|
Join Our List
|
|
| Contact Us! | |
Simplex-IT
5225 Darrow Rd
Hudson, OH 44236
234.380.1277
Info@Simplex-IT.com |
|
|
|
Greetings!
 Last month saw my youngest daughter married, then ran down to Columbus for a couple of days of too-brief R&R, and then out to Vegas for Level Platforms annual Partner Conference. Level Platforms is our partner of choice for the primary toolset we use for monitoring and managing networks.
Did I mention that Level Platforms announced that they were bought by AVG the week before? Yup, the anti-virus folks. This of course made conversations very...interesting...during the conference. And nope, we're not changing from Sophos being our choice for AV tools. The purchase of Level Platforms seems to be an expansion of tools, not a consolidation.
And besides, they weren't alone. Competitors Kaseya and N-able were also both acquired in the same month (by different investors).
It's an interesting environment. How will these companies change (and change they will)? Change in channel focus? Increased investment on improving their product offerings? Only time will tell.
Oddly my biggest concern with Level Platforms situation is that things are going very well indeed for them.
"Crotchety Olde Geek" is a new endeavor, mostly by yours truly. Those who know me know I'm an opinionated so-and-so, but have kept my opinions (mostly) relatively quiet in terms of blog posts and the eNewsletter. This web blog, relatively unrehearsed and spontaneous, gives me a chance to be a little more open with my views on technology and the like. The first "webisode" is already online (got some great feedback, to my surprise). The second one will soon follow. I'd be interested in feedback on that (or ideas for future episodes).
The past two lunchinars were interesting. Absolutely people were interested in the difference between Microsoft Google and Apple tablets. There was much less interest (surprisingly to me) in the difference between the phones. Doesn't matter to us, both Lunchinar videos are now online.
July brings us our 4th (if memory serves) annual Social Media Lunchinar. Usually our most popular of the year (except for the picnic, of course) this year should be interesting. We're finally going to talk about integrating social media, business strategy and traditional marketing. Amanda Kleinhenz from Akhia will be joining the discussion.
Which reminds me, the picnic is coming! Yup, our 6th anniversary picnic is only a month (plus some change) away. Good food, good people, plus there will probably be a couple of tech surprises (I need to clear up some things before I can talk details on that). Keep your Wednesday August 21st open from 4-8pm.
As always, other stuff going on, both industry as well as with Simplex-IT ourselves. Keep an eye out on our blog for more details!
|
| You're Invited! "Integrating Social Media with Traditional Marketing" | | |
Free Lunchinar!
Unless you just crawled out from under a rock you are undoubtedly familiar with Social Media. Chances are you are already engaged with at least some of the major ones - Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, just to name a few. But are you maximizing your investment in Social Media by fully integrating it with your traditional marketing? Learn the answer at Simplex-IT's next free Lunchinar!
Click here for more!
|
| Mark your Calendars! 6th Annual Picnic in August! | | |
 Yes! It's that time again when we get 70-80 people to join Simplex-IT at our worldwide international headquarters for our 6th annual picnic!
As to the details of our little annual event:
When: August 21, 2012
Time: 4PM-8PM
Where: Simplex-IT 5225 Darrow Rd, Hudson, OH 44236
We'll bring: Hot dogs, Hamburgers, refreshments
Click here for more!
|
|
Career Advice for IT Newbies | |
Crotchety Olde Geek debuts.
Bob here. I've spoken or worked with a lot of schools that teach IT over the past 30 years. I've taught MS stuff (I'm an MCT), I've worked with developing curriculum. I've spoken at every level of education from High School on up. In the month of May I worked with 5 different schools at various levels (speaking to students, sponsoring intern programs, curriculum meetings, Blah, blah, blah).
Anywho, whenever I talked with students, some of the same issues would always come up about career versus job, skills, business knowledge, etc., etc. So I decided to do a relatively quick (10 minute) "rant" about IT careers for people about to jump into our field. It's purposely done in one take, minimal editing, etc.
And this might be the first of a series of "rants." Yup. You've been warned.
 | | Crotchety Olde Geek #1: Career in IT |
|
|
| | |
 Bob here. Simplex-IT officially received Level Platforms "2013 Community Partner of the Year" award at their Partner Conference in Las Vegas last month. Level Platforms is one of our closest partners (we use their tools for monitoring and managing networks). One of the main reasons we were recognized was our willingness to share our knowledge and experience with other folks in our industry.
Click here for more.
|
|
Mobile Phone Faceoff Lunchinar now Online!
| | |
Bob here. June's Lunchinar where Kevin, Brandon and Doug from Simplex-IT all described and demonstrated the good, bad and evil's of Windows Phone, Droid phones and Apple iPhones.
In case you missed it (I know I did), it's online!
Click here for more.
|
|
Microsoft & Best Buy to Launch Dedicated Windows Stores | |
Microsoft and Best Buy announced on June 13 they will be jointly launching dedicated Windows stores inside Best Buys across the US and Canada. The rollout is expected to be completed by September 2013.
Said to range in size between 1,500 to 2,200 square feet they will feature all things Windows: PCs, tablets, phones, Office, Xbox and more.
Click here for more. |
|
Finally! Office 365 is Available For the iPhone! | |
As author Nick Summers has revealed in this Jun 14 article on "The Next Web", Microsoft has (finally - after years of speculation) introduced an official app featuring all of the popular Office programs for the iPhone.
It's easiest to think of it as "Office for the iPhone" though its official name is "Office Mobile for Office 365 Subscribers." Hardly the most attractive name, it will likely mean very little to users. The most important thing for them is for the first time they will be able to access, view and edit any file previously saved in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Click here to read more. |
PowerShell Tidbits - Administering Office 365 | |
Sarah here. Bob posted the Lync webinar on administering Office 365 with PowerShell. You can download the presentation here. Since the video is a bit grainy, I wanted to cover some of the topics and screenshots here. These are some of the things that were covered.
Company & Subscription Information
Some of the things you can do with the company and subscription cmdlets include:
- See company information - name, address, city, state, whether directory synchronization is enabled, and many other fields
- Set technical and marketing contacts
Users
Some of the things you can do with users include:
- Assign Office 365 licenses to users
- Change a user's password
- Restore deleted users from a recycle bin
Security Groups
Some of the things you can do with security groups include:
- Create and remove groups
- Assign members to groups
Read more here. |
|
| |
We're very happy to announce that our April Lunchinar on Backups, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity is now posted online and ready for viewing.
This video is a must watch for anyone who relies on their computer network to conduct business on a daily basis. Why?
|
|
Bob Speaks to the Ohio Society of CPAs | |
 | |
Bob addresses the Ohio Society of CPAs |
In his quest to bring IT awareness to every corner of the globe, Simplex-IT CEO Bob Coppedge recently shared his expertise with the Ohio Society of CPAs at their recent 2013 Akron CPE Day held at the Akron-Fairlawn Hilton.
Bob presented two sessions: "IT Trends for Small-Medium Businesses in 2013" and "iPads, Droids and Windows...Tablets for Everybody!" Both topics were updates of sessions Simplex-IT presented earlier in the year at our regular monthly Lunchinars and, as such, were recorded and appear for your viewing pleasure on our YouTube channel .
If you would be interested in having Bob make a presentation to your group and help him realize his noble mission, let us hear from you! You can contact us at 234.380.1277 or by emailing Bob@Simplex-IT.com. Enjoy! |
| Want to find out about this stuff quicker? | | |
Blog updates from Simplex-IT over the past month
Remember to check out our blog:
| |
| Plain Funny #61 | |
Ok, apparently this is about 3 years old, but I just found it last week.
Let me start by saying that halfway through this I started having "Flash Gordon" movie flashbacks.
 | | Midichlorian Rhapsody |
|
|
We'd love to hear feedback about this! Send comments to Bob@Simplex-IT.com, or call us at 234.380.1277!
Sincerely,
Bob Coppedge
Simplex-IT LLC |
|
|
