There are numerous tech buzzwords that surface each year, one of the more common in the past couple of years is virtualization. Being able to take physical systems and replace with a cheaper, often more efficient, virtual version, is something many businesses appreciate. Up to this point, most solutions have focused on desktops and servers. We predict that the next gadget to virtualize will be the smartphone.

Traditional smartphones are individual packages. The operating system and user are physically tied to the device. If you think about it, there are really only a few phones out there, and millions of people probably have the exact same one that you do. They differentiate their phones from others by the pictures, apps, videos, etc. stored on the device and the way they have personalized their phones.

Should you lose your phone, that data is likely lost, and you are faced with a potentially high cost to replace it. The two major operating system developers - Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) - have started to implement virtual backup solutions. Your contacts, apps and some personalization settings are backed up to the cloud and connected with a user account. When you enter the account information, you can quickly get the most important information from your phone back.

Combine this with the various cloud storage services that allow users to store their information, pictures, etc., with access from nearly any device. This integration with the cloud has enabled users to rely less on physical devices, and points to a potential virtualization concept: Non-dedicated devices.

The idea of non-dedicated devices is that you can use any device, regardless of manufacturer or OS, to access a system you can call your own. Imagine if your phone runs out of batteries. You borrow a friend's, log in using your username and password and that device instantly becomes personalized to you.

Could this work? There are currently three identifiable virtualization trends that point to non-dedicated mobile devices becoming  a reality:

1. Increasing adoption of cloud services by mobile uses - Many mobile users have cloud storage apps installed on their devices and store some form of mobile related information or data on it. What's more, these apps are cross-platform meaning you can access them on iPhone, Android, Mac or Windows.
2. Heavy personalization of mobile devices - OS developers have started to store more information in the cloud. Google, for example, can store your contacts and basic personalization choices - e.g., wallpaper and apps, pictures, and even your calendar, in the cloud. Make changes on your mobile and you will see these on your computer too.
3. Ability to access whole work systems from a mobile device - There are apps for both Android and Apple devices that allow users to access and control their desktops and work systems directly from phone or tablet. This has decreased the need for users to be chained to their desk just to be able to do work.

It wouldn't be hard for an enterprising company to develop a system that integrates these three, already existing functions into a device. The only major stumbling block we can see is that current OS developers don't necessarily get along all that well. We predict that this virtualization will become a possibility on individual systems (Android and iOS), in the near future, but across systems may take longer.

We'd like to know what you think of non-dedicated devices. Would you use one? Are there any other problems you can foresee? Let us know today.

In an unprecedented move against online fraudsters and hackers, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and authorities in Estonia, aided by information from security firm Trend Micro, recently conducted a raid that brought down an enormous bot network made up of at least 4 million bots.

Four million is a big number – which makes four million bots, in security terms, a staggering and frightening number as well.

It is a good thing, then, that four million is also the number of bots taken down in a recent bust by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Estonian Police, and security firm Trend Micro. Data centers in New York City, Chicago, and Estonia were raided by authorities, shutting down hundreds of servers used to create a network of bots that spanned some 100 countries.

The said bust, dubbed “Operation Ghost Click”, is one of – if not THE – largest cybercriminal bust in history, putting to sleep a sophisticated scamming operation that victimized 4 to 5 million users and was said to have generated at least $14 million in illegal revenue.

The scam mainly involved hijacking Domain Name Server (DNS) settings in infected computers, which can be used not only to introduce more malware into an IT system, but also to hijack search results and replace advertisements loaded on websites visited through an infected computer.

While this bust does bode well for all IT users everywhere in the world, it also illustrates the scope of influence and level of organization behind security threats. Since this is probably not the only scam / fraud / botnet operation in the world, it is always best to have a comprehensive security policy for your IT infrastructure to minimize the risk of compromising your company’s data and information.

For more details on the bust, check out Trend Micro’s blog post here.

One of the bigger tech trends of 2012 was the cloud. Browse through tech news and it's hard not to see some news piece on some form of cloud technology. While at times the media can be critical there have been lots of positive coverage about the cloud. Companies large and small are starting to realize the benefits. In 2013 you will likely see businesses increasingly migrate some, or all, of their processes to the cloud. Is your company one of these?

Here are five things you should ask cloud service providers when looking to make the move to the cloud.

1. Is your service compatible with my existing systems? As a small or medium business, you likely don't have the funds to do a one-time, full transition into the cloud. This means, that it would be a good idea to ask cloud providers if their systems are compatible with yours and if you will be able to easily migrate your data over. Beyond that, you should also ask if you can get your systems off the cloud.
2. How does your data security work? Security of data in the cloud is always a top issue for all businesses. Before committing, It's a good idea to get a picture of where exactly your data will be stored, who has access to it and the  level of storage security.
3. What is your performance and availability? Numerous outages affecting cloud services happened in 2012. While few lasted more than half a day, this got many questioning just how stable the cloud is. When talking to cloud providers you should ask them what their uptime guarantees are and if their cloud is scalable - if you need more computing resources, are they available?
4. What is your support policy? As you will likely not be hosting a cloud server in your office, you will be at the whim of the provider. It's advisable to suss out their support policy, such as whether they have a dedicated emergency contact and the general response time to issues and enquiries.
5. How does your fee structure work? Finally, ask about the fee structure the provider uses. Most cloud operators offer numerous pricing schemes that companies can take advantage of.

Finding the right cloud service for your company can be a long and often tough task. Asking the right questions, comparing what different providers say and finally comparing the findings against your needs, should help you find the perfect provider. If you're interested in learning more about cloud services and how they can be employed in your business, why not start with us? We may have the perfect solution for you. Give us a call today.

Virtualization is a buzzword thrown around the tech community on a seemingly hourly basis. From the outside looking in it seems that everything is, and has to be, virtualized these days, and if it isn't you're lagging behind the times. This has led to somewhat of a craze, that can be quite confusing at times. One of the more popular forms of virtualization that has got many experts talking is the somewhat confusing issue of server virtualization.

Here is a brief overview of server virtualization, when you should use it and what you should look for in a virtualization solution.

What exactly is server virtualization? In a nutshell, server virtualization is the practice of taking physical servers and digitizing them into virtual ones. In truth, this isn't a fully virtual solution; your servers will continue to be on a physical server, just in virtual format.

Modern virtual solutions run multiple systems - commonly called instances - on one existing server. Traditionally, servers were inefficient especially when it came to use of physical resources and hardware - much was left under utilized. Virtualization ensures that use of physical resources and hardware are maximized, leading to users getting better value from servers.

This stacking of existing systems onto a smaller number of systems decreases acquisition and overhead costs - maintenance and power - while increasing the amount of physical space available for other functions including room to grow.

Virtualization is largely made possible due to increases made in technology. For example: A server with four processors costs about 1/10th of what it did a decade ago, and is more powerful. More power and cheaper cost has given companies of all sizes the capabilities to virtualize.

When should I employ server virtualization? Virtualization is ideal for functions that are small to medium scale, ie., most simple or day-to-day business functions. If you have applications that are resource intensive and rely on more than one or two servers to be able to run, then it's probably safer to not virtualize that particular service.

Most companies will run physical servers with virtual solutions to a maximum of 50% CPU usage during peak operations. If you have multiple servers running applications that, at peak, only use about 5% of the server's power, these would be ideal to virtualize - you could virtualize up to 10 physical servers.

If an application uses 48% of available computing power at peak usage, it's probably not the best candidate for virtualization as it will cause other instances on the same server to run slower, thus negating any advantages gained from virtualization.

What should I look for in a virtualization solution When looking for a virtualization solution many companies will have different needs that they need to take into account. There are three factors that almost every company should be aware of when shopping for a virtualization solution:

1. It's not 'all-in-one' - This seems to be an increasing demand of many clients; they want one system or server to take care of everything. This is not a good idea, as if something happens to the server all of your systems could be rendered useless. The best solutions take steps to ensure your solutions are redundant. That way if one fails, or needs to be fixed, it can easily be switched to the other with no loss of service.
2. There's a migration solution - Most businesses, especially small to medium enterprises, will likely be looking to migrate servers from a physical to virtual (P2V) solution. This can be a time consuming experience for the uninformed. Therefore, a good service will have P2V migration tools or options to help make the transition as smooth as possible.
3. The service is supported - Due to the increasingly complex nature of virtualization, good services should offer support. The best services should be able to manage your whole virtualization solution, including installing patches and updates and prompt service. They should also be able to work with your existing licences and ensure you're not paying extra, meeting your licensing needs.

There are many different aspects to take into account when virtualizing your systems, and if you don't have the IT support or knowledge, it could be a complete failure. That's why we recommend contacting us if you plan to virtualize. We have plans that can help, or will be able to point you in the right direction. So, call before you start.

The job of a manager and entrepreneur requires an investment of serious time. You’re never focused on one task, rather you’re trying to focus on every job that needs to be done, yesterday. Sometimes you’re pulled in so many different directions that you can feel ineffective. One way to lessen this is by taking steps to hire an assistant, not just any assistant, a virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant (VA) fills the role of a traditional assistant but is just not physically present. Many roles, like replying to trivial emails, finishing presentations, writing or even answering your phones, can all be done through the computer. If you’re interested in virtualizing your assistant here’s five steps that will help you find the perfect assistant.

Step 1: Think about tasks you don’t like You’re not a superhero, there is always something, maybe many things, that you don’t like doing. Over the course of a week jot down what you do each day and whether you like/dislike the task. Beyond that, if you think someone could do it better, jot that down as well. At the end of the week, look over the list and see if you have to do the tasks yourself, or if you can outsource them. The tasks you can outsource can be given to your VA.

Step 2: Look for a VA Once you can justify a VA, start looking for one. Reach out to your network and see if your colleagues have assistants, and if they can provide you with a recommendation. Beyond that, consulting with organizations like the ivaa.org can return some great VAs.

Step 3: Screen candidates This step is just like hiring a physical candidate. You need to go through your list of potential hires and ask them questions to ensure they are both a good fit and what you're looking for. Some things you could ask include:

• If they have experience in the tasks you listed above.
• If they have time available to actually take on your requirements.
• Their working hours and holiday requirements.
• The services they do/don’t provide.
• Their rates.
• Their general experience.
• If they can provide references and previous examples of their work.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and you should ensure to conduct the interview and asks questions related to your specific needs. One thing you should be clear on are your expectations and budget. If you want a VA who will respond within 10 minutes and you’re located in San Diego, and your VA is located in Thailand, it could take longer than that due to the time difference.

Step 4: Baby steps Like learning to walk, you can’t start at a run, rather you have to take it slow. Start with a small project to test the waters as a way to vet the candidate. Be sure to let them know that this is a test, and not a final offer. This won’t be free, you should pay them at their normal rates.

Step 5: Onboard slowly, terminate quickly If the VA is a good fit, and the test project goes smoothly, you can start to wrap up. Generally, the onboarding process should be slower than a normal physical hiring as you have to invest more and vet them more carefully. If you find that down the line, the VA just isn’t working out, or keeps making the same mistakes, cut them loose. A VA isn’t like a normal employee, you shouldn’t have to invest thousands of dollars and man hours training them and as such, it isn’t as much of an investment.

If you’d like to learn more about virtualizing roles or services within your company, please contact us.

Any new technology that is profoundly, or even remotely, popular will always have people who love it and people who hate it. Often, the opinion of experts in the same field is so widely varied that normal users are left wondering who to trust. One such debate that rages, almost daily in some circles, is over the cloud. One well-known tech guru has recently said he’s worried about the cloud.

Mike Daisey is an American monologist who did a show about Apple’s production plant (FOXCONN) in Shenzhen China that turned out to contain false facts. In August he updated his show and even brought on a special guest, Steve Wozniak (Woz), Co-founder of Apple.

On the show, Woz talked about many things, but one of the topics resonated with the tech crowd. The topic was the security of the cloud and ownership of data and files within it. Woz stated, in no uncertain terms, that, “there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years.”

He went on to explain that the reason he felt the next few years will be tough is due to ownership of information stored in the cloud. He explained, “a lot of people feel, ‘oh, everything is really on my computer’, but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it…I really worry about everything going to the cloud.”

Woz and other critics of the cloud are worried about who really owns your personal information in the cloud, and how much actual control you have over data stored on a cloud provider’s servers - aka. the cloud. The underlying issue around this reservation is the question of what will happen to all of your data if there is a massive breakdown at remote storage locations. Some users had a recent glimpse into this possibility when Amazon’s data center was struck by lightning causing cloud services like Pinterest and Instagram to be unavailable for hours. Despite the fact that the issue was fairly small, groups of people were mad at not being able to access their data.

Users may be reserved in fully trusting cloud solutions and the companies offering them but the cloud is quickly becoming a backbone to many business oriented solutions. Chances are, you are using at least one cloud service right now. Many IT companies believe that the cloud is the way to go and strive to take steps to ensure ownership of stored information is as clear as possible.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Are you worried about cloud solutions or do you embrace them? Let us know.

One of the more popular trends companies are adopting is virtualization, moving from physical systems to cloud/server based systems. Desktop virtualization, the act of moving your desktop computers from a physical to virtual environment is a type of virtualization that’s gaining more popularity. When it comes to this trend though some companies are apprehensive about how secure virtual environments are.

In general, you can do nearly everything on a virtual desktop that you can do with a physical desktop. The majority of office oriented software now has versions that operate in the cloud, or give administrators the ability to install the program on one machine and license it out to other machines.

The largest difference between the two systems comes in the form of security. Virtual desktops are susceptible to the exact same security issues as their physical counterparts, but they also have a few extra potential problems which are unique to virtual machines. The biggest security issue with virtual desktops comes in the form of access. With physical machines, you can lock an office door which will usually prevent people from physically accessing the machine. With virtual machines you are not able to do this. Anyone with access and a password can get onto the machine.

While this may sound like a deterrence to the adoption of virtual desktops, users should be aware that vendors are aware of this issue and have adopted measures to ensure their products are safe. In fact, if implemented properly, virtual desktops are often safer.

To ensure safety of data and machines virtual desktops need to be implemented in a specific manner. For example, some solutions will create a new environment every time you need to access a different system. This is like starting with a blank slate, with unnecessary data being deleted when you log off. Users won’t be able to customize their workspace, but it can help stave off problems of errant downloading, or installation of unnecessary programs.

Other systems allow users to customize their workspace, but save the changes in a separate location when the user logs off. This keeps any changes made to the base system easy to keep track of, and it’s easier to spot security problems, while keeping them local.

If you’re looking into virtualizing your office’s desktops, we strongly recommend you work with an experienced IT partner who can help deploy a system that meets your needs, while remaining safe. We can help with virtualization, so why not give us a call?

Computers and other devices have done nothing but get faster, giving businesses the ability to move traditional functions onto the computer. This move saved companies untold amounts of money and made employees more productive. The new trend is to move these now “physical” elements into a more virtual environment, a trend called virtualization.

In technical circles, the process of virtualization is the creation of a virtual copy of something actual like a server, network or storage device. Virtualization allows one device to run as more than one device. Running Windows on your Mac, or partitioning a physical hard drive into smaller sections that each act as a separate hard drive are examples of virtualization. In general, there are four types of virtualization:

1. Operating System virtualization. Running more than one operating system on the same device.
2. Server virtualization. Running more than one server on the same physical server.
3. Storage virtualization. Linking together multiple storage devices into what’s perceived as one device. Cloud storage is a common form of storage virtualization.
4. Network virtualization. Network virtualization is the combining of network connections like Internet and other Data into one seemingly visible network and then dividing the connection into separate connections. E.g., Taking a 5mb connection and assigning 2mb to your server and 3mb to employee’s computers.

In small businesses, the most popular type of virtualization is server virtualization and when many experts speak of “virtualization” they’re normally talking about server virtualization. The four types of virtualization do share common benefits though. These benefits include:

• Decreased physical hardware. When you virtualize systems, you need less hardware. Imagine an office that has both Mac and Windows computers, you can run either OS on the same machine which means no need to duplicate computers. If you have more than one server, you can bring them together onto one server, possibly being able to get rid of unnecessary equipment.
• Reduced overhead. With virtualization you will be able to get rid of hardware, which means all associated operating costs - e.g., electricity bills - and capital expenditures - e.g., maintenance - related to the hardware are decreased, or eliminated. You save money in the long run.
• Increased efficiency. As virtualization solidifies different systems into one, you’ll be able to more efficiently use the hardware components e.g., there’s no need to have separate Internet connections for email, servers and computers.
• Easy Disaster Recovery. With virtualization, you don’t need to invest heavily in backing up your company’s data, you can take the money saved from virtualization and invest it in a small number of servers that house backups offsite. When a disaster strikes, you can be up and running again quickly.
• Extended device lifecycle. It seems that current hardware is out of date almost as soon as you buy it, and within a couple of years it’s struggling to meet demands of more modern programs. With virtualization your programs are stored on servers, so the need for modern equipment is lessened. This means you can use your current equipment for longer.

The biggest benefit to virtualization is that it isn’t an all-or-nothing solution, you can virtualize different functions at your own pace, often times starting with free or low cost solutions and working up to more advanced and costly implementations. If you’re interested in virtualizing your business or would like to learn more, please contact us.

Virtualization. Many business owners know exactly what it is and what their companies are doing in regard to it. Whether your company has virtualized some or all of your business, it’s evident that there are cost savings. A recent report found that some organizations have achieved up to 269% return on investment from the process. Read on to learn how.

What is Virtualization? Virtualization is the creation of a virtual computing environment, where one hardware system can run multiple virtual environments. Common types of virtualization include servers, storage devices, or networks. The benefits of virtualization include lower costs, improved IT management, and reduced energy consumption.

The Survey A report published by CDW-G focuses on government organizations in the United Sates. Many SME owners and managers like yourselves are probably asking, “How do study results involving the government help my business?” Well, if you look closer you can see that what the government organizations did can easily be replicated by SMEs, just on a smaller scale.

Results In recent years, many companies have had to tighten their belts due to economic difficulties. Government agencies are no exception. The results of the survey found that agencies and organizations realized investment returns as high as 134 to 269%. The survey found that if IT managers invest in Server Virtualization, Document Management, Storage Virtualization, and Cloud Computing in that order, the returns on Server Virtualization alone can help pay for, if not totally cover the cost of, the other three processes. CDW-G found that on average, the total cost of implementing all four separately is over USD 1.1million, but when implemented in order, the average cost was around USD 400,000.

While it is unlikely that SMEs will see a return on investments of this magnitude, it is highly likely that they will see increased returns if they follow this method of re-investing returns from Server Virtualization into the other three steps. In times of economic stress, this could be a huge boost to your bottom line.

Helpful Recommendations From the results, CDW-G offered some useful recommendations that all businesses can use:

• When budget cuts are needed, first look for ways to increase efficiency without service cuts.
• Review technologies and processes to identify inefficiencies.
• Consider savings and efficiency opportunities in all new solutions.
• Leverage available savings into new projects.

As with any new process, it’s equally important to ensure that you educate the users of the processes and stay on your toes to keep updated.

Desktop Virtualization is starting to gain the attention of more and more businesses with its promise of simplifying IT management, strengthening IT security, and ultimately gaining new efficiencies and cost savings in the business. Read on to find out how.

There is growing interest in Desktop Virtualization with its promise of improved manageability, security and efficiency for the business. Simply put, Desktop Virtualization is new technology that separates the system software such as the operating system and applications from the underlying hardware.

Desktop virtualization allows the hardware, like a laptop or a server, to run multiple operating systems. Imagine having your Mac running Microsoft Windows and Office, or your Dell running OS X and GarageBand for example. To stretch the concept even further, operating systems and applications can be housed on remote machines – such as a server farm in Texas – which you access via the web. The applications are not resident on your computer at all.

Desktop virtualization shifts the burden of managing the system software from you or your in-house IT teams to someone else—people who can do a better job managing and updating your Windows and Office software than you can. If you have a fairly large organization managing a large number of machines, centralizing support allows the organization to gain from economies of scale—ie less people to manage more machines at less cost. Leveraging the computing power of server farms with faster machines also allows employees to get more value out of aging desktops and laptops.

Enabling anytime, anywhere access to applications and data, Desktop Virtualization connects your employees to the tools they need no matter where they are. As organizations support more and more remote employees, using desktop virtualization technology gives them access to their Windows desktop anywhere in the world, at any time, on any device.

Are you supporting remote workers or is your hardware slowing down your employees? Let's talk about Desktop Virtualization and how you can try it for your organization today.