So is it good? Well the simple answer is yes, its brilliant, and I’m not just saying that because we resell it. Let’s be honest, SharePoint only costs €4.50 per user per month and our average client has roughly 30 seats, so it’s not really something that we will retire off! But it is something every business should have. For me, it gives me a central place to store templates, all our files (we don’t use a file server anymore) and for me to be able to communicate messages to departments on a regular basis. But let me talk about some of the features that make it great.

1. Document Management:
   • Version History: SharePoint allows you to store all your documents within it. But every time you open and save a document, SharePoint keeps both versions. Therefore you can look up “Version History” and view every version of a document right back to the day it was created. You can also see who changed it, on what date and what changes were made.
   • Mail a link: So instead of you emailing documents for review with your colleagues, you can now just email a link to what you are doing and the other person can open it, edit the document and save it. The document never leaves SharePoint so there is no second copy created and you always know you are on the latest version
   • Alert Me: My favourite feature. If multiple people are working on the same documents they can have alerts put in so that when someone makes a change or saves a new version, everyone can get an alert to say it has changed. This speeds up the link between people and speeds up the completion of documents
2. Announcements: I can, under each company division, put in announcements. For example in the Sales section I can put in Company Targets and progress against the target. As everyone uses the system everyday it’s always in the forefront of what they see, which does have a real impact on sales and sales performance.
3. Access from anywhere. I am away in Canada at the moment and I can work as if I’m in the office. In fact, as I have a 100mb broadband connection here I’m probably even faster but I don’t notice a difference as its fast even on slow connections.
4. Backup: As a business owner, I can sleep very well at night knowing Microsoft have my data secure and I can leave them to worry about backup.

What’s not to love?

Kevin O’Loughlin – MD, Nostra Systems

Many people have different phones for different reasons. For business however I use a Blackberry Storm 9810. People often ask me, “Why?” Well the answer is simple, in a complex way!

Let’s start with the basic and most obvious one – It has a longer battery life than most other smart phones…. But that wouldn’t make me stick with it!

The reason I do continue to use it is, its email management is superb, really brilliant! It allows me to see who I have replied to and stores the email in my computer sent items. Email arrives on my phone about 5 seconds before it hits my PC! I have multiple email accounts and the system keeps them all completely separate.

Secondly and probably most importantly, it has a full keyboard. People often say “I prefer the apple keypad”, however it’s nowhere near as fast as a physical keyboard. I am much more inclined to send long emails through my Blackberry and leave my laptop off, than I was with my iPhone.

There are no email settings, so you as a user can’t really mess it up. That’s nice.

Browsing is shockingly bad, I mean shocking, so therefore I don’t use it. I see this as a positive though, because I’m far less distracted and I get more work done.

If I ever need to update my phone, it saves my settings and pulls them back wirelessly when the upgrade is done, without even asking me.

Blackberry Messenger, I love it, lets me chat to my buddies all over the world at no cost to any of us.

So should you buy one? Well up until last night, I would have said yes, but now I have doubt, a very close friend of mine and a self-confessed Gadget lover showed me the Nokia 800 Windows Phone. I have had one on my desk for the past month but I haven’t tried it. She sold it very well so I will try it and report back. Hopefully it is a mammoth improvement on the first Windows 7 phone.

Kevin O’Loughlin – MD, Nostra Systems

With the launch of Microsoft Office 365 fast approaching, Nostra has decided to take the initiative to prepare people for its arrival. To do this we have set up a Cloud Services section. This page will provide you with information on what Office 365 is capable of, and how Nostra can help you and your company during your transition to Office 365.

I wanted to bring this to your attention as we have received a number of calls from Irish consumers during the past few weeks regarding this scam, which is on-going and active in the Irish marketplace. Microsoft Ireland and the National Consumer Agency are working closely together to ensure Irish consumers are aware of the details. Consumers are receiving telephone calls from persons claiming to be from Microsoft, or working on behalf of Microsoft, to tell them they have a virus on their computer.

Details of the Scam:
- Consumers receive a cold call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft and told there is a problem with their computer and offered help to solve the computer problems.
- Once the caller has gained the consumer’s trust, they ask consumers to log onto a website to download a file to help solve the problem.
- They then ask for credit card details for a package which will fix the virus. They also potentially attempt to steal from the person by accessing personal information on their computer. In addition to gaining access to your personal details, they can also infect your computer with damaging viruses and spyware.

Microsoft takes the privacy and security of our customers and partners personal information very seriously. We are advising customers to treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism and not to provide any personal information to anyone over the phone or online. Anyone who receives an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft should hang up. We can assure you Microsoft does not make these kinds of calls.

We have been working closely with the Irish authorities including An Gardai Siochana, the Data Protection Commissioner, ComReg to warn the public and investigate the perpetrators. As a Microsoft Partner we wanted to bring this to your attention as it’s affecting a good deal of consumers today. We would like to ask you for your help in getting this message out to your employees, your families and your customers and ask them to be vigilant about unsolicited calls.

For more information on this scam and how to protect yourself against this, please click here. Please feel free to report any of these calls to the National Consumer Agency on 1890 432 432 or get further information on www.nca.ie.
Mary Ashe-Winton (Customer and Partner Experience Lead) is working closely with Irish Authorities and Agencies to ensure we are doing everything possible to ensure consumers are aware of this scam. Should you have any questions she would be happy to assist.

Speed is of the essence. Cloud computing is still in its infancy, but growing up fast. Other countries are eyeing up these opportunities too. Ireland must move quickly and decisively to make itself a global cloud computing centre of excellence. This week’s report commissioned by Microsoft Ireland from Goodbody Economic Consultants should be the blueprint. We need a dedicated cabinet Minister for Technology with a short, focused work programme.

Cloud computing has the potential to generate 8,600 new jobs in Ireland. It can also hugely reduce costs to business by up to €500m a year. IT equipment is often a major obstacle to starting a new business; using the cloud removes it. Turning computing into a service could help create a further 2,000 new non-IT small and medium sized firms that would in turn employ up to 11,000 people.

There is broad agreement that our public services need major reform and cost reductions. Cloud computing offers productivity solutions that will deliver enhanced public services and demonstrate Ireland’s commitment to its use.

Cloud technology offers big benefits to the public sector as it can deliver major productivity gains and lower the costs of delivery as well as improving the quality of services for people. The cloud provides centralised control and brings services closer to citizens at lower cost. Pilot projects such as the database of Irish cross-county planning applications already show what can be done.

The new government should implement a high-profile cloud project to showcase Ireland’s expertise to a global audience. The strong presence in Ireland of global technology and communications companies like Microsoft, Google, Intel and so many others will ensure an attentive, worldwide audience for what Ireland does.

IDA Ireland has an opportunity to create a cluster of world-leaders in cloud computing if it can convince them that the new Irish government understands and embraces the potential of the cloud in everything it does. The government had to demonstrate that it has leaders who understand that cloud computing is revolutionising technology in the way of the internet twenty years ago. The cloud is offering smaller companies anywhere in the world an opportunity to internationalise their business and Ireland can be an ideal location for their global growth.

If the Irish government grabs the opportunity to support small and medium firms, the cloud can generate additional economic growth and turn our economy around. Ireland can continue to assert its role as a site for technology leadership.

Cloud computing is the coming force in technology. In time, it will be seen to have the same socio-economic impact on manufacturing and all categories of work as piped water and electricity did in the past. Our next government, including a Minister for Technology needs to listen to, and work closely with, national leaders in companies like Microsoft to map out how to attract cloud computing organisations to Ireland. We have a unique short-term opportunity. We must take it.

Kevin O’Loughlin, Managing Director, Nostra Sytems

1^st November 2010

Astonishing patient record security lapse in St Vincent’s Hospital could be easily avoided

Kevin Loughlin, Managing Director of Irish owned cloud computing consultancy Nostra Systems has commented on the news that notices have been put up around St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin asking if anyone knows the whereabouts of a computer back-up drive which has “gone missing”.

He said: “It is extraordinary to learn that a hospital like St Vincent’s, which does wonderful work using technology in advanced patient treatment and care, is still in the dark ages when it comes to managing patient data and records. I am astonished that patient information is backed up and stored on insecure and vulnerable hardware such as external hard drives when cheaper and more secure systems exist through cloud computing. Data, such as patient records, can be stored off-site but instantly accessible through the cloud and remove the need for data storage rooms, cooling systems and the inevitable human error that can cause accidental destruction, damage or loss.

Cloud computing offers institutions with a need to securely store and backup huge quantities of patient data an instantly scalable, lower cost, reduced management and maintenance solution that is customised and easy to use.”

Ladies and gentlemen:

Let me begin by telling you a story.

Nostra Systems has a client in the food distribution business with about 180 employees. The business is just about keeping its head above water but there is constant internal and external pressure to become more efficient and reduce costs. Conor Murphy (not his real name) is the IT manager and he is feeling the strain badly.

He is on the receiving end of several memos from the finance director about a further need to reduce costs for next year’s budget. All staff have already been warned about the need to cut electricity usage across the board as prices are due to rise next month. The company’s servers are ageing, now nearly five years old since there has been a freeze on capital expenditure since 2007. There is no hope of anything but the most essential upgrades over at least the next two years and Conor knows that even these will probably cause as many problems as they solve.

The HR department has asked Conor if he could move all the servers to somewhere else in an already crowded building so the dedicated room they are in beside reception could become the new meeting room which the managing director has requested.

Conor has two technicians reporting to him who spend most of their time sorting out various email issues for other staff. Since the HR department decided to be progressive and let some staff work from home on Thursdays and Fridays there have been even more problems with emails, attachments, shared documents, firewalls, spam and viruses. Some people are off line to the office for longer than they are on. Short term crisis management is taking over their jobs.

The managing director does not know much about technology but likes to pretend he does and goes ballistic when his own gadgets do not work. Conor got an earful after the summer holidays when he was sent an out of date version of an important contract to his Blackberry in Spain. When he saw the cost of a couple of business calls to Brazil from his mobile he asked Conor could the company not use “Skype or something” instead. He regularly asks Conor how secure all the company’s stored data is after his brother-in-law’s company lost everything, current and backed-up, when its server room was flooded last winter.

Does all or any of this sound familiar? These are certainly the kind of stories that my colleagues and I in Nostra Systems pick up on a daily basis. One of the reasons our business is growing rapidly is that we have a tailor-made and hugely cost effective solution, which is ready to implement right away, to all the problems that face Conor and his company.

The solution is doing business in the cloud – basically, using the internet to deliver business computing services on a scalable, pay per use basis. It does away with physical servers on your premises and their huge electricity costs (to run and to cool). It does away with capital expenditure, maintenance and patching upgrades. You pay only for what you need through a flat monthly, per user fee. Your back-up and disaster recovery is off-site and totally secure.

Nostra Systems delivers cloud computing through our Gold Partner agreement with Microsoft. We are the first Irish company to get this accolade and we customise solutions for every need through Microsoft’s Sharepoint platform. This means Microsoft supplies the technology and storage and Nostra Systems install and support the service with our Microsoft-certified specialist engineers.

Cloud is a buzzword, but there is no doubt that the cloud is the future. Respected US analysts Gartner estimate that by 2012 80% of Fortune 1000 companies will be using some cloud computing and that 20% of businesses will own no IT assets at all.

The attractions of the cloud are many but in short it lets you do more with less.

Financially, it drives costs out of an organisation and makes them predictable and user based. There is no more capital expenditure on servers, upgrades and dedicated storage rooms. Current spending on electricity to run and cool servers is gone. Our estimates are that an average electricity bill to run one normal server for one month is about €100. Voice and video calls to anywhere can be carried through the cloud with just the addition of a headset. IT staff can be re-deployed to maximise efficiency from Sharepoint’s features, think strategically and deliver added value instead of running repairs.

Technically, the cloud offers instant upgrades to every service, complete reliability, endless capacity without more bandwidth, certainty about back-up and disaster recovery, security around email and document sharing.

Organisationally, it offers internal messaging web conferencing, free voice and video calls, and the ability to serve as an internal notice board for a company, its staff and any appropriate internal and external activities worth sharing.

Environmentally, the reduced electricity, boxes, space and waste brings down a company’s carbon footprint.

Nostra Systems can deliver the benefits of the cloud to companies of any size. We don’t impose a one-size-fits all solution, we sit down with customers to undertake a survey and create a bespoke solution for their business. As a starting point, we meet with customers to provide an individualised assessment of how Nostra Systems and Microsoft could bring the huge advantages of the cloud to their business. As part of our assessment we provide a complimentary report on how we could use the the cloud to cut costs, improve reliability, scalability and save energy.

The cloud is an immensely powerful business solution and is here to stay. Like all new propositions it requires a change in mindset to persuade some users but its benefits and savings are instant and visible.

Astonishing patient record security lapse in St Vincent’s Hospital could be easily avoided

Kevin O’Loughlin, Managing Director of Irish owned cloud computing consultancy Nostra Systems has commented on the news that notices have been put up around St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin asking if anyone knows the whereabouts of a computer back-up drive which has “gone missing”.

He said: “It is extraordinary to learn that a hospital like St Vincent’s, which does wonderful work using technology in advanced patient treatment and care, is still in the dark ages when it comes to managing patient data and records.  I am astonished that patient information is backed up and stored on insecure and vulnerable hardware such as external hard drives when cheaper and more secure systems exist through cloud computing. Data such as patient records can be stored off-site but instantly accessible through the cloud and get rid of the need for data storage rooms, cooling systems and the inevitable human error that can cause accidental destruction, damage or loss.

Cloud computing offers institutions with a need to securely store and backup huge quantities of patient data an instantly scalable, lower cost, reduced management and maintenance solution that is customised and easy to use.”

END

Mark Papermaster has been head of Apple’s iPhone and iPod hardware engineering department since 2009 when he joined the company from IBM.

His departure is widely believed to be linked to the problems with the antenna on the iPhone 4.

Apple would not comment on the reasons for his departure or whether he resigned or was fired.

Soon after the iPhone 4 was released in late June many owners began reporting that it dropped calls. Evidence emerged that signal strength faded when the phone was held in a particular way.

The problem was traced to the iPhone’s use of its metal casing to house its antennas. Bridging the short gap between two antennas on the lower left-hand side of the case caused signal strength to leak away.

An investigation by the influential Consumer Reports organisation confirmed the problem and led to it declaring that it could not recommend the product.

Initially, Apple downplayed the problems but the continuing furore led it to offer free cases to all iPhone 4 owners as these stop the gap being bridged. Mr Papermaster was not present at the press conference where the offer to iPhone 4 owners was unveiled.

An Apple spokesman said Mr Papermaster’s responsibilities would be assumed by Bob Mansfield who currently oversees engineering efforts for the company’s Macintosh products.

He also has a role in guiding development of some of the components for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Mr Papermaster worked at IBM for 25 years before joining Apple. Although hired in 2008 he did not start work at Apple until mid 2009 because IBM filed a lawsuit saying his taking up the post breached terms of his contract.

By BBC News, August 9 2010.

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The move comes six months after the European Court of Justice confirmed Google had not infringed trademark law by allowing advertisers to bid for keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trademarks.

Prior to that, brand owners and trademark holders could file complaints to prevent third-party ads being returned alongside a search for a trademark name.

The new online advertising policy will be active from 14 September and will cover Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. The policy has been standard in the US and Canada since 1984.

Google also announced today a specific policy for Ireland, the UK and Canada whereby advertisers can use third party trademarks in their ad text even if they don’t own that trademark or have specific approval from the trademark owner to use it.

Trademark owners who still feel that third-party ads will confuse users as to the origin of the goods and services will be entitled to continue to file complaints with Google.

“We made this ad text change in the US last year and believe it has helped both our users and advertisers by reducing the number of overly generic ads that appear,” said Peter Fitzgerald, industry director for Google in the UK.

“We believe the user experience is improved if, for example, they conduct a search for a particular brand of tv and see ads which give them more detail about where they can buy that particular brand of television, where they might be able to fix it, buy component parts or read reviews,” Fitzgerald said.

The 12-year-old internet giant believes that as a result of the changes, users will benefit from seeing more relevant ads via their searches.

The changes will primarily affect Google’s Adwords service, which works on a pay-per-click basis and accounts for 95pc of Google’s revenues.

By John Kennedy, Silicon Republic, Wed. August 4 2010

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