Since 1996 JustWorks has always delivered I.T. as a service. Our customers rent what they need, when they need it; and then change it when they need to change IT. As well as predictable cashflow, our customers get other advantages from choosing to rent like flexibility, greater management freedom and maintaining their strategic focus. So why should you rent your IT? Some of the more common business reasons to choose renting over buying are:

1. The need is unknown: either the quantity, the scale or the duration may change quickly.
2. The service is more important and more expensive than the parts, because the parts require specialized knowledge and resources to make them work, and keep them working properly.
3. When you can get a better solution, because you only need part of it.
4. The technology is changing very rapidly, so it is unlikely that you will depreciate the asset before it becomes obsolete.

When it comes to investing in computing for business today all of those reasons apply, and that makes renting the best decision today.

Return on I.T.

The challenge that purchasing puts up, is that the timescale for a purchase decision to be effective is longer (typically 4+ years, see chart) than any of the other factors affecting the decision. The effective returns generated by the assets, the rate of technical change, and steep fall off on asset values all make a decision to purchase I.T. now very difficult to justify.

Purchasing only comes together after 4 years

Coping with Change

A significant unknown for many businesses today is just how much of which kind of technology they are going to need, and for how long. Making a capital investment in a specific technology solution means being stuck with that for at least 3 years, probably 5 years. For most businesses now is a time to be as flexible, nimble and mobile as possible; this is not a good time to be stuck in one position.

Renting the right solution for today’s needs leaves a business free to adjust its strategy at short notice, based on changes in the market and changes in technology. Renting also allows much greater flexibility to scale up or down in response to changing conditions. Maybe there’s an opportunity to enter a new market but success is uncertain, or maybe there’s a blip in demand that may not last – these are situations where having access to technology infrastructure that can scale up and down is to your advantage.

More than the Sum of IT’s Parts

Investing in computing is so much more than buying a list of equipment and software licenses. The money you spend on I.T. is only worth it if the technology works for you. It’s not just buying the parts, it’s making them work together reliably to deliver your applications to your users, that makes the investment worthwhile. At JustWorks we have spent the last 15 years delivering fixed price I.T. solutions and we know how disciplined, skilled and experienced you have to be to make today’s technology work together as a seamless and reliable system.

When the services you need are more expensive than the parts, renting the whole solution makes so much more sense than buying. A JustWorks solution is delivered for a fixed fee that includes all the parts and licensing needed to make it work, and it’s guaranteed to work for that price with unlimited services. Rent from JustWorks and your investment is guaranteed to yield results, and you are not betting your money on some vendor’s marketing spiel.

More Bang for Your Buck

Many smaller businesses can really benefit from the same technologies that only much larger companies can afford, but they can’t justify the expense because of their size. This applies to having the breadth of skills in a team of I.T. professionals, as much as it does to being able to leverage large-scale I.T. infrastructure and management tools.

By renting your I.T. from JustWorks you are getting enterprise-class solutions at small business prices. In our datacenters your servers run on our massively-fault-tolerant, very-high-performance infrastructure that uses the same technologies, from the same vendors, in the same datacenters, that the world’s largest enterprises use. Our on-site JustWorks V systems incorporate features and tools that are only possible to integrate because of our Enterprise Partnerships with Dell and VMware.

On-site or in the cloud, you get more bang for your buck renting from JustWorks than you can buy.

Rapidly Changing Technology

Computing is the most rapidly evolving industry to ever exist. Disruptive breakthroughs continue to emerge, and businesses that can leverage the latest advances before their competitors are more profitable and grow faster.

In 2012 the world of business computing is in the midst of the most significant shake-up for a decade. The popularity of powerful phones, tablets and ultra-portable devices has changed the landscape for end users, mostly driven by Apple Computer’s emergence as a dominant force in the consumer technology market.

Your ability to adjust to, and take advantage of, these disruptive changes defines the competitive benefit your I.T. investment will give you. Renting your I.T. gives you the flexibility you need to make those adjustments.

 JustWorks: Full Service Contract Hire

Contact us today and find out how cost effective renting your I.T. could be for you. You will appreciate having the information.

Mobility & Flexibility

Nowadays being mobile and flexible are keys to business success. Being productive at home as well as in the office, on your iPad at the coffee shop as well as on your PC at your desk – these are not fanciful marketing pitches to get you to buy the latest gadget, they are real advantages that can serve the interests of your customers, your employees and you.

The reason why your “desktop” is important is because that is the “space” within which you have arranged all the tools that you need to do your job. Your email is there, the shared files you access regularly and the applications you use to manage the information on which your business depends. They are all there on that “desktop”, and in that space they are well integrated and proven to run reliably. And for pretty much every business today that “desktop” is on Microsoft Windows.

This is the challenge of this time: how do you take your Windows-based “desktop” with you everywhere you need to go? How do you maintain that super-efficient working space, in which everything just works and you have all the applications you need? When all you’re holding is an iPad, or when your computer at home is a Mac, or when your PC at home couldn’t possible support that integrated “desktop” you use for work, how do you remain productive? What you need is one desktop, always on, and accessible from everywhere, irrespective of what device you happen to be using at that time. What you need is an “everywhere desktop”.

Web apps don’t work everywhere

Even when you start using web applications instead of Windows apps (at JustWorks we are 90% on web apps) you find out that business-level web apps have at least one of these special requirements:

• a particular brand of web browser (commonly Internet Explorer is required for full functionality)
• security settings in the browser that allow the application to run properly, like pop-up blockers turned off and Trusted sites turned on
• plugins for the browser, so the application can interact with other applications or files on your desktop

These special requirements for web applications mean that being able to sit down and be productive at any old computer with a web browser is simply not a reality. You still need your specially configured and integrated “desktop”, on which all of the browsers you need (we use Chrome, IE and FireFox for different web apps) are all correctly configured and reliably integrated.

Everywhere Desktops from JustWorks Central

Making the idea of a desktop that follows you everywhere a reality is what we built JustWorks Central to do. At JustWorks Central (JWC) we build virtual “desktops”, running Windows, that are configured as business desktops. Your virtual desktop at JWC is not a “session” on Terminal Server or a Citrix server. A JWC “everywhere desktop” it is a fully-fledged, dedicated, isolated and managed virtual machine, running on high-performance, massively-redundant infrastructure, in a secure, carrier-grade datacenter with direct, very-high-speed connectivity to the Internet. This is the desktop of your dreams! Fast, reliable and always available from anywhere.

Your “everywhere desktop” at JustWorks Central sits in a highly secure environment, better protected than a PC under your desk ever could be, and yet still accessible by you from anywhere with Internet connectivity. You can use any PC, your cousin’s Mac or an iPad – you can even use your AppleTV to display your ‘everywhere desktop’ on an HDTV while you use your iPad as keyboard!

Using rock-solid technology to deliver business advantage is what we do at JustWorks – and we Make IT look Simple. If you and your company could benefit from having “everywhere desktops”, get a quote by emailing info@justworks.net now. We are also running a promotion during 2012 that could save you 50% off during the year.

Sign up for $2,012+ during 2012
and get a 50% discount for half of 2012.

We know everyone likes to get a good deal, so we are giving you a special opportunity in this special year to get an absolutely amazing deal from JustWorks. The sooner you start your services, the more this special offer is worth. At a minimum this offer is worth $5,000 for new customers who sign up in February!

We know you’re going to love our services and we want to prove it to you. So we are giving you a low cost way of getting on board, and the chance to save even more money on your I.T. bill during 2012!

Call us today, tell us what you need, and we will have an eQuote in your In Box within 24 hours.
866-JUSTWORKS, Option 1.

Conditions

• Must be a new JustWorks customer and sign our Master Services Agreement.
• Only valid on eQuotes accepted within 30 days.
• Customer must qualify for credit approval.
• Total monthly fixed fees before discount must exceed $2,012.
• 50% discount off list pricing effective on the second half of the remainder of 2012 (e.g. sign up in March and get 50% off September through December), or take a 20% discount for all months in 2012.
• Remaining period in the year is calculated from the month in which fixed fee billing starts. Evaluation and demo services provided at no charge do not count.
• Services must start before 11/1/2012.
• Discounts do not apply to labor rates.
• Offer subject to change without notice.
• Not valid where prohibited.

We have been using and recommending the Samsung devices for some time now, and there’s been a new addition to the Samsung PCoIP “zero” client lineup, so we though this would be a good time to review the options. Samsung calls these devices “PCoIP Cloud Displays” and you can get full details at their web site.

NC220

This new model has a 22″ LED display which uses less power, 0W when sleeping and 35W+ when in use. It uses innovative LED Back Light Unit (BLU) technology which saves energy—up to 40% compared to conventional CCFL screens. What’s even better is this LED panel is halogen- and mercury-free, so you’ll help conserve our planet’s natural resources and reduce carbon emissions

The NC220 has an external power supply, so that means having a brick lying around somewhere between the power socket and the device.

General pricing on the NC220 is around $500. Given that this is not much more than the pricing for NC190, we expect the NC190 to be phased out soon.

NC190 and NC240

These are the two original models from Samsumg and both use LCD displays. The NC190 has a 19″ display and sells for about $450 new (retail $509), and the NC240 is a 24″ model that sells for about $550 new (retail $599).

These older models have internal power supplies, which keeps things neat and tidy. But they consume more power (2W+ at sleep and 35/67W when being used) than their newer LED BLU companion.

All Models

All of these zero clients can only be used to connect to virtual desktops in a VMware View environment, like JustWorks Central. They have no operating system, no local storage and use a hardware PCoIP chip to control the remote display of your virtual desktop – that’s why we call them “zero” clients. This means that they are very secure (no data left on the device, ever) and performance is excellent over a wide variety of bandwidth conditions.

When you buy one of these “zero” clients you need to supply your own keyboard and mouse. We have tested the Logitech Bluetooth keyboard/mouse packages that come with one of those little USB stubs, and they work just as well as standard USB-cabled keyboards and mice. All models have 4 USB ports and full USB device support, so users can access a wide range of USB peripheral devices directly through the client, enhancing connectivity whilst maintaining the security of the system.

Our experience is that microphones and USB connections to smart phones (iPhones, Blackberrys etc.) work fine, but video cameras do not work well yet – so no Skype video from one of these devices, but you can still do Skype voice calls.

Additional ports allow for attaching external speakers and second monitors for multi-display setups.

A 130mm height adjustable stand, with tilt and swivel, allow for optimal ergonomic placement on your work surface.

A 3 year warranty is standard on all models.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Just before the holidays VMware released “Tech Preview” versions of their Apple Mac OSX and Android clients for VMware View virtual desktop environments.

You can get them from this link if you have a VMware login, otherwise contact us and we can help you.

Native OSX with PCoIP

The new Mac client for View is a native OSX application, and no longer requires the Microsoft Remote Desktop client to be installed as well. It’s very simple, free of clutter, and runs really well in our tests so far. Importantly, this new client supports the PCoIP protocol to deliver the best possible end user experience even when the bandwidth available is variable.

Updated iPad app

Also a few days before the holidays VMware updated their iPad app for View. The app is free from Apple’s AppStore and now allows you to send your video output to a high resolution screen (using iPad “mirroring”), while the iPad screen becomes a large keyboard complete with trackpad and right/left-click mouse buttons. As a possible alternative to a zero client (like the ones from Samsung that we use and recommend), you could have an HD TV and an Apple TV on your desk instead!

To find out more about these new clients or how using virtual desktops can greatly simply your IT contact us and we will happily give you a login to our demo View environment.

Join us at one of our regular Executive Seminars to find out more about “cloud computing” and how it applies to your business.

What does “cloud computing” really mean?

• How does “cloud computing” change the way I run my business?
• What do I need to start preparing for, if I want to move to the “cloud”?
• What are the challenges I can expect to face?
• When will the “cloud” be ready for me?

JustWorks hosts our exclusive lunch & learn seminars in San Jose and around the Bay area. The event is free of charge, no obligations, just education; and is open to business leaders and managers in the Bay Area.

Call us today and reserve your space at this event, while space lasts.
Lunch & parking is included.

For help on how to change your password on your phone/mobile device use these links to helpful online articles:
Apple, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile.

Changing  your password on your PC in the office.

Windows  XP and Windows 7:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Windows Security dialog box
2. Click Change Password to get to the Change Password dialog box
3. Input your current password into the Old Password text box
4. Input the desired new password into the New Password text box and type  it again into the Confirm New Password text box.
5. Click OK.

Your  password is now changed.

Changing your password through Outlook Web  Access

There are times when you need  to change the domain password, that could be when you are traveling or when  working remotely. Within the network there are many ways to change the  password, but from outside the network the options are limited. Outlook Web  Access offers an option to change the password through  the web.

To change your password within your Outlook Web Access page, click on Options on the upper right (or left  side panel  for older versions), then Settings on the left and Password icon in the ribbon.

You will be asked for your current password and then your new password twice.

Click  the Save button and that  will change your network/domain/email password.

National & Local Recycling Programs

• Computer Take Back
  Nationwide up to date information on ewaste recycling and Responsible Recyclers in your area.
• Recycle Works
  For the San Mateo and Santa Clara county. (888) 442-2666
• SVTC Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
  Information and recycling for the Silicon Valley. (408)287-670

Manufacturer Recycling Programs

• Dell Exchange
  (800) 915-3355
• HP Product Recycling
• IBM PC Recycling Service
  (888) SHOP-IBM (746-7426)
• Apple
• Epson
• Canon

Web sites can now be collaboration tools accessible to, and editable by, non-technical people in any organization. The WordPress platform was originally developed to support bloggers but has now evolved into elegantly simple web publishing system that goes way beyond blogging. WordPress has a built in administration interface that allows non-web-savvy people to contribute new information and maintain existing web pages without fear of messing up the rest of the site. Different users can different access, allowing some to change the look and feel of the entire site in minutes and others only to add new articles to the News section, for instance.

Part of our intention when we embarked on this new web site was to develop our own understanding of this new paradigm in web design, so that we can bring that expertise to bear in helping our customers make the same transition when they want to. We have used our learning experience to create a new WordPress server template so that our customers can have their new WordPress web server up and running in hours instead of weeks – let us know if you’d like one added to your JustWorks solution.

Amongst many interactive features of a WordPress site is the ability to get feedback by allowing visitors to add comments to your site – so if you’d like to give us any feedback on our new site just scroll to the bottom and add your comments. Thanks!