Save with Google Apps at your company

Just tell us a couple of key stats about your business, and we'll estimate how much a basic Microsoft Exchange 2007 deployment would cost and what you could save with Google Apps, which includes: 

• Email accounts with 25 GB of storage per user and instant search tools
• IM, plus voice and video chat
• Group calendaring system
• Mobile access
• Spam and virus filtering
• Web-powered collaboration apps: Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Video for businesses 

Google Apps is accessible from a variety of mobile phones, including BlackBerry devices, the iPhone, Windows Mobile and many less powerful mobile phones. Google offers multiple syncing capabilities so that you can access your Google Apps account when you're on the go.

Email Pete Yeo on pete.yeo@fmk.co.uk and start saving money today.

This week we have chiefly been...

• Troubleshooting streaming problems for a new international internet radio station
• Working on complex server authentication/integration issues for a major UK educational establishment
• Advising Miss Marple on replacing her laptop (really!)
• Doing preliminary work on a cost-cutting mail changeover for a registered charity
• Diagnosing a faulty terminal problem (yes, it was dropped)
• Restoring a sent items folder accidentally dragged out of sight so that all mails ‘disappeared’
• Plus the usual 1001 printing, mail, phone, wifi, network and other problems we deal with on a daily basis

Floods hit hard drive supply

Recent flooding in Thailand – the world’s second largest exporter of hard drives - has caused extensive damage to manufacturing facilities from all major hard drive suppliers. The full extent of the impact is not yet known, but pricing on drives has already increased and experts are predicting a significant drive shortage that will last well into 2012. This will likely have a severe impact on supply and pricing from traditional storage vendors.

This week we have chiefly been

• Thinking about Steve Jobs and his family 
• Helping our many BlackBerry-user clients work round their loss of service 
• Installing a load of lovely new MacBook Pros at an international style magazine 
• Deciding we really will have to lock up the server cabinets at a London ad agency… 
• Supporting a London cinema chain through problems at their card payment provider 
• Sorting out printing problems at an accountant to the stars 
• Liaising with BT to get an ADSL line re-installed at a London theatre, sigh
• Sorting out networking and fibre-based internet for a new London-based internet radio station

iCloud forecast for autumn

Free with IOS 5 and available this autumn iCloud replaces Mobile-Me and is Apple's answer to internet storage solutions already available from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Amazon. But rather than relying heavily on storage and web apps, it's appeal lies in the way it stores and manages the content on Apple devices: so it’s always accessible from iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC. It gives instant access to music, apps, latest photos and more. And it automatically keeps email, contacts and calendars up to date across all devices. 

When you sign up for iCloud, you get 5GB of free storage, which doesn't sound much until you realise that  purchased music, apps, books and TV programmes, as well as pictures don’t count towards the free storage. And if you need more, you can easily purchase a storage upgrade straight from your device with an extra 10GB or £14 a year, 20GB for £28 and a maximum of 50GB for £70.