iYogi Announces Launch of Monitoring and Performance Tool For SMBs

iYogi – a leading provider of technical support services with horizons in the US, UK, Canada and Australia – today announced the launch of its exclusive server monitoring tools for small businesses. The new product offers integrated technology solutions to surmount the users’ unique IT support requirements thereby enabling them to derive and share information, data, enable network performance analysis, and security trends critical to plan and mana ge their set of servers – 24x7.

Uday Challu, iYogi’s CEO commented, “Holding a significant niche for itself in the computer support industry, iYogi has always known to be on the forefront of adapting breakthrough technology to exceed customer service expectations. This time we have developed a tool offering value-add functionality which will help small business customers maximize the business outcomes of IT.”

iYogi’s monitoring tool provides real time observation and monitoring solutions to ensure more robust and reliable IT support and infrastructure for small buinesses. Small Business owners also get a comprehensive assesment of their IT environment to meet technology needs with the scalability for future growth and create preventative measures based on quick analysis of network device alerts, pre-failure indicators, performance benchmark and security issues.

The new Monitoring and performance tool will provide small business with the opportunity to test all technical and non-technical aspects of their servers and help them to strengthen overall IT infrastructure. The array of services will include: Patch Management, Security Auditing, Site Inventory, Real Time Alerting Script Based Management, and Rights Management Services for all critical server issues.

“Irrespective of the business being small or large, when the consumer chooses iYogi, he leverages the potential of an elite taskforce of Microsoft Certified System Engineers and Cisco Certified Network Associates, ready to service their critical assets, using the most advanced network asset tracking and Performance monitoring”, adds Challu.

Another factor where the Company aims to distinguish itself from its competitors is product pricing. Embracing the concept of service quality, iYogi offers competitively priced technical support services at no-haggle, low prices.

As for its small business support, the Company has integrated its exclusive Monitoring and Alerting Services under one price umbrella of just $480 annually. per server i.e. $49.99 per month. The price is certainly hard to find anywhere else.

For more information on iYogi Small Business Support, visit http://www.iyogibusiness.com/

Contact Details:
Company Name: iYogi Technical Services Pvt Ltd
Address: iYogi Inc.
12 Desbrosses Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013
Toll Free no:1-800-237-3901
Work Number: 1-212-229-0901
Fax Number: 1-888-867-2715
E-Mail: awadhesh.singh@iyogi.net

iYogi Secures $9.5M in Series B Funding Led by SAP Ventures, With Follow-on Investment from Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners

iYogi Secures $9.5M in Series B Funding Led by SAP Ventures, With Follow-on Investment from Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners
iYogi, a Direct-to-Consumer and Small Business Technical Support Provider, Paves the Way for Personal Offshoring to Become India’s Next Success Story

New York, 24 July, 2008: Personal Offshoring, which is driving the next wave of India’s outsourcing success story, got a huge boost today when iYogi - a remote technical support provider from India - raised $ 9.5 million in Series B financing from SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank.

iYogi (www.iyogi.net) delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is the first, global, technical support brand based out of India. The company offers its customers an unlimited, annual service subscription for $119.99 per desktop that includes support for a wide range of technologies, including PC hardware Microsoft Windows operating system, software applications, peripherals and multifunctional devices.

“Personal Offshoring has created new investment opportunities in India with incredible growth potential,” said Doug Higgins, partner at SAP Ventures. “It is very exciting to see companies like iYogi challenging the traditional enterprise-focused offshore-service delivery model by creating a consumer-focused, direct-to-customer personal offshore model. iYogi is one of the fastest-growing companies in this market segment, and we look forward to working with them to create India’s next success story.”

“Our focus on the customer experience has helped us achieve a 93 percent satisfaction rate across more than 50,000 customers,” said Uday Challu, CEO of iYogi. “We are delighted to have the support of three terrific investors as we increase our market share and continue to provide the best technical support experience possible for our customers.”

iYogi will use the funds to fuel its expansion into 12 new regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and to increase its delivery of new services including PC recovery, anti-virus/spyware, data back-up and PC optimization.

“As consumer technologies grow in sophistication, consumers will be seeking the kind of home IT support services – including remote services offered by companies such as iYogi – to help them solve their most complex problems,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst, Parks Associates. “In primary research, we found more than one-third of consumers are willing to pay for competent and professional remote support services, and 60% express a strong interest in software solutions – what we refer to as ‘PC Dashboards’ – that automate many basic PC performance enhancement and troubleshooting features, solving many PC-related problems before they even are noticed by end-users.”

iYogi had previously raised $3.1 million in Series A financing from Canaan Partners and SVB in April of last year. “iYogi is one of the most promising investments for Canaan Partners,” said Alok Mittal, managing director of India at Canaan Partners. “Third-party, vendor-independent technical support is an exciting new service category, witnessing explosive growth. Customers are looking beyond the traditional vendor-provided support to remote channels for better problem resolution, faster service, and greater overall satisfaction. iYogi has created an incredible value proposition and price offering for its customers that is hard to beat.”

”Several next generation outsourcing companies from India are delivering a range of personal offshoring services for individuals and small businesses in the U.S. including online tutoring, tax preparation, remote executive assistance and research services,” said Suresh Shanmugham, managing director of SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank. “iYogi has leveraged the technical skills available in India along with process expertise to scale as a global technical support provider for millions faced with increasingly complex technology”.

About SAP Ventures
SAP Ventures invests in innovative and disruptive software and services companies globally. We pursue opportunities across all stages for outstanding financial return. Our goal is to bring substantial benefit to all parties by facilitating interaction between portfolio companies and SAP and its ecosystem of customers and partners. SAP Ventures has a successful track record of building industry-leading companies by partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and top-tier venture capital firms since 1996. For more information, visit www.sapventures.com.

About Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners is a global venture capital firm specializing in early-stage information technology and life sciences companies. Founded in 1987, Canaan Partners has $2.4 billion capital under management and has invested in more than 240 companies, completed 63 mergers and acquisitions, and brought over 50 companies public. The firm catalyzes the development of innovative mobile, Internet, CleanTech, networking, semiconductor, enterprise software and services, biotechnology and medical technologies to build next-generation market leaders. Canaan was an early investor in Acme Packet (APKT), Aperto Networks, BharatMatrimony.com, Blurb, DoubleClick (DCLK), ID Analytics, Match.com and SuccessFactors, along with dozens of other market-leading companies. Canaan is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and also has offices in Connecticut, India and Israel. For more information visit: www.canaan.com.

SVB India Capital Partners Fund and Silicon Valley Bank

SVB India Capital Partners Fund is a $54 million equity fund that is focused on Indian companies and co-invests across industries and stages with top-tier venture capital firms. Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for emerging, growth and mature companies in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine industries. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 27 U.S. offices and five international operations. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group, with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.

About iYogi

iYogi is the first direct-to-consumer and small business technical support service from India. Providing an annual unlimited subscription to technical support for $119.99 per year, iYogi now boasts more than 50,000 customers. The company employs 450 professionals servicing customers in the U.S., U.K., Canada fast expanding to 12 new geographies across the globe. iYogi’s resolution rate of 87 percent and customer satisfaction rate of 93 percent are amongst the highest published benchmarks in the industry. For further information, please visit www.iyogi.net.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. iYogi shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.



Contact:


Company Name:
iYogi Technical Services Pvt Ltd

Address:
iYogi Inc.
12 Desbrosses Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013

Toll Free no: 1-800-237-3901

Work Number: 1-212-229-0901

F ax Number: 1-888-867-2715

Online support site for doctors

A NEW Online vista tech support site for GPs and businesses has been launched by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Healthy Working Wales promotes healthy working practices and offers advice on how best to manage and recover at work if any health issues do arise.

The new website will bring together a number of initiatives, including Workboost Wales, Welsh Backs and the Corporate Health Standard, providing easy access to information, advice and support on a broad range of workplace health issues.

The website will also host a new pilot programme providing GPs with access to online resources on health and work issues.

The programme will provide Online vista support for GPs to access occupational health advice for their patients.

The Health & Safety Executive estimates that 30 million working days are lost each year due to work- related ill health. Sickness absence and associated worklessness costs £100bn a year in the UK.

Dr Tony Jewell, Wales’ chief medical officer for Wales said: “Ensuring that we are able to lead healthy working lives is as much our responsibility as our employers’.

“Unfortunately, not all ill health can be prevented but we can better Online vista tech support people to help them stay in work.

“The accessibility and convenience of an information resource like Healthy Working Wales is invaluable and will provide individuals, employers and health professionals with access to advice that may help prevent long-term conditions from developing.

“For GPs the pilot project will provide access to the most up-to-date information, and the expertise of professionals trained specifically to help find solutions for people with health and work issues. This is an innovative approach to providing advice on health and work issues and I’m pleased that it has been developed here in Wales.”

Source: walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/07/online-support-site-for-doctors-91466-21272016/

How to get Online Vista Support

Microsoft has been struggling to convince Windows XP users to embrace Online Vista Support and PC makers have shunned the new operating system as well due to negative feedback from customers. The new platform, they claim, is too bloated and slow when compared with its predecessor.

Microsoft unveiled the corporate edition of Online Vista Support on November 30, 2006 and the consumer equivalent on January 29, 2007.

In a bid to boost online Vista's sales, Microsoft had set June 30, 2008 as the last day for PC makers to sell machines preloaded with Windows XP - with the exception of low-cost systems such as the Asus Eee PC.

Microsoft decides which operating systems run on specific hardware. As a result, business and home users will be subject to different rules, and most corporate clients wanting to ditch online Vista can do so for free.

The country's largest PC supplier, Hewlett-Packard, will offer Windows XP free to its business clients.

"HP will be offering the downgrade to Windows XP from Windows Vista support on our business desktops, notebooks and workstations until July 30 next year," Rob Kingston, HP Australia's PSG Commercial Products manager, said. "We won't be charging our customers for this."

But HP's home users will have to fend for themselves, as all consumer machines come with online Vista support. Should they choose to install Windows XP instead, they would have to bear the cost.

At Dell Australia, the purchase of a Vostro desktop, laptop or XPS gaming system will incur a downgrade fee of between $US20 ($21) and $US50.

Lenovo Australia says select online Vista support models will ship with an XP CD.

"Microsoft will allow us to continue putting these CDs in the box until January 31, 2009," a Lenovo spokesman said. "However, the majority of PCs we ship don't have the CD. If a customer purchases a online Vista system and wishes to downgrade, they can contact our help centre."

Lenovo customers will have to pay $82.50 for the XP CD.

Asus Australia has no plans to charge customers to switch from Vista to XP. "XP is not included in the package so this is based on customers sourcing their own valid XP CD and licence," the company's notebook product manager, Albert Liang, said.

"The licensing agreement for the Eee PC is separate to the standard Windows PCs and notebooks agreement, therefore the June 30 deadline does not affect the Eee PC."

According to Microsoft Australia, customers will receive mainstream support for Windows XP until April 2009. "They will be able to receive extended support under Microsoft's extended support policy until April 2014," a spokesperson said.

http://www.foxriverantiques.com

source : australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23956544-15306,00.html

InfoComm: Minicom to release digital signage remote support system

JERUSALEM, Israel — a provider of digital signage player-to-screen connectivity, will showcase a new power management and remote vista support system that completes the player-to-screen comprehensive solution at this year's Las Vegas, June 17-20, 2008.

Minicom has created a solution called PowerOnCable that increases lifespan and cuts down on power costs of LCD, plasma and projectors, in response to the increase of energy prices and concern for the environment. PowerOnCable can connect to Minicom’s DS Vision 3000 system and LCD, plasma and projector display. PowerOnCable will radically improve display device lifespan and power consumption costs.

Minicom’s remote support solution enables customers to troubleshoot digital signage players anytime from anywhere in the world through Internet connectivity. It provides remote command in real time and enables troubleshooting even when the operating system is down.

The company also will offer private demonstrations of the technology at a suite across the street from the LVCC at the Marriott Residence Inn.

Tragedy in Harvard computer support department

HARVARD – Jane Gasiorowski awoke Tuesday to her alarm at 4 a.m. and smelled smoke.

When she opened her apartment door, she saw her neighbor across the hall, apologizing profusely.

“The guy from 1C was standing in a smoke-filled hall between his apartment and mine in his underwear saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ online computer support over and over again.”

Gasiorowski said she assumed that the man was apologizing because he had started his apartment – and ultimately the building at 1415 Northfield Court – on fire. She said she saw flames shooting out his patio, and he was shrouded in smoke.

The man, 58-year-old John R. McKoski, later died.

The state fire marshal determined that McKoski caused the fire after falling asleep while smoking, spokeswoman Januari Smith said.

“He didn’t die in the fire,” Gasiorowski said. “He walked out the back door of the building, between our apartments. He lay down in the grass. As far as I knew, ... I didn’t see he was suffering in any way, and I was more worried about trying to get other people out.”

An autopsy showed that McKoski did not die from smoke inhalation, Coroner Marlene Lantz said.

“We did not find any soot in his airway, which means it could be a natural death or it could still be as a result of the fire,” Lantz said.

Toxicology results, which will not be available for several weeks, will reveal whether McKoski suffered from carbon-monoxide poisoning or whether he had drugs or alcohol in his system, she said.

The Harvard Fire Department responded to the fire about 3:35 a.m. and arrived on the scene about 3:42 a.m. In addition to McKoski, rescue personnel took a woman to Mercy Harvard Hospital.

Virginia Schaefer, 54, was treated for smoke inhalation and released.

“I’m fortunate because I have a place to go, my sister’s, but some people don’t,” Schaefer said. “I’m kind of nervous person anyway, but I’ve been shaking so bad.”

Gasiorowski said the smoke detector in her unit was not going off. Concerned about other tenants, she pounded on a fire door to awaken anyone who might still have been sleeping.

But from inside his apartment where he was watching TV on a living-room couch, Matt Bell could hear smoke detectors in the hallway.

“I wasn’t sure what it was, so I came out to the balcony, and I saw the smoke,” Bell said. “I woke up my wife, who popped out of bed and banged on everybody’s door.”

Twelve units in two separate buildings were made uninhabitable by the fire, displacing 16 people, said Chief Dan Kazy-Garey of the Harvard Police Department.

Representatives for the apartment complex’s owner, Cunat Inc., were working with the McHenry County Housing Authority to find places to stay for the displaced families.

“We have the funds available to provide them with shelter. So if they need it, we can provide it,” said the housing authority’s executive director, Julie Biel Claussen. “We are trying to get them through this difficult situation. We know it’s devastating.”

Twenty fire departments with about 85 firefighters and EMS personnel responded, as well as the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department, the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and Animal Control.

This was the third major fire in Harvard in the past week.

An 82-year-old woman, Katalin Hoz, was killed May 28 when her house at 2311 Paulson Road was destroyed. The home was engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived on the scene and the flames were too intense to rescue her.

Also, a family of five was displaced Sunday after their home at 24008 South St. was deemed uninhabitable. A pet cat was killed.

source : http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/06/04/news/local/doc48452fefb42dc519360700.txt

SQL Server support 2008: a first look

Microsoft has made some big promises for server support 2008 , a major update of its enterprise database product. No precise date has yet been announced for the launch, but the new features have caught the interest of database developers, users and IT managers alike.

Users will notice a completely overhauled reporting engine and greatly improved performance. This should allow more users to run OLAP queries, or enable existing OLAP users to run more complex queries than are currently possible.

Among the highlights for developers is full support for a new could enable a new breed of low-cost applications for web commerce.

The new datatype allows applications to store and sort data describing locations. For example, a travel agent's database might store information about hotels, airports and restaurants; users could then search it for all the five-star hotels and restaurants within 10 miles of a particular airport.

Another groundbreaking addition is SQL 2008’s data type. These records can contain arbitrary data — such as text, sound or video — and can be searched using normal database commands. The difference is that FileStream records are stored on the local NTFS filesystem, which means they can contain much more data than a normal SQL record, and performance can be better too.

Despite being stored as files in the normal NTFS file system, FileStream data is thoroughly integrated with the database, which will keep it backed up, and will make sure that any transactions using it are consistent.

For IT managers, the biggest gains come in the shape of better performance and security. A new feature lets SQL Server . The application need not be aware of it, so existing applications can use this feature without any changes to existing code.

Support has also been added for certificate-based encryption and authentication, which works with a range of certificate authorities, including Microsoft Certificate Services.

Microsoft claims SQL Server 2008 will run 14 per cent faster than SQL Server 2005 on a quad-socket server, and Microsoft has also made some more specific For instance, automatic data compression for backups will reduce the amount of storage needed for backups by around 50 percent, Microsoft promises.

Database mirrors have been improved in order to store null values more efficiently, and the logs that synchronise database mirrors can now be compressed. This should reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to maintain duplicates of a database. Finally, a new resource governor enables administrators to assign CPU power to particular applications.

The most eagerly awaited feature, ironically, is not actually part of SQL Server 2008, but arrives at the same time: the , which lets Visual Basic and C## software applications include and verify SQL queries.

Previously about the only way to find out what was stored in a SQL database was to put SQL queries directly into an application coded as a text string, which would be sent by the application to the SQL database for processing. The trouble is that the software development tools don’t understand SQL queries, so the queries could not be automatically verified for correctness or efficiency.

LINQ is a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that enables the software development tools to understand the SQL queries, so they can manage them alongside the rest of the project. LINQ can also be used with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005.

Developers and IT managers are understandably eager to get to grips with the reality of this promised functionality. When the product finally arrives, they will be checking to see whether it lives up to the claims, and so will we.

source : http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/enterpriseapplications/0,1000001813,39422964,00.htm