Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/9825
Microsoft’s hybrid cloud computing approach lets attorneys create, edit and view Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations whether online or offline. Moreover, with SharePoint 2010, changes can be made to offline documents and synchronized later when online. Only the changes that were made while offline are pushed over the network. Also, using Microsoft’s Office Web Apps attorneys can create, edit and view Office documents over the Internet, without having Microsoft Office installed on the client. MOBILE ACCESS Google’s mobile solutions vary depending on device type. Google provides over-the-air, mobile access to Gmail- based e-mail, contacts and Google Calendar data on Apple iPhone, Google Android, and Windows Mobile devices through a beta service called Google Sync. Google also supports has been licensed by Apple, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Symbian and others). SECURITY “Although distributed data centers provide hosted services that allow quick access to client information worldwide, law firms open themselves to risk if they store important data off-premises, under the control of a third party.” BlackBerrys with varying levels of access to its hosted data, some with native clients and others using mobile Web versions of the services. Microsoft Online Services lets attorneys have over-the-air access to e-mail messages, schedules, contacts, tasks, voice mail, fax messages, corporate address books and any documents in SharePoint using a variety of devices, including BlackBerrys, Microsoft Windows Mobile® 6+ phones, and any device compatible with Microsoft ActiveSync® (which 36 Microsoft ILTA White Paper Corporate governance and compliance requirements are complicated, and they differ by country, industry and other variables. Although distributed data centers provide hosted services that allow quick access to client information worldwide, law firms open themselves to risk if they store important data off-premises, under the control of a third party. On Google’s hosted services, law firm data shares physical disk space with data from other firms, corporations and individuals, creating security and privacy risks. In addition to these risks, firms rely on Google to back up their data. Though Google claims to back up, they explicitly state that neither they nor their partners are liable for any data loss. Google executives admit they cannot tell organizations where their data resides. Google Enterprise product manager Rishi Chandra noted in an interview, “The idea of data location is a challenge for us.” Without access to company data, firms may have difficulty helping their clients comply with basic regulations like Sarbanes- Oxley, EU Data Protection and the Patriot Act. Hosted services from Microsoft integrate with firms’ on-premises Active Directory infrastructures,