STEPHEN FARRAR

We are very pleased to welcome Steve as an additional Senior Field Service Engineer.  Steve brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with him having worked in IT for more than 11 years across many platforms and will be a valuable addition to our growing team.

 
PDQ MANAGED SERVICES

Once again our products and services go from strength to strength and our Managed Services is a good example of this.

After the success of our free Network Health Check in April many of our Customers now realise the benefits of our monitoring solution and have decided to enhance their current support plan by incorporating this as an addition to their current solution. 

If you are one of the few that haven’t already upgraded your current agreement and would like know more regarding this service then contact your Account Manager or our Sales Team for a quotation.

CABLING SERVICE

After the successful campaign we ran in July providing a cable tidying service, whereby our trained technicians document, tidy and colour code the cables within your cabinets, PDQ are pleased to extend this offer until the end of October 2011.

Depending on volumes the discounted rate could be as low as £4.00 per point (+ vat).  If you would like to know more regarding this service or on general cabling work then contact your Account Manager direct or email our Sales Team for a quotation.

OUTLOOK SIGNATURES

PDQ have recently partnered with exclaimer to offer this easy to use software to enhance your corporate image.

Outlook Signatures are great for detailing names, job titles, contact details and even cool branding elements into every corporate email that you send, whether it is from your desktop, phone or tablet.

This is an easy way to let your customers know who you are and how to get hold of you and to ensure that all staff within your organisation are using the same format and corporate images.

Why not try it free for 30 days by clicking here and then contact PDQ for your discounted purchase price.

LEA CASTLE
We are very pleased to welcome Lea as a new Field Service Engineer.  Lea brings a wealth of experience with him having worked in IT for more than 12 years across many platforms and will be a valuable addition to our growing team.

CHRIS CLAYTON
We would also like to take this opportunity to announce and welcome Chris to PDQ.  Chris will be working within our Service Department as an “Apprentice IT Technician” following his successful NVQ & work placement at our Head Office.

MANAGED SERVICES
Launched early last year our Managed Service Solution has been extremely well received by new and existing customers alike and continues to go from strength to strength.  PDQ have set up a dedicated department to fully manage this solution enabling our staff to focus on our customers needs and tailored requirements.

These include various add-on modules such as Online Backup, integrated Antivirus, Antimailware software and Endpoint Security to name a few.  For more information on these services please contact your Account Manager or Click Here to arrange a free Network Health Check.

MICROSOFT EXCHANGE 2010 SP1
With the launch of Exchange 2010 SP1 at the end of last year, PDQ have been busy over the last few months implementing this upgrade for a number of our customers providing not only consultation work but the supply and installation of the complete solution with very positive results.

As highlighted in previous newsletters this latest version introduces an integrated email archiving system and long-term retention of files and attachments without changing how you work.

This new version will allow your business to indefinitely retain, share and instantly access all emails along with their original attachments within your network and now with the Web App feature you will have the some functionality whilst accessing via the Web.  For more information on Exchange 2010 visit the Microsoft website by Clicking Here , contact your Account Manager direct or use our Contact form by Clicking Here

MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SERVER 2010 SP1 NEW ARCHIVING AND WEB APP FEATURES

With the increasing volume of data being shared and stored in emails, the need to preserve this information has become critical for all businesses, Microsoft have recognised this and introduced Exchange Server 2010 SP1.

This latest version introduces integrated email archiving and long-term retention of your files and attachments without changing how you work. The new Personal Archive feature is a specialized mailbox associated with a user’s primary mailbox. It appears alongside the primary mailbox folders in Outlook and now in the Outlook Web App giving users direct access to archived emails in the same way as non-archived email, permissions can also be set to share these archived folders.

In short this new version will allow your business to indefinitely retain, share and instantly access all emails along with their original attachments within your network and now with the Web App feature you will have the some functionality whilst accessing via the Web. For more information on these new services available on Exchange 2010 please contact your Account Manager or Click Here

SECURITY

PDQ Computers are a partner of RSA, the premier provider of security solutions for business acceleration. Effective Network security is not only essential to protect your infrastructure and the confidentiality and integrity of your digital information but is also vital to ensure compliance with regulations.

At companies all over the world, the RSA SecurID® solution is used by employees who need secure remote access on a regular basis. But as business models change there’s a growing need to extend this industry-leading security to a broader base of users – contractors and part-time employees who occasionally work outside the firewall.

PDQ Computers would like to introduce you to RSA On-demand Authentication. This technology allows you to provide two-factor authentication to the “casual user” on an as-needed basis and at a lower cost. Please contact PDQ Computers to discuss your security requirements or Click Here

MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010

Microsoft has launched the latest version of Office, their extremely popular collection of programs designed to simplify a number of everyday business and home computing tasks. Office 2010 has been heralded as more than just an update to previous versions, Microsoft having invested considerable resources to develop a product as useful and business-focused as possible, designed to save you time and present a more professional image to your customers.

Office 2010 has numerous features designed to make your life easier. Co-authoring lets you work on the same document as colleagues in different locations while “Web Apps” provides you with a growing suite of online tools allowing you to work when and where you want.

Outlook 2010 can help you take control of your day with conversation management tools, mail tips, calendar preview, and more. It helps you stay better organized and up-do-date with less effort and find information you need fast.

We have been trialling Office 2010 for several months and have found it a significant improvement on previous versions, with many of the new features proving to be extremely useful. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we would be happy to provide you with further information on Office 2010 or any other Microsoft products. For more information please Click Here

With the introduction of PDQ Computers Managed Service solution this year, we are offering the first 20 customers that respond to this Newsletter a free Network Health Check.

This Network Health Check generates a comprehensive “snapshot” illustrating the current health of your Network. To accomplish this PDQ Computers deploy an agent, subject to your approval, on your network and monitor it for a period of 7-days. When the 7-days are up we generate a summary including several reports which give an excellent overview of your Network including the Hardware, Software, Disk capacity, Patch Status, Uptime and any changes during the 7-day period among other information.

To take advantage of this offer Click Here

MICROSOFT EXCHANGE 2010

Microsoft Exchange 2010 is the newest version of the messaging and collaborative software solution from Microsoft. According to Microsoft, Exchange 2010 ushers in the next generation of Microsoft unified communications software as the first server designed from inception to work both on-premises and as an online service and introduces new capabilities to help organizations reduce cost, protect communications, and delight email users.

Microsoft claim that Exchange 2010 reduces your messaging costs by 50-80% and a report by Forrester Consulting, commissioned for Microsoft Corporation in November 2009, confirmed that significant savings were realised.

Exchange 2010 provides larger mailbox sizes without the need to purchase expensive storage hardware and handles continuous replication doing away with the need to use the clustering feature of windows server which requires an Exchange Server Enterprise Edition Licence. In addition to these savings a new feature of Exchange 2010 combines continuous replication technology with on-site data replication and off-site data replication reducing the cost of Disaster Recovery and Backup systems.

PDQ Computers are more than happy to discuss your requirements for an Exchange upgrade and recommend an installation. To submit an enquiry please Click Here

HOT SERVER ROOM?

The Met Office have promised another barbecue summer and while it will be fantastic if they are right this year there are serious implications for Server performance.

It is generally recommended that the optimum temperature for servers is 18° - 27° C and this can easily be exceeded in server racks during the summer. Servers, Routers and Switches all produce heat and operating in excessive temperatures can cause failure and significantly reduce the life of components.

If your server room is not air conditioned we suggest that you give this serious consideration; even if the Met Office are wrong, server temperatures can greatly exceed those recommended even in a normal British summer. Maintaining the temperature of your server room within recommended limits is essential for the optimum performance of your equipment; PDQ Computers can assist with this, providing solutions from IP Temperature Probes through to comprehensive server monitoring. For more information please Click Here

STEVE MORGAN

We are very pleased to welcome Steve Morgan to the service team as a new Senior Engineer. Steve brings a wealth of experience with him having worked in IT for many years both in the UK and overseas across many platforms.

Managed Services

PDQ Computers are proud to now offer a comprehensive Managed Service which consists of various service level offerings that provide affordable proactive IT management and support. We provide a range of proactive services designed to optimize your technology investment and maximise the productivity of your people and business.

We have made a significant investment of both time and funding to select and purchase the right tools and develop advanced processes and methodologies to deliver superior services that match your needs.

HP ProLiant Servers

At a time when there is an ever increasing amount of Government Legislation to insure a business’ minimum impact on the environment and businesses are expected to have a “Green Policy” HP have met the challenge by introducing their ProLiant G6 servers and are now set to release their G7 servers this month.

The ProLiant G7 Servers are built for energy savings and include HP Thermal Logic Technologies to reduce power consumption by as much as 96%. Power savings are achieved through a combination of innovative energy-saving features which monitor and optimize the power consumption of the server and it’s components.

Don Parker

We are very pleased to welcome Don Parker to the internal service management team. Don brings a wealth of experience with him having worked in the industry for over 20 years in all areas of IT support.

Infrastructure Improvements

New infrastructure improvements have been made providing PDQ with fibre connectivity and making uncontested symmetrical dedicated pipes available to clients with speeds of up to 100 Mb. These improved communications greatly enhance our business continuity and hosting services.

Hardware

We would like to remind you that we have many manufacturers’ accreditations and partnerships including HP Preferred Partner status and Cisco partner status. Through these partnerships we benefit from special pricing and vendor support. For any Hardware requirement please contact your PDQ Account Manager or visit the Current Deals page, passing on special offers which we receive from vendors and distributors.

MessageLabs

Symantec Hosted Services have launched a new suite of product bundles this week to meet demand for hosted email management and comprehensive threat protection services. Please contact your PDQ Account Manager for more information and to take advantage of the promotional pricing of these bundles.

We have also created a "Current Deals" area within our Hardware Supply pages so that our clients can benefit from our partnerships with manufacturers and vendors. This service will be enhanced by quick delivery and the personal approach which you have come to expect from PDQ Computers.

We hope that the new website provides you with a useful portal to improve the unique approach to service delivery that you already enjoy from PDQ, and would greatly welcome your feedback regarding the site and the services which we provide. We will keep you updated with developments and offers on the Website along with our "Current Deals" with our regular newsletters.

The new website has been developed with Enovate Design, our chosen web design partner, and is built upon a content management system so PDQ Computers have a solid foundation upon which to expand and grow the website.