ANTenna Blog -- June 28, 2009 - July 04, 2009 Archive

Massive Job Losses Don't Spare Small Businesses

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:53 PM ET | Jul 2, 2009

The national unemployment figures are in, and they stink. Really, really stink. And small businesses aren't doing much better.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Economics | HR

Microsoft Offers No Response On Response Point

Posted by Fredric Paul 06:51 PM ET | Jul 2, 2009

If you were wondering about the future of Microsoft's Response Point small business VoIP system, you can keep wondering. The system's future has been in doubt for months, and the company declined to clear up the confusion at a meeting with Voice over IP resellers this week.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Networking & Communications | Technology/Telecom

Small Businesses Hold Back On Tech Spending

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:43 AM ET | Jul 2, 2009

If you're a small business desperately trying to hold the line on your IT budget, you're not alone. A new CDW survey reveals that fewer SMBs expect technology budgets to improve in the next 6 months.

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Economics | IT

AT&T And CDW Offer Subsidized Netbooks To SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 07:37 PM ET | Jul 1, 2009

Wanna buy a netbook real cheap? How about $199? No problem. All you have to do is sign this little 2-year contract for 3G data services...

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Bargain Bin | Company Size: 1-49 | Hardware & Software | IT | Mobile | Networking & Communications

Cloud Computing: A Security Disaster Waiting To Happen?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:02 PM ET | Jul 1, 2009

Cloud computing is be the biggest risk the Internet has ever faced, according to one hacker. He went so far as to say that security problems in the Cloud may bring "an end to the Internet as we know it."

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Business & E-Business | Cloud Computing | Internet/Web | Security

How SMBs Can Build A Community - A Checklist

Posted by Fredric Paul 11:34 AM ET | Jul 1, 2009

Creating a community around your company or brand can help you connect with customers for marketing, support, and insight, but building a successful community isn't easy. Forrester Research has put together a checklist of what you need to help remove some of the guesswork.

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Social Networking

HP Access Discovers The Virtues of "Free"

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:03 AM ET | Jul 1, 2009

HP Access, the company's assistance program for small and midsize business, has dropped its $49 price tag and is now free to buyers of qualifying HP products. Ironically enough, at that price the program actually has some value.

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Bargain Bin | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Sales/Marketing

Dell's Adds Ultraportable Notebook To Its Vostro Line For SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:50 PM ET | Jun 30, 2009

Question: What's smaller than a notebook but bigger than a netbook? Answer: An ultraportable, like Dell's new 3.36-pound Vostro 1220, with a 12.1-inch screen.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Hardware & Software | Mobile

Linux Netbook Prices: How Low Can They Go?

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 04:03 PM ET | Jun 30, 2009

Some netbook vendors can't stop bad-mouthing Linux. But it's still the way to go if you want a low-priced, energy-efficient machine that is actually capable of doing useful work.

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Hardware & Software | Linux | Mobile | Open Source | Windows | bMighty

Social Networks Make Great Phishing Holes (And The Crooks Know It!)

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:12 PM ET | Jun 30, 2009

The overwhelming popularity of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks -- as well as the nature of their members' trust in them and their content -- is proving to be bonanza for phishers. So much so that social networking scams increased a stunning 241% between early 2008 and this year.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security | Social Networking | bMighty

Are SMBs Facing A Crisis Of Cloud Confidence?

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:53 AM ET | Jun 30, 2009

Cloud computing is often thought of as the perfect option for small businesses. But a new survey shows that small businesses share many of the cloud computing concerns of their larger competitors, including security, availability, and speed.

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Cloud Computing | Company Size: 1-49 | Internet/Web | Security

Online Sales Tax Brouhaha Hits More SMB Amazon Affiliates

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:34 PM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Amazon.com has dropped affiliate relationships with small businesses in North Carolina and Rhode Island as the states prepare to implement new laws requiring the company to collect online sales tax.

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Economics | Entrepreneurs | Finance/Accounting | Government | Internet/Web | Retail | Sales/Marketing

Cloud Computing... By The Hour

Posted by Fredric Paul 06:04 PM ET | Jun 29, 2009

It's easy to understand the need to for configurable cloud-computing resources. But does anyone really need to buy (rent?) cloud-computing capabilities on an hourly basis? SoftLayer thinks so.

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Cloud Computing

Small vs. Large: Amazon Explains How Companies Use Cloud Computing

Posted by Fredric Paul 05:12 PM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Cloud computing is often promoted as leveling the playing field between small businesses and large enterprises. But Andrew R. Jassy, senior vice president of Web services at Amazon, says that small companies use the cloud differently.

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Cloud Computing

Botnet Alert: 90% Of Email Now Spam

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:58 PM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Nine out of ten e-mails are now spam, according to the latest Symantec/MessageLabs Intelligence Report. And more than 83% of that spam is generated by botnets, relatively unaffected by large shutdowns of spam servers.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Messaging | Security

KACE Offers Mac Management Upgrade

Posted by Fredric Paul 11:02 AM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Apple Macintosh users like to believe that they use the best computers around. And maybe they do. But from an IT-management perspective, Macs in mixed environments have often been treated as red-headed step-children. The next versions of KACE's KBOX Systems Management Appliance aims to level the playing field with Mac-management tools on par with its Windows offerings.

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Apple | Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Company Size: 250-999 | Hardware & Software | IT | Windows

Adaptive Planning Says Challenging Economy Requires More Sophisticated Planning Tools

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:56 AM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Is the recession bottoming out or will things get worse? Is a comeback bounce around the corner, or are we looking at the dreaded "L-shaped" recovery where business remains stuck at a depressed level? More to the point, what is your company going to do about whatever scenario plays out?

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Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Company Size: 250-999 | Economics | Finance/Accounting | Sales/Marketing | Software-as-a-Service | Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev

NetGear Adds PoE Stackable Switches to Line

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 09:51 AM ET | Jun 29, 2009

Increasingly, small and medium businesses are using IP to collapse their voice and data networks. Rather than manage two autonomous networks, corporations can combine the two, which eases management functions, lowers costs, and increases efficiency. However, these new converged networks require additional capabilities, such as Power over Ethernet (PoE), so NetGear added that feature to its switches.

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Networking & Communications