PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff is scheduled for Wednesday, October 9th at 4 AM for much of Northern California. For planning purposes, PG&E suggests customers prepare for outages that could last several days. Please take appropriate actions to ensure the safety of your systems if you are in a targeted shutdown area. See if your area is affected here...

Blog Articles from ATS Communciations

Don't Neglect Surge Protectors in Your Workplace

November 16th, 2017 by admin

Isolated black surge protector strip with 6 outlets

Businesses use surge protectors every day without thinking about them; however, they are an incredibly important piece of technology that can make the difference between a $20.00 and a $2,000.00 equipment replacement. While uncommon, a power surge can...

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Posted in: Support, Solutions, Knowledge

Problems with Power Loss: Tips for Workplace Computer Battery Backups

November 8th, 2017 by admin

View of the backside of a wooden desk with 2 Apple computers and an Apple laptop, all in gray

It's inevitable: employees working hard on a time-consuming project and then out of nowhere, the lights start to flicker and the power goes out. Suddenly, those workers express their frustration by pulling out their hair because they've just lost hours'...

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Posted in: Knowledge

Alternative Employee Device Security: Fingerprints, Facial Recognition, and Iris Scans, Oh My!

October 17th, 2017 by admin

Stylized magnifying glass resting on three oversized fingerprints

So far, 2017 has been an eventful year for increasing access to password-alternative smartphone and laptop unlocking techniques. Notably, Samsung added Face unlocking to the Galaxy S8 line and Apple introduced Face ID on the iPhone X. Of particular note,...

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Posted in: Security

3 Lessons SMBs Can Learn From Retailers On Thanksgiving Weekend

September 6th, 2017 by admin

Two monitors with arms reaching out of them, exchanging a gold credit card for purchased items

Online retailers are already working on business strategies for the Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday online shopping weekend months in advance. These three days are the busiest online shopping days for retailers, bringing in nearly $6 billion...

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Posted in: Knowledge

Amazon Alexa in the Workplace: What Could You Do With a Virtual Assistant?

June 20th, 2017 by admin

Graphic of six people-shaped figures with question speech bubbles above them

Amazon Alexa, the voice-based intelligent personal assistant you may have seen an early adopter friend use at home, has surprising business use potential to increase productivity in the workplace. Like Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, and Microsoft's...

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Posted in: Managed IT Services, Services

Scheduling Security: Take Control of Your OS Updates

May 10th, 2017 by admin

The word 'update' written in chalk on a blackboard, with a red analog clock between the 'p' and 'd' letters

It happens to everyone: You turn your computer back on after you intended to leave the office, or come in early to get a head start on a new project, only to be greeted by a 20-minute operating system (OS) update session. This common workplace frustration...

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Posted in: Solutions

Avoiding Disaster: Overheating Computers

April 5th, 2017 by admin

Shiny, red fire extinguisher with a yelling cartoon face on the side

If one of your office computers always seems to shut down or slow to a crawl at the busiest of times, you may have a case of overheating on your hands—especially if IT can't find anything wrong on the software level. Performance hiccups might seem like...

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Posted in: Solutions, Knowledge

The Benefits of Laptop Docks and At-Desk Peripherals

March 21st, 2017 by admin

Overhead view of a computer user typing on a white, detachable Mac keyboard connected to a MacBook laptop

With a little bit of effort, your staff can reap all the benefits of a laptop, and many of the perks of a desktop, with a little bit of planning and some additional hardware. It's a common perception that laptops lead in portability, while desktops specialize...

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Posted in: Managed IT Services, Knowledge