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:

2012 ASIA CONFERENCE
February 1 - 3, 2012
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2012 USA CONFERENCE
March 7 - 9, 2012
Clearwater Beach, Florida   USA

2012 USA CONFERENCE
September 13, 2012
San Diego, California   USA

2012 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
October 3 - 5, 2012
Madrid, Spain

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.

Cisco
Cloud
HP
IBM
Mobility
People
Survey
Telepresence

Cisco

Cisco reduces cost and complexity of IP telephony systems
Building on its expertise in unified communications (UC), Cisco announced a series of advancements that can give midsize businesses access to "enterprise grade" IP phone systems with integrated collaboration capabilities without taxing already constrained IT and financial resources. Cisco introduced innovations to the Cisco Business Edition 3000 and the Cisco Business Edition 6000 (formerly known as the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition 3000 and 6000 respectively). Through these innovations, midsize customers can now access collaboration offerings -- ranging from rich video to instant messaging (IM) to presence -- at price points attractive to the cost-sensitive market. Additionally, these solutions are simple to use, configure and support. The Cisco Business Edition family, together with Cisco WebEx and Cisco TelePresence for small and medium-sized businesses, provide a complete portfolio of capabilities for mid-size organizations.
Visit www.cisco.com.
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Cloud

ConnectSolutions launches Managed Private Cloud for Microsoft Lync for Enterprise and Government
ConnectSolutions has released the first-ever Managed Private Cloud for Microsoft Lync, an enterprise-class offering specifically designed for large, global organizations. As part of its introductory launch, ConnectSolutions is offering a 1,000-person department rollout of Microsoft Lync for $10 per user per month. This helps an organization's end-users and IT staff acclimate to Microsoft Lync in a safe, phased approach before deploying enterprise-wide. The Managed Private Cloud for Microsoft Lync is deployed on ConnectSolutions' enterprise-class UC3 Platform, a reliable, scalable and secure platform that runs unified communications and conferencing applications in the cloud. The company operates out of five global data centers and delivers FISMA-compliant offerings that meet the stringent security requirements of the federal government. ConnectSolutions' Orion Services team ensures that Microsoft Lync is architected to fit into existing IT infrastructure as well as provides support and training which leads to rapid enterprise adoption.
Visit www.connectsolutions.com.

*Expires 1/31/2012. Limited offer for enterprise and government organizations while capacity is available. Enterprise voice capabilities and Microsoft Lync licenses are sold separately.
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HP

HP introduces multitouch Slate Tablet PC for business
HP announced the HP Slate 2 Tablet PC with expanded touch capabilities, enhanced multitasking performance and embedded security, providing added flexibility to mobile business users. The company also announced a new notebook PC targeting business, education and government customers. The HP Slate 2 Tablet PC provides instant deployment for business and vertical markets such as education, healthcare, government and retail, where jobs frequently take users away from a traditional desk. With a full-featured Microsoft Windows environment, the 1.5 pound HP Slate 2 Tablet PC provides professionals with the flexibility to create, edit and review content on one highly mobile and lightweight device. It features an 8.9-inch diagonal capacitive multitouch display for touch and pen input plus includes a new Swype keyboard. The Swype applet enhances the touch experience with comfortable and efficient data entry via one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard. The HP Slate 2 Tablet PC comes with an Intel Atom Z670 processor with mSATA SSM technology to deliver faster boot times, improved battery life of up to six hours and increased performance for business customers.
Visit www.hp.com.
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IBM

For the first time, IBM brings mainframe and Windows together
IBM announced that technology allowing IBM zEnterprise System users to integrate Microsoft Windows applications into the mainframe environment -- an industry first -- will become available on Dec. 16. The new capability allows clients with multi-tier applications -- for example, Windows applications connected to mainframe data -- to be integrated and consolidated on the same system. This first-ever bringing together of the mainframe and distributed computing worlds is designed to ease the cost and complexity of large corporate data centers and improve management of workloads spanning mainframe and distributed environments.  By bringing Windows and the mainframe together, IBM is helping clients to innovate more freely in multiple environments across z/OS, Linux, AIX and now Windows. Specifically, the new technology provides centralized management, which offers a variety of money-saving benefits, such as faster and automated access to computing resources, reduced administration and lower training costs. The new capability of consolidating and centralizing management of Windows applications on x86-based IBM System x servers will be available for either of the zEnterprise systems -- the z196 or z114.
Visit www.ibm.com.

IntelliChief presents paperless accounting at the 2011 AFP Annual Conference
IntelliChief LLC, the leading provider of document management and document imaging solutions for the IBM I (System i, iSeries, AS/400) Enterprise, presented their solutions to finance operations professionals at the 2011 AFP Conference in Boston. IntelliChief document management enables accounting departments to eliminate their heavy reliance on paper and solves many problems finance professionals are facing, including high paper costs, keeping confidential documents private, preventing documents from getting lost or destroyed in the event of a disaster, and more. IntelliChief is unique in that it can be easily integrated with numerous ERP applications that accounting professionals rely on to run their business. Users may store and retrieve documents directly from their ERP application screens.
Visit www.intellichief.com.
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Mobility

Schools look to VoIP to increase communication mobility and safety on campus
Since school faculty may spend a large portion of their time traveling to other classrooms, they need to be reachable wherever they go. While cell phones may be implemented as a solution, they have proved problematic for most schools because they are expensive and difficult to regulate.  Epygi Technologies’ IP PBX line creates the optimum mobility for this setting. The mobile handsets are essential for groundskeepers and security personnel who have to be outside of the campus, while also staying in close contact with staff inside the buildings. Teachers can also take advantage of the flexibility created through the shared handset in common areas, allowing the teachers to check their voicemail on it. The strong mobility coupled with Epygi’s ability to integrate with an analog or IP-based paging system is fundamental for improving safety on campuses. School management and security can quickly warn teachers and staff about possible threats through silent visual warnings via the IP handsets. Additionally, Epygi supports video pass-through for free, thus allowing schools to integrate a VoIP surveillance system with video footage from the IP cameras streaming to a computer or video phone. Door entry access can be managed from multiple devices on the telephone network.
Visit www.epygi.com.
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People

HP names John Hinshaw Executive Vice President, Global Technology and Business Processes
HP announced that John Hinshaw has been appointed to the newly created position of executive vice president of Global Technology and Business Processes. He will oversee information technology and shared and administrative services, including indirect and services procurement. Hinshaw also will be in charge of optimizing business processes across the company.  Hinshaw comes to HP from The Boeing Company, where he was vice president and general manager of Boeing Information Solutions. There he was responsible for running a new high-growth business, which included delivering information solutions to the U.S. government. Prior to that role he was global chief information officer responsible for the global IT strategy, operations, process and people. Prior to Boeing, Hinshaw was senior vice president and chief information officer at Verizon Wireless. Earlier in his career he also served as a consultant with Accenture.  Hinshaw will join HP as a member of its executive council on Nov. 15, reporting to Meg Whitman, president and chief executive officer, HP.
Visit www.hp.com.
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Survey

Computer beats out smartphone and tablet
The computer is still king, beating out smartphones, tablets and TVs as the number one device business people cannot live without. The findings are from a recent survey by Intermedia, a global leader in cloud services and the largest Microsoft Exchange hosting provider. With so many ways for business people to stay connected to the office and world around them, Intermedia's business communications survey asked what one device a business person could not live without. According to the survey, computers were the overwhelming favorite -- a choice more popular than smartphones, TVs and tablets combined. The survey found that if a person could only keep either their computer, TV, smartphone or tablet device:

• 52 percent would keep their computer

• 23 percent choose their smartphone

• 19 percent want to keep their TV

• 6 percent choose their tablet

For an infographic representing the survey data, see Intermedia's Resource Center.
Visit www.intermedia.net.
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Telepresence

NEC certified as Cisco ATP in the U.S.
NEC Corporation of America (NEC) announced that it has met all Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) program requirements and criteria necessary to earn the designation of Cisco ATP - Cisco TelePresence Video Advanced Partner in the United States. This designation recognizes that NEC has fulfilled prerequisites for its sales and support organizations to properly sell, design, install and support Cisco TelePresence Video products and solutions at the Advanced level.  The Cisco TelePresence Video Advanced ATP Program is focused on providing a new way of working in which everyone, everywhere can be more productive through face-to-face collaboration with TelePresence Video solutions. The Advanced-level program’s goal is to enable partners to market TelePresence Video endpoints with a full breadth of infrastructure solutions in addition to managed videoconferencing services.
Visit www.necam.com and www.cisco.com/go/partnerlocator.
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