The Launch Pad is pleased to announce that Chuck Fowler has joined our team as a new Client Solutions Manager.  Formerly the Senior Network Engineer at Bayshore Technologies, Chuck brings over 12 years experience as a highly skilled IT professional to the Client Services Team.

The Launch Pad welcomes Jessi Phillips as our newest Managed Service Sales Specialist.  Jessi has over 10 years sales experience and has a proven track record of success in technology sales.  We are pleased to welcome you to the team Jessi!

Everyone is talking about sustainability and green technology but what exactly is “Green IT” and what does it mean for your business?  How can your organization identify inefficiencies in your company and implement cost effective green strategies that will reduce your resource footprint and save your business money. 

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce cordially invites FIT Three, Four, and Partner-Level Members for a panel discussion with three of Tampa Bay’s sustainability experts, including Ilene Rosoff, CEO & President of The Launch Pad, along with Fred Hames, Senior VP, Skanska USA Building, Inc. and Esteban Otero, LEED AP Sustainability Consultant, Introspect, LLC.  From LEED construction to sustainability practices in your workplace - learn how going green can positively affect your bottom line.

“Going Green From A - Z”
Thursday, March 18, 2010
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
University Club of Tampa

To register, contact the Chamber Events Department, (813) 276-9440 or ccongelio@tampachamber.com.

With the launch of Window 7 and its support for multi-touch, notebooks with touch and gesturing features have proliferated recently.    Knowing that few businesses have time to keep current with this new technology and identify the features that will enhance their business productivity, we have highlighted a few that have really caught our eye on our blog.

Toshiba has entered this new market with the introduction of the Satellite Pro U500.  With a 13.3-inch multi-touch screen allows users to tap, drag-and-drop and scroll through files, it has a nifty ability to zoom in and out when you pinch your fingers together.  To enhance user productivity, Toshiba has added a customizable bulletin board for fast access to activities, tasks, and projects.  A feature that is particularly useful is ReelTime, a preview scroll of recently accessed documents, spreadsheets,  and presentations.

Weighing in at about 4.74 lbs, the Toshiba Satellite Pro U500 has an Intel Core 2 Duo T6670 processor running at 2.2 GHz with 2 MB L2 cache and an 800 MHz FSB. It has two RAM slots with a maximum memory capacity of 8 gigs.

If you would like to learn more about the Toshiba Satellite U500, contact sales at (813) 920-0788 x202 or sales@launchpadonline.com.

Community service has long been a part of  The Launch Pad’s company culture.  Since 1992, The Launch Pad’s technology team has been serving the needs of nonprofit and community service organizations.  The Launch Pad is pleased to introduce the rollout of our RevITup™ Business Care Nonprofit Managed IT Services,  a broad range of discounted, fixed-fee technology services designed to help nonprofit organizations meet their technology needs within their budget.

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The barrier to entrance for some small businesses using Blackberry’s has been the cost of the BlackBerry server.  In order to properly use all of the calendaring, contacts and shared mail integration to Exchange, the server and liceneses were requred.  Now Research in Motion, BlackBerry’s parent company, will begin offering free server software that will wirelessly and securely synchronize BlackBerry’s smartphones with Microsoft Exchange  or Microsoft Small Business Server. 

The new BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software offers economical advantages to small and medium-sized businesses who desire the enterprise level security and functionality of the BlackBerry Enterprise server but don’t need all of the advanced features.  It provides a cost-effective solution that enables IT departments to meet the growing demand from employees to be able to connect their personal smartphones to their work email, calendars and access business systems behind their company’s firewall.  Continue Reading >>