Technology Consulting

With recent changes in application behavior and usage patterns, the protection that the traditional firewall once provided, has steadily eroded. Often times, users are accessing various applications from a multitude of locations to get their job done. Because many of these applications use non-standard ports, hop ports, or encryption to simplify and streamline user access and to bypass the firewall, cybercriminals are taking full advantage of this unsecure application usage to spread a new class of highly targeted modern malware. The result is that the traditional firewall, with its reliance on port and protocol, can no longer identify and control the applications and threats traversing the network.

Enabling unprecedented application visibility and granular policy control, an increasing number of security-focused clients are turning to Palo Alto Networks for their Next-Generation Firewall technology. Palo Alto Networks, known as the innovative visionaries behind the technology, has pioneered a new method of security protection that allows effortless management of network security across the entire organization with an application-centric approach to traffic classification.

Palo Alto Networks was recently positioned as the leader for Enterprise Network Firewalls in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. Gartner estimates that currently 10% of business enterprises have Next-Generation Firewall technology in place, and by 2016 it is estimated to be 38%. As Palo Alto Networks paves the way for firewall technology, they continue to create a future for enterprise security with a sustainable edge.

Technology Consulting

At a time when people increasingly rely on smartphones and tablet computers instead of PCs, Microsoft’s Office 2013 is a productivity suite for the cloud computing generation. Microsoft’s retooled version of its Office software allows consumers to purchase an online subscription service for the first time in an attempt to extend one of the company’s key franchises beyond personal computers. This version, the first major overhaul of the franchise in three years, is Office for the cloud.

The revamped Office applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and others – boast a touch interface, cleaner design and direct file saving to SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage service. Users can run Office as an app and share files across PCs, Macs, Windows tablets, and Windows phones, and use an online-only version of Office on almost any device. The online push reflects Microsoft’s recognition of the evolving computing habits of users, and because people want access to their documents and applications anytime and on any device, Office 2013 has the potential to fulfill this allowing users the flexibility to work from anywhere.

With Office 2013, Microsoft has adopted some key software development practices from Yammer – an enterprise social networking tool they acquired for $1.2 billion several months ago. Specifically, Microsoft sees great value in the way Yammer introduces updates and new features to its cloud-hosted suite. This process represents a major departure from Microsoft’s traditional approach to product upgrades and is a better business model for long-term sustainability than releasing new versions of the same products and expecting users to buy them each time. As consumers will receive updates and new features more quickly and regularly, Microsoft is taking a significant step in bringing the cloud to the masses.

Audio Visual Systems

In a work environment dominated by meetings, video conferencing allows users to experience the impact of stronger working relationships, cost control and improved productivity. Accelerating effective face-to-face discussions, video conferencing is now easier than ever with the radically simplified and flawlessly designed LifeSize Icon Series.

The influx of mobile, cloud and virtualization technologies has fundamentally changed the way that people engage and interact with one another and LifeSize has aimed to transform the video communication experience with the introduction of “smart video^TM”. The LifeSize Icon Series’ smart video represents the culmination of years of user-behavior research and corresponding purposeful design to alleviate common adoption barriers that have been inherent in the video conferencing industry. With a new, simplified user interface, the series allows for a more flexible, efficient and intuitive video conferencing experience.

“The UI of the LifeSize Icon Series is unlike any I’ve seen on a video conferencing system,” said Robert Arnold, program manager for unified communications and collaboration at Frost and Sullivan. “It’s slick, icon-driven design just makes sense for an optimal user experience. I expect that there is tremendous market opportunity for this solution, especially at its attractive price point. For companies that have traditionally rejected video due to its cost and complexity, I would recommend a closer look at the LifeSize Icon Series.”

The LifeSize Icon Series delivers frustration-free video conferencing at an unbeatable value and allows users to shift their focus to what matters to them most – their business.

As a Senior Account Executive, Patrick Wolfe has been with CPI Solutions for more than 13 years. Patrick was recently recognized as a leader in driving client satisfaction and was awarded the CPI Solutions Montage Service Excellence Award acknowledging his dedication to a customer-centered philosophy.  Pat’s great joy is helping clients achieve their goals and believes that understanding each clients’ unique needs, is the first step toward building long-term relationships with trust as the common bond.

“Working with the entire team at CPI Solutions is a very satisfying experience as all of us are focused on our customers; there is a great esprit de corps amongst the employees to help one another grow as individuals and our expertise in the technologies we help our clients with.”

Pat continues to say: “I enjoy meeting new employees as I welcome them to the family and tell them in jest, that CPI stands for Continuous Process Improvement; but in all sincerity there is a lot of truth in this and that CPI is a better company today than it was a year ago and will be a better company a year from now as we listen to our customers and our employees are constantly making adjustments to better meet those needs. CPI is a great company as it has the discipline and process of a Fortune 100 company; yet it has the entrepreneurial spirit, nimbleness and warmth of a small family-owned company.”

CPI Solutions has been named to CRN’s annual list of the Tech Elite 250 for the 3^rd consecutive year. Companies on the 2013 Tech Elite 250 list represent a privileged group of IT solution providers that have invested in the training and education needed to earn the most advanced technical certifications in the IT channel for data center and cloud.

The influx of consumer owned devices into the enterprise environment has sparked data loss fears within many IT organizations. The concept of bring your own device – or BYOD – has gained momentum in the modern business world, with more people using their own gadgets to fit work around their lifestyle.

IT organizations are justifiably concerned about the security risks inherent in bringing your own device and allowing access to secure information through consumer devices. Many are turning to mobile device management (MDM) products and services to address the problem, however, a number of mobile security vendors believe organizations are focusing on the device, when they should be focusing on the data. In order to be competitive in today’s business environment, companies need to leverage every asset they can.

According to a study from Juniper Research, 350 million employees will be using their own devices for work by 2014. Currently, 150 million people use their own phones and tablets at the office, meaning that BYOD users in the enterprise will more than double within the next couple of years.

“As smartphones are increasingly used for accessing remote data and carrying sensitive business and personal data, security apps are becoming an essential and integral part of any device to make it less vulnerable to the different types of threats,” said the report, written by Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at Juniper Research. “There is a need to consider mobile devices as just another endpoint. They should be integrated with existing management platforms and there is a need to educate or inform enterprises of what solutions they should adopt.”

Despite a steadily increasing threat from malware, fraud and theft, only 5% of smartphones and tablets have security software installed. BYOD schemes are often called “a security nightmare” by industry experts but, again, with the right software protection on the device, this becomes less of an issue. Bhas says: “The number of protected consumer devices will overtake protected enterprise devices by 2015, driven by BYOD trends.”