Introducing Promethean ActivPanel Titanium

GDK Network Systems – Ireland's leading reseller of Promethean for the last 12 years - is delighted to introduce the new Promethean ActivPanel Titanium.

Thoughtfully designed for the classroom environment with the teachers’ needs in mind, the ActivPanel Titanium delivers an intuitive user experience via the unified menu - making it simple, quick and easy to navigate, while integrating seamlessly with Promethean’s Activ Inspire Software. This includes Promethean’s Instant Whiteboarding app – collaborate without the need to connect to a computer and deliver interactive and engaging lessons on an infinite canvas.

Natural writing experience

Understanding the importance of the writing experience, they developed Vellum Writing Technology to deliver a natural and precise writing experience – writing on the ActivPanel is as natural as putting pen to paper. Automatically detecting the difference between pen, touch and palm erase, the ActivPanel Titanium makes writing on the screen truly seamless.

Apps at your fingertips

Introducing the Promethean Locker - the go-to place for all your Android apps. From the pre-loaded range of essential interactive apps to the ability to download a wide range of educational apps from the Promethean Store, the Promethean Locker saves time and makes teaching with tech easier by providing a single destination to access, launch and manage apps.

Tested and Built for IT Support and Security

The ActivPanel Titanium has been built from the ground up to integrate into any technology environment reliably, securely, and with a teacher-centric design that makes it easy to use. The onboard Android™ 8 operating system delivers a new level of speed, security, and reliability, while enhanced over-the-air updates reduce the time and effort needed to make software and firmware updates. All included software, apps, and platform services are purposefully designed for ongoing enhancements and continuous innovation, ensuring that today’s investment will pay dividends well into the future.

Some of the many benefits of this new product:

Enhanced Interactivity: Teachers and students can collaborate with up to 20 simultaneous touch points including pen, touch, and palm erase. Intelligent palm rejection technology recognises when a user is simply steadying themselves to write confidently on the screen.

Device Mirroring: ActivPanel Titanium’s controlled, multidevice mirroring lets teachers and students collaborate from anywhere in the classroom by connecting handheld devices.

Room-filling Sound: Students who hear better, learn better. The ActivPanel Titanium’s bass-enhanced, front facing speakers fill the classroom with full range audio and superior fidelity.

Dual Proximity Sensors: The ActivPanel Titanium automatically wakes up when someone enters the room. Teachers can quickly get started with the tap of the finger anywhere on the panel.

Teacher-friendly Centre Console: Designed with the teacher in mind, the ActivPanel Titanium features an ergonomic, angled control console. Teachers now have quick and easy access to the unified menu, volume controls, source selection, and more.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for Enhanced Connectivity: Provides the flexibility required for diverse networking needs and offers more classroom mobility. Bluetooth allows for easy connection to accessories and STEAM-based hardware, such as robots and lab sensors.

All-in-One and Connected: The ActivPanel Titanium features the speed, security, and reliability of the Android 8 operating system on-board, with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and Gigabit LAN integration.

Intuitive & Ergonomic: Promethean have drawn on their more than 20 years’ experience of developing technologies which enhance the teaching and learning environment to underpin a design philosophy which focuses on user feedback and market knowledge – enabling them to deliver advanced and flexible classroom solutions which directly address the needs of teachers, school leaders and ICT professionals.

To find out more about the new ActivPanel Titanium please contact the team at GDK Network Systems. We can arrange a free of charge, no obligation trial and demonstration for your school.

Protect Your Networks with Easy Patch Management

One of the easiest ways for hackers to breach networks is by targeting the vulnerabilities of out-of-date software. It has never been as important to ensure that all devices on your network are correctly patched with the most up to-date software updates.

That’s why keeping software current with the latest security patches
is essential for strong Cybersecurity.

GDK's Remote Monitoring & Management Software (RMM) streamlines patch management by giving you granular control over your patching policies through our Monitored Helpdesk System. Whether you want to automate the entire process, customize patches for certain devices or manually approve or deny patches, RMM gives you peace of mind while getting the job done

• Automatically approve patches based on severity so you don’t miss a critical security update
• Schedule updates for specific maintenance windows to avoid disrupting productivity
• Sup port more software, including critical Microsoft programs and over 80 third party application families

Patches are provided for popular Software including, but not limited to:

• Microsoft Office 365, Exchange, SQL Server,
• Internet Explorer and Windows OS, Java, Adobe, Mozilla Firefox,
• Google Chrome, Apple iTunes and Apple QuickTime.

To assist our clients we install an easy patch management strategy.

If you would like us to assist, please Ring us now 01-2166 970 or click below to send us a form.

==> Fill in your details here and we will contact you shortly

Protect Your Networks with Easy Patch Management

Benefits of adding additional Memory to your Servers

Memory is what feeds processing cores, it’s one of the most effective and affordable ways to improve CPU utilisation and efficiency.
There are huge benefits of adding additional Memory(RAM) to your Servers that include:

• It’s the fastest, easiest, most dependable way to increase Server performance
• When CPUs are fully utilised, you will be able to use fewer Servers to accomplish more
• Fewer Servers keeps power, cooling, and software licensing costs lower
• It’s one of the best ways to cut costs and overcome workload constraints.

Additional Memory helps overcome 5 top server workload constraints:

1. Limited budget: More memory helps increase CPU efficiency and utilisation, which in turn decreases a server’s cost of ownership because users are getting more performance out of it and are able to use fewer servers to accomplish more.
2. Unexpected or unpredictable workload demands: More RAM helps eliminate quality of service variance because it provides extra resources for virtualised applications to store and use active data, which lives in memory.
3. Limited floor space: Scaling up and using less servers optimises limited floor space and cuts power, cooling and software license costs.
4. Rapid growth in user base: Hosting more users requires more RAM to maintain quality of service levels and gain system flexibility.
5. High power and cooling costs: More RAM helps servers use power in the most efficient manner plus using fewer servers lowers total energy costs.

The bottom line:
Improve workload performance with more Memory, not necessarily more Servers

For more information, please contact us to discuss how we can help.

11 Tips on Internet Security

In recent times, the GDK Helpdesk has experienced a significant rise in Internet threats and in particular with Ransomeware such as Cryptolocker and Xepto. In most cases the solution to this problem was to restore from the last known good backup. GDK are taking this opportunity to remind our clients and our contacts of some of the best practices in relation to Internet and eMail usage. We are also making some suggestions below in relation to the Multi layered security approach that is now required to ensure a successful IT business continuity Plan.

1. Use a Managed Antivirus product & and ensure it is active and up to date on your Servers, workstations, PC's and Tablets.
2. Be careful of opening  emails from both known and unknown sources that look suspicious.
3. Think twice and remain critical when opening attachments in e-mails or files downloaded from the Internet.
   Ask yourself if you trust the source and if they would send you this type of Email in the first place. Email addresses from the sender may be fabricated to look like yours.
   Never click links in emails or texts that seem to come from your bank, the Revenue or any other institution. If you think the message might be valid, log into your account directly, without using the supplied link.
4. Be cautious with your passwords; don't use personal names, don't share them, make them difficult to break, use complex passwords. Implement a password change policy.
5. Avoid using the internet to access your sensitive data in cafes or public places.
6. Never leave your devices unattended.
7.  Keep all software applications up-to-date with the latest patches including Microsoft Operating Systems
8. Disable Java on your browser.
9. Nothing is free. Be particularly careful of the source for free apps or software.  
10. Don’t trust anything on the internet (even legitimate Web sites could end up delivering malware).  
11. Back up your Data on all devices– not just your computer, but also your phone and your tablet ideally in both a local and cloud destination. Test the restore capabilities on a regular basis

What should Business Clients do?

• Implement a robust data recovery procedure
• Implement a multi layered security approach that would include:
  • Mail Protection (Includes anti-spam)
  • Server & Work Station Antivirus with up to date bit patterns
  • Implement a Workstation Management Policy which manages the Patch updating from all software applications.
  • Implement Web Protection on all workstations to avoid access to known malware internet sites
  • Insist on Firewall protection with additional security at the gateway for Antivirus, Anti Spyware and Intrusion prevention.
  • Configure your firewall to ensure remote users are who they say they are.

Call GDK for further information and how we have successfully implemented our Business IT Care plan for many clients.