The weather report is in, and it's "cloudy with a chance of productivity!"  With all the talk about cloud computing these days, you might be wondering how it could impact your company.

Cloud based managed services are a safe alternative to storing business data and information on your servers. Also it represents a cost-effective way to run your company and its computer system. Why? Because you don’t have to go and buy all kinds of expensive equipment for your infrastructure. By letting us store your information and manage your services on our servers, you are saving lots of money you can use for other things.

The Master assigned Jack and Jill to a project for the administrative temple to move a database from their legacy server to a new server.  Jill started prepping to backup the legacy server, as the Master instructed, when Jack came through the door.

It was late afternoon at the end of the workday. The Master was prepping for his afternoon meditation when the phone rang.  It was an irritated User on the other end.

The phone rang and Jack answered quickly, and spoke clearly, saying, “How may I assist you today?”  The Master smiled.

On a fine spring day, the Master and the User were strolling through a garden when the User received a text message.  The User said to the Master, “I really don’t understand your apprentice, Jack.  Here, look at this message,” he said, handing him the phone.  It read:  IDK  USB O PS/2  1 BA INN  O 2 JLMK CUL8R THX J.

Excited, the first apprentice, named Jack, jumped right into his Master’s training network.  Jack asked, “Master, some User keeps calling me saying they have trouble with their printer.  How do I get them to quit bothering me?”

 More and more organizations are turning to virtualization as they face an increasingly complex IT environment. Enterprises of all sizes have found that relocating their operating, network and/or hardware resources to an offsite host server provides an array of business benefits.This virtualized IT environment can lead to reduced capital and operating costs, flexibility in the allocation of system resources to meet changing requirements, the ability to quickly integrate legacy and new systems, and scalability for expanding operations. Another key but often-overlooked advantage of using virtualized machines in an enterprise-level data center is the improved data and network security provided to an organization.

Despite the common misconception that virtualization increases security risk, in actuality today’s virtualized networks can be much more secure than an entity’s in-house network. This is particularly the case in an IT ecosystem where threats originate from evolving network technologies, protocols and devices, as well as sophisticated hackers and data thieves, internal breaches, hardware and software failures, business partner security breaches and even natural disasters.

To Virtualize, Or Not to Virtualize?

Hamlet never would have asked this specific question, but in today's world it's really important if you’re running a small business. Most businesses we work with feel overwhelmed as to where to begin when it comes to Virtualization.  As recently as a couple of years ago, clear-cut best practices let you know where you should start and what things you should during virtualization.   Almost everything is up for grabs these days. Given these changes, how do you, the virtualization newbie, decide what to view? If you are unsure if you should head down the virtualization path or not, here are three helpful questions that will help you decide if it's time.