Throttle up

Yesterday I was on the bus, going home, and noticed this passionate plea from my mother for Netflix. What?!? So I get home and several of my RSS feeds are lit up with vitriolic posts against Comcast. As a recap, Comcast went to Level3 Communications, Netflix’s ISP, requesting more money or they will throttle back on Netflix’s traffic.

This rubs me wrong! 

If Netflix really is such a bandwidth hog, go to the users. They want the service, let them pay extra for the bandwidth. Comcast knows this will backfire.  So off Comcast goes to extract cash out of another ISP.

An example of this?  Illinois DoT learns that 85% of the heaviest traffic on Illinois roads is going to Milwaukee, so IDoT calls Milwaukee and demands money or IDoT will clog the roads north cutting off the traffic.  How long do you think that would last?

If Comcast has a competing service, they should ask, how can we make it better? Perhaps their interface is bad.  Personally I think it’s the limited access (You can get Netflix on a PS3, XBox360, Wii, iPhone, iPad, PC — and yes, that does include the Mac).  My idea, throttle up their services. Continue normal speeds and bandwidth but if I use Comcast’s streaming service I get the bandwidth free, and the traffic is delivered 20% faster.  Also work on getting the apps and plug-ins so they appeal to more users.  Netflix invested in this end of the market and they should not be punished for it.

But what is really getting under my skin is that I pay extra for higher speed.  This is supposed to by me the “extra bandwidth I need for downloading movies, and music, and for playing games, etc..”, or at least that’s what I was told by Comcast.  What have I been paying for? Are they giving me a refund?

Comcast is just inviting government to start regulating them heavily.  This is the kind of activity that will bring about “Net Neutrality”, with all the heavy regulation and government oversight we really do not want or need.  I’m not a fan of Net Neutrality.  It sounds good when we talk specifics, like this case, but it will put a huge chill on innovation, and private development of the networks that make up the Internet.  It is not a good idea,

As a Comcast customer, I will continue to protest any move to block services or make the use of that service more painful.  I believe Comcast will do far better by being a mench and accepting that their service is lacking … something.  I will support them in their efforts to bring their services to a wide range of platforms with word-of-mouth advertising.  I will continue to pay extra for the right to use more of the fantastic network Comcast has built.  And I will beg them, to please, please stop poking the dragon that is government regulation, before it eats us all.

The Four Horsemen

A few years back, one of my bosses asked me to name the 3 things any computer user will complain long and loud about if they cannot do them.  I was still green back then so I only got one of them.  Ten years have passed but I can only add one item to his list. Let us see if you can guess any of them.

1. E-mail – This is the primary form of direct communications in most businesses.  The user feels cut-off from the business if they don’t have e-mail.  Never mind that the workers sit across an isle or even next to each other.  This is also the primary method for communications outside the company.  Nevermind that it is neither private or immediate, without E-mail workers don’t work.
2. Printing — In the late 70′s Xerox was extolling the vertues of the “paperless” office.  Since then our need for printed, hardcopy has grown to the point that printer paper is the biggest expense in some offices.  Nevermind saving the planet, if we cannot print a copy of the spreadsheet, in color, we have failed at our task.
3. The Internet –(this is the one I added) How many times a day do you hit the web to Bing this or Google that?  Did you check on that price?  Did you look up that electrical constant in a Wiki or a book?  It does not matter who does the work, or what the job is, if the user cannot get to the Internet then we all may as well go home for the day.
4. “My” files — (This is the one I got right) If a user cannot get to their files they have nothing to work on.  No reason to be there.  No reason to draw a paycheck.  No reason but to go home.  Although most people can keep busy while you get their files, if you lose them, then all is lost.  Valuable data, and time, are lost.

Any one of these issues will cause a call to your desk, before you’ve had your first cup of coffee.  Two or more is a disaster and causes much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  And the longer they go on the higher up the calls go and the bigger your headache.

We don’t like to see you suffer.  If you would like to know more about how to stop these issues, contact a local IT professional, like a Microsoft Small Business Specialist.  Level 2 Technology Consultants are both Registered Members of the Microsoft  Partner Network and Microsoft Small Business Specialists.  We will be happy to help you deal with these and many other IT problems.

Did you say $7,000,000?!?

“Where did you get your business degree?” I asked, as the blood drained from my face.

That was the start of a painful and ugly conversation I had with the Controller (and by default Director of  IT) of a medium-sized company that coordinates shipping of intermodal containers.  But I digress, let us step back a few minutes in time.

I was on a conference call with the owner and his controller about plans for a technology refresh at the company (new Windows & PC, Laptop, Servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V, Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, even a New Microsoft UC install).  They had been using Linux servers and custom written software but the programming house they used, closed so they needed to move on.

 Things were going fine until the controller asked, “So you can integrate the cluster supporting our book-keeping package?”

I was stumped and was spooling up my soft shoe routine to avoid the question when a little voice said, “Wait!  Ask him for more details.”  So I did.

“The software runs on a 4 node cluster of NT 4.0 servers.  We cannot lose this data.  If you cannot integrate it, it’s a deal breaker.”

The Owner was as silent as a graveyard.  I was stunned.  Final I managed, ” You have software running on a platform that has been dead for … 6 or 7 years?!?”

“We have a service contract with Microsoft.  We pay them $1,000,000 a year for continued support.”

That was when I let loose…

The long-and short of the call from there was about how they paid $7 million dollars because the controller didn’t have the money when they should have converted to Windows 2000.  $7,000,000!!! 

Now we are in a new pickle.  The original software manufacturer had 2 upgrades then was bought by another company.  And the Controller doesn’t want to spend money on training for a new system.

At this point, I will either get a call back and learn there is a new controller, get called back to add the specs for the new system to the build, or just not be called back.

Technology is your friend.  I like to compare computers to cars.  I agree that some old cars are nice and some should be preserved.  But you cannot use a ’75 Pinto as the car you run the kids around in.  And especially not when you cannot maintain it properly.  It’s unsafe, and when it breaks down, you will be lucky if someone doesn’t get hurt.

The same is true with this accounting system.  You can pay huge sums of money but why?  So you get a version or two behind.  Step up and upgrade or buy a better system.  Don’t throw good money after bad.

If you would like to avoid make this kind of mistake, please contact me.  I may not be able to help but I can help you get information to strengthen your argument to upgrade.

The Hard Way or the Easy Way

Level 2 Technology Consultants recently got a nice contract converting 3000 computers from Windows XP to Windows 7. The change comes with Office 2010, a new AD, a new IP design, maybe Unified Communications / Exchange 2010, maybe SharePoint 2010, maybe Office Communicator, etc… This is a huge deployment and will form the core of a worldwide deployment. Out of this, we have confirmed a few things that can help the SMB owner facing this kind of technology rush.

Be patient – I mean take a deep breath and let it happen. The best and fastest rollouts happen when you know the most you can about the environment, and have all the pieces in place.

I will use a 250 person company as an example.  They are split into 5 working departments, and 3 sites.  In the past each site had its own IT staff and ran that location as their own world.  None of the sites agree on anything.  If one of the users doesn’t like what they get, they call the GM of the site who orders IT to “just do it!” so the GM doesn’t have to deal with the problem.  The new director of IT has decided to roll out Windows 7, SharePoint 2010, Unified Communications Exchange 2010, and Office 2010, plus the required infrastructure to make it work. At the end of the roll out, in 90 days, he begins using a payback system to turn IT from a sucking cash hole, into a responsible business unit.

(Sounds fun!  Or does this sound eerily like your last 10 staff meetings…)

So, from our example we see many issues need to be addressed early on in the deployment. As much as half of the time needs to be spent in discovery.  If things are very bad, more like 2/3′s of the schedule.  Why? Because now is where you learn of all the gotcha’s and unlicensed software, etc.  This is when you learn that site “B” is exclusively on Linux boxes, and Marketing at site “A” uses iMacs and just bought 10 at great expense.  Here is also where you find everyone is using a “freeware” app that isn’t because you are a business.  More time you have to find and get solutions, the quicker and smoother things go at the end.

Be consistent – Get your message and stick to it.  “Why should I change?” is easy to answer the first few times.  After the 37th excuse why not, it becomes harder.  New policies will need to be put into action.  A consistent stand on those will help everyone realize this is happening, and it will be good for everyone.  Anyone that says, “It won’t happen.  That’s not the way we do thing,” needs to be encouraged to see this will happen.  Their views are valid, but old thinking.

Be firm – Don’t let the Nay-sayers get you down.  If someone pulls an end-run and goes to the GM to get you to stop, go to the top.  Make everyone including the CIO and CEO follow the policies.  (Truth is, if they are seen to follow the new policies, everyone down the list will understand this is now the way it is to be done.)  The first few times may get ugly but being firm helps everyone, especially the C-level folks, see that this is for the best.  Remind everyone that this is a business, not a democracy. 

Be intelligent – Use the time you got wisely.  Set up your infrastructure during the discovery.  If you have your AD, printer, IP schemes, and Exchange servers ready, when the first PC is migrated, all the important features are there.  The long discovery period will give you time to put specific changes into place so the user is ready to go on day 1.  Phase the roll out in the same order as the discovery.  Create your policies to be flexible yet strong enough to survive a few people pushing on those policies.

Be understanding – Not everyone will be happy or ready to go through this process.  While you may have had 3 months to use and get used to the new systems, they have not.  Communications and training are the keys.  Let everyone know what is coming.  If you can, generate a good buzz among the user community.  If not, at least let them know what is happening so they are not surprised when the login screen changes.

Training, training, training.  Train before, train during, train after. Give everyone a chance to learn the new procedures and software.  And give them time to learn all the new things people can do with the systems.  Once your users realize the benefits, they become happier and are more likely to work with you than against you.

As for our example company, there are tools that will make sure they meet their deadline.  Because the infrastructure is in place, the user data on the network, including E-mail, can be migrated over night.  Next morning the user logs in, the upgrade is push down.  They find their data safe and in place when the upgrade is done.

For the business, in general, this is the Easy Way.  For IT, it can be quite hard, but that is why most of these guys and gals are in IT.  If given the backing, and resources, they will shine for you.

If you’d like more information about how Level 2 Technology Consultants can help you have a successful deployment, we would love to show you the Easy Way to better use of your IT dollar.

The Hidden costs

We recently took on a new client with a large Windows 7 deployment. They want to save money by refurbishing the last series laptop. Thing is, there were 4 models in that round of units. So we are looking at supporting 5 models of laptop and 2 models of desktop.

I crunched the numbers and found the hidden cost of saving money. 18 help desk staff covering 24×7. 12 desktop techs doing 8×5 support, with 6 more for weekends and holidays. Tier-2 and 3 staff adds 9 others. Plus lab and management staff. All and all one month of the wages for these people will pay to replace these laptops to the new standard. That is before we get into the extra costs hardware and support costs that refurbished system have.

So what is the alternatives? Let’s start with full system replacements on lease. No more capital expenses for hardware. Simple monthly expenses; just like the rent on your office space. Add an Open Value Subscription. 50% less than retail and Software Assurance with all it’s added benefits. No more capital expenses for software and hardware, plus it saves you BIG bucks? We call that a win / win around here.

A way forward

At Level 2 Technology Consulting, we have long recognized a forgotten truth. As Steve Jobs noted during the 2007 D5 conference interview with Bill Gates, the Apple Macintosh is a personal computer. We are Mac, therefore we are PC. We not only support but welcome the mixed platform environment, be they Apple OS X, Microsoft Windows, or any of several flavors of Linux / Unix.

That said, we note that Microsoft does have the lion’s share of the business market.  There are some applications and areas we hope Microsoft will address to strengthen their ties to the Apple Macintosh.

1. Create Microsoft Communicator client for the Mac.  (Yes, we know there is a web version but it is not the same.)  We shouldn’t have to run under Windows to IM and do peer-to-peer video calls.
2. Create a LiveMeeting client for Mac.  Again, why not have a client.  LiveMeeting has a web client, but why should anyone be stuck with just a web client.
3. Develop iPhone apps that use the FaceTime API’s for both Communicator and LiveMeeting. The front facing camera makes the video conferencing so easy.  The Retina display is so sharp.  Both features make the iPhone a prime candidate for business conferencing.  Both Communicator and LiveMeeting can be improved with iPhone user inclusion.
4. Accelerate adoption of SharePoint 2010 within the BPOS. With its browser agnostic web interface, it will increase Mac users’ comfort with this excellent offering. In fact we ask that Exchange 2010, and all updates to Communicator and LiveMeeting get implemented as soon as possible.

We have a few requests for Apple, too.

1. Open the FaceTime API to allow its use in a chat system other than iChat.  Skype wants to use FaceTime for VoIP / Video Conferencing.  Open up the API for more than AIM.
2. A front-facing camera for the iPad. This was a major oversight on the original iPad.  I like to think FaceTime was not ready and the camera / mic combos were not ready yet.  Add this to an iPad 2 and you have a great tool for businesses, small and large.
3. Retina display for iPad 2.  If you’ve seen the difference in the quality of the display on the iPhone 3gs and the iPhone 4, you understand how the iPad can be improved.
4. Change the iPad design to something more like an iPhone 4, and less like the screen from a MacBook Air.
5. Spend the money and buy the rights to P.A.D.D. from Paramount. We all know Apple has the biggest collection of Star Trek fans outside of NASA.

Until then Level 2 Technology Consultants dream and look for ways to give the SMB advanced technology without the advanced costs.

What we do.

We at Level 2 Technology Consulting like to say we help small businesses be more productive and make life better for our clients and their customers through technology.  Today, I got to see this in action.

Back in February, I met with the partners in a small law office that specializes in foreign business, foreign investment in the US, and immigration.  The firm has four offices in the US, and six offices overseas.  At that meeting, I learned they were in the middle of a 3-year plan to add video conferencing to all the offices.  This was a multi-million dollar project, and I was hoping to get a piece of it.

Here in Chicago, the plan had the following: $100,000 for facility upgrades, $100,000 to redecorate the conference room, three 60-inch flat-panel wide-screen monitors, nine 720p HD cameras, three conferencing speaker phones, a new U-shaped conference table, $45,000 in new routers  and $10,000 in new switches,$75,000 in video equipment,  $100,000 in Unified Communication servers, $30,000 for a new PBX, 2 new T3 circuits, 3 new IT staff, and nearly $300,000 in consulting, training, and installation.  At the time, the PBX was being ordered, and the conference room redecoration was nearly complete.  

I committed the worst sin. 

In earshot of one of the partners I said the solution was over-engineered and several times more expensive than it needed to be.

I was asked to leave and figured I lost another one. 

Then in late March I was asked to speak to the local partners.  The project was on hold, and the local team wanted to know what their options were.  I went over the firm’s wants and needs, did a quick evaluation of the Internet service and WAN, and - in the end - I proposed using LiveMeeting, fewer cameras, fewer monitors, and bumping up the Internet service.  We cut the cost by nearly $450,000.  To improve the Internet service cost about 15% of the original estimate.  Even the recurring costs were cut to a fifth of the first solution.

But that wasn’t the important thing about this morning.  

I was invited to attend a conference call for the 85th birthday of the matriarch of an extended family.  We had 52 family members in Chicago, New York, London, and Mumbai.  They would never have been able to pull this off without technology.  There were tears in the room when a six-year-old sang “Happy Birthday.”  The little girl had never met her great-grandmother.

L2TC has been asked to submit a proposal for a Microsoft Exchange / Unified Communications solution for consideration for next year’s budget.

This is what we do.  We helped this firm save money. We helped this firm unite a family.  And we used technology to help make people’s lives better.

Why upgrade?

I hear the same question over and over.

“Why do I need to upgrade? XP is fine.”

It isn’t fine and I will give you 7 reasons you need to upgrade to Windows 7:

1. Windows XP is 8 years old — That’s right.  8 years.  That means the architecture (the basic rules, policies, and processes that make up the frame work of the operating system) is nearly 10 years old.  It’s a great testament to XP that it has lasted this long, but let’s be serious.  Most of you are on your second or maybe even your third PC by now.  Can any of you really say the OS isn’t dragging a bit.  It’s just too old to be productive.
2. New Hardware — Your computer is likely to be new-ish, too. What is it, less than a year, maybe as much as 4 years only?  In that time the data path has grown.  Software needs more memory.  More speed.  More Disk storage.   A laptop may have a built-in webcam, WiFi, Wireless broadband.  A desktop has a 500 Gig hard drive, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital video supporting 2 wide-screen displays.  Little to none of it existed when XP was created.  Certainly not as everyday, “standard” features. That means larger drivers to make it work.  More complex software to tap the hardware’s improvements.  Some manufacturers even bend the rules to get the hardware working.  And some stuff you still cannot use fully.
3. Speed — XP was fast in its day, but now we expect faster.  Those drivers slow it down.  The architecture wasn’t designed to allow faster.  It’s really a 32-bit OS and even on a rocket-hot 64-bit processor, you only get 32-bit performance.  OH sure, there is a 64-bit XP but ask anyone that used it; it was limited, at best, and unless you needed it for your applications, it was best left alone.
4. Stability — We start with the architecture.  At the time it was the best there was, but how it handles drivers is the biggest cause of the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death”.  Add to that complex drivers that were not very stable themselves and you have an ocean of troubles in a bucket.  Sure, once you got things stable they stayed that way, but then you had to freeze everything.  You were locked in until forced to change by attacks, or just the need to fix other bugs.
5. Security — After eight years, those bent on harm and mischief have found a ton of holes.  These were not put there because of carelessness.  At the time no one knew or understood how these could be exploited.  They couldn’t know how bad some of the problems could be.  And that is before we talk about how the attackers made a few new holes of their own.  Your data, and productivity count on security and those walls have been under attack for a long time.  And any attempt to patch those holes often affected stability.  As a user, it was a matter of patch and re-patch or fall victim to the malice of a faceless threat.
6. Support — It cost seriously big bucks to support older operating systems.  The code soon hardens to stone, for the sake of stability, but security is at risk.  And there is no return on fixing something that time and attack have weakened.  At best you can re-enforce it, but it is not as strong as if you start over.
7. New features — Nothing new can be added.  Again, for stability, security, and speed, nothing new can be added.  Your software just stagnates.

So the answer is to upgrade.  Windows 7 answers all these areas and a few more.

1. New Architecture.  The framework uses the lessons from XP.  It has some room to grow and change without risking any of the key elements.
2. The operating system expects the newer, faster hardware.  It expects 64-bit to be the standard.  It expects and uses multiple cores and CPU’s.  It expects huge amounts of RAM and vast hard drives as a normal state.
3. The new architecture is faster.  It runs more things concurrently, and the drivers are used in a way that allows them to fail without crashing everything.  Windows 7 includes standards that expect optimized drivers, and works to squeeze all the speed out of the systems.
4. Stability is vastly improved.  Something stops working, the operating system does not BSoD.  In fact, the system stops the process, reports it (sometimes to you, but often to Microsoft so they can fix it in the background), and then restarts the failed app.  Patching is much easier because it rarely impacts the stability.
5. Microsoft has inserted the security into the basic architecture.  They spent time and dollars on making security a core feature.  Microsoft knows evil hackers and data crooks are after them.  They tightened everything they could and then built a framework that lets them quickly and effectively close those holes. If you read the monthly security bulletins, you’ll see most of the holes actually require some level of active user interaction.  That means some person has to do something bad in the first place.  Apple talks about how they are so much better, but the truth is, their security is a joke.  Apple spends less on the security of their software.  They rarely admit if they have a problem. They don’t release patches unless it begins to affect their public relations.  OS X does not get attacked because Microsoft has more users; not because Apple has better security.  Mac OS X is tissue paper to Microsoft’s harden-steel armor plate.  (I’d talk about Google but Google is so evil, they make me froth at the mouth.)
6. Windows 7 is the best supported version of Windows yet.  Microsoft has gone out of its way to educate the technical world.  They built in a host of new tools for reporting problems.  Some are automatic, others guide the user for self-support, and some just make the process easier when you have to bring in the support staff.
7. A list of the new features in Windows 7 are a whole blog entry by itself.  But for the small business owner /operator I would highlight a few.  Less “included” software (less to clutter the system), Snap (the feature that lets you easily see windows side-by-side), pinning icons to the taskbar, preview on open applications, better security controls, homegroup, better support for wireless, better remote access, DirectAccess, federated storage, and on and on.

This has been rather technical, and dry.  I am glad you stuck with it to here.  The best way to understand why you need to upgrade to Windows 7 is to see it in action.  We at Level 2 Technology Consulting will be happy to set up a demo for you.  Once you see it, once you understand how it can reduce your cost and improve your productivity, I know you will not be asking, “Why should I upgrade?” but “When can I upgrade?”

Need more money?

We all know times are hard.  People are tightening their belts, and all the other old clichés.  (I say this because I had to spend the start of the morning bending ears and trying to nail down when a couple of payments would come in.)

There are some things that can be done.

First, let’s talk deals.  Right now Microsoft is running what is calls the Big Easy 4.1.  This is a great idea for us at L2TC.  You buy product in the program.  This can include licenses for Windows 7 professional, Office 2010 Professional Plus, Windows Server 2008 R2, etc.. You fill out the online form, naming L2TC (or any other partner) as your partner of record.  Then, Microsoft sends you a check, made out to the partner.  They give you money to give to the partner.  How this is worked into the sales is between you and the partner.  At L2TC, we normally factor it into the deployment.  Microsoft gives you money to pay us to install your software.  We can also use it for other services if you have staff for the deployment.  Say you want to add SharePoint.  You can use the money to pay us for that project.  It is a check to the partner, so you cannot use it for just anything, but there are plenty of ways it can benefit you.

Second, let’s talk financing.  Microsoft Financing to be exact. The example we like to give is this, you need 5 new laptops, plus the 10 you have need replacing.  As long as 33% of the loan goes to buy Microsoft product, they will finance the whole.  That means 15 new laptops, 15 copies of Windows 7 and Office 2010, plus training on how to use it.  And get those improvements to your network, and even that new back-up system.  It doesn’t hurt any outstanding loans you may have.  The rates are low.  We could go on but financing is not what L2TC does.  We can introduce you to the good folks at Microsoft Financing and let them show you how they can help.

Third, yet more deals.  There are ways to cut or even remove all together the capital expenses of hardware and software.  The first is the Open Value license Agreement.  Cost of software, split over three years.  If you need to add licenses, it’s easy, and without the cost of backdating the new license (this is “to true up” the license count).  Simply put you have 5 license, at the beginning of year two, you have 7 licenses, from here out you pay for 7 licences.  With the Open Value agreement you can spread the cost over 3 years, and the licenses are a third the cost of retail.

With the Open Value agreement you also get Software Assurance.  This is more than insurance.  You get a whole suite of benefits including online training, extended use agreements, TechNet support services, and upgrade coverage.  Under the current N-2 , if you buy a license for Office 2010, SA covers you back to Office 2003.  You may have skipped Office 2007, Software Assurance will let you upgrade to the latest version.  (Be aware, N-2 is a special deal to help businesses upgrade.  Normally the agreement is N-1.  We have no idea when N-2 will end.)  This covers the operating system, too.  Buy Windows 7 and upgrade your XP systems.  Windows server 2000 is about to be End-of-Life, End-of-Support.  Upgrade coverage is what most people think of when they think of SA, but the TechNet support is extremely valuable.  You have that problem that no one can solve, you can call Microsoft for help.  Three calls to Microsoft support.  Normally these cost $250 to $500 each depending on the issue.  That’s $750 to $1500 you don’t have to spend on a problem that could be costing you hundreds a day. After 3 years of the agreement you can stop, or extend for another 3 years by just paying for the Software Assurance agreement.

The deal we think is the best we’ve saved for last.  Open Value Subscription.  With this deal you don’t own the license, you rent it.  No more owning obsolete licenses for obsolete software.  Microsoft adds Software Assurance as part of the deal, so you can always run the latest, safest, and best versions of the software.  AND it’s 50% less than retail.  As our CPA pointed out, rented expenses are not capital expenses.  They are monthly costs.  So, you pay 50% less, you get SA, and you can spread the cost over 36 payments.  But there is an extra bonus…  The subscription has true up and true down.  We don’t like to think about it but at the end of each year, if you loose seats, it’s okay.  You stop paying for the extra seats you don’t need.  If you have a cyclic business, this can save you thousands of dollars.  Combine this with rented PC’s and you’ve just eliminated most of the capital costs for your IT needs.  Now IT is a budgeted expense.

We all need more money for our businesses.  The four options I’ve laid out can save you real money, or in one case give you money to spend on services you know you’ll need.  I am always reminded of Ben Franklin, “A penny saved, is a penny earned.”  It maybe old but it remains true.  If you save money, you have more money.  And isn’t that what you need?  More Money.

(If you would like to learn more, please feel free to contact us.  If we cannot help you directly, we’ll help you find someone who can.)

Once more into the breach…

Once again, Level 2 is blogging.

We stopped the last blog for 3 reasons:

1. The server we were using was put-out to pasture.  It was slow and over worked and would lock-up and it was time to retire it.
2. I was always moaning and groaning about something in the IT market. it was very negative.  Worse yet it always ended with the message, “…to stop this from being, or effecting, or hurting you, contact L2TC.”  Like I had the ability to save people from the stupidity of others, for a fee.
3. I was very busy trying to drum up business.  (which just made #2, worse)

So, we stopped blogging.  We went on and all those thoughts and insights we had were slowly lost, only to be replaced by new insights, and new problems, etc..

So we’re back!  Will this blog be any better?  We hope so.  Lot’s more negativity and appeals not to repeat the mistakes of others?  Most likely.  More “Call us, before this happens to you.” stuff?  Yes.  We hope to add a little humor.  Look at things from a few sides, you — our gentle readers — may have not thought of.  Mangle the language and grammar… Yeah… Sorry about that. 

We have a newsletter.  It goes out every other week, and is full of articles written by thoughtful people.  It’s very Pro Microsoft because Microsoft is willing to provide articles. When we start getting articles we can use from Apple, Novell, Cisco, HP, Dell, and the like, we will happily use them.

This blog is for the more immediate issues and subjects we run across.  We hope to start including articles from here in the newsletter, but this is more for those thoughts and insights that used to be float away.  We hope they will be of benefit.  Sometime they are ours.  Sometimes they are extensions of other people’s ideas and writings.  We promise to link, and quote, and give credit every time.  If we fail, please understand it is more for ignorance than malice.

This is beginning to ramble so we’ll wrap this up.  There will be changes to the blog, to the newsletter, to the website.  That’s how we know time is passing. We’d love to hear your comment, good, bad, or in between. Please feel free to comment.  (We may have to clean them up or remove them to maintain our PG rating.)

Until the next time, we’ll be waiting to help you get to your next level.