July 2010 From High Tech to High Touch!
Business Law Firm The iPad: a Business Tool or Practicing in the Cloud a Fun Gadget?
JGPC specializes in business and corporate The Apple iPad is definitely one of law. Owner James Gulseth uses technology to the coolest and hottest gadgets deliver excellent customer service and out on the market today. It is so achieve remote office efficiencies, but his user-friendly that it has prompted technology costs were too high, and it was the following question from some too difficult to connect part-time workers to of our customers: “Can I use it in his firm’s systems. Gulseth found himself bur- my business? Can it replace my dened with trying to maintain an antiquated desktop or laptop?” Server, in dire need of an upgrade. He was two steps behind In general, touch screen computers, whether it’s an Apple iPad the latest software operating systems and was dreading the or a Windows-based Tablet, still do not function as flawlessly expenditure of a vast amount of capital required to bring those as a desktop computer or a laptop/netbook. The reason for systems up to date. He called on Rubiconn’s expertise to evalu- this is that most Windows Applications aren’t written or pro- ate his situation and provide some recommendations. grammed for touch screen computers. There is still a lot of user required finessing with the applications to get the link to Rubiconn suggested that Gulseth eliminate his physical server open in a browser, to get the on-screen keyboard to pop up, or and subscribe to the Rubiconn Private Cloud. By moving mes- to display the page at the proper size. There is a lot of zoom in- saging and collaboration software and data to the Internet click-zoom out that is required to get an application to function “cloud,” Gulseth cut IT costs while improving overall network as you need it to. So, how viable is the iPad in your standard and desktop performance. Removing the physical server also business environment running Windows Servers, Exchange, helped Gulseth also eliminated the worries about catastrophic Windows Desktops and Laptops? Can the iPad replace a desk- system failure and theft with no viable backup available for his top or laptop? “It’s like hitting a systems and data. Having Rubiconn host the infrastructure also golf ball with a baseball bat,” Welcome New Clients eliminated worries about server downtime, and employees can says Bill Becker, Rubiconn Sen- be more productive by accessing data online, anytime. Setting ior Technician, “Sure, you are Law Offices of Norton Tooby up part-time workers to access the firm systems now takes 15 going to hit the ball down field, Stan Pollack CPA minutes instead of two or three days. (continued on page 2) but it’s not ideal. The iPad Anaspec should not be considered a Aphrodite Grecian Medical Spa Gulseth uses technology to provide Attorneys and staff with desktop replacement.” Applied Air Filters the ability to access corporate data in a fast and efficient (continued on page 3) Inside this issue:
Windows 7 a Sales Record! JGPC Law: Practicing in the 1 & 2 Cloud
With all of this talk about Apple’s are a projected 413 million computers and net- iPad: a Business Tool or a 1 & 3 iPhone and iPad, is Microsoft a dy- books to be sold, 96% of which are running the Fun Gadget? ing breed? Windows 7 has been Windows 7 Operating System. In comparison, Windows 7 Sales Record 1 & 2 available for one full year now. In Apple expects to sell 7.1 million iPads this year. that year, there have been 150 mil- Apple expects to increase it’s market share to a Special Recipe from 3 lion licenses of Windows 7 sold! That is the total of 4% this year including MAC and iPad Sarah Ruby equivalent of 7 licenses sold every second of sales combined. I don’t think Microsoft is con- Customer Referral Offer 4 the day. Windows 7 is, by far, the fastest grow- cerned yet…. (continued on page 2) ing operating system in history. In 2010, there Page 2 THE RUBICONN REVIEW Business Law Firm Practicing in the Cloud
(continued from page 1) quickly added up. Gulseth and his office manager were also spending three to manner. The firm uses industry standard four hours a week managing the systems law technologies like PC-Law, Abacus, themselves, including swapping backup Time Slips and QuickBooks. Several years tapes, checking connections, and re- and greatly improved system ago, Gulseth deployed Windows Small booting server hardware after updates. functionality. Business Server 2000, which packages This was time that he could have been the Windows Server 2000 Operating Sys- using to win new business. At an hourly By implementing Terminal Server 2008 tem, Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 bill rate of $300, these lost revenues and Remote Desktop access, Rubiconn messaging software and Windows Small quickly added up to approximately was able to provide JGPC Staff with the Business IIS for web hosting services in $60,000 annually. same look and feel that they were one integrated suite that runs on a single accustomed to seeing on their previous server. Gulseth also added remote con- Though the firm had not experienced any desktops, while having the functionality nectivity via GoToMyPC to give full-time catastrophic server failures yet, Gulseth of being able to access documents and and part-time employees remote access was concerned about this risk. He was email anytime, anywhere, on any com- to company systems. backing up his server nightly to a tape puter with an internet connection at a backup and had an online backup service much higher level of performance. With an aging infrastructure JGPC was as well, but he did not know if this data Rubiconn also implemented additional facing a challenging and expensive set of was backing up properly or if it was even redundancy and backup features within equipment upgrade requirements. With retrievable or usable if there was a cata- the new JGPC network to prevent any an average desktop age of 5 years old, strophic failure. catastrophic failure or data loss. JGPC running Windows XP and a file server now has multiple layers of data backup running Windows 2000 Small Business Rubiconn migrated the data and email with on-demand access with a range of Edition. JGPC Law had already been ex- from the JGPC outdated server to Rubi- single file restoration to bare-metal periencing network and workstation per- conn hosted virtual servers within the server restoration services available formance issues and the cost of sup- Rubiconn Private Cloud. Rubiconn then through Rubiconn. porting this aging infrastructure was be- took this opportunity to upgrade the coming more costly each day. Although business platforms used by JGPC and JGPC’s file systems are also now more the firm’s technology infrastructure ena- deployed Windows Server 2008 Standard secure by storing data offsite in a secure bled it to achieve paperless efficiencies with Exchange 2007 and Office 2007. This datacenter. Rubiconn also deployed an and process paperwork quickly, those provided all of the advantages of collabo- upgrade to JGPC’s antivirus protection efficiencies came at a cost. The server ration, file sharing and ease of access services to help eliminate file viruses and hardware was both bulky and noisy and embedded in the newer Microsoft upgraded their network firewalls to pre- took up space in the office. Underlying platforms. By separating out the file serv- vent network intrusions. This provides costs to pay for additional server hard- er from the Exchange messaging server, additional protection of privacy to the ware, air ducting and maintenance this eliminated single-points of failure clients of Gulseth’s Law Firm.
Windows 7 a Sales Record! (continued from page 1) XBOX 360 gaming systems that provides, built-in productivity and collaboration among other things, streaming content tools. Prior to launch, Microsoft Office In addition, Microsoft’s Azure and XBOX from sources such as Netflix. The current 2010 had nine million customer down- Live Clouds are flying high! Windows Az- total of XBOX Live subscribers is 23 mil- loads of the beta application, which is the ure is the Microsoft Cloud for productivi- lion and counting. largest Microsoft beta program in histo- ty tools such as Office Live. It is used pri- ry. marily by students, teachers and Mom & With all of the alternative productivity Pop businesses. Windows Azure has been applications out there, is anything rival- Apple’s Net income for the fiscal year live for less than a year and already ing Microsoft Office? Simple answer: NO! ending 2009 equaled 5.7 billion. Mi- boasts over 700,000 users including the Microsoft Office is still the industry crosoft’s Net income for the same period Kentucky public school system. standard for email, word processing, etc. equaled 58.4 billion. The end result is Microsoft Office 2010 has just launched, that Microsoft still dominates in all areas, XBOX Live is the Cloud add-on to the with even better integration and more and Rubiconn feels with good reason. July 2010 Page 3 The iPad: a Business Tool or a Fun Gadget?
(continued from page 1) run on it’s iPad, which means that With that said, the iPad can be used in during web brows- similar situations for mobility as you ing, some dynamic would a laptop. The iPad can be docked websites will not and setup to be used with a wireless key- display correctly, board, mouse and external monitor in and some will not portrait-mode similar to current laptop display at all. configurations currently in use at your business. The iPad would also be an ex- Remote Desktop cellent tool for linking up to external Client: There are a screens to display PowerPoint presenta- lot of limitations on tion in a conference room environment the functionality of by using Remote Desktop to remotely Remote Desktop access another computer, open and run a with the iPad. In PowerPoint presentation. The iPad can some cases, such as be used in a Microsoft Exchange environ- remoting into a workstation, RDP works away revenues from that market. From a ment with the push-sync functionality. wonderfully. In other instances, such as hardware and functionality standpoint, It’s not a true Exchange syncing to exter- remoting into Windows Server 2008 with there's no argument that the iPad only nal devices such as Windows Mobile Sync security, advanced or higher-end Termi- performs a subset of the things that one or Blackberry Enterprise Server does, but nal Servers or Gateway Servers, you are could do with a classic computer. If you it is functional. It has the same syncing not able to gain access to the machine currently use your laptop for doing things abilities as the iPhone does. Microsoft through the limited Remote Desktop that exactly overlap with the iPad func- has already announced that it will NOT functionality on the iPad. Other issues to tionalities, then yes, the iPad could be an develop mobile Office applications for be aware of: the iPad does not have a excellent choice. Otherwise, the iPad the iPad. This means that there will be no built in camera. It also has no USB ports. should be considered a cool gadget. The Outlook, Word, Excel or PowerPoint ap- You can not multi-task on the iPad, it iPad can be used to perform certain tasks plications written for use directly on the only performs one function at a time. in your business, but you will not be able Apple iPad. Also, Apple has vehemently to depend on it for all of your business In general, the iPad is not a desktop, lap- resisted allowing the Flash application to related tasks. top or netbook killer, but it will take
RUBY - LICIOUS RECIPES
This recipe is Mom’s Broccoli Salad Blend last three ingredients and great to take to chill for one hour. Mix all ingredi- one of the pot- 4 bunches broccoli, cut into ents and YUM. If taking to a party lucks or BBQs florets don't mix until last minute. you will invited 1 red onion, thinly sliced
A favorite recipe from to this sum- 1/2 cup raisins Sarah Ruby mer. It is a little 1/2 cup sunflower seeds different from many of the other 1 pound bacon, fried salads out there and relatively 1 cup Miracle Whip healthy with all of that broccoli in 1/2 cup sugar it. The more bacon the 2 tablespoons vinegar better. Enjoy your summer.
Presorted Standard US Postage PAID Permit #586 Sacramento, CA 5424 Sunol Blvd #175 Pleasanton, CA 94566
Send us a Referral and we’ll send you an iPod Shuffle
Contact Michaela Hertle at 925-478-5243 ext 3004 From High Tech or email: [email protected] to High Touch!
Attention Small Business Owners With 5 or More Computers:
If you are the owner of a small business with 5 or more computers, I'd like to give you a special "get to know us" offer and make your first 2 hour service call absolutely FREE. Why am I willing to do this? Because I know once you see how well we resolve your computer problems, you'll become a client for life!
Call NOW and schedule your FREE service call Today! (925) 478-5243 OR www.rubiconn.com