April 2009

Spring Fling Edition

Welcome to PC Professional’s Quarterly Newsletter. Recently, we have added new services and technologies to our repertoire and we are excited to share them with you. These new products and services are designed to help your company save money. Thank you for your support and we hope you enjoy our newsletter.

10 Real Cost Cutting Technologies for 2009

1. Data Center Automation: Applying automation to the enterprise data center is an important part of running mission‐critical applications and making sure servers and storage devices are utilized to their fullest extent.
2. Documentation Management: All companies have print and imaging needs but these costs can be easily managed if you enlist your VARs help.
3. Managed Services: Using PC Professional’s IT Outsourcing services helps lower your costs because we monitor and manage your IT infrastructure so you can worry about your business and employ a smaller IT department.
4. Open‐Source Software: Open‐Source applications are viable alternatives to proprietary ones as they add new functionalities such as social networking tools that are not part of commercial software.
5. Power Management: We provide solutions around power management technology for cooling and electricity in your data centers because we understand that it leads to high cost reductions for businesses.
6. Software‐as‐a‐Service: In today’s political climate SaaS is desirable since there is no need to install infrastructure and no up‐front capital costs.
7. Server Virtualization: Virtualization allows you to reduce the physical hardware your company requires while providing a platform for expanded capabilities.
8. Thin‐Client Computing: Some of the advancements in thin‐computing (such as lower hardware, IT administration and energy consumption costs) has made the solution much more attractive to businesses seeking to reduce costs.
9. Unified Communication: By tying together VoIP, IM, e‐mail, videoconferencing, smart phones, and PDAs, we can help you cut costs and generally do more with less.
10. Video Conferencing: Travel budgets have taken a hit in this economy but your company can’t afford to cut back on face time with your contacts. That’s where advancements in video conferencing come into play.

Partner Spotlight: Online Backup from Axcient

PC Professional has partnered with Online Backup provider Axcient to provide our customers with an alternative to tape backup. Axcient offers the first data protection service to make business continuity and online backup simple for small and medium businesses (SMBs) by delivering a secure and cost‐effective way to ensure uptime and data recovery.

Axcient is the one, unified business continuity and data protection platform for SMBs that offers it all:

• Multi‐OS compatibility
• Encrypted backup of servers, workstations and laptops
• Rapid Restore
• Archiving
• Disaster Recovery
• Server continuity
• Compliance

How Axcient Works

With Axcient, your business is protected in two ways: there is a device that stays at your office and stores your data and server images, plus a copy is stored remotely by Axcient in a secure offsite location. This means multiple copies always exist, ensuring your business is protected no matter what! If something bad happens, you’re just a click away from recovery.

The Axcient Advantage

The Axcient suit of self‐managing data protection services preserves application availability even if a server fails and restores lost data fast! Axcient’s onsite data protection device allows you to restore lost data in MINUTES, not days, weeks or even months like other solutions. This is different from online‐only backup vendors, who are unable to deliver recovery speed when you need it most. Why? Because the only copy they store of your data is offsite, meaning that the rate at which they can send it back to you is limited by both Internet bandwidth and the distance your data needs to travel.

For more information, contact your Account Manager or visit our Online Backup page.

Security Update: Conficker C Comes Out April 1st

Malware creators love to target April Fool’s Day with their wares and Conficker C could be the most damaging attack in years. Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent … though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D‐Day arrives. 

You need to be extra vigilant about protecting your PC: Patch Windows completely through Windows Update and update your anti‐malware software. Make sure your antivirus software is actually running too, as Conficker may have disabled it.

Talk to your Account Manager today to get your computers checked out and protected from Conficker C.

Introducing: Microsoft Online Services

You already know Microsoft can deliver collaboration and communication tools that help you succeed. Now Microsoft and PC Professional offer them as Online Services—fully hosted in world‐class data centers. Your organization will be supported by a highperformance team who can keep your software up‐to‐date and optimized, helping you realize value from your technology investments even faster. Your organization can gain a winning edge through streamlined communications and simplified management with business‐class security and reliability. When you work with Microsoft and PC Professional, you’ll have the winning combination you need to help accelerate your business.

With Microsoft Online Services, your business can reduce IT costs because you don’t have to worry about buying additional hardware to get the services that Microsoft provides.  With Microsoft Online Services’ Business Productivity Suite (BPOS), your end users can access Hosted Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications and Live Meeting for $15 per month.
 

Microsoft is offering a Free 30 Day Trial of their Online Services. Contact your Account Manager or PC Professional’s main line at 510.465.5700 to find out if Microsoft’s Online Services is right for you.

PC Professional has been chosen as part of Microsoft Online Services Accelerated Partner Program.

To find out more information about Microsoft’s Online Services, visit our website.

Managed IT

PC Professional has launched a new Managed IT services offering we are calling ‘Triple Play.’ With this service, your company gets IT Outsourcing, 24 x 7 Remote Monitoring and Help Desk support bundled into one monthly fee.

IT Outsourcing provides your company with an on‐site technician that can act as your entire IT staff or augment your existing staff, which helps reduce the costs of employing an entire IT department. Our technical staff has a comprehensive skill set designed to provide customized care for our customers.

Managed IT means that you have a CIO on call and watching your network 24 x 7 to increase the reliability of your systems. Your company cannot afford downtime and our remote monitoring service leads IT to support your company’s business goals.

Help Desk Support is available to help your company in between your outsource visits and make sure you have a technician on call to ensure consistent network access.

For more information, check out our Managed IT page or contact your Account Manager.