Los Angeles: City in the Google Cloud

On Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles city council voted unanimously in favor of a $7.25 million contract to outsource its email and document application system to Google. This is a HUGE milestone for cloud computing and a giant coup for Google.

Acknowledging that Google's email system is not yet proven on a scale of the the City of LA, the city council decided to move forward because of the crash-prone nature of their existing Novell GroupWise email system and concerns about communications during a major disaster. Google's security also was felt to be better than that which the City could currently provide.

I see City's decision being significant because it indicates the direction that technology is trending: toward cloud computing and away from self-hosted applications running on numerous servers that require a large maintenance and administration cost. Self-hosted servers also have large power, air conditioning, and disaster recovery requirements.

I expect that other municipalities and large institutions will soon follow suit now that the City of Los Angeles has taken the plunge into cloud computing.

The $7.25 billion contract will be implemented over 5 years beginning June 2010. The contract will provide Google Apps which include email, spreadsheets, word processing, presentation, and document storage to the City's 30,000 employees.

Cloud Computing by AXICOM
My company, AXICOM, offers a variety of cloud computing solutions and we are a Google Apps partner. We provide consulting, integration, migration and training services for businesses interested in using Google Apps or other cloud solutions.

Call AXICOM at (818) 865-9865 to learn more about AXICOM's cloud computing solutions.

New Facebook for Blackberry v1.7 Released

Blackberry (RIM) has released a new version 1.7 of Facebook for Blackberry (FFB). This is a free download from the Facebook website. The new version features include:

• pages now load much faster
  
• main page supports news feed, not just status updates
  
• filtering option to show news feed or status updates, photos and links only
  
• upload a new profile picture from the photo album view
• ability to "like" a status updates, news feed items, photos or links
  

How to Get Facebook for Blackberry v1.7
If you already have Facebook for Blackberry, start it on your BB device. It should ask you if you want to install the latest version and just follow the wizard. If you don't get an update prompt, press the BB key, select "Options", scroll down and select "Check for Upgrade Now." Follow the wizard to complete the installation.

If you don't have Facebook for Blackberry installed on your BB device, start your BB browser, go to www.facebook.com, scroll down the page, select "Download Facebook for your Blackberry." Follow the wizard to complete the installation.

Windows 7 Edition Comparison

Windows 7 is finally here. Windows 7 has proven to be significant improvement over Windows Vista. Windows 7 is faster, uses RAM more efficiently, and will run your older programs with XP Mode (available on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate only). Here is a summary of the various editions to help you in deciding which is best for you.

Windows 7 Home Premium Edition ($119.99)

• Improved Desktop Navigation: Shake, Peek and Snap
• Redesigned taskbar is smarter and removes clutter
• More wallpapers and improved desktop gadgets
  
• Programs start faster and more efficient memory usage
  
• Enhanced Windows Search for finding documents faster
• Windows Media Center for recording TV shows (requires additional hardware)
• Watch movies or listen to music through remote streaming
  
• Create home network to share files and printers with HomeGroup

Windows 7 Professional Edition ($199.99)

• All the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, plus,
• Compatible with older program with Windows XP Mode
• Domain Join for secure networking in company networks
• Backup your data over your network

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition ($219.99)

• All the features of Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium, plus,
• BitLocker technology protects your desktop, notebook and portable device data against theft or loss
• Choose to work in any of 35 supported languages

Recommendations
We recommend that most users in the business environment choose Windows 7 Professional. You probably want the Windows Ultimate Edition for the BitLocker feature if you are highly mobile with your notebook or USB storage devices.

If you want to upgrade to Windows 7 and your current PC is over 3 years old, then your best options is to buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled. AXICOM recommends HP desktop PCs, notebooks, and servers.

If your PC is newer, you may want to choose to purchase Windows 7 software and upgrade your PC rather than buy a new PC. But this requires that you verify that your PC meets the hardware requirements for Windows 7. The upgrade process requires that you backup all your data, erase your hard drive, install Windows 7, install all your applications, and restore your data. It's hardly an easy procedure.

Conclusion
Which ever edition you choose or the upgrade path you take, Windows 7 is a sound business decision. Contact AXICOM for assistance in purchasing a new PC or upgrading your existing PC.

We be offering a seminar "Windows 7:Find out what the Fuss is All About!" on November 12 at our office in Westlake Village, California. Visit AXICOM Events for details and registration.

Google Voice Security Concerns

There was some interesting buzz this week about Google Voice voicemail security. Some voicemail transcriptions were indexed by Googles Search engine and potentially private voicemail messages were accessible to the public.

Google has quickly responded to this security issue with an explanation and a fix. There is an option to share the Google voicemail transcript via hard-to-guess web link URL. A small number of voicemail transcriptions were shared via an URL and the Google search engine indexed them as it would any data.

Google has since changed their indexing procedure to exclude Google Voice voicemail transcriptions. The indexed transcriptions have since been purged as well.

Hackers See Small Businesses as Easy Targets

This is an excellent article at ClarkHoward.com that should be required reading for all small business owners . http://bit.ly/2HRIY8

Hackers like to target small businesses because they don't have an IT department to watch over them. Most small business owners only call their computer guy after their network has been infected with trojans and have been compromised.

My company, AXICOM, has a low-cost service to monitor a company's security and so they don't get hacked. We are that someone to watch over small businesses.

Go to http://www.axicom.net/axiguard for more info.

5 Steps to a Problem Free PC

Below are five basics security steps that everyone should be following to protect their PCs.

1. Keep Your Antivirus Updated - There are two components to an antivirus system: the engine and the virus signature database. The engine needs to be updated every year so that it recognizes new methods of virus attack. The virus signature database similarly needs to be updated whenever new viruses or variants are discovered which is typically daily. Basically you need to buy antivirus each year or at least purchase maintenance support. The antivirus systems AXICOM recommends is Trend Micro or AVG (which is bundled with our AxiGuard PC maintenance and monitoring service).

2. Install a Firewall - The best protection against any kind of attack is a firewall. A proper firewall will block viruses, spyware, hackers, trojans, keyloggers and other malicious programs from the Internet. A router (Linksys, Netgear, or your DSL router) is NOT a firewall and offer little to no protection. We recommend SonicWall firewalls: prices range in price from $295 for SOHO or home office to over $9995 for large corporate office or school.

For mobile users, you should use the Windows firewall built into the operating system. The Windows firewall offers minimal protection (i.e., doesn't block viruses, spyware or hacker programs) but is better than nothing. Make sure that it's enabled when you are using public wi-fi networks.

3. Install Microsoft security patches - Security patches released by Microsoft typically on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. You can enable the Windows Automatic Update on your PC but it's prudent to check that it's working properly by running a weekly manual Windows Update. Often the automatic updates stop for one reason or another.

(Our AxiGuard service offers white-listed patch deployment which means we test and research the patches before installation to ensure they won't damage your PC. Plus we get alerted if your patches ever get out of date.)

4. Perform Weekly PC Maintenance - Although you may have automated systems that are supposed to update your antivirus and security patches, never rely on them. When a virus infects a PC, the first things it does is disable the antivirus, disable Windows updates, and turn off the firewall. So all these items need to be checked at least on a weekly basis.

• Verify that your antivirus definitions are up to date.
  
• Run a Windows Update to verify that it's working properly.
• Check that your firewall is enabled (Windows firewall) or updating properly (hardware firewall)
  
• Scan your PC for viruses, spyware and other malware.
• Backup your data to an external hard drive or check that your backup service is working properly.
  
• Delete your temp files and Internet cache then defrag your hard drive to increase performance.
  

(Our AxiGuard product continuously monitors your antivirus and Windows updates, scans for spyware and alerts our techs if your security is tampered with. Plus our AxiVault backup service will backup your data and our techs will monitor it for any failure.)

5. Be Careful Where you Browse - Just like you wouldn't wonder about in a bad part of town after dark, you should be very careful where you go on the Internet. Most adult websites, software piracy websites, and file and music sharing websites will infect your PC with malcious programs. It's best to stay on the well beaten path and avoid any website you aren't familiar with. This also means that you need to know where your kids are going on the Internet.