Small Business IT Services: Save Money with Third-Parties

Hiring Third-Party IT Services

There are four key reasons why small businesses are hiring third-party IT support services providers right now.

1. Cost-Savings

Hiring outside IT services is often much less expensive than hiring a full-time IT staff member. With outside service providers you get to choose exactly what IT programs your company size and workload needs. That means you can decide whether you want to pay for network management, help desk support, systems security elements, server support and on-going maintenance or just a subset of these. With an IT consulting firm you get what you need when you need it and can avoid the high overhead cost of paying an employee.

2. High-Quality Service

Professional IT providers often offer a much higher quality of work than a single IT employee. A good IT consulting firm hires fully trained IT professions that are able to design and implement competitive IT systems, analyze server, desktop, and network vulnerability, and provide desktop and network support. This kind of comprehensive analysis is often more than a entry level IT manager can handle.

3. Improved Network Security

By hiring an outside IT service provider, small businesses can utilize the critical and objective assessment of an unbiased, diligent professional. Outside IT providers are often asked to thoroughly examine threats that exist outside the company and implement technologies that help protect the business from these threats. These companies' main objective is to stay on top of the latest network and system threats to make sure they are on top of securing the systems. That takes time and work that most business owners don't have on their own.

4. Peace of Mind

Probably the most honest and simplest reason small business owners are seeking out outside IT service providers is the peace of mind it can bring. An IT service provider with years of proven experience in the field and access to state-of-the-art tools will undoubtedly do a better job than an employee with a basic knowledge of internet trends and technologies. Knowing that the IT components are taken care of allows small businesses with limited resources to focus their energy on sales, customer service, project management and other income generating work.

Small business owners in any industry can find value in researching IT support services for their company. It is not vital that they understand all the components for a secure and functioning server and systems network. It is important for them to take time to find someone who does. There are professional services out there willing to help cut costs and save you time.

Source: goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1288137

Layer Zero Server Management

It's kind of surprising in this day and age how rudimentary server management can be. Far too many IT organizations are still using pen and paper trying to keep track of which servers are attached to what applications. In short, they are using the most basic of manual processes to keep track of the equipment we use to automate every other aspect of the business environment.

The good news is that the discipline of IT service management is maturing quickly. A lot of internal IT departments are taking a page from professional IT services organizations by starting to manage their own operations like a service company. We have all kinds of IT automation tools available today to help accomplish that, but the first step along that journey is to start figuring out what server equipment is actually in place.

Turns out that may be a seemingly obvious thing to do but you might be surprised that there are not that many tools focused on the physical management of servers. In fact, Hewlett-Packard just expanded its portfolio of systems management tools to include Vista server management and monitoring tools from Aperture, which makes a set of tools that company officials say address the often overlooked "Layer Zero" aspect of server support services management.

The other side of this equation is that in this economy IT organizations are likely to find they are going to be short-handed when it comes to data center personnel. That means they need more tools to proactively monitor data center environments that are becoming more complex in the wake of virtualization and data center consolidation projects.

With the advent of blade servers and multicore processors, the challenges associated with managing servers are only going to get more difficult. But you can't really manage what you don't really know you have. And when you're dealing with hundreds of servers.

Source: blogs.eweek.com

Microsoft Rolls Out New Small Business Server Options

Microsoft has announced new server software that it said provides small and medium businesses with enterprise-quality capabilities while helping them to save money, increase productivity and grow their businesses.

While designed specifically for small and midsized companies, Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) include Microsoft's high-end server technologies delivered in a way that smaller companies can make the most of them.

“Around the world, small and midsize businesses are the engine that drives economic growth and opportunity,” Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said in a company statement. “To help these businesses succeed, Microsoft has focused on creating integrated, affordable server solutions that are optimized to meet the needs of companies with limited IT resources. Small Business Server and Essential Business Server deliver a comprehensive set of capabilities that will help small and midsize business thrive and grow.”

Designed for small companies with up to 75 people/computers, SBS 2008 server software integrates a variety of Windows functions to help small businesses better secure data and increase employee productivity regardless of location.

Based on Windows Server 2008 Standard technology, SBS 2008 incorporates

• Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition for messaging and collaboration
• SharePoint Services 3.0 for online collaboration workspace and productivity tools
• Forefront Security for Exchange Server to handle e-mail security
• Windows Server Update Services 3.0 for network updates and protection
• Windows Live OneCare for Server to manage viruses, hackers and other digital threats
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business to help take your business online
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard for Small Business, a database available in the Premium edition

The server software offers a range of features including anytime/anywhere access to your PC and its data, including e-mail, files, business applications, and more. It's also designed to let your employees share Internet access, printers, fax machines and other network resources. Click here for SBS 2008 pricing information.

Microsoft designed EBS 2008 for midsized companies with up to 300 people or computers. It's meant to simplify and automate common IT tasks, and a unified administration console gives IT managers more control over an integrated network infrastructure.

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 also incorporates the applications found in SBS 2008, and Microsoft said it provides the following features:

• Significant costs savings compared to buying stand-alone products.
• Remote access, anti-spam, antivirus protection and improved messaging technologies improve productivity both in and away from the office
• An integrated setup saves time and reduces installation steps from days to hours Simplified licensing with a single server license and Client Access for all included products.

Steven VanRoekel, senior director of the Windows Server product group, noted that both server products help small and mid-sized companies compete in tough economic times.

"Small companies have the same needs and face the same challenges as big business, but they lack the staff, resources and time to manage IT environments," VanRoekel said. "The new EBS 2008 and SBS 2008 products are an integrated, affordable, enterprise-quality solution that can help small and midsized companies become more productive, cut costs and be more competitive." Click here for EBS 2008 pricing information

The company said that Dell, HP and IBM will offer hardware configurations that have been optimized for running SBS 2008. HP, IBM and Intel will offer blade servers designed and priced for midsized companies. The more common rack-and-tower server configurations will also be available in a range of sizes from companies such as IBM, Dell, HP and Sun Microsystems.

On the software side, Microsoft's ISVs (independent software vendors) will support both SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 with a variety of applications ranging from backup and recovery, security, business management, systems management and more.

Via: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/3784851

Printer Server Management Options in Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008's print server role offers a new Print Management console. (An earlier form of the console was part of Windows Server 2003 R2.)

The Windows Server 2008 version, which is provided to the server when the print server role is added, allows you to retrieve information and the state of printers and other print servers. For clean installations, you can also use the Print Management console to install printers to client systems via Group Policy.

After installing the print server role, the Print Management console appears and offers a central view for the printers and print servers.



The Print Management console is one of the stronger features for Windows Server 2008 simply because of the deployment options of printers through Group Policy. For a printer deployed through Group Policy, the corresponding Group Policy Management configuration is shown in Figure.

As with other Group Policy configurations, it can be applied to User or Computer objects. This flexibility can avoid risky scripts or inconsistent driver situations that can result from haphazard printer deployment.

You can apply the Print Management console to a permission model for delegated control so a help desk technician could clear a queue or even deploy the printer to a client. Printer drivers can also be managed within the Print Management console, avoiding issues where unnecessary printing features complicate the support of the solution.

Source:zdnetasia.com/techguide/windows/0,39044904,62048326,00.htm

Secure Remote Desktop and Application Publishing Solution

SecureIDA delivers remote users and branch offices highly secure access to servers, applications, and desktops over economical public Internet connections – and all traffic is encrypted. This is accomplished in minutes, with near-zero complexity and rock-solid security. The SecureIDA portal provides an uncomplicated and intuitive way to add systems to the network, control who has access to these corporate resources, and for end users to instantly and effortlessly access those same resources. Systems go online instantly, and there is near-zero impact on your IT staff, and none on your users.

Unlike hardware solutions that require significant network expertise and large commitments of capital, SecureIDA is a low-cost and low-risk alternative. Beyond secure remote networking, we extend applications that were once confined to the office to anywhere on the planet, without extra software licenses or IT administration. SecureIDA can also connect mobile workers to their office desktops, keeping them continually productive. All this is accomplished without additional hardware, and without having to install any client software. You can effectively budget secure networking while meeting your internal and regulatory requirements, all without impacting your staff.

Click here to download the "Secure Remote Desktop and Application Publishing Solution"

Source: dabcc.com/downloadfile.aspx?id=328

Windows HPC Server 2008 Launched By Microsoft

Microsoft India has recently introduced its latest offering in the High Performance Computing (HPC) segment with the Release to Manufacture (RTM) of Windows HPC Server 2008. The product aims to provide an easy-to-deploy, cost-effective and scalable high-performance computing solution combining its rich, out-of-the-box functionality with the capabilities of the Windows Server platform to help enhance productivity and reduce complexity of any given HPC environment.

“The success achieved by Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 in the last few years is a strong testament of our value proposition in the High Performance Computing market. We are confident that as the successor, Windows HPC Server 2008 will help us further build on this momentum by offering an easy to deploy, cost effective and scalable HPC solution for firms to leverage their existing resources and scale from workstation to cluster, all in a familiar Windows environment,” said Pallavi Kathuria, Director, Server Business Group, Microsoft India.

Based on Windows Server 2008, the solution is designed to deliver improved productivity of systems administration and cluster interoperability by dramatically simplifying the overall deployment, administration and management over the entire system lifetime while ensuring interoperability with existing systems infrastructure.

The product will enable rapid HPC application development through integration with Visual Studio 2008 with its parallel programming environment. In addition to supporting standard interfaces such as OpenMP, multiprocessor interconnect (MPI) and Web services, the solution will also support third-party numerical library providers, performance optimizers, compilers and debugging toolkits.

In India specifically, apart from the academic space, the company has experienced a great rise in the adoption curve of its HPC solutions in commercial scenarios such as Manufacturing, BFSI and Media & Entertainment.

The HPC solution will be available to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and computer manufacturers for final distribution. Evaluation copies of Windows HPC Server 2008 are now available for download on the company’s website.

Via:networkcomputing.in/Server-018Nov008-Microsoft-Introduces-the-Windows-HPC-Server-008.aspx

Can Windows 7 overcome Vista driver woes?

Microsoft has revealed some staggering figures showing how often driver installations fail in Vista.

Microsoft is hoping for zero hardware install problems when Windows 7 finally hits the market, but is that really realistic when more than 10% of printer drivers for Vista are still failing to work properly?

However, Microsoft's own internal evidence shows that not everything is working that well in Vista. In a presentation on how to build drivers more effectively in collaboration with Microsoft, senior program manager lead Chris Matichuk disclosed rarely-seen figures from Microsoft's own internal systems that collect data on how Vista performs, principally its Online Crash Analysis and Customer Experience Improvement Program schemes. The data, which covers attempted driver installations for Vista SP1 users during September 2008, shows that in many categories, a significant number of users are still having problems even getting their hardware to work properly.



The biggest embarrassment category is printers, where more than 10% of installations failed. For Windows 7, Microsoft is hoping its new integrated approach in Windows 7 to device management will allow more successful installations of multi-function printers, which in Vista often show up as multiple devices. However, if a tenth of them don't show up at all, there's clearly some more fundamental work to be done.

Modems, though utilised by far fewer people, were also a major source of problems, with 8.64% failing to install. (I'd hazard a guess that 3G broadband modems, which are notoriously fickle under Vista, are a big part of the problem here.)

"Typically, anything above 3% is not good," Matichuk conceded. "If you look at printers for example, we've got some gaps we need to work through."

Another major challenge for Microsoft is getting more 64-bit drivers released. 64-bit versions of Vista now account for 25% of new system sales in the US, though the global figures are much lower. The performance improvements of the 64-bit version have been somewhat offset by a lack of drivers. Microsoft's own research suggests that while 92% of 32-bit Vista systems could find core drivers in the OS or online, for 64-bit systems the figure is just 83%.

Getting vendors to agree to make drivers available through Windows Update had also proved a time consuming process, and one that doesn't always succeed. Currently for Vista, there are more than 8,000 messages in place in Windows Update pointing users to third-party sources because the drivers can't be incorporated into Microsoft's own update technology. "We're continuing to add approximately 50 a week," Matichuk said.

Despite those challenges, Matichuk remains hopeful that driver nirvana can be reached. "Imagine that once the OS gets released right out of the box, devices just work. We need to nail this for Windows 7."

The most crucial moment for achieving that goal may have already passed, though. Matichuk suggested that drivers included as part of Microsoft's Inbox program, and thus in the core OS at installation, would already need to be present in the pre-beta in order to ensure widespread compatibility. "Ultimately, you need those drivers into the beta build." Other device manufacturers could ensure a successful installation by making their drivers online via Windows Update, he said.

Source: apcmag.com/can_windows_7_overcome_vista_driver_woes.htm

Ten Surprises in Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2003 felt like a refresh of Windows Server 2000. There were few radical changes, and most of the improvements were fairly under the surface.

Windows Server 2008, on the other hand, is a full-sized helping of 'new and improved'. While the overall package is good, there are a few surprises and hidden delights you may want to know about before deciding if you will be moving to Windows Server 2008 any time soon.

1. The 64-bit revolution is not complete:-

There have been 64-bit editions of Windows Server for years now, and Microsoft has made it quite clear that it wants all of its customers to move to 64-bit operating systems.

That does not mean that you can throw away your 32-bit Windows Server 2008 CD, however.

Over the last few months, I have been shocked, on more than one occasion, by the pieces of Microsoft software that not only do not have 64-bit versions but will not run under a 64-bit operating system (OS) at all. This list includes Team Foundation Server and ISA Server.

If you are planning on moving to 64-bit Windows Server 2008, be prepared to have a 32-bit server or two around, whether on physical hardware or in a virtual machine.

2. Who moved my cheese?

While the changes to the user interface in Windows Server 2008 are not nearly as sweeping as those implemented by the Aero interface in Vista, it has undergone a dramatic rearrangement and renaming of the various applets around the system.

In retrospect, the organisation of these items is much more sensible, but that hardly matters when you have years of experience going to a particular area to find something, only to find it has suddenly changed places. Expect to be a bit frustrated in the Control Panel until you get used to it.

3. Windows Workstation 2008 might catch on

Microsoft has provided the ability to bring the 'Vista desktop experience' into Windows Server 2008.

I doubt that many server administrators were asking for this, but the unusual result is that a number of people are modifying Windows Server 2008 to be as close to a desktop OS as possible.

There have always been a few people who use the server edition of Windows as a desktop, but this makes it much easier and friendlier. These home-brewed efforts are generally referred to as 'Windows Workstation 2008', in case you're interested in trying it out on your own.

4. Hyper-V is good, but…

Hyper-V was one of the most anticipated features of Windows Server 2008, and it's surprisingly good, particularly for a version-one release from Microsoft.

It is stable, easy to install and configure, and does not seem to have any major problems.

For those of us who have been beaten into the 'wait until the third version' or 'don't install until Service Pack 1' mentality, this is a refreshing surprise.

5. …Hyper-V is limited

Hyper-V, while high-quality, is sorely lacking in features.

Considering that it was billed as a real alternative to VMware and other existing solutions, it is a disappointment — to say the least — that it does not seem to include any utilities for importing virtual machines from products other than Virtual PC and Virtual Server. Even those imports are not workaround-free.

6. NT 4 domain migration — it's not happening

If you have been putting off the painful migration from your NT 4 domain until Windows Server 2008 was released, don't keep waiting.

The older version (3.0) Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) supports migrations from NT 4, but not to Windows Server 2008.

The latest version (3.1) supports migrations to Windows Server 2008, but not from NT 4.

Either migrate from NT 4 before changing your domain to be a Windows 2008 domain or get your NT 4 domain upgraded first.

7. The ashtrays are now optional

In prior versions of Windows Server, a lot of applications came installed by default.

No-one ever uninstalled them because they didn't cause any harm, even if you didn't use them or installed an alternative.

Now, even the 'throwaway' applications, like Windows Backup, are not installed by default.

After installation, you need to add features to get the full Windows Server suite of applications. This can be frustrating if you are in a hurry, but the reduced clutter and resource overhead are worth it.

8. Licensing is bewildering

Continuing a hallowed Microsoft tradition, trying to understand the licensing terms of Windows Server 2008 feels like hammering nails with your forehead.

The Standard Edition makes sense, but when you get into the issues around virtualisation in the Enterprise Edition and Datacenter Edition, things can get a bit confusing.

Depending upon your need for virtual machines and the number of physical CPUs (not CPU cores, thankfully) in your server, Enterprise Edition may be cheaper or it may be more expensive than Datacenter Edition.

9. There's no bloat

Maybe it's because Vista set expectations of pain, or because hardware has become so much cheaper, but Windows Server 2008 does not feel bloated or slow at all.

Microsoft has done a pretty good job at minimising the installed feature set to the bare minimum, and Server Core can take that even further.

Depending upon your needs, it can be quite possible to upgrade even older equipment to Windows Server 2008 without needing to beef up the hardware.

10. Quality beats expectations

Microsoft customers have developed low expectations of quality over the years.

While the company's track record for initial releases, in terms of security holes and bug counts, seems to be improving, customers are still howling about Vista.

As a result, it has come as a real surprise that the overall reaction to Windows Server 2008 has been muted, to say the least. The horror stories are not flying around like they were, and are, with Vista.

Maybe it's the extra year Microsoft spent working on the product, or different expectations on the part of people who work with servers, but Windows Server 2008 has had a pretty warm reception so far. That speaks a lot about its quality.

Source:resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/features/0,1000002000,39486976-2,00.htm

what process is using a TCP port in Windows Server 2008

You may find yourself frequently going to network tools to determine traffic patterns from one server to another; Windows Server 2008 can allow you to get that information locally on its connections. You can combine the netstat and tasklist commands to determine what process is using a port on the Windows Server.

The following command will show what network traffic is in use at the port level:

Netstat -a -n -o

The -o parameter will display the associated process identifier (PID) using the port. This command will produce an output similar to what is in Figure A.



With the PIDs listed in the netstat output, you can follow up with the Windows Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) or run a script with a specific PID that is using a port from the previous step. You can then use the tasklist command with the specific PID that corresponds to a port in question. From the previous example, ports 5800 and 5900 are used by PID 1812, so using the tasklist command will show you the process using the ports. Figure B shows this query.



This identifies VNC as the culprit to using the port. While a quick Google search on ports could possibly obtain the same result, this procedure can be extremely helpful when you’re trying to identify a viral process that may be running on the Windows Server.

Source:blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=453

Small Business Vista Support Deal Extended

Microsoft is extending an offer giving free support to small businesses that upgrade to Vista. The deal will now run to the end of the year, with support offered until 31 January.

The offer, marketed as Small Business Assurance, was originally set to expire at the end of September. It’s not clear why Microsoft is extending the deal; in the FAQ section on its website about the offer, it appears to have simply changed the date in the question about why there’s a time limit in the first place. The answer still doesn’t get particularly specific:

Windows Vista Small Business Assurance is designed to help our small business customers make the transition to Windows Vista today. As Windows XP availability begins to wind down, we want small businesses to know we’re behind them to provide special support during this transition period.

The scope of the deal remains unchanged: it’s still limited to US companies with a maximum of 25 PCs or 50 employees, and is still telephone support only.

Most significantly, the deal still only applies to the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista. As we reported last week, while three-quarters of home users have opted for the Premium edition, a surprising 57% of ‘low-end business PCs’ are now running the Home Basic edition.

From Microsoft’s perspective, these aren’t buyers who need to be talked into buying Vista; instead the key to increased revenue is making sure they opt for the more expensive flavors. Keeping the support deal exclusive to the upscale editions could theoretically sway the smallest of businesses.

The problem with this logic is that there’s a good chance businesses running Home Basic do so because they want to keep both hardware and software costs down, so simply don’t have the computing power to reap any benefits from the small business or Ultimate editions. And in any case, there’s still the risk that making free support seem such an important bonus simply draws attention to the problems buyers perceive they might get in running Vista.

Source:vista.blorge.com/2008/10/13/small-business-vista-support-deal-extended/

Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2: Powering Small Businesses

Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 (SBS 2003 R2) is an update release to the award-winning SBS 2003 product, providing new features to address the growing needs of small businesses.

• Benefits of SBS 2003 R2
• Get the "Green Check" of Software Health with SBS 2003 R2
• How Can You Get SBS 2003 R2?
• Learn More
  

Why Do You Need SBS 2003 R2?

Keep Your Business Up and Running: SBS 2003 R2 helps secure your network, keep it up and running, and protect your business information, allowing you to spend more time focusing on your business and less time and money on technology issues.

Do More with Less: SBS 2003 R2 offers the technology and tools to help you run your business more efficiently, improve employee productivity, and reduce costs.

Connect with Customers: SBS 2003 R2 helps you communicate in new ways and take better care of your customers by providing tools that help you stay more connected, look and interact more professionally, and manage your customer relationships more effectively.

Get the "Green Check" of Software Health with SBS 2003 R2

SBS 2003 R2 delivers all the current product benefits plus new features, including:

The "green check" of software health indicates that your computers running Microsoft software are up to date or the daily report details actions necessary for attaining "green check" status.

Simplified update management to keep your PCs and servers current with the latest updates, enhancing the security of your network, so you can have peace of mind.

Improved e-mail productivity: increased mailbox limits from 16 gigabytes (GB) to 75 GB, so you can get more from your e-mail communications.

Reduced costs and increased flexibility through expanded client access license (CAL) rights: SBS 2003 R2 entitles you to access additional servers in your network (Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup, Microsoft Windows Server), saving you money and offering you more flexibility in growth.

How Can You Get SBS 2003 R2?

SBS 2003 R2 is available through original equipment manufacturers (OEM), system builders, resellers and select retailers. Microsoft Partners, especially Microsoft Small Business Specialists, are trained to help.
For Existing Customers

Customers with SBS 2003 can take advantage of the following programs:

SBS customers with Software Assurance are able to obtain SBS 2003 R2 without purchasing a new server license1 for a nominal shipping and handling fee.

SBS customers without Software Assurance are able to purchase a version upgrade SKU via retail, which will enable them to cost-effectively upgrade from any previous version of SBS (4.0, 4.5, 2000, 2003) to SBS 2003 R2. Learn more.

Source:microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/r2/default.mspx

Trend Micro: Don’t buy antivirus software

Trend Micro’s consumer security product manager has recommend people not to buy antivirus products, including his own. But there is a method to his madness, he assures.

David Peterson, consumer segment director for Trend Micro’s ANZ business, said only a handful of the top 10 security threats these days are viruses, with downloaders, Trojans, keyloggers and phishing scams filling up the list.

As such, he believes standalone AV software is best suited for infrequent users of the internet such as dial up users, or those who want protection from nasties on USB keys.

He said standalone AV products are there because the market demands it. “I wish they wouldn’t. I don’t recommend buying antivirus products,” he said, referring to Trend Micro’s and its competitor’s products.

What is important is complete protection. “You are better off get Internet security suites,” he said.

Peterson has support.

“Trend is correct,” said Neil MacDonald, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

“Standalone AV is no longer sufficient for protecting endpoints; however, this does not mean that signature-based mechanisms don’t provide value. They just don’t provide the value they used to and the vendors haven’t adjusted pricing models to reflect the diminished effectiveness of standalone AV,” he said. “The ideal endpoint security product is an endpoint security platform that provides organizations with a variety of styles of protection for endpoints – firewalls, AV, anti-spyware, application control, device control, behavioral monitoring and so on. This enables organizations to pick and choose the styles of protection appropriate to the endpoint – which will likely be different combination for desktops, laptops and servers. Even among severs this will vary by role. “AV is just component of the endpoint security platform.”

Trend Micro joins a swag of security companies to release security suites this month. It’s claims Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security Pro 2009 is significantly faster than last year’s effort. Others released in September include BitDefender Total Security 2009 and BullGuard Internet Security 8.5.

Source:arnnet

Microway Offers Scalable Server For High Powered Computing

Microway has introduced a scalable server that breaks the barrier for performance and memory size.

The company showed off its NumberSmasher vSMP on Monday at High Performance On Wall Street.

The server has 1,024 GB of shared DRAM for reduced simulation times, preprocessing, and parallel applications. The shared memory configuration is large enough so users can eliminate swap-to-disk for high-powered simulations in science, electronic design automation, mechanical engineering, and research.

The server allows users to manage critical workflows on a modular, scalable system that features Intel Xeon CPU and compiler technology. Intel's latest Fortran and C++ Compiler technology helps the NumberSmasher vSMP deliver more power with higher efficiency and lower total cost of ownership. Microway said that a single Linux operating system and remote server monitoring improve manageability and reliability while offering a choice of threaded or MPI parallelism.

The company recently sold its first NumberSmasher vSMP to the National Institutes of Health. The server was on sale at the conference for $19,995. It features a 16-core, 2U system, 128 GB DRAM -- 667-MHz, 4-TB disk. A modular scalable system offers up to 128 cores (with 32 Intel Xeon Quad Core 3 GHz CPUs -- E5472), up to 1 TB hot-swap hard disk drives and works on Linux OS and Intel Compiler Suite 10.1.

Source:informationweek.com

Microsoft to deliver SQL Server 2008 in August

The long wait for SQL Server 2008 is nearly over.

At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston on July 9, Bob Kelly, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Infrastructure Server Marketing, told attendees that SQL Server 2008 will be on the August price list. He said that Microsoft will keep pricing the same for the new release as it is for SQL Server 2005.

Microsoft released the near-final Release Candidate (RC) 0 test build of SQL Server 2008 in early June.

Microsoft officially “launched” SQL Server 2008 in February, alongside Visual Studio 2008 and Windows Server 2008. Earlier this year, Microsoft officials said they were planning to deliver SQL Server 2008 by mid-2008. Company officials changed their guidance a couple of months ago, noting that Microsoft was planning to deliver the final SQL Server 2008 release in the third calendar quarter of 2008.

Kelly also announced that Microsoft has released the near-final Release Candidate (RC) 1 test builds of its Windows Essential Business Server 2008 mid-market server bundle, as well as its Windows Small Business Server 2008 product. Microsoft will make the RC1 builds available for download from the Microsoft Connect site, officials said. The company is planning the official launch of these two servers for November 12; the actual final code will likely hit before that date.

Microsoft also is planning some kind of “official” virtualization launch event in Seattle on September 8, Kelly said, without offering more specifics. On July 8, Microsoft made its Hyper-V hypervisor available on Windows Update for download.

Source:blogs.zdnet.com

Technology Support Services

Is there anything more boring than other people's stories of their domestic IT disasters, and their desperate struggle to get an answer out of tech support? No, but I've suffered plenty of these tales in my time - and now it's your turn. Hopefully this will be brief and to the point - and for a technology correspondent to spend some time in tech hell can be instructive for both him and his audience.

So, 10 days ago my wife's e-mail - connected to a domain she bought from our ISP seven years ago - just gave up the ghost. She's a reasonable woman but this left her close to despair. I was deputed to fix things - replacing our 17-year-old director of IT who was out with his mates.

First call was to the ISP. I've no wish to inflict public humiliation in them so let's call this company "Tunnelvision". We've been with them for 12 years but I've grown more and more unhappy with their prices, broadband speeds and service - especially since they were taken over by a larger company who we shall call "Monteverdi". I had suggested moving - but my wife was reluctant, fearing that moving her website and e-mail would be a nightmare.

But the nightmare did indeed begin with a call to Tunnelvision's outsourced call centre somewhere in the Far East. They could only tell me there were no general problems with the network and our issue would be addressed by a "second-line engineer" within a day. When we grew impatient and called back 24 hours later, the story had changed. There was an issue affecting a number of customers - and we should not expect to hear a result for 48 hours.

My patience snapped - and I decided on swift executive action. We were going to switch ISPs - but that would take around 10 days, and in the meantime we would move my wife's domain to another hosting company. She was impressed by my new-found decisiveness.

I contacted a hosting company - this one had 24/7 UK-based support - to get the domain to a safer place. They told me this could happen in a couple of days and then the e-mail would be up and running again. All we had to do was forward an e-mail to Tunnelvision asking them to change the name servers on the domain. So we sent off the e-mail, along with a letter sent by registered post, and we waited. And waited.

Three days on, with nothing happening, I began an extraordinary series of phone calls all around the Tunnelvision - or rather Monteverdi - empire. First, customer service. "Not us, speak to our domains registration business." "Nothing to do with us," said the next lot, "speak to the hosting company, Tunnelvision Solutions." No solution there either: "Never heard of your domain, go back to customer service." "Sorry, we know nothing about domains," said customer service, "speak to technical support in the Far East."

Then a long, long call to technical support (interspersed with much Vivaldi while on hold) which ended with the message that the only option was to e-mail domains@tunnelvision.net. "But that's where we started three days ago," I screamed. "Is there no phone number for the domains department?" No.

In desperation, I started posting messages on the Twitter micro-blogging service about our problem. Within minutes, lots of kind Twitters were proffering advice, much of it very learned. But without a response from Tunnel vision, we could do nothing. Then a few hours later came a call from the company itself. Their PR people had spotted my anguished Twittering and wondered if they could help. Yes, yes, yes, please! But that was Thursday. Friday brought no advance - except for an request to resend the original e-mail detailing the required change in name servers.

On Monday morning I'm still awaiting the call to say the domain has been successfully moved. And if it isn't done today, I will be sleeping on a park bench tonight - there's only so many excuses I can make for my failure to get the domestic IT set-up running smoothly again.

So a typically boring tale - but with some lessons informing my future purchasing.

1. Customer service, not just price or speed, should be a major factor when choosing a supplier.

2. I want to be able to speak to my supplier, night and day - and get a clear response. In future I will test companies' call centres before I sign up.

3. I will be wary if a supplier is taken over by another firm. "Hosting is no longer a core part of Monteverdi's offering," was what one person at the firm told me. In other words we may have taken your supplier but don't expect us to care about all that tedious stuff you bought from them years ago.

4. Shouting about bad customer service can work. I was lucky this time - my ravings were spotted by a PR person who recognised my name. All anyone can do is make as much noise as possible.

5. Err, I'm sure you too have a long tale to tell about your domestic IT nightmare - but can it wait a few days? I'm still getting over mine.

Windows Small Business Server

Announced back in February, previewed and priced in May, the business products built on Windows Server 2008 from the Windows Essential Server Solutions product line (all-in-one IT solutions designed for small and midsize businesses) now have a release date. Windows Small Business Server 2008 (for up to 75 PCs) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (for up to 300 PCs) will be released on November 12, 2008, Steven VanRoekel, senior director of the Windows Server Solutions group at Microsoft, said today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

The announcement comes as the Release Candidate 1 milestone for both products is almost finished. Those interested in prerelease versions of Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008 can still sign up to download and evaluate them.

VanRoekel also took the time to reveal that "AMD, Dell, HP, IBM, and Intel are all demonstrating systems at the Worldwide Partner Conference this week. Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Wortmann AG in Europe also plan to deliver products built on both of the solutions. HP, IBM and Intel are integrating their hardware management software with Essential Business Server."

Software development kits and other resources will be available to software vendors via sources like MSDN, and of course products and software currently compatible with Server 2008 should work just fine with Windows SBS 2008 and Windows ESB 2008. In the next year, Microsoft will be training more than 25,000 partners through events and online tools.

Microsoft is putting a lot on the line with the launch of these two products, and this doesn't come as a big surprise if you remember how big the small and midsize business market is and how steadily it is growing. See the interview with VanRoekel below for more insight on Microsoft's plan to move into this niche.

Source: arstechnica.com/journals

IT Support Services

IT Support Services

We are able to provide you access to a team of specialised professionals that have a passion for technology and the many benefits it can bring to your business systems and communications.

We look at providing complete solutions and will take the time to fully understand not only your requirements, but also your business, this is key to providing a solution that fits YOU.

We explain things in simple terms that make it easy for you to fully understand and we recommend processes that would suit your business and tell you why. We then make technology work for you and your company, with as little interruption as possible.

We work with a variety of companies that do not have their own specialized IT Staff and we can become an extension of your own company; effectively it is like having your own IT department on call, just without the expense of actually hiring dedicated IT support staff.

How would it affect your business if you lost critical data or had an unexpected loss of access to your computer systems?

Most companies would suffer greatly, which is why we can provide robust, reliable IT system to meet the demands of your growing business. From remote access solutions to online backup, we will ensure your computer systems and critical data are covered in the event of a disaster.

Remote desktop IT system for businesses with 1-50 users and provides full remote access to your desktop, crucial data, communications and business applications, anywhere in the world. Empower remote sales forces and company directors with an easy to use system that will put you back in control of your IT.

Full corporate-class disaster recovery is included as standard, providing your company with a hassle-free IT system.

With a leased line or with bonded ADSL broadband, you can have reliable, stable internet connection with superior upload/download speeds. Why share your internet connection with upto 50 other companies or users. From just £575 per month, you can have a direct internet connection using copper fibre cabling that is a dedicated connection just for you

source: www.davidberman.com

It Support Services - Windows, Server, Computer

This page outlines the different types of Support Service Plans and Subscription Support that iyogi offers for our different technical support services and packages.

Keep your computer systems current and protected from viruses by automating distribution of software updates to all your networked assets. You’ll never have to rely on end users to perform critical IT tasks. Maintain licensing compliance with high standards and respond quickly to audit requirements, too. Track all technological changes from one integrated console.