ANTenna Blog -- March 29, 2009 - April 04, 2009 Archive

More Mailicious Sites Than Ever. More On The Way.

Posted by Keith Ferrell 02:30 PM ET | Apr 3, 2009

The number of malicious sites detected in March jumped by almost 200% over February, according to a new report from MessageLabs. The increase consists primarily image-based malware: time to warn your employees (and everybody else) about the risks of image-sharing sites, including social nets.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security

Is Microsoft's 'Foundation' Really As Cheap As It Sounds?

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 12:55 PM ET | Apr 2, 2009

Microsoft's latest server offering is priced to compete against Linux in the small-biz market. Some companies, however, might find a few devils in the details.

Comments(1)
Hardware & Software | IT | Linux | Windows

Home Worker Security Is Business Security

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:09 PM ET | Apr 2, 2009

The news that IBM will no longer reimburse home-based workers for their Internet connections makes you wonder if Big Blue is going to make home-workers and telecommuters responsible for their own security. And that raises the question of how far you should go to make sure your off-site employees are using sound security sound security practices and procedures.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | IT | Operations | Security

Crisis Survival Kit: 5 Ways To Fund Your Business

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 10:59 AM ET | Apr 2, 2009

Need a cash infusion? You can forget about banks or VCs? Those traditional funding sources are strapped or stingy or both. If your businesses needs a significant investment to tap a new market, lock down the one you have, or upgrade equipment, you'll need to get creative.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Entrepreneurs | Finance/Banking/Insurance | Start-Ups | Tips

Dell Refreshes Its Vostro SMB Notebooks -- Adds Free Videoconferencing

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:18 AM ET | Apr 2, 2009

As Dell introduces its new Vostro laptops for small businesses today, the company is touting an interesting extra: buy the optional Webcam, and get free Webcam and video chat software pre-installed.

Comment on this blog entry
Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Hardware & Software | Mobile

GhostNet: Today The Dalai Lama, Tomorrow Your Company?

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 11:24 AM ET | Apr 1, 2009

Never mind Conficker. If you're looking for a good reason to consider alternatives to Windows, its name is GhostNet.

Comments(1)
Apple | Internet/Web | Linux | Linux | Open Source | Windows

Microsoft's Simple Server For SMBs

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 10:58 AM ET | Apr 1, 2009

With Windows Server Foundation, Microsoft makes a bid for the 15-employee and smaller business server market and gives chase to the 70% of SMBs that don't have a server.

Comment on this blog entry
Company Size: 1-49 | Hardware & Software | Server How-To | Windows

Conficker Communicates With Command; Conficker Media Communicators Miss An Opportunity

Posted by Keith Ferrell 09:54 AM ET | Apr 1, 2009

As generally anticipated in the tech press, the Conficker worm communicated with its controllers, downloading new instructions, but otherwise failing to cause problems. Problems, though, were what many in the mainstream press were looking for, and therein lies a problem itself.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | IT | Security | bMighty

Zoho Updates Its Free Chat Application

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:05 AM ET | Apr 1, 2009

At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco today, Zoho is upgrading the free chat component of its suite of online business and productivity applications. Zoho Chat 2.0 supports multiple instant messaging protocols and integrates into the entire Zoho suite.

Comment on this blog entry
Cloud Computing | Services | Social Networking | Software-as-a-Service

MySpace-CitySearch Deal Puts More Pressure On Retail Businesses

Posted by Fredric Paul 10:38 PM ET | Mar 31, 2009

Retailers, restaurants, and other businesses who serve the public are already scrambling to figure out how to deal with online review sites like Yelp, Angie's List, TripAdvisor, and others. Now social networking giant MySpace has upped the ante by cutting a deal with Citysearch.

Comment on this blog entry
Healthcare | Hospitality | Internet/Web | Professional/Creative Services | Retail | Social Networking | Web 2.0

Making Sense of Network and Systems Management Data

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 10:07 AM ET | Mar 31, 2009

Small and medium businesses now have a wide variety of tools to collect network and systems management information. The challenge has become sifting through all of that data to pinpoint the source of any bottlenecks. One vendor has tried to address that problem.

Comment on this blog entry
Management

Keep 'Deleted' Data From Coming Back To Haunt You

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 09:16 AM ET | Mar 31, 2009

On a typical PC, the "delete" button is a joke. Here's how to make sure you and your business don't end up as the punch line.

Comment on this blog entry
Hardware & Software | How-To | Open Source | Security

What Intel's Nehalem Servers Mean To SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:59 AM ET | Mar 31, 2009

It might seem easy to dismiss Intel's new Xeon 5500 Series processors (code-named Nahelem) as expensive toys for high-performance computing and large enterprises. But despite the launch's concentration on big companies, the new chips also promise to deliver faster, more energy-efficient options at small-business-friendly prices.

Comment on this blog entry
Hardware & Software

Cisco Opens Up Unified Communications And Telepresence To Multivendor Solutions

Posted by Fredric Paul 12:55 AM ET | Mar 31, 2009

Lack of interopability between vendors' systems has long been a thorn in the side of both Unified Communications and Telepresence. At VoiceCon this week, though, Cisco is moving to let its products work better with vendors -- and that could help spur interest in both technologies, especially among smaller companies.

Comments(1)
Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Networking & Communications | Unified Communications

BorderWare: Dynamic Inspection Tackles Bad Site Explosion

Posted by Keith Ferrell 06:01 PM ET | Mar 30, 2009

URL filters, however robust, wall off only a small per centage of malware sites and inappropriate content. How do you keep your employees -- and your business -- from being tagged by the larger universe of dangerous sites? Filtering on the fly is BorderWare's solution.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security

Avaya Vies for Key VoIP Software Position

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 03:32 PM ET | Mar 30, 2009

Since going private in 2007, Avaya has made it clear that the company’s future success would stem more from value added software than on its Voice over IP (VoIP) hardware. One of the key pieces in that transformation is an application designed to make different vendors’ voice systems work together.

Comment on this blog entry
Unified Communications

Will Buying New Nehalem Servers Save Your Business Money?

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 03:01 PM ET | Mar 30, 2009

Spending more to spend less? That's HPs claim for the new line of ProLiant G6 rack, blade, and tower servers. But do Nehalem processors, improved power management, enhanced automation, and seductive financing make it so?

Comment on this blog entry
Green Business | Hardware & Software | IT | Operations

Voice System Data Gives SMBs Decision-Making Power

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 11:33 AM ET | Mar 30, 2009

Mitel's new business dashboard offers small and midsize businesses real-time call reporting data that can enable your business to make smarter, faster, and cheaper choices.

Comment on this blog entry
Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Networking & Communications | Operations | Sales/Marketing | Technology/Telecom