Services
Want to restructure or upgrade your existing Active Directory? Look at Migration Manager for Active Directory
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