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Articles in this edition:

Spotlight: "Expanding Your IT Toolbox"

Contributed Article: "Ways to Save Money in 2009"

Partnership Announcement: "Apptix Introduces New & Improved Partner Program"

Industry Insight: "Benefits of Going Mobile"

Case Study: "CoachesTown.com Grows their Start-up & Improves Communications… One Team at a Time"

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Spotlight

Expanding Your IT Toolbox

In the current economic climate, businesses are asking their IT departments to do more with less. Recognizing this trend, Apptix has rolled out a series of flexible, easy-to-use hosted products that will improve your company’s communications and IT capabilities. Our new offerings include:

• An Online Presence solution that includes domain registration with DNS hosting and Website hosting
• Virtual Private Servers (VPS)
• Online Backup by Mozy
• Desktop Fax

Apptix’s expanded suite of hosted services optimizes our customers’ IT capabilities, reduces their costs, and provides a competitive advantage in a tough economy.

Online Presence: Domain Registration, DNS Hosting,
& Website Hosting

By offering domain name registration with DNS hosting, Apptix makes it fast and affordable to get a customer’s business online. You can buy new domain names or transfer existing ones to Apptix, consolidating with one vendor at one low price. In addition, Apptix provides affordable Website hosting on Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS.) Our Web hosting service features an easy to use SiteBuilder tool and flexible, customizable templates to help create professional Websites—with little or no experience. Plus, a new Control Panel enables you to manage multiple Websites for you and your clients.

Hosted Virtual Private Servers

A hosted Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a method of partitioning one hosted server into multiple "virtual" servers—and each can run independent applications. By eliminating costly in-house server purchases, and by providing only the server power a business needs at a given moment, hosted virtualization provides SMBs with the capability to simplify, enhance, and more easily manage an IT infrastructure. VPS optimizes computing power, and enables applications to run at a fraction of the cost of an on-site, dedicated machine.

Apptix Online Backup by Mozy

According to a Price Waterhouse Coopers report, one in seven hard drives fails each year—and the cost of recovering your data could exceed $7500. Online Backup offers a best-of-breed online backup and data recovery service via a partnership with Mozy. Online Backup runs automatically in the background while a computer is in operation—and backs up files that are open and in use—storing important system data to an online storage center hosted by EMC. The solution is compatible with both laptop and desktop computers, and seamlessly integrates with existing IT infrastructure. It also features an intuitive user interface, making it the perfect backup solution for both IT professionals and non tech-savvy businesses. A server product will be coming soon. For more information, please visit www.apptix.com/onlinebackup.

Desktop Fax

Even with the mass adoption of email, many industries—such as financial, insurance, real estate, and legal—still rely heavily on hard-copy communications. Unfortunately, this can introduce many business challenges, including confidentiality, identity theft, document loss, and expanded storage needs. Apptix Desktop Fax can save you thousands of dollars by enabling you to electronically send, receive, store, forward, and print faxes—directly from your computer—helping companies improve communication, simplify business processes, and increase productivity. Desktop Fax works on Internet-connected desktops, laptops, and PDAs, and eliminates the time, effort, and expense associated with fax servers.

For more information on these and other Apptix products, visit us at www.apptix.com.


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Contributed Article

Ways to Save Money in 2009

As the economy tightens, small and medium businesses are turning to hosted business communications services as a way to maintain excellent quality and better utilize IT resources—and save money. The financial investment and overhead of owning and maintaining servers and software applications in-house is substantial, and hosting is a tremendous cost-saving alternative.

The following ideas suggest ways to cut spending that will enable you to better predict your monthly costs—so you can focus on building your business and expanding your customer base.

Switch to Hosted VoIP

Voice over IP (VoIP) is no longer an option just for larger companies. Monthly service plans are extremely affordable, and can save your organization up to 40% on current monthly phone bills.

In addition to less expensive calling plans, VoIP offers:

• Improved service performance for office staff from higher speed Internet access
• Increased office staff productivity from system ease-of-use and enhanced features
• More efficient network resource utilization from the consolidation of office voice and data traffic over a single local area network (LAN) and single high-speed Internet access facility

With years of demonstrated business communications experience under our belts, Apptix’s business-class VoIP services—a valuable alternative to costly internal PBX systems—are tailored to your needs. Plus, our 24/7 live customer support team enables you to demonstrate that your business has what it takes to be number one.  For more information, please call 866.428.0130 or visit www.apptix.com/voip-services/.

Back up your Computer

Chances are you have a lot of important data on your computer, such as financial documents, email, digital photos, and more. Unfortunately, computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, virus attacks, theft, and natural disasters—which can erase all of your hard work in an instant.

One in seven hard drives fails every year, and the cost of recovering your data could exceed $7500 (according to Price Waterhouse Coopers). The successful recovery of your data is never guaranteed—plus, it takes time. Time you don’t have.

For a few dollars a month, a reliable online backup service can help save you thousands of dollars in the long run. In addition, an admin portal enables you to set backup policies, and you can also aggregate storage across users. For more information about Apptix Online Backup by Mozy, featuring plans as low as $5.95 a month, please call 866.428.0130 or visit www.apptix.com/onlinebackup.

Kiss Your Fax Machine Goodbye

Even with the mass adoption of email, many industries—such as financial, insurance, real estate, and legal—still rely heavily on faxed hardcopy communications. But hardcopy faxing introduces business challenges: confidentiality, identity theft, document loss, and document storage. A hosted fax solution can save you hundreds of dollars a year because you only pay for what you use—i.e. how many faxes you send and receive. Hosted solutions are also highly scalable, accommodating seasonal demands without additional capital investments.

If you spend too much on a separate phone line for faxing, consider Apptix Desktop Fax.  Desktop Fax enables you to send, receive, store, forward, and print time-sensitive documents directly from your desktop. It helps companies improve communications, simplify business processes, and increase productivity. Desktop Fax also works on laptops and PDAs, so you have one application that works across all of your employees' devices. For more information, please call 866.428.0130 or visit www.apptix.com/apptixvoice/desktopfax.asp.

Cut Back on Spam

According to MX Logic, spam accounts for more than 85% of all email traffic. Companies relying on the speed and efficiency of the Internet are increasingly exposed to a wide range of quickly-evolving email and Web-based threats—from spam and viruses to spyware and fraudulent phishing attacks. These online threats add significant cost and risk to your organization, and put an unnecessary burden on your IT resources. The less you have to worry about security, the more you can focus on your work.

MX Logic estimates that a typical SMB could save thousands of dollars every year by using best-in-class email security tools to help fight the day-to-day battles against spam and viruses. Because after all, the less you have to worry about security, the more work your company can get done. If you need help with keeping spam out of your mailboxes, please call 866.428.0130 or visit www.apptix.com/hosted-email/security.asp.

Sign Annual Contracts, not Month-to-Month

Moving your Internet/telephony services from monthly to annual payment terms is another way to save money. For example, if you have a 1 user, 1GB Apptix hosted Exchange email inbox with premium anti-spam, you could save 10% by choosing an annual plan as opposed to paying monthly.

Conclusion

For many, spending is one area that must—and can—be controlled, especially in this tough economy. To get spending under control, you simply need to employ some creative thinking, and budgeting has never been more important as now. Apptix hosts and manages world-class communication, collaboration, and IT solutions that are reliable, relevant, easy to use, and provide high value to our SMB customers—helping reduce their overhead while improving productivity.

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Partnership Announcement

Introducing the New & Improved Apptix Partner Program

Generate New Revenue by Offering Apptix Services

The Apptix Partner Program offers many opportunities to create revenue streams by referring or reselling Apptix services to friends, colleagues, and clients. New features make it simple and rewarding to participate, and Apptix’s robust suite of hosted services address companies’ growing demands for affordable communication and IT solutions.

Referral Partners

The Referral Program is the easiest way to make money. Simply register for the program, and we assign you an Apptix universal URL link ID that you can forward to your referrals. Once your referral client becomes an Apptix customer, you'll also get commission for any future Apptix purchases they make.

Reseller Partners

For Resellers, Apptix provides an extensive set of co-branded, out-of-the-box hosted services that address your customers’ immediate needs. Our suite of services expands the portfolio of quality products you can offer your clients—enhancing your value and increasing ARPU potential.

Account Management

Resellers can manage their end-user accounts, add new services, and make any necessary account changes via Apptix’s industry-leading administrative Web console. Apptix provides resellers with a white-label storefront, credit card billing, and simplified end-user adoption through easy-to-use registration and management tools. A merchant account is also available to resellers, and Apptix handles billing activities for you—including credit card billing. Apptix’s hosted environment significantly reduces the time and effort necessary for you to deploy and manage a client’s IT infrastructure, and our outstanding Customer Service team provides complete white-label, Tier 1, live 24/7 technical support—based in the U.S.

Available Reseller Products

Our hosted business-class products include our traditional Microsoft Exchange 2007 email with mobile email capabilities and SharePoint collaboration services. We also now offer Web conferencing and secure Instant Messaging (IM) utilizing Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS). Our new Online Presence solution includes domain name registration, DNS hosting, and shared Website hosting with ready-to-go Website templates—so you can get your clients on the Web quickly and easily. In addition, we also now offer Virtual Private Servers (VPS). A hosted VPS is a method of partitioning one hosted server into multiple "virtual" servers—and each can run independent applications.

Contact Apptix Today

To learn more about Apptix’s Referral and Reseller opportunities, please contact us today at partners@apptix.com or 866.731.8311 , or visit www.apptix.com/partners/.

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Industry Insight

Benefits of Going Mobile

Business moves fast—missing an important email can be the difference between closing a deal and losing one. Apptix offers an enterprise-class, full suite of hosted mobile messaging solutions that support a wide range of mobile devices, including BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Good Mobile Smart Phones, and Treos. Apptix mobile email solutions enable real-time, "over the air" (OTA) synchronization of all of your Outlook business data.

Keep Your Company in Your Pocket

Improve your employees’ productivity by having instant access to everyone in your company. Apptix mobile email solutions provide full Global Address List (GAL) access directly from your mobile device. Whether you need to send a message to a coworker or you urgently need the fax number of a colleague, the information is there when you need it. In addition, administrators can make changes to the GAL to include contacts for vendors and customers, so every employee in your organization can access this data on their handheld.

Never Lose Your Contacts

Switching mobile devices can be problematic—contacts need to be resynchronized and important numbers often get lost in the transition. With Apptix mobile email, your Outlook address book is hosted in our datacenter. When you get a new mobile device, you simply connect the device to the hosted Apptix mobile servers and your contacts are automatically synced, without having to use a cable or cradle. Furthermore, contacts added or modified on your computer are wirelessly synced to your mobile device, so you always have the latest address book information in your pocket.

Take Your Calendar with You

Apptix mobile email means more than taking your inbox with you. Our hosted email solutions enable you to also have access to your Outlook calendar wherever you go. You can respond to meeting requests, edit an existing meeting, or invite attendees to a new meeting—all from your handheld. Your calendar data is wirelessly synchronized with your Outlook calendar—instantly—so other users in your organization can check your status in real-time. Apptix makes it easy to keep your schedule in sync.

Make Your Downtime Productive

By empowering your employees with Apptix mobile email, you enable them to make the most of their downtime. Let "anywhere access" become a powerful tool in your business arsenal by speeding customer issue resolution, order taking, meeting scheduling, and more—wherever you are. And all this happens without powering up a laptop.

Protect Your Company Data

Apptix mobile email solutions protect your data in several ways. First, the data exchange between devices and the Apptix hosted servers is always encrypted. Second, email, calendar, and contact data entered into the supported device is automatically synchronized and backed up in the Apptix datacenter. Customers who take advantage of our archiving and compliance solutions will also have their mobile email communications saved. Furthermore, when an employee loses a company-owned mobile device, they simply contact the Apptix Customer Support center and remotely have all of the information safely deleted from their missing device—thus protecting the company’s sensitive data.

Solutions for Every Business

Following are examples of how Apptix mobile email helps various types of companies succeed:

• Executives can make key decisions and instantly be informed about changes in the business
• Sales professionals can access client information while on the road
• Customer service reps can improve client satisfaction and loyalty by instantly responding to customer issues
• Real estate agents can email listings and coordinate offers
• Small business owners can manage their schedules from multiple locations
• IT professionals can receive system alerts and messages 24/7
• Fleet managers can implement Apptix mobile email to improve communication between drivers, and manage customer schedules

To learn more about how Apptix mobile email can help your business communicate at the speed of business, visit www.apptix.com/mobile-email/.

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Case Study

CoachesTown.com

Two resources most precious to a start-up are time and money. As these things tend to be scarce in start-up land, further jeopardizing these resources can be a quick path to failure. For CoachesTown, choosing Apptix ensured that this will not be their future.

CoachesTown.com is a start-up whose goal is to ease the "organizational frustration" typically surrounding sports teams, scout troops, clubs, and other types of groups. The company provides a free online zone in which all group/team information—notification of game time changes, event cancellations, scores, photos, video, forums, chats, member lists, and more—is available to subscribed users. Plus, subscriber information is completely protected—the data you submit is kept private, accessible only by you and your team/group.

When it came time to choose a hosted email solution, CoachesTown conducted a trial with Apptix and had an incredible experience with the customer support team. "Without a doubt, the best feature of Apptix is their incredible customer service," says Mitch Mencis, Founder & CEO. "Their staff was polite, friendly, and helpful, and at no time did they get frustrated by our asking too many questions."

Without the IT concerns surrounding email and mobile connectivity, CoachesTown is free to focus on growing their start-up into a thriving company. As Mencis puts it, "I am not a hosting expert, nor do I care to be one—or hire one. I am an expert in providing communication to Athletic Directors, coaches, players, their parents, and other group leaders. That is where I want to dedicate my time and energy, and Apptix enables me to do just that—all day, every day."