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Archive for April, 2008

Time To Rest, Forget The Stress!

April 30th, 2008

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Cling cling cling! This May Day, Exabytes would like to give a toast to all the working men & women who have worked so hard in juggling both work and life balance with grace!

So give yourself a round of applause and a pat on the back, as it is yet again another day of celebration for each and every one of you who have made it possible (in your own area of expertise), for this whole nation to savor the sweetness of life we all taste today!

In conjunction to this special event, please be informed that Exabytes office will be closed for one day on Thursday (01/05/08) and will resume normal operating hours starting Friday (02/05/08). However, any queries can be directed to our helpdesk or email us at support@exabytes.com.my, and your queries are sure to be attended as soon as possible! We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences caused by this.

Thank you and have a great holiday ahead! ;)

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Announcement

Lights Off, Screen On, Work!

April 25th, 2008

What fell on the last April 22nd, 2008?

Tic toc tic toc.

Tic toc.

Tic.

Toc.

Time’s up! Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably been aware that last April 22nd was Earth Day! That day dedicated to celebrating and reflecting the beauty, and the fragility of our beautiful planet. It was a time when people around the world held events to honor our home planet and to remind everyone about the importance of our ecosystem. And Exabytes was no exception!

Hence, last Tuesday, in effort to support this special event, all of us from Exabytes have taken the initiative to minimize the power usage by switching off the office lights for one whole hour! And honestly, working in the dark was not all that bad – gave a little “romantic” atmosphere in the office! And thinking about it… maybe we should do it more often! Hehe.

Here are some snapshots taken when the lights went out!

From the customer service department…

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To the marketing department…

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To the R&D department…

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To the technical department…

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To the finance department…

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To the CEO room!

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It was pitch black all around! And Exabytes is so emotionally attached to saving the environment, we even went GREEN (some brown) the whole day!

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AND looked.. (ehems) GOOD in it! :D Now who says green isn’t the new black? ;)

Insight @ Exabytes!

Exabytes Team Building – StoneAge Island

April 23rd, 2008

We work hard, we play hard! That’s right! This time, Exabytes invites all of you to share our adventurous team-building trip to the “StoneAge Island” – the Jerejak Island! It was one of those trips that you just can’t stop think about, and believe it or not, we were THAT looking forward to this trip, we even had countdown to the big day! Teehee. :D

Our adventurous journey started at the jetty, where all of us gathered at one place while waiting for the boat to arrive. Words really can’t describe how excited we all felt at that time! It’s as though the kid deep inside each and every one of us have long been waiting to be freed! And after what seems like forever, the boat finally arrived and we got on board. Now look at our excited happy faces! :D

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As soon as we stepped our feet on Jerejak Island, we were immediately held captivated by three stone-aged people! We got panicked! But there was something funny with these stone-aged people though. They looked awfully familiar somehow! Those eyes, those nose, those.. Hey, that’s Vickson! And Alysa! AND Gaveen, the OCs of this trip! We almost didn’t recognize them with the face painting and mops on their heads! Look! :D

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Oh yes, Exabytes is full with creative people like this! ;) We were then brought to the campsite where our tents are being set up and us being separated into four groups :

• Black Group (Black Eagle)
• Blue Group (Blue Bird)
• Orange Group (The O’s Fighters)
• Red Group (Red Alert)

And here’s the snapshot of our colorful tents!

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Nice aren’t they? :) After dropping off our bags and belongings, we then started our first game, which was the flag designing game. We were asked to come up with the most creative flag design with the tools provided and the winner of the Most Creative Team will be announced at the closing ceremony of this trip. Now let’s have a peek at Exabytes’ own “Picasso” in action!

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So who won this flag designing game? Go on and read on! ;)

The activity of the day continued as we were ushered to the field nearby where basins, balloons, and loads of flour were waiting for us to get dirty! We were then introduced to the second game – the Chocolate Factory game where we were told to pass rubber bands to our other team member using only the sticks into the basin nearby without using any hands! The team that accidentally dropped the band would have to restart the game all over again!

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Who won? Hehe. Red Alert won with the most rubber bands in the basin! Congratulations, Red Alert! :D

The game continued as we were introduced to the third game of the day – the Jaw’s game! That’s right, people. The game was as scary as it sounds! In this game, we were told to select 4 members to represent each team. The members selected had to put their hands inside a “mystery box” and guessed as many items as they could without looking into the box! What WERE the things inside the box? Let’s have a look!

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Some guessed fish, hotdog, cucumber, etc etc. But do you want to know what the items REALLY were inside the box? They were..

Coconut shell, Leaves, Rock, Sponge, Brush, Kiwi, Brinjal, frogs and.. EEL!

And there you have it! The 9 secret items in the box! Nobody guessed everything right, of course. But then again, who would have thought an eel would be part of the items? Yuck!

The adventure continued after our quick lunch, where we trekked along the trail to attempt the forth activity of the day – the Suspension Bridge! Hanging at 50m above a dam, the Suspension Bridge was really a test of bravery and steadiness. As though the bridge was not shaky enough, there just had to be someone cheeky to shake the bridge even more! Afraid of heights, some of us shouted and some of us prayed that we would not fall down. But in the end, all of us managed to cross the bridge safely, but with knees as wobbly as jelly, of course. :P

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Next was the highlight of the day – The Flying Fox! We were given safety belts and helmet by the Jerejak crews before “flying”. Holding on to the rope and hanging on to it as though our life depended on it as we “flew” across the dam, Flying Fox was really one of the nerve wrecking and exciting games ever! Of course, we went through everything safely, but not before being swung like a pendulum when we reached the end! ;)

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Looks like fun? It sure was! :D But the fun did not just stop there as we also took part in few other games like Wall Climbing, and Wire Obstacles!

Wall Climbing

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Wire Obstacles

 

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And before we end the day, we played one more game – the Ping Pong game, where each team had to blow their team’s ping pong ball out of the box which was filled with flour. Very fun, but also very tricky!

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As you can see, at the end of the game, all of us were soaked white with flour! If given a chance, we would have played some more but it was getting late, so we were told to get ourselves clean and get ready for the dinner.

On that night, we couldn’t decide what affected our appetite more – the variety cuisines prepared by the chefs, or the grumbling tummy we’ve been carrying all day long. All that we knew was that we all had fun eating like hungry people who have not seen food for ages! :D While we were busy stuffing ourselves with the scrumptious food, Vickson came out with a big cake in his hand! Suddenly a soft Birthday song played in the background of the restaurant and the rest of us joint along to sing the Birthday song to Avian, Ivan, Jackie and Thara! Happy Birthday again, the four of you!

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And here are the snapshots of us taken at the dinner!

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Once our tummies are well contented, we all went back to our tents and slept like babies after that! But not for long! The real adventure began again at 2am in the morning when the rain poured heavily and flooded our tents, causing the 40+ “turtles” to rise from the shore on to the.. Meeting Room! Haha! That’s right! Since our tents were flooded, we all had no choice, but to sleep as one big family in one big Meeting Room, like illegal immigrants waiting for departure back to their countries! Unbelievable? Believe it! :P

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The next morning, after breakfast, we gathered at our campsite again for the Prize Giving and Closing Ceremony. The judges have decided, and..

The Most Creative Team falls to.. The Black Eagle!

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The Most Cooperative Team falls to.. The O’s Fighters!

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The Bravest Team falls to.. The Red Alert!

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And the Most OUTSTANDING Team falls to.. none other than The Blue Bird!

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Congratulations, all! And to the OCs who have taken great effort in making this trip a memorable one..

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.. thank you! You guys simply are the greatest!

Until we update you again for the next event! Long live Exabytes! ;)

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Insight @ Exabytes!

Save the Environment, Save the World!

April 22nd, 2008

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Since the day we were born, Mother Earth has been providing us with shelter and food for our survival. She never once complaint, nor she ever stopped giving. But like a beautiful rose in a pot, if not being nurtured and taken care of everyday, it will soon lose its beauty, and lay withered in the pot.

The same goes to Earth. Although strong and sturdy on the outside, she is also very fragile on the inside. Constant exploitation will cause significant changes in the Earth’s ecosystems which in the end, result to the extinction of the livings in this world. Over the years, many mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects and plants have become extinct. Quite a few are on the endangered list now. Could there ever come a time when Earth becomes extinct?

Hence, in conjunction to the Earth Day celebration, let us ALL be heroes today, and save the world from extinction! Don’t know how? Exabytes has just the great 10 powerful tips for you, to make this IT-world, a healthier world to live in!

Go Webhosting!
Behold the power of a website! The information in a website can be easily edited or deleted without wasting any papers. Massive data can also be stored in a database on a server without requiring lots of papers, files or even cabinets!
Forget solid premises!
Start building paperless business concept by hosting them on the Internet. No more messy utility & credit bills, bank & investment statements or cheques, as they can all be viewed and paid online! Invoices can also be filed, prepared and sent via email or electronic fax. Life just cannot get any easier than this, can they?
Papers & envelopes? So yesterday!
Start using email as it is more secured and convenient. It reaches the recipient faster than snail-mails too!
No more in-person meetings!
Start using video conferencing/voice over the Internet as it can be done online. This helps eliminating traveling costs, at the same, save fuel!
Set power-plan!
Optimize the workstation/laptop’s power usage by turning off the display or by putting it to a sleep mode whenever it is unused.
Double, triple check yet?
Make sure that all works are proofread and spell checked before they are printed out/copied to avoid paper wastage. Do ensure that all works are printed on both sides of the paper, whenever possible.
Online made easy!
Be a smart consumer and start purchasing online today as many products are now available for online-ordering, even groceries! Music can also be bought online through iTunes, instead of the music store! What better way to save more nature resources and travelling costs?
Reach for the stars!
Shop wisely and consider looking for products with ENERGY STAR label the next time a product from home/office needs to be replaced. Energy Star is the US government-backed program to help protect the environment through energy-efficient products uses & practices.
Click and donate!
Did you know? Each click on an advertisement banner helps donate a few cents to some environmental protection organizations. In most cases, the donation generated by each user only amounts to a few cents, but the goal is to accumulate enough clicks to add up to a significant amount. Be a courteous citizen and start donating online today!
Healthy environment, healthy people!
No posters, no flyers, no leaflets, just Internet! Practice using the Internet today to help increase the environmental awareness and do it the paperless-way!

With the 10 powerful tips revealed, what are you waiting for? Go be a hero and save the world today! ;)

Oh but before you do, you may want to kick start your mission by downloading our Earth Day WordPress themes that we specially designed just for you!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Insight @ Exabytes!

Free WordPress Themes – Earth Day!

April 21st, 2008

Bored of the same old look of your blog? Good news! In conjunction to the Earth Day celebration, as usual, Exabytes has something for everybody! This time, we have prepared not one, but TWO Earth Day themes for you to download from. Change the look and feel of your blog. Grab them now!

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Download Earth Day theme 1 here

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Download Earth Day theme 2 here

Upload the themes in 5 easy steps:

1. Extract the zip file
2. Upload it to the entire folder to wp-content/themes
3. Login into wp-admin
4. Go to “Presentation” >> “Themes”
5. Click on the “name of the uploaded folder”

Terms and conditions to use Exabytes free wordpress themes!

1. The attribution at the bottom of each page (which links to Exabytes’ blog) may not be modified or removed.
2. These themes cannot be sold off
3. These themes were created by Exabytes Network Sdn Bhd
4. Any modification to graphical images, or structure files are strictly prohibited

Time for a makeover? You bet it is! ;)

Exabytes Free Download Center

Happy 7th Birthday, Exabytes!

April 15th, 2008

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Exabytes, Happy birthday to you!!

Hmm..typical birthday song! But, we like it! We are all in birthday mood! No worries to our clients, there will be no degradation in our performance in the midst of celebration mood.

Let’s get to the point. As you might be aware by now (If you are not, then, you have all the reasons to continue reading this blog entry!), Exabytes is having Super Celebration with our 7 wonders!

Yup, super super celebration… This banner will show you how super it is!

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What are our 7 wonders? I will review it here for you. Let’s keep it short, simple and sweet!

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Top of the list will be our contest to express about Exabytes! This is the chance for u to spill out everything. If you love Exabytes, say it out loud with your creativity. If you dislike us, we welcome your constructive feedbacks!
sp-my.gif Domain Names Price Slash!
A not-to-be-missed item! Get your .my 2LD at only RM 77/year! If you think that .my 2LD is just not your favourite, well, we are generous enough to offer you RM 27.70/year for Top Level Domain (TLD), namely – .net/com/org/biz/info.
sp-ebiz.gif RM 70 discount for EBiz Gold
It reads loud and clear! RM 70 off now! Enter this coupon code and claim your one-time discount today. This coupon is valid until 30 May 2008. Coupon code: SuperSeven
sp-swipe.gif Swipe 2 Win RM 777 worth of credit!
Each time you buy from Exabytes, you stand a chance to win up to RM 777 of credit. We will match paypal or worldpay’s transaction ID’s last 2 digits. If the last digit has one (7) digit, then you win RM 77 of credit. If it happens that your last two digits are (7), RM 777 of credit is yours!
sp-70.gif 70% Discount on Exabytes Server!
Exabytes Dedicated Server that has super performance with 4×73GB of SAS hard drive. You only need to pay from RM 877/month to get free gift worth RM 2039/month. Limited to 10 units only!
sp-affiliate.gif RM 100 for affiliates!
Have you even ever thought of 1 second that Exabytes will forget you?! No no..we won’t! During this 7th anniversary, we will increase the affiliate commission to RM 100. So? Refer more to Exabytes & you earn more!
sp-gift.gif Exabytes’ fans, take note!
Finally, last but not least, if you are Exabytes’ fan, good news for you! You will now stand a chance to collect Exabytes souvenirs – Tshirt and umbrellas will be given free for those who purchase EBiz Gold & BizGrid Business Hosting plan!

Phew! what a list of great items! Hey, don’t read and that’s it. Immediately browse Exabytes today for all the exclusive promotional items.

See you there!

Promotions

March 2008 Employee of The Month!

April 8th, 2008

If you are a super fan of fictional superheroes, or a Walt Disney animations lover, you most probably know Robert “Bob” Parr, who also known as Mr. Incredible who has made his appearance in Disney & Pixar motion picture, “The Incredibles” in 2004. Robert “Bob” Parr is a fictional superhero, but in Exabytes a real “Mr. Incredible of Exabytes” does exists. Please give a big applause to our Employee of The Month March 2008 – Mr Gaveen Khor!

Every hero definitely is associated with particularly remarkable reasons to be regarded as hero, so does becoming Employee of The Month in Exabytes. Let’s see what are the heroic successes this guy has done to win himself the title.

  • He is a responsible person who always can be counted on, and able to complete tasks assigned on timely manner.
  • Superheroes help people who needs help. Indeed, he is a big-hearted guy who always willing to offer his help to colleagues.
  • “Mr. Incredible” a fictional superhero with great strength and durability. Our “Mr. Incredible” also posses the similar abilities. When there are urgent issues need more manpower, he will come to rescue even work for additional hours.
  • He always exhibits optimistic personality every day as a friendly and cheerful office member.
  • If you ask Exabytes members, who is person has so far greeted them the most number of times of “Good Morning” or “Bye Bye”, his name will first pop up in everyone’s mind. When comes to politeness, no doubt he is the “guru” in Exabytes.
  • Okay, the characteristics sound like a superhero, how about the look? Here is the snapshot of our Employee of the Month March 2008. Does he look like the original “Mr. Incredible”? I will leave it for you to judge it yourself. :)

    March 2008 Employee of The Month - Mr Incredible of Exabytes

    Employee of the Month

    Bye-bye ModernBill, Hello WHMCS!

    April 4th, 2008

    Have you ever had that exasperating moment where you found yourself drowned in a pool of bills, and you started wishing that you have four pair of hands (and legs. possibly antennas too!) to help you manage your billing dilemmas? You tried to seek help from so-called advanced automation software in the market, but they ended up failing you still? Well, we have. And that is why we have decided to change to whole new software for our billing system!  And so, it’s bye-bye ModernBill and hello WHMCS from all of us of Exabytes. :)   

    Just in case you weren’t already aware, WHMCompleteSolution v3.6 is actually a powerful automated billing system, which basically does all the work for you, at the same time, cater all your billing needs. Inline to what its slogan suggests, WHMCS is indeed, a powerful integrated client management, billing and support system which provide all the possible things you can think of to manage your clients – from account creation, provision, suspension & termination, to domain registration, renewal & transfers, to packages upgrade/downgrade and much more.. WHMCS possibilities are just endless! 

    Below would be the snapshot of WHMCS system homepage and some of the features featured in it :

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    Complete Client Area
    Besides having multi-language support, what makes WHMCS stand out from other billing system is its complete Client Area where registered clients are granted one single central access point to manage their account, request for support, place their orders, view announcements, and much more. It also does offer the non-registered visitors, with a domain checker, downloads, knowledgebase and server status summary.

    Customer Profiles
    Each company’s client is provided with his own profile section where it contains all his personal information, business transactions & invoices, email archives, domains and notes. Besides being able to see and monitor a client’s statistic, the company is also able to manage the details of his client, e.g. : payment methods, notes addition, etc.

    Powerful & Flexible Billing
    WHMCS supports Dedicated Server, Hosting, Downloadable Reseller & Other Non Hosting Related Products. Each product can have add-ons, configurable options, downloadable files, custom fields, and custom welcome emails specific to that individual product.

    Integrated Support System
    Has downloads, announcements section, support ticket system, and knowledgebase (a resource for comprehensive research, troubleshooting advice and information on related issues). The ticket system too can handle both registered and unregistered clients, has full email piping and multi-department support with admin assignment.

    Automated Server & Domain Integration
    Besides supporting server rotation and multiple active registrars concurrently, communication between servers and domain registrars can also be done for account provision, services suspension & termination, domains registration, renewal & transfer, name servers update, packages upgrade/downgrade, contact information modification, and more.

    Statistical Reports & Summaries
    WHMCS also provides a selection of different reports with statistical and financial statistics for business’s further assessment. Individual reports can also be created using the modular reporting system.

    With that being said, it is clear why we have recently decided to change our ModernBill billing system to WHMCS – it just does wonders! And although we have only started using it for less than a month now, we do find that WHMCS offers more features, better feedback response time, and more user-friendly, compared to ModernBill, which bugs are often found in the system. And since we have only started using it, it is still too early for us to judge the reliability and stability of this software, although the probability of bugs to exist in it is definitely low from the research made. Hence, keep yourself glued to the chair and let us keep all of you technology-savvy readers updated with WHMCS performance soon! In the meantime, let’s just keep our fingers crossed that this software would work exactly how we want it to be! ;)

    For more info on WHMCS v3.6, please log on to www.whmcs.com.

     

    Announcement