Enabling SharePoint in Cloud

1.	What are the challenges hosting SharePoint outside the firewall? How does Apere address these challenges?
	Sharepoint instances continuously talk to Active Directory instances to validate the user credentials and authorizations as the user traverses the portal. When SharePoint is deployed outside the firewalls, another copy of AD has to be maintained at the hosted site and it needs to be manually synchronized with enterprise AD to ensure security. Zero-Day access control to disable unauthorized users becomes a challenge for externally hosted instances of SharePoint.

2.	Can repeat authentication be avoided for user accessing from home?
	Yes, Using Apere's Single Sign on Engine repeat authentication requests from SharePoint can be suppressed. Apere Single Sign On engine integrates with enterprise Active Directory to validate user, this information is cached with user privilege information for subsequent requests from SharePoint.

3.	What is AD synchronization over cloud?
	Apere User Provisioning, Single Sign On and group management modules extend enterprise Active Directory to cloud efficiently multiple ways. LDAP replication: In LDAP replication mode, Apere User Provisioning, Deprovisioning, Single Sign On engines can periodically synchronize with enterprise AD over the internet with the local LDAP. Selection sections of AD can be configured based on group association for synchronization. Another mode of AD synchronization is delegated authentication with local caching. Apere uses patent pending mechanism to synchronize the AD with delegated authentication and caching. Please contact Apere for more information.

4.	How does Zero-Day Access Control work with hosted SharePoint?
	When users are disabled in Active Directory or enterprise IAM', Apere de-provisioning engine reads these changes and rolls out to hosted AD/LDAP at service provider side for hosted SharePoint. SPML master, client configurations are supported to initiate instantaneous action. All the user changes are document for compliance reports.

5.	Is there a centralized portal for enterprise administrator to manage SharePoint User Access control?
	Yes, Apere Administrator portal enables enterprise administrators to view and control access to hosted SharePoint instances. Administrators can also generate usage reports, or restrict users using this interface

6.	Is Single Sign on Part of the SharePoint solution?
	Yes, when a user is synchronized between enterprise Active Directory and hosted AD/LDAP Single Sign On/SSO is automatically enabled.

7.	Can the Apere SharePoint Solution track number of active SharePoint Users for license subscriptions?
	Yes, Apere SharePoint solution from Apere does track the number of active users using the hosted SharePoint instance, when they have accessed, who authorized the provisioning of users, when their passwords were reset. It can also provide a list of unused licenses so the enterprises can optimize the license distribution.

8.	Does SharePoint solution from Apere complement current web access gateways from Cisco-IronPort, Bluecoat and McAfee?
	Yes, Apere has technology partnerships with Cisco, Bluecoat to extend their web access gateways to SaaS Applications and externally hosted SharePoint with Single Sign On. When an enterprise user tries to access an external application like salesforce.com, web access gateways are configured to talk to Apere technology. Apere to automatically log the user into externally hosted sharepoint without requiring the user to re-enter the AD credentials for the hosted AD.