Blog

We Do Our Own Work

Throughout the 10+ years of our company, all of our IT and Programming projects have been completed in-house without the need to offshore work overseas. While we are proud of being able to keep our development local, that is not the only reason for our constant decision to keep our workload here in Springfield, IL. While an overseas per hour rate can be attractive, the lack of control and quality of work performed by an offshore company are just not worth the lower rates. Our clients demand that their work be accurate and delivered on time. Since our clients work directly with a project manager and that same manager leads a team of developers under the same roof, there is much less room for a spec to become diluted.

Only industry professionals are employed with MCS, and while that can mean a higher per hour rate, it can also mean less hours overall. What good is an hourly rate that is half the cost if it takes twice as long to complete a project? We plan to keep delivering quality work from local employees for years to come. Our clients expect the best and MCS delivers the best. A decision to use MCS for your next project will ensure that your dollars stay local and your project will be completed accurately.

Business Phone System Offer Through 2013

Now through 2013, MCS is offering a small business phone system for 5 users for just $3,399* installed. The system includes an on premise Voice over IP PBX, PoE Switch, backup battery, and 5 Polycom 450 HD Voice phones. You can scale up the system for more phones and lines as needed. Our digital phone system boasts the following features:

• Per user voicemail with built in email and cell phone integration
• Auto-attendant
• Dial by name directory
• “Follow Me” locator feature to let your customers reach you wherever you are
• Polycom HD Voice for crystal clear calls
• Local onsite support and installation service

We have put together this phone bundle to simplify pricing and save you money. Customers that need more phones, or non-VoIP phone service can use this as a starting off point to add extra hardware as needed. Each system will be professionally installed and your employees will be trained on how to get the most out of the system. Contact a rep today for more details.

*Price excludes sales tax. VoIP phone service is assumed and extra charges may apply for POTS or PRI modules. Cabling not included. Offer expires 12/31/2013

Buy Nagios Licenses Online

We have just launched our secure store for purchasing Nagios Licenses. Visit the store for discounted pricing and fast delivery. As a Nagios Premier Reseller, MCS is able to provide not only licenses and renewals but integration services as well. Buying Nagios Licenses through a reseller like MCS gives you the same product and support as going direct, but with the added bonus of using MCS for support and guidance. Our prices are discounted and even better deals can be quoted for large orders or government procurement.

Ryan Coultas selected for 40 under 40 award

Our COO, Ryan Coultas, has been selected to receive a 40 under 40 award from the Springfield Business Journal. This honor features 40 business leaders who are under the age of 40 in the Springfield and neighboring business communities. These individuals are selected based on their contributions to our local business community and the community in which they have chosen to reside.
From the Springfield Business Journal’s website at http://www.springfieldbusinessjournal.com:
“The selectees’ career paths, educational background and community affiliations are varied. They represent the best and brightest from a wide range of occupations. You can expect to hear more from and about these leaders in the years ahead. The program was established and is able to continue due to the commitment of local businesses that realize the importance of acknowledging these 40 individuals and supporting community business programs.”

MCS Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

They say that time flies when you’re having fun. The last 10 years have been both fun and challenging in great ways. The technology industry has changed so much since 2003. We have seen mainstream adoption of virtualization and the birth of the mobile platform. IT has changed and MCS has changed with it, but the fundamentals of our business remain the same. Our mission is to assist companies with IT or programming projects with a personal touch.

We would like to thank all of our customers, partners, employees, and suppliers for making the last decade possible. When our company first incorporated in 2003, we had a goal to go above and beyond for our customers. This ethic has led to an ever increasing customer base. In 2008 we bought a 5000 square foot office building and built out our data center. Now, in 2013 we are coming up with new strategies to allow our customers take advantage of the cloud securely and responsively. We look forward to serving our customers through the next 10 years!

Why Windows Small Business Server is Dead

Microsoft has done away with Small Business Server. Over the last couple of years, the MCS tech team has recommended that small businesses move away from Small Business Server and into Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. Small Business Server has always seemed to to a little temperamental. For most users, SBS was overkill and came preinstalled with SharePoint and Exchange. Best practices would lead us to believe that if you don’t need something on your server then don’t install it, but SBS forced the issue.

Windows Server was designed to be modular and that is how we install it now. We have performed several Small Business Server 2003 to Server 2008 R2 migrations successfully. This brings organizations to a more standard platform that can be custom built to suite almost any business need. We are seeing more stable servers and services now with less bloat.

Windows Small Business Server Essentials has been renamed Windows Server 2012 Essentials now. We are still recommending Windows Server 2012 Essentials for very small offices who would otherwise run a peer to peer network because of costs. Windows Server 2012 Essentials comes per-loaded on HP micro Servers for around $900 with redundant hard drives and room for 2 more. That is a great deal and it is perfect for offices that want better security and control but don’t want to pay $5000 for way more server and software than they will ever need. Small Business Server going away is the end of an era and we at MCS could not be happier.

Windows 8

On, October 26th, 2012 Microsoft will officially release its new flagship OS. What does that mean for the business user? For one, PCs will start to have this OS pre-installed when shipped. For users that still want Windows 7, Microsoft will allow them to downgrade but they don’t have to make that process easy. Users will have to find installation media that most likely will not ship with the PC. There will also most likely be activation hassles to deal with.

For those of you wanting to stick with Windows 8 Professional, be aware that the user experience has not changed this drastically since Windows 95. Gone is the traditional start menu, replaced with a sharp cornered start screen meant to resemble Windows Phone. Power users will find that the new OS still has strong underpinnings of Windows 7 so most applications that work with Windows 7 will also work with 8. Time will tell how well that holds up.

This is another time of transition and we always caution our clients to wait before implementing brand new technologies. Windows 8 might have security issues that need to be patched, or compatibility problems that are not yet obvious. Windows 7 will still be actively supported for years to come and when it comes to businesses depending on an OS, safer is better. Let the home users try the new OS and work out the bugs. Then, if and when 8 is ready, business users should migrate. Vista is a good example of an OS that would have been better skipped if given the option.

UPS Systems Upgraded

All MCS hosted services are now running on a double conversion power system. Better voltage = happier servers. MCS completed the upgrades last night to replace an aged line interactive system. What’s the difference between a line interactive and double conversion UPS you may ask. Well, it all comes down to cleanliness of power delivered to the equipment.

A line interactive UPS will normally just pass through whatever power is coming from your utility. If your utility delivers 124 volts, that is what is getting passed to your equipment. In the event of a power outage, the UPS has to sense the outage and then quickly replace that power with power from its battery. This causes and issue because the time in between the power going out and the UPS batteries kicking in, you are left with no power being delivered to you equipment. This is a very short window, measured in milliseconds, and most servers will have enough charge in their power supply capacitors to buffer through the outage. Sometimes though, a server might have a strained power supply, or the UPS takes a little bit too much time to kick in and this will end up with the server starved or power and it will reset. Also, since these UPS systems pass through power they are not a good fit for use with generators. Generators generally produce dirty power that can possibly damage sensitive equipment.

A double conversion UPS is much different. These devices will constantly use their internal batteries to output clean voltage within a specific range. So, 124 volts from your utility company go into the UPS and 120 volts come out to your servers. Also, since these devices are on-line all the time, in the event of a power loss there is no loss of power to the equipment. The battery will simply start to drain and not be recharged via utility power. On-line double conversion UPS devices are also better suited for use with a standby generator. When the generator kicks in, dirty power with nasty looking squared of sin waves goes in and clean power comes out thanks to the battery conditioning. These devices have a downside though. They are more expensice to purchase and to operate. Since power is not being passed through directly, more total power is consumed to power the same loads leading to a little increase on the power bill. Also, since the batteries are being used all the time, they wear out more quickly then a line interactive system and require replacement sooner.