Meraki Systems Director (additional)

I forgot to add this the first time...a great video from the folks at Meraki about it.  Tell me it's not your life in IT. ;)

http://youtu.be/HkEG3I3SAmk

A $50 server? *blink blink*

Yup.  It's small...it's a dual core Turion...but hey, if you need a TINY BASIC server...let me know :D

(Yes I know it says $349...but until next Friday it'll be $49.99)

(EDIT:  Some of you might have missed the comment on this post.  We sold out of these units 4 hours after we started that fire sale.  If they come back, I'll make sure to post more here about them.  I suggest buying 3 units and building a nice beefier server out of the same parts, since the drives for that unit are vaporware thanks to the Thailand Drives Issue)

How are you managing your systems?

This is a question that I don't think that I ask enough to my clients...but that's going to change.  Systems Management is a huge thing in the IT world, but it's almost always out of the average company's reach, because it's expensive...VERY expensive.  You can jump over here to Wikipedia and see how many different kinds of programs are out there to do this...and they all have their ups and downs, their learning curves, and their costs (financial or otherwise).

LANdesk is great software...no doubt about it.  But, with the basic price for 1 year and the software at around $90 per unit, that's pricey, and then maintenance agreements...and if you want anything specialized, that's an agent you have to add on.  It adds up quickly...not to mention that it's rather complex.  Not just them, but there are so many others that have the same situation that not everyone is willing to shell out that kind of money to manage their systems.

Then along comes Meraki.  I've spoken about these guys before, and my long time clients all know that I've always preached their products because of the quality that goes into them.  Now, they've taken that software that manages their wireless units & routers in the cloud, and applied it to Systems Management.  No tricky names here, the Meraki Systems Manager is a strong piece of work that delivers at a very low price.  Download the trial from their site, and let it start sending out agents to your desktops & laptops.  Here's a short breakdown for you on what it delivers...

1) Live Diagnostics - Not only does it know what your units are down to their kernels, but what software is on them, how its CPU is being utilized, RAM usage, etc.   Now you can know at a glance what's going on with one of your user's units.

2) Remote Access - Need to remote desktop in?  Easy.  How about sending a message to a user or killing a process on their computer?  Done.

3) Inventory & Location Tracking - Now you can know what you've got, where it is, and how it's being used on a simple webpage.  Who needs complicated software licensing from Computrace when you have an agent that'll tell you where a missing unit is down to the street address on google maps?

4) Software licensing management - EVERYONE needs this tool.  You know you have to track your licenses with a complicated excel spreadsheet, or through a tool that a VAR like us provide...but why?  This will tell you what's on your machines, and even if it needs to be renewed?  Jinkies!

And more than I have time to list.

Go download the trial today and test it out.  Have questions?  Let me know and we'll get you on a call with our friends at Meraki to answer your questions.  Let's cut your workload today!

Oh yes...and Happy New Year!  Be safe! :)

 

Addendum:  This software is now FREE for everyone to use.   Enjoy! :)

*blink blink* Really? How can I get one?

The title is an actual statement from a client of mine when mentioned our Apple notebook promos that are going on right now.  While I'm not a fan of pushing out product deals through this blog...these deals are too good to pass up.

 

So...if you have an account with PC Mall...call your rep and ask to buy these.  If not...call me at 541 * 351 * 8845 and I'll help you get some.  Simple as that.    Have any other holiday shopping you need to do for family and friends, and it's electronic?  Call us.  We can get things to you quickly and even before the holidays are over.  Take a look

 

Consumerization of the the Workplace

Happy Holidays! :)

Yup, "Consumerization"...that's apparently a now word that explains how workplaces are becoming inundated with personal devices: laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices.  I was going over my Microsoft information the other night, and there were some great articles sent over by their TechNet division.  You can see a great white paper on it here. (Be warned, it's a bit beefy.)

Really though, it's time to talk about what your mobility strategy is...but I'm sure you saying, "Why???"  The reason is, having a clearly defined strategy that's already in place will help curb certain employees from taking advantage of your lack of policy and standards.  It's going to happen, and it's only going to reflect onto you.  So, it's time to beat them to the punch, and show them (and your bosses) how flexible you are too!  Take a look at this webinar we here at PC Mall are holding next week that explains how the iPad works in Business...and how mobility relates to you.  Register today and get some free learning in! :)

If you take a look at this blurb over on Microsoft's site, it goes over how to "Consumerize" your workplace a bit...and what strategies are mentioned.  Things like Desktop Optimization, Cloud Services, and Smartphone & Mobile OS support to name a few.

How are you dealing with smartphones and tablets in your organization?  There's a lot to be said there, and we'd like to know how to help you with it.  Call and talk to us!  (My number is 541-351-8845, but if you're not my client, call your rep here. :) )

Symantec Backup becomes even easier to manage...

First of All...Happy Holidays! :)

I know I've mentioned this product briefly before, but the Symantec Backup Exec 3600 appliance is a new product from the acclaimed security company.  Not only are they providing their great BE software for your backup needs, but this appliance also has the capability to store it FOR you.  Also, no longer would you have to allocate space on your servers or in your storage to push your backups to.  This device will help manage and control it for you.

It's integrated deduplication, granular recovery and Virtual Machine protection (for VMWare and Hyper-V) does reduce your storage and use costs that come up over time with your backups.  Really, we all know that your backup procedures are always taxing on your time, and create a drag on your day that you could better utilize.

Why not take some time next week on December 14, and attend our Symantec 3600 webinar?  It's a free training on this product and it'll help you to better understand what the unit can do for you.

Before you ask...no, it does not make your teeth and laundry whiter, while doing your taxes and walking the dog...but all of those things could get done in the time you're fiddling with your Backup Solution, if you utilized the Symantec 3600.

(While some of you might think I'm shilling for this...I'm actually not.  I've been impressed with what I've seen, and if it can help make your lives easier, then I'm all for it.  Tell me I'm wrong and why. :) )

PC-friendly version of Android released

Howdy folks!  Glad to be back after the Thanksgiving holiday and of course end of the month madness. :)

Thaddeus found this article below this morning over on MSNBC, and I though it to be worth your time to take a look.  More from us soon!

PC-friendly version of Android released.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Howdy everyone!  Since I'm going to be out of the office most of today, and on holiday through the end of the week, I wanted to post this up now.  We here at the PC Mall DragonTech blog would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and a wonderful time with family and friends, at the start of this Holiday Season.

Two things...one tech, and the other not...

1) PC Mall has worked out a exclusive EARLY Black Friday deals on the new Macbook Air units that you might be interested in.  One at $799, one at $899, and one at $1149.  Take advantage!  (There are more, give your rep here a call!)

2) If you haven't considered it yet for this holiday season, please donate food to your local food bank.  There are so many here in the US who aren't able to have a family meal like most of us can at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays...but every can/dollar counts.  You can contact the Los Angeles Food Bank if you're down in SoCal, or go here to find a food bank through Feeding America.


There you have it...have a great rest of your week...and possibly look for a post or two when I or my compatriots are not in Food Coma. :)

(for those of you who liked the Halloween jibjab, here's one for Thanksgiving that's a little racy.  you've been warned.)

How about a Free Power Assessment?

People throw the word "free" around a lot, when it usually is not.  In this case, it is really free...and the folks at TrippLite have teamed up with us here at PC Mall to help you get a better idea of your power situation.  Take a look:

PC Mall Power Audit NEW - Customer 11 2 10

From my experience, I've had clients who have been spending FAR too much on their power (and cooling)...in many different ways.  Either too many UPS units, too few, the wrong units ...and other reasons.  Let us help you with this free power assessment.  If you have a rep here, great, Call/Email them today.  If not, use this form and we'll be able to help you out!

Upgrading Adobe software just became a major PAIN...

I don't believe in beating around the bush on this...because as a former IT person it bugs the heck out of me.

If you haven't heard by now, as of the release of CS6, Adobe is changing how you can upgrade to it.  If you do not have CS5.0 or CS5.5, you cannot upgrade to 6.  Yup...that means it's only for 1 version back!  For many of you, I know you're not on 5 or 5.5...and that's going to present a cost saving issue for when you have to upgrade.
So, if you've been considering an upgrade...now is the time to do so before the end of 2011.  If you upgrade to 5.5 and do Adobe's maintenance contract, you'll be covered for the release of CS6, and CS7.  (Since they're now releasing new versions yearly.)  Don't believe me?  Check out Adobe's blog page that talks about it.  They're serious.

I would suggest giving your rep here at PC Mall a call right now and talking about this upgrade.  With the special 20% off discount on Adobe upgrades right now through the end of 2011, it's a good time to get square and upgraded before you're going to have to pay TWICE that amount to get current.

Food for thought...mmm I'm thinking pie. :)

 

 

Meraki making a bid to be a bigger network player

I think many of you know how much I've been invested with Meraki. It's true that they make great products, but it has been wonderful to watch them grow and form over the past couple of years (like I have here). They went from a tiny organization, and once they embraced the channel (or a select few from the channel), they exploded in size. Now there's quite a few more reps than there used to be, and even I'm losing track.

At our Vision event back on November 3, I had a chance to talk with my favorite Meraki rep, and as always he was full of information...and a little innuendo that made me very interested in what Meraki is up to.  First off, they're known for their Wireless Enterprise units like the MR 58 and MR24 that work with their cloud-based architecture.  For you to be able to control all of your wireless units from one central location...using simple web-based tools...is fan-freakin-tastic.   Earlier this year, they got into the routing game, utilizing the same cloud-based architecture working with their MX70 units.

Now, based on comments that I was given...it seems like Meraki is now aiming at the "pieces inbetween" what they already handle.  What could that mean?  Only time will tell, boys and girls...but I tell you...these guys have more potential energy than you think...and when their IPO comes along, I'm first in line!

Want a free unit?  Take a look at our webinars section on this site, and sign up for Meraki's next webinar.  If you attend the full event, they'll send you a free MR12 unit (their basic unit) for you to keep and use.  As many of my clients will attest, once you use it, you want 4 more! :)

-Mike

(Note: Many of you have asked about my picture/signature these days.  I know it's actually much more attractive than my picture...but how about you scan it with your phone? ;) )

Thailand update

Two things this morning.  We're moving into our new offices here in El Segundo, CA this week...so things are a bit nutty, and that's why the lack of posts over the past week.  Should have some stuff for you today and tomorrow.

Secondly, things still are not looking good in Thailand.  The flooding hasn't abated, and those poor people are still suffering.  On the technology front with that, drive availability is still sporadic at best with WD, Seagate and Hitachi.  If you're going to need any drives over the next 2 months, I suggest getting them now before things dry up in December/January.
You can take a look at this link here from Youtube...and you can see the WD factory in it at 00:31.  Yeesh.

Just so you all know...

Wordpress thinks it's a great idea to run content ads based on what this team writes...and could care less if they're advertising our competition right smack in the middle of our posts.  It's a great way to extort...err I mean force...no...coerce a blogger into paying Wordpress $99 a year to remove ads from their blog.

That being said, I suggest that any of you reading this make sure that you're blocking ads, popups, running a flash/java blocker in Firefox, and ignore those ads the best you can.  Oh wait...i mean that you need to click those ads so wordpress gets paid.  *eyeroll*

----

Back to the real world.  I've got several conference calls most of this week (as you all know) and it's hammered my time to get some posts up.  I"ll be working on them this afternoon and tomorrow before PC Mall moves to our new offices in El Segundo.

Hasta La Vista! :D

Symantec Smackdown

Tonight on Symantec Smackdown...in the red corner, weighing in at 150 lbs of dusty old server equipment...YOUR BACKUP SYSTEM!  And...in the Gold corner...weighing in at a sleek 29 lbs....the Symantec BE6300!

All kidding aside, I had a chance to learn a bit more about this new appliance from Symantec the other day.  What?  You didn't know that Symantec actually has a hardware solution for backup?  The BE 6300 is designed to take all that is good about your Symantec Backup System (easy to use software, quick backup process, etc) and sell it to you all in a box with the hardware to store it and manage it.  We all want something simple, and this is most assuredly that.

We all know the issues with backup really relate to the hardware that's available.  You have to add drives for more storage, you have to make sure your system is up to date and able to run it, and of course you have to buy agents to replicate & deduplicate.  Not so here.  Take a look at this list of what comes on the box, and what's optional...and all of those licenses are unlimited in scope.  AND...the box has a total of 5.5TB of storage for your backups.  That'll keep you not worrying for awhile right?

Want more information?  Let's get on the phone with my Symantec BDM expert, Walaa Al-Saadi, today! :)

Out for Vision 2012 today

Howdy again folks!  This is just to let you know that most of us here at the PC Mall offices will be out at our annual Trade Show, Vision, for most of today.

You are welcome to contact us through email, and we will respond as we can from the event.  Please understand however that there will be a delay in response while we are helping clients at that show too.

Are you in Los Angeles today and want to come down?  We're here at the Long Beach Hilton!

 

Take care!

Happy Halloween!

Well the title says it all...but here's a little video starring all of us (except for Matt Bergen...who tried to burn my hand with a cigarette when I tried to take his picture) here at the Dragontech blog.



Just for reference: Cat (Mike Leader), Robot (Thaddeus Dilday), Sunflower (Alberto Aguilar), Pumpkin (Josh Fisher), Skeleton (Dwight Tabangcura)

Happy Halloween! :)

Microsoft's future

So I was going through my tech news feeds tonight and came across this gem from the folks over at Microsoft.  Reminding ourselves of how fast technology has grown in the past 5 years, 10 years, 20 years...this video's technology doesn't seem so far off.  Apparently, Microsoft says that this kind of tech will be in everyone's hands by 2019...and judging by how it's being used (maybe not the newspaper feed thing) that's a possibility.



Let me know what you think!

HP Personal Systems Group (PSG) Announcement

After the debacle with their last CEO, HP's been in a tizzy with rumors of their desktop/laptop division (known as PSG) being sold off and their cancelling of products and services.  The uproar caused by this was enough to choke a horse, and spelled a lot of tomfoolery and it really hurt HP's place in the market.  Today I received an email from the Offices of Meg Whitman and Todd Bradley at HP...

HP Channel Partners;

Partners like you have made it clear to us how important HP’s entire portfolio of products, services and solutions is to the ongoing health of your business. On behalf of all us at HP, thank you for sharing your views and for your support. We appreciate your partnership.

After a deep data driven analysis, we have decided that HP and the Personal Systems Group (PSG) are stronger together. What this means for you is that HP will continue to partner with you across our complete technology portfolio.  We are committed to making the world’s #1 PC business even better for you, from the products and services we offer to the programs designed to grow your business.

Back in July, we restructured PSG to align with customer segments rather than product form factor. This approach improves our focus on capturing customers’ evolving needs and delivering innovation for them across our portfolio – from hardware to software to services. We will continue to drive initiatives that improve our quality, responsiveness and cost-competitiveness.

In closing, thank you for your ongoing commitment. You remain critical to HP’s overall success. We’re happy to follow up with you directly to discuss this or answer any questions you may have.

Meg Whitman

President and Chief Executive Officer

A step in the right direction finally.

 

Now let's hope they further remember the Touchpad and that they captured a lot of attention several months ago with it.

Update on Thailand and in regard to Hard Drives...

While I don't want to undercut the seriousness of the flooding in Thailand, but if you're paying attention here, IT IS GOING TO AFFECT IT DEPARTMENTS WORLDWIDE.

Alarmist?  Maybe.  However, understand that Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi all have facilities in the Bangkok area.  Currently, Bangkok is under 3.5 feet of water...and the flooding is getting worse.  Data coming in tells us that they could be upwards of 5 ft. underwater by Saturday.

All of the above manufacturers above have shut down their plants in the area...and there's an unconfirmed rumor that WD has declared their facility a total loss.  I know that distribution and manufacturers are cancelling most backorders and won't take any more backorders until product becomes available.

What does this mean for you?  If you need a drive now, call your rep here at PC Mall and order NOW.  We're doing everything we can to secure stock, but there is going to be a mad rush in the coming weeks, and it's a good idea to stock up.  I can guarantee that prices will skyrocket, and supply will disappear...so take that for what you will.

Have questions?  Call us now.  Get us involved early so we can help.



Update...I actually have pictures of the WD factory and the area surrounding it...They came from our friend Mike Sullivan over at RexMoore (through his contact at WD)...

p455w0rD 53Cur17Y

Hard Drives ... get your Hard Drives! While supplies last!

Thailand has had a major adverse effect on the supply of hard drives in the last two weeks. Approximately half of the world’s hard disk drives are produced in Thailand. In the last two weeks, we’ve seen both Western Digital and Toshiba suspend production, due to flooding in factories. Western digital issued a press statement early last week (17 October 2011) assuring that their employees remain safe, but warning that the floods would affect its ability to meet customer demand for its products in the December quarter. This is despite the company’s other facilities in Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. being fully operational.

While Seagate’s factories have not been flooded, there have been issues in the supply of components that are sourced through the local Thai market.

Doing Business with Google?

I know many smaller businesses think that it's a great idea to work with Google.  Low/Free pricing, and great experiences as consumers will always cause people to gravitate to them.  Personally, I have had a wonderful experience with Google's email, maps and other services...but I would never use them for my own business.

Why?  I was thinking about this the other day, and wanted to explain it in a blog post to everyone...but I noticed today that my friends over at TechRepublic were riding the same wavelength as I was.  Worth the short read for you.  Here's a bit shorter version with my own spin.

1) Google's app environment isn't stable.  Outside of Gmail and Maps, the sheer amount of things that Google introduces and then pulls is massive.  This to me always shows that their products aren't really that well thought out or tested...and if you're a business, why would you want to be using an advanced beta product in your environment?  There's already rampant changes to Gmail coming...and that's messing with an established product that works.

2) Google could care less about you.  I think the folks at TechRepublic hit the nail on the head.  They don't have a SLA for their users.  That alone would be a deal breaker for me.  Those of you who've worked with any company that has a warranty, or response time added into it have expectations.  If your whole system relies on them, and they don't get back to you, how much money are you bleeding out during that time?  That should horrify any businessman or IT person.

3) They're collecting your information. Yup, when you click their search engine, and use their apps, you're generating them income...and they're finding better ways to sell to you.  Other companies out there who sell you the software you need, only collect information if you let them...and that's how it should be.  Google really wants your data to sell...and that's all you're worth to them.

I brought this up to a friend who owns a small business that uses Google a while back, and he laughed at me, calling me biased because I sell solutions.  Unlike some people, I do get it...that some businesses may not have the capital to start with enterprise level products...but there are answers that are much better than a free service who sells your information.  Heck, $5/month an email box for hosted services is what PC Mall and Microsoft charge...that takes the workload off of you, and keeps things safe.

In the end, you always get what you pay for.   Either do your own laundry, or hire a laundry service to do it for you.  Don't let the neighborhood kids paw through your clothes and wash them for you.  :)

Tired of outdated technology in your conference room? Ditch the Star!

Lets face it, that polycomm/cisco star in the middle of your conference table hasn't changed since the 80's. That may be ok for the Member's Only crowd but being hunched around the phone on a conference call is no longer new wave.

The folks over at RevoLabs hs totally redesigned the conference phone with modular, wireless design that puts your caller in the room with superior sound quality. The advantage of the system is that the omnidirectional microphone(s) can be placed where the people are talking, The speaker can be placed where it is best heard. The unit comes with 2 onmidirectional mikes so it can act as 2 of the "old" star phones. Optionally you can replace the second mike with a lapel mike for presentation environments.

It can connect to a cell with bluetooth or use a standard line plugged into your existing system.

Don't take my word for it go to their site!

Xerox Printer Promotion ALERT!

No sooner do I post the last bit than this stuff hits my desk.  Xerox is known the world over for their quality printers.  While always expensive, you do moreoften than not get your money's worth out of them.  So, when something like this comes up, it's hard to not share. :)

This Phaser 6360 model was recently over produced, but there was some overproduction and now Xerox has given us a special deal to push them out to our clients.  This model originally was $1599...but now we have them for $598.95. You can view them at that link, but if you give your PC Mall rep a call, they can bring that price down a bit more for you.

PHASER 6360/YDN: 7204130

Xerox Phaser 6360 leads the industry with best-in-class print speed and exceptional color performance. Easy to operate and engineered to meet the exacting demands of high-volume office environments.

 

Quick Specs:

-          Up to 42 pages per minute color and mono

-          First page out as fast 9 seconds

-          Letter / Legal

-          Standard paper capacity 700 sheets (expand up to 2,350)

-          Recommended monthly print volume of 14,000 pages

TAKE ADVANTAGE! :D

Attacked by a virus!

Well actually it was ME who was attacked over the past several days...and I missed a couple here in the office.   So now I've been trying to play catchup with all of my client and all of the things I had lined up for our awesome readers!  Just expect an article from me later this afternoon.  :)

Force Updating Phones to Windows 7.5 (Mango)

As many of you know, I have a Samsung Focus windows phone.  Wonderful device, it's easy to use...and I'm not a part of the "apple machine" anymore.  However during the recent updates to the new 7.5 operating system (known as Mango), there were some folks who've had a heck of a time getting their device to do the update.  This isn't something on Microsoft, it's actually related to the phone's manufacturer and the firmware installed.  Here's the instructions I followed from when I couldn't get the final step to update.

1. Connect your Windows Phone to a PC and launch the Zune client.


2. Click on Phone/Settings/Update. Allow the software to tell you whether an update is available. If it is, do that and enjoy...if not keep going.


3. Select Update again, only as soon as you click it, immediately disconnect your computer from the internet.  (Pull the cable/disconnect wifi/etc.  Personally, I had my wifi connection open and was able to shut it off in 1-2 seconds.)  This will cause the program to cycle through the Update only not go through


4. It takes about a minute or so, but it will then say an Update is available.  This is 7392, a post-NoDo security update.


5. Now, turn your internet back on and do this update.  It may take 1-2 tries to work.


6. Following that, run the update again and you should see the update for 7403 (security update).  Run it and you're good to go.  If not, follow the same procedure as above, and it'll pop up.  It may take a couple tries.  (Took me 4 tries.)


7. Just as 7403 finishes it is supposed to auto install 7720 (Mango).  If it doesn't happen, follow the same steps above again.

There you have it.

Don't have a windows phone?  I suggest looking at them...they're a lot better than most folks would think. :)

Blackberry: The solution is in the squeeze

So, with all this h-e-double hockeysticks going on with Blackberry's services over the past couple days, I've had several clients who have been under the gun and pulling their hair out waiting for a solution.  While I'm glad that it looks like RIM has things under control...this is going to take some time to recover from on the business front.

Not that ONE major glitch is any reason to drop Blackberry like a bad habit, but businesses are jumpy about how they spend their money.  So when something like this happens, it's going to be remembered.  Already my clients are questioning using Blackberries in their environment, because almost any carrier now can deliver the same quality (and now Apple has copied the same messenger service that RIM uses on the Blackberry with iMessage) that RIM delivered.

Today's apology from RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, while a nice thing to do, comes across very robotic.  It's obvious that he's reading from a teleprompter...and that's disconcerting.  For a CEO of RIM to not be connected enough with his company to understand exactly what's going on without being spoon-fed information shows a severe level of disconnect with his business.

Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said RIM would have to resolve the problem quickly. "The current situation with the Blackberry outages couldn't come at a worse time for RIM, following some harsh criticism in recent months," he said. Such crashes may lead RIM and others to "re-evaluate their reliance on centralised servers and instead look to investing in more corporately controlled servers", he added.

 

Someone asked if this spells the end of Blackberries and RIM in general.  I don't think it's the end, but it's surely a gut punch from the fists of innovation that will hopefully remind them that they need to push forward before they're left behind to pick up the crumbs in the middle of the road.

Adobe offering 20% off upgrades!

Almost everyone uses their product at some point in their day.  They're on every new PC that you buy.  They've helped shaped the graphics industry for many years...yes Adobe.  Love them, severely dislike them, we're all touched by them sometime.

Right now, they're offering some good discounts on upgrading your old CS2, CS3 and CS4 software to the 5.5 version.  I would never sneeze at 20% off most anything...and a chance to make sure you're using the most current and best version is a chance well taken.

For example, normally the upgrade from Design Premium CS4 to CS5.5 runs just over $675.  Right now you can get it for $515 off of our website.  This deal extends across all of these Adobe products:

Design Standard & Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium, Master Collection, After Effects, Audition, Dreamweaver, Fireworks (pc), Flash Pro (pc), Illustrator (pc), InDesign, Photoshop.

Don't lose out...call your PC Mall rep today! :)

Have a lot to do? Let us partner up and take on your load!

by Dwight Tabangcura

How often have you or your office purchased something and it's sat for a week...two weeks...a month...and you've not found the time to install it? We can help fix that with our iTeam solutions.

PCMall has partnered with iTeam to provide our customers with Onsite Installations of :

• PCs & Notebooks


• Digital Signage


• Servers & Storage


• Flat Panels


• Networking


• Projectors & Screens


• Printers


• Surveillance


• Software


• VoIP

iTeam, Inc., a private company, is the industry’s leading provider of Service-as-a-Product (SaaP). iTeam has transformed the complex, multi –step process of service sales and delivery into well-defined, packaged products that can easily be purchased by the end-user. One sku number to quote. One step process of engaging a skilled and certified service advisor and field technician. With a pool of over 13,000 field technicians across the US and Canada, each service installation engineer is carefully selected and matched to the customers needs based on the tech’s skills, certifications, location, and track record of successful delivery.

What makes SaaP different and better :

• Price is guaranteed, no up-charges, no onsite extras.


• Every installation service is managed by a highly experienced iTeam Service Advisor.


• Customer selects the day and time they want the installation.


• Performance guarantee ensures that the customers are satisfied before the technicians leaves the premises.

How much does it cost?

Well, like I said above, it's a fixed cost...not something that you have to have plotted out. I'll even provide a full price list below. What you need done not on there? Give us a call and we can figure it out so you'll know up front. Let's save you some valuable time!

Click here to look at what PC Mall & iTeam can do for you!

Cisco wants to give YOU money!

Well...not just anyone.  However, this promotion is rather special. Cisco may be #1 in the network industry (sorry HP, you know I love you, but you aren't number 1), but they're never very keen on providing bonus to their clients. That's how it is when you're on top.  Well, a recent climate change there has brought in a wonderful new rebate program that you can take advantage of if you're buying specific Cisco products.

Right now if you're buying or have bought any of the below products between August 1, 2011 and October 29 2011, you qualify for the rebate listed. Oh, you want me to tell you how to get it...only if I get half. ;)

Just Login to www.ciscorebateprogram.com, select your products, fill out the form and voila! :D

I just made a client of mine extremely happy with an extra $250 back...right Kevin?...why can't you be happy too?

Routing		Rebate
10/100 4-Port VPN Router	RV042	$ 30
10/100 8-Port VPN Router	RV082	$ 50
RV120W Wireless-N VPN Firewall	RV120W-A-NA	$ 20
Cisco RV220W Wireless-N Network Security Firewall	RV220W-A-K9-NA	$ 50
Switching		Rebate
48-port 10/100 Stackable Ethernet Switch with PoE	SFE2010P	$ 170
24-port 10/ 100/ 1000 Gigabit Switch with PoE	SGE2000P	$ 125
48-port 10/ 100/1000 Gigabit Stackable Switch	SGE2010	$ 180
48-port 10/100/ 1000 Gigabit Stackable Switch with PoE	SGE2010P	$ 250
SG 200-50 50-port Gigabit Smart Switch	SLM2048T-NA	$ 90
SG 200-26P 26-port Gigabit PoE Smart Switch	SLM2024PT-NA	$ 75
SF 200-24P 24-Port 10/100 PoE Smart Switch	SLM224PT-NA	$ 50
SF 200-48P 48-Port 10/100 PoE Smart Switch	SLM248PT-NA	$ 90
SG 200-50P 50-port Gigabit PoE Smart Switch	SLM2048PT-NA	$ 130
20-port Gigabit Managed Switch	SRW2016-K9-NA	$ 150
28-port Gigabit Managed Switch	SRW2024-K9-NA	$ 200
SG 300-28P 28-port Gigabit PoE Managed Switch	SRW2024P-K9-NA	$ 100
52-port Gigabit Managed Switch	SRW2048-K9-NA	$ 300
24-port 10/100 Managed Switch with Gigabit Uplinks	SRW224G4-K9-NA	$ 100
24-port 10/100 PoE Managed Switch with Gigabit Uplinks	SRW224G4P-K9-NA	$ 200
48-port 10/100 Managed Switch with Gigabit Uplinks	SRW248G4-K9-NA	$ 150
48-port 10/100 PoE Managed Switch with Gigabit Uplinks	SRW248G4P-K9-NA	$ 300
Wireless		Rebate
Dual Band Single Radio Clustering Access Point (FCC)	AP541N-A-K9	$ 75
Surveillance		Rebate
Business PTZ Internet Camera with Audio and PoE	PVC300	$ 80
VC 220 Dome WDR Day/Night PoE Network Camera	VC220-K9	$ 80
VC 240 Outdoor WDR Day/Night PoE Network Camera	VC240-K9	$ 90
Phones (US Only)
5-Line IP Phone with Color Display, PoE, 802.11g, Bluetooth	SPA525G2	$ 150*
*Must purchase five (5) or more SPA525G2 phones to be eligible for a maximum $150 rebate

In Memoriam...

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days.  Things have been quite hectic, and now with the passing of Steve Jobs, it's going to be interesting.  Steve Jobs made a lot of difference in this industry, and love or hate Apple, I believe we all should respect the innovation he brought in his lifetime.  The products he helped to create have touched all of our lives in one way or another...and we can't deny that.  Rest in Peace Mr. Jobs.

Here's a tribute from one of my favorite webcomics:



Another...

Microsoft swings big with their hardware!

One of the great things about working with PC Mall, is that I've been exposed to the major manufacturers and their programs every day that I'm here.  Trust me when I say it's a LOT of programs.  Microsoft is well known for their confusing, but satisfying every nook & cranny, licensing programs.  However, programs for purchasing their hardware (keyboards, mice and webcams) has been unheard of.

Now they do.

They're offering a wonderful discount of up to 23% off their hardware products, if you just agree to standardize on them.  Now when I say agree, they have promised it's a handshake/gentleman's agreement...and not contractual.  So, agree to standardize on their hardware and get a significant discount = WIN.

For all of MS's faults, they do make some great hardware designed to work with their software.  My little Bluetrack mouse, I've had for almost 2 years, and I've not changed the batteries YET.  (Also helps that it's Bluetrack laser will track on my bed's blanket...so I can work from the comforts of home when sick.)  Their new arc mouse and touch mouse seem to be pretty cool from my hands on experience today.

So, let's talk about updating your old corded mice to something that'll make your workers more productive!

Data Backup - Novastor

Hey...we all need to do it...yes it sucks, but your company can't exist if you lose EVERYTHING (or even some things) right?  I'm not going to throw stats at you because I don't think all of them can be verified...or like 98% of most statistics, are made up on the spot or to prove a point.  We all know that e-mail needs to be saved for legal reasons, your company's documents and such need to be saved because they keep the company in business...so why aren't companies making absolutely sure that their information is safe?  "Backup is confusing," "backup is time consuming," "back up takes up too much space."  Those are the three answers you'll hear, and they're all pretty solvable.

I mention Novastor's NovaBackup as an example of making it NOT confusing.   It's simple (easy to use wizards, reliable (automated), Fast (quick file restoration through their TimeSlider technology), and Secure (military grade encryption).  Have Virtual Machines?  Well, Their BE Virtual software will handle those as well as Exchange ans SQL.

Their product is going to be low cost to you...which is always important no matter what anyone says...and has won them PC World Magazine's "Best Buy Backup Program" .  It's a decent product from what I've seen of it.    If you want to learn more about Novastor, you can check out their upcoming webinar on October 5 by signing up here.

Do y'all have any thoughts about them?  I'd like to hear it.  Write it here and I'll pass it along to my Novastor rep! :)

Managing Your Systems, Pt. 2: FireScope

Howdy folks!  FireScope is an interesting product that is playing in the management space rather well.  Their primary goal as a company was to try and simplify the IT Infrastructure management issues that have cropped up over the years.  They reduced the need for a huge software architecture to manage a company's IT needs down to 4 pieces of software...and most of you would only need one of them!

FireScope Unify is designed to bring togetheer all of the key IT metrics into a  single pane of glass setup for any business size.  It will help IT Managers truly manage their environment by being able to put in queue things that need to be planned and done based on how those things will affect the company's bottom line.  To put it simply, it makes things easy to look at and understand.  My rep over there sent this note to me the other day about one of the Unify features:

FireScope's Data Center Visualization capability can be your always-accurate map to the maze, enabling faster remediation of issues and boost operational agility. The feature leverages the latest web technologies, including HTML5/Canvas and jQuery, to visualize your data center like no other solution on the planet. Start with an overhead view of each server room, with status indicator overlays that warn you about service-impacting events. From here, drill down to the aisle and rack level to view your hardware as if you were standing in front of it.

They have 3 other pieces of software that will be useful to some of you, but possibly not all...so I'm only going to briefly explain them:  Orchestrate - this allows you to pull all of your configuration information together; Analytics helps you look over information from your infrastructure and plan accordingly for outages/growth/etc.; Comply helps you to better control your environment and how it's used by aggressively helping you to monitor what is allowed in/on your network and equipment.

Sound like something that you want to use?  How's this for help...here's a free 28 day demo of Unify that you can download right now.

Microsoft's Big Easy...

No, it's not New Orleans...nor a great neo-noir film...the Big Easy is Microsoft's program that's designed to give you back money for purchasing their products.   So, for every qualifying product that you purchase, you will receive a subsidy from Microsoft.  The trick to this is that the check is sent through your provider of the software.  (In this case, us here at PC Mall.)   That means that the subsidy is applied as credit through your account with us to get whatever you want that we carry.   Pretty sweet eh?

The program runs through December 31 this year (they run it on alternating quarters), so you do have time to take advantage of it.  Here is a list of what qualifies for subsidies, and there's a full excel sheet on that page.  For a good chunk of the product, it's going to require Software Assurance (SA)...and I can hear some of you groaning...so listen to this.  Windows Server updated in 2008, and most everything else updated in 2009 & 2010.  What does that mean?  Well, SA through the Open Value program covers you for up to 3 years...and all of those products are going to refresh in the next 2-3 years.  That's a slamdunk upgrade without a higher price to you...that and Open Value allows you to spread your payments over 3 years and not in one chunk.
See how it works?  Microsoft wants your money, but there are ways to get in there and fight to save money while using it.  Let's talk about that...call us today.

Touchpad as the "New Coke"?

It's very nice to see that I am not the only one who gets this as a possibility.  :-)

Windows Deployment / Migration Made Easy

This is one of the more innovative and useful tools I have seen. The problems associated with imaging systems or maintaining that image across a fleet of dis-similar computers is complicated at best.

This tool from Smart-Deploy creates a virtual environment from a library of driver packages to create a ready to deploy image for any PC/Server operating systems both physical and virtual.

You don't even need the PC/Server to create an image! It can be used to remotely image from a flashdrive or DVD.

Smart-Deploy is designed to be easy on the technician with easy to use wizards and industry best-practices. Also priced per technician so the cost is low no matter how much you use it.

Check it out and try it here.

Free Stuff - AutoCAD 2012 is throwing the book at you...

The Blackberry Playbook that is!

Through October 14th, we here at PC Mall have been given an exclusive deal from the folks at Autodesk.  If your organization purchases a copy of AutoCAD 2012, Autodesk will throw in a free Blackberry Playbook 16GB, or an HP Pro 3130 Desktop!

Did I also mention that there's a $300 mail in rebate?  Yes, Autocad 2012 can be expensive...but your PC Mall team here can make it not expensive, and full of win!

Greener Memory

One of the best parts about working here, is the amazing people I get to meet.  My Kingston rep, Bryan Miltner, has been a wealth of information and assistance over the years here.  He recently turned me on to the Kingston RedTech blog, which is FULL of information about...well you guessed it...memory.

Before your eyes start to spin at the the techno-babble...start here with this article on DDR3L memory, and how low power can help you save in the long run.  Servers running all the time just eat into any company's power bill...and if you can bring it down a tick or two...you get to be the hero.

I just want to help get you there.  Let me know what you think!

Email security...

I'd like to thank my friends over at EM Link International for pointing this out over on their Facebook page...

Missing dots from email addresses opens 20GB data leak

Over 100,000 people are part of the Sophos community on Facebook. Why not join us on Facebook to find out about the latest security threats.

by Mark Stockley on September 12, 2011 | Comments (6)

Filed Under: Data loss, Featured, Privacy

Security researchers have captured 120,000 emails intended for Fortune 500 companies by exploiting a basic typo. The emails included trade secrets, business invoices, personal information about employees, network diagrams and passwords.

Researchers Peter Kim and Garrett Gee did this by buying 30 internet domains they thought people would send emails to by accident (a practice known as typosquatting).

The domain names they chose were all identical to subdomains used by Fortune 500 companies save for a missing dot.

Having purchased the domains they simply sat back and watched as users mistakenly sent them over 120,000 emails in six months.

Kim and Garrett have not identified their targets but have revealed that they were chosen from a list of 151 Fortune 500 companies they regarded as vulnerable to their variation of typosquatting. The list is jam-packed with household names like Dell, Microsoft, Halliburton, PepsiCo and Nike.

The emails they collected included some worryingly sensitive corporate information, including:

• Passwords for an IT firm's external Cisco routers


• Precise details of the contents of a large oil company's oil tankers


• VPN details and passwords for a system managing road tollways

The researchers also warn of how easy it would have been to turn their passive typosquatting into an even more dangerous man-in-the-middle attack. Such an attack would have allowed them to capture entire email conversations rather than just individual stray emails.

To perform a man-in-the-middle attack an attacker would simply forward copies of any emails they receive to the addresses they were supposed to go to in the first place. The forwarded emails would be modified to contain a bogus return addresses owned by the attacker.

By forwarding and modifying emails in this way the attacker establishes themselves as a silent rely between all the individuals in the conversation.

For more information go here...

ioSafe – Disaster Proof Hardware and Data Recovery

Disaster Recovery (DR) is something that we all need to plan for…because if you’re not totally secure in your plan, and disaster strikes, it can almost undo a company entirely.  Statistics say that 80-90% of companies who suffers a major data loss will close within a year. (DTI/PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2004)  Couple that with the fact that 30% of small businesses in the US are affected by natural disasters (fire, flood, etc.)…there is a way around that kind of risk if it concerns you.

The folks at ioSafe have produced a series of drives that are fireproof and waterproof, up to certain extremes.  They like to call this the “black box” for your data…to further help insure its safety.  We all know that data retrieval companies charge a lot of money to bring back your data…and I would prefer to be better prepared than to have to pay later to fix something I could have helped prevent.

This may not apply to all of you, but for a little bit higher price than a normal drive, you can have a bit more piece of mind than before.  A friend of mine had a house fire a couple years back, and it devastated all of the things he had…except for everything he put in his fireproof safe.  Papers, documents, photos, even money and jewelry were safe there.  That little $400 investment saved him a small fortune.  Nothing says you can’t prepare for something like this in the IT world as well…here’s a solution for $220.  Have questions?  Give us a call right now and let’s talk about your DR plan. J

Amazing Free Stuff: Blade Chassis from IBM

by Thaddeus Dilday

There is no such thing as a free lunch. But you can get a free Blade chassis from IBM.  Many of my customers want to reduce cost by grouping their servers into a blade.  This can add cost to the price of upgrading servers.  If you are new to IBM or have not purchased in a year you can qualify for a complimentary chassis.  Your PC Mall rep will be happy to schedule a call with our IBM guru to answer all questions about this phenomenal program.

BladeCenter S Overview: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/hardware/chassis/blades/

BladeCenter E Overview:http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/hardware/chassis/bladee/

BladeCenter H Overview:http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/hardware/chassis/bladeh/



 

The HP Touchpad - Yes we're still waiting...

For those of you who keep asking, there isn't much in the way of information on the fate of this new tablet.  Just a few short weeks after its release, HP announced it was going to cancel the hardware portion of the device...but keep working with the WebOS software.  (you can read the actual press release here on Engadget)Then, in order to get rid of their stock, they did a massive fire sale, dropping the price of the tablet to $99, from it's original price point of $399 for the 16GB units.

This sale dumped a good chunk of product into the population...but unfortunately left HP's distributors with a ton of product that is used specifically for building those units.  So current rumor up the line that I hear, and has been reiterated elsewhere, HP will likely be releasing quite a few of the Touchpads in a late September/early October feeding frenzy, once all their components are used up.  Likely they would rather not peeve those who made their components, and take the loss that they were in putting the Touchpad out to market.  (I've seen teardowns that show the price point HP paid to build them at around $300...but I've also seen estimates as low as $180.)

Either way, HP wins.  Those who now have the Touchpads are using their App store and buying apps, and with the average amount of money spent on Apps for a mobile device being $200-300 per year per user, they're set to recoup their losses on their "fire sales" rather quickly.  Now they're going to sell more of them?  The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say this was a devious plan, but I've worked with manufacturers long enough to know that it's not.

The Touchpad is still a wonderful little tablet...I love and use mine all the time...so when they're available, snap one up!  If we get more at PC Mall, you'll find out here!

Tradin' & Savin' on Printers...

OK, so I've already been asked about special deals I can find.  Well...that's not too difficult, but I'm not a fan of speeds, feeds and just throwing prices around like most other people do.  So instead of that, let me show you how to make some money back on those viciously expensive printers out there.

A good deal of the clients I work with utilize HP as their printer of choice...but so few people know about the program that HP is using to give back to the planet, and save you some money and time.  Who doesn't want those three things?  Look, when you've got a printer that's past it's prime, broken beyond your capabilities to fix (or care to fix), you can't just chuck it in the bin.  You could hire someone to haul it away, but they CHARGE for that!  HP has something that really takes the sting out of replacing printing equipment.

First, let's determine what new HP printer you'd like to replace what you currently have.  Take a look at this PDF from HP it will give you an idea of what is available, and what you can get for trading in a printer to them.  So, the first step is buying a new HP printer from that pdf list.  Then, after you get it, go to this site at HP.com and fill out the form.  To claim your rebate, head over here and select the printer you have and are going to ship back to them.  Once done, they'll send you a UPS call tag for it...and away it goes!  (Max weight on the trade-in is 50lbs.)  Once they receive that old printer...working, not working, inkjet, toner, whatever manufacturer...they'll cut you a rebate check based on the printer you bought.  (See the above PDF.)

Simple isn't it?

(For those of you who just want a flipping awesome deal...OK I'll cave and give you this here.  Yup, a $1600 printer for $598.  Give us a call if you want one. :)

Managing Your Systems: Part 1 - Dell KACE

by Mike Leader & Thaddeus Dilday

Here's the first in a series of posts on ways to manage all of the things you're responsible for every day.  So, how are you managing your systems?  If you haven't thought about this already, it's going to come back and bite you in the future...if you've already got a solution, let's think about what you're using now and how it meets your needs.

As your day fills up with a multitude of requests, what plans do you have to make sure everything gets done so you can get home and a) enjoy a good dinner, b) frag some gamers online, c) watch your team kick some butt/get theirs kicked, or d) all of the above?  Is what you're doing now enough to properly manage all of what is running around on your networks?

The Dell KACE Systems Management Appliance is easy-to-use, comprehensive and affordable and fulfills all of the systems management needs of an organization including device discovery and inventory, software distribution, configuration management, patch management, security audit and enforcement, asset management, help desk, remote control and reporting.  The Dell KACE Systems Deployment Appliance addresses an organization’s systems deployment needs including computer inventory assessment, OS and application provisioning, migration and recovery.  There are so many functions these units perform that it is impossible for me to go through them all.  Check out the following web link to learn more...

Dell KACE Appliance Benefits:

• Deploy in One Day


• Train in Hours


• Lowest Total Cost Compared to Software Alternatives


• No Hardware or Software Pre-requisites


• No Professional Service Fees

I would encourage you to learn more by attending one of Dell's live or on-demand demonstrations that can be found at this link.  PC Mall has had a great partnership with the folks at Dell this year, and with opportunities like this for our clients, things only open up even better!

PC Mall's Creative Pro Symposium 09-09-11

For those of you in the Southern California area, and who have a creative/marketing/art department (who doesn't?)...we have an event coming up on September 9th for you.  Some of our most creative-focused partners will be there...Apple, Adobe, Autodesk, Quark and many others...to talk to you about their products that are out or are currently out.  Plus all those who attend will be awarded a Flip MinoHD Camcorder! (limit 2 per attending organziation)  Here is the event information and a tentative schedule...



If you have any questions, please drop us a line!

Welcome to DragonTech!

A hearty welcome to all of you for coming over to check out DragonTech.  While this is primarily my blog for clients, a few select members of my team have opted to join in and provide their expertise and thoughts as well.  This will give all of you a very well-rounded experience with us.



What is DragonTech about?  It's a simple goal really.  We here at PC Mall's SMB division have SO much information to pass on to all of our clients and potential clients...but even if we called every single one of you every time something interesting came up, we'd never be able to place your orders!  Our goal here is to show you what's new and worth your time, where to go to learn more information, how you can take advantage of programs from both PC Mall and our manufacturers...helping to stretch your bottom line and bring you the help you need.


Stay tuned for more posts, and especially SUBSCRIBE TO THE RSS/EMAIL FEED.  Please feel free to post comments, or contact us for more information.  Want help finding or have questions about something in particular?  Just use our Contact Us form or call me (800-555-6255 x55517) and we'll be able to help you.

Glad to have you here.

Best Wishes,

Mike Leader