On the web: - email: - Fax: 614-875-7761 / November 2001
-- From The President's Console --
I thought November and December were supposed to be slow. Historically, the period between Thanksgiving and New Years has been one of the weakest in our installation calendar. But this year, we look to be quite busy welcoming new customers to the fold.
We're also looking forward to the release of new products. Rolling out this past month was a new master release of our classic INFONETICS software, version 2.19B. This month, we debuted a brand new module known as the Route Scheduling System, complete with Degree Day computations for the bulk propane industry. And next month should see the completion of beta testing of new software for our "SPT" handheld computing platform. There just never seems to be a lack of ideas for new and wonderful products to serve your needs.
If you have a keen interest in any of the aforementioned releases, please call us right away.
This month's newsletter focuses mostly on Internet related issues. RITA (Remote Internet Terminal Access) is an exciting new technology allowing you to connect to your INFONETICS server through the Internet. Then, Jason, "the new guy", writes of his observations of the state of your Internet software gleaned from recent travels. Karon brings you a description of the new Internet Search Engine registration service we're offering. Finally, Jeff lays out the schedule of INFOGROUP training sessions for 2002.
We'd like to welcome Cheryl, Jerry, Rod & Shane of Coastal Containment Welding Supply in Aberdeen, WA as our newest customer. In keeping with the season, our "thanksgiving" goes to all our customers, both new and old, who honor us with their continued confidence and patronage.
INFONETICS GOES CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
INFONETICS is proud to announce the addition of another West Coast member to their family of users. California Welding Supply Company, based in of Stockton, California, became the newest addition to the ever-growing list of welding supply distributors making the switch to INFONETICS.
Established in 1950 by Doc Raymond, California Welding Supply has seen their business prosper and grow from the Stockton location to three additional California stores in Manteca, Traci, and Lodi. Today, Doc's daughter, Beverly Garcia, continues to make sure that California Welding Supply meets the needs of their various customers and lives up to the same standards of excellence set-forth more than a half a century ago.
Please join us in welcoming Beverly, Kurt, and the rest of the gang at California Welding Supply to the INFONETICS family of users!
RITA - REMOTE INTERNET TERMINAL ACCESS
Imagine, you're sitting at home, surfing the Internet, and you need to lookup a piece of data in your INFONETICS server back at the office. Of course, if you were at your office, you'd simply hit <ALT<F1> and your INFONET/PC session would launch and automatically log in to your INFONETICS server. If only you could do that from home.
Well, RITA now makes that possible. Remote Internet Terminal Access (RITA) is the newest, and most convenient way, to connect to your INFONETICS server, from ANYWHERE in the world, using a local Internet connection.
Other advantages of RITA include; Multiple users can be "RITA'd" into your server at the same time. In fact, the five standard INFONET/PC sessions can all be launched and used in the same convenient fashion as you've become accustomed to at work. Laptops with roaming Internet Access can connect and login from virtually anywhere, all for free using a local Internet connection. Even small branch operations (usually single-user) can now be connected through the Internet, eliminating the need for expensive dedicated leased phone lines.
At the main office, you'll need full-time Internet Access setup with one of our popular Proxy Servers. This handy little device allows all the PCs within your office, and your INFONETICS server, to access the Internet through one connection. The Proxy Server, also known as a "Firewall" or "Router" will safely hide your network of PCs and INFONETICS server from external attacks from the Internet. Available connections include the typical 56K dial-up modem (usually $15/month, plus cost of telephone line), DSL (Digital Subscriber Line, approx $100/month) and Cable modems ($80-500/month). The key is to choose the fastest, yet most affordable connection technology that gives you full-time access. Full-time access is needed as you'll want to be able to connect at any hour of the day or night, and your server needs to be on-line to take the call.
Your Internet connection will also require a publicly accessible "static IP address". This may add an additional $8/month to your typical dial-up ISP account. DSL and Cable Modem connections generally include a Static IP Address. Within the Internet, an IP address is akin to your telephone number. Many dial-up Internet connections are given a new (or "Dynamic") IP address each time the connection is established. Just like in the telephone world, it would be difficult to receive incoming phone calls if your phone number changed everytime it was used. So too in the Internet world, it's difficult to connect to your server, if it's IP address is subject to change. Hence, a "Static IP Addess" is one that doesn't change over time.
The real brains are in R-I-T-A. We'll create a small, discrete opening in your proxy server/firewall that will relay incoming terminal sessions from the Internet to your INFONETICS server. And, we'll assist you in identifying all available login/passwords on your system, and implementing new, hard to break passwords for all legitimate users. These passwords of course are your only line of defense from external hacking attacks from the Internet. Worried about hard to remember passwords frustrating your legitimate users? Don't be. We'll also show you how to configure your INFONET/PC sessions to automatically login, thereby relieving users from that tedious process.
Your home PC will need to be loaded with a properly licensed copy of INFONET/PC (aka TinyTERM), and a local Internet connection. Your aforementioned "Static IP Address" will be programmed into the PC, along with your auto-login information. Then, sit back, hit <ALT<F1> and watch as your PC launches TinyTERM, connects to the Internet and then logs in to your INFONETICS server.
Note; the "I:" drive, also known as a Networked File Server is not available remotely through the Internet.
RITA does of course carry some security risks. Poorly administered login/passwords, especially in times of employee turnover, could expose your INFONETICS server to unauthorized users. Call us for a more thorough discussion of the benefits and risks as they pertain to your specific situation.
IS YOUR INTERNET SOFTWARE OUT OF DATE?
Hey Guys, well first off let me start by introducing myself as I am new to INFONETICS, Inc. My name's Jason, and I started about 2 months ago as an Account Specialist Apprentice.
In my travels I have noticed a few things about the systems I have worked on for INFONETICS customers. The big thing that I keep seeing is out-of-date software. Specifically your Internet browser software. To tell if you are running behind on the times simply click on "Help" at the top of your Internet Explorer/Netscape browser window. A menu will pop down and you should have an option to click on "about Internet explorer" or "about Netscape Navigator". What you are looking for is a version number. INFONETICS supports up to version 5.5 for Internet Explorer and 6.2 for Netscape Navigator.
One of the reasons to keep up to date on your Internet software is so that you can see the WebPages as their author designed them to be viewed. Today's Web developers are using new technologies that are not supported by older browser software. Another reason to keep these up to date is the fact that they are available at no charge. Also something to be noted here is that if you are updating Internet Explorer, it will also
automatically update your Outlook Express (email) program thereby giving you the ability to use new email features as well.
If your software is out of date, you can get the updates by visiting (for Internet Explorer) or (for Netscape Navigator). If you have problems please be sure to let me know either by phone or by email at .
REGISTERING ON SEARCH ENGINES
Do you ever wonder how someone out on the World Wide Web is going to find your website without you telling them about it? One common way is through search engines. Search engines like Yahoo!, Google, MSN and About are commonly used by Web travelers to locate an answer to their question. But how do you get your web-site listed on these engines?
The problem is that when you post your site, you aren't automatically listed in all the hottest search engines. There are a few different ways to become listed in the search engines. First, some search engines have "spiders" that search out new websites on the Internet and then catalogue their information for future listing in their engine. These often take a long time to find an individual site as there are so many new sites added daily.
INFONETICS now offers a service to register your web site with the most popular search engines, as well as an ever expanding list of industry specific manufacturers sites. We will register your site with the following search engines: About, Alta Vista, AOL, ComFind, Excite, Google, Yahoo!, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos, MSN, Netscape Search, Northern Light, Planet Search, Pronet, The YellowPages and WebCrawler.
If you are a member of the NWSA and/or AWS and aren't currently listed on their site, we can tell them about your site as well. And, we'll submit your site to a number of industry specific manufacturers for inclusion in their dealer locator services. If you have multiple domains, don't worry, we can register secondary domain names at a discounted price.
If you would like to get more information on this exciting new service, please contact Karon at .
2002 INFOGROUP SCHEDULE
The new INFONETICS training schedule for 2002 has been announced. Whether you're a first-time user or a lifelong customer, the benefits from attending an INFONETICS training session are immeasurable. Please join us in 2002 for one of the two-day training sessions at the INFONETICS main facility in Grove City, Ohio. In order to foster the learning environment, each class will be limited to the first 15 registrants.
March 18-19 Accounts Payable and General Ledger Systems
April 22-23 Inventory Control System
May 20-21 Cylinder Control System
September 9-10 INFONETICS User's Group
October 21-22 Accounts Payable and General Ledger Systems
November 18-19 Inventory Control System
December 9-10 Cylinder Control System
Registration materials will be available one to two months prior to each training session. However, if you'd like to pre-register for any of the above classes or have any questions please call, fax, or e-mail Jeff Roope of INFONETICS at (614)875-2006, (614)875-7761, and , respectively.
INFONETICS, Inc.
1729 Gateway Circle
Grove City, OH 43123
INFONETICS, Inc. - 1729 Gateway Circle - Grove City, OH 43123 - Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
web address: - e-mail: - Fax: 614-875-7761November 2001