Schema Networks is proud to offer high-end consulting services on select Microsoft Technologies. Products listed below encompass the scope of our abilities.
Active Directory
Active Directory is an essential and inseparable part of the Windows 2000 network architecture that improves on the domain architecture of the Windows NT® 4.0 operating system to provide a directory service designed for distributed networking environments. Active Directory lets organizations efficiently share and manage information about network resources and users. In addition, Active Directory acts as the central authority for network security, letting the operating system readily verify a user's identity and control his or her access to network resources. Equally important, Active Directory acts as an integration point for bringing systems together and consolidating management tasks.
Combined, these capabilities let organizations apply standardized business rules to distributed applications and network resources, without requiring administrators to maintain a variety of specialized directories.
Active Directory provides a single point of management for Windows-based user accounts, clients, servers, and applications. It also helps organizations integrate systems not using Windows with Windows-based applications, and Windows-compatible devices, thus consolidating directories and easing management of the entire network operating system. Companies can also use Active Directory to extend systems securely to the Internet. Active Directory thus increases the value of an organization's existing network investments and lowers the overall costs of computing by making the Windows network operating system more manageable, secure, and interoperable.
Exchange Server
Exchange Server, the Microsoft messaging and collaboration server, is software that runs on servers that enables you to send and receive electronic mail and other forms of interactive communication through computer networks. Designed to interoperate with a software client application such as Microsoft Outlook, Exchange Server also interoperates with Outlook Express and other e-mail client applications to meet the requirements for small and large organizations and get easy administration, support, and reliability with Exchange Server. Readily available deployment and support tools also make Exchange Server easy to manage.E-mail messages are sent and received through what is commonly referred to as a client device such as a personal computer, workstation, or a mobile device including mobile phones or Pocket PCs. The client typically connects to a network of centralized computer systems comprised of servers or mainframe computers where the e-mail mailboxes are stored. The centralized e-mail servers connect to the Internet and private networks where e-mail messages are sent to and received from other e-mail users.
Client access functionality. Exchange Server offers you integrated collaborative messaging features such as scheduling, contact, and task management capabilities. Exchange Server 2003 runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server operating systems. Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 runs on Windows-based computers and communicates with the server running Exchange Server through the MAPI protocol that includes powerful messaging and rich collaboration capabilities. Exchange Server also accommodates other client access through its support for Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4) protocols as well as support for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Microsoft Outlook Web Access, a service in Exchange Server, accommodates what are known as thin clients (Web browser–based access clients).
Mobile access functionality. Exchange Server 2003 supports mobile devices such as Pocket PC and Smartphones and enables you to synchronize your Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts and Tasks lists so you can remotely check your appointments and other important information. Mobile device browsers are also supported through Exchange Outlook Mobile Access, which enables HTML, compressed HTML (CHTML), and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browser–based devices to access Exchange Server. The following diagram illustrates the types of clients that Exchange Server supports:The Exchange Server collaboration features help you to share information quickly and efficiently. Typical collaborative scenarios include maintaining shared address lists that everyone can view and edit, scheduling meetings that include people and conference rooms by viewing associated free or busy schedules, the ability to grant other people, such as administrators, access to your mailbox on your behalf. You can also manage “rules” for processing messages on Exchange Server, giving you the flexibility to create auto-responses and automatic filing of incoming messages. For maximum collaboration productivity, choose the combination of Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook 2003.
Internet Information Server (IIS)
Administrators and Web application developers demand a reliable, easily managed, high performance, and secure Web server. IIS 6.0 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 introduce many new features for Web application server reliability and availability, management, scalability, and security. The benefits of deploying IIS 6.0 include less planned and unplanned system downtime, increased Web site and application availability, lower system administration costs, server consolidation (reduced staffing, hardware, and site management costs), and a significant increase in Web infrastructure security. This document provides a technical overview of IIS 6.0, the next generation of Web infrastructure capabilities that are available in the Windows Server 2003 family of products.
Terminal Services
The Terminal Server component of Windows Server 2003 builds on the solid foundation provided by the application server mode in Windows 2000 Terminal Services. Terminal Server lets you deliver Windows-based applications, or the Windows desktop itself, to virtually any computing device—including those that cannot run Windows.
Terminal Server can enhance an enterprise's software deployment capabilities for a variety of scenarios that remain difficult to solve using traditional application distribution technologies. When users run an application on Terminal Server, the application execution takes place on the server, and only keyboard, mouse and display information is transmitted over the network. Users see only their own individual sessions, which are managed transparently by the server operating system, and remain independent of any other client session. Windows 2000 Terminal Services remote administration mode is called "Remote Desktop for Administration" in Windows Server 2003, and supports the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 5.1 feature set. It also has the ability to remote the actual console session of the server.