Establish Your Internet Presence For Free

Well ... almost for free! Of course, you most probably already have an account from popular free email providers like yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc. or from your Internet service provider. And you might already have your own website using a free webhosting service being offered everywhere. But that is not the way to establish Internet presence for your business. Your business needs to have its own Internet address. And that would cost a few bucks! But not a lot! Don't worry; just read on.

The Importance of Internet Presence

Internet presence is now a must for organizations of any size or industry type. Corporate buyers and individuals now turn to the World Wide Web, instead of the traditional “Yellow Pages” in telephone directories, in searching for specific products or services they need. Electronic mail now surpasses fax transmissions and traditional paper mail, now commonly called ‘snail’ mail, as the primary medium in exchanging information between companies.

Instant messaging allows you to communicate interactively with your contacts even if they are “engaged” from taking your telephone calls. You can even send them text messages to their mobile phones, or even call them, thru the Internet for free! The possibilities are endless.

Establishing Internet presence for your business is very easy. You can even have it for free. Of course you’re already aware of the dozens, even hundreds, of companies offering free email and web hosting. Your local telephone company also provides you with free email as part of your Internet subscription. You can use them, of course, but that might hurt the legitimacy of your business.

Having a free email address like myname@yahoo.com or mycompany@mytelco.com reduces your credibility and authority in the industry you’re in. Having your own email address like yourname@yourcompany.com and website in your own Internet domain like www.mycompany.com conveys a professional image and stability.

You may want to read http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-webhosting-article.php for some free web hosting tips.

Internet Domain

Internet domain is your address in the Internet. Its most basic functionality is to provide recognizable names to numerical addresses in the global Internet resources. Your domain name allows your customers and prospects to find you on the Internet.

Choosing your Internet domain name is important to increase visibility of your website, attract prospective customers, and establish your credibility. At the very least, you should have a domain name that represents your business name. The company I currently work for, NewGen IT Corp., for example has newgen.net.ph as its Internet domain. We chose the .net.ph top level domain because the company offers computer network and other IT services (.net) in the Philippines (.ph). We also chose 'NEWGEN' instead of the initials of our corporate name, NGITC (for NewGen Information Technology Corp.), because it's easier to remember and we'd like to be known as NEWGEN instead of the cryptic NGITC.

On the other hand, we have a client, Prudential Customs Brokerage Services Inc., who chose the initials of their corporate name, 'PCBSI.COM.PH', for their Internet domain name primarily because people might associate 'PRUDENTIAL' to the more popular, and a lot bigger company in the Philippines engaged in the insurance and pre-need business.

Registering Your Domain

To establish the Internet domain for your business you need to register it to the domain registrars. For the .PH domain, the official domain registrar is dotPH (http://www.domains.ph). For .COM and other top-level domains, you can use the services of Internet hosting companies that offers domain registration as part of their hosting services. One of the largest and more popular hosting sites is GoDaddy.com. They offer domain registration for less than US$10/year for the .COM top-level domain.

Note that dotPH doains are more expensive (currently at US$70 for 2 years) so you might want to consider using the .COM domain if your business name is not yet taken.

Email Hosting

Google offers free email and application hosting service for businesses through their Google Apps Standard Edition. Google Apps features several web applications with similar functionality to traditional office productivity applications. It includes Gmail and Calendar with similar functionalities as Microsoft Outlook, Google Talk that competes with Yahoo! and Microsoft Messenger, Google Docs that can interchange files with Microsoft Office, and Google Sites for creating web sites. Your clients and prospects wouldn't know that you're using free email hosting because you'd be using your own domain name for your email.

All of these applications are free in the Standard Edition and offers the same amount of storage space as regular Gmail accounts. However, this service is ad supported so if you find ads annoying, you can upgrade to their Premier Edition, which offers 25GB of email storage at US$50 per account per year. You can disable the ads and it offers a lot of other features like security, archiving, and support.

Here’s the comparison of the two editions:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html

So you could really establish your Internet presence 'almost' for free. Just $10 or less for your company's domain address and free email accounts for you and your employees from Gmail (if you don't mind the ads). But how about your website? Well, you can also have it for free... but that would be for my next post. I'll discuss how to easily create your website and publish it for free.

Please follow this blog and comeback next week.

http://www.newgen.net.ph

Asiaphil Signs CMSS Engagement

Asiaphil Group of Companies appointed NewGen IT Corporation as their IT Management Services Provider. The service engagement is for the outsourcing of Asiaphil’s computer maintenance and support functions. The services provided by NewGen IT includes computer maintenance, IT help desk, network management and IT consultancy.

Asiaphil has been a leader in the Philippines electrical industry since 1973. It is also involved in metal fabrication and power generation business. Asiaphil has always been committed to attaining the highest quality standards. Today, the company enjoys a prestigious reputation in the local and global market. As proof their commitment to superior quality in their products and services, they have, since 1998, been merited an ISO 9001 certification from the International Standards Organization (ISO). This certification ensures customers and end-users that all products of Asiaphil are at par with the world’s best.

As part of its service engagement, NewGen IT drafted a comprehensive IT Facilities Usage Guidelines for Asiaphil. The guidelines include Asset Tracking, Network Security, Service Requisition, and Network Management. Ms. Joyce Puzon, Asiaphil’s IT & Special Projects Officer, said that “we can use the guidelines NewGen IT drafted to set goals and priorities for the IT infrastructure that we will be implementing.”

One of the projects that Asiaphil’s management wants to prioritize is the implementation of an automated Asset Tracking and Configuration Management System. NewGen IT is now implementing an Open Source solution that would not cost the company anything. The recommended solution includes facilities to manage hardware and software inventory, network monitoring, asset reporting, and comprehensive help desk solutions.

For more information, please visit NewGen IT's corporate website at http://www.newgen.net.ph

Motorola Wireless Broadband Channel Partner

NewGen IT Corporation was appointed a Motorola Wireless Broadband Channel Partner. Motorola, Inc., a global company with headquarters in Illinois, USA, has been at the forefront of communication inventions and innovations for nearly 80 years. It has a portfolio of technologies, solutions and services – including wireless handsets, wireless accessories, digital entertainment devices, wireless access systems, voice and data communications systems, and enterprise mobility solutions — that make mobile experiences possible.

NewGen IT Corporation is a company that offers IT services to companies and organizations in the Philippines. It has been in the business of providing its expertise in network and Internet solutions to local companies since 1996.

Mr. Ken Lau, Regional Sales Manager of Motorola Wireless Solutions Group, believes that the best technologies and services are delivered through strong partnerships. Aligning with key partners that can deliver comprehensive broadband solutions to the industry is a key business advantage and opens unprecedented opportunity for creativity. “We can combine our technology, skills and support services in a way that offers customers solutions far more comprehensive than either could deliver alone” said Lau.

NewGen IT has the breadth of knowledge and depth of experience to create specialized wireless broadband solutions that address unique requirements for its clients. It is capable of delivering complex broadband mobility solutions that involves specific technical knowledge and integration of customized applications or vertical market specific. The company has already demonstrated its expertise in designing, implementing, and supporting broadband wireless solutions, including the popular Canopy® point-to-multipoint solutions and the industry-leading point-to-point solutions. It already has, in its staff, Motorola Certified Wireless Field Engineers as well as sales representatives trained on the portfolio.

NewGen IT also offers Motorola’s wi4 Mesh solutions which includes the MOTOMESH Duo system and applicable accessories and services, the wi4 indoor category including a wide array of Wireless LAN infrastructure and Broadband over Powerline (BPL) systems for multi-unit buildings.

Please contact NewGen IT Corp. for more information on the wide-array of solutions that Motorola wireless broadband technology offers and schedule a product presentation or visit their website at http://www.newgen.net.ph for details.

RTN Provides Internet Connectivity to School in Palawan

As part of its community development program, Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTN) provided broadband Internet access to Leonides S. Virata Memorial School (LSVMS) in Bataraza, Palawan by expanding its corporate network. RTN engaged the services of NewGen IT Corporation to expand its network by establishing a wireless broadband connectivity between school and the administrative office in their mine site, which already has an Internet connection thru a VSAT satellite link to their Makati headquarters.

Considering the distance between the two sites, which is more than 3 kilometers, and the topography in the area, a wireless solution is the least expensive and most flexible solution. The laying of new copper or fiber-optic cables from the mine site to the town site is cost-prohibitive.

Motorola Canopy® wireless technology was selected as the preferred solution. Motorola has more than 75 years of radio and communications expertise and their Canopy system is the most popular technology employed by major wireless communication service providers in more than 100 countries worldwide. The Motorola Canopy wireless technology has proven itself to be one of the industry’s most reliable solutions for extending networks. The platform’s combination of advanced technology, simplified configuration, high performance, rapid deployment and remarkable cost effectiveness is unmatched in the industry.

The Canopy system offers Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint solutions. The portfolio includes products that cost-effectively deliver reliable links and higher throughput in Line-of-Sight (LoS), near-LoS and Non-LoS environments. The underlying technologies - based on Motorola’s proprietary design as well as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) - offer the flexibility to deliver custom solutions for a wide range of consumer, enterprise, carrier and government markets and applications.

Mr. Mr. Norberto R. Reyes, RTN’s VP for Finance, said that “NewGen IT”, a Motorola Authorized Wireless Broadband Partner, “implemented a very cost effective and reliable solution. They made sure that the expansion would not have any adverse effect on our corporate network. As a corporate entity, network security, reliability and performance are our primary concern”

RTN is now planning to expand the network further by connecting a nearby hospital and other affiliated organizations in the area.

Please visit NewGen IT's website at http://www.newgen.net.ph for details.

PCBSI Signs CMSS Engagement

Prudential Customs Brokerage Services, Inc. (PCBSI) engaged the services of NewGen IT Corporation. The engagement agreement is for the outsourcing of part of IT management functions of PCBSI. The services provided include computer maintenance, technical support, network management, web and Internet hosting and ad-hoc IT consultancy.

Prudential Customs Brokerage is a customs brokerage firm in the Philippines that provides fully integrated services including cargo handling, trucking, arrastre and stevedoring, shipping agency and other port related services. It was founded by Mr. Rodolfo S. Ibuna in 1965 initially providing customs clearing and delivery services to Chinese traders in Binondo and Sta. Cruz, Manila. The company was incorporated in 1969 as PCBSI and has since expanded its clientele to include not only importers but other companies from different industries like mining, cement processing and others.

According to PCBSI’s Controller, Mr. Wilfredo Velilla, “this service engagement should result in cost savings for us, as we do not have to put up our own IT department. We can just rely on the expertise of NewGen IT’s team of highly-skilled IT support personnel.” Mr. Marvin Ramos, HR & Admin Manager, added that “this engagement would relieve us of the headaches associated with supporting and maintaining computer equipments in our offices and allow us to concentrate on more important tasks in running our business.”

Being an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, PCBSI has to thoroughly evaluate the proposals they received from various IT firms to see if their processes conforms to the best practices in the industry and their expertise are up to standards. In the end, PCBSI chose NewGen IT as their partner because of its good reputation, proven expertise, impressive service management system and their depth of experience.

To show its appreciation to PCBSI’s management, NewGen IT offered to develop, free-of-charge, their initial website that they could later expand. “Wow, I can't believe you're able to put up our website in just a short time. Congratulations for a job well done!” says Mr.Ramos. You can visit their website at http://www.pcbsi.com.ph for more information.

Please visit NewGen IT's website at http://www.newgen.net.ph for details.

VSAT Network for Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp.

To establish a more efficient and cost-effective telecommunications link between its corporate headquarters in Makati and the remote mine sites, Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTN) engaged the services of NewGen IT Corporation to help it build its corporate VSAT Network. VSAT, for Very Small Aperture Terminal, is a 2-way satellite ground station with parabolic antenna that is smaller than 3 meters as compared to around 10 meters for other types of satellite dishes.

The initial objective of the project is to reduce the huge telecommunications cost being incurred by the company in maintaining the communications link between the corporate headquarters in Makati and the administrative offices in the mine sites. Currently, Rio Tuba and its affiliate mining companies, holding its corporate headquarters in the same building, are leasing satellite links from different telecommunication providers to provide voice, fax and data connectivity between its corporate offices and remote mine sites. This setup is expensive and inefficient.

NewGen IT was contracted to conduct a study of RTN's requirements. The company was chosen as the consultant and service provider because of its good reputation as leading provider of network services in the country and its successful implementation of other IT projects with RTN in the past.

NewGen IT proposed the establishment of a private VSAT network. Mr. Carlo P. Linga, NewGen IT's General Manager, says that "putting up your own private satellite network is more cost-effective especially if there are at least three remote sites connected to the main communications hub." Mr. Norberto R. Reyes, Rio Tuba's Vice President for Finance agrees." The initial investment presented to us by NewGen IT can be recovered in less than 2 years ", says Reyes.

A private satellite network is also more efficient. In leased services, unused bandwidth cannot be diverted or reallocated because you have no control over the network link. Only the telecommunications provider can administer the network. In a private network, the administrator in the central hub has complete control in bandwidth allocation. For example, unused bandwidth in one site can be used to increase throughput in a video conferencing session in another site.

After a thorough evaluation, NewGen IT chose Mabuhay Satellite Corporation (MSC) as its technology partner in providing the satellite transponder services. Operating since 1998, MSC has successfully forged its way into the competitive international satellite communications arena by offering video, IP, broadcast and other fully turnkey solutions for clients not only in Asia but also the rest of the world.

The proposed satellite dish is a 2.4 meter C-Band antenna system and components from Andrew Corporation. Andrew Corporation is an end-to-end global manufacturer and supplier of RF systems and solutions. Their product portfolio encompasses traditional wireless networks, 3G technologies, Internet services, and specialized applications in microwave, satellite, radar, HF, and MilSatCom communications.

For the satellite modem, NewGen IT offered the SkySwitch from SatPath Systems, Inc. With corporate headquarters in Fremont, California, SatPath Systems is a privately held corporation founded by a team of talented and experienced engineers. With over 30 years of cumulative experience in commercial satellite and aerospace industry and resources of IT manufacturing expertise globally, SatPath aims to provide the most cost-effective, efficient and innovative VSAT solutions.

Please visit NewGen IT's website at http://www.newgen.net.ph for details.