How Effective IT Management Breeds Positive Business Growth
At RTS our experience has shown that our clients work best when they focus their resources on where their expertise lies. We help clients understand the possibilities of using technology to make their business run more smoothly.
We work with different organisations from school academies to multi-office private businesses to create, manage, maintain and develop IT and Audio Visual (AV) solutions that fit their requirements.
With over a decade of experience in both IT and AV disciplines, we offer a focused approach for each of our clients, which allows us to reach below the surface of any immediate problems and resolve any root causes.
Benefits of our program:
- Reduces costs: A maintenance program ensures that if a problem arises, it is fixed quickly. This prevents an entire system from crashing, and reduces the overall cost to fix the problem.
- Increases the predictability of technology costs: Devices are continually monitored; with the result that you will always know about any changes that should be made and you can predict the costs of those changes.
- Focuses your business on its core skills: This allows internal staff to work on projects and strategy, which is in their area of expertise and not a technology related concerns.
- Reduces downtime: The system is always monitored; as a result it is fixed quickly which allows staff to get back to work.
- Reduces staff frustration: Staff know that if there is a problem, we have been alerted and are on our way to fix it.
- Reduces security threats: By continually monitoring, we will know of any security threats, which could affect your business and eliminate them before they become an issue.
- Increases network performance: Monitoring allows us to run all systems at peak efficiency which greatly enhances your work place productivity and your network.
To use a racing analogy it’s like having a pit crew always on stand-by ready to jump into action. By using RTS, the extra wasted hours spent trying to solve technology problems are gone and you are able to spend time on the things that matter most to your business.
Returning from Integrated Systems Europe (ISE)
As part of our Continued Professional Development we attend Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) held at Amsterdam’s RAI exhibition centre each year. The show offers a fantastic glimpse at emerging audio-visual technology and continues to grow year on year with over 700 exhibitors and some 30,000 attendees this year.
AV Trending Results Speaks Volumes
Gartner have recently published their latest report ‘Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2010’ which the team have found makes rather pleasant reading. The document (which you can download here) summarizes the key findings of Gartner’s 2010 Hype Cycle report which is published annually and monitors the commercial viability of 1,600 technologies, applications, and trends in the 80 IT, business, and consumer markets.
One of the key themes emerging from this year’s Hype Cycle is how people experience and interact with technology. New styles of user interaction will drive new usage patterns, giving organizations opportunities to innovate how information and transactions are delivered to customers and employees. This includes devices such as media tablets and 3D flat-panel TVs and displays, and interaction styles such as gesture recognition and tangible user interfaces.
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The Convergence of IT and AV (Audio-Visual) Technologies
Audio Visual (AV) technology is more than just projectors and HD televisions. The rapid growth of online media and entertainment has led to an explosion of interest and development within the industry as new technology such as digitisation and the IT market begin to increase pace. The AV industry should be proud of its growing presence; with the growth of digital signage, videoconferencing, and command-and-control facilities, InfoComm has recorded a 30-percent growth in demand for AV services over the past three years.
AV is now considered an integral part of many projects and planning undertaken by industries that are choosing to revolutionise the way they make their mark. Sixty percent of AV goods and services are purchased as part of a new construction or major renovation project.
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Samsung TV Software Update results in “No Signal”
There has been a reported issue with Samsung LCDs (known issue with: LE32R87BDX and LE37R87BD panels) prompting users to apply a “Software update”. If the update is applied panels show “No signal” and all TV channel information is lost.
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Samsung MagicInfo Digital Signage Version Comparison
As part of a campus-wide digital signage roll-out at a new build school, 32 large format Samsung ‘network’ displays needed to be configured ready for the start of the new term. Samsung use standard PC hardware running Microsoft Windows XP Embedded built in to the back of each network display to run their MagicInfo digital signage software. This means that installation of each panel simply requires a power and a data connection to make it fully operational.
The panels used were manufactured in May 2010 and shipped complete with a configuration wizard that allowed the easy setup of either MagicInfo-i (the completely web-based version) or the older MagicInfo Pro. Both MagicInfo Pro and MagicInfo-i Standard server software are included in every box. MagicInfo-i Advanced is the latest version of the MagicInfo software range but requires licensing after a trial of 60 days. A video-wall-specific edition of the MagicInfo software (MagicInfo VW) is also available as a licensed product.
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Building Schools for the Future
The recent announcement in July 2010 to scrap the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme forced over 700 schools and 123 academy schemes to halt plans for their redevelopment. Many had high hopes for this £45 billion project when it was announced back in 2003. But, what was it that caused the demise of such a promising programme?
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BECTA closed by new UK Government
Staff at BECTA, the government body that “promotes technology in learning” were told at 10.00 this morning that the quango would close in November. There has been a deluge of Tweets on the subject and #becta is currently one of the highest trending topics in the UK at the moment. But does it matter?!
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Installing a new IT suite this summer? Make sure you’re not a victim of nuisance trips!
We’ve seen a couple of instances of “nuisance trips” on projects recently. It can be a real pain for staff that need to be educated to switch an IT suite on one PC at a time and to do it slowly enough so as not to trip the circuit. Workstations also generally don’t like being switched on and off by just cutting and reactivating their mains supply.
In most computer rooms it is strongly advised that the rooms are wired with a ‘high integrity’ earth circuit; and that circuits are designed in accordance with BS7671 taking into account voltage drop, design current and other external influences.
Now the science bit. Show this to your electricians or ask us about it… Read more
Ofcom – 60 per cent of British children use the net unsupervised
Research published this month by Ofcom reveals that 60 per cent of 12-15 year olds use the internet mostly unsupervised, as do 35 per cent of 8-11 year olds. The report also suggests that children are starting to use the internet at a younger age, with numbers of internet users in the 5-7 age group increasing.
Growing numbers of children have internet access in their own bedrooms. One-third of those between 12 and 15 years of age, one in six in the 8-11 age group and 3 per cent of 5-7 years olds have such access.
Many children play video games. Three quarters of 12-15 year olds have a games console in their rooms. When asked who they normally play with, one in seven 12-15 year olds reported that they play with people over the internet.
Such findings highlight the importance of educating our children about the dangers of internet use.
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