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Curtis Helsel, vice president of data and technology management at the University of Colorado Foundation in Boulder, said his experience with offshore customer support on personal ITmatters has led him to believe that communication can be difficult. The foundation uses a managed services provider, San Jose-based CenterBeam Inc., that operates a help desk in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Continue reading "Computerworld, 5/2/2005: Offshore Tech Support Still Stirs Controversy" »
Mobile Nightmares
Wed Mar 30, 5:27 PM ET
Michael Fitzgerald - ExtremeTech
Does the name Paris Hilton make you sweat, not for all of the politically incorrect reasons but because you're wondering who's been reading your e-mail? Do you keep your cell phone off most of the time because you heard about the phone in a retail store that a passer-by infected with the Cabir virus? Do you live in fear of being bluesnarfed?
Take a deep breath. Exhale. Relax. Here's some good news: Your cell phone is almost certainly not the security hazard that your PC is. At least, not quite yet.
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For now, then, spam and its instant-messaging counterpart, spim, are the nastiest things most cell phone users are likely to encounter. And as far as security threats are concerned, these qualify as "mostly nuisances," says Dan Knowlden, senior messaging engineer at Centerbeam Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based infrastructure outsourcer.
Knowlden says he thinks this will change, since cell phones outsell PCs worldwide by substantial margins. As more of those phones run e-mail, "They're the biggest target [for hackers], and we need to cope with these threats now," he says.
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You're just trying to protect your job by only supporting an all-Windows environment that has lots of problems to chase to keep you busy.
Nice try. :) I outsourced that function already, so I'm obviously not holding on to that function to keep my job. During the absolutely wrenching downturn in 2001, I outsourced Windows support out of business necessity. I was not a fan of outsourcing in the least, but it made sense and still makes sense. You can read more on that here and here. One important note: I didn't outsource this function because I didn't understand it. I outsourced because I understood it all too well, and the CenterBeam solution I chose dealt with the difficulties of Windows management in a smart way (especially patching). I would rather have a team on-site to deal with this, but budgets just won't allow it and the technology has made it possible to outsource the function relatively painlessly.
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CenterBeam Surpassing Growth Plans in Saint John
SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., April 5, 2005 – Today, CenterBeam announced it has appointed Neil Morrison director of technical operations. Morrison, former global manager of communications for McCain Foods Limited, will be responsible for managing and growing the technology infrastructure CenterBeam delivers to its clients. Morrison’s appointment marks an important step in the growth of CenterBeam’s North American Solutions Center, a step that puts the operation well ahead of its expected growth.
“Neil will help CenterBeam continue to extend its technical operations from San José to Saint John and stay ahead of the ever growing demand for CenterBeam’s service,” said Kevin Francis, CenterBeam president and chief executive officer. “During 2004, the number of services CenterBeam delivers grew from about 8,000 to well more than 40,000. Neil will help scale CenterBeam’s technology infrastructure and immediately mine the rich vein of technical engineering talent in New Brunswick.”
