Happy new financial year! At least, we hope that this next year will be better for everyone.

This last month has been busy for us after our last newsletter, with a number clients replacing their UPS batteries.  In many cases, a long overdue replacement. A quick reminder that a majority of UPS batteries will most likely need replacing after a 3 year period, so its worth asking yourself the question “If my UPS failed, my data was comprimised and my server blew up due to a power outage; how long would it take my business to get back to an operational state again?” Now convert that time into cost. Most would agree it’s a small price to pay for business continuity.

On the move and in control. With everyone becoming more mobile and with more people working away from the office, the latest Telstra 4G mobile broadband will give you access to the Internet on the move when you need it most. EtherTech’s latest Telstra offering starts from only $25 per month and you can have speedy Internet access for your laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

Access your email and business applications through the high speed 4G connection (where available) and boost productivity for executives and staff everywhere. It can be more affordable than using hotel WiFi when traveling and a more convenient way to access your company’s shared documents, resources and applications away from the office.

Coming Soon

Windows 8.1 Preview can now be downloaded from here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview-download

However, consider the drawbacks before moving from the stable Windows 8 Operating System (OS) to the Windows 8.1 update. You may find incompatibility issues and remember to always create a recovery image of your existing setup before taking the plunge. That way you can have peace of mind if the OS becomes corrupt and you can always go back in time to a fully restorable image that you know works.

The Windows 8 update is free and the finalised version will be available later this year.

Some of the fancy new features in Windows version 8.1 include:

• – Smarter search capability
• – Predictive text
• – Return of the Start button
• – More Personal preferences
• – Improved multi-monitor view
• – Miricast streaming
• – 3D printing support

And if you‘re fascinated by the latest 3D printers; Windows is at the forefront of supporting such wizardry with their software.

If you would like more information on this or how we can help you get ahead with UPS, Mobile Broadband, Windows Blue (v8.1), or 3D Printing, then give us a bell.

Until Next Month!

Another month flies by and its almost the end of another financial year ! (where does the time go!) … but at least there is time for another Boffin instalment for your reading pleasure! J

This last month has been an interesting one here at EtherTech with a lot of new clients coming on board and taking up our managed services which is great ! A big welcome to you all !

But, during a couple of site visits this month, we have identified that even though most companies are vigilant in ensuring that their IT systems / servers / printers and workstations are running and operating correctly, almost 100% of companies are overlooking their UPS batteries!

Did you realise that under normal conditions UPS batteries will typically last around 3 – 5 years. However this is dependent on the environment its operating in.

For example humid, hot or cold conditions deplete battery life a LOT quicker than a temperature controlled environment like a server room with constant air temperatures.

As well as temperature issues, the harder a UPS is worked and loaded (how many devices the UPS is servicing) and how often the UPS has to deal with power surges and power outages in your area and of course how many times your UPS batteries actually run out of power altogether.. all of this substantially shortens the life of your UPS batteries.

Did you know that after 5 years of normal use, your UPS actually INCREASES the risk of downtime and damage to your computers or servers !

The good news is that UPS batteries are not as expensive as you think, and are quite easy to replace.  But if you think its time to look at replacing your old UPS now is a good time !

To sweeten the deal on a new UPS, APC are running a promotion called ‘Trade UPS’ for the month of June .

Trade-UPS is a program where new and existing customers can trade in their aging UPS for a brand new APC unit and APC will ecologically dispose and recycle your old units. Not only will you help the environment but you will receive a rebate on your new purchase!

Participating in the Trade-UPS program not only protects your business-critical infrastructure, it ensures that old products are disposed of safely and without harming the environment.

When APC collect your old UPS unit/s, they ensure they are disposed of under an ISO-certified program, with as much of the unit as possible recycled into new batteries and other products.

To see how much APC will pay you for your old unit, visit :

http://tradeups.apcpacific.com/au/pricing2.php

 TIP : We’ve found is the best technique is to write the date you install the new battery onto the actual battery when it gets installed into the UPS, that way you know how long its been.. Its amazing how long things have ‘actually’ been in service for..

Make sure you give us a call on 1300-ETHERTECH to discuss and arrange your new batteries or UPS’s.. HAPPY EOFY!

It’s finally here; the Samsung Galaxy S4 is now available from EtherTech.

With a feature rich design – Dual camera / Dual Shot capability – you can simultaneously shoot front and rear to capture every moment. Air gesture / Air View to answer calls or scroll with Air Gesture by waving your hand across the screen.

With a technical specification to outclass its biggest competition (IPhone 5); its Quad-core processor, full HD display (1920 x 1080), and a host of other goodies such as dual SIM capability is exhibited this month.

You can have access to both personal and business mobile numbers under the one handset; now making the Samsung Galaxy S4 an exceptional communicator as a business handset.

Last month Microsoft overall increased usage of its operating systems worldwide particularly Windows 7 and Windows 8 having reached new highs with 55.9% and 6.7% respectively.  It looks like the adoption of Windows 8 has started to gain traction.  Windows XP users are on the slide to a new low of 17.6%.

This looks to be the start of people looking to the future of operating systems – changing from the vastly outdated Windows XP operating system, which will no longer be supported as of April 8 2014.

Good to know…

If you have a smartphone and tend to use Microsoft Lync on your PC or laptop at work or home, then why not download for free the Lync 2013 app from the ‘Play Store’ (Android) or ‘App Store’ (iPhone), giving you mobility on the move to attend / host meetings.

The HP ElitePad series is extremely well built and has an assortment of impressive add-ons and accessories.

This fresh Windows 8 tablet and its business-oriented system offers the widest range of tablet accessories we’ve seen to date, making it very flexible for mobile, home, and office use.

The ElitePad means you can take the Internet where life takes you. The tablet is easy to use and provides multi-touch where you can interact with all subject material quickly.

Be creative and act smart with good planning and future proof a growing business with the right tools and latest technologies in your industry today.

Call us today to see how we can help.

Happy Easter to everyone! By the time you read this Easter will be a distant memory as the reality of work sets back in <sigh>

With Easter of course comes the annual April Fool’s Day parade of humour from various sources, including my favourite which was Virgin who launched their glass bottomed plane; YouTube who announced they were shutting down after 8 years of video submissions and announcing an overall winner in 2023 after reviewing every video that has been entered; and of course the White house who released their special video message from the ‘president’.  Even Google Maps launched their ‘treasure island’ – an underwater mapping service. All very funny, but ultimately all this was only a minor distraction from some of the bigger stories of the month.

Dell has caused shock waves with an announcement that its financial future is looking grim, and blamed slow Windows 8 adoption, and slow PC sales.

What Dell and other manufacturers are now observing is that the migration of corporates to Windows 7 from Windows XP is now nearing completion and with the new advent of Cloud based ‘Virtual Desktops’, the need to refresh business PC hardware every 2-3 years is diminishing.

Trailing off the end of that, Microsoft have announced they will be launching the first and only preview of their next operating system.  Not to be confused with Gmail’s April fool’s joke, Microsoft have codenamed this new Operating system “Blue”.  Expect more information on what Windows Blue will offer after the developer conference demonstrates this product for the first time in June.  It looks like Microsoft has finally transitioned to their model of releasing new Operating Systems like Apple does – every 18 – 24 months and comes as no surprise to us as Microsoft anticipated this change after the 7 year wait between XP and Vista caused a bit of an uproar.

This leads us to a new opportunity for you which is Volume Licensing.  We have discussed this before but the cost of licensing versus the benefits hasn’t really been there.  Today with the advent of EtherTech Cloud, Office 365 and every small business wanting more bang for their buck, it seems the Volume Licensing option has arrived and is more attractive today than just 18 months ago.

Speaking of cloud (as we always do), we have witnessed a similar trend with a majority of our clients now moving to cloud based applications like Hosted Exchange and Hosted SharePoint.  Moving these technologies to the cloud are allowing business owners to focus more time on their business, rather than worrying about ongoing support and day to day IT operations.

These migrations are relieving the requirement for local and expensive on-premise File Servers and Exchange Email Servers. The next  purchase you make after your transition to the cloud is complete, is more than likely to be a small NAS device, saving you thousands in new servers, storage and support,  then we simply sync it to the cloud for backup and you have a set-and-forget solution.

So until next month, it’s time for us to lose those extra chocolate kilo’s…

Welcome to yet another month of Boffin!

This last month has caused a stir with the release of Office 2013 (as we reported last month), as its meant a lot of the older PC’s still out there with Windows XP no longer work with Office 2013 and means forced OS upgrades for many people..

EtherTech have a very limited number of MS Office 2010 licenses left, so if you need them, you better get in quick!

This month brings on that annual debate about which Antivirus software you should be using and whether or not it’s the best product for the job.

Over the years EtherTech have used and supported many different Antivirus applications from Cybec who became VET (an Australian Product), who were bought by Computer Associates (CA).  Our next forays were Sophos, then TrendMicro and finally Kaspersky.

The biggest problem we have faced no matter what the ‘brand’ of software is, is that the renewal and upgrade process every year or two requires additional support to upgrade licenses, install new versions and in most cases, increases your support costs and the associated bloat ware that come with newer versions.

Furthermore, we have no visibility of your threat status unless we attend the site and check the AV console.

The use of Antivirus solutions should be as simple to manage and ubiquitous as email.  Problem is, they’re typically not.

Enter EtherTech’s managed Antivirus Endpoint protection based on Trend Micro’s Worry Free Business Security Services.

This new system is a ‘business friendly’ solution, because not only does it support real-time anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-malware, but it also supports web content filtering which a lot of you have been asking for.

Trend as we have realised over the years is not resource hungry and our solution does not require an on-premise Anti-virus management console. Everything is managed by us from one of Trend’s 4 data centres worldwide, improving the benefits of your AV solution even when you’re roaming about.

For only $5.50 per month per device, you get proactive license management, pay only for what you need, as you grow and gain the benefits of services like web filtering that normally cost $100’s more per network per annum.

The platform can secure Windows PC’s (Windows XP to Windows 8), Windows Servers (2003 to 2012), Virtual Servers (VMWare and Hyper-V), Apple Mac’s and Smartphones / Tablets (iOS/Android only, sorry no Windows Phones just yet).

The Web Content Filtering is a real gem as well. Imagine being able to block Facebook during business hours, but allow it only during lunchtime!

Give us a buzz if you would like more information, otherwise until next month ……

Microsoft Office 2013 is here!

With the official launch in Australia to the public on the 29^th of January and with an emphasis on the cloud and social media platforms, the completion of the migration to the cloud for office is complete.

So which one is right for you?

The pricing for the Traditional version of the new Office 2013 suites that come with a physical DVD and 1 user license is as follows:

The ‘Home & Student’ (no Outlook) retails for $169 Inc. GST.

The ‘Home and Business’ (Inc. Outlook) retails for $299 Inc. GST.

The ‘Professional’ edition (incl. Access and Publisher) retails for $599 Inc. GST.

Volume license customers will be advised of new pricing once their renewals near expiry.

All versions also now include 5 GB of cloud storage on Microsoft’s SkyDrive service.

As a result of the move to cloud enabled technologies for ALL Microsoft Products, there are a number of options for you to consider.  First, is the traditional PC-based install, as well as the cloud-based offerings from EtherTech.  Running Office from the cloud in conjunction with SharePoint 2013, enables you to move, edit and change documents whenever and wherever you are, even if the device does not have office installed.  Think of it as Google Apps on steroids.

We are really excited about how these changes will affect the already existing client-base who are using SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 online.  For those of you who are existing EtherTech subscribers, you will receive this upgrade to 2013 for FREE in March once we announce our new platforms for email, communications and collaboration.

For those of you who have been contemplating the change to the cloud, then we are only too happy to help you with this transition.  By renting Office 2013 from EtherTech, you receive free upgrades for the life of the contract, as well as limited free technical support.  Starting from just $15/month, now has never been a more affordable time to consider cloud for your business.

For those of you who are on Volume licensing with Software Assurance, you will have already received your new license codes back in October last year – yet another benefit for being on the Volume Licensing programme.

Finally, a caveat for Office 2013.  Firstly, Office 2010 is no longer available in Australia and stocks have already depleted.  Secondly, Office 2013 requires Windows 7 or Windows 8.  So for those of you who are on Windows XP, you will need to consider either new PC purchases or upgrades very soon.

For more information on Office 2013, please visit

http://microsoft.com/office.

See you next month!

Dont forget to like us on Facebook: EtherTech

oOr get our Newsletter direct into your inbox every month by visiting : http://www.ethertech.com.au/subscribe.php

Happy new year all!  We hope you had a festive cheer or two and an afternoon siesta after all the food we no doubt consumed on Christmas day.

This month as always, we wrap up the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  CES showcases all the latest gadgets and technology we are expected to see this year.

The big ticket (and we mean big) this year is Samsung with their 85 inch LED Smart TV.  Not only are they getting ridiculously big, but it’s the largest in the world.  It uses the new 4K HD technology which is twice the viewing density of 1080 Full HD displays (now considered 1K HD).  Expect new BluRay titles to start supporting 4K HD later this year.

Next on our hit list, is our personal favourite Windows 8 Laptop which is still yet to enter the Australian market.  It’s the Lenovo Yoga Ideapad that flips 360 degrees to become a tablet.  We think this product has great potential in Australia, however Lenovo have announced no plans to introduce the product in to the country.

But the coolest thing to come from Lenovo is the new Horizon 27 surface desktop / tablet / thing!  OK so this is not a tablet, nor is it a portable desktop.  It’s a 27” widescreen coffee table thing that takes computing to a new level.  What makes this special is the software under the hood of the tablet.  As you lay it flat, the interface changes and you can play games with dice rolling across the screen, for a complete immersive and interactive experience.

Netgear have not been shy of announcements at this year’s CES either.  With its new night-vision surveillance cameras for the home, Netgear have announced their new flagship Router – an all-in-one ADSL modem / router with built-in Gigabit Wireless Ethernet.  We’ve all heard of Wireless-G and N, now prepare for Wireless-AC where Wi-Fi speeds top 867mbps!

With Gigabit Ethernet LAN and WAN ports, this device will be a sure hit with those connected to the NBN.

And that’s a wrap for this month.  Next month, we will be discussing some of the changes to our cloud platform, introduction of some new products and prepare you all for the forthcoming release of Office 2013.