Before the year finishes up, I just wanted to drop you a line regarding a few items:

Microsoft Patches
A few weeks ago, Microsoft released the largest set of patches in some time during their monthly “patch Tuesday.”  About a week later, Microsoft issued a new critical patch to their Internet Explorer web browser.  We’ve covered this routine before but I’ll say it again: it’s important that you visit the Microsoft Windows Update website frequently and often to install critical & recommended updates.

Even if we manage Windows patches on your network or you have set your Windows patches to automatically install, it’s still a good idea to launch Internet Explorer once in a while to check for new updates.  On all modern versions of Windows, open Internet Explorer, then click Tools->Windows Update.  Remember to keep an eye on your virus protection software as well.

We recently sent around a short primer on Safe Computing which discusses spyware and viruses as well–be sure to check it out here if you haven’t already:
http://bdpnetworks.com/blog/2008/11/13/safe-computing/

Snowed In?
This holiday season has been very challenging here in Seattle.  Like many of our customers we have had a difficult time getting to our office, so we’ve been working from home instead.

It is probably no surprise that the vast majority of helpdesk calls & tickets we’ve received over the past few weeks have been related to problems remotely connecting to an office network over a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.

The VPN systems our customers use (from Microsoft, SonicWALL and Cisco) are reliable, secure and easy to set up on your end.  Even so they can be particular about network configuration and firewalls.  In fact some consumer-grade firewalls simply do not work with these types of VPN connections.   If you set up a VPN connection to your work at home, we recommend checking it once a month to make sure it works the way you think it should.  If not, please let us know and we’ll help you get it working.

Over the past few years we have seen a new type of VPN surface which addresses some of the problems with non-standard network environments, such as at home or hotels.  Called an SSL-VPN, it allows employees to simply login to a secured website in order to connect to company resources.  It doesn’t require complex client software and works through nearly all firewalls.

If you would like more information on available SSL-VPN solutions please let us know.

Happy New Year!
This year has been quite a ride.  We’ve made a lot of progress and really could not have done it without our customers’ support.

The economic conditions next year look challenging–but we think there are exciting opportunities for everyone during times like this.

Companies are going to want to stretch their infrastructure investments further in 2009–and I believe that means we’re going to be deploying a lot of server virtualization in the coming months.  This is a fantastic way to get a lot more mileage out of your existing expensive server hardware.  You can deploy additional network services without buying additional equipment.

There’s also going to be a harder push to move non-essential services (which don’t need to be especially secure) to hosted facilities or “the cloud” in order to cut costs.

Of course there are pros and cons to these solutions, but we look forward to continuing to work alongside you in 2009 to help you make informed business decisions about new technologies.

From all of us here at BDPNetworks, thank you again for your support in 2008.
And we wish you the best of luck in the new year!

-Brian

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ConnectWise represents another significant investment in time and money for us, and we think the benefits to our customers will be far-reaching: it’s yet another step in our quest to give you the best service possible.

ConnectWise is a comprehensive, integrated system which will replace a number of unconnected systems we currently use, including RequestTracker–our existing e-mail response ticketing system.

ConnectWise will track literally every piece of information we work with.  It will dramatically streamline our support cycle, which means your support requests will be resolved more quickly and with more precision.  Projects will be expedited faster with the extensive built-in project management system.

In addition you’ll benefit from faster, clearer billing and you’ll soon be able to request access to a portal which includes all of your service tickets, projects and an invoice history.

ConnectWise integrates directly with our management & monitoring platform from N-Able.  Together these best-of-breed systems will reduce overhead, increase efficiency, speed up problem resolution, and make our customers happier.

We are really excited about this new system and think you’ll like it a whole lot, too.

Starting next week, you will notice new e-mails coming back from ConnectWise when you open a ticket with support@bdpnetworks.com.

By the end of August we will start sending enhanced billing information from the new system.

In the meantime, as always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you again for your continued support,

-Brian

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We don’t resell hardware or software but chose to partner with Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft as a referral partner because we believe they offer best-of-breed hardware and software solutions for growing businesses. Here are some promotions all three of us would like you to know about:

Time for Vista and Office 2007!
It’s finally time to move to Vista and Office 2007 – so do it the right way with the best quality hardware platform combined with our expert consulting services.
Click here for more information.

Upgrading to Exchange 2007?
Thinking about upgrading to Microsoft Exchange 2007?
You’ll need a new server, but the effort will pay off.
Click here for more information.

Installing your first server.
Your office has grown–congratulations! But your data storage and management needs have grown as well. It’s probably time for your first server, but don’t let that intimidate you–we can give you more functionality for less than you might think.
Click here for more information.

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Here are our current major service offerings:

NetworkCare PRO
Our flagship managed service plan, we call it “holistic, end-to-end IT management.”
It’s a complete IT-department-in-a-box. It includes proactive maintenance, monitoring, regular Network Wellness meetings from your Virtual CIO, emergency response and soon our new Network Report Card. Available only as a structured contractual agreement, this plan prevents IT issues from interrupting your workflow: it includes continuous security and performance management along with instant access to our courteous Service Engineers.

NetworkAssist
Designed for companies with an IT staff, this plan frees up the IT department’s time: reduces “firefighting” and allows IT staff to gain unprecedented insight into the health of their systems with a sophisticated integrated management platform. The best part? We set it up and make it do what you want it to do- you don’t have to deploy anything or learn a complex management platform!

SpamAssist
After years of searching for a solution that “doesn’t suck,” we’ve partnered with a leading hosted spam & virus protection company to offer you robust, easy to use and affordable spam filtering.

BDPNetworks OnCall
Need guaranteed emergency access to our courteous Service Engineers during evenings or weekends? We can now provide this service!

For a complete list of our service plans and other offerings, please visit our freshly updated Services Catalog at this link.

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