Compulink Technologies has recently been awarded as a lot 3 vendor for Cisco System’s New York State OGS Contract! Lot 3 is Cloud Services and this means that Compulink can sell cloud products and services to New York City and State public institutions while leveraging the OGS Contract.

Compulink Technologies holds a strong, longstanding relationship with both Cisco Systems, and the procurement community in New York. As we reach a new normal under the novel COVID19 pandemic, we need to become flexible with how we approach IT. This includes having a hybrid approach to our IT environments that enable our teams to access their work and data from anywhere. Since the need for cloud services is quickly growing across sectors, we are excited to become an IT Resource to public institutions, and small-medium sized businesses.

Under Lot 3 of Cisco’s OGS Contract, Compulink is able to better assist with the following solution sets:

Cisco Flex

Get cloud, on-premises, and hosted collaboration in a user-based subscription. You can buy meeting, team collaboration, calling, and contact center services for all employees, or simply purchase what you need today and grow at your own pace. With the Flex Plan, one agreement includes software, upgrades, and support.

Cisco Webex Meetings

Don’t let being away from the office slow your business down. Experience engaging, productive meetings from wherever you are.

Cisco Webex Meetings delivers over 6 billion meetings per month, offering industry-leading video and audio conferencing with sharing, chat, and more. 

General features:
• Join and present from any meeting, event, or training session
• Hands-free voice commands with Google Assistant and Google Home Hub
• Seamless joining directly from your calendar or customizable widget
• Schedule meetings or playback recordings directly from your app
• Customizable video layouts
• Share your screen to everyone

 

If you have not considered cloud solutions for your organization’s IT environment yet, do learn more about it! Contact the Compulink team to learn more about how cloud solutions can benefit your IT environment!

In May 2020, Amazon Prime Video released a new show called Upload. The premise of this show was that it was in the future, and there is a new technological tool called “Upload” sponsored by the company Horizon Technologies that enabled individuals to extend their lives by uploading their consciousness into the cloud. They navigate the digital atmosphere through their avatars which are designed to look like them. Uploads also need to pay for perks such as food, drinks, stay, and other types of experiences in their environment. The characters escape into the deep web to purchase illicit services and upgrades for their avatars.

The show delves into many interesting philosophical questions such as whether the uploads are actually alive or deceased, and the ethical connotations of individuals living in the physical world developing a connection with the “deceased” who are uploaded into the cloud.

There was one interesting incident in the show that was worth noting if you follow information technology. The uploads are all stored in a datacenter located on-premise. So this was a hybrid cloud. In this incident, an unknown character attached a device to the datacenter that caused a shock throughout the network. This affected the entire graphics of the system and put the overall digital atmosphere at risk.

As part of the IT industry, the disruption in their datacenter was alarming. I have come up with a few suggestions for IT environments that will be handling these types of software-based consciousness:

Disaster Recovery and Backup

If the data you are storing in the cloud is vital to your organization, as it is for most, then disaster recovery backup solutions are essential to have in place. With the proper disaster recovery solution, your data will be protected during emergency disasters. Typically in a disaster recovery solution, when a datacenter faces a physical or cyberthreat, the data automatically transfers into another datacenter in a separate location. In the show, if Horizon Technologies had a disaster recovery in place, the sensitive data (human consciousness) would be well protected in the event of a disaster.

Cybersecurity

Since in this show, human consciousness are digital entities, they are prone to cyber attacks. The uploads interact directly with their customer service personnel which are individuals in the physical world. The customer service professionals work through a user interface on their office desktops and speak through a microphone and virtual reality gear.

This direct interaction on the office desktops can make the programs vulnerable to threats. In the employees’ desktops, there can be a cyber breach via phishing emails, or web access. To take preventive measures against this vulnerability, the company should adopt high-level firewalls (which they probably already have), email security gateways, and insider threat detection. This can help protect some of the actual lives at stake in this cloud environment from cyber breaches that can literally impact their conscious existence.

In Summary

Every IT environment has delicate data involves sensitive work for the organization involved. In this case, the data are the extension actual human lives and conscious realities. So when it comes to a product as crucial as this, it is important for the decision makers of the organization to develop a robust, IT solution with attention to security and data recovery.

This is not isolated to the fictional company in the television show. It applies to all different types of companies in reality as well. Every company and organization deals with products, services, and data that are sensitive and require protection measures. It is vital for IT and management to align on their environment in order to ensure business continuity, and overall protection of the organization at large.

The recent COVID19 Pandemic has proven to us that education is an important cornerstone of our society. It is economically crucial to have an educated populace in order to boost the exchange of ideas and help advance areas of society such as technology, science, public policy, etc. In order to maintain quality education; the necessary IT tools and resources need to be made available. Nowadays, schools have adopted remote learning. HP Inc.’s Classroom Manager is a trendy solution that we found would benefit education tremendously.

It is not uncommon to find situations where teachers and students are all in a room full of computers doing work together. However, when students are engaged with the computers, distractions can easily arise. Students can be working with other types of content instead of the main lesson at hand and the educational effort of the teacher would be wasted. HP’s Classroom Manager can address this ordeal.

With Classroom Manager, educators can manage the content that students are exposed to and both teachers and students can share screens. Students can share their screens to present their work to the rest of the class. Teachers can also share their content, avoiding a disconnect on the learning process between the students and the teachers.

Here are the following features teachers have from this solution:

1. Lock/unlock: Ensure students focus by locking student screens
2. Blank all: easily clear all students’ devices with a click
3. Message: Send messages from the teachers’ device to one or all student devices selected.
4. Help Requests: Students can discreetly alert the teacher when they require assistance.
5. Student Screen monitoring: View all student screens from the teacher’s PC. Double-click to take control
6. Q&A: The Question and Answer mode enables the teachers to conduct both individual student and peer assessment scores.
7. Web Launch: remotely launch a selected website on student devices.
8. File Transfer: Teacher can quickly transfer file to one or multiple students

This collaborative solution can keep classes synchronized when it comes to the educational progress. HP’s Classroom Manager is a tool for teachers. While the current pain point is that centralizing the productivity has its challenges with every student and teacher in a different location, HP’s Classroom Manager can fine tune how the teachers and students get their point across and make for an improved remote learning experience. Social distancing does not have to mean a reduced quality of education.

For more information on Remote Deployment, click on the image below!

The Compulink Team has spent two week working remote thus far.  While this is an adjustment period for all sectors, we wanted to provide you a status update for our operations.  Compulink Technologies operations are still running and we are able to take orders.

Last week we accepted multiple emergency procurement orders and we are still able to take more orders.  Additionally, we are working remote with access to our emails and calls to the office route directly to individual cell phones after you dial the extension.

We wanted to reiterate our commitment to supporting both public and private institutions in these trying times and helping keep our public infrastructure alive.  If there is anything you or your agency needs assistance with regarding Information Technology, do not hesitate to contact Sales@compu-link.com.  Click below to reach this email directly.

Due to the CoronaVirus Outbreak and the social distancing practiced by the masses, schools and universities have closed. Public Schools are said to be closed until at least April 30. While students were excited for the time off as a vacation, the education system has adopted a remote access model for students and teachers to access at home.

Students and teachers are using Microsoft Teams to communicate and each different class has their own chatroom. Parents are expected to ensure students are remaining productive in their homes. While schools are closed due to social distancing initiatives, this is an important initiative to help the education system continue.

Official information on Remote Learning Can be found here)

However, there have been some setbacks in remote education. A remote education system being suddenly implemented is under the assumption that every student has access to a computer at home. This is not the case. Many students began remote learning last week without the proper tools. Some households have one computer and two or more students that need to use it simultaneously.

The City is purchasing devices for students who live in public housing and are from low income neighborhoods. New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza estimated that there are a shortage of 300,000 devices across the city that will be provided to the students in coming weeks.

Compulink Recommendations

While the New York City Department of Education is currently purchasing laptops for students; there will be an adjustment period. After laptop devices, students may not have the proper headphones or other supplementary hardware to be engaged with the education.

Remote education was a sudden adoption which will cause initial hurdles in the process. It is highly advisable that when schools are back in session, teachers begin to increasingly incorporate laptops into the educational process. This would help the access to education become remote-friendly. Should students need to be home or have a homework packet during vacation, they are able to use their laptops to resume work.

Compulink Technologies became officially certified as a Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) in the State of New Jersey this week. This means that Compulink can help New Jersey based public institutions and business enterprises can meet supplier diversity goals.

Compulink Technologies is a certified Minority-Owned Business Enterprise in the City and State of New York. Because of our extensive experience with IT, strong relationships with multiple brands, and track record for procurement; we have been able to help public and private institutions in New York maintain stable, secure, and efficient IT environments.

Click here to read our case study of a recent NYC Gov Services Project

Compulink Technologies also sponsors the Compulink E-Store, a free online product research resource that can expedite supplier diversity engagement for both public and private institutions. Signing up for the Compulink E-Store is 100% free and convenient.

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Headsets

Collaboration tools are vital during remote access since teammates need to communicate with one another. One tool are headsets for better hearing and voice communications. As teammates facilitate meetings on tools like Cisco Webex they will need proper tools to enhance their voices and cancel the outside noises.

A display board can add great benefit to the business/enterprise context. When meetings are held, display boards can be used to visually depict what is being discussed and consolidate different ideas/plans etc into one board. Oftentimes display boards can be used for videoconferencing meetings with large groups in a conference room. There is a general misconception that display boards are just good for presenting new material and are “glorified televisions.” Here are display boards we recommend!

Apple TV

The Apple TV can have surprising benefits to the business environment. While some non-business related benefits include streaming movies, TV shows, and Netflix content; Apple TV can also allow you to display your iPad 2,3 and iPhone 4s to the screen on HDTV or projector via Airplay Mirroring. In a conference setting, Apple Airplay enables users to connect content on these devices without requiring a connector cable. Users can easily disconnect their device and allow a colleague to use their Airplay to connect to the TV from anywhere in the room and perform their presentation.

Interactive SMART Board

The SMART Board has its own set of unique benefits. The SMART Board nowadays comes with an operating system (IQ) that makes it possible to use without a computer plugged to it. Additionally, you can connect your computer to the SMARTBoard and interact with your teammates from the SMART Board.

The SMART Board has some key functions similar to a computer. For example, you can save files and surf the internet from SMARTBoard without a computer connected to it. The SMARTBoard enables users to use the whiteboard to draw diagram and take notes from the board screen. You can save your notes on your smart board to access it anytime.

The SMART Board integrates with a whiteboard app on your mobile device. You can use this app on the mobile device to write on the white board in real time.

Click To View More Information About SMART Board

On the other hand, organizations have the need for integrating in IT departments new technologies often using cloud services and other ways of direct access to the web. This pressure for IT departments to give…