There is a lot happening in the world of Hosted Apps.  I guess the use of the word “apps” is now widely acceptable on Main Street.  We were early in naming our company as Apps4Rent.  Since then, Apple has the App Store , Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, has App World, and Palm Pre already has a million downloads from its App Catalog.  Not to forget, Google Apps.

We welcome the new excitement about the mobile apps.  Push e-mail is a killer app that built BlackBerry.  We offer BlackBerry Enterprise Server hosting with our hosted Exchange plans.  Other platforms offer easier synchronization with Microsoft Exchange.  The new iPhone OS 3.0 allows separate Exchange sync for calendars and contacts.

According to Apple’s site, the new Snow Leopard OS and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 works better together.

“Now with Snow Leopard, the Mac has out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, something even Windows PCs don’t have. There’s no need for time-consuming installations or complicated configurations. You set it up and, like so much else on the Mac, it just works. Instead of using Outlook to access Exchange services such as email, calendar invitations, and Global Address Lists, you’ll use Mail, iCal, and Address Book.”

Apple’s Mac OS Leopard offer greater interaction making Apple a contender in the corporate market.  Of course, Windows Mobile OS that runs many smart phones was designed to sync well with Microsoft Exchange using ActiveSync. While the mobile push email market is still not saturated, we are just getting started in the expanding universe of Apps.

A SharePoint hosting site template for Sales Lead Management is just the right hosted application for small business to get organized about their sales process.  Small business owners do not have the budgets to purchase expensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.  And these days, with many staff members working on the road and from home, it is essential to have a web based system.  SharePoint site hosting is relatively inexpensive with hosted SharePoint plans starting as low as $8.95/month.

The Sales Lead Pipeline application template helps sales teams manage their pipeline by tracking leads, opportunities, contacts, and accounts.  The template has role-based dashboards that allow team members to track sales information, assign open opportunities and provide overview of the status of leads entered into the application template.

Hosted SharePoint Sites Include Options for Enhanced Security and Customization

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apps4Rent LLC, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a leading provider of hosted SharePoint, hosted Exchange, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) hosting, and Hyper-V virtual dedicated servers now allows addition of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates for a competitive price of $9.95/month, and custom Web parts to SharePoint hosting sites on virtual dedicated servers starting at $89/month.

“We are responding to users’ demands for enhanced security and customization of their hosted SharePoint sites,” said Wade Dube, Manager for Apps4Rent. “A secure certificate is a necessary feature for Web sites that handle customer or payment information. Custom Web parts allow the addition and enhancement of hosted SharePoint applications.”

SSL is a protocol that allows secure communication through the internet. Apps4Rent can install SSL certificates obtained through a trustworthy authority onto the hosted SharePoint sites of its customers. Visitors to the SSL certified sites can be assured that their sensitive information is not exposed or intercepted during the secure http (https) sessions with a secured SharePoint site.

Most users can maintain their SharePoint hosting sites to their satisfaction using the available features in SharePoint Site Administrator and SharePoint Designer tool. However, advanced users may require certain functionalities and applications that involve creation and maintenance of custom Web parts that are developed using ASP.Net. Such users of SharePoint can now benefit from Apps4Rent’s Hyper-V virtual dedicated server plans that include SharePoint hosting. These plans are suited to companies that wish to have greater control over their SharePoint environment.

Organizations can capitalize on Apps4Rent.com’s hosted Microsoft SharePoint hosting without making initial and ongoing investments in technology or personnel. Hosted SharePoint is an effective tool that empowers business teams to improve communication and collaboration, thereby resulting in improved productivity. Hosted SharePoint application templates are ready-to-use solutions that fulfill specific needs of a broad spectrum of business users. Apps4Rent’s SharePoint hosting plans include 40 free SharePoint templates for use in business.

About Apps4Rent LLC

Apps4Rent LLC, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is a leading provider of hosted enterprise software applications such as hosted Exchange 2007, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry® Enterprise Server hosting, SharePoint hosting, and Hyper-V Virtual Dedicated Server hosting. Apps4Rent’s processes are designed to provide 99.99% uptime with clustered infrastructure located in highly reliable top-tier data center.

Buyers are often not clear about the relationship between hosted Exchange and BlackBerry when it comes to push e-mail functionality.  Hosted Exchange is the hosted version of the popular Microsoft Exchange product that is extensively used by companies for e-mail management.  BlackBerry client and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) are products of Research in Motion.  BES is available in a hosted mode for a monthly price and offers push-mail synchronization with BlackBerry client software on smart phones with the same brand name.

Hosted Exchange allows BlackBerry-like push e-mail and personal information synchronization using ActiveSync.  ActiveSync enables communications on the go to be easier than ever. This automatic synchronization technology also additions and deletions as well as any other changes to reflect immediately in the clients e-mail.  These changes take place in real-time and reflect immediately.

ActiveSync works with Microsoft exchange hosting servers to add the latest updates to email, calendars, contacts and task lists. It also operates with various client email software including Microsoft Outlook and Apple entourage.  Mobile e-mail devices such as iPhone, Nokia, Motorola, Palm, Samsung and LG are all compatible with hosted exchange.  However, when one is using a BlackBerry smart phone, it has to make use of the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) for synchronization with company’s mail servers that may be using Exchange or Notes or some other mail management product.

Apps4Rent’s SharePoint hosting plans are typically bundled with plenty of free templates.  These offer one more reason to purchase hosted SharePoint plans.  One SharePoint hosting template of particular interest to teams that are in charge of designing, whether the end product is software or a product or a building, is the change request management application.

The Change Request Management hosted SharePoint application helps users track risks associated with a design change.  Team members can submit a change request, notifying stakeholders of the risks involved with the change.  The application template allows a team member to approve or reject the request.

Mobile phone business users who have adopted Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smart phones wish to know if and how their business e-mail can be synchronized with their handsets.  First of all, it is not necessary to use Hosted Exchange to push business email to BlackBerry handsets.  However, a hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is required to connect the company’s mail server with the BlackBerry handset.

Due to the high penetration of Microsoft Exchange in business e-mail market, it is quite likely that a business may already be using Microsoft Exchange as its mail server, and if not, the business can purchase Hosted Exchange plans easily from application service providers.   The good news is that some hosted exchange server providers also host BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), and both servers together allow for a full range of features to the business users who may be using BlackBerry smart phones, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile devices, Palm, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Apple iPhones.

Today, e-mail is generally the first line of communication between employees and customers, therefore it is a critical communication tool for the successful growth of a business.  Permanent up-time and instant mobile access to e-mail is an absolute must in today’s business user.

The Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) and Hosted Exchange ensure that Microsoft Outlook or other client mail software stays synchronized with BlackBerry client.  All additions and deletions which are made by one mail client are made in real time and they immediately reflect in the others.  This means that your important communications follow you regardless of where you are.  Hosted Exchange and ActiveSync enable a similar capability on Windows Mobile phones and Apple’s iPhone.

BlackBerry and BlackBerry Enterprise Server are the trademarks of Research In Motion.

A free SharePoint hosting application for Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects is included with Apps4Rent’s SharePoint hosting service plans. The advantage of such SharePoint hosting applications is that they capture common functionalities, roles, and requirements of business methods or sets of tasks in groups and organizations. They can be applied to typical business tasks, such as managing request for proposals, timecard management, absence and vacation scheduling, competitive analysis, planning product and marketing requirements, tracking marketing campaigns, managing manufacturing processes,  or for scheduling employee training, to easily creating useful web-based applications. You can get useful Microsoft SharePoint hosting services for unlimited users for an affordable price and the package includes forty free SharePoint services hosting templates for business that were developed by Microsoft.

The Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects application template helps project teams track and budget several related sets of activities. The SharePoint hosting services 3.0 template provides project management tools such as project creation, assignment of new tasks, Gantt Charts and common status identifiers.  The SharePoint hosting application site helps team members consolidate the status of multiple projects into a single view, tracking progress against a set project budget and timeline.

Apps4Rent, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and BlackBerry Alliance member, has upgraded its hosted Exchange solution to allow company email accounts on the same domain to be split between Exchange hosting and inexpensive POP3 e-mail hosting.  Apps4Rent’s split-domain solution along with their free migration assistance and zero setup costs lower the bar for adoption of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

“Companies are cautious about moving all their users to hosted Exchange for costs and continuity reasons,” said Wade Dube, Manager for Apps4Rent. “While there is a significant benefit in having all users to the Exchange hosting platform, some companies may find it cost effective to move only their power users, while continuing to keep the rest on inexpensive POP3 e-mail accounts.”

Exchange hosting plans (http://www.apps4rent.com/hostedexchange.htm) start at $6.95 per mailbox that includes 1GB space, free ActiveSync and Outlook 2007.  BlackBerry® synchronization (http://www.apps4rent.com/exchange-mobility.html) can be added for $9.95 per month.  There is no setup fee for Apps4Rent’s Exchange hosting, BlackBerry®, SharePoint or Hyper-V hosting plans.

Apps4Rent.com’s hosted Exchange service with the option to add BlackBerry® offers businesses greater functionality, and improved stability including access to the latest Microsoft  Exchange Server 2007 features such as easy to use interface for Outlook Web Access, mobile synchronization of emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, and public folders,  support for large mailboxes, fast performance on 64bit servers, clustered server architecture for load balancing and 99.99% high availability, instant message searching capabilities and more.

Companies can capitalize on Apps4Rent.com’s hosted Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 without making initial and ongoing investments in technology or personnel.  Along with full Microsoft Exchange 2007 access, customers receive an easy to use web-based administration interface, 24×7 x365 phone, e-mail and chat support, and full support for BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, Windows Mobile phones, Apple’s iPhone or smart phones that uses ActiveSync technology.

About Apps4Rent LLC

Apps4Rent LLC (http://www.apps4rent.com/index.htm), a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is a leading provider of hosted enterprise software applications such as hosted Exchange 2007, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry® Enterprise Server hosting, SharePoint hosting, and Hyper-V Virtual Dedicated Server hosting.  Apps4Rent’s processes are designed to provide 99.99% uptime with clustered infrastructure located in highly reliable top-tier data center.

SharePoint Hosting Services : Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) currently in version 3 provides all the objects underpinning all Microsoft SharePoint Hosting technology. WSS is provided as a free download from Microsoft for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later and is added to the Microsoft .NET Framework. WSS 3 is an object model for creating web pages and developing web based collaboration, document management, and content publishing. WSS is only provided for Microsoft servers and cannot be deployed on any other OS.

At the time of this writing WSS is in its third release from Microsoft. WSS 3 is the framework that underlies Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. WSS 2 was the framework beneath SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

When you purchase SharePoint hosting plans for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hosting, the plans normally include instant and free SharePoint hosting templates for business situations, for example, Competitive Analysis.  These SharePoint hosting templates capture common functionalities, roles, and requirements of specific business processes or sets of tasks in groups and organizations.  They can be applied to common business tasks, such as managing a help desk or classroom management or clinical trials management, to easily creating useful web-based applications.  You can get basic Microsoft SharePoint hosting for less than nine dollars per month for unlimited users and with that package forty free SharePoint hosting templates for business that were developed by Microsoft.
The Competitive Analysis SharePoint hosting site application template helps teams organize information about competitors and their products. The SharePoint hosting site provides useful documents to perform useful competitive analysis techniques.  In the hosted SharePoint site template, it is easy to provide links to industry, company and product news in a single portal like  location for all competitive information.
The SharePoint hosting templates are usually instant and free one signs up for a basic SharePoint hosting plan.  One can select site and workspace templates when setting up a new hosted SharePoint site via the Create page.  The default templates that are included with SharePoint WSS 3.0 are arranged under two tabs in the Template Section area of the new SharePoint Site.  The templates can be modified and saved under a different name.  Thus, useful off-the-shelf hosted SharePoint applications for your organization are available almost in an instant.