There will be no meeting this month, as there is a scheduling conflict with a major holiday.

This meeting will be a general sharing meeting where we discuss the various resources and services we use. We intend to compile a list and make it available to members as a resource.

1. Reselling

• Do you resell computers? If so where do you get them? Where do your recommend people go if you don't resell. How is that working out? What are the pros and cons?
• Where do you get your peripherals? How does that work out? Do you mark them up?
• Do you resell backup services? Who do you use and how does it work?
• Do you resell Software? Where do you buy your software? How does that work for you and your clients?
• Other

2. Services

• What vendors do you use for Printer supplies, maintenance are repair?
• What vendors do you recommend for cabling?
• What other tech services do you use or recommend?
• Remote support / managed services

3. Website Resources:
What Websites do you use in your business and how: For example,  http://Speedtest.net to test Internet speed, or Passmark CPU tests to establish a baseline for CPU speed. MXToolbox.com for blacklists mxlookup etc.

4. Training Resources

• What resources do you use to keep current and get training?
• websites, podcasts, schools, video casts, online training, webinars, etc.

5. Business Resources:

• Finances
• Client tracking
• Website

• overview of Microsoft office 365 (release of 2016)
• breakdown of different packages
• who will be the best fit
• pricing

• What is my vision for the business?
• What is my mission?
• Doing the S.W.O.T. Analysis (Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats)
• If I can't do everything myself, how will I get help? Employees or contractors?

In this presentation, we will try to make sense of the sometimes conflicting information that seems to appear almost daily, both online and in the popular press, about the creation and use of passwords. We'll look at the basics of password creation and password cracking, and how to use that information to avoid having to trade security for convenience and usability.
 

On July 29 Windows 10 will be officially released. We have lots of questions that need to be answered.

• What does it look like?
• What are the potential problems?
• What are the important new features?
• What was left out?
• What compatibility issues might there be?
• Should my clients move production machines to it right away, or wait?

These and many more questions will be answered by Scott just 1 day before the Windows 10 release.
 

Come ready to share your favorite app (or two). We want everyone to contribute. Just tell us in 3 or 4 minutes what app you use a lot and think is wonderful. Any operating system. Any app type. We'll have a projector and attempt to get to a descriptive web page for each app. The goal is to present 15 to 20 different apps to give everyone an idea for software that could be useful for them and also for their clients.

Discussion Format

Drive Images are part of a complete backup plan. However, there are many products available and many ways they can be used. Some OCCA board members will lead a discussion where everyone will be able to contribute to a better understanding for all of us.

We will discuss the following issues:

What products do you use and what are the licenses like?

• Macrium Reflect
• Acronis
• MiniTool
• Clonezilla
• DriveSnapshot
• Other - What do you use?

How do you integrate imaging into your business model?

• Sell drive and image software
• Test images (verify, spot check, restore to Virtual, Restore to hardware)
• Setup for clients (Scheduled images and reports)
• Image new computers
• Drive copy for moving to another drive (SSD)
• New computer deployment
• Other

Types of computers

• Servers
• Workstations
• Home computers

Have you ever wondered where the internet backbones run through our region? Who owns it? What are peering and transit agreements? Ever wondered how much it would cost to run a fiber optic line across the Pacific to Asia? Are you curious about what makes datacenters so special?

Eric Hulbert of Opus Interactive will discuss the internet backbones running through the region, and give a bit of history on how they came to be. Eric will also discuss options for hosting virtual servers on equipment that doesn’t belong to your or your client.
 

A panel of OCCA members will discuss and demonstrate various remote support options for consultants. Topics that will be covered include:

Recurring income:

• Does it provide recurring income?
• How do you structure it?
• What additional services does your service provide, like asset management, automated updates, alerts etc.

Types of Support

• Ad Hoc
• Unattended
• Meetings

Other:

• Quality of Tech support
• Cost of the system:
• Mobile support
• How smoothly does it work?