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‍Osprey Technology Solutions Acquires 100% of Lanworks, Expanding Its Portfolio and Enhancing Service Offerings

August 31st, 2024 – [Toronto, Ontario] – Osprey Technology Solutions, a leading provider of innovative IT solutions and services, is pleased to announce the acquisition of 100% of Lanworks, a premier provider of network infrastructure and managed IT services. This strategic acquisition marks a significant milestone in Osprey’s expansion strategy and is set to enhance its service offerings and market position.

Key Highlights of the Acquisition:

• Enhanced Service Portfolio: By integrating Lanworks’ Managed IT Services and advanced network and security solutions with Osprey’s comprehensive IT services, the combined entity will offer an expanded suite of services, including advanced cybersecurity, cloud solutions and network management.
• Innovation and Expertise: Lanworks’ team of skilled professionals will join Osprey, bringing valuable expertise and innovative capabilities that will drive the development of new solutions and enhance the company’s overall service quality.
• Commitment to Client Success: Both companies share a client-centric approach, and this acquisition underscores Osprey’s commitment to delivering exceptional value and support to its clients. The merger will ensure a seamless transition and continued excellence in service delivery.

“We are excited to welcome Lanworks into the Osprey Technology Solutions family,” said Leigh Plumley, President and CEO of Osprey Technology Solutions. “This acquisition aligns perfectly with our strategic vision and enhances our ability to deliver comprehensive IT Managed Services out of the Canadian marketplace and across North America. Lanworks’ strong reputation, 38 years in business and specialized technical expertise will complement our growth strategy and enable us to provide even more value and innovation.”

Eva Kostiuk & Eric Rydzkowski, Co-founders of Lanworks, expressed enthusiasm about the merger, stating, “Joining forces with Osprey Technology Solutions is a tremendous opportunity for our team and our clients. The combined strengths of our companies will create a powerful platform for growth and innovation. We look forward to working together to continue delivering exceptional service and solutions to our clients.”  Eric Rydzkowski will remain as President of Lanworks and continue to lead the organization.

For more information about the acquisition or to learn more about Osprey Technology Solutions’ expanded service offerings, please visit www.OspreyTS.com or contact:

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Media Contact:

info@OspreyTS.com

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About Osprey Technology Solutions

Osprey consists of a group of industry investors and operators that have come together to transform the Managed Service landscape across North America.  Osprey’s focus will be on MSPs that provide Managed Infrastructure Services, Data Center, Managed Cloud, AI, Big Data, Edge compute services in a differentiated, scalable fashion. Osprey’s growth strategy includes the acquisition of small but profitable MSPs across North America that want to join forces with Osprey and buy into our delivery first mindset.

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About Lanworks

Lanworks is a premier provider of network infrastructure and managed IT services, known for its expertise in designing and managing complex network environments.  Lanworks is committed to delivering high quality solutions and building on its 38 years of exceptional service to its clients.

Microsoft’s Windows Recall AI feature hasn’t launched yet but it’s already a target.

 

Microsoft has been touting its Windows Recall AI feature as a must-have for anyone who wants to remember an old webpage or message. But a new reveal suggests it may also come with its fair share of security problems.

Microsoft unveiled the Windows Recall feature last month, touting it as the next iteration of using artificial intelligence (AI) to remember what you do on a PC. The feature captures a copy of the PC every five seconds and can be queried for information, including messages previously sent, conversations with friends, and even a recipe that users may have accessed a week prior. Microsoft said the feature would save users time and make the experience of using Windows 11 far more efficient.

Microsoft also touted how the captures would be stored on the device, so data wouldn’t be transferred to the cloud, preserving security. Indeed, a Windows 11 machine’s entire hard drive is encrypted when a user isn’t logged into their system account. However, when the user does log in, the entire drive is decrypted, making information — including Recalls — available to the user and readily accessible to bad actors who want to steal the data.

Ethical hacker Alex Hagenah has launched a tool, called TotalRecall, that shows how anyone with enough know-how and the right tools could steal the recalls saved on a Windows machine and access that data, encryption-free, on a target device. According to Hagenah, whose work was reported on earlier by Wired, he analyzed Windows Recall and found that the tool — which takes screen captures of a Windows machine every five seconds — stores the data completely unencrypted on the user’s computer.

“TotalRecall copies the databases and screenshots and then parses the database for potentially interesting artifacts,” Hagenah wrote in a GitHub posting about TotalRecall. “You can define dates to limit the extraction as well as search for strings (that were extracted via Recall OCR) of interest. There is no rocket science behind all this.”

 

TotalRecall is designed to run on a target PC and automatically locate where Recall snapshots are located. The tool can then set a date range for analyzing data or look at what happened on a person’s computer at a specific time. While it hasn’t been exploited in the wild — Recall AI hasn’t launched yet, after all — it could pave the way for hackers with know-how or even domestic abusers to run a version of TotalRecall on a machine surreptitiously to monitor and steal sensitive information, conversations, emails, and more.

Microsoft initially announced Recall as an on-by-default preview feature on Copilot+ PCs specialized for AI, which was set to become available starting June 18.

However, in response to the backlash, Microsoft announced on June 7 that the feature would be disabled by default. In an update shared on June 13, the tech giant said it has decided not to make Recall available on Copilot+ PCs. Instead, a Recall preview will first become available in the Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks, and it will be rolled out to Copilot+ PCs after receiving feedback from the Windows Insider Community.

If you are concerned if it is active, here are the steps to take to ensure its disabled:

1. Open Windows Settings(WIN+I)
2. Select “Privacy & Security”in the sidebar.
3. Select “Recall & Snapshots.”
4. Toggle “Save Snapshots” to off.
5. Select “Delete Snapshots.”
6. Select “Delete All.”
7. Close Windows Settings.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns!

HP has annouced its 2024 laptop lineup, and HP’s new offerings are not just PCs but “AI PCs”—meaning they use the latest generation of Intel CPUs, which include specialized AI processors called neural processing units (NPUs).  HP says that it now has “the industry’s largest portfolio of AI PCs.”

The 2024 HP lineup includes a number of new laptops, like the business-oriented HP Elite 1000 Series notebooks and the hybrid-focused HP ProBook 400 and 405 Series. But for engineers and designers, the most interesting new arrivals are the latest generation HP ZBook mobile workstations. These laptops target high performance workflows such as CAD design, 3D rendering and AI development.

There are four new HP ZBook mobile workstations: The HP ZBook Fury G11, HP ZBook Power G11, HP ZBook Studio G11 and HP ZBook Firefly G11. Here’s everything we know about these new AI PCs so far.

The HP ZBook Fury G11

The ZBook Fury is the most powerful of HP’s ZBook lineup, and the Fury G11 continues that tradition with a spec bump to the 14th-gen Intel HX-series of high performance processors. The HP ZBook Fury G11 can also be equipped with up to the Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation laptop graphics card, Nvidia’s most powerful mobile chip. It can be configured with up to 128 GB of DDR5 memory and up to 16 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage.

The HP ZBook Fury G11. (Image: HP.)

Boasting a 16-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and up to a 4K resolution, the HP ZBook Fury G11 “enables powerful AI acceleration for editing 8K videos, advanced 3D rendering, VFX, or tuning and running local AI models,” according to HP’s press release.

The HP ZBook Fury G11 is expected to be available in April 2024. HP has yet to announce pricing.

	HP ZBook Fury G11
CPU	Up to Intel vPro with 13th Gen Intel Core processors or non-vPro with 14th Gen Intel Core processors
GPU	Up to Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation
Memory	Up to 128 GB SODIMM DDR5
Storage	Up to 16 TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe
Display	16-inch
Starting weight	5.3 lbs
Availability	April 2024

The HP ZBook Power G11

With what HP calls a “new premium 16-inch design,” the HP ZBook Power G11 is made to power demanding workflows including AI development, 3D modeling and conceptual design.

The HP ZBook Power G11. (Image: HP.)

The HP ZBook Power G11 can be configured with the new Intel Core Ultra 9 processors, or alternatively with the latest AMD Ryzen Pro processors. The Power G11 supports up to the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation laptop GPU and can also be equipped with the just-announced Nvidia RTX 500 and 1000 Ada GPUs. The laptop supports up to 64 GB of DDR5 memory and up to 2 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage.

HP expects the ZBook Power G11 to be available in April, and the company says pricing will be announced closer to its release.

	HP ZBook Power G11
CPU	Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 processor or next generation of AMD Ryzen Pro processors
GPU	Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation, Nvidia RTX 1000 Ada Generation, Nvidia RTX 500 Ada Generation
Memory	Up to 64 GB SODIMM DDR5
Storage	Up to 2 TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe
Display	16-inch
Starting weight	4.5 lbs
Availability	April 2024

HP ZBook Studio G11

Sleeker than the Power and the Fury at a starting weight of 3.81 pounds, the ZBook Studio G11 is another 16-inch mobile workstation with a next-gen spec bump. Like the Power G11, the Fury G11 can be configured with up to the new Intel Core Ultra 9 processors and up to the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada laptop GPU. Unlike the Power G11, the Studio G11 doesn’t offer any AMD processor options.

The HP ZBook Studio G11. (Image: HP.)

The HP ZBook Studio G11 can be configured with up to 64 GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 4 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. HP expects the Studio G11 to be available in May, a month later than the other new ZBooks, and will announce pricing closer to release.

	HP ZBook Studio G11
CPU	Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 processor
GPU	Up to Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation or GeForce RTX 4070
Memory	Up to 64 GB SODIMM DDR5
Storage	Up to 4 TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe
Display	16-inch
Starting weight	3.81 lbs
Availability	May 2024

HP ZBook Firefly G11

The most mobile of the ZBook G11 lineup, the ZBook Firefly G11 is available in both a 14-inch and 16-inch version. The lightweight laptop features up to the Intel Core Ultra 7 processors or the latest generation of AMD Ryzen Pro processors. As for discrete graphics, the Firefly G11 supports the Nvidia RTX A500 laptop GPU, which is a generation behind the new RTX 500 Ada Generation available in the Power G11. Like the Power G11, the Firefly G11 supports up to 64 GB of DDR5 memory and up to 2 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage.

The 14-inch HP ZBook Firefly G11. (Image: HP.)

The 14-inch Firefly G11 weighs in at an impressive 3.1 pounds, lending support to HP’s claim that the laptop represents the “perfect fusion of pro-level performance and true mobility.” The ZBook Firefly G11 will be available in April, with pricing announced closer to launch.

	HP ZBook Firefly G11
CPU	Up to Intel Core Ultra 7 processor or next generation of AMD Ryzen Pro processors
GPU	Up to Nvidia RTX A500 or integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
Memory	Up to 64 GB SODIMM DDR5
Storage	Up to 2 TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe
Display	14- or 16-inch
Starting weight	3.1 lbs (14-inch) / 3.88 lbs (16-inch)
Availability	April 2024

The era of AI PCs is upon us

While the term “AI PC” may be more of a marketing buzzword than a real differentiator from PCs past, it’s clear that HP and other workstation makers are doing all they can to bring AI to their customer’s fingertips. Like the recently announced Dell Precision laptops, at least one of the new HP ZBooks (the Firefly G11) includes a dedicated key to access Microsoft Copilot, Windows’ built-in AI assistant. So do two forthcoming HP keyboards announced alongside the new computers. Across all of its forthcoming products, HP has clearly put AI up front.

What are solid-state batteries?

The lithium-ion batteries that we rely on in our phones, laptops and electric cars have a liquid electrolyte, through which ions flow in one direction to charge the battery and the other direction when it is being drained. Solid-state batteries, as the name suggests, replace this liquid with a solid material.

A lithium-ion battery will typically have a graphite electrode, a metal oxide electrode and an electrolyte of lithium salt dissolved in some sort of solvent. In solid-state batteries, you might find one of a whole host of promising materials replacing the lithium, including ceramics and sulphides.

Why is ditching a liquid electrolyte useful?

Although some solid-state battery prototypes still use it, one big advantage of cutting out lithium is that it is in short supply and environmentally damaging to mine. The shortage is only likely to worsen as the world shifts away from fossil fuels towards using more renewable electricity stored in batteries.

There are also technical advantages to solid-state batteries, as well as logistical and economic ones. Removing the liquid electrolyte makes batteries less susceptible to fires, for example. And while conventional lithium batteries quickly charge up to 80 per cent of their capacity, they charge slowly from there to 100 per cent. Solid-state batteries can be fully charged more quickly.

Crucially, though, solid electrolytes are less dense, so a solid-state battery can be smaller and lighter than its lithium-ion competitor. This could, in turn, make electric cars smaller and lighter, or give them a greater range for the same size and weight. The increased energy density and lower weight could even make electric aircraft a viable proposition.

 

How far away are they?

Solid-state batteries are nothing new – solid electrolytes were created in the 1800s by Michael Faraday, and they are currently used in medical implants. But a technique to manufacture them cheaply has been elusive.

The obvious benefits have seen car companies pouring cash into research. Ford and BMW have invested in a company called Solid Power that has previously said it will manufacture enough cells for 800,000 cars a year by 2028, while Mercedes-Benz has put money into another firm called Factorial Energy.

Toyota’s claims come after signing a deal earlier this month with Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan, which says it has been working on a sulphide solid electrolyte. The companies hope to start manufacturing a solid-state battery for cars in either 2027 or 2028, with production ramping up at a later date.

 

Practical Uses and Applications:

• Medical devices such as pacemakers and in smartwatches and other wearable devices. The battery life in pacemakers is estimated between five and 10 years, but new technology could extend this to 50 years.

• Thinner Notebooks and Phones with multi-day battery life and slimmer design as the batteries are more dense. Imagine doubling your battery life!

(LG Rollable Phone -CES 2024)

• Faster charging EVs with longer lasting batteries (lifetime) with greater range and less weight.
• Aircraft and Space travel, with reduced weight of the batteries and increased storage capacity the future will allow propellant-less flight

As a business owner, one of your immediate thoughts is probably whether you ought to update to Windows 11 right away or if you should adopt a wait-and-see approach. After all, there might still be major bugs that need fixing, and you also need to ensure your vendors will support the new update.

Besides, with Windows 10 support set to end in 2025, you have more than enough time to prepare adequately for the transition. But even when you don’t want to rush, it’s crucial to strategize and plan to ensure your business’s smooth transition to Windows 11 when the time comes.

Before migrating to Windows 11, here’s what you need to know:

1.Benefits of a Windows 11 migration

One of the primary steps you need to take before upgrading to Windows 11 is knowing and understanding exactly what value Windows 11 brings and the benefits of upgrading.

Some of the major appeals of Windows 11 are its new and improved features and functionalities like reliability, security, compatibility, multitasking, video conferencing, playing, creating, learning and a whole lot more.

From among the benefits Windows 11 offers, the following elements stand out:

• Security: With more cyberattacks and data breaches taking place, Windows 11 ramps up IT security by requiring hardware to enable protections like Windows Hello, device encryption, secure boot, virtualization-based security (VBS), and hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI). Together, these features can help cut down incidences of malware significantly. To enable this, Windows 11 supported CPUs will have a trusted platform module or TPM. They should also have a support secure boot, support virtualization-based security (VBS) and certain VBS capabilities. These are designed to protect your system against malicious code (i.e. kernel-mode malware) that traditional security mechanisms usually have difficulty handling.
• Support and Reliability: All devices that are upgraded to Windows 11 are automatically supported and assumed to be in a reliable state. With CPUs adapted to the new Windows Driver model and supported by the OEM and other relevant partners, it’s possible to achieve a crash-free experience.
• System Compatibility: As the latest Windows OS, you can expect Windows 11 to be compatible with new or upgraded apps. It will align with the minimum system requirements for Microsoft Office and Teams.
• Space for Better Collaboration, Creativity and Productivity: Windows 11 offers a fresh avenue to manifest your creativity and indulge in better and new experiences on the Windows desktop operating system. You’ll have a newer, simpler Start menu and more convenient communication options. In addition, Windows 11 comes with better interoperability with Microsoft Teams, as you can launch directly into Teams chats and meetings with just one click or touch. You can also use virtual desktops to enhance productivity and easily switch from personal to work mode.
• Android App Support: One of the special surprises from the unveiling of Windows 11 is its Android app support via the Amazon Appstore.

2. System requirements

To facilitate Windows 11 migration, you need to meet the following minimum system requirements:

• 64-bit compatible processor or 1gH (or faster) system on a chip (SoC) with two or more cores
• 4 gigabytes (GB) of random-access memory (RAM)
• 64 GB of storage space for Windows 11 installation (additional storage space might be necessary to activate certain features and download updates)
• Secure boot-capable unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) firmware (legacy basic input/output system or BIOS firmware not supported)
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 (might have to be enabled in the firmware settings)
• DirectX 12 (or later) compatible graphics card with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 2.0 driver
• 9-inch monitor (or larger) with a high-definition (HD) display (or 720p display) and 8 bits per colour channel
• Internet connection

For a complete list of the requirements, you can check out the Windows 11 requirements page on the Microsoft website.

While Windows 11 can still be installed on computers that don’t meet the above minimum requirements, it’s considered a risky move as Microsoft won’t support such installations. There could also be compatibility problems, and since unsupported installations do not get updates, those computers would also be more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

3. Pre-migration checks

To ensure you experience a smooth and orderly transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11, take the time to cover all your bases. Rather than rushing into an upgrade for your business computers, go over your upgrade planning and enjoy a systematic transition.

Make sure you cover the following items first:

• Get your computers assessed to establish if they meet the minimum system requirements for a successful Windows 11 migration.
• Replace or upgrade units that don’t meet the technical requirements.
• Go over the software applications you use for your business and determine whether they’re compatible with Windows 11.
• Communicate the impending upgrade to your employees, provide a schedule and assure them that you have ironed out the details of the rollout.
• Schedule the migration with Softlanding and choose a timeframe that’ll minimize downtime.
• Set up a training schedule to help your team maximize the features of the new OS and instill confidence.

4. Windows 11 support

It’s crucial to note that Microsoft will provide two years of support for the Windows 11 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro for Education editions. Moreover, the support periods for the rest of the editions have been extended to three years.

Feature updates will now be issued yearly during the second half of each year, while security updates (or quality updates) will still be released every second Tuesday of each month.

Call or email Lanworks now and we can help to make this transition as painless as possible.