Archive for the ‘Small Business Solutions’ Category

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10 Dangerous Risks to Your Server Security

February 27th, 2013
Posted by: admin

GUEST BLOG

By Sarah Morris
KirkpatrickPrice

Security.  That’s usually the first thing on the minds of those in the IT world.  To keep up with changing technologies, we are constantly changing and improving our security standards, so that we can remain one step ahead of malicious attackers in defending our confidential information.

Royce Howard, of Global Knowledge, offers some tips about the 10 most dangerous risks to your server.  These tips are important to remember when developing and securing your IT infrastructure.

Physical Attacks. Make sure no one has physical access to your server.  Server rooms should be kept secure, and sensitive data should be encrypted.

Password Policies. Create complex passwords and change passwords every 90 days.

Privileged Accounts and Social Engineering. Vulnerabilities can be mitigated by removing administrator rights.

Email Attacks. Beware of phishing emails.  Never open an email from an untrusted source and avoid clicking on links in emails.

Worms. Worms are self-replicating programs that copy themselves from machine to machine, using up computer processing time and bandwidth.

Increasingly Malicious Malware. Scheduling regular scans can help detect and prevent against malicious malware and spyware.

Unauthorized Network Access. Network Access Control and Network Access Protection can help control network access of a computer host while using a set of protocols to define and implement a security policy.

Not Updating Patches. Automatic updating of patches can help avoid threats.

3rd-Party Applications. Check security platforms of 3rd-party vendors and applications from independent developers and manage exploits.

The Human Factor. People are the weakest link in security initiatives.  Develop strong policies and procedures so that people are prepared.

At KirkpatrickPrice, we have years of experience in information assurance by performing assessments, audits, and tests that strengthen information security controls.  Contact us at info@kirkpatrickprice.com for more information on how we can help you in your compliance efforts.

Sarah Morris is a technical writer for KirkpatrickPrice, a provider of world-class audit services. Visit www.kirkpatrickprice.com.

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What Do Our Microsoft Competencies Mean?

February 3rd, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

What do our Microsoft competencies mean?  They are something we’ve worked very hard to achieve and we’re quite proud of them.  There are 640,000 partners in the Microsoft Partner Network, but only 5 percent of partners worldwide can distinguish themselves with a competency and having attained this high degree of proficiency.

AIS Network has attained Microsoft competencies in hosting and in mid-market solutions.  AISN’s Microsoft competencies show you our demonstrated expertise — and our commitment — to staying deeply informed about the latest Microsoft products and technologies.

AIS Network Microsoft Competencies

Attaining Microsoft competencies is a rigorous process but the outcome is highly rewarding.

By attaining our Microsoft competencies, we have met extensive requirements through rigorous exams — culminating in Microsoft certifications.  And, we have also been recommended by our customers for our skills, support and knowledge.  A Microsoft competency allows us to accelerate our customers’ success by serving as technology advisors for their business demands.

When customers look for an IT partner to meet their business challenges, choosing a company that has attained Microsoft competencies is a smart move.  These are highly qualified professionals with access to Microsoft technical support and product teams.

See how we can put our expertise to work for your business.  Contact us today.

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Understanding Cloud Deployment Models

November 27th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

Public Cloud, Private Cloud or Hybrid Cloud?  Which one is for me?

First of all, let’s define the Cloud.  A Cloud is a consolidation of hosted computer services (storage, computing power) and is delivered as a service.

Cloud services are often fully managed by the provider and are usually sold based on usage (for example, per hour or even by the minute). One of the main benefits of the Cloud is that it is elastic, allowing organizations to use as much resources as they need.  They can easily add or reduce those services without the need to deploy equipment.  This can be really useful in situations where companies have a project (for example, a development project or marketing promotion that requires a special new temporary website) or their business has a lot of associated seasonality (i.e., they need more computing resources for the Christmas season).  In that case, a company can call a company such as AISN and simply request another “virtual machine” or more storage.

Many of our customers like the cloud model also since they don’t have to put out upfront capital for equipment and software, but instead can pay a set amount each month.  It’s more predictable and it is captured as an operational expense, which can be beneficial.

As for the deployment models, here are the main types of Cloud:

  • Public Cloud is a cloud that is available to all customers and these customers share the resources of the cloud.  Examples of public clouds are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure  and Google Cloud.
  • Private Cloud allocates resources to be used solely by your organization from a shared infrastructure.  Your data is stored in dedicated, segregated silos.  With Private Cloud, adding more storage or CPU is easy and often instantly available.
  • Dedicated Private Cloud is a cloud infrastructure built solely for your organization’s use – with all services and hardware dedicated to your organization.  Some organizations prefer dedicated private cloud for additional security but the down side is that there are reduced economies of scale. That being said, adding and reducing computing resources is much easier to do as with any cloud.
  • Community Cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.).  This allows the community to customize the cloud based on these concerns and spread the cost – making it generally more cost effective than a private cloud, but less so than a public cloud.
  • Hybrid Cloud is a combination of more than one cloud type.  For example, you can combine a private cloud with a public cloud.  This will give you benefits of more than one deployment model.  Often an organization will deploy hybrid clouds to provide the flexibility of in-house applications with the fault tolerance and scalability of cloud-based services.

 

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Cloud Computing Benefits for Accounting Firms

August 19th, 2012
Posted by: Julia Uglietta


By Julia Uglietta
Associate, Marketing and Sales

Accounting firms deal with data day in and day out. The volume of numbers that go through an accounting office each day is unimaginable. The number of emails that go in and out of the offices is inundating.

It’s not only the size issue that challenges accounting offices every day.  Rather, it’s also the need to work faster while remaining efficient – in addition to improving better client and interoffice communications. These goals sound fairly standard for a successful business, right?  But in fields such as accounting, where large amounts of data are being received and stored, achieving these goals can be onerous.  The good news is, however, that new technology known as cloud computing is helping accounting firms attain these goals and save money too.

AIS Network accounting

Taking business to the cloud allows accountants to work from anywhere, at any time.

Taking accounting firms to the cloud is a way to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make data more accessible.  Throughout the industry, the discussions about cloud computing and how many accounting practices are moving to an outsourced cloud computing model has people thinking.  Accountants can see clearly that cloud computing is moving up and moving fast.  Now, more firms are looking into cloud solutions before they buy that next new sever.  They’re performing a cost benefit analysis, and in the process, they’re discovering that the operational expenditure associated with implementing an outsourced model is more desirable than the large capital expenditure associated with buying and maintaining all those new servers.

Not only does migrating to a cloud-based, paperless environment cut costs for accounting firms, but it also introduces new efficiencies.  When you put your data and applications in the cloud and entrust a cloud provider to care for them round-the-clock, you’re achieving IT efficiencies such as:

  • Eliminating the need for physical storage (throw out those old filing cabinets!)
  • Upgrading to industrial strength physical security (including partial or full fault tolerance, fire protection, etc.)
  • Improving backup and disaster recovery processes
  • Enhancing data security
  • Increasing availability (through improved power redundancy,  etc.)
  • Extending IT resources with a 24x7x365 team of hosting experts

For many accounting firms, this makes the decision to switch to the cloud even easier.

The most brilliant feature of the cloud is, in my opinion, its “anywhere” accessibility – which is an aspect that most accounting firms will find appealing.  When your data and your applications are in the cloud, they are accessible via any Internet-enabled device whenever you need them and wherever you are.  It just makes life easier.  Allowing the staff to work faster (and, I might add, without necessarily increasing billable rates) allows them more time to focus on the clients’ needs.

Most customers prefer communicating with their accountant via the Internet, and in many ways, the new cloud-based dashboards, reporting applications and unified communications systems that are now available only make this easier.  By enabling better collaboration and communication among geographically diverse staff and clients, accounting firms’ processes and workflows are vastly improved and the work gets done much faster – often with greatly reduced travel costs.

Life in the cloud has changed many industries’ ways of operating.  Slowly but surely, accounting firms will ease into cloud computing and reap benefits that were previously unachievable any other way.

 

 

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Why Email Archiving?

August 3rd, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Why email archiving?  Well, from the knowledge management perspective, valuable information is contained within our everyday email conversations, and yet that vast knowledge repository is typically not documented or stored using any formal means or framework.  Email archiving solves this problem, especially if it is designed with simple yet robust search capabilities.

email archiving

Email archiving addresses legal readiness and regulatory compliance needs, among other business requirements.

However, information archiving also addresses several key business requirements, particularly for enterprises.  To start, consider:

  • legal discovery readiness
  • regulatory compliance
  • email storage optimization

Being prepared for legal discovery and regulatory events means knowing where data is stored and being able to collect, search, and retrieve that data in a short period of time.

Organizations must also be able to establish and enforce policies, which reflect specific regulatory and geographic market requirements that align with internal information governance strategies. When managed improperly, exposure to legal and compliance risks can be significant and challenge an organization’s ability to defend its processes. This can lead to costly fines, guilty verdicts and damaged reputations.

Also, keep in mind that because regulations mandate that data must remain in its original state (native format), robust search capabilities are needed.  An archive provides a centralized, searchable repository that provides end users with access to historical information.  We believe that this access should be simple and intuitive, with a familiar user experience that fits existing work habits and enables greater productivity.

Finally, an information archive should address all of these requirements while also supporting the dual IT objectives of centralizing email storage and reducing the cost and management complexities of exploding data volumes — both within managed systems as well as in the wild.

AISN has recently introduced a new cloud-based offering for enterprise email archiving — one that has a variety of attractive features, especially if you need to meet high compliance standards.  AISN’s next generation email archiving, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive™, offers a proven email archiving solution architected explicitly for the cloud.  It features ultra-rapid parallel email search capabilities for discovery, DoubleBlind Encryption™ as the industry’s only email archiving solution to secure against hacking or legal challenges, and unlimited storage with straightforward flat-fee pricing.

Read more about our new email archiving solution on our site’s email archiving page; it’s also briefly highlighted in our disaster recovery section.  Because we price email archiving on a case-by-case basis, you won’t find a pricing guide, so please be sure to contact us for a free quote.

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Private Cloud Success Trends Upward

July 17th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

How successful are private clouds, anyway?

That’s the question asked by a recent research report from Information Week.  The survey reveals that most companies with private clouds in place are pleased with the results and are experiencing heightened efficiency and lower costs.

I find this report particularly interesting, since we’re building more and more private clouds — and particularly SharePoint private clouds — every day.  While it’s not entirely clear to me how many of the companies surveyed are hosting their private cloud with a hosting provider or building their private cloud on premise, I think that the takeaways are broadly applicable.

Network Computing editor Mike Fratto, who wrote the 66-page report, said in his abstract:

The big takeaway? Those with private clouds experience more efficient use of hardware and superior scalability and reliability, and they make better use of IT’s time.  These are all measurable benefits that can make your IT department shine in the eyes of users and the CFO.  Those with private clouds also report success in lowering capital and operational costs and total cost of ownership.

There are some keys to success, though:  Have a well-thought-out migration plan. Make sure new software can leverage the scaling and reliability features of your private cloud, and be prepared to train employees on the new systems. They’ll love you for it, and you’ll get better results.

A majority of the 414 IT professionals surveyed said they aren’t running private clouds yet.  However, 21 percent of respondents said they have private clouds in place, and 30 percent more said they’re beginning private cloud projects.  Of the respondents with private clouds, 72 percent described their implementations as “very successful” or “a complete success.” Another quarter said they were “somewhat successful,” while only 1 percent chose “somewhat unsuccessful.”  Most reported having successfully lowered capex and opex.

The report digs deeper into cloud expectations, cloud costs, cloud maintenance, challenges, obstacles, vendor choices, best practices, keys to success and more.  You can download the report here.

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Slow SharePoint Server? If your SharePoint Loads Slowly, This May Be Why.

July 9th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Terry Engelstad
MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP
AIS Network Operations Manager

Is your SharePoint Server running slow?

Recently, a client emailed to say that he was noticing large slowdowns in connecting to their SharePoint server at AISN.  It seems to be happening nightly and intermittently throughout the day, he said.  Specifically, his issues were:

  1. SharePoint content loads slowly
  2. Uploading/ downloading from SharePoint is impossible (speeds come to a crawl at less than 5KBps)
  3. Remoting in to the SharePoint server is very slow

He asked what could be causing a slow SharePoint Server and SharePoint SQL Server.  Here’s the problem in his case.

The servers, in general, are starving for memory.  The hypervisor on which they reside (XYZ1) has only 74 MB of free memory.  Microsoft recommends not dropping below 2 GB of free memory on a hypervisor.

See the image below for XYZ1 (real names changed to protect client).

Slow SharePoint

As I explained to our client, the server “SharePoint” has 0 free memory and is warning that it needs more.  It looks like the vast majority of the memory on SharePoint is being consumed by w3wp.exe – IIS Application Pools. This would certainly contribute to slow web page rendering.  And with 0 free memory, anybody who remotes into it will take more memory away from the Application Pools, thereby making it slower.

In our client’s case, the server “SharePointSQL” is grossly overtaxed.  I count 68 databases defined and live.  This is way, way too much for a SQL Server with only 8 GB of memory.  The Microsoft recommendation is 8 GB of memory for a lightly used SharePoint Foundation Farm and 16 GB for a lightly used SharePoint Server Farm.

This level of memory, combined with the number of databases, will create very small page caching (perhaps not even caching at all).  This will seriously degrade the speed of uploading documents.

As you may or may not know, SharePoint stores all documents as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs).  In order to properly convert, for example, a Word document to a BLOB, it must cache the entire uploaded document somewhere before it can go through the conversion to a BLOB. So again, small or non-existent cache, means real slow upload and download times, among other slownesses.

In this case, adding more memory is the solution to a slow SharePoint Server.   However, a SharePoint private cloud would be an ideal approach – one that allows for the flexibility and scalability this client needs to accommodate growth smoothly.

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Why Is Compliance in the Cloud Important?

May 7th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

GUEST BLOG

By Joseph Kirkpatrick
Managing Partner, KirkpatrickPrice

The world’s digital infrastructure is a constantly growing industry.  This is why the use of data centers has become exceedingly popular.  What is the scary thing about collecting and storing highly sensitive information?  The risk of a security breach.

When a company utilizes a data center, such as for cloud computing and hosting, it’s important that they are aware of the security of their organization’s data, especially because data centers often times outsource to other vendors.  What does this mean to you?  This means they may also have access to your data.  This is why cloud hosting providers must be in compliance with all applicable privacy laws when it comes to keeping data secure during the collection, storage and use of your sensitive information.

How is compliance measured?  Compliance is measured by how well organizations meet the data security standards and regulations that are meant to help you keep your information confidential and secure.  The use of data centers is very resourceful as long as you’re sure your service provider is complying with these industry accepted security standards and regulations.  Some of the companies that comply with SSAE 16, PCI Data Security Standards, and Trust Services Principles and Criteria have already taken these steps and have been audited by third parties, such as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and Quality Security Assessors (QSAs).

So, what steps should you be taking?  Start taking your organization’s security into consideration and ensure compliance in the cloud.

(more…)

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Does Third Party Hosting for SharePoint 2010 Make Sense?

April 13th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

“To cloud or not to cloud?” is rapidly emerging as the technical question of the decade.

Industry analyst Gartner, Inc., expects 43 percent of companies to have most of their IT efforts running in the cloud in as little as four years. Due to that expected boom in cloud adoption, Gartner ranks cloud computing as the No. 1 tech priority for chief information officers.

Placing a mission-critical platform into the hands of an independent, third-party hosting services provider can uniquely position that

SharePoint 2010 Cloud

Should you host your SharePoint 2010 in the cloud?

organization to combine some of the best elements of on-premise hosting and Office 365 delivery. For many organizations, SharePoint is mission critical and the decision to shift from on-premise hosting to third-party hosting is not entered into lightly.  However, the benefits of doing so are increasingly appealing.  In comparison to on-premise hosting, third-party hosting offers superior flexibility, greater reliability and a better value.

Why a better value?  Ultimately, if an organization were to attempt to replicate the hosting infrastructure built by a third-party provider, it would become abundantly clear to that organization that outsourcing to a third party provides a much better value.  It is usually cheaper for an organization to host SharePoint on-premise – unless they want to do it right.  Replicating an on-site infrastructure that equals the performance, reliability, scalability, security and compliance environment that “comes standard” with a solid, Microsoft hosting partner’s services would be cost prohibitive.

Here, it is also important to note that for public companies or others that are audited, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) also drives the case for outsourced hosting.  SOX identified the Type II SAS 70 report (today’s equivalent is SSAE 16 Type II) as the only acceptable method for a third party to assure a service organization’s controls.  Many reputable hosting companies are SSAE 16 Type II-audited, which means the audit of the hosting company can be incorporated into the audit of the public company.  Relying on the audit performed on a third-party hosting company, at the hosting company’s cost, may be much more cost-effective than ensuring your own facilities and processes are SSAE 16-compliant.

Hosted SharePoint Specialists

Organizations contemplating a SharePoint deployment should recognize that there are applications hosting providers and then there are a handful of hosting providers that specialize in hosting SharePoint.  Many have Microsoft and additional compliance certifications, and that enhanced capability and level of service may be imperative to an organization requiring customized SharePoint hosting configurations, Microsoft-certified talent, and top-grade security and disaster compliance.

The hosting provider’s infrastructure is supported by many clients, thus enabling it to deliver a broad range of services at a substantially lower price (than managing identical services on-premise).

For the customer, there is little upfront capital expense and the monthly payments to the hosting company are predictable operational expenses.  The IT staff is freed up from spending precious resources and time on designing its own hosting solution architecture.  Stressing about managing backups, software licenses, hardware/software upgrades, and patching schedules is all in the hands of seasoned hosting experts who monitor the customer’s SharePoint solution in a disaster-resistant data center.

In addition to cloud hosting services, there are two general types of SharePoint hosting that a third-party provider may offer:

• Shared hosting. An organization’s applications and data are deployed on a server that is shared by several other organizations.

• Dedicated hosting. An organization either deploys its own servers or the hosting provider deploys servers dedicated for exclusive use by that organization.  Dedicated hosting may be provided by either dedicated physical servers or dedicated virtual servers.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Third-Party Hosting
A SharePoint hosting provider frees up an organization’s entire IT staff to focus on tasks that will help grow their business.  In their Service Level Agreements, most top-tier hosting providers offer disaster-resistant data centers, temperature and access controls, 24x7x365 monitoring and response, excellent connectivity, reliable uptime and availability, managed hardware/software upgrades and maintenance, routine backups and fail-over capability in the event of disaster.

The best providers develop a solid, personalized relationship with each customer, listening carefully to their needs and integrating their team of experts into the organization’s IT staff.

Benefits include the following:

• Customization. The hosting provider is capable of configuring highly complex SharePoint installations.

• Low upfront costs. Capital outlays are minimized. Outsourced hosting becomes an operational expense.  The hosting provider typically buys and manages the servers and provides the licenses.

• Staff. Highly trained hosting experts strive to integrate seamlessly with an organization’s team, thus helping to strengthen the relationship through personalized service.

• Security. An organization’s servers are typically highly secured, backed up and sitting in a disaster-resistant data center.  Many providers have SSAE 16 Type II designations as well as other compliance certifications.

• Scalable. Spikes in traffic can be sustained without the accompanying worry that the organization’s network will crash.

Drawbacks include the following:

• Portability. SharePoint hosting is complex, and organizations must enter into long-term contractual commitments with their hosting provider.  Switching providers in mid-contract, or reverting back to self-hosting, is not easy and the process of migrating data to a new hosting arrangement can be onerous.

• Slower deployments. Deploying the physical infrastructure is managed and thus not as turn-key as cloud-based hosting.

In addition to cloud hosting services already addressed by this paper, there are two general types of SharePoint hosting that a third-party provider may offer:

• Change management. Changes – either hardware or software – to the SharePoint configuration may require the hosting provider’s review and approval, so organizations must plan in advance.

• Flexibility. While third-party hosting may not recreate the level of flexibility associated with on-premise hosting, in most cases, the degree to which an organization loses out on flexibility and control is less than the degree by which it will save on capital outlays.

Just as with on-premise hosting, there is a large emphasis on customization and flexibility in the world of third-party hosting providers.  An organization will have full access to its own SharePoint environment – the way it should be – and any kind of software application that compliments its SharePoint (customer relationship management software, data mining programs, etc.) can be integrated.

Have more questions about hosting SharePoint in the cloud?  Download the “To Cloud or Not to Cloud” whitepaper and/or speak with someone in our office.

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Cloud Usage Surging for Small and Midsize Businesses

March 28th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Move over enterprise.  The cloud is where it’s at for small business too. New research, announced today by Microsoft, predicts a significant increase in paid cloud services among small and midsize businesses (SMBs) over the next five years.

Conducted by Edge Strategies, the research includes survey responses from IT decision-makers or influencers at more than 3,000 SMBs in 13 countries. According to the survey results, paid cloud services are expected to double in five years, while the number of the world’s smallest companies using at least one paid cloud service will triple in the next three years.

“Gone are the days of large enterprises holding the keys to enterprise-class IT and services,” commented Microsoft vice president of operator channels Marco Limena in the corporate press release.

“The cloud levels the playing field for SMBs, helping them compete in today’s quickly changing business environment, by spending less time and money on IT and more time focused on their most important priority — growing their businesses.”

Cloud opportunity

The cloud represents a major opportunity for SMBs.

 

Cloud computing is able to deliver more of what small and midsize businesses need — cheaper operations and faster, better fusion of vital information to virtually any device. In fact, the research finds 59 percent of companies currently using cloud services report significant productivity benefits from information technology, compared with just 30 percent of SMBs not yet using the cloud.

Moreover, despite a sluggish global economy, 63 percent of SMBs using cloud services today expect to grow in sales in the next 12 to 18 months while 55 percent believe technology will power their growth.

SMBs worldwide are embracing cloud services to reap those benefits and stay ahead of competitors — 50 percent of SMBs say cloud computing is going to become more important for their operations, and 58 percent believe working in the cloud can make companies more competitive.

More Options, Fewer Concerns

SMBs’ appetites for the cloud are only growing as they add more devices and services — and as their concerns about the cloud wane.

  • Cloud adopters want to do more with devices. Mobility is essential to current cloud users. They want mobile devices for more than email, including productivity and business apps.
  • Security is a priority but no longer a main concern. Only about 20 percent of SMBs believe that data is less secure in the cloud than it is in their on-premise systems. Thirty-six percent overall and 49 percent of larger SMBs actually think that data is as secure in the cloud as in their own systems.
  • Local is better when it comes to service providers. Most SMBs feel it is important to buy services from a provider with a local presence, and 31 percent feel this is critical.

Although many SMBs are interested in the benefits that the cloud can deliver, many are unable to identify which services would be most valuable for them to implement and select a service provider.  More than 60 percent of SMBs indicate they do not have the resources necessary to implement new technologies and services, and 52 percent do not have the resources to get their employees trained.

For the large ecosystem of cloud service providers, this represents significant opportunity to bridge the knowledge and implementation gap and gain new customers — 56 percent of SMBs report a preference toward buying IT and cloud services from a single source.

 

 

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