The Chromebook has been on the market since 2011. While back then many people scoffed at the idea of buying a laptop made predominantly for internet use, with the rise of cloud computing these days, it now looks like more of a viable option for businesses. So how do you know whether or not a Google Chromebook is right for your organization? Well, it all depends on your unique needs and circumstances. Let’s have a look.

Buy a Chromebook if you…

Are on a budget: With a range of models available between the prices of $199-$500, Chromebooks are incredibly affordable. That is far cheaper than any Apple laptop and more competitively priced than most PC offerings. So if budget is a concern, then consider a Chromebook.

Want a high-powered laptop: Just because Chromebooks are affordable, doesn’t mean they’re of less quality. In fact many Chromebook features are better or on par with their PC and Apple counterparts. Here are a few notable ones worth mentioning.

• Long battery life: When it comes to battery life and laptops, Chromebooks are among the best of the best. On average, a Chromebook can supply anywhere from 6-13 hours of battery life.
• Speed: Chromebooks boot up remarkably fast. Once you press the power button, your Chromebook can be ready to go in 8-20 seconds.
• Lightweight: While weight varies among the various Chromebooks on offer, most are incredibly lightweight and easy to pack with you when you’re on the go.
• Security and auto-updates: Not only is malware and virus protection baked into the Chrome OS, but with a Chromebook you’ll never have to worry about updates as they’re all taken care of automatically - silently in the background.

Are mobile and heavily internet reliant - With its long battery life, light weight and internet-friendliness, the Chromebook is perfect for the mobile workforce who need an easy to carry laptop to use primarily for staying connected to their employer’s business while away. Better yet, if your business is integrated with Google Apps for Work, you and your staff can even create documents and access your business’s data with a Chromebook.

Avoid a Chromebook if you...

Rely on desktop applications - As mentioned above, Chromebooks are meant to be used with the internet. Because of this, powerful desktop applications like Photoshop and advanced video editing apps are incompatible on it.

Work mostly without an internet connection - We’ve mentioned it several times already, but it’s worth mentioning again, DO NOT buy a Chromebook if most of your work is done offline. Even if you bought an entry-level Chromebook for $200 and feel like you got a great deal, it will be a useless piece of metal if you need it to complete offline work.

Are a Microsoft junkie - If you are heavily reliant on Microsoft products you may want to look elsewhere for a laptop. Google promotes the use of its own online suite of Office-like applications. And while they are similar to Microsoft products, they do lack some of the features you may love.

For those still on the fence about whether or not a Chromebook is the right choice for their business, it’s also worth noting that just last month Google announced they’ll be adding Android apps to Chromebooks. So if you’re already an Android phone or tablet user, later this year you’ll be able to use those same apps on your Chromebook.

Want to know more about Chromebooks and other laptop options? Our experts are here to help you make an educated purchase. Call us today, and we’ll be happy to share our wealth of information.

Whether you only need a dozen, or a hundred, the process of deciding on and acquiring software licenses can be very frustrating. Many of us had hoped that cloud computing and virtualization would alleviate some of these headaches. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet, which is why it’s important to understand all of your licensing options when deciding on a virtualized environment -- let’s take a look.

Why are licenses an issue?

Virtualization is a complex topic, so let’s have a quick review. Most people are starting to work the concept of cloud storage into their everyday lives. Think of virtualization as a cloud where your server(s) store their hardware capabilities and your network computers can pull from that cloud as needed.

In this scenario, let’s assume employee A and employee B have two identical desktop computers with barebones hardware. Employee A needs to perform some basic text editing while employee B needs an in-depth scan of your client database. With the right infrastructure management, both employees will connect to your business’ server for the necessary physical processing power and server-hosted software. That means employee A will request the appropriate amount of processing power to edit text (which is likely very little) from the server, while employee B requests a much larger chunk of RAM, processing and harddrive space for scanning the database.

Understand so far? Because it gets really tricky when we start asking how many licenses are required for the server-hosted software. Licensing models were originally based on the number of physical hard drives with installed copies. However, in a virtualized environment that’s not an accurate reflection of usage. Using the most recent platforms, administrators can divide up their CPU into as many virtual machines as the SMB requires.

What do current virtualized licensing models look like?

Sadly, the virtualization and software industries are still deciding what’s the best way to move forward. The very vendors that sell the software required to manage the creation of virtual machines and segmentation of your server disagree about which model to use.

The company behind the popular VMware software has switched to a per-virtual-machine model after a huge response from customers, while other powerhouse vendors like Oracle and Microsoft have stuck with the per-CPU-core model that is based on server hardware capacity.

In any software selection process there is almost always the option of open source software. Under the open source model there are no licenses and usage is free, and just last month, AT&T committed to virtualizing 75 percent of its office under the OpenStack cloud computing platform by 2020.

What should I do?

In the end, software license considerations and total cost of ownership calculations should be a huge factor in how you plan to virtualize your SMB. When discussing the possibility of an infrastructure migration with your IT services provider, make sure to ask about the advantages and disadvantages of different virtualization platforms compared with their licensing models. You may find that paying more for hardware-based models is worth it, or that open source platforms provide you with everything you need.

No matter which platform you choose, remember to list every piece of licensed software in your office. Find out which licenses you can keep, which ones you’ll need to update and most importantly what the license migration will cost you in the short and long run.

This might seem like too much to handle at first. The process of virtualizing your SMB alone is enough to have you reaching for the aspirin. By contacting us you can avoid the headache entirely; we’ll walk you through all of the steps necessary to guide your organization through this next step in modernizing your business model.

You may think that you hate slideshow-based presentations, but in reality you probably hate poorly designed content and overapplication of transition effects. The recent update to Google Slides may not have removed your most dreaded cliche, but they did add some truly innovative interactivity features. Let’s take a closer look at this great new feature.

What is Google Slides?

Google Slides is a free web-based presentation creator. You can create, edit, store and share slideshows via Google’s Drive client that allows for live collaboration and presenting across the internet. Although Slides is most functional when using online desktops, offline and mobile functionality have made it a formidable competitor to more expensive software from Microsoft.

With the most recent update, your mouse cursor even doubles as a presentation laser pointer!

Enabling the Q&A Feature

Earlier this month, Google added an important feature that allows presenters to interact with their audience via their mobile devices. To enable it, click the arrow directly next to the Present button in the upper left corner of the slideshow editor. Next, click the drop-down item marked “Presenter View”. After that you should have two windows open, one that displays your presentation in your original web browser and a smaller “Presenter” that displays a number of options. In the bottom of the "Presenter" screen there should be a Start New button for a Q&A session. If you’re a Google for Education or Google for Business user, you’ll have the option to restrict who can ask questions via the presenter window.

Getting the audience involved

After enabling the Q&A tool, a short and easy-to-type link will be shown at the top of every displayed slide. Audience members can navigate to this page in order to submit questions.

Audience members who open the page will see a simple screen with an “Ask a question…” dialogue on their mobile device. Loading the site will consider them an anonymous user unless they log into a Google account. If they’re logged in, their picture and name will be associated with any submitted questions. However, self-conscious members have the option to abstain from signing in, or they can check the “ask anonymously” box when submitting their question.

Answering participant questions

After a question has been submitted, it will be displayed in both the presenter window you have open, and the communal window displayed on the audience’s mobile site. This gives them the option to upvote or downvote questions submitted by other viewers. When you see a question you want to address, or has too many upvotes to ignore, you can click the Present button in your presenter window and the question will be displayed alongside the author as a new slide. Clicking Hide will take you back to the last slide to continue the rest of the presentation as normal.

If you’re running a presentation with a particularly large number of participants, ask anyone submitting a question to include their email address. The Q&A history can be reviewed under the Tools menu for following up with answers afterwards.

Keeping a presentation interesting and engaging could mean the difference between acquiring a new client and converting your conference room into a place for audience naps. Efficient use of Google Drive software can reinvigorate your collaboration and presentation workflows. Contact us for advice on all things Google in your office!

In this day and age almost every business employs some type of server management. If yours is hosted locally, temperature management could mean the difference between running smoothly and running into the ground. Understanding how to properly cool your servers prevents data loss and ensures the longevity of your hardware’s life.

How does temperature affect my servers?

Extreme temperature in server hardware can result in different forms of damage. Most SMBs see total failure as the most concerning outcome. A server that completely crashes for any reason results in costly data loss and service interruptions, but the unbiased advisory organization Uptime Institute warns about overheating that doesn’t result in total failure. Every 18 degrees higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit, hardware reliability decreases by 50%. This decrease in reliability can be just as, if not more, expensive for your hardware budget in the long run.

Cooling methods can’t just be implemented and forgotten, they must be closely monitored to ensure the health of your server hardware--short and long term. Options for temperature management range from simple low-budget solutions to expensive outsourced alternatives; determining your server management budget will greatly depend on what types of methods you intend to implement at your SMB.

Cooling methods

Which system you use to cool your server largely depends on how much power your hardware is using. The higher the watt, the harder it’s working. It will be easier to determine the scope of your temperature management needs when you have a thorough understanding of your power consumption.

PCWorld advises that simple conduction management is adequate for any equipment operating at less than 400 watts. This means simple solutions like positioning your server away from walls, low ceilings, cable clusters and anything else that can block hot air from dissipating naturally.

For watts between 400 and 2,000, strategic ventilation becomes a necessity. Adding passive ventilation is viable up to 700 watts, but fan assisted ventilation will be required above that up to 2,000 watts. With the increased power consumption, temperatures will rise and air movement needs to be more closely managed. At this stage simple vent and oscillating fans will suffice.

Anything higher than 2,000 watts needs to utilize dedicated cooling solutions. This means air-cooled units to actively reduce server room temperature. Depending on the size and arrangement of the space, a simple self-contained unit may be enough to reduce rising temperatures back into acceptable ranges. However, if you’re not sure, you should schedule a consultation with a vendor to consider more drastic cooling and monitoring methods.

Keeping your servers running at ideal temperatures means smoother data operations, lower hardware budgets and one less thing to worry about at your SMB. As your business continues to grow and develop, keep close tabs on increasing server loads--it could save you from devastating data loss. If you’d like more detailed advice about server management, or have any other questions about your hardware setup, contact us today.