HOUSTON, February 1, 2012 – The Aldridge Company (www.aldridge.com), a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions for SMBs, and Rafte & Company (www.rafte.com), a leading provider of business and technology consulting services for law firms, nonprofit organizations  and other professional services firms, today announced the completion of the merger of IT support services. Under the agreement, Rafte & Company will leverage the strengths of The Aldridge Company’s Managed Services practice while continuing to focus on its strengths in the areas of business process improvement, application evaluation/selection, and consulting services for professional services firms.

“After working closely with Rafte & Company on numerous projects during the past three years, it became clear that we could accomplish more and deliver more value to our customers by combining our IT support services than we could separately,” said Chief Operating Officer, Patrick R. Wiley. “Dena and her team are experts in business process and technology for professional services firms who will be valuable assets as The Aldridge Company works to gain a strong foothold in those markets.”

The two companies share a similar history. Both were established to help Houston companies integrate technology into their business processes in the mid-1980s – Rafte & Company in 1983 and The Aldridge Company in 1984. Despite the similarities, the two rarely competed. The Aldridge Company focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses integrate the use of strategic technology solutions to accelerate growth while Rafte’s consulting services are focused on law firms, nonprofit organizations and other professional services firms.

“With combined IT support services, Rafte & Company and The Aldridge Company offer easy availability of cloud services as well as a full complement of technology and business consulting services for small businesses, law firms and other professional services firms,” said Rafte. “While The Aldridge Company makes it possible for organizations to focus on what they do best and handoff their IT to the experts, Rafte & Company will introduce those services to law firms, nonprofit organization and professional services firms to drive efficiencies and positively impact profitability through work flows and technology.”

This combination expands both the size and breadth of expertise of the IT staff, which will better serve customer needs. Together, The Aldridge Company and Rafte & Company will jointly provide IT solutions that include a focus on the client’s business initiatives complimented by a broad range of IT management services, including management of servers, PCs and networks coupled with rapid and accurate technical support along with expertise in business strategy and process. Other services include technology and work process evaluations, audits of security and disaster recovery readiness,  a range of hosting options from dedicated servers to cloud hosting, and makes available a full suite of business consulting services.

About Rafte & Company

Established in 1983 with headquarters in Houston, Texas, Rafte & Company specializes in designing, implementing and managing strategic business and technology consulting solutions, remote collaboration systems, document management software solutions, legal software support, IT design and management services. For more information about Rafte & Company’s business consulting, IT consulting and hosted solutions, visit www.rafte.com.

About The Aldridge Company

The Aldridge Company is a Houston, Texas-based technology management, consulting and outsourcing company.  Founded in 1984, the company brings a winning combination of professional technical expertise, extensive capabilities and a strict focus on the importance of business processes.  The Aldridge Company is a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions.  In 2011, the company was listed as No. 11 on the Houston Business Journal’s Fast Tech 50 list of fastest growing Houston technology companies.

HOUSTON, January 9, 2012 – The Aldridge Company (www.aldridge.com), a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions for SMBs, today announced it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co., Ltd. (SLED) to help advance cloud computing in the Pudong district of Shanghai. The Aldridge Company is among a dozen organizations joining forces to form the Shanghai Lingang Free Trade Port Economic Development, which will develop a new state-of-the-art data center designed for cloud computing.

Under the terms of the MOU, The Aldridge Company will offer consulting and operational services for cloud computing as customers move into the data center. In addition to opening the data center, the development intends to act as a business incubator for its partners in the Pudong district of Shanghai.

“We are proud to be helping to bring the benefits of cloud computing to business and government organizations in Eastern China and view this partnership as a key step forward in our international growth,” said David L. Aldridge, president of The Aldridge Company. “This is the first of what we hope will be many new opportunities in China and elsewhere as organizations around the world embrace the cloud.”

The Aldridge Company offers a broad range of IT solutions, including enterprise-level management of servers, PCs and networks coupled with rapid and accurate technical support. Additionally, The Aldridge Company’s data center facilities offer fully-redundant, secure hosting of servers that cross the spectrum of business disciplines. These capabilities are especially in demand in China. As a result of the Shanghai Lingang Free Trade Port Economic Development partnership, The Aldridge Company is in talks with at least one potential customer about replacing its aging IT infrastructure with a cloud computing platform.

The companies that formed the Shanghai Lingang Free Trade Port Economic Development, along with the government of Pudong, will open the development in the Yangshan Free Trade Port Area near the Yangshan Deep Water Port, part of the world’s busiest cargo port of Shanghai.  The free trade port area also has the advantages of the nearby Pudong International Airport, as well as rail and highway access. Among the 11 other partners signing the memorandum of understanding with the Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co., Ltd., are Cisco Systems and NetApp.

About The Aldridge Company

The Aldridge Company is a Houston, Texas-based technology management, consulting and outsourcing company.  Founded in 1984, the company brings a winning combination of professional technical expertise, extensive capabilities and a strict focus on the importance of business processes.  The Aldridge Company is a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions.  In 2011, the company was listed as No. 11 on the Houston Business Journal’s Fast Tech 50 list of fastest growing Houston technology companies.

Long gone are the days when IT was a separate entity from the business it served– called on only for computer malfunctions. Today, across every industry and country, technology experts are an integral part of a company’s work. That is why it is more important than ever that a business’s technical support is able to understand thoroughly the company, its goals, and its needs.

The Aldridge Company, founded in 1984 in Houston, Texas, has never been a call-if-there’s-a-problem IT firm. The company is directed by its founder David Aldridge and a group of highly qualified professionals satisfying 300 clients, typically small-to-medium-sized businesses. Aldridge develops long-term relationships with its clients through fixed-rate service, meaning that instead of billing hourly (which some other companies use to inflate issues and take advantage of clients), Aldridge charges a flat fee for a given period, and services all of their clients’ technology needs, problems, and questions at that fixed-rate.

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The Aldridge Company is ranked among the fastest growing tech companies in Houston.

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HOUSTON, November 29, 2011 – The Aldridge Company (www.aldridge.com), a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions for SMBs, today was recognized for the third year in a row by the Houston Business Journal as one of Houston’s fastest growing technology companies. The Aldridge Company was ranked 11th in the publication’s Fast Tech 50, achieving revenue growth of more than 106 percent in 2010.

“We thank our customers for entrusting us with their IT systems and information, which we believe are the most valuable assets of any business,” said Patrick R. Wiley, Chief Operating Officer of The Aldridge Company. “For many companies, IT becomes a burden that makes it harder to succeed, so our role is to remove IT obstacles and help customers align their systems and processes with their business strategy. Our customers can focus on their business and let our team of IT experts fully leverage technology to get them where they want to go.”

The Aldridge Company’s IT solutions include complete management of servers, PCs and networks coupled with rapid and accurate technical support. They provide audits of security and disaster recovery readiness, and offer a range of hosting services from dedicated servers to cloud hosting.

The Fast Tech 50 Awards recognize local technology companies with record performance based on percentage of annual revenue growth. To be eligible for the Fast Tech 50, a company’s 2009 and 2010 net revenue must have exceeded $200,000, and at least 51 percent of the consolidated revenue must involve the original manufacture, design or development of technology products or services. Companies must be for-profit and headquartered in the 10-county Houston region. This marks the 11th year of this prestigious award program.

The Houston Business Journal honored its Fast Tech 50 during a luncheon at the Hilton Americas Hotel in downtown Houston.

About The Aldridge Company
The Aldridge Company is a Houston, Texas-based technology management, consulting and outsourcing company. Founded in 1984, the company brings a winning combination of professional technical expertise, extensive capabilities and a strict focus on the importance of business processes. The Aldridge Company is a leading provider, consultant and integrator of Information Technology and Cloud Computing solutions. In 2011, the company was listed as No. 11 on the Houston Business Journal’s Fast Tech 50 list of fastest growing Houston technology companies.

The Aldridge Company will never request information about user name and password by soliciting via email.   Reputable companies will not either.  This is a practice is known as ”phishing” or “social engineering.”    The scammers and spammers that operate these sites may use a reputable company’s names to seek information (like usernames, passwords, account numbers, etc.), and then, if you comply, they have YOUR personal information with which they can potentially damage your credit, your accounts, your services, or perpetuate spam emails.

When you receive an email requesting personal information including any of the following:  user name, password, account number, social security number, or other personal information NEVER reply or comply.  DELETE THE EMAIL.

If you have questions, CALL the alleged company that is requesting the information (do not reply to any address in the email) to verify.

• February 2000 – Windows 2000
• September 2000 – Windows ME (we all remember this flop)
• October 2001 – Windows XP
• January 2007 – Windows Vista (windows ME again?)
• October 2009 – Windows 7

(Dates from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows)

 Each release is supposed to be better, faster, more stable, and offer more features than its predecessor.  As many IT Admins, CIOs, Managers, and even most home users have come to realize…they do not always live up to the hype.   Our most recent painful memory is Windows Vista.  It looked cool and sounded great; the hype was high, then the install took place, and its fall far from grace was swift.  Boot times were bad, resources usage was enormous, and networking was the pits.

 Even tho Vista was further in the hole than California’s budget Microsoft started the push, threatening major vendors that Windows XP was to be cut off and they had to use Windows Vista, this caused a major uproar across the industry.  Companies were getting ready to stop purchasing new PCs unless Windows XP was available or they might even move to Open Source.  Dell even made mention of selling PCs with an Open Source Desktop software if they had to. The battle raged on, and after several months Microsoft quietly slipped away and started to ramp up production on Windows 7.

 Windows 7… could it be the OS we were all hoping for after XP?  It has the glossy veneer look; it’s quick, and very stable.  I have been using it since its beta and are currently running the RTM, set to be available in stores Oct 22^nd of 2009.  So, if you’re like me, you wonder what is better?

 Some Positives:

• The most obvious is the clear and transparent user interface: “Aero.”  While Aero did exist in Vista, Windows 7 seems to make it sharper, smoother, and operate with a “snap” to it…like real speed.  The ability to make all windows transparent except for the one you are focusing on, which allows you to find what you are looking for with ease, works beautifully.    
• Multi-Monitor Support, this was probably the single most aggravating change I stumbled across in Windows Vista.  Windows Vista only supported a single video card driver at any one time, meaning if you (like me) were using  multiple monitors but were using 2 different brand video cards to power them, it would not work in Vista.   This forced us to purchase a new video card…even when there was nothing wrong with the originals, to match one of the other two we already had installed!  All of this to make use of 3+ monitors.  Windows 7 brought back the support of multi-video cards within the same system with the use of WDDM 1.1 (WDDM 1.1 has many increased uses and features that are beyond the scope of this post).  This allows Windows 7 to run and manage multiple video drivers at the same time, bringing a sigh of relief to the multi-monitor addicts like me, that have been using them successfully on a Windows XP system.
•  The “Ribbon” is in full force.  Anyone who has used or even laid eyes on Office 2007 will notice the drastic change in the menu system / tool bar, now dubbed the Ribbon.  The Ribbon while it was a complete (some argue, unnecessary), change has found its way into just about every new Microsoft product.  Windows 7 has some old programs that got a little face lift thanks to the Ribbon: MS Paint and WordPad.
•  Speed!  Is it faster?  Isn’t that the the real question? The answer: YES!  Windows Vista pushed boot times to 30 seconds or more, making “I will get it done in a few mins” take more like 10 mins.  Microsoft vowed to get the boot time to below 15 seconds on most systems, and I must agree that they did it!  My system, a a Dell Lattitude D630 laptop with 4 gig of RAM, boots in 10 seconds.   One of the biggest reasons that Windows runs faster is the way is handles graphics.  In short, Microsoft was able to transfer more of the renderings to the graphics card to lessen the burden on the CPU.  Read more in-depth, here. 
• Pricing underwent a little revamp, if you compare Windows Vista Release Date Pricing to Windows 7 Release Date Pricing, you’ll notice that it is a little cheaper to upgrade to or purchase Windows 7 than it would have to been to move to Windows Vista.  Read a full comparison, here. 

Some Negatives:

• Layout.  There are a few areas where Microsoft still needs to spruce up the layout; the most noticeable is the control panel.  The control panel has a very simple layout and it is easy to find everything but it lacks in the “kinda cool” thought area that most of the rest of Windows 7 possesses.
•  Internet Explorer 8 is pre-installed / built in, this is a killer for a lot of businesses.  Several businesses, and even home users, have chosen not install IE 8 because of the compatibility problems with many sites and applications needed within their organization.  If your usage of the Internet relies heavy on Internet Explorer, I recommend considering the installation IE 8 on a Windows XP machine first to test for compatibility problems, BEFORE moving to Windows 7.
•  The System requirements are basically the same for Windows 7 as Windows Vista.  Initial boot (just to the desktop) still runs up to approximately 800MB or 900MB of memory, and the high CPU usage is about the same in Windows 7.  Your computer will still perform faster and more be stable running Windows 7 than Windows Vista, but if you are only meeting the minimum requirements, consider an upgrade before moving forward.

At the end of the day, Windows 7 is a huge improvement from Windows ME..err..Vista, and it has MANY new features that we did not cover in this post.   With many businesses tightening budgets and with no compelling reason to move forward,  I am not sure how quickly the world will take to Windows 7; only time will tell…and…it might even live up to the hype.