We CAN:

1. Help you figure out how to do more with less in IT

2. Show you how to protect your existing and mission critical investment in IT

3. Show you how to leverage investments and relationships for IT sourcing

Let us take a look at your business issues and think up some ideas to address them. We know from experience that we can make a big difference in IT spend for most commercial enterprises.

Our CEO is calling your CFO to action.’ Put us to work today, ‘Delivering measurable value, integrating IT solutions, leveraging our people, process and principles‚Äù….all to show the ‘think‚Äù, in thinkASG!

Give us another 30 minutes of your time and we’ll design a solution that will save you money on your IT spend.

 2010 was a great year for the core thinkASG & IBM product portfolio.  In the first quarter, we announced the POWER7 line.  This latest generation, with its “meet the competition” initial investment and phenomenally lower total cost of ownership, has been the core of our server business.  We saw many older IBM Power installs upgrade to save money, as well as non-IBM Unix/Linux environments convert for the greater reliability, availability and scalability (RAS)… and now better financial position of POWER.  We also saw great progression and honing of the IBM Storage line.  XIV, the enterprise storage solution with the mid-market price point, took off this year after its initial installation base was implemented.  It has become the perfect team-mate to the DS8xxx line, also enhanced in 2010.  In the latter part of 2010, the Storwize V7000 product launched.  Storwize V7000 brought forward a great packaging of virtualization, “ease of use” and low cost storage that completely rounds out the storage group.  Most of our server clients leveraged the materially enhanced storage line by deploying storage centric IT solutions around consolidation and data protection.  SystemX remained strong with its Intel eX5 processor updates released in the spring.  As a result of the 2010 enhancements, the SystemX line retained its market leadership in scale-up/scale-out  applications and clients experienced continued financial returns thru server consolidation projects.  IBM Software made a splash in 2010 by adding new products almost daily and most importantly making IBM a “one stop shop” for middle-ware products.   IBM Software also made sure to keep the standards high with enhanced partner criterion to ensure that the client had the breadth, “best of breed”, and implementation skills to accomplish their goals.  Finally, IBM services prepared to take center stage as cloud computing offerings develop.  Initial cloud offerings were released for private cloud development and incremental offerings will be released in 2011.  Our core services practice continued to offer asset management value added services in partnership with the IBM maintenance teams and also saw growth in the application, hosting and managed services areas that will evolve to cloud consulting in 2011.  And, it should not go without note, that while the thinkASG team was accomplishing client goals around POWER, SystemX, Storage and Software solutions they were continuing to enhance their unmatched professional skill set with ongoing training and certification to give you absolute confidence in thinkASG as your solutions integrator.

 Moving in to 2011, I’m sure all eyes will continue to be on the economy and as a result on the cost containment/cost avoidance solutions that a valued advisor like thinkASG can bring to bear.  During the course of last year, we watched “protect your investment” projects such as HA/DR and security, begin to compete in share with the “do more with less” plays, i.e. server consolidation and storage virtualization.  I hope you will agree that this is a strong indicator that we are turning the corner from tactical to strategic and beginning to again plan our IT spend in a “invest for the future” view.  Albeit, instant return on investment (ROI) will prevail as the “table stakes” financial criterion, I believe this year we will begin to see a more pragmatic view of that ROI…factoring in administration and maintenance savings that might have been discounted away as avoidable in the tougher economic times.  We will continue to enjoy the rewards of our manufacturing partners introducing improved products with material price/performance enhancements to leverage in your next generation data center.   And then there is cloud computing and the progression of delivery instruments for IT services…an area just beginning to really show its marketplace effect.

 We thank you for your part in our success and appreciate your continued patronage and partnership as we move into the New Year together.  Your account representatives will be sitting down with you to do planning in this first month.   Put us to task and see what the “think” in thinkASG can do for you.  It is my personal goal to see that we make a positive difference in client businesses just like yours.  Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of a great 2011 for all of us!

3 Questions…

Please allow me to extend a hearty “Merry Christmas” on behalf of team thinkASG.  We truly hope you and yours are able to enjoy the holiday, look back on 2009 with fond memories and look forward to 2010 with anticipation for all things positive.

This year has been an interesting one for our nation, the world; certainly the business clime as we know it.  We have seen unprecedented economic duress that has put the pressure on us to sharpen our skills and at thinkASG this has been a year for “strengthening our core”.

We thank you for those partnerships that engaged us to help think of ways to save IT investment dollars.  We have worked hard with you to make sure we understand the business issues with which you are faced, to create solutions that will address these issues, and to do so with a constant focus on finding immediate savings, protecting material investments and, where possible, creating new and sustainable revenue streams.  I am proud to say that we, with our client partners, have had a year where focus on these core propositions has made a difference in many Southern California businesses.

In speaking at our annual Christmas party this year, we decided to focus on gifts.  To acknowledge that sometimes the most significant gifts are always the most obvious.  After all, Jesus was a baby born in a remote stable…and became our Saviour for whom’s birth we celebrate every year.  We have had many gifts this year, allow us to acknowledge a few.  We are here, and we are strong.  Our value based model has been proven as a sustainable construct that has provided gainful employment thru this trying time.   And, our clients have continued to participate in our consultative process, with many immediate and long term returns being identified jointly – thank you for making your patronage one of those gifts we don’t ever want to take for granted.

Moving into 2010 surely has some uncertainty, but there are several things we can depend on.   thinkASG will continue to focus on thinking of ways to save your firm valued IT investment dollars.  We will continue to work on the people, process and principles that are at our core.  And we will continue to view our relationships with you and your firms as the most important gift in the business world.

Again, Merry Christmas and allow me to be the first to wish you a happy and prosperous 2010!.

Basics means we all shoulder in together to make sure we are efficient, maximum leveraged and totally effective in identifying, progressing and closing the plethora of opportunity we know exists for our spectrum of cost containment infrastructure solutions.  Building a book means making sure we present all of our key partner offerings where we have existing relationships of influence, and offering our solutions as expanded value to where our partners have similar presence.  Better together is the reason we convened last nite, to network, communication, plan and EXECUTE.

We look forward to continued and shared success in the selling field.  Again, THANK YOU!”

David W. Browning, CEO

This old dog just went thru a little bit of don’t ask unless willing to do, and took one of the ever increasing certifications that we are asking our crew to do because the manufacturers are asking the same of our industry.

Yes, DB is cerfifiably a NEDC Sales Leader (and no – that is not No Enterprise Data Center – cloud computing – an actual answer choice), that’s the skill to represent the IBM smarter planet concept of dynamic infrastructure. 

So, ever increasing cert requirements? Yes, in an industry that wasn’t long ago a business of delivering cardboard boxes and hoping you could put them together, the manufacturers are helping the client to cull the ranks by making sure we’re part of the smarter planet.

For my experience, this cert was pretty relevant – it was about how the best of breed elements (storage, server, middleware) go together to really make a difference, to be the best in the technology field and to address issues that really matter in commercial enterprises today.

Ask me about it – I’ll share my smarts and those of our team – we really can give you some great ideas and you really can depend on the fact that we know our stuff – after all we’re certifiable!”

Here’s To You and Yours This Holiday Year

We get paid to help you save money….thank you for working with our team in partnership in 2008 to determine the right places to optimize your IT operation.  Team tASG appreciates that you have a choice, we’re glad you selected us as your IBM solutions provider.

Value is key, in today’s interesting economic times we cannot afford to make investment pratfalls and we must leverage the limited funds we have for the most significant return.  At tASG, we work as your consultative integrator with a mission to deliver measurable value in every solution we integrate.  Our highly skilled team, our defined process and our principles with which we interact differentiate us from the competition and provide a long term motivation to your choice.

In 2008 we participated in many Green IT and Business Continuity deployments.  It is our expectation that moving into 2009 we will see a high focus on “doing more w/ less (virtualization)”, protecting what you have (business continuity and security) and leveraging your investments (unified communications).  Today’s IT solutions are phenomenal in delivering immediate cost containment returns, in visualization alone we have server consolidation, storage visualization, data center optimization…..well you get the point.

We know all will tread carefully in the coming year.  We appreciate all that you have done and look forward to earning your business for years to come.  Put us to the test, ask us where we can help you save money today…..

……and don’t forget to ask your tASG Acct Rep about tIP!

All The Best,

David Browning

CEO/President