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The team at Atum participated as an exhibitor on the Floor at the DX3 Canada Expo this week, and our own Director of Business Development, John Posan, was a featured speaker in the Moneris Small Business Theatre.
In it’s first year running, the DX3 Canada Digital Media Expo had over 100 exhibitors, 35 interactive sessions and a huge attendance!
We talked to lots of people and shook hands with fellow exhibitors, innovators, business owners and decision makers at some of Canada’s leading digital retail/media and marketing companies. Atum provides virtual hosting and Managed Cloud solutions for companies looking to streamline, virtualize and cut infrastructure maintenance costs (and headaches!). Many digital or online companies are a perfect fit for this technology and strategy – particularly, those who have custom needs and requirements, sensitive databases, or scalability potential.
John Posan speaking about Cloud for Small Biz
John Posan also lead a discussion about ” The Cloud for Small Business” – He gave valuable information and insight to small business owners on turning the buzzword into a real solution for growth and cost savings.
Thanks to ALL who stopped by our booth, congratulations to the winners of our Playbook Giveaway, and special thanks to all our fellow Tweeters and session attendees.
Here are some photos of our booth and our team at the event!
Draw for the Playbook
The Atum Booth
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 is a wrap for another year.
If you didn’t go, you certainly heard ALL about it.
You heard about the super skinny TV’s, the Wi-Fi enabled kitchen appliances, Cars with Facebook, dancing robots, and celebrity sightings like Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake.
CES was a big deal this year, and Technology Trade shows are quickly becoming a pop culture phenomenon. As soon as celebrities start ‘dropping by’ or promoting products… you’ve crossed a line. From The Ultimate Gadgets & Geeks Show to a Mainstream Mega Event – CES has definitely made giant strides in the past few years.
Technology is buzz. It is what EVERYONE is talking about, all the time. Cell phones, smartphones, tablets are just the beginning. Technology is absolutely rehaping the world, and it’s getting bigger every day. The Cloud was on everyone’s tongues last year, and again, it takes centre stage.
Dancing robots aren’t the future – that’s not the point. It’s the fact that we CAN manipulate an inanimate object to take on human movement and intelligence that should excite you.
Progress.
Every year CES allows leading minds in technology advancement to ‘show off’ what they’ve been working on all year. We get to be the audience.
Like the World’s Fairs of yester-year… CES and countless other technology shows every year, give us a chance to see what’s on the horizon and get on board early!
One thing’s for sure; our fascination with emerging technology isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
Announcing the news of Atum‘s participation at this year’s DX3 Canada:
Toronto (January 11th, 2012) – Toronto based Virtual Private Server (VPS) Host Atum Corporation is preparing to participate at DX3 Canada as both an exhibitor and a featured speaker. The DX3 Canada is a spotlight on Canadian technology innovation and services; Atum will be attending the two day event for the first time and has been announced as a feature speaker in the Moneris Small Business Theatre.
Atum Director of Business Development John Posan will take the stage on January 25th to lead a discussion entitled ‘The Cloud for Small Business’. The speech will share his expertise and savvy as a leading edge executive in the field of Virtualization, and his experiences transitioning small business into a virtual (cloud) environment at Atum Corporation (CDN Award Winners for Small Business Solutions).
Commenting on the content of his speech, John says “We want to de-mystify the idea of ‘The Cloud’ once and for all by giving small business leaders useful tools and take-home resources to fully benefit from virtualization.”
Furthermore, “The Cloud is a buzz word that may be too fluffy for many business leaders to embrace –but it is the future and the implementation of a cloud strategy is proving to be a necessity for growing businesses to reach the next level of success”.
At DX3 Canada John Posan will share speaking duties with a lineup of over 35 sessions over 2 days featuring some of Canada’s most prominent CEOS and Executives providing practical content and information about the current Canadian digital environment. (See the Line up of Features HERE)
Registration for the DX3 Canada show is available at www.dx3canada.com - Come as a guest of Atum with the discount code: atumdx3 and receive a huge deal on the cost of tickets.
John Posan, Director of Business Development
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Dx3 Canada
January 25-26, 2012
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
www.dx3canada.com
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The Cloud is not the new kid on the block this year. It’s not the freshman; it’s not the new puppy. It’s growing up, maturing and evolving with every calendar day that passes. In a totally new calendar YEAR, it’s the perfect (and most obvious) time to lay out some predictions as to the direction the cloud will take in 2012. Close the books on 2011, what will the new 2012 chapter write for the Cloud?
Cloud Coverage – Last year, The Cloud was a buzz word on the tongues of technology companies, enterprise giants, internet aficionados, IT expos and trade show participants… but this year, we expect to see more adoption of the Cloud in every sector of business. From startup, to small business, mid-market to enterprise… everyone will discover a use for the cloud. It’s not just an internet term, it’s a tangible solution for any business… in 2012, expect a surge in small business adoption of Iaas, Saas etc services.
Cloud Harmony – The Cloud put a question mark in the heads of many IT departments in 2011. What would The Cloud mean for IT jobs? Expect that 2012 be the year companies start to figure out a way to embrace the Cloud and reinvent the role of the IT department. Last year, there was a lot of discussion without clear vision, and the countless ways companies attempted to adopt The Cloud muddied the waters. The businesses that will find the most success will be able to clearly define the role of both their employees and the interdependent relationship with cloud technologies.
A Safe Cloud – There was a lot of internet security breaches last year, I expect we’ll see The Cloud increase safety and security measures. Remember the hacking, the password stealing, the online security breaches, huge companies experiencing ‘downtime’… that was SO 2011. Cloud technology will become safer out of necessity for its customers – businesses will not tolerate the same security woes of the cloud in its infancy.
Managed Cloud – Introducing the new small business solution. A Managed VPS Cloud solution gives Small business the opportunity to succeed without the high costs of an IT department or offshore experts. Park it all in a Virtual Private Server – your CRM, your ERP, your Exchange hosting, your webhosting, your Accounting Apps – then let the experts manage the backups, the monitoring, the security/firewalls, the upgrades/updates, and the Support. An all in one, hands off, worry free option is perfect for Small Business.
The beauty of The Cloud (both as an internet term and a weather feature) is that it is always shape shifting and reforming… in 2012 we wont see the same clouds as 2011.
In the final days before the (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa et al) Holidays begin and 2011 comes to a close… The Team at Atum would like to thank you for your loyalty, give our promise to offer the BEST VPS solutions in the Biz, and send our best wishes in the spirit of the Holidays. Atum has BIG, WHOPPING plans for 2012, and we can’t wait to share them with you!
For your enjoyment, here is the Atum Holiday Jingle:
‘Twas the Holiday Season,
And all through the office…
The Atum elves worked steadily,
There’s much to accomplish!
On Monday, on Tuesday,
On Wednesday to Friday!
Even on weekends,
the elves toiled away…
But Atum’s gift cannot be wrapped up,
and you can’t put it under your tree.
We offer a promise of continued great service,
support with a smile, and a year worry-free!
So as you enjoy the spirit of the season
and your days filled with warm Holiday cheer,
Remember your gift from the elves at team Atum…
Have a Very Virtual Christmas, Stay Tuned for next year!
Happy Holidays from the Team at Atum.
As you may have noticed – Atum offers two VPS plans: Managed and Unmanaged Packages. Besides the obvious cost variances, you may wonder “What’s the Difference between a Managed and an Unmanaged Package?”
Good Question.
An Atum Unmanaged VPS plan allows you to take full control, while benefiting from top of the line virtual technology. If you’ve got an IT Wizard or a full IT department that knows their way around a server and is comfortable with performing upgrades, patches and installations… we give you the keys, and you drive the car. Or server. We give you the guarantee of premium performance, 100% SLA uptime, a 24/7 Support line, Top notch IBM machines and a certified Tier 3 Datacentre to host your VPS. Get rid of your server closet, and embrace ‘the cloud’, it will save you money and give you instant scalability as you expand. All of those features come with every unmanaged package, from Basic to Platinum.
An Atum Managed VPS plan offers you the same guarantee of equipment, performance, uptime and security… but adds an expert team to manage it all for you. If you don’t want to lift a finger, or hire more IT guys, Atum will completely manage your server, data, security, upgrades, repairs, and installations etc for you. A Managed Package includes the full security of our firewall, regular backups, 24/7 monitoring of your VPS, expert support and easy migrations. Our team of VPS pros will become YOUR team and keep your business running smoothly and securely with no worries.
So you and your team can purchase VPS hosting and continue to manage your own data with all the added benefits of virtualization technology. Or, you can hand over your IT worries to us to manage for you, freeing you from performance issues, security risks and expensive IT costs.
What does the term ‘Outsourcing‘ mean to you? Do you automatically think of a Slumdog Millionaire call centre, where hundreds of underpaid workers read from a script and barely speak English? Or does it make you mad, assuming that any company that ‘outsources’ is trying to cut corners and eliminate jobs?
Just because NBC made a short-lived comedy about Outsourcing, doesn’t mean all outsourcing is the same as offshoring. There’s a difference… come to think of it, NBC probably mis-titled their show.
Outsourcing used to be a scary word that meant your job was going to a minimum wage worker halfway around the world because the company wanted to cut costs. But in today’s world, you could outsource to the guys across the hall from you, or across the city, or even the country… because they are the experts. Many businesses are now seeing the value of hiring true experts to manage complex jobs and projects better than they can so that they can focus on their core business.
It’s absurd to think that a design firm or an accounting company wouldn’t want someone ELSE handling their IT or company infrastructure. To get the same results, the company would have to hire a full team of experts or an entire IT department. That’s not realistic for most companies in the start up, small or mid-market range. Outsourcing these elements of your business frees up money and overhead to invest in more skilled designers or accountants … your core business.
Outsourcing doesn’t make you cheap (unless you are paying $2 per hour for IT services in Mongolia…) it might just make you smart, more profitable and free to grow your business unrestricted by resources. You can have the very best in the Biz working for you/with you without hiring one person or a full department to produce the same results.
Don’t be shy to consider outsourcing. Let the experts handle what you can’t– so you can be the best at what you do!
Discover Atum’s Outsourced IT Solutions – we’ll take care of the IT stuff, while you manage your business.
Say it with me: Outsourcing is not the same as Offshoring.
In a ceremony last night, the team at Atum presented the Toronto Police Amateur Athletics Association with a cheque for the donations collected from the Totally Unfair Fight (TUF) Competition. In total, Atum and the TUF Competition raised over $3,000 in donations from online supporters and the generosity of clients and partners!
On September 29th, the team of “Computer Geeks” from Atum stepped onto the field at the Rogers Centre to take on a team of Policemen in a Tug of War competition at the Annual Toronto Police Games.
The stunt was the first in an online campaign hosted by Atum Corporation called The Totally Unfair Fight (TUF) Competition Series, where a team of geeks compete against ‘the Pros’ in lopsided challenges all in support of worthy causes and local charities. The Tug of War competition raised money for the Toronto Police Widows and Orphans Fund (TPWOF) to secure benefits for the families of lost Policemen in the GTA, a fund that has been running since 1954.
Atum launched a full viral and online campaign to raise awareness and support for the cause. The TUF Competition website features training and event videos, event details, charity information and an online donation tool making it simple for the community to show their support.
The TUF Competition campaign will continue to run interactive community events to generate support and buzz for local charities. Stay Tuned for the next Totally Unfair Fight announcement by following us on Twitter and Facebook!
Be sure to check out the official event videos and highlights from the first TUF Competition at www.atum.com/TUF
Recently, the team at Atum encountered an elaborate attempt at fraud – and since credit card and identity theft are ever-important dangers to be aware of, we would like to share the story with you.
Last week, a person logged into our LiveChat Session and asked to sign up for one of our premiere VPS packages. The person gave us her name, email address and phone number asking us to send the information along to the email account because the phone service was down in the office. The information was passed along to our Sales team who wanted to discuss the details of the request directly – instead of just sending and automated response for sign up, our team decided to make the call. The person who answered was the person whose name was given as the primary contact on our Live Chat Session. However, the person on the other line did NOT know about the online conversation, or the product she was ‘signing up’ for!
Something didn’t sit right with that situation. The Sales team did some due diligence, and called the woman back to warn her that someone was using her name and credentials fraudulently online. After some investigation, the woman called our team back to let us know that there HAD been some unknown charges to her card in the last few hours, but that we were able to catch it before it got out of hand!
Wow!
What a story. Our team was very happy to have helped ‘catch a thief’. Even in the strangest of situations, we should all be looking out for the criminal, and helping each other when we smell a rat! Sometimes, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck… it’s a duck.
We all want things to be super automated and super-fast. At Atum, we want to ALSO provide a step where there is some personal conversation/contact between our company and our customers. We want to fully understand your needs, because no business is the same as the next. By speaking directly with you, we can help with the transition, answer questions, banter about the weather and give you the very best fit for your needs.
If we had not implemented our personal approach in this case, there would be a very unhappy person looking at a very large credit card bill… the unknowing victim of fraud.
Be diligent about your online safety- this is just one example of MANY credit card crimes every day, so report any fishy activity as soon as you see it. We put safety first and make it a priority for our clients… with extra security measures in place you are in good hands!
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Toronto, ON M2N 6P4
Fax: 416-410-8999
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