The answer is the Barracuda Web Filter, a full-featured content filtering solution designed to enforce acceptable Internet usage policies by blocking access to objectionable content. The Barracuda Web Filter also includes award-winning protection against Internet threats. Among the advantages of the Barracuda Web Filter are:

• URL filtering by category. You can restrict or allow Web sites based on their categorization. The Barracuda Web Filter includes definitions for more than 50 content categories, including pornography, violence, hacking, sports, news, dating, and chat sites.
• Image Safe Search integration. The Web Filter can take advantage of the “safe search” content filtering capabilities built into image search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. When enabled, the Image Safe Search feature forces images search results to restrict display of objectionable content in image search results.
• Instant Messaging (IM) Blocking. This flexible appliance enables you to restrict or prevent usage of public IM clients, including AIM, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger, and ICQ. Public IM services not only provide means for unmonitored communications, they are often the target of hackers. Blocking public IM communications can help secure information flow and increase network security.
• Application Blocking. In addition to IM, the Barracuda Web Filter includes policies for popular applications that access the Internet, including music applications, software updaters, and popular browser toolbars.
• Flexibility. The Web filter can be configured to block specific sites, to block sites based on pattern recognition, or even block specific IP addresses. You can also define separate policies for teachers and students at a school, or for different classes of workers at a business, and restrict personal Web browsing to non-working hours.
• Auditing. The Web Filter provides access to customized reports to monitor user activity to provide evidence of misuse.

Your business network represents a substantial investment; abuse of your network and your Internet connection cost you money in productivity and security threats. The Barracuda Web Filter can help you govern Internet usage to increase productivity, reduce exposure to offensive material, and to prevent visits to sites that could compromise security. You can try out the Barracuda Web Filter for 30 days free without obligation – Contact SPINEN today to see how you can take advantage of this powerful tool.

Why consider a digital phone system?

• “Follow me” functions let you configure your office extension to ring your mobile number or any other phone
• Configure after-hours call rules, or block calls from specific numbers
• On-demand call recording
• Call logging helps you keep tabs on usage across your company
• User-friendly conference call capability
• Online and mobile access to voicemail
• Web interfaces give you the ability to customize your phone system without having to call “the phone guy”

The Cisco rebate offer is also still in effect through the end of July. You can get a rebate of up to $1,250 when you trade in a phone system from another manufacturer and buy a Cisco phone system. Receive another $10 for each additional phone you trade in. Want to know more? Contact us for details!

The second is to normalize costs. If you pay for network support services on an as-needed basis, you are playing the odds. In a well-designed and configured network, you may go months without a major issue. However, when a critical component goes down due to hardware failure, that downtime can translate into time and money lost while waiting for the problem to be resolved, in addition to the cost to fix the problem.

Managed services for your network offers a flat, budgetable cost for your computer support services. If your server – where your critical files and financial data reside – suddenly fails, it could require many hours of night and weekend work to resolve. With managed services, you can rest easy knowing that the professional services cost is the same month-to-month, even when an emergency happens.

Other advantages that managed network services offer are ongoing preventative maintenance, so that your equipment is regularly checked and maintained, and warranty expirations are anticipated. Consultation and planning assistance are also part of the managed services package, so that your technology resources can grow as your business grows.

Tired of trying to remember who to call for your Internet connection, that specialized software you use, or computer repair? Let SPINEN be your one-stop call for your network support needs.

Individuals have been embarrassed by Facebook’s “Groups” function, many businesses have felt the sting of social networking gaffes, and even law enforcement has learned hard lessons about thoughtless public comments. Misunderstanding the use of social networking as an advertising tool can be as entertaining for the general public as it is embarrassing for the creator: Chevrolet’s® 2007 “create your own Tahoe ad” campaign is perhaps one of the earliest examples.

One problem stems from the blurring of the boundary between personal and business communication. Many people use social networking venues such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace as an informal method of communicating with friends and family. The problem arises when that informality is carried into the business arena.

Your parents or grandparents – particularly those who were small business owners – probably conducted themselves in a formal, professional manner at work, in public venues such as church and theaters, or whenever in view of the community they served. At home with family and close friends, they had little worry that their clients would ever learn about personal opinions or statements intended to remain private. The distinction is no longer as clear today’s business owner.

The best advertising campaigns are built on an understanding of the audience/client base, comprehensive market study, thorough intelligence on the competition, and a fine-tuned feel for ever-changing public tastes and attitudes. Advertising is strategic.

The average post to your Twitter or Facebook account is not.

Compounding the problem of a poorly-conceived message is the way that social networking has expanded the definition of “community” – your mistake is now available for anyone to see … worldwide.

Which brings up a second point about social networking, and the InterWebs in general: everything is connected.

You may work with a stellar advertising firm that has helped you craft an effective campaign using Facebook and YouTube to sell your new product or service. Everything is going great until your prospective clients find those photos or video of that bachelor party, or those somewhat profane remarks you made on a public forum five years ago, and tie your name to your company. It is a mistake to assume anything you have ever done in a public online venue cannot be found, or that business and personal statements will remain separate in the minds of your clients.

By now, you may have decided never to use social networking to advertise your business. Don’t give up just yet. A reputable marketing firm can help you determine if social media fit your business and your target clientele. A well-conceived advertising campaign that includes social networking components can potentially be a boon for your business. Just be prepared to do it responsibly.

You wouldn’t take a dog home and then forget to feed it. An important issue for business owners is “feeding the beast.” Social networking is about fresh content. Create a Facebook page or Twitter account for your business and then don’t update for 6 months and you have done worse than just waste your time – you may have actually negatively impacted the importance search engines attach to your Web site. Make the commitment to regularly update your content.

And finally, make sure you can measure it. A good Web design firm will be able to help determine where your Web traffic originates – whether it is an electronic newsletter, or your business’ Facebook, YouTube or Twitter account. Leveraging tools such as Google’s Analytics, you can measure the effectiveness of online advertising efforts.

In the current economic climate, you cannot afford to end advertising efforts. And for many businesses, the advantages of online advertising – through Web sites as well as social media – are many. Just be sure to follow some basic rules:

1. Think.
2. Any statement you make online is there forever (see #1).
3. If you bring the dog home, feed it.
4. If you can’t measure it, why bother?

Wake up call: Get a rebate of up to $1,250 when you trade in a phone system from another manufacturer and buy a Cisco phone system. Receive another $10 for each additional phone you trade in. Contact us for details!

Why switch? New digital (aka “VoIP” or “Voice over IP”) systems leverage the power of computing to provide a dazzling array of functions and user control. Need to leave the office but can’t miss that important call? Digital systems let you configure your extension to ring your cell instead, using a simple Web-based interface. You can also configure after-hours call rules, or even block calls from specific numbers. Don’t want to call the telephone guy to make a change to your system? Modern digital systems have easy-to-use control panels that allow to you add new phones or reconfigure existing ones with a visual interface that is intuitive and fast.

Wish you had the ability to record a call on the fly, and easily retrieve that recording? Think it would be nice to be able to access your voicemail and other settings from your home PC, iPad, iPhone, or other device? You can’t do any of that with an old analog phone system.

Whether you are a two-person operation or have 100+ employees, SPINEN can help you find the right phone system to meet your needs. We rely on Cisco and Digium Switchvox products to help create flexible, robust voice network systems. If your current phone system is not meeting your needs or is ready for replacement, or if you simply want a more capable system, give us a call and let us help you find the best solution for your business. Be sure to ask about the Cisco rebate offer!

But the holidays are over, this lovely piece of technology is laying on your desk at work, and you find yourself wondering, “OK, so what can I do with this thing?”

The iPad is not a laptop replacement, nor is it meant to be. The laptop/notebook computer is great if your primary workday task is creating or editing data – think creating documents or spreadsheets or using your accounting software. In these examples, you are creating new data, and the laptop or notebook has software installed such as Microsoft Word and Excel, or financial software such as QuickBooks or Peachtree Accounting, that allow you to create and manage data. These devices also have plenty of storage space for the new files you are creating.

If your workday involves lots of data review, however, the iPad can be quite useful. If a majority of your time is spent reading email, reading/reviewing documents (Word, Excel, PDF, etc.), reading/researching content available on the Web, or presenting documents to clients or prospective clients, then the iPad may be a great tool for you.

Following are just a few of the ways we use the iPad here at SPINEN. You can find the apps listed below in the iTunes store online, using iTunes software on your desktop, or from the “App Store” app on your iPad or iPhone.

Review & Research: Instapaper, Evernote, Pages, Numbers

Instapaper

Throughout the day, most of us are doing several things at once – sometimes to the point that the workday feels like a never-ending juggling act. Those things that take more than a few minutes often get pushed aside. Here at SPINEN, one of those things is reading; we constantly find blog entries, articles, whitepapers, etc. on current and emerging technologies that fall into our “must read” category. Other times we conduct research for a client, and make note of resources available online pertaining to our research.

During a typical (i.e., hectic) day, it’s hard to find adequate time to read these items – and that’s why we love Instapaper. This simple application gives you a “Read Later” bookmark that you can use to note items you have found online and flag them for later review. You can also email links or forward long email messages, such as newsletters, directly to your Instapaper account. Each account has its own secret email address; anything you send to that address gets added to Instapaper.

The available iPhone/iPad app lets you see a list of the items you have flagged and read them as you have time. We find this a great way of making use of “down time” – while traveling, waiting for appointments, etc. An Instapaper account is free, as is the special bookmark folder for your Web browser on your PC.

At the time of this writing, the iPhone/iPad app is free (with ads) or $4.99 for the Pro (no ads) version.

Evernote

Where Instapaper helps you remember things you need to read, Evernote helps you remember everything. Evernote lets you capture almost anything – snips from Web pages, photos you have taken with your phone, emails, notes and to-do lists you create on the fly, voice memos, and more. You can organize the information you collect into multiple “notebooks,” allowing you to create notebooks for home and work, or for different projects and clients. You can view info you have collected in Evernote in the Evernote software on your (PC or Mac) computer, or using the apps available for iPhone/iPad, as well as Android, BlackBerry and other platforms.

One of the fascinating features of Evernote is that is incorporates an automatic OCR (optical character recognition) function. For example, at a meeting, you take a picture of a whiteboard full of handwritten notes with you iPhone, and send it to Evernote. Evernote will automatically try to recognize the handwritten text in the image, and turn it into editable text (you may be familiar with scanners that have this capability). We have tested this function and were pleasantly surprised at its accuracy.

For individual use, the desktop and iPhone/iPad applications are free. Evernote does offer a “Premium” account, which offers a larger upload allowance each month, allows more file types to be uploaded, and permits collaboration among multiple users.

Pages & Numbers

For you Windows users, Pages and Numbers are the Apple equivalents of Microsoft’s Word and Excel applications, respectively. You do not have to have these apps to read and review documents – right off the shelf, the iPad will allow you to view Word and Excel documents (as well as other common file types, such as PDF). If you need to edit these documents, however, you will need Pages and Numbers.

Most of you will probably prefer the comfort of your desktop keyboard, or even a laptop keyboard, to the iPad’s touchscreen version. Not that the iPad onscreen keyboard does not work well – it is great for taking quick notes or dashing off a reply to that urgent email – but for long editing sessions, a regular keyboard is more comfortable for many users. But if you need the ability to do light editing of Word or Excel documents with your iPad, these are the apps for you.

Pages and Numbers are $9.99 each.

Next: Meetings & Collaboration

Notetaker HD

It’s ironic that in the 21st century, the era of the “paperless office,” so many of our electronic resources are still based on the paper paradigm: we have “folders” on our computers, Microsoft Outlook offers us “Notes,” the electronic equivalent of the familiar yellow sticky note, our email has “signatures” … the language we use to describe much of our electronic data is still based on the use of paper. But there are some of us still given to more traditional ways of creating data.

If you are an inveterate note-taker, and prefer to take those notes by hand, then Notetaker HD is for you. Notetaker HD allows you to create handwritten notes with your finger or an iPad-compatible stylus (we recommend using a stylus such as those offered by Boxwave). Tend to draw lots of diagrams in your notes? This app will accommodate you more easily than a cocktail napkin.

The host of features offered by Notetaker HD make using paper positively archaic: you can organize notes by tags (labels that you create), by the date the file was last modified, by title, and more. You can change “ink” colors and line thickness with a single tap (goodbye, overloaded pocket protector!), use a “highlighter” with several color choices, and easily erase anything. You can also group multiple pages into a single note to keep important data organized.

One of the features we like most about this app is that you can email a PDF of any note you create. This allows us to attend a meeting, make notes, and send a PDF copy of those notes to other attendees even before the last person has left the meeting room. Notetaker HD also allows you to import PDF files for annotation.

Notetaker HD is intended for the iPad only (not iPhone), and is currently available for $4.99.

Keynote

Keynote is Apple’s equivalent (some would say more powerful) of Microsoft’s PowerPoint presentation software. If your office is a dedicated Microsoft shop, don’t worry: Keynote can open files created in PowerPoint, and also has the capability to save files created in Keynote as PowerPoint files, so you can maintain compatibility with your PowerPoint-using colleagues.

The quality of the iPad’s display make it perfect for showing off your products and services using Keynote, or you can connect your iPad to an LCD projector (using the optional adapter) and use your iPad to give a presentation to larger audiences. For you road warriors used to lugging around a laptop and assorted accessories needed to give presentations, the iPad is a lightweight alternative for your “road show.” Additional features include the capability to export a presentation to QuickTime movie format or as a PDF file. Those of you who leverage social networking to advertise, your business may be interested in Keynote’s ability to export a presentation directly to your YouTube account.

Keynote is $9.99.

WebEx & GoToMeeting

Many of you have attended online meetings, or “Webinars,” as an alternative to face-to-face meetings. Online meetings have risen in popularity in the last decade because they eliminate travel costs, provide collaboration tools, and simplify the task of coordinating meetings. Two popular applications for virtual meetings are WebEx and GoToMeeting, tools from Cisco and Citrix, respectively. Both these respected online meeting services are now available for your iPad.

At this time both the WebEx and GoToMeeting apps offer the ability to join meetings hosted by others, and include all the important features you have come to expect on your desktop or laptop.  If you host online meetings, however, you should note that hosting meetings is not yet fully implemented (though the WebEx app does offer some limited hosting functionality).

So why would you care about the WebEx/GoToMeeting apps? If you only attend online meetings from your desk at work, maybe you won’t. But if the idea of being able to attend an online meeting from anywhere (especially if your iPad is 3G-capable!) using an extremely lightweight, portable device is appealing, then these apps may by quite useful. With the increasing usage of online meetings – for staff meetings across geographical boundaries, sales presentations, training, etc. – the ability to attend meetings on demand can be appealing indeed.

Both the WebEx and GoToMeeting apps are free. Subscriptions are required to host meetings; see the WebEx and GoToMeeting Web sites for more information.

>>Next: Business Integration
<<Previous: Research & Review

Remember, you can find the apps listed below in the iTunes store online, using iTunes software on your desktop, or from the “App Store” app on your iPad or iPhone.

Business Integration: Analytics, Switchvox, iTap RDP, Dropbox & Filer

Analytics

If you have a Web site created by SPINEN, you probably have Google Analytics already configured for your site. If you don’t already have access to your Analytics account, contact us and we can help you get started using this powerful tool for analyzing your Web site’s performance (even if you don’t have an iPad!). For those businesses that use their Web sites as integral parts of the overall marketing strategy, constant review of usage data is critical. While you can access Analytics from any Web browser, the Analytics HD app gives you the ability to see your site’s information on your iPad in a well-designed, easy-to-use interface.

Analytics HD includes the dashboard view familiar to Google Analytics users, as well as more than 50 reports, data displayed as charts, and customizable date ranges. While there are several apps available for accessing your Google Analytics account, Analytics HD appears to be one of the better-designed tools available. Whether you’re running an e-commerce site or measuring the success of an advertising campaign, you should be reviewing your Web performance data regularly. For iPad users, Analytics HD is one way to do that easily.

Analytics HD (the iPhone version is called Analytics App) is available for $6.99.

Switchvox

If SPINEN has installed a Digium Switchvox business phone system for you, you may want to take advantage of the Switchvox Mobile app available from Digium. With an old analog-based phone system, about all you could do was call in and check your voicemail. New digital (aka “VoIP”) phone systems add far more features than ever before, and the  Switchvox Mobile app allows you to take advantage of those capabilities from wherever you may be – construction site, client’s office, or even a golf course or beach.

Using this app, you can access the company directory, get notifications about new voicemail and access those messages, and manage call rules (for example, if you have a rule to route incoming calls to your mobile phone, you can turn it on from within the app). Don’t want to give clients your mobile number? This app allows you to place a call through your office phone system, so your mobile number does not show up in the caller ID of the person you are calling.

The application is free and works with your Digium Switchvox phone system.  Though the app is designed for the iPhone, it will work just fine on your iPad.

Don’t have a Switchvox phone system? The Switchvox Mobile app has a demo mode with sample voicemails, contacts and other data so you can see how it works.

Using iTap RDP with the iPad’s built-in VPN

Many of our clients take advantage of VPN (virtual private networking) to connect to their office networks from home, or from laptops when traveling. VPN technology allows you to access network resources such as shared drives and even printers when out of the office, so that you can virtually take your office with you. Combined with Microsoft’s Remote Desktop software, an employee of your business can be anywhere in the world with Internet access, and connect to his or her own desktop computer at work.

Now you can have that same capability from the iPad. The iPad comes with built-in VPN capability, so all you need to access your work PC from your iPad is a remote desktop app, and that’s where iTap RDP comes in. From any wireless hotspot (or anywhere there is 3G service if your iPad has this capability) you can connect to your business network using VPN and control your PC as if you were sitting in your office.

Of course, you can do the same thing with a laptop, but at 1.5 lbs (vs 5-8 lbs for the average notebook/laptop computer), you’re a lot more likely to have the iPad with you. The app has also incorporated gestures well (movements of your fingers on the touchscreen) so that you won’t miss your mouse after using iTap RDP for only a short while.

iTap RDP is available for both the iPhone and iPad (the iPad’s larger screen makes it easier to use), and costs $11.99.

Dropbox & Filer

The need to transfer large files – movies, CAD files, high resolution photos, large ZIP files – to other people and locations has increased exponentially in the last few years. Email can be used for this purpose up to a point, but there is a practical limit to emailing files as attachments (normal limits are between 10-20 MB). What happens when you need to transfer a 100 MB file to someone, and putting it on a DVD or flash drive is not an option? How to do access your beautiful, full-color sample catalog when you’re in the field without carrying it around on a flash drive?

Moving large files (and keeping them in sync across multiple devices) is what Dropbox is all about. This free service offers 2 GB of secure online storage space (more is available with a paid account). By installing a free application on your computer, you can easily upload files for access anywhere–including from your iPad or any Internet-connected computer. Dropbox offers other nice features such as the ability to place files in a public folder so that others can access them, or to share folders with other Dropbox users.

Filer is an app for the iPhone/iPad that lets you manage, view and share files. The app lets you store files, so you can download them when you have a network connection, and view them when you don’t.  Filer works seamlessly with Dropbox to access the files you have stored in Dropbox. The app will also let you open files into other apps such as iBooks, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Have a lot of photos? Images can be viewed as a mini-slideshow to quickly find the photo you want.

Filer is available in two versions, Filer Lite which is free, and the full version of Filer, which adds the ability to create a passcode to protect your files, the ability to email files, and the ability to upload to Dropbox (free version only offers download capability). The full version of Filer is $3.99.

<<Previous: Meetings & Collaboration

But what about the mail you don’t see?

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. Since we began offering the service 3 years ago, the spam filter has processed more than sixty million messages. That’s averaging about 60,000 messages every day.

The real story, though, is how many of these messages are actually passed on to our clients. Of those 60 million messages received, only 3.5 million were allowed to reach our clients. That means that about 94% of the mail was blocked or tagged as suspicious. Those numbers aren’t surprising, really. Last year, software producer Symantec reported that about 90 percent of all email is spam. Those numbers are staggering when one considers the computer resources dedicated to supporting email worldwide.

But there are serious implications for the average business person as well. Junk email — unsolicited ads for products and services — is more than simply annoying; there is a real cost associated with lost productivity. Sorting through email to separate legitimate messages from spam can be time-consuming, deteriorating productivity throughout the day. But new trends in spam bring threats not only to productivity, but network stability and security as well.

Email is now a common vector for viruses and malicious software (“malware”), phishing attempts, and other dangers to your network. It only takes one employee to click a link in an email message to expose not only their own computer, but your entire network to a threat that can be expensive to remove or repair.

There is no bullet-proof solution to spam — any technology can be misused. And spam filtering is not enough; it must work in concert with adequate antivirus software, best-practices network security, and a complete disaster-recovery plan.

Spam filtering is an important factor in network security and employee productivity, however, and SPINEN offers one of the best solutions available today. Using the power of the Barracuda spam filter, we can help protect your inbox from a flood of junk messages and security threats. If you are not currently taking advantage of our spam filtering service, now is a great time to try it out. Find out more about our free trial.

Spam–unsolicited commercial messages, phishing attempts, Viagra ads, Nigerian royalty who need your help transferring a few million dollars–is the biggest problem with email communications. It can bog down your inbox with unwanted messages or expose your computer to threats such as viruses.

SPINEN offers spam filtering built on the Barracuda spam filter, one of the best spam filters available today. But you don’t have to take our word for it; right now we are offering two months of free spam filtering for businesses. Turn your inbox back into the business tool it should be. Contact us today to start your free trial.