Riverbank It management

The Palm Pre, due to be launched this summer, could become the next must-have gadget and a rival to the iPhone. It's a very attractive touch-screen phone, but unlike the iPhone it also features a Qwerty keyboard.

It's much better to see it than talk about it, so take a look the PC Pro video, then decide it's something you simply must have. 

You need to work from home, yet still be productive. You need to be able to work as effectively when you are away from the office as you can when you are in the office.

What technologies work well, are easy to use and reliable? The answer is that you have a range of options, starting with the simple and inexpensive, and moving up to highly secure remote access systems.

But working from home is about more than just technology. You also need to think about protecting your data, and managing and involving your team.

Where are you leaving your data? Could sensitive or confidential information be leaking out of your business through use of insecure USB data sticks? Your potential losses might not be as dramatic as MI6 or the British Council (see the news items below), but they could still have serious implications for your business.

 

British spy loses secrets in a handbag
A BRITISH agent has thrown the war against drug traffickers into chaos by leaving top secret information about covert operations on a bus in South America.

In a blunder that has cost taxpayers millions of pounds and put scores of lives at risk, the drugs liaison officer lost a [unencrypted] computer memory stick said to contain a list of undercover agents' names and details of more than five years of intelligence work.

So far this year the MoD has lost 28 laptop computers, plus 20 USB data sticks. There is no word on the key point of whether they were all encrypted.

Make sure all your laptops and USB data sticks are encrypted - the loss of reputation is too costly.

If you want all the details see report to parliament  and a press article in IT Pro magazine.

A report from Gartner, reported by IT Pro http://www.itpro.co.uk/610570/it-energy-use-dominated-by-pcs-and-peripherals, says that PCs account for 30% of the total IT energy use. This means that all businesses can make substantial savings by reducing their PC energy usage.

 

They suggest that companies start with an audit of their IT electricity consumption. If you are a Riverbank client ask for a free loan of our electricity usage meters that can tell you exactly what each device, and your entire office, is using. The results can be scary!

 

Then find out how to reduce your IT energy use. Start by reading the Riverbank guide to green IT.

In a bid to improve credit card and banking security, Visa is trialling a new credit card that incorporates a keypad and LCD screen. The owner enters their PIN number and the card generates a one-time code that can be used to verify online purchases and access to online banking facilities.

 

The card also has a second purpose because the one-time code could also be used to control remote access to company computer networks, providing companies with a corporate card and security device, all rolled into one.

PC Pro magazine is reporting that Windows 7 will be out in August, with a general release in October. No confirmation yet from Microsoft.

 

For most of us there is little excitement in an operating system; all it does is run the computer. But the operating system is the thing that a lot of us use almost all day every day - you probably spend more time with your operating system than you do with your family. So it's vital that it works well and provides rock-solid reliability. This is the promise of Windows 7. It will almost certainly be a nice product, but I still wouldn't rush to have version 1.0.

An overnight computer upgrade has left dozens of Tesco stores unable to operate because their tills didn't function. It shows that even the most organised company can encounter IT problems But it also illustrates a couple of broader issues.

 

Issue number one is that, behind the scenes, there is constant change. Things tend to work well as long as you don't change them. If it ain't broke don't fix it, and all that. With IT systems there is constant change; the need to add new features, to fix bugs or to plug security holes. It is this constant change that by definition limits the reliability of IT systems. The rate of change must decrease one day, but so far in this technological revolution there is no sign of it.

 

You need to be prepared in case swine flu does turn into a pandemic. There are two areas you need to consider to protect your business.