Beauty in the Box

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Asus Chromebox
It looks simple enough. A small form factor desktop computer running Chrome OS. In it’s native mode, the Chromebox lets you access any website and any cloud-based service with a web interface that you can imagine or ever want.

What makes the Chromebox really beautiful, however, is what it can do when assigned to special tasks.

Kiosks

Bundled with the Chrome Management Service, you can easily configure Chromeboxes to run as a single application kiosk. Whether providing information to customers in your store, allowing visitors to check in at the lobby desk, or to provide games for kids to play in your waiting room, the small form factor and easy setup make Chromeboxes an affordable solution to install and maintain.

Chromebox for Meetings

For less than $1,000, you can enable video conferencing in almost any small or mid-size conference room. Bundled with an HD camera, an HD conference speaker/microphone, and management software, you can link the device to the conference room calendar. Video conference setup is automatic and attendees can start the conference with a single press of a button on the remote control. Easier to use than traditional video conferencing, you can share presentation materials from any participant in the meeting.

Digital Signage

Combine the kiosk capabilities of the Chromebox with free or low cost tools, and your Chromebox becomes one of the most affordable digital signage solutions on the market. Securely manage display presentation and content remotely from any web-connected device without investing in expensive, proprietary systems.

If you are interested in or need kiosk, video conferencing, or digital signage solution, contact us to discuss your needs and evaluate solutions.

 

 

Email (is still) Like a Postcard

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Postcard
With all of the advancement in email servers, services, and cloud solutions, fundamentally, email is still like a postcard.

When you mail a postcard, the postal service will make its best attempt to get it delivered in a reasonable period of time.  While most postcards make it, occasionally a few get lost in the mail.

And while your message from vacation, your short message to a friend, or a quick thank you makes its travels, everybody that touches the postcard along the way can read it. Not that everybody, or even anybody will, but they can.

For the type of messages we send on postcards, we do not really care about privacy. Our email messages, however, often contain personal, sensitive, or corporate data that we want or need to keep private.

It is relatively easy for hackers to capture corporate data from emails as it travels across the public Internet. It is also easy for the staff at your MSP or IT service firm to read or intercept messages.

Yes, when we deploy Google Apps and other services, we put technology in place such as policy-based TLS encryption that helps mitigate risks and forced SLL encryption.  Many on-premise email servers have these features active as well.

But for many businesses, this is not enough. Government and industry regulatory requirements, including HIPAA, PCI, and PII, affect nearly every business with employees, that accepts credit cards, or keeps a customer file. Financial firms and publicly traded firms also face regulatory requirements from the SEC, FINRA, and Sarbanes/Oxley.

To meet increasing demands for data privacy and protection, you need message level encryption for at least those employees that deal with sensitive or protected information. If your solution is difficult to use, or inconvenient for recipients, employees will look to circumvent the system or opt not to encrypt messages, customers and partners will complain, and your business will suffer.

When looking at email encryption solutions, evaluate solutions that require little or no user involvement, make it easy for recipients to read encrypted messages, and work well on mobile devices. The good news, is that these solutions are affordable and can be deployed based on need.

For more information, contact us about selecting the right email encryption solution for you and your business.

 

Special Offer on Android Tablets / Play for Education Pilot Kits

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Nexus7
Working with a group of vendors and our distributors, we are pleased to offer qualifying districts* more than 50% off a comprehensive Android Tablet/Play for Education Pilot Kit.

With a retail value over $13,900, we are offering the kit on a first-come, first-serve basis for $6,480.

The Android Tablet/Play for Education Pilot Kit includes:

  • 30 Nexus 7 Tablets (16GB Model)
  • 30 Google Play for Education Management Licenses
  • 30 Higher Ground protective cases
  • 1 Ergotron Tablet Cart
  • 1 NEC Projector with DisplayNote Licenses
  • Deployment support from Cumulus Global and Google
  • Android Apps from Google’s Getting Started App Bundle
    • Explain Everything / Book Creator / We Video
      Tynker / Comic Strip It / Drawap
  • Professional Development from Educational Collaborators (2 teachers)

*As the number of Kits is limited, restrictions apply, including:

  • Limit one (1) kit per district
  • Sales are first-come, first serve
  • District student population must be at least 1,000 students
  • Offer is for new Android customers (30 or fewer existing Android tablets)
  • All sales subject to approval by Google.

—

For more information, please contact our EDU Team.  Or, click here to request pricing and a quote.

 

Ransomware Still Crippling “Protected” Networks

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cyrptovirus
The rate of infections from crypto-viruses and other ransom-ware continues to rise. Even networks with traditionally strong malware protection are getting caught.

And while with good backups in place, it is possible to recover without paying the ransom, the process time consuming, frustrating, and expensive.

We outline the reasons for the broad failure of anti-virus/malware protection software in this prior blog post, providing 5 failings of most antivirus solutions.

Now, we are offering a risk-free way to assess if your malware protection is up to par.

The Offer

We will install Webroot Secure Anywhere Endpoint Protection, a cloud-based malware protection service that avoids the 5 failings of other solutions, at no cost for 30 days. Based in the cloud, Webroot will not interfere with your current protections.

At the end of the 30 days, you will see what malware, if any, was caught by Webroot that your existing solution has missed.

If your existing solution is not up to par, and you want better protection, we can activate a full subscription to Webroot for you $18 per year per device or less (more than 25% off).

Simply contact us if you are willing to see if your protection is enough, or if you would like more information.

Chrome Support for Windows XP Ends

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As announced by Google in October, 2013, Chrome support for Windows XP will end on April 30, 2015 — a full year after Microsoft discontinued support for the Windows XP operating system.

This means:

  • Chrome will continue to function on Windows XP, but no new features will be added.  Chrome will continue to get updates on Windows XP until (at least) the end of 2015.
  • Google will no longer provide Google for Work support for any issue related to Chrome on Windows XP, including Google Apps for Work, Education, and Government. If you have an issue on an XP machine with Chrome, you will need to reproduce the issue on a supported platform to receive support.

That fact that Google will still provide updates, means Chrome users on Windows XP systems will continue to have a secure and reliable browser, with some additional time to move to a supported platform.

 

 

 

5 Reasons a Crypto Virus May Ruin Your Week

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Most businesses run some form of malware protection on their servers, desktops, and laptops. And yet, crypto viruses like cryptowall and cryptolocker still hit these “protected” networks.

Here are 5 reasons your virus protection may fail when it comes to crypto viruses:

1) Limited Virus Profiles

Most anti-virus systems run locally on each device. They compare file changes with patterns related to known viruses as a means of identifying malware. The pattern, or definition, database, however is typically only a few GB in size. With this limitation, it is impossible to detect the many variant forms for viruses.

2) Periodic Virus Updates

Most locally installed anti-virus systems update periodically by connecting to a local distribution server or the anti-virus software vendor’s servers.  Because updates are not real-time, there can be a gap of hours or even days between when your system is unable to detect new viruses or variants.

3) Behavior Analysis

Chances are good that your anti-virus software has some intelligence or heuristics that identify behaviors as likely malware. Chances are equally good that this analysis is triggered by file actions. Few anti-virus solutions monitor systems for virus-like behavior (such as an application rapidly opening and closing files) that are not triggered by user action.

4) Quarantine instead of Rollback

Most anti-virus solutions quarantine files that have known viruses or are likely to be infected. With crypto viruses, however, quarantining the file with the virus does nothing to protect or recover the files that have already been encrypted.

5) Device-Specific

Most anti-virus solutions focus on PC and MAC platforms. But what happens when a virus is saved on a mobile device syncing with your server?

Fortunately, you do have options. Cloud based anti-virus solutions can overcome all five of these limitations. We offer a cloud-based solution that:

  • Has a virus definition database over 2 TB (2,000 GB) in size
  • Updates instantly and continuously when devices are connected to the Internet
  • Analyzes behavior of the system and processes, not just those triggered by human action
  • Will rollback suspicious activity, undoing damage before it can spread
  • Has available protection across MAC, PC, Android, and iOS platforms from a single web-based console.

Here’s your Challenge

As a cloud-based solution with a minimal local footprint, we can install our service without interfering with your current anti-virus software.

Let us install a 30 free, no-obligation trial and see for yourself if your current anti-virus solution is giving you the protection you want or need.

To learn more about your options, or to request a trial, contact us today.

 

 

 

Chrome Extensions, from Google, for the Google Apps User

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We are often asked which Chrome extensions we like and recommend for use with Google Apps. While extensions often relate to third party applications and services, here are several extensions from Google we install for most implementations:

  • Application Launcher for Drive
  • Chrome Remote Desktop
  • Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer
  • Google Calendar Checker (for some)
  • Google Docs
  • Google Docs Viewer
  • Google Keep (if the user uses Keep)
  • Google+ Notifications
  • Hangouts
  • Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides
  • Save to Google Drive
  • Send from Gmail

These can be added by users or configured and pushed out using the Chrome Management service within the Google Apps Admin Console.

If you want assistance managing chrome extensions and other applications through the admin console, please contact our Service Team.

 

 

 

Special Pricing on the LG Chromebase

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Through a special arrangement with LG and our distributors, we are able to offer the LG Chromebase for $294, more than 33% off the list price.

Order 10 or more and the price drops to $289 each.

With the Chrome Management License, the cost is $324 or $319, respectively.

The LG Chromebase is great for:

  • Computer labs
  • Language, math, and other resource centers
  • Kiosks
  • Workstations in Libraries
  • Teacher workstations in classrooms
    • Use Chromecast to connect to a projector

Contact us with any questions, or complete the form, below, for a formal quote:

 

Video Streaming and Your ISP Performance

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As you move to the cloud, you will be more dependent on reliable, well-performing, Internet service.

One of the largest services that impacts Internet, and therefore cloud-based service, performance, is video streaming.  The Google Video Quality Report is a free tool that lets you look at the video streaming patterns for your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and others in your area.  By comparing usage patterns, you can better understand your ISP’s performance and can determine if your ISP, or another, is best for you.

For general monitoring of Internet connection performance, we recommend Ookla’s Speedtest. This site will test Ping response, download speed, and upload speed, which you can then compare to your contract guarantees.  The site will test against the closest server; we recommend testing with several servers in your area to get a better assessment of your speed. Creating an account let’s you save and share your results.