Blog

December 12, 2016

Phishing Scams: Don’t Take the Bait

aug05-history-phishing-scams We have received a couple of forwarded e-mails from clients over the past several days asking if a particular e-mail they received was legitimate and if it was safe to click on the contained links. The answer in all cases was NO, that these were bogus e-mails with links pointing to malware or spyware.

Phishing attacks are more rampant then ever before, so we wanted to take this opportunity to share a few of our top tips for spotting phishing e-mails:

1) TIP 1: LOOK BUT DON’T CLICK
Hover your mouse over any links embedded in the body of the email. If the link
address displayed is different than the link in the e-mail, don’t click on it. For example:

2) TIP 2: ANALYZE FORMATTING AND LOOK FOR SPELLING MISTAKES
Phishing e-mails are often overly simple with poor formatting and
spelling errors. Brands are pretty serious about email, and legitimate
messages usually do not have major spelling mistakes or poor grammar.

3) DON’T TRUST THE DISPLAY NAME
A favorite phishing tactic among cybercriminals is to spoof the display name of an
email, because most user inboxes only present the display name. Check the
“From” email address in the header – if looks suspicious, don’t open the email.

4) BEWARE OF URGENT OR THREATENING LANGUAGE IN SUBJECT LINE
Invoking a sense of urgency or fear is a common phishing tactic. Beware of subject
lines that claim your “account has been suspended”, “payment has been declined”
or your account had an “unauthorized login attempt.”

Phishers are extremely good at what they do. Just because an email has convincing brand logos, language, and came from a seemingly valid email address, does not mean that it’s legitimate. Be skeptical when it comes to your email messages – if it looks even remotely suspicious, don’t open it. Always trust your gut!

If you’re concerned you’re not fully protected with the proper anti-virus software, Bluetowne can help. 843.352.0130 or [email protected]

lmitchum

November 8, 2016

IDC Reports Nimble Storage Achieving Rapid Success in All Flash Array (AFA) Market

Basic RGB International Data Corporation (IDC) recently released a vendor profile on Nimble Storage providing their opinion of Nimble’s flash-optimized all flash arrays and hybrid flash arrays.

As you consider what solutions to enable in the future, this unbiased third party analysis provides a helpful summary of the evolving All Flash Array (AFA) Market as well as Nimble’s technology, business value, customers, and go-to-market strategies.

READ THE REPORT.

Why is Adaptive Flash Better?

Flash-only solutions only address one piece of the data center, which leaves you managing multiple silos of storage infrastructure. With Adaptive Flash, you can satisfy your data center requirements with a single platform.

Get all-flash performance AND capacity efficiency
Consolidate ‘hybrid’ and flash-only workloads on one platform
Use 100% of your flash to accelerate applications
Proactively maintain storage health and manage growth with Nimble’s InfoSightTM

Take it for a Spin!

As the only Nimble Storage partner in South Carolina, Bluetowne can help you realize the benefits of this game-changing technology. We invite you to experience the performance of the Nimble Adaptive Flash platform in your own environment with a FREE side-by-side Proof of Concept. We will perform the implementation in your existing virtualization environment also at no charge. We’re confident you’ll discover that Adaptive Flash delivers performance and capacity efficiency that flash-only solutions can’t match.

Contact us to get started!

lmitchum

October 28, 2016

Bluetowne Celebrates New Location with Ribbon Cutting

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – (October 27, 2016) – Bluetowne, a leading provider of innovative information technology solutions, celebrated its recent relocation to 10 Resolute Lane, Suite 200 here with a ribbon-cutting ceremony today. Mount Pleasant Mayor Pro Tempore Gary Santos, along with Councilman Will Haynie, staff and representatives from the Mount Pleasant Business Association and Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, were in attendance.

The new office space means new amenities for employees, an easily accessible central location for clients, and an atmosphere on point with the company’s brand and culture. “We were fortunate to find the perfect space so close to our former office, and we really enjoy the business climate in Mount Pleasant,” said Eric Hartley, President, Bluetowne. “We also wanted to limit the impact that relocation could have on our clients and our internal team.”

“I don’t think we could have landed in a better spot,” Hartley said. “Our new location will help enhance our operational efficiencies and enable us to continue to grow and evolve to keep pace with our client’s needs, allowing us to provide exceptional value and superior service along the way.”

“We are delighted to see Bluetowne continue to put down roots in Mount Pleasant,” said Mount Pleasant Mayor Linda Page. “Their continued investment in the Town is testament to the success of our focus on supporting existing businesses.”

“I couldn’t be happier to welcome Bluetowne to their new home in I’On,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Gary Santos. “We hope to see them continue to flourish and provide quality services and jobs in our community.”

About Bluetowne:
Bluetowne’s mission is to provide expert, customized end-to-end IT solutions through remarkable customer service. From the mouse to the datacenter, we serve as trusted advisors to clients of all types and sizes and across all verticals locally (including Mt. Pleasant, SC, Charleston, SC, and Summerville, SC) and regionally to advance customer achievement through efficient and cost effective execution. Visit www.bluetowne.com or call 843.352.0130 for more information.

lmitchum

October 11, 2016

Pokemon Go and Bluetowne Adding Years to People’s Lives

pokemon_go_logo A Microsoft study concluded that Official study by Microsoft and Stanford researchers: is adding a huge number of steps to people’s lives compared to before they started playing the game. The researchers estimate that Pokemon Go has added 144 billion steps to U.S. physical activity. That’s 143 roundtrips to the moon.

That’s funny, because a Bluetowne study concluded that its Managed Services offering is giving clients a huge amount of their time back compared to before they partnered with us. Researchers estimate that due to immediate phone and chat response times and the ability to remote control in to remediate issues, clients are getting 1,397,482 seconds of their time back every month. That’s enough time to pick up a new hobby. (Like playing Pokemon Go.)

Official study by Microsoft and Stanford researchers: https://goo.gl/X7folb

lmitchum

October 4, 2016

Hurricane Matthew: Disaster Preparedness Advisory

matthew We are keeping a close eye on Hurricane Matthew. While the storm is still a few days away from approaching the East Coast, the National Weather Service has predicted the possible areas of impact to include the coastal and midlands regions of South Carolina.

Now is the time to take responsibility to enable your business to continue to operate through whatever storm it is forced to weather. Our mission is to support you to ensure that your organization can to continue to deliver your products or services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident, and ensure optimized, speedy recovery and restoration of your data and applications.

To prepare your business, the following critical activities need to take place as part of a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan:

Review and validate your disaster recovery plan
Review and validate your business continuity plan
Verify backups are running and test restores
Verify your team is prepared for work stoppage and resumption tasks
Validate your IT infrastructure is sound, up-to-date and stable

All too often, we find that companies overrate their level of readiness. When an emergency or disruption hits – chaos and confusion ensue, rather than quick response and recovery. Resolve to be resilient by carving some time out ahead of the storm to focus on your preparedness efforts.

We will continue to monitor this storm very closely, and are here to help you prepare. Let us know how we can assist by giving us a call at 843.352.0130, shoot us an e-mail.

The Bluetowne Team

lmitchum

September 23, 2016

Bluetowne Launches New Content-Rich and Streamlined Website

new-site-screenshot

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – September 23, 2016 – Bluetowne, a leading provider of innovative information technology solutions, today announced the launch of the Company’s New Website. The new content-rich website was designed for a better user experience and features a cleaner, more modern design, as well as enhanced content and streamlined navigation. A strong emphasis was placed on making information regarding Bluetowne’s range of solutions and services more easily accessible and digestible for its current and prospective clients, so they can make well-informed decisions about their technology investments.

The new website better reflects the Bluetowne brand and “The Bluetowne Difference”—a customer-centric approach that sets the company apart in a competitive marketplace. With the addition of client testimonials and case studies, the site highlights Bluetowne’s highly successful track record in delivering cutting-edge technology solutions and support to a broad range of companies and industries. There is also a strong emphasis on the company’s culture and philosophy, offering a glimpse into the driving forces behind Bluetowne’s daily focus.

“We’re thrilled to finally unveil our new site, which is a much better reflection of our brand, culture and the range of solutions and services that we offer. Whether it’s an end-user’s first encounter with Bluetowne or a current client seeking support, our goal was to make the information more accessible and the overall experience more streamlined and enjoyable,” said Liz Mitchum, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Bluetowne.

With most consumers engaging a brand online before actually making contact, Bluetowne’s new site ensures its digital impact is informative, compelling, and user-friendly with the new website’s modern design, enhanced content, streamlined navigation, and mobile device compatibility.

lmitchum

September 19, 2016

Transform your business by turning your daily IT needs over to Bluetowne.

bluecare You’re buried. You’ve got looming deadlines, projects to manage and new ones to roll out. What you need are some extra hands to make sure your end-users get what they need, when they need it.

Let your internal team focus on more strategic projects by outsourcing your Help Desk needs to Bluetowne, and rest easy knowing you’re covered with our BlueCare managed platform services offering. From the moment your call is answered, you’ll know you’ve got the right person on the line and that you’re our top priority. Our support team is responsive, professional, and superior – and our goal is to keep your users up, running, and satisfied. And, you won’t find more competitive pricing anywhere – which translates to money in the bank. We offer personalized monthly service desk plans, and on-demand optional services are also available including disaster recovery, service and email hosting, and security monitoring and remediation. Read More

lmitchum

September 1, 2016

Bluetowne Achieves VMware Academic Specialization

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – September 1, 2016 – Bluetowne, a leading provider of innovative information technology solutions, today announced it has renewed its VMware Academic Specialization—an acknowledgement given to VMware partners who show exceptional understanding of the academic market and VMware academic programs. With the VMware Academic Specialization, Bluetowne also has access to unique Academic SKUs, competitive pricing, and market information. VMware’s Academic Specialization further enables Bluetowne to provide increased alignment with the VMware Academic sales teams, and ultimately provide a higher level of satisfaction to Academic customers.Read More

lmitchum

August 8, 2016

Bluetowne Attains Microsoft’s Silver Midmarket Solution Provider and Silver Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions Competencies

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – August 8, 2016 – Bluetowne, a leading provider of innovative information technology solutions, recently achieved the Microsoft Silver Small and Midmarket Cloud Solution competency, and renewed its Microsoft Silver Midmarket Solution Provider competency, demonstrating its ability to meet the ever-evolving needs of today’s dynamic business environment and its continued strong commitment to Microsoft products and solutions.

The Silver Midmarket Solution Provider competency differentiates Bluetowne by demonstrating expertise in building critical infrastructure solutions based on Microsoft desktop, business-management, and server technologies that can expand on midmarket customers’ current system foundations. It establishes the company as a leader by offering customers the most current technology and solutions, and by focusing on what midmarket business need most.Read More

lmitchum

Bluetowne Blog, Case Studies, Tech Talk

July 12, 2016

Live Oak Consultants Partners with Bluetowne to Achieve Worry-Free IT That Meets the Mission Critical Demands of Its End-Users

“Bluetowne is there when we need them, without the overhead associated with having a dedicated IT person on my staff. They are intimately familiar with our environment and resolve any issues that arise quickly. Bluetowne provides a critical support function that enables me to focus on what we do best – provide high-value, quality engineering services.” – Richard L. Owens, PE, Managing Principal, Live Oak Consultants

THE CLIENT

Live Oak Consultants (LOC) is a full service civil, structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineering firm providing quality, custom solutions to meet their client’s needs using the latest technologies. LOC is designed to be responsive to projects of all sizes, and boasts an impressive client list that includes names like Boeing, SC Ports Authority, Gulfstream Aerospace, Trident Technical College, MUSC, Robert Bosch, Clemson University, The College of Charleston, BP Cooper River, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Metanoia, Water Mission, WestRock, Ingevity, Nucor, and Patriots Point Development Authority.

THE CHALLENGE

LOC was growing from a small firm, and reached the point where they could not effectively manage their own IT, and needed outside help and expertise. Due to the nature of LOC’s work, they demand an always available, secure environment with large file storage and high performance computing requirements for massive customer projects. Remote workers must also be able to operate effectively utilizing the firm’s CAD software and large file storage at a high performance level. LOC needed a partner who could not only lead their IT strategy to support the company’s fast growth and technology requirements, but also manage the daily operations and end-user requests so they could focus on providing responsive, high end service to clients.

THE SOLUTION

Bluetowne’s advanced service desk, monitoring and proactive maintenance solution was implemented to create a cohesive and high performance environment to meet the demands of LOC’s mission critical end-user requirements. With an infrastructure powered by Cisco, Meraki and Dell, LOC’s operating platform was tuned and optimized to provide higher throughput network capacity and visibility into network bottlenecks and congestion. Bluetowne implemented an end-user compute standardization and hardware validation based on repeatable custom computer images, providing seamless functionality with LOC’s multi-layer CAD and design applications. Finally, layered security was deployed across the environment to provide central logging of application and hardware activity. Bluetowne’s managed platform services support application was rolled out to provide end-users the ability to live chat with a remote technician, create support tickets efficiently and provide on-the-fly self help by running local system maintenance and tuning commands.

THE RESULT

Bluetowne’s BlueCare managed platform service provided LOC with a hands-off solution that addressed their high performance IT operating requirements and provided standardization in a responsive, repeatable and economical deliverable. End-users now operate at a higher productivity level with greater confidence in system up-time. All infrastructure and end-user computing systems are regularly monitored and tuned in accordance with industry best-practices and Bluetowne field-experienced engineering validation. As a result of Bluetowne’s ongoing service delivery, LOC is able to scale effectively, achieve operational efficiency, and proceed with confidence in achieving success with their demanding daily workload. LOC’s IT infrastructure is stable, effective and provides the firm competitive confidence in their marketplace.

Download PDF version here.

lmitchum

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