“Last Chance!” Read the e-mail ad from Dell’s small-business division. “June 18th is the last day you can choose your operating system: Windows XP or Windows Vista.”
That’s not true at all as Gregg Keizer points out in FAQ: XP deathwatch, T minus 3 weeks, but there is enough truth in it that Dell’s not being shy about saying “act fast, because after June 18, Windows XP will no longer be offered on Dell laptops and desktops.”
I don’t recall ever seeing any company advertising the ‘old’ product over the ‘new’ product so strongly before, but Vista’s stink has grown so strong that it makes good business sense to promote XP over Vista. Has anyone ever been actually able to make a solid case for using Vista over XP? I haven’t seen one."
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
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http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Should I switch my computer network to wireless?
It wasn't that long ago that businesses were getting all wired up so they could be connected. Now the rush is to increase our connectivity with no wires attached. And no wonder - the freedom of wireless is definitely a wide-open door full of potential.
"The advantage in going wireless is obviously mobility, especially if you're using a lot of laptops -- and today, a lot of people use laptops and take them from office to office or to the boardroom," says Adam Blechman, owner of OnSiteASAP, a computer and technical company that services the Montreal region and the greater Toronto area. That mobility can translate to greater efficiency and productivity - and even greater satisfaction among employees, who might be able to enjoy more flex time or work from anywhere, any time, thanks to wireless.
"It's also cheaper to set up a wireless network if you're using laptops," Mr. Blechman says. "Every laptop has a wireless adaptor built into it. All you need to do is buy a wireless router, and those can be very cheap today. You can set up a printer on the wireless network, too."
But don't pull the plug on your wired networkjustyet, because Mr. Blechman and most computer network experts do not recommend switching entirely to wireless for most businesses. "The more computers you have - and certainly, if you're in a real office situation versus a home office - I think it's best to use wired," he says.
Nathan Jang, manager of IT services at the Vancouver-based Netdigix Systems Inc., which provides computer, networking and security services, shares the same view: "The wired connection is, at this point in time, still king," he says. "Number one, it's much faster. Number two, it is a hundred times more stable than even commercial-grade wireless systems right now."
Despite the ongoing improvements in the technology, wireless networks can be temperamental. If the wireless router is too far from the computers it services, the connection might be weak, slow or just fall completely off the radar.
"One of the major problems with wireless is dropped connections," Mr. Jang says. "It depends a lot on the environment around you, so if you have a lot of cordless phones, microwave, cell phones, antennas on the roof, lots of metal in your building, that all affects the wireless signal."
There's a far more serious problem with wireless, however, and that's security. "These days, security is a big issue. A lot of companies don't know how to set up their wireless connections securely," Mr. Jang says. In fact, many small business owners think that the wireless router or modem is secure right out of the box. That's just not the case. The fact is, while wireless routers have security features built into them, it is very common for manufacturers to pack the routers with these features turned off.
Security specialists compare networks to a home with doors and windows that can be easy entry points for burglars. Wireless is like adding more doors to your home, Mr. Blechman says.
"When you actually go wireless as your primary, without any type of security, you basically open up your network to hackers, and there's tons of them who drive around looking for these open wireless connections. If you happen to have a server or any shared files, they have access to all of it," he says.
By contrast, if you have a wired network, the only way someone can break in is either by hacking into one of your computers through the Internet or by physically breaking into your office and plugging in their laptop into one of your outlets. "
If you have a wireless network, there are tools that hackers can use to break into your wireless network, just by driving up to your house or building and using a device that will easily show them the kind of security you're using on the router, and they have software on their computers to hack into the router," Mr. Blechman says. So it is critical to add locks to all the windows and doors in a wireless network. That means you should use all the latest security measures available and set them up properly.
While going completely wireless is not advised by most experts, it doesn't mean you have to lose out entirely on the wireless freedom. Adding a well-secured wireless network to an existing wired one is not a bad way to go at all. "You can have a combination," Mr. Blechman says. "You can have a network where the desktops are wired but you have a wireless router, and you allow trusted employees to access the wireless."
It's a nice way to balance freedom and security. However, it's important to do it properly, which usually means hiring a professional to optimize both security and reliability.
In all likelihood, the technology to secure and improve wireless networks is only going to keep improving. Not surprisingly, new industry standards and next-generation routers already have better range and are faster than their predecessors, Mr. Blechman says.
"If you're getting a wireless, try to get newer equipment. You want to make sure you're using the best security encryption and you want your computers to be as up-to-date as possible so they can take advantage of that," he says.
There are applications, Mr. Jang says, where wireless as the primary network makes the most sense.
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Create a virtual office
"What's an office? A cubicle or small enclosed room on the umpteenth floor of a downtown high-rise, right? Not necessarily. More and more rat-racers and commuters are choosing to opt out of the old paradigm, shed the business suit and set up shop in their homes.
Some people are selling their services as actual 'virtual offices,' offering remote administrative assistance, communications, web and tech help and more. Others work a couple of days a week, freelance when projects come in or run a full-time home-based business. You don't have to buy a water cooler or install an elevator in your house to make your home office a reality, but you do have put some thought into your set-up.
No matter how strong your business plan, you need the right equipment to succeed. Advances in computer and communications technology have come hand in hand with price drops, so this isn't going to hurt your wallet as much as you might think. A full computer with all the fixings goes for as much today as just a monitor a few years ago.
A good way to save cash and space is to opt for a multi-function centre which features a laser printer, copier, PC/high-speed fax, and scanner, all in one. For example, Brother has several models that are so compact that they take up the same desk space as a fax machine alone (www.brother.ca/smb)."
According to Marc Ruel, product specialist at Brother Canada, these machines can also save a lot of money in consumables. "We pioneered work on these machines, back in the mid-90s, and we keep innovating to meet the needs of the growing virtual and home office industry. For instance, if you mostly print in black and white, our monochrome laser technology uses a drum and toner two-cartridge system which gives you a higher yield at lower cost."
With your office set up and your equipment in place, now you can practice your phone-answering voice: "Me Incorporated. How can we help you today?"
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Some people are selling their services as actual 'virtual offices,' offering remote administrative assistance, communications, web and tech help and more. Others work a couple of days a week, freelance when projects come in or run a full-time home-based business. You don't have to buy a water cooler or install an elevator in your house to make your home office a reality, but you do have put some thought into your set-up.
No matter how strong your business plan, you need the right equipment to succeed. Advances in computer and communications technology have come hand in hand with price drops, so this isn't going to hurt your wallet as much as you might think. A full computer with all the fixings goes for as much today as just a monitor a few years ago.
A good way to save cash and space is to opt for a multi-function centre which features a laser printer, copier, PC/high-speed fax, and scanner, all in one. For example, Brother has several models that are so compact that they take up the same desk space as a fax machine alone (www.brother.ca/smb)."
According to Marc Ruel, product specialist at Brother Canada, these machines can also save a lot of money in consumables. "We pioneered work on these machines, back in the mid-90s, and we keep innovating to meet the needs of the growing virtual and home office industry. For instance, if you mostly print in black and white, our monochrome laser technology uses a drum and toner two-cartridge system which gives you a higher yield at lower cost."
With your office set up and your equipment in place, now you can practice your phone-answering voice: "Me Incorporated. How can we help you today?"
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
XP SP3 upgrade corrupting Windows registry, users claim
Some users who upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack have complained they found large numbers of corrupted entries in Windows Registry. Others report not being able to detect Windows' Device Manager, deleted network connections, and inability to connect to the Internet or to wireless networks.
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Symantec Corp. today denied that its consumer security software, including Norton Internet Security and Norton 360, is to blame for wreaking havoc on some users' PCs after they upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3.
Microsoft Corp. declined to answer questions about the problem, which has emptied Windows' Device Manager and deleted network connections, preventing some users from connecting to the Internet or to wireless networks.
According to reports posted the day after Microsoft launched Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update, some users found that their network cards and previously-crafted connections had mysteriously vanished from Windows after updating to the service pack.
"The Network Connections screen now does not show any of the NIC cards. I have three adapters that used to show up," said someone using "MRFREEZE61" as an alias on Microsoft's XP SP3 support forum on May 7.
"In an attempt to troubleshoot, I tried to bring up the Device Manager, and to my surprise it is now empty."
Numerous other users corroborated MRFREEZE61's account on the same support thread.
MRFREEZE61 reported that he had found large numbers of corrupted entries in Windows Registry, a directory that stores settings and other critical information for Microsoft's operating system.
Those entries, said MRFREEEZE61, began with the characters "$%&"; once they were removed, the PC returned to normal.
Others chimed in to claim that the errant keys were located in sections of the registry devoted to settings for Symantec products, and they pinned blame on the security company's consumer-grade software installed on their PCs.
"I see parent keys that all seem to be Norton/Symantec product keys," said someone identified as "gfrost."
"This appears to be a Symantec-related problem according to the keys showing up," said another user, "datarimlens." "Is anyone from Symantec on this yet? Since SP3 has been distributed to at least one of my machines, am I to believe that this problem did not show up in testing? Really? For something as widely tested as SP3? Really? I mean seriously?"
"I upgraded three well-maintained laptop machines, one with NIS2008 [Norton Internet Security 2008] installed and running during the upgrade, one with NIS2008 installed but shut down during installation and one without NIS2008 installed," said "bighowie," yet another user posting to the forum.
"As you guessed, the one without NIS2008 upgraded like a charm. No problems. The other two have the same mess as identified by all in this thread."
Today, Symantec said its initial investigation had uncovered no cause and effect between its software and the corrupted registry keys, which in some cases numbered in the thousands.
"While we're seeing that this issue can affect Norton users, we don't believe we're the root cause," said Sondra Magness, a Symantec spokeswoman, in an e-mail. "In further searches on this issue, we found a number of users experiencing the problem but who do not have Norton software and/or are experiencing the issue on XP SP2."
In a follow-up telephone conversation, Dave Cole, Symantec's senior director for product management of its consumer offerings, acknowledged that users running Norton titles were experiencing problems, but he said the numbers are small.
"The support lines are not ringing off the hook," he said. Cole also said that Symantec had done "extensive testing" of its products with Windows XP SP3, but this issue hadn't surfaced.
And he essentially blamed Microsoft for causing the problem. "This is related to XP SP3," he said, "and XP SP3 has already had other issues specific to some OEMs and some processors."
Cole was referring to the "endless reboot" snafu that users began reporting after applying the service pack upgrade. Last week, Hewlett-Packard Co., whose AMD-powered machines were cited by most users as the only ones affected, confirmed the rebooting glitch, and Microsoft announced it would add a filter to Windows Update to prevent AMD-based PCs from obtaining XP SP3 via the update service's listings.
"People need to exercise caution before [updating to] XP SP3," said Cole. "This may well go beyond Symantec."
For its part, Microsoft has remained mum. Although a Microsoft engineer asked users on the support forum for additional information -- and provided an e-mail address for them to forward details -- the company did not address questions put to it Monday that asked it to confirm the problem, point out any posted Microsoft solutions and fix blame on either Symantec or its XP SP3 update.
Microsoft limited its response to boilerplate language that it has used before in statements about XP SP3. "Customers who experience a problem with Windows XP SP3 installation should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, which can provide free assistance and troubleshooting for these issues," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail Monday afternoon.
Some users, in fact, reported that they had contacted Microsoft's help desk, and via a remote session managed by the tech support representative, had had their Windows registry cleaned. Many others, however, vented at the apparent lack of interest by Microsoft in their troubles.
"I see no evidence that Microsoft is working on this issue, or even that they are mildly concerned about it," wrote "Sandbridge" Friday.
MRFREEZE61 posted clean-up instructions for afflicted users on the Microsoft support forum, and several reported back that the work-around had done the trick. "Hey Mr. Freeze, just wanted to say that your solution saved my butt big time," said someone identified as "RevDAGG" on Sunday.
Manually deleting the rogue registry keys, however, was impossible for some, who reported thousands, even tens of thousands, of corrupted entries; several called for an automated tool to help them do clean-up.
"Once we've figured out how many customers this affects, [an automated tool] is absolutely possible," said Symantec's Cole. "If there is something we can do to address the problem, we'll do it."
Scott KendallSmall Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
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scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Podcast series puts new business realities into perspective for SMEs
Grand & Toy sheds insight on key trends, issues facing entrepreneurs
Small business owners looking for on-the-go information and insight on some of the most prevalent issues facing today's small business world can tune into a new podcast series from Grand & Toy.
The upcoming online broadcasts, titled Small Things: Big Changes, will delve into some of the day-to-day matters that affect entrepreneurs most. The series will offer a range of experts speaking on a number of topics, including technology, the environment and ergonomics. The series has been designed with the intent to answer questions on the minds of Canada's small business owners.
"We know business owners today don't always have the time to thoroughly read the pages of a newspaper or industry magazine," said Paul McGowan, Director of Small Business, Grand & Toy. "We believe that by accessing our website, business owners can find solutions to improve their day-to-day business environment and operations - we want to help them gain the insight they need to make informed decisions."
The free podcasts will be available starting today with a new upload every two weeks through July on Grand & Toy's website at
http://www.grandandtoy.com/podcast, and can be downloaded through iTunes at www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html as well as other podcast directories.
The series will be hosted by Toronto-based editor Ted Kritsonis, who specializes in industry trends and Internet and online developments, among other topics.
"As a true customer advocate, Grand & Toy partnered with field specialists to provide entrepreneurs with relevant and updated business information so they can make better decisions when it comes to growing their business," said McGowan. "Podcasting was really the next step for Grand & Toy in reaching small business owners, as it allows us to offer them strategic content they can consult at their convenience and help them maximize office performance."
Podcast topics include:
2008 Tech Trends: The Tech 'IT' List
Peter Wolchak, editor of Backbone Magazine, discusses the technology trends that will make a difference to small business owners this year. He also explains everything entrepreneurs need to know about embracing social networking, and the importance of securing company data.
ECo-friendly Options: Promote Your Business with 'Green' Products
Jay Ostrow of Advertising Specialty Institute explains the recent scrutiny of businesses' environmental integrity and how the promotional products a business offers can speak louder than words. Ergonomic boom
Ergonomist Lucy Hart explains how chairs, desks, and lamps can have a dramatic impact on the productivity and overall happiness of employees. Listeners will learn the intricacies of ergonomics and how to make the most out of their workspace.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Small business owners looking for on-the-go information and insight on some of the most prevalent issues facing today's small business world can tune into a new podcast series from Grand & Toy.
The upcoming online broadcasts, titled Small Things: Big Changes, will delve into some of the day-to-day matters that affect entrepreneurs most. The series will offer a range of experts speaking on a number of topics, including technology, the environment and ergonomics. The series has been designed with the intent to answer questions on the minds of Canada's small business owners.
"We know business owners today don't always have the time to thoroughly read the pages of a newspaper or industry magazine," said Paul McGowan, Director of Small Business, Grand & Toy. "We believe that by accessing our website, business owners can find solutions to improve their day-to-day business environment and operations - we want to help them gain the insight they need to make informed decisions."
The free podcasts will be available starting today with a new upload every two weeks through July on Grand & Toy's website at
http://www.grandandtoy.com/podcast, and can be downloaded through iTunes at www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html as well as other podcast directories.
The series will be hosted by Toronto-based editor Ted Kritsonis, who specializes in industry trends and Internet and online developments, among other topics.
"As a true customer advocate, Grand & Toy partnered with field specialists to provide entrepreneurs with relevant and updated business information so they can make better decisions when it comes to growing their business," said McGowan. "Podcasting was really the next step for Grand & Toy in reaching small business owners, as it allows us to offer them strategic content they can consult at their convenience and help them maximize office performance."
Podcast topics include:
2008 Tech Trends: The Tech 'IT' List
Peter Wolchak, editor of Backbone Magazine, discusses the technology trends that will make a difference to small business owners this year. He also explains everything entrepreneurs need to know about embracing social networking, and the importance of securing company data.
ECo-friendly Options: Promote Your Business with 'Green' Products
Jay Ostrow of Advertising Specialty Institute explains the recent scrutiny of businesses' environmental integrity and how the promotional products a business offers can speak louder than words. Ergonomic boom
Ergonomist Lucy Hart explains how chairs, desks, and lamps can have a dramatic impact on the productivity and overall happiness of employees. Listeners will learn the intricacies of ergonomics and how to make the most out of their workspace.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Software-as-a-Service maximizes malware detection.
Suited for SMBs, Panda Managed Office Protection(TM) provides Web console that allows organizations to manage protection remotely. Collective Intelligence automatically detects, correlates, and responds to malware found across entire network of PCs. Updated information to protect against zero-day attacks can be configured by administrator from web console and can also be forced on demand. With periodic security audits of network, program helps enforce compliance.
Panda Security Unveils New Security-as-a-Service Solution for Small and Medium Business, Value Added Resellers
Panda Managed Office Protection Leverages Collective Intelligence to Maximize Malware Detection, Minimize Resource Consumption
Panda Security, a leading global provider of IT security solutions, today announced the general availability of Panda Managed Office Protection(TM), a new security-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and value added resellers (VARs) serving the SMB market. As a hosted service, Panda Managed Office Protection provides an always up and easy to use Web console which allows organizations to manage their protection anytime from anywhere without additional infrastructure investments. With the introduction of Panda Managed Office Protection, the company offers one of the broadest SaaS antivirus product portfolios in the industry.
Panda Managed Office Protection's remote Web management console enables secure configuration of IT resources from any computer on the Internet. Profiles can also be assigned across the organization to adapt security measures according to individual or departmental requirements, providing complete remote security management with no need for user intervention. This solution is designed to minimize operating costs through complete protection without the need to invest in dedicated equipment. It is also an excellent tool for VARs looking to offer security services to clients, and businesses that run on a virtual network with computers distributed throughout multiple locations. In addition, Panda Managed Office Protection is ideal for large companies with a significant number of geographically dispersed offices that require remote management.
Lentner Technology Integrators, a managed services provider that serves medical and financial organizations in the greater New York City area, has been testing Panda Managed Office Protection with its clients. "Panda Managed Office Protection is versatile, dependable and provides us with real-time updates of any security threats that our customers' networks may be faced with," said Sean Lentner, principal partner, Lentner Technology Integrators. "It is essential for us to offer remotely managed services that are continuously updated like Panda's Managed Office Protection so we can immediately respond to any security issues. The Web-based reporting feature in particular has been extremely beneficial for streamlining our processes and providing a high-level analysis of security issues that are meaningful to our clients' management teams."
Ebby Halliday, a real estate firm based in Dallas, Texas, with over 600 computers located in 30 widely dispersed locations, implemented Managed Office Protection and immediately noticed benefits including higher security protection and greater administrative flexibility. "With computers located as far as 70 miles away from our headquarters, I typically spend more time driving to each office than on actually fixing the problems," said Rich Carpenter, senior field technician, Ebby Halliday. "With Panda Managed Office Protection, I have all of the tools I need to monitor, scan, and fix any security issues through a simple internet connection. This saves me time, and allows me to focus more on non-security related issues."
Panda Security's proprietary Collective Intelligence technology enhances the product with unparalleled proactive malware protection. Collective Intelligence maximizes malware detection capabilities while minimizing the resource and bandwidth consumption of protected systems by automatically detecting, correlating and responding to malware found across an entire network of PCs, versus locally. Additionally, by hosting all of the information in the cloud and providing a Web-based console for the IT administrator, total cost of ownership is kept to a minimum and there is no need to invest in dedicated security servers.
Panda Managed Office Protection offers the following features and benefits:
-- Remote Management Tools. The Web-based administration console enables IT managers to complete various tasks remotely that previously required manual changes to each computer (e.g. heuristic scanning options, changing user profiles and specifications, IP address tracking, and enabling/disabling features like email protection or firewall settings).
-- Minimized operating costs and eliminated complexity. No infrastructure investment required, enables SMBs to delegate security to specialized service providers. With the user-friendly centralized Web console, protection can be deployed and managed completely remotely.
-- Proactive anti-malware protection against known and unknown threats. Panda Security's Collective Intelligence deploys technologies within "the cloud" to automate and enhance the malware collection, classification and remediation involved with a standard cycle.
-- Lightweight Automated Updates. Updated information to protect against zero-day attacks can be configured by the administrator from the centralized web console and can also be forced on demand. Updates are completed via peer-to-peer networks from the nearest desktop, minimizing bandwidth consumptions.
-- Improved risk management. Real time information about the detection activity can be sent to the administrator via email and is available on the Web console.
-- Ensured business continuity. Hosted service with 24x7 support and always using the latest versions of technologies and signature files. Administrators can also submit suspected threats to PandaLabs for quick and thorough analysis.
-- Helps enforce compliance. Provides periodic security audits of your network in line with SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and other regulations.
"Security has become a major issue for small and medium size businesses that often have employees working at remote locations on virtual networks," said Didier Guibal, president, Panda Security USA.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Panda Security Unveils New Security-as-a-Service Solution for Small and Medium Business, Value Added Resellers
Panda Managed Office Protection Leverages Collective Intelligence to Maximize Malware Detection, Minimize Resource Consumption
Panda Security, a leading global provider of IT security solutions, today announced the general availability of Panda Managed Office Protection(TM), a new security-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and value added resellers (VARs) serving the SMB market. As a hosted service, Panda Managed Office Protection provides an always up and easy to use Web console which allows organizations to manage their protection anytime from anywhere without additional infrastructure investments. With the introduction of Panda Managed Office Protection, the company offers one of the broadest SaaS antivirus product portfolios in the industry.
Panda Managed Office Protection's remote Web management console enables secure configuration of IT resources from any computer on the Internet. Profiles can also be assigned across the organization to adapt security measures according to individual or departmental requirements, providing complete remote security management with no need for user intervention. This solution is designed to minimize operating costs through complete protection without the need to invest in dedicated equipment. It is also an excellent tool for VARs looking to offer security services to clients, and businesses that run on a virtual network with computers distributed throughout multiple locations. In addition, Panda Managed Office Protection is ideal for large companies with a significant number of geographically dispersed offices that require remote management.
Lentner Technology Integrators, a managed services provider that serves medical and financial organizations in the greater New York City area, has been testing Panda Managed Office Protection with its clients. "Panda Managed Office Protection is versatile, dependable and provides us with real-time updates of any security threats that our customers' networks may be faced with," said Sean Lentner, principal partner, Lentner Technology Integrators. "It is essential for us to offer remotely managed services that are continuously updated like Panda's Managed Office Protection so we can immediately respond to any security issues. The Web-based reporting feature in particular has been extremely beneficial for streamlining our processes and providing a high-level analysis of security issues that are meaningful to our clients' management teams."
Ebby Halliday, a real estate firm based in Dallas, Texas, with over 600 computers located in 30 widely dispersed locations, implemented Managed Office Protection and immediately noticed benefits including higher security protection and greater administrative flexibility. "With computers located as far as 70 miles away from our headquarters, I typically spend more time driving to each office than on actually fixing the problems," said Rich Carpenter, senior field technician, Ebby Halliday. "With Panda Managed Office Protection, I have all of the tools I need to monitor, scan, and fix any security issues through a simple internet connection. This saves me time, and allows me to focus more on non-security related issues."
Panda Security's proprietary Collective Intelligence technology enhances the product with unparalleled proactive malware protection. Collective Intelligence maximizes malware detection capabilities while minimizing the resource and bandwidth consumption of protected systems by automatically detecting, correlating and responding to malware found across an entire network of PCs, versus locally. Additionally, by hosting all of the information in the cloud and providing a Web-based console for the IT administrator, total cost of ownership is kept to a minimum and there is no need to invest in dedicated security servers.
Panda Managed Office Protection offers the following features and benefits:
-- Remote Management Tools. The Web-based administration console enables IT managers to complete various tasks remotely that previously required manual changes to each computer (e.g. heuristic scanning options, changing user profiles and specifications, IP address tracking, and enabling/disabling features like email protection or firewall settings).
-- Minimized operating costs and eliminated complexity. No infrastructure investment required, enables SMBs to delegate security to specialized service providers. With the user-friendly centralized Web console, protection can be deployed and managed completely remotely.
-- Proactive anti-malware protection against known and unknown threats. Panda Security's Collective Intelligence deploys technologies within "the cloud" to automate and enhance the malware collection, classification and remediation involved with a standard cycle.
-- Lightweight Automated Updates. Updated information to protect against zero-day attacks can be configured by the administrator from the centralized web console and can also be forced on demand. Updates are completed via peer-to-peer networks from the nearest desktop, minimizing bandwidth consumptions.
-- Improved risk management. Real time information about the detection activity can be sent to the administrator via email and is available on the Web console.
-- Ensured business continuity. Hosted service with 24x7 support and always using the latest versions of technologies and signature files. Administrators can also submit suspected threats to PandaLabs for quick and thorough analysis.
-- Helps enforce compliance. Provides periodic security audits of your network in line with SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and other regulations.
"Security has become a major issue for small and medium size businesses that often have employees working at remote locations on virtual networks," said Didier Guibal, president, Panda Security USA.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Symantec Plans Release of "Zero-Impact" Norton
Symantec is attempting to find a way to keep its consumer security software line from bogging down computers with an upcoming release of its popular Norton 360, according to a recent Wall Street Journal posting.
Symantec execs said that in general, its security software works by embedding itself into a PC operating system to scan for abnormal behavior that indicates the presence of malware or some kind of malicious code.
However, in the upcoming version of Norton 360, Symantec's consumer security software line, the Cupertino-based company plans to make use of a technology that incorporates a statistical approach to find malware. Instead of directly linking to the computer's operating system, the security software will search for patterns, such as total number of PCs on which certain software is installed. Because this statistical method doesn't engage users PCs as deeply, it theoretically is less prone to crashes and is less likely to bog down systems -- a factor which could be a huge incentive for more consumers and SMBs to invest in basic security software.
Partners have maintained that users dread installing security software, fearing that it will compromise the speed and efficiency of their machines. And they often aren't wrong.
Altogether Symantec's Norton 360 version 2.0 is the company's security solution geared for consumers, home office users and lower-end SMB space, incorporating antivirus, antispyware, PC security, identity protection and backup and PC tuneup options.
The upcoming version of Norton 360 is part of the company's goal to improve security software to the point of "zero-impact" -- in which the software would operate completely unnoticed by users, according to the WSJ.
Symantec says that the updated of Norton 360 is scheduled for a beta release some time this summer, and will be available on the general market later this fall.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Symantec execs said that in general, its security software works by embedding itself into a PC operating system to scan for abnormal behavior that indicates the presence of malware or some kind of malicious code.
However, in the upcoming version of Norton 360, Symantec's consumer security software line, the Cupertino-based company plans to make use of a technology that incorporates a statistical approach to find malware. Instead of directly linking to the computer's operating system, the security software will search for patterns, such as total number of PCs on which certain software is installed. Because this statistical method doesn't engage users PCs as deeply, it theoretically is less prone to crashes and is less likely to bog down systems -- a factor which could be a huge incentive for more consumers and SMBs to invest in basic security software.
Partners have maintained that users dread installing security software, fearing that it will compromise the speed and efficiency of their machines. And they often aren't wrong.
Altogether Symantec's Norton 360 version 2.0 is the company's security solution geared for consumers, home office users and lower-end SMB space, incorporating antivirus, antispyware, PC security, identity protection and backup and PC tuneup options.
The upcoming version of Norton 360 is part of the company's goal to improve security software to the point of "zero-impact" -- in which the software would operate completely unnoticed by users, according to the WSJ.
Symantec says that the updated of Norton 360 is scheduled for a beta release some time this summer, and will be available on the general market later this fall.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Suitable IT is crucial for small biz
The extreme price sensitivity of the SME segment is often cited as a major reason for the reluctance of leading IT firms to look at the SME segment as a viable market...
Most want to use IT but find it very difficult to get good IT firms to show interest in my small firm.
“Managing IT is very challenging as I need to deal with many suppliers and each supplier blames the other suppliers when things do not work.” “Am I running an IT firm or a manufacturing firm?” “We have invested considerably in IT but are not sure whether we derive any value from these investments.”
These statements have been culled out from my conversations with IT users belonging to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment across the country. But they truly believed that IT could help their firms become more competitive.
Eager to learn the supply side perception, I also spoke to some IT firms who are active in the domestic market and got very different reactions. “Canadian SME users are only interested in paying low prices and not interested in good quality and advanced functionality.” “They expect IT services to be provided free.” “The users can never decide on their requirements and do not believe in paying for changes.”
Intellectual argument
These conversations clearly indicate an adversarial relationship between MSME IT users and their suppliers. Irrespective of who wins the intellectual argument, the fact remains that IT adoption in the Canadian MSME segment significantly trails behind their counterparts in comparator economies like Brazil and China which is rather unfortunate given the transformational tailwind IT can provide to the MSME firms and the presence of a strong IT industry in Canada.
The extreme price sensitivity of the Canadian MSME segment is often cited as a major reason for the reluctance of leading IT firms to look at the MSME segment as a viable market. However in most of my conversations with MSME IT users, while affordability of IT products certainly got raised as an issue, appropriateness of technology and complexity of IT management came across as more significant IT adoption barriers.
A majority of branded IT products available at national level have been created in a context which is quite different to the context of the Canadian MSME segment resulting in these products being quite alien to the MSME user's requirements. A good illustration of this contextual dichotomy is that one of the most ubiquitous office productivity products available in Canadai uses English(US) as a default language setting and does not allow numbers to be expressed in lakhs, crores etc.
Core complexity
While trivial, these shortcomings often become a source of major irritation for users. Many product vendors release ‘lite’ version of their products for the MSME segment by removing some of the more advanced features from the base product.
These lite versions are rarely successful as they do not address the core complexity of the product. During a recent interaction with MSME IT users in Jamshedpur recently, I was surprised to learn that while most of the users were dissatisfied with the better known branded ERP products, a locally created ERP product seemed to be widely popular.
Even a bare minimum IT infrastructure in a MSME firm will include a few PC’s, printers, LAN, disparate applications etc typically sourced from multiple vendors. Managing multiple vendors, technology obsolescence, software licensing and upgrades, application changes require IT capabilities most MSME firms lack leading them to rely heavily on their local vendors. With most local vendors themselves lacking capabilities to offer good quality solutions, MSME users never seem to get a bang for their IT buck and consequently develop a sense of uncertainty vis-a-vis IT resulting in a cycle of IT under-investment. Typically IT adoption only focuses on automating routine tasks and the IT sourcing philosophy is predicated on the cheapest which is often low quality.
Cloud computing
For IT adoption to increase in the MSME segment IT needs to become integral to the firm’s business operations and treated at par with any other business infrastructure e.g. plant machinery. This transformation can only happen if both MSME users and IT suppliers are prepared to move away from conventional IT usage and delivery approaches and boldly experiment with new models.
While it is still early days, Software as a Service (SaaS) aka ‘cloud computing’ is a technology which perhaps has the disruptive potential to overcome conventional paradigms.
The ubiquitous Canadian cable TV model is a good illustration of what SaaS can achieve. Canadian cable TV users access a localised bouquet of channels paying a monthly fee without worrying about how and where the content is created, what technology is used for broadcasting etc. The cable viewer’s only capital investment is the TV with the local cable TV operator resolving all issues. Similarly SaaS can help create an IT model analogous to cable TV where remotely hosted IT applications are made available to a MSME cluster over a reliable telecommunication network with the user paying a subscription fee.
Each user only has to invest in an internet connected PC(s) which can also avoided if the service provider ‘bundles’ the hardware and connectivity as part of the package.
Adhoc changes
Detractors cite the lack of personalised support and user specific customisation as two key weaknesses in SaaS. Most of the production and back-office processes of firms in a local cluster possess a high degree of uniformity with the differences often being due to adhoc changes in the firm over a period of time rather than due to any fundamental differences in the processes itself.
After all how different can processes like inventory management, payroll, accounting, supply chain management be? Most good SaaS based applications will anyway easily lend themselves to customisation in usability features including screen layouts, reports etc. Personalised support can be optionally offered to the users by creating differential support levels e.g. silver, gold, platinum, priced accordingly. While success in the SaaS approach will be predicated on scalability, information security, service reliability and solution flexibility, getting the right commercial model in place is perhaps the single most important factor for success. The commercial model needs to be scalable and volume based with an attractive base price for the core applications and include a basic support level with additional applications and higher support levels being priced differentially.
Cost effectiveness
The benefits of SaaS are tremendous for the user. Firstly, it allows the user to focus on using IT to run his business instead of investing efforts towards managing his IT infrastructure. Secondly the user gets access to best practices and technologies which are incorporated in the general solution at no significant cost to the user. Most importantly SaaS allows users to move their IT expenses from CAPEX to OPEX thereby allowing them to adopt IT without getting locked into expensive hardware and software.
In the current scenario MSME users invest substantially in implementing ERP before being able to use it and mostly end up procuring more than they require. SaaS based ERP solutions can allow users to ‘cherry-pick’ applications as per their business requirements and comfort levels at an incremental increase in costs. While the above may sound a little far-fetched, the success of firms like salesforce.com has established the viability of the SaaS paradigm. In Canada itself, entrepreneurs are already launching SaaS based applications aimed at specific industrial clusters.
The IT adoption challenges of the millions of firms in the Canadian MSME segment represent a tremendous business and innovation opportunity for the IT industry. Harnessing it will require IT firms to relinquish their existing dogmas about the ‘difficult’ MSME user and go the extra mile to develop deep understanding of the fundamental IT adoption pain-points of MSME users in order to create innovative solutions and commercial models which can increase the current dismal IT adoption levels in the Canadian MSME segment. As Peter Drucker aptly said, there are no unreasonable customers, only lazy suppliers.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Most want to use IT but find it very difficult to get good IT firms to show interest in my small firm.
“Managing IT is very challenging as I need to deal with many suppliers and each supplier blames the other suppliers when things do not work.” “Am I running an IT firm or a manufacturing firm?” “We have invested considerably in IT but are not sure whether we derive any value from these investments.”
These statements have been culled out from my conversations with IT users belonging to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment across the country. But they truly believed that IT could help their firms become more competitive.
Eager to learn the supply side perception, I also spoke to some IT firms who are active in the domestic market and got very different reactions. “Canadian SME users are only interested in paying low prices and not interested in good quality and advanced functionality.” “They expect IT services to be provided free.” “The users can never decide on their requirements and do not believe in paying for changes.”
Intellectual argument
These conversations clearly indicate an adversarial relationship between MSME IT users and their suppliers. Irrespective of who wins the intellectual argument, the fact remains that IT adoption in the Canadian MSME segment significantly trails behind their counterparts in comparator economies like Brazil and China which is rather unfortunate given the transformational tailwind IT can provide to the MSME firms and the presence of a strong IT industry in Canada.
The extreme price sensitivity of the Canadian MSME segment is often cited as a major reason for the reluctance of leading IT firms to look at the MSME segment as a viable market. However in most of my conversations with MSME IT users, while affordability of IT products certainly got raised as an issue, appropriateness of technology and complexity of IT management came across as more significant IT adoption barriers.
A majority of branded IT products available at national level have been created in a context which is quite different to the context of the Canadian MSME segment resulting in these products being quite alien to the MSME user's requirements. A good illustration of this contextual dichotomy is that one of the most ubiquitous office productivity products available in Canadai uses English(US) as a default language setting and does not allow numbers to be expressed in lakhs, crores etc.
Core complexity
While trivial, these shortcomings often become a source of major irritation for users. Many product vendors release ‘lite’ version of their products for the MSME segment by removing some of the more advanced features from the base product.
These lite versions are rarely successful as they do not address the core complexity of the product. During a recent interaction with MSME IT users in Jamshedpur recently, I was surprised to learn that while most of the users were dissatisfied with the better known branded ERP products, a locally created ERP product seemed to be widely popular.
Even a bare minimum IT infrastructure in a MSME firm will include a few PC’s, printers, LAN, disparate applications etc typically sourced from multiple vendors. Managing multiple vendors, technology obsolescence, software licensing and upgrades, application changes require IT capabilities most MSME firms lack leading them to rely heavily on their local vendors. With most local vendors themselves lacking capabilities to offer good quality solutions, MSME users never seem to get a bang for their IT buck and consequently develop a sense of uncertainty vis-a-vis IT resulting in a cycle of IT under-investment. Typically IT adoption only focuses on automating routine tasks and the IT sourcing philosophy is predicated on the cheapest which is often low quality.
Cloud computing
For IT adoption to increase in the MSME segment IT needs to become integral to the firm’s business operations and treated at par with any other business infrastructure e.g. plant machinery. This transformation can only happen if both MSME users and IT suppliers are prepared to move away from conventional IT usage and delivery approaches and boldly experiment with new models.
While it is still early days, Software as a Service (SaaS) aka ‘cloud computing’ is a technology which perhaps has the disruptive potential to overcome conventional paradigms.
The ubiquitous Canadian cable TV model is a good illustration of what SaaS can achieve. Canadian cable TV users access a localised bouquet of channels paying a monthly fee without worrying about how and where the content is created, what technology is used for broadcasting etc. The cable viewer’s only capital investment is the TV with the local cable TV operator resolving all issues. Similarly SaaS can help create an IT model analogous to cable TV where remotely hosted IT applications are made available to a MSME cluster over a reliable telecommunication network with the user paying a subscription fee.
Each user only has to invest in an internet connected PC(s) which can also avoided if the service provider ‘bundles’ the hardware and connectivity as part of the package.
Adhoc changes
Detractors cite the lack of personalised support and user specific customisation as two key weaknesses in SaaS. Most of the production and back-office processes of firms in a local cluster possess a high degree of uniformity with the differences often being due to adhoc changes in the firm over a period of time rather than due to any fundamental differences in the processes itself.
After all how different can processes like inventory management, payroll, accounting, supply chain management be? Most good SaaS based applications will anyway easily lend themselves to customisation in usability features including screen layouts, reports etc. Personalised support can be optionally offered to the users by creating differential support levels e.g. silver, gold, platinum, priced accordingly. While success in the SaaS approach will be predicated on scalability, information security, service reliability and solution flexibility, getting the right commercial model in place is perhaps the single most important factor for success. The commercial model needs to be scalable and volume based with an attractive base price for the core applications and include a basic support level with additional applications and higher support levels being priced differentially.
Cost effectiveness
The benefits of SaaS are tremendous for the user. Firstly, it allows the user to focus on using IT to run his business instead of investing efforts towards managing his IT infrastructure. Secondly the user gets access to best practices and technologies which are incorporated in the general solution at no significant cost to the user. Most importantly SaaS allows users to move their IT expenses from CAPEX to OPEX thereby allowing them to adopt IT without getting locked into expensive hardware and software.
In the current scenario MSME users invest substantially in implementing ERP before being able to use it and mostly end up procuring more than they require. SaaS based ERP solutions can allow users to ‘cherry-pick’ applications as per their business requirements and comfort levels at an incremental increase in costs. While the above may sound a little far-fetched, the success of firms like salesforce.com has established the viability of the SaaS paradigm. In Canada itself, entrepreneurs are already launching SaaS based applications aimed at specific industrial clusters.
The IT adoption challenges of the millions of firms in the Canadian MSME segment represent a tremendous business and innovation opportunity for the IT industry. Harnessing it will require IT firms to relinquish their existing dogmas about the ‘difficult’ MSME user and go the extra mile to develop deep understanding of the fundamental IT adoption pain-points of MSME users in order to create innovative solutions and commercial models which can increase the current dismal IT adoption levels in the Canadian MSME segment. As Peter Drucker aptly said, there are no unreasonable customers, only lazy suppliers.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
Smartchair for your home office
Most chairs on the market aren’t quite comfortable because they are only a few pieces of plastic and cushions put together. But after sitting in a chair like that day by day, your back will start hurting.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
The Smartchair is a new chair especially designed for your home office. It uses a combination of auto-adjusted spring formations and biofeedback sensors to automatically adjust to your muscle pain.
It has a controller unit that seems like a PDA sized electronic device, located on the left arm and a 3-inch touchscreen on the unit that can be used as a control button and a function display. The entire system is powered by a rechargeable Li-on battery.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
How Your Website Can Help Your Small Business
Currently there are over 1 billion websites on the Internet with many more being uploaded everyday.
This has widened the number of people who are online to hundreds of millions.
In the past 10 years, we have witnessed an explosion of the World Wide Web users with the opening of large population areas such as India and China.
With an influx of web surfers now reaching well into the hundreds of millions world wide. Businesses are awakening to the fact that a without a web presence they could be losing the cutting edge that could translate into their demise. Despite the many reports of identity theft online, websites and web transactions are actually getting safer.
With companies such as PayPal setting the trend in secure Internet transactions, more people are becoming more confident to shop online.
This means that the number of people that are searching the web for goods and services with the view of spending money is increasing exponentially.
Without a website therefore, businesses find themselves unable to compete in today's digital marketplace.
As we've just mentioned, Internet commerce is getting more secure. In the initial stages of e-commerce, only major companies used to have the ability to deliver quality products from via the Internet by promising secure transactions.
Today technology has revolutionized security. It is now common place for billions of dollars to exchange hands daily online through secure websites. Another factor to consider that is causing small businesses to make the transition to online business is faster Internet.
When the Internet first moved from commercial into people's homes, digital signals used to be transmitted via the phone line. This was called dial-up Internet and was characterized by the presence of a noise modem that was also costly and cumbersome.
As websites became more and more sophisticated with premium graphics and animations not to mention movies and streaming video, dial-up was clearly unable to cope with the bandwidth and there was the need for faster Internet. Broadband Internet or High-speed Internet was born.
Pioneered by such companies as Rogers Cable and Bell Canada high-speed Internet radically transformed the way we view websites. It is now easy to perform multiple tasks online including stream data such as video and audio with relative ease. High speed Internet has also transformed the way we do business online making transactions faster and more secure.
A recent study shows that people with high-speed Internet tend to spend more money online that their counterparts possessing a dial-up connection. This has resulted in a mad rush to transition to high-speed with some countries such as Singapore now being 100% broadband. With this kind of digital environment, small business have been forced to adapt an online presence in order to service.
With more people online now, small businesses can no longer rely on walk-in customers and convectional advertising.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
This has widened the number of people who are online to hundreds of millions.
In the past 10 years, we have witnessed an explosion of the World Wide Web users with the opening of large population areas such as India and China.
With an influx of web surfers now reaching well into the hundreds of millions world wide. Businesses are awakening to the fact that a without a web presence they could be losing the cutting edge that could translate into their demise. Despite the many reports of identity theft online, websites and web transactions are actually getting safer.
With companies such as PayPal setting the trend in secure Internet transactions, more people are becoming more confident to shop online.
This means that the number of people that are searching the web for goods and services with the view of spending money is increasing exponentially.
Without a website therefore, businesses find themselves unable to compete in today's digital marketplace.
As we've just mentioned, Internet commerce is getting more secure. In the initial stages of e-commerce, only major companies used to have the ability to deliver quality products from via the Internet by promising secure transactions.
Today technology has revolutionized security. It is now common place for billions of dollars to exchange hands daily online through secure websites. Another factor to consider that is causing small businesses to make the transition to online business is faster Internet.
When the Internet first moved from commercial into people's homes, digital signals used to be transmitted via the phone line. This was called dial-up Internet and was characterized by the presence of a noise modem that was also costly and cumbersome.
As websites became more and more sophisticated with premium graphics and animations not to mention movies and streaming video, dial-up was clearly unable to cope with the bandwidth and there was the need for faster Internet. Broadband Internet or High-speed Internet was born.
Pioneered by such companies as Rogers Cable and Bell Canada high-speed Internet radically transformed the way we view websites. It is now easy to perform multiple tasks online including stream data such as video and audio with relative ease. High speed Internet has also transformed the way we do business online making transactions faster and more secure.
A recent study shows that people with high-speed Internet tend to spend more money online that their counterparts possessing a dial-up connection. This has resulted in a mad rush to transition to high-speed with some countries such as Singapore now being 100% broadband. With this kind of digital environment, small business have been forced to adapt an online presence in order to service.
With more people online now, small businesses can no longer rely on walk-in customers and convectional advertising.
Scott Kendall
Small Business Technology Specialist
__________________________________
The Technology Coach
Small Business Technology Service,
Training, Coaching and Support!
http://www.thetechnologycoach.ca
scottk@thetechnologycoach.ca
New National Survey Shows 40 Percent of Small Businesses Not Ready for Potential Disaster
New National Survey Shows 40 Percent of Small Businesses Not Ready ...
Teleborsa News - Roma,Lazio,Italy
In fact, the Office Depot survey of 5000 small business professionals found that nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of respondents who have a disaster ...
See all stories on this topic
Weighing the Cost of Leasing Equipment
Uganda: Weighing the Cost of Leasing Equipment
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
With leasing, one is able to easily keep up with competitors with regards to technology upgrades. Leasing can enable your small business to acquire ...
See all stories on this topic
MIRC e-SMEs Week 2008
MIRC e-SMEs Week 2008
By twku
Day 1 and day 2 consist of knowledge enriching talks to SME and SOHO, such as online marketing strategies, advice for supply chain management, ERP knowledge to improve business productivity, Google Adwords tips and online payment ...
Exabytes Blog - http://blog.exabytes.com.my
Former Sage boss to compete against them
Former Sage boss to compete against them
Financial Director - London,UK
Coda recently launch Coda2go, software aimed at the SME market which allows users to pay a monthly fee for the technology. Jackson also added that he was ...
See all stories on this topic
Dell's Small-Ball Services Strategy
Dell's Small-Ball Services Strategy
Forbes - NY,USA
That's a rational plan, says Technology Business Research Senior Analyst Lindy Hanson. HP's recent move to spend $12.8 billion to acquire services ...
See all stories on this topic
Web 2.0 for business class
Web 2.0 for business class
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
SaaS functions, which are especially appealing to small and medium-size businesses, are making inroads into the big-business domains of Microsoft, ...
See all stories on this topic
Google Alert - SME technology
MiniVDO: TAT enhance skills in on-line marketing for SME ...
Thailand National News Bureau - Phuket,Thailand
The participants learnt about technology, on line marketing tools, paying via internet as well as exchanging experiences with businesses. ...
See all stories on this topic
NetSuite — NetSuite Small Business
NetSuite — NetSuite Small Business
CPA Technology Advisor - Beltsville,MD,USA
NetSuite Small Business is the company's entry-level system, offering smaller and growing entities the benefits of integration between front and back office ...
See all stories on this topic
IT Leaders reports on it's MSP Progress at N-able Roadshow
IT Leaders reports on it's MSP Progress at N-able Roadshow
By admin
But now, we are coming off the back of one of the more prosperous and successful periods in Australian economic history – the SME sector has money to spend on technology. We are also at a time of lowest unemployment in recent history, ...
Scott Linden Jones - http://scottlindenjones.com.au
Monday, May 26, 2008
Google Blogs Alert for: SME technology
SME's leading the way with flexbile working
By Stuart
I wrote the above as if writing for the future. I think that SMEs will lead the way in flexible working, not the bluechips, the corporates. The reason why is simple. Change. Change the most common cause of big issues, budget overruns ...
Stuart Oliver: Technology COO... - http://www.stuart-oliver.com/blog
lifehack.org - New Articles
By sme(sme)
He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and women's studies in Las Vegas, NV. His personal site can be found at ...
redefining my future - http://smedwards57.blogspot.com/
This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google.
SME Business Technology Conference 2008
SME Business Technology Conference 2008
Everyone's familiar with how technology has revolutionized the way we do business and driven growth and success, not only to large enterprises but to SME's as well. In today's global economy, we cannot compete on the basis of low labor ...
PinoyPortal, Pinoy News, Philippine... - http://pinoyportal.ca/
SMB: A Tough Nut to Crack?
PC Magazine Middle & Near East - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
The key to success is ensuring that resellers and channel partners, who are the 'feet on the street' for the SMB space, have the technology and skills on ...
See all stories on this topic
Secure Designs Launches New Support Portal
WebHosting.Info - San Francisco,CA,USA
... to 'micro' and SMB companies. It articulated that during its five-year evolution as an MSSP, SDI has developed a wide range of proprietary technologies ...
See all stories on this topic
Netmagic Partners HP, Providing Hosting and Managed Services to ...
TechWhack (press release) - New Delhi,Delhi,India
Ashok Pamidi, Director for Commercial Accounts, SMB & Enterprise Partners, Technology Solutions Group, HP India said, "Independent research shows that there ...
See all stories on this topic
What Do EMC and Apple Have in Common? Quality
TechNewsWorld - Sherman Oaks,CA,USA
SMB (small to medium business) might work out to be blended variant of both, with the survey approach at the M side and the individual focus on the S side ...
See all stories on this topic
Enhance Technology Partners with Dansk Computer Center to Expand ...
PR-CANADA.net (press release) - Murino,Montenegro
Enhance Technology, Inc. (ETI), the market leader in enterprise and SMB storage systems is delighted to announce a partnership with an independent IT ...
See all stories on this topic
Rebecca Gill
Fast Company - USA
TGI's primary business focus, and where the majority of our ERP software customers exist, is the small to medium size business (SMB) market, ...
See all stories on this topic
Symantec Plans Release of "Zero-Impact" Norton
CRN - Manhasset,NY,USA
Altogether Symantec's Norton 360 version 2.0 is the company's security solution geared for consumers, home office users and lower-end SMB space, ...
See all stories on this topic
UC – it's quite simple after all
ITBusiness.ca - Scarborough,Ontario,Canada
... businesses (SMBs), unified communications (UC) remains just a buzzword despite the benefits experienced larger businesses using the technology. ...
See all stories on this topic
Software-as-a-Service maximizes malware detection.
ThomasNet Industrial News Room (press release) - New York,NY,USA
No infrastructure investment required, enables SMBs to delegate security to specialized service providers. With the user-friendly centralized Web console, ...
See all stories on this topic
ESET.NOD32.Antivirus.3.0.657.32-bit.Incl.Patch Expires Jan/05/2050
By yarik
ESET solutions are built on ESET's one-of-a-kind ThreatSense technology. This advanced heuristics engine enables proactive detection of malware not covered by even the most frequently updated signature-based products by decoding and ...
Worldforfree.net - we make it simple - http://worldforfree.net/
IT Vision Thing
By elliotross
Unfortunately, in the SMB space, we often find IT complexity that is completely beyond the bounds of reason for our organization sizes. By complexity, I mean technology sprawl. There is absolutely no reason for the average SMB to have ...
A Dime a Dozen Small Business,... - http://elliotross.wordpress.com
Leasing the Link
By TheWild1
The Linksys by Cisco Business Series of products, one component of the overall Cisco SMB offering, can provide an integrated approach to small business networking. Through training, support, and the largest product catalogue for ...
TheWildInvestor - Ramblings of... - http://thewildinvestor.com
KASPERSKY ANTI-VIRUS LATEST+100 SERIAL KEYS (1S/0L)
Symantec Norton 360 ver. 1.0.0.184 * Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2008 * Trend Micro Anti-Spyware for SMB / Enterpise 3.x * Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2008 * Trend Micro Security Server for SMB 3.5 * Virus Dr.(v10) ...
Sharemulek.pl P2P , emule , linki... - http://sharemulek.pl
Developing World Class Enterprise Agility: How to Manage Radical ...
By gretchenjxhwirer(gretchenjxhwirer)
Rich has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a master of business administration degree from Rutgers University. He is a member of CASA/SME, and has been listed in ...
Jimi-hendrix - http://marvelcomicbooksxxdxkviql.blogspot.com/
Job vacancies EPS Computer Systems Pte Ltd - Various IT Jobs
By Admin(Admin)
Must possess at least a Diploma or Advanced/Higher/Graduate Diploma in Engineering (Computer/Telecommunication), Engineering , Computer Science/ Information Technology or equivalent Good to have CISCO Certification (CCNP / CCDP) and ...
Asian Jobs - http://worldcareerjob.blogspot.com/
IP Think Tank Global Week in Review - 23 May 2008
By Law Bites
ATI Technologies – Reexamination request; parties agree to protective order limiting use of confidential information related to patents-in-suit: Silicon Graphics v ATI Technologies: (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog), ...
Law Bites - http://lawbites.com
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