july 2009

Big Changes are coming to Loop

by Casey D’Andrea (cdandrea@loop.ca ), Professional Services

The Loop team has been hard at work and plans to announce new offerings in the coming months. We've been hearing the buzzword "cloud computing" for a couple now and the adoption rate has accelerated. The service offerings have matured and stabilized. That said there are many, many vendors vying the number one spot in various key areas. The idea is that a company can truly outsource and immediately see the benefits.

Loop has been offering remote services for a long time, but it's high time we take it to the next level — managed services. We've always prided ourselves on being a one-stop shop, turnkey solution for all your needs. However, we realized that this only covered a select need, and it didn't truly encompass all aspects of a client's day to day.

As the economy has experienced a downturn and many businesses have felt the impact, capital expenses have been reduced, with companies looking to save anywhere they can, while investing as little resources as possible. This is where Loop can help. Instead of managing services in-house, let Loop take care of it for you.

Since we are committed to making this new direction work, we've dedicated resources to the task. We are still invested in all our current service offerings, We've dedicated a team within our organization to take on the task, adding further value our current client base, as well as reaching out to new opportunities. If you haven't considered us for your IT needs in the past because we were to focused at the desktop / server level, please take a look at Loop again. We can work with your IT department and help them realize the benefits of moving services off-site.

Why invest in new hardware and software? Why not allow your IT team to focus on more important tasks that will advance your company and give it the leg on the competition? Why not take the worry out of day to day back-end operations? With Loop's managed services your team can concentrate on the things that you do well.

Loop service offerings will include:

  • Manage Security (E-mail Defense, E-mail Archiving, Web Defense)
  • Hosted Microsoft Solutions (Exchange Server, SharePoint)
  • Help Desk 24 / 7 / 365
  • Remote Monitoring and Management (client, servers, printers - basically anything on your network)
  • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
  • Online Storage and Backup

Loop will be making changes to our website to help delineate our service offerings. Look for the new look coming in the coming months!

Loop Enterprise Inc. is Cisco Select Certified!

by Sherri Stirpe (vendorpartner@loop.ca), Vendor Partner Relationship Manager

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses with fewer than 250 employees have become the IT industry's fastest-growing segment. With this trend comes a heightened demand from customers for knowledgeable network professionals who can successfully design and deploy Cisco® SMB solutions. This is especially true in the SMB market, where customers rely heavily on their partners as trusted advisers.

Loop Enterprise Inc. became Cisco Select Certified in March 17, 2009 and we are very proud of this accomplishment because this certification demonstrates our competency in deploying Cisco solutions for small and medium-sized businesses.

"With Loop now Cisco Select authorized we can now focus on the unified communications side of our new business offerings and provide the full IT infrastructure support of our customer needs" Carmine De Santo, CEO of Loop Enterprise Inc.

Combine Loop Enterprise, a Cisco Select Certified Reseller and Cisco, the leading supplier of networking equipment, there isn't any Unified Computing or Networking solution that we couldn't complete for you. Please contact us today at 905-761-2185 OR sales@loop.ca

Snow Leopard on the Prowl

by Simon Strantzas (procurement@loop.ca), Product Specialist

First of all, you'll forgive me for being a bit distracted; I'm still feeling the love from the new iPhone 3GS. But what's more important to business today is something else Apple announced at the WWDC this year: Snow Leopard.

For those unaware, Apple's next version of OS X, 10.6 codename "Snow Leopard" is due this autumn from Apple (the estimates peg it for a September release). This is a watershed moment for the Apple line, one that some users will not be happy with. The most important? Snow Leopard will not run on the PowerPC processor. This means that any computer that does not run off of Intel technology (this means you, PowerMac G5) will not be able to run the new OS. You are effectively stranded at Mac OS X 10.5 (or 10.4 if you've an older G4). There will be some that won't be pleased by this news, but Apple had to draw a line in the sand, and they've chosen to draw that line at computers that have been out of production now for three years.

The benefits of Apple drawing the line is that Apple can take full advantage of its modern hardware. Though there won't be a tremendous launch of new features (hence the lower price tag of this OS -- close to half what Apple normally charges) what features currently exist will be refined and optimized. Its nice to see a major manufacturer go in the opposite direction and avoid bloat for once. Among some of the new features are a 64-bit Finder rewritten to take full advantage of today's multi-core processors, a brand new version of QuickTime, refinements to Time Machine and Time Capsule to speed up transfers, increased speed of waking from sleep, as well as a simplified and streamlined installation process, not to mention the install itself is smaller than ever before. Yes, that's right, installing Snow Leopard will give you back space on your hard drive.

For business use, Snow Leopard also has increased Exchange Support out of the box, including compatibility with Exchange Server 2007, the most popular messaging and collaboration software in corporate environments. With a simple setup, Apple's applications -- Mail, iCal, and Address Book -- will work seamlessly, letting you put Outlook away for good. Best of all, you'll also be able to take advantage of built-in technologies like Spotlight and Quick Look with the data.

Snow Leopard is due soon from Apple. No official date or price has been set for the Canadian market yet, but we expect to hear an announcement shortly for this autumn. For help implementing it into your workflow, please contact your Loop Representative.

Synopsis from the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC)

by Glen Craven, Business Systems Analyst and Mac Geek

June includes the longest day of the year, which makes it the perfect month for all that there is to see and do at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Each year, just before the start of WWDC, the Internet buzzes with speculation about what wondrous new and exciting things Apple will bring to delight and amaze its loyal followers. Given that Apple has withdrawn from NAB and Macworld, more is now expected from WWDC: the one convention that it still does attend, and hosts.

This year predictions included Steve Jobs making his comeback appearance, Final Cut Suite 3, a new iPhone and a tablet like device (an iPhone but bigger).

Jobs didn’t make an appearance but the rest of the Apple executives did a pretty good job and had ‘lots of great announcements. They showed that even without Jobs, Apple will continue to move forward doing great things. Jobs has picked his team and taught them well, so when he does decide to retire, Apple will live on (don’t get me wrong we are still wishing him well and hoping he will come back to the helm.)

People in the video production world were predicting a new version of the Final Cut Pro Suite, as it has been a long time since version 2 came out. There wasn’t a new version announcement at the National Broadcasters Association (NAB) in April, when Apple would normally announce it, leading many to believe that if a new version announcement were in the offing, it would take place at WWDC. No such announcement occurred, which means it will likely wait until April 2010.

Apple did outline its fiscal success for the year though, followed by demonstrations of enhancements to existing items and new products. Even without Steve Jobs, it unveiled new iPhone 3Gs. Some of the new features include a built-in 3-megapixel video camera with touch focus, and voice control; just say a name or number to make a call. Voice Memos for recording meetings, class lectures and reminders are also included. And that all-important cut, copy and paste feature missing from the earlier versions, is now included as well.

There were also some changes to Mac Book Pro with lower prices and new built-in longer lasting batteries (7 hours in the 13” and 15” models and 8 hours on the 17”). A new 13” Mac Book Pro was also added to the line up. Apple has also replaced the PCI card slot with a new SD card slot in the 13” and 15” models. Firewire 800 remains in the Pros for those who need the speed when connected to external devices. All models now support a whopping 8GB of memory. With the 13” model now in the Pro line this leaves the MacBook line very empty. The only MacBook left is the white 13”. Speculation is that since Apple has been saying that it will not be making an ultra-portable, it is freeing the MacBook name. This would allow Apple to introduce a new Macbook that would not be an ultra-portable like the competitors (because Apple only leads or reinvents markets) but a large iPod Touch with a 10” screen. You will be able to run your suite of iWork apps on it, surf the web, do email and other great functions only Apple can dream of.

For those new computers, what would they be without the one thing that makes the Mac experience what it is today: the operating system. Apple gave us a look at the new OS called Mac OSX Snow Leopard that will be out in September 2009 (right around the same time as Windows 7). Snow Leopard isn’t a new OS with hundreds of wow wee, eye popping new toys built in. Instead, Apple has fine-tuned the OS, cutting it down in size and making it even more reliable then before. And for small to medium businesses, Snow Leopard has Microsoft Exchange support built in. All of this is available at some even more incredible price points.

It was another great show put on by Apple that left people cheering and leaving with a smile on their face until the next big event.

upcoming events

Apple Expo 2009

Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street, Toronto, Ontario
August 21, 2009

On August 21, 2009, Loop Enterprise Inc., is proud to be a Gold sponsor at the Apple Expo 2009 event held at the Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street in Toronto, Ontario. This event offers access to hundreds of Mac product demos, information and services, paired with expert advice, demonstrations and instruction.

If you are interested in attending, please review the links below:

Reseller event: http://www.channelnext.ca/event_overview.php?ref=1052

End-user event: www.appleexpo.ca

Download (.pdf):