James Dimmer III

Interesting thing happened to me yesterday.  I have a newer GM car, still under warranty and the sensors indicated a low tire.  So I stopped in to the dealership and requested service.  They indicated that I would have to wait until Wednesday to fill my tire with air.

I drove down the street, pulled into the Ford dealer, (in my 2 year old GM) and they asked what they could do to help me.  Explaining the situation they offered to air up the tire.  As the tech was airing up my tire, he noticed a small air leak and pointed out a nail in the tire.

Amazed, he said, no problem let me see who can fix this.  The ford team rolled the car around the corner, pulled the nail and repaired the tire for me.  When requesting the invoice, they refused.  So my repair was free, and immediate.

I guess you can draw your own conclusion ….

Happy motoring

James

So linked in removed my profile photo which is a photo of myself colored in blue.

Does this seem inappropriate ?

What is an appropriate photo?

An interesting article that stresses the fact we all must be diligent in keeping our computing environments safe.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Microsoft-Releases-Security-Advisory-for-LNK-Bug-Under-Attack-638320/

Have a great day !

Let me know how I can help your IT team.

James

Printed: June 2010 Chamber Business News

In this new world, where smart devices such as phones and micro laptops abound,
just having a web presence is not enough. Devices such as these create an
environment capable of collaboration with your prospects. How does one turn a
prospect into a raving fan? How can you take your clients’ positive feedback and rebroadcast this
positive energy?

Many Internet portals exist, including Linked In, Facebook, You tube and Twitter, which can be
customized to support your business model. Business models today must be optimized to use these
portals for sending and receiving information to the customer / prospect base.

In today’s fast paced business world, one must embrace the technological advances in customer
contact. The whole idea is to replicate one’s business interactions through useful tools. Tools such as
Facebook are customer facing applications that allow consistent 24 hour a day communication with
your niche clients. As these tools evolve, there becomes a need to push more material through these
portals, and to receive feedback from your clients.

Customer collaboration and contact provide both positive and negative information. Think about it like
this, if you have an in house video system one can view all interactions and provide after action
reporting on the day to day business activities. Social networking provides such information. Instant
information from your best clients and an outlet to instantly show them your marketing material.
The challenge today is in building one’s business technological infrastructure to support and push these
items in an organized and automated fashion. Now more than ever the business model has to be
optimized to support the constant push and pull of external and internal information.

In summary, social networking provides a whole new wealth of information that can be used to inform,
improve and increase profit. Businesses are rapidly adopting the use of Internet portals to support
explosive growth and a rapid reduction in time to market. Are you?

Another interesting twist in Telecom superpowers.  Qwest purchased by Century Tel…

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36710398

Stay tuned for details !

Netarx Green IT Open House

April 22, 2010
2:00 – 7:00 PM
CELEBRATE EARTH DAY’S
40th ANNIVERSARY
AT OUR
GREEN IT OPEN HOUSE

Join us for our Green IT Open House for one-on-one discussions with our experts … Learn about the latest
trends in Collaboration and Data Center Solutions, with a focus on cloud computing and virtualization.

Agenda
Food from Amy’s Catering
Wine, Beer, and Soft Drinks
Giveaways, Raffles and Door Prizes!
WHEN: Thursday, April 22, 2010
2:00 – 7:00 PM
WHERE: Netarx Lansing Office
3101 Technology Blvd, Suite A
Lansing, MI 48910

2:00 – 3:00 PM Microsoft Exchange 2010 Presentation: Improved Mobility and Collaboration

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is the new messaging and collaboration solution that helps IT Professionals achieve new levels of reliability with greater flexibility, enhanced user experiences, and increased protection for business communications.

3:15 – 4:15 PM Netarx Data Center Services Presentation: Separating the Cloud from the Fog
The Netarx Data Center Services (DCS) Team strives to help clients find the best hybrid of on-premise and cloud computing to fit their unique needs. DCS enables your business to meet strategic objectives by accelerating time to market, improving operating efficiency, and avoiding costly downtime – all while addressing both your current and future IT demands. With a host of solutions ranging from co-location to a turnkey parallel data center, clients leverage our cutting edge infrastructure in order to future-proof their organization’s technology needs.

2:00 – 7:00 PM Technology Breakout Sessions
Learn about the Next Generation of Technology Management and Business Transformation
- Data Center (DCS, Virtualization, Storage, Backup and DR)
- Collaboration (Unified Communications, Contact Center, Customer Premise)
- Business Transformation Services
- NetCare Managed Services (Field Engineering, Service Desk, Managed Teams, Remote
Operations Center Services)
- Infrastructure & Media

Registration
Register to attend at netarxgreen.eventbrite.com
April 22, 2010
2:00 – 7:00 PM
CELEBRATE EARTH DAY’S
40th ANNIVERSARY
AT OUR
GREEN IT OPEN House

Take a look at this article. Are you sure your network is secure… ?

Hackers are alive and well.

Of course we can help you with your security needs assesment.

Soup, the thoughts of soup just don’t really bode well..  You know, it’s ok, but what soup really satisfies ?

We found it !  This recipe from Tony Bourdain and Les Halles is fantastic ! Don’t bother with the oven proof crocks, just grab your propane torch and torch the cheese, it’s too much fun !

For the broth:

1. In a large pot, heat the butter over medium heat until it is melted and begins to brown. Add the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and browned (about 20 minutes). Onion soup, unsurprisingly, is all about the onions. Make damn sure the onions are a nice, dark, even brown color.
2. Increase the heat to medium high and stir in the port wine and the vinegar, scraping all that brown goodness from the bottom of the pot into the liquid. Add the chicken stock. Note that the better and more intense your stock, the better the soup’s going to be. This soup, in particular, is a very good argument for making your own. Add the bacon and the bouquet garni, and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce to a simmer, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, skimming any foam off the top with a ladle. Remove the bouquet garni.

For the croutons and cheese:

1. When the soup is finished cooking, ladle it into the individual crocks. Float two croutons side by side on top of each. Spread a generous, even heaping amount of cheese over the top of the soup. You want some extra to hang over the edges as the crispy, near-burnt stuff that sticks to the outer sides of the crocks is often the best part, once it comes out from under the heat.
2. Place each crock under a preheated, rip-roaring broiler until the cheese melts, bubbles, browns, and even scorches slightly in isolated spots. The finished cheese should be a panorama of molten brown hues ranging from golden brown to dark brown to a few black spots where the cheese blistered and burned. Serve immediately—and carefully. You don’t know pain until you’ve spilled one of these things.
3. If your broiler is too small or too weak to pull this off, you can try it in a preheated 425°F/220°C oven until the cheese is melted. A nice optional move: Once the mound of grated cheese starts to flatten out in the oven, remove each crock and, with a propane torch, blast the cheese until you get the colors you want.

Alfredo is not necessarily Alfred from Naples, (although it may be and he is probably a nice fellow) it’s the key to self discovery and a way to express your love or gratitude for those you care about.  Really, it’s a true expression of love from the kitchen.  To help you improve the quality of your life, let me share my recipe for success.

Ingredients:

1 dose of Pavarotti courtesy of www.pandora.com (cranked loudly)

3 Candles

1/2 cup butter

1 – 8 ounce package of cream cheese

2 pieces of garlic

4 ounces mozzarella cheese

2 cups milk

3-6 ounces of mozzarella cheese

Black pepper to taste

Bacon crumbles – salad bacon bits are fine but ONLY real bacon

2 bottles of quality local white wine

1/4 cup white wine for the recipe the rest is to show love for your guests..

(Make sure you have 2 bottles, one for the preparation time and one for dinner)

Surf to pandora.com and create a Luciano Pavarotti station.  Crank speakers up so the opera vocals fill the house.  Light candles one in the kitchen and two others near your guests.

Set the tone with a glass of wine, pinot grigio is a  good choice.  If you are local to Michigan there are a few good wines like a Traminette from Sandhill Crane *

Melt butter in medium saucepan taking care not to burn with too much heat. Add cream cheese and squeeze garlic with garlic press while whisking mixture until melted and smooth in texture.  Slowly dribble the milk in as if you were making gravy.  Smooth out solid chunks as cheese melts.  Stir in your cubed Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese whisking violently until the mixture is smooth.  Monitor temperature and make sure that the heat is low just melting the mixture.

Prepare your pasta al dente ahead of the Alfredo, and allow it to rest while making the sauce.  When the sauce is ready (smooth) all of the butter will be absorbed into the mixture, and you are ready to add the bacon and 1/4 cup of white wine.

Whisk wine and crumbled bacon into sauce and remove from heat.  Serve with al dente pasta and you can even mix in some cooked vegetables for a fantastic feast !

Chill wine glasses, and serve !

If your guests don’t smile, turn the Pavarotti up louder and serve more wine !

* According to the sandhill crane website …

Gold medals – 2007 Taster’s Guild Int’l. Competition & 2007 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition & 2006 Jefferson Cup Invitational -American Example of Greatness award. Fruit forward flavors with hints of lychee, other tropical fruits, and citrus, along with the spicy sweetness of its parent, Gewürztraminer. $15.95

Ever wonder why companies are pushing so hard to outsource and move services outside the business location ?

Some say that these moves are meant to decrease costs…  this may be so, however in many cases it makes sense to move the data off site.  Think about centralized computing as a reallocation of resources closer to the core or backbone of the internet.

The closer your data and centralized computing is to the internet, the faster the speeds of throughput and the lesser the amount of delay in computing and data transfer from ANY location.  The idea is to push the computing away from “edge” sites on the network and provide these services from the backbone allowing for greater flexibility.

Imagine a world where all Ip Centric services are delivered by the data center at lightning fast speeds to any location via the internet !

Voice, video, data, IM, Presence, chat…   Any service developed and delivered via IP is able to be utilized with minimal hardware on the remote site.  Even VPN can be delivered from the data center to a remote user allowing smart devices to serve remote employees and offer a full suite of services to communicate with.

In the event that the IT staff desires to offer offsite backup a copy can be maintained easier from data center to data center via fiber to another data center on the fiber map.  The costs of services once the data lives on the backbone is decreased by moving to the core or backbone.

Data center tactics are alive and well let me know if I can help.

Telco Joe