What is it, you ask? It’s called a QR code. No doubt, you’ve seen these popping up everywhere.  Go ahead, scan this one with the bar code reader on your smartphone.  This QR code actually has contact information encoded in it, in what’s known as vCard format. vCard is a contact format known by most if not all contact applications (such as Outlook), which includes those on smartphones.

How does the QR Code work? Take a look at the image below, courtesy of QRME. The code is broken down into several regions, consisting of some metadata as well as the data itself. At the heart of it, it’s just a bunch of black and white blocks lined up in certain sequences that the QR reader can translate into numbers and letters! Don’t have a Reader? Search for “Barcode Scanner” in the Android Market or iTunes App Store, developed by ZXing.

All new business cards from Open Tier Systems will have a QR code with the contact information embedded in it. The benefit is obvious: giving a business card to someone with a smartphone would lead to a higher likelihood of that person making the giver of the card a permanent contact, due to the recipient not having to type all contact information in themselves. Scan it, save it, done.

Backside of new Open Tier business cards.

QR Codes aren’t just limited to vCards, they have all types of uses. Here’s a shortlist:

• You can put a small QR code on all your printed materials that when scanned, directs users to the web version of the same.
• You can have the QR code punch a number into the users dialer, so all they need to do is hit the “Call” button.
• You can have the code send a predefined text message.
• You can have the code send an email.
• You can create all types of Map URLs: Google, Bing, GPS coordinates

This is something you’ll see more of going forward, and why not, it’s a real time saver!Interestingly, they’ve been around for over a decade, and are just now going “mainstream” in the US.

If you want to get right to having some business cards designed with a QR Code on them, contact Liz Dobrinska of Innovative Images. She does a fantastic job with all of Open Tier’s design needs! If you just want to play around with a QR Code Generator, click here. This is the generator we used for our cards since it creates them in a “Liz-friendly” format.

As always, if you’re interested in some more information about the QR codes or your IT needs in general, feel free to contact us at 484-235-5139. Thanks for reading!

• Power down all computers at the close of business Friday, August 26th.
• Ensure that all computers at or below ground level are off the floor.
• If your building is a known leaker (or if you are generally worried about water damage), place the computers in or under a black trash bag.

My personal instinct is that the news is generally making this a bigger deal than it’s going to be, HOWEVER, it’s better safe than sorry!

Please call the office at 484-235-5139 or email support at opentiersystems.com if you have questions!

Brian

• Visa
• MasterCard
• Discover

There is no additional fee associated with using a credit card to make a payment, so use a credit card to make your payments! It’s a great way to manage your cash flow and build up those reward points!

If you wish to use a credit card to make a payment, there are currently two options to do so:

1. Call to make a payment over the phone. Dial 484-235-5139 and press 2. Please be prepared with your invoice number.
2. Mail in your invoice, filling in your credit card information in the provided fields. We will contact you upon receipt to obtain the card security code, then process the transaction.

Please note that at this time, we do not accept American Express.

Anytime I hear about some sort of disaster or impending doom, I find myself thinking “Is my data going to be safe when the dust settles?”. Yes, it’s true.  This is what I think. This is what any good geek thinks. I am somewhat of a digital pack rat after all.  If you’re reading this, I’m sure you think the same type of things occasionally, just maybe not about data. My aim with this post is not to lay out a specific plan for a specific disaster. That’s just not possible. It’s meant as a guide to planning for some sort of disaster, big or small. Let’s jump right in.

Rule Number 1: Identify the asset to secure

You may have noticed, I did something important in the first paragraph: I’ve identified the asset I want to secure: my data. I’ve determined that it is valuable and must be protected. You need to figure out which things you consider a valuable asset to be protected, and what other assets are not so valuable. From a business standpoint, it  helps to put it in terms of the cost to replace vs the cost to protect. If your mail server crashes, is it cheaper to protect, or replace? The quick answer might be “Replace!”, but remember, there are other intangible costs to your mail server being offline, most importantly, pissed off customers. Can you place a value on that? Can you place a value on a lead lost due to being down? Maybe the mail server is a valuable asset to protect.

This applies to people also. I have a client who has a policy of not allowing the execs to travel together, at all. This is actually pretty common in larger companies as well as companies whose asset is their collective brainpower.

Remember, choose what’s valuable carefully, because it can get awful expensive to protect things that really didn’t need to be protected in the first place.

Rule Number 2: Identify and prioritize likely scenarios

I could go on and on about all the things that could go wrong and the best way to deal with them, but I’ll spare you.  The simple fact is, most scenarios you can come up with just don’t apply. As an example, if you live in Pennsylvania, you probably aren’t too worried about an earthquake (or maybe so after that 1.5 mag quaker in Northeast Philadelphia earlier in the week), but you might be a bit more worried about sudden power outages affecting your ability to operate. In this case, it’s a better idea to focus on installing some backup power, and leaving the earthquake plan for the guys on the west coast.

In another set of examples, maybe you run a fast paced inside sales desk, and your phones and phone system are your lifeblood. Now, someone spilling their coffee on their phone is a “disaster”, b/c for every minute they aren’t taking calls, you are losing sales. Take it a step further. Your phone system goes down due to a faulty component, and you’re losing sales. Take it a step further. A road crew outside your building cut all the phone lines, and you’re losing sales. Which is the most likely? What should you devote time and resources to first?

Rule Number 3: Devise a recovery plan

OK, so we’ve determined what we want to protect, and what we THINK the most likely things that could happen to it are. So now we make a plan. This part can be simple and cheap, complex and expensive, or some combination thereof. Simple & cheap: Making a no drink policy around the phones. More complex and expensive: Having two sets of phone lines running out both sides of the building to different phone company offices, thus protecting against those accidental cuts. Simple and expensive: Having replacement phones and phone system sitting in a closet ready at a moments notice.

The plan should detail what sets it in motion and the recovery process. That process may include people to notify, rally points, part numbers to order, resource cache locations, repair & quality testing procedures, reports to file, etc. A good process will bring the operations back to normal with the minimal amount of loss of time and money. It can be broken into phases if necessary.

Rule Number 4: Train people

Would you ever go scuba diving without practicing first in a controlled situation with instructors standing by? Maybe, but you’d be nuts. For everyone else, without a doubt you’d train before you made a real dive.

The same principle applies to recovery planning. You need to train people on the process and test that process in a controlled fashion. Training is important. You can have the greatest recovery plan on the planet, but if no one’s read it or knows how to implement it, it’s worthless. The goal of training is that all the moving parts know the process and their role.

Rule Number 5: Test & refine the process

At this point, the process & training then needs to be tested. This means contriving some tests that simulate the disaster, or elements of it, and the results you expect of the given test. You’ll learn some things about your process, namely what works, and what doesn’t. It’s that “what doesn’t” part you want to have a look at. The plan is only as strong as its weakest link.

During this stage keep in mind an Army motto: “Train like you fight, so you can fight like you train.” Make it as real a test as is feasible, even if that means dumping a coffee into a working phone or yanking out a live phone line during some downtime.  I recommend to make the testing intervals random, because disaster rarely schedules an appointment. People and processes behave differently under pressure, so testing like this helps them prepare them for the stress of the real thing.

Testing should be a revealing process. You might find that something you thought would work didn’t, and something you didn’t think would work actually did. It happens. Adjust the process you created in Rule 3 accordingly, and proceed through Rule 4 & 5 over and over until the process works as expected! You are now on your way to overcoming the never ending obstacles of life & business!

What we especially liked about the Mailstore Server package was its simplicity. It could be loaded on any machine in the network, including directly on the server. The entire configuration process was self explanatory, save for getting the Microsoft Outlook plugin be able to connect.  For that, a simple firewall exception needed to be added to the server to allow inbound communication to the Mailstore service, and then we were rolling.  (If you’re interested, TCP port 8461 needed to be opened)

Creating the archive rules was a painless task; all the different options are clearly laid out, allowing for the selection of options such as: which folders get archived, what date you wish to start archiving back from, and whether or not to delete the messages from outlook after archiving.  With a few more clicks, creating recurring archival tasks for an individual mailboxes or PST files was complete.

Our only gripe with the software came during the PST archiving process. While running an archive, you can’t navigate in the Mailstore application at all. A minor annoyance; that type of thing should be queued and run in the background. Also, it would be nice to see a temporal estimate on the time remaining to import a PST, rather than just a progress bar. The progress bar didn’t give any indication of the time it would take for a given archive routine to complete, which again, is a minor annoyance.

Once the system was setup, and users email archived, retrieval of archived messages was enabled via a Microsoft Outlook plugin. The plugin operates by adding a clearly labeled search bar in the MS Outlook Inbox window.  Simply type a date or keyword into the Mailstore search box and all relevant mail items found will populate a search results window. The messages in the list are exact replicas of the original, attachments included, however the message list isn’t sortable.

The cost is low: $38.00 per user license. It’s a snap to install and configure, and has a very small footprint. Overall, if you are looking for an email archiving solution, we recommend Mailstore Server. Solid software at a reasonable price: a combination that is hard to beat!

Contact us if you’d like some more information.

I was sold before I even held it. With two processors, two cameras, a large touchscreen, WiFi/3G/4G capability, and the latest Android OS, I was sold. I didn’t even bother playing with the floor model. I was happy when they told me there was no back order, and walked out of the Verizon store 20 minutes later, XOOM in hand. I opted to go with the $20 a month contract to save $200 on the purchase price. At $600+, the XOOM is a little pricey. I wouldn’t have paid $800 for it.

My first thought when I picked it up was, “Wow this thing is hefty.” It’s denser than it looks, probably because of the all-metal frame. That frame, along with the notebook style protective case, does its job well. I dropped the tab within the first week. I think it’s inevitable, so I was glad to get it over with and know the thing can take a drop. Combined with a screen protector, I’m confident I won’t have to make an insurance claim on it unless I somehow drive over it or drop it in a pool.

The other part of that heft is the battery. It must be big, because the XOOM can go a long ways between charges. At one point I had it streaming Pandora for over 12 hours, nonstop before I drained the battery. I had also browsed the Internet, checked & wrote email, and used the GPS location features during that time. If you have GPS in your phone, you know it kills the battery quickly. The XOOM gets an A+ for battery life.

So, what can this thing do? In a word, everything. It runs the latest version of Android, codenamed ‘Honeycomb’. It does all the things you’d expect it to do, and does them well:

• Email - I have 4 accounts set up, and it keeps them all in sync and segregated. The interface is intuitive and fast. The keyboard is large enough to accommodate the fattest of fingers.
• Internet - The web browser is fast, and with tabbed browsing I can be on more than one site at a time. The large screen makes squinting to see the web pages unnecessary.
• Music/Movies – With 32 GB of storage, I can tote a large portion of my music collection around. My digital movie collection isn’t huge, but I watched Tron on the XOOM in HD recently, and it worked well, as I expected.
• Kindle - No need to have an actual Kindle when you have a XOOM. Just download the Kindle app and you have access to all your books purchased from the Kindle store.
• Camera/Video – The XOOM has both a front and rear camera. The rear camera is a respectable 5MP, making good quality pictures and HD videos. The front camera is a 2MP camera intended for video chat. I was thrilled when the Google Talk worked out of the box for video chat. The video chat even works on the 3G network, so you can be in your car or wherever and have a video chat with a fellow Google Talker.
• Documents – At OTS, we store most of our documents in the Google Apps “cloud”. Accessing & editing them on the XOOM is a snap. It also natively reads PDF and other Office file types, so there is never a problem viewing/editing documents

As far as things not built in, more than likely, there is an app to get the job done. At last count I read there were over 70,000 applications available for Android. Any time I think “Oh, an app like such-and-such would be cool”, I head straight to the Android Market, and usually find 10 or more variations on that idea. I pick the one that has the closest match of features and as close to 5 stars as possible. This usually works well, and when it doesn’t, I just remove the app and find another.

I’ve found that HoneyComb is so new that some applications don’t work quite right just yet, but the application makers constantly release updates that make the applications work better on the XOOM. Expect a raft of VoIP and Video chat clients in the coming months (thanks to some awesome technology from one of Open Tier’s clients, Adaptive Digital Technologies, Inc.), which will enable you to use the XOOM to make voice and video calls as if you were in the office.

There are a few apps for the XOOM I highly recommend:

On the practical side:
Evernote - I found the built in note taking abilities of the XOOM lacking. Evernote fills that gap nicely. It allows you to make all types of notes: typed, spoken, video, and photo. These notes can be organized into notebooks. By itself, this would be great. Evernote takes it a step further and syncs the note across all your devices on which Evernote is installed. I have it on all my computers, my phone, and the XOOM. I take a note on the XOOM, and it appears on my computers and phone automatically. No transcription required!

On the fun side:
Google SkyMap, MLB at Bat, Words with Friend’s, Google Body, Google Earth, Facebook, WeatherBug, Barometer, and Compass.

I don’t have much to knock about the XOOM, other than the weight, and the fact that I’m still waiting for the 4G update. The XOOM I use is on the Verizon network. Right now it operates on their slower 3G network, and I’m (naturally) anxiously awaiting the arrival of the faster 4G update for my XOOM. I’d also like to see an SSL VPN client for it. The built in PPTP VPN client is a bit clunky, but it works.

The XOOM is overall a well built, if a bit expensive, first gen Honeycomb tablet. It’s stable, holds a long charge, and does (almost:) everything I’ve asked it to do.

Overall Rating (1 not so hot, 5 smokin hot): (yes, they are habaneros!)

I’m very excited about the launch. As the site & blog mature, you can expect to find a wealth of facts & opinions about the technology industry, and how it affects your business.  You’ll find out which technologies are valuable, which technologies should be avoided, which gadgets rock, which gadgets suck, and occasionally, some technological comic relief.

Most of the articles will be authored by both myself, and other members of the Open Tier team. Occasionally, you’ll find an outside opinion piece from some of my fellow techno geeks, as I believe it’s a good thing to get different points of view and fresh perspectives. If you have an opinion or perspective you’d like to share, by all means feel free!

I’d like to thank my good friend Matt Helmke for his fine writing skills in creating all of the copy  for the site, and I’d like to give a special thanks to Liz Dobrinska of Innovative Images for doing a fantastic job designing and developing the site. I recommend Liz for all of your web & print design needs. Last but by no means least, I want to thank all of my clients. Without your business, this new site never happens! (I sound like I just won some award!:)

Most of all, I hope you enjoy the new site, now and as it grows. Check back often!

Thanks again for visiting!