In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite, is a collection of programs intended to be used by clerical and knowledge workers. The components are generally distributed together, have a consistent user interface and can usually interact with each other, sometimes in ways that the operating system would not normally allow.

Typically, an office suite will contain programs that will contain a word processor, spreadsheets, presentation program, and some communication applications (like email). Alternate components might be a graphics suite, databases, note-taking (notes?) or other personal information managers. This being said, no two office suites are alike. They tend to find a niche, which sets them apart from their competitors; thus there is no one-size-fits-all suite available.

Microsoft still dominates the landscape with its Office suite, but there is a slow movement toward many of the alternatives. Many contenders have made great strides in bridging the gap of compatibility between their software package and that of Microsoft. Several solutions are completely web-based — there is nothing to install or manage on your desktop or laptop.

Who is sneaking into Microsoft’s backyard? Some of them might surprise you: Google, IBM, Corel, Apple, OpenSource, Sun Microsystems, AdventNet, and more. Each of these has a unique approach to the office suite. Below, we will highlight some of the top contender with a brief introduction to the solutions they offer.

Some of you are aware of Microsoft’s charity pricing (open license for 501(c)(3)). You might ask why one should consider an alternative. Good question. Why should you choose anything other than Microsoft’s $60 per desktop charity price for Office Suite? Maybe it’s a feature or function you need, perhaps the cost constraints are still looming, or maybe it’s your unending frustration with everything Microsoft; only you can decide.

Apple’s iWork:
Apple Inc. is surging back into the industry. If your organization utilizes any Macs, you should consider Apple’s own iWork. Far different from the ClarisWorks of old, iWork brings Apple’s unique ability to coat some class, excitement, and functionality around an otherwise boring suite of applications.

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) have an elegance beyond anything you have previously used. The “Mac Way”, as Apple coins it, is indeed well thought out. While these applications look simple, the powerful integration of everything Mac, and their compatibility with Microsoft Office documents make this $79 offering worth a look.

To learn more about this Mac only application, visit http://www.apple.com/iwork

Corel’s WordPerfect Office x4:
The once de-facto standard of word processing is still alive and kicking. Even with the troubled history of being tossed and sold around from Borland, Novell, and now Corel, the product is still very capable.

Bundled with document, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and a few other helpful applications, Office x4 Professional has the feature set you will need to complete the task at hand. If you have used WordPerfect before, you will feel right at home when you launch this latest version. If you are a 501(c)(3), be sure to ask about the Education Volume Licensing and you can save hundreds of dollars.

To learn more about this Windows only application, visit http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1207939618939

Google’s Docs:
As you might expect, Google brings the office suite to the web as a free service. Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online without the need to install purchase, install, upgrade or manage software.

Google has a strong collaboration component integrated into their office solution. You securely create, edit, and share your documents online. You and your coworkers can view and edit a spreadsheet together in real-time. This is an inexpensive solution to bring a geographically diverse team together.

The obvious downside is the necessity of being online to use it. Google is making the assumption that those working with computers in today’s world are almost always connected to the Internet. This is the case more often than not, but there will be times when the Internet is inaccessible, and you still need to create documents.

Google Docs allows you to import your existing documents, and to export to standard office formats. This free offering works with any modern web browser on LInux, Mac, and Windows.

To learn more about Google Docs (and the rest of the Google Apps), visit http://www.google.com/a or http://docs.google.com.

IBM’s Lotus Symphony:
Haven’t heard of this one? Well, you might want to become familiar with this free office alternative. Winning the 2008 Product of the Year award from CRN, Lotus Symphony is a breeze to use. This capable document, spreadsheet, and presentation suite can make a significant reduction in upgrade costs to your organization.

Based on the Open Source OpenOffice (see below), Lotus Symphony has full compatibility with Microsoft Office and the new Open Document standards. IBM has taken the power Open Source engine, and wrapped a pleasant interface around it. Available for Mac, Linux, and Windows.

To learn more about IBM’s Lotus Symphony, visit http://symphony.lotus.com.

Sun’s StarOffice:
If you fall into the Redmond hating camp, you are singing StarOffice’s tune! Sun Microsystems has been a long time rival of Microsoft’s. Another variant of OpenOffice, StarOffice brings the power engine to additional platforms such as Solaris, Windows, Linux, and Mac.

With the MSRP of $34.95, StarOffice can create, edit, and view Microsoft Office files. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and database capabilities bring a robust offering to your organization with a price-tag that doesn’t break the bank. If your organization is looking to cut costs, but still wants the ability to call support if needed, this is one suite worth considering.

To learn more about StarOffice, visit http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/index.jsp

Open Source OpenOffice:
OpenOffice 3 is the leading office engine in the Open Source community. Being available in multiple languages, easy to use, and free, makes this package difficult to overlook. OpenOffice is primarily sponsored by Sun Microsystems, but is the culmination of more than 450,000 contributors including some of the competition in this list. Novell, RedHat, RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google have all supported this project, and have seen their efforts rewarded as they bring a very strong competitor to Microsoft Office.

Documents, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, graphics, and more are included with this free software suite. Available for Windows, Solaris, Mac, and Linux; OpenOffice a great alternative.

To learn more about OpenOffice, visit http://www.openoffice.org.

Conclusion:
There are too many variables for us to make an in-depth recommendation appropriate for every organization. We simply wanted to introduce you to some alternatives for your personal, nonprofit, and business computing needs. Some trends indicate online applications (or Software As A Service) are the future of computing. Microsoft and Apple have both introduced programs that compete with the Google Apps solution. Many organizations have embraced this technology, and 2918 Group suggests a combination approach for now. Go online and register for Google Apps for Your Domain (education edition if you are a nonprofit), and then consider one of the free office suites for off-line editing.

If you already own Microsoft Office, stay put for now. Before you consider upgrading to the next version, take a few days and download some of these applications to see if your organization can save money.

Advanced capabilities such as file transfers, unattended support, and remote diagnostics give the technical support team the required resources to speedily resolve the trouble ticket. Designed for speed and ease of use on both Mac OS X and Windows, this utility can save your organization time and money.

Check it out: http://express.gotoassist.com. Or for larger enterprises view the corporate version at http://www.gotoassist.com

Create & Send Emails
Testing your design through a wide variety of email clients is a common frustration in email campaigns. Our system has the intelligence to help you look your best when sending mass communications. Send free test messages, or for a small fee (and a single click) see your email as it will appear in more than 20 different email clients such as Lotus Notes, Hotmail, Outlook 2007, AOL and more.

We’ll also run your campaign through popular spam filters at the desktop, server and firewall level, so your communications will not be stopped or flagged as spam. We impose no design restrictions, and we won’t add any ugly ‘powered by’ logos or branding to your message.

List Management Made Simple
2918 Group automatically handles all new subscriptions, “unsubscribers”, bounces and even spam complaints behind the scenes — so you won’t have to. Keep on the right side of spam laws without having to think about it.

Every email you send will include a single-click unsubscribe link and our preference center feature lets your subscribers tailor their subscription. We handle the technology so you can focus on what you do best.

Make It Personal
You can easily extend your lists to capture anything and everything about your subscribers — address, phone number or favorite lipstick color.  That’s not all — you can easily personalize your emails with any of this captured custom data.

Want to get even fancier? You can build list segments that target a specific type of subscriber. These can be based on any captured demographics or past campaign activity — only those subscribers that opened the last 3 emails, those that clicked a specific link, or who recently donated to a cause.

Not Just Good Looks
The moment your campaign message is sent, you have access to a wide range of easy to read reports that indicate exactly how your subscribers are interacting with it.

See how many records were successfully sent, how many have been opened, what parts of the campaign they are interested in, who forwarded it on to a friend, unsubscribed, or even marked the message as spam. Sending for other departments or groups? Easily give them access to the reports you send on their behalf.

The Email Marketing tool is a pay as you go model. Meaning, you can request an account, go login, and send a test message to 5 or fewer email addresses. Pay only when you send a communication to more than 5 individuals. Each message costs just $7.50 per message, plus 2. cents per recipient (the spam and design test is an additional $7.50 per use).

For Example
Organization Non-Profit sends a newsletter to 500 subscribers: the cost is just $17.50. (500 x 2.0 cents, plus the delivery fee of $7.50). That’s it – with no enrollment fees, no membership costs, and no required minimum/maximum quantities. 2918 Group Email Marketing is a cost effective communications platform, that will give you an edge in this competitive marketplace.

If you do not have an in-house graphic designer, request one of our pre-built templates, or our design team can create a custom look just for you.

For more information and a complete list of features and capabilities, view the features list here.

Our graphic designers plan, analyze, and create visual solutions to communications problems. We find the most effective way to get messages across in print, electronic, and film media using a variety of methods such as color, type, illustration, photography, animation, and various print and layout techniques.

Some of our clients include:

• Convoy of Hope - Website
• Destiny World Outreach - Website & Graphic Design
• First Family Church - Graphic Design
• Netwatch, Inc. - Website
• Seed Girl - Website
• Solid Rock SGF - Website

We offer many services, such as identity branding, logo development, web design, print design, and motion graphics. With a diverse team of designers, we can capture your vision from a variety of viewpoints. Let 2918 Group enhance your communications with a creative touch.

Contact 2918 Group today!

• Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, MO
• Citicorp in St. Louis, MO
• Convoy of Hope in Springfield, MO
• Drury University in Springfield, MO
• EDS/plm in St. Louis, MO
• Edward Jones in St. Louis, MO & Tempe, AZ
• Emerson Electric St. Louis, MO
• First Family Church in Osage Beach, MO
• Games.com in Pleasanton, CA
• Intuit in New York, NY
• Jack Henry & Associates in Monett, MO
• James River Assembly in Ozark, MO
• Lawton First Assembly in Lawton, OK
• Mastercard International in St. Louis, MO
• Mercy Health Systems in St. Louis, MO
• New Balance in New York, NY
• St. John's Regional Health System in Springfield, MO
• State of Missouri in Jefferson City, MO
• Missouri State University in Springfield, MO
• University of Missouri in Columbia, MO
• Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Accountability on the other hand encourages integrity while surfing the web. The technology in this solution does not prevent any inappropriate content from being viewed online. Instead, the software solution tracks the destinations reached on your computer and reports suspicious activity to an accountability partner or employer. This is a great tool for someone who is struggling with an addiction, but is willing or wanting to overcome the problem with the support of a spouse or other peers. For accountability software to work, a computer application must be installed on each and every computer you want to monitor. For a ministry with two computers, this is not a challenge. If you have 10 or more computers, having to manage an additional program on each one begins to cause headaches.

Is there one best solution to the problem of questionable content online? The answer is no. Often this challenge is tackled first by the budget restrictions placed on the organization. Larger enterprises and some small or medium businesses have the need for more extensive reporting and tracking of their employee’s online, thus their budgets given to this problem are often larger or more flexible than some ministries, non-profits, or individuals. Websense, St. Bernard, and 8e6 Technologies are strong providers in this space for dedicated content filtering appliances and management solutions. Prices will vary greatly with these solutions as you select features and functionality, total number of users, and bandwidth capabilities.

A good alternative to purchasing a dedicated content filtering solution, is to use an online service such as OpenDNS.com. OpenDNS has a range of products for home, schools, small businesses, and enterprises. While you have some reporting, organizations deploying this service do lose some features and functionality compared to the more robust, dedication solutions. This nicest feature of OpenDNS is its price; FREE. The fine folks at OpenDNS use the engines of St. Bernard to run their service.

The key to purchasing a quality content filter is the accuracy of the database of URLs. Typically you get what you pay for. Websense is considered by many to be the leader, and traditionally their costs reflect this. Of all the contenders in this space, all of the above mentioned providers are very solid solutions.

When it comes to accountability, Covenant Eyes and X3watch are the two primary players. Each have a solution for both Mac and PC, and the concepts behind them are similar. You install the software, choose an accountability partner to receive their weekly or bi-weekly email reports, and off to the Internet you go. Our experiences with accountability products are mixed. While they have improved, the database accuracy compared to the content filtering offerings are weak. This means you will see a lot of false positives in each of the emailed reports.

Both X3 and Covenant Eyes have introduced a combined prevention and accountability software package. This looks good on the surface, but until their databases begin to challenge the accruacy of Websense, St. Bernard, or 8e6 Technologies, it is not recommended to use them exclusively.

A good combination for budget constrained organizations is to use both OpenDNS and X3. Combined, your monthly expense is zero. This gives you prevention protection on campus (or within the four walls of your organization), while also encouraging integrity with those in the field or at home. If you have any questions on how to make this work, or would like the assistance of one or our engineers, feel free to drop us a line.

SpringNet provides the following services in the Springfield Underground. These offerings include but are not limited to:

• 1/3 or 1/2 or a full rack, or square footage for your own equipment
• Secure access at the entrance to the underground, at the facility entrance, in the sub-building, and into the rack
• Video surveillance in and around the SpringNet facility
• 24 Hour staff
• FM-200 Fire suppressant system in each sub-building and in the entire facility
• Completely redundant power underground with generators
• The entire facility runs off battery backup
• Multimedia conference rooms, cubicles, mini-kitchen, phones and Internet (wired or wireless) with first come first serve access

SpringNet also brings an alternative to the traditional T1 or DSL level of service in their service area. Using Fiber Optics, a 100MB or 1000MB Internet connection is brought into your facility, and you use the Internet connection like a monitored service (like electricity, you pay for what you use). The minimum based package for Internet connection speed from SpringNet is a 1Mbps connection. The difference from this 1Mbps connection and the 1Mbps connection Telco’s provides today, is that SpringNet’s travels at 100Mbps (over a hundred times faster).

While your monthly base commitment might only be a 1Mbps, the fact is that it is a base, not a cap. The time to download files is much faster as seen in the tables below. One analogy given, was a traditional Telco connection is like a 3″ pipe, and the SpringNet connection a 300″ or 25′ pipe. Getting a bucket full of water down either is completely doable, one will just take a lot longer, and even fill the pipe completely whereas the other will be done not long after you pour it in. These bursts of traffic would be allowed to spike up to the full capacity of the pipe, but it can be quite difficult to do, as with the water bucket.

This type of service, paves the way for virtually unlimited growth in the Internet data services. You would have access to the full 100Mbps of Internet speed all the time. SpringNet bills at the 95th percentile used by your ministry. This means that the top 5% of all your traffic per month is not counted when calculating the monitored service. Their sampling rate to determine your use is every 5 minutes over a 30 day period. Samples taken every 5 minutes equates to 12 times per hour, thus 288 per day, thus 8640 per month (on a 30 day month). 5% of those samples would mean 432 samples to be dropped/thrown out. In a measure of time that equates to some 2160 minutes of “free” bandwidth time per month, or 72 minutes a day on average. Even if there were five or ten times a day that this would happen, the sustained bandwidth would have to be over 72 minutes every day for 30 days before any cause for concern would needed.

When I was first introduced to SpringNet, I was blown away by this offering. One can download a 270MB file in under 3 minutes. There is so much more to SpringNet than what I am covering here, and I would recommend you contact them via email or phone at 417-575-7610. Let them know you heard about SpringNet from 2918 Group.

• Harvest Media Group / JNPD
  Full service video & multimedia production
  
• Impact Resource and Development
  Non-Profit Resource Development & Organizational Leadership
  
• Layer3 Technology
  Network Security & Remote Network Monitoring
  
• Monarch Recording Studio
  Springfield, MO Recording Studio
  
• Netwatch Inc.
  Video & Security Surveillance
  
• Six Crossings
  Web Design, Identity Branding, and Application User Interface
  
• T.E.N. Consulting
  Application Development & Systems Consulting
  

SonicWall also offers, for an additional fee, the ability to replicate your most important files to their secure data center using high levels of encryption. Once you subscribe to this service, you tell your appliance which files or folders are important to you, and it replicates the files automatically. Each time your appliance saves your local files to itself, it also replicate those changes to SonicWall’s online storage systems or to another appliance you control for additional protection.

There are several different CDP models available from SonicWall. Each has different levels of storage capacity, targets number of users and/or servers, as well as additional software which allows for bar metal recovery, a tool to restore a machine to current, in the event of complete data lose.

There are currently four models available; the CDP 1440i, CDP 2440i, CDP 3440i, and the CDP 4440i. The smallest has the capacity around 192GB, the largest nearly 1.2TB. All but the smallest model can backup and protect Active Directory, SQL Servers, and MS Exchange.

The short list of features that come with every model are:

• Local continuous real-time backup
• Hands-free offsite backup
• Instant data recovery and file versions
• Robust data management tools
• Support for databases and applications
• Remote administration
• Local archiving
• Central management

“The SonicWALL CDP Series enables organizations to achieve complete data protection with the convenience of a single appliance. This comprehensive solution features secure automatic local and offsite protection, instant recovery and central/remote administration that enables organizations to increase productivity and decrease costs. Ultimately, SonicWALL CDP is easier to use and more reliable than traditional systems because it does not require integration or management of multiple point products.”