MGR IT

I have had a 64GB 3G Apple iPad in my possession for a few days now, as part of a trial run to see how we might make use of them here at MGR.  I have been using an iPhone 3GS for some time now, so the iPad interface is quite familiar.

From a business perspective, so far I have found more uses for the device when I am away from the office than when I am sitting at my desk, which is probably to be expected. 

It is a great device for catching up with e-mail while sitting on the couch at home.  I receive a lot of e-mail with news from the IT industry and other messages that don’t require me to act or respond immediately, so I tend to deal with those of an evening.  Previously that meant pulling out and firing up my laptop, but the iPad is a much more convenient device for that type of activity, being much lighter and effectively always on.

I have also installed a Remote Desktop app, so I can log in to client servers from anywhere with the iPad and perform system maintenance tasks, again without having to boot up my laptop. 

One of my colleagues has trialled the device for reviewing PDF documents during a training session, instead of printing out the documents for the same purpose.  The feedback so far has been positive, but we are searching for the best app to allow annotation of documents, which is not possible with the native PDF reader on the iPad.  iAnnotate looks like it may be a contender.

I have only begun to scratch the surface in terms of apps that may be useful, having installed a few apps with which I was already familiar on the iPhone, such as Evernote, which allows me to take notes on the iPad and access notes I have created on other devices.

So far, I haven’t found anything I can do on the iPad that I can’t do with my laptop, but I don’t think that is really the aim of the device.  I have found things that are much more convenient to do on the iPad, which is really its big selling point.  I don’t know that I have yet justified the cost of the iPad, with the model that I am using coming in at around $1000. 

I will also be interested to see how the HP Slate compares when it is released (rumoured to be in October).  A device of similar dimensions, but with additional features such a camera and USB ports, it will run Windows 7, which will be a bonus in terms of compatibility, but may have its drawbacks in terms of overhead and complexity.

Strangely, Microsoft’s Windows Live range of online services don’t seem to receive the attention of some of the newer entrants into the field, such as DropBox and Google Apps, but there are some very useful services to be had for free via Windows Live.  One of those is Windows Live SkyDrive, a file storage and sharing service.

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IT service providers have traditionally made a living from being little more than computer repairmen, fixing IT problems as they come up and are reported by their customers.  The closest thing to proactive service that this type of provider would perform would be when it came time to install a new computer or perform a system upgrade.  The most widely used method for charging for these services is on an hourly rate basis.  Even quoted jobs would be based on an estimated number of hours to complete the work multiplied by an hourly rate.  This is the way that professionals of all industries have traditionally charged for their services, mostly because it is an easy method to calculate.

There’s a dirty little secret in this traditional method of charging, though.

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The rather strange title above comes from this blog post by Clayton Moulynox of Evolve IT.  He hits the nail on the head when it comes to comparing the ‘IT Guy’ with a true technology partner and the fact that the ‘IT Guy’ is a dying breed.

Those businesses who ‘get’ IT as a business enabler and a strategic asset will immediately see the sense in Clayton’s post.  Those who don’t are in real danger of being left behind.

I have been having a look recently at a Unified Communications product called Unison (www.unison.com).  Unified Communications is about unifying various communication methods, such as e-mail, instant messaging and phone calls, into one product.  Probably the best known example is Microsoft Unified Communications, though they certainly were not the first.

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There have been some alarming statistics released by Secunia, a Danish vulnerability intelligence provider, in recent days.  According to figures culled from Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector system, used by 20,000 people worldwide, less than 2% of Windows are fully patched against known security vulnerabilities in the various programs installed.

Given the problems that malware (viruses, trojans, worms, spyware) cause and the detrimental effect that these vulnerabilities have on system performance and uptime, that is a very disappointing and worrying figure.  It’s no wonder that Google has warned of a malware epidemic. 

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The difficult economic times are certainly the topic of the moment and look like they will continue to be for some time.  Obviously the IT industry is not immune to the current woes, with businesses likely to have second and third thoughts before signing off on technology purchases (as with any other purchases).

It seems a pretty obvious thing to say, but the best way to avoid unnecessary IT costs is to properly maintain the systems you have in place already.  Most small businesses tend to engage with IT support providers only when something needs fixing, but there are huge productivity and performance gains to be had through proper maintenance of systems.

Which brings me to Managed Services.  Managed Services means different things to different people, but essentially it is a framework that allows an IT provider to manage client systems or system components so that they are kept running optimally, rather than waiting for something to break.  Managed Services can range from simple monitoring through to a comprehensive set of services such as patch management, disk management, remote and on-site support and backup and disaster recovery services. 

Managed Services are generally charged on a fixed-fee basis, so clients can budget for these services effectively.  In the long run, this type of service works out less expensive than traditional break-fix services provided at an hourly rate.  The savings come through increased productivity and efficiency, decreased downtime and avoiding the blow-out of a major system malfunction that requires many chargeable hours to resolve.

At MGR IT, we have been providing a full range of Managed Services for a while now.  Click here to find out more.

As a Microsoft Certified Partner we receive plenty of information from Microsoft about current and future releases of their products.  One that has really captured my attention recently is the upcoming launch of Windows Small Business Server 2008.  We work a lot with Windows Small Business Server 2003 at present, so I was very interested to see what will be included in the release version of SBS 2008.

The official launch date for the product is actually tomorrow (12/11/2008), but we have been looking at the product for a while now, through beta versions to the final release candidate.  SBS2008 continues with the simplified setup and maintenance of previous versions while upgrading the components to the latest versions and adding some new features.

For anyone who is not familiar with previous versions of SBS, it is a single server platform aimed at small businesses that includes the Windows Server operating system, Exchange for e-mail and calendaring and a firewall and database management system in the Premium edition.  All of these components are tied together with simplified administration consoles.  The package is priced at a point much less than the sum of the components, but with a hard limit of 75 users.

The components of SBS 2008 Standard are:

• Windows Server 2008 Standard
• Exchange Server 2007
• SharePoint Services 3.0
• Windows Server Update Services 3.0
• 120-trial versions of Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Windows Live OneCare for Server
• Integration with Office Live Small Business

The Premium edition includes all of the above plus SQL Server Standard 2008 for Small Business and, for the first time, a second copy of Windows Server 2008 Standard, so that the Premium components can be run on a second server.  This is a departure from previous versions that were single-server solutions only, and it is a welcome one in my opinion as running Exchange and SQL Server on the one box is a recipe for performance issues.  The second server can also be used to run Terminal Services, something that was not possible with previous versions.

One important thing to note is that SBS 2008 is a 64-bit system, so in most cases an upgrade to this version will require new hardware.  This is because Exchange 2007 is 64-bit only and fits with Microsoft’s move towards 64-bit architecture across the board.  The second server for the Premium edition can be 32-bit.

Something that has been removed in this version is ISA Server, Microsoft’s software firewall and web proxy, which was included in SBS 2000 and in the Premium edition of SBS 2003.  Most clients that I work with have external firewalls these days and having never been a huge fan of ISA Server, I don’t consider this to be a great loss.

For businesses who have outgrown SBS 2008, Microsoft have now released a new product called Essential Business Server, which is essentially an expanded version of SBS 2008 that runs on three or four servers and caters for up to 300 users.  Both SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 are being branded under the Windows Essential Server Solutions banner.  I will go through EBS 2008 in a future post.