Reading, UK. March 14, 2012 

The award for “Outstanding Business Performance” was awarded to Alchemy Group for its significant 352% growth increase in year-on-year revenues.

The awards were made at IGEL’s UK Partner Conference, following a record year of growth for the thin client manufacturer, with strong organic sales of its Universal Desktop thin clients and 565% growth in license sales for its Universal Desktop Conversion software, designed to convert old PCs and thin clients into easy to manage IGEL desktops.

“We have seen a year of record growth in the UK as businesses look to cut their desktop costs and management time by implementing thin clients for server-based computing or virtual desktop environments,” said Simon Richards, IGEL’s UK Managing Director. “Our highly trained, expert channel partners are integral to that success.”

Commenting on their award, Nathan Mills, Managing Director of Alchemy Group, said: “Alchemy’s Cloud Computing philosophy and adoption of Managed Service delivery, coupled with innovative and competition beating technology from IGEL has been the cornerstone of our growth over the past year.”

Kevin Goodall, Commercial Director of OverBright, added: “We set out with an independent approach to thin client technology in early 2011 but very soon realized that IGEL was the superior option in the market and so did our clients, we look forward to further growth in the coming year.”

Press Release – IGEL Awards Final [PDF]

Let’s explain some of the jargon that helps position why hosted BES Express is an ideal platform for your Blackberry …..

What is BIS?

BIS stands for BlackBerry Internet Service. It gives your BlackBerry access to the Internet. It’s like an internet service provider, but for your smart-phone instead of your home computer. Every time your BlackBerry gets an email, or accesses a webpage, it does so through BIS (unless you’re using BES Express)

What is BES Express ?

BES stands for BlackBerry Enterprise Server. It gives your BlackBerry access to a corporate intranet. The intranet is the private, internal, network within a company. It’s kind of like a mini-internet that is cut off from the rest of the world. Many intranets allow you to communicate with the Internet as well, but with added layers of security.

The Differences

Both BES X and BIS allow your BlackBerry to get email, though BES X allows you to synchronise with other collaborative services that you have in Outlook; calendars, contacts and tasks for example . ALL data travelling between your BlackBerry and your office is encrypted.

The difference, ultimately, lies in where the server resides and the level of control and security you get.

In the case of BIS, your carrier operates the server. Everything from BIS to your handheld is encrypted, but that’s about the extent of the security features. The carrier can decide what applications run on your phone, and how applications communicate with the Internet.

For BES X, Alchemy’s Cloud operates the server, and it is hosted adjacent to the hosted Microsoft Exchange server. With BES X, most of your data remains in a private, closed network. Your BlackBerry has a secure link directly to the Company environment, because the BES server is located in the Alchemy Cloud. In addition, applications can be “pushed” to a number of devices, rather than each device having to be severely setup. In addition, BES X also lets you remotely wipe and lock a device. This is very useful for those cases where people forget their BlackBerrys in the back of a taxi, or have them stolen.

So think of it like this: In the BIS case, a guy with an envelope (your data / email) is running around London trying to deliver the package to you—hopefully you can trust him, and hopefully nobody steals the envelope. For BES X, the guy delivering the envelope is walking around inside a secure compound, among trusted people who have proper security clearance, and cameras are monitoring his every move as he travels the 50 feet from his desk to your desk.

So if you are considering a secure, reliable and connectivity to Exchange, then we are happy to discuss Alchemy’s Cloud BES Express offering. Please call the team on 01784 223100.

Download “BES vs BIS” PDF

1. Save on Infrastructure – today the cost of buying servers, operating systems and applications can run into thousands if not tens of thousands when instead you can simply pay a monthly fee to a hosted provider.
2. Save on ongoing costs – if your IT people are unfamiliar with a new operating system or application then it can be a lengthy and painful process to implement new functionality. Hosted providers have experienced inhouse skills to do this for you as well as providing ongoing services such as monitoring, patch updates and setting up new accounts.
3. Save on utilities – hosted providers tend to use modern efficient data centres and by sharing these resources with other companies you are likely to experience cost savings relating to smaller running costs compared to running an equivalent service in your own infrastructure.
4. Get better performance and extra features – as hosted providers are looking after several companies they use larger high performance systems then the typical smaller business would be able to afford to deploy themselves. Additionally the hosted provider will be using the latest more capable software which their experienced administrators will optimise for the best possible performance.
5. Better company agility – a hosted service will mean that you can add more users, deploy more services and even share resources with external contractors far faster than before allowing you to focus on your core business and be more responsive to your customers.
6. Enjoy a better all round experience – with multiple lines into a data centre, continuous back ups, high performance high availability fault tolerant servers and back up power generators enjoy an infrastructure and level of service that was only perviously available to large enterprises.

As such a provider with years of experience Alchemy Systems can provide this for your business today.

If you would like to speak to Alchemy about how moving into the cloud could benefit your business then contact us on 01784 223100 or via our website and talk to one of the team.

With the prediction that mobile device threats are set to double in the next 12 months how comfortable are you that your devices and your data are safe from attack or especially in the case of tablets and smartphones from loss or theft of the device?

Are you able to track the device and could you remotely wipe it clean should you need to?

Also with known issues reported in the press like McAfee’s ScriptScan causing instability and security issues if you are using Mozilla Firefox are you sure that you are still protected?

When was the last you reviewed your policies and ensured that they are being enforced?

Alchemy Systems can help you answer and address all of these questions and find the right solution for your business.

Contact us on 01784 223100 or via our website and talk to one of the team.

Along with the talk that the PC is dead all businesses should be looking closely at their infrastructure and how they support it, not just today but also further down the road. IT support and product maintenance may not be the glamorous side of IT but it’s an area where most businesses can make immediate and significant savings.

As an independent company with over a decade of experience supporting its customers Alchemy Systems is an ideal partner to talk about making such savings.

Contact one of the team on 01784 223100 or fill in the call back form on our homepage.

Some of Alchemy’ customers are based in the troubled areas and after we have checked on their personal safety, they have all gone on to express their relief that they used our hosted service or offsite backup services and that their data, email and virtual IT estate were available. Hardware can be replaced but data is a very different matter, even if premises are affected, Alchemy’s customers can log through any PC or smartphone and respond to emails, access their data and continue their business.

With Alchemy’s secure, resilient and comprehensive hosted services and online backup products, we can help your business  keep its valuable data safe along with other benefits such as cost savings and environment control.

To find out more about how Alchemy  could help you, please contact one of the team on 01784 223100 or fill in the contact me form on our homepage.

To discuss any or all of these benefts; please call the team on 01784 223100.

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