Tuesday March 13 - Boulevard on Beaumont Hotel - A strong turnout of interested and receptive attendees enjoyed hearing Reid Purvis of VMware demystify much of the confusion surrounding virtualisation. With 100% of all respondents indicating the seminar was "relevant and useful" and most indicating they wanted more information about the next steps of virtualisation and data storage the first of CSA's "Hot Topic" seminars was a huge success. The seminar was followed by an informal lunch where attendees and CSA staff mingled and talked about virtualisation and where to go from here. CSA's Marketing Manager Grant Belcher, told the audience that further workshops, seminars and luncheon briefings are planned for 2007 and that "CSA was keen to provide seminars on topics which mattered most to CSA's customers". With strong interest in Unified Communations, IP Telephony, Security, Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint 2007 expect topical and engaging seminars to follow... keep an eye on our events page.

A NEWCASTLE company has become the first in regional Australia to achieve certification in Advanced Unified Communications, which is set to make dramatic changes to how business operates. Computer Systems Australa, established at Lambton in 1986, was certified in the new technology from US internet networking giant Cisco Systems yesterday. Unified Communications is the convergence of voice and data using internet protocol with a single digital identity, eliminating the need for seperate phone numbers and email addresses.

     Greg Wendt

CSA congratulates Colin Stephenson, Hunter Water for taking out the "Best Communications Solution in the Hunter" Award at the 2006 ATUG Hunter Valley-Housley Awards. Held on the 30th November 2006 the 6th annual ATUG awards recognise expertise and innovation in Hunter telecommunication projects. Hunter Water won Best Communication Solution in the Hunter with a full IP Telephony solution deployed by CSA encompassing their new site at Honeysuckle Drive and a backup/DR site. "Since implementation, the IPtel (Cisco) system has performed very well and the integrator CSA did a great job" said Colin Stephenson.