A common symptom of a troublesome network is outdated hardware. Many clients we work with wonder why it is necessary to replace a five year old server if it still appears to be functioning normally.
The reason we recommend that you replace outdated network hardware comes straight from the manufacturers recommendation. While your server may be working find now, if it has been running for five consecutive years, chances are it is getting slower and less reliable. In order to keep your network running smoothly and to reduce the risk of hardware failures or crashes we recommend keeping your system up-to-date.
Often in servers, it is first a drive or a fan that fails and if it is a newer machine, these parts can easily be replaced. But after several years and many patch jobs, it gets to a point where it is not worth the time and money to repair. Ultimately, with older machines, it is usually less expensive in the long run to replace and get a good warranty on it. Our goal is to get your network up and running in a seamless and reliable way that reduces the amount of time an engineer is patching your hardware and increases the amount of time you spend growing your business.
Another important reason to upgrade is that technology is constantly evolving and improving. Your server from ten years ago may still be holding on for dear life, but might not necessarily be the most compatible with the new technologies you are using to run your business. With regular system upgrades, this problem is eliminated.
So readers, what is the oldest piece of technology still hanging around your network?
With the recent increase in political protests and demonstrations (i.e. Occupy Wall Street and similar protests), network compromises are becoming more and more prevalent. Our resident security expert says that hackers are beginning to target government agencies as a means of making a political statement. Within the past year, the increase in these attacks has him concerned and, as a result, insists that we reaffirm our efforts to educate our clients and the community at large about the risks that are out there.
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Virtualization is rapidly expanding into nearly all areas of information technology. From applications to entire networks, it can be hard to figure out which option makes sense for your business.
One of the most common conversations we find ourselves having both with current clients and brand new ones is assisting them in the choice between managed services or general break-fix services. While break-fix may make sense for businesses with just one or two workstations, costly IT mistakes can be detrimental to business growth and efficiency if not managed properly. It also common that small businesses don’t have the resources to staff an IT person full-time. This is when outsourcing your IT management may make more sense than continually fixing individual problems without addressing your infrastructure as a whole.
Desktop virtualization is becoming a popular option for managing networks with multiple users. The most exciting aspect of this new technology is the possibility to update the applications on hundreds of workstations at the same time rather than repeating the same update sequence individually at each workstation. It also allows users to login and access their important files from anywhere, whether it is their desk at the office or a hotel room hundreds of miles away.
We’ve all been reading and hearing about Cloud computing for a while now, yet many companies are still wondering how the cloud can help their business today. The focus of this article is to provide real world examples of how local businesses of all sizes are using Cloud computing.
With the recent launch of Office 365, I want to provide you with a snapshot of what this service actually offers from a practical standpoint so you can make the best decision for you and your company. With all of the tech mumbo jumbo it can be hard to understand what this service even does.