Local Chamber Gets Website Facelift

SADA Systems, Inc. announced today that a new website developed for the Universal City, North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is now available. The new website was developed to provide the UCNH Chamber with upgrades both to the aesthetics and function of their previous website. The upgrade was initiated by UCNH Chamber president-elect and president/CEO of SADA Systems, Inc., Tony Safoian, and is one component of Safoian’s vision for the UCNH Chamber.

With a cleaner, more technologically-savvy look the new website brings a new face to the UCNH Chamber. Beneath the new facade lies a new depth of functionality and support. Internet visitors will find the chamber’s new website is more user-friendly, and a more information-rich resource. This enhancement will ultimately provide the Chamber with a greater degree of traffic to the website. Safoian is confident that increased traffic to the website will be of great benefit to the Chamber, ultimately leading to more sponsor revenues, more members, and more exposure to the community.

Chamber members will have access to tools and features that were either unavailable with the previous website. Bringing value to the new website are features including blogs, RSS Feeds, forums, and integrated applications powered by Google. Blogs will cover events and news relevant to the Chamber and Community in general. Chamber members who choose to do so have the option of setting up their own individual blogs on the new website, using the website as a platform to publish information about their business. Also new to the website is a discussion forum. This has been created as a space where members of the chamber and the North Hollywood community will be able to discuss topics of interest in a variety of categories from business to business to local events planning and beyond.

Ultimately the Chamber website should be both a point of reference for the community it serves, and a tool for its members. By introducing the new website Safoian and SADA Systems are confident they have provided the UCNH Chamber with just that. To view the new website click here.

Firefox Turns 2.0

Far from terrible, Firefox’s twos are good; very, very good. One week after the general release of Internet Explorer’s version 7, Mozilla has made Firefox 2.0 available to the general public. While the final products seem very similar, the changes to Firefox are relatively subtle when comparing the two programs. This is largely due to the fact that Microsoft’s IE 7 represents the first major update to their browser in five years, and they’ve added many features that are new to Internet Explorer.

Users of the Firefox browser will notice a few changes in the way the new version of the browser looks and functions. Below is a short list of new features available in the new version of Firefox.

• Improved tabbed browsing
  
• Better security features
  
• Advanced RSS capabilities
  
• Improved extension and add-on management
  
• Enhanced search features
  
• Lighter use of system resources
  

The new tabbed browsing allows a user to have more tabs open than would ordinarily be able to fit in the browser window. This is accomplished through clever use of scrolling arrows that allow a user to scroll left or right through open tabs. To jump directly to an open tab without scrolling a user can click the tab summary icon located to the right of the tabs. If Firefox is set as your default browser, it will now open links as a new tab rather than in a new browser session. Should Firefox close unexpectedly (system crash, power outage, etc.) users will be prompted to restore the previous browser session. Clicking “OK” reopens Firefox and all of the tabs that were in use in the previous session.

Firefox 2.0 plugs what vulnerabilities there were in previous versions and adds an important new feature, anti-phishing. As a user browses using Firefox, the browser will check websites against an online blacklist, helping to ensure that users don’t accidentally fall victim to malicious software and hackers. If a user should encounter a website Firefox suspects to be a forgery, they will be warned and prompted to return to their home page.

The new RSS system in Firefox allows users to preview a site’s feeds before subscribing to them. When subscribing to a feed Firefox gives a user the option of subscribing through a live bookmark in Firefox itself, a stand-alone feed-reader, or a web service such as My Yahoo!

Extensions and Add-ons are now handled in the same window, consolidating the separate management tools used in previous versions of the browser. Many add-ons and extensions in use with previous versions of Firefox may not work right away after installing 2.0. Firefox will automatically update those themes, add-ons, and extensions for which add-ons are available, and list those that are no longer compatible.

When using Google, Yahoo, or Answers.com Firefox will supply search term suggestions as a user enters their query on any of these engines.

The software is overall lighter. Running Firefox with more than a dozen open tabs the software was using only 80 MB of system memory. Firefox is very light on system resources and runs efficiently and quickly.

For more information about Firefox 2.0, or to download the software visit the Mozilla site: Mozilla.com/Firefox

Our Own Tech Support Manager in CRN

Niv Dolgin, Tech Support Manager at SADA Systems Inc., was quoted in leading industry magazine CRN yesterday. See below for Niv’s response to a question about tech solutions being looked at by SADA. Niv was speaking from this week’s CMP XChange Tech Innovators event taking place in Huntington Beach, CA.

“We’re looking at VoIP and other hosted base solutions that take the infrastructure out of small businesses; they don’t have the time or the staff to deal with it,” said Niv Dolgin, tech support manager and systems engineer at SADA Systems, North Hollywood, Calif.

The CMP XChange event is an annual event bringing together over 100 solution providers presenting the latest in cutting edge business technology solutions. Niv’s presence at the event is a great opportunity for SADA to Network with other providers, and to see what new technology solutions are available, or will be available in the near future.

Universal City Chamber of Commerce Goes Google

On Friday SADA Systems Inc deployed Google Apps for Your Domain for use by members of the Universal City, North Hollywood Chamber of commerce and its members. Members will now have access to personal GMail accounts using their own login credentials. In addition to email chamber members will have access to Google Calendar, which will be used for Chamber and member events.

Deployment of the Google Apps represents a new level of online functionality available to the UCNH Chamber. Users of the system will have access to these features from anywhere they have access to a computer and Internet connection. Using the Google Apps for your domain provides Chamber members with faster, more reliable communication tools. Google Apps presents some advantages over other solutions in that Google’s product is free, built upon open standards, intuitive, and friendly. The system will run quickly and efficiently on even older computers in use by some Chamber members, as Google’s solution does not depend on any local system resources. Google Apps for Your Domain is ideal for non-profit organizations such as the UCNH chamber as it is freely available, powerful, and highly customizable.
Initially all members will have access to the calendar. Staff members of the UCNH Chamber will also receiving their own free GMail accounts.

Google Apps for Your Domain is a next-generation productivity solution engineered with Web 2.0 concepts in mind. Web 2.0 is a movement in technology and the Internet to develop the web as something more than a static space for presenting information. Applying Web 2.0 technologies provides Internet users with a content rich and interactive environment including information resources, online collaboration, and information sharing. Software that makes use of Web 2.0 concepts includes wiki, blogs, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication). For more information about web 2.0 see the Wikipedia article located at the following address, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0. By leveraging the power of Web 2.0 concepts Google Apps for Your Domain provides Chamber members with a powerful next generation solution for information management and collaboration.

Website by SADA Garners Acclaim

In the recent 2006 World Web Award of Excellence official results the website of artist Alexander Sadoyan was listed as an award recipient. Sadoyan’s website was designed, and is hosted by SADA systems. The award was given for originality, overall design and appearance, ease of navigation, and content. All of SADA’s websites are a collaborative effort between our designers and the client, so congratulations to Alexander Sadoyan on receiving this award, and SADA is proud to have been involved in the success of his website.

IE 7 Now Available From Microsoft

Today marked the first day that Microsoft made the latest version of their Internet Explorer web browser available to the public. Internet Explorer 7 updates the venerable web browser with significant changes to function, interface, aesthetics, and security. One of the most obvious and noteworthy changes is the addition of tabbed browsing, a feature long available in other browsers such as Netscape, Firefox, and Opera. The toolbar has been completely redesigned to allow more virtual real estate for the viewing of web pages. The new favorites function in IE 7 allows users to consolidate favorite websites with their browsing history and RSS feeds, a kind of one stop shop for the things a user does every day. IE 7 also integrates a search box in the latest version of a browser that allows a user to enter a search without opening a search website session. Integrated search has previously been available in other browsers such as Firefox. Following the trend set by other browsers the latest version of IE 7 features integrated RSS feeds. Perhaps most importantly the latest version of IE 7 plugs security holes left open in previous versions of the browser. Specifically, IE 7 introduces a new phishing filter to block out potentially fraudulent websites designed to capture information from unwary Internet shoppers. For complete information about Internet Explorer 7 visit the Microsoft website by clicking here.

Everyone’s on the Move

Below are some statistics from Ken Radio. These numbers really show the growing trend toward mobile...everything, actually. TV, telephones, and the Internet, more and more people globally are connecting to the world-at-large through the use of mobile devices.

Mobile Statistics
$667 bln spent on mobile services by year-end 2006
$8.6 bln spent on mobile data apps in 2005
1.5 bln mobile subscriptions in Asia-Pacific by 2010
11 mln mobile subscribers in Bangladesh
11 mln mobile subscribers in Pakistan
11% of Europeans interested in mobile TV
11% of mobile phones can display video
115 mln mobile phones to sell in Latin America in 2006
120 mln more GSM subscribers in Q1 2006
125.8 mln mobile subscribers in Russia
13% of US wireless customers consider their service excellent
15% of US mobile users use mobile Web
2.5 bln mobile subscribers by the end of 2006
2.7% of Americans downloaded a mobile game
2.75% of mobile subscribers use virtual operators
20% of Australian phone users ready to cut the cord
207.9 mln wireless users in the US in 2005, 69% penetration
210 mln mobile phones shipped in Q1 2006
210 mln mobile TV subscribers by 2011
226.7 mln cell phones sold in Q1 2006 globally
24 mln Americans to pay for TV on mobile screens by 2010
24% of US mobile subscribers are business subscribers
27% of Europeans buy a new cell phone every year
27% of Japanese mobile consumer use bar code readers
28% of employees use their business cell phones as primary work phones
3.5 bln mobile subscribers worldwide by 2010
3.8 mln of British mobile users had some SMS-related injury
33 mln wireless Bluetooth headsets sold in 2005
33.32% of US mobile users sent or received text messages
34.8 mln mobile phones sold in the US in Q1 2006
350 mln mobile subscribers in India by 2010
36% of US wireless customers have been shocked by their wireless bills
37% of mobile households have checked e-mail on their phones
41% of Americans fill in their free time with calling someone on their wireless phone
41% of mobile phone owners are interested in videos
41.4 mln mobile phones to sell in Middle East in 2006
431 mln mobile subscribers in China
44 mln cell phones sold in Japan in 2005
47% of mobile customers to pay for PNAV and LBS
470.7 mln mobile phone shipped in Q2 2006
50 mln mobile subscriptions in Russia in 2005
50% of US mobile subscribers own a cameraphone
54.1 mln Americans use Cingular, 51.3 mln - Verizon
58% of teens have cell phones
6% of US households rely exclusively on cell phones
610 mln mobile subscribers in China by 2009
66.2 mln mobile phones to sell in 2006
67 mln mobile phones sold in the US in the first half of 2006
7.8% of US households use cell phones instead of land lines
78% of mobile subscribers in Asia-Pacific are in China, India or Korea
8.4 mln unified messaging seats shipped in 2005
825.5 mln mobile phones sold in 2005, 16.7% growth
86% of US consumers are happy with their wireless service
86.2 mln Brazilians have mobile phones
9.32 mln mobile subscribers in Hungary
90 mln mobile subscribers in India
930 mln mobile phones to sell in 2006
An average 10-year-old will spend $30k on mobile services over lifetime
Avaya maintained 41% of North American call center market in 2005
Average cell phone conversation lasts 3 minutes 15 seconds
Cell phone exam cheating in England up 27%
Cell phone penetration in Mexico reached 46% in 2005
Central and Eastern European mobile subscription revenues up 13.5% in 2005
Chinese telecom revenue down 6.7% in 2005
Ethernet switch revenue reached $1.07 bln in Japan in 2005
Gigabit Ethernet switch spending to increase at 1.8% a year
Ireland is at 100% mobile penetration
Japanese cell phone market up 11.4% in January 2006
Japanese kids generated $275 mln for wireless industry in 2005
Location-based services in Europe to grow at 34% a year
Men more likely than women to drive and talk on cell phones
Mobile infrastructure spending reached $3.4 bln in Japan in 2004
Mobile phone market share for Q1 2006: Nokia - 33.1%, Motorola - 20.3%, Samsung - 12.8%, LG Electronics - 6.9%, Sony Ericsson - 5.9%
Mobile phone sales up 3% in Japan in 2005
Mobile video to become a $6 bln industry by 2011
PIM freaks spend 13% more on wireless bills than average cellular users
Revenues per mobile user down by 11% in Finland in 2005
Russian handset market up 19% in 2005
Service provider router revenue up 43% in 2005
Top cell phone usage in the US: Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit
Top mobile vendors in Western Europe in Q1 2006: Nokia, RIM, HP, Palm
Top telecoms respecting online customers: Verizon Wireless, CenturyTel, T-Mobile
Top US mobile virtual operators: Tracfone, Virgin, Boost
UK mobile services industry to generate $100 mln by 2008
US is at 70% wireless penetration
US SMBs to spend $18 bln on wireless bills in 2006
US wireless penetration reaches 70%, 200 mln subscribers
Verizon and Cingular both added 1.7 mln customers in Q1 2006
Western European mobile market up 2% in Q2 2006, Italy at 132% penetration
Western European mobile phone market up 7% in Q2 2006
Wireless revenue from US businesses will grow to $52 bln in 20
Worldwide mobile phone shipments up 26% in Q2 2006

Sony Recalls Batteries

In the continuing saga of the Sony-manufactured battery recall, Sony announced today that the company would be recalling some 300,000 batteries. Affected notebooks are certain models of the company’s Vaio PCs in Japan and China. The battery model VGP-BPs2B was manufactured for sale in China, and the impact on US consumers should be negligible. Another battery model, VGP-BPS3A was manufactured for sales in Japan and overseas, and some US consumers may be affected by the recall of these batteries. Plans to widen the recall to batteries sold in countries worldwide were not finalized as of this morning, but a further recall can be expected. Sony is now the seventh company to recall or exchange laptop battery packs manufactured by one of their subsidiaries. Like the other companies the batteries in this new recall are thought to contain metallic particles which could short circuit and cause severe overheating or fire under certain circumstances.

The financial impact of this series of battery recalls is starting to have a telling effect on the company. Sony’s projection as of August for the cost of recalls was between $167 million and $251 million. With the announcement today of Sony’s recall also comes an announcement that the company may have to revise its profits forecast for the year. This has been partly blamed on the battery recall.

SADA Releases Beta of Exchange Search Module

Today SADA Systems Inc. announced the availability of the Exchange Search Module Beta 1 release. The Exchange Search Module is powered by the Google Search Appliance and allows users a previously unavailable level of search functionality within the Microsoft Exchange mail server. The module is freely available for download from the SADA Systems website. To download the module, go to this address: www.sadasystems.com/google. The Exchange Search Module from SADA Systems comes as a zipped file. When expanded it provides users with the MSI file and instructions for installing the module on their Exchange server. Specific system requirements are given on the website.


For users of the module the biggest benefit is super-fast, real-time access to the central information store that keeps all company directory information. The module allows users to search the information store in a way that the Google Search Appliance previously wasn’t capable. Using the appliance employees logged into the domain will be able to access the Global Address List through the general Google search field already being used to locate other company-wide information.


The largest, most common user-base for the Exchange Search Module will be companies of 200+ employees who are already running a Google Appliance, and have Microsoft Exchange configured in a domain environment. Several such companies have already contacted SADA Systems regarding the new module. “SADA Systems already has companies from both North America and Europe signed up to try the module in beta,” says Tony Safoian, president and CEO of SADA Systems, Inc.


“It’s a contribution to the general development community,” says Safoian about developing the Exchange Search Module. He goes on to add that the release of the module is a good opportunity for SADA Systems to make others aware of the company’s level of expertise with the Google Search Appliance, software development, and Microsoft Technologies.

Google and Apple working together?

With Google CEO Eric Schmidt joining Apple’s board rumors began to circulate of possible collaboration between the two giants of tech. For the most part both companies denied rumors of any collaboration, but an enterprising blogger may have found evidence to the contrary. While researching an article concerning possible collaboration between Google and Apple a blogger operating under the alias Javester uncovered seemingly concrete evidence the companies are working together. Without getting too technical, there is a code string within Apple’s iPhoto app bundle that refers to Google Maps. Specifically the string is a GPS map preset. A user enters GPS information, and an image of that area is displayed using Google Maps. The feature in iPhoto is used to create Geo tagged pictures.

When asked about possible cooperation between the two companies spokespeople from both Apple and Google were tight lipped. A representative from Google is quoted as saying, “We have nothing to announce at this time.” Her counterpart at Apple echoed this sentiment with a broad statement, “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”

These comments seem a little out of tune considering a recent entry on the Google Blog. Specificlly an entry citing the use and popularity of Macs at Google, and the creation the new Google Mac Blog. Google has also created a number of desktop widgets and other utilities specifically for mac users. Clearly there is a heightened degree of cooperation between the two companies. Though it is still speculative at this time in can be inferred that further collaboration between Google and Apple is on the horizon.

Vista Launch Draws Nearer with RC2 Release

Microsoft announced today the release of Windows Vista Release Candidate 2. Initially, RC2 release will only be rolled out to Beta testers, TAP Testers, and MSDN / Technet subscribers. Key improvements to the RC1 launch include upgrades in performance and stability. A number of the bugs reported by Beta testers have been fixed for the RC2 release according to Microsoft. Tester feedback from the RC1 release has been cited as a major resource in improving the overall quality of the software.

The latest test build, referred to as build 5744, will be the final release of the operating system in a test format before being sent to manufacturing. Microsoft remains confident they will meet their deadline of November 2006 for volume license customers, and January 2007 for everybody else.

This release, as well as the release of the RC1 version of Windows Vista, marks the end of a long series of delays that have plagued Microsoft since the development of Windows Vista was officially announced. It appears that Microsoft is on track to deliver the first major upgrade to their venerable Windows operating system in five years.

For more information about the RC2 release visit the links below:

The Eweek article: Vista Enters Home Stretch with RC2 Release

PC World Blog: Have You Seen Windows Vista RC2?

Linux Gains Ground in SMB Market

Research released last week from AMI-Partners indicates a growing trend toward Linux-based solutions among small and midsize businesses. According to the study a number of factors are contributing to the growth of Linux among SMBs. Reasons cited by the study include:

• Growing acceptance of open source solutions by consumers and in the office
• The popularity of web-enabled applications and email on Linux. These account for the majority of the software purchases made by companies deploying Linux.
• Low-cost and reliable solutions available on the Linux platform.
• Replacing old Windows server boxes with newer Linux server boxes

In fact the majority of the growth of Linux as a solution can be attributed the sale of replacement servers. While there are a large number of “first server” purchases, most companies are looking to replace their old servers running some version of Windows Server. In the worldwide market Linux servers are expected to see significant growth between 2005 and 2011, with revenues expanding from $6.9 billion last year to a projected $12.3 billion.

The desktop market has not been left out of the running and huge gains are expected there as well. A study conducted by IDC anticipates desktop Linux seeing gains in revenue hitting $10 billion by 2008.

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Linux is an operating system developed using what’s known as the Linux Kernel, developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The Kernal is the core part of the total operating system which uses a suite of components that comprise the work of the GNU project (pronounced like the animal i.e. guh-new). Components supplied by the GNU project include the operating system’s libraries, compilers, and text editors. For more information about Linux, see the Wikipedia article.


Linux is available in a number of versions referred to as distributions. Two of the most popular distributions of Linux can be found below:

Ubuntu: The name of the Ubuntu distribution of Linux comes from an African word meaning either “humanity to others” or “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

SUSE Linux: SUSE Linux is a distribution of Linux sponsored and available through Novell.