What’s new from SecureInternet?

For those who are wondering how progress is going with our fast and secure internet solution, SecureInternet, this blog post is for you!

As we first announced  at the end of 2017, we are going to be launching an internet package that will provide lightning-fast speeds with comprehensive security included as standard.

The solution is currently being put through its paces by one of our school clients. One of the important factors is to ensure that all hosted services still work through the new line. This is particularly important for educational clients, as access to hosted services such as SIMS is vital as these are the key tools that admin staff and teachers use on a daily basis.

In addition to this, we have been carrying out line speed tests to determine that our lines provide the rapid upload and download speeds that our clients have been asking for. Finally, we have been carrying out comprehensive security tests so we can guarantee a safe web browsing experience for all users.

Testing of the solution has gone extremely well so far and we are now in the final stages. Based on testing so far, we are working towards a launch date around May 2018.

If you are interested in finding out more, you can register your interest by calling us on 0800 304 7444 or email us at enquiries@coretek.co.uk and we will make sure to notify you as soon as SecureInternet goes live!

What are the Benefits of Workspace as a Service and how do they differ from Desktop as a Service?

You may or may not know that we provide Workspace as a Service here at Coretek. So what is Workspace as a Service? Workspace as a service, or WaaS for short, is essentially a ‘business in a box’ that only needs a computer and an internet connection to get started. All of your business documents, emails and applications are available. WaaS can be accessed with many different types of devices and you can take advantage of collaboration services provided by Office 365 to further augment this.

You may have previously heard of Desktop as a Service but not Workspace as a Service. Workspace as a Service is a complete, managed solution, whereas Desktop as a Service is a self-managed solution. The positives of Coretek for management, advice and consultancy shine through for this type of service, so no technical knowledge is required, we do the setup and maintenance work for you. All you need is an internet line.

Not just a desktop – your whole business in a box

You have your own personal space and a secure space for your business files and applications. We fully support applications such as Sage Accounts, Basic PAYE tools or almost any other productivity application. Many of our existing clients have bespoke applications running in their environments as well.

Work from anywhere in the world

With the remote access capabilities, you can really work from anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection.

Requirements change? – Expert support you can talk to

CoretekCloud Workspace as a Service is a managed service and if your requirements change you can get in contact with us and we can make the alterations you require for your business to succeed. We can provide guidance on IT strategy, security and compliance, as well as technical implementation services.

Proactive security and support services

With CoretekCloud, almost every major security issue in the last year has been mitigated on day zero. We provide constant proactive maintenance and security solutions to make sure your business is safe.

Cost reductions from removing onsite hardware

If you have an on-site server, you are looking at continuous expenses which can add up. You will be looking to change your server every 5 years or so as technology is continuously improving and moving on. This can become very expensive, especially if you have multiple servers. With Workspace as a Service, you simply connect to your cloud environment which is hosted in our CoretekCloud data centre, which removes the cost of the on-site hardware. For our Cloud solution, you pay on a per-user, per-month basis. This works out as considerably cheaper and due to a regular recurring cost, it is easier to budget for.

SecureInternet – A brand new solution for fast and secure internet coming soon!

Coming soon – Coretek SecureInternet!

We have some exciting news! Here at Coretek, we have been carefully listening to our school and business clients and internet lines are one of the things that is most frequently requested.
In particular, schools have been telling us there is a clear need for fast and secure internet designed specifically for education.

With this in mind, we have been busy putting together an unbeatable package that meets the following needs:

• Value – cost-effective and fits within school budgets
• Secure – industry leading security against threats
• Safe – filtering that keeps pupils safe online
• Flexible – the autonomy to decide what sites to allow and block
• Fast – above all…FAST speeds to cope with the needs of education

This package is currently in testing and should be ready for release within the next few months.

If you are interested in finding out more, you can register your interest by calling us on 0800 304 7444 or email us at enquiries@coretek.co.uk and we will make sure to notify you as soon as SecureInternet goes live!

But what if you’re a business? Don’t panic….we’ve thought this through! The new SecureInternet package can also be optimised for business use. Contact us today, to find out more.

Why do I need a Wi-Fi Survey or plan and what does it involve?

Are you looking to install a new wireless network? Or do you have an existing wireless network which is performing poorly?

If so, the first step is carrying out a wireless survey. We have put together this short guide to explain to process involved and what you should look for.

To begin with, you need to define what you really want from your wireless network. You may already have a strong idea of your needs, or you may not have any idea at all. If you find yourself in this situation, we have provided three vital questions to help:

1. What is your desired coverage area? Where do you need wireless in your premises?
2. What is your device capacity? How many devices are you planning on using?
3. What will you use the network for? What programs or services will use the wireless? Will this be simple web browsing or something more complex?

Once you have answered these three questions, you should now be able to answer the question “What do you want from your wireless network?“.

The next step is knowing if your network meets the three requirements listed above. This is done through a Wi-Fi survey or plan, which explains the reason for a survey and why it’s so vital. If you skip your Wi-Fi survey, it makes it much more difficult to ensure your wireless network will sufficiently meet your requirements.

Here you can see the results of a site survey using Ekahau.

So, we need a survey but how do we go about conducting the survey, making sure all aspects are covered? We do this by following the following steps:

Outline the initial requirements

The purpose of the network should now be defined but we must establish all of the required aspects to create a detailed plan. This includes understanding all of the areas that need coverage and if any areas are to be excluded. The plan will also need to consider any areas that cannot have access points installed. Finally, budget also needs to be considered. When providing a wireless proposal for a client, we would discuss budgets at this stage and advise what options are available.

Create a plan

Coverage can be easily achieved by flooding an area with access points. This, in reality, does not make for a good network. In fact this can introduce problems, not to mention the huge impact to any budget. This is where a good survey and planning will pay off.  A good plan will design an optimum environment for access point count, channel overlap, capacity requirements, signal propagation and coverage. This will in turn provide the right design to meet the wireless network requirements.

Visit the proposed location

No survey or plan can be considered truly complete until a site survey, with active equipment, has been conducted. The reason for this is there is no definitive way to understand what the existing environment looks like and what the signal propagation will be without going to site to conduct an active equipment survey. Here at Coretek, we carry out on-site surveys using the industry leading Ekahau Site Survey software. This takes into consideration the building itself and the factors listed above (devices, coverage, usage) and provides a detailed report on how to configure the wireless network for optimum performance.

Summary

So, should I have a Wi-Fi survey done? Only if you want your wireless network to work well! As described, this is the best way to ensure that the wireless network will work reliably, with the devices you wish to use and with coverage in the areas you need it.

If you have any questions about your wireless network set up or you would like to book your wireless survey contact us today! You can call us on 0800 304 7444 or email us at enquiries@Coretek.co.uk.

Amazon customers in danger of losing up to £750 through a malicious scam!

Amazon customers have now been informed they could risk losing up to £750 if they fall for this email scam.

‘service@amazon.co.uk’ is the email address that fronts this scam and it is very convincing! There have been several reports about this scam so far, however it is unclear how many people have received the fake email. The email claims that shoppers have ordered particular products which are fairly expensive, including things like iPhones, luxury watches and Bose stereos. The way that this scam extorts your money is by putting in a ‘help me’ link for if you didn’t make these purchases and you can then get a full refund.

The way that this scam extorts your money is by offering a full refund for these items via a ‘help me’ link. The idea being the recipient will know they have not purchased the items and quickly request the refund before being out of pocket.

So here are some tips on how to know if your email is real or fake and how to ensure that you aren’t scammed.

Typos

If you receive an official email from a well known name, there definitely will be no typos or grammatical mistakes. Another thing to look out for is the American spellings of words. For example ‘color’ instead of ‘colour’.

Attachments

Be careful of any attachments within the email. You should not click on these attachments if they are not from a trusted sender.

Links

If you see any suspicious links in your email, do not click on them. Taking Amazon as our prime example, Amazon will never put ‘Amazon.co.uk’. They will always put a dot before – ‘http://”something”.amazon.co.uk’. They also will not include any numbers in the email address. Such as ‘http://123.5335.345/amazon.co.uk’. If they have hyperlinked some text, you can hover over it and see if the address seems dodgy, if so don’t click on it. Or type the address into a separate window.

Unknown Sender

Although we are talking about scammers acting as Amazon, you should also look out for emails from companies who you have never signed up to or recognise. Also, if you receive an email from an address like ‘sender@secure.com’, this is not safe and certainly not secure.

Immediate action

If an e-mail requires ‘immediate reaction’, then call the proposed company directly. The customer service department will look up your account to see if anything needs to be done.

Personal Information

If you are requested to enter any personal details, you should be wary as this could be a scam. If these details are for a particular website, you should visit that website and enter your details on there.

So these are all different ways that you can insure that you keep yourself safe from scam emails. If you want more information or you have received an email that you’re unsure about and want somebody to take a second look, contact us today on 0800 304 744 or via our email at enquiries@coretek.co.uk!

So, what really is VoIP?

So you’ve heard about VoIP, but what actually is it?

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.

Essentially it is a way of carrying calls in and out of your business. The big difference being that calls are carried over your broadband connection, rather than traditional telephone ‘lines’.

In the current digital age, you can watch videos and listen to music over the internet perfectly. A lot of companies are now offering voice and video chat too, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, so making actual phone calls is just the next evolution.

In terms of offerings, VoIP comes in two flavours:

1. Hosted VoIP: The only equipment required for this is the phone handset (or soft client if you want a virtual phone on your laptop or PC. As for the phone system, this is hosted in ‘the cloud’.
2. SIP Trunking: This service provides you with ‘trunks’ into your office, to which you can connect a VoIP-enabled phone system. It works much the same as Hosted VoIP, but the main difference is that your phone system (PBX) is kept in-house, rather than in the cloud.  (Trunks are like lines over your internet; the more you have, the more calls you can make at any one time.)

With huge cost savings over regular telephone lines (such as single BT lines or ISDN circuits) and flexibility to potentially use your system from anywhere, VoIP is as scalable and adaptable as your business is.

A word of caution though…

• You must ensure your internet line is capable of supporting a VoIP based system. An inadequate internet line will lead to poor voice quality and a reduced number of potential concurrent calls.
• Not all packages are created equal. This means that there is no ‘standard’ set of features provided when looking at potential offers.

If VoIP is of interest to you, your business or school, get in contact with us today!

We can help guide you through the minefield of VoIP and internet lines.