Monthly Archives: August 2011
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Syndication
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August 30, 2011
Book Review: Perfect Passwords
By Peter Day
In the book “Perfect Passwords” author Mark Burnett discusses ways that computer security can be improved. However this is no dry security tome, the style is easy to read and at under 200 pages could be read in a weekend. Though it’s short there is still plenty of interesting material in here – perhaps the most enlightening, or frightening depending on your viewpoint, section of the book is Chapter 9 where he gives a list of the 500 worst passwords of all time. If you see your password on this list it’s time to change it immediately!Though a general computer enthusiast may find it an interesting read the book seems to be aimed at two groups. The first being those who set password polices for others to follow and the second group being those who educate computer users about password security.
There’s plenty of material in the book that demonstrates what a bad password is and how what one might think is an ingenious password is actually quite predictable and hackable – a trainer could use this material to create an interesting power point presentation on password security for non-technical staff..
The book also contains cautionary words for network administrators who set too stringent complexity requirements on passwords that make them hard to remember – the reason being that hard to remember passwords tend to get written down somewhere.
While the book contains many useful examples and explanations the message of the book could be summed up as follows: use phrases for your passwords, make them 15 characters or more including numbers and symbols, yet make them easy to remember, and type, and don’t forget to change them often.
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August 29, 2011
New Signature Is Moving One Block North to 1101 New York Avenue NW!
By New Signature
New Signature will be moving one block north to 1101 New York Avenue NW, Suite 675 Washington, DC 20005 on Friday, September 2nd. New Signature has leased 14,000 sq ft in the Gold LEED Certified office building. The new office will ensure comfort and productivity for New Signature’s staff and visitors, and accommodate future growth. New Signature will be joining a well-respected group of neighbors including Ernst & Young, Google, Dewey & LeBoeuf and The Albright Group.1101 New York Avenue was built in 2007 and the structure rises to 160 ft, containing 12 floors. It was designed by Kevin Roche to meet the highest standards of quality, efficiency and aesthetics. The building is a wonder of modern architecture with clear glass facade, dark granite base, glass canopy and unique structural system that results in no perimeter columns on three sides. The entrance lobby is distinguished by elegant materials and finishes, including granite, marble, anigré wood and zinc alloy trim.
New Signature’s office will continue to be easily accessible via public transportation or car. There are three Metro stations within three blocks of 1101 New York Avenue with connections to all five Metrorail lines that link much of the city and suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.
The office is in close proximity to the White House, Washington Convention Center, Verizon Center, Ford’s Theatre, the National Portrait Gallery, the Shakespeare Theater, the Building Museum and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
There are three Metro stations within three
blocks of 1101 New York Avenue with connections
to all five Metrorail lines that link much of
the city and suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.
Union Station is nearby. In addition to Amtrak
trains that run along the Northeast Corridor, the
station is also served by Virginia and Maryland
commuter train service. -
August 24, 2011
System Center Essentials and System Center Operations Manager: WMI Query Failure Alerts
By Brandon PresleyIf you’ve recently implemented Microsoft’s System Center Essentials or System Center Operations Manager, you may receive a large number of alerts relating to WMI queries failing.
Before worrying too much about the alerts and monitors themselves, it’s best to repair or re-register WMI itself. Open a command window with administrative privileges and follow the steps below. I’d recommend resetting first, and if the errors don’t resolve, attempt to re-register.
Resetting WMI
net stop winmgmt
c:
cd %windir%\system32\wbem\
rmdir /s /q Repository
rmdir /s /q Logs
mkdir Logs
net start winmgmtRe-registering WMI
net stop winmgmt
c:
cd %windir%\system32\wbem\
for %i in (*.dll) do RegSvr32 /s %i
for %i in (*.mof, *.mfl) do Mofcomp %i
net start winmgmt -
August 23, 2011
New Signature Ranks No. 2286 on the Prestigious 2011 Inc. 500|5000 List
By New SignatureNew Signature, a premier IT consulting firm that serves small and medium sized businesses, has been named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America. The Inc. 500|5000 list is an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. New Signature ranks number 2286 on the 2011 Inc. 500|5000 with three-year sales growth of 106%.
New Signature provides information technology consulting and support, cloud computing, website development, and training services. The firm also develops commercial and open source software applications for its clients.
“New Signature’s core values shape the way we do business and drive the company’s success. Inclusion on the Inc. 500|5000 list is proof that a company can achieve high growth through a focus on business excellence and to the highest standards of civic and social responsibility, integrity and ethical conduct,” said Christopher Hertz, CEO, New Signature. “It is a huge honor to be ranked among the fastest growing and the most successful businesses in the country. This honor is a testament to the creativity, dedication and hard work of the entire New Signature team.”
In a stagnant economic environment, median growth rate of 2011 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 94 percent. The companies on this year’s list report having created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.
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August 22, 2011
New Signature Named to CRN’s Inaugural Next-Gen 250 List
By New SignatureNew Signature today announced Everything Channel has named the company to the first ever 2011 CRN Next-Gen 250 list. The CRN Next-Gen 250 is an annual listing of innovative and nimble business and technology integrators, solution providers, and resellers in North America offering solutions and services in cloud computing, mobility, unified communications, virtualization and other emerging technologies.
The CRN Next-Generation 250 list is comprised of the most exciting new solution provider organizations bringing new and emerging implementation ideas and business models to the market. New Signature was selected to the CRN Next-Gen 250 list because of the firm’s leadership in cloud computing. New Signature has been on the forefront of helping companies understand cloud computing, develop strategy and take advantage of the reliability, flexibility and security of the cloud.“Customers are hungry for solutions that reduce infrastructure complexity, decrease or eliminate capital expenditures, and increase staff productivity and collaboration. Microsoft cloud solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Intune answer this need and provide huge advantages for companies seeking to improve productivity, mobility, control, manageability and security,” said Christopher Hertz, CEO, New Signature. “We are honored that CRN has recognized our leadership in cloud computing. With a deep bench of cloud computing experts New Signature has consistently pushed the envelope to help small and large customers’ achieve cost savings, agility and scalability by leveraging cloud solutions such as Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Windows Intune, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Windows Azure.”
“In today’s competitive environment solution providers have to do more than just talk about innovation. The ability to quickly implement new processes, models and technologies is what drives margins and the bottom line,” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. “The CRN Next-gen 250 highlights the most interesting new solution providers who are demonstrating such innovation and uncovers the new techniques and technologies that are driving their success.” (more…)
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August 19, 2011
Hyper-V Licensing Makes Virtualization Less Confusing #msvirt #mswin #msuspartner
By Reed WiedowerNothing scares customers away from a good technology quite like a complex licensing scheme. Over the last few years, as the virtualization market has heated up, with efforts from VMWare, Microsoft and Citrix competing against one another (as well as their own free hypervisors) customers have left discussions frequently confused.
We’ve always been huge fans of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (after all, it is free) and when customers need to manage multiple machines, in using the free hypervisor baked into Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter edition. Combined with System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the two products are affordable, can scale and will be able to hook into public cloud solutions in the latest versions of the product due out this fall.
On the VMWare side, as Jeff Woolsey has documented the latest round of VMWare license updates have left customers even more confused than ever. The latest vSphere license terms essentially charge customers for the amount of virtual memory in use.
You read that correctly.
If a customer has a server with 96gb of memory, they may only be licensed to use 48gb worth of memory in it. To go above that limit, they’d need to pay more money.
For a cloud service provider, memory, disk I/O and storage space are already baked into the monthly recurring cost. If you need more space in Windows Azure, or more computers in Amazon’s EC2, you have to pay more money. But in each of these cases, this makes sense because you don’t own the infrastructure running the service. In VMWare’s latest licensing scheme, you may purchase the hardware (memory, disks, processors) but depending upon your workload, may fall out of compliance. If you have developers or system administrators who spin up test machines from a self-service portal, you could find yourself with plenty of spare capacity, but no way to stay within your license. It’s the metaphorical equivalent of selling someone a Lamborghini but telling them that if they drive faster than 50mph, they’ll need to spend more money to purchase the rights to drive faster.
Needless to say, we’re bigger fans of Hyper-V. The only limits imposed for virtualization on the Microsoft stack are the technical limits of the software code itself, meaning that if you need more speed and power, you can purchase more robust hardware without falling afoul of licensing restrictions. Here at New Signature, we setup Hyper-V servers every week to reduce costs and increase utilization. Give us a call and we can explain the simple licensing and big benefits of standardizing on Hyper-V.
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August 17, 2011
Microsoft’s Windows 8 Blog Launches – Building Windows 8
By Reed WiedowerMicrosoft has launched the “Building Windows 8” blog, which provides an inside look from the Windows engineering team. Windows 8 is the next release of Microsoft Windows, which reimagines the operating system for a new generation of computing devices. Microsoft’s goal is to build the very best operating system for hundreds of millions of PCs, new and old, used by well over a billion people globally. The Microsoft engineering team is hard at work designing and building Windows 8, and with the launch of the new blog they have opened dialog with partners like New Signature who will be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months. We look forward to learning more about the development and features through the regular posts that the Microsoft engineering team will be delivering.
Get an early look at the Windows 8 user interface here:
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August 16, 2011
AAAS MemberCentral Wins IMA Outstanding Achievement Award
By New Signature
MemberCentral is the new website that looks at science through the eyes of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) members, celebrating their achievements and their shared belief in the transformative power of science. New Signature is proud to announce that the innovative membership website designed and built for AAAS has won the IMA Outstanding Achievement Award in the “Association” category. The Interactive Media Awards recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honors organizations for their outstanding achievement online.MemberCentral is dedicated to highlighting AAAS activities and fostering community among our members. To support these goals, the site features original content presented as webinars, videos, podcasts, blogs, and more.
AAAS selected New Signature to provide strategy and execute on this important project. New Signature worked with AAAS from concept to launch. We started by working with stakeholders to define the requirements for the website, including providing strategic direction on how best to engage target audiences. With competition for readership increasing from online publications, MemberCentral provides a new channel to showcase additional content and multimedia to AAAS 100,000+ members, as well as engage potential new members and inspire them to join. By creating new content and multimedia and by syndicating content from their many publications, AAAS is able to provide an extensive set of resources that members can consume through MemberCentral.
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August 15, 2011
Office 365 PowerShell Administration
By Stephen DobeckEver wondered how you can better manage Microsoft Office 365? Look no further than PowerShell! For anyone managing Microsoft Office 365, instead of running the BPOS PowerShell cmdlets on your local machine, you can utilize PowerShell and Windows Remote management to connect your local PowerShell session to Microsoft’s hosted Office 365 server. This allows you to utilize a wide range of Exchange cmdlets to manage our Office 365 environment right from your computer. Learn how to hook your PowerShell into Office 365 or review a list of commands you can use.
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August 11, 2011
ioby Website Wins IMA Outstanding Achievement Award in the “Natural Environment/Green” Category
By New Signature
The innovative microfunding website that New Signature designed and built for ioby has won the IMA Outstanding Achievement Award in the “Natural Environment/Green” category. The Interactive Media Awards recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honors organizations for their outstanding achievement online.New Signature worked with ioby to design and build a new social microfunding web service that connects people and money to site-based environmental projects. All of the projects funded through ioby are conceived, designed, and run by neighbors—which ensures community buy-in, long-term caretakers and daily reminders of what’s been achieved. The website provides a five step process to empower visitors to help make a difference: (1) pick a project, (2) nurture it through funding, (3) follow the results, (4) get your hands dirty and inspire others, and (5) prepare for great things. The optional sixth step is “rinse and repeat”.
New Signature used Drupal 7 as the platform for the ioby website. Drupal 7 provided a powerful and flexible platform that answered ioby’s need for a robust e-commerce and collaborative social community solution. New Signature developed the ioby Drupal 7 website to be fast, responsive and handle huge amounts of traffic. The website uses Drupal’s rich social networking integration to make it easy for visitors to share what they have learned on ioby and build their own network of ioby donors and volunteers through their profile page. The ioby website leverages Drupal Commerce–a professional e-commerce solution for Drupal 7. New Signature utilized Drupal Commerce to present a simplified and streamlined process to the visitor, empowering them to easily move from project selection through checkout and payment. New Signature further extended the Drupal platform through the use of contributed and custom modules.