Monday, February 1, 2010

Good Source For Refurbished PCs & Other Computer Equipment

I needed a new or refurbished PC over the weekend that had Windows XP on it and since the stores don't sell them anymore (to run an application that only runs on XP) so I consulted my friendly, local Craigslist here in sunny southern California.

After looking at a bunch of PCs on the web that looked like they may have been used as a doorstop, I found a pleasant IT consultant and used equipment distributor named Phillip Gordon who seemed to have an unlimited supply of refurbished but powerful business class PCs that he was selling for next to nothing.

I picked up a nice little computer (see the listing below) for just $125. I'm buying another today.

Several years ago I learned it's cheaper to replace a PC than to fix one if you can find a supplier of good PCs. I've now found mine. If you're in need of a good used PC or other computer equipment dealer I would recommend you contact Phillip at 909-436-6113 or QualTechCorp@gmail.com.

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ASUS Pundit P1-PH1 Intel Socket T(LGA775) ATI XPRESS 200 2 x 240Pin
I am letting these go at only $125 Each. This is just for the tower and Power Cable. I don't have Keyboard, Mouse or Restore CD's.
Contact: Mr. QUALTech (909) 436-6113
I will delete this ad when they are all gone and at this price, they won't last long.


I just received 34 Asus Pundit's. "I have 8 left." They are really nice Small Form Factor Desktop's with a lot to offer. "More Bang for your Buck"... These system's have been completely gone through and have all software freshly installed and configured for optimal performance.

Here are the Hardware Specs:
Intel P4HT 3.0GHz 775 Processor and Motherboard
160GB Sata HD
1GB DDR2 Memory
DVDRom/CD RW
ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 Series Display Adapter
Realtek RTL8139 Fast Ethernet NIC 10/100
Realtek AC'97 Audio
4 USB Ports. 2 in front and 2 in rear
Media Card Reader
Fire Wire Port

I have just recently Re-Installed a fresh copy of all software:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
AVG Antivirus and Spyware Removal Software
Adobe Reader, Flash & Shockwave Player
Quicktime and Itunes
CCLeaner <~~~ Helps keep system free of temp files and cleans registry...
Mozilla Fire Fox
Roxio Creator

These pictures were taken from the internet to let you know what these systems look like. If you want a real picture, pls ask and I'll try and get you one. You are also more than welcome to come take it for a test drive before you buy it.

Thanks




PostingID: 1576433116

Monday, January 11, 2010

Learn What IT VARs Think About Marketing

Want to learn how IT VARs think as a way to get them to share telecom leads with you? Check out this free webinar http://bit.ly/GaryPica


Kaseya is a remote management software solution provider that has helped create the whole "MSP" vision by selling IT "break fix" guys on the idea that switching their customers over to "managed IT customers" (through the use of Kaseya's siftware) is the path to steady residual income and life-long happiness.


I listened to a similar seminar late last year from MSP marketing guru Robin Robins. You may or may not believe Gary Pica, Robin Robins or even Kaseya know what the answer is but they all certainly do have the ear of a lot of end-user IT VARs.


I'd strongly recommend listening to this webinar for the purpose of learning what is of interest to IT VARs when it comes to marketing and sales help they think would help them.

Friday, December 4, 2009

MSP Partners' "Business Simulation Experience" a "Must Attend"!


The title of this all-day training should be "How to Not Go Out of Business". I'd be a lot richer today if I'd have spent just one day in college playing this game instead of sitting through another statistics or business calculus class. (Seeing money move around a game board in a simulated "break fix vs. MSP" environment is all the business calculus I ever really needed.)

Go to the event in Washington D.C. on December 9th!

Seriously. Playing this game will teach you on a visceral level what you need to understand about the value of the migration in the IT VAR community from a "break fix" pricing model to a "MSP" pricing model.

The bottom line is that in the "break fix" world you make decent money but you struggle every month. In the MSP world, after a couple tough months ramping up all of a sudden life gets very smooth because you're not scared about meeting payroll for lack of "break fix" work.

Even if you're already sold on the MSP model this exercise is a great reminder that staying in business is "all about the money". If the money on the board is not where it needs to be when it needs to be there then say "goodbye happy".

Click the link below to view a video snapshot of the event.



The event was presented by Amy Luby of MSPSN and sponsored by:
 intronis     autotask    itcontrolsuite  mxlogic  business solutions



Thanks! :)








Thoughts on the MSP Alliance & the MSP World Show, Las Vegas 2009


If you scroll down and read the last several blog entries you'll see all the advance promotions TA did to promote the MSP World, Las Vegas 2009 show for MSP Alliance as a media sponsor. You can also see all the video we shot of the people we met.

TA's goal at the MSP World show (and all our interactions with MSPs) was (and still is) to learn the answers to the following three questions:

1. Is it realistic that MSPs will take on carrier services and sell them to their IT customers in a volume large enough to make MSPs a credible channel for carrier services vendors?

2. Is it realistic that MSPs would make good partners with telecom agents to share or trade leads with?

3. How easy, difficult or valuable is it for telecom agents and master agents to pick up the skills and resources necessary to become MSPs themselves and offer MSP services to their existing carrier services customers.



Well over the past several months we've learned what we think are the answers to these three questions and we're going to publish the answers  within the next several weeks in a MSP industry report we're creating for telecom vendors, agents and partners.


QUICK BOTTOM LINE?


When IT guys migrate their SMB customers from "break fix" (only bill when something breaks) to the "managed model" (bill a flat monthly fee to keep everything running) telecom guys can pretty much forget about having any serious "final say" on influencing future telecom decisions the customer makes. The IT guy who "owns" the customer's local area network gets to give the final thumbs up or thumbs down on any voice or data decision. This is obviously a bad thing for telecom guys.  


Fortunately there's lots that telecom guys can do to get back into their customer's inner decision circle for telecom and technology decisions and that's what we'll be sharing in our forthcoming MSP report.


FIRST STEP?


Eat, drink and sleep MSP.  In the six months or so since I learned how to spell "MSP" I've learned an awful lot about what it is they do and how they do it.  It's all come from studying them up close and by surfing the net.  If you're a telecom agent that's serious about staying in business I STRONGLY advise you to do the same.  


Start by talking to your customers. What do they have to say about the IT folks that help them keep their local area network and all their computers running? Study the websites of your local computer guys and take them out to lunch. Do any of them have active sales programs or all they all 100% referral sales people? 


NEXT STEP?


Join the MSP Alliance at www.MSPalliance.com. They offer a free membership to and there's an awful lot to learn by just reading everything written on their website.  You can also join www.MSPpartners.com for as little as $49 per year. Both organizations have a faithful following of real MSPs that I've met in person.  I can't say if one is better than the other but there's really no reason you can't join both.


BEST STEP?


Go to MSP functions. I went to the MSP World convention in Vegas last month and then a MSP Partner "MSP Business Simulation" event a week later. Both events were great because they were both full of living, breathing, hoping MSPs who were only to happy to talk to a telecom guy about being a MSP. You really can't learn about the ways of an MSP without interacting with them directly. This "becoming one" with MSPs is critical because to stay successful in the SMB market over the next several years, telecom agents will need to either partner with MSPs or become one.


SECRET STEP?


Help MSPs get more MSP customers. Don't lead with "Sell telecom & make more money!" - they know all about that. Lead with, "I've got a lot of telecom customers who I'm sure need to be MSP customers..." - your telecom sales will come right after that if you deliver.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Video Snapshots of MSP World Sponsors

Following are video snapshots (in alphabetic order) of a few of the MSP World sponsors we met. Click here to view to the printed agenda of the show that includes full details about the vendors and all the speakers.



Autotask's  Jake Carroll (518-720-3500) on how they make "your IT business run. Better.(SM)".



Canon U.S.A.'s  Chad Seefeld (402-214-6516) and Digitech Systems'  Brian Wiffin (800-671-6848) on their integrated image filing systems solutions.




CSC Leasing's  Matt Thompson (804-673-1000) on their equipment leasing solutions.



eTegrity's  Steve Ferman (877-928-2858) on their online backup and data recovery solutions.



Paessler AG's  Ken Sanofsky (818-292-5026) on their network monitoring solutions.



McAfee / MX Logic's  Steve McCutcheon (720-895-4417) on their cloud based email defense, web defense and email archiving solutions.



N-able's  Derik Belair (613-592-6676) on their network and systems management software solutions.



PacketTrap's  Matt Bolton on their traffic analysis solution for telecom agents and MSPs.



Tango/04's  Jim Van Valkenburgh (603-924-0859) on their remote monitoring solutions for mid-size and larger complex corporate environments.




MSP World, Las Vegas 2009 sponsors that we did not get videos of include:


Applicure - Web application security for MSPs


Gridstore - Storage solutions


Intel (Equus) - Systems builders


Kaseya - Unified monitoring solutions


Longjump - Cloud application platforms


Nimsoft - Monitoring solutions


Pranah Storage - Unified storage systems


Promisec - Clientless MSP solutions


ServicePilot - Integrated IT monitoring solutions

Symform - Enterprise-class business continuity solutions


Shavlik - Compliant network monitoring solutions

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Review of MSP World in Las Vegas, November 2009

Video Snapshots from MSP World


Dan Baldwin, Executive Director Telecom Association 951-251-5155
Remarks on the first day of MSP World



Jim Swoyer, Director MSP Alliance 530-891-1340
Remarks on the synergy between MSPs and telecom agents



Steve Moisoff, VP Sales Mericit Systems 610-628-6321
Remarks on the synergy between MSPs and telecom agents



Video Views from the show



Lane Smith, President Do IT Smarter, 877-347-3648
On how his company helps telecom agents become MSPs



Pauline Levesque, Chief Marketing Officer ITS National, 203-672-0127

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Preview - MSP World, Las Vegas - November 2009


TA's here in Las Vegas for MSP Alliance's MSP World event. Not much to show you yet but a tour of our very nice room at the Venetian. (Click the video below). Here's a link to the program for the event. Here's a link to their Twitter page.

TA's goal here at the show is to learn the answer to the following three questions:

1. Is it realistic that MSPs will take on carrier services and sell them to their IT customers in a volume large enough to make MSPs a credible channel for carrier services vendors?

2. Is it realistic that MSPs would make good partners with telecom agents to share or trade leads with?

3. How difficult or easy is it for telecom agents and master agents to pick up the skills and resources necessary to be MSPs themselves and offer MSP services to their existing carrier services customers.

To get conversations started TA has set up a web page at MSPTEL.com where you can see the newsletter we'll be handing out at the show to stimulate conversation.

TA thanks our three co-op sponsors that we're working with here: A+ Conferencing, PAETEC and Telarus. Their support of this exploratory effort will help TA figure out if MSPs are "the real deal" when it comes to being a viable carrier services distribution channel or "nothing to be concerned about".

Click the video below if you want to see what a cool $139 Las Vegas "suite" looks like.