THe ACtive EDge
Edition 1 | July 2026
July 2026 Freedom Offer
Celebrating America’s 250th & Active DataComm’s 25th year: we are offering FREEdom from onboarding fees. New clients who switch from their current IT provider to an Active DataComm ITDaaS plan will receive FREE onboarding during July 2026.
Introducing ITDaaS
ITDaaS — IT Department as a Service
At Active DataComm, we consider ourselves an extension of your staff—not just an outside IT provider. Our goal is to help your team stay productive, secure, and supported through responsive service, practical guidance, and technology solutions that fit your business’s way of operating.
What is ITDaaS?
ITDaaS stands for IT Department as a Service. It is a tiered managed IT service offering designed to provide your organization with dependable technology support, enhanced cybersecurity protections, proactive system management, and a predictable monthly IT budget.
The purpose of ITDaaS is to give your organization access to a professional IT department experience without the uncertainty of purely reactive, hourly-only support. Each service tier includes remote help desk support during normal business hours, allowing your staff to receive assistance for common technology issues without every support call or email becoming a separate billable transaction.
As technology has evolved, so has the way organizations must protect their systems. Modern IT support is no longer focused only on physical devices such as desktops, laptops, and servers. Today, the greatest risks often involve users, identities, email accounts, cloud services, business data, and remote access. For this reason, Active DataComm’s ITDaaS model is structured around a per-user/per-person pricing approach, allowing support and security services to better align with how your team actually works.
Our ITDaaS program includes three service levels:
EssentialCare — Foundational IT support, monitoring, and remote help desk access
ProSecure — Enhanced IT support, cybersecurity tools, and priority service
SecureElite — Advanced cybersecurity, compliance-readiness support, and strategic IT partnership
Each tier is designed to provide a clear service structure, defined expectations, and a predictable monthly investment. This allows your organization to choose the level of support and protection that best fits your operational needs, security requirements, and budget.
Whether you need help with managed IT, cybersecurity, network support, hardware upgrades, cloud services, backups, or day-to-day help desk support, our team is ready to assist.
Our goal is simple: to help your technology operate securely, reliably, and predictably so your team can stay focused on serving your customers and running your business.
If you have questions about your current technology setup or would like to explore ways to improve reliability, security, or efficiency, give us a call. We would be happy to discuss your needs, answer questions, and provide a free estimate for services.
Active DataComm is entering one of the most exciting seasons in our 25-year history. We have strengthened our team, refined our processes, expanded our ITDaaS service offerings, and continue to invest in the tools and technologies that help our clients operate more securely, efficiently, and confidently.
We also understand that changing IT providers can feel overwhelming. Concerns about downtime, lost information, and disruption to daily operations often prevent organizations from making a change—even when they know a better solution exists.
To celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary and Active DataComm’s 25th year in business, we are offering FREE Onboarding throughout July 2026 for organizations that enroll in one of our ITDaaS (IT Department as a Service) plans.
Our team will handle the transition, helping your organization move from your current provider with minimal disruption while establishing the systems, security tools, documentation, and support processes needed for a successful long-term partnership.
If you’ve been considering a change in your IT support strategy, there has never been a better time to make the move. Let us show you what it feels like to have a responsive, proactive IT department dedicated to your success.
Contact Active DataComm today to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can help support your organization.
This month, let’s talk about the most common way bad actors bypass expensive security systems: your inbox. Phishing attacks have become incredibly sophisticated, often looking exactly like an email from your bank, a vendor, or even a colleague.
The underlying tactic for almost all phishing emails is urgency. Attackers want you to feel panicked — like an invoice is overdue or an account is about to be locked — so that you click a malicious link without thinking.
The Takeaway
Cybercriminals rely on your rushed reaction to bypass security.d
The Action Item
When an unexpected email demands immediate action, take a three-second pause. Hover over the sender’s address to verify it, and if in doubt, call the sender directly.
Welcome to the first edition of JE-AI. This month, let’s look at a practical way to use AI. I recently took a picture of my messy kitchen seasoning cabinet and uploaded it to ChatGPT. It instantly identified my spices, created a usable inventory, and even suggested meal ideas.
Instead of an overwhelming project, I used AI as a second set of eyes to organize information and figure out my next step. This same concept easily applies to your workday for organizing notes, planning, or sorting through long documents.
The Takeaway
AI is simply a tool to help you organize data and make better decisions.
The Action Item
Take a photo or screenshot of a messy list this week and ask an AI tool to organize it for you.
One of the things I enjoy most about my role is the opportunity to build relationships with the people we serve. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with clients from many different industries, and I’ve learned that some of the best solutions come from understanding not only the technology they use but also the people and businesses behind it.
Technology is constantly changing, but strong relationships remain one of the most valuable tools we have. I look forward to using this column to share some of the people, organizations, and experiences that make our work so rewarding.
The Takeaway
Effective IT support requires open communication and a true partnership, not just a transactional relationship.
The Action Item
Don’t hesitate to reach out! Pick up the phone and call us with your questions so we can better understand your goals.
Most of us use the standard copy-and-paste shortcuts, but Windows 10 and 11 have a hidden, advanced feature: Clipboard History. By pressing [Windows Key] + [V], you can activate a tool that saves a history of your copied text and images, letting you paste older items.
You can even pin items you use frequently so they remain available after you reboot, and for Microsoft accounts this history can sync across devices. Be careful, though: if you copy sensitive passwords, anyone with access to your connected devices could see them.
The Takeaway
Clipboard History boosts productivity but requires careful security awareness about what you copy.
The Action Item
Press [Windows Key] + [V] to try your history — and clear it if you copy sensitive credentials.
Have you ever heard the term Active Directory and wondered what it is or what it’s used for? Active Directory is a directory service developed by Microsoft that helps organizations manage users, computers, and network resources from a central location.
For the average person, Active Directory works behind the scenes to simplify logging into computers, accessing email, and using company applications with a single username and password. From a security standpoint, it lets administrators enforce password requirements, control access to sensitive information, and apply security policies across all devices. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access, helps protect data, and ensures employees follow organizational security standards consistently.
The Takeaway
Active Directory simplifies user access while centralizing and strengthening your network’s overall security.
The Action Item
Contact us today to review your current access policies and ensure your Active Directory is fully optimized to protect your business.
RANSOMWARE
- Present in 44% of all data breaches in 2025, up from 32% a year earlier (Verizon DBIR).
- Ransomware appears in 88% of breaches at SMB-sized organizations (Verizon / IDC).
- Median ransom payment fell to $115K, and 64% of victims refused to pay (Verizon DBIR).
A.I. GROWTH
- Enterprise spending on generative AI hit $37B in 2025 — 3.2x over 2024 (Menlo Ventures).
- 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, up from 55% in 2023.
- About 41% of U.S. workers use generative AI for work as of late 2025 (Federal Reserve).
THE MSP INDUSTRY
- The global managed services market is about $441B in 2025, headed past $1 trillion by 2034.
- 78% of organizations now Over 68% of enterprises outsource at least one IT function to an MSP.AI in at least one business function, up from 55% in 2023.
- MSP clients reported 27% less system downtime and 19% lower IT operating costs.
DATA LOSS & HUMAN ERROR
- The human element was involved in 60% of all breaches in 2025 (Verizon DBIR).
- Just 8% of employees account for 80% of security incidents (Verizon DBIR).
- A rehearsed incident-response plan cut breach costs by 61%, saving approximately $2.66M (IBM).
MICROSOFT & GOOGLE GROWTH
- Microsoft Azure cloud revenue grew 40% year over year (FY2026 Q2).
- Google Cloud revenue jumped 63% to approximately $20B — its biggest cloud quarter ever (Q1 2026).
- Alphabet revenue rose 22% to $109.9B, its fastest growth in over two years.
Local, Regional & Statewide
LOCAL — TUPELO & NORTH MS
- Tupelo now has 13 home-internet options; fiber reaches ~85% (AT&T), 52% (Tombigbee), 28% (C Spire).
- Tupelo-based Tombigbee Fiber's annual "splicing rodeo" has tripled since 2022, training local fiber techs.
- State BEAD dollars are pushing fiber deeper into rural Northeast Mississippi.
LOCAL — JOBS & BUSINESS RIPPLE
- Mississippi's data-center boom is reaching local suppliers — one firm grew from a single truck to a multi-state operation.
- AWS construction needs 6,000–7,000 workers through 2027; direct jobs average approximately $80K/year.
- Local subcontractors can join the supply chain via AWS's supplier portal (MS Business Journal).
REGIONAL — MEMPHIS & THE MID-SOUTH
- Memphis's xAI "Colossus" is now the world's largest AI training site — approximately 555,000 GPUs, $18B, heading to 2 GW.
- The cluster has expanded across the state line into Southaven, MS ("Colossus 2").
- Built in 122 days, with a stated goal of 1 million GPUs (xAI).
STATEWIDE — DATA-CENTER BOOM
- Amazon/AWS raised its Mississippi data-center plan to $25B, creating ~2,000 high-skilled jobs (Apr 2026).
- Sites span Madison County ($11B+), Vicksburg ($3B), and a former plant in Clinton ($1B).
- Entergy's "Superpower Mississippi" adds $300M in grid upgrades; rates projected approximately 16% lower in five years.
STATEWIDE — BROADBAND EXPANSION
- Mississippi won final federal BEAD approval (Feb 2026) to wire every unserved area.
- $508M+ in awards plus $321M private — over $829M — to reach approximately 93,000 households.
- Fiber-first buildout run by the state's BEAM office.