Upcoming Meeting Notice

The Association of Service and Computer Dealers International (ASCDI) is a 30 year old, worldwide non-profit organization made up of companies who provide technology solutions, technical support or value added services to the business community.

Members and non-members are invited to learn how to grow your business, find new business opportunities, hear from industry representatives and enjoy some fabulous networking events at our conferences:

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE: June 17 - 19, 2009
Prague, Czech Republic

FALL CONFERENCE: October 7 - 9, 2009
New York City

Click here for more information on ALL ASCDI MEETINGS, to view the agendas, lodging details, attendee lists and to REGISTER AT THE EARLY BIRD RATE.

Book review
Cisco
COMMON
IBM
Intermec
Power
RFID
Security
Storage

Book review

Wi-Fi Telephony

Not long ago the title of this book might not have made much sense. Now, with wireless LANs practically everywhere, the tide of Voice over IP couldn't avoid the "Wi-Fi connection." If your wired network will be dealing with VoIP, you'll eventually see that traffic on the air, too. This book is a good way to get a handle on the many technologies and issues involved. Whether your background is voice or data, there's help here for understanding the other side of the shop: Chapter 1 covers the basics of legacy telephony and signaling; Chapter 2 does the same for IP data networking. The other technologies get chapters too: VoIP protocols, cellular services, and wireless LANs. The heart of this book, however, is in the convergence of these technologies and the issues that arise because of the mix. The technical level seems just right. The authors assume no prior knowledge for the start, but deliver more detail than anybody but a design engineer could want.

Reviewed by William A. Flanagan, president of Flanagan Consulting, an independent telecommunications consultancy near Washington, D.C.  Bill can be reached at [email protected].

Authors: Praphul Chandra and David Lide
Paperback: 268 pages
Publisher: Newnes, An Imprint of Elsevier (2007)
ISBN-10: 0-7506-7971-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7506-7971-8
List Price: $54.95
Digital Guru Price: $49.95Back To Top

Cisco

ePlus achieves authorized Cisco TelePresence provider status
ePlus said its ePlus Technology subsidiary has achieved TelePresence authorized technology provider status in the U.S. from Cisco. This designation recognizes ePlus as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support Cisco TelePresence. Cisco's TelePresence solution is a new category of products that create live, "face-to-face" meeting experiences over an IP network. It combines the reach, intelligence and reliability of the network with the simplicity of a telephone interface to deliver an entirely new way for people to meet and collaborate. "We're pleased to add another Cisco ATP status to our list of Cisco credentials," said Jerry McIntosh, vice president of communications and security solutions for ePlus Technology.
Visit www.eplus.com or www.cisco.com.^Back To Top

COMMON

2009 COMMON Board candidates speak out
There are five candidates running for three open positions on the COMMON Board of Directors: Bruce "Hoss" Collins, Richard Dolewski, Leo Lefebvre, Pete Massiello and Trevor Perry. The COMMON Board of Directors Election site offers details about each candidate. Elections will be open until April 28, 2009 at 5:00PM. ^Back To Top

IBM

Big Blue defies server crash with Q1 profit
Despite some pretty steep revenue declines - particularly in server lines - that drove IBM's overall sales in the first quarter of 2009 down 11.4 per cent to $21.71bn, net income only fell by 1 per cent to $2.3bn. And thanks to some $1.8bn in share buybacks, earnings per share rose by 3.7 per cent to $1.70 a pop. IBM generated $1bn in free cash flow in the quarter, and it has $12.3bn in cash and equivalents in the bank with which to do acquisitions and share repurchases; but then again, the company also has $9.9bn in short-term debt and $21.1bn in long term debt. Of that $31bn in total debt, $23.4bn of it is associated with its Global Financing operations, which finance equipment purchases for the reseller channel and for end users. With $7.6bn in debts not associated with Global Financing, you can see why IBM was a little hesitant to shell out $6bn or so to acquire Sun Microsystems and put a serious damper on its profitability in 2009 and beyond while blowing its entire cash hoard. Without cash, IBM would not have the extra money it might need to boost earnings per share through cash buybacks.
Visit www.ibm.com.^Back To Top

Intermec

Seattle Police Department selects Intermec CN3 as official parking enforcement solution
The Seattle Police Department has selected the Intermec CN3 mobile computer deployed with Advanced Public Safety (APS) PocketParking software as its official parking enforcement solution. The CN3 enhances parking citation issuance efficiency for approximately 80 Seattle parking enforcement officers by expanding data collection and tracking abilities, automating daily work logs and providing photographic capabilities for court evidence. The CN3 and APS PocketParking software combine one of the smallest, most advanced, rugged computers in the world with customizable software specifically designed for law enforcement that includes a fully integrated vehicle chalking system. The Intermec CN3 also features a 2.0 megapixel color camera that provides data validation, enabling officers to document parking violation evidence for critical court documents. Additionally, the CN3 has a touch screen display, 128 MB RAM, and is available with an ultra-slim extended battery that still delivers easy-to-carry, all-day power.
Visit www.intermec.com.
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Power

New extended warranty options now available for Minuteman UPS
Para Systems, Inc. announced the availability of two new extended warranty options, allowing purchasers of Minuteman uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) to cost-effectively lengthen the warranty period from three years to five years.  This new offering is in response to customer requests to provide warranty coverage through the life of a leasing contract or depreciation terms for new servers, data storage systems, security systems or telephone/VoIP systems. The extended warranties include either a Standard or Premier option.  The Standard Extended Warranty program includes two additional years of full warranty protection, which is in addition to the current three-year warranty period provided on Minuteman UPSs.  Free battery replacement is available to the user during the entire warranty period, and unlike many competitive warranties, Minuteman’s battery replacement program is not pro-rated over the life of the UPS. The Premier Extended Warranty option includes priority status on a warranty claim, plus free freight on the repair or replacement of the Minuteman product.  Free battery replacement is also included during the five-year warranty period, and if the batteries have not been replaced after four years, the user will be automatically contacted by Minuteman to remind them to replace the batteries.  
Visit www.minutemanups.com/extendedwarranty.
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RFID - case study

CYBRA helps medical supply company comply with Medicare and Medicaid initiatives
CYBRA Corporation announced that Elite Medical Supply of New York has signed an agreement to deploy CYBRA's EdgeMagic RFID and Bar Code Software at Elite's West Seneca warehouse location. Elite Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment supplier which was established in 1997, specializes in disorders of the spine. Products stocked include collars and orthotics for lumbar bracing, cervical bracing, and ambulatory traction, as well as electrotherapy, and bone growth stimulation products.

To combat home health fraud, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced heightened scrutiny of the home health care industry. The CMS initiatives include increased medical review and unannounced site visits of HHA (Home Health Agencies) and HME (Home Medical Equipment) and DME (Durable Medical Equipment) suppliers. According to Elite Medical Supply's owner Gary Nikiel, "CYBRA's EdgeMagic will give us a robust solution to respond to an unannounced Medicare audit. By using EdgeMagic RFID and Bar Code Software to track our inventory, we will be able to quickly retrieve records and match equipment to patients and HHA and HME providers. By supplying the information at a moments notice, Elite Medical Supply will always be prepared for a CMS audit."
Visit www.cybra.com. ^Back To Top

Security

Guardium fuels customer momentum for IBM database software by mitigating risk and lowering operational costs
Guardium announced continuing customer momentum for its database security solutions safeguarding IBM database software. The world’s leading organizations in financial services, government, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and other industries have selected Guardium and IBM software to better manage and protect their enterprise data. With this news, Guardium also announced sweeping support for a broad range of IBM server platforms and database software products. The support helps organizations mitigate risks by protecting sensitive databases across the enterprise from both internal and external threats, while reducing IT costs with centralized security policies for heterogeneous infrastructures. It also supports data center and server consolidation initiatives by providing continuous, real-time monitoring controls that reduce the risk of concentrating critical data on shared infrastructures. In addition, the company announced that it recently became the first database security company to achieve IBM Information On Demand Specialty accreditation.
Visit www.guardium.com.^Back To Top

Storage

IBM FAStT600
This entry-level, highly available, high-performance, industry-standard storage solution scales in capacity and connectivity within a wide range of storage area network (SAN) environments. It is built on 2Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) technology that brings highly available RAID-protected storage, with scalable capacity, and helps increase connectivity for a wide range of SAN applications. FAStT600 storage resources can be shared efficiently and scaled rapidly to meet increased demands by users across a heterogeneous FC server environment. The FAStT600 is designed to support select applications running on IBM eServer xSeries and pSeries servers as well as servers from Sun, HP and other Intel processor-based providers.
Visit www.ibm.com.
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