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(The Hosting News) – Web Host Magazine today announced that LogicMonitorhas been awarded Editors’ Choice Award for comprehensive network monitoring. The hosted monitoring solution is being adopted by a growing number of corporate IT departments, Internet technology companies, managed service providers, and cloud hosting providers for its ability to simplify monitoring of today’s complex IT environments.

From a single web-based console, LogicMonitor allows engineers to keep tabs on the health and performance of almost everything in the data center, including networking gear, servers, applications, storage, virtualization and cloud, effectively eliminating the need to own and manage a hodgepodge of separate tools.

The Software as a Service (SaaS) systems provides instant visibility into a wide variety of vendors such as NetApp, Cisco, VMware, Citrix, Sonicwall, Dell, HP, Microsoft – eliminating the time-consuming configuration that other monitoring tools require.

Steve Francis, who prior to founding LogicMonitor ran data center operations for a variety of companies, notes “Monitoring was always a pain point. There was too much reliance on manual processes to add things to monitoring, and too much expectation that the end user of the equipment would know what to monitor. With LogicMonitor, we’ve embedded vendor best practices along with decades of monitoring expertise into the product so it does most of what you want it to right out of the box.”

For a free trial of LogicMonitor, which includes email and SMS alerting, automatic alert escalation, graphing, trending, customizable dashboards, and reporting, visit http://www.LogicMonitor.com.

About LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor, Inc. is a leading provider of hosted monitoring software for physical, virtual, and cloud-based IT environments. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, LogicMonitor was founded by a team of data center managers and technology experts dedicated to making data center monitoring simple. The company is a technology partner with NetApp, VMware, Citrix, HP, and Dell, and was the recent recipient of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards for delivering outstanding business value with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. LogicMonitor was also recognized as one of the top network monitoring solutions by TechRepublic, a leading online resource for IT professionals. For more info, visit http://www.logicmonitor.com or call (888) 41LOGIC.

LogicMonitor Wins Editors’ Choice Award

A flurry of recent reports and articles seem to be confirming the obvious: that in the very near future an enormous amount of payment processing will occur wirelessly at the point of purchase using your mobile phone or other network connected device (for example an iPad). The breakthrough technology that is enabling this transition is near field communications (NFC). Below are the facts pointing to this wireless payment revolution and what you can expect to see.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is being built into new device designs. So exactly what is NFC and what will it mean for the average person? As defined by Wikipedia, ”Near field communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeters (3.9 in) distance.” So NFC let’s devices communicate wirelessly when they are within a very short distance. For example, imagine the distance from you to a card reader at the super market or other retailer when you are checking out with your purchases. In order for consumers to use a wireless payment technology – it first needs to
be built into their devices they are carrying around. According to The Washington Post, the next generation iPhone – dubbed the iPhone 5 – may have an NFC antenna built into the touch screen. Thus permitting wireless payments. Additionally, the same source is citing the addition of NFC into the next generation of iPads. Now wrap your mind around these numbers. According to Information Week, both the iPhone and Google’s Android platforms which may include the NFC payment capabilities are hugely popular. In the U.S. alone, Apple has sold 16.24 million iPhones in its most recent fiscal quarter, and Google reports that it is activating 300,000 new Android handsets per day. If these devices and platforms support the NFC standard for payments, the infrastructure will develop very quickly.

Adoption of the NFC technology by retailers will follow consumer demand. Having the capability to pay for goods and services wirelessly is only half of the equation. Of course the vendors who are selling you the products need to have the capability to charge you wirelessly as well. The installed base of legacy credit card processing terminals in use is enormous. Additionally, various reports suggest that new terminals are being created at the rate of 1.5 million per year. In order for retailers to adopt a different technology and to purchase the equipment necessary to process NFC payments there needs to be sufficient consumer demand. Therefore, the wireless payment revolution is currently falling victim to a ”chicken and egg” issue. Again according to Information Week, ”Apple has also created a prototype retail NFC scanner, which could be used by small business (think Main Street) to accept mobile payments. Apple may even subsidize the mobile payment device in order to help boost adoption by retailers.” Therefore, the key to adoption may be that the NFC proponents simply pay for the equipment to process payments and provide it to retailers at little or no cost. This will certainly act to ”prime the pump”. According to technology adoption expert Stuart Melling with website hosting company 34SP.com, the tipping point may arrive more quickly than first imagined: ”Often times the first few adopters of a new technology are seen as novelties. However, despite the novelty if a new technology is superior and the early adopters provide a demonstration of that fact – the other secondary adopters fall like dominoes.”

For further information you can read the full Information Week article here.

From Web Host Blog

Why do we attend conferences should be a very easy question to answer and I was quite surprised when I was asked this question at this year’s cPanel Conference (though I think I will call it Bootcamp since that sounds far more fitting) in Houston. The logic follows that we have dozens of tools for instance communication to just about anywhere in the world. We have networking sites, voice and video phone, instant messenger, forums, micro blogging, hundreds of methods for delivering and receiving information of others so why for all that is wholesome and wondrous in the world, why oh why do we need conferences?

Okay so the question wasn’t asked quite like that, but work with me on this one.

There are three basic answers that you will get if you ask attendees this question. They are honestly fairly boring answers and can probably be rebutted with some piece of technology. They are  to learn, to network, to be a part of a community. Well here is an easy reply:

To Learn: Buy a book, get a DVD, watch a webinar. Chances are you will learn more from a book that provides you with say 40 hours worth of information then a conference session which gives less than an hour.

To Network: You want to be a part of a network why not use LinkedIn, use Facebook, bombard industry blogs and even try to get hired on as a blog writer. Then open dialogues using Skype or IM and have a blast.

For Community: Spam the forums, get a blog. Pay attention to others in your industry and help out where ever you can and you too will be a part of the community.

Technology’s answers to conferences, have fun, see you later….

But then again I don’t give easy replies. Let me be blunt, if you are not going to ask questions of a speaker during a session, if you are not going to try to get hands on one-on-one face time with experts; you are seriously wasting your time. If all you are going to do is passive learning during training sessions, buy yourself a book and save a few thousand.

However, there are things you can do at a conference you simply can’t do online. Sure you can pop on a few of the network sites, but how is the interaction? You can of course participate online at all sorts of community websites, but the opportunity for light conversation, the type of things you talk about over dinner or a beer, well you can just forget about.

One of the problems with online conferences is that you lose the small talk side of networking. And some people may consider that a waste but I beg to differ. It is small talk that builds the personal connection between you and someone else and forms the basis of all successful business networking opportunities.

Another thing people lose with online conference is the added energy you gain from being at a conference. Let’s face it conferences are located in tourist areas cause they are like mini-vacations. I find myself working a great deal at conferences, lots of writing, preparing, etc., but even for me the change of scenery does your mind good. I find some of my best ideas come during or not long after a conference. In fact, they leave me energized even though I am completely worn out and tired. There is a level of inspiration we can gain from conferences as well. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times I was getting a bite to eat with fellow attendees and we began discussing something mundane that ended up translating to technological practicality and before you know it the conversation becomes a full blown debate as to how automation will actually increase the amount of employment opportunities in the IT field.

Online conferences and networking opportunities often feel rather clinical to me because of the lack of, well that sense of connection. It is one of the reasons why I enjoy cPanel’s Bootcamp. cPanel gives you the sessions, all quite good if you want technical detail, but the networking events are extremely good.

So why do we attend conferences? There is an element of interactivity when it comes to learning, but the big reason why conferences work is because of the connection, the personal touch that can only be gained through face to face contact.

From Web Host Blog

The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica E. Vascellaro and Don Clark said “Google is currently planning on sharing some details about the technology with more than 3,000 developers expected to attend its Google I/O conference in San Francisco May 19 and 20.”

And this software has got quite a bit of other big companies very excited. Sony and Intel have already been working with Google on this new software, but now Samsung and Logitech are keen to jump on board too.

Google is apparently keen to iron out all the creases of the final product and launch at the I/O conference, so that the 3000+ developers that are expected at the conference, can help them build applications for the platform.

Google TV is designed to bring Internet-style content, including web search, applications and video entertainment to your living room. The next step would be for the Google TV software to be embedded in the new generation of internet-ready TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes, and Blu-ray players.

Writer’s Bio: Derek Morris is Senior Editor of Vectorwire.com, source for the latest graphic design, web design, web hosting, and technology news and articles.

As all of us in the industry know, customer churn is the “ENEMY”! It is the killer of profitability and the reason we all keep a bottle of extra strength Tylenol on our desk.

We spend $100s of dollars on customer acquisition, yet what are we really doing to stop churn. Yes we all provide great hosting services, give great support and make sure they stay up BUT is this enough.

Absolutely not! Why? Because we really are not addressing why customers quit hosting. I am not talking about the constant switching hosting companies; I am talking about the No. 1 reason why hosting customers quit hosting.

Failure to successfully market online is the No. 1 reason, hosting customers quit hosting!  Absolutely!!

Most hosting customers are hosting their web site online to sell their services and products both online and offline. Their web presence is either directly or indirectly related to their profitability YET we are not doing enough to help them market and succeed. I mean really succeed. In fact, many hosting companies stop right there..just providing hosting services & they wonder why they have high churn???

The first step to succeeding online is not having a pretty website, nor is it even about being ranked No.1 on Google (of course this is a big part of it). No it is just being visible; being found online. If customers cannot find the businesses, they cannot buy their products and services.

So the first step is being highly visible; being listed everywhere they need to be listed, across all major search engines, online yellow pages, 411 directory assistance, social networks, mobile phones, and GPS navigation devices. If their customers are finding them first, then at least they are in the game. If not, then they do not even have a chance to succeed.

Fortunately there is a simple, straight forward solution. UniversalBusinessListing.org (UBL) has come up with some simple, easy to implement and did I mention, very affordable services which make this incredibly easy for their customers.

UBL helps businesses save enormous time, money & effort having to register separately at all these locations. This includes unlimited updates, changes and best of all, distribution to all major search engines as a verified source; all for just very low price. We also have an Audit tool for large organizations to check all their locations and a new claiming service for Google, Bing, Yahoo, DMOZ and FaceBook.

Most of you know that I spent many, many years in the hosting industry, during which I analyzed this problem in great depth;  which is why several years ago I became such a strong advocate of hosting companies adding marketing services to their offerings & why I sit on the HostingCon Advisory Board – to help hosting companies understand what they need to do to overcome this issue.

During my 15+ years in the Industry, this is probably the best and easiest service I have come across for any hosting company to implement to help their customers succeed online and help stop churn. To learn more about how you can implement what is the very first step towards helping your customers succeed online, please contact me.

“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity,” said Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft.  “The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”

Expected late this year, Courier was built in the shape of a book with two 7-inch screens, a built-in camera and Wi-Fi. The device also was said to support a variety of user inputs such as touching, handwriting and drawing.

Although this set back may end up benefiting Microsoft and Windows OS tablets in the long run, for now it seems that Microsoft is dead before ever entering the tablet wars.

Writer’s Bio: Derek Morris is Senior Editor of Vectorwire.com, source for the latest graphic design, web design, web hosting, and technology news and articles.

Since Apple has yet to make the iPads available overseas, its not surprising to find that Chinese knockoffs are already being produced.

Yeah we know, nothing unexpected here. But if you can’t afford the real thing, you can always count on China to produce to the next best thing: a crappy knock off!

Writer’s Bio: Derek Morris is Senior Editor of Vectorwire.com, source for the latest graphic design, web design, web hosting, and technology news and articles.

I realize that there is a growing trend for mobilizing the work force, but no one has told me why this has become an all encompassing necessity for business. We have PDAs, smartphones, cellphones, UMPCs, Tablet PCs, laptops, netbooks, portable media players, PNDs, readers, and I imagine the iPad will open a new category of hybrids, looking at Microsoft’s Courier, this is already coming to pass. We have a huge amount of devices to service how much of the workforce? Where are the killer business apps that are mobile only? Which employees really need to be mobile?

First let’s get rid of the obvious, if your job means you are away from any sort of office type location (be it a corporate building or your own home office), then mobile of course is right for you. However, of those types of jobs that do require travel, how much travel has been reduced by things such as video conferencing, online collaboration software, and the like? Those who do face to face sales, how many require instant access to real time inventory data at the moment of sale as opposed to going into the meeting already knowing the information you need?

Customer support? No, customer support is best served at ground zero. No need for mobile tech there (unless of course you do onsite support). Engineers, technicians, mechanics? Maybe, but most engineers I’ve known will write out ideas on anything they can get their hands on or use the audio message recorder most cells have. Techs and mechanics, like customer support, do a better job with all their tools in front of them and the device that needs to be worked on is physically at hand.

I have been reading statistics on why every business needs to go mobile and the bulk of them center on the premise that the mobile market is huge, selling hundreds of thousands of units each month, which means your competitors are buying. And if they are buying you need  to buy too or get left behind! Oh really? I have some six or seven mobile devices I use (what can I say I love technology), but for day-to-day use I use only one of them. In fact, for the most part, even with all the travel I do, the amount of use I get out of the mobile devices is probably about 20 work days per year. This is of course where I absolutely need them and can’t use my desktop computer or my office computer. Now if I didn’t travel a lot, if I didn’t need to go to conferences and the like I wouldn’t need any mobile device to do my job. Sure, they are nice I could go outside and write if I liked (which I do on occasion), but I don’t need to go mobile.

The one area where I can see mobile devices consistently increasing productivity is by replacing the clipboard. In fact, any instance that requires a clipboard (inventory tallies for instance… which I seriously hope people are not still using paper for this but I know that hope is in vain) could do better with a mobile device.

A few weeks ago when I was making changes to this blog, I had to use my cell phone to do it. I did everything I would normally do from my desktop using my cell. It took a while since I can’t just type at super speed on the phone, but I was thankful for the device. That is when it hit me. Businesses like mobile cause it means they can make their salaried employees work during their off time. A while back, when you left the office, that was it, work was done. Even if you took some work home with you, you can work on it at a leisurely pace. Now with all the devices we have, we pretty much take the full offices with us. I was having lunch with a friend of mine and he got a call saying the servers are down, fix it. Although he was not working, he immediately used his cell to check the server and reboot it. Heck who needs to hire more employees when you can have all your current staff on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week? Just pay them an annual salary and you have an offices of slaves at your beck and call.

Will this stop me from buying mobile devices? Course not. But let’s be real here, the uses for mobile devices is far less than the hype. In order for a device to truly change the workplace two things must happen: 1) that device must have something nothing else has, it must have a killer app 2) that device must be able to force change on business culture. Mobile devices do neither of these.

You might have noticed a few problems over the last few weeks. The blog had some downtime. This was compounded on top of other problems like the RSS feed having moments were it would work and then stop working. Or posts that would go online and then would suddenly disappear. These problems began to escalate near the end of this month and so I made a decision to update the blog and switch providers.

The big push was for stability. So I moved the blog to WebHostMagazine’s servers. As you can see this site is hosted by Layered Tech. We run a number of sites from our servers here and we have never had any downtime, so that part is now covered. We updated to a newer version of WordPress. And of course with the new version I added a lot of new toys.

This site is using the Flexx theme layout, which is absolutely amazing. It is the type of control I have been waiting for, for a long time in a non-custom backend. And we have a few widgets I would like to give a plug to, Meta SEO Pack, I haven’t seen a better SEO plugin for WordPress. A lot of the things I had to do by hand are fully automated so hats off to the creator. You will notice we kept the AJAX calender plugin, it’s still my favorite blog calendar, and I have done a lot of looking in that department. Lastly we added the Configurable Tag Cloud, which is another best of. I have not seen a more customizable (and easily customizable) tag cloud around. So special thanks to all of the creators of the wonderful plugins as well as the theme.

So what’s next? Well there are a lot of blogs that did not get published in March, so I will be putting them online as well as newer blogs.  I think that’s about it. Oh yeah, there will be a few surprises I have for the new blog so stay tuned.

Let’s face it, it is easy to fire someone who is a total menace. When it comes to someone you despise, vengeance can come quickly and mercilessly, severing the former employee from the company in a master stroke. And to be honest, you probably feel good about it too. But what about firing someone who [...]