november 2009

A message from our CEO

by Carmine De Santo (desanto@loop.ca)

VTN Rookie of the Year award for 2009!

I attended the 2009 VentureTech Network Conference in Denver for the first time. This elite association group across North America called the VentureTech Network is a group of the top 650 North America professional IT firms.

I am very honored and delighted to let you all know I won the VentureTech Network 2009 Rookie of the Year award. I wanted to dedicate this award to my lovely wife Ele De Santo, that she has to put up with me all the time with my busy schedule and supporting my dedication to Loop and to my grandmother Angela De Paola my mentor in life and she made me focus on values and appreciation.

This achievement and award is one of the most memorable and important one so far in my life. Thank you all for your support, you've all made me the person I am in life and I am proud to have you all as friends and associates.

Sincerely,
Carmine

Congratulations Carmine from the Loop Team!

Message Archiving for Exchange Users

by Casey D’Andrea (cdandrea@loop.ca), Application Specialist and Trainer

Ranging from small-to-medium business, all the way up to the enterprise level, the need to securely store copies of all company e-mail correspondence has become increasingly important.

"Take a tour of any accounting or finance department and you’re bound to find file cabinets and boxes filled with everything from payment receipts to bills to payroll records. These financial files provide a history of money in and money out, and they are particularly helpful in protecting the business during audits, where gaps and irregularities can raise suspicion and the prospect of fines.

Today, smart businesses are taking the same approach with the growing number of email messages that flow in, out and through their organizations. For some industries, particularly financial services and healthcare, the retention of electronic communications is more than a best practice – it is mandated by Federal and industry regulations. Businesses that fail to comply can face substantial fines, and in some cases, jail time for the responsible parties. In addition, all businesses, regulated or not, face workplace compliance issues like discrimination, harassment, and the loss or theft of proprietary information and intellectual property, all of which can often be accurately documented through a trail of email messages.

Thus, it has become increasingly important for businesses to implement an email archiving solution that can efficiently store all inbound, outbound and internal emails, while also providing a fast, accurate method of retrieving individual messages - whether the business is subject to government or industry regulations or if it could potentially come under fire for failing to produce an email as part of a judicial mandate."

-- MXLogic

Loop can facilitate secure off-site Message Archiving for your organization. Our solution is easy to implement, highly scalable, reliable and provides a secure way to ensure long-term storage with online advanced service options and retrieval capabilities. While helping to protect your organization from the many legal ramifications that can result from improper storage and retrieval of email messages, Message Archiving can also help you to reduce costs and increase operational efficiencies.

  • Free IT from on-going service management - As Loop would manage the service, there is no hardware or software to install, integrate or maintain, and continual updates to features and functionality ensure that the service never grows obsolete.
  • Reduce internal requirements for storage – With Message Archiving you can consolidate .pst files in order to secure company knowledge, and shrink your Microsoft Exchange databases to a more manageable size.
  • Empower end-users – Message Archiving enables authorized end-users to search for their own archived messages directly on a familiar interface, thereby relieving IT from having to perform the task on their behalf.
  • Ensure that message stores are up to date - We provide near-real time email archiving, which is more accurate and less prone to data loss than delayed point-in-time snapshot backups which only capture messages that are present in at the moment the backup runs. Messages deleted before the backups are skipped and messages that have been modified by end users are recorded in an altered state without an audit trail of the modification.
  • Affordably store all emails – We provide unlimited storage capacity, which offers freedom from overage charges. You can determine how long your e-mails need to be retained to meet business, compliance or legal requirements, and can choose from 1, 3, 5, and 7-year retention plans. We can offer both online and offline options for the secure transport and storage of historical email data. Most businesses can opt to transfer historical email directly to the Message Archiving system, while organizations with extra-large stores of historical mail can opt for the Managed Import Service.
  • Reduce costs and risks with rapid message retrieval – Using either the Simple or Advanced Search options, you can retrieve messages in a matter of seconds, cutting hours, days and even weeks from the time necessary to locate messages compared with many in-house solutions. The speed and accuracy afforded by our Message Archiving solution translates into drastic reductions in costs, including at times, exorbitant legal fees.

At the end of the day, Message Archiving serves as peace of mind. If would like to find out more details contact our team.

Medical IT Services

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

Medical IT services are in place when Loop assumes responsibility for all your information technology needs, from hardware & software procurement, to preventative maintenance, to technical support and everything in between.

why do I need medical IT services?
IT systems are becoming increasingly complex and difficult to manage, and when mission-critical systems fail, they negatively impact your success. Loop technicians help ensure your systems are running at their optimal efficiency proactively reducing down time that may otherwise occur due to a lack of proper monitoring.

why should I choose Loop?
Custom crafted to the unique needs of your business, Loops' Medical IT services take care of you from your desktop to the edge of your network, within response and resolution times that work for you. Loop understands the need to do more with less and we provide the highest level of reliability and value for your dollar. Loop delivers better services more efficiently, and helps you mitigate risks. Our success stories include Hospital for Sick Kids, Mount Sinai and Family Health Centers across Ontario.

do Loop technicians reside onsite?
Not necessarily. Depending on your specific needs, Loop technicians can be onsite full time, part time, or whenever the situation demands it. Many of our services can be delivered remotely which means we can work on your systems any time, day or night.

what are the advantages?

  • one service provider
  • over 15 years experience in the medical IT industry
  • systems maintained by certified technicians 24/7
  • assurance that your systems are working efficiently and effectively
  • decrease in overhead associated with full time IT staff
  • volume pricing on hardware / software - no need to price-shop
  • a partner that focuses on customer satisfaction

Looking to avoid downtime at your clinic? Call the experts!

Call us for a complimentary onsite IT assessment.

Apple Logic Pro or ProTools?

by Glen Craven (service@loop.ca), Business Systems Analyst

There have been many debates as to whether Apple Logic Pro or ProTools is the superior Audio software. Well why not both? Each product has its own strong points. Logic Pro is perfect for creating and laying down tracks, while ProTools is great for editing and has plenty of add-on hardware interfaces.

As mentioned in a previous article, Apple Logic Studio, which includes Logic Pro 9, was introduced in July and includes more than 200 new features and enhancements.

Logic Studio delivers the tools musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac. Logic Pro 9 serves as the cornerstone of Logic Studio and makes it easier than ever to create your own compositions. You can produce and play nearly any sound imaginable with a huge collection of effects, instruments, and loops, including the new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins. You can also perform live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds you used to make your tracks using MainStage 2. Logic Studio comes with applications and utilities that expand your creative options into audio post-production and mastering as well, including Soundtrack Pro 3, WaveBurner 1.6, and more.

Top features of Logic Studio include:

  • Everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac
  • Logic Pro 9 for do-it-yourself musicians to write, edit, record, and mix their own compositions
  • More than 80 studio-quality effect plug-ins, including vintage and modern compressors, delays, reverbs, and more
  • New Amp Designer to help you re-create the sound of 25 legendary amps and 25 speaker cabinets
  • New Pedalboard with an assortment of 30 virtual stompbox pedals inspired by the classics
  • 20,000 royalty-free Apple Loops from all the Jam Pack collections
  • MainStage 2 for performing live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds from Logic Pro 9
  • Soundtrack Pro 3, a streamlined audio post-production application for film and video

For those who are not ready to make the Jump to Logic Pro or just looking for a step up from GarageBand, Apple has Logic Express 9 that might also meet your needs.

Introducing...iMac

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

Apple has recently announced a refreshed to their iMac line. The design is the same, but the biggest difference is a change in screen size. The new models sport a 21.5-inch LED display on the low end, and 27-inch LED displays on the more powerful models. This is a nearly 2-inch increase in diagonal size across the line, perfect for those u sing their iMacs for graphics or video work.

Along with the larger displays, the speeds have been bumped to a 3.06 Dual-Core processor, but for those who demand higher speeds, the iMac can be customized with a whopping 2.66GHz Quad-Core processor -- a first for the iMac line.

For the photographer in you, the iMac has something special: a built in SD card slot reader, making it easier than ever to transfer data from your camera to your iMac.

Do you have both an iMac and a Macbook Pro? Have you ever wanted to share the larger display with your portable while at home, only to be frustrated that you can't? Well, that's a thing of the past with the new 27-inch iMac. The Mini DisplayPort accepts input as well as output, meaning that with the optional adapter you can share your Macbook's display with your iMac, giving you twice the screen real-estate when you need it most.

The new iMacs also ship with Apple's redesigned mouse, the Magic Mouse. It's a wireless BlueTooth mouse using the same Multi-Touch technology Apple uses for its portable trackpads, allowing the user a higher amount of functionality on their tracking device.

Apple's new iMac line is available for order now. Please contact your Loop representative to find out more.

Office Mac Business Edition Rebate

When purchasing a new Apple computer from Loop Enterprise, from October 5th, 2009 – January 29th, 2010, we are offering up to $70.00 in rebate off of Office Mac Business Edition 2008 English or French. Items must be purchased in conjunction to take advantage of the offer.

  • Office Mac Business Edition 2008 English: $70 Customer Rebate
  • Office Mac Business Edition 2008 English Upgrade: $40 Customer Rebate
  • Office Mac Business Edition 2008 French: $70 Customer Rebate
  • Office Mac Business Edition 2008 French Upgrade: $40 Customer Rebate

Eligible skus when sold as a bundle with a new Apple computer

  • 4468440 GYD-00001 Office Mac Business Edition 2008 English 70$
  • 4468441 GYD-00004 Office Mac Business Edition 2008 English upgrade 40$
  • 4468442 GYD-00011 Office Mac Business Edition 2008 French 70$
  • 4468443 GYD-00014 Office Mac Business Edition 2008 French upgrade 40$

    • Please visit our Online Store at http://store.loop.ca or call 905-761-2195 for details!

    Visit our Store regularly for our Top 3 picks of the month!

    upcoming events

    Creators Awake - Design Thinkers


    Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto
    www.designthinkers.com

    Be sure to visit our booth!

    It’s the 10th annual international conference focusing on the role of design in shaping business, society and the future health of the planet. Join us to gain new perspectives from some of the industry’s leading innovators – to connect with creative colleagues from across town and around the globe – to get inspired by fresh approaches you can apply in your own work. And then, when you ask your fellow designers where the next big ideas will come from, you can immediately point at them and shout, “You’re right – out of your minds!”

    Graphics Canada (Booth 2218)

    International Centre, Toronto - Booth 2218

    Check out www.graphicscanada.com under Education for a list of seminars that Loop’s very own Casey D’Andrea will be presenting. If you would like to attend Graphics Canada for FREE please use LOOPGC09 when registering! This is a $40.00 value!