Concise IT Official Blog

Concise become a Google Security & Compliance Reseller

2009-02-23T09:55:00.029+00:00

Concise IT are proud to announce that we have become the very first Google Security and Compliance Authorised Reseller through the distribution channel in the UK for the following:

Google Message Security

Google Message Discovery

As a Google Security and Compliance Authorised Reseller, Concise IT can now sell the Google Message Security and Google Message Discovery managed services together with Support and Installation from our fully trained, accredited Technical Consultants.

What is Google Message Security and Google Message Discovery?

Google have responded to companies demanding a low cost E-mail Message Security managed service with Unlimited Archiving that can be delivered quickly - with minimal disruption and without requirements for hardware maintenance.

Software as a Service (SaaS) Email Message Security / Archiving Managed Service is making a massive impact on cost savings for businesses of all sizes and verticals.

It is predicted that by 2012, 60% of businesses will use a SaaS solution to protect their email infrastructure. Analysts are now recommending that companies switch to a managed service to reduce costs, administration and hardware.

Did you Know? Google Message Security protects:

17 million users worldwide

in 50,000+ businesses

3 Billion messages per day (more messages than any other service)

Google have a 97% Retention rate for Security customers

What are the benefits of Google Message Security?

Google's Message security is secure, proven, reliable, with a guaranteed SLA. The main benefits are:

Google delivers the lowest cost solution worldwide (from just £6 per user per year!)*

No fuss - immediate rollout on all mailboxes, all divisions and all email

Fully scalable - for Companies of all sizes and in any sector

Choose unlimited archiving

Up to 10 years retention of service (if required) for your peace of mind and security

Fixed price per user

No hardware needs to be purchased - therefore no associated hardware maintenance

You can do more with less expenditure

Industry leading Service Level Agreements (SLA's)

Call our Customer service team for more information on the Google Message Security and Google Message Discovery managed services on freephone:

0800 083 3160

* Please note that Google Message Security / Google Message Discovery managed services cannot be purchased without a charge for qualified installation and annual support by an authorised reseller.

Concise IT Limited, Annouce Acquisition of Takeda Technology Limited

2008-12-03T11:28:00.001+00:00

Concise IT Limited, Announce the Acquisition of Takeda Technology Limited.

IT Support, Consultancy and Services Company, Concise IT have acquired the Telecommunications Company, Takeda Technology Limited, also known as Takeda Telecom, forming Concise Telecoms Limited.

Concise IT has announced that the new group company of Concise IT and Concise Telecoms is called Concise Technology Group Limited.
As part of the acquisition agreement all the employees of Takeda Technology Limited have transferred to Concise Telecoms in order to ensure continuity of service to their clients.

Takeda Telecom have 30 years experience of supplying business telephone systems and tailored voice/data solutions. The acquisition by Concise IT means they can offer a broad range of expertise and services from one supplier and makes them one of the leading technology groups to the business market in the North West.

“Concise Technologies Group can now offer a total solution for all of your IT Network and Telecoms requirements from one supplier who support and maintain over 1000 customers across the UK and Eire.”

The convergence of voice and data communications is becoming ever more important to today’s businesses. Our strength in the convergence marketplace comes from the combination of 20 years expertise in IT Network Support, IT consultancy, Security, Services and Solutions from Concise IT with 30 years of expertise in Business Telephony, Call Centre Solutions, Least Cost Routing (LCR) and Data Cabling from Takeda Telecom.

David Southern, Managing Director of Concise Technologies Group Limited commented on the acquisition, “Businesses today are extremely technology dependent. The acquisition of Takeda Telecom allows us to offer the complete range of business technology solutions that deliver improved efficiencies and lower total cost of ownership to our clients at a time when business costs are rising”.

As a result, an extensive range of IT & Telecoms products and services are offered:

• IT Support (Servicedesk, Remote & Onsite Support)
• 24/7 Proactive Network Monitoring & Management
• Network Security (Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Anti-Spyware)
• Network Consultancy (Audits, WAN Optimisation, Project Management, Software Migration,)
• Network Solutions (Virtualisation, Storage Management, Mobility, Hardware/Software Provision
• Business Telephone System design, installation & maintenance
• Voice over IP (VoIP) Telephony
• Call Centre Solutions
• Mobile, Voice and Data
• Call Cost Saving (Least Cost Routing - LCR)
• Data network cabling design, installation and testing

Products / Partners (IT)

Microsoft, HP, VMware, Cisco, Sophos, Sonicwall, Exinda, Google Enterprise, Sony Mitel, Inter-Tel, Panasonic, Aastra, O2, Vodaphone, Orange and Blackberry

Products / Partners (Telecoms)

Mitel, Inter-Tel, Panasonic, Aastra, O2, Vodaphone, Orange and Blackberry

To find out more about Concise IT and the business solutions they provide visit www.conciseit.co.uk or call Freephone 0800 083 3160.

Concise Telecoms is Born!

2008-12-02T11:26:00.000+00:00

We are delighted to announce the exciting news that enables us to provide you with a total solution for all your IT and Telecommunications requirements.

Last week we acquired Takeda Technology Limited (trading as Takeda Telecom) and created a new company - Concise Telecoms Limited.

Between Concise IT and Concise Telecoms (collectively called Concise Technologies Group); we are now able to offer the complete range of business technology solutions to our clients.

Concise Telecoms provides:

• Mitel, Avaya, Inter-Tel, Aastra & Panasonic business telephone systems
• Telecoms System Design, Installation and Support to ISO 9001 certification
• Call routing for lower line and call charges (Least Cost Routing - LCR)
• Mobile phones (Orange / O2 / Vodaphone) & PDA provision, including Blackberry
• Data network cabling design, installation and testing
• 30 years of telecommunications experience

This move further strengthens our position in this dynamic market and provides services that many of our clients have been asking us to supply for sometime now.

The Group has almost 50 full time staff, all of whom are committed to providing high quality service delivery. Our respected track record and combined experience means that we are now one of the leading technology groups in the North of England.

Call Concise Telecoms on 0845 491 8860 for more information.

Credit Crunch?...What Credit Crunch?

2008-06-19T16:38:00.002+01:00

no worries…no interest!

You cannot escape the doom and gloom surrounding the recent credit crunch.
Higher interest rates, soaring inflation, increased fuel costs…the list seems endless.

So, to give you a break from all the bad news, we wanted to offer you something more positive instead like saving your business money.

Until the 31st October 2008, Concise IT are offering 0% interest lease options* on the complete range of HP Products including:

ProLiant Servers
PDA’s
Desktops
Monitors
Notebooks
Printers
Thin Clients
Carepacks

If you are planning to replace or upgrade your network with HP hardware, now would be the best time to do it, as you can spread the cost over 24 months – totally interest free!

Example. Spend £3000 on new hardware.
Spread the cost interest free over 24 months = £125 per month.

To find out more please call our customer services team on 0800 0833160.

* Minimum transaction £1000. Subject to credit approval. 0% lease applies to HP Hardware & Carepacks only.

Concise IT acheive the top 5 Microsoft Network Competencies

2008-06-05T12:46:00.002+01:00

Microsoft Gold Partner - top 5 competencies and counting!

Microsoft confirmed that Concise IT have now passed the top 5 Network competencies from Microsoft.

They are:

Advanced Infrastructure Solutions
Networking Infrastructure Solutions
Information Worker Solutions
Mobility Solutions
AND Unified Communications Solutions (We have too many competencies to fit on the Microsoft Gold Partner Logo - see below)

Virtualisation - a better way to manage your IT infrastructure

2008-01-16T11:00:00.000+00:00

Virtualisation is a proven software technology that is rapidly transforming the IT landscape and fundamentally changing the way that organisations manage their infrastructure.

Basically, it lets you transform hardware into software and can benefit anyone who uses a computer. It enables you to virtualise the hardware resources of an x86-based computer - including the CPU, RAM, hard disk and network controller - to create a fully functional virtual machine that can run its own operating system and applications just like a “real” computer. However, virtualising a single physical computer is just the beginning.

Multiple virtual machines share hardware resources without interfering with each other so that you can safely run several operating systems and applications at the same time on a single computer.

The VMware approach to virtualisation inserts a thin layer of software directly on the computer hardware or on a host operating system.

This software layer creates virtual machines so that multiple operating systems can run concurrently on a single physical computer.

VMware offers a robust virtualisation platform that can scale across hundreds of interconnected physical computers and storage devices to form an entire virtual infrastructure.

How virtualisation can help disaster recovery

Business continuity and disaster recovery (DR) planning are critical to managing risks in a successful business. According to the Definitive handbook for Business Management, between 60-90% of companies that do not have a proactive disaster plan find themselves out of business within 24 months of experiencing a major disaster.

However, implementation of a reliable recovery strategy with fast time to recovery is expensive largely because it involves maintaining recovery equipment that mirrors the equipment in the primary data centre. Virtualisation can overcome this problem and help your Business Continuity and DR plans in a number of ways:

Built-in continuous availability - provides inherent high availability at several levels
Hardware Independence - virtual machines encapsulate the complete environment, so applications can be restored to any hardware with a virtualisation platform without concern for the differences in underlying hardware

Hardware Consolidation - failover servers can also enjoy the consolidation benefits enjoyed by your live servers, usually with twice the ratio

Find out more

We believe that virtualisation is the way forward and are keen to introduce the benefits of this technology to as many organisations as possible. To this end we are running a series of free-of-chrage breakfast briefings during 2008 at which you can find out more.

We except demand for these events to be high, so to reserve your place, click here.

Business Continuity Service

2007-12-19T09:16:00.000+00:00

Reasons why Business Continuity is becoming the must have service from Concise IT.

A recent survey by Aveco revealed the frightening statistic that 43% of organisations who experience a flood or fire will never reopen, and of the remainder 80% will fail within 13 months of the event.

Statutory regulations, such as those governing companies regulated by the FSA are now starting to place demands on businesses to ensure that they can continue to function and meet regulatory obligations in the event of an unforeseen interruption.

Traditionally Disaster Recovery (DR) has been the start and finish of organisational strategy for dealing with an unplanned event. This would ensure that IT systems and data can be restored after unscheduled downtime.

But over the last few years the growth of Business Continuity has meant a shift in focus to the prevention of such events, rather than the cure of DR.

Business Continuity Management (BCM) covers the whole lifecycle of disaster prevention and recovery. It embraces the entire organisation and provides a planned and controlled method of anticipating and responding to events that are likely to interrupt key business activities.

To cater for the huge demands for a Business Continuity Service, Concise IT has invested in a dedicated 12-seat Business Continuity Suite for small to medium sized companies, that also compliments our Disaster Recovery (DR) Service.

The Business Continuity Suite is based at our new offices at Gadbrook Park, Northwich, which has great links to the A556 and M6, just 10 minutes from Chester and 20 minutes from Manchester and Liverpool.

Call Aiden Wilkinson or Leigh Lockwood for further information on the Business Continuity Service on 0800 083 3160.

Free VMware Seminars in 2008

2007-12-19T09:02:00.001+00:00

VMware Seminars 2008 (Free of Charge)

A series of short, free-of-charge Virtualisation briefings have been developed in partnership with VMware and HP to show you the benefits of server consolidation and containment.

By attending you will gain a detailed understanding of VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3).
You will also be introduced to HP solutions that, coupled with VMware, will help reduce your infrastructure, power and cooling costs, therefore lowering your carbon footprint.
Book online for one of the following dates in 2008:

Friday 15th February (FULLY BOOKED)
Friday 14th March (FULLY BOOKED)
Friday 18th April (FULLY BOOKED)
Friday 16th May (FULLY BOOKED)
Friday 13th June (FULLY BOOKED)
Friday 19th September
Friday 17th October
Friday 14th November
Friday 12th December

If you cannot make one of these dates, but would like more information and an onsite briefing, please call Leigh Lockwood on freephone 0800 083 3160.

Agenda

9.00 Breakfast, Registration & Welcome
9.30 Introduction to VMware VI3
10.00 VMware VI3 Demonstration / Consolidation & Containment
10.30 HP and VMware; Storage and infrastructure Virtualisation
10.50 Questions & Answers
11.00 Finish

Book online

Concise IT Expansion Reaps Rewards

2007-12-19T08:48:00.000+00:00

Concise IT is booming with success after moving to new premises at Gadbrook Park in Cheshire.

We are celebrating doubling our turnover in two years having seen a 50 per cent growth this financial year since moving to a new 4,500 sq ft office at Royal Court.

Apart from Network design, support, and implementation, Concise IT has proven expertise in more specialist areas such as Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Capacity Planning and Virtualisation.

Managing Director David Southern puts the current boom down to the combination of the quality of service that Concise IT provides, and its relocation to the new office.

“We are very proud of what we offer to companies in the local business community and across the UK. We are seen as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ by our clients because we have invested in a dedicated Business Continuity Suite and state-of-the-art seminar room where we regularly hold live demonstrations of the latest business critical technologies from VMware, Microsoft, Cisco, Sophos and HP.

“Now we are supporting and monitoring hundreds of business networks nationwide, with any potential problem being instantly notified, enabling us to alert the client and ensure that system ‘downtime’ is a thing of the past.

“Successful businesses are increasingly reliant on networks and the internet, for one client, every hour a server is down can cost them £60,000, so it is crucial their network is operating 24/7.”

He added: “We believe in ‘Best Practice’, and from experience know that it is better to invest in quality, be it software or hardware, as it is proven to the field to be more stable and secure. That ethos extends throughout our organisation, to the quality of people and premises. The impact our move has had on our business proves the point.”

VMware Virtual Infrastructure Breakfast Briefing

2007-10-08T13:55:00.001+01:00

VMware Virtual Infrastructure Breakfast Briefing

Outline

A series of short, free-of-charge Virtualisation briefings have been developed in partnership with VMware and HP to show you the benefits of server consolidation and containment.

By attending you will gain a detailed understanding of VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3).
You will also be introduced to HP solutions that, coupled with VMware, will help reduce your infrastructure, power and cooling costs, therefore lowering your carbon footprint.

Choose from one of the following dates in 2008 Click to book your place now:

October 17th
November 21st
December 12th

Attendees will receive a £500 certificate that can be used againstour Capacity Planning Service (1 per company).

If you cannot make one of these dates, but would like more information and onsite briefing, please call Andrew Flavell on Freephone 0800 0833160

Agenda
09.00 Breakfast, Registration & Welcome
09.30 Introduction to VMware VI3
10.15 VMware VI3 Demonstration / Consolidation & Containment
10:45 HP and VMware; Storage & Infrastructure Virtualisation
11.15 Questions & Answers
11:30 Finish

RSVP
Briefings are delivered in small groups, so dates will be filled quickly.
Therefore we urge you to call ASAP to reserve your free place and avoid disappointment.

Contact Andrew Flavell (VMware Sales Professional)
Freephone: 0800 083 3160
Register online: www.conciseit.co.uk/seminars

Concise IT are on the Move to Gadbrook Park, Northwich

2007-09-13T13:41:00.000+01:00

I am delighted to announce Concise IT are expanding to a new state-of-the-art building at the end of September ‘07.

Although we are only moving 4 miles from our current offices, the new premises will allow us to be a centre of excellence for our clients, with a dedicated Evaluation Suite featuring the very best products from Microsoft, HP, Cisco, Sony, Sophos and VMware.

It will also allow us to demonstrate cutting edge Technologies such as Virtualisation, VoIP, EVA and SAN Storage Solutions.

In addition we have added a Business Continuity Suite to compliment our already comprehensive Disaster Recovery Service. (This will allow your key employees to have a fully furnished office to work from, following a Disaster).

As from Monday 1st October 2007 to the following new contact details for Concise IT will be:

No. 2 Royal Court
Gadbrook Park
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 7UT

New Main Telephone Number: (01606) 336 200

New Sales Telephone Number: (01606) 336 236

New Fax Number: (01606) 336 209

Website and e-mail addresses will remain the same.

Total Network Support Plus just got even better!

2007-06-29T16:33:00.000+01:00

Total Network Support Plus just got even better

We are delighted to announce that your TNS+ service is about to get even better…(and it won't cost you a penny extra!)

As you know, Concise IT are passionate about delivering the very best customer service. For the past year we have been working hard to ensure that we raise the bar further for our TNS+ clients.

As from 1st July 2007 we are improving TNS+ by adding the following value added benefits:

Extended Cover (now 8.00am to 6.00pm) for TNS+ only
Enhanced Priority Response Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Support for Windows Based Mobiles and PDA's installed by CIT
Incident cover for Virus & Spyware Infections
Monthly Incident Reports*
Quarterly Performance and Network Health Report and Review*
Preferential Pricing for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Services
* These services commence on the 1st September 2007.

Upon your next renewal of TNS+ we will also improve the way that your network maintenance is scheduled in order to improve security and offer more service but with less disruption to your staff.

Monthly system updates will mean that we test and apply critical patches and updates more frequently. These are applied remotely. This will enhance security but with no disruption to your business. A report outlining all of the changes will be provided every month.

This will be further complemented by 2 x 6 monthly enhanced pre-emptive visits in order to make sure that your systems run at their optimum performance (rather than 4 standard visits).

The aim is to create less disruption to your business, reduce our carbon footprint, increase the uptime of your servers, and at the same time improve the standard and effectiveness of the service.

Visit our Total Network Support webpage for more information.

Virtualisation - The Benefits

2007-06-19T12:57:00.001+01:00

Q. What is virtualisation?

A. Virtualisation is the pooling and sharing of IT resources, including servers, storage and networking.

In a virtualised environment, the logical functions of computing, storage and network elements are separated from their physical functions.

Elements from these pools can then be manually or automatically allocated to meet the changing needs and priorities of a business. These concepts can be applied broadly across the enterprise, from data centre resources to PCs and printers.

It enables people, processes and technology to work together more efficiently to meet increased service levels. Since capacity can be allocated dynamically, over-provisioning is eliminated and your entire IT infrastructure is simplified.

Example

“Some Application Servers typically run at a mere 5-15% CPU utilisation. Transforming physical Servers into Virtual Servers and consolidating them would see an increase in utilisation by up to 80%, whilst significantly reducing running costs.”

Benefits

Virtualisation delivers quantifiable savings in both capital and operating costs by:

Increasing hardware utilisation and reducing hardware spend
Lowering your infrastructure costs
Reducing your physical and carbon footprint
Decreasing staff costs

Free Virtualisation Review and Report

To help businesses understand the implications and opportunities of a virtualised IT infrastructure, Concise IT are offering 10 leading companies a complimentary consultancy review & bespoke report from our qualified VMware expert, Robert Burrell.

The package is worth over £1500 (but at no cost to you).

Some of the areas covered in the Virtualisation report are:

· Increasing hardware utilisation and reducing hardware spend
· Lowering network infrastructure costs
· Reducing your physical and carbon footprint
· Decreasing staff costs by simplifying and automating operations
· Gaining maximum uptime with more reliable, easier to deploy DR solutions

To find out more or to confirm this unique opportunity please call Andrew on: 0800 083 3160 before 31st December 2008. Alternatively visit our Network Solutions Virtualisation page

Think Big - Go Thin!

2007-06-19T12:26:00.000+01:00

Thin Client Technology.

As a replacement to the desktop PC, Thin Client has long been recognised for it’s ease of management, reliability and low cost of ownership.

But did you know that Thin Client can also dramatically reduce downtime and improve data security?

The Benefits of Thin Client

· 25% cost saving compared to Desktop PC’s
· Easy remote management of applications and files
· 34% less maintenance cost
· Rapid deployment and ‘hot swap’
· No moving parts means greater reliability and reduction in downtime
· Highly secure – works only with a host (meaning less hardware theft)
· Space saving design gives you more of your desk back!
· Uses less power (23% less cost) - reducing your carbon footprint

Source: Zona Research, Intelliquest, Meta Group Study

With Thin Clients, software and data are stored and run centrally, depriving viruses of their usual access to your system.

For even more security, options such as Smart Card Readers or Biometrics provide an extra, more sophisticated level of user authenticity the HP Compaq T5000 Series enjoys a long life cycle.

All components meet industry standards and there are no moving parts. Not even a ventilator. Which means fewer maintenance events and less down time.

Special Offers on HP T5720 Thin Clients (ex VAT) for orders on or before 31st July 2007.

EG839AT - £249. Plus get a 19" HP 1906 TFT for just £25 (saving £100)
EG840AT - £269. Plus get a 19" HP 1906 TFT for just £25 (saving £100)
RA315AT - £289. Plus get a 19" HP 1906 TFT for just £25 (saving £100)

Order more than 10 units and get FREE Delivery anywhere in the UK.

Call Jane, Paul or David on Freephone 0800 083 3160 for specifications, advice and quotes. Alternatively visit our Thin Client webpage.

All-in-One (AiO) Storage Solutions

2007-06-19T11:49:00.000+01:00

Unbelievably simple. Uniquely affordable. Unquestionably reliable.

That's what they have been saying about HP StorageWorks All-in-One (AiO) storage systems.

But what is AiO and what are the benefits?

Specialised storage systems like SAN and NAS require specialised and in-depth knowledge to design and implement. The All-in-One storage solution from HP gets round this problem by offering a fully integrated system that is designed to be managed by IT generalists who have no storage expertise.

AiO provides a simple, integrated and affordable network storage solution that enables organisations to easily manage, grow and protect their data without requiring them to become storage experts. With its easy-to-use interface (ASM) it takes care of all underlying storage tasks and presents network storage in application-centric terms, giving administrators new found levels of control.

Find out about the benefits of AiO - click here.

As a HP Preferred partner, Concise IT can provide a HP StorageWorks system on a 'Buy & Try' basis which allows you to test a StorageWorks system for 90 days at no risk whatsoever. Call our AiO customer care team on 0800 083 3160 to find out more or arrange this. Alternatively complete our online enquiry form.

All-in-One Storage Solutions

2007-06-19T11:21:00.000+01:00

The All-in-One Solution to your Storage Problems

Data Storage and Archiving. Businesses today are required to keep more data now than ever before.
The result is that storage has become a major concern for growing companies such as yours.

HP’s All-in-One Storage Solution (AiO) has been developed with this problem in mind.

AiO enables organisations to easily manage, grow and protect their data without requiring them to become storage experts.

The Benefits of AiO

It’s Simple. Lowers the cost and complexity of network storage, eliminates the pain of data migration and provides integrated data protection.

It’s Reliable. Eliminates Backup windows and protects data with snapshots, backup replication and redundancy options built on HP reliability.

It’s Affordable. Efficient, with a lower total cost of ownership, AiO is a cost effective solution for growing environments and ensures long-term investment protection.

See for yourself
As a HP Preferred partner, we have a dedicated AiO evaluation for you to try. Join us for lunch and a one-to-one evaluation to see the system in action. A storage expert will be on hand to answer your questions.

90 Day No-risk Trial
We also provide an AiO on a 'Buy & Try' basis that allows you to test the system for 90 days at no risk whatsoever.

Freephone our AiO team on 0800 083 3160 for more information or to arrange an evaluation. Alternatively visit our All-in-One Storage Solution (AiO) webpage for more information and enquiry form.

Concise Changes

2007-06-11T16:00:00.000+01:00

Concise IT are currently going through many changes.

This blog should help you keep up to date with everything happening at the headquarters just to make sure you don't miss anything!

Aiden Wilkinson
Marketing & Communications Manager

Blog Launch!

2007-06-11T12:55:00.000+01:00

Concise IT is proud to launch their very own blog. The blog is intended to be a slightly more informal medium for Concise IT to communicate through, providing you with news & happenings, stories and articles you might find interesting, websites of note, commentary and insight and a lot more besides.

There is a great deal happening at Concise IT - which we will announce in the very near future, so watch this space!

We are excited to be taking this step forward and to hearing your thoughts about what we have to say in this space. We encourage your participation!

You will usually be able to comment on posts appearing here and there is an RSS feed available for your convenience.

Click here to visit Concise IT's website.