NextDesktop.com News and Press

New Project Management and Instant Messaging Applications Enable SMBs to Grow their Businesses with Hosted Desktops that are Secure, Cost-Effective Alternatives to Buying, Maintaining, Supporting and Upgrading PCs

Fairfax, VA – November 2, 2009 – mindSHIFT, an industry leader in delivering managed IT services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced that five additional Microsoft applications are now available on NextDesktop, an online service that provides SMBs with the first affordable hosted Windows desktop solution.

The additional Microsoft applications on NextDesktop provide SMBs with applications they need – without the security vulnerabilities, administrative burden and cost associated with traditional laptops and desktops. The additional Microsoft applications now available on NextDesktop include:

• Microsoft Project 2007 Standard
• Microsoft Visio 2007 Standard
• Instant Messaging Client: AOL AIM
• Instant Messaging Client: Microsoft MSN
• Instant Messaging Client: Yahoo Messenger

These five Microsoft applications represent the first among several other applications which mindSHIFT plans to announce and support for the hosted Windows desktop, based on market demand.

“With the launch of these additional NextDesktop applications, mindSHIFT addresses the needs of small and medium-sized organizations who must have lower-cost, secure computing capabilities, but can’t compromise on the applications they use every day,” said Ravi Agarwal, senior executive officer of technology innovation at mindSHIFT. “NextDesktop gives small and medium-sized businesses a more affordable, more productive and faster desktop with the applications and security they need to do business. The more applications we add, the more small and medium-sized businesses stand to benefit.”

NextDesktop provides a basic Windows desktop to budget-conscious organizations that don’t require the comprehensive 24-hour hardware, server, network, Help Desk and file restoration support of mindSHIFT’s fully-managed desktop solutions. With prices starting at $39.99 per user per month – vs. more than $100 per seat per month for competing hosted desktop solutions – NextDesktop removes the costly and burdensome tasks of desktop management for small and medium-sized businesses.

Because the data and applications are stored, or “hosted” in the secure data center, employees can access their desktop data and applications from any location using any PC, laptop, thin client or smartphone – as long as they have an Internet connection on their device.

In addition, NextDesktop offers online provisioning, based on mindSHIFT’s proprietary technology, allowing businesses to add and remove users within seconds, compared with hours or days required with other approaches. Furthermore, mindSHIFT uses Internap’s® Performance IP™ technology to provide stable, predictable Internet performance, which enhances employee productivity by preventing the lag time, or latency, which is typical of other hosted solutions. With this technology, emails and other data are routed via the fastest network based on a proactive, real-time analysis of Internet traffic and bottlenecks.

mindSHIFT manages nearly 80,000 mailboxes and 20,000 desktops for professional workers in small and mid-sized organizations. A team of 385 employees provides IT support and IT services to more than 10,000 organizations in more than 100 countries. 

About mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc.

mindSHIFT provides technology peace of mind to small and medium-sized organizations by delivering premier IT infrastructure and software services that utilize the most reliable and advanced systems and processes in the world.  Organizations use mindSHIFT’s IT management services to keep their businesses running 24x7, to increase reliability and to protect mission-critical data. mindSHIFT is ranked Number One among managed IT services providers by MSPmentor®. We make IT work for your business.®  www.mindSHIFT.com

mindSHIFT Technologies is a registered trademark of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc.
All trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

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Media Contacts:

Topaz Partners
Wendie Larkin
Phone: 781-404-2411
wlarkin@topazpartners.com

mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc.
Vicki J. Brown
617-243-2729
vicki.brown@mindSHIFT.com