Paradigm Shifts for Techs: Managed Services Part 1

Paradigm Shifts for Techs: Managed Services Part 1
by Derek R. Iannelli, IT Strategist, Progressive Integrations, Inc.,

When I ‘closed’ my first M&S agreement (maintenance & support), I thought I finally figured it out, and if I could sell enough of them, our business would making the American Dream come true. That was 10 years ago.
Until this past year, I still had the same thoughts regarding M&S agreements until our economy started to affect our clients too. Instead of thRead More…

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Microsoft Office Accounting ..Going Away

For the past few years I have enjoyed using Microsoft’s free accounting software for my small computer business. Though it took some getting used to at first I found it easy for me to use for the past few years. I planned on updating my main laptop, which I use for all invoices, and accounting for my business to Windows 7. Since I planned on doing a clean install I searched for a new copy of Office Accounting to re-install after I was done. I then found out that there are no more downloads, and Read More…

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New Force Field Forums now online

After an intense 24 hours the New and Improved Force Field Forums are now online! The new forums incorporate the latest stable version of Simple Machine Forum and new features to enhance the forum community experience.

This migration was not without its challenges, however. Originally the outage was scheduled for four hours but numerous technical snafus and data migration issues forced them offline for almost a full 24 hours.

The Force Field forums were scheduled to go offline last night, December 15, 2009 from 8 PM to 1 AM EST for upgrades. Due to activity the outage was delayed for an hour to ensure all the data from the new activity would be backed up before the migration. The planned migration to a new forum called Kunena failed on a test site and prompted an eleventh hour (literally 11 PM) decision to use another forum already chosen in case Kunena did not work out.

During this time members were not able to access, read and post in the forums but were able to access other areas of the web site as the initial migration was performed on another test site.

The second forum required a database conversion that also failed on the test site. After several attempts a manual conversion process was performed this afternoon and after testing the database and forums were moved to the production site.

Although great care was taken to preserve the data, some posts and settings may not have transferred successfully. In addition, some logins may not function properly and it may be necessary to change login passwords.

If you do encounter an issue logging in, please click "Forgot Password" on the forum login screen and a new password will be sent to your e-mail address on file.

The new forums will resolve old bugs and introduce new features to enhance The Force Field forum community experience. As these new forums are a separate component of the site and no longer integrated into the rest of The Force Field, The login function on the front page of theforcefield.net will no longer automatically log you into the forums. The forums require separate registration and login from the rest of the site. If you have any questions or trouble logging into the new forums please contact an administrator or e-mail forums@theforcefield.net.

You can access the forums from the Forums link in the menu on the left sidebar or at http://www.theforcefield.net/forums .

Enjoy the forums!

Marketing Webinar

Please sign up for the webinar that is going to be hosted next week. Will not cost you a penny but i’ve reviewed the material that is covered and well worth the 30-60 mintues of time that it takes. Look forward to seeing everyone online.

“3 Critical Marketing Elements Every IT Business Must Have To Finally Put An End To The Frustration, Struggle, And Up-Hill Battle of Generating A Predictable Flow Of New Clients, More Sales & Bigger Profits”

FREE Webinar With Technology MarketingRead More…

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Forums offline tonight for upgrade

The Force Field forums will go offline tonight, December 15, 2009 from 8 PM to 1 AM EST for upgrades. The new forums will resolve old bugs and introduce new features to enhance The Force Field forum community experience.

During this time members will not be able to access, read and post in the forums. From time to time members may not be able to access other areas of the web site as well while we complete migration. We will do our best to minimize the interruption but it is possible certain portions of the site such as the IT Business Resource Directory and Marketplace may also be affected.

The podcasts episodes should not be affected by the upgrade. During migration you should still be able to access, download and listen to episodes of The Force Field podcast at http://www.theforcefield.net/wordpress . The entire site, including the forums should be available after 1 AM EST tonight.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

IT Monitoring Guru To Demonstrate Complete Netscaler Monitoring Setup In 5 Seconds Flat

As part of the World’s Shortest Webinar Series, veteran data center manager and monitoring guru, Steve Francis, will demonstrate LogicMonitor’s configuration-free Netscaler Monitoring system. The online demonstration will give datacenter managers the opportunity to see how in-depth monitoring can be configured from start-to-finish in a matter of minutes.

Santa Barbara, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) December 9, 2009 — As part of the World’s Shortest Webinar Series, veteran data center manager and monitoring guru, Steve Francis, will demonstrate LogicMonitor’s configuration-free Netscaler Monitoring system. The December 17th online demonstration will give datacenter managers the opportunity to see how in-depth monitoring can be configured from start-to-finish in a matter of minutes. The company will offer webinar attendees a complimentary 21-day trial of LogicMonitor’s Netscaler monitoring service.

 

LogicMonitor gives you flexible dashboards, alerts, and trending, all without any configuration
LogicMonitor gives you flexible dashboards, alerts, and trending, all without any configuration

 

Registration is open to all IT managers on a first-come, first-served basis:

Click here to register

The Netscaler monitoring demonstration is the second episode in The World’s Shortest Webinar Series, the first being on NetApp monitoring. On the idea for the World’s Shortest Webinars, LogicMonitor CEO, Steve Francis notes, “IT managers don’t have hours of spare time, so we thought this would be a unique opportunity to prove to them that configuring in-depth monitoring for Netscalers, NetApps, networks, servers, and applications, doesn’t have to be a lengthy, and often-times error-prone process. We can demonstrate the value of LogicMonitor in just minutes. So why take up any more of their time than we have to?”

With LogicMonitor, configuring a load balancer for monitoring is as simple as entering its hostname — no additional configuration is needed. The system then automatically discovers all content switching VIPs, active interfaces, load balancing VIPs, etc., saving IT managers hours of time. The LogicMonitor service revolutionizes monitoring by providing more metrics, and presenting them all in intuitive visual format, so trends can be easily spotted.

“We managed datacenters for ASPs and Enterprises for over 15 years. During that time, we were never able to find a monitoring system that delivered what is really needed in the trenches by a web-focused company. So we built it ourselves,” stated Francis.

About LogicMonitor:
Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, LogicMonitor LLC was founded by a team of datacenter managers and technology experts dedicated to making datacenter monitoring simple.

Episode 38 – Planning Your Business Part 2

Today we’re going to continue our discussion with an IT service provider who created a business plan, learn how he did it and find out how his business plan helped his business become more successful. Part 2 of a four part series.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:17
Billboard :28

News and Comment segment 4:43
A study by Squaretrade on laptop reliability listed Asus as manufacturer of laptops with the lowest malfunction rates within a three year period. The report can be download at http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/.

Rescuecom reports that Apple is number one on its reliability list. The complete report is available at http://www.rescuecom.com/RESCUECOM278.html

Sponsor: Try GotoAssist Express free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.GotoAssist.com/techpodcast.

Intel Intel unveiled a 48-core processor early this month.

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council released its 14th annual Small Business Survival Index December 1, in which it rates the best and worst entrepreneur friendly states in the US. The complete list and map of entrepreneur friendly states is available at http://www.sbecouncil.org/survivalindex2009/

Commercial Break 1:00
Get Great Web Hosting at GoDaddy.com and save 10%! Listen for the discount code in the show. GoDaddy.com 1:00

Intro to Topic 1:24
Today we’re going to continue our discussion with Pat Palmer of The Computer Guy and learn more about writing a business plan. We’ll find out if the time spent writing the plan was worth the investment, what his business plan told him about his company and how having a plan even helped him develop an exit strategy.Part 2 of a four part series.

Interview with Pat Palmer 18:17

Episode 39 Part 3 Teaser :22

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net !

©2009 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

Episode 38 – Planning Your Business Part 2

Today we're going to continue our discussion with an IT service provider who created a business plan, learn how he did it and find out how his business plan helped his business become more successful. Part 2 of a four part series.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:17
Billboard :28

News and Comment segment 4:43
A study by Squaretrade on laptop reliability listed Asus as manufacturer of laptops with the lowest malfunction rates within a three year period. The report can be download at http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/.

Rescuecom reports that Apple is number one on its reliability list. The complete report is available at http://www.rescuecom.com/RESCUECOM278.html

Sponsor: Try GotoAssist Express free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.GotoAssist.com/techpodcast.

Intel Intel unveiled a 48-core processor early this month.

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council released its 14th annual Small Business Survival Index December 1, in which it rates the best and worst entrepreneur friendly states in the US. The complete list and map of entrepreneur friendly states is available at http://www.sbecouncil.org/survivalindex2009/

Commercial Break 1:00
Get Great Web Hosting at GoDaddy.com and save 10%! Listen for the discount code in the show. GoDaddy.com 1:00

Intro to Topic 1:24
Today we're going to continue our discussion with Pat Palmer of The Computer Guy and learn more about writing a business plan. We'll find out if the time spent writing the plan was worth the investment, what his business plan told him about his company and how having a plan even helped him develop an exit strategy.Part 2 of a four part series.

Interview with Pat Palmer 18:17

Episode 39 Part 3 Teaser :22

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net !

©2009 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

 

 http://media.techpodcasts.com/theforcefield/media.libsyn.com/media/theforcefield/The_Force_Field_38.mp3