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3rd Annual Technology Showcase
Our 3rd Annual Technology Showcase was a huge success with around 100 attendees. Held at the Grand Okanagan on Oct 8th.
Vendors such as IBM, Avocent, Aruba Networks, DLink, Data Domain, ESET, HP, HP Procurve, Lenovo, McAfee, Polycom, Samsung, Sonicwall, Sun Microsystems and Xerox were in attendance.
Go GREEN!
Listed below are 11 easy strategies you can implement today to help your business become more environmentally efficient by conserving energy and minimizing carbon output, which will ultimately save your business money.
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11 Easy Steps to ‘Green’ Your Business: |
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Turn off equipment
Don’t forget to turn off computers and printers at the end of the day. This conserves energy and prolongs the life of your equipment. |
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Turn down the heat
Turning down the heat in the winter and easing off the air conditioning in the summer can drastically cut down the CO2 emissions from burning fuel and at the same time shave some dollars off the corporate budget. |
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Host a teleconference
Many notebook PCs now come with built-in webcams and there is no better time to start using them. Instead of driving frantically across town to make that 11 a.m. meeting, arrange for everyone to meet on the Web. |
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Check the supply room
From paper clips to staples, there are many ways to save the environment from the wasted use of office supplies. For example, reuse paperclips instead of throwing them away and use a staple-less stapler that uses friction to bind your documents. |
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Set your computer to sleep
Set your computer to go into sleep mode when you aren’t using it. Contrary to popular believe, screen savers don’t save electricity, but sleep mode can cut your power consumption by five times, cutting your electricity bills by more than 500 kilowatt hours per year. |
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Use energy efficient products
Choosing the right product for the environment can help reduce your overall TCO. Today’s PC manufacturers offer products with new low-voltage processors and more efficient power supplies to help conserve energy. |
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Buy green
Tell suppliers that you’re interested in sustainable products and set specific goals for buying recycled, refurbished or used products. Make the environment a factor when purchasing. |
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Use a balanced deployment model
Using a model where selective desktop, centralized workgroup and data center printing exists will reduce your overall power consumption and supply costs. |
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Get employees involved
Appoint a leader to spearhead your company’s eco-efforts and determine where you can have the biggest impact for the least amount of money. |
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Communicate
Inform suppliers and customers about your efforts. Get in touch with local regulatory agencies who offer financial incentives to businesses that clean up their acts. |
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Recycle
Choose suppliers who take back packaging, supplies and hardware for reuse. |
Mobile WiMAX Technology from Intel
Don't Count Windows XP Out Yet! - by Steve Burke of ChannelWeb
Don't count Windows XP out yet. That's the word from Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer who told a news conference in Belgium that the software giant could re-think plans to phase out its Windows XP operating system effective June 30.
Ballmer, however, cautioned that right now the plan is to end retail sales and stop licensing Windows XP to computer makers effective June 30, according to a Reuters wire report.
"If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments," Ballmer said at a news conference.
Ballmer and Microsoft may be getting caught up in somewhat of a semantics game since major computer makers have already set the stage to continue to sell Windows XP.
As ChannelWeb reported Wednesday, some computer makers have found a way to circumvent Microsoft's June 30 deadline to discontinue sales of XP.
Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ), Dell (NSDQ:Dell) and Sony all confirmed plans to exercise the downgrade rights Microsoft offers with OEM versions of Windows Vista Business and Vista Ultimate in order to continue offering XP-equipped PCs to their customers.
Downgrade rights, which Microsoft also offers to volume licensing customers, give users the ability to roll back to the previous version of the product they're using. Downgrade rights have existed since 2001 for Windows, but many Microsoft partners say they've been seeing a recent uptick in the number of customers exercising downgrade rights to roll Vista back to XP Professional.
Glen Coffield, president of Smart Guys Computers, an Orlando, Fla.-based retail chain with six stores in central Florida, said getting XP will be no problem from system builders who can sell the operating system until January or through major computer makers providing a downgrade path to XP.
"If someone wants to get Windows XP they will be able to," said Coffield. "It is not going away. Everyone is getting all excited for nothing. You will still be able to get XP with downgrade rights it will just be more labor intensive that is all. It doesn't really matter that much six to one half dozen to another."
The downgrade rights path is one that both major computer makers and system builders have used in the past to assure customers can use an older Microsoft operating system once it has been phased out.
"It is more complicated to do a downgrade," he said. "Activation is more difficult. But Companies like Lenovo and some of the other ones have been shipping notebooks so that you can load it either way. Downgrade rights have always existed. It existed with Windows 2000 when Windows XP came out. We have always had downgrade rights. This is nothing new. The problem is the (Vista) implementation is a little bit different."
The Big Easy Offer from Microsoft
The Big Easy Offer 2.0 gives you choices on Microsoft products and solutions that fit your needs. For every qualifying product you purchase, Microsoft pays you partner subsidy funds to purchase more products and services from the Microsoft Partner of your choice.
What is a Subsidy?
A subsidy is a check made payable to the Microsoft partner of your choice. This subsidy can be used to enrich and implement your overall solution as it allows you to purchase additional products or services from that Microsoft partner.
There are three factors that can increase your subsidy:
- When you purchase from more than one product group.
- Buying licenses with Software Assurance.
- Purchasing advanced or Enterprise Editions.
How does it work?
- Make a qualifying purchase between Aug. 25 and Dec. 31, 2008.
- Register your purchase by Jan. 30, 2009 at http://www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy/
- Receive your partner subsidy check from Microsoft.
- Spend your subsidy funds with a qualified Microsoft partner within 90 days of receipt.
Is my machine vista capable?
Thinking of upgrading to Windows vista but not sure if your machine can handle it? Here are two quick ways of finding out before you buy.
You need the following hardware in your machine:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB of system memory
- 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
- Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
- WDDM Driver
- 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
- Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
- 32 bits per pixel
- DVD-ROM drive
- Audio Output
Or you can download and run the following tool that will examine your machine and tell you what is incompatible.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx
Quote of the Month
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
— Doris Lessing
The Sutus Business Central 200 is the perfect all in one solution for your small business.
At Sutus we believe that an all in one solution should be exactly that - comprehensive, affordable and effective. When evaluating systems, we think it’s important to look at all the factors that are important to your business.
Ease of Use
The BC200's configuration wizards, straightforward management tools and accessible tools allow it to be set-up in significantly shorter time than the competitor’s products and with much less cost. While we recommend you have your reseller do the installation, this allows you to spend more of your budget on value add activities instead of basic installation.
Not Just a Phone System
The Business Centrals Public and Private workspaces make it easy and efficient for business to manage their day to day operations. In addition, the BC 200 doesn’t require any additional purchases. It comes with 2x250GB hard drives in a RAID configuration to protect your data - a feature some competitors charge more for - and all the software capabilities are enabled for a single licensing fee.
The Bottom Line
The Sutus Business Central Reduces Complexity, Eliminates Costs Associated with Implementation and Provides the Core Features your business needs.
Contact a VODA Sales Rep for more information at 250.374.8002
A: If you are tired of the speed that Internet Explorer loads web pages, there is one, little-known, option for you that may make you forget the days of slow web-page loading.
Google's latest release, Google Chrome, is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. Chrome offers the ability to search the web, history, and favourites all from one address bar, making suggestions as you type.
 For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, for example, to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays, Google Chrome offers the incognito browsing mode. Web pages that you open and files downloaded, while you are incognito, won't be logged in your browsing and download histories; all new cookies are deleted after you close the incognito window. You can browse normally and in incognito mode at the same time by using separate windows.
Those that enjoy tabbed browsing, will notice an informative page when they chose to open a new tab. When you open a new tab, Google Chrome preloads it with useful information. With one click, you can get to the web resources you use most often.
Lastly, Google Chrome doesn't have the annoying download manager that pops up with Internet Explorer. When you download a file from a website with Chrome, the downloads bar appears at the bottom of the tab where you can monitor the progress of your downloading file. The file button indicates how much time remains for the download. An arrow appears in the tab to signify a download in progress.
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