Technology Update In this issue:
Tell me who you hang out with… Last year, working with the Gaithersburg-Germantown Gaithersburg Chamber of Commerce as the Chair of the Small Office Home Office Committee (SOHO) we came up with the idea of presenting an award to a deserving small business member.
Tell me who you hang out with… ...................... 1 Scary But True Facts About Data Loss ..................... 1 Upcounty Rotary Forming .................................. 1
In it all, it was a great experience that not only I had the privilege to lead but was also determined to be an annual event for the chamber.
New Team Member ................. 3 Martin’s More Incredible Offer Ever ....................................... ....... 4
Altronics Communications, Inc. 13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298 Germantown, MD 20874 Phone/Fax 1-888-890-7770
"I am a small business owner and have been a customer of Altronics for more than 5 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed the relationship because it feels more like a partnership. In a nutshell Altronics gives me peace of mind. They are dependable, responsive and exceptionally capable. I have not experienced downtime or lost productivity and my systems run like the first day. They not only help with the technical issues, but also help me brainstorm marketing and other business issues as well. Altronics exhibits a high degree of integrity and service - values that I also make a part of my business. Like values make good business partners."
It happens that out of all the business that participated, one of them was Follow Your Heart Yoga Center, from Germantown; ntown; a Yoga training center directed by Kathy Thompson (www.followyourheartyoga.com). Kathy is a very special client of mine because she was the first client we had when starting the company, and she is still today, after 6 years, one of our most active clients. Currently, we are providing Kathy with SM ContinuIT Services, maintaining her computer and supporting her business every day, we designed, SM host and maintain her website, provide her with ContinuIT Data Protection Services, Antivirus Services and nd lately we have been marketing her business online which as of today has provided her with more than 60 new strong prospects in just a few weeks. weeks
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com om
Since she has been supporting us for the longest time I wanted to start this newsletter by recognizing her and publicly thanking her for this many years of a great relationship. If you are looking to start practicing yoga, please consider Kathy’s studio and give her a call. 1-877-835-YOGA I would like to remember, on his anniversary, mi dear friend and colleague Mike Trudgett. Although he is not longer within us, he had helped tremendously to grow our company and enrich our lives. He was a smart, sma visionary and fun man whom helped help me to shape ContinuITSM as the service you receive today. April 2008 P a g e |1
Technology Update Scary But True Facts About Data Loss It still amazes me how many people ple I meet whose only backup method is to pray.. You may be laughing but people think that because their computer is relatively new or because they don’t use it too much, they will never have a problem or will lose any information. It amuses me. Just for the general benefit, I am listing bellow a number of very interesting facts: • The average failure rate of disk and tape drives is 100% - ALL DRIVES WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL. • Only 34% of companies test their tape backups and, of those who ho do, 77% have found failur failures. • 60% of companies that lose their data will go out of business within 6 months of the disaster. • Over ½ of critical corporate data resides on unprotected tected PC desktops and laptops. • Key causes for data loss are: o 78% Hardware or system malfunction o 11% Human error o 7% Software corruption or program malfunction o 2% Computer viruses o 1% Natural disasters o 1% Other • Only 25% of users frequently back up their files, yet 85% of those same users say they are very concerned about losing important digital data. • More than 22% 2% said backing up their PCs was on their to-do list, but they seldom do it. • 30% of companies report that they still do not have a disaster recovery program in place, and 2 out of 3 feel their data backup and disaster recovery plans have ve significant vulner vulnerabilities. • 1 in 25 notebooks are stolen, broken or destroyed each year. • Today’s hard drives store 500 times the data stored on the drives of a decade ago. This increased capacity amplifies the impact of data loss, making mechanical anical precision more critical. • You have a 30% chance of having a corrupted file within a one-year time frame.
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com om
So, aren’t you concerned now? I mean, we all have very important information in our computers, most our digital life is stored either on our home computer or on our company’s network. What are you doing to protect it? When was the last time you backed it up and how sure are you that you can actually restore it? I had the chance to meet some very interesting folks down in Washington DC no long ago. I asked them how they backed up p their data to what they said their IT guys had them covered. I offered to check on the backups for them and I found a few interesting things: things • Even though it was Tuesday, day, the tape that was online for that night backup said Friday, after inquiring they said d that they had forgotten to change the tapes. • I run a trial restore and got a read error on the tape after the first 700 files, the restore process failed to finish. • I loaded the Tuesday backup and started the backup process. The software told me the tape was not the right one in the series; we tested every tape, none of which was “the right one” • As result of this procedure, we had to actually format the tapes and recreate the backup job. • Even though they were running backups, the true is they had nothing to restore without mentioning they had no offsite copy of their backups, so in case of disaster they would be out of business. SM If you are not yet in our ContinuIT Data Protection Program you must act now! Go to www.altronicscom.com/backup and sign up today! Our engineers will contact you and set up an
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Technology Update appointment where we will connect to your computer, install and configure the software and monitor your backups to make sure we have a fresh copy of your data daily. We will take the burden of being responsi responsible of backing up your files from you – or your secretary,
office manager or “computer savvy employee” – and put that responsibility on us. So, should something happen to your computer, you can rest assured that all what is important inside it is already safely afely stored outside your system. Boy, wouldn’t that be a nice feeling! feeling
SM
Martin Posse President, ACI “I personally guarantee your satisfaction or your will not pay us a penny”
Sign up for ContinuIT Data Protection Services and get 2 months free! For a limited time, you will be able to test our service without expending a penny for 2 full months. If you decide our service is not providing you with peace of mind you can just cancel without cost or obligation guaranteed! But you have to hurry, we will only offer these 2 months of service to the next 19 new customers. Sorry NO EXCEPTIONS Sign up at: www.altronicscom.com/backup today! USE COUPON CODE: MARCHFREE
Upcounty Rotary Forming Just recently, I and a group of other business people in Germantown, sponsored by members of Rotary Club of Potomac started a local Chapter of Rotary Club International. If you are not familiar with what Rotary does, please visit www.rotary.org. You will be amazed. You can find more information about our Chapter at www.sbnchapters.net/upcountyrotary www.sbnchapters.net/upcountyrotary, and if you would like to join us, or if you know anyone that may be interested in joining us, please let me know. I will be glad to bring you as guest to one of our meetings. I will be leading the group in an interim fashion until July when we will have the annual election of officers and board of directors.
We are proud to introduce you to the newest member of the team. Please welcome Mateo, Martin Barrionuevo’s son, who will be quickly taking over the position of Director of Technical Services. “It is amazing how quick these guys learn nowadays, I am afraid he will soon be more capable with servers and computers uters than the whole help desk team together” said Martin Barrionuevo when asked about his son’s future.
Attention Small Business. Free Report Reveals ““Six Six Things You Must Do To Protect Your Company From a Network Disaster”. If You Depend On Your Computerr Network To Run Your Business, This Is One Report You DON'T Want To Overlook! Get your copy at www.altronicscom.com/freereport 13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com om
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Technology Update
Martin’s Birthday Promotion Look who is turning 35! I thought that since I have been blessed with great clients, this year I would be the one giving the gifts out. I want you to join on the celebration of my
Between April 1 and May 31st all new clients will receive:
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1 Report titled "The Top 10 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters That Wipe Out Small Business Owners... And How To Prevent Them From Happening To You!" 1 Report titled "Six Things You Must Do To Protect Your Company From a Network Disaster" 1 Report titled "12 Little-Known Facts and Insider Secrets Every Business Owner Should Know About Backing Up Their Data and Choosing a Remote Backup Service" 2 Hours of Computer Support SM 2 Months of ContinulT Data Protection 4 Hours of Web Maintenance SM 12 Months of ContinuIT Antivirus Service 12 Months Website Hosting
35 items that would normally sell for $1,235; THEIRS TOTALLY FREE And for you, I have reserved a $50 Gift Certificate to the Restaurant of your choice. But you have to hurry!!!! This offer ends on May 31st or when we receive 13 coupons. Cannot be combined with any other offer. No cash value. Some restrictions apply.
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com
1 1
Report titled "Six Things You Must Do To Protect Your Company From a Network Disaster"
2 2 4 12 12
Report titled "12 Little-Known Facts and Insider Secrets Every Business Owner Should Know About Backing Up Their Data and Choosing a Remote Backup Service" Hours of Computer Support Months of ContinulT Data Protection
SM
Hours of Website Maintenance or Design Months of ContinulT Antivirus Service
SM
Months of Website Hosting
35 items that would normally sell for $1,235; YOURS TOTALLY FREE This offer ends on May 31st or when we receive 13 coupons
1-888-890-7770 CUSTOMER NAME:
Cannot be combined with any other offer. No cash value. Some restrictions apply.
I have to tell you there is at least one person that doesn't like what I am going to offer - MY ACCOUNTANT!!! He thought I am crazy, that I am giving just too much away, that I will end up losing money and this will be my most expensive birthday ever, etc, etc.... You get the picture. So, here is what I came up with. From today to the end of May I am going to give to any new customer you refer to us the following amazing deal.
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Report titled "The Top 10 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters That Wipe Out Small Business Owners... And How To Prevent Them From Happening To You!"
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