CST has some non-profit clients and realize that they have limited budgets when it comes to upgrading equipment as well as software. By utilizing older equipment and integrating it into a PC upgrade can save added costs for the client.
Recently we were upgrading a POS (point-of–sale) system for a non-profit client in Hartford with new PCs. The newer PC's no longer come with the PS2 ports that were previously used for the keyboard and mouse connections and have been replaced with USB connections. The PS2 connection for the keyboard on the older PCs were used to connect the wedge for the scanner and a swipe-keyboard used for credit card transactions. With only USB connections, the client was faced with having to purchase new scanners and swipe-keyboards. The client was replacing 7 PC's which meant that they would have to spend an extra $500.00 per PC, a total of $3500.00 which was not budgeted for.
We were able to find a company that had a wedge converter for $50.00 which enables the keyboard to swipe the credit cards into the POS software correctly. This converter also works with the scanners. We were able to get OEM USB scanner cables to replace the wedges on some of the scanners. For the other scanners that the USB replacement cables were over $50.00, or the cable could not be replaced, we used the wedge converter. We were able to save the client around $400.00 per PC.
The same problem existed with the receipt printers. The newer PC's no longer come with a parallel printer port, and of course, the printers had parallel ports. Because the printer design allowed for the interface cards to be interchangeable, we were able to get USB cards to replace the existing parallel cards. The cards were $75.00 in comparison to $250-$300.00+ for a replacement printer, saving the client $1400.00.
There is always a chance that integrating older technology with newer will not work. A suggestion is to purchase one of what you need, test out all equipment with the software in a real work environment before making the full expenditure.
by- Rick Hendricks
By Dana Kerr
With hundreds of millions of downloads of Angry Birds, one would think that Rovio would do everything in its power to fight piracy.
But, that's not the case.
At the Midem conference in Cannes today, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed announced, "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day."
The Guardian reports that Hed was addressing an audience mainly from the music industry and said he looks to the music industry's mistakes in dealing with piracy. The chief lesson that Hed said he learned is that embracing pirates can attract new fans.
"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," he said. "If we lose that fan base, our business is done, but if we can grow that fan base, our business will grow."
Hed said that trying to sue pirates in court is "futile" and that Rovio would only do so when the Angry Bird brand was harmed or it its fans were deceived.
"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products," he said. "There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products."
This is one of the reasons why Rovio announced in November that China would be the first country to have Angry Birds retail stores. China is now Rovio's fastest-growing market--next to the U.S.--and the app developer said it hopes that these stores will generate more than $100 million in revenue this year.
Last month, Rovio also announced its plans to go public in 2013 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange--citing the Asian market's growth, as well as its "people and the money," in making its decision to be based there rather than the U.S.
Symantec urges users to disable pcAnywhere
Symantec is recommending that users of its pcAnywhere software disable the product following the theft of source code from the US computer security firm.
"At this time, Symantec recommends disabling the product until Symantec releases a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks," the Mountain View, California-based company said.
Symantec, in a technical white paper posted on the firm's website, said the vulnerability to pcAnywhere, which allows for remote PC to PC connections, is the result of a 2006 theft of source code by hackers.
"We believe that source code for the 2006-era versions of the following products was exposed: Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition; Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks (Norton Utilities and Norton GoBack); and pcAnywhere," Symantec said.
The only identified threat, however, is to pcAnywhere and not any of the Norton products.
"With this incident pcAnywhere customers have increased risk," Symantec said. "Malicious users with access to the source code have an increased ability to identify vulnerabilities and build new exploits."
Symantec's recommendation follows a threat this month by hackers in India to publish the stolen source code.
Over the holidays, colleagues, friends and even relatives all approached me and one of the first things they asked was, "How is your business doing?". Gripped by the ongoing fears of a double-dip recession, fledgling real estate, soaring gold prices and a continued lagging employment market, its a seriously good question.
It led me to think about our business and where we were in January 2011 and all the obstacles we had to face to make it a successful year. Training, innovation, dilligence, timing, response and delivery are a few of the main aspects CST had to focus on while remaining somewhat balanced where we didnt get too far ahead of ourselves. The short answer to the question of the year was "good", but when we step back and look at our accomplishments by growing in a banner-crappy economic year, I'd like to alter my answer to "Great".
Was it great because we broke sales records for the year? No. Was it great because we expanded operations 100%? No. Was it great because we can now afford to vacation for a month? No. [although this would be a "No" during ANY economy]. Actually, it was a great year @CST because we stuck to the gameplan by growing organically in servicing our clients; both old and new with exceptional professionalism and resolve while keeping focus on evolving technology solutions that we make daily for our clients. It was a great year because there was no downsizing at CST; a fact I'm most proud of because our staff is an extended family, who go to the mat for us every day; good or bad. Both technical and administrative staff is essential to stay in business for over 23 years and we're so luck and fortunate to have the team we have. You could have the best business certifications & partners, latest technology and all the sales glitter to get you through the door, but our staff is the staff you need to keep you inside those doors...for 10, 15 and even 20 years now.
It was also a great year because we do see light at the end of the tunnel..not just in IT network and services spending, but new and existing clients planning 2012 operations with a new optimistic approach that had been absent the last 3 years. I think one of the caviats in working with CST is that we stick with our clients through lean as well as good times. Personally, I believe you retain some of your best clients when they are down, need help and come to you. We worked with them every step of the way to not sacrifice service or quality or response and more importantly, we worked with them financially to help cut costs, ease budgets constraints and make concessions for months on cash-strapped clients. Every business goes through cycles and recessions and the ones with character and compassion are the one's that persevere.
This year, we look forward to new great things not just internally with new solutions from IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Lenovo and Hewlett Packard, but here at CST as well. From a new website and social media to new IT managed services products designed for Connecticut's SMB clients, CST is poised to embrace this year unlike any other. Although Wallingford, CT isnt exactly Silicon Valley in New England, I can confidently state our business, culture and character are well in tact and ready to deliver throughout 2012.
