Microsoft Certifies First Stop IT

First Stop IT have now been officially certified as Small Business Specialists by Microsoft.

Unlike many computer industry awards and certifications the Microsoft Small Business Specialist actually requires knowing something and not just paying an annual subscription.

All our engineers have different networking and computing qualifications, including microsoft but this particular awards looks at the abilities of the company has a whole. This includes product knowledge, technical knowledge, sales products knowledge, customer requirements, deployment and support and then makes key members of the business pass microsoft set exams to earn this certification.

By keeping up to date with the latest business products and technologies we are able to keep providing the highest levels of customer support for our clients.

By Grant Peck

Google set for ads revolution

Cost-per-action model could benefit online merchants, say experts

Google recently announced plans to adopt the cost-per-action (CPA) model of online marketing, whereby firms that advertise through its AdWords scheme are charged only after a user has completed a defined action, such as making a purchase or agreeing to receive more marketing material. Experts predict this could have a far-reaching impact on internet advertising, and potentially spells good news for online merchants.

Advertisers currently bid on chosen keywords through Google’s AdWords scheme, and their ads are placed alongside suitable third-party content through its AdSense programme, which shares revenue with content providers.

Like most of its rivals, Google generates revenue from advertisers on a pay-per-click basis, but many in the industry see this as an inaccurate way of measuring the return on an advert.

Click fraud has also undermined the pay-per-click model. This occurs when an AdSense affiliate generates revenue dishonestly by clicking on the ads on its site. Companies have also been known to use click fraud to increase their competitors’ costs.

Many have argued that CPA could eliminate this type of fraud. “By using a results-based affiliate advertising system, Google is attempting to restore advertisers’ confidence, which has been compromised by click fraud,” said Ben King, founder of internet application development agency Bit10.

Rob Kniaz, product manager for Pay-Per-Action at Google, wrote on the firm’s Inside AdWords blog that merchants will be asked to “define an action, set up conversion tracking and create ads that publishers in the Google content network can then choose to place in new ad units on their site”.

According to Andreas Bernström, UK managing director of performance-based digital marketing company TradeDoubler, the CPA model should appeal to merchants because they might have to pay a publisher only if a click-through results in a sale.

“It’s a decent tool for them. It’s very low risk as they can set all the restrictions, costs and so on,” he said. “However, on the publisher side it’s pretty poor. It works in a similar way to AdSense in that you don’t have much control over merchants that appear on the site, you can’t select or negotiate your CPA, and you can’t prioritise your listing based on CPA.”

Observers have generally reacted positively to Google’s CPA scheme, which is in the beta testing stage and open to US advertisers only. “CPA-based costing is simpler for merchants. It’s just a cut of the sale, and it’s easier for them to figure out if they’re making money or not with CPA than cost-per-click,” wrote one commenter on the blog of author and industry watcher John Battelle. “I’d be incredibly surprised if this doesn’t result in a sea-change for the business of internet advertising, if not the market for advertising overall.”

But Bernström argued that because the service is automated, it cannot offer the manual tweaking that affiliate marketing needs to be successful. “CPA requires high levels of support, communication, understanding, knowledge and flexibility to succeed. The first three are crucial and we know Google cannot offer this, at least at present,” he said. “If Google really wants to push this area, staff it up and compete, it has the ability to do so, but in the short term I don’t see it as a threat at all. Instead it is helping the industry.”

By Phil Muncaster

Square Mile gets mesh Wi-Fi

London's “Square Mile” was mesh Wi-Fi enabled on the 23/04/2007 after wireless ISP (WISP) The Cloud teamed up with wireless comms vendor BelAir Networks to give Wi-Fi access to an area of approximately 2.6 square kilometres in central London. Wireless access uses mesh technology, which links access points and repeater nodes together using the 802.11a wireless protocol and uses 802.11b/g protocols for client access.

The Cloud's business development director, Owen Geddes, said, "In North America there's been a number of mesh projects, but London is a particular challenge because while the US has a nice grid system to work with, in London there's lots of wonky buildings and little tight lanes. That's why we've ended up with a very high density of APs – 127 – which is a lot higher than in the US. "

Geddes said that The Cloud have to monitor the nodes on a regular basis, which can mean changing the Wi-Fi channel and sometimes actually re-positioning the nodes. "The main part of the monitoring now is just checking data transfer rates from AP to AP, although we do have teams that go out and check on the client side that the coverage envelope is as it was previously", he added. There are around five backhaul links off the network that we monitor as well and these use fibre connections into The Cloud's UK datacentre.

Ovum analyst Mark Main pointed out that the majority of people “don't expect Wi-Fi to be much more than a nice-to-have adjunct to existing communications methods". He argues that this seems to be acknowledged by The Cloud because although the network depends on paid-for subscriptions, the company states that only thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of users are required for commercial success.

There are two different ways of accessing The Cloud's network. Firstly through any one of the SPs that offer access to their network, for example, BT, O2 and iPass. The other way is buying access directly from The Cloud. Geddes said, "We do an hourly voucher costing £4.50, but we're really trying to push our monthly subscriptions. For a laptop, for unlimited 24/7 access it's £11.99 including VAT."

The Cloud also do a number of packages for smaller devices. "For a Wi-Fi enabled Nokia handset, access would be £6.99 per month. For the smaller devices we use MAC address authentication so that when you've identified the device, you don't have to go through a manual login process again," added Geddes

By Dave Bailey

Linux isn't the only operating system users are asking Dell to put on its machines. As CNet reports, repeated requests on Dell's IdeaStorm website have prompted the PC maker to put Windows XP back on some of its PCs. Dell has brought back Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional as alternative operating system choices for four of its Inspiron notebooks and two of its Dimension desktops. The move comes despite Microsoft's plan to mandate that PC vendors stop selling systems pre-loaded with Windows XP by the start of next year.

Dell's decision might not bode well for Vista sales, but Microsoft doesn't seem worried. CNet quotes Microsoft Product Manager Michael Burke as saying, "Dell is responding appropriately to a small minority of customers that had this specific request. But, as they have said before, the vast majority of consumers want the latest and greatest technology, and that includes Windows Vista."

Let’s face facts. Windows XP is the appropriate OS for the $499 Dell boxes. Windows Vista only runs properly on hardware less than 6 months old.

I seriously doubt it was a “small minority” of customers. That’s just typical Microsoft spin. They’re not about to come out and say that they’ve shot themselves in the foot by trying to force XP into an early grave.

If Microsoft, hardware vendors, and other software vendors had gotten together properly and early in order to minimize hassles on release date, then I think Vista would be getting better press and wider adoption.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Vista and feel that it is indeed a step up from XP. However, it needs brand new mid to high range hardware, period. Low end Celeron machines with 512 MB of RAM will be useless slugs.

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Intel lets slip Vista SP1 release schedule

Service Pack expected October-November, claims Intel CEO

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini has let slip the release date of the first service pack for Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

Otellini said during an earnings call for the chipmaker's first-quarter financial results that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will probably arrive "in the October-November time frame".

Microsoft has not yet disclosed its official launch schedule for Service Pack 1 and is saying only that the software will be released in the second half of this year.

Service Pack 1 essentially bundles all the existing patches and updates that Microsoft has issued so far. Unlike Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, the software will not introduce any major changes.

The Service Pack release signals that the software has reached a certain level of maturity, however, and will encourage businesses to start adopting the platform.

Otellini has previously said that Intel will not switch to Vista until after the Service Pack 1 release, and expects other companies to do the same.

He repeated these views in the earnings call, but for the first time added the expected October-November release date.

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PC sales shoot up on notebook demand

Acer passes Dell for second place in EMEA region

PC sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa were higher than expected in the first calendar quarter of 2007, rising over 13 percent compared to the same period a year ago. However, the trend is being driven by notebook shipments as more buyers leave desktops behind.

According to preliminary data from analyst firm IDC, total PC sales were up 13.2% to 19.4m units in the EMEA region. Soaring portable PC sales, which shot up by 34.3 percent, more than compensated for flat desktop sales. Portable PC sales are now well established as higher than desktops in the region, helped by successes in the Middle East and in central and eastern Europe, and by a strong consumer market.

Similarly, the rapid growth of Acer is offsetting the decline in fortunes of Dell. In a statement, IDC said that “Dell continued to suffer from slower corporate demand and retail competition in the consumer space”, leading to a 1.3 percent sales decline compared to the first quarter of 2006. But Acer grew by 46.7 percent to become the second biggest European PC seller behind HP, which is continuing to make gains and grew by 24.5 percent to remain the distant leader.

Windows Vista “did not act as a major market PCbooster in Q1”, IDC reported, but, together with new processors, “certainly contributed” to growth.

IDC’s thoughts on Vista echo those of fellow analyst Gartner, which last week also issued preliminary results and suggested the latest Windows release “had a very limited impact” on demand.

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