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January 10, 2014
Meryl Palma
Happy New Year! The team at Hosted Network would like to welcome everyone back from what we hope was a relaxing break spent with family and friends. A big thank you to all of our wonderful clients who made it a great 2013. We’re ready to take our holiday hats off, put on our working pants, and tackle what looks to be a busy yet very promising year!
Our return saw us walk through the doors of a newly refurbished office. The changes have been refreshing and a perfect way to kick off 2014. The beginning of a brand new year always seems to be a time that spurs change. People become more motivated, inspired, seek, and embrace change. Sometimes change is unexpected, or unpredictable. Almost all of the time it is imminent.
One of the impending changes that has raised concerns for a few of our clients is Microsoft’s decision to completely end support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Adding to this headache is the plan for hardware manufacturers to discontinue supporting chipsets that are XP-Compatible around the same time. What this means for 30% of the market share who are continuing to run the Operating System, is that if they experience any issues with Windows XP and require assistance, they will not be able to receive professional support from Microsoft technicians at all. Updates will also not be available, which could leave client computers susceptible to major security problems.
The approaching deadline leaves only 3 months left for those still running Windows XP, to migrate all their desktops off Windows XP and put them on either Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you or anyone you know has not yet prepared for Windows XP End of Life (EOL), it is best to start researching your options now, before the ticking time bomb becomes an increasing liability not only in terms of data security, but also the longer you leave transitioning to Windows 7 or 8, the likelier the price will increase due to high demand.
Another point to be made is the expense of replacing staff desktops. Statistics have confirmed that 75% of hardware is not compatible with upgrading to Windows 7. An option that will eliminate the potential need to spend more money on replacing desktops, is transitioning to a cloud hosted desktop.
Our cloud solution My Hosted Network, enables users to connect to their entire Windows desktop from any internet enabled device, working from any location at any time. Companies no longer have to invest money on desktop replacements as nearly as often, because computers act as dumb terminals with everything processed in the data centre. Less wear and tear means that local desktops can run until they die.
As an alternative to spending between $1,000- $1,500 on desktops, My Hosted Network can be run using thin clients- whether it is a dedicated thin client terminal or thin client software on a regular PC, and can cost as little as $200. The thin client does not process any data; it processes only the user interface (UI). While the savings can be significant when considering the amount of workstations/ users, other benefits include improved maintenance and security due to central administration of the hardware and software in the data centre. While thin clients are a cost effective way to run My Hosted Network, if you do require hardware procurement we also provide equipment finance.
If you are currently running Windows XP operating system and would like to know more about My Hosted Network or review your IT options for 2014, please feel free to give us a call at the office on 1300 781 148 so we can have a chat!