If I had a significant amount of stock in Blackberry I would be concerned.  I love my Blackberry and it’s a fantastic device.  The exchange integration with a Blackberry Enterprise Server is still second to none.  However the draw backs are obvious.  The additional infrastructure, the licensing, the ongoing support, etc.  It’s mostly a cost issue, but the iPhone is quickly making it a style issue also.

Even at this early stage, the Droid and iPhone are viable business devices that look like they will cause big problems for Blackberry.  Migrating from a BES infrastructure is a big decision (larger company=larger decision), but the long term ROI can be astounding.  The iPhone and the Droid have proven that with some tweaking and an app here or there that they are viable Blackberry alternatives that can reduce cost (TCO) significantly, which equals compelling value.

Blackberry will need to do something big to hold the competition off over the next 18-36 months.  As a Managed Services Provider, ARHD is very interested in how this trend plays out.  We always strive to provide the best solution and the best value.

Apple has unveiled the iPhone OS 4.0 — and it’s adding new features for enterprise users, including mobile device management and SSL VPN support.  If Apple continues down this path, which we should fully expect, the appeal of the iPhone will be difficult for the competition to eclipse.

The Droid isn’t as far along the path and isn’t nearly as widely adopted as the iPhone, but it’s a very cool device that ARHD CTO Josh Lippy is conducting a pilot with.  I received the email below from him last weekend.

“This device is awesome.  I just had to share.  I’m up in PA and realized on the way here that I’d need to tether to get internet access. Well, that isn’t available on the Droid through VZW yet.

So I did some searching and found that there are apps that allow you to share the Droid’s internet connection without any special plan from VZW.  I’m currently tethered with a free application I downloaded through the mobile app store.  I also paid $15 for an app to improve my email functionality and I can file emails again.

While the device isn’t without some major flaws (which do seem to have calmed down a bit after a week of use – possibly because I’m not using the built in mail application at all anymore), it is extremely promising and I don’t see myself going back to a Blackberry (right now anyway!).”

That’s a strong statement from one of the most skeptical users I know.  I’m very interested to hear what other users out there think about the future of business devices and the current options available.  Could you give up your Blackberry?

Viruses and spyware are a plague in today’s interconnected environment. In our day to day IT Support activities we are often asked how to mitigate the risk of a machine becoming infected and also how to manage ongoing viral infections.

Unfortunately there isn’t one answer that fits all. Viruses and spyware can be complex. Good internet browsing habits alone are not enough.  Working on an outsource help desk the user base and skill level is diverse and I have seen even the most prudent users become infected.

Here is a list of things you can do to mitigate your users’ exposure to Viruses and Spyware:

For IT Departments:

1. Content Filtering: Use content filtering to limit the websites you or your user base can surf.  In an enterprise this can be accomplished with a hardware appliance like Barracuda or SonicWALL.  You can also utilize a SaaS (Software as a Service) application like Message Labs or WebRoot.  Though often too restrictive, strict content filtering is one of the only reliable preventative measures available at this time.
2. Limit End User Permissions: Removing the user’s local admin privileges prevents them from installing programs and other activities that may leave the PC open to an infection.  Using an asset management or desktop management tool, you may be able to further limit applications or easily modify group policy to enforce additional restrictions.
3. Outsource your Endpoint Security (Desktop Management):  There are a variety of Managed Service Providers and Outsource Help Desk and IT firms that will “manage your desktops”.  This usually involves a suite of managed services targeted toward endpoint security, which removes distraction and allows an internal IT team to focus on other projects more aligned with business needs.  If you require complete management of the desktops and end user support, these services can usually be bundled with outsource help desk support, sometimes 24×7.
4. Enforce Best Practices – Raise Awareness: Make your service desk and help desk teams acutely aware of the best practices of your support center.  If you’re working with an outsource help desk managed service, ask them what their standards are and ensure they align with your expectations.  Empowered, the team will naturally educate users and look for risks while working on unrelated issues.
5. PC Imaging: Get an imaging process in place so you can quickly restore a user’s PC.  If they’re properly managing their files this should work without losing data.  It would be an inconvenience and could act as a deterrent from them engaging in future activity which could cause their PC to be imaged.

For End Users:

1. Internet Explorer Active X Settings: Internet Explorer is the most commonly attacked browser, most often via ActiveX that automatically downloads the malware..  However many SaaS (Software as a Service) and web based applications are optimized for IE.  Disabling ActiveX can help. Disabling IE scripts from running automatically will also secure the system but unfortunately will reduce the improved functionality of the browser.
2. Web Surfing Habits: Being aware of where you are going on the Internet is your best protection against any attack.  Beware of pop up windows and sites that have them with any frequency.  If you go to a website and you get a pop up message that says anything to the effect that the site detected a virus and wants to clean it up, run the other way.  Hit escape, back, alt+F4, or anything else but clicking OK.
3. Choose your applications wisely: Often times freeware applications (applications that don’t require purchase) come with a cost in the form of bundled spyware and even viruses.  If you want a freeware application you can often find user reviews that will alert you to these issues, so do some research.  Downloading illegal software of any kind will often leave you infected for a number of reasons.
4. Run an Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware/Malware program: There are free programs that you can attempt to piece together to protect your system (e.g. AVG Free, Spybot), or you can pay for an anti-virus suite like AVG Professional, with improved reliability and functionality.  There are also SaaS (Software as a Service) and MSP (Managed Service Provider) offerings.
5. Use an alternate browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.  While these browsers may provide better security against Internet Explorer targeted attacks, you should not expect a system to be completely safe.

Cisco has announced another catalyst for faster internet speeds that will make cloud computing, SaaS (Software as a Service) and off site managed hosting services and solutions more feasible.  The fuel Cisco added to the bandwidth fire is a new CRS-3 internet backbone router.  This new carrier routing system boasts impressive performance and capability improvements over the current system.  Cisco had a very rough time around 2004 with their CRS-1 router, which almost didn’t make it out of research and development.  Cisco’s CRS-3 router has 12 times the speed performance of its original CRS-1.

PC World reports Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers as saying: “At full scale, the CRS-3 has a capacity of 322T bits per second, roughly three times that of the CRS-1, which was introduced in 2004. It also has more than 12 times the capacity of its nearest competitor. The CRS-3 will help the Internet evolve from a messaging platform to an entertainment and media platform, with video the emerging “killer app”.”

This announcement has very close timing with the National Broadband Plan heating up, which promises to deliver 100mbps connectivity to 100 million homes by 2020.  Google’s Fiber for Communities initiative is also gaining steam, and the promise from Google is over 1 gigabit speeds to communities selected for their pilot program.  We’re not sure how Cisco’s CRS-3 announcement fits into all of this, but when these three behemoths (US Government, Google and Cisco) are pulling in the same direction it makes it more believable that they will reach their goals.

What we’re seeing here is the infancy of another significant evolution in computing. As these speeds become attainable the applications are endless. Technology sets and solutions poised to benefit include: Cloud Computing, Managed IT Services, SaaS (Software as a Service), Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure Hosting, Streaming Video and Audio, Off Site Backup, Server Hosting and Outsource IT Services. It’s exciting to be a part of it.

Though it didn’t make many headlines, those in the IT Managed Services space relying on Cisco are acutely aware that their increasing lead times on products peaked in February.  While it’s true that in the past some resellers have had shortage issues, we don’t see that happen with large purchasing services that manage their volume and ensure product is in stock and shipped quickly.  However, as of last week we were actually quoted 4 months for a firewall from a multi-billion dollar partner.  We were able to go to another partner for the same equipment.  However some of Cisco’s channel partners with reseller agreements or Managed Service Providers without diverse IT purchasing operations are feeling some pain.

After experiencing this, we stocked up on some ASA firewalls just to ensure that if something happened with a client’s network infrastructure we could address the issue expediently.  The only article I found referencing this (from the UK interestingly enough) has some jabs from Watchguard expecting sales to pick up due to Cisco’s inability to deliver.

Last year Dell had the same issue, struggling with some assembly engineering problems on new products.  It was taking 4 months to get a laptop and indeed a large number of clients gave other vendors a try.  If the incumbent vendor performed well, they didn’t switch back.  As a managed services provider focused on quality we aren’t prepared to  consider a switch from Cisco for network infrastructure projects, but we will be watching the situation closely.

Google filed an application for market-based rate authority on December 23 under the name Google Energy.   On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Google’s application.  This essentially allows them to buy and sell energy.  As with some of Google’s other moves, there is a lot of buzz about their intentions.  I see some interesting parallels with the National Broadband Plan and the latest news around Google.  Their most recent moves are eerily aligned with the details the FCC has released thus far.

In October, Google announced that Energy Inc. will be the first device partner for PowerMeter, which monitors electricity consumption in real time and offers feedback on how to reduce consumption.  The tool, which was first announced in February 2009, lives as a secure widget on iGoogle, and communicates with smart meters.  On a related note, an article in the WSJ reports that the FCC released gives some details about the National Broadband Plan, and there is a reference to consumers needing the ability to remotely monitor their electricity usage via the internet.

Another interesting correlation (in the same article) is in a statement from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, which states that ”100 million U.S. households should have Internet service of at least 100 megabits per second by 2020.”  If you refer to my earlier post on Google Fiber for Communities, you will see the connection.

Google is clearly making bold moves to continue to position themselves as a leader of innovation through technology.  Both of these recent developments push their own Managed Services and Cloud Computing agenda, but also serve to position themselves as pushing innovation for the greater good.  If it means faster internet service and cheaper electricity we won’t complain, and that’s what they’re counting on.

If you haven’t upgraded to Exchange 2007 yet, you might be looking to make the migration from 2003 to 2010.  If you’re ambitious, you may be ready to go from Exchange 2007 to 2010, to take advantage of one or more new features.

The primary new feature that existing and prospective clients are interested in is the new, built-in high availability feature that Microsoft says will allow you to economically deploy an email messaging continuity service within your organization.  We admit it sounds promising, and at worst, pretty cool.

Things to consider:

• Virtualization Pitfalls: If this will be a “local solution” and you’re going to virtualize the servers, they still need to be on at least two independent virtual hosts to avoid a single point of hardware failure.  Please note that very often email servers are not ideal candidates for server virtualization.
• Remote Site Considerations: If this will be a disaster recovery solution with servers in multiple locations, the number of considerations increases.  For example bandwidth for data replication, physical server access and security.
• Is it going to work? Exchange is a highly specialized enterprise communications system requiring expertise to properly implement and maintain.  Regular failover tests are 0ften overlooked, but are a necessary part of maintaining a reliable design.  Lastly this is a brand new feature that you might call “bleeding edge.”
• Unpredictable costs add up: Microsoft says this is a cost effective solution, but you may want to ask, compared to what?  Your additional costs for the increased number of servers will include some or all of the following unpredictable costs: travel, hardware maintenance and replacement, server maintenance, high availability/disaster recovery testing, solution specific administration, training, hosting, bandwidth and expertise costs (1099, Outsource IT or FTE).
• Alternatives: There are managed SaaS (Software as a Service) options such as Dell’s Message One product, or more inclusive messaging suites like Proofpoint and Mimecast that offer email continuity solutions.  They are fully managed at a fixed cost, and most importantly are proven solutions you can rely on.  Furthermore, options like Google Apps Premier for Enterprises offer a true Cloud Computing solution (high availability inherent) all rolled into the cost of the product, which is a fixed cost per user, per year.

Overall this seems like a feature best implemented after it is proven out as a preferred solution.  Even then it may only be advisable for large enterprise organizations who can truly realize the benefits and have the dedicated staff to expertly maintain the design.

Just about every one of us has been disappointed by a laptop at some point either personally or on the job.  In Decemeber 2008, against my advice, my father bought my mother a (new at the time) Dell Studio laptop with a fingerprint reader and a backlit keyboard, fancy stuff.  I bought my wife a simple Dell Inspiron with a good mid-line spec but no unnecessary features.  Just over a year later my mother’s backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader have required servicing, and two months ago the hard drive failed.  She (nearly) lost her data.

The simple Inspiron I got my wife is running strong.  Lucky for my mother, her son works in IT and she was able to recover her data without paying $500-$1000 dollars.

These are the kinds of experiences that cause people to swear off certain manufacturers altogether, in the hopes of avoiding a repeat.  In some cases this is a valid approach, in others maybe not.  Either way you aren’t alone.

An analysis of 30,000 new laptops from SquareTrade has found that in the first three years of ownership, nearly a third of laptops (31 percent) will fail.

SquareTrade has more detailed information (the full PDF of the company’s study is available here) on the research on its website.   I will list some highlights but must mention that while this is very good information, it is not the only information and SquareTrade is not necessarily the authority.

> 20.4 percent of failures are due to hardware malfunctions. 10.6 percent are due to drops, spills, or other accidental damage.

> Netbooks have a roughly 20 percent higher failure rate due to hardware malfunctions than standard laptops.

> Most reliable brands : Toshiba and Asus, both with below a 16 percent failure rate due to hardware malfunction.

> Least reliable brands : Acer, Gateway and HP.   HP’s hardware malfunction rate is the worst in the analysis, 25.6 percent.

If you want to keep your notebook running for longer than a few years, you need to make a good selection and protect your equipment.   Heat and dust are your enemy, as are ill placed power cords (traffic areas) and curious toddlers.   For tips on making a laptop selection, come back in the future for my blog  on this topic.

Manufacturers: Vast Differences in Reliability