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CAST (Compucon Authorized Service Technician) is an important component of the CPD program. It is held once annually. The focus is on specific technical skills for advising and supporting customers and not on technology updating. The contents are 50% newly created and 50% old as from last year- see below the % figure of new content per session. It is a full day program and is unique in the PC industry. The course is chargeable. Please see the fee structure below, and register by replying to this email ASAP giving us your PO # if applicable.
11:00 - 11:15 Course Outline (TN)
11:15 - 12:15 PC System Architecture & Design Philosophies (TN), 25%
12:15 - 12:45 Wireless & Networking (Edmond), 50%
12:45 - 1:15 RAID (Edmond) 25%
1:15 - 2:00pm Pizza Lunch Break
2:00 - 2:30pm Graphics (Edmond), 100%
2:30 - 3:00pm Diagnosis Procedures and Tools (Joseph), 80%
3:00 - 3:30pm Product & Technical Knowledge Base (Joseph), 100%
3:30 – 4:00pm Muffin Break
4:00 - 5:00pm Compucon Windows (Daryl), 25%
5:00 - 6:00pm IPMI & Remote System Management (Daryl), 50%
6:00 – 7:30pm Wine and Cheese
Architecture
Where is PC going? How to deliver max performance from minimum specification? How to exchange technical excellence for customer satisfaction for the long term? We will provide a brief history of Chipset and CPU evolutions, the race in architecture between Intel and AMD, and discuss the current and near future Compucon platform developments.
Networking
This is an overview of networking technologies pertaining to small and medium businesses. We will cover the world of wired and wireless by referring to IEEE specifications, OSI 7 layer model and TCP/IP stack. We will look at performance parameters, security standards, and power over Ethernet. The sample for a real touch and feel is the brick that we have deployed in Kaikohe for 6 wireless links based on its high performance-to-price appeal. (Note: This session was previously handled by Rayson)
RAID
HDD is inexpensive and yet data is the most expensive. RAID is such a scheme for deploying inexpensive devices for the most expensive assets. We will cover the various RAID algorithms and levels of performance and security. We will explain the benefits of Host versus Hardware based RAID, and the use of enclosures with useful visible indications. We will briefly explain the Building and Re-building processes and how we provide remote RAID Maintenance monitoring service. (Note: This session was previously handled by Daryl)
Graphics
VGA is video graphics adapter. Modern VGA is known as GPU for its computing capabilities. We will cover the 3 levels of nVidia market segmentations as in GeForce, Quadro and Tesla, and attempt to define the demarcation between integrated and discrete graphics and to provide some guidelines for the selection of graphics card for the best system performance. (Note: This session is brand new for CAST)
Diagnosis Procedures and Tools
This is the most practical session of the course. We will review the procedures used to troubleshoot the faults reported to TSD. We will let you know of the tools we use in case you want to use the same. We wish to emphasise the certainty of the blind testing approach and that we do not swap cards blindly. (Note: This session was previously handled by Edmond and Rayson)
Knowledge Base
We have posted many product spec and technical knowledge base articles on the website within the last 12 months and the website has reached 1000 pages. We will explain the scope of contents so that you know where to find what you want when you need to. We will explain a couple of technical articles for immediate appraisal. (Note: This is another brand new session for CAST and it is a practical session as well)
Windows Operating Systems
Compucon has developed a unique Pre-installation System for Windows OS to achieve system stability, quality assurance and consistency. We will explain how it works and how it benefits our peers and end users. All desktops pre-installed with Windows would have a Compucon Folder- what are in it and how it benefits customers? We will discuss recommendations for routine maintenance, fault diagnosis and recovery. This info alone could worth your time and investment in this course.
IPMI and Remote Management:
All Compucon servers including the single processor WGS are equipped with IPMI which is a piece of silicon that remains active as long as the server is connected to the wall (even when the server has crashed). We will explain how to set up IPMI, what it does as different to VPN, RDP, and VNC etc. We will recommend the best practices for peer adoption and explain how Compucon can provide a hand on remote system maintenance and diagnosis. (Note: This session was previously handled by Edmond)
Seminar Fee
The seminar fee is $220 + GST for people attending CAST for the 1st time. The fee is reduced to half or a quarter for 2nd or 3rd time attendance respectively within the last 3 years. The fee is also reduced to half for the 2nd or 3rd person from the same company attending this course. The minimum fee for any one person is $55 + GST under any circumstances (except for Course Facilitators). Dave Fielder (TVNZ) and Sion Roberts (Micro Utilities) are our Course Facilitators.
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