INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Athene's Tech Services Division is a Microsoft partner (Partner ID 1532570) specializing in Microsoft products and technologies as used in small and mid-sized enterprises. We offer a range of IT services, with particular specialization in Microsoft Office Groove.
Microsoft Groove Services
What is Groove?
We describe Groove as "the greatest software platform you never heard of". If you have heard of Lotus Notes, then you have an idea what Groove does. It is a 'platform' product that allows geographically dispersed people to work on common files and documents without worrying about synchronization of multiple copies of the files.
Groove Networks was founded by Ray Ozzie, the original developer of Lotus Notes (now an IBM product offering). The first version of the Groove software was released in 2001. In the spring of 2005, Groove Networks was acquired by Microsoft. Groove is now part of Microsoft Office; the current version is Groove 2007.
Unlike Notes, Groove is a peer-to-peer product that requires no server other than the relay server operated by Microsoft. Each member of a project team joins a common 'workspace'. The workspace, including all its associated files and documents, is automatically replicated on each user's computer. When one team member changes a document, that change is automatically propagated to all other workspaces -- securely, encrypted, immediately, and behind the scenes. No more emailing multiple copies and tracking who has which version of what.
Groove includes features such as presence awareness, in which workspace members can see which other team members are online at any given time, and communication facilities including chat, messaging, and VOIP voice communication. Groove is the answer to any businessperson's prayer who has tried to run "virtual" teams, with members working from different locations. Because that is how Athene is structured, we have made extensive use of Groove in our internal operations. Our knowledge of Groove isn't just book learning; we rely on it for our own activities.Groove Forms is almost another product on its own
Groove has a powerful custom application development capability. Groove Forms facilitate the implementation of anything from simple one-form applications to complex multi-form database systems driven by JavaScript. At Athene we have numerous Groove Forms apps that help us perform a whole range of operations. Among them are:
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While Groove is designed to be simple to deploy and use, it makes economic sense to get help in the early stages. Paying for a few hours of consulting is generally much less costly than learning and re-learning the hard way (the way we did it!). Developing simple forms is on a par with developing medium complexity spreadsheets – it can be done by any reasonably computer-literate user. But implementing more complex applications, particularly where they involve Groove cross-workspace lookups and/or supporting JavaScript, are sometimes best left to experts.
What can Athene do for you?
Athene offers the following Groove-related services:
- Planning and deployment of Groove
- Training of workspace members
- Development of Groove Forms applications
As computing professionals for most of our adult lives, we guarantee that any work we perform for you will be professional and well-engineered.
We do not sell Groove (or any other products). You can download a fully functional 60-day free trial copy from Microsoft. A perpetual licence costs about $300 per user.
To discuss potential Groove work, informally and with no obligation, email Revett Eldred at or call him at (403) 313-2836 [Mountain Time].
Website Development and Promotion
At Athene, we offer a full range of web services through our partner, Apis Design, from concept and design to maximizing your return with web promotion and reporting/tracking tools.
Our Focus
Our focus at Athene is on holding websites accountable. Gone are the days when companies built websites simply because they thought they had to. The new business owner wants to see results. They want to see a return on their investment. That's where Athene comes in.We design beautiful, functional websites - no question. But what we do that other web companies don't is focus on how the website will make you money.
Through measuring products and services sold directly and indirectly through the website, we are able to determine the value of each visitor, as well as the revenue generated by the site. Using this information, we can better focus your online marketing dollars on what really works.
How We Can Help You
We employ a suite of different promotion methods, tools and techniques and we'd be happy to sit down with you and chat about how Athene can help your website make you money. Or, if you don't have a website, we can build you a professional, functional site geared towards meeting your specific business goals.