Technology Fiesta! Mexican Food and Product Distributor Upgrades Network

Technology Fiesta! Mexican Food and Product Distributor Upgrades Network

Bust Open the Piñata, It’s a Technology Fiesta!

A Mexican Food and Products distributor, and existing HubWise customer, is getting an equipment upgrade.  Working with the customer to determine their needs, HubWise put together a plan and solution that includes a new servers, PCs, and networking equipment.  The customer had some older equipment and will be consolidating a number of physical servers into two virtual servers.  The consolidation will reduce costs for equipment while providing more performance and storage for the growing organization.

HubWise is continuing to work with the customer on long term support, asset management, and technology deployment to help the business run with the right technology, not just more.

As part of the project, Sage 100c is being upgraded to the latest version and proof of concepts are being conducted on tablet and mobile device use for field employees.  The customer is looking to reduce the technology requirements for the field employees, simplify processes, and speed up work.  This will help deliver better and more accurate orders and help to reduce costs and lost productivity.

Microsoft Surface Authorized Reseller

Microsoft Surface Authorized Reseller

Microsoft Surface and HubWise

Having used Microsoft Surface devices from the release of the initial Surface Pro (I’m typing this on a Surface Laptop), I’m excited that we are now an authorized reseller of the Surface line.

We have already had some clients placing orders for some of the newest equipment including the incredible Surface Studio (Link).  The screen on this desktop is amazing and you have to see it in person to believe it.  It is movable to almost any position from 15 degrees off the desk to almost 90 degrees and provides 3000×2000 pixels in a 28′ display.  Watching hi-def video and editing photos is so easy and enjoyable.

Along with the Surface Studio, we can also get almost anything in the Surface line including the Surface Pro, the Surface Laptop, and the Surface Book 2.

If you have been looking at a new laptop or desktop, now might be the time to take a look at the Microsoft Surface Line.  We are happy to talk about our experience with the devices and compare them to the other laptops and desktops we sell.

Meltdown and Spectre

Meltdown and Spectre

Meltdown and Spectre Updates

What are Meltdown and Spectre?

Meltdown and Spectre are new security exploits that have been discovered.  These exploits operate on the CPUs of PCs and Servers.

What do they do?

Google described the attacks in the following way.

Meltdown breaks the most fundamental isolation between user applications and the operating system. This attack allows a program to access the memory, and thus also the secrets, of other programs and the operating system.

Spectre breaks the isolation between different applications. It allows an attacker to trick error-free programs, which follow best practices, into leaking their secrets. In fact, the safety checks of said best practices actually increase the attack surface and may make applications more susceptible to Spectre.

What  does this mean?

Essentially if these exploits were used, a potential attacker could gain access to very secure low-level information inside a system.  Passwords and keys could be compromised.  They way these attacks work also makes it very difficult to detect and mitigate.

What is to be done?

Operating Systems around the world will need to be updated to prevent against this attack.  Right now most OS vendors are delivering and pushing updates out for their respective products.

For our customers that are subscribed to HubWise Technology Managed Services:

These updates will be pushed out automatically tonight to ensure that you are up-to-date.  At this time there is no action for you to take beside leaving your PC on to ensure that it gets updates.  This update will most likely need a reboot and you will receive a pop-up indicating when to do that.

For our customers that work with us on an hourly basis:

Please contact us about helping you with these updates and ensuring that they are installed.

What are the current risks?

We believe these to be pretty limited right now.  The exploit itself is still under embargo from being show in the public, so not many people know how to take advantage of it.  This should give everyone enough time to properly patch their systems.

OS Specifics

Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 – Windows Update KB4056892
Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 – Microsoft Update KB4056898
Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 SP1 – Windows Update KB4056897

Mac OS – 10.13.2 is already patched – HT208394
iPhone – 11.2.2 available – HT208401

Android Devices – Google says updates were pushed to manufactures in December, but it will be up to the device manufacturer to release the update for the device.  Pixel and Nexus devices will receive updates in the coming weeks. – Android Security Bulletin

We will be keeping this post up-to-date as more information becomes available.

All Aboard! Industrial Equipment Provider On Board with HubWise

All Aboard! Industrial Equipment Provider On Board with HubWise

Running down the tracks.

An Industrial Equipment Provider has signed a managed services agreement with HubWise to deploy, manage, and support their technology equipment.  HubWise will be reconfiguring and redeploying some of the current technology in place to help provide a supportable baseline.  During the process, HubWise made recommendations on how best to layout the current configuration to provide a better running and better supported deployment.

Over the next few weeks, HubWise will be actively deploying HubWise Spark agents into the network to gather data on the current operation of the business.  The data gathered will be used to develop a support and management plan going forward.

Long term, HubWise will be working with the company to provide help with asset management and equipment deployment for the local and remote employees.

Tacos in the Cloud: Fast Food Franchise selects HubWise Technology for Support and Hosting

Tacos in the Cloud: Fast Food Franchise selects HubWise Technology for Support and Hosting

HubWise will deploy a cloud solution to reduce onsite infrastructure needs.

Facial Recognition and masks

A fast food franchise is moving to the cloud with the help of HubWise Technology.  Currently using Sage 100, the franchisee needed a place to run their applications while reducing their overhead for office space.  HubWise is deploying a managed hosting solution for the company, and will support the ongoing network and applications for the business.

The company said hosting made sense for them as they no longer needed a physical location to store their business critical applications and servers.  HubWise has a globally available and redundant solution to provide anywhere/anytime access to the applications for the business.  This will allow the users to spend more time focused on and in the restaurants, and less time on the functionality of their network.

During the deployment, the current Sage applications will be upgraded and will also be supported by HubWise.  HubWise has helped the business to develop custom reporting and integration tools for their store data, cutting down on the amount of time necessary for data entry and preventing errors.

Contact us today to discuss your network infrastructure and see how HubWise Technology can help.

Manufacturing Company signs agreement for HubWise Managed Services

Manufacturing Company signs agreement for HubWise Managed Services

Proactive management of the deployed technology is a big driver in the decision.

A manufacturing company with multiple plants and locations has signed an agreement with HubWise Technology.  The company, which sells into all 50 states and internationally, will upgrade existing hardware and software while looking to HubWise for ongoing support and management.

HubWise Technology will be deploying all of the HubWise services to provide proactive management of the organization’s technology needs.  HubWise Spark, the AI engine behind the HubWise managed services, will start working in the next few weeks to provide an unprecedented look into the current technology deployment in place.

The manufacturing firm previously relied on the company’s controller to resolve some of the technical issues that were arising.  HubWise will take over the day-to-day support and free up the controller’s time to allow him to work on more strategic initiatives.  Everyone in the company will have access to the HubWise Hub for asking questions or solving problems with their applications and network.

HubWise will deploy Spare and Armor to provide a reliable recovery/DR solution, and security solution to help prevent malware and ransomware from infecting the organization.

HubWise will also be working with the company to develop an ongoing budgeting and technology rotation roadmap to ensure that the applications and network that drive the business forward is always operating at its best.  During the process of developing the solution, it became apparent that the network and it’s applications being available was paramount to the ongoing growth and success of the business.

HubWise Technology provides proactive services to help businesses manage their technology.  Reach out today to see how HubWise can help.

Health Center moves from QuickBooks to Sage 100c

Health Center moves from QuickBooks to Sage 100cSage 100c will provide custom financial reports and better security

A health center that provides low-cost medical and dental services to low income families with and without insurance, has decided to move from QuickBooks to Sage 100c.  HubWise Technology will be integrating Sage 100c and migrating existing data over the next few months.  Sage 100c will launch on January 1st.

The health center has specific financial reporting requirements based on the services they deliver.  HubWise Technology will be helping to develop those reports.  With the ability to have custom reports ready to go, this will save time as the manual work of creating them on a monthly basis will be gone.

Security was another concern as the health center needed a system that provided more granularity in it’s security permissions and audit trails for GAAP accounting purposes.  In the health care industry, keeping financial and patient information secure is a must.  The organization also needs to be able to produce detailed audit and transactions logs if necessary.

If you want to discuss a transition away from QuickBooks reach out to us today.

I’m Joe, I want you to be even more successful

I’m Joe, I want you to be even more successful

I have seen a tremendous amount of changes in technology over the course of my life.  As a tail-end baby boomer, I’ve watched punch cards and dumb terminals get replaced with the internet and handheld devices.

I grew up in Templeton, Iowa, the son of a small business owner.  My father owned a radio and television repair shop for 52 years.  He taught me that business wasn’t always about price, it was about the service provided, and ensuring that you take care of your customers.  I also learned how important small business is to our economy and our communities.

The first part of my career was spent in fast growing, entrepreneurial businesses.  As a key member of those executive teams, I recognized how technology can be a driving factor in success.  I was a part of these organizations from the start until they became large corporate businesses.  Technology was a big part of that success.

After leaving corporate America, I spent the last ten years owning and operating technology companies providing services and software to almost every industry vertical.

We truly want to help.  My partners and I founded HubWise to provide first class technology management services.  We are committed to understanding your business at a deeper level, so we can help you leverage technology for continued success.  I’ve been around a lot of businesses that have used technology to drive them forward, and that’s how we want HubWise to help your business.

I look forward to fulfilling our Brand Promises of Plan, Communicate, and Delivery.  I know that when we do, you will enthusiastically recommend us to others.

Sincerely,

Joe Schwaller