Posts tagged BLOG

Thycotic Software – New Sponsor

0
September 17, 2011
by Michael McNamara in

I’m happy to announce that Thycotic Software has become a long-term supporting sponsor of this blog. You might have noticed their ad running at the top of the right column for the past few months (I feel like that guy screaming in the ad on a daily basis). You can find Thycotic on Twitter at @Thycotic. Thanks to Jonathan and all the folks over at Thycotic for their past, current and future support.

I’d encourage anyone interested in password management solutions to give Thycotic’s Secret Server and Password Reset Server products serious consideration.

Thycotic Software

Thycotic is a Microsoft Silver Certified partner that has provided secure software products, development and training to the information technology industry, individual consumer and small business markets since 1996.

Thycotic Software leads in the field of Microsoft .NET-based Agile development using Test Driven Development (TDD) and other lean techniques to deliver reliable code that meets the user’s needs. Secret Server, their password management software, has been tested by Veritest, featured on Larkware’s Daily Grind, download.com, and is trusted and depended on by small businesses and large corporations every day.

Secret Server

Enterprise Password Management for IT Administrators.

Manage and protect your organization’s most vulnerable secrets: your privileged passwords.

With Secret Server enterprise password management software, you and your colleagues can control access to critical enterprise passwords in one centralized, web-based repository. Our password management software offers permissioned users secure access to passwords and other privileged information.

Store, distribute, change, audit in a secure environment.

Password Reset Server

Self-Service Password Reset Tool for End-users

Stop wasting your time doing password resets for employees.

Reduce calls to your Help Desk and let employees reset their own forgotten passwords through a series of secure questions and images, and even telephone verification.

A self service password reset, Password Reset Server combines ease-of-use with advanced security, and meets Section 508 compliance standards. And our free 500-user trial means you have 30 days of full access to the kind of self-service software your Help Desk will appreciate.

You’ll find trial copies of both Secret Server and Password Reset Server on Thycotic’s website.

Thanks again to Thycotic Software for their support!

Avaya looking to cash in with IPO

3
June 15, 2011
by Michael McNamara in

Last week Avaya announced that it would seek to raise $1 billion in an IPO.

As Ben Levisohn recently pointed out in the Wall Street Journal “The IPO game is notoriously dicey for retail investors”, but for the companies going public it can provide a windfall of cash to help drive R&D and additional product development. With the recent results of the LinkedIn offering I can see why Avaya might be enticed to jump into the market. However, the IPO game is getting crowded with Pandora going public today (surged to $26 share but dropped back to $18 a share later in the session) and Groupon, Facebook, Twitter and Zynga all looking to possibly go public sometime later this year.

Thursday’s filing disclosed Avaya has lost more than $3.6 billion since it was taken private in 2007 in an $8.3 billion buyout. The engineers of that deal, Silver Lake and TPG, own a 72 percent stake in Avaya, according to Thursday’s filing.

In the past year, Avaya has introduced more than 60 new products and services to boost its revenue. Through the six months ending March 31, Avaya’s revenue totaled $2.76 billion, a 16 percent increase from the same period last year. But its losses have widened to $615 million in the current year from $421 million the previous year.

I will say that I was surprised at the financials reported above in the Yahoo Finance news post. With Avaya selling stock publicly they’ll now need to file quarterly statements with the SEC something they haven’t had to-do as a privately held company. I’m curious if the red ink will drive away future or existing customers. What do you think?

Cheers!

Philadelphia Soda Tax: You’re not serious?

10
June 14, 2011
by Michael McNamara in

While I don’t generally post opinionated off-topic editorials I just couldn’t resist this one.

When I initially heard of the soda tax last year I honestly thought it was a joke. Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia is again proposing a two-cents-per-ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in order to close a $629 million school budget spending gap. Now I’m all for supporting our schools and these uncertain economic times are difficult for everyone but you honestly want to tax soda?

How many taxes do we as citizens of the United States of America already pay?

  • Capital Gains Tax (15% on long term gains)
  • Cigarette Tax ($0.36 per pack)
  • Corporate Income Tax
  • Federal Income Tax (25% for household making $100,000)
  • Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
  • Gasoline Tax ($0.48 per gallon)
  • Inheritance Tax (4.5% direct descendants, 12% siblings and 15% other heirs)
  • Interest Expense (tax on the money)
  • Liquor Tax ($0.08 per gallon)
  • Local (Wage) Income Tax (Philadelphia residents 3.928% non-residents 3.4985%)
  • Luxury Taxes
  • Medicare Tax
  • Property Tax (assessed value x 8.264%)
  • Real Estate Tax
  • Sales Taxes (8% in Philadelphia)
  • School Tax (3.9280%)
  • Social Security Tax (4.2% for employees and 6.2% for employers)
  • State Income Tax (Pennsylvania is a flat 3.07%)
  • State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
  • Telephone Federal Excise Tax
  • Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
  • Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
  • Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
  • Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
  • Telephone State and Local Tax
  • Telephone Usage Charge Tax
  • Vehicle Sales Tax (6% for title and registration)

List taken from Yahoo Answers and shorten to remove permit fees, user fees, etc. I’ve added some of the rates for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania above. If you look over the list it’s pretty scary to see all the different taxes that we pay.

So when you make your money you are taxed at the federal, state and local levels. When you spend your money your taxed again via the state sales tax and a host of other “additional” taxes. When you invest the money you’ve made and you in turn make more money you are taxed yet again.

I can see why the politicians wouldn’t mind adding yet another tax to the list.

As I previously mentioned I understand supporting our local, state and federal governments and our schools but we just can’t keep adding taxes to close what politicians and administrators see as “spending budget gaps”. On the flip side I do recognize that the US isn’t the worst country in the world as far as taxes goes. Look at Ireland for example, a country where I have many relatives and that I’ve personally visited has a federal income tax rate of 20% for earnings under ~ €45,400 (married couple) and 41% for earnings over that amount.

It’s not easy find a slice of the American Pie with Uncle Sam eating it all up.

Cheers!

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