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26/08/2010
Throughout the deep biting recession over the past couple of years, the public sector has been relatively bulletproof – until now.
But are there lessons learned during this time in the private sector that will help IT managers in the public sector face their upcoming challenges?
ICT spend in the public sector over the coming months is likely to be focused on technologies that are commonly spoken of in cost saving conversations – such as server virtualisation or cloud computing.
Desktop hardware’s only mention in this area is usually only in discussions around thin client. But what if you like your clients fat?
Earlier this year, global analysts techaisle issued a whitepaper entitled
“SMBs - THE CASE FOR BUYING MODERN PCS”
During their research, techaisle managed to uncover some pretty interesting numbers while appraising businesses across the globe. Headline time – “nearly 40% of all PCs in small to medium sized businesses are over three years old” (wonder how this compares to the numbers in the public sector?).
They make 5 key findings in the white paper, which are explained as:
1. More secure: Research suggests that PCs older than 3 years are more susceptible to hardware and software failures, virus, spyware and malware attacks than newer PCs.
2. Improved productivity: Newer PCs experience 40 percent less downtime than older PCs – on an average 7 hours versus 10 hours for older PCs.
3. Less costly to maintain: The cost of maintaining newer PCs can often be 1.5 times less than the cost of maintaining older PCs.
4. Take advantage of newer applications.
5. Enhanced support: Older PCs are harder to support.
Some interesting findings that make the full white paper well worth reading and might help smooth over procurement discussions when a PC refresh is on the agenda.
It would have been good to see the energy efficiency improvements of the new Core i3, i5 and i7 range of processors and Windows 7 included in the cost profile (see image below). Energy efficiency gets an honourable mention, but I’m sure the numbers would make the case to upgrade even more compelling.
27/05/2010
Our customers tell us that visiting Ergo is one of the most rewarding visits, as it provides an opportunity to see some of the most innovative robotic manufacturing technology in Europe as well as a chance to see our customer focused product range.
As part of the visit you will have the chance to discuss your specific requirements so that we can mutually explore the most effective ways of solving your unique challenges.
Dates are as follows:
- June 17th 2010
- July 15th 2010
- August 19th 2010
- September 28th 2010
For more information, or to reserve your place on one of the upcoming days - contact Kate Cooper (katec@ergo.co.uk). 22/04/2010
Ergo have installed Managed Wireless into many schools across the country, and have always been brand agnostic. We’ve installed Cisco, HP and Aruba, depending on client preference, budget or suitability. Over the past 4 or 5 months, we’ve begun to lead with Meru.
We first encountered Meru through the usual channel – a sales call (yes, we get them too) that attempted to explain their USPs and win us over as a reseller. That was over a year ago, and at the time our Lead Solutions Architect thought it sounded either impossible, or at least too good to be true. 6 months down the line, following a glowing recommendation from a school, he took a second look.
Their amazing demo (a real head-on-the-block show) offered a controller and 1 AP with a single radio on 802.11n (2.4GHz) logging on 30 Netbooks simultaneously with a 4MB mandatory profile in 1min and 20secs. VoIP and multi-cast video topped off the show, and really caught our interest. Having seen the demo 4 times now, I’m starting to get a bit blasé about it, but what I witnessed yesterday (April 8th, 2010) has blown any doubts or misgivings that may have been lingering clear out to sea.
The Challenge
The plan was to have a straight-forward race between a Cisco AP and a Meru AP at a secondary school in the North East. 1 trolley-full of laptops all logging on with a much larger profile (50MB) in a classroom environment. Unfortunately a mislaid password meant that we couldn’t get on to the Cisco controller to turn off the other APs in the area – “Stuff it…” I said, “…let’s do it anyway.”
The kit list was as follows:
- 19 x Dell Latitude D531 laptops with Dell 1395 Wireless cards on 802.11g at 2.4GHz
Cisco:
- 1 x Cisco AIR-LAP1131AG-E-K9 AP (in the room – operating on 802.11g at 2.4GHz)
- 4 x Cisco AIR-LAP1131AG-E-K9 APs (offering bandwidth between 2 and 36Mbps at idle to that room from other areas on g at 2.4GHz)
- 1 x Cisco 4400 Controller
Meru:
- 1 x Meru AP320 (one radio set to 802.11n in 5GHz spectrum, and one set to g at 2.4GHz)
- 1 x Meru MC1500 controller (entry-level model)
The Results
19 laptops logged into the Cisco system in 195 seconds (not bad).
18 laptops logged into the single Meru radio in 154 seconds as the battery died on 1 just as it was about to log-on (amazing).
In essence, a single radio on a Meru AP beat a Cisco managed system with 5 visible APs by over 20%.
The Reason?
Meru implements a patented technology called Air Traffic Control. This means the network controls contention for access to the air. With other Wi-Fi technologies contention is managed using a “collision mechanism” (CSMA/CA) whereby the devices “talk” if no one else is talking. If another device decides to talk at the same time a “collision” is declared and both devices “back off” and have to retransmit the lost data.
As you get more devices competing for the air you find that you get more collisions, more retransmissions, and the whole system becomes more inefficient.
With large numbers of devices (5 is considered large) the collision mechanism may be 5% efficient! Central management of contention via air traffic control remains nearly 100% efficient.
In our multiple Cisco AP trial, this would have led to collision after collision on the Cisco system. The Meru system tells each client when to transmit, allocating an equal time period to all clients, and reserving an equal amount of uplink time for the AP to the controller, offering stable peak aggregate throughput and minimal loss through contention.
Summary
As I write this, I know that many will simply not believe these results. For one AP to function more efficiently than a managed system of 5 seems ridiculous (even more so against the global market leader), but I really don’t know what else I can tell you. It’s true! Had Meru Networks made this claim themselves I’d have laughed them out of the room, but this trial was arranged by us (we’ll continue to remain brand agnostic to retain the ability to satisfy customer requirements) and monitored by the school’s Network Manager (a Cisco fan). Given that Meru is a single-channel system operating all APs at full power, which means up to 30% fewer APs per site, the cost benefits are similarly impressive.
Gary Hardy (garyh@ergo.co.uk)
07/04/2010
You could forgive an organisation that's been blissfully ignorant up to now regarding data security.
Yes, the negative PR that comes out of a data breach is damaging, but the regulatory bodies up until now have been soft when it comes to dishing out the discipline.
Over the past two years 720 data breaches were reported to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). On every occasion, punishment has been nothing more serious than warnings and enforcement notices.
All that's about to change though, and organisations can no longer bury their head in the sand safe in the knowledge that if it all goes pear shaped that the worst they’ll get is a slap on the wrist.
And that's just the beginning. In October 2009, the EU agreed new rules on reporting data breaches, with draft legislation put forward this year aimed to make all organisations that process personal data notify such breaches to the national regulator and all parties affected.
In terms of putting a figure on a data security lapse, Information Assurance experts reckon that for each personal record lost or otherwise violated organisations lose about £57.
The good news is that organisations can escape penalties if they can prove they've taken reasonable steps to protect the data.
The EU Data Breach Notification provision outlines that notification will be required “except where the provider can demonstrate it has applied appropriate technological protection measures which render the data unintelligible to unauthorised users”, such as enterprise level encryption solutions.
Any digital access device is a potential security risk - although more often than not the headline grabbing events are caused by the loss or theft of a laptop or USB memory stick.
Over the past two years, many data breaches that hit the headlines were blamed on individuals who ignored security policies.
The only way to ensure that loss or theft of a device won’t result in a widespread data security incident is to apply security by default to the data no matter what the circumstance. This must include the startup & shutdown of a laptop and transferring data to removable media such as USB pen drives.
Most of the lapses occur not because of meaningful wrongdoing - but because an individual was trying to save some time. Often, they’re fully aware of the data security policy, but decided not to follow it. This kind of very common scenario can only be avoided with some of the tools that are on the market today – such as full-disk encryption with pre-boot authentication, port and device control software, and removable-media encryption.
There are a range of hardware and software tools available - but which is best? Well there’s no definitive answer to the question. It very much depends on how IT works within your organisation. For example, an office running a desktop estate will have quite different needs to schools that offer a 1:1 student laptop scheme.
It’s worth having the conversation with us. At a time of uncertain budgets, having to manage a £500,000 fine could have a serious impact on your organisation.
28/01/2010
Although Apple’s announcement on Wednesday may not have ended up being as exciting as most people had hoped, it’s yet another mark in the sand for the power of Apple’s PR machine.
The absence of multitasking will limit the use of this device for day-to-day computing and Apple’s strategic sparring with Adobe over the use of Flash technology may cause a headache for those that are looking for a web-enabled travel companion.
What Apple has achieved in this though is to revitalise interest in a technology that – since being touted as ‘the next big thing by Microsoft in 2001 – has struggled to get much mainstream traction.
PC-based tablets of 2010 offer the same high performance capabilities as other laptops, usually with the flexibility to be used either in slate mode or as a conventional laptop (with a ‘proper’ keyboard). It’s this flexibility and power that means you can still use it in the classroom, in the office or on the move.
Ergo Glide convertible slate tablet PC
The challenge for Microsoft is to capitalise on the spotlight for tablet technology and produce a responsive, pretty touch skin/GUI for Windows 7 to complement the hardware. Windows 7 does include some nice improvements for Tablet users, such as improved pen input and handwriting recognition, but it’s lacking the simple large-icon-based GUI that has been the true ‘killer-app’ for Apple.
Only then will Tablets begin to receive the exposure in the mainstream PC market that they deserve.
27/01/2010
BETT 2010 was a rude awakening for me. Although many people have said to me in passing "oh you should be on twitter", I was struggling to get my head round it.
It was only when I got wind of the online community work that had been arranged before and during BETT that I realised we had to get on board!
I've spent the last couple of weeks organising what we might put on there (after all, there's nothing worse than a social networking profile with no activity) and figuring out things that the people we know may find of benefit as opposed to just marketing noise.
We're working on special twitter only offers, in addition to sharing some of the thought leadership and insight from our partners and customers. I'm also really interested in the concept of crowdsourcing to make sure that we make events like our upcoming open days as relevant as possible.
04/12/2009
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) - the mandatory emissions-trading scheme - begins in April 2010 and yet many private and public sector bodies have not yet developed plans to meet targets set down for cutting their carbon footprints. The legislation covers both private and public sector bodies with electricity consumption of 6,000MWh or more per year - roughly equivalent to an annual energy bill of £500k. If your business qualifies for CRC you are required to take action to avoid financial penalties. The scheme will affect up to 5,000 organisations, who qualify as full participants based on their electricity usage.
Full participants in the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme will be required to monitor their CO2 emissions and purchase allowances, which are currently quoted at a price of £12 per tonne of CO2. In April 2011 companies will have to buy allowances for the forthcoming year, based on the carbon footprint for the year April 2010 to April 2011. The initial costs to comply to the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficient Scheme heighten the need to start reducing CO2 emissions. But help is at hand!! The Government, in partnership with Salix Finance and the Carbon Trust will provide £51.5 million in interest free funding to help public sector organisations take advantage of energy efficiency technology. The loans scheme has now had 2 calls for applications which have both been highly successful with in excess of 500 projects being accepted for funding. The next call is now open and has a closing date of 31st December 2009. You do not need to wait until the closing date to submit your application as it will be processed within 2 weeks of receipt of all the necessary documentation. This means that the sooner you send in an application meeting the agreed criteria, the sooner you will have a confirmed loan.
However, In many cases organisations have not yet taken full advantage of the carbon reduction opportunities available - but there is a need to act fast!! A CRC league table will be produced annually and will rank organisations - those highly placed will receive a bonus payment, while poor performers will be penalised. In addition to the CRC, local authorities have the additional requirement to measure their carbon emissions under National Indicator 185, a framework of performance measures set by the Government. Failure to show decreasing emissions under both NI 185 and CRC has the potential to reduce the funding available to Councils. The bottom line is that, whatever sector you operate in, reducing your carbon footprint will result in financial gain in two ways; firstly through the CRC incentive plan and secondly from the money saved by increasing your energy efficiency.
But ICT usage is on the increase - in some organisations such as Universities and Colleges, the number of computers has increased by over 60% over the past 5 years. The UK HE/FE sector alone operates nearly 1,470,000 computers, 250,000 printers and 240,000 servers and utilises around 966,000 Mega Watt-hours (MWh) of electricity consumed annually. This sector is likely to spend £116m in 2009 on their energy costs alone and will emit over 500,000t of CO2 emissions from this electricity use (with further substantial quantities being emitted in the production of the ICT equipment).
So what's the solution? We believe that there are two fundamental areas you should consider:-
Choose the right ICT equipment and right ICT infrastructure solutions - there is a bewildering array of devices and infrastructure solutions now being badged as 'green'…..these include low power consumption processors; high-efficiency power supply units; low power consumption LCD Monitors; print efficiency software; integrated multi-function devices (e.g. 'super printers'); infrastructure virtualisation; and remote and home working. Clearly that's a big list…...but we believe that taking a holistic long-term view is the best way forward.
But what about the short-term? Thankfully there are 'quick-win' solutions available without the need to throw out your old kit…..and which can be aligned with your organisation's natural refresh cycle. For instance, extending the use of, or re-using, existing equipment will help save energy and materials in manufacturing, as well as purchase and disposal costs…so all organisations should be asking suppliers about their products' longevity and their disposal or re-use plans. We can help you map this journey to suit your organisation.
But perhaps the most effective quick-win can be gained from monitoring your energy usage, raising awareness, and changing behaviours. It is a little known fact that a large proportion of a computers "on time" is actually spent doing nothing, and so it's important for any organisation to have a good overview of how ICT is being used and where there is any wastage. Key to this is making sure your employees stop and think about how their actions could impact on energy usage. We've partnered with PowerMan - this is a simple to deploy software solution, even simpler to monitor and control, that can revolutionise your energy usage and show you real-time savings in an easy to navigate dashboard.
(one of the many reporting features of PowerMan)
PowerMan offers a tool to review your energy usage patterns and build up the skills and capabilities to improve energy conservation and ultimately drive positive changes in people's approach to using ICT. The effective use of accurate monitoring data is the key factor here - without the information to plan your approach and then measure the effect you cannot continue to improve and refine your working practices. We estimate that you could save over 60% on your ICT energy bills by reducing "on-time" waste hours by 90% per PC, this equates to £60-£80 per desktop/per year. The bottom line is that to maximise your achievements in the CRC Performance League Table you need to reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint, which will need to be quantified. The route to this goal is to get everyone involved, get the information on your current energy usage, give feedback, drive behavioural change, and make sustainability part of your policy and management plans.
Feel free to contact us about Ergo PowerMan, we can help you reduce your CO2 emissions, demonstrate real cost savings with PowerMan's simple web-based reporting tool, and give you full ROI within months. 03/12/2009
Forward planning of your ICT requirements, managing a complex portfolio of equipment with differing lifecycles, keeping the configuration stable to ease technical support requirements, maintaining strict security protocols, low "total cost of ownership", asset tracking and asset management. Sound familiar?
These all sound like a set of management buzzwords, but it's a set of requirements we are familiar with here at Ergo. Whilst we are keen to offer the latest technology to our customers, some of our customers have such a complex hardware and software environment that they ask us to carefully schedule their technology upgrades. For instance, changes to PC builds require extensive testing with all internal systems - so getting the rollout of a new motherboard wrong, or doing it piecemeal, can be expensive and time-consuming.
Whilst this means holding off on rolling out the latest upgrades, the trade off is stability and a lower cost of ownership, particularly from lower support costs. The "performance" issue is not really an issue, as the value of having all machines working effectively far outweighs a delay in introducing, for instance, the latest Intel Core i7 processor.
But how long is the delay? Well, it's not a simple answer. The only way to make this work is through a strategic technical partnership between an organisation and their trusted ICT supplier to discuss technology roadmaps that would otherwise be confidential. Again, the phrase "strategic technical partnership" can sound like one of those phrases you get to use if you have an MBA - but the reality is that the 'stability vs. currency' trade-off can only work if both sides talk the same language.
As an accredited supplier of Intel® Corporation and other manufacturers' components we have the insight that enables us to advise on technology roadmaps. As the deliverer of critical front-line services you have the detailed knowledge of your demand for technology. The "delay" in introducing the latest upgrades can be up to 2 years (?), but the critical issue here is that it's a jointly planned delay - designed to maximise the value of the ICT investment without impacting on the delivery of critical front line services.
We'd be interested to hear your views on the stability vs. currency issue. What do you think the issues are that suppliers need to address? What frustrates you? What's the biggest cost in your TCO model? We're always trying to improve what we do, so please feel free to comment on our blog. 17/11/2009
It’s been needed for a couple of years, planned to death over the last 7 months and now it’s live! Our new site is Sharepoint based (MOSS 2007 for those that may be interested). The decision on which platform to use was the source of plenty of lively debate across the Ergo offices once we’d decided to invest in a new site.
Ultimately, it was felt that whilst achieving the right look and feel within Sharepoint may take longer to program, the wider business benefits it would bring would be worth the extra effort.
Sharepoint’s got loads of features that will really help an IT business of Ergo’s size become more efficient. Those Network and IT Managers amongst you will have no doubt felt the pain at some point of trying to manage ‘read only’ excel files – or co-ordinating a whole management team trying to contribute different sections to a report.
As tendering becomes even more commonplace across the Public Sector, I think Sharepoint will really help us collaborate as a business more effectively. Our Bid Management process should become a lot more efficient – meaning we can tender for more stuff as it gets released.
For those of you running Scholaris Learning Gateway, or another Sharepoint solution for your VLE, this process has certainly showed us that there are loads of possibilities when it comes to skinning Sharepoint. Having your school’s colour scheme, or perhaps skinning to match your external website may even help the adoption proces within the school. If you want to bring your VLE to life – give us a call we’ll be happy to help. | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /Blog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /Blog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /Blog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /Blog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
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