Microsoft selected Advania as its 2018 Partner of the Year in Iceland. Advania is pleased that its customers will enjoy the benefits of the company’s excellent collaboration with Microsoft.

Advania in Iceland has taken over the operation and hosting of the information systems for Ölgerðin, one of the largest beverage companies in Iceland. The company is one of Iceland’s largest wholesalers, producing products for Pepsi-Cola and Carlsberg. 

The agreement includes access to the latest version of the Office 365 software package for all government agencies. Advania is the largest Microsoft sales and service provider in Iceland and submitted the best offer with the tender for the implementation of the agreement. Advania provides services to users and also advice on licenses. This is the first time that the Icelandic government has made a comprehensive agreement on software and licenses from Microsoft. Previously, each agency and ministry made their own agreements, and there were a total of 104 valid agreements with the Icelandic government.

With this, significant savings are achieved, and the agreement guarantees small agencies the same price as the larger ones. The overview of licenses by the government will be better, and it will be possible to transfer the licenses between institutions and increase their utilization. 

"We believe we have achieved profitable agreements with Microsoft, as they have guaranteed higher discount rates to government agencies than are on offer to many of our neighboring countries. The agreement is part of a larger government campaign aimed at increasing and improving public services. Every year, ISK 200 million will be saved by virtue of the agreement, which in the future means savings of billions. These savings can be used for the development of digital services, thereby increasing the efficiency of government agencies," says Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs.

"It is especially satisfying for Advania to provide services to the Icelandic government and gratifying how much optimization is achieved through a new contract with Microsoft. We at Advania have years of experience in software consulting and have in recent years built up a powerful team of consultants in this field. Part of this was the acquisition of the Swedish company Caperio last year, which provides us with strong support in this project," says Ægir Már Þórisson, CEO of Advania.

Advania and the research and knowledge company Matís plan to strengthen transactions with Icelandic agricultural products by means of a solution based on blockchain technology. The solution will promote traceability so that consumers are aware of the origin and travel of the product.

Sundbyberg stad in Sweden, has chosen to procure IT workplaces and AV equipment from Advania Sverige AB. Further, Advania will also provide all schools in the city with educational tools for digital learning.

Advania won the procurement to create a new modern IT infrastructure for Trollhättan Energi AB.

Solid growth across all markets and a significant increase in profits and revenues in 2017

It has become more difficult for children to access dubious websites on Reykjavik City networks since more powerful security measures were installed in co-operation with Advania a year ago. Reykjavik City’s networks are now much better protected than they were before, and notifications of viruses and malware on the equipment of users have fallen significantly.

As a financial institution, the debt recovery company Intrum Justitia is subject to strict data management, security and confidentiality requirements. The company was equally determined to purchase the market's most modern Contact Center platform. They decided to choose PureCloud® provided by Advania Norway.  

Today Advania Sweden´s CEO Tomas Wanselius signed the agreement with Vaxholm City to provide all administrative personnel and municipal schools, with IT equipment and education for digital learning, as well as streamlining daily work.

Grand slam for Advania at the industry’s prestigious Cloud Summit event in Florida, where Advania, together with Ingram Micro, launched the first European Marketplace with loT as a Service and received the; Cloud Partner Award, Marketplace Partner Europe.

Advania is now a sponsor for the Football Association of Iceland and will be supporting the Iceland national team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The ongoing three-day conference in Dublin, Ireland focuses on Dynamics 365, AX and CRM. Advania is on location representing our strategic value offer for property management: PMAx 365.  

Cloud is on everyone’s lips. Nevertheless, as most companies concentrate on making their operating center cloud based, A Bygg has taken a bigger leap.

The web development team for Advania Iceland is currently involved in the biggest number of large scale e-commerce projects it has ever seen.

Advania Skolpartner, part of Advania Sweden AB, signs a new agreement with Kunskapsskolan. Advania shall provide IT-operations, management and support for all the primary and lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools and adult education at Kunskapsskolan. A strategically important partnership for Advania, which lands a further important agreement in the field of education and this time with focus on managerial services.

The Icelandic government has passed legislation aimed at eliminating gender based wage difference. The legislation is unique and has received much attention globally. Advania has developed a software solution to facilitate compliance with the law, helping to eliminate the gender based difference in wages.

Advania Sweden's CEO, Tomas Wanselius signed the agreement today, with the Municipality of Jönköping. Advania has the mission to help the municipality to achieve its goals of cost-efficiant solutions, functionality, high reliability and a pronounced environmental awareness.

"This is another feather in the cap for Advania and in line with our strategic investment in the public sector. The agreement is comprehensive and encompasses several areas which suites us very well, because our strength lies in our total offering. Our goal is to be a complete partner of Jönköping Municipality and deliver products and services of the highest quality, throughout the value chain. We approach the task with confidence, based on our long-term experience and expertise in both; hardware, licenses, services and education. We are looking forward to this partnership, says Tomas Wanselius, CEO Advania Sweden.

The agreement runs for four years and includes the entire municipality and municipal companies, including preschools and schools, as well as the elderly. By agreement, Advania will deliver IT products and services at an estimated value of MSEK 130 for the entire contract period.

”Jönköping Municipality conducts extensive development and digitization efforts in several areas. Including pre-school and school, as well as care, but also within administration and the technical activities. We look forward to collaborating with Advania within the various activities of the municipality, supporting our digital development with high-quality IT products, peripherals and services, throughout the value-chain. Our assessment is that Advania is a competent partner and supplier, appropriate to ensure that we achieve our development objectives,” says Sylve Gunnarsson, Procurement Manager, Jönköping Municipality.

Kammarkollegiet has approved a transfer of the framework agreements from Misco AB to Advania Sverige AB. The agreements are nationwide regarding clients, as well as user-friendly IT products and services. This means that Advania further strengthens its position in the public sector.

In 1997, Einar Brandsdal founded the startup company Netthandelen.no, which has become Norway's largest auction site measured in revenue. In 2007 Blivakker.no was established, today the largest contribution in the group as Norway's largest online beauty shop. Since 2012, Blivakker.no has been operating in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Austria, all under the name of Cocopanda. Brandsdal.no is another online store founded, offering the clothing brand Brandsdal of Norway. Every day, 9000 products go through the warehouse associated with Brandsdal Group.

Attacked at daily basis
"It is our responsibility to keep our customers safe and secure, as well as customer data and general business data," says Dag Øyvind Godtfredsen, IT Director of Brandsdal Group. With exposed websites receiving heavy traffic, Brandsdal Group often experiences scanning and attempting online attacks. As Brandsdal has gained control over the exposure on the Internet, the e-commerce has turned its focus towards their employees and their computers. The purpose has been to limit the negative consequences if an employee accidentally opens an attachment or clicks on a maliciously crafted link. Advania has supported this security work at Brandsdal with methods for hardening, verification of security mechanisms and counseling.  

Consultants have tested by trying to break into to web pages to reveal any weaknesses. Similar tests has been performed on employee computers, to determine how much access a potential hacker can obtain.

From Avandia’s safety expert, Brandsdal has received assistance for both major assignments and counseling sessions at short notice. "The collaboration with Advania has worked very well," says the IT Director at Brandsdal Group.

Security - and good user experience
Godtfredsen emphasizes the important interaction between technology and ease of use. "It is essential that the employee does not experience being restricted with access or functionality. It is a matter of being a bit creative with the technology and using it properly so we gain the security benefits while maintaining the user experience well".  

Brandsdal has focused on raising awareness among their employees and sharing knowledge about challenges, general threats, and threats in the e-commerce industry in particular and related to the company's profile. The employees has been given tips on what to look for, how to determine whether it seems to be a safe email or if they should investigate more before they open attachments and links. "It's a matter of simple tips, which nevertheless give a great value. I do not think its technology alone that can solve security challenges; it's about technology in interaction with the human assessment".

Brandsdal also faces threats by ransomware, attempts for financial gain. According to Godtfredsen, Brandsdal have experienced so-called director fraud, but thanks to vigilant employees, they were able to stop the attempt in time.

Challenges ahead
Godtfredsen believes the e-commerce industry will have security challenges for many years to come. "There's going to be financial considerations in this industry, that's for sure. Security is never a done job. It's more about maintaining a good level". The IT Director emphasizes the need to monitor current threats, both on their own and with the help of security partners such as Advania who know the challenges of many businesses and industries and can provide valuable input. "Keep security on the agenda! Focus on security both from the technical perspective, but also on the awareness of employees. It's crucial to get all the employees involved and make sure they know what challenges there are at all times.", Godtfredsen concludes. 

Caperio AB, part of Advania Sweden, today signs a significant agreement with Stockholm stad, for the delivery of digital equipment to all municipal preschools and schools.

Today HackCon kicks off in Oslo. For four days, the security convention will provide expertise for IT-professionals on current and future cyber - and information challenges. Advania Norway play significant roles as speakers.

Scandinavia's market leader in fire protection have selected the cloud based business system Microsoft Dynamics 365 and partnership with the expertise provider Advania.

The inter-municipal ICT partnership Det Digitale Vestre Agder (DDV) has coordinated its ICT resources since 2015. The purpose is to be at the forefront of developing digital services as well as contributing to good public service and efficient service production in owner municipalities.

With assistance from Advania Norway, DDV has delivered a domain consolidation project to its nine participating municipalities. All applications, both from open and safe zones, have been moved from local domains and centralized on a common platform. 7000 users have got an upgraded PC with Windows 10, Office 2016, standardized document storage with extensive use of OneDrive and access to relevant applications through a shared portal.

Photo: Odd-Lasse Worum, General Manager DDV

"This project has been a success and we have received lots of positive feedback. It is amazing to have an ICT project that people are happy with!" says general manager at DDV, Odd-Lasse Worum. He emphasizes that as the foundation is now in place, further focus is digitization to develop a more efficient everyday life for municipal users and self-service solutions for the residents.

Photo: Ingrid Omland Olsen and Leif Rune Evje, Project Managers DDV

-Standardization of setup and a common wireless network makes it easier for users to work across the municipalities. With a cloud-based solution the users becomes less dependent on their own computers and it has become easier for Support as we have a common setup, says Ingrid Omland Olsen. Along with Leif Rune Evje, she is Project Manager for the implementation. They both claim that the solid platform gives them opportunity to spend more time on strategic digitization, to provide the municipalities with good digital services and benefits for them and residents.

Domain mergers are also an important step ahead of any municipal mergers. - By 2020, we shall have a joint archive system and start working on the acquisition and introduction of a new common Care System. The common platform gives us a good starting point for the many processes that will come, says Ingrid Omland Olsen.

Better interaction and increased flexibility
OneDrive facilitates sharing and collaborating in documents, and many users have welcomed the solution with enthusiasm. - A CFO stated that the recent budget process was the easiest ever because they now interacted in a shared spreadsheet instead of sending copies of the document to each other, says Leif Rune Evje. All department managers always had the latest version. No one needed to wonder if they had updated numbers.

Security with Windows 10 and AppLocker
Municipalities have experienced several virus outbreaks in recent years. - In accordance with recommendations from the National Security Authority, we have implemented removal of local administrator privileges and blocked unauthorized applications, Leif Rune Evje explains. In addition, the municipalities now have common routines for antivirus updates.

Furthermore, AppLocker has been introduced and all applications running are scanned and whitelisted. - In practice, we have blacklist everything else. This gives us control over what actually runs on the PCs. For users who need administrator privileges, we have introduced a temporary administrator password.

Cooperation with Advania
-Without being exaggerated, the cooperation has been amazing. Advania has always been there for us and have given us the necessary confidence to complete the project. External consultants often disappear as things get difficult in a project. With Advania this has not been the case! Leif Rune Evje emphasize how DDV has greatly appreciated the sharing of expertise by the Advania consultants. - Many consultants hold their cards close because they want to do the job themselves. With Advania we have experienced genuine cooperation. Ingrid Omland Olsen says Advania has been particularly important in the development of prototype for the new desktop and System Center. The introduction of LAPS and AppLocker is security functionality that Advania has been entirely responsible for. 

For more information please contact:
Espen Hartz, CEO, Advania Norway
Tel: +47 930 29 688
E-mail: espen.hartz@advania.no

About DDV
Det Digital Vestre Agder (DDV) is an inter-municipal ICT collaboration with 40 emplyees owned by nine municipalities in Vestre Agder; Flekkefjord, Farsund, Kvinesdal, Hægebostad, Mandal, Lindesnes, Marnardal, Audnedal and Åseral. Through the coordination of their ICT resources, the municipalities at DDV want to be in front to meet demands for the development of new digital services. DDV was created in January 2015. For further information, please visit www.ddv.no 

About Advania
Advania is a Nordic IT corporation, operating in 22 locations in Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. The company focuses on helping customers to improve their performance with innovative use of best available IT platforms and services.  Advania serves thousands of corporate customers, multinational enterprises, governments and public institutions, big, small and medium-sized companies in all aspects of society.   

Advania traces its roots to 1939 when an Icelandic entrepreneur founded an office equipment repair workshop in Reykjavik. In the following decades, three separate branches of IT-companies evolved in three Nordic countries, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway. In 2012 they were braided into one and Advania was formed.
For further information, please visit www.advania.com. 

Photo: Karim El-Melhaoui and Oddvar Haaland Moe

NIC is the industry’s foremost collaboration and learning event offering global best in class content and structure, delivered by some of the leading technical IT speakers in the world. The main focus is on Cloud technology, automation & management, security, client & server, collaboration, productivity and analytics.

Technical Architect Karim El-Melhaoui and Chief Technical Architect Oddvar Håland Moe will hold the session "Hardcore hacker vs. Awesome IT-PRO - Battle Royale!" In this session, participants will experience an epic hacker against defender scenario.

The session will show the dangers of attacks and how to prevent them by adjusting Windows default settings and further hardening. Real attacks will be used and the session shows how to best defend your business against these kinds of attacks. The session will cover "normal" hardening, as well as Oddvar and Karim's experience-based custom hardening.  

At NIC, Chief Technical Architect and MVP Oddvar Håland Moe will also hold the session "Hacking Windows with Windows". This session delivers a deep dive into the technique that many advanced threat players use when attacks are performed. The trend has changed from uploading custom binaries to using Windows binaries to perform necessary actions. In the session, participant will learn how to attacks use Windows binary files to do the heavy lift during an attack and about other Windows legacy features like DCOM. The session will show how to detect and reduce the impact of such attacks.

In addition, Oddvar Håland Moe have been identified by NIC as a Presenter who would appeal to a wider audience and has been asked to participate in a recorded discussion with Ashley Gatehouse, CMO at Crayon, to explore his presentation and views deeper. In this session, Karim El-Melhaoiu will participate in a Panel of Presenters, along with Paula Januszkiewicz, CEO at CQURE and Mike Clinch, VP Digital and Cloud Services at Crayon.

About NIC https://www.nicconf.com/

Follow Oddvar and Karim on Twitter: @KarimElMelhaoui @Oddvarmoe 

For more information please contact:
Espen Hartz, CEO, Advania Norway
Tel: +47 930 29 688
E-mail: espen.hartz@advania.no

(Photo: Regina Lund)

Advania, has signed an exclusive collaboration agreement with GoSpeak UP International AB regarding an innovation designed to actively counter bullying and exclusion at school. The collaboration includes the Non-Violence Project Foundation (NVPF), with international experience of similar projects. The cooperation and method offer a whole new approach to bullying in Swedish schools.

"Our agreement with GoSpeak Up International AB, in which we act as an exclusive partner together with NVPF, for the Swedish market - gives us the opportunity to provide Swedish schools with a digital tool, that gives the student a stronger voice to counteract exclusion," says Stefan Henriksson, business area manager at Advania School Partner and promoter of the collaboration."

Advania School Partner, provides schools with digital education tools. This is the reason why Advania also takes a sustainable responsibility, to provide tools to counter bullying and exclusion, during school hours.

Advania Education Partner, has chosen to exclusively collaborate with GoSpeak UP International AB, which has developed the industry's most innovative tool for countering bullying. A method and tool tailored to suit the digital reality of our teachers and schoolchildren daily.

The method has been developed in collaboration with the Non-Violence Project Foundation (NVPF), which trained over 8 million students, teachers, athletes and volunteers, in conflict management, self-esteem and the non-violence philosophy. NVPF has won numerous awards for Best Practice.

"Speak UP! gives the young one's a strong voice. It's an important part of finding out what's really going on in school and online. Developing new tools with the students is crucial for creating commitment to these issues and only then, a real change can come true. I look forward to working with Advania, which has a strong organization and the widest network for the schools in Sweden. Our cooperation will contribute to increased security, which in turn creates the conditions for better school results, "said Tobias Wernius, Global Development Manager GoSpeak UP."

The security tool GoSpeak UP consists of three parts;

A Security App, Speak UP! with associated forums named, Stand UP! In this forum young people can share experiences and be inspired by good ideas. The app Speak UP! gives the school and its managers an overview of all incidents that occurs in and around their school. With that insight you can then use Learn UP! This is an educational library where the school can obtain relevant education programs that reflect the specific challenges that just their school faces.

All in all, students are given a voice and the school management are given a tool to identify, prevent and manage bullying and harassment in all its forms, as well as other unacceptable behaviours in school and online.

Advania wants to prevent bullying in Swedish schools and sees this from a sustainable perspective, by taking responsibility towards the younger generation.

"We have chosen to collaborate with Advania School Partner, because of their wide network, and competence around digital education in Swedish schools. This is to ensure that our message reaches as many Swedish schools as possible." Says Zena Fialdini, Non-Violence Project Sweden."

(Representatives from; Advania Education, GoSpeak UP and Non-Violence Project Foundation)

Read more about Advania Sweden Education:
www.advania.se/erbjudande/workplace/advania-skolpartner

Read more about GoSpeak UP:
www.gospeakup.com/se

Read more about Non-Violence Project Foundation:
www.nonviolence.com/education/speakup-learnup

For more information, please contact:
Tomas Wanselius, CEO Advania Sweden
Phone: +46 70 454 35 24, E-mail: tomas.wanselius@advania.se

Stefan Henriksson, Business Unit Manager Education, Advania Sweden
Phone: +46 73 625 75 09, E-mail: stefan.henriksson@advania.se

Advania Sweden is now appointed an authorized primary reseller of business-critical software from VMS Software Inc.

Advania Iceland recently received its eleventh Microsoft Gold Certified Partnership for expertise and exceptional service when it comes to Microsoft solutions. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners are Microsoft’s most highly accredited independent technical support providers.

120 Microsoft specialists are employed with Advania Iceland. These specialists have completed standardised, international tests and have been verified by Microsoft. Every Gold Certified Partnership implies at least four Microsoft specialists and favorable reviews from at least five clients.

”Microsoft is one of our most important business partners. This makes it particularly nice to receive this sort of accreditation, proving our clients can entrust Advania to provide a comprehensive service on all levels when it comes to Microsoft solutions. It is also great to share that recently our people in Sweden received their tenth Gold Certification, so we have no shortage of Microsoft specialists,” says Ægir Már Þórisson, CEO of Advania Iceland.

”Not only do we consult our clients about licensing, but we also solve all technical issues and provide all needed assistance with regards to Microsoft purchases. We can take care of administration and host your Microsoft solutions for you. Receiving these certifications places Advania in the lead for Microsoft partners in the Nordics and on an even wider scale,” says Sigurður Friðrik Pétursson, Microsoft product manager for Advania.

Advania has received Gold Certifications for the following service areas:

• Application Development
• Cloud Platform
• Cloud Productivity
• Collaboration and Content
• Communications
• Data Platform
• Datacenter
• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Messaging
• Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions
• Windows and Devices

Advania Iceland has seen a rapid growth in the number of employees

Caperio, which is a part of Advania, has signed an important framework agreement with SKL Kommentus Inköpscentral, regarding “software and software cloud services 2016”. The framework agreement is valued to approximately MSEK 208. It applies for two years initially, with the possibility of another two years extension.

Advania on site with subcontractors in China

Advania Advice offers comprehensive consultancy

Felleskjøpet, the leading supplier of assets for agriculture in Norway, will replace its proprietary business systems with a holistic solution based on Microsoft Dynamics. iStone has been commissioned to deliver the project with assistance from Advania Norway.

Advania is proud to launch the cloud-based business solution PMAx 365, an optimized industry standard for property management. Safe and structured, clients can now administer their property portfolio anywhere, anytime, from PC, tablet and mobile.

The American hardware, software, and electronics company NCR Corporation awarded Advania the NCR Partner Awards for Excellence at an annual conference in Barcelona in October, where NCR met with their partners in Europe, Middle-East, and Africa. 

Ívar Logi Sigurbergsson, sales manager at Advania, and Daði Snær Skúlason, product manager at Advania, accepted the award on behalf of Advania.

NCR is a global leader that has been servicing the bank and retail industry since 1884 in over 120 countires. The company has developed software solutions and sales and handling equipment such as self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check processing systems, barcode scanners, business consumables, etc. More than 700 million transactions are made thought the NCR systems every day. NCR hardware and solutions have been used by banks and retailers in Iceland for over 30 years, with high customer satisfaction.

Ægir Már Þórisson, CEO of Advania Iceland:

"I'm particularly proud of these awards, as they are not only offered for sale beyond goals and are granted only to partners who have demonstrated superior knowledge of the NCR solutions and services. Our partnership with NCR has been incredibly successful, and many Advania customers in Iceland have benefited from this partnership."

Andreas Slånemyr, Partner Manager for Microsoft at Advania, announces that Advania achieved Microsoft Gold Partner status within ten areas of expertise.

Advania has been accredited as a Salesforce Certified Partner by the world's leading Customer Relations Management (CRM) software developer. For almost 20 years Salesforce has developed solutions that enable companies to manage their customer relations, to ensure first-class services, and market and sell their products. Salesforce is the most widely used software of its kind in the world, providing a good overview of all business relations and enables companies to make strategic decisions regarding product development and sales.

Aegir Mar Thorisson, CEO of Advania Iceland:

"This certification is valuable to our clients. It confirms our excellent CRM capabilities and ensures that we have access to Salesforce's best professionals and a network of other certified partners worldwide. We have worked with Salesforce for years and our customers have used the platform to excel in very competitive markets. I am proud of this certification and the fact that it strengthens our broad product offering when it comes to CRM solutions. "

Katrín Olga Jóhannesdóttir, born in 1962, is currently Chairman of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman of Iceland Growth Forum, Board member of Icelandair Group, a member of Akur Invest’s investment committee and sits on the Board of Trustees for Reykjavik University. Her prior management positions include Skipti, Siminn, Navision Software Iceland and Board positions at Advania, Central bank of Iceland, Sirius IT, Skjárinn, Ja, Ölgerdin Egill Skallagrimsson and Icepharma. Katrin Olga holds a Bachelor degree in Business from the University of Iceland and a Master degree from the University of Odense.

Vesa Suurmunne, born in 1955, is currently CEO of Nordic Mezzanine Advisers Limited. His prior management positions include Hambro European Ventures, Hambros Bank Limited, Arctos Asset Management and the Industrialization Fund of Finland. Vesa holds a Master of Science in Technology from Helsinki University of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Business Studies from Helsinki School of Economics.

Advania’s Board of Directors consists of the Chairman Thomas Ivarson and Board members Birgitta Stymne Göransson, Bengt Engström, Katrín Olga Jóhannesdóttir and Vesa Suurmunne. For more information, please visit www.advania.com/about.

Thomas Ivarson, Chairman of the Board:

”We are very pleased to have Katrín Olga and Vesa on board. They have extensive business and Board experience and great insight into Advania’s key markets. They bring knowhow and expertize to the Board that support our vision of further growth by offering IT services that help our customers to create value. I welcome them to the Advania team.”