Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. Last week was quite a busy week in terms of news, which was headlined by AVG Technologies announcing that it had acquired the business of LPI Level Platforms. I offered my own analysis here, and Harrybbb also provided his take on what MSPs need to consider as a result of the acquisition.
In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have been hard at work designing a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today: http://fall.smbnation.com/. For additional information on the new Web site and our fall conference, check out our blog post here.
Also, don’t forget to make your voice heard by taking our annual salary survey. Click here to complete our list of survey questions, which were again compiled with the assistance and expertise of Anurag Agrawal, CEO, Techaisle, our research partner on this project each year. Once the survey closes, the results will appear both on our Web site and as the cover story of the Q2 issue of our magazine.
Bonus: One respondent will receive a BlackBerry z10 phone! Please be sure to accurately fill out the short form at the bottom of the survey.
Please take some time to peruse a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week….let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!
1.) Blue Jeans 2.0 Includes Redesigned Interface, Easier Meeting Access: Two years after launching its video conferencing service, Blue Jeans Network last week introduced Blue Jeans 2.0. Loaded with significant enhancements, Blue Jeans 2.0 includes a redesigned interface (UI) with easier meeting access, enhanced content sharing, and superior in-meeting controls for the business user, as well as powerful new management, on-boarding, and customization capabilities for the IT administrator.
Continually focused on addressing the needs of both the business user and the IT administrator, Blue Jeans 2.0 amplifies services for both audiences. For business users, Blue Jeans provides ease of use, device flexibility, and quality of experience, which, as the company’s name implies, makes video collaboration comfortable, casual, and easy. For the IT administrator, Blue Jeans delivers easy onboarding tools, policy controls, security, and detailed reporting allowing them to support the ever growing demands of any-to-any video collaboration without sacrificing the ability to manage it effectively.
2.) Windstream Collaborates with Avaya on Managed UC Services: Windstream said that it is collaborating with Avaya to expand its managed Unified Communications (UC) service offerings to include Avaya Aura suite of communication solutions in a fully managed, cloud-based solution. By doing so, businesses will have access to features and functionality from advanced UC, mobile and desktop collaboration, to messaging and other applications – available in a scalable, subscription-based service.
This collaborative effort will provide customers access to company-wide, people-centric collaboration and support of fully unified communications and contact center solutions in a simple, flexible product offering, suited to meet the needs of small to mid-sized businesses. By bundling a service such as this, customers will be able to more easily implement unified communications and include services such as analog or VoIP lines, unified messaging, desktop video, and a variety of other mobility solutions.
3.) OKI Data Americas Expands Printer Series for Small Workgroups: OKI Data Americas announces the availability of the C831 Series of tabloid/A3 single function digital color printers. The C831 Series – including the C831n and C831dn – combines a feature set with advanced print speeds at a competitive acquisition cost paired with a low total cost of ownership. These printers are ideal for demanding small workgroups, delivering versatile printing capabilities and enhanced performance within a compact device.
The C831 Series builds off of the success of OKI’s award-winning C830 tabloid/A3 digital color printers, and offers users increased print speeds, longer consumable life, and improved maximum paper capacity. The product is backed by a one-year limited On-Site warranty2 and industry-leading five-year limited LED printhead warranty.
4.) Workbooks Recognized as High CRM Performer: Workbooks has been recognized as a High Performer by G2 Crowd, the trusted site for enterprise software reviews. G2 Crowd named Workbooks a High Performer in its Grid for CRM, which it released today for Summer 2013. The Grid by G2 Crowd helps businesses select the best CRM software based on insights aggregated from customer reviews and social data.
Workbooks achieved High Performer status thanks to the high satisfaction reported by its customers, who became G2 Crowd users and reviewed the Workbooks CRM product. In their reviews, Workbooks customers reported very high satisfaction in line with customer satisfaction expressed by users of CRM industry leader Salesforce.com.
5.) Ingram Micro’s Artizen Portfolio Aims to Simplify High-Performance Solutions: Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) is pleased to announce its exclusive Artizen portfolio of custom-built, high performance computing solutions are enabling U.S. channel partners to more easily and cost effectively address the market’s growing demand for greater computing power.
Originally introduced in limited release, the Artizen portfolio is now available to all Ingram Micro channel partners in the U.S. and includes fully-configured clusters, HPC and data center servers, purpose-built workstations and hardware integration and software installation services.
