Author: Nicholas Chan

IRAS Productivity and Innovation Credit The IRAS Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme was first announced in Budget 2010 to encourage businesses in Singapore to improve their capabilities and enhance competitiveness by investing in a range of qualifying activities that improve productivity and facilitates innovation. We highly encourage all businesses to take advantage of the PIC scheme, as all of our products and services offered are guaranteed claimable for PIC – making your move to the cloud even more cost-efficient. To encourage even more Singapore businesses to take productivity and innovation improvements more seriously, eligible businesses that spend a minimum of $5,000 in qualifying PIC investments in a financial year will receive a 100% matching cash bonus. PIC Cash Bonus This PIC cash bonus is capped at $15,000 for the 3-year period of YA 2013 to YA 2015, and is given in addition to the existing PIC benefits of: 1) 400% Tax Deductions / Allowances How it works Businesses can enjoy 400% tax deduction/allowances on up to $400,000 of their expenditure per year in each of the six qualifying activities, instead of the 100% deduction/allowances under the existing tax rules. The annual expenditure cap of $400,000 may be combined as follows: Note: A company claiming can receive a total of 400% tax deductions/allowances (comprising 100% normal deduction and 300% tax deduction) on the qualifying expenditure. Do not claim 400% additional tax deductions on the expenditure which has already been deducted as an expense (100% normal deduction) against the income. This results in an erroneous claim of 500%. 2) Cash Payout Option Small and growing businesses with cash constraints have the option to convert their qualifying PIC expenditure into a cash payout to invest in technology or upgrade their operations. The expenditure cap for PIC cash payout will remain at $100,000 of qualifying expenditure per YA. This cash conversion option will be from YAs 2011- 2015. PIC Cash Bonus For both options 1 and 2, as long as the qualifying expenditure exceeds $5,000, an additional benefit of dollar for dollar matching will be paid out up to $15,000. Examples: Qualifying expenditure of $4,000 – $0 bonus paid out Qualifying expenditure of $10,000 – $10,000 bonus paid out Qualifying expenditure of $15,000 – $15,000 bonus paid out Qualifying expenditure of $20,000 – $15,000 bonus paid out Depending on your financial year end this might be the last month for you to claim this PIC Bonus of $15,000 , do not miss out on this opportunity! PointStar’s IT Products and Services and PIC All of our offered products will fall under “IT and automaton equipment” within the PIC scheme. (A) ‘Loosened’ conditions for approving equipment that is not on the prescribed list: (i) The equipment automates or merchandises, whether in whole or in part, the work processes, whether core or non-core of the business; and (ii) The equipment enhances the productivity of the business. (B) The term ‘automation equipment’ has been changed to ‘IT and automation equipment’ to reflect the fact that PIC already supports IT-related software besides automation equipment. None of our customers have ever experienced any difficulties in claiming PIC for any PointStar related expenses, and our team of will be more than happy to guide  you through the entire process! Being Productive & Innovative in Singapore Pays If companies plan their PIC strategies well, they stand to save up to S$9.6 million in taxes per year. This is possible as they can estimate their taxable income and make provisions for investments in qualifying activities at the time of annual budgeting. Companies can invest in any of the following 6 categories to take advantage of PIC. Purchase / lease of PIC Automation Equipment Training of Employees Acquisition of Intellectual Property Registration of Intellectual Property Research & Development Approved Design Projects   Cloud Computing Boosts Productivity & Innovation It’s been proven – businesses that leverage on cloud computing solutions perform far better in comparison to those who still rely on traditional on-premise hardware and software setups, all at a fraction of the cost. We have witnessed countless times what moving to the cloud can do for businesses, employees are more productive and happier, innovative capabilities are enhanced, costs are reduced – what’s not to love? Which is why the whole range of cloud solutions that we offer, such as Google Apps for Business, will always qualify for the IRAS PIC scheme. So don’t hesitate to take this opportunity to transform your business with the latest cloud technologies now, all while saving loads of your money using PIC!

We carry Eatons and APC Eatons Backup Power UPS Eaton is a leading provider of quality backup power UPS, Uninterruptible Power Supply. Eaton UPSs are designed to deliver high quality backup power from desktop PCs to large data centers. To help you find the right solution, we organize our backup power offering into three categories: Workstation & Home UPS, Network & Server UPS, and Data Center & Facility UPS. Workstation & Home Use UPS Find the best Eaton UPS for use with personal computers and workstations, as well as backup power protection for home AV use. + Expand List Network, Server & Storage UPS Find the best Eaton backup power UPS for use with rack servers, data storage, storage systems, VoIP equipment, network equipment and other critical devices. + Expand List   Data Center & Facility UPS Find the best Eaton UPS for large data centers, facilities, electrical engineering infrastructure and other critical IT applications. Clean, uninterrupted power and scalable battery runtimes + Expand List Industrial & Marine UPS Find the best Eaton UPS for clean, uninterrupted power and scalable battery runtimes for different marine and offshore applications.   APC Marine Backup Power High availability, ruggedized power protection for shipboard and other transportation applications.         Model Information Features & Benefits Compare Models Manuals and Warranties Agency Approvals Bid Specification Brochures Customer Testimonials Press Releases             Rugged solutions for demanding environments. Mobile applications present their own unique challenges. Resilience to elevated levels of vibration, conformance to international maritime regulations, such as DNV, enhanced electric hazard protection and ruggedized enclosure are just a few features that are commonly required in mobile applications. APC by Schneider Electric offers customized solutions to meet the demanding requirements for marine, shipboard and other mobile applications. Model List Products Part Number Product Distribution* APC Smart-UPS 2000VA RM 3U 120V Ruggedized Version SU2000R3X155 Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS 3000VA RM 5U 120V Shipboard SU3000RMX93 Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS 700VA 120V Shipboard   SU700X93 Product Distribution APC Smart -UPS 1500VA RM 2U 120V SHIPBOARD SUA1500R2X93 Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB 120V SHIPBOARD   SUA1500X93 Product Distribution APC 6000VA Filter – Marine   SURT024M Product Distribution APC 3000VA Filter – MARINE   SURT023M Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS RT 1000VA 230V – Marine   SURT1000XLIM Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS RT 6000VA 230V – Marine   SURT6000XLIM Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS RT 2200VA 230V – Marine   SURTD2200XLIM Product Distribution APC Smart-UPS RT 3000VA 230V – Marine   SURTD3000XLIM Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 100kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPM100HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 100kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPM100HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 120kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPM120HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 120kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPM120HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 20kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM20HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 20kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM20HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 30kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM30HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 30kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM30HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 40kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM40HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 40kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM40HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 60kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM60HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 60kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM60HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 80kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM80HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 80kVA 400-415V Integrated Parallel UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPM80HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 100kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPU100HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 100kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPU100HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 120kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPU120HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 120kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8 G55TUPU120HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 20kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU20HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 20kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU20HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 30kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU30HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 30kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU30HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 40kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU40HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 40kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU40HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 60kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU60HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 60kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU60HXS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 80kVA 400-415V Single UPS Marine IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU80HMS Product Distribution MGE Galaxy 5500 80kVA 400-415V Single UPS Off Shore IP22 RAL 7035, Start-up 5X8   G55TUPU80HXS

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/googleapps/googleapps_overview.htm   Google Apps Overview Let’s now take a closer look at the applications that make up Google Apps. Google Apps Email Google Apps Email is a free mail service provided by Google. It supports POP3 and IMAP, and can be used as a webmail client as well. Although you will see the GMail logo when you access Google Apps Email, the two mail services have their differences. Here are the most important differences between GMail and Google Apps Email: With Google Apps Email your email addresses use your domain name, not @gmail.com. Thus you can have an email address like [email protected]. Unlike @gmail.com addresses, in Google Apps Email usernames you can have dashes (-) – e.g. you can have [email protected]. To reset your Google Apps Email username password, you’ll have to contact your email administrator. Google Apps Email supports almost all popular mail service options – mail forwarding, mail filtering, autoresponders, mail attachments. You can also import your mail contacts from a CSV file. Another great feature is the multilanguage support – you can have your webmail interface in your own language! Once you register for Google Apps and activate Email, you will be able to access your mailbox using a URL in the following format: http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com More information on how to use Google Email can be found in our Google Email tutorial. Google Calendar Google Calendar, as the name suggests, is a calendar web application provided by Google. The interface of Google Calendar allows users to view, create and manage their calendar events. Google Calendar supports drag-and-drop, so you can easily move your events from one date or hour to another without reloading the page. Google Calendar supports a variety of view modes, including daily, weekly, monthly and agenda views. Users can also Quick Add calendar events and set the number of days/weeks to show in their custom view mode. Outlook calendar files (.csv) and iCalendar files (.ics) can be imported into Google Calendar. You can also import public calendars which contain various national holidays of different countries. Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Calendar using a URL in the following format: http://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/yourdomainname.com To access your Google Calendar through your domain name, e.g.: http://calendar.yourdomainname.com you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Calendar > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option. Then you should set up your domain’s CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com. More information on how to use Google Calendar can be found in our Google Calendar tutorial. Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor, presentation, spreadsheet and form application provided by Google. It allows users to collaborate in real-time by creating and editing documents online. Google Docs allows you to create new documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and forms directly from the web interface. You can also import existing documents, presentations and spreadsheets from a file or URL. You can even email a file and it will be available for online editing. All documents can also be saved to the user’s computer in a variety of formats (HTML, OpenOffice, PDF, RTF, Text, Word). All files are saved to the Google servers by default. Opened documents are automatically saved to avoid data loss. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users simultaneously. The following formats are allowed for upload: Allowed document file types: html, txt, doc, docx, rtf, odt, sxw Allowed presentation file types: ppt, pps Allowed spreadsheet file types: csv, xls, xlsx, ods Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Calendar using a URL in the following format: http://docs.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com/ To access your Google Docs through your domain name, e.g.: http://docs.yourdomainname.com you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Docs > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option. Then you should set up your domain’s CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com. More information on how to use Google Docs can be found in our Google Docs tutorial. Google Talk/Chat Google Talk is an instant messaging and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service offered by Google. Google also provides a free chat client called Google Talk which is available only for Windows. Fortunately, other free chat applications such as Miranda and Pidgin support Google Talk, so even if you don’t use Windows, you will still be able to use Google Talk. And if you don’t want to use a separate chat application, you can use Google Talk with Google Gadgets directly from your browser. GTalk supports encryption, voicemail and file sharing. It also supports offline messaging – users can send messages to their contacts even if they are not signed in. The messages will be received when the recipient goes online even if the sender is currently offline. Along with voice chat, GTalk supports video chat as well. You can check your chat history directly from your Google Email > Chats. Google Sites Google Sites is a structured wiki application offered by Google. With Google Sites users can work together on creating and managing a Google Site. They can add file attachments, information from other applications (Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube, Google Video and Picasa) and new page content. You can add new pages with a single click, and you have full control over who has access to your Site. Google Sites offers free page themes – web page, announcements, file cabinet, dashboard and list – so you can quickly create your Google Site. Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Sites using a URL in the following format: http://sites.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com/ To access your Google Sites through your domain name, e.g.: http://sites.yourdomainname.com you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Sites > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option. Then you should set up your domain’s CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com. More information on how to use Google Sites can be found in our Google Sites tutorial.