ETI-NET – Responding to changes to events; new approach to our work practices and upgrades to the security we provide.

It’s become harder and harder to ignore the changes taking place in the world of events, conferences and exhibitions. With little enthusiasm to travel far, most technology-focused communities are simply staying put. The home office for most of us has become our window on the world even as we have made adjustments to remain productive, no matter what the circumstances. As for our team here at ETI we have no travel plans for the remainder of the year and its unlikely there will be any travel before the summer of 2021.

It was just a matter of a few days ago that we were informed about GTUG Berlin event cancellation and even now, there is a growing sense that all RUG events will be virtual for some time to come. As for the annual NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC) held each year in California, we will be as supportive as in times past. “We are most definitely planning on presenting at TBC as we have done in the past,” said ETI-NET COO, Sylvain Tétreault. “Even if the event turns out to be a virtual experience, which we think is more than likely, we will be participating.”

From what we have heard from HPE, its HPE Discover Virtual Experience drew record numbers with those watching HPE CEO Antonio Neri giving his keynote address numbering in the high hundreds of thousands. While the NonStop community isn’t likely to top those numbers it is likely the virtual TBC, as and when it happens, will attract more attendees than have been seen at traditional events of late.

When it comes to working from home, ETI has made the decision to change the way we operate. We are no longer viewing working from home as a temporary situation, but rather, have decided to “permanently continue to work from our home offices,” said Tétreault. This was not a difficult decision to make as the majority of our team has worked remotely for some time and we have all the infrastructure in place to support working from home for everyone. In many ways, we have seen technology render the need to be in the one place somewhat obsolete and from the discussions of late with our customers it seems many of them too are prepared to embrace a similar future for themselves.

Working on satisfying a security request from a number of our banking customers has been a priority of late for our development team. What this has entailed has to do with their request to enhance the control of passwords. “As of now, when a bank wants to change passwords associated with BackBox (BB), they do so one at a time,” said Tétreault. “This is cumbersome with the potential for errors and without central control and oversight. What we will be providing will be a centralized command executing a script.”

Just this month we have outlined the steps we plan to take with our banking customers. “Covered in these exchanges were some of the security and compliance requirements we were already aware of but validation of our implementation was important for us,” added Tétreault. “There is still more work to be done in this regard but we continue to work closely with our customers to ensure our approach meets their security requirements.”

As for adding two-factor authentication logins, also a requirement of our banking customers, ETI is working with XYPRO and its NonStop team on a solution. There is no question that banks are sensitive to anything that has to do with security and we are anticipating this solution to rely on what we have done with regards to centralized control of passwords. A new release will be forthcoming that incorporates these enhancements to security password changes. It is important to ensure this new release has the features that our banking customers really want.”

There is a lot being written about the new normal and of how, for the foreseeable future, it focuses on our ability to work from home. Whether our home office is an underutilized room in our house, an outside table of our favorite café, or simply a park bench it matters little as to where we are located.

Productivity appears not to be compromised and for ETI, there are many benefits to                                           making the changes permanent. In doing so, we continue to communicate with our users, add new features to our products and in general, conduct business as we have always done. Perhaps the only element that is not part of what we have pursued in the past is the transition to virtual events but in time, even here, we expect these to become part of the normal we accept.

What isn’t changing in any ways is your ability to reach out to us here at ETI-NET so if you have any questions as to our upcoming product releases or what we will be discussing at virtual RUG events, then give us a call or simply email us – we would be happy to talk with you any time. And stay safe; maintain separation, let’s get through this pandemic together!

Said Hini
said.hini@etinet.com (514) 663-0501

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