Technology upgrades on the way!

We're investing in a new cloud-based web infrastructure for your websites, and we're migrating to Google Apps for your email.

Those of you who follow us on Twitter and Facebook (links at the bottom of the page) will know that we'v been waiting for our new "Cloud" based hosting setup to be deployed... and it's finally been done!

The new solution will be quicker, more secure and more robust - and over the next few weeks we'll be contacting existing customers about the upgrade.

We want our web server to be the best possible web server - which means it won't be used for things like hosting email - we want to keep our server dedicated to what it does best - which will free up resources and give lots of other benefits too.

There's some information below, but please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, queries or reservations.   We have also started to add resouces to our knowledge base and there is a dedicated help microsite.

The following is a bit of an edit of a Google standard introduction, but it's an excellent overview of the benefits:We are pleased to announce that RedStar has chosen Google Apps for its new email and calendar platform.

You have recently received your new Google Apps account and can log in and begin using Gmail, Google Calendar, and the other apps, right away.

What is Google Apps?

Google Apps is a suite of web-based messaging and collaboration applications that Google hosts on their own servers. Google provides these applications as a "service," rather than as software to download and install. To access these applications, you simply use a web browser on a computer that's connected to the Internet. Why did you choose Google Apps?

• More robust infrastructure -- All your email will be stored securely on Google's servers, so we'll no longer need to maintain emails on our server - which means your websites will be the top priority on our servers
• Highly scalable environment -- With Google Apps, your email capacity will grow automatically as your demands grow, and we'll avoid the complexity of internal systems
• Access to services from anywhere, anytime -- A key benefit of the Google-hosted solution is that you can access email, contacts, and calendar from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world... and if you read and reply to an email at home or on your mobile, you can automatically see that on your work computer too!
• More collaboration features -- With Google's next-generation applications, we can collaborate with your colleagues, customers, and partners more easily and efficiently than ever before

What exactly does Google Apps include?

Your new Google Apps account will include the following services - and you can pick and choose what you use:

What are the key benefits?

• Lots of storage -- You get a full 25 GB of online storage for your email (much more than what you have now), so you can archive all of your email online. You'll no longer need to worry about deleting messages or saving them in offline folders.
• Enhanced message organization and retrieval -- With Google Mail, you'll spend less time managing folders and searching for messages. For example, you can add one or more tags, or "labels," to your messages to organize and store them more efficiently. And with the Google-powered search feature, you can find any message quickly and easily, whether it's in your Inbox or stored in your message archive.
• Easier calendar sharing -- Google Calendar lets you and your team members quickly and easily share your calendars with each other and specify the details you want to show. Calendar sharing is a great way for you and your coworkers to keep each other informed about your schedules. Now it's easier than ever to find out if someone is in a meeting, on a business trip, or on vacation.
• Integrated chat -- With the Google Talk instant messaging application, you can communicate instantly with your coworkers right from the Email interface. In addition, all your chats are automatically saved in your Email application, so you can always retrieve important information.
• Real-time collaboration -- Using Google Docs, you can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and you and your team members can view and edit them at the same time. You can still use your existing Microsoft Office (for example) products as needed, but now you'll have more options for storing and collaborating on your documents. 

How much are these upgrades going to cost me?

The cloud infrastructure is four times more expensive than our hosting solution of three years ago... but our client base has grown in a way that means we will be able to keep our prices at the same level... so the answer is nothing at all! Google Apps is a free service for up to ten users, and then costs $50 a year per additional user.