Getting Started in Groove

[Rose B]

I am trying to work out whether/how Groove may be able to help but am
becoming more and more confused by what I read and what I am told by our
license provider. Hoping someone can clarify!

I am based in the UK and am a governor for a small school. There are a
maximum of 20 governors who need to share information, some of which is
confidential. At times there may be others with whom we need to share
specific information. I believe that Groove may help us to do this more
efficiently and would like to pilot this but need some help to put a proposal
to the board.

My questions specifically are:-
- if we ensured all participants had Groove 2007 on their PCs, could we
simply "get going"? (Using initially free trial versions?)
- This presumably would use the public relay, and I understand that the
information is ONLY on each participant's PC - so is secure?
- Given that the above is true, why/when would we be better off to move
either to Enterprise Services or to administering our own server? This is
presumably more costly so there must be some benefits, but maybe we don't
need them.
- If (for example) we used public relay, and I was the manager of a
wokrspace, but I was going to leave the board, could I simply give the
Manager role on that workspace to someone else and they take it over?

Thanks so much for any help, it seems like a minefield for the uninitiated!!!

 

[Mark Smith]

Hi Rose B -

Experience tells me that Groove needs to be a regular part of a persons
daily routine to be effective.

I've got another suggestion. Can you get in touch with my by email?

 

[Rose B]

Sure - can you provide address?

Hi Rose B -

Experience tells me that Groove needs to be a regular part of a persons
daily routine to be effective.

I've got another suggestion. Can you get in touch with my by email?

 

[Mark Smith]

(e-mail address removed) - its in my profile - name is a click able link.

 

[RKaundin]

I have a similar question as Rose. I represent an industry association that
has multipe members who will be reviewing and evaluating specs. Groove seems
like a very good option for this. However, my questions are:

- if we ensured all participants had Groove 2007 on their PCs, could we
simply "get going"?

- When is Groove Server license necessary or helpful?

- We may have as much as 100 individual users.

Thanks so much for your help. I didn't see a reply to Rose's post, but
perhaps I am not looking in the right place.

 

[Jan Talens]

Hi,

Groove works fine without installing any Groove servers. Usually, a
perfect approach for individuals and very small businesses.

You would install Groove servers for the following reasons :
- manage Groove users (ID, authentification, disable or revoke users,
etc.) and identity policies
- add an additional layer to the already existing "always-on" security ;
Smartcard integration, security policies, "closed network", etc.
- secure backups of Groove accounts
- integration with Active Directory
- Optimize bandwidth (internal Groove relay)
- Backup of your Groove data (protects you against human errors)
- ...

Above obviously responds to requirements of most SMB and large companies.

Please note that you need at least 2 Groove servers (Manager + Relay).
You add a 3rd Groove server (Data Bridge)for backup services or for
integration with other systems.
Depending on a company's specific requirements, and/or the number of
users, the number of Groove servers to deploy could increase

As you are 100 users only, you may want to consider using Groove
Enterprise Services (GES) instead. Groove Enterprise Services (= hosted
services) are quite similar to using Groove Servers internally, except
for the following:
- No integration with Active Directory
- No internal Groove relay, so no optimizing of bandwidth
- No backup of your Groove data (users can manually backup their Groove
workspaces though (menu : file/save as/archive)

From a purely financal point of view, you may prefer to opt for Groove
Enterprise Services.

Contact me if you want to discuss in more detail.

Best regards,

Jan Talens


http://www.grooveit.biz/ "Solutions for Connecting Groove"
http://www.hommesetproess.com/


RKaundin a écrit :

 

[Marspe]

For those who need to get familiar with Groove, there are webcasts on
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetoffice.aspx.