Nine Lives Media Inc. Identifies Simplegrid executive as one of the World’s Top Managed Services Executives.

Parsippany, NJ (PRWEB) August 22, 2011  Ahsun A. Saleem, Partner at Simplegrid Technology, Inc. was selected for Nine Lives Media Inc.’s fourth annual MSPmentor 250, a global report that identifies the world’s leading managed service executives, entrepreneurs, experts, coaches and community leaders.

Coverage of Mr. Saleem’s induction into the MSPmentor 250 is available now at http://www.mspmentor.net/mspmentor-250-page-8-of-our-2011-edition/

“I’m honored to be considered one of the leaders in the Managed IT services industry,” said Mr. Saleem. “Being named to the MSPMentor 250 indicates not only my commitment to delivering a vision of enterprise class service to the SME/SMB market, but it is also a reflection of the type of expertise and service Simplegrid delivers to our clients on a daily basis.”

The fourth annual MSPmentor 250 report is based on a global survey of MSPmentor site readers conducted from April through July 24, 2011. The MSPmentor editorial staff also weighed in with nominations, based on the team’s daily coverage of the managed services market. The resulting MSPmentor 250 report represents managed services experts across business, technology, sales, marketing, community development, coaching and more.

“MSPMentor congratulates Ahsun Saleem, as well as all of the executives identified within the MSPMentor 250 report.” said Amy Katz, CEO of Nine Lives Media Inc “We promised to raise the bar with our fourth-annual report, and we’ve delivered on that goal, paving the way for MSP experts across North America, EMEA, Asia and Australia to network.”

MSPmentor’s readership and editorial staff are uniquely positioned to identify the world’s top managed services experts. MSPmentor is the world’s leading managed services blog and community—and the ultimate guide to managed services.

About Nine Lives Media Inc.

Nine Lives Media Inc. ( http://www.ninelivesmediainc.com) defines emerging IT media markets and disrupts established IT media markets. The company’s websites — MSPmentor , The VAR Guy , Talkin’ Cloud, MSPtweet and VARtweet are the leading blogs and social media destinations in the IT channel.

About Simplegrid Technology, Inc.

Simplegrid is a full service IT consulting firm that specializes in Managed IT Services and Technology Consulting for the legal, financial and healthcare industries. For over ten years our team of engineers, technical architects and strategic consultants have been providing clients with superior IT services and technology consulting with a strong emphasis on dedication, quality and client satisfaction.

For more information about Simplegrid and our offerings, please visit http://www.simplegrid.com or call us at (888) 866-7010.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/simplegrid_it

Microsoft released SCCM 2012 Beta 2 during Microsoft’s Management Summit.   You can download or register for the open beta  program by visiting the Technet Evaluation Center.   An official release date hasn’t been announced yet, but Microsoft is on track to officially release the product in the second half of 2011.

Simplegrid’s Dektop Engineering practice blogged about the some of the new features in SCCM 2012; you can find that post here.

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One of the new features that Microsoft introduced with Windows 7 is Windows XP mode, a compatibility feature which allows you to run older applications that may not work on Windows 7 in a virtual machine running Windows XP.  This virtual machine sits within your Windows 7 OS.  Windows XP Mode is available for download from Microsoft’s website and can be found here.  A copy of Microsoft’s Virtual PC is required as well and this can also be downloaded from Microsoft’s website.  Both downloads are free.

There are definite benefits to using Windows XP mode – most notably allowing your users to be able to launch an application that doesn’t work on Windows 7 on their own machine.  This cuts down on the need of keeping physical Windows XP machines around, or the need of an alternative infrastructure to host these applications.  Furthermore, the seamless integration of Windows XP mode with Windows 7 allows the user to run their programs via the start menu – they won’t have to remember to launch something different in order to access the application.   There are, however a few caveats to keep in mind before deploying Windows XP mode within your environment:

• Limited Integration capability – Windows XP mode runs in as a virtual OS, and therefore has little to no integration with applications running in Windows 7 installation.  Therefore, applications that are heavily integrated applications (think of your CRM product, or your Office templates) should not be run within Windows XP mode.  Windows XP Mode does have the ability to access USB drives, Printers, known folders (i.e. My Documents), and the ability to cut and paste between the virtual machine and the host OS.
• OS Support – Windows XP mode is essentially a copy of the Windows XP OS that you are now running in your environment.   If you plan on giving your virtual machine access to the network, you must now decide whether you wish to maintain it, which means patching with the latest security patches, anti-virus, amongst other security requirements.  This can become quite the administrative burden, especially if you are deploying Windows XP Mode to multiple machines.

Typically we recommend using Windows XP mode sparingly, since most applications are compatible with Windows XP.  We also recommend trying the application in compatibility mode within the OS, before implementing Windows XP mode.  The most likely use case of Windows XP mode is for homegrown or 3^rd party applications that only work on Windows XP, or require versions of Internet Explorer before IE7.

Simplegrid’s Desktop Engineering practice is actively working on many VDI, Windows 7 and PC-Lifecycle management projects.  Contact us today to learn more.

Although the official release date for SCCM 2012 hasn’t been announced yet, the beta version of the product is currently available.   Simplegrid’s Desktop Engineering practice engineer’s have been evaluating this version and have been quite impressed with it.  The product continues to build upon Microsoft’s “Better Together” strategy, incorporating greater integration for virtual machine support, and Microsoft Forefront.  Along with those features, the following also stood out to use during our evaluation:

User Centric Management – Traditionally, all of the pc lifecycle tools associated software applications to a machine, which is very problematic in environments where users float to different machines, or switch between their desktop and a remote terminal session.  In SCCM 2012, the software can now be associated to a user instead, thus allowing the application to follow the user, regardless of which machine they are logged into.

“Conditional Delivery” – The next version of SCCM introduces the concept of “conditional delivery”.  This delivery method automatically determines whether a user is on a virtual machine, a mobile device, terminal server, or a desktop/laptop and then determines how to deliver the application to the user – choosing between streaming the application, publishing it on a presentation server, or through traditional software deployment method.  This is accomplished even though the application itself needs to be packaged only once within the system.  Furthemore, conditional delivery also determines which device is the user’s primary or secondary device and behaves accordingly.

Software Portal – Microsoft finally caught up to Symantec’s Management Platform’s ability to deliver application via a software portal.    The software portal allows applications to be available to a user via a web page, which they can  install on their own schedule.  This allows for less user disruption, as software applications aren’t forced on users.  Applications on demand also reduce the burden on the IT staff, as they don’t have to always be available to distribute an application to a user.   The software portal is ideal for delivery of non-critical applications to a user.  Applications can still be associated to a user or a group, thus giving administrators control over which applications users can install.

Integrated Console – Following the “Better Together” strategy, SCCM 2012 brings the management of the following technologies into  their configuration manager console:

• Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)
• Microsoft Enterprise Virtualization (Med-V)
• Citrix XenApp
• Microsoft Forefront 2010

The console also supports the management of the Windows 7 phone, which will allow administrators to enable self-provisioning, device updates, and administer various controls on the devices.

Automated Remediation – Administrators will be able to allow for the automatic remediation of devices that deviate from the defined baseline configuration.  This feature is key for detecting vulnerabilities within the system and identifying non-compliance related issues.

Hierarchy and Client Improvements – Throttling and scheduling tasks can be administered on the distribution points, which will remove the requirement for additional primary sites when these tasks needed to be divided between different administrative groups.     Role based security is also being introduced in SCCM 2012, thus bringing granular control settings to the system, which will allow enterprise administrators to assign site specific administrators only the rights they need to perform the tasks.  Lastly, the SCCM client is introducing a “self healing” function, which will automatically resolve issues within the client, and even reinstall the client if it is removed from the endpoint.

The above are the most exciting features being released in SCCM 2012.  There are a couple of other features that are being introduced, such as Native 64 bit and Unicode support, improved SQL server replication, and improvements to the OS Deployment and Remote Control.  We will report back on these features as we dive deeper into them.

The next version of SCCM seems to be very promising as a PC lifecycle management tool that will meet the needs of our clients.  We’re looking forward to the official release of this product!

Simplegrid’s Desktop Engineering practice is actively working on many VDI, Windows 7 and PC-Lifecycle management projects.

Have a question that you want answered or a topic you want covered in a blog post?  Contact the Simplegrid Team, and we’ll be happy to write about it!

Recently, our virtualization practice team members met with Citrix Systems to discuss their product roadmap.  One of the more interesting tidbits that came out of this meetings is that Citrix is actively working with Apple to deliver MacOS as a virtual OS.  Although nothing has been finalized yet, this would be a huge coup for Citrix, as Mac’s are becoming more and more prevalent in the enterprise as a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows.

Nothing is set in stone here, and many things can go wrong here, but it is encouraging to hear Citrix listening to their clients and trying to bring this technology to the enterprise VDI segment.