Bay Area IT Management
Where technology experts at Endsight share their expertise on IT Management, the issues that arise for clients, and the benefits of technology for medical practices, biotech firms, law firms, financial services and other small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mar 30th, 2010
by Jason Clause Filed under: Email, Hardware, Hosted Services, Managed Services, Network Security, Outsourced IT Support, Software
There is a lot of noise about cloud computing. It’s fairly new and new is exciting. So what exactly is cloud computing? More importantly, why should a small business owner care?
The cloud is a metaphor used to describe the Internet. Cloud computing is building on that metaphor to describe using the Internet to deliver computing resources as a service. Broadly, cloud computing is the convergence of three technologies: server virtualization, utility computing and software as a service.
- Virtualization allows software to be separated from physical hardware.This in-turn, allows a single physical server to become 10, 50 or even 100 virtual servers.
- Utility / grid computing allows server capacity to be accessed across a grid of systems.This in-turn allows computing capacity to increase or decrease depending on user or resource demands.
- Software as a service allows on-demand software applications via the Internet to be purchased on a predictable monthly subscription basis.
This convergence allows a provider to aggregate many computing resources and profitably deliver those resources as a service for a fixed monthly fee.
The resulting delivery model is highly efficient, but it’s not the key reason for a small business to consider cloud computing. The key reason is best illustrated by looking back a century ago to the emergence of the national electricity grid.
Originally, if a business needed electricity it would have to build and fund the generating capacity on its own. Boilers, turbines and transformers were expensive and so only the largest firms could afford the new technology. The emergence of the grid allowed everyone access to electricity on a subscription basis. All one had to do was plug in. No more expensive capital projects.
In the modern era, mostly because of its size, a small business is inherently forced to either pay for more computer resources than it needs or to suffer with systems that won’t quite do the job. It’s an unwinnable contest that does not balance out.
Cloud computing gives a small business the ability to finally balance that equation by allowing them to pay for only the specific IT resources, service and support they need. Small businesses no longer have to lay out huge amounts of capital for servers, software and staff to build and maintain IT resources such as corporate email, shared files and accounting applications. Instead, they can plug into a computing cloud and access only the resources they need on a fixed fee subscription basis.
As with any new technology, there are a lot of options and providers to consider working with. If cloud computing is an option for your business, moving an on-premise computer network to the cloud needs to be thoroughly planned. For more information about cloud computing click here.
In addition to operating a private computing cloud, Endsight manages more than 100 on-premise computer networks. If you’d like to discuss your current situation and determine the cloud’s applicability to you’re business click here to schedule an in-person meeting.
Tags: Cloud Computing, grid computing, small businesses, utility computing
Sep 11th, 2009
by Jason Clause Filed under: General, Hardware, Software
Generally, we do not recommend that our clients spend their valuable time attempting to solve minor computer issues. Endsight maintains a fully staffed response center whose sole purpose is to solve these problems for our clients.
That said, I can appreciate those of us that like to tinker with things. Sometimes I just want to understand what the problem is and figure out how to fix it on my own. It’s a total time waster, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
I found this article on the HP Small Business Website and decided to reprint it here. For more related articles, click here.
Small & Medium Business
As we all know, computers are not perfect devices, and they sometimes malfunction. And when they do, this can create frustration, wasted time, and unneeded expense – especially for those of us whose computers are as vital to our daily existence as oxygen. Luckily, many common computer issues can be resolved without professional help – and with excellent results and little or no hair-pulling involved. Here are a few of the problems you might encounter, and how to fix them.
The problem: my computer is running slowly
Over time, you might notice that your computer’s performance is lagging – programs take longer to load, and booting up seems to take forever.
The fix: there are lots of them, since there are lots of reasons your computer might have slowed down. First, run a spyware and anti-virus software program (if you haven’t got one installed, you should, and you can download one free from the Internet) to see if your system is infected. If it is, follow the removal instructions provided by the software. If that doesn’t work, try removing unnecessary programs that might be taking up storage space on your computer – things like games you haven’t played in months or that accounting software you only installed for the tax season and haven’t used again. Finally, if you use Windows®, try running the Windows defragmentation utility, which can help boost your PC’s performance.
The problem: my PC started normally, but there’s nothing on the screen
If this happens, you should first check that all the cables and wires are attached to your monitor and that they’re all securely plugged in. Another idea: make sure the screen brightness isn’t turned down – this can easily happen to monitors with exposed dials.
You should also listen out for the sounds your PC makes when it boots up: if it beeps once, that’s a normal startup. However, one long beep followed by shorter beeps can mean your graphics/video card has a problem and might need to be “reseated” – this means manually removing it from the computer and then returning it to its slot. To do this, first power off your computer and unplug it. Take the case panel off, and locate the card in your machine.Before touching the card, touch one hand to the metal of the PC to ground yourself. Then, remove the screw holding the card in place, and gently rock the card back and forth until it is released. Finally, reinsert the card gently but firmly until it is completely seated in the slot, then replace the screw and PC cover and plug the machine in again.
The problem: my computer crashes and displays a blue screen
Congratulations, you’ve just encountered the famous Windows stop error, or Blue Screen of Death, as it’s lovingly known in the IT community. If this happens to you, it’s likely that you’ve recently added a new program, device, driver or application that your machine just doesn’t like.
Sometimes, a simple reboot of the PC resolves the issue. But sometimes it doesn’t – you reboot, Windows loads, and the computer crashes again. System Restore is a tool in Windows XP and Vista® that takes snapshots of your computer’s configuration over time, so if your system crashes due to an installation or bad configuration, the tool can roll Windows back to the state it was in before it stopped working without affecting any of your data. Microsoft® provides detailed instructions on when and how to use System Restore.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
Tags: computer issues, Endsight, hp, Microsoft, small-business
Aug 18th, 2009
by Jason Clause Filed under: Software
One reader is locked out of a brand-new copy of Microsoft Office. Will the folks in Redmond help him?
Microsoft wants its customers to believe that installing software is as simple as loading a disc into the CD drive and clicking okay. Sometimes it’s that easy, and sometimes it’s not. When it’s not that easy, what are customers supposed to do?
Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of the article. A remote user needs to upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007. His IT department ships him the Office 2007 disk and a licensing key. The user is instructed to put the disc into the CD drive, enter the licensing key, and cross his fingers. The installation doesn’t go the way that it’s supposed to, and he needs help. The end user calls Microsoft and gets the runaround.
Microsoft is in the business of developing software. They offer support, but that’s not one of the businesses that they make money on. Instead, Microsoft works through an immense network of partners to provide support.
EndSight for example, is a Microsoft Gold certified partner that specializes in, among other Microsoft titles, Microsoft Office 2007.
The EndSight team knows software like office 2007 inside and out and that experience allows the us to sidestep known issues in a deployment. But on the off chance that we get stumped, we know how to navigate the Microsoft support apparatus. As a result, our clients experienced smooth deployments that are frustration free.
At EndSight, we make it our responsibility to manage our clients licensing. This includes the requirements planning that determines the necessity of the new software in the first place, the purchase & life cycle management of a particular software title and the organizational deployment of that software.
There’s rarely such a thing as a flawless deployment. Computers are temperamental and there’s always going to be problems that creep up. To address that issue, Endsight builds ample time into the deployment plan to assure the resources are there to help users, the day after the deployment is completed.
“This kind of problem would never happen to one of our clients. We would take ownership and work it all the way through.” Says,
Will Lee, Endsight’s Response Center Team Lead.
Will joined Endsight in 2005 after graduating from the University of California San Luis Obispo. A Microsoft Certified System Engineer, Will is in charge of the day to day operation of the EndSight
Response Center.
Endsight’s Response Center is fully staffed from 7-7 Monday - Friday and supplemented by off hour pager support. This allows Endsight to provide their clients 24×7 reactive support. Each team member works out of the firms Berkeley office, has a four year college degree, and maintains various Microsoft Professional Certifications.
About Jason:Originally from the great state of Ohio Jason Clause relocated to the Bay Area to work in high-tech. A veteran of the dot com boom and bust, Jason has more than 10 years experience helping small businesses apply information technology to improve business process and increase revenue. Jason lives in Dublin, California with his wife Jennifer and enjoys hiking, cooking and quiet time at home. His hobbies include golf, snowboarding, creative writing and performing amateur stand up comedy.
Tags: Endsight, installing software, it management, Jason Clause, Microsoft, microsoft office 2007, microsoft support, microsoft titles, Office, outsourcing
Jul 1st, 2008
by Mike Chaput, President & CEO Filed under: Software
Yes, it’s true….XP is out and Vista is in. There has been so much negative publicity regarding Vista, and for good reason. In my humble opinion, the release of Vista was poorly managed and perhaps the worst job Microsoft has done in releasing a desktop OS in two decades. The single biggest problem is that Microsoft seemed to overlook how important that third party software vendors were prepared. Print drivers, VPN clients, and a mass of other software simply did not work when Vista was first released. While customers who moved to the new version of office may experience minor inconveniences such as not relearning how to do basic tasks such as ‘undo’ or ‘save as’ like when moving to a new version of office; moving to Vista broke major functionality such as printing and accessing network files remotely.
So then, where are we know? I think moving to Vista is inevitable for most businesses and home users…and I think the time is about right. Most of the major problems have been addressed. While there is always going to be the minor hassle of dealing with a new user interface, people are simply going to have to be dealt with that. Vista is here to stay and does have some fantastic new features that frequently get overlooked such as:
• Sophisticated graphics
• Better search and organization tools
• Improved security
• Easier access to information and applications
• New multimedia functions and tools
• Improved system tools for backups, updates, and more
Given the problems and resistance most people have had, we’ve all lost site of the Millions of dollars in R&D that have gone in to this protect to move technology forward.
My advice? The time has come. Suck it up and move forward.
Tags: Microsoft, Print Drivers, Vista, VPN Clients, XP
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