Internet Solver

Internet Solver acquires Advanced Network Technologies

2012-01-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Internet Solver, Inc. a provider of computer and network support, telephone service, and Internet service to small and medium-sized businesses in Central Iowa, is announcing the acquisition of Advanced Network Technologies, a managed services provider and IT consulting firm with offices located in Des Moines, IA and Omaha, NE.

Advanced Network Technologies customers will enjoy having a larger staff available to support their businesses as well as having access to Internet Solver’s award winning communications technologies. Internet Solver customers will benefit from Advanced Network Technologies’ skilled staff with over 30 years of experience. The combined company will have 22 employees between the two locations. All employees will be retained. Both companies are locally owned and together have been in business nearly 45 years.

“The blending of the talents and resources of Advanced Network Technologies into the Internet Solver family furthers our goal of making technology simple, effective, and complete,” said Dave Weis, founder and President of Internet Solver.

Internet Solver, in addition to its all encompassing Complete Support solution, provides strategic IT consulting, internet service, telephone service, telephone systems and cellular telephone service. They were voted Best Telephone Equipment Dealer as well as runner up for Best Internet Service Provider and Best Computer Consulting Company in the 2011 Business Record poll.

“Joining the Internet Solver team allows Advanced Network Technologies clients to further simplify their IT operations management by consolidating their services with a single partner,” says Advanced Network Technologies President, Larry Pedersen. “Internet Solver provides the scale for clients’ continued growth while supporting them with award-winning customer service.”

For more information, please contact Dave Weis with Internet Solver at 515-224-9229 or djweis@internetsolver.com. Their web site is available at www.internetsolver.com.

Internet Solver January Updates

2012-01-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from the Internet Solver staff!

Welcome to the January 2012 issue of the Internet Solver newsletter. Learn more about the importance of staying secure and how Lenovo hardware can help you do so. We wish you the best and look forward to supporting your business with all its IT needs in 2012!

Stay Secure in the New Year
We've encountered many businesses that are relatively unconcerned about security. They use passwords like "smith", have a five year old firewall, and expect their antivirus to protect them from everything. These businesses frequently contend, "we're a small business, no one is going to try to hack us; we just need to protect ourselves from viruses." So when Symantec released their 2011 SMB Threat Awareness Poll, we weren't surprised to hear that 50% of small businesses believed they were not a target for hackers.

Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth. Of targeted attacks since 2010 -- ie, hackers specifically targeting a company or non-profit -- 40% were aimed at small businesses with 5 to 500 employees. Indeed, certain industry sectors -- such as marketing, engineering, and insurance -- were most at risk. And those that were attacked suffered an average loss of $200,000 per attack.

Whether you like it or not, small businesses are prime targets for security attacks. Not investing in a dedicated IT/security solution can put your company in a compromising position – but here are some things you can do today to protect your business:

1) Require secure passwords. We can set this up in minutes.
2) Upgrade your computers to Windows 7. Windows 7 is five times as secure as XP.
3) Upgrade your firewall to the next generation. We recommend FortiGate firewalls.
4) Ensure security patches are installed in a timely manner. Our Complete Support service does this for you.

Think Lenovo in 2012
You may have heard of Lenovo, or their legendary ThinkPad laptops, but did you know that, for the past two years, Lenovo has been the fastest growing company in the PC industry? Or that it sold a record number of PCs in the third quarter of 2011, leapfrogging Dell and Acer to become the 2nd largest computer company in the world? Or that in 2011 it ranked No. 1 in the Computer Reliability Report, ahead of Apple and HP?

Internet Solver has formed a partnership with Lenovo and would like to show you more. Ask us about the Lenovo Android based tablets, with 1080p output for presentations and USB/SD card support to easily transfer files to and from your PC. Even the iPad doesn't have that!

For more information on our services, please contact us.
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Internet Solver December Updates

2011-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from the Internet Solver staff!

Welcome to the December 2011 issue of the Internet Solver newsletter. Please join us for our annual Business After Hours event next week. We look forward to supporting your business with all its IT needs in 2012!

Regional Business After Hours Event
Join us for our annual Business After Hours event on Thursday December 15th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The event will be held at our office at 11308 Aurora Avenue, Urbandale, IA. Network with members from affiliate chambers while enjoying music, food, drinks and prizes! Win an iPad 2 or iPod Touch!

To attend please register by Monday, December 12th at http://www.uniquelyurbandale.com/.

We look forward to sharing an evening with you!

Business Record recognizes Internet Solver
We were very excited to be recognized for another year by the Business Record in their annual Best Of Awards...

- Internet Solver was selected as the "Best Telecommunication Equipment Dealer!"
- Internet Solver was selected as runner up for "Best Computer Consulting Company!"
- Internet Solver was selected as running up for "Best Internet Service Provider!"

We look forward to providing our customers with another great year of service in 2012!

Get a Free Year of ESET Anti-virus Business Edition
During December, receive a free year of ESET NOD32 Anti-virus Business Edition and ESET Smart Security Business Edition when you purchase two years of 25 seats or more. ESET offers fast scanning speeds, light resource utilization, cross-platform manageability and an easy-to-use management console. You can upgrade all of your machines' anti-virus needs by contacting us today.

For more information on our services, please contact us.

Internet Solver November Update

2011-11-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the November 2011 issue of the Internet Solver newsletter. Learn about the importance of anti-virus protection and how necessary updates can save you time and money down the road.

Never Immune to Malware... Protect Your Business
Malware continues to target many different types of operating systems. In the past, anti-virus firms have said that they see an average of 50,000 new viruses/spyware/malware samples every day. Anti-virus vendors have to sort these samples and catalog them to their signature database. Until you receive that signature database, your anti-virus may not detect one, a few, or any of these output viruses. Many cyber criminals are now testing their viruses against anti-virus heuristic engines.

So although anti-virus software shouldn't be your only line of defense, it is very important to keep your subscriptions and anti-virus updates current. This is true no matter what type of operating system you use. Many have suggested in the past that Apple users are more immune to threats and do not need anti-virus protection. There are viruses floating around that can cripple Xprotect, the malware protection built into Mac OS X. Now is the time to start adding anti-virus protection to all your different operating systems.

Internet Solver provides flexible, affordable packages that cover maintenance, support and the installation of anti-virus software to protect your IT environment. Plan ahead and ask us about necessary anti-virus upgrades today. Remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Get a Free Year of ESET Anti-virus Business Edition
During November, receive a free year of ESET NOD32 Anti-virus Business Edition and ESET Smart Security Business Edition when you purchase two years of 25 seats or more. ESET offers fast scanning speeds, light resource utilization, cross-platform manageability and an easy-to-use management console. You can upgrade all of your machines' anti-virus needs by contacting us today!

For more information on our services, please contact us.

Internet Solver October Updates

2011-10-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the October 2011 issue of the Internet Solver newsletter. Learn about the importance of making necessary software updates and how we can assist you in the process.

Stay on Track With Software Upgrades
Software licensing rules can seem quite unfair. Many small business owners wonder why they should purchase more copies of software when they can simply use one for all their machines. With older software, you could probably get away with this. But with today's ultra-sophisticated software, it's simply a losing bet.

Some software companies are cracking down so hard that when you download updates, it alerts them when the software has been used more than once. A company can disable your software completely at just the click of a mouse. Even worse, you could end up facing fines of upwards of $100,000 from the Business Software Alliance. Keep your software licenses up to date and you will never find yourself in this situation.

Internet Solver provides flexible, affordable packages that cover maintenance, support and the overall health of your IT environment. Plan ahead, spend wisely and ask us about necessary software upgrades today. The money you spend in the short run may feel like an incredible investment at the time, but will pay off in the end.

Save Half on Microsoft Subscription Upgrades
During October, save 50% off the first year of Microsoft Open Value Subscriptions on Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Windows 7. If you're tired of piecemeal -- some computers running one version, and other's running another -- this is the promotion for you! You can upgrade all of your machines with lower up-front costs and the ability to increase-or-decrease your license count on an annual basis.

For more information on our services, please contact us.

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Internet Solver September Updates

2011-09-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the September 2011 issue of the Internet Solver Newsletter. Learn about the importance of updating your hardware and how we can assist you in the process.

Increase Productivity with Modern Hardware
That three-year-old PC your receptionist is using probably won’t bring your business to a screeching halt when it dies. But when the five-year-old server in the closet behind her desk does, it can cripple your entire company. All technology has a set lifecycle. Manufacturers call this life cycle MTBF, or mean time between failures.

Servers and PC hardware, in general, have a life span of about 3-5 years. This life span depends on how much this equipment is used – and whether employees would be more productive with modern hardware. There are also tax and accounting benefits for IT asset management. If you don’t have scheduled lifecycles, you should start now.

And when you replace your six year old workstation, don't forget to go with dual monitors!

A significant number of research products have clearly demonstrated that additional screen real estate -- in the form of multiple displays, larger displays, or both -- improves productivity. Microsoft studies showed up to a 50% productivity improvement, research firm Pfeiffer Group achieved 65% with MCAD users and the University of Utah found real world document editing and emailing improved between 6% and 33%. Additional benefits include lower error and printer utilization rates. With these numbers, it costs your business more NOT to go with dual monitors!

Think ThinkPad
Lenovo's new splice battery allows for up to 30 hours of battery life! Contact us today and see why more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies use indestructible Lenovo ThinkPads.

Internet Solver August Updates

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the August 2011 issue of the Internet Solver Newsletter. Learn about the importance of testing your backup systems and how our complete support can help in the process.

Test Your Backups
When did you last test your backups? Many small business owners believe that having a backup system, or having a tape pop out every day, means their data is protected. This is a dangerous assumption! Backup is always the first thing we look at, and usually fix, with new clients.

In our experience, over half of companies are not successfully backing up all of the data that they think they are. According to analysts at Gartner, 43% of companies who suffer large scale data loss close their doors and never re-open. So consider this a call to test your backups. Because backup maintenance is a lot like changing the oil in your car: sure, you don't have to do it, but sooner or later you'll be left stranded.

Think Complete Support
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." - Ben Franklin

Our Complete Support service provides system monitoring, maintenance, and management of all of your IT systems in a fixed-price package. This proactive approach saves you time and money and ensures you’ll never again face an IT catastrophe! Ask about it during the month of August and receive a free, no obligation, network audit… including a backup test.

For more information on our services, please contact us.

Internet Solver July Updates

2011-06-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the July 2011 issue of the Internet Solver Newsletter...

Learn about data security and save on upgrading your old firewall. Have a happy and safe holiday!

Security is Worth the Cost
Take your security seriously. Many small businesses find it inconceivable that someone would target their business or try to steal their valuable data. Unfortunately, this is furthest from the truth. Security has become the number one issue for IT environments in the past few years, thanks to online scams, vulnerability in software and networks using improper architecture.

As IT experts, we've come across small business systems that are so vulnerable that their accounting data is readily available on the Internet. Other systems have no anti-virus software or no malware protection, but plenty of insidious spyware working overtime, capturing everything from billing information to email passwords to bank accounts.

At one small business, we saw criminals use open ports to hack into security camera footage -- to plan a robbery. Spam, malware and viruses pave the way for a devastating security breach. Don’t let it happen to you.

Stop Viruses in Their Tracks
Upgrade your old firewall to a Next Generation firewall today and stop viruses in their tracks! Purchase a Fortigate firewall in the month of July and receive free setup and install -- contact Internet Solver today!

For more information on our services, please contact us.

Internet Solver June Updates

2011-06-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the June 2011 issue of the Internet Solver Newsletter...
Read about upcoming learning opportunites, our complete support service and ways your small business can save on network spending!

Internet Solver Learning Opportunities:
Lunch and Learn: Cloud Computing
Tuesday, June 7th (11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.) at Imaging Technologies
To register contact Pat Pithan at (515) 251-1501 or ppithan@imagingtech.net.
- Learn what the term cloud computing means and how it can save your business time spent on IT.

Techno Tuesday
Tuesday, June 21st (8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.) at the Urbandale Chamber
For more information and to register for this event please click here.
- Learn how to take advantage of new technology available to help grow your business.

Think Complete Support
How much time and money are you and your employees losing to technology problems?

Internet Solver can eliminate this waste of resources with our Complete Support service. Every portion of our Complete Support was designed to increase your productivity and efficiency. Have the convenience of a single provider to work with for all of your office's IT needs.

With two levels to choose from including different features you can tailor our complete support to meet your business needs. Our remote monitoring alerts us of problems with your network, frequently before you notice the problem yourself! We can often perform the repairs while you are on the phone with us instead of waiting for a technician to drive to your location. All of these services available can be combined in a fixed-price package. Click here to learn more about the services covered with complete support.

Receive up to $2000 Cash Back With Cisco Networking
Upgrade your business network and get cash back on your trade in when you purchase select Cisco products. Click here (PDF) to learn more about this limited time program!

For more information on our services, please contact us.

Internet Solver acquires SimplicIT

2011-03-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

Urbandale, IA, March 1st, 2011-- Internet Solver, Inc a provider of fully-managed computer environments, internet and voice to small and medium-sized businesses in Central Iowa, is announcing the acquisition of the assets of SimplicIT, a managed services provider and IT consulting firm based in West Des Moines.

SimplicIT, formerly Meyer Technology Group, was founded in April of 2007 to meet the needs of companies that do not have the resources, expertise or desire to proactively manage their own IT resources. They have received commendations for their performance and editorial recognition in local and national publications. Their clients range from local companies with a few employees to national organizations with employees in the thousands. In addition to their Total Assurance offering, SimplicIT is known for their Network Health Score IT auditing and IT security focus.

"The inclusion of SimplicIT into the Internet Solver family furthers our goal of making technology simple, effective, and complete" said Dave Weis, founder and President of Internet Solver.

Internet Solver, in addition to its all encompassing Complete Support solution, provides strategic IT consulting, internet service, telephone service, telephone systems and cellular telephone service. They were voted Best Computer Consulting Company and the Best Telephone Equipment Dealer as well as runner up for Best Internet Service Provider and Best Computer Training Company in the 2010 Business Record poll.

"Joining the Internet Solver team allows SimplicIT clients to further simplify their IT operations management by consoliding their services with a single partner," says SimplicIT founder and President, Ryan Meyer. "Internet Solver provides the scale for clients' continued growth while supporting them with award-winning customer service."

Are you getting what you are paying for?

2010-12-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

Would you rather fight to get back over $40,000 or save that money by knowing that the bill you were paying was incorrect?

One of our new clients discovered a carrier had been charging them $1,400 per month for 2 1/2 years for a service that had been disconnected. Even if they are able to get a refund, it will be a long and painful process taking hours of staff time with no guarantee of results. We have found other clients with lines still active at previous office locations, incorrect features on lines, and combinations of features designed to cost more than functionally identical packages.

Part of the onboarding process we do with new clients is to go through all of their telephone and Internet bills to make sure they are accurate and reflect their current services. For clients that aren't on Internet Solver Digital Voice and Internet Service we recommend examining the bills every year.

Internet Solver offers complimentary bill reviews, even if you aren't currently a client, so you can be sure you are receiving the services that you have been paying for.

Are you really backed up?

2010-03-30T13:56:00.001-07:00

I had a meeting with a potential customer last week that was proud of their tape drive and mentioned that they carefully swapped the tapes every day and took a copy offsite. They wanted to have someone look over things and make sure they were safe.

We were all surprised when I looked through the settings on their backup software and discovered that they had been carefully backing up a handful of their programs (not the data) as well as a two year old copy of their accounting data. The two tapes in their rotation were both over two years old and had never been replaced.

I corrected the backup routine to include the current accounting data so their current data files would also be included on the tapes but they didn't want to spend any time or money to make sure that their data was being backed up consistently or replace the tapes that were past their recommended lifespan.

There is a calculation that shows the approximate cost of downtime to your company. Divide your yearly sales by 260 (work days per year) to see how much each day of downtime costs you. If your yearly sales are $1,000,000, each day of outage costs you nearly $4,000 in lost revenue. This calculation does not include the costs of a complete loss of your data however. Imagine trying to recover your company after a disaster with no record of your accounts receivable.

We don't believe that a backup is actually a valid backup until it's used to restore files. Even a test restore to bring back a handful of files is better than waiting until you have a failure to find out that you actually don't have a copy of your critical data.

If you are unsure of the reliability or completeness of your backups,
contact Internet Solver now for a free evaluation.

Buying From Your Customers

2010-02-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm a big believer in buying from our customers whenever possible. We are continuing to move more and more of our purchases over to our customers.

We (Internet Solver or the staff) currently purchase our

Employee Benefits

Accounting

Legal Assistance

Dental Care

Catering

Financial Planning

Marketing - Both our direct mailers and our brochures

Printing Services

from our clients. We think it's important to support the people that support us.

Important Security Update Coming Soon

2010-01-20T04:08:00.001-08:00

Microsoft will be releasing an important update for Internet Explorer in the near future. It's very important to install it as soon as it's released because there are programming flaws in Internet Explorer that are being used to install malicious software on computers. More information on the problem is available at these sites:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/updates/ie.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/01/19/security-advisory-979352-going-out-of-band.aspx

http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-0249

Please install this update as soon as it's available. We also advise our clients to stop using Internet Explorer whenever possible and install and use the Mozilla web browser, available at http://www.mozilla.com/.

If you are concerned about keeping your data safe, Internet Solver offers our Complete Support Service to test and install these and other updates automatically as well as providing nightly backups and virus protection software.

Getting more done with multiple monitors

2009-12-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

If you visit the Internet Solver offices one thing you will notice is that almost everyone here has more than one monitor on their computer. We have found that multiple displays are a great way to work more efficiently. For an example, our technicians can have a remote control session to one of our Complete Support customers on one monitor, a web browser open on another monitor for research, and a third monitor for email.

The cost of large displays have been dropping but purchasing two smaller displays actually gives you more area for a similar or lower cost. For an example, two 19" LCD monitors give you 348 square inches of space to work. A 22" LCD monitor only provides 212 square inches of space to work. Multiple monitors are popular in technical fields, accounting, graphic design, and document editing.

Adding another monitor is inexpensive - as low as $150-200 including the monitor and installation. Contact us today to find out more!

Is Mother Nature affecting your business?

2009-12-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

We've been getting a lot of calls this afternoon from our telephone system clients asking how to remotely set their auto attendant greeting to let people their offices are closed.
We haven't heard from any of our Hosted Digital Voice customers, however. That's because they can manage their incoming calls from our web portal and redirect customer calls to their cell phones or other office locations.
Don't let the weather affect your operations, contact Internet Solver and see how easy it is to be prepared for the next storm.

Tis the season...

2009-11-15T15:48:00.000-08:00

To evaluate your technology expenses!

Now that we're getting to the end of 2009, it's a great time to pull out your technology invoices for the year and see what you are currently spending. If you're not already a client of Internet Solver, it could take a little while. You could have up to 6 or 8 varying invoices per month to receive, verify, enter, and pay.

After you get that stack of invoices rounded up, contact Internet Solver and see how we can help you simplify your technology life in 2010.

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

2009-10-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Internet Solver celebrated our 7th birthday in September 2009. We've changed quite a bit from me working alone in my basement with nothing but a computer, a cell phone, and a fax machine. I had a handful of clients and still have the ones I started with.

We have continued to grow by leaps and bounds throughout the years. Every day our Internet service is used by tens of thousands of people throughout the state, both for enjoyment and for business. In just the last couple years we've provided our Digital Voice service for hundreds of customers.

One of the constants at Internet Solver is improvement, both in honing our skills and adding new products to our mix. Throughout 2009 our Complete Support has provided hundreds of employees access to a well trained help desk, nightly backups, and virus protection.

Technology isn't something that I just stumbled into, I've been working with computers and telephones since floppy disks and rotary dials were commonplace. For a look back in time, I have dug out an article from hometown paper from 17 years ago.

How long should I keep my server?

2009-08-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

One of the common questions from our clients is "How long should I keep my server?". There's no set lifetime for a server, but we do have some guidelines that we follow.

When we sell a client a server, we strongly recommend purchasing a three year warranty with same-day parts delivery. Most manufacturers will also sell an extended warranty for years four and five. The reason they won't go any further than that has to do with the "bathtub curve". After a server has been running 24 hours a day for five years, it's very likely that the mechanical components such as hard drives, tape drives, and fans will begin failing.

Major updates to the operating system and other software running on the server generally comes out in a 3 to 5 year cycle. We had Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and now Windows Server 2008. Even a computer at the top end of the performance scale when Server 2003 was shipped will not provide similar performance running Server 2008.

Some clients base the replacement decision on the depreciation guidelines. I have an arrangement with my tax accountant -- I won't offer tax advice and he won't offer computer advice.

There is a good likelihood that your business needs have changed over the years that your server has been in operation. You have either added or removed staff, increased the amount of tasks your server is used for, or upgraded other portions of your network. Getting a newer server that more closely fits your requirement makes sense.

Internet Solver will recommend to our clients that they plan on and begin budgeting for a new server between the third and fourth years of service for their server. This gives enough lead time to account for a new server in the budget and do the migration process in a controlled fashion instead of during a crisis when your server is having problems and needs to be replaced immediately.

DSL Bonding - More bandwidth in more places

2009-08-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of clients that would like a higher speed Internet service than they are currently able to get. We've got a great solution - DSL bonding. This service is available anywhere we provide our Premier DSL or our Standard DSL services.

With this service our customers are able to double the upload and download speed on their DSL service. In addition, the reliability is increased because the service will stay functioning even if one of the two links is damaged.

There's no equipment to purchase for our DSL bonding, like all of our other products the hardware is included with the service. Please contact Internet Solver for more details or to get started!

Best of Des Moines Award Winner

2009-08-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

The votes have been tallied and Internet Solver was the winner in "Best Technology Equipment Dealer" and runner up in "Best Local Internet Service Provider". The full details are available on the Business Record's site at http://businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=7&ArticleID=8609&TM=46032.57

We're excited to have won such a great honor and that our customers recognize all the hard work that we do. Of course we were only mentioned in two categories, we'll be back for Best Computer Consulting Company next year!

Nortel to Avaya Upgrade Promotion

2009-07-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

If you have a Nortel telephone system and are worried about support and repairs in the future due to Nortel's bankruptcy, Internet Solver has the perfect program for you! We are offering additional discounts for our customers that are trading up from Nortel systems including the CICS, MICS, and the BCM. If you are unsure which system you currently use or have other questions, please contact us.

Computer Solver News

2009-06-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

We have some exciting news about the Computer Solver store at 1129 42nd Street to share. Effective May 1st the store operations were purchased by HLC Computers.

This will allow Internet Solver to focus more closely on our target customers of small and medium sized business.

Bundles, Bundles, Bundles...

2009-05-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

In our own economic stimulus package, Internet Solver is offering a 20% discount on top of our already-great pricing for customers that use our Complete Support, Internet Service, and Digital Voice products together. This discount will be good for the entire life of the agreement. There's never been an easier way to get great service at an even better price!

Microwaves and Managed Services

2009-03-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

I can remember when my parents got their first microwave oven. They were not technology early adopters so it was a few years into the lifecycle before we purchased one. The benefits of having a microwave such as being able to reheat food in just minutes without heating up the oven was too compelling. You can't find a home that doesn't have at least one now and there's no debate as to the usefulness of the microwave.

Our Complete Support System has some similarities to the adoption of the microwave. We have some early adopters that realized our proactive maintenance and fixed-price service would give them a competitive advantage. We have the same goals in mind as our clients -- to keep the network running with as little downtime as possible.

Internet Solver is offering a free 30-day trial of our Complete Support System to new customers to show them that there is a better way to maintain their network. If you don't love it after 30 days you have no obligation to continue the service. We are very excited about our product and know that the best way to get other people excited about it is to let them try it for themselves.

There's a couple small limitations -- your company must be located in central Iowa and sign a three year service agreement. If you are not delighted after 30 days we'll void the agreement. Please contact us for more information or to get started!

(Not) Saving money by buying direct

2009-03-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

One question we get from our clients is why they should purchase their Dell equipment from us versus calling and ordering or going to dell.com to order what they need. The short answer is that in every case whatsoever we've been able to provide the same equipment to our clients at a lower cost or upgraded equipment for the same cost.

For a point of comparison, we ordered some fairly standard desktops for a client at the end of last year. The customer tried to 'save money' by getting a quote directly from Dell. It was $850 per machine not including shipping. We were able to provide them delivered for $750 per machine. It's an even larger difference for a larger quantity, more expensive computers, or servers.

Dell pricing (like many businesses) is based on customer sales volume. We order $200K-250K of Dell equipment per year and receive much better price breaks than any of our customers would get themselves.

Please contact us to see how we can use our buying power to lower the cost of your network.

What's next?

2009-03-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

"The best way to predict the future is to create it"
--Alan Kay

The quote above has been inspirational for me. I can't always see what's going to be next so I do my best to decide what's going to be next. As a company Internet Solver has done what others in the industry ended up doing much later. In many cases we've been a year or more ahead of our competitors on advancements that deliver results for our clients.

Metro Ethernet	More than one year before anyone else. We still have more customers using this service than our local competitors combined
Extended Area DSL	Our clients had DSL in previously unserved locations for 6-12 months prior to the telephone company making it available. We are still the only provider in some areas.
High Speed DSL	Our 12 and 20 megabit DSL has been available since 2006, over two years sooner than any other provider.
Complete Support Service	We have been using these technologies for six months to keep our clients protected and to solve problems remotely in less time.
Support and Communications Bundling	There is no other provider that offers the full range of services that you can receive from a single provider.

Give us a call and and see how we can apply our leadership to give your company an advantage!

Great discounts to start the new year!

2008-12-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

Internet Solver is offering a set of bundled services to help get your new year started off right.

Home users can get one telephone line with up to 3 Megabit Premier DSL as low as $45 per month. View more details on this package.

For your business we have four telephone lines and Internet access starting at only $150 per month. View more details on this package.

More information on the components of these bundles are available on our web site. They include

What makes Internet Solver different

2008-12-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

This unassuming box is one of the many things that separates Internet Solver from other Internet providers. It contains the equipment necessary to provide our Metro Ethernet and Extended Area DSL service to another business park. This one brings the total to three areas served with another one on the way within a month.

Contact us today to see if your area is covered for our service or to request DSL to be brought to your area.

Free QuickBooks 2009

2008-12-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

If you've been holding out on getting a new version of Quickbooks then Monday December 22nd might be the day you've been waiting for. We learned that Staples will be doing a promotion giving you $199 in rebates and discounts on the $199 software. If you're still using an older version and want to get current Monday would be a great day to do so!

Controlling your IT spending

2008-10-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

Keeping expenses under control is good business, especially with the uncertain economy. One of the few expenses in most business that isn't fixed or dependent on the amount of sales is the cost of keeping your computers and network running. Being able to budget a fixed amount every month for your IT spending would help provide consistency and let you know what you will spend every month to keep things moving smoothly.

Internet Solver now offers our Complete Support System to let you control your costs as well as improve the service you receive. Maintenance that gets deferred too often will happen on a schedule as well as automated backups and software updates.

Included with the package are Antivirus and Antispyware software to spot and eliminate potential problems before they become a disruption for you and your staff.

The nightly backups are used in case of a hard drive failure to quickly get you back in action. The day of waiting while software is reinstalled and updates are applied is reduced to 15 minutes for the drive to be replaced and the known-good backup is put back onto the computer.

As part of the included Vendor Management we will isolate the problem and either correct it ourselves or determine the correct vendor instead of forcing you to go through a frustrating finger-pointing exercise.

You can save even more by consolidating your Internet and Telephone services with Internet Solver also and have a single provider to work with for all of your computing and communications needs. Contact us today for more information!

Digital Voice Telephone Service Features

2008-10-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our Digital Voice Telephone Service has all of the basic features you would expect plus a few that make using the telephone easier.

Making and coordinating conference calls on a traditional telephone system can be an exercise in patience. Imagine if you could type or drag the numbers onscreen and start your call with the click of a button! The contacts can come from your person address book, the company shared address book, or typed in on the fly.

Companies that have an on-call rotation or need to route calls differently based on the time of day don't have a lot of automated options. Our Digital Voice Telephone Service can let you route calls based on the time of day and the day of week with no manual intervention required.

I think one of the best features of this service is that there's no upfront cost required and can be available to employees no matter where their office is located.

Staying productive on the go

2008-08-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of my day out of the office and have been working on ways to stay more productive while I'm not at my desk.

A good cell phone is a must. Don't ask me which one that is, I've been selecting irritating telephones for the last 10 years. The last one I had that worked consistently great was my StarTac. I'm on a RAZR now and it's passable. It's a good indication how busy my day was if I need to recharge before I get home at night. I keep a car charger plugged in all the time and also have the proper drivers installed on my desktop and laptop so I can use a micro-USB cable to charge the phone.

I've experimented with a handful of headsets but none of them fit me very well. I'm not a slave to fashion but they all look pretty ridiculous also. I wouldn't mind trying out these Oakley combination sunglasses/headsets though.

My current laptop is a Dell Latitude D630 with the extended life battery, built-in 802.11 wireless, bluetooth, and built-in Dell Wireless Mobile Broadband.

My favorite two things about this machine are having a battery that can go and entire work day without dying and the flexibility to get email or Internet access practically anywhere with the Mobile Broadband card.

While you are out and about you'll probably want to get online at some point. With the proliferation of free and paid 802.11 access points you are seldom very far from Internet access. The cellular network is always an option, between bluetooth tethering, USB tethering, or a built-in cellular modem.

If you need to access data at the office while you are out there's a couple good options. I use a combination of VPN access to copy files and get to our databases and Remote Desktop to operate my desktop computer when I need to access specialized applications that are only available at the office.

New services from Internet Solver

2008-08-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

One of the complaints that we hear about our Digital Voice telephone service is that it doesn't work when the power is out. We have been listening and have a solution!

We have installed equipment in the telephone office at 42nd Street & Kingman Boulevard in Des Moines to provide our Digital Voice telephone service as well as high-speed Internet over the same line with no need for a battery backup in your home.

This gives you the best of both worlds -- the features of our Digital Voice telephone service with the reliability of a landline telephone. We will be rolling this advance out to the other areas we serve in the future.