The Benefits of a Dedicated Hosted Environment

As the largest reseller of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in the country, we can confidently say that Microsoft’s online offerings (CRM Online and Office 365) are great products at great prices. However, there are some customer requirements that the online products cannot satisfy. These requirements necessitate either on-premises or partner-hosted deployments, and we build plenty of both deployment types.

Dedicated partner-hosted environments, or private clouds, combine some of the best features of on-premises deployments and the cloud. Dedicated environments provide the high level of flexibility, control, and customization of on-premises deployments as well as the cost savings, agility, and convenience of the Cloud. They also enable you to use Single Sign On, host custom web applications, and integrate line-of-business (LOB) applications. If your organization’s requirements call for a hosted model of Dynamics CRM, Lync Server, or Exchange Server (or any other software), we can provide the dedicated hosted infrastructure to meet your requirements.

Cost benefits of dedicated environments over on-premises deployments:

• You don’t have to pay for full-time resource to manage the environment.
• You don’t have to pay for or manage your own hardware.
• You don’t have to pay for power, bandwidth, or for space to house a data center at your location.
• You don’t have to pay for backups—we manage it for you.
• You don’t have to pay for a disaster recovery location or business continuity planning.
• You only pay for what you use. If you reduce the number of users, you are not stuck paying for non-refundable perpetual licenses.
• You can leverage our existing Active Directory (don’t have to build our your own AD infrastructure) or leverage your own AD (common set of security principles that are already in place and set by your network admins).

Benefits of Deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in a dedicated environment:

• Single Sign On and Active Directory (AD) authentication
• Single Sign On for custom web applications without the need for Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
• Restrict which IP numbers can access the system or database
• Hosted E-mail Router
• Direct access to SQL for high volume usage such as data migration
• Read access to the SQL Server for Reporting, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise infrastructures
• Trusted connections (IPSec VPN, local loops) for line-of-business application integration across the firewall
• Hosting of line-of-business applications
• White Label (for resellers that want to apply their own skin and invoice their customers)
• Custom workflow activities (assemblies)
• XAML workflows
• Routine code debugging
• Managed Backups

Benefits of Deploying Microsoft Dynamics Lync Server in a dedicated environment:

• Skill search in SharePoint Server
• Persistent Group Chat
• IM/presence with AOL, Yahoo, Jabber and Google Talk
• Authenticated Experience in Lync Web App
• Dial-in Audio Conferencing
• Interoperability with On-premises Video Conferencing Systems
• PSTN Calling
• Call Hold, Park, Retrieve, Transfer, Forward, and Simultaneous Ring
• Access to Exchange Online Voice Mail
• Team Calling
• Delegation of Voice Calls
• Outgoing Direct Inward Dialing Manipulation
• Enhanced 9-1-1
• Integration with Call Center Solutions
• IM Archiving
• Exchange Unified Messaging Interoperation with Exchange Server and Exchange Online
• Server Side APIs

Benefits of Deploying Microsoft Exchange Server in a dedicated environment:

• Great control over integrations with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, and Lync
• Greater control over whether to whether to install upgrades
• Configure mobile access
• Manage security policies, certificates, and firewall exceptions
• Voicemail Support for On-premises PBX Systems
• Support Your Organization’s Internal Compliance Regulations

Further Reading

What is a Dedicated Environment?

Why Go Dedicated?

Benefits of a Dedicated Environment

Cost of a Dedicated Environment