“The Cloud” (<- as I use both hands making "quotes" in the air) seems to be the newest homonym (two or more words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings)... and, when did clouds start living in computer rooms? I completely understand how all of this "cloud talk" could be confusing. My aim in the next few minutes of your life is to clear the air a bit.

First and foremost you need to know that “The Cloud” has always been. Twenty(ish) years ago, when I attended my first computer courses at DeVry, the “cloud” was in Chicago; while I sat in Columbus. I programmed on terminals that submitted my “job” to the “mainframe” and anxiously awaited my response/printout from the mother-ship. That, in it’s most basic form, was “The Cloud” in the early 1980′s. This form of “cloud computing” supported the decentralized computing model; i.e. – the terminals and central computer were in different geographic locations.

Fast forward to PC’s in business and early LAN’s (Local Area Networks) that brought the power of the cloud locally. The computer that housed “all of the magic” was now called the “File Server”. Now, “terminals” and/or PC’s could access the power of “TheCloud” (which used to be in Chicago or in a Data Center somewhere else far, far away) that was in the same geographic location; no longer was there a need to wait on the mother-ship or traverse expensive Wide Area Network (WAN) links to get to your company’s most valuable asset… it’s data. The power of “The Cloud” is now local… this represents the “centralized” computing model.

Those of us that have been in Information Technology for quite some time have seen this ebb and flow from centralization to decentralization through many cycles. Each time technology changes, businesses are presented with the bill to “migrate to the newest hardware” or “upgrade to the latest version of software”. As a general rule of thumb, hardware upgrades every 9 months or so whereas software is usually double that; every 18 months or so. Businesses generally count on their entire system to last from, on the shy end, 36 months, and on the far end… about 5 years. Business that realize the benefit of their investment for the extra 2 years are often considerably behind their competitors in the technology area. This constant “state of flux” has kept many an IT company in business and given many a businessperson a bad taste for those in our industry; always feeling like they have to hold on to their checkbooks when the IT guys come calling…

While all of this was happening, businesses STILL needed to link all of their offices together. Some with offices just across town, while others were connecting internationally. The use of digital circuits like T1′s and early technologies like Frame Relay were slow but provided “adequate” connectivity… and they weren’t cheap.

That pretty much ends the history lesson. Welcome to modern day computing! I wrote this on my iPad while connected to WiFi that’s connected to a circuit that is over twice as fast as the earliest Local Area Network (10 Mbps Ethernet) and over 15 times faster than a T1!

A bit of fanfare here if you please as we enter the last cycle of decentralization and the modern day version of “The Cloud”!!

The issues business faced in the past need not be issues of concern in the future. The slow, expensive WAN (Wide Area Network) links that were necessary to effectively run one’s business are now more inexpensive than ever and have far surpassed speeds of traditional LAN’s (Local Area Networks). What’s the overall effect of this increase in speed and decrease in cost? “The Cloud”.

It’s now more cost effective than ever to replace your “on premise” solution for the last time. “The Cloud” allows you to have all of your “equipment” (be it virtual or real) in a remotely hosted location that’s as fast (or faster) as when you installed it in the IT closet just down the hall only a few years ago… and if your solution is “virtual” (a whole other topic) your hardware and software upgrades don’t involve:

* Days of downtime while you upgrade the Operating System
* Upgrading memory & hard disks
* Making sure you have at least 3 backup copies of all of your data
* Trusting your IT guys to pull it all off, seamlessly, before the start of the workday, Monday morning (Scary huh?!)

Nope. YOUR upgrades are a phone call to your Cloud Services provider. Conversations concerning a “technology refresh” (upgrade) should now go something like this:

1.). “Would you please increase our disk space?” Sure. It’ll be available in the next hour.
2.). “How quickly can you bring up another server for us?” We’ll have it available for you this afternoon.
3.) “How current are our backups”? We take complete backups of the entire server every four hours, this includes everything from your most recently updated data and software to the cute picture you have on your desktop. If something happens to your system, we can have you back to the point you were a few hours ago… in about 30 minutes or so.

The Cloud provides businesses the opportunity/ability to never have to upgrade their hardware again and avails an easy way to migrate to more powerful systems… all on the fly. Most cloud service providers also guarantee 100% uptime, data backup, and disaster recovery all within the confines of a highly secure physical location driven by multiple power grids, protected by backup generators, firewalls, and “blended” connections to the Internet that are a combination of many different Internet Service Providers (that way if one company’s connection goes down, your business won’t feel a thing!!!).

I’m drawing a line in the sand here. Businesses are soon to realize the safety of centralizing their data in the cloud once and for all… Cloud computing is the last wave of decentralization and the last time a business will need to approve budget dollars for a Capital Expense… nope, this expense can now be moved to Operations Department…

Long live my memories of doing “everything IT” the hard way… as I confidently send praise and success to The Cloud (quotes around this term are no longer necessary – we’re all friends now).

Whether it be Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s Private Cloud, or our very own StoneCloud… this technology is here to stay…

The Cloud is sure to change your life in the near future, if it hasn’t already.. and hec, if given the chance, I’d even vote for the cloud to win Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” award…

I’d had enough…dropped calls and lack of coverage finally pushed me over the edge (AT&T pun intended and if you got that, color yourself a true geek).
After all, Stonetree Networks is an IT consulting firm and communication and accessibility is ESSENTIAL in our business. Back when we had decided
to move from Verizon to AT&T it was because of the iPhone. At that time there was NOTHING on the market like it. Undeniably, it was truly innovative and it shook up the mobile market. We jumped at the chance to use this new tool in the AT&T toolbox to better do our job.

Fast forward all most 4 years and now that innovation has resulted in a revolution in the mobile market. Google has gotten in on the action with the addition of the Android platform. Combine Android with Verizon’s network and, so far, it’s pretty hard to beat. However, with Verizon only having Android phones since 2009 (the original Droid) and the major hardware manufactures not much longer than that, to say it’s as elegant of an operating system as Apple’s IOS would be a GROSS misrepresentation.

I’ll be honest, I miss my iPhone, in a lot of ways but it’s best summed up in the work elegance. Elegance can be defined as a quality of neatness and ingenious simplicity in the solution of a problem. Android is anything BUT elegant. However, it IS functional, powerful AND customizable. It’s both Android’s strength and weakness. I always like to end on a positive note so I’ll start with what I DON’T like. Let me first start by saying I have a Samsung Fascinate running the 2.1 Android OS. First and foremost: Email on this device using the native client is ATROCIOUS. I have 5 different email addresses for various purposes, Exchange, two MSN accounts, a Gmail account and a third POP account. The native email client on the Android platform handles NONE of them well. At least not for me. My Exchange account would not allow me to browse my sub folders or move items from my inbox into said subfolders, MSN accounts NEVER updated appropriately, Gmail was the only account that worked OK, go figure with Android coming from Google, and my other POP account…same as my MSN account, nada. So, I stand corrected, ONE of my 5 email accounts worked as expected. However, in light of that their are other email clients that I can choose from, which I did. That’s one of Android’s strengths, customization. So I use TWO email clients. Touchdown for Exchange and K9 for my other accounts. Great! But hardly elegant. Oh and did I mention the Exchange client costs 19.99! The iPhone mail client well, it just works. For ALL my accounts. Including sub folders. FOR FREE! The only other gripe I will mention at this time is the myth that the Android operating system is an OPEN platform. There’s a great article about this over at ZDNet by Jason Hiner. Suffice it to say that the OS IS open…to the CARRIERS (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, & Sprint). THEY get to decide what parts of Android you get to use and what functionality they will cripple. They’ll even try and charge you extra for that functionality that was originally intened to be free in Android. Google Maps and Navigation anyone?!?!

Now for what I DO like with Android, text input. The keyboard on the Android system is fantastic, at least on the Samsung Fascinate. It comes with SWYPE AND a microphone for speech to text. LOVE IT! Also, if I press and hold a key that has a letter as well as a number or symbol on it, it will input the number or symbol. No having to press another button to go to the number/symbol keyboard and then press that button to get back to the letters. It’s there if you have a lot of numbers or symbols that you need to enter, but if you only need to enter a number or symbol or two, it’s much more efficient. I’m all about efficient! Also, FREE turn by turn navigation, Verizon is counting on the fact that you won’t know any better and will use their 2.99 a month paid service. Highway robbery! Download Google maps and navigation also gets installed and your off to turn by turn navigation for free. FANTASTIC! Finally, but MOST importantly…call quality and coverage…this has less to do with Android vs. iPhone and more to do with Verizon vs. AT&T. So far, only one dropped call on Verizon, on AT&T…1,347,492 or thereabouts. Seriously…it was terrible. It’s still early but so far, I’m very pleased with the coverage and quality of Verizon.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. For me, it’s the connectivity toolbox of Verizon that is the most important thing and now that Verizon has a worthy tool in that toolbox, i.e., Android, I’m confident that Stonetree will be able to better build our relationships with our clients.

Microsoft just released the public beta of there venerable Internet Explorer product, now in iteration number 9. ZDnet did a quick and dirty hands on shakedown of the new browser and it was pretty positive. Internet Explorer 8, the current release, was released a bit before Windows 7 came out and is also a fine browser, due in large part to the competitive pressure of other excellent browsers like Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome.

Not surprising to anyone in the industry, IE9 will not be supported on the Windows XP platform. Windows XP is in what Microsoft dubs “extended support phase” which means they will continue to release security and stability updates for free, but will not develop any new features or new technologies for what is now a nine year old operating system. Microsoft really struck out with Windows Vista, which helps explain why Windows XP is still deployed in massive numbers among business and home users. However, Windows 7 has been around for about a year and there have been little to no real criticism of it and huge heaps of praise from longtime PC users, as well as begrudging respect from Mac OS aficianados who witnessed Microsoft release an OS almost as stable as their own.

Microsoft is relying on new PC sales, which have been strong despite the global economic downturn, to phase out Windows XP organically. We can expect to see more of this behavior from Redmond over the next two years while Windows XP starts to die out in favor of new PCs with new hardware. For this IT pro, this has been a long time coming. While Windows XP has been a dogged platform for business and play, retirement suits it, its time for fresh OS blood.

We’re excited to announce our new secure hosted-exchange STONEMail messaging service! Stonetree is bringing technology commonly used only by Fortune 500 companies to the Small to Medium Business market!

STONEMail offers spam-free, virus-free, HIPAA, PCI & SOX compliant SECURE email to any non-secure recipient…

Test drive the interface from the STONEMAIL button above or using the button in the upper right-hand corner of our website (http://www.istonetree.com/).  Select “This is a private computer” using stonetree/demo as the username and “stoneTr33” as the password…

Mail sent to demo@istonetree.com will show up in the inbox…

Comments are always welcome!  Please check our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/istonetree for updates on STONEMail in the near future…

Eleven in the morning and already bustling

I have to admit that having heard the news that Microsoft was opening a retail store in the Park Meadows mall, I was more than a bit skeptical that this might end up another Microsoft “Bob” moment. First, lets understand some key elements of where the Redmond software giant’s business is right now. It’s stock price is lower than both Apple and Googles’, over the last several quarters it has lacked the media blitz frenzy that has surrounded the release of the iPad and iPhone 4, as well as competing phones by Motorola and HTC running Google’s Droid software; which is now on version 2.2. With little to no fanfare, Microsoft has released Windows 7, Exchange Server 2010, Office 2010, Sharepoint 2010, and Microsoft Server 2008 R2; all of which were critically regarded very well. In the first quarter of 2010, Windows PC sales outpaced sales in the first quarter 0f 2009 by a whopping 27%. Keep in mind in the first quarter of 2009 PC sales were fairly strong for recession economics and outsold its only competitor, Apple, by a very wide margin.

Why then, is Microsoft’s share price lower than it’s two main rivals? Microsoft is beginning to think that selling its Windows 7 software through a major manufacturer like Dell or HP, or a big box store like Best Buy, removes a personal element that Apple Store customers enjoy. I think they have a point. Microsoft is kind of like a cloud that hangs over Dell and HP, they don’t actually make computers, unless you count the XBox game console. If you want personal service, you often have to go to your local PC repair depot, or drop your PC off at the geek squad where before they even look at your computer, they will (annoyingly) try to sell a support contract or extended warranty or whatever. Wondering how this would take shape with a Microsoft flare, I got in my car and drove down to the Park Meadows mall to have a look for myself.

First of all; before the Apple fanboys begin to complain, Microsoft has totally ripped off the Apple store from the Answer Desk (Genius Bar) to the under 25 hipsters waiting to answer any question that comes their way. They ripped it off properly. The Microsoft Store is large and spacious, plenty of room to move about with lots of eye candy on display for sampling. I found Dell’s answer to the Mac Book Air; which has been on the market for over a year but has not gotten any press:

Traffic was high today. Unlike the Apple Store, even though it was crowded it was not claustrophobic; the store is at least double the size of an average Apple Store. Including PCs and laptops, they had Windows Mobile phones by HTC, XBoxes, hundreds of accessories, software, game titles, and Windows 7 Kiosks showing off Microsoft 7′s multi-touch capability. If you are waiting for this, don’t call Redmond. We are waiting for Samsung or someone else to make a monitor capable of multi-touch.

MS's version of the "Genius Bar"

Why would you buy a computer here instead of Best Buy or directly from Dell or HP? I spoke with one of the answer desk guys and they told me that unlike those retailers, when you buy a PC here, an answer desk tech will go through with you exactly what you want on the computer. Pretty much any software title is available (of course you have to buy it!) for you to chose from. Bring your old PC in for them to migrate. Once they get all this information they will install a fresh copy of Windows for you, install your purchased software, and migrate your data from your old PC. You don’t have to worry about silly Dell or HP software, or a 60 day trial of Norton; they will only install what you tell them too. Not a service I would take advantage of, but I would send my mother there.

The ultimate question is, will this work? I have no idea, I think that Microsoft is wise to try new strategies to remain relevant. However, I think that they would be just as well to reinvent microsoft.com to make it quick and painless to purchase and install software. They could also try selling Dell’s and HP’s through microsoft.com. One of my principle complaints about the Apple Store is that when something went wrong (and they do), you had to go to the Apple store. I don’t have time for this, ship me the part and an instruction sheet and I will forget that the thing broke. In all seriousness it seems like this is a plea from the dozens of manufacturers who rely on Microsoft as their platform. In the Apple Store all you get is Apple. You might as well subtitle “Microsoft Store” with “Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Sony, HTC, and Samsung too”.

Bottom line, I will still do my shopping online. Although, I may pop in from time to time to check something out before I decide to purchase something, and in that case I will by probably buy said product from the Microsoft Store. This is exactly the behavior PC makers are trying to capture.

Agent Agreement Signed Between FORETHOUGHT.net and Stonetree Network Solutions Today at 9:54pm

FORETHOUGHT.net, a leading provider of internet, voice and data services, and StoneTree Networks, have signed an Agent Agreement effective immediately.

This agreement will allow Stonetree Networks to sell FORETHOUGHT.net’s products and services to businesses across the metro area. “Stonetree’s partnership with FORETHOUGHT.net is the perfect marriage of expertise and technology that I’m certain will deliver our clients the competitive edge they’ll need for many years to come,”says Dan Mullen, CEO and President of Stonetree.

Sean Ellis, Vice President of FORETHOUGHT.net agrees. “I’m excited to be working with the team at Stonetree Networks. They have high standards, ethics and are driven to succeed.”

Who is FORETHOUGHT.net?
Since 1995, FORETHOUGHT.net (http://FORETHOUGHT.net) has grown into one of Denver’s largest and most recognized reliable internet, voice and data providers, utilizing its own data loops on its own network, guaranteeing bandwidth speeds and quality–without the cost of products offered by a major carrier. The mission of FORETHOUGHT.net is to simplify communications and remove the headaches around last-century phone and Internet services.

FORETHOUGHT.net is recognized by the Denver Business Journal as a Top 15 telecommunications company and Top 15 Internet Service Provider; and recognized by ColoradoBIZ Magazine as one of Colorado’s Top 250 private companies. For additional information on services, please call 303.815.1000.

About Stonetree Networks
Stonetree Networks provides complete IT solutions for small to medium businesses across the Denver Metro area, specializing in multi-location services and support. Customers include organizations within the medical, hospitality, engineering and legal industries among many others.

Communications Simplified.

A “PC guy” since their inception… however, I waited in line… the “No Reservation” line to be exact. There were two categories… one line the those die-hard Apple Fans that would be there even if they were unveiling a new “Lisa”, and the other line for the curious and unprepared. I fell into the latter category. My daughter waited with me, and oddly enough, with an equal amount of excitement.

We finally made it inside and found that they’re stock was plentiful. Then, my daughter congratulated me on the purchase of my first Apple computer… Was that really what just happened…? A PC guy just went to the “other side”…? Very possibly so… however, I’m not giving up my ProBook as of yet…

I have to say that I’m very impressed with this device! Its grown on me the last couple of days… but I promise to give it up when I purchase the new 3G version due out later this month.

Out of the box, I was already familiar with the user interface as it’s almost identical to my iPhone. The new LED screen is extremely clear and makes for easy reading and the touch interface is amazingly accurate… An app that I use frequently, the calculator, is missing for some reason… but it’s an easy add for .99 …

While the iPad offers no multi-tasking capability, I didn’t notice that at being a huge drawback… I guess that allows me to focus on one thing at a time… and, when I need to get back to what I was working on previously, it takes less time to get there than the “hourglass” I’m used to on my laptop… The new A4 technology makes this unit is extremely fast!

I found that the Safari browser offered me the Cloud-Based versions of a few applications that I’d previously only been able to access via an iPhone app. Access to our SharePoint site and Online ticketing system was now as easy as browsing to the site and logging in… no need to “have an app for that” anymore! And, as expected, the Safari browser is still, shall I say, “Flash Challenged”.

As you may know, I have less than perfect eyes but love to read. While, the interface of the iBook reader is very cool… the bookstore had less of a selection than I’d expected. I proceeded to install the Kindle app and downloaded a few books. The page-turning action isn’t near as cool on the Kindle reader but they had the book I was looking for…

My connection to our Microsoft Exchange server worked beautifully over my Wi-Fi connection and I absolutely love the new calendaring interface – in both portrait and landscape mode!

I also installed the Microsoft Office equivalent versions from the App Store – “Pages” for Word, “Numbers” for Excel, and “Keynote” for PowerPoint. I expected formatting errors – and there were a few. A few fonts were missing, images shifted from their previous positions, etc. In the “Pages” app I brought up a 27-page .docx document and was pleasantly surprised. Most of the formatting was intact and the application seemed very usable.

The iPad offers tremendous potential for medical applications such as EMR/EHR and will probably pave the way for wide acceptance of tablet-computing. I’m sure I’ll discover a few more features and anomalies in the days and weeks that follow… (assuming I can pry it out of my daughters hands – “Super Monkey Ball” also works flawlessly!)… but, as of now, this is not the death of the laptop… at least not yet…
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