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Welcome to the December edition of QTS QuikNews, our
monthly e-mail newsletter. In this monthly e-mail, you
will receive an update of what's new at QTS - new
products we support, new patches and upgrades, solution
ideas and promotions to save you money, and information
about our company and our clients.
In this issue:
-
QTS and Partner News
-
Events
-
President's Corner
-
QuikSecure Tip of the Month
-
Patches and Upgrades
-
Product Support Lifecycle Watch
-
Solution Spotlight
-
Special Offers
-
Partner Spotlight
QTS AND
PARTNER NEWS
WELCOME TO NEW CUSTOMERS
QTS offers a �welcome aboard� to the following new
customers:
�
Bracco
Diagnostics
�
Centennial Communications
�
DFDS
Transport
�
Greenhill & Company
QTS HOLIDAY CLOSING: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31st
As a
reminder, QTS will be closed for the New Year�s Day this
year on Friday, December 31st.
QuikAssist customers will
still receive emergency service if needed, by following
our procedure for off-hours technical support. We wish
our customers, partners and friends a happy and healthy
New Year!
REMINDER: CHANGE YOUR TAPES!
QTS
again reminds you that your backup tapes, particularly
DDS DAT and 8mm, have a typical lifespan of about a year
of sustained use. Our recommended practice is to change
tape sets every year, and retire the old tapes so they
are available for restores before they wear out. Now is
a good time to order a new set of 20 tapes and plan to
create a new tape library on January 1st.
Also, that�s a good time to do a test restore from tape,
and mark an entry on your calendar to do a monthly
restore test and drive cleaning each month of the new
year.
QTS OFFERS FREE SYSTEMS STRATEGY CHECK-UPS
Having developed this
award-winning engagement jointly with Microsoft, QTS
is now offering Systems Strategy Check-Up engagements to
qualified customers and prospects throughout New Jersey
and New York. This high-value, half-day consulting
engagement helps businesses evaluate how they are using
Microsoft technologies and identifies best practices and
recommendations for how to best deploy Microsoft
technologies in a business. For more information on
this no-charge engagement, contact your QTS Account
Manager or visit
www.QTSnet.com/SSCU.
QTS IS HIRING!
QTS is recruiting for senior level technical personnel,
as well as entry and senior level sales
staff/telemarketers. If you know anyone who might be a
good fit, please have them submit their resume to Liz
Meechan, our Office Manager. Liz can be reached at
lmeechan@QTSnet.com, or (973)984-7600 x223.
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EVENTS
QTS,
AKA Enterprise Solutions and Microsoft are hosting a CIO
Roundtable on Thursday, January 20th. This
is a lunchtime event at the Chart House in Weehawken, NJ
and is for IT Directors, CIOs
and CFOs in organizations with 200 or more users. The
focus of this strategic event is on Microsoft�s efforts
around systems management (the Dynamic Systems
Initiative) and desktop integration of Office with
Microsoft�s back-end systems (Microsoft Business Portal
and Information Bridge Framework). For more information
or to register, contact your QTS Account Manager.
QTS,
Econium and Microsoft are
hosting a lunchtime seminar on Thursday, February 3rd
at Ruth�s Chris in Parsippany, NJ. This event is for
senior IT decision makers in organizations with 200 or
more users, and will cover how to empower employees to
work together and leverage knowledge more effectively,
review collaborative solutions from Microsoft, and how
to properly secure remote access and collaborative
solutions as well as the Microsoft platform. For more
information or to register, contact your QTS Account
Manager.
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
At the end of the year, I always try to look back at the
year gone by, and forward into what the future brings.
2004 was an interesting year, and is showing many
positive signs for an even better 2005.
For QTS, 2004 was a good year. We had a solid year
financially, and experienced significant growth in our
client base � in 2004, we averaged adding three new
customers a month. This has resulted from our core
partnerships � particularly with Microsoft and our
Solutions Alliance partners. We also did great in
Microsoft�s and Cisco�s customer satisfaction surveys,
which is even more important to me (and which Christine
and I constantly validate with �live� customer
feedback). So, we�ve laid down a foundation for our own
growth in 2005, with a solid technical staff and service
level, and a growing client base.
Most of the customers and prospects I�ve met with over
the last few months are cautiously optimistic about
future growth for their businesses. The economy has
picked up in some areas, and many businesses with a
sound model and good foundation seem to be doing well.
Most organizations don�t seem to be adding IT staff, so
the mantra of �do more with less� seems to be holding,
but funding is generally being put in place � cautiously
� for important initiatives for 2005.
The economy around the IT sector in particular has
picked up, largely due to the cyclical nature of IT
spending � pent up demand from 2000-2003 when IT
spending was held back is starting to flow again, as
hardware reaches the end of its warranty and useful
life, and older software like Windows NT reaches its end
of life. Many organizations have already moved from
Windows NT to 2000/2003, but many have yet to do so, and
we�re expecting a massive increase in this part of our
business in the first half of 2005 now that Windows NT
Server is no longer supported by Microsoft, and Exchange
5.5 is scheduled to be unsupported at the end of 2005.
Security remains a major concern for most if not all
organizations. Curiously, many organizations have taken
only basic steps to improve their security posture,
largely from what I can tell due to lack of financial or
staff resources. Unfortunately, this is an
areas where there is no
direct �positive� benefit from these investments, but
the corresponding negative can be significant. From
what I am hearing, organizations are planning to put
more focus � and serious effort � into security in
2005. The tough part here is that security is as much
about process and people as it is about technology, and
therefore the challenge is not in buying and
implementing a technology � it�s about managing change,
communicating with people, and defining and following
processes � and this is always harder.
Microsoft has made some really significant efforts
around security, and is to be commended for taking a
leadership role within the industry. They have improved
product quality, and in fact Windows continues to have
fewer and fewer vulnerabilities discovered per year than
most flavors of Linux or other platforms. Over the past
year, I�ve seen vulnerabilities announced across almost
every vendor�s products (Cisco,
Netscreen, Check Point, IBM, Oracle and just
about every industry leader shared the stage here at
some point in the year). Yet Microsoft seems to take
the bulk of the criticism here, and people have
unrealistic expectations of product quality and are
therefore quick to criticize regardless of the actual
track record.
In fairness, Microsoft was too slow to react to the
growing spyware problem in
2004. The whole industry was, largely due to fears of
legal ramifications of �uninstalling� software that the
user had agreed to (implicitly, or otherwise). This is
what also held back the antivirus vendors from jumping
into the fray, but now to their credit Trend Micro,
Symantec and McAfee have taken steps to improve their
spyware defenses.
Microsoft�s recent acquisition of Giant Software and
their announced initiative to attack the
spyware problem (www.microsoft.com/spyware)
is late, but to be commended. However, I would note
that even with Microsoft and the antivirus vendors
focusing on desktop level protection, there is still
serious merit to a perimeter solution like Aladdin�s
eSafe
Applifilter as part of a Defense in Depth
approach to security.
Mergers, acquisitions and consolidation were a major
force in the IT industry in 2004. Symantec and
Veritas� merger at the end
of the year is the climax to a steady stream of
acquisitions by both companies during the year, as they
looked for synergistic ways to expand their product
lines. The merger represents a logical integration
between Security (Symantec) and Data Protection, Storage
Management and Availability (Veritas).
Symantec already had some products in the latter space
as a result of earlier purchases, and the integration of
these disciplines makes sense.
IBM went in the opposite direction by selling off its PC
line to the leading Chinese manufacturer,
Lenovo Group. The move
allows the companies to leverage
Lenovo�s manufacturing facilities and expertise
while globalizing both companies� reach. It also allows
IBM to focus its efforts on its services group, and on
its high-end systems. So, while Symantec is basing its
business model on growth and expansion through
acquisition, IBM is scaling back and focusing more
narrowly and leveraging partnership. It will be
interesting to see how both strategies work out in 2005
and beyond.
Interestingly, our definition of a �Personal Computer�
continues to change as well. Desktop PC sales are
limited compared to notebook units, with the Tablet PC
platform showing slow but steady growth for mobile
professionals and task-specific applications (we�ll talk
more about that in a future column). Mobile devices are
proliferating � a wide variety of sizes and form factors
have hit the market in 2004, lead by
HP�s 6315
PocketPC phone. Motorola
should shortly be releasing their �MPx�
unit that to me seems to be the best mixture of a phone
and a PDA to reach the market yet, and reviews I�ve read
of pre-release units have been glowing. We can expect
more change here in 2005, as our phones and
PDAs continue to merge, and
ultimately for some tasks may even replace, or offset,
PCs. As Apple/HP�s 40GB
iPod shows, we can now carry
more storage capacity in the palm of our hand than many
of the computers on our desks have. 2005 will no doubt
show more growth in capacity and processing power, while
size and form factor continues to shrink.
On the server side of things, capacities also increase
while size is reduced. Major vendors announced their
�blade� strategies in 2004, to shrink the space required
for servers. With blades, 12-20 servers can fit into
the space that two or three required in the past.
Clearly this has a significant impact in larger
environments, and where space is at a premium.
Conversely, the small appliance �NAS� devices of the
past few years have largely been replaced with modular,
more powerful appliances with greater redundancy and
expandability, as businesses have realized the
challenges inherent in managing a sprawling base of
servers and appliances � managing inexpensive devices
can get pretty expensive. The merits of consolidation
are now more broadly understood,
which is driving the adoption of
SANs, storage virtualization and server
virtualization in medium and larger environments. We�re
expecting to see a significant increase in SAN
deployments in the medium business space, partially
driven by increasing storage needs, but largely the
result of clustering and the need for higher
availability of key systems.
I
often use the expression �the only constant is change,�
and we�ve certainly seen a lot of change in 2004. I
think we can expect to see more of the same, but at a
faster pace, in 2005 as the IT industry continues to
adapt to a changing environment. I look forward to
speaking and working with you in 2005 as we strive to
address these challenges for our businesses.
Finally, on behalf of the team at QTS I want to wish a
happy and healthy New Year to all of you and your
families.
As always, feel free to email me your comments or
thoughts at
nrosenberg@QTSnet.com. Thank you.
Neil Rosenberg
President & CEO
Quality Technology Solutions
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PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
This
month QTS is spotlighting its partner for Voice/Data
Convergence, the Convergence Division of Greenwich
Technology Partners. Greenwich Technology Partners ("GTP")
provides highly specialized consulting and engineering
services in the IP telephony and unified messaging
areas. These "Convergence" services often generate
significant financial savings to our corporate customers
by increasing employee productivity and reducing
telecommunications expenses.
One
of the difficult decisions facing IT managers and CIO's
today is how to maximize the current data architecture
and realize economies of scale throughout the
organization. When faced with a transitional event, such
as building a new office or upgrading the voice or data
network, many IT professionals evaluate and select the
path of convergence to reach these goals. A converged
network, which voice, video, and data are integrated on
the same network, provides several advantages to the
organization. A converged network reduces administrative
and staffing costs, network infrastructure costs, and
improves employee productivity. It also allows for much
rapid deployment of new applications, such as unified
messaging and personal communications assistants. For
these reasons, and many others, convergent technology is
becoming a reality, and not just a thought.
How is
GTP able to provide a competitive advantage to our
customers? First, all GTP convergence consultants have
significant telecommunications and data networking
expertise. GTP has parlayed that knowledge to provide
complete convergence services. Second,
GTP's methodology is
unmatched in the industry. GTP offers true economic
value to clients by mapping cutting-edge technologies
such as IP telephony and unified messaging to its
clients' business requirements, then delivering
reliable, effective, and scalable solutions. Third, GTP
has aligned ourselves with
leaders in the convergence arena. GTP is one of the most
successful integrators of the
CallXpress and RightFax
solutions by Captaris, and
is an AVVID partner of Cisco in the IP Telephony
Specialization. Investments in this technology, such as
a state-of-the-art IP Telephony lab in Whippany,
position GTP for the tremendous growth predicted in this
industry.
Unified messaging is a portion of IP Telephony, and a
core business solution offered by GTP.
GTP's UM suite is comprised
of two software packages,
CallXpress Voice Mail and
RightFax LAN-based faxing. By integrating each
into a client's existing groupware solution, clients are
able to provide one message store for all message types
- email, voice mail, and fax mail.
Faxing is no longer completed at the fax machine; users
simply send and retrieve faxes from their groupware
client. Similar to faxes, voice messages are retrieved
at the desktop. Providing email text-to-speech access to
a user via a mobile device completes unified messaging.
QTS
and GTP work together to build solutions that provide a
competitive advantage for our clients. QTS builds out
the data infrastructure, and GTP provides the voice
components to complete the converged network.
For
more information on Greenwich Technology Partners'
Convergence Group, please view their web site at
www.greenwichtech.com, email Mike Waresk at mwaresk@greenwichtech.com,
or call him at
973-576-1620. Or, contact your QTS Account Manager.
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