Microsoft - The Big Easy Offer 2.0

Announcing The Big Easy Offer 2.0 from Microsoft - a limited-time offer running from October 1 to December 31, 2008. For every qualifying product you purchase, Microsoft pays you partner subsidy funds to purchase more products and services from Ashlin.

Watch the on-demand webcast to learn more.

What is a subsidy?A subsidy is a cheque made payable to the Microsoft partner of your choice. This subsidy can be used to enrich and implement your overall solution as it allows you to purchase additional products or services from that Microsoft partner.
There are three factors that can increase your subsidy:
When you purchase from more than one product group
Buying licenses with Software Assurance
Purchasing advanced or Enterprise Editions.
How does it work?

• Make one or more qualifying purchases between October 1 to December 31, 2008
• Register your purchases by January 30, 2009 at www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy
• Receive your partner subsidy cheque from Microsoft
• Spend your subsidy funds with a qualified Microsoft partner within 90 days of receipt

Partner Subsidy Payouts on Qualifying* OEM Products

• Microsoft OfficeSmall Business 2007 $42
• Microsoft OfficeProfessional 2007 $49
• Windows Server 2008 $126 or more
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 $70 or more

All Included Products:
Microsoft® Office
Microsoft® Windows Server®
Microsoft® Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Microsoft® Exchange Server
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Datacenter
Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Suite
Microsoft® Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server
Microsoft® System Center Essentials
Microsoft® Office Communications Server
Microsoft® Windows® Web Server 2008
Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager
Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server
Microsoft® SQL Server®
Microsoft® Dynamics® CRM
Microsoft® Forefront™ Security
Microsoft® Office Project
Microsoft® Expression®
Microsoft® Office Communications Server
Microsoft® Office Visio®
Microsoft® Visual Studio®
Offer open to qualifying Canadian commercial organizations participating in eligible licensing programs. Partner subsidy dollars will be awarded for qualified purchases between Oct. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2008. Purchases must be registered by Jan. 30, 2009 and subsidy dollars expire 90 days after issue date. Subsidy dollar amounts depend on many factors. For this information and minimum/maximum purchase requirements and other restrictions see full terms & conditions at www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy/tc.aspx.

Cisco Smart Business Communicatinos System SBCS

Rarely do so many capabilities get wrapped up in one box. Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business combines voice, data, video, security, and more into one easy-to-manage solution.

Highlights

Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business supports:

• Voice: Use advanced communications capabilities including telephone call processing voicemail, automated attendant, and conferencing functions to respond to customers faster and save money on long-distance charges
• Video: Conduct face-to-face meetings using optional video conferencing capabilities
• Wireless: Help employees be more productive and collaborate better through access to applications and information from anywhere they work
• Productivity: Use with existing desktop applications such as calendar, e-mail, and customer relationship management programs
• Security: Diminish business risks associated with viruses and other security threats
  Get an advanced phone system that expands as your business grows and changes, without a lot of capital expense.

$250 Firewall and Router Buyback

In today’s business environment maintaining customer confidence and protecting your business means securing your broadband connection and network. Taking steps to safeguard critical data - customer records proprietary files accounting information and more - is vital to your success. The multitude and versatility of Internet threats such as viruses worms hackers and zero-hour attacks requires a host of different solutions that are often difficult to integrate and require a large financial investment to ensure the security availability and secure accessibility of corporate resources.

Designed for the small business Check Point Safe@Office® 500 unified threat management appliances deliver proven Internet security. A single Safe@Office appliance can protect a network of up to 100 users (recommended) from a wide array of Internet threats providing a solid line of defense against threats ranging from hacking attempts and denial of service attacks to phishing and viruses. Safe@Office offers you a number of methods to access your network remotely and securely so you can increase productivity and ensure business continuity without compromising network security. Key features of the Checkpoint Router and Managed firewall services.

• Gateway Antivirus
• Gateway Antispam
• Remote Access VPN
• Complete Connectivity
• Web-based Management
• Automatic Updates
• and WEB FILTERING (for an additional fee)

For a very limited time we can offer a $250 discount if you trade in an existing router. That means for as little as $50 you can upgrade to a firewall from the leading Israeli security company, Checkpoint. In addition we offer hardware maintenace, and all the above managed services for only $25 per month.

Lexmark C500n for only $269 ($499 list)

Do I need colour? Until recently, expensive colour printers had no place in the office. However, increasing affordability of Colour Lasers is allowing office users to spice up their documents with colour – on par with costs of boring black and white printing.

Take this offer – Lexmark C500n Colour laser at $269 (exclusive Ashlin special reduced from $499 list). C500n colour laser offers black and white cost per page that rivals any mono printer in its price range PLUS the option to add a splash of colour when required.

Physiology of colour is complex, but research conducted by researchers, product design experts and printer vendors alike point to increased cognitive benefits of colour in business communications. From brand recognition to highlighting of important points to overall perception, PR consultants increasingly promote use of colour in business.

Now back to the C500n – an affordable, easy-to-share, color laser printer for price-sensitive users. with specs like Up to 31 ppm mono, 8 ppm color printing, 1200 x 600 dpi printing and 200 MHz processor this unit will comfortably replace your mono laser and allow you to add colour when needed.

Here is what reviewers had to say about his product:
PC World – 81% - Very good (see article)
C Net – 7.1 out of 10 – ‘Very Good” (see article)

Smallest, Lightest Notebook Computer

Need a super portable computer? Asus has created the Eee 2G and 4G computers. Weighing less than 1 Kg, it has a solid state disk, 7 inch XVGA screen, full keyboard and 802.11g wifi access. Although it has Linux as its operating system, the Eee can be loaded with Windows XP with limited capability. Use it to connect to a Remote Desktop at your home or office.

The Ashlin price for this computer is typically less than $500.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1907&l1=24&l2=0&l3=0&l4=0

2007 T4A and T5018 Reporting for QuickBooks

As an Ashlin client you can get a discount on these useful applications.

Click “Software Sales”. Enter your promo code when ordering as follows:

T4A QBUPG-T4-2007
T5018 QBUPG-T5018-2007

The 2007 T4A and T5018 CRA Reporting Applications are fully integrated with QuickBooks Canada Pro and Premier 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Full instructions on how to use the software and fill out the Summary Reports are included. These applications are written for use with Windows XP and do not integrate with QuickBooks Canada 2008. The software is published by Xinfosystems Inc. of Toronto.

T4A – For companies that need to report certain payments made to vendors such as “Self-Employed Commission” payments (Box 20) or “Other Income” payments (Box 28). The software will extract all of these payments to tagged applicable vendors for the 2007 calendar year. The application produces T4A slips and a summary report. Other T4A reporting options are not available in this application.

T5018 - For construction companies who need to report payments made to subcontractors. It allows users to identify and tag all subcontractor vendors. The software will extract all payments to subcontractors for the 12-month reporting period chosen by the user, ending in 2007. A T5018 report approved by the CRA is produced.

Retail price for a 1-user license for each application is $89.00. A special price of $69.00 each, plus applicable taxes is offered to our clients until February 29, 2008.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted on a secure web

Automate Any Repetitive Task

Have you ever wondered how we keep our web site data current? Part of the answer is Automation Anywhere combined with Visual Basic Excel Macros.

Automation Anywhere is a Macro Tool which will let automate any Windows task, including clicks, keystrokes, and web controls.

What this means is that if you can do it manually, you can automate the process, schedule it, incorporate it into a workflow, execute it based on a an event, or even turn it into an EXE.

There are a number of versions of the program, and Tethys has other tools suited to specific types of taks. But Automation Anywhere is the tool we hav chosen to use internally because it is so comprehensive.

And best of all they have excellent support which we used when one or two issues could not be resolved without their input.

Although Automation Anywhere will execute commands inside Excel, I found it quicker to massage data using VB inside Excel, and to have Automation Anywhere just load the spreadsheet with the startup macro in it.

In case you are wondering the tasks which we automation included:

1. FTP downloads
2. Downloading data from web sites, where a lot of screens, and Web Controls need to be accessed
3. Executing a number of Excel macros which dynamically adjust to the file size, massage the data with formulas, and then save the file in a tab delimited format for import.
4. Uploading Data to web sites where, once again, lots of screens and Web Controls are involved

Ashlin sells all the Tethys products, as well as providing consulting, training, and programming services to help you get the most out of them.

So if you re pained with any repetitive task, whether it be hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, then we can help you automate it.