Save Time, Save Money, and be more productive. www.i3reliability.com 01/18/2011
Posted by mritsema in business intelligence, cloud computing, development, healthcare, ibm, managed services, microsoft, security, virtualization, web, web services.Tags: Cloud Services, Cloud Support, IT, IT support, IT Support Services, Network Support
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Microsoft Azure: 10K Customers and Counting | InternetNews.com 06/09/2010
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, development, infrastructure, managed services, microsoft, SaaS, virtualization, web services.add a comment
Not bad for something just outta beta:
“Microsoft’s Azure just came out of beta testing a few months ago, but the company has already signed up 10,000 paying customers to run their applications in the company’s Azure cloud, a company executive said.”
via Microsoft Azure: 10K Customers and Counting – InternetNews.com
Andy Kaiser reviews HTC Incredible | Digital Bits 06/09/2010
Posted by thaadsma in design, games, google, mobile web, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
i3 Business Solutions’ own Andy Kaiser has a great review up on this new Android smartphone.
In his words:
“Let’s move on to the fun parts about the HTC Incredible: just about everything.”
Read it all at Andy’s Digital Bits blog: HTC Incredible review.
HTC Incredible
PDF = Pretty Dangerous Format? The Rising Trend of PDF Attacks | Channel Insider 06/08/2010
Posted by thaadsma in design, security, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
Once upon a time, there was a real need for PDFs. And as a lowest common denominator kind of thing, PDFs still work as a quick & dirty way to “freeze” a document, print it, and/or email it off. But Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) monopoly is quickly becoming a security liability, as this slide show points out:
“Once considered one of the safest attachments around, the PDF format is becoming a fan favorite among cybercriminals lookingto spread their malcode, infect machines and beef up their botnets. We take a look new data that shows just how dangerous the PDF format has become, how hackers are using malicious PDFs to perpetrate attacks and what you can do to protect against them.”
And for a web geek’s perspective, click over to Jakob Nielsen’s PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption .
via Pretty Dangerous Format: The Rising Trend of PDF Attacks – Security news from Channel Insider.
HTG recognizes outstanding peer group | i3 05/05/2010
Posted by Connie Swanson in government, healthcare, ibm, infrastructure, managed services, microsoft, SaaS, security, web services.add a comment
i3 Business Solutions, LLC participates in an international peer group called Heartland Technology Group. Heartland Technology Group (HTG) is recognized as a leading peer group in the information technology industry. It is composed of 250 companies focused on small to mid-size business support. Ideas on management of people, process, performance and practice are the foundation for this industry initiative.
Kathy Labozzetta of i3 Business Solutions with HTG 5 Team
Our peer group, HTG5 was awarded member group of the year out of the 22 peer groups at this year’s conference. Participation in this collaborative effort enables us to quickly compare ourselves to others in the industry, validate our strategy and decision making and go to market quickly with leading solutions and best practices that are proven and reliable.
These solutions include:
- Virtualization
- Managed Service IT Support Offerings
- Backup and Recovery
- Storage Solutions
- Web Applications
- Microsoft Solutions
- Technology and Service Delivery Tools
- Product Offerings
- Input and Support from Key Industry Vendors
HTG differentiates itself from other industry groups by having a very open “Go Giver” philosophy for sharing of business ideas including open financials, sales, marketing and operational methodologies with common business financial benchmarks & metrics. Open discussion and action plans for development of people and work/life balance are also a focus.
Clash of the clouds | The Economist 11/02/2009
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, ibm, infrastructure, Linux, managed services, microsoft, security, web, web services.add a comment
Cloud computing generates a lot of heated discussion, and through all the technical arguments, issues of security and trust, and battles over control, one topic keeps getting overlooked: cost.
Reducing business cost is what’s really driving us toward cloud computing.
We will all eventually adopt cloud computing, simply because the current model of scaling servers up and down is very expensive. IT departments try to buy as many servers as they think they’ll need for computing power during estimated peak capacity. But we don’t need that capacity most of the time– so lots of servers sit idle.
Cloud computing can reduce costs, becauses it provides more capacity during the peak times, so we simply pay for it on-demand. When the peaks are over and less capacity is needed, the cost then goes down. From a business perspective, this allows a company to move much of its infrastructure costs from being a capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an operating expenditure (OPEX).
The Economist published an excellent overview of how industry giants are reacting to this massive trend:
Clash of the Titans
“The rise of cloud computing is not just shifting Microsoft’s centre of gravity. It is changing the nature of competition within the computer industry. Technological developments have hitherto pushed computing power away from central hubs: first from mainframes to minicomputers, and then to PCs. Now a combination of ever cheaper and more powerful processors, and ever faster and more ubiquitous networks, is pushing power back to the centre in some respects, and even further away in others. The cloud’s data centres are, in effect, outsize public mainframes. At the same time, the PC is being pushed aside by a host of smaller, often wireless devices, such as smart-phones, netbooks (small laptops) and, perhaps soon, tablets (touch-screen computers the size of books).
Although Windows still runs 90% of PCs, the fading importance of the PC means that Microsoft is no longer an all-powerful monopolist. Others are also building big clouds, including Google, a giant of the internet, and Apple, renowned as a maker of hardware, with a market capitalisation that now exceeds those of both Google and IBM, its original arch-rival (see chart above).
Granted, there are hundreds if not thousands of firms offering cloud services—web-based applications living in data centres, such as music sites or social networks. But Microsoft, Google and Apple play in a different league. Each has its own global network of data centres. They intend to offer not just one or two services, but whole suites of them, with services including e-mail, address books, storage, collaboration tools and business applications. They are also vying to dominate the periphery, either by developing software for smart-phones and other small devices or by making such devices themselves.”
Read the whole thing, of course… Cloud computing: Clash of the clouds | The Economist.
Andy Kaiser gives two thumbs up to new Motorola Droid | Digital Bits 10/31/2009
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, design, mobile web, multimedia, social web, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
Andy Kaiser and I and a few more of us at i3 Business Solutions have been patiently waiting for the first smartphone based on the Google “Android” platform to hit the streets, and compete head-on with Apple’s excellent iPhone.
Andy likes the iPhone. Andy really likes the new Droid from Motorola.
Read his excellent review written at his Digital Bits technology column. Here’s an excerpt:
“The Droid is an excellent phone. Google, Motorola and Verizon really knocked this one out of the park. I don’t even like baseball, and I’m using a baseball euphemism. That’s how impressed I am.
As of this writing, you can visit “DroidDoes”, Verizon’s promotional site for the Droid. The site starts you off with a few blurbs about all the things the Droid does that the iPhone can’t do or doesn’t have like having a removable battery, physical keyboard, multitasking, and open app store, etc. To my knowledge, this is the first cellphone that has had the guts to directly criticize the mighty Apple iPhone.
It can criticize Apple all it wants. The Droid holds its own. Easily.”
Find out why Andy likes this phone so much, as he fully describes its features and capabilities at his website AndyBrain.com.
Social Media: Rolling with the changes | Lunch & Learn at i3 Business Solutions 10/28/2009
Posted by thaadsma in microsoft, SaaS, social web, web, web services.add a comment
Thanks to the great group who attended our Lunch & Learn session today. (And it was a beautiful fall day to get out of the office wasn’t it?)
i3′s Mike Ritsema introduced the session with the theme that ”Things are changing” and that we all need to change and starting using this stuff to thrive and compete.
Mike introduced the main presenter Bill Chamberlin, Principal Consultant – Social Insights Practice and HorizonWatching Community Leader at IBM. As of 2009, Bill is part of IBM’s Social Media Insights practice. This new practice for extracting business insights and value from social media marketing and online communities. Bill covered a point of view on how IBM approaches the social media ‘communities space’, which tools and platforms that are of business use, and what strategic decisions have to be made to use social media tools for customer support, marketing & promotions, and product development.
Brian Dokter of Thinkbox Creative then pulled all these concepts together by demonstrating how ThinkBox has linked (or ‘federated’) all their firms’ social media tools so they can make one update and feed the update out throughout their website, blog, Blog, Facebook page, and more.
Setting it all up correctly is critical. Doing this takes time, experience and expertise, so we look forward to working with our customers and ThinkBox Creative to assist people interested in pursuing this in business.
Once again, thanks to all presenters and attendees.
Are you ready to get busy with it?
LinkedIn seems to be a clear winner for businesses interested in networking and marketing themselves online– without spending a lot of time and money. For those of you ready to jump in, I found this great introduction on how to set up a compnay profile: HOW TO: Build Your Company’s Profile on LinkedIn.
Find the right doctor with these online resources | Webware | CNET 10/20/2009
Posted by thaadsma in healthcare, web, web services.add a comment
Every fall millions of us employees are subject to new health plans from employers. That often means finding a new doctor.
This CNET post has a review of some great resources available online to gather information and make the right decision:
“As the health care debate rages on, we’re still left wondering which doctor is best for what we need. Asking friends is a good way to find out about personal experiences, but one person’s opinion might not be enough to go on. For those instances, you need some help from a Web site or two.
I’ve compiled a helpful list of services that will help you research doctors, and with any luck, pick a good one. Let’s take a look: Find the right doctor with these online resources ”
via Find the right doctor with these online resources | Webware – CNET.
Reshaping Cisco: The world according to Chambers | The Economist 09/08/2009
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, infrastructure, Linux, managed services, microsoft, mobile web, virtualization, web, web services.add a comment
In case you missed this article on Cisco before you headed out for your Labor Day weekend, There’s a wealth of information on where Cisco’s been and where John Chambers intends to take them. Of particular interest is their foucs on virtualization:
“In the case of servers, souped-up computers that dish up data, the market shift Cisco intends to ride is virtualisation. In essence this means that the servers in a data centre are turned into a pool of computing power to be tapped into as needed rather than being used individually. Virtualisation creates a lot of complexity, to which Cisco has found an answer, says Robert Lloyd, who heads the group that has developed what Cisco calls the “unified computing system”. Its parts—servers, storage disks, memory—are held together and managed by a powerful switch running Nx-OS, one of Cisco’s operating systems.”
As a Cisco Select Partner here at i3 Business Solutions, we see their products as essential to “making things really work.” As more and more of our business systems– and personal networks of devices– get interwoven and integrated, I can only think that Cisco ultimately will be in the middle of it, making them all work together.
via Reshaping Cisco: The world according to Chambers | The Economist.
Have we now entered the post-OS era? | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com 05/31/2009
Posted by thaadsma in development, SaaS, web, web services.add a comment
Jason Hiner makes many astute observations in his “Sanity Check” blog at Tech Republic. Some of his best are wrapped into this excellent April post about how we are beyond the ‘OS wars” that the PC technology world gets so fixated on. And I agree with him 100% when he goes on to say that the Web browser is the standard interface for software applications. Here at i3 Business Solutions, our team is focused on web applications that integratre the best of classic IT systems with the new ecosystem opening oup on the web: Read Jason’s entire post for more perspective:
“It’s possible that a combination of voice and touch could revolutionize the user interface (and thus the OS), or that another major innovation could make it faster and simpler for humans to work with computers, but for now the keyboard and mouse are as efficient as it gets. And, as a result, the computer OS has stagnated.
And, of course, the other thing that’s going on is that the Web browser is finally usurping the OS as the universal platform that was envisioned back in the mid-1990s. Please note that I’m not talking about cloud computing or software-as-a-service (SaaS). While applications and services delivered over the Internet are certainly part of the ascendency of the Web browser, they still have not reached critical mass in the business world and the trend is bigger than that.
What we’re seeing is that many businesses are using the Web browser as the front-end application to access private, back-end systems, from databases to CRM to ERP to payroll to corporate portals. And, why not? Since most users are very familiar and comfortable with Web navigation and Web forms, these corporate systems can tap into that experience to provide applications that have an easier learning curve than Windows-based business apps with their unique menus and interfaces.”
via Sanity check: Have we now entered the post-OS era? | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com.
Microsoft 2019 scenario: everything I want except the flying car | The Industry Standard 03/04/2009
Posted by thaadsma in design, healthcare, microsoft, mobile web, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
Now this is more like it!
The five punchy two-minute video excerpt says a lot about where we are going:
“The super-slim and easy-to-use handheld gadgets and wall-sized transparent displays handled by the video’s shoppers, students and office workers make Tom Cruise’s setup in Minority Report seem obsolete. More important than whizzy interfaces, the videos promise much more extensive collaboration, instant information retrieval, and multimedia communication.”
via Microsoft’s 2019 scenario has everything but Windows | The Industry Standard.
NOTE: The original five-minute version (much higher quality) can be viewed at Microsoft Office Labs.
