CCC is short for ‘Customer Computing Configurator’, and in many ways this tool is the holy grail of systems documentation that we have been seeking everywhere, until now…

Click to see sample CCC report in PDF

JustWorks has leveraged our many years of IT experience, combined that with the new world of online web applications, and produced the ultimate computing environment documentation tools.

The CCC associates your applications and your network services with the types of users you define. The CCC is part of the JustWorks Documentation family of tools that also includes the IPAM and PDOT databases – see the bottom of this post for a table showing where these tools fit into the overal picture.

Quality, Security and Consistency

To really get IT right, and keep your data secured, it is vital that your systems, your applications and your network services are properly managed. And you can’t manage what you can’t measure, so proper documentation is essential; for instance, the CCC tells you what needs to be done every time you add or remove a user/machine from your network.

We take quality seriously at JustWorks, and the development of the CCC is testament to our commitment to the security of our customers’ systems.

Types

A Type of user is most commonly defined as being a member of a Department in your organization, like “Accounting”. You can also define user types for any case that’s relevant to your business, maybe you have “Remote Sales” people and some “Office Sales” people. Any user or machine that represents a unique combination of network services and applications is created as a Type, and you can have as many Types as you like

The when you need to add a user or a machine, all you have to do is specify the Type, and the CCC automatically assembles a list of the applications and network services that will be required, as well as the Tools that will will be needed to distribute the applications or services, and the Licensing that will be needed!

Finally, getting all the right applications and services in place, correct, first time is possible!

Applications

For each application in use by your organization you can define the requirements:

• The kind of installation needed
• The licensing model in use at your company
• The tool used to install the app
• A Network service on which this Application is dependent
• Even a link to a KnowledgeBase article in the JustWorks Helpdesk system

Then you can define which Types of users should get this application, or you can specify that everyone gets it. And when we say “you”, what we really mean is we, JustWorks, will do all the heavy lifting for you: you just tell us who gets what, and we will do the rest.

Services

Network Services describe features and access rights that a specific user Type needs; such as SSL VPN remote access, or rights to a shared Management folder. Services are also used to link online web applications to specific user Types, so even when there is no “application” to install, you still get reminded to setup the user in the online system.

Services can be assigned to multiple user Types, or simply flagged as required for all users or machines.

JustWorks Documentation Stack

To match the natural structure of computing, JustWorks has developed a documentation system that covers the complete picture – from physical cabling to application deployment.

Many years ago the Open Systems Interconnection effort at the International Organisation for Standardisation developed a 7-layer model to describe computing systems: Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Here is a table showing where the JustWorks documentation tools fit into that model.

Thousands of businesses and organizations have applications that still require Windows 2000 to run. For some the cost of upgrading the application to a version that supports newer operating systems is prohibitive, for others the time and effort required to rewrite their applications to run on a newer operating system is taking longer than planned. Whatever the reason, the fact is that these are often core, critical applications and they need to be kept running.

Stuck on old hardware

The situation is complicated by the difficulty of getting old operating systems to install onto new hardware; often there are no drivers to support the more modern chipsets and peripherals built into new computers. So old operating systems tend to be left running on old hardware, further compounding the problem and increasing the chance of a disastrous failure.

No cloud for old men

Moving these old, legacy servers and their applications off their old hardware and into the cloud turns out to be more difficult than you might have thought. Not because the technology to do so is too complex, but because the large cloud vendors need to standardize their infrastructure and their services, so they cannot offer cloud services tailored to a single business or organization. As an example, Amazon Web Services EC2 only supports Windows Server 2003 and 2008.

Custom clouds for unique businesses

JustWorks Central provides a boutique cloud platform that allows our customers to define their needs very precisely, and get just the right cloud, built just for them. We can support any operating system that runs on VMware, and that means any of the following, to name just a few:

• Windows 2000, NT
• Windows 95, 98
• Windows 3.1, MS-DOS, OS/2
• Windows Vista, XP, 7
• Windows 2003
• Windows 2008, R2
• Red Hat
• Ubuntu
• NetWare 5, 6
• Apple OSX

So if you have an old Windows server that needs a new home, JustWorks Central is the 5 star hotel it deserves at the budget price you want.

From your old hardware to our new cloud

JustWorks services include the ability to ‘scrape’ your old Windows 2000 server off the old hardware it is running on now, and convert it into a virtual machine that will run happily on our cloud infrastructure. And because we use VMware standards, your new old server is fully transportable – take it to any vCloud you like, or even bring it back in house next year!

Your cloud, built just for you

Find out more about how a JustWorks Central cloud built just for you can improve your business’ return on IT and deliver the most reliable, hassle-free platform for your applications, old and new! Call us today.

We have just become acquainted with a great new e-waste organization, GreenCitizen, and want to pass the information on.

GreenCitizen is based in San Francisco, with four Eco Centers located around the Bay Area: San Francisco, Palo Alto, Burlingame and Berkeley. You can drop off your e-waste at these Eco Centers any time you like.

To help ensure that any data on your hard drives is handled as securely as possible, GreenCitizen offers hard disk destruction services at all of their Eco-Centers. This three-step process starts by tracking each drive down to the serial number. Once tracked, hard disks are crushed using a Department of Defense standard hard disk crusher and then shredded in a certified hard disk destroyer. Upon completion of this process, GreenCitizen will send you a certificate confirming the successful destruction of all drives. When it comes to data security, you can never be too safe - GreenCitizen can help put your concerns to rest!

If you have more than 10 items ready to go to e-waste, Green Citizen will come and pick up from you. Just fill out their form online, or call Kevin Landers on 415.287.0000 x102 or email to pickup@greencitizen.com.

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.