SMB IT | Curtis Franklin

A conversation with Numera Software

Curt Franklin — 2008-05-15T02:13:14-08:00

One of the interesting things about my job is that I get to talk to many people from a lot of different companies. Some of these conversations will turn into Test Center reviews; many won't. It dawned on me that I was being selfish in not sharing more of the conversations with readers, so I've made a nearly-mid-year resolution to do a lot more blogging based on the conversations I have. One of my recent conversations with with Numera Software, a company that focuses on help desk software for the SMB market. They define SMB pretty broadly, saying that it... READ MORE

Critical SMB Tools: what could you not work without?

Curt Franklin — 2008-05-09T09:10:40-08:00

I've seen a lot of products and services in the last couple of weeks, and it's started me thinking about the tools that make a real difference in the way I work -- the tools I would really have trouble doing without. Not surprisingly, most of my critical tools deal with managing information and publishing articles -- and doing both of them from wherever I happen to be. Let me give some examples: Xobni I use Outlook to keep up with my multiple e-mail account from my laptop computer. Xobni, a free plug-in for Outlook, helps me when I'm looking... READ MORE

Load Balancing SMB IT

Curt Franklin — 2008-05-08T21:01:09-08:00

After Interop...

Curt Franklin — 2008-05-05T12:37:07-08:00

So I'm back in the office and thinking about what I saw and heard at Interop. What do I think you should be thinking about? 1. Splunk I've just begun really looking at this data-center correlation, indexing, and search tool, but I'm already excited about the possibilities. If you're trying to figure out how to get a handle on the data your IT processes generate, you should check out the free version of Splunk. It's a great tool, and the company has built a strong community to help you figure out how to use Splunk in your operations. I... READ MORE

Interop News: Word from the show floor

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-29T13:50:05-08:00

So the show is open, the booths are built, and the crowds have descended on the exhibitors. My first impression: Wow. If trade show attendance is any indication of an industry's heath, then data networking is heading toward a boom. I haven't seen a computer-industry trade show floor look this good in at least six years. People are talking purchases, exhibitors are showing lots of new products, and everyone seems to be in a good mood (as opposed to the the grim, depressed feeling that ruled for a while). Some quick observations: Interop's Favorite Car: The Mini Cooper. They're cute,... READ MORE

Zoho becomes a better spreadsheet

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-29T10:55:25-08:00

I've found that there are several applications out there that can be a huge help for small businesses that need to economize on office productivity suites or more easily collaborate with partners, vendors, and customers. One of the suites is, of course, Google Apps. These get better all the time, with the off-line Gears functionality a major move in the right direction, but they're still fairly limited in functionality for those of us who are used to Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org feature levels. Zoho doesn't get the amount of press that Google gets, but the Zoho suite of applications is... READ MORE

Interop News: Netgear brings new products for SMB

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-28T13:22:49-08:00

The show floor doesn't open until tomorrow, but the press releases are already starting to come in. Netgear had a flurry of them this morning, with the upshot being that the company is pushing into SMB in an ever more serious way. Part of the press material talked about changes to their channel program and the general emphasis on small businesses, but some of the products they announced look quite interesting. First comes the new ReadyNAS boxes in a variety of sizes. The one that excited me is the 6-bay unit that can provide up to 6 TB of storage... READ MORE

Looking at Interop

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-27T15:13:00-08:00

Getting technical practice

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-26T17:46:07-08:00

Have you ever wondered how your intrepid Test Center editors spend their weekends? No? OK, good for you -- you have a life. We, on the other hand, have networks to build. I'm in Las Vegas for the next few days, along with Test Center Senior Contributing Editor Brian Chee, at Interop. We're doing different things -- I'm writing, photographing, and podcasting around the conference, while he's helping build the network. Today, he was hard at work in the Interop Lab control center where he was trying to figure out the intricacies of unified communications in a multi-vendor environment. It's... READ MORE

A little green

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-25T16:33:53-08:00

The SMB Security Parfait

Curt Franklin — 2008-04-07T14:06:45-08:00

I'm here in San Francisco, at the quiet first day of the RSA Conference, listening to a bunch of very smart people talk about computer and network security. There are a few things that pretty much everyone seems to agree on. The first of these is that the likelihood is great that something very, very bad could happen to the Internet and, by extension, a lot of the networks connected to the Internet, in the relatively near future. There is less agreement on precisely what form the attack will take, but there's no question that we've seen an awful lot... READ MORE

Sun's moves in the SMB space

Curt Franklin — 2008-03-25T17:54:09-08:00

SMB IT on the road

Curt Franklin — 2008-03-13T18:44:36-08:00

A Green Network

Curt Franklin — 2008-02-26T21:28:16-08:00

If you're not convinced that the choices made by businesses can make a difference in financial and environmental results, you should be checking out Ted Samson's Sustainable IT blog on a regular basis. This week, he's taken a look at D-Link's new green networking products. It's easy to make light of the impact a managed switch can have, but as with so much in the small business world, the changes add up. For me, the best part of many "green" networking products is that they've eliminated the fan. It's a result of the peculiar work I do (and my small... READ MORE

Microsoft's SMB Strategy

Curt Franklin — 2008-02-25T10:21:30-08:00

Microsoft has firmed up some of the details of its upcoming SMB operating system release. The IDG's Elizabeth Montalbano reported on the details in a story at InfoWorld last weeek. To some extent, there are no surprises in here -- it's all about bundling more services in a package that's easier to deploy. The interesting facet it the web services side: Microsoft's Small Business Strategy leans heavily toward helping SMBs move both internal and external communications to a service-oriented architecture -- the sort of thing that makes perfect sense for the small business, but is typically the realm of the... READ MORE