Earlier this week Dell announced that malware has been found on the following models:

• PowerEdge R310
• PowerEdge R410
• PowerEdge R510
• PowerEdge T410

The spyware is said to be manifesting when a customer has a specific configuration and is not running anti-virus software. To confirm the configuration please visit Dell’s community forum.

The issues is believed to be a W32.Spybot worm which shoudl be detected by any decent Anti-virus software, only 1% of boards shipped have infection, Systems using an iDRAC Express or iDRAC Enterprise card will not be damages. Systems will only be affected if you run an update to either Unified Server Configurator (USC) or 32-bit Diagnostics.

Source: The Register

by admin l July 23, 2010 l No Comments »

With so many failed public sector IT projects hitting the headlines, it is a common perception that on the whole technology is not delivering cost-savings into the Public Sector; given the urgent need to find cost effective strategies in all areas of government, it is important for both the public and private sector organisations to be more aware of the fact that technology can actually help drive efficiency and reduce cost.

The challenges faced by Local Authorities supporting IT in schools are considerable, and are set to increase. With BSF cancelled, budgets tightening and schools delaying investment in new equipment, IT support teams are facing the prospect of sustaining an ageing IT estate with higher volumes of support calls and fewer resources as budget cuts impact the LAs.

With the right technology and processes IT Managed Service providers, whether private or public sector organisations, can deliver proactive management of IT environments across hundreds of schools and tens of thousands of devices; in automating hundreds of manual, repetitive tasks and helping reduce downtime, they can deliver material efficiency and cost savings as well as reducing downtime in schools. Some of the statistics coming out of LAs such as East Sussex, who are creating a suite of ‘next generation’ school IT support contracts around their CentraStage platform, are compelling and centre around significant efficiency (and therefore cost) savings.

The demise of BSF also means that the movement towards privatisation in IT support for schools has virtually ground to a halt. Whilst being targeted at secondary schools, many in the industry felt that it was only a matter of time before BSF IT service providers turned their attention to the primary sector. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of halting BSF, its demise presents a wonderful opportunity for those LA support teams who take a progressive approach to IT support and who have a good relationship with their schools – the challenge is to to provide cost-effective IT support services that meet the increasing reliance on IT from schools.

Even in these cash-constrained times IT managed services, with proactive monitoring, can provide an effective solution for schools, but the service providers themselves need flexible commercial models from hardware and software vendors that suit the current financial climate – meaning that LAs who support IT in schools can buy the necessary technology from their operating budgets, essentially paying for what they use and enabling them to match costs to the revenues from their customers, the schools.

The problem for many managed services providers is that CentraStage is a well kept secret. There are undoubtedly hundreds of IT support teams across all areas of the Public Sector that could drive significant savings in the delivery of IT support were they aware of the technology, and the enhanced IT services that can be delivered through it.

by admin l July 22, 2010 l No Comments »