Mashed Articles

Writen by Joshua Feinberg

Although there are really no major compatibility issues to consider between PCs and monitors, most PC vendors offer good deals on monitors purchased at the same time as desktop PCs. In this article, we’ll assume you are IT consultants who recommend brand name PC products to your clients.

IT Consultants: What Are You or Your Clients Actually Paying?

For due diligence, IT consultants should always price the PC with and without the monitor, to see what you or your clients are actually paying. Then look to see whether that monitor price is in line with purchasing a comparable monitor separate from the PC. However, besides the purchase price, there are some even greater soft cost considerations.

When purchasing the monitor along with a desktop PC, the monitor warranty generally is incorporated into any on-site warranty coverage with the PC. That means, if a client’s monitor needs replacement during the on-site warranty period, the PC vendor usually will arrange to cross-ship a replacement monitor.

IT Consultants: Know The Benefits of Warranties

This provides a few very compelling benefits.

• No need to store and retain packing materials. Your clients don’t have to worry that they’ve thrown away the box and packing materials for the monitor. There’s no need to purchase return shipping supplies as they’ll be able to return the broken monitor in the same box their replacement comes in.

• Save time with freight logistics. Your clients doesn’t have to locate a shipping outlet. In most cases, the PC vendor in-cludes return shipping labels (call tags) for a specific freight carrier – generally the same freight carrier used for shipping the replacement to them.

• Save money on freight costs — If the PC vendor supplies return shipping labels, your client won’t have to pay for return freight. Depending on the monitor size, origination and destination shipping points, this easily can save your client $25 or more.

While the third bullet point affects your clients’ direct out-of-pocket costs, the first two items can be labor-intensive chores for you or your clients’ internal computer administrators (“internal gurus”).

So, buying a monitor along with a PC, and getting both purchases folded into on-site warranty coverage, easily can save a half-hour to an hour (or more) every time a monitor needs replacement.

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Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, helps computer consulting businesses get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for your free access to these field-tested, proven business strategies on the Computer Consulting 101 Blog.

Industry applauds major breakthrough with revolutionary ITU technology

The first global standard offering an in-home, high-speed network capable of delivering room-to-room HDTV has been agreed by ITU.

In apress release from ITU the standard, published under the G.hn banner, promises high quality multimedia over power, coaxial, phone and other home network wiring. It will give up to 20 times the throughput of existing wireless technologies and three times that of existing wired technologies.

The specifications will be used by chip manufacturers to build transceivers that can be incorporated into set-top boxes, residential gateways, home computers, home audio systems, DVD players, TVs or any other device that might be connected to a network now or in the future. Experts say that silicon companies will immediately start incorporating the specifications into transceivers, implying that G.hn-compliant products could be on the market as early as 2010.

Joyce Putscher, Principal Analyst at market research firm In-Stat, said, “Service operators have been looking for an international standard that encompasses multiple existing-wire mediums for video distribution. G.hn meets that requirement and it seems clear that with significant industry backing from service providers, semiconductor and equipment vendors, and the fast rate at which the process is moving to achieve a standard, we will see first equipment by 2010.”

“There’s a clear market need for a unified networking approach,” said Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “With G.hn, every wire in every home around the world can become part of a home entertainment network. This will enable seamless communication between computers, HDTVs and telephones over existing wires. I expect that this exciting new technology will also foster innovations such as energy efficient smart appliances, home automation and telemedicine devices.”

Work on G.hn was started at the instigation of service providers looking to extend broadband and video services in the home. As well as its offer of greater speed, it may be bundled as complementary to Wi-Fi where G.hn offers greater coverage, extending, for example, to areas of a house where Wi-Fi does not reach.

The standard has achieved remarkable industry backing even before its publication. An industry group — the HomeGrid Forum — has been formed specifically to back G.hn. The goal of HomeGrid Forum is to market G.hn worldwide and to create a compliance and interoperability programme to ensure that products based on the standard will operate in any home around the world.

Other industry analysts backing the standard include Michael Wolf, Research Director at ABI Research. “If G.hn sees integration into carrier devices by 2010, we expect that some 42 million G.hn-compliant nodes will ship in 2013 in devices such as set-top boxes, residential gateways and other service provider CPE hardware,” Wolf said.

“A single, unified technology for multimedia networks over power lines, coaxial cable, and phone lines has the potential to enable simple, easy-to-use networking devices in the home,” said Kurt Scherf, analyst with market analyst firm Parks Associates. “We believe ITU’s work is an important step towards eliminating fragmentation in the industry and in achieving the vision of a networked home.”

Recommendation ITU-T G.9960 focuses on the physical or PHY layer, giving the data bit rate and quality of service necessary for triple-play residential services as well as business-type services delivered over xDSL, PON, or other access technology. In step with ITU guidelines on new standards development, several power saving modes have been incorporated. Ongoing work is focused on the media access control (MAC) layer.

Writen by Travis Fisher

Organizations in our region have been steadily adopting wireless networking over the past few years, and many more businesses will take the leap to wireless over the course of 2006. By implementing a wireless network, your employees can do their job more efficiently and be more productive. For just about every business, there is an opportunity to use a wireless network to become more competitive in the marketplace.

Many businesses have installed wireless access points (WAPs) in order to realize various benefits, but my experience has shown that relatively few organizations understand the importance of properly securing their wireless network. If an attacker gains wireless access to your network, they are behind your firewall and there is very little protection available to you. It is not uncommon to find unsecured networks in our region, and I frequently see access points in use that are not up to today’s security standards. When you add in the number of improperly configured WAPs, it becomes apparent that our region has a lot of room for improvement.

When evaluating your need for wireless security, you should ask yourself these four questions: How valuable is your data and how sensitive is it? What regulations are your company obligated to meet regarding data privacy? How much traffic passes by your office? Are there any potentially attractive targets near you? In many instances a company’s wireless security policy is like failing to have a front door to your house. Anybody walking by can peek in to see your valuables, and easily walk in to take whatever they want.

I won’t get into the technical aspects regarding how wireless networks can be attacked and the methods that can be employed to make them more secure, but I can offer an overview of the three wireless security standards and how they compare to each other to give you an idea of where you stand. Just compare the information present on the access point, its original box, or the manufacturer’s web site to learn what your WAP is capable of.

The first security standard developed for WAPs is known as WEP (wired equivalent privacy). Older WAPs and less savvy network administrators will employ this method for protecting a wireless network. A pre-shared key is the best defense of WEP. Most people do not change the WEP key frequently which is like having the same password for all users on your network. WEP can be easily defeated by an inexperienced hacker using simple tools, making this a poor security choice. If your access point is more than two years old, it probably uses WEP and should be replaced immediately. Using the front door analogy, WEP is like locking your screen door, and giving every person who visits the house a key. People can easily peek inside, too many people have a key to open the lock, and an intruder could just cut a hole in the screen to unlock the door from the inside.

To address the problems inherent with WEP, the wireless industry developed a standard known as WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). WPA requires the use of passphrases (long passwords), and a unique encryption key for each user that frequently changes. Other technological improvements were made to improve security, as well. WPA was designed to be backwards compatible with WEP access cards, giving administrators an affordable upgrade path to improved security. WPA is like installing a solid front door to your house, and using the lock on the doorknob. Intruders can’t peek inside and it is more difficult for them to gain entry to your house.

WPA has not yet been hacked, but it’s only a matter of time. To address this reality the wireless industry has just released the WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) standard, sometimes referred to as 802.11i. WPA2 improves upon WPA by adding user authentication with a server and using stronger encryption. Windows XP just began supporting WPA2 in May. A properly configured WPA2 network satisfies US Government security standards, making them a necessity for regulated businesses in the medical and financial industries. WPA2 protection is like using the deadbolt of your door and an intercom to verify the visitor’s identity before letting them inside.

If you are about to purchase a new access point, it should definitely support the WPA2 standard. If you must to use a WAP that utilizes WEP or WPA standards, there are still methods that will help you create a more secure network. Getting the most out of an inferior technology is sometimes better than failing to properly use a new one. For specific information on securing your network, give me a call and we can develop a security policy created to meet your individual needs.

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