Firefox 2.0 Beta 2 Will Launch Today!

We thought it was already perfect - but I guess that’s not stopping Mozilla.

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Mozilla also said that users running earlier previews of Firefox 2.0—including any of the three alpha editions as well as Beta 1—will be automatically updated to Beta 2, using the software’s built-in update mechanism. Previously, users had to download the full installation package to refresh their browsers.

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Check out the Beta Downloads Page. I don’t see the Beta 2 there yet, but check back later:

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/bonecho/all-beta.h...

Vista Pricing open on Amazon, Sale Date Est: January 30th

Just days after Microsoft Canada leaked Vista pricing on their website, Amazon posted pricing for Vista on its website - this time, on purpose.

They also gave an estimated Sales date (January 30th), which they say is based on Microsoft’s own predictions.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060829/tc_nm/microsof...

Amazon’s pricing ranges from $100 for a basic upgrade version of Windows to $399 for a full “ultimate” version of the operating system, according to the retailer’s Web site.

“The pricing of higher-end versions, which we believe will be more popular than the lower-end versions, may be more significant and longer lasting than the incremental upgrade revenues that have been of greatest focus by analysts,” Sherlund said in his note.

Sherlund also said that a January 30 release date would be about two months ahead of what he was expecting.

Get a Cool Free Grande Starbucks!

Sbux_Iced_Flyer.pdf

Enjoy, Blog fans! I think this has nothing to do with Technology or with SADA Systems, Inc. - but hey, who doesn’t like a free Coffee once in a while?

From a Senior Engineer’s Mouth - EMC Evaluation

The below is from one of our TOP engineers, who is training on and evaluating the EMC Insignia product line this week, along with the rest of our team. So far, so good for EMC!

Remember! SADA ONLY adopts a product line, IF we think it’s good enough for us to use for our internal needs! And that’s completely up to our team of Engineers. We have an ‘eat your own cooking’ mentality when it comes to information technology - and we think that IT solution providers who sell what they don’t use are simply dishonest - doesn’t that make sense?

CLARiiON AX150

• Support iSCSI 100/1000 Fiber Channel, and cluster with Novell and Windows – flexible
• Uses SATA II – cost effective
• Comparable to other well know SAN technology
• Good overall value
• Dual Core available
• Up to 6TB with Raid5
• Good basic support services

Overall the product looks good for backup to disk (Single Core) or for DATA, Exchange, SQL (Dual Core).

EMC eRoom SMB

• 5 -250 users
• $995 for 10 users
• SQL Anywhere back-end
• Support most browsers
• Support most operating systems
• 4 templates
• Integrates with Outlook
• No integration with Active Directory
• No integration wit LDAP
• Simple
• Customization limited to modifying set of templates

It’s a good alternative to SharePoint, if they don’t already have Small Business Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003 standard, and are looking for something like SharePoint. Could also be used in conjunction with ZEROi. I would say more like 5-50 users though, given that it doesn’t integrate with Active Directory. Note that the standard addition does.

Microsoft Releases next Hosting Platform - v4.0

The long awaited release was just announced. Also includes:

Windows-based Hosting for Applications 1.0!

The Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting for Applications enables independent software vendors (ISVs) and application-hosting service providers to quickly and effectively deploy applications in a hosted environment for software as a service.

More here in the TechNet Site:

SADA should be taking this on shortly. We are pretty excited about it.

Will White-Box Notebooks Ever Take Off?

We all know Laptop sales have overtaken Desktop sales since back in 2005. But non-name-brand laptops or ‘whitebooks’ have not really taken off. There are many reasons for this - from the historic non-interchangeability of parts, to the greater expertise required to work with laptops, etc... But Intel, who is the whitebook’s biggest advocate, launched a new program that makes nearly all of its laptop parts completely interchangeable - allowing many companies (even SADA, if we wanted to) to build high-quality, private-branded laptops that are actually easy to support!

The program is called “Verified by Intel”, and the details are here:
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/e...

Well, SADA is not in the system building business really - we do it, but only when we have to. But there may be a place in the market for these so-called whitebooks. Only time will tell - but we believe that more competition is better for business - so, let’s see who will be able to enter the market successfully, and put further pressure on Dell, HP, Toshiba, and the like.

Read the VAR Business Article here.

SADA and CompuTech for Humanity Send Computers to Louisiana

SADA Systems and CompuTech for Humanity Support Louisiana Recovery Efforts

North Hollywood, August 29^th, 2006 – Tony Safoian, CEO of SADA Systems, Inc. announced today that SADA and CompuTech for Humanity would donate computers to assist with recovery efforts in Louisiana. CompuTech for Humanity, a partner of SADA Systems, will take the 20 or so donated computers, printers, and other equipment to be delivered by the Friends and Helpers Foundation.

CompuTech for Humanity is a charitable organization dedicated to providing computer technology access to low-income disabled persons, and low-income families. Computers are provided to needy individuals, families, and organizations free of charge. SADA Systems will be collaborating with CompuTech for Humanity to send 10 personal computers to Louisiana. The donated systems will be used in Louisiana schools as part of the state’s recovery efforts. Visit the CompuTech for Humanity website (www.computechforhumanity.org) for information about their work, and how you can support their mission.

Computers will be delivered through the Friends and Helpers Foundation, a California-based non-profit working with Care Unlimited in Louisiana. Their goal is to help 12 schools in the school district. As part of this initiative, the Friends and Helpers Foundation will deliver computers donated by SADA Systems and CompuTech for Humanity. Visit their website, www.friendsandhelpers.org, for more information about the Friends and Helpers Foundation and how you can help.

The announcement from SADA Systems comes on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in the Gulf Region. “We believe it is important to step to the aid of others in whatever way you can,” says Safoian. With the assistance of SADA Systems, CompuTech for Humanity, and the Friends and Helpers Foundation schools closed by Hurricane Katrina will be one step closer to opening their doors.

About SADA Systems, Inc.

SADA Systems, Inc. founded in 2000, is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing, and development firm. SADA works with clients to develop innovative Information Technology solutions to business problems. SADA designs, delivers, deploys and supports a holistic and cutting-edge suite of best-of-breed technologies. SADA’s solutions allow organizations to leverage Information Technology to achieve high levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and collaboration. SADA is headquartered in North Hollywood, CA, but participates in projects world-wide. For more information, visit www.sadasystems.com.

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NOTE: We are especially proud of this collaborative effort because it’s usually economically impossible to donate computers to such a far-away place, since shipping costs are so high. But because Friend and Helpers is sending an entire Truck, and they had room for the computers, we saw this as an excellent opportunity to help their schools rebuild!

EMC’s eRoom SMB vs. SharePoint

SADA is a Gold Certified Microsoft partner, and we’ve used SharePoint internally for years. We even have our Google Search Appliance tied into it, so we can search SharePoint with the great Google engine!

But this begs the question - would SADA deploy SharePoint if we actually did not have the internal know-how, and did not own Not-For-Resale licensing? Maybe - I guess the question is what are you going to use it for?

As we’re learning about EMC’s product suite, we are learning what else is out there. eRoom is certainly one of the interesting offerings they have.

Here are some comparisons, according to EMC:

eRoom has a competitive advantage over Microsoft SharePoint in that:

a. eRoom SMB costs less

b. eRoom SMB includes dashboard, search capability, and project and document management functionality

c. eRoom SMB includes the ability to add external members

d. eRoom SMB is easy to install and use

e. All of the above

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Of course, their answer was - all of the above. Here is how the numbers break down as well:

EMC claims that to get SharePoint to do what eRoom SMB Edition does, it will cost nearly 10x more - and that’s just in Licensing costs alone! Wow.

Some other key eRoom advantages, which we have to agree are of more and more importance:

1. Out of the box support for 20+ languages. Now, who can claim that the world is not becoming more globalized? This will certainly be a big one for some international organizations.
2. Much Better Search - Search within SharePoint is dismal. We have to plug in a $30,000 Google Search Appliance just to be able to find the 1000’s of documents, files, blurbs, wealth of info we have in our SharePoint.
3. Platform Independence! - eRoom requires a Windows-based Server - but the client? Run it on ANYTHING - Mac, PC, Linux - it doesn’t care! SharePoint - of course, requires Windows, AND Internet Explorer.

Key Advantages of SharePoint vs. eRoom

1. Native Integration with everything else Microsoft - That’s Office, Exchange, Messenger - you name it. And this will be even cooler with Vista and the upcoming 2007 Office Suite (whenever they release it).
2. SQL 2000/2005 Support - We’re not yet sold on the SQL Anywhere database that’s bundled with eRoom at this point.

We are now in the midst of really testing and training on all EMC products, including eRoom. Will SADA migrate itself from SharePoint to eRoom? Stay tuned to find out!

McAfee Total Protection - now a SADA Standard

SADA is now switching to McAfee’s managed solution for total protection - and when they say “total” they really mean it. No other solution provides this type of holistic protection in a way that gives global management and reporting capabilities. AND, since the Advanced version gives you content/spam filtering driven by none other than the infamous zero-footprint / zero-software Postini engine - that’s really the icing on the cake that puts this solution over the top, and makes it superior to all others.

CHECK out what you get:

McAfee Total Protection for Small Business

Centralized Management and Reporting (this is Hugely important)

Desktop and File Server Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware

Desktop Firewall

Email service Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus (with Advanced)

Email Server Anti-Virus (With Advanced)

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Check out the Features:

• Automatic protection-Always up-to-date e-mail protection improves e-mail availability and assures business continuity 24/7.
• Highly effective spam filtering-Quarantines inbound and outbound e-mails for spam, inappropriate content and harmful viruses before messages enter your network.
• Inbound content/attachment filtering-Simple to configure and enforce global inbound e-mail policy for all e-mail users.
• Compatible-No matter what e-mail platform you use, Exchange, Outlook, Lotus Notes or something else, Secure Messaging Service protects your e-mail.
• Simplified SecurityCenter for 24/7 management-The McAfee SecurityCenter, the centralized management console, makes it easy to configure black and white lists, view quarantine and reporting around the clock.
• Managed By McAfee-Leverage our 15 years of expertise to protect your business.
• Affordable-With no hardware or software to buy our hosted service helps to increase employee productivity while lowering your total cost of e-mail security.
• Easy to try/deploy – 30 Days Free-Simply redirecting your e-mail through the McAfee service protects you immediately.
• Premium technical support-To keep your business running, Secure Messaging Service includes 24/7 Gold Technical Support for inquiries by e-mail and phone.

McAfee Demonstrates that they really understand the managed services, software as a service model for service delivery.

Pricing Structure:

Pricing will start at about $5.50 per PC, per month for as few as 5 PC’s per client, and will go down from there. This system can easily support up to 500 or more PC’s per Customer.

Centralized Management - all Web-Based:

You don’t have to run a web server (or any server) to get centralized management, you get McAfee to do it for you. Check out the great GUI:

This package is a true winner, and as of yesterday, is THE standard security suite for all of SADA’s managed customers. SADA will release this service to the mass market in the next few weeks.

Data Storage - The Next Frontier for Small Biz

Yes, even very small businesses are talking Terabytes. What’s a terabyte? it’s 1000 Gigabytes. That seems a lot - but is it, these days? You can store 4GB on a little USB Thumb drive, so a Terabyte is really just 250 little thumb drives!

The issue is not the storage of data itself - hard drives are relatively inexpensive, and the price of storage is continuously going down, on a per GB basis. But having this much data leads to other complications - such as:

• How do you back up this much data?
• How do you restore this much data?
• How do you find what you’re looking for, in all this data?
• How do you effectively achieve business continuity in case your storage device (whatever you’re using) fails?
• How do you access this data when you’re out of the office? (Try pulling even a 20MB file through a VPN connection - what a nightmare!).
• how do you secure this data? (IE - How do you keep someone from within your organization from walking away with your entire customer database, your product lines, and other intellectual property on a little thumb drive?)

This need is here, and to this end, SADA has teamed up with EMC Insignia to solve these problems for small and medium sized organizations - problems which the Enterprise has been facing for years (and EMC has been helping the Enterprise for years to solve these issues). SADA is currently sharpening our expertise around this product line - and here is the rundown of what EMC delivers to our client base:

http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/

--> Clarion AX150 – Storage Device, supports up to 6 Terabytes

--> eRoom – Collaboration Suite

--> RepliStor – Replication of two Windows Servers, real-time, over Internet or Local Network.

--> VisalRSM – Storage Resource Management

--> Retrospect – Backup and recovery

We’ve also partnered with Phoenix Technology to address the ever-more-important question of Endpoint Security. Most companies can keep people out, but can they protect their data from people within?

We’ll have more details soon.

– Storage Device, supports up to 6 Terabytes

--> eRoom – Collaboration Suite

--> RepliStor – Replication of two Windows Servers, real-time, over Internet or Local Network.

--> VisalRSM – Storage Resource Management

--> Retrospect – Backup and recovery

We’ve also partnered with Phoenix Technology to address the ever-more-important question of Endpoint Security. Most companies can keep people out, but can they protect their data from people within?

We’ll have more details soon.

--->

UCNH Chamber to Run Business on Google Apps, and Web 2.0

The Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, under the guidance of SADA Systems, Inc., who manages and maintains their IT operations on a pro-bono basis, will deploy the Google Apps for Your Domain toolset to help the Organization run some of its business tools.

The Chamber has an internal staff of 2, and a working Board which all need to collaborate to run the business of the Chamber. The Google set of tools are not only free, but wholly web-based making the chamber’s need to buy and maintain computer equipment less important- allowing more of the Chamber’s funds to go towards member services.

Furthermore, the Chamber Plans to deploy a set of Web 2.0 Tools, giving a free Blog for each member, and deploying WiKis and Forums to bring the local community together online.

Other Google tools the Chamber is going to deploy include submitting all Chamber Members to the Google Local directory, and assisting them in running their promotions through the Google Local Coupon engine.

San Fernando Valley Business Journal Interviews SADA

Mark R. Madler - who among other things, covers Technology for the Journal, stopped in to chat about ZEROi. We went over the demo of how the site works (http://demo.sadasystems.com), with one of the Demo accounts, and he was pretty impressed! All he kept saying is “It just seems to simple”. And all I could say was “Yup, that’s the point”.

Of course, what goes on in the back-end is NOT simple - but that’s nothing the users have to worry about. Do users really care what it takes to get Electricity to their building? Plug it in. It works.

The main thing he brought up was “What about Security - how can users be sure their data is safe?”. Valid question - and this is the answer: Where do companies store their money? Certainly not in a closet, or under the owner’s mattress - they put it in a Vault, at a bank! ZEROi provides a similar storage and security environment for clients. We guarantee their data is far more secure in our state of the art datacenter, then it could ever be in their office.

More about ZEROi? Read Here.

Windows Vista Pricing Revealed - By Accident.

Whoops. Apparently Microsoft Canada momentarily published future pricing for Microsoft Windows Vista products on its website - it has since taken the pricing down. But not before Cnet got its hands on the details!

They are below:

http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6110267.html?part=rss&tag=6110267&subj=news

Home Basic - $233

Home Premium - $269

Business - $341

Ultimate - $449

AOL 9.0 Behaving Badly. Recommendation - Do Not Install.

AOL’s Free software was recently accused of general bad behavior - not quite malware or spyware, but still no good for PC’s. Interesting. With the latest defections and clear reduction in subscribers, this is not the kind of publicity AOL needs.

SADA has *always* been anti-AOL when it came to business-specific computers. Having AOL installed on business computers has always caused inexplicable issues, slow-downs, changes in default settings in the operating system - things generally disliked by anyone having to manage those PC’s. We’ve done tons of migrations for companies FROM AOL email, for instance, to Microsoft Exchange, and other business-grade email and collaboration suites.

Details from the PC World article below:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126928-c,aol/article.html

Source report from StopBadware.org:
http://stopbadware.org/reports/reportdisplay?reportname=aol082706

Reasons for calling AOL 9.0 Free Version “Badware”:

Installs additional software without disclosure (Deceptive installation)

Forces users to take an action (Interferes with computer use)

Adds AOL toolbar in Internet Explorer (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)

Adds additional icons to default Internet Explorer toolbar (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)

Adds to “Favorites” in Internet Explorer (Modifies other software without disclosure)

Adds AOL Deskbar to the user’s taskbar (Modifies other software without disclosure)

Updates software automatically (Deceptive installation)

Fails to uninstall software completely (Unacceptable uninstallation)

Recommendations to AOL from this Orgnization:

Disclose during installation all of the additional software that will be installed, and seek the user’s consent to their installation.

Do not force users to take actions by presenting dialogue boxes that cannot be closed.

Disclose to the user during installation that additional components will be added to Internet Explorer—namely, the AOL toolbar, new items in Favorites, and additional icons in the default toolbar.

Disclose during installation that AOL Deskbar will be added to the user’s taskbar.

Tell users during installation about any software that will automatically update and ask them for their consent.

Do not leave AOL processes running after uninstallation.

Recommendation to Users:

We currently recommend that users do not install the version of AOL software that we tested, unless the user is comfortable with the level of risk we identify or until the application is updated consistent with the recommendations in this report.

Google and Microsoft will host your business. What will SADA do?

It’s Google vs. Microsoft all over again – (nothing new, and nothing that will go away any time soon), but now it’s not about search or anything else – it’s about web-based business-centric applications designed to make it very easy for very small businesses (say, those with 1-10 employees) to get online, develop an online presence, and get business-class tools, like email, project management, collaboration, etc… without having to know anything about IT and infrastructure. They basically want to host your ENTIRE business online. Why are they so after the smallest businesses in the world? Well, that’s because there are so many of them – about 28 million of them, and none of them have the thousands of up-front dollars or the know-how usually required set-up this type of ‘advanced’ functionality on their own. Now, they can get it for a reasonable monthly fee (or in some cases, for Free).

Read more about the press release here:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/nov05/11-01PreviewSoftwareBasedPR.mspx

Google calls their initiative “Google Apps for Your Domain”, and Microsoft calls their “Office Live”. At the very least, MS has the better name.

Here are some other key differences and related information:
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Google

Microsoft

URL
https://www.google.com/a/
http://officelive.microsoft.com/

Price during Beta
Free
Free

Price after Beta
Free (if you’re chosen as a company Google wants to provide this for)

Free for very basic services, about $30/month and up depending on what services you want, and how much web storage you need, how many employees you have, etc…

Looks like…
Google

A lot like Microsoft Office, SharePoint, etc… (the 2007 suite more than the 2003 suite)

What they say:
Now you can offer private-labeled email, IM and calendar tools to all of your users for free*, so they can share ideas and get things done more effectively. You can design and publish your organization’s website, too. It’s all hosted by Google, so there’s no hardware or software for you to install or maintain.

Communicate. Collaborate. Automate.
Establish, manage, and grow your business online. Microsoft Office Live provides a powerful set of Web-based services to help you manage your valuable information and resources. Let Office Live boost your company’s visibility and put the Web to work for you.

Price after Beta

Free (if you’re chosen as a company Google wants to provide this for)

Free for very basic services, about $30/month and up depending on what services you want, and how much web storage you need, how many employees you have, etc…

In a lot of ways it’s “the dream” for small businesses. We certainly are huge advocates of this idea – the ‘host everything, don’t worry or think about IT, just run your business’. In terms of how the market will take it? I think the jury’s still out. Only time will tell. This certainly raises some questions for Microsoft:

• Will “Live” cannibalize its server and desktop application sales?

And what about IT Solutions providers like SADA Systems, Inc.? How does this effect us? Will our clients need us after Live takes off? It’s a valid question.

Well – there is a trend in Information Technology in that the ‘easy’ stuff will always be commoditized, and eventually be provided by only a few companies. The truth is, SADA and other IT solutions companies, if they are doing the right things, and continuously providing more and more sophisticated solutions, will never be displaced by such services. Similarly to the explosion of the likes of Geek Squad and Dell Services – who also target very much the same market as Office Live and the Google tools do (though Google has hosted email and other applications for very large Universities, etc… and continues to do so). We applaud any advancement that makes Information Technology tools accessible to those companies and organizations who would otherwise be shut out.

Furthermore, we must remember that all of these tools and products - hosted or otherwise – are just that. Often the REAL value of an IT Services company is not providing the tool or product itself – it’s really providing the services that will enable companies to make effective use of those tools, no matter who makes them, in a way that provides business value to that organization. This is a much higher level of partnership than the traditional definition of an “IT Value Added Reseller” – today and in the future, companies like SADA will be looked upon more for their IT leadership, business acumen, and consulting than anything else.

This Just in! Google Apps for Your Domain Email

As you know, SADA is a Google Partner, so we are privy to all Enterprise announcements. The below was just emailed to me as I was writing the previous Blog: (Google LOVES to make announcements on the Weekends! They work so hard over there...)
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Dear Tony,

We have some exciting news coming out from Google tomorrow that we wanted to highlight for you.

On Monday August 28th we are announcing Google Apps for Your Domain. This brand new Google service allows everyone in an organization to collaborate and stay up-to-date through e-mail, calendar and instant messaging - anywhere, anytime. You can read more details about this new service at http://www.google.com/a

Everything is hosted by Google, so there’s no hardware to buy and maintain or software to manage, deploy and patch. The applications are fast, reliable, work from anywhere, anytime and have the elegant simplicity everyone has come to expect from Google. And they’re free. The applications we’re releasing at this time represent only the beginning; we’re working hard to add more. We know you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

We are also working on an Enterprise version of Google Apps for Your Domain that will include features, integration options, capacity and support offerings designed to meet the needs of larger organizations. Please contact us at apps-enterprise@google.com if you’re interested in working with us as an early access customer for this version.

Sincerely,

The Google Enterprise Team
===

Can Microsoft Software die? And then what?

Many of our clients and partners don’t know this – but it’s true: software can die too. And contrary to the popular belief that all things ‘digital’ can live forever, each human year is much like 25 software years. Yes, your dog will long outlive most Microsoft applications.

Leaving similes aside, let’s get serious. What happens to software when it reaches “end of life”? Well, basically, Microsoft discontinues all security patches and updates for that particular piece of software, and almost more importantly, it ceases all SUPPORT for that software.

Of an official Policy FAQ from Microsoft, read here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

With the lack of updates and patches, the chances of a vulnerability going unnoticed, and an attack taking down an entire network because of that one, lone end-of-life application being installed on that lone PC Increased significantly. This is a chance most companies should NOT take.

And who needs support? Well – we all do. Software breaks – and one major reason people buy software made by reputable companies is – when it does break, reputable companies will help you fix it. (There are tons of stories in our industry about Microsoft support being on the phone with an IT guy for 14 hours to bring an Exchange server back to life.). When your company is relying on any of those Applications to conduct business, and they are no longer supported by the company who made the software, if something does break, you’re pretty much on your own, and your company is in danger of losing data, losing clients, and possibly even going out of business – we’ve seen it happen (not to any of our Managed clients, of course).

For instance, did you know that Windows 98 is no longer supported by Microsoft? If you have any PC’s in your network that still are running Windows 98 – you should upgrade them or simply get rid of them ASAP. Trust us, it’ll be worth it. If you’re running some application that won’t work on Windows 2000 or XP – then change out that old application, because chances are, that application itself is no longer supported either!

Here is the info on Windows 98 end of Life:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=6513

Now, let’s talk Servers, the ENGINES that run most companies. And let’s specifically talk Microsoft Exchange (one of the Jewels in the Microsoft arsenal, and one of the most widely adopted email and collaboration suites). If you’re running version 5.5 or older, you’re out of luck, my friend. The last day THAT was supported was 1/1/2006. Yup, that’s nearly a year ago.

You think we joke? Read below
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=1776

Click here to see if YOUR server application is on the End of Life list:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectserv

And to check ALL Microsoft applications, click here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect

Do your homework! Don’t run your business on anything that’s End of Life. This practice is 100% on our Best Practice Non-Compliance (BPNC) list. And all of our managed clients are educated about the above, and we make SURE, we perform the upgrades as soon as possible. You should follow the same process and philosophy.

How do you know a Website is Safe? Ask Site Advisor, from McAfee.

When you’re Googling around for a given thing, how do you know the sites the search results are producing (and the sites linked to Ads on the search results pages) are safe? How do you know those sites you are about to click don’t have tons of pop-ups, adware, spyware, and other general annoyances? Well, traditionally, you don’t.

But there is a GREAT little add on from McAfee called SiteAdvisor, which solves just this problem.

It tells you if a site is safe or not even before you browse to it! What’s more, it even tells you the dangers on that particular site, so you can decide for yourself if you want to risk visiting the site!

We’ve included a a download link of the app on this site. It’s FREE. Check it out! Enjoy, and browse safely.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie.html

BIG Solutions to Small and Medium Biz Challanges

SADA has always been a proponent of one major strategy when it comes to building and managing IT infrastructure for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs - businesses with 10-1000 employees). “Give them slightly scaled down, and greatly simplified versions of the same tools used by the largest organizations, and make the pricing make sense for them.”.

To that end, today we announce two key partnerships:

1. McAfee - SADA will use McAfee as the solution of choice for fully hosted and managed Anti-malware Solutions for the SMB Space. That’s Total protection, Single Source, and fully Managed by SADA Systems. No more worries about Viruses, Spyware, Intrusions, or anything of that nature. That, and you get a full dashboard so you know if by chance, even ONE computer on your network is unprotected.

See a Sample of that Dashboard here:
http://www.mcafeeasap.com/intl/EN/content/virusscan_asap/samplereports.asp

To read more about what that means, click here:
http://www.mcafeeasap.com/intl/EN/content/tops/default.asp

2. EMC Insignia - EMC has traditionally lived in the Enterprise. However, they have recently launched a series of excellent and complimentary solutions specific for the SMB’s. Now, companies can get all the tools they need to protect and manage their data storage needs, all from a single source - though integrated solutions for Disk Arrays, to software tools that replicate and backup up critical data - nobody does this more elegantly than EMC.

More details and solutions coming soon to our website!

Office 2007 Pricing and Launch

Though there are Beta 2 version of nearly all Microsoft “next generation” applications available currently, we still don’t seem to have a solid launch timeframe – at least not one that isn’t pushed back regularly.

The latest? Looks like early 2007 for Office 2007 – which may also coincide with the release of the long-awaited, and long overdue Vista operating system (Windows XP has been around since 2001/2002!).

Alas, there are some planned pricing schemas already available for the Office 2007 Suite and you can find them here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/info/pricing.mspx

ZEROi to be Featured in Valley Publication

On Tuesday, August 22nd, SADA published a press release announcing our next-generation network solution, ZEROi. The press release caught the attention of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal, the valley’s best source for local business news. SFV Business Journal has expressed an interest in featuring ZEROi in an upcoming edition. A columnist from the SFV Business Journal will be visiting us here at SADA to interview Tony Safoian early next week. Watch the SFV Business Journal in the days to come for an article featuring ZEROi by SADA! To learn more about the SFV business journal visit their website, www.sfvbj.com.

The ZEROi platform allows anyone, on any computer, from any location, to access their desktop and network resources. SADA manages the network environment in our datacenter, providing top-notch safety and security for customer files, and the client gets a fast, reliable desktop environment. You can learn more about this product on SADA’s website by clicking here. For the full text of the press release see the SADA Speaks Entry for the 22nd of August.

OpenDocument Format (ODF) Gains Ground

Massachusetts will begin using OpenDocument as the default document format later this year, as planned, but it will be sticking with Microsoft Office in the near term, the state’s top technology executive said.

For the full story, follow this link:
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6109103.html?part=rss&tag=6109103&subj=news

Apple Recalls 1.8 Million Batteries

Today Apple announced a voluntary recall of 1.8 million lithium-ion batteries. Like Dell the affected batteries are those manufactured by Sony. The recall affects certain models of the iBook and PowerBook G4 series, especially those sold between October 2003 and August 2006.

Apple said it had received nine reports of overheated batteries. While no major injuries have been reported, there are two reports of minor burns from handling overheated batteries. Notebooks affected by the recall include the following systems:

• 12” iBook G4


• 12” PowerBook G4


• 15” PowerBook G4

A1061 is the model number of the affected 12” iBook, and battery serial numbers include ZZ338 through ZZ427, 35429 through 3K611, and 6C510 through 6C626. The model number of the 12” PowerBook G4 is A1079. Affected serial numbers for this model are ZZ411 through ZZ427 and 3K428 through 3K611. Two models of the 15” PowerBook are affected by this recall. Those model numbers are A1078 and A1148I. In the 15” PowerBook affected battery numbers are 3K425 through 3K601, 6N530 through 6N551, and 6N601.

Sony has been named as manufacturer of the recalled cells by Apple and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sony issued a statement indicating the cause of overheating in the batteries was a short circuit resulting from microscopic metal particles making contact with other parts of the battery cell. Sony does not anticipate any further recalls.

If you suspect that your system uses a recalled battery, stop using the laptop. For more information about Apple’s battery recall visit their battery exchange website. The SADA HelpDesk is also available if you have questions regarding the recall.

Intel Announces Core 2 Duo series, Older Processors reach End of Live

Intel’s Core 2 Duo line marks the end of AMD’s run of dominance through the dual-core desktop-processor landscape. Not only are Intel’s new chips fast, efficient, and well designed, but they’re also aggressively priced and sure to send ripples though the desktop PC industry. If you are buying or building a new computer, we recommend that a Core 2 Duo chip be at its center.

This story covers the topic we are trying to cover here:

http://news.com.com/Good-bye%2C+Pentium-hello%2C+Core+2+Duo/2100-1006_3-6099328.html?tag=nl

Pentium D 830, 840, 920, 930 and 940 CPUs will be discontinued by December 15th, 2006.

SADA Systems Inc. Launches Next-Generation Computing Service: ZEROi

Software-as-a-service and hardware-as-a-service are not brand new ideas in Information Technology. However, they are paving the way for an externally hosted network infrastructure, and SADA Systems Inc. is taking the lead with ZEROi. ZEROi is a hosted network platform capable of delivering a full workstation environment via the Internet. SADA’s solution is best suited to the small to medium business owner who needs to trim their IT expenditures, increase reliability, work from anywhere, and achieve the highest level of business continuity available.

“ZEROi can be likened to electricity,” says Tony Safoian, CEO of SADA Systems Inc. “In the early days of electricity, businesses were required to maintain their own generators. Now we order power from a service provider. We plug in, and we know it’s going to work.” Hosting the network infrastructure in a similar way solves many business problems, including the general problem most business face today in making Information Technology a constantly available, powerful tool that works on-demand.

Today’s standard network configurations require businesses to purchase and maintain a significant amount of network hardware and software. ZEROi significantly reduces these costs by hosting the network off-site. Minimal need for network maintenance and expensive hardware reduces a company’s need for on-site consultants. Since the end result is a more reliable computer environment, ZEROi increases the efficiency of the company’s information workers, trimming the cost of IT.
Security and recoverability are of paramount importance to business owners. Safoian comments, “We promise that ZEROi provides our clients with bulletproof security, and immediate disaster recovery.” SADA hosts the network environment in an ultra-secure data-center, monitors network access, and manages server back ups. In the event of a disaster SADA can restore network resources almost immediately through remote access control. “This translates to the highest and fastest return on investment of any solution,” says Safoian.

Visit this link for Details:
http://sadasystems.com/sadasystems/solutions/zeroi/index.asp

DELL Battery Recall Instructions

On Monday, August 14th Dell announced the recall of 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony and used in over 30 of its models. The recall was initiated after a small number of notebook batteries overheated, getting hot enough to potentially cause a fire or explode. Although the risk of such mishaps is small, Dell did the right thing for its customers by taking no chances and issued the recall.

Dell is not the only one using these batteries, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has launched an investigation into the batteries. HP, Sony, and Lenovo/IBM also use these batteries. We will inform you of any recall placed on them as soon as information is available.

If you have a Dell laptop, you can go to the Dell website below and check if you have one of the recalled batteries. If so you can order a replacement.

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

If you have one of the batteries and have any problem ordering a replacement, please contact the HelpDesk for assistance in resolving the issue.

Google’s Support for Free WiFi, and what it means to FreeNET

In a lot of ways, SADA is far ahead of Google in our vision to provide Free Wireless Internet via WiFi to the general public – their plans are underway – ours were underway 3 years ago. They will start rolling it out soon, FreeNET in NoHo has been up for over a year.

When Google announced last week that they plan to make all lf Mountain View, CA a free WiFi zone, it became apparent that this idea is now ‘mainstream’. It’s a significant confirmation of our way of thinking. If only SADA had the kind of resources to announce we were taking all of Los Angeles, the Valley, or just North Hollywood! This idea is not new, and Mountain View certainly won’t be the first city to provide “free wifi for all”, but Google’s backing of any idea is affirmation that – at least, SADA’s not crazy.

With the hard work of our Tech Support group, our first free WiFi Zone (Lankershim and Magnolia intersection, North Hollywood, CA 91601) is serving hundreds of users per week – it’s build on all Cisco equipment, and the bandwidth is provided by mPower (nope – none of the equipment or connection was donated – SADA paid / pays for it all). We are looking forward to expanding it to other parts of the Valley (naturally, we would start with North Hollywood first – it is our Headquarters, after all), and I think we will expand soon.

Do you want to read more about what Google is doing? Follow the links below.

Google Launches City-Wide Wi-Fi (PC Mag)

Headed to Mountain View, CA? If so, you can get free wireless Internet throughout the city, courtesy of Google. If you have a Google account, hopping on is simple, for PCs, Wi-Fi phones and more. We sent one of our experts down to check it out, and she came away very impressed. Some day we’ll all live like this, but until then you’ll have to read our account and dream:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2004581,00.asp

Last Day - XChange Appointments for Today - IPED, Red Hat, and Lexmark.

This is the last day of the event - so I’ll need to check out soon. But before that, we have some exciting appointments! Is Lexmark catching up to HP? What does Red Hat have in store that will rival the rappid ascent of Novell in the Linux world? We’ll see!

Linux on the Desktop? Novell says why not.

With prices for PC’s and Desktops continuously dropping, how long will it make sense to pay $200-400 each for simply an Operating System (XP, Vista, etc...) and a basic Office Application (Word, Excel, etc...)? Novell, with their enterprise-class Linux platform, both for the Desktop and Server - is hoping the answer is “not much longer”. I was impressed with their demonstration of the Linux-based Desktop Operating system, wich comes bundled with OpenOffice 2.0 - all for $50! $50 vs. $500+, that’s quite the value proposition.

They have made major strides to make inter-operability with Windows-based networks, and Server Systems (even Exchange) as well as the current standard - Microsoft Office, both seemless and intuitive. Their OS even comes with features like an integrated desktop search engine, a rich software set, and a very fluid visual interface. This was the most striking demonstration from this morning. Seems like Novell is finally comfortable in their acquisition of SUSE Linux, and adoption of the Linux platform into their base network operating system, as well as now - the desktop space.

Sure, there is a subset of customers that will HAVE to have Windows on the Desktop - but with entire countries embracing “open source” (Brazil, Austria, etc...), how long will this dominance last? And their answer to the “what if I have one or two Windows Apps that will *never* run on Linux? What to do then? They have a good solution for that - supports our ZEROi vision - just deliver it Via Citrix! ZEROi makes any Windows App deliverable to end-users no matter what OS platform the are running (Mac, Linux, Windows, Palm, etc...) I like that.

Also, the Linux desktop platform just seems very ‘light’ to run - the system requirements are very low - RAM, CPU, etc..., which is also good in terms of giving longevity to hardware investments.

ARC Award Winners!

BEA, Toshiba, Trend Micro

Xerox - printing, Ricoh - network color printing. Microsoft - business software. Linksys - wireless LAN. NeworkAppliance - network storage. Samsung - display technologies. Intel - client and server processors. Novell - server OS application. IBM - 5 awards, wow! Sonicwall - security appliance. Cisco - voice and data networking, security, wireless LANs. Seagate and Wester Digital - disk drives. HP - mobile computers, desktops, etc… Oracle - business software.

Channel Executive of the Year!

Donn Arkins - IBM!!

Vendors Gunning for Partners

SAP started the day off with a nice breakfast presentation. They are the 3rd largest software company in the world (behind Microsoft and Oracle), and they are making a push into the SMB space with some of their lower level offerings (they have a huge installation base in the Enterprise space). After that, we were treated to small, meeting-style sessions with the likes of McAfee, Nortel, Quantum, ATEN, and AMD. The big news is, AMD is going into Dell 4-processor servers starting in Q4 of this year - relinquishing the Intel-exclusivity! Up next - who knows? Desktops? AMD claims faster processing with even lower power consumption than Intel, and a consistant architecture. McAfee has a huge Managed Services push, and claims to be the largest Security-specific software company. Quantum is an obvious choice for both tape-based and backup to Disk - with a various applications for all markets. The big news is, on the low end, DAT and Travan tapes are going away, to be replaced with swapable, rugged hard drives, up to 120GB’s in capacity - the product is called GoValt - this allows for backup to disk to be safely rotated off-site.

HP’s World Premier

learly HP is enjoying Dell’s recent fall from what used to be ‘untouchable’ in terms of price, quality, and service. HP has revieled an impressive (and ambitious) mission to surpass IBM to become the world’s largest IT company.

Key areas of growth for this giant - and for partners like us are the following:

Printing - Color and Mulitfunction (vs. B&W)

Blade Servers (vs. Tower and standard Rack configurations)

Notebooks (vs. PC’s).

One key area of growth in the PC Space will be the Blade PC innovation (up until now, I had only heard of a company called Clear Cube, who had this offering). Imagine all PC’s being in the datacenter, and users accessing the processing power of their PC’s via a Thin Client. This has always read to me like “Citrix / Terminal Services, but more expensive, and not as flexible” - so I still don’t quite get it! Though I’m sure if HP is excited about it, there is a market out there!

Off to the Keynote at the Convention Center, followed by Demo Rooms and Exhibits.

Who Knew IT Guys Knew How to Party? And other IT News.

So - who knew? A special panel was on today - features the heads of Ingram Micro, IBM, HP, and Microsoft - and the 200 or so solutions providers all in the same panel, at the Convention center. We had these cool live voting devices - and when asked what was the most important issue to VARs, over 40% said Managed Services was key.
That’s interesting, since SADA Systems, Inc. has been doing Managed Services for about 3 years! Flat Fee, Outsourced IT services on a monthly basis, for Small and Medium sized business units. Good things1 Cleary we are on the right path.

The rest of the day was spend mingling with various VARS and Vendors - sponsored with D&H, Ricoh, Belkin, and the last party of the night - ATEN (makers of excellent KVM solutions). Excellent! IT guys really know how to party! Well, good night to all, and more tomorrow! Cheers from St. Louis!

Intel continues to push Core 2 Duo

New line of Intel processors on all platforms (Desktop, Server, and Mobile) promise to increase processing power, while reducing battery consumption, partly due to the ability to fit yet more transitors on a given chip-set. Nothing too surprising here - the “World Premier” was as expected. It’s good to see that continued pressure from AMD specifically is pushing Intel to continue to innovate along these lines. Furthermore, Intel is working closely with VMWare on their virtualization technology to support the virtualization of servers that power today’s datacenters.

Despite Delays, Microsoft promises Next wave of Software is Worth the Wait

Nothing embodies both the potential and the challenge of the business impact next wave of Microsoft applications will have quite like the constant delays of the full launch of Vista, the newest operating system (their first in roughly 4 years, replacing Windows XP). Around Vista, is a whole sweet of (in the Microsoft tradition) inter-operable business and desktop applications, from Office 12 (replacing Office 2003), and a slew of business applications - focused on collaboration, unified communications (via a partnership with the likes of Nortel for VOIP), and Business Intelligence. Microsoft is promising to continue to pursue something it has thus far done successfully - bringing what used to be considered “Enterprise” level functionality to the Small and Medium sized business unit. (I mean - how many companies and departments under 200 employees do you hear about running Business Intelligence / Analytics?) Only time will tell when these products are in full (post-beta) release, and how they are priced - which will directly effect adoption by the market they are most trying to attract.

We’re Off to St. Louis! SADA will be better for it.

It’s not too often one gets an invitation of this type. Of course, I could not refuse. We were recommended by one of the vendors which whom we have struck a relationship recently - Phoenix Technologies. They can boast about being the only software maker to have their product installed on more PC’s than Microsoft! (They make that BIOS software, that’s basically on every machine). Great group.

What makes this event so huge? It’s the fact that every major producer of hardware and software on the planet will be there - and will be unveiling some of the newest technology available to business. Also - not everybody gets to go. Only a select number of VARs (Value Added Resellers like SADA) get the all-expenses paid trip.

You can get the full attendee list here:
http://www.cmpxchange.com/xchange06_attendees

To be once again be mentioned next to industry giants like BearingPoint, Northrup Grumman, and Accenture is quite the honor.

That’s all well and good, but why attend? What’s the real benefit? Sure, the agenda is exciting, somebody else is paying, and we’re sure to learn lots about products. (Some of the exclusive, first-time announcements to be made can be found here:
http://www.cmpxchange.com/xchange06_agenda

With all events of this type - there is another, perhaps much more important thing happening behind the scenes - it’s what takes place between all of the structured events - it’s the time we all spend getting to know others in our industry, to learn how they do what they do that makes THEM successful, and likewise sharing our own insights into where our industry is headed, and what the most beneficial and best-of-breed solutions are for our customers. It’s a chance to share with those who may otherwise be viewed as ‘competition’ in another arena - but not this one. Personally, I’m looking forward to this unique synergy. I see it as the best way to continually improve what SADA does, and how – value which translates to everything good for our current and future clients.

This even is produced CMP Media - the leading publisher of Industry magazines of our trade. I believe they are in a unique position to be able to organize events of this scale and relevance. And to them I’m thankful.

Next time I write, I’ll be in St. Louis - Blogging mostly from my Treo 700! (Expect much shorter postings!)

Wish me luck! I’ll be leaving the hair gel and contact lens solution in my checked-bags…