Intel Shortages Now A Major Problem

Intel shortages are hitting home.  My go-to computer for business networks, the HP ProDesk 400 G5 with an Intel i5 processor and an SSD drive, is now a tough find.  Very tough.

My regular supplier has none in stock with an SSD, and even none with a hard drive.  Models with AMD processors are available, but I'm not a huge fan of AMD processors. They tell me I can still place an order for a ProDesk 400 and get in line.  As I write this, my supplier gave me a one-week wait.  That's not terrible, but the trend is going the wrong way!  Plus, l I don't have much faith in that one week estimate.  

In a conference call with financial analysts, Intel CEO

[caption id="attachment_1547" align="alignright" width="300"] Intel Logo[/caption]

Bob Swan said, "Supply remained constrained particularly at the value end of our product range.  We are working closely with our customers to align demand with available supply while we add capacity and we expect supply-demand balance to improve by mid-year."

Remove the jargon and he's saying the situation will not improve for a few months.  Intel is concentrating their production on server Central Processing Units - CPUs - and high-end desktop CPUs which are more profitable. He does not seem very concerned, because Intel is still doing great financially.

Intel also announced their Gen9 CPU is using 10nm technology at the end of 2018. They are having trouble producing a good product though. I would expect the new processors to be featured in the ProDesk G6 computers, which have NOT been announced yet. 

All of this means the business PC market is a mess. Dell is no better, by the way. If you want to order computers, I will have to search and let you know what I can find.  Just today, I ordered three PCs with hard drives (priced higher than I would like), then separately ordered SSD drives to install in them.  Where there's a will, there's a way, including overcoming Intel shortages.  Obviously, it's best if you don't order a computer at the last minute!

 

We’ll be happy to engage with you on these Social Platforms:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mullarky-Business-Systems/214459388574037

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MullarkyBiz

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/mullarky-business-systems-llc

Intel Shortages Now A Major Problem

Intel shortages are hitting home.  My go-to computer for business networks, the HP ProDesk 400 G5 with an Intel i5 processor and an SSD drive, is now a tough find.  Very tough.

My regular supplier has none in stock with an SSD, and even none with a hard drive.  Models with AMD processors are available, but I'm not a huge fan of AMD processors. They tell me I can still place an order for a ProDesk 400 and get in line.  As I write this, my supplier gave me a one-week wait.  That's not terrible, but the trend is going the wrong way!  Plus, l I don't have much faith in that one week estimate.  

In a conference call with financial analysts, Intel CEO

[caption id="attachment_1547" align="alignright" width="300"] Intel Logo[/caption]

Bob Swan said, "Supply remained constrained particularly at the value end of our product range.  We are working closely with our customers to align demand with available supply while we add capacity and we expect supply-demand balance to improve by mid-year."

Remove the jargon and he's saying the situation will not improve for a few months.  Intel is concentrating their production on server Central Processing Units - CPUs - and high-end desktop CPUs which are more profitable. He does not seem very concerned, because Intel is still doing great financially.

Intel also announced their Gen9 CPU is using 10nm technology at the end of 2018. They are having trouble producing a good product though. I would expect the new processors to be featured in the ProDesk G6 computers, which have NOT been announced yet. 

All of this means the business PC market is a mess. Dell is no better, by the way. If you want to order computers, I will have to search and let you know what I can find.  Just today, I ordered three PCs with hard drives (priced higher than I would like), then separately ordered SSD drives to install in them.  Where there's a will, there's a way, including overcoming Intel shortages.  Obviously, it's best if you don't order a computer at the last minute!

 

We’ll be happy to engage with you on these Social Platforms:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mullarky-Business-Systems/214459388574037

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MullarkyBiz

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/mullarky-business-systems-llc

Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, we honor those who have served in our military. Well-meaning people often confuse Veterans Day with two other holidays. Memorial Day honors those who died in service of their country.   Armed Forces Day honors those who are presently serving.   

If you want to "Thank A Vet", this is the day!

2018 marks the centennial of Armistice Day - now known as Veterans Day

On November 11th, 1918, an armistice was signed ending hostilities, in effect ending World War I. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th the first commemoration of Armistice Day, honoring veterans of WWI. In 1954, when WWI "the war to end all wars", had been followed by WWII and Korea, Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor all vets, not just those from WWI.

Milwaukee has a Veterans Day parade every year.  This year the Milwaukee Vets Day parade is Saturday, November 10th at 11:00 am.  The route goes East down Kilbourn Ave and ends up at the War Memorial on the lake.  If you would like to attend and honor our veterans, details are here: https://honorourmilitary.us/

Mullarky Business Systems says thank you, to all of our American Veterans.  On a personal note, we look forward to welcoming Sean Mullarky home this month from his first deployment overseas.   We're proud of you, Sean, and happy to see you coming home. 

 

See the new Mullarky Business Systems Partners Page

We have a new Mullarky Business Systems Partners page.   

Find the page (much like this post) at https://www.mbswi.com/about/mullarky-business-systems-partners/

Mullarky business systems is proud to work with many fine global, national and Wisconsin firms – all there to help us do a better job of serving you, our clients.  Here’s a sampling of Mullarky Business Systems Partners:

Datto - Datto provides our preferred backup solution. Their big advantage is recovery time. A conventional file-based backup is fine for some businesses, but in most cases, downtime is VERY costly. Datto shrinks downtime dramatically. We have been an active Datto partner since 2014.

http://Datto.com

Cytracom - Mullarky Business Systems, LLC is a Cytracom partner. Eliminate your phone lines and run your phone system over your existing computer network. We are able to install Cytracom systems with no contract, and FREE phones.

https://Cytracom.com



HP - Hewlett Packard is our preferred brand for PC's. Our standard desktop has an i5 processor and a solid-state drive. Hewlett Packard Enterprise spun off from HP in 2015. HPE is our preferred provider of servers, SAN's and related equipment.

https://HP.com



Intel - Mullarky Business Systems, LLC exclusively sells systems powered by Intel processors.​

http://Intel.com



Barracuda - E-mail Security - Barracuda offers spam and virus filtering for e-mail domains. Barracuda charges a minimum of 50 seats. We maintain an account and sub-divide it, allowing smaller clients to take advantage of this service at a very reasonable price.

https://www.Barracuda.com



Microsoft - We work on Windows servers and Windows clients. Most of the PC's run Microsoft Office software. We are very familiar with Microsoft's products and have been a Microsoft partner since day one.

https://www.Microsoft.com



Microsoft Office 365 Services - Office 365 can give a small business the advantages of an Exchange e-mail server without the expense of having one in-house. If desired, you can step-up to a plan that lets each user run Microsoft Office on their devices.

https://Products.Office.com



SonicWall - This is our preferred firewall for small companies. It is capable of advanced features, but is fairly simple to program.

https://www.SonicWall.com



Webroot - Mullarky Business Systems, LLC offers Webroot to its clients for virus/malware prevention. We've been using Webroot since 2016 and it offers a number of advantages for service providers. Most importantly, it's effective!

https://www.WebRoot.com/us/en/business



Eaton is a leading provider of backup power UPS, or uninterruptible power systems. Eaton UPSs deliver high quality, reliable backup power for everything from network closets and server rooms to enterprise and colocation data centers.

http://www.Eaton.com/us/en-us/products/backup-power-ups-surge-it-power-distribution/backup-power-ups.html



OnYourMark - Keith Klein is my "web site guy". There are a lot of "web site guys" and I could even do this myself. Keith's strength is the online marketing that accompanies the web site.

https://www.OnYourMark.com/



Wisconsin Business Owners - I started attending this Meetup group in 2011 and I'm still a member. In fact, I am now an organizer. We meet monthly for a Lunch and Learn. The speakers are great and the food is good. The networking has been very valuable.

https://www.WisOwners.com/



US Referrals - This group is comprised of people with a high level of professionalism, offering exceptional value. Many of my local vendors and clients are people I met in this group.

https://www.USReferrals.net/

Test Post from Mullarky Business Systems

Test Post from Mullarky Business Systems
https://www.mbswi.com

Free Storage Offer - One Terabyte

Free Storage Offer, One Terabyte for One Year

This offer for free storage is at our FREE Storage offer page.

Our free storage for a year offer is great!  No credit card required.  More info below….

We’ve added a few pages to tell you about both free offers at our site currently on our site.  The second is an offer for a free technology review.

Back to the free storage offer … here’s an email we’ve been sending to clients, friends and associates (including us Referrals Partners and Wisconsin Business Owners):

Hello Partners,

This is Mark Mullarky, a U.S. Referrals Partner-at-Large. I’m inviting you to try out Datto Drive, a brand new file storage platform built by Datto.

Datto Drive is a best-in-class file sync & share tool that will allow your team to store and collaborate on all of your files and projects from any operating system or mobile device. Best of all, for the next year, 1 TB of cloud storage space is available for FREE for the first one million Datto Drive customers. As a Datto partner, we are able to provide you early access to this incredible offer.

After the first year, it will cost $10 per month for 1TB of space with unlimited users, or you may discontinue the service.

To claim your 1 TB of free cloud storage today, click here to sign up your business for Datto Drive.

Please call me at 262-720-3668 if you have any questions.

Regards,
Mark Mullarky
Mullarky Business Systems, LLC

11933 W Burleigh St Suite 204

Wauwatosa, WI 53222

262-720-3668

www.mbswi.com

Please contact us with any questions or suggestions!  We welcome the opportunity to be of service!

Free Storage Offer - One Terabyte

Business Continuity vs. Backup - Datto Comes Through

Planning for Business Continuity

For the sake of business continuity, we often plan for a disaster that never comes.

Test backups to see if you can actually restore them! This is a real-world case of BUSINESS CONTINUITY – keeping right on going through a case that would have slowed or stopped many businesses.

In the case of your server backups, you

Datto Siris 2 not only backs up files – it backs up EVERYTHING – so it can act as a server when your server is not working – keeping your business continuity going!

should be doing a test-restore periodically to make sure your backup procedures actually work.  Though, like an insurance policy, you hope you never need it.

One of my larger clients has a Datto Siris2 unit in place. This unit backs up all of their servers hourly and keeps a BOOTABLE image of those servers.

Think about that for a minute.  Instead of a “file backup”, which is just your data, this is a snapshot of your entire server at a point in time.  Now imagine we can power-up that snapshot and have a running server in a matter of minutes.  Datto’s backup of your server can be started as a virtual machine and the users can do business as usual.

Business Continuity – A Success Story

This is not just a “backup”.  This is not just “disaster recovery”.   This is Business Continuity!

One Sunday night, I was doing a batch of Windows updates on a client’s Windows 2012 server.  This client runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, so I always do the updates on the weekend. This time, one of the Windows Updates didn’t go very well. When the server did not appear back on the network, I checked the VMware console to see what was happening. The screen said an update failed. “Last Known Good” did not work. The server would not boot in safe mode. A startup repair did not work.  I was running out of tricks!

A little Internet research told me this happened to some other people as well.  The fix looked like a long and painful process.

By now, it was quite late on Sunday night.  People would start showing up to work bright and early Monday morning.  Not good!  I was out of time and patience.  If this client did not have a Datto Siris2, I would have slept a couple hours, then gone onsite in the morning to work some magic – while dozens of people hover and ask “Is it fixed yet?  How long will it be?”

I logged into the Datto Siris2 interface and started the server’s newest backup as a virtual machine. I changed the IP address as required, and THAT’S IT! The server was back in operation and the fail-over was undetectable to any of the users on Monday morning.

This coming weekend, I’ll move the virtual machine from the Datto unit to the production hardware.  No lost data, no lost productivity, no lost sleep! 

 

Business Continuity vs. Backup - Datto Comes Through