I did a talk today to professional photographers on behalf of Business Link. The talk covered web marketing and SEM and was given together with Martin Kingston of Kingsbridge Consultancy (Kent) Limited. The talk was well received and Business Link have indicated that SEM will be invited to give a series of talks in June across the south east region.
Ubuntu 8.04 went live this week along with the new Ubuntu demo tour that we designed for Canonical. This project has led to SEM being asked to do a demo tour for Launchpad.net that will be released in July.
The SEM Studio is currently working on the new online tour of Ubuntu. We’ve been contracted by Canonical the founding company behind Ubuntu that was started by Mark Shuttleworth.
We passionately believe in open source and free software (we’re currently deciding when to release some software that we’ve developed here at the SEM Studio under an open source license) and have always worked with Linux servers and even Linux PCs where practical. Having been introduced to Ubuntu earlier this year we’ve not got it installed on most of our office production PCs and we all agree that it has taken Linux to a new level of usability. At last there is a free alternative to Windows that can genuinely compete in the wider market. The fact that Dell are now shipping (as an option) new computers pre-installed with Ubuntu shows how far it has come.
Watch this space for a link to the new Ubuntu demo when it goes live.
This does not have any direct relevance to the work of the SEM Studio but I wanted to show it anywhere. It is a fascinating story about a Heavy Metal band struggling to survive in ‘post war’ Baghdad. Things got tough and they ended up in Turkey via Syria. Their survival has depended largely on the generosity of international supporters. I think it is a great way to show people that Iraq is a country and culture with depth and variety just like any other place on earth. The media story is often so narrowly focussed that it is a breath of fresh air to see an alternative news story like this one. Visit their site at www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com.
Localis, the government think-tank have recently launched a new website - www.localisresearch.org - that was design by Sharon Havenhand of Comarni and development by SEM Solutions at the SEM Studio. Sharon’s work is always awesome and we always enjoy partnering with Comarni on development work. It really helps us here at SEM to play on our strengths - we prefer to focus on the coding and programming while someone else has to worry about the ‘creative’ aspect of the job.
Here’s a quote from the ‘About Us‘ page new Localis website that should give you a slightly better idea of what they get up to!
“At a time when the great bulk of local authorities are conservative and when existing local government think tanks veer to the left, Localis offers a fresh and distinctive approach based on close links with Policy Exchange, Prospect’s think tank of the year 2006-7. Localis aims to influence policy makers and thinkers outside the local government village in clear, jargon-free language.”
SEM Solutions has just completed a successful migration of the Milkmore web directory to their new Rackspace server. MilkMore is a directory of mobile sites that are quickly accessed through your phone and has established as a leader in this emerging market. It might be fair to describe the mobile internet as having some of the buzz that the world wide web had back in the mid nineties and it certainly represents a huge global opportunity for site developers. The team at SEM Studio would like to wish Milkmore a happy new year and every success in their exciting venture!
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (commonly referred to as PCI) provides specific advice and guidance to help businesses that process, store, or transmit payment card data prevent fraud and security breaches. The PCI Security Standards Council was formed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International to write and manage the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
While the PCI Standards are not legally binding they have been widely praised for being specific and comprehensive, providing clear and practical advice and guidance covering all aspects of processing payment cards.
Deciding how to comply with the technical as well as the human implications of the standards can be a daunting process and many companies will look for expert advice to assist them with achieving compliance. This would normally take the form of a pre-compliance audit of systems and processes which would lead to a road map for achieving compliance. It is important to ensure that all stake-holders within an organisation ‘buy in’ to the road map and work together to implement recommendations. This process sometimes needs to be managed carefully and leadership from senior management is essential.
PCI compliance / pre-compliance audits are now being carried out by SEM Solutions Limited as well as a PCI compliance consultancy service. If you require assistance or advice regarding PCI compliance then it often helps to bring in the services of a third party with a fresh pair of eyes and a non-biased approach and SEM Solutions can work with your company in this way.
If you would like to discuss any of these issues (privately and without obligation) then call Simon Mohr on 01233 656780.
Following a number of successful migrations carried out for Rackspace® it is with a huge amount of pride that we have now listed as a Rackspace® Certified Partner on Rackspace.co.uk.
Migrations are carried out when a hosted website, web application or database is moved to a new server. Often they are live production sites with mailboxes, large amounts of traffic, merchant hookups and ecommerce and have financial transactions taking place online. SEM Solutions are expert in moving these complex sites from one server to another while ensuring that disruptions to service are kept to an absolute minimum. In many cases even the smallest disruptions can result in lost revenue.
If you need a site to be migrated then call us today for a quote safe in the knowledge that SEM Solutions is trusted by one of the fastest growing and most successful hosting companies to carry out migration work for its own clients.
SEM Solutions has partnered with Rackspace® Managed Hosting, the world’s leading managed hosting specialists, to provide you with fully managed hosting solutions.
We’ve chosen Rackspace as our trusted hosting partner as they are completely focused and experienced in managed hosting. Every system and process at Rackspace was built exclusively for delivering a reliable and secure service, with support staff highly trained for supporting complex hosting environments. Rackspace supplies the necessary superstructure - web, application and database servers, network devices, bandwidth and managed services - needed to run any outsourced hosted solution. Solutions are hosted in state-of-the-art secure data centres, watched over by certified staff.
Customers benefit from Rackspace’s award winning and unbeatable level of customer service, Fanatical Support®. Rackspace employees are available 24/7/365 to meet and exceed your expectations, meaning fast responses to critical issues, unlimited technical phone support, access to their huge online knowledgebase, guaranteed 100% network uptime and many other business-critical support features. By outsourcing to Rackspace, customers get the peace of mind that their hosting environment is being looked after by the experts, whilst alleviating the pressure on your own IT department.
We highly recommend Rackspace to our clients because they hold the highest standards in service excellence and therefore is able to ensure that mission-critical applications will remain up and running in a secure environment.
Rackspace’s commitment to its customers won them the Unisys/Management Today Customer Service Excellence Award for 2005, in addition to being named Microsoft’s Gold Certified Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year and Red Hat’s first Advanced Hosting Partner in Europe.
SEM solutions has been carrying out Protx integrations for nearly three years now and many of SEM’s clients chose Protx to be their payment gateways. Protx have recently added SEM Solutions to their web solutions partner page on their website. This is a testiment to SEM Solutions experience and professionalism in their approach to merchant integrations and ecommerce.
Protx provides secure online credit card and debit card payment solutions for thousands of online and mail order businesses across the UK.
They have grown to become the largest independent Payment Service Provider in the country because their solutions offer their customers exceptional value for money without compromising on the level of service and functionality they provide. If you are considering a payment gateway for your ecommerce website then the SEM Studio recommends Protx.
