March 31, 2010
SMBs Turn to Managed Services
Network World
Robin Gareiss writes about managed services in the SMB marketplace.
“Sixty per cent of companies overall plan to increase their use of managed services this year, and those using managed services use a total of four, on average. In general, SMBs adopt managed services less frequently than larger organizations, with the exception of managed security services (MSS), where they are adopting at essentially the same rate: 46 per cent of SMBs adopt versus 47 per cent of all enterprises. This trend ties to the primary drivers for MSS adoption: Lack of skillset and cost reduction-two issues that affect all sizes of organization.”
UC Support Options
Network World
Robin Gareiss discusses different unified communications deployment options.
“There are three options: On-premise, with internal management (build-your-own UC); On-premise, with third-party management (managed UC); Fully outsourced (hosted UC). To decide which is most appropriate, companies must consider capital and operational costs, management flexibility, and scalability. Should an organization decide to keep everything in house, IT must possess the capabilities to identify and measure the performance of collaborative applications across the network, using specialized monitoring tools. Where distances are long, networks are iffy, or bandwidth is limited, they may require optimization tools as well.”
Microsoft extends 90-day free Windows 7 enterprise trial until end of 2010
ZD Net
<p Mary Jo Foley writes about Microsoft's extension of its free 90-day trial for Windows 7 enterprise.
“In September last year, Microsoft launched a ‘while supplies last’ free 90-day trial of Windows 7 that was targeted specifically at enterprise customers. I guess those supplies are holding out. On March 30, the company extended that free 90-day enterprise promotion through the end of 2010.”
