CIO Solutions
January 2011- Issue 16 
Find It Fast
App of the Month - Mint
Client Survey: Support Chat
Bake-Off Winners and Beer Brewing Update
Tech Tip: NetApp and Exchange (SME)
CES 2011 Highlights
Employee Spotlight: Hannah Rich
Quicklinks


CIO Logo  CIO logo (small)              twitter    
CIO Solutions  Twitter
    Website    
   
 


Join Our Mailing List! 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Greetings!,
 
 

Here is to another great year! We look forward to serving all your IT needs in 2011.

 

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve our service delivery or increase customer satisfaction.

 

Thanks for a great 2010 and we wish all our clients a prosperous and healthy 2011. 
 
Cheers,
John Petote
CEO, CIO Solutions

App of the Month - Mint Financial Management

 Mint App                           

Mint brings all your financial accounts together online, automatically categorizes your transactions, lets you set budgets and helps you achieve your budget goals.  

 

This mobile money app is free for current Mint users (the full Mint account is also free) and is available for both iPhone and Android users.

 

The app is updated real time so you have up to date access to all your financial accounts. Monitoring alerts can be setup so you are notified when budgets are in jeopordy of being blown.

 

Client Survey - Support Chat: YES or NO

 

CIO is considering implementing a chat feature that would allow clients to request support through a live chat program.

 

Currently many clients utilize instant messenger programs to receive support. By implementing a chat program we could better track and manage these types of support requests.

 

If CIO had a Support Chat feature would you use it?

 

Please click on the below link or the image to the left to fill out a poll.

 

Support Chat Poll

Beer Brewing Competition Update and Bake-Off Winners

 

Beer

          CIO Brewing Competition

 

 Brew Teams have been formed:

 

Jacka$$ Brewers: Eric Engmyr, Andrew West, Burt Ribet, Steve Hughes

 

Slow Zombie Brewery: Julie Taylor, Sean Gill, Samantha Stroud,

Martin Norbury, David Beltran

 

Quad Win: Richard Clark, Dana Clark, Eric Egolf, Nick Picon

 

Team Craiggles: Craig McClellan, Brian Donovan, Nic Nielson, Rich Beckett

 

Back Room Brewers: Jeff Ford, Chase Christian, Michael Biancone

 

Team Shinn: Mike Shinn, Ryan Popke

 

 

Judging times will be announced and client participation is encouraged!

Please email Richard or Samantha if you want to be invited to the judging

 

  

 

 

      CIO Holiday Bake-Off Winners

    

                     First Prize (Coleman Camping Gear):

Jen (and Eric) Engmyr's Praline Cheesecake Bites

 

Second Prize (Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer):

Hannah Rich's Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake with Berry Sauce 

 

Third Prize (Nintendo Wii):

Celi Ribet's Yule Log with Marizipan Acorns and Meringue Mushrooms

 

 

Thank you to everyone who particpated, the Bake-Off was a huge sucess with many delicious and unique submissions. We are looking forward to what this year will bring!

 

NetApp and Exchange (SME) - Chase Christian, Engineer

Chase Christian, Engineer 

What value does having SnapManager installed on the Exchange server add?

 

1) It backs up the database through Exchange, meaning your transaction logs are  rolled in

 

2) It quiesces the database, ensuring that the NetApp snapshot is clean. If this doesn't happen, you get a dirty backup.

 

3) It allows you to schedule NetApp snapshots, automatically delete them once they've expired, and validate backups

 

4) It is also great for restoring your database, and stores information in a way that lets you do Single Mailbox Recovery.

 

The key takeaway is that snapshots are the underlying backup technology, SME is the tool to configure and schedule those snapshots, coordinate backups and restorations, provide notifications and alerts, and to allow for instant recovery. It's how you actually get value from the snapshots.

 

Read the full Tech Tip article here

 

CES 2011 Highlights - Ryan Popke, Technician
 Ryan Popke
From CES Website: The International CES (Consumer Electronics Show)  is produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry. CEA represents more than 2,000 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of consumer electronics products. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, industry promotion, engineering standards development, market research and legislative advocacy (http://www.cesweb.org/).

While I did not attend the conference this year I have been following the trends and will review a few items which I think will be of interest to our clients. I am looking forward to attending next year and will provide a full report then.

Highlights:

Blackberry Playbook:

 

2011 looks to be full of new tablet releases. One of particular interest should be the Blackberry Playbook. RIM has created a tablet that is directly targeted for businesses that already use Blackberries.  With an approximate 10" multi-touch screen that is surprisingly responsive. It connects via Wi-Fi and you can even use your blackberry's Bluetooth to get internet connectivity on the go. It will be available from Sprint later on this year, with other carriers to follow suit by the end of the year.

http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/

Sandy Bridge from Intel:

Intel was in high gear last year preparing for the release of their new CPU architecture, codenamed Sandy Bridge. With this new type of processors we will see an increase of affordable quad core computers hit the market in the next few months. With a 10-20% increase in performance over the previous generation the new Sandy Bridge processors still manage to cut the amount of power and the heat that they produce. This means smaller and more powerful computers and laptops all at about the same price as we pay now.

http://www.intel.com/technology/architecture-silicon/2ndgen/index.htm

Employee Spotlight  - Hannah Rich, Service Manager

 

HannahFull name: Hannah Mae Rich
 

Where you grew up/When you moved to SB: I grew up in Northern California (Willits) and moved to Santa Barbara in August 2006
 

What you like best about SB: Community events, great restaurants and friendly people

 

When did you start working at CIO: August 2006
 

Your position at CIO: Service Manager and Project Manager plus a million other things
 

What you like best about working at CIO: The people, they have become a second family to me
 

Dreams/aspirations: Have a rewarding and challenging career, have a family and be able to find balance in it all
 

Favorite color: Tie between Purple and Red
 

Favorite food: Anything that has potatoes (mashed potatoes, French fries, baked potato, latkes, etc.)
 

Favorite book/movie: There are too many in both categories. I would say for books I am a Harry Potter nerd at heart but I also enjoy more serious works of fiction including anything by Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Jasper Fforde and more recently Neil Gaiman. I have a reputation of liking terrible movies so if you think my following movies choices are ridiculous you are not alone. Some of my favorite movies are Pretty Woman, Gladiator, Elf, Legends of the Fall and Sex in the City (the show not the movies).
 

Motto/quote: 'Follow your bliss' - Me
 

Anything else that is interesting about yourself: As my co-workers will tell you I am a control freak (in a good way), I grew up without electricity (solar and generator), I love to bake and knit (I am a domestic godess) and I have a Master's in Counseling Psychology but chose to pursue a career in IT.

 

CIO Solutions does not knowingly participate in SPAM. If you wish to be removed from this list, please follow the link below and you will be taken off this list. Thank you for your interest in our
e-Newsletter. 
Share