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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system that integrates all the systems/functions into a single system in a common database, designed to serve the needs of each different department within the enterprise.

There are many different systems in a large company’s “back office,” such as planning system, manufacturing system, distribution system, shipping system and accounting system. Imagine all the systems are standalone and all data are not sharable. As such, EPR was introduced to solve this problem, with an objective to integrate all these systems into one system.

Advantages of ERP Systems

• An integrated ERP system collaborate all the functional areas together
• The ability to communicate information across various departments
• Improved efficiency, performance and productivity levels
• Enhanced tracking and forecasting
• Improved customer service and satisfaction

Disadvantages of ERP Systems

• ERP systems can be extremely expensive to implement
• Training required to make the system work correctly, inadequate education in ERP might cause personnel can’t operate it efficiently
• Security issue

The growing information needs and integration of system are the main reasons for improvement or replacement of old systems. With ERP, an organization runs all of its core functional applications from a single database. Each functional unit of a company such as finance & marketing uses its own supporting applications within the same ERP. However, ERP is not necessary the only solution to consider as the cost to implement ERP is very expensive, which easily amounts more than $100K.

Windows Intune is a PC security and management service which simplifies and helps businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7. Windows Intune Cloud Management Service delivers management and security capabilities through a single Web-based console so you can keep your computers and users operating anywhere. Windows intune is suitable  primarily at SMB customers who don’t currently have a PC management system in place and with Windows Intune  it only cost SGD 11 per PC/month.

TOP 5 Reasons to Deploy Microsoft’s Windows Intune:

1. Protect PCs from malware

Help protect your PCs from the latest threats with centralized endpoint protection built on the award-winning Microsoft Malware Protection Engine.

2. Monitoring and Alerting

Using a system similar to Systems Center Operations Manager, Intune can alert you when there is a problem with a desktop, such as a virus infection or a failed hard drive.

3. Manage updates

Intune can manage your system updates and patches and give you control over which patches get deployed to which systems and verify that the patches have been applied.

4. Provide Remote Assistance

You can use Intune to access your PCs to perform remote problem solving.

5. Set security policies

manage update, firewall, and endpoint protection policies, even on remote machines outside the corporate network.
Windows Intune is just one more example of how Microsoft is taking advantage of the cloud to help customers solve their IT challenges in new ways as well as with windows intune they can manage their PCs wherever they are without requiring a huge investment in infrastructure. Windows Intune Cloud Management Service cost SGD 11 per PC/month only it’s still affordable for small to medium sized business.

Location Based Service (LBS) is a software application for an IP-capable mobile device that requires knowledge about where the mobile device is located. It’s a powerful ways to personalize mobile services based on location. Location-based services can be query-based and provide the end user with useful information such as:

• Finding nearest ATM
• Traffic alert

What are the 5 basic components of Location Based Service?

• Service provider’s software application,
• Mobile network to transmit data and requests for service,
• Content provider to supply the end user with geo-specific information,
• Positioning component
• End user’s mobile device

What are the examples of location based services applications ?

• Runkeeper
• Brightkite (Pvt Beta)
• MyTown
• Foursquare
• Loopt
• Yelp
• Google Places
• Google Latitude
• MyTracks
• SCVNGR

Is Location Based Service helpful?

For the mobile user, location based service offer many advantages such as:

• Requesting the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant
• Receiving alerts, such as warning of a traffic jam
• Finding a buddy
• LBS doesn’t have to manually specify ZIP codes
• LBS is cheaper to implement

Is Location Based Service might cause privacy threats?

• LBS Reveal individual’s position (The user’s actual current position, determined dynamically by the mobile network)
• Misuse of collected location data store in server (ex. nearest gas station)
• Communication may be intercepted

Mobile is an essential tool for everyone as well as location is a strategic asset of wireless carriers. Leveraging this information enables the user to experience value-added services and the mobile network operator to offer differentiation and incremental profitability.

What is virtualisation??

It simply means converting a physical server operating to a virtual environment where you can combine many physical servers onto one new server.

Example converting four different server operating systems:

• Windows 2003 server running exchange
• Windows 2003 as a file server
• Windows NT Server running an old licensing manager,
• Linux

And with the help of virtualisation we are able to run them all on one new more capable server.

Here are the comparisons virtualisation between microsoft Hyper V and Vmware

1. Cost

The Hyper-V is free but you still need to buy windows 2008 and management software.

VMware  seems to get more expensive with it’s opex model for maintenance so do your sums if you are going to go for VMWare Standard or above.

2. Operating System

Hyper-V allows you to run

• MS Windows 2003/2008
• MS Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server SP4
• Windows XP SP2/SP3
• SUSE Enterprise Linux Server
• 10 SP1/SP2

Vmware allows you to run

• Microsoft WindowsNT4.0/2000/2003/XP/Vista
• Red Hat Enterprise 2.1/3/4/5
• Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1
• Redhat Linux 7.2/7.3/8.0/9.0
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8/9/10
• SUSE Linux 8.2/9.0/9.1/9.2/9.3
• FreeBSD 4.9/4.10/4.11
• NetWare 6.5/6.0/5.1
• Solaris 10 for X86
• Vista
• Windows 2008
• Windows 2003 Standard/Enterprise SP1/SP2/R2
• 64-bit + Virtual SMP (Supported in Production)

3. 64-bit support

Vmware support for most of the 64-bit operating system.

Hyper-V support windows 64-bit but Operating system.

4. Backup

VMware VCB you can do live backup (image) of running virtual machines without affecting the performance of the host neither the virtual machines performance

Hyper-V still depends on the host capabilities using the Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) to enable you to take Live Backups of running virtual machines, but still affect the Hyper-V Host performance while the backup is running.

Conclusion

Both products are good, Vmware is really good at hosting different type of operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc) and easy to convert physical to virtual including 64 bit. Hyper V works really well with Windows Server 2008, but doesn’t convert physical to virtual as well as VMWare without buying System Center Virtual Machine Manage (SCVMM).

Therefore, if your company runs different types of operating system then VMWare might be your best option.

If you are Microsoft only and have an Enterprise Agreement then Hyper V might be best for you. Consider the operating cost comparison over 5 years, Vmware might cost more than Hyper V!

Microsoft office 365 is Microsoft Corp. company’s next generation in cloud productivity that integrates Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always Up-to-date cloud service.

The familiar Office desktop apps your employees already know and the new Office Web Apps seamlessly connected to the cloud and with a flexible pay-as-you-go, per-user licensing model.

The power of Exchange email, calendar, and contacts with built-in functionality to help protect against viruses and spam. Your employees can enjoy virtually-anywhere access to their mailboxes across PCs, the web and mobile devices

Let your employees create sites to manage and share important documents and insights with colleagues, customers and partners, keep teams in sync, and manage important projects – all without the need to set up SharePoint in your own datacenter.

Provide your organization with next-generation communications capabilities including instant messaging (IM), presence, and PC-audio, video conferencing and screen sharing.

With Microsoft Office 365, people can work together more easily from anywhere on virtually any device, while collaborating with others inside and outside their organization in a simple and highly secure way.

Microsoft worked closely with existing customers to develop Office 365, resulting in a cloud service that is designed to meet a wide range of customer needs for all sizes. There are 3 version of Microsoft office 365 which are:

• Office 365 for small businesses
• Office 365 for enterprises
• Office 365 for education

Office 365 is more than a new brand, Any business will be able to transform the way it works with Office 365, and make it easier for people to connect to co-workers, partners, customers and the information that keeps business moving forward – instead of spending valuable time on technology management and maintenance.