Well if the answer is yes, then before you spend out on your new server hardware and software, why not consider a hosted desktop solution?

What is a Hosted Desktop Solution?

2010 is the year of the Hosted service.  last year, businesses started to cotton on to the idea of moving over to Hosted Solutions mainly because of the money they could save by using this platform  instead of their traditional IT Network. it is estimated that by the end of 2010 over 30% of businesses will implement some sort of Hosted solution in their business, whether it be online backup or hosted email.

A hosted desktop solution replaces your existing IT network with an external hosted server. Users access their “virtual desktops” via the internet from their existing pcs. A virtual desktop looks and feels exactly the same as a local pc, for example you can change your wallpaper, access network drives and use external peripherals such as printers, external drives and USB keys. In short you could not tell the difference between a local desktop and a virtual server. The only difference is in the price.

On average it is estimated that a small business can save up to £5000.00 by moving over to a hosted desktop solution. This factor alone together with the fact that you get a nice shiny new network make this solution a no brainer for most companies that find out about the solution.  

Resources.

This Hosted Desktop solution website is well worth a look if you want more information.

Chose a reputable company. Don’t take a chance on someone that has been around for 5 minutes. Choose a reputable company that has at least 10 years proven experience in the IT industry.

Get referrals. When I say get referrals, I mean get genuine referrals, not ones that are on the company’s website as these guys probably get perks for being a referral. Ask for a referral that isn’t documented on their website. You are not stupid, you can tell on the phone if someone is a genuine referral or not.

Short term contracts. Don’t get tied in. There are many IT Companies out there that talk the talk, but when it comes to providing a good service, they fall very short indeed. Short term rolling contracts are the answer and if the company are not prepared to issue them then stay well away.

Read that contract!! There are many times where we sign our life away without looking at the small print, but don’t make the same mistake with IT Support. Read the small print carefully, as a lot of companies out there try and charge you for services they feel “fall outside the contract”. Trust me when I say this is nonsense, as any IT company worth its salt should try to go above and beyond. There is an IT Support Regent Street company based near us that offer an unlimited onsite and remote IT Support service without any catches and this is the sort of service you should be looking for, not one with lots of hidden extras.

That’s it really. Take your time and choose wisely. Your IT network is one of the most important aspects of your business, don’t take it for granted.

Outsourcing IT is seen by many business owners as one of the best ways to save money, and not just by replacing in-house IT staff, but by replacing existing IT Support companies with others that offer the same services with more cost effective contracts.

IT Support London based companies are now 10 a penny. Google is covered with support companies that all say they are the best thing since sliced bread so be careful when choosing one people can write what they want about their business on their website, what on the face seems to be a professional IT Support company may just be a single engineer working from his home. Outsourcing is getting more popular than ever but with this comes an increase in companies advertising their service along with an increase in sales teams cold calling. I would suggest choosing a reputable IT Company either by word of mouth OR by the following means;

• Age of the businesses (10 years +)
• Referrals (at least 5)
• Contract length ( only accept 3 month rolling contracts at the most)
• Service (unlimited remote and telephone support, onsite support when needed at short notice)

It seems that all of a sudden, business owners are cottoning on to the idea of virtualisation and in particular the amount of money they can save by moving over to a Hosted network. The current climate has been very demanding on business who are all trying to survive in very difficult times so the opportunity to save some money without having to compromise on service is a welcome surprise for many.

Our IT Department are expecting at least 40% of their clients to be using hosted services in one way or another by the end of 2010. Hosted Exchange is by far the most popular service to date, as it offers the perfect solution for small businesses to enjoy all the features of an exchange server, with the heavy costs involved.

Our IT Department offer a huge range of virtualisation services. For more detailed information on these services, visit their Hosted Desktop website today.

This is a stroke of genius from Tesco as until now, the shortest contract available was 18 months. This put a lot of people off committing to a contract, especially when you were not getting many minutes for your money, but now Tesco are offering an alternative which will surely start a price war.

A 12 month contract will cost you £20.00 a month, with the phone starting from a hefty £222.00 for the 3G. The £20.00 a month contract includes £60.00 of calls and texts. In another twist, Tesco are also offering the iphone on a 2 year contract but with UNLIMITED calls and texts, which will definitely appeal to heavy users and people who don’t really mind being tied into long term agreements.

Pay as you go options are also available with unlimited internet guaranteed for at least 12 months. This move has really put Tesco mobile on the map. Hopefully it will also give the bigger network providers a bit of a kick up the backside and force them to lower their costs.

Will the iphone work with Hosted Exchange?

Indeed it will. Thanks to exchange compatibility the 3GS will happily synchronise with your Hosted Exchange server, making it an ideal choice for business users.

The new Apple “Snow Leopard” Operating system upgrade was launched three days earlier than originally anticipated.

The upgrade is available to users in the UK at a cost of just £25.00

Apple senior vice president, Bertrand Serlet stated; “Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we’re happy to get it to users earlier than expected. For just £25, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world’s most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support.”

Snow Leopard improves many key features of the original Leopard OS, with a cost we can afford.

Overview;

• Expose looks much smarter and easier to navigate with larger icons.
• Time machine backs up quicker and the initial backup time has been increased by 50%.
• Snow leopard has increased the loading and shutting down times. It is also faster to join a wireless network.
• The operating system now has a smaller footprint. 6GB smaller to be precise.
• The QuickTime interface has been improved and it has been made easier to upload videos to you tube etc. Http live streaming is also supported.
• Safari has been improved; the latest version is a lot faster than version 3 thanks to long overdue 64 bit support.
• Microsoft Exchange support out of the box is a welcome change.

Conclusion.

Existing users will appreciate the significant speed improvements but may be disappointed by another release of the OS without any significant changes to eye candy. Microsoft Exchange support is a welcome addition to the OS along with an improvement to QuickTime.

 Article provided by Our IT Department Hosted Desktop Services.

The government is getting tough on file sharers in the UK because it is costing the creative industry too much money.

New technical measures will be introduced in order to put a stop to online piracy. The government wants Internet service providers to block persistent offender’s access to download sites, reduce their bandwidth and even suspend their internet accounts.

Ofcom were to conduct a survey to determine what measures needed to be taken in order to stop internet piracy, however the government is not happy that the measures will only come into effect in 2012 and they are looking to speed up the process.

A statement by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills read; “The government has now reached the view that this might be too long to wait, given the pressure put on the creative industries by piracy,”

The government are clearly concerned about the effect piracy has on the creative industry, but stopping online piracy is a big challenge and stopping illegal downloads entirely will be a very difficult task indeed.

Three network operators supplying the iphone can only be a good thing for the consumer. Hopefully the added competition will drive down the cost of owning an iphone and more importantly lower the contact pricing.

Vodafone has stated they will be proving the handset from Q1 of 2010. Both 3G and 3GS versions of the phone will be available from the operator.

A spokesman for Vodafone stated that the iphone is primary for existing customers.  They also stated that the company was delighted at securing the agreement.

Our IT Department Hosted provide Hosted Exchange solutions that are compatible with the iPhone. For more information visit our Hosted Desktop website.

What is the patch for? The patch is to stop a possible denial of service attack  via a malicious packet which occurs during the NTLM authentication  process. For more information on this Vulnerability, see the following security bulletin.

Windows XP and Server 2003 operating systems are only vulnerable if a previous  non-security update was installed. For more information see article KB968389 which can be found here.

The patch covers a total of 34 vulnerabilities from Windows to SQL server.

The update is available from Tuesday 13th October. It will automatically become available via Windows update. However if you wish to download the security update you can do so directly from the Microsoft download centre.

Our IT Department Hosted Desktop customers are not required to apply the security update as we automatically apply updates and patches to all Microsoft operating systems and applications . If you have any questions or concerns then feel free to contact a member of support staff today.

Both the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be available to new and existing orange customers. The phone will be available in both contract and pay as you go flavours and it will also be available to business customers. Thanks to the iPhone’s Exchange compatibility, iPhone will work happily with Hosted Exchange.

How much will it cost? The Orange tariffs are very similar to O2′s existing price plans. for more information on the price plans, visit the official Orange website.

Over a million handsets have already been sold in the UK since it was launched back in 2007. With Orange now selling the handset and  Vodafone soon to follow, that userbase is set to increase dramatically.

Can you buy the iPhone sim free? Yes you can, but we would recommend purchasing directly through Apple as purchaseing the iPhone sim free through Orange will cost £600.00.

Our IT Department Hosted Exchange services are fully compatible with the iPhone. We offer a range of affordable price plans to suit iPhone, windows mobile and Blackberry users alike. if you are interested in a cost effective mobile email service then contact us today.