On the Blog

Check out AISN’s collection of news, expert advice and tips on cloud, security, regulatory compliance and more.
  • All
  • Applications
  • Blog
  • Cloud Enablement
  • Cloud Solutions
  • Compliance
  • Design & Development
  • Education
  • Federal
  • Financial Services
  • Government
  • Health Care
  • Information Security
  • Infrastructure
  • Managed Services
  • Security & Privacy
Protect Your Data - World Backup Day Explained
Blog

Protect Your Data – World Backup Day Explained

Understanding World Backup Day Ismail Jadun, a digital consultant, was inspired to create an annual event called World Backup Day after reading a Reddit post ...
Read More →
Revamp Your Digital Strategy: 12 Signs It's Time for a Website Redesign
Blog

Revamp Your Digital Strategy: 12 Signs It’s Time for a Website Redesign

When Does a Website Need a Redesign In the current digital age, having a website is crucial for any business. It acts as a virtual ...
Read More →
BEAD Cybersecurity Requirements – All You Need to Know
Blog

BEAD Cybersecurity Requirements – All You Need to Know

Securing Your BEAD Award: A Guide for ISPs on Meeting Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program Cybersecurity Requirements Imagine a future in which every American, ...
Read More →
Fortifying Cybersecurity in State and Local Government
Blog

Fortifying Cybersecurity in State and Local Government

Cybersecurity in Government In an age where digital technology permeates every aspect of our lives, government agencies stand at a critical juncture in the fight ...
Read More →
8 Tips to Help You Guard Against Phishing
Blog

8 Tips to Help You Guard Against Phishing

This month’s security awareness tips concern an increasingly common, sophisticated, and dangerous threat: phishing. Phishing is a form of cyberattack whereby the attacker sends fraudulent ...
Read More →
Women in Technology - Identity Access Management
Blog

3 Reasons to Modernize Legacy IAM and CIAM Programs

Organizations that depend on outdated enterprise Identity and Access Management and Customer Identity and Access Management systems overlook essential opportunities to enhance security measures, unify ...
Read More →
Determining the Cost of an IAM Program
Blog

Determining the Cost of an IAM Program

In today’s complex digital ecosystem, implementing a robust identity and access management program is not just a security measure but a business imperative. However, as ...
Read More →
Multifactor Authentication and Managed Services
Blog

A Guide to Building a Successful IAM Program

For technology professionals, managing a robust Identity and Access Management program is no longer merely about safeguarding assets. It has grown to encompass streamlined business ...
Read More →
7 Key Questions for Hiring an IT Project Manager
Blog

7 Key Questions for Hiring an IT Project Manager

Hiring the right IT project manager is critical to the success of your projects and the overall efficiency of your organization’s IT operations. An exceptional ...
Read More →
Teams Premium - AI Meeting Recap
Blog

Teams Premium – AI Meeting Recap Now Available

Microsoft Teams Premium  According to the Productivity Trends report from Reclaim, professionals now spend more than half of their 40-hour workweek in meetings. This means ...
Read More →
10 Benefits of Outsourced IT Project Management
Blog

10 Benefits of Outsourced IT Project Management

Outsourcing IT project management has become increasingly popular as organizations strive to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and optimize project outcomes. Businesses can leverage various benefits ...
Read More →
Why Cybersecurity Attorneys Use Our Consulting Services
Security & Privacy

Why Cybersecurity Attorneys Use Our Consulting Services

What Is a Cybersecurity Consultant? Let us explain why cybersecurity attorneys would benefit from consulting with a team of cybersecurity engineers. In today’s technology-driven world, ...
Read More →
Cybersecurity Awareness Training Program
Information Security

How to Implement a Cybersecurity Awareness Training Program

Creating a program of regular cybersecurity awareness training should be a key part of your information security program. Read on and learn how.
Read More →
7 Key Traits of Exceptional IT Project Managers
Blog

7 Key Traits of Exceptional IT Project Managers

In the dynamic realm of IT project management, exceptional individuals with unique skills and traits are essential to ensure successful project delivery. Successful IT project ...
Read More →
Criminals Are Exploiting AI - What to Look For
Blog

Criminals Are Exploiting AI – What to Look for

What Is Artificial Intelligence? One of the many cool things about the new wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is their ability to sound convincingly ...
Read More →
3 Essential Security Tools Blog For Every Business
Blog

Three Essential Security Tools for Every Business

Protecting Your Business and Data Your data is one of your most valuable business assets, and keeping it safe should be one of your main ...
Read More →
The Power of Privileged Access Management
Blog

The Power of Privileged Access Management

In today’s digital landscape, protecting sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access is paramount for organizations. Privileged access management (PAM) has emerged as a vital security ...
Read More →
Preventing Scope Creep in IT Project Management
Blog

Preventing Scope Creep in IT Project Management

Preventing scope creep is a critical aspect of effective IT project management. Professional IT project managers employ various strategies to mitigate the risks associated with ...
Read More →
Multifactor Authentication and Managed Services
Blog

Multifactor Authentication and Managed Services

In today’s digital landscape, protecting sensitive information and data breaches has become paramount for organizations. Multifactor authentication (MFA) has emerged as a powerful defense against ...
Read More →
Demystifying VPNs: A Comprehensive Guide on How a VPN Works
Blog

Demystifying VPNs: A Comprehensive Guide on How a VPN Works

Setting Up and Using a VPN A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a powerful tool that provides a secure, encrypted connection between your device and ...
Read More →
VPN-as-a-Service
Blog

Embrace Cloud-Based Security With VPN-as-a-Service: What You Need to Know

As cyber threats evolve, companies must stay ahead by implementing robust security measures that protect their sensitive data and online resources. One such measure is ...
Read More →
Understanding Microsoft Active Directory for IAM
Applications

Understanding Microsoft Active Directory for IAM

Identity and Access Management (IAM) has become a vital part of modern business, allowing organizations to manage their employees’ and customers’ identities and access. Within ...
Read More →
Website Modernization Drives an Inclusive, Online Experience, Security and Compliance
Blog

AISN Website Modernization Drives Accessibility

Making Websites More Accessible Around 26 percent of U.S. adults, or 61 million people, currently live with a disability, according to the Centers for Disease ...
Read More →
Enhancing Cybersecurity With Penetration Testing
Compliance

Enhancing Cybersecurity With Penetration Testing

What Is a Penetration Test? A penetration test, also known as a pen test, assesses the security of a computer system, network, or web application ...
Read More →
Virginia Business Best Places to Work 2023
Blog

Why Working for AIS Network Is Awesome

AIS Network has been ranked on the Virginia Business Magazine’s 2023 list of the 100 “Best Places to Work in Virginia.”  Let’s look at why ...
Read More →
multicloud management
Blog

Avoid These 6 Multicloud Management Pitfalls

Multicloud management has become increasingly popular in recent years as organizations look to take advantage of the flexibility, scalability and redundancy offered by multiple cloud ...
Read More →
7 Steps to Web ADA Compliance and Accessibility
Applications

7 Steps to Web ADA Compliance and Accessibility

What do you mean I have to modernize my website? Does my website really need ADA compliance? Does everybody’s website need to be ADA compliant? ...
Read More →
10 Essential Cybersecurity Questions for CISOs
Blog

10 Essential Cybersecurity Questions for CISOs

10 Essential Cybersecurity Questions for CISOs As the world becomes more interconnected and cyber threats grow more complex, having a strong and effective cybersecurity strategy is ...
Read More →
cloud hosting data center
Blog

Cloud Hosting vs. On-Premises: Pros and Cons

Cloud Hosting vs. On-Premises: Pros and Cons In today’s digital age, having an online presence is essential for any organization. However, the question of where ...
Read More →
A Year in Malware - The worst malware of 2022
Blog

A Year in Malware – The Nastiest Malware of 2022

A Year in Malware – The Nastiest Malware of 2022 Much of our time this year has been spent working with our clients, making sure ...
Read More →
CMMC Certification Is Coming. Are You Ready?
Compliance

C3PAO Certification Is Coming. Are You Ready?

C3PAO Certification Is Coming. Are You Ready? By 2025, cybercrime is estimated to cause global losses of up to $10.5 trillion annually, affecting various industries ...
Read More →
What is Enterprise Cloud Architecture?
Blog

What Is Enterprise Cloud Architecture?

As more and more organizations adopt cloud computing, the importance of enterprise cloud architecture has become increasingly apparent. Enterprise cloud architecture is a comprehensive framework ...
Read More →
ecommerce digital storefront
Design & Development

Five Tips on E-commerce Data Migration for a Successful Digital Store Front

Five Tips on E-commerce Data Migration Over the years, AISN team members have designed, built and optimized multiple e-commerce websites using both waterfall and agile ...
Read More →
Critical State, Federal & Commercial Data — Protected & Compliant
Blog

Critical State, Federal & Commercial Data — Protected & Compliant

Building Robust, Secure, Compliant Systems With High Uptime The challenges facing senior IT leaders in state, federal, and commercial organizations are numerous. With complex systems ...
Read More →
Juneteenth - Freedom Day
Blog

What Is Juneteenth?

June·teenth /jo͞oːnˌtēːnTH,ˌjo͞onˈtēnTH,jo͞o:nˈtē:nTH/ Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, originated in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, commemorating African American Emancipation Day ...
Read More →
Payment Gateways for eGovernment and Ecommerce
Blog

Payment Gateways for E-Government and E-commerce

In the 21st century, easy payments have become a critical and expected part of the digital customer experience. Today’s consumers are accustomed to buying products ...
Read More →
6 Tips for Choosing the Right Enterprise Architect
Blog

6 Tips for Choosing the Right Enterprise Architect

Choosing the right enterprise architecture vendor can be a complex and critical decision. Enterprise architecture is a strategic approach to managing the complexity of an ...
Read More →
A Tribute to AIS Network Founder Dan Lundahl, 1955-2022
Blog

A Tribute to AIS Network Founder Dan Lundahl, 1955-2022

The AIS Network Team wishes to tribute founder Dan Lundahl, who passed away on February 7, 2022. Deeply respected by those who knew him best, ...
Read More →
Tax
Education

Generating 2022 Pro Plus QuickBooks 1099 Reports

One Tip for QuickBooks 1099 Reports As tax season is underway, we want to share an accounting tip we discovered while utilizing QuickBooks Desktop Pro ...
Read More →
Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap
Security & Privacy

Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap

Advancing Cybersecurity Training and Skills in an Industry Faced With a Talent Shortage The cybersecurity skills gap is a real and growing challenge in the ...
Read More →
7 Cybersecurity Tips for Your Organization
Information Security

7 Cybersecurity Tips for Your Organization

7 Cybersecurity Tips for Your Organization Last month was Cybersecurity Awareness Month. How did you recognize it at your organization? If you didn’t know about ...
Read More →
Incident Response Plan
Information Security

Why an Incident Response Plan Is Important

Having an Incident Response Plan is the first step to keeping your company, employees, and client information safe. Learn more today!
Read More →
SSL Certificates: Why Are They Important?
Compliance

SSL Certificates: Why Are They Important?

Does your website have a current SSL certificate? You may have noticed a little closed padlock icon next to the domain name of the website ...
Read More →
AISN Joins the Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Blog

AISN Joins the Cybersecurity Awareness Month Campaign

Every year in October, it is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This campaign raises awareness about the significance of cybersecurity throughout the United States. Led by the ...
Read More →
Tech Support Scam Red Flags
Blog

Tech Support Scam Red Flags

Protecting Yourself From Seven Tech Support Scams October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it is essential to remind everyone that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ...
Read More →
How Do Tech Support Scams Happen?
Blog

How Do Tech Support Scams Happen?

Tech support fraud involves criminals claiming to provide technical support to fix problems that don’t exist. Their methods include placing calls, sending pop-ups, engaging misleading ...
Read More →
Tech Support Scams Are Rampant – Just Ask My Dad
Blog

Tech Support Scams Are Rampant – Just Ask My Dad

Tech support scams are rampant today, and tech scammers are obnoxiously brash. How do I know? Because it hits close to home. My elderly father ...
Read More →
More Than a Decade of AISN Internships
Blog

More Than a Decade of AISN Internships

At AISN, internships have always been a part of who we are. We love offering opportunities to students who want to learn and grow in ...
Read More →
5 Tips for Protection Against Ransomware
Security & Privacy

5 Tips for Protection and Prevention Against Ransomware

If you are looking for tips for protection and prevention against ransomware, then you’ve come to the right place. In last week’s blog, we defined ...
Read More →
What Is Ransomware and Why Is It a Threat?
Security & Privacy

What Is Ransomware and Why Is It a Threat?

What Is Ransomware? Ransomware dominated the news cycle this past week with cybercriminals’ attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which resulted in a disrupted gas supply ...
Read More →
Ransomware: Best Practices for Critical Infrastructure Companies
Security & Privacy

Ransomware: Best Practices for Critical Infrastructure Companies

This month, the Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom to malicious cyber actors who hacked their information technology network to steal data. Would you ...
Read More →
Ransomware Is Getting Worse. Here's Why You Need Pen Testing.
Security & Privacy

Ransomware Is Getting Worse. Here’s Why You Need Pen Testing.

Ransomware Hits the Entire East Coast The fuel giant Colonial Pipeline was hacked on Friday by ransomware cybercriminals, impacting everyone on the East Coast. From rising ...
Read More →
New Data Security Regulations to Watch
Blog

New Data Security Regulations to Watch

  The increasing number of data security regulations has raised privacy concerns globally. Gartner’s industry analysis predicts that by 2023, about two-thirds of the world’s ...
Read More →
Understanding Azure and SQL Server
Applications

Understanding Azure and SQL Server

Microsoft Azure and SQL Server Microsoft Azure does not sell virtual machines with SQL Server pre-installed but instead provides SQL Server databases derived from larger ...
Read More →
What You Need to Know About Avoiding Data Breaches
Information Security

What You Need to Know About Avoiding Data Breaches

What’s the secret to avoiding data breaches? The key is to understand them and recognize where you’re vulnerable. Read on and find out more.
Read More →
Benefits of Running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure
Cloud Enablement

Benefits of Running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure

Successful cloud migration begins with crucial decisions and simple steps forward, such as running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure. Why Azure? Customers choose ...
Read More →
Why Your Clients Really Need Cyber Forensics
Information Security

Why Your Clients Really Need Cyber Forensics

To protect your clients from the damages associated with data breaches, you need to partner with a cyber forensics expert. Learn more.
Read More →
Could Your Business Benefit From a vCISO?
Information Security

Could Your Business Benefit From a vCISO?

As your organization grows, so do your risks. A vCISO can help your organization move forward safely as you embrace technological developments.
Read More →
You Need the Security Benefits Penetration Testing Can Offer
Information Security

You Need the Security Benefits Penetration Testing Can Offer

Regular penetration testing can help ensure your systems are strengthened against threats and your data is secure. Learn more now.
Read More →
Network Firewall Security: Are You Compliant or Are You Secure?
Compliance

Network Firewall Security: Are You Compliant or Are You Secure?

Your router and network firewall security were fully compliant with industry and government standards, but does that mean your data is safe and secure?
Read More →
5 Cybersecurity Incident Response Steps You Need to Know
Information Security

5 Cybersecurity Incident Response Steps You Need to Know

Data breaches happen daily. Are you ready? In this post, we’ll explore what you need to consider when developing incident response steps.
Read More →
Disaster Recovery Plan
Information Security

How to Protect Your Assets With a Disaster Recovery Plan

Any plan is better than no plan at all, and developing an availability and disaster recovery plan doesn’t have to be complex. Learn more now.
Read More →
Cybersecurity Governance
Information Security

Why Cybersecurity Governance Matters to Your Organization

Find out how a cybersecurity governance plan will help decrease the risk your organization faces as system complexity increases.
Read More →
Information Security Program
Information Security

How to Develop an Information Security Program

In this post, we’ll examine how to develop an information security program that minimizes the risk posed by IT threats and vulnerabilities to your business.
Read More →
How to Perform an IT Risk Assessment
Information Security

How to Perform an IT Risk Assessment

Cybersecurity incidents regularly affect organizations of all sizes. In this post, we’ll outline the main steps to conduct an IT risk assessment.
Read More →
Are You Prepared for the Cybersecurity Risks of Remote Work?
Information Security

Are You Prepared for the Cybersecurity Risks of Remote Work?

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a security vector often overlooked by many businesses: the cybersecurity risks of remote work.
Read More →
What Is Information Risk Management
Information Security

What Is Information Risk Management Really About?

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the threats facing your business, as well as the consequences of not taking information risk management ...
Read More →
Cloud Migration Pitfalls
Cloud Enablement

How to Avoid 4 Common Cloud Migration Pitfalls

In this post, we’ll examine a few cloud migration pitfalls, what causes them, and how to mitigate the threat they pose to your transition.
Read More →
Cloud Enablement Services
Cloud Enablement

How to Get the Cloud Enablement Services You Really Need

Cloud enablement services aren’t just about planning, designing and building your cloud solution. Read on and find out more.
Read More →
Cloud Readiness Assessment
Cloud Enablement

How to Conduct a Cloud Readiness Assessment

In this post, we’ll discuss what kinds of workloads are best suited to cloud migrations and how to perform a cloud-readiness assessment for your business.
Read More →
Successful Cloud Enablement Strategy
Cloud Enablement

4 Things Every Successful Cloud Enablement Strategy Needs

In this post, we’ll offer you 4 tips on developing your own cloud enablement strategy: what to look for in a partner and how to ...
Read More →
Cloud Migration Strategy
Cloud Enablement

What You Need to Know for Your Cloud Migration Strategy

Thinking about moving to the cloud? This post will guide you through how to develop a successful cloud migration strategy for your organization.
Read More →
What Is Cloud Enablement
Cloud Enablement

What Is Cloud Enablement and Why Should You Care?

What is cloud enablement? It’s a term that gets thrown around a lot in tech circles. But if you’re not already taking advantage of it, ...
Read More →
FERPA-Compliant Cloud Storage
Cloud Solutions

How To Get FERPA-Compliant Cloud Storage

Aging IT infrastructure presents many challenges for an educational institution, not the least of which is ensuring compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy ...
Read More →
Benefits of Cloud Computing in Accounting
Cloud Enablement

Benefits of Cloud Computing in Accounting: 4 Key Points

Looking to switch your accounting firm to cloud computing? We take a look at some of the benefits specific to accounting firms using Cloud computing.
Read More →
COVID-19 and Security Best Practices
Security & Privacy

COVID-19 and Security Best Practices

The impact of the COVID-19 biological war on our commercial and government agency customers has been immeasurable. They face numerous challenges, including increased systems and ...
Read More →
Cloud Backup vs. Traditional Backup
Cloud Solutions

Cloud Backup vs. Traditional Backup: Which is Better?

Cloud backup vs. traditional backup: Which one is better? We take a look into each of the Pros and Cons and the various technologies used. ...
Read More →
Azure Cloud Enablement
Cloud Solutions

What You Need to Know About Azure Cloud Enablement

What is the biggest barrier most companies face when considering Azure Cloud enablement? Read on and find out more.
Read More →
ROI of Microsoft Azure IaaS
Cloud Solutions

ROI of Microsoft Azure IaaS

Considering ROI for Microsoft Azure Iaas? You can gain significant TCO efficiencies by migrating VMware environments to Azure.
Read More →
Secure your Site & Protect It From Threats
Security & Privacy

Secure your Site & Protect It From Threats

Current content gives your readers confidence and builds audience trust. If it falls short, you’re at risk of losing credibility. Read how to secure your ...
Read More →
Why Migrate to Microsoft Azure?
Blog

Why Migrate to Microsoft Azure?

With Microsoft Azure, you get always-on, up-to-date security that keeps your organization running—no need to worry about compromising business-critical application data and files across on-premise ...
Read More →
Windows 7 Support Going Away in January
Blog

Windows 7 Support Going Away in January

It’s going to be a new decade soon. Are you ready for an upgrade? As announced previously, Windows 7 will be out of support after ...
Read More →
Windows Server and SQL Server Customers Choose Azure
Cloud Solutions

Windows Server and SQL Server Customers Choose Azure

Ever wonder why Windows Server and SQL Server Customers choose Azure? Over the last quarter century, companies of all sizes have been trusting Windows Server ...
Read More →
Customer Story: Azure Achieves Innovations
Cloud Solutions

Customer Story: Azure Achieves Innovations

“We realized we were leaving too many good ideas on the side,” said Aaron Phillips, President and CEO of SitePro. The ability to innovate is ...
Read More →
Windows 10/O365 Increase Productivity, Security
Cloud Solutions

Windows 10/O365 Increase Productivity, Security

With the end of support for Windows 7 and Office 2010 rapidly approaching, now is the time to help our customers get modern and move ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Utilizing Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

Not ready to give up on your on-premises SQL Server licensing investment but eager for the benefits of the cloud? Get the best of both ...
Read More →
Why Use Microsoft 365?
Blog

Why Use Microsoft 365?

Why use Microsoft 365? Marketplace and digital trends increasingly shape the way we work and do business. That’s true at AIS Network, so we internally ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Three Reasons for Migrating to Azure

We’re seeing heightened customer interest in Azure migration. Those customers are continuously asking us to articulate the reasons for migrating to Azure — especially since ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

End of Support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2

End of Support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2   Been avoiding upgrading? With end of support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2, ...
Read More →
Government

Welcome, Eddie McAndrew

A big welcome to Eddie McAndrew, AISN’s new chief operating officer. In Eddie, we have a seasoned and trusted leader who consistently delivers results. He’s ...
Read More →
Is Azure Backup All That
Cloud Solutions

Is Azure Backup All That?

Is Azure backup all that?  Yes, in fact. Azure backup helps you retain rapidly increasing amounts of data while keeping storage costs low. And, it ...
Read More →
Cloud Readiness Assessments
Cloud Solutions

Cloud Readiness Assessments

In support of the Governor’s Executive Order Nineteen (EO19, issued on September 17), AISN is able to deliver Cloud Readiness Assessments to help Virginia’s agencies ...
Read More →
AISN Data Centers Prepared for Hurricane Florence
Blog

AISN Data Centers Prepared for Hurricane Florence

Due to upcoming severe weather related to Hurricane Florence, which has been downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, AISN is monitoring the storm closely and ...
Read More →
AISN Data Centers Prepared for Hurricane Florence
Security & Privacy

What to Expect From a Penetration Test Report

Let’s face it. There are a lot of bad actors out there, and they are working to breach yet another organization’s infrastructure each and every ...
Read More →
Why Is Pen Testing In Demand
Infrastructure

Why Is Pen Testing In Demand?

Why is pen testing in demand? Well, these days, criminal hacking has become an automated process. It’s no longer a matter of if you get ...
Read More →
Defend Your Business From Cyber Threats
Government

Defend Your Business From Cyber Threats

Cyber threats continue to be a major concern for business owners. You must defend your business from cyber threats. Not having a cybersecurity strategy in ...
Read More →
Risk Assessments Can Save Your Business
Government

Risk Assessments Can Save Your Business

Risk Assessments Can Save Your Business Think risk assessments can save your business? You’re right. A risk assessment is a critical component of any organization’s ...
Read More →
Employee Cyber Security Training
Managed Services

Employee Cyber Security Training

Employee Cyber Security Training Do your employees lack cyber security training? Human error is one of the greatest threats to organizational security – after all, ...
Read More →
Ensuring Security and Compliance
Compliance

Ensuring Security and Compliance

Most organizations tend to focus on becoming compliant rather than being secure. And while meeting client requirements and industry regulations is very important, it does ...
Read More →
Information Security Program Is Critical
Education

Information Security Program Is Critical

An information security program is a critical component of any organization regardless of the size of your business or the industry you’re in. A good ...
Read More →
KRACK Security Flaw Protection
Education

KRACK Security Flaw Protection

Researchers have discovered a new weakness found in the WPA2 protocol (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2), the security method which protects all modern Wi-Fi networks, known ...
Read More →
Steps to Avoid a Pricey Data Breach
Blog

Steps to Avoid a Pricey Data Breach

Are you swimming in information security concerns? Avoid a pricey data breach by reading further. Recent and startling new malicious attacks are causing organizations to ...
Read More →
What’s Driving Your Cloud Initiatives?
Infrastructure

What’s Driving Your Cloud Initiatives?

What business goals or objectives are driving cloud initiatives at your company? Could they be among these? Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) Improving customer ...
Read More →
Our Site Was Not Hacked
Blog

Our Site Was Not Hacked

No. Our site was not hacked. Period. Yesterday, a customer Googled us only to find this — under our name, a notation from Google, which ...
Read More →
Passing Your SOC 2 Audit
Compliance

Passing Your SOC 2 Audit

How should you prepare for passing your SOC 2 audit? The pressure is on as more and more service providers and service organizations are being ...
Read More →
WannaCrypt Ransomware Defense
Security & Privacy

WannaCrypt Ransomware Defense

Looking for WannaCrypt ransomware defense? On Friday, May 12th, a large ransomware attack was launched, known as WannaCrypt (a.k.a. WannaCry). It infected more than 230,000 ...
Read More →
Design & Development

Award-Winning Website Development

We’re over the moon this week. Award-winning website development is always what we aim for, and our latest project has done just that. The Virginia ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Tips for Moving to the Cloud

Tips for Moving to the Cloud   When companies move to the cloud, there are undoubtedly numerous challenges that must be overcome. For example: integration ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Will Moving to Azure Require Redesigning Apps?

Will Moving to Azure Require Redesigning Apps? Will moving to Azure mean that we need to redesign our applications? That is one of the frequently ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Azure or AWS? Isn’t the Cloud the Same?

Azure or AWS? Isn’t the cloud the same regardless of whom I choose? Azure or AWS? Isn’t the cloud the same regardless of whom I ...
Read More →
Azure Government cloud platform
Cloud Solutions

Government Data Scientists Be Glad

Government data scientists spend inordinate amounts of time each day manually scrubbing terabytes of operational data for advanced analytics and business intelligence. Well, now they ...
Read More →
AWS S3 Outage Did Not Help Alleviate Doubt
Cloud Solutions

AWS S3 Outage Did Not Help Alleviate Doubt

Unfortunately, the recent AWS S3 outage did not help alleviate doubt that some people already have about the cloud. AWS apologized, of course, explaining that a ...
Read More →
School Report Cards for Virginia
Education

School Report Cards for Virginia

The school report cards for Virginia’s schools, school divisions, and the state never looked better! Today, AIS Network announced that we’ve wrapped up development work on ...
Read More →
Health Care

Avoid a Data Breach: What a Health Care Org Should Do

Avoid a Data Breach: What a Health Care Org Should Do There are three things that a health care organization should do immediately to avoid ...
Read More →
Debt Collection and Audits for Collection Agencies
Financial Services

Debt Collection and Audits for Collection Agencies

Debt collection agencies with sensitive data need to be familiar with how PCI, FISMA, SSAE 16/SOC 1 and SOC 2 apply to them. If you’re ...
Read More →
Compliance

PCI DSS 3.2 Requirements and What’s New

PCI DSS 3.2 Requirements and What’s New PCI DSS 3.2 includes some changes about which you should know. Many thanks to our auditor, KirkpatrickPrice, for ...
Read More →
Managed Services

Penetration Tests and Their Benefits

Penetration tests and their benefits on the brain? If performed regularly, penetration tests are key to your overall security posture. It’s an important practice that ...
Read More →
Becoming PCI Compliant for the First Time
Compliance

Becoming PCI Compliant for the First Time

Becoming PCI Compliant for the First Time Becoming PCI compliant for the first time? Becoming PCI compliant can be an overwhelming undertaking if you are ...
Read More →
Managed Services

Strategies for Mitigating Cyber Intrusions

Strategies for Mitigating Cyber Intrusions Cyber intrusions worrying you? Looking for some basic strategies that your IT team can use to mitigate cyber intrusions? Here ...
Read More →
Olympic Games Using Cloud Technology
Cloud Solutions

Olympic Games Using Cloud Technology

This year’s Olympic Games in Rio outshine all the others with the most advanced and innovative technology ever seen. Rio’s adoption of cloud capabilities will forever ...
Read More →
Universities That Have Deployed Microsoft Azure
Cloud Solutions

Universities That Have Deployed Microsoft Azure

Should you join the other 750 universities that have deployed Microsoft Azure? The answer is a definite yes. Azure is a complete cloud platform with ...
Read More →
Compliance

Penetration Tests Help Avoid a Data Breach

Penetration tests and vulnerability scans, if performed regularly, will help your organization avoid a costly data breach.  Did you know that? So why don’t more companies get on ...
Read More →
Managed Services

Azure Storage Bridges the Gap

Azure Storage Bridges the Gap Between Your Budget and Your Needs Azure Storage is a common interest for those exploring the benefits of Azure Managed ...
Read More →
Cost of Downtime
Applications

Cost of Downtime

Cost of Downtime Ever calculate the cost of downtime? A major new survey by Veeam Software did, and the results reveal that there’s far more ...
Read More →
Phase 2 HIPAA Audits Prep
Compliance

Phase 2 HIPAA Audits Prep

Phase 2 HIPAA Audits Prep Phase 2 HIPAA Audits have officially begun. You may know that the OCR is gathering information to determine which covered ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Azure’s Growth Is Explosive

Azure’s Growth Is Explosive   This week marks the annual Microsoft Cloud and Hosting Summit, and I must say they’ve started off with a bang ...
Read More →
Applications

Upgrade to SharePoint 2016

Why upgrade to SharePoint 2016? SharePoint 2016 (SharePoint 2016 download guide) achieves general availability on May 4, so it’s time to decide about upgrading. What’s the ...
Read More →
Education

When Hackers Strike

When Hackers Strike “The battle against terrorism is not only a military battle, but primarily a battle of information” -Ahmed Chalabi   In today’s globalized ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

All About the AISN Cloud Upgrade

All About the AISN Cloud Upgrade   Want to know all about the AISN Cloud upgrade? Over Easter weekend, we implemented a pretty major upgrade ...
Read More →
March Is Governmental Purchasing Month in VA
Government

March Is Governmental Purchasing Month in VA

March is Governmental Purchasing Month in Virginia! Just last week, Commonwealth of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe issued a proclamation to recognize March as Governmental Purchasing Month ...
Read More →
Applications

Happy Birthday SharePoint, Fifteen Years!

Happy Birthday SharePoint!  Fifteen years!  Wow! Get ready for March 2016! It’s Happy 15th Birthday SharePoint! If our good wishes are several weeks early, it’s because ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint 2016 New Features

We’ve been hosting and developing around SharePoint since SharePoint Team Services 1.0.  That’s a loooong time!  That’s why we are excited about the SharePoint 2016 ...
Read More →
Compliance

Creating a Compliance Culture

Wondering how to create a positive compliance culture within your company?  We’re here to help companies make managing compliance, well, manageable. We’ve defined the role ...
Read More →
Security Awareness Training
Compliance

Security Awareness Training

Security awareness training for employees is a critical component of compliance and security in your organization. The risk of an employee not understanding the potential ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Cloud Contract Review Questions

It’s cloud contract review time. You should know the right cloud contract review questions to ask, right? Well, first, take a good look at the ...
Read More →
Managed Services

Hurricane Preparedness: Protect Your Data

Hurricane preparedness should always be top of mind at this time of the year. While those of us living in the Commonwealth of Virginia narrowly ...
Read More →
March Is Governmental Purchasing Month in VA
Compliance

Securing PII Under FERPA

With a vast amount of personal and private data available on networks throughout the world, it’s easy to understand just how necessary and important securing ...
Read More →
Applications

Secure Web App Best Practices

Maintaining a secure web environment is extremely important in today’s technological climate. So, let’s look at secure web app best practices. Performing regular scans and ...
Read More →
Applications

PCI DSS Requirements 3 and 4

Questions about PCI DSS Requirements 3 and 4? You’ve come to the right place. As you may know, AISN is a PCI compliant cloud hosting ...
Read More →
Compliance

Avoiding a Data Breach Caused by Medical Devices

In headlines of late, the terms “data breach” and “healthcare organization” aren’t strangers, and now relative to that, avoiding a data breach caused by medical ...
Read More →
Call Monitoring Compliance
Compliance

Call Monitoring Compliance

It’s important to analyze and fully understand the areas of risk as the CFPB continues to closely supervise the collections environment and call monitoring compliance. ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Microsoft Cloud Platform FAQs

Microsoft Cloud Platform FAQs So what are the most frequently asked questions that we get about our new offering? Here’s a sample: Q. I operate ...
Read More →
Payment Card Security
Compliance

Payment Card Security Data Flow

DATA FLOW DYNAMIC OF PAYMENT CARD SECURITY In March, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), a global association which represents those in the payments space, announced a ...
Read More →
IT Regulatory Standards
Compliance

IT Regulatory Standards Are an Alphabet Soup

IT Regulatory Standards Are an Alphabet Soup IT regulatory standards got you down? If you work in IT or IT compliance, you’ve probably heard of the ...
Read More →
PCI DSS Requirements 1 and 2
Compliance

PCI DSS Requirements 1 and 2

Questions about PCI DSS Requirements 1 and 2? You’ve come to the right place. As you may know, AISN is a PCI compliant cloud hosting ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Note About Our Virginia eGov Contract Vehicles

AISN is your One-Stop-Shop for eGov services, so I thought I’d post a brief note about our Virginia eGov contract vehicles. Our team currently supports ...
Read More →
Compliance Mistakes
Compliance

Compliance Mistakes: 5 Killer Errors

Compliance mistakes can be costly. Very costly. The fines associated with non-compliance and/or data breaches are stiff and punishing in multiple ways. Sarah Morris of ...
Read More →
Applications

Talking Points: Moving Legacy Applications to the Cloud

Are you thinking of moving legacy applications to the cloud? Earlier this month, I posted a blog about why organizations should move legacy applications to ...
Read More →
Applications

Move Legacy Apps to the Cloud

Frequently, we’re asked, “We need to move legacy apps to the cloud. How can I make the case to management?” The changing trends in business ...
Read More →
Compliance

CFPB Vendor Compliance Management

When it comes to CFPB vendor compliance, companies must “oversee” their vendors “in a manner that ensures compliance with Federal consumer financial law…The CFPB’s exercise ...
Read More →
Security Best Practices for Social Media Users
Security & Privacy

Security Best Practices for Social Media Users

Users of popular social media sites may not realize the potential risks to which they expose themselves while using and participating in social networking. Most users develop ...
Read More →
Compliance

Hospital Network Security: 3 Key Principles Illustrated

Today, I’d like to talk a little about hospital network security and point to a story about a hospital incident in which three key principles ...
Read More →
Applications

Microsoft Cloud Platform Powered by AIS Network

The Microsoft Cloud Platform Delivers! The Microsoft Cloud Platform delivers, and AISN is excited to roll it out early in 2015. And, although we’ve built an ...
Read More →
Applications

Six Tips to Secure Healthcare Data, Ensure HIPAA Compliance

It’s one thing to suffer one data breach – there is room to recover. Will Anthem survive a second breach? Don’t let this happen to you. ...
Read More →
15 Common PCI Compliance Gaps
Applications

PCI DSS: 15 Common PCI Compliance Gaps

Common PCI compliance gaps?  You bet!  We can identify 15 of them. The need for enhanced security is becoming more and more obvious every day. As ...
Read More →
Compliance

Avoid Becoming the Next Anthem Breach: 3 Tips

The recent Anthem breach is potentially the largest data breach to date in the healthcare space. When your CEO or your largest clients ask you ...
Read More →
Applications

Microsoft BizSpark FAQs

AIS Network has participated in the Microsoft BizSpark program since it began about 5 years ago. We love our BizSpark friends, the program and everything ...
Read More →
Applications

Sitecore Named Leader in the Forrester Wave for WCM

Some very good news for the .NET ecosystem… Our partner, Sitecore, was named a “leader” in The Forrester Wave for web content management (WCM) systems ...
Read More →
Mastering a Risk Assessment
Compliance

Mastering a Risk Assessment

In light of the recent news of the data breach at Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, risk assessment is our theme today. We welcome this guest ...
Read More →
Applications

Guaranteeing Hosting Compliance

Guaranteeing hosting compliance.  It’s pretty much something that AIS Network has always done, and it’s a clear service benefit.  Our compliance with multiple security and ...
Read More →
Compliance

Security Trends in 2015: Five Tips

If information security trends from last year are at all telling, 2015 will be a very important year to pay close attention to the security of ...
Read More →
Security & Privacy

National Data Privacy Day

It’s National Data Privacy Day! Did you know that data privacy is so important that it gets its own very special day — annually?  Well, perhaps ...
Read More →
Compliance

Compliance Analytics

Are you effectively gathering and making use of compliance-related data? What kind of story is your data saying about your organization? Ask yourself the following questions: ...
Read More →
Compliance

Framework Updates for HIPAA, ISO27001, FISMA, PCI

Framework updates for HIPAA, ISO 27001, FISMA and PCI DSS have been the hot topic of discussion over the last year. As the world continues to ...
Read More →
Compliance

Phase 2 of the HIPAA Audit Program

Did you know that Phase 2 of the HIPAA Audit Program is expected this year? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Secure Online Backup and Recovery Ensures Business Continuity

Each year, businesses and governments lose billions of dollars due to data loss. Sadly, these organizations could have prevented their losses if only they’d had ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Preventing PHI Breaches: Five Tips to Ensure They Don’t Become Your Achilles Heel

Preventing PHI Breaches: Five Tips to Ensure They Don’t Become Your Achilles Heel This article first ran as a featured guest post in Electronic Health ...
Read More →
Design & Development

Traditional Colocation or Managed Colocation?

Sometimes hassling with your own servers no longer makes sense. Keeping your server room environment cool, secure and outage-free is challenging.  The capital expenses, the ...
Read More →
Design & Development

Benefits of Colocation

Why would anyone choose colocation? What are the benefits of colocation? Colocation services provide the flexibility, control, security and services that you need—plus expert managed ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

HIPAA Compliant Private Cloud Delivers Life-Saving Assistance

National Health IT Week 2014, which is this week, celebrates the value of IT and its contribution to healthcare providers, associations and non-profit organizations, state ...
Read More →
Applications

Disaster Recovery: September Is National Preparedness Month

By Laurie Head AIS Network VP, Marketing Communications FACT:  Every year, businesses lose billions of dollars due to data loss. Since 2004, National Preparedness Month ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Is It Cheaper to Host In House?

By Laurie Head AIS Network VP Isn’t it cheaper to host in house (on premises)? Yes, there are times when do-it-yourself, in-house hosting makes absolute ...
Read More →
Managed Services

AISN Debuts Azure Managed Services

By Bill Peters AIS Network Director of Business Development As of August 1, Microsoft reseller partners like AISN can begin providing Azure* cloud services and selling ...
Read More →
healthcare moving to cloud
Blog

Healthcare Infographic: Why It’s Moving to the Cloud

We are proud to share our new infographic on why healthcare is moving to the cloud.  With so many healthcare organizations starting to utilize the cloud and virtualization, we are ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

HIPAA BAAs and HIPAA Cloud Hosting

All HIPAA/HITECH-regulated organizations in the process of selecting a HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting provider should expect their chosen vendor to sign a HIPAA/HITECH Business Associate Agreement ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Most Health Care Orgs Embracing the Cloud

Our CEO, Jay Atkinson, had the opportunity to attend the annual HIMSS conference in Florida earlier this year and found it entirely exciting and educational.  For ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Private Cloud Drives the Cloud Storage Market

Cloud storage of interest? You bet! The total cloud storage market is expected to reach $46.8 billion over the next four years with a CAGR ...
Read More →
Blog

Mesh Networks: Bridging the Gap with Smartphones

  By Donna Hemmert AIS Network VP, Strategy Trends like the Internet of Things are bringing more and more devices online and at breakneck speed.  Have you ever wondered how ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint and the Crypto Locker Virus

  By Terry Engelstad AIS Network VP, Network Operations   Last month, a client emailed with the following question, “We have had reports of one ...
Read More →
Applications

We’ll Have to Wait Until 2015 for SharePoint 2015, but Have a Look at SharePoint’s New Service Pack

  By Laurie Head AIS Network VP, Marketing Communications   The word on the street is that folks are going to have to wait until ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Private Cloud Interest Accelerating in the Market

One thing we have noticed change over the last 3 years is that we no longer have to sell people on cloud computing.  A few years ...
Read More →
Compliance

Disaster Recovery Key to Higher Ed at 2014 ACCS Conference

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO   We exhibited at the 2014 ACCS Annual Conference (Association of Collegiate Computing Services of Virginia) in Charlottesville last week and it ...
Read More →
Security & Privacy

What Are the New PCI 3.0 Requirements?

GUEST BLOG By Sarah Morris, KirkpatrickPrice Are you aware of the changes to PCI 3.0? The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Council has developed new changes ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Cloud vs. VPS

By Donna Hemmert AIS Network, VP Strategy  Cloud vs. VPS? We often get the question of what is the difference between Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

AISN Sponsoring the VACo Conference This Weekend

By Laurie Head AIS Network VP, Marketing Communications Well, it’s off to Bath County to sponsor the 2013 Annual Conference of the Virginia Association of ...
Read More →
Compliance

Assuring HIPAA Compliance for PHI

GUEST BLOG By Sarah Morris, KirkpatrickPrice If you’re hosting data classified as patient health information (PHI), it’s always your responsibility to assure HIPAA compliance for ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning Checklist

Business continuity is a big deal these days, and disaster recovery plans are a key component of business continuity. Below is a brief checklist to ...
Read More →
Infrastructure

Business Continuity Plan Helps Business Prepare for Natural Disaster

GUEST BLOG Think business continuity plans are not important? Think again. In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy left devastation in parts of the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic ...
Read More →
Health Care

September 23: HIPAA Rules Kick in, Impacting Your Backup and Disaster Recovery Planning

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO If you’re a company in the health care industry, you have just 47 days to get your act together ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

How Does Cloud Backup and Recovery Work?

By Joshua Darrin AIS Network Director of Operations Replicating your entire infrastructure to a remote, disaster resilient location designed to be “always on” is not ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Cloud Based Disaster Recovery Offers Significant Benefits

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Last October, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the United States, severely impacting millions of businesses and governments and displacing ...
Read More →
Blog

WPC 2013 Discussion Focuses on Emerging Opportunities

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Yesterday was Day 2 of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2013 (WPC 2013) in Houston and time for My ...
Read More →
Infrastructure

IT Disaster Recovery Plan Should Top Hurricane Prep List

If your servers are knocked out, how much unplanned downtime can your business sustain? Think about it. Data loss can cripple a business. Downtime results ...
Read More →
Blog

Opportunities to Accelerate Abound at WPC 2013 in Houston

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Microsoft says it”s been a year of “amazing launches” and they say that their partners, like us, have certainly ...
Read More →
Blog

Microsoft Hosting Summit 2013 Helps Build Strong Partnerships

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Once again, I am honored to attend the annual Microsoft Hosting Summit, which is being held this week in ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

PRIMER: How are Disaster Recovery and Backups Different?

So, you are working through your go-forward IT strategy and need to make sure that you have things covered should something go wrong. Pretty quickly, ...
Read More →
Applications

Hosting SharePoint 2013 Saves Money

By Laurie Head AIS Network VP, Marketing Communications   In-house IT costs are soaring. Why spend money on SharePoint servers? Hosting SharePoint 2013 saves you ...
Read More →
Blog

The Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Workplace, Part 2

    GUEST BLOG By Daniel Dimov InfoSec Institute In Part I of this two-part blog exploring the pros and cons of social media in ...
Read More →
Blog

The Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Workplace, Part 1

  GUEST BLOG By Daniel Dimov InfoSec Institute Employees using social networks such as Facebook and Google+ may not only waste a lot of their ...
Read More →
Applications

Windows Server 2012: Navigating the New Licensing Structure

By Bill Peters AIS Network Director of Sales Windows Server 2012, which was released last fall, is the latest among Microsoft’s Windows Server product offerings, ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

What is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?

By Donna Hemmert AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development If you don’t want to own the equipment that supports your operations, and want increased flexibility, ...
Read More →
Blog

Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Good news from IDC yesterday — at least for those of us engaged in private cloud hosting. The ...
Read More →
Blog

10 Dangerous Risks to Your Server Security

Server 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 ...
Read More →
Compliance

Top 10 Security Risks Found by Your Auditor

Want to know the top 10 security risks at an organization? We strive to provide the proper assurance and resources to help our clients maintain ...
Read More →
Blog

Disasters Happen. Is Your Business Ready?

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Preparing for an emergency is a key factor to business continuity after a disaster. Wherever the threat comes ...
Read More →
Blog

What Do Our Microsoft Competencies Mean?

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 ...
Read More →
Blog

Is the Big Data Market Growing by Billions? You Bet!

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Big data, big data, big data.  It may sound like an overused buzzword of the day, but it’s ...
Read More →
Blog

Welcome, Josh Darrin!

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO If you’ve seen a new face at AIS Network, be sure to welcome him.  We have added Josh Darrin to ...
Read More →
Blog

Congratulations to Terry Engelstad, New AIS Network VP

By Kurt Baumann AIS Network Chairman and CTO Congratulations to Terry Engelstad on his promotion at AIS Network. Today, we announced the promotion of Terry ...
Read More →
Applications

Understanding AISN’s SharePoint Hosting Plans

By Bill Peters AIS Network, Director of Business Development Whether you choose cloud hosting or more traditional managed hosting for your SharePoint, you should feel ...
Read More →
Blog

Welcome, Ron Cornelison, to the AIS Network Advisory Board

Ron Cornelison, respected tech executive and recent CEO of AMCAD has joined AIS Network's Advisory Board.
Read More →
Blog

Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s Governor, Calls for 4% Reduction in Agency Budget

Bob McDonnell, Virginia's Govenor, has called for a 4% reduction in agency budgets. Tstrategies in IT that definitely allow you to cut costs without cutting ...
Read More →
Blog

Understanding Cloud Deployment Models

What are the different Cloud Deployment Models? Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud or Community Cloud?
Read More →
Blog

Federal Government is Pushing Cloud to the Agencies in its “Cloud First” Policy

Just two years ago, the Office of Management and Budget implemented a “Cloud First” policy. Since then, several agencies have already transitioned.
Read More →
Blog

Cloud Events: Where Can I Find Them?

By Donna Hemmert AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development If you are looking for events at which to network and learn more about the Cloud ...
Read More →
Blog

The Datacenter Tiers – What Are They?

The datacenter tiers help people understand the capabilities of a datacenter by describing the availability of data from the hardware at the datacenter.
Read More →
Blog

The Thing About Ping

By Joshua Darrin The thing about ping is this It’s handy for computers to say hello But in order to diagnose problems We need to ...
Read More →
Blog

Congratulations to Bill Schrader, New CEO of LeaseWeb

By Kurt Baumann AIS Network Chairman and CTO This week, the AIS Network team congratulates, Bill Schrader, who has been appointed CEO of LeaseWeb USA, ...
Read More →
Blog

AISN Attends COVITS 2012

We met with many State and Local people who were focused on a variety of issues. We also saw a lot of interest around the ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint 2010 Hosting vs. In-House Deployments? What Is the Cost Benefit?

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President SharePoint managers everywhere are asking themselves, “Why should I spend money on SharePoint servers?” Well, with on-premise IT ...
Read More →
Blog

IT Outsourcing Services Spending to Top $251 Billion Globally in 2012

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President In their latest outlook issued just two days ago, Gartner, Inc., says that worldwide spending for IT outsourcing ...
Read More →
Blog

Going Green with Cloud Computing

By Julia Uglietta Associate, Marketing and Sales “Going green” is a phrase that has become increasingly popular over the last decade.  Among many businesses, it ...
Read More →
Blog

Why Email Archiving?

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, ...
Read More →
Blog

Consumer Electronic Sales Bode Well for Cloud

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President If consumer electronic sales – and particularly those of mobile connected devices (which leverage the elastic resources of ...
Read More →
Blog

Private Cloud Success Trends Upward

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.  ...
Read More →
Applications

Cleaning Out the SharePoint Site Recycle Bin

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager Recently, a SharePoint hosting customer asked us to perform routine maintenance on ...
Read More →
Blog

What Is Big Data and Why Is It Becoming Bigger Data?

By Julia Uglietta Associate, Marketing and Sales Big data is a consequence of the new world of technology that we have created, where everything is ...
Read More →
Applications

Slow SharePoint Server? Your SharePoint Server Loads Slowly, and This May Be Why.

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager Your SharePoint Server loads slowly?  Running just a bit slow? Recently, a ...
Read More →
Blog

AISN’s Redundant Power and Connectivity Protect Customers From Power Outages in Aftermath of Massive DC Storm

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Can the AIS Network data center reliably maintain data availability when a massive storm hits? Yes! Last night, the ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint Users: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Solves Common Business Challenges

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is here now. How much do you know about it? If you’re using Microsoft SharePoint ...
Read More →
Blog

Cloud Security and Privacy for eGov

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President As we embark on a path toward cloud hosting for state government, I’ve been in search of solid ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint 2010 Security: Adding an SSL Certificate to Your Hosted SharePoint Site

By Bill Peters AIS Network Director of Sales SSL certificates create secure (HTTPS) connectivity between your Web server and your visitors’ browsers. If you are ...
Read More →
Blog

Outsourcing Hosting: Talking Points for the C-Suite (Part II)

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President We are often asked, “How do I make the case to upper management that outsourced hosting of our ...
Read More →
Blog

Outsourcing Hosting: Why Outsource IT Hosting? (Part I)

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Do you remember what you were doing in 1993? We do. AISN started its hosting business back in ...
Read More →
Blog

Cloud Computing Fosters Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By Ali Giancarlo AIS Network Associate, Marketing and Sales Google “pharma innovation,” and you’ll find that the results reveal a blaring need for a reform ...
Read More →
Blog

Choosing a Hosting Provider: 20 Questions to Ask Yourself

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Choose a provider based on its ability to provide a cost-effective architecture and high-quality customer experience for your ...
Read More →
Blog

HIPAA-Compliant Cloud: Why Health Care CIOs Are Moving Toward Cloud Computing for EMRs

By Desaray Granzow AIS Network, Director of Sales Cloud computing (or shared computing resources) is becoming more and more attractive to the CIOs of health ...
Read More →
Blog

Why Is Compliance in the Cloud Important?

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 ...
Read More →
Blog

Top 6 Benefits of AIS Network’s Managed Private Cloud

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO You want to spend more of your IT dollar on the innovation that your customers expect. So in order ...
Read More →
Blog

IPv6? What is it? And Should I Care?

We, the citizens of the Internet, have a problem. Not unlike in 1947 when we were running out of phone numbers and added area codes ...
Read More →
Blog

SQL Server Virtualization and Why It May Not Be a Good Idea

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager It’s very tempting to move Microsoft SQL Server instances to a virtualized ...
Read More →
Blog

Does Third Party Hosting for SharePoint 2010 Make Sense?

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, ...
Read More →
Blog

Virtual or Physical? Data Storage Configurations Using SQL Server

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager On a data storage configuration project involving Microsoft SQL Server, a colleague ...
Read More →
Blog

Why Use SharePoint? Microsoft’s User Adoption Resources

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Looking for some good use cases for SharePoint or for some user adoption resources? Last year, Microsoft launched ...
Read More →
Blog

Cloud Usage Surging for Small and Midsize Businesses

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 ...
Read More →
Blog

Private SharePoint Cloud: For Large Enterprises, It’s the Way to Go

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Just last week, we made a bold statement that has captured quite a bit of attention within the SharePoint ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint and SQL Server: Give It Memory

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager If you are not familiar with how SQL Server works, you should ...
Read More →
Blog

Cloud Computing Is Spurring Worldwide Job Creation

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President The cloud will have an enormous impact on job creation. It’s a disruptive technology that will transform the ...
Read More →
Applications

SQL Server 2012: What’s New?

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President What is SQL Server 2012? When will it be here? What’s new in it? SQL Server 2012 is ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint 15, SharePoint 2012, SharePoint 2013? Whatever. When will it be released?

We love SharePoint 2010 but we are still keen to know, “When is the next edition of SharePoint scheduled for release?” It’s still unknown whether ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint 2010 Loopback Checking

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager There is a security feature in Windows 2008 called Loopback Checking. It’s ...
Read More →
Blog

Facing Rapid Growth, AIS Network Turns to Its Advisory Board

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President In today’s fast-paced tech environment (and withered economic climate), positioning a cloud computing business for rapid growth can ...
Read More →
Blog

Demand for Cloud, Partner Program Is Driving Growth at AIS Network

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO More companies are shifting from on-premise computing to cloud-based services, and that means cloud providers are attaining sales goals ...
Read More →
What Is Microsoft Office 365?
Blog

What Is Microsoft Office 365? What Is SharePoint Online? (Part 2 of 2)

To review: In June 2011, Microsoft released Office 365, essentially bundled online software hosted in the cloud. Office 365 replaced Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Services ...
Read More →
What Is Microsoft Office 365?
Applications

What Is Microsoft Office 365? What Is SharePoint Online? (Part 1 of 2)

What is Microsoft Office 365? In June 2011, Microsoft released Office 365, essentially bundled online software hosted in the cloud. Office 365 replaced Microsoft’s Business ...
Read More →
Blog

Setting Performance and Latency Expectations for International Hosted SharePoint Deployments

GUEST BLOG By Michael V. Velotta Founder, Intelishift Technologies Last month, a prospective client asked a very good question related to the performance of his ...
Read More →
Blog

Financial Services Firms Like SharePoint 2010

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President We’ve blogged about CPAs and the cloud and how IT literacy is important within the financial services sector, ...
Read More →
Blog

Tribute: Remembering Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Randall L. Ford

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO This week, we remember Randall Ford, who succumbed to a lengthy battle with cancer on Sunday. He believed in ...
Read More →
Blog

Web Design and Development: Best Practices in Production, Staging and Development for Web-Based Companies

GUEST BLOG By Gaige B. Paulsen Board of Advisors, AIS Network For companies that primarily do business through their public-facing Internet site, best practices for ...
Read More →
Blog

Why SharePoint 2010 Is Ideal for Associations and Nonprofits

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President ASAE’s Technology Conference and Expo is here in Washington, DC, from December 6-8, 2011. It sparked an idea ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint Migrations: How Long Does a Migration and Upgrade to SharePoint 2010 Take?

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager Recently, a visitor to our website asked an excellent question about SharePoint migrations. ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint 2010: Most Popular Third-Party Apps

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President In Anaheim, at the Microsoft SharePoint 2011 Conference, Rob Koplowitz, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, unveiled ...
Read More →
Blog

SSAE 16 Type II Compliance: The New High Bar for Hosting

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Goodbye, SAS 70. Hello, SSAE 16. SSAE 16? That’s somewhat new terminology among hosting providers and their customers and ...
Read More →
Blog

Law Firms Like Hosted SharePoint 2010

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President Wondering whether your law firm’s new hosted SharePoint 2010 deployment will be disruptive to the office culture?  Significant ...
Read More →
Blog

Boosting PR Agency Productivity: Cutting-Edge IT Tools and Cloud Hosting

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications I’m hooked on the idea of boosting PR, marketing and advertising agency productivity through unified communications, ...
Read More →
Infrastructure

What Is the Value Add of Managed Hosting in Today’s Market?

By Laurie Head AIS Network, VP Marketing Communications By 2012, 20% of businesses will own no IT assets. —projection from Gartner, Inc., “Gartner’s Top Predictions ...
Read More →
Blog

Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2011 Is a Sell-Out Event

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO The Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2011 has officially kicked off! For those who are unfamiliar with it, the conference has ...
Read More →
Blog

Outsourced Hosting: SharePoint in the Cloud

By Michael Emrich – Associate, Marketing & Sales. Undoubtedly, cloud computing is the future. According to the “2010 IMB Tech Trends Survey” published in October ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint Failover Scenarios

I recently published a blog post entitled, “SharePoint and Disaster Recovery Options,” but it did not specifically address SharePoint failover scenarios. I began to give ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint Disaster Recovery Options

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager The complexity and diversity of the Microsoft SharePoint platform also applies to ...
Read More →
Blog

HostingCon 2011: Building a Meaningful Content Marketing Program

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications The hosting industry”s premiere conference, which was held last week (August 8-10) in San Diego, was ...
Read More →
Applications

Examining SharePoint Data Integration

By Terry Engelstad MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP AIS Network Operations Manager This week, we were contacted by a vendor for a new software ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint Saturday in DC a Big Success

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications Last week’s SharePoint Saturday The Conference in DC (August 11-13) was a terrific success. This community-organized ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint Hosting White Paper Rolling Out on Thursday

AIS Network has released a new white paper, “To Cloud or Not to Cloud: SharePoint 2010 Hosting Options…and Which One Is Right for You.” By ...
Read More →
Blog

Internet Pioneers Series: Episode 2, Kurt Baumann on the First Japanese ISP

This micro-episode features Kurt Baumann, serial entrepreneur and Chairman of AIS Network. He has founded many successful Internet companies. In this episode, Kurts talks about ...
Read More →
Blog

AIS Network to Present “Content Is King” at HostingCon 2011

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications If you have to ask what content marketing is, it’s more than likely that you’re not ...
Read More →
Blog

How License Mobility Removes Barriers to Going to the Cloud

By Bill Peters AIS Network Director of Sales Thinking of moving to the cloud, but don’t want to see your Microsoft software with Software Assurance ...
Read More →
Blog

Conversation With Jim Cheng, Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce and Trade

By Jay Atkinson AIS Network CEO Yesterday afternoon, I met with Jim Cheng, Virginia’s outstanding Secretary of Commerce and Trade, to find out first hand ...
Read More →
Blog

AIS Network Continues to Expand and Upgrade

AIS Network staff spent the holiday weekend building our latest cloud to keep up with demand.
Read More →
Blog

Internet Pioneers Series: Episode 1, Doug Humphrey on the Cloud and Entrepreneurship

Welcome to the Internet Pioneers Series. We believe there are many untold stories of the history of the Internet and we want to help get ...
Read More →
Blog

Need SharePoint, but Do Not Need a High Level of Flexibility? Microsoft Now Has You Covered.

By Michael Emrich – Associate, Marketing & Sales Today, Microsoft is rolling out its latest service package, Office 365. In what is essentially Microsoft’s follow-up ...
Read More →
Blog

SharePoint Hosting for Health Care Companies

By Laurie Head AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications If you are running a business in the health care industry, your primary goal is to ...
Read More →
Blog

Microsoft SharePoint For Small Businesses

Guest Blog By Steven Nichols, Mission Critical Systems Many small businesses have found huge gains in using SharePoint to address specific business problems with measurable ...
Read More →
Blog

Why You Should Care About SharePoint 2010 Administration

Guest Blog SharePoint 2010 is a very complex system… not only for a developer or consultant. It is also very complex for an administrator and ...
Read More →
Blog

Welcome, Doug Humphrey, Web Hosting Pioneer

We are proud to announce that Doug Humphrey has joined AISN’s advisory board. Doug is well known in Internet history and it could be argued ...
Read More →
Applications

Happy Birthday SharePoint! A Decade of Success

Happy Birthday SharePoint! It’s a Happy 10th Birthday this week for Microsoft SharePoint, and we at AIS Network are proud to have hosted Microsoft SharePoint ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint 2010: Configuring an Installation

So, you know your organization needs hosted Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010. What are the next steps? Which version of hosted SharePoint 2010 is best for your ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint Conference.Org in Baltimore a Hit

Great time at the SharePoint conference presented by SusQtech this week. The presentations were varied — from technical to business function to design, which kept ...
Read More →
Blog

Bill Schrader, Welcome

Bill Schrader is a decisive business leader who understands strategic risk, international business, business during boom times and in downturns.
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

What Is Cloud Computing?

What is cloud computing? Cloud computing is no longer just hype or a buzzword for the times. It's here to stay and it's reshaping the ...
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint Composites Enables Custom Solutions

What’s SharePoint Composites?  SharePoint Composites is the new set of capabilities available in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. So, why would you need it? Well, are ...
Read More →
Applications

What Is Lync 2010?

Last week, Microsoft announced the availability of Lync 2010, the latest release of its “converged communications platform” – essentially, the next generation of Microsoft’s Office ...
Read More →
Blog

Customer Service…We Can!

I was raised at a time “when the customer is always right.”
Read More →
Applications

SharePoint 2010 Adoption and Usage Best Practices

SharePoint 2010 adoption concerns fall into two categories: technical and non-technical. Technical adoption hurdles include concerns about logical architecture, physical architecture, network bandwidth and content ...
Read More →
Applications

Solving the SharePoint Foundation 2010 Search Dilemma

Here’s a little goodie that I discovered recently. It’s related to the “Search” capability in SharePoint Foundation 2010. Solving the SharePoint Foundation 2010 Search dilemma ...
Read More →
Blog

Using Web-Based Marketing/ PR Tools to Increase Efficiency

Love new marketing/ PR tools that will help grow your business and make it more efficient? There is a plethora out there and it’s tough ...
Read More →
Blog

IT Literacy for CPAs Enables Conversations About the Cloud

As a CPA and someone whose hosting company recently underwent a SAS 70 Type II audit, I found this year’s American Institute of Certified Public ...
Read More →
Blog

To Tweet or Not to Tweet—That Is the Question

I have been on Facebook for a few years and use many social media sites. But, I have to admit that the first time I ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

Cloud File Storage

The iPad all of a sudden seems to have shed some light on storage services that were previously available and, all of a sudden, seem ...
Read More →
Cloud Solutions

A Bright Future for the Cloud

The beauty is that cloud computing, by its nature, is a technology solution that offers a clear business benefit. It lowers the high “fixed cost ...
Read More →
Blog

AIS Network’s New Blog: Welcome!

I’d like to use this opportunity to give you a look at some of the changes that 2010 is bringing for AIS Network.
Read More →

A Partner You Can Trust

At AISN, we don’t believe that “one size fits all” is the way to offer cloud solutions. Our business model is built on the belief that our clients deserve customized cloud platforms designed to meet their specific compliance, security and operational needs. If you have questions about the cloud or cloud enablement services, we have answers. Our experts are always happy to discuss your needs, so get in touch with us today.