Monday, August 29, 2011

Field Service Technician


The Field Technician II is responsible for troubleshooting and resolving user support requests and incidents for customers of NSPI*s managed services. The technician may field incidents via phone, email, or ticket escalations from a central service desk - and will act as the primary dispatch support mechanism for assigned customer/s. The Field Technician may be assigned to work primarily out of one or more customer office locations Monday through Friday during standard business hours, and may be required to be *on-call* for after hour*s dispatches. Regardless of technology or nature of request, the Field Technician will act as a first level escalation point, sometimes acting as primary point of contact, tracking requests for resolution or escalation and keeping customers continuously informed of status. Requests will primarily consist of user, local application, and desktop problems of varying platforms and providers. Experience will be heavily focused on desktop systems, commercial applications, network devices, and related current technologies.




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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL SKILLS
To perform this job successfully an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
* Advanced: 4+ years experience providing desktop support on Apple platforms (MacOS, iOS)
* Advanced: 4+ years experience providing desktop support on Windows based workstations
* Intermediate: Experience troubleshooting network connectivity on LANs, WANs, and WLANs
* Intermediate: Knowledge of system components and how they are used
* Intermediate: Experience using Desktop Remote Control/Management software tools
* Intermediate: Experience troubleshooting network printers
* Basic: Experience with using Active Directory for password resets, group membership, domain membership, etc
* Excellent oral and written communication skills and customer focused demeanor
* Proven ability to work well with a team, manage stressful situations and show initiative.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL SKILLS
The following skills are preferred and helpful, but not required
* Experience working in a Service Provider environment or a large enterprise
* Experience configuring and supporting mobile devices
* Experience with Networking Protocols and Troubleshooting Network-related issues
* Experience with one or more of the following enterprise applications: Exchange Server, Citrix, CRM or ERP applications.
* Familiarity with ITIL v3 concepts and methods

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
* 4+ years of related experience in a technical support role
* Preferred Computer Science or Information Technology Degree, 2 or 4 year Degree
* Preferred technical certifications, one or more: Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, or CompTIA certs
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS: Specific technical and/or OEM oriented training and associated certification(s) may be required to obtain while in this role.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Technical Deployment and Maintenance:
* Onsite contact for all technical problems, service requests, and inquires.
* Primary internal escalation resource for central service desk.
* Supplement central service desk with remote call handling as volume and staffing requires.
* Utilize available resources to resolve onsite customer issues as quickly as possible.
* First-level contact for all incoming technical incidents, service requests, and inquires.
* Identifies and resolves recurring internal and customer desktop issues
* Ability to assess technical and business impact of an IT incident
Communication:
* Responsible for making regular status updates to customers on a variety of service requests and incidents
* Verbal and written communication skills must be professional level and business oriented
* Regular communications with customers is required (both verbal and email)
* Keep customer updated on ticket status, problem resolution, or inquiries.
Administration:
* Documentation of hours and work details in order to track efficiency and billing is required
* Maintain customer technical information within defined documentation standards.
* Use of ticketing / work management system to track issue and project task status
* Prioritizes ticket workload and dispatch assignments based on customer and technical impact.
* Participates in scheduled and ad hoc internal and customer specific meetings.
Personal:
* Dependable and eager to learn cutting-edge technologies
* Ability to work on multiple concurrent assignments is essential
* Strong self-motivation and the ability to work with minimal supervision
PHYSICAL DEMANDS and WORK ENVIRONMENT: The job involves light physical work demands requiring lifting and/or carrying items up to 20 lbs. maximum; heavier items will lifted/carried with assistance from another person or by using appropriate handling equipment. The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

After 30 years, IBM says PC going way of vacuum tube and typewriter


Post-PC era? Microsoft says no

While that sounds pretty vague, Dean notes that IBM has boosted its profit margins since selling off its PC division with a strategy of exiting commodity businesses and "expanding in higher-value markets." One example: IBM's Watson, newly crowned Jeopardy champion.




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"We conduct fundamental scientific research, design some of the world's most advanced chips and computers, provide software that companies and governments run on, and offer business consulting, IT services and solutions that enable our clients to transform themselves continuously, just like we do," Dean writes.

For all the debate over whether this is a "post-PC" era, it's clear more people today own Windows computers and Macs than smartphones and tablets, and our new mobile devices are complementing desktops and laptops rather than replacing them.

It's hard to beat the convenience of an easy-to-use, Internet-connected device in one's pocket, but many tasks are cumbersome without a full, physical keyboard. Even social media, which seems as "post-PC" as it gets upon first glance, requires a lot of typing.

Some people envision a future where a smartphone is the hub of all your computing needs, and simply hooks into a dock for those rare times you want a bigger screen, mouse and keyboard. Others talk about a future where any surface, whether a wall or table, is transformed into a touch-screen computer with a snap of one's fingers.

For now, though, most people making these proclamations are typing their blog posts on PCs.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Microsoft's Smartphone Share Declines Again: Report

Microsoft has experienced another smartphone market share decline, according to new data from research firm comScore.
Microsoft saw its smartphone market share decline in the three-month period ending in June, according to research firm comScore.




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Specifically, the company saw its share decline from 7.5 percent to 5.8 percent, over a period when both archrivals Google and Apple experienced gains. Research In Motion also dipped, from 27.1 percent to 23.4 percent.

ComScore also listed the top mobile OEMs, in descending order, as Samsung, LG Electronics, Motorola, Apple and RIM. Of those, Motorola and RIM experienced incremental declines, while the rest enjoyed equally slight gains.

Microsoft’s market share included both its antiquated Windows Mobile platform and the newer Windows Phone, which was supposed to reinvigorate the company’s fortunes in the smartphone space.

Instead, Windows Phone is showing signs of anemic adoption by consumers and businesses. According to data from Nielsen, Microsoft occupied some 9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in June—trailing Google Android with 39 percent, Apple’s iPhone with 28 percent and RIM with 20 percent.

During a July 11 keynote speech at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference, CEO Steve Ballmer described Windows Phone’s market share as “very small,” but insisted that other metrics (such as consumer satisfaction) boded well for the platform overall.

“Nine out of 10 people who bought Windows Phone would absolutely recommend it to a friend,” he said, reiterating a talking point voiced by many a Microsoft executive over the past few months. “People in the phone business seem to believe in us.”

Microsoft is hoping that its upcoming “Mango” update, which supposedly includes some 500 new tweaks and features, will help spur Windows Phone adoption. Mango reached its Release to Manufacturing milestone July 26. The next day, one of the company’s hardware partners revealed its first smartphone running the software: Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications’ IS12T, which will offer a 3.7-inch screen paired to a 13.2-megapixel camera. It will arrive on Japanese store shelves by September or later, according to an IDG video uploaded to YouTube and posted on multiple news Websites, including PC World.

Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics and Nokia have all committed to building new Windows Phone devices preloaded with Mango, along with Acer and ZTE.

In the meantime, Microsoft has stayed reluctant to share any Windows Phone revenue numbers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently dug into Microsoft’s annual U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report and hypothesized that, after tinkering with the revenue numbers from the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division, Windows Phone earned less than $613 million since its release.

Considering that Microsoft rolled out Windows Phone in late 2010, that $613 million (if accurate) wouldn’t be reflective of a full year of sales. Nonetheless, that sort of revenue would be anemic, compared with those of Apple’s iPhone over a similar period or even the combined family of Google Android devices.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Microsoft announces embedded dev winners in global student competition

Microsoft announces embedded dev winners in global student competition
Microsoft announced three winning teams in the Embedded Development part of its Imagine Cup 2011 student contest, which just concluded in New York. Their victorious Windows Embedded Compact 7 devices include: one that indicates safe fire escape routes in real time; another that turns the tedious task of blowing into a lung training device into a musical game; and a third that can find its way home robotically.




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Last month, we covered Microsoft's announcement of three winners in its embeddedSPARK 2011 challenge, which asked academics, hobbyists, or developers to come up with interesting Windows Embedded Compact 7 devices. (The $15,000 first-prize winner was a flying camera designed to locate disaster victims; the $5,000 second prize went to a touchscreen meal planner with a Windows Phone 7-style user interface; and the $1,000 third prize was awarded to a electronic bulletin board whose contents can be manipulated over the Internet.)

But as many readers will already be aware, Microsoft also has a massive competition for students in the form of the Imagine Cup, billed as "the world's premier student technology competition" and now in its ninth year." The 2011 Imagine Cup -- whose finals concluded July 13 in New York -- asked student teams to "imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems."

As in past years, the 2011 Imagine Cup had multiple categories, any of which could be entered by teams consisting of three or four students and a faculty member. The categories included Software Design, Game Design, Digital Media, Windows Phone 7, Interoperability Challenge, Windows 7 Touch Challenge, IT Challenge, and the Orchard Challenge (the latter involving Orchard, an open-source CMS that's under development by Microsoft).

The category we're naturally been following, however, is the Embedded Development challenge. In the first round of this competition, which ended on Jan. 9, teams were asked to submit a "Project Vision Report" (five pages or fewer) that explains what problem they are trying to solve, what the proposed solution is, and why this would be best implemented as an embedded device. The report should briefly discuss proposed hardware and software architecture, Microsoft added.

Out of 350 initial teams, 150 were selected for the second round, and received DM&P's eBox-3310A-MSJK (pictured), a compact PC that includes a 1GHz MSTI PDX-600 (a version of DMP's Vortex86DX), 256MB or 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and a Type II/II CompactFlash slot. While being free to add additional hardware and software, teams had to use the eBox and a Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system image that they themselves configured, built, debugged, and deployed.

The second round concluded on May 5, by which time teams had to submit information on the embedded device they built in the form of written documentation and a video not to exceed five minutes in length. Not long after, the 20 finalist teams -- listed on Microsoft's website -- were chosen to receive the free trip to the New York finals.

And the winners are

Starting on July 8, the teams each presented their devices in front of two separate judging panels, who whittled their numbers down to 12 and then just six, according to Microsoft. In the final round of judging, the first-, second-, and third-place teams were selected.

After six days of grueling competition, the $25,000 first prize went to Taiwan's Team NTHUCS, for "Right!! This way." This project uses a wireless sensor network to compute the safest fire escape routes in real time, according to Microsoft.

The second prize, worth $10,000, went to team Harmonicare from China. Their project -- visible in the CNN video embedded below -- aids those suffering from respiratory failure, turning the tedious task of blowing into a lung training device into a musical game.


Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appeared on CNN to promote the Imagine Cup
(click to play)

The third prize of $5,000 went to team Endeavour_Design from Romania.They created an intelligent robotic system designed to automaticallyavoid obstacles and find its way back to its control signal when itloses contact with a human operator, Microsoft says.

According to Microsoft, more than 400 students from 70 countries traveled to New York to compete at the Imagine Cup finals. The festivities included remarks from: philanthropist, activist and actor Eva Longoria; CEO of the Startup America Partnership Scott Case; and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the company adds.

S. Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft's developer division, stated, "The innovators, entrepreneurs and humanitarians who compete in the Imagine Cup have developed an inspiring spectrum of projects, raising the bar higher and higher each year. We are in awe of the students' solutions for addressing social and real-world challenges, and want to help them take their projects to the next level with the financial, technical and business support they need to change the world."

Further information

The tenth annual Imagine Cup will be held in Sydney, Australia, in July 2012. More information on the just-concluded event may be found on Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2011 website. Specifics about the Embedded Development competition may be found here, and details of all the finalists who went to New York may be found here.