Third Octet Named to CRN’s Inaugural Next-Gen 250 List

Posted in: Industry News, Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on September 7, 2011 | No Comments

Ranking Highlights the Up and Coming VARS in North America

August 31, 2011 – Third Octet today announced Everything Channel has named the company to the first ever 2011 CRN Next-Gen 250 list.  The CRN Next-Gen 250 is an annual listing of innovative and nimble business and technology integrators, solution providers, and resellers in North America offering solutions and services in cloud computing, mobility, unified communications, virtualization and other emerging technologies.

The CRN Next-Generation 250 list is comprised of the most exciting new solution provider organizations (founded 2000-2011) bringing new and emerging implementation ideas and business models to the market.

“In today’s competitive environment solution providers have to do more than just talk about innovation. The ability to quickly implement new processes, models and technologies is what drives margins and the bottom line,” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. “The CRN Next-gen 250 highlights the most interesting new solution providers who are demonstrating such innovation and uncovers the new techniques and technologies that are driving their success.”

For more information, visit the CRN Next-Gen 250 List.

Third Octet Inc.

Third Octet is an Information Technology consulting firm specializing in the fulfillment of business challenges utilizing sound technology services, solutions, and approaches, targeted towards the small to medium (SMB) and enterprise markets. Our approach is unique, and not specific to a particular subset of industry verticals but, rather, specific to the objectives and needs of all businesses – ensuring that an organizations technology investments not only make sense but that they also satisfy business requirements. Your business challenge is our business challenge, and it’s in our expertise that gives us the enablement to ensure that the business equation is solved with the most sensible and cost effective solution.

Everything Channel

Everything Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With over 30 years of experience and engagement, Everything Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. Everything Channel is a UBM company.

UBM plc

UBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

Leveraging the “crowd” for a new look.

Posted in: Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on November 1, 2010 | No Comments

Let’s get one thing straight, we are not a graphic design shop by any stretch of the imagination.  When Third Octet (”thirdoctet”) was founded, we roughed up a quick logo to get a basic presence for our website, business cards, and letterhead.  We knew, at some point, that we’d invest a bit of time (AKA money) into outsourcing the design of our logo.  Working around, scoping out costs, we came to the conclusion that design firms can be expensive.  Independent designers, on the other hand, prove to be a bit more cost effective. 

In our quest to find the ultimate design that spoke to the simplicity of our company and, most importantly, the concept behind our name, we came across a site leveraging crowd sourcing for design.  Leveraging the “crowd” had a nice ring to it, and an awful amount of familiarity (think “cloud”).  And, after a few weeks of design submissions – some of which were amazing, others outright wonky – we have our new look.

Introducing Microsoft Online Services

Posted in: Application Delivery, C-Level, Deskside, Green Technology, Messaging, Offers, SaaS, Storage, Third Octet News, Virtualization, Words by thirdoctet on July 28, 2010 | No Comments

In today’s competitive global market, businesses need technology that enables flexibility and cost-effectively adds value to their organization. Internet-based hosted services provide a way to meet these objectives. They deliver feature-rich productivity tools to users while helping to relieve the burden of managing and maintaining business systems—freeing up IT departments to focus on initiatives that can deliver true competitive advantage.

Microsoft has a long history of developing and delivering innovative software and services for businesses and individuals. Designed to meet your unique business needs, our software-plus-services vision brings together the best of rich on-premise applications and flexible online services to give you ready access to the latest messaging and collaboration tools – without costly deployment and time-consuming maintenance. Microsoft Online Services reliably delivers 99.9 percent scheduled uptime and carries a financially backed service level agreement.

Let Our IT Resources Work for You

Microsoft Online Services gives your business the powerful productivity capabilities of Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting —all hosted online and all up and running quickly and easily without the upfront costs of an on-premise deployment. The suite of productivity tools enables your workers to communicate and collaborate effectively, while enabling your IT team to focus on more business-critical tasks. And with services hosted by Microsoft, you can have peace of mind knowing that experts are managing your IT and that your services will be available when you need them.

Features and Benefits

Microsoft Online Services makes it easy for you to leverage and rapidly deploy familiar Microsoft server products as flexible services.  These hosted services—the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite—include the following:

Provide employees access to e-mail, calendar, and contacts from virtually anywhere, at anytime, on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices—while helping to protect against malware and spam. Exchange Online can be rapidly deployed, flexibly expanded, and is designed to be securely administered using a powerful yet easy-to-use Web-based console.

Share documents, contacts, calendars, and tasks in a single location. Based on Microsoft Office SharePoint_® Server 2007, SharePoint Online delivers rich collaboration capabilities that enable team members to flexibly and efficiently collaborate, find organizational resources, search your intranet site, and manage content and workflow.

Connect with colleagues and customers through real-time meetings, training sessions, and events using only a PC with an Internet connection. Hosted Web conferencing services from Microsoft Office Live Meeting give your employees the power to collaborate wherever they are, to set up project meetings, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate on whiteboards without the cost and hassle of travel!

Enable users to find and rapidly connect with the right person from the applications they use most. Office Communications Online provides streamlined access to rich presence and instant messaging capabilities that are centrally managed by IT and work seamlessly with a range of Microsoft Office system programs.

How It Works

Each Microsoft data center, located strategically throughout the world, houses a highly reliable complex of equipment that provides seamless connectivity to the Microsoft Online suite of services. This global network of geo-redundant data centers provides around the clock access to your business-critical collaboration services, and helps keep your data safe.

 With Microsoft Online Services, your IT staff retains control over the services offered to your end users. Microsoft Online Services work seamlessly with Microsoft Active Directory, so you can continue to manage user policies centrally and control which services are available via your existing users. A single administrative panel—with consoles for provisioning, usage, monitoring, and support—enables simple and centralized management. And your users can enjoy the convenience of a single sign-on to access all their hosted services.

Visit www.microsoft.com/online today for your free 30 day trial, or contact us for more information.

Start putting our IT resources to work for you!

Third Octet is a Proud Sponsor of the Inaugural Takhar Open

Posted in: Events, Third Octet News by thirdoctet on June 15, 2010 | No Comments

Hosted by the Honorable Harinder Takhar, MPP for Mississauga-Erindale and Minister of Government Services, Third Octet is proud to support the Inaugural Takhar Open at the majestic Lionhead Golf and Country Club in Brampton on June 17th.

Third Octet is Moving!

Posted in: Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on April 22, 2010 | No Comments

After a year of calling Toronto our home, we’ve outgrown our space.  As much as we’d rather not leave, we’ve found an amazing office north of the city to call our home.  Starting May 1st, our new office will be located in Vaughan.  Stay tuned for our updated address.

Expanded Education and Training

Posted in: Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on March 19, 2010 | No Comments

Third Octet is pleased to announce expanded training and education offerings effective spring 2010.  These introductions will not just be limited to the Information Technology spread, but also to include courses for Business Process Improvement and Leadership and Business Skills.

Within the Information Technology spread, new offerings will include courses for:

• Microsoft
• Citrix
• Cisco
• CompTIA
• Security
• Telecommunications
• Help Desk Institute

For Business Process Improvement, watch for:

• Project Management
• ITIL
• Business Architecture

The Training and Education page will be receiving modifcations over the next several weeks to account for these course introductions.  Stay tuned.

Happy Second Birthday Third Octet.

Posted in: Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on September 4, 2009 | No Comments

In June 2009, Third Octet Inc. turned two years old!  We managed to survive through one of the toughest economic downturns in quite some time and that is a direct result of our proven skills, services, solutions and, more importantly, from the dedication and faith of our partners and, especially, our clients.  We thank you immensely. 

And, on that note, we decided to celebrate our two year birthday with the introduction of a brand new website, complete with Web 2.0 functionality.  It’s not only a gift to Third Octet, but also a gift to you, our clients and partners.  We’ll be showcasing client testimonials, and spotlights on partners and solutions while providing a more efficient and cosmetically appealing website.

Enjoy!

Third Octet takes root in Toronto’s Liberty Village

Posted in: Third Octet News, Words by thirdoctet on | No Comments

Third Octet is proud to announce our moving to the Dufferin Liberty Centre in Toronto’s trendy Liberty Village.

Liberty Village History

The King Liberty Lands once formed part of Garrison Common, lands that were set aside for military use. Fort York was built at the mouth of Garrison Creek, and in 1871 the provincial government allocated 20 acres of land south of King Street and west of Strachan Avenue for the Central Prison for Men.

There are only two remaining buildings from the prison; the prison’s Roman Catholic chapel, which was built in 1877, and the prison’s paint shop, which was incorporated in the A.R. Williams Machinery building. The chapel was later used by the John Inglis and Sons, when the lands became a thriving industrial centre.

By the early 1980’s, industry moved out or closed and the lands become a vacant brownfield site. A process began in 1999 to transform this former industrial site into a new downtown community that connects to the surrounding community.

The King Liberty neighbourhood will be a mixed-use community with live/work buildings, offices, residential and retail uses that will be contained in a mix of building types including townhouses, towers and mid-rise buildings.

A number of heritage buildings including the Chapel building and the A.R. Williams Machinery building have been retained and will reflect the neighbourhood’s past. Three public parks are being built including a linear park along the rail corridor, a gateway park and a central park which will contain the restored Chapel building. In addition to the park spaces, publicly accessible plazas will contribute to the open space in the community and will add a north-south pedestrian connection. East Liberty Street will be the main corridor in this new community.

Situated at 219 Dufferin Street, in the Dufferin Liberty Centre, our office reflects the history that forms a key foundation of Toronto. Previously a manufacturing site for electrical lights sent overseas during and after World War I, the Dufferin Liberty Centre was converted to facilitate office space, complete with industrial-age character, and information-age conveniences.

Be sure to pay us a visit when in the neighbourhood and to update your address book contact information.