Tag Archives: computer networking

Should you virtualize your business

Virtualization seems to be the latest trend for business (and personal) these days. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about the “cloud” and utilizing their “online services”. But how realistic is this move for businesses? And is this just a passing fad?

First off, let’s be clear the concept of virtualization for computers isn’t as new as Microsoft or other big contenders would have you believe. In fact, the original computing world was completely “virtual”. Back then, we called them mainframes. All data and applications were in a central location; the only thing the user had was a terminal in which to log into the main servers.

Mainframes were powerful but the architecture had quite a few drawbacks. Limitations, such as capacity of simultaneous users and distance from the mainframe servers, directed companies more towards personal computers and stand-alone devices.

The idea of virtualization has risen again because of many advancements which makes the concept and technology far more accessible. In today’s world, virtualization refers to a diverse array of solutions and possibilities. Understanding the differences and possibilities are key to gaining the benefit of the technology.

Small companies (< 50 desktops)

Smaller companies can see real cost benefits from virtualizing their support or auxiliary systems. When we speak about virtualization for smaller businesses, we are talking primarily about utilizing the services of another company to eliminate the need of locally maintaining hardware and software.

Example: A mid-sized manufacturing company with roughly 15 employees was getting bombarded with spam in their email box. The spam was causing important emails from clients to be delayed and even rejected.

The cost for purchasing a local spam filtering software was a flat server rate plus individual cost per user. Divided across 15 boxes, it worked out to over $200/year/user.
Solve-IT.ca recommended they move to a virtualized spam filter, where they were able to reduce the cost of spam filtering to just a few dollars a month per user, or < $100/year/user. There was no compromise in service and in fact they gained message queuing, mail archiving and the ability to reply to emails in the queue in the event of a server outage.

Larger companies (> 50 desktops)

In larger companies, they can benefit from the same shared services as small businesses. But there are other opportunities available, such as Hyper-V, a Microsoft technology which allows for a single server to act like multiple.

Example: A large pharmaceutical company had at one time maintained close to 27 servers to store all their critical clinical trials data. This large number of servers was starting to impede the space allotted for computers and thus the ability for the company to continue to grow.

Rather than simply place more servers into the room, Solve-IT.ca worked out a new architecture for the environment that reduced the 27 servers down to 7 and allowed for additional growth within the existing environment. In addition to saving floor space, this allowed the company to retire the other 20 servers and save on maintenance time, reduce their carbon footprint and experience a utilities cost saving.

So what’s the right virtualization solution?

Virtualizing a company’s IT has to be done with a lot of care and forethought. Without the proper planning, critical systems can go down and data can be lost.

It is also not a “one-size-fits-all” environment. The solution has to fit with the company’s needs. For instance, a lawyer firm Solve-IT.ca recently worked with had legal requirements to maintain all data within Canada. Thus, it was critical for us to work with them and find the right solution to meet their needs and not compromise their data.

Are you interested in virtualizing your environment? Curious what options may be available to you?

Give us a call and book some Discovery time with Solve-IT.ca. We’ll be able to review your existing setup and provide our assessment on what architecture would make the most sense for your business.

4 Considerations in Selecting Business Computer Systems

From time to time I get asked by people who don’t work regularly with me as to why I choose to deploy brands such as IBM and Lenovo. The price tags on these devices are often higher than some of their off-the-shelf counterparts. (Let’s not mention the bad 4-letter word please!)

I’m often surprised by this question because I don’t understand why anyone would want to go with something different for their business. Sure, in your personal life, you can get away with using just about anything. In fact, in my lifetime, I’ve built several thousand clone computers personally.

But as a business owner, I have to ask some critical questions that make my business decisions clear:

  • Do you care if your computers work every day?
  • Do you care about standardized platforms and reduced service costs?
  • Do you care how customer service treats you if something goes wrong?

As wonderful as computers are, the reality is there will always be situations where something can (and as Murphy states often does) go wrong. That’s where having a tried and true brand makes the difference.

Here are some of my real life examples of how these two particular brands made a real difference to my customers:

In-person and onsite support even on holidays

Anyone who knows me knows about the Christmas from hell. If you don’t, just ask me some time. Short story, even at Christmas Eve there was someone we could talk to from IBM who could assist us in bringing the system back. On top of that, they were willing to bring someone either that night or the next morning down from the main Toronto office to be onsite to resolve the issue.

Technical support that knows they don’t know everything

Another company, who I was not supporting at the time but had worked on the architecture of their environment, had a critical application go down because their current support decided to mess with the delicate setup in a vain attempt to optimize their environment. The end result is that the company called in IBM to get them back up and running. The IBM technician was told by this other support to basically wipe the whole server clean and rebuild the system from scratch. Having enough common sense, this technician was wise enough to stop and actually ask more questions. End result was the actual solution was a completely different problem and by not blindly following what he was told to do, he saved the company countless hours and service dollars to get the server data back.

Simple support at the convenience of the customer

A client of mine recently had a Lenovo laptop which had a video screen that started displaying a weird black band. With no fuss, I simply called technical support and reported the issue. Because the computer was a Lenovo T-series, it had a 3 year warranty upgraded to next business day onsite. The client was about to go on an extended business trip and Lenovo was willing to have the computer picked up and dropped off wherever was necessary for him. Fortunately, the issue wasn’t so critical that he had to have such an immediate response. But after he returned (nearly a month later) with the laptop, Lenovo still honored the claim and handled the laptop with ease.

Easy recovery and factory restore

Seems lately I’ve had the luck of dealing with several computer virus attacks. Many of them were on systems without a proper recovery media. A recovery media is important in ensuring the operating system (normally Windows), all drivers, and all default programs are restored properly onto the computer. In comparison, Lenovo offers the friendliest recover mechanism to ensure a clean restore to factory. This means less cost and less time until the computer is fully functioning again.

The above are extreme cases. It’s the hope that you never run into any of these problems. But do you really want to chance something as critical as your business computer systems? Isn’t your business important enough to you to go for the best?

At the end of the day, if you can’t afford a branded platform, can you afford to loss your critical business data instead?

If you’re interested in moving to a more standardized platform and want to know how your business can benefit from using branded products, please drop us an email here at Solve-IT.ca, a leading IT support for Southern Ontario.

What Is Wardriving and Why Should Your Hamilton Business Be Concerned?

If you happen to run a small business, beware! At one time, making sure our computers were locked to our desks and we had the right passwords were just enough to secure confidential corporate data. Maybe having your server locked in a secure room gave you the peace of mind that everything was secure. Times have changed especially since the invention of wireless networks. Today, crooks simply need a WI-FI connection to break into your office.

These Wardrivers drive around cruising neighbourhoods, shopping centers and office buildings looking for open or WI-FI networks that can be easily hacked into. All businesses are at risk! Small Business right through to large corporations can fall victim to a compromise of their WI-FI network. There are almost daily stories of corporations having their WI-FI networks hacked into and customer data compromised. A few years ago it was TJ Maxx; tomorrow it could be your business.

Right now, these wardrivers might make you a target. Here is how they will typically do it…

Wardrivers cruise around in vehicles, usually the ones with tinted windows to make sure no one outside sees what is happening inside the vehicle. Inside the vehicle will be laptops connected with long-range antennas that collect the list and locations of wireless networks. When they come across a vulnerable wireless network, they tap into it and steal credit card numbers and even personal information.

And if you are using an unsecure Wi-Fi standard called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), you may be at risk. Consumer-grade WI-Fi routers (normally sold at your local office supply store) are often the targets of these wardriving attempts to hack into your business network. Your business might be using one of them. But the point here is that WEP’s encryption can be easily cracked with a little help from sophisticated tools by unsophisticated hackers, so it is time you reviewed your network security and our team of Hamilton IT security specialists can help you.

Just over a year ago, a hacker named Albert Gonzalez was convicted of stealing more than 130 million credit card numbers, most of which were robbed using wardriving.

What does your business need to be secure?

It starts with having a review of your overall business security systems, physical and virtual. It is great to have alarms on your building, controlled access to your business but what about your employees who connect from home via remote access or your WI-FI connection that is broadcasting to the world that your business is “open for business”. Having a trusted Hamilton IT support team like ours will ensure your network is completely secure, all possible gaps are filled and you can rest assured knowing that the right team is on the job.

Wireless networks are great and they are convenient. But what are the risks? Contact Solve-IT today to learn more about how to secure your business network.

4G Is Coming To Canada

4G is finally here. Though it will initially be available only in a few major Canadian cities, it will be available. With Telus officially announcing the rolling out of this technology starting in mid-2011, the prediction made by Deloitte’s Technology Media Telecommunications earlier this year appears to be coming true.

The report had suggested that the adoption of 4G might be slower than expected as some mobile providers have not fully utilized their existing 3G spectrum. Whatever it is, some of us will be using 4G soon. But what exactly is 4G? The term “4G” has been highly used with different carriers having their own definitions for the term making us more confused by the day.

4G, in simple terms, refers to wireless network-based on fourth-generation technology which will provide faster wireless service over 3G. It will be much more reliable and faster than the existing 3G wireless network, and the technology has been developed to cater to consumer’s growing demand for data to power their smartphones and tablet devices.

4G mobile technology and wireless carriers will have to implement one of the two systems, either Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) for the service to work. As far as Telus, the pioneer here, is concerned; it will be deploying LTE network and operate on the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS). Rogers, Bell, and Wind Mobile have also been thinking of using the same system but they have not made any announcements yet.

The transition from 3G to 4G will take some time. In fact, some of it has already been done. In 2009, Telus and Bell had brought forth 3G HSPA+ wireless network (also known as 3.5G). The 4G wireless network, according to Telus, will appear in early 2012 (remember, only in major cities) and it will take a short while for the service to be available nationwide.