Tech Briefs 2007

2007

December 2007 - Best Practices For Internet Redundency

December 2007

A Closer Examination at Integrating a Second Internet Circuit Into Your Environment

Internet connectivity has become the most essential utility in today’s business world. Crucial business processes such as email, web-based applications, VoIP, and E-commerce depend entirely on a reliable connection to the internet. When organizations update current business continuity plans or look to implement one for the first time, it i

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November 2007 - Multi Platform Environments Best Practices

November 2007

Seamless integration across disparate computing platforms is a growing need in the SMB Market . Some companies have their marketing department in-house and need the flexibility of Apple’s OS X platform, and software companies often require the freedom of a Linux based platform for development . In general small and medium businesses are beginning to understand the value that a non-homogenous network computing environment can provide to their users and their customers. What once used to

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October 2007 - New Credit Card Standards

October 2007

It is a staggering statistic; an estimated 10 million Americans per year fall victim to identity theft. Aside from the obvious ramifications that can impact consumers, the damage identify theft can cause to the small to midsize business arena can be fatal. Businesses can face severe financial penalties, legal action, or severe sanction from major credit card companies. In December of 2004, the major credit card providers decided to create one standard, PCI. In this month’s Tech Brief we

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September 2007 - Data Backup Strategies

September 2007

Business continuity planning has been a prominent topic in information technology for the last six years. Despite the issue’s relevance, U.S businesses still lose 12 billion dollars per year on average due to data loss. In fact, 93 percent of companies that lost their essential data for ten days or longer due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of that disaster. Companies now have several options available to them to backup their data. This month’s tech brief will e

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August 2007 - Productivity Enhancing Gadgets

August 2007

In today’s on demand business world convenience is king. Every facet of our daily lives is now revolving around some sort of technology. Whether we are in the office, the home office, or out in the field being a road warrior, more and more products have come out to enhance worker productivity. However, with new gadgets emerging in the marketplace everyday, it’s hard to differentiate between headaches and timesavers. In this month's Tech Brief we'll take a look at some of the newes

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July 2007 - Preventing Laptop Theft

July 2007

According to Safeware Insurance, over 600,000 laptop thefts occur every year, totaling an estimated $720 million in hardware losses and $5.4 billion in theft of proprietary information. With only 3 percent of all stolen computers recovered, laptop theft is a serious threat that can have widespread consequences for you and your business. In this month’s Tech Brief, we will discuss steps you can take to limit your risk of becoming a victim of laptop theft.

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June 2007 - What is New in Office 2007

June 2007

Although Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system has been getting all the press recently, the software giant’s productivity suite, Microsoft Office, has also hit the shelves with a new release. In addition to an upgraded look, Microsoft Office 2007 is promising a whole new set of upgraded features which should appeal to both experienced and novice users. In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll take a look at some of the new features and give you an idea of what to expe

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May 2007 - Voice Over IP

May 2007

In the past few years Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP, or Voice over IP) has been generating a lot of talk in the business world. Like most buzz-worthy technology though, the questions seem to outweigh the answers. In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll discuss what VoIP is and what impact it could have on your business. We’ll also dig into some of the myths and challenges surrounding VoIP as well as provide you with a list of questions to think about if you’re looking to

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April 2007 - Server Virtualization

April 2007

One of the hottest topics in business technology today is Server Virtualization. But for all the talk, a lot of people still seem to be in the dark as to what exactly Virtualization is, and how it could affect their business. In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll take a look at what virtualization is, why it’s become so popular, and what you need to know about evaluating it for your business.

What is Server Virtualization?

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March 2007 - What is New With Server and Hardware

March 2007

In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll take a look at the newest technologies in server and workstation hardware. The recent release of Microsoft Vista is forcing many businesses to upgrade their hardware, so we’ll review some of the newest technologies available and how they can benefit your business.

New Server & Workstation Hardware

Multi-Core Processors

What is it?

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February 2007 - The State of Support Microsoft Software

February 2007

The release of Vista for businesses in November of last year and for home users this week marks the first release of a new Microsoft operating system in almost 5 years. In the past Microsoft would release a new version of Windows on average every 2-3 years, but this time around the software giant decided to devote more time to enhancing Vista’s security and new features. While companies running XP on their network have time to evaluate Vista before deciding when to switch, those busines

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January 2007 - The Global Increase in SPAM

January 2007

The first documented case of email spam was from an over-aggressive marketer advertising his company's new computer system to 600 ARPANET (the predecessor of the Internet) users in 1978. Not surprisingly, the response was less than positive. Fast forward almost 30 years and what started as 600 emails has now turned into over 12 billion instances of spam per day . In this month's Tech Brief we'll take a look at the global increase in spam and what you can do to protec

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