Cloud Services – are they economic?

January 26, 2012

With all the hyperbole around about “the cloud” these days, it’s a question that often gets asked. Recently I was asked by a prospective client to quote on a replacement server with two options.

1)      A Microsoft Windows Domain Controller (DC), file and print server for 12 users with outsourced (cloud) exchange services. A hybrid of conventional and cloud.

2)      A Microsoft Small Business Server (DC, File, Print, Email) for the same number of users.

I’ve always been a little negative about hosting out all your needs to the cloud as every pricing exercise I’ve done in the past has worked out way more expensive. Besides that the performance leaves a lot to be desired and the cost alone of a 5% productivity hit to the average annual payroll would cost way more than the average server.

Email – Now that’s another story, and if we think about it, a simple file and print server v’s a fully blown Small business server represents a big difference in capital outlay. Speed is not quite so important here as it only takes a few nanoseconds for an email to get from NZ to say London. Perhaps the cloud could be a good idea.

So here is the costing exercise we did for the customer.

Assumptions made:

  • If the SBS server scenario were used then our MX filtering service (CTScleanmail) would be used to filter out spam and viruses.(Provides the same level of protection as Cloud email)
  • That the CT cloud email service would be used at $8.60 mailbox month.
  • That the server(s) would be leased over a three year period.

Option1: (Hybrid Model)

File and Print Server for 12 Users                         1,876 capex      monthly lease   $75.83

Cloud based exchange services 12 users                                        monthly fee       $98.40

Total                                      $174.23

Option2: (Conventional Model)

Small business server for 12 users                  $4,255 capex      monthly lease   $160.39

MX Filtering services (CTScleanmail)                                            monthly fee       $41.52

Total                                      $201.91

Result

It can be clearly seen that in this hybrid scenario that the combination of Just a simple server for your file and print and outsourced exchange makes good sense. There’s a 13.7% savings to be made by using this combination, and given my time in using IT (since 1974) and supplying IT support services (since 1998) a simple domain controller is a whole lot less time intensive to support (=more $$$) than a small business server running exchange.

Reason

  • A Small business server requires more resources to run exchange as well as the normal server functions. This leads to a higher capital cost.
  • The cost of Microsoft software and the user licenses is vastly more expensive than their Foundation server product. This leads to a higher capital cost.

Cons:

  • This exercise was only done for 12 users, which enabled us to specify the Foundation server product. If we were to have more than 15 users then doing it yourself rather than outsourcing the email has a better price as the base server license has a greater price.
  • Small business servers are a wonderful thing and add more than just email to a server’s normal function. Not all clients require that functionality, yet some do.

Contact us for a FREE assessment and quote on your upgrade or replacement server. We can talk cloud or hybrid or conventional – Whatever is best for your business.

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What on earth is UTM?

October 15, 2011

UTM – Unified Threat Management; This article is part of a series of articles published by a local business newspaper and authored by Dennis Jones of Computer Troubleshooters Hamilton.

Given the constantly escalating threat landscape, and our high dependence on the internet it is important for today’s businesses and organisations to protect against threats in a best practise manner.  Almost every day we read in our news media about how somebody has been hacked, cracked or virus attacked. (Remember the Waikato DHB conficker virus debacle)?

Unified Threat Management (UTM) is a lot more than just Antivirus Software installed on the devices in your office network. In addition to Antivirus software there is a need to manage Microsoft security patches, spam, web filtering,  teleworkers,  data “leakage”, interoffice connectivity and a host of other issues.

Today I’d like to address an area of vital importance to business managers and owners.

Employee productivity.

Proponents of modern management methodology, understand techniques such as Lean, Six Sigma, the Toyota Way, and well know that the focus these days is on reducing waste and encouraging creativity. These practises apply not only to manufacturing; use of Information technology can create large amounts of wasted resource in respect of employee time.

In an organisation of say ten computer users the potential exists to easily waste $60,000 a year in payroll costs alone, assuming each employee were to spend 30 to 45 minutes per day, unproductively using the web (e.g. Facebook, twitter, trademe, personal shopping and banking, etc.). For those businesses that use social media as a marketing tool, or have a need to relax the policy for some employees, the flexibility of UTM is that it can easily be set-up to allow access for individual users or even opening all/some access up at specific times (e.g. lunch-break ).

The cost of an appropriate UTM solution in this situation would show a 1700% annual return on investment, and free up employee resources for more creative activity. Even if your employees do not waste that 30-45 minutes and maybe you feel it’s only 10 minutes, the decision remains a no brainer especially given all of the additional security benefits of UTM.

If you would like to talk to Dennis about saving waste and freeing up resources in your business he can be contacted at Computer Troubleshooters Phone: 07-850-5742, mention this article for a free 1/hour consultation.

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NewstalkZB Friday morning’s show with Dennis Jones and Peter Murphy

Keep up with newstalkZB

Friday morning’s on NewstalkZB with Peter Murphy and Dennis Jones of Computer Troubleshooters Hamilton.

These are the abbreviated notes of our discussion: (The links lead to the full story)

Sony Hacked Again

  • Over 90,000 accounts hacked
    • Containing personal user data
    • Allegedly credit card details were not compromised – this time
    • Earlier this year Sony was victim to one of the biggest hacks in history, where every single user (some 77 million play station users alone) was exposed to having their personal information leaked.
    • Sony supremo Howard Stringer, is complaining that his company’s rigorous defence of content has made his company the target of hackers.
  • The hackers gained access using stolen usernames/passwords from other sites
    • This is common where users use the same password everywhere they go, which is not entirely a good idea.

Facebook – how big is it really?

  • To put it in perspective – facebook is now as big as the entire internet was in 2004

Apple’s iPhone 4s

  • In the US – 1 million units sold in 24/hours – (pre orders)
  • Faster with much improved video and photo capabilities
  • $200-$400 USD depending on memory
  • In the US we now have amazon selling respectable android phones for 1c to combat this.

And on another note; and for our more gullible listeners out there.

  • Just because Steve Jobs has passed; please don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
  • There are NO free iPads or IPhones in memory of Steve Jobs
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NewstalkZB – Interview with Peter Murphy and Computer Troubleshooters

September 30, 2011

Keep up with newstalkZB

NewstalkZB – Radio Interview 30th Sept 2011

In case you missed it, this morning we talked on air with Peter Murphy about the following:

1) Microsoft have shutdown a huge botnet – Kelihos

Action by the Microsoft Active Response for Security team (MARS)

Took down the cz.cc domain on Monday (US) this week – Project MARS – Operation b79.

All about botnet control, fake antivirus and spam distribution; read more about the incident on the Microsoft Security Blog

While we are all a little bit safer don’t let that influence you into dropping your guard.

Take your security seriously.

2) New Product Launch; Disaster proof external hard drives

This is a relatively new product to NZ out of the US

The equivalent of an Aircraft Black Box for your data

The Americans describe it as a Disaster Proof

However in NZ, to call it disaster proof would be a breach of the fair trading act in terms of misleading advertising.

Therefore we can honestly say that it does go an awful long way towards increasing your odds against data loss when it comes to an unforeseen disaster.

  • Fireproof – 1550 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Waterproof – 6 metres 72 hours
  • Can withstand a 20 foot drop; There’s also a model that will withstand a 2000kg crush incident.
  • Theft Proof – has bolt down points
  • Has a US $2500 forensic data recovery service attached

You can download an adobe pdf file of the various models and pricing from our website

There are also links there to some YouTube videos that further demonstrate the qualities of these “near disaster proof” hard drives.

3) Not the real firefox 7 website

An article on the Sophos security blog.

If you are keen to download Firefox 7; please make sure you download it from the correct website.

There’s been some search engine poisoning going on and the site that was coming up 2nd in a google search yesterday was actually a fake site (potential of malware being attached).

– Be careful out there folks –

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Disaster Plan in a Box – high capacity, waterproof, fireproof external hard drives

September 27, 2011


ioSafe Solo - 1TB eSATA External Disaster Proof HD

ioSafe Solo - 1TB eSATA External Disaster Proof HD

We’re very excited to announce our latest new brand - ioSafe - the world’s first high capacity, fireproof, waterproof, external hard drive.

Backing up to an ioSafe Solo disk ensures that data will be there in the worst case scenario. In the event of disaster every ioSafe drive comes with a Data Recovery Service. ioSafe products are like a ‘disaster plan in a box’ for any person or business struggling with disaster recovery or business continuity.

But don’t just take our word for it. This has to be seen to be believed…

Macworld Video:  How it works video : BBC Review Video : Wall Street Journal Review:

The model shown here is the 1TB eSATA model @ $564 (NZD excluding GST) and features:

  • 1 Terabyte Hard Drive
  • 3 Year warranty against defects
  • 1 Year free data recovery service (Up to $2500 USD for forensic recovery + Advanced replacement)
  • Fireproof – protects data from loss up to 843 degrees celsius (1550 f) for 30 minutes
  • Waterproof – Protects data from loss up to 6 metres for 72 hours
  • eSATA/USB Connectivity

(The 2TB eSATA model is $957 and the 3TB eSATA model is $1,114) – there are other options –  link to price list

If you would like a FREE consultancy regarding your disaster recovery plan and business continuity needs please call our service desk for an appointment on 07-850-5742

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Support your economy – Buy New Zealand

September 23, 2011

As the majority of mainstream IT equipment supplied in New Zealand is imported, how can we support the NZ economy? Buy “New Zealand” is a common catch phrase.

Major brand desktops, laptops and servers (Such as Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer) are assembled overseas and imported fully made up into NZ. There are however some decent alternate brands that are assembled in New Zealand from imported components (Parts imported mostly from Asia).

The purpose of this information sheet is to inform our customers and prospects about supporting NZ assembled computer hardware products in a way that benefits all parties concerned.

The advantages of supporting NZ assembled product:

The value added portion of the price you pay goes into the New Zealand economy Vs Profits being repatriated overseas. (Make sure it’s a genuine NZ owned business that you are dealing with)

The products are fresher and more current than the imported options. The good NZ assemblers use a “Just in Time” manufacturing philosophy, and sophisticated stock forecasting methods to ensure you get value for money and quality product.

Support desk services are not farmed out to a call centre on the other side of the world where your first language is most probably their second language and you often struggle to communicate in a meaningful and beneficial way.

Quality and price is mostly better than that of the big brands. As computer repairers we understand this well. Take the external case off a big brand machine and you will find they are extremely similar inside and generally use the same brands of components as the NZ assembled machines.

Fully assembled/packaged products consume more space in the supply chain. From a sustainability perspective this means less ships, aircraft and fossil fuel will be used in the supply chain.

Made in New Zealand?

Be very suspicious of any false or misleading advertising that may be out in the marketplace. “The Fair Trading Act makes it illegal for traders to mislead consumers, give them false information, or use unfair trading practices. This law is enforced by the Commerce Commission” (Ministry, of Consumer Affairs, 2010). If a Trader is claiming “Made in New Zealand” and you suspect this information to be false, please let the commerce commission know.

Assembled in New Zealand

“When you buy a New Zealand produced product or service, you’re helping to create jobs, promote growth. As every cricketer knows, a run saved equals a run scored – so you’re giving our country a double whammy benefit when you buy “ New Zealand” rather than from another country. We can be proud of the quality of our products.”  (BusinessNZ, 2011)

Computer Troubleshooters Hamilton North actively sell and support hardware commodity items produced by Insite Computers. Insite is owned by the New Zealand publicly  listed company Renaissance Corporation (NZX: RNS). Insite has Microsoft Gold Certified partner status and  is an Intel Platinum Provider and is well respected by their peers in the New Zealand IT industry.

References:

BusinessNZ. (2011). Buy New Zealand Made. Retrieved Sept 21st, 2011, from http://www.buynz.org.nz

Ministry, of Consumer Affairs. (2010). False Advertising. Retrieved Sept 21st, 2011, from Ministry of Consumer Affairs: http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/for-consumers/problem-solver-items/shopping/false-advertising/?searchterm=misleading advertising*

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This morning’s radio; Phone hacking; Google + ; Washington Post

July 8, 2011

Keep up with newstalkZB

This morning on the radio we talked about the following technology news items:

1) Phone hacking

With all the news about the past illegal phone hacking activities of journalists in the UK and the Murdoch decision to close down the News of the World tabloid in an effort to contain the scandal, it is a good opportunity to discuss phone security.

A few people have asked me how this “hacking” works.

Firstly let me say it is not actually phone hacking per se. It is actually illicit or illegal access to someone else’s voicemail.

For example:

  • Calling the voicemail number and using the default pin number; some customers may not have reset this or some also choose not to have a pin.
  • Fooling the voicemail system into opening up.
  • Social engineering tricks to get the voicemail pin reset by the phone company.

We recommend that on any connected device (e.g. Phones, Internet Routers/Modems iPads, Computers etc) you change the password from whatever the default settings were.

There is a good in depth article discussing “phone hacking; a new worry on the user

security front” here courtesy of the Washington Post if you are interested.

2) Talking about the Washington Post

  • Seems some body hacked their job site and stole the details and email addresses of 1.27 million people.
  • The Washington post has issued a warning to its users notifying them of the possibility of receiving malware affected spam etc.

Read more about this here (courtesy of thinq_)

3)      Google + ; Could be the biggest thing in social networking

Google + ; have you had your invite yet? – Still waiting for mine !

Google + ; the circles feature enables friend management; no longer do you have to share those embarrassing drunken moments photos with your boss. You can even put your boos in a circle all by himself.

Limited release – started about this time last week; originally you needed to be invited; now you will find that friends may invite you. Hint.

Word is out that they are planning a business version too. (Courtesy of VentureBeat)

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Backup, Backup, Backup – Denial is not a river in Egypt

June 2, 2011

We all know that Benjamin Franklin once said “An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure”. Franklin also said “he that lives upon hope will die fasting”.

With current business awareness, especially following recent natural disasters like the floods in Brisbane and earthquakes in both Christchurch and Japan, we feel NOW is an appropriate time to discuss with our customers and prospects their business’s exposure to risks with special regard to information technology (IT).

In its simplest form, reduction of risk is all about that ounce of prevention and not living on hope.

Netcore Ltd (aka Computer Troubleshooters) has developed a range of services designed to mitigate these risks. These services are not unduly expensive. For example a small single computer business could expect to pay about the same monthly amount as the average SKY account. Larger businesses are more complex; however the cost generally works out at around a dollar a day or less for each user in your network.

Action:

If you value your business more than your SKY account, then please call us for a No Obligation consultation.

Phone:       07 850 5742       NOW

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Mac Defender – spreading virally on Facebook

June 1, 2011

IMF boss rape video?

Described by Sophos as a brilliant example of social engineering this rouge antivirus (Mac Defender) is spreading virally on facebook.

The fake anti-virus attack first appears in your timeline as a message apparently posted by one of your friends.

The message’s text refers to the news story of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is facing charges in New York over charges that he tried to rape a hotel maid.

Clicking on the link takes you to a webpage, which appears to consist of a still from a sex movie. However, when I visited the page on my Apple Mac I was rapidly redirected to a “Mac Defender”-style fake anti-virus attack, written specifically with the intention of infecting my computer.

Read more about it at the sophos blog including how to get yourself free Mac Antivirus.

With all the ‘i don’t need anti virus because I have a MAC” rhetoric out there – I wonder what happens when you ring apple support and tell them you have a virus? – food for thought?

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Indian Scammers have stepped up the ante

May 16, 2011

An article in this morning’s NZ Herald , and many phone calls over the last two weeks from concerned users regarding the Indian Microsoft scam has prompted me yet again to burst into print.

The current MO is an unsolicited phone call by someone with an Indian accent, purporting to be from Microsoft and wanting to help you. (absolutely ridiculous – nobody from Microsoft would ever ring you and offer to help). From there they generally point you at your windows event log, and tell you all the entries are due to viral activity. From there you might become hooked and hand over your credit card so they can “fix” your PC. (In reality they install an expolit and debit your credit card)

These scammers started late last year, but recently the intensity appears to have picked up. It’s either that or that people are more willing to have their computers cleaned out after being scammed.

Although we struggle to understand some people’s gullibility in these matters, we realise also that a great many have been infected and conned out of their hard earned cash.

If you don’t want to pay to have it fixed; please do not use your computer until some-one who knows what they are doing can certify it as clean from exploits. Some-one who knows what they are doing is generally NOT the 7 year old kid next door who appears bright with computers.

Reporting Scams: Netsafe have a very good website for reporting scams and for information on how to protect yourself. I urge you to visit and educate yourself, family and freinds about this scourge. This website is also supported by the likes of the NZ Police, Ministry of consumer affairs, Commerce commission and various other reputable interested parties. http://www.theorb.org.nz/

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