Comtronics appoints LapSafe® Products

IT heavyweight partners with laptop charging and security pioneer

Comtronics appoints LapSafe® Products

8 August 2011

Computer hardware, software and consumables specialist, Comtronics, is proud to announce its partnership with ICT charging and security expert, LapSafe® Products.

Based in Rugby, the IT reseller has selected LapSafe® Products as its choice provider of ICT charging and security products. The new partnership will compliment Comtronics’ already extensive range of more than 30,000 computer software, hardware and consumable products on offer to customers in the education, charitable and commercial sectors.

Comtronics was impressed by the exceptional value, quality and extensive range of trolleys, lockers and other charging devices manufactured by LapSafe® Products, and that the company can provide innovative, bespoke solutions to meet the requirements of any customer. The ICT solutions specialist also felt that the excellent after-sales support provided by LapSafe® was a perfect match for its own commitment to customer service.IT Reseller - Computer Hardware, Software and Consumable Specialists.- Computer Hardware, Software and Consumable Specialists.

Denise Cole, Director at LapSafe® Products, is delighted at the new venture, and is looking forward to working with Comtronics. She said: “It is fantastic that Comtronics has recognised LapSafe® as the leading brand in laptop/tablet storage and charging, and as an asset to their product range.

“We introduced a new range of products this year, and firmly believe that we can offer Comtronics’ customers true value, as well as the most extensive, versatile and sustainable range of products on the market. We embrace this partnership and look forward to achieving great things with Comtronics.”

Established in 2000, LapSafe® Products has more than a decade of experience in providing safe, secure and technologically advanced mobile ICT storage and charging solutions into the education and commercial sectors. The company is the original innovator of the UK’s first ever laptop storage and charging trolley, and has since built up a trusted reputation throughout the UK and overseas. LapSafe® welcomes collaboration with businesses both large and small, and believes great partnerships are founded on common goals and shared commitments.

In addition to the market leading and ultra-secure Mentor™ charging units, LapSafe® Products is also the pioneer behind the Diplomat™, the UK’s first self-issuing RFID charging locker to track and manage devices, and the LapCharger™, the revolutionary product to extend the life of old laptops with dead batteries.

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Google Panda update 2.2 is imminent

Matt Cutts, head of the Web spam team at Google, confirmed at the SMX Advanced conference this week that Google Panda will receive an update to version 2.2. This is good news for original content creators who are seeing their original works outranked by sites that blatantly copy (or “scrape”) them.

Matt McGee, executive news editor for Search Engine Land, has provided additional information on just how Panda is implemented:

In particular…the Panda algorithm is run against Google’s entire index of pages on an infrequent basis, in order to tag certain sites that should be dinged by it, as opposed to some of its automatic spam detection tools.

For example, Google’s constantly scanning for pages that might use hidden text. If it spots them, then it may assess a penalty.

Google is not constantly scanning for pages that might get hit by its Panda penalty. Instead, Google manually runs that algorithm, which then determines which web sites should be hit by it.

This all just goes to show that as Google continues to grow and deal with spam, the company continues to get manually involved with their index much more so than ever — at least, more than they’ve ever been willing to publicly admit, that is.

Personally, I think it’s an excellent move for them to apply manually-run algorithms to their index to help flesh out spam and give rightful preference to content owners in the SERPs.

For those of you who are aware of Panda and its reach, have you experienced any drawbacks with your pages or noticed continual ranking issues? What about those of you who search Google frequently; have you noticed improved results in your searches?

If you’re interested in reading more about Panda, be sure to catch Search Engine Land’s exhaustive list of links to all things Panda.

Web giants promote new IPv6 internet address system.

The biggest ever test of the internet's new address system is taking place.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing and Facebook are among the companies switching-on IPv6 versions of their websites for the one day trial.

The technology is gradually being introduced because the world is running out of older IPv4 addresses as more devices come online.

Companies and home users may need new networking equipment, however the transition is likely to take years.

World IPv6 day is partly a technical exercise by internet companies to see how the technology works, and partly an awareness-raising initiative.

For the small percentage of users already set up to access IPv6, they will be able to connect through the usual URLs - such as Google.com or Yahoo.com.

Behind the scenes, their browsers will be pointed to the new, much longer IP address.

New equipment

Groups involved in IPv6 day say that everyone will have to make the change eventually, but users should not worry at this stage if they are not switched over.

"This is not a year 2000 thing. Planes are not going to start falling out of the sky," said Philip Sheldrake, a board member at non-profit group 6UK, which is helping to promote the system.

"The web will continue to work, but future growth would be stymied. It is just like when we used up the phone numbers in London."

For users with an ordinary domestic internet connection, the changeover may involve upgrading their hardware.

"A lot of routers at the moment are already capable of supporting IPv6. What they need is a firmware update," explained Richard Fletcher, chief operating officer at Plusnet, a UK internet service provider (ISP)

"ISPs should ship new routers or offer those updates. We are making sure all our fibre routers are ready for IPv6."

Mr Fletcher said that the long term nature of the changeover meant that customers of most ISPs would receive compatible equipment through the natural cycle of upgrades.

The business end

Becoming IPv6 compatible is a slightly more complicated task for corporate internet users.

Bringing their systems up to standard will typically involve investing in and installing new networking systems.

As with home users, for many this will form part of the normal cycle of upgrading and replacing.

However, the lack of any firm deadline, combined with the hefty price tag, means that some are dragging their heels.

"Corporates are probably quite far behind," said Sebastien Lahtinen from Thinkbroadband.com.

"They are trying to put off the expense and there are a lot of technologies that they can use to do that."

However, Mr Lahtinen said that the leaders of those businesses should realise that this change was going to happen and that they needed to make the investment.

Even though IPv4 will continue working for at least the next decade, there is value in changing early according to Philip Sheldrake.

"You have to make the transition. It is better to do that sooner than later because it demonstrates that you are a modern, well organised company that is visible on the modern infrastructure of the internet."

Microsoft to launch Office 365 on June 28

Microsoft is holding its official launch of its cloud-hosted application suite, known as Office 365, on June 28. CEO Steve Ballmer will be on hand at the New York launch event.

Office 365 is Microsoft’s successor to its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Live@Edu and Office Live Small Business products. Microsoft has begun educating its partners and customers about its BPOS-to-office 365 migration strategy. Packaging and pricing of the suite already has been announced.

Office 365 consists of Microsoft-hosted Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online, and also includes for customers who want it, a version of Office Professional Plus that can be installed locally on PCs and paid for per month, on a subscription basis. Office 365 competes head-to-head with Google Apps, and a handful of similar services.

For more information on Microsoft365 call the technical team at Comtronics on 01788 555049.

Microsoft ships free malware cleaner that boots from CD or USB

In a move aimed at cutting down on support call costs, Microsoft has released a malware recovery tool that boots from a CD or USB stick.

The tool, currently in beta, is called Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper, and promises to help start an infected PC and perform an offline scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware.

In addition, Microsoft says the System Sweeper utility can be used if you cannot install or start an antivirus solution on your PC, or if the installed solution can’t detect or remove malware on your PC.

The company made it clear that the recovery tool is not a replacement for a full antivirus product.

It is available for both 32-but and 64-bit Windows systems and uses the same antivirus engine as the Microsoft Security Essentials product.

Just last month, the company shipped a free security tool called Microsoft Safety Scanner to offer on-demand scanning to helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The safety scanner works with existing antivirus software.

These utilities are a big part in helping Microsoft to cut down on support costs stemming from malware infections.

Announcement: Comtronics partner with Panda Security to bring you the latest in "Cloud Anti-Virus Protection"

Comtronics are pleased to announce they have today partnered with Panda Security to bring you the latest in "Cloud Anti-Virus Protection".

WHAT IS PANDA CLOUD PROTECTION?

Panda Cloud Protection, a cloud based security solution, delivered in a SaaS model that provides complete protection services for the major threat vectors: endpoint, email and web.

Panda Cloud Protection provides uninterrupted security for laptops, desktops , servers, removable devices (etc) with Panda Cloud Office Protection, email with Panda Cloud Email Protection and internet traffic with the new! Panda Cloud Internet Protection.

• Ensures maximum protection
• Reduces costs
• Optimizes resource consumption
• Saves time
• Is simple to install, manage and maintain

Call our sales team today 01788 555049 or email sales@comtronics.co.uk for more information.

Special pricing available for the Education Sector and Charities.