Official OP Software Blog

OP Software Gains SonicWall Approved Solution Provider Status

2011-12-15T03:19:00.000-08:00


SonicWall Approved Solution Provider: OP Software are a SonicWall Approved Solution Provider, meaning we have the knowledge and expertise to deliver the right solution for your business utilizing SonicWall products and services.
E-Class NSA Series: A family of multi-core Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances that delivers enterprise-class deep packet inspection without significantly impacting network throughput.
NSA Series: The SonicWall NSA Series revolutionizes network protection, utilizing a breakthrough multi-core design and patented Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection technology to offer complete protection without compromising network performance.
TZ Series: Leveraging advanced fifth-generation processing technology honed in the NSA Series, the all new TZ Series dramatically expands the comprehensive protection critical for securing distributed environments and SMBs, at a performance level that will not compromise network throughput.
SonicPoint & Integrated Wireless: SonicWall SonicPoints, including the SonicPoint-Ni, SonicPoint-Ne and SonicPoint-N Dual-Band access points are based on IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standards to provide faster, more secure access to data, voice and video over high-bandwidth wireless LANs.
Backup & Recovery: The SonicWall® Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Series offers the only complete end-to-end backup and recovery solution for SMBs.

Contact our sales team on 0844 288 1 288 or email sales@opsoftware.net for more information.

We’re on Office 365

2011-10-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

If you have kept up to date with the news recently you will be aware of Microsoft’s latest set of cloud-based products known as Office 365. Office 365 is effective online versions of popular Microsoft, traditionally on-premise hosted services, such as Exchange, SharePoint, Lync etc.

OP Software have recently completed a migration from our existing hosted services to Office 365 and I have to admit it has been quite a painless process with Microsoft providing a seamless mechanism for migrating our IMAP accounts to Exchange Online. Even though we have a limited number of accounts, the migration process still involved thousands of e-mails, which was paired up and synchronized in under an hour. Finally we setup our domain on the Office 365 account, updated our DNS, A and MX records, and the entire migration process was complete in under 2 days.

Migrating to Office 365 has been a great experience for us personally, often we found ourselves spending hours trying to manage our internal mail server, anxious about the fact that we may lose our backups or mail at any given point. Havnig this burden lifted off our shoulders by being on 365 is literally like walking on air, hey we are on Cloud 9, sorry that was bad!

Overall, for small to medium sized businesses this is an ideal solution which offers security, availability and scale at an affordable price, I would recommend anyone who like me hates managing internal services to switch over and give yourselves more time to focus on what matters most in your daily business activities.

Get your Office 365 30 day trial here, give it a go, you never know you just might like it.

Guidance on Microsoft Volume Licensing (MVL)

2011-10-19T02:47:00.000-07:00

We've recently had some communication from Microsoft regarding licensing which we thought our customers might find useful.

Software licensing in general can often be a headache, so we were really happy to receive the following guidance in relation to Microsoft Volume License agreements, school agreements and campus agreements. Hopefully it will go some way in explaining what you can and can't do when you buy a new PC from us, or indeed any other OEM manufacturer.

For academic customers:

"If you are an Academic customer and you acquire a PC without a Windows operating system and then use your Microsoft Volume License agreement to install the full license on the PC, you will violate the terms of the Volume License agreement and will not be properly licensed. To rectify this compliance scenario you will need to acquire an entry level base license eg Vista Home Basic with this PC. "

Other sectors:

"If you acquire a PC without a Windows operating system and then use your Microsoft Volume License agreement to install the full license on the PC, you will violate the terms of the Volume License agreement and will not be properly licensed. To rectify this compliance scenario you will need to acquire a full base license eg OEM Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate Edition with this PC. (for Academic customer only, you can use the entry level Operating System eg Vista Home Basic). "

Naturally, if you have any queries regarding your Microsoft licensing - you can always contact one of our Microsoft Licensing Specialists on 0844 288 1 288. We'll be happy to help ensure you're fully compliant

We saved £8000 on Microsoft EES with OP Software

2011-10-19T02:38:00.000-07:00

John Kyrle High School chose to transfer to the new Microsoft Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) Agreement with OP Software when their previous Microsoft School Enrolment expired.

On renewal, they saved a total of £8075.18** ex VAT compared to the purchase of the same product under their 2010 School Agreement renewal.

How does EES work?

Under EES, organisations can now license Microsoft products based on the number of faculty/staff (Full Time Equivalent) employees in the organisation rather than all of their eligible PCs.

As of the 22nd October 2011, there will be some changes made to Microsoft® Licensing and the way you upgrade your volume license.

Windows® Vista™ Home Basic will no longer be sold as of the 22nd October 2011, meaning it cannot be purchased as the qualifying base license. Windows® 7 Home Premium will be the new qualifying base license that will need to be purchased from the 22nd October onwards.

Microsoft’s Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) Subscription Licensing Program is available to Primary, Secondary and Further/Higher Education Organisations. Under EES, organisations can license Microsoft products based on the number of faculty/staff (Full Time Equivalent*) employees in the organisation rather than all of their eligible PCs (which is the case with Microsoft’s School Enrolment).

As a result, many organisations can achieve significant savings by moving to or starting on EES.

Key benefits of EES include:-
- One annual payment for all software at academic prices
- Access to the most current version of licensed software
- Ability to downgrade to an earlier version of software

For more information on how these changes will affect you please contact OP Software on 0844 288 1 288 or by email enquiries@opsoftware.net

**This is based on:
- 137 FTEs declared under their EES versus 600 devices declared under their 2010 School Enrolment renewal.
- Purchase of Microsoft’s Professional Desktop Platform Suite (consisting of Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade, Office Professional Plus 2010 and Microsoft Core CAL suite).
- OP Software’s June 2011 OVS-ES pricing.

OP Software becomes Microsoft Authorised Education Reseller

2011-10-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

We’re proud to announce that we have been certified as a reseller of Microsoft technology solutions to the education sector in recognition of our long term work for the sector.

Our clients include colleges, universities and schools and this reseller status enables us to offer more specific solutions to the Education Sector in the UK. Ozan Pakyuz, Director of OP Software Ltd, noted the work done for various clients:

“We at OP Software Ltd are delighted and proud to have been awarded Authorised Educational Reseller status by Microsoft in recognition of the quality of work we have been carrying out for organisations. This status will now allow us to provide complete solutions to our educational customers which will include not only our skills, customisations and developments but also any required Microsoft licenses too.”

OP Software Becomes a Microsoft Cloud Partner

2011-10-16T10:38:00.001-07:00

OP Software are proud to have been made a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner. The accreditation comes in recognition of our work providing the Microsoft cloud solution BPOS (now known as Microsoft Office 365) to our customers.

The exclusive Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner programme was launched in 2010 and has been designed to recognize and reward high performing companies who have a proven track record of delivering Microsoft cloud solutions to their customers.

As a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner, we will now benefit from internal technology use rights, preferred partner pricing, marketing resources, pre-sales and technical support, and other business benefits.

Cloud computing is still a new concept to many businesses, but it offers a far more cost effective alternative to traditional on-premise solutions, increasing flexibility and productivity, and ultimately contributing to business growth.

If you’re interested in more information on how cloud computing could benefit your business, why not give us a call?

Eset Internet Security 3 for 2 offer PLUS 50% OFF

2011-10-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

Buy 3 years for the price of 2 Plus 50% OFF all public sector purchases

With the ever increasing numbers and complexity of computer threats, protecting your IT is a serious concern.

That’s why we take our role in helping you protect your customers’ systems very seriously.

Our industry-leading proactive malware detection uses state-of-the-art heuristic technology to block new threats as they are released. Backed up by signature detection this makes our software the safest in the industry.

Furthermore, because of its light footprint and blazing speed, it can even extend the useful life of PCs and laptops, helping you protect your customers’ budget.

You can purchase ESET’s full range of business protection from us – Call sales on 0844 288 1 288 today.

HURRY – This special offer ends 28th Sept 2011 @ Midnight

OP Software Becomes A Sophos Silver Partner

2011-10-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

OP Software are pleased to announce that they are now a Sophos Silver Partner.

Trusted by 100 million users and endorsed by industry analysts as a leader, Sophos provides a full range of endpoint, encryption, email, web and Network Access Control solutions that are simple to deploy, manage and use.

Ozan Pakyuz, Director of OP Software Ltd. said, “The addition of Sophos to our portfolio is one of which we are particularly pleased. Sophos has an excellent pedigree and we are delighted to be working with them.”

To find out more about Sophos and how it can help you, contact our sales team on 0844 288 1 288 or email sales@opsoftware.net