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One year on: Windows Server 2008

2009-03-03T15:58:00.002Z

This week marks the one year anniversary of one of Microsoft’s most important releases – Windows Server 2008.

Before it arrived on 27 February 2008, it had been five long years since the release of the last major version of Windows Server. In a world that was moving on from simple client/server applications and with server clouds on the horizon, Windows Server 2003 was looking long in the tooth.

After a year of ‘Vista’ bashing, Microsoft needed its server project to be well received, just to relieve some pressure. After all, this time last year, the panacea of a well-received Windows 7 was still a long way off.

A new approach
Windows Server 2008 marked a new approach for Microsoft and offered up a number of new innovations. Perhaps the most significant was a move to a modular approach, whereby users could install the parts of the server than they needed, rather than the ‘kitchen sink’ approach that Microsoft was typically historically known for. This was most clearly represented by Server Core, which installed the bare minimum features and APIs – it didn’t even have a GUI.
This approach does mean that there is a lot to get to grips with for a system administrator who’s used to Windows Server 2003. To a large extent, it requires a shift in thinking – something that Gareth Hall, the UK product manager for Windows Server, was willing to admit. “The customer does need to learn another skill set, but it has helped having a good reputation for 2003.”
Hall revealed that a year on, Microsoft was happy with how things have panned out so far. “We’re pretty pleased with it and our customers are too,” he said. “It has been received positively, which we thought it would be judging from the initial reviews.”

Security, security, security
One of the biggest concerns that many potential customers had over the past few years was to do with security. But Hall was keen to report that things have gone smoothly in that area. “In terms of the product - the security - we’ve had no major challenges in that area.”
In terms of features there’s little argument that Microsoft hit all the right spots, such as a Core GUI only version, an enhanced and improved Internet Information Service with version 7, and enhanced security such as the Network Access Protection (NAP) that can quarantine any laptop that connects to a corporate network that’s not fully patched and up to date.
Perhaps the most attractive feature, though, is its integration with Microsoft’s virtualisation software Hyper-V. “Virtualisation is a huge growth area for us,” said Hall.

The problem for Windows Server has certainly not been one of perceived reliability, but rather of the amount of commitment required to move over.

“It’s a release with a reputation for being solid and very calm, and that’s a reputation that deserved,” added Honeyball. “The problem is that it’s a step change. Lots of people have been very happy with the Server 2003 and Exchange Server combination, but moving to Server 2008 is a bigger step than it was from moving from NT4 to 2000.”

Nathaniel Martinez, programme director for IDC’s European enterprise servers arm, agrees. “The biggest stumbling block of any version of Windows is the previous version. We’ve done a bit of research… and a lot of companies are looking to the second version.”

By second version, Martinez is referring to the Revision 2 – or the R2 release. This is based on Windows 7 code and though it’s being billed by Microsoft as a minor release it will bring some major enhancements with it. It will support up to 256 CPUs – up from a 64 limit, will be 64-bit only and on the Hyper-V side will offer Live Migration of virtual machines – a feature that was meant to be in Hyper-V originally but was dropped to ensure the product shipped on time.

Feature focus
One feature that Microsoft’s Hall is particularly looking forward to is a tie in to the Windows 7 client that will enable employees to access their files and folders remotely without having to use a VPN client – a feature called Direct Access.

“We’ve had a huge number of clients asking about connecting to internal company files,” he said. “We did this originally with Outlook Anywhere (from Exchange Server 2007) and now people want it for their files.”

Some also believe that Windows Server 2008 R2 will benefit from the ‘halo ‘effect surrounding the positive buzz around Windows 7. However, Honeyball believes that there won’t be a link between the client and server, and that companies and will take a much more pragmatic approach.

“Moving both client and server systems would be a huge undertaking,” he said. “You have to re-architecture networks and that’s not something that companies are going to do overnight.”

Mainsteam adoption around the corner?
Overall, with analysts echoing Microsoft’s view on the benefits of Windows Server 2008, a year down the line it looks as though the company has got this one right. And, even if enterprises haven’t moved to it on mass, when they do it will benefit both them and their employees, through cost savings and feature benefits for IT mangers and end users alike.
“Lots of people are doing interesting testing but those who have got, or have brought in the skills or are prepared to make the investments have seen great benefits,” added Honeyball.
“Some are taking advantage of the integrated telephony and unified communications features, but it’s not a simple step and some it requires investment – some of which is hardware.”
Companies shouldn’t be put off by the initial costs involved and should take a look at the long term return on investment (ROI) said Hall, adding: “What we’re finding is that once deployed a Windows Server 2008 is 20 to 30 per cent cheaper to manage – per day!”

Exchange 2003: Support ending April 2009

2009-02-19T11:19:00.001Z

Mainstream support for Exchange Server 2003 will end on April 14, 2009. This means that you cannot contact PSS for supporting problems on Exchange Server 2003 after this date, unless you sign up for 'extended' support at an additional cost.

Maybe this is a good time for organizations to seriously start thinking about upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 and make use of the new, advanced features. For those who have made it to Exchange Server 2007 SP0, here is a shocker: Mainstream support for Exchange Server 2007 SP0 (i.e. Exchange Server 2007 with NO service pack installed) ended on January 13, 2009.

For those who are still wary of installing SP1 on Exchange Server 2007, it's time to take a call on the chicken-and-egg upgrade dilemma between Windows Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2007 SP1.

If you’d like to know more about this, or would like more information about other LOUGHTEC services, please feel free to contact us, either via the e-mail link below, or by calling us on :

tellmemore@loughtec.com 028 82 25 24 45

Some more information:

Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will go out of mainstream support on July 2010.

Windows XP will go out of mainstream support on April 14, 2009.

Is that how you want to save money ?

2008-10-23T12:00:00.003+01:00

This just in: small businesses are feeling pressure from the economy and are looking for ways to save money. Just kidding. Everyone knows this by now, but new data from a study conducted by the Federation of Small Business and DYMO shows just what these businesses are doing to cut costs:

- 23% of respondents have cut staff
- 36% of respondents have decreased business travel
- 36% of resondents have minimized marketing efforts
- 29% of respondents have put a freeze on bonuses and raises

Ouch. These are not things that any small business wants to do.

Cutting staff ?

It's one thing for a large corporation to cut staff, but the smaller the business, the more impact cutting staff is likely to have on the business itself. If you have 15 employees and have to get rid of 5 of them, you're looking at losing a third of your workforce, and along with that, a third of your business's productivity (provided that these employees were indeed productive and not total slackers). Interestingly enough, productivity is one of the main things businesses are looking to increase.

Decreasing Business Travel ?

I can actually see this as a reasonable way to save some dough. Some business trips are unavoidable and are of the utmost importance to your business. You don't want to sacrifice these, but how many of your trips can be forfeited in favor of other forms of communication? Networking has gotten easier online in recent years with social media. Web conferencing may suit some scenarios as well, whether that be in the form of text communication, audio, or video conferencing. Contact Loughtec about our Remote Access Solutions +44 (0) 2882 252 445

Minmizing Marketing Efforts ?

I can't say that I condone this action. To me, it seems that marketing has never been more important for the survival of a business. For one, if you are not marketing, people might forget about you, or even assume that your business in trouble because they have not heard from you lately. Marketing shows potential customers that you are still there for them even in these rocky times. Secondly, you have to drive people to your business. How else do you intend to attract customers ?

Freezing Bonuses and Raises ?

If it's unavoidable, it's unavoidable, but this is another area that I would suggest steering clear of if you want to keep your most valuable employees. If employees feel like they're not going to be able to get ahead and make the money that they could be, they're not liable to stick around very long. Losing key employees can really put the strain on a business, and such a freeze could very well put you at risk of losing more than just one.

U.K. businesses ban IM over security concerns

2008-07-17T12:36:00.000+01:00

Nearly three-quarters of U.K. businesses have banned the use of instant messaging (IM) citing security concerns, reports IM supplier ProcessOne.

The research noted that 88% of IT directors were concerned about the security risks created by employees using Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and other IM services, with 56% citing the loss of sensitive business information as a primary concern.

Despite this, only 12% of those surveyed said that their company kept an audit trail of IM messages sent by employees using free public IM software.

The research also shows that 74% of those surveyed think IM could provide valuable collaboration benefits to their organization. According to ProcessOne, the research indicates that currently security fears are overriding the opportunity that U.K. businesses have to increase collaboration and business productivity.

"It is a shame that more businesses in the U.K. aren't taking advantage of the benefits that instant messaging can bring," said Mickaël Rémond, CEO of ProcessOne.

"Many organizations are torn between wanting to maximize security or gain collaboration and productivity benefits, and clearly maintaining security is winning at this point. However, businesses need to ask themselves whether taking such a knee-jerk reaction as completely banning the use of IM is really the best option for the company.

"Clearly, everyone recognizes the benefits that IM can bring. However, the challenge will be for businesses to look for strategies that enable them to reap the rewards without putting themselves at risk of a security breach," added Rémond.

Rising fuel prices increase cost of IT

2008-07-17T12:24:00.001+01:00

IT departments are facing higher costs following a decision by the world's largest IT distributor to pass on the cost of rising fuel prices.

Ingram Micro has said it will charge its reseller partners for freight - an extra cost that willl inevitably be passed on to end users.

"Past practice has seen Ingram Micro absorb significant annual freight costs for shipping the products it distributes to resellers. Rapidly rising fuel costs mean that this practice can no longer be continued. Accordingly, Ingram Micro will from now on recover the full cost of freight by means of a freight charge on all [reseller] orders," the company said.

The cost of a barrel of oil is rising, pushing up transportation prices. Crude oil is over $145 a barrel on world markets, compared to $90 in January, according to the AA fuel report for that month.

Doss Etter, director of external affairs at the Freight Transport Association, said there has been a 40% increase in the price of diesel over the past year as a result of increasing oil costs.
"It is inevitable that the extra costs will be captured by an increased price," added Etter. He said transport costs probably make up 1% to 2% of the overall cost of high-value goods such as computers.

Stephen Alambritis, head of public affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the extra costs of transportation of products and services is already being passed on to businesses.

"They are feeling the pinch and are being charged more for receiving products," said Alambritis.

He said in a recent poll of FSB members, 90% said the rise in fuel costs were impacting their business enough for them to predict no business growth over the next 12 months. A total of 40% said if the fuel costs continued to increase they would have to lay off staff.

The FSB has called on the government to cancel the proposed 2p rise in fuel duty.

Goldmine for cybercriminals

2008-07-09T14:22:00.001+01:00

Cybercriminals are not only using new technologies to propagate cybercrime, but are also turning to social engineering to snare victims.

According to Trend Micro's latest threat round-up and forecast report, the first six months of 2008 saw an upswing in web threats, but steady decreases in adware and spyware.
The tools and technologies used to create popular social networking sites have become a goldmine for cybercriminals, said Trend Micro.

In March, Trend Micro discovered that more than 400 phishing kits for generating phishing sites were targeting top Web 2.0 sites in the areas of social networking, video sharing and VoIP.
Recently, a new form of phishing e-mail warned about phishing e-mails before attempting to trick readers into clicking on a link that led to a fraudulent site.

Spammers are also recycling old techniques. In February, Trend Micro investigated a voice phishing ('vishing') attempt.

The voice message appeared convincing, with all links leading to legitimate target pages, but included a fraudulent phone number for recipients to call to reactivate their account, which had been supposedly placed on hold.

When they called the number, users were asked for their bank card number and Pin, unwittingly opening their bank accounts to the phishers.

Arrests predicted to increase in ‘08

2008-06-17T13:51:00.000+01:00

An increasing number of bloggers are being arrested for criticizing governments and exposing human rights abuse, according to a report from the University of Washington.

Since 2003, 64 citizens have been arrested for expressing their views on a blog. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006. Over half of the arrests in the last five years were made in China, Egypt and Iran.

The report said the increasing number of arrests was evidence of the "growing" political importance of blogging. It found that arrests typically increase in times of "political uncertainty," like elections or large protests.

Many bloggers faced jail time after being arrested. The average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months. The longest sentence was eight years.

The actual number of bloggers who are arrested is probably higher, since many arrests in China, Zimbabwe, and Iran are not reported. For example the Committee to Protect Bloggers has released details about 344 people arrested in Burma, some who are thought to be bloggers.

The report said that many countries, possibly as many as 30, have implemented technological restrictions on what people can do online. In countries such as China this has made it challenging for people to use a blog as a way to protest.

The report estimated that the number of bloggers arrested in 2008 would surpass the 36 seen in 2007 due to the popularity of blogging, more enforcement of online restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S.

Economy doubts hit consumer technology retail

2008-06-11T14:11:00.001+01:00

Consumer spending on new technology is likely to plummet as consumers' confidence in the economy plunges to record lows, the British Retail Consortium - the retailers' trade body - said today.

British Retail Consortium (BRC) director general Stephen Robertson said one in five consumers, more than ever before, said consumers were reporting having no spare cash. "Clothes, footwear, furniture and new technology are the biggest casualties as consumers attempt to manage their money," he said.

Mike Watkins, senior manager of retailer services at Nielsen, said the UK Consumer Confidence index was now at 79. "This time last year the index stood at 91, which was the lowest score we had seen since we began polling this survey in 2003. That the score is a further 12 points lower says how much consumers are being stretched," he said.

A survey last month by market research company Nielsen and the BRC asked over 1,000 consumers about their thoughts and feelings on job prospects, personal finances, spending intentions and major concerns.
People are most worried about the economy (31%), followed by debt (26%), work/life balance (20%) and immigration (16%).

It found 55% ranked inflation as their main concern while 39% said it was high interest rates. Sixty percent said job prospects were either not so good or bad compared with 50% in 2007. Fifty-seven percent now think that their own personal finances will be not so good or bad over the coming 12 months compared with 46% six months ago.

Security – Top 10 Mistakes

2008-04-24T12:34:00.001+01:00

Security management has a lot to do with details — staying on top of the latest threats and patching flaws. But sometimes, it has more to do with the big picture and how you approach security management. Here are the top 10 security mistakes I've seen people make:

1. Trusting people: The biggest threat to your IT security is ALWAYS the trusted employee. This is especially true of executives because poor personal security practices are just as dangerous (or more dangerous) as having a dishonest employee. If you ever need to cite an example, remember that one former CIA director actually accessed "company" files from his unsecured home PC. President Bill Clinton had to give Director John Deutch a Presidential Pardon to prevent prosecution.

2. Thinking your OS/server/Web app/wireless network/whatever is already secure: Having confidence is a wonderful thing in business and life in general, but paranoia is KING in security.

3. Failure to confirm that your disaster recovery plan actually works: Is that backup comprehensive? Is it scheduled (and actually done!) frequently enough? Can you restore your business from those backup tapes? And, most critical of all, is the backup kept physically secure and physically separate from your servers?

4. Incorrectly prioritizing the protection of specific assets: Few of us have the resources to protect everything completely. In the real world, you need to know what the most important things are to your company so you can protect those assets the most. One size does NOT fit all.

5. Failing to convince upper management of the need for security -– especially integrated security: If management doesn't support your measures, you might as well just take your paycheck and ignore real security. You can't have real security if you just add it AFTER designing and developing your network and applications.

6. Forgetting that road warriors WILL use unsecured wireless access points: It doesn't matter what rules you make or how draconian the punishment, road warriors WILL ignore security rules when they feel it hurts their bottom line.

7. Not properly managing passwords: Make them long and easy to remember -– initial letters of words in a favorite quotation are often a good choice; final letters of those words are even better.

While we are on the subject of passwords, you need to balance the need to re-enter passwords against the fact that the more often users have to key them in, the simpler the passwords they will pick. Once a day is the minimum, but how about after lunch? Or each time a critical application or database is accessed? The answer is that it depends, and it is up to YOU to decide what it depends on.

Keeping passwords, even strong ones, for too long a time is a major mistake. Not only does this give attackers a lot of time to test your system, but once you're hacked, you'll remain vulnerable for a long time.

8. Supplying help desk support without thoroughly authenticating callers: Social engineering is still a serious threat.

9. Mistaking obscurity for security: People WILL find that Web page you think is hidden -– even if you don't have a search function. Many search engines let people search just a specific URL.

10. Writing down ALL your security measures and failing to properly secure that document: There's nothing like finding a guide to hacking a particular network. While you should write everything down, you have to protect that document better than anything else in your company.

Updated Web Browsers: Which One Works Best?

2008-04-17T20:16:00.000+01:00

Back when the earliest programs for viewing Web content simply browsed flat pages of images and text, the name browser truly fit the software.

But yesterday's amateur pages have evolved into dynamic, content-rich portals and powerful online programs. For many online habitués, the do-it-all browser has become a PC's single most important program.

Recognizing that fact, Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mozilla's Firefox are battling to win the nod as your browser of choice. So which one should you use--Safari 3.1, Firefox 3, or Internet Explorer 8?

Apple's latest offering, Safari 3.1, preserves the company's signature focus on clean design and smooth usability, but it lacks any phishing or malware filters.

For its part, Mozilla should have applied the finishing touches to Firefox 3 by the time you read this. From under-the-hood memory improvements to a major reworking for bookmarks, version 3 represents a big step forward.

Whereas the new Firefox and Safari browsers are ready to roll, Microsoft's early beta of Internet Explorer 8 remains a work in progress. Bugs and rough edges are to be expected in a first beta intended for developers and testers. But IE 8 beta 1 provides a glimpse of new features such as WebSlices (which let sites create widgety snippets of information that you can view by clicking a bookmark button) and Activities (which add right-click menu options for looking up selected text and pages on map, translation and other sites) that will distinguish the browser Microsoft eventually releases.

Firefox, IE, and Safari are the three most popular browsers, according to Internet usage statistics, but they aren't the only ones available. So I also took a separate look at two worthwhile, free programs--Flock and Opera.

Windows XP vs Vista: What you need to know

2008-04-17T20:08:00.002+01:00

Will Windows XP still be properly supported by Microsoft and, as a primary development target, by third parties? Is there something XP die-hards have missed, some hidden gotcha that's going to trip them up 12, 18, or 24 months from now?

Of course, there's no universal answer to the Vista upgrade question. Yes, in all likelihood you'll be just fine sticking with Windows XP – at least until Windows 7 ships in 2009 or 2010. But let's not rush to universal judgement. Let's take a close, measured look at the key considerations, and compare Vista's merits against the state of XP on the essential points that IT organisations and end-users care about. And if we can't solve this calmly and objectively, like fair-minded professionals, then let's at least have a good fight.

Are you ready to rumble? Okay, then. Operating systems, return to your corners, and come out swinging.

Round 1: Security

Security is one of the first areas to come to mind when considering a Vista migration. Features such as UAC (User Account Control) and Internet Explorer Protected Mode have been making headlines for more than a year – but not always in the context Microsoft would have wanted. UAC, in particular, has been savaged by critics who balk at its many annoying confirmation dialogs. Just try enabling or disabling multiple network connections quickly or moving a file into a protected folder.

However, even with UAC – which is really just a more visible, 'in your face' implementation of the user account controls that have been built into Windows NT since day one – Vista still isn't fully secure. There are documented ways around UAC involving Internet Explorer, security token privilege escalation, and the exploitation of the 'deprecated administrator' status of the default Vista account model.

More importantly, however, is the fact that most IT shops have already implemented a form of UAC under Windows XP by not allowing domain users to run as local administrators and, in some cases, writing their own 'elevation' utilities to make it all work seamlessly. In practice, these 'locked down' XP systems are in some ways more secure than a UAC-protected Vista system, because they're immune to the aforementioned privilege elevation exploit. To bring Vista systems on par with XP, you need to force users to work with a true non-admin account, as opposed to Vista's 'deprecated admin' account, which puts you right back at square one (that is, where XP is today).

Other security features, such as the updated firewall and more esoteric, internal fixes such as Address Space Layout Randomisation, are interesting but by no means compelling. Most IT shops have implemented a proper hardware firewall solution or third-party software for mobile/remote users, and address-based code exploits usually require some degree of social engineering to get them to work – a phenomenon even Vista can't thwart.

Decision: From a security standpoint, there's just not a lot to compel XP shops to upgrade. Many of the issues addressed by Vista have already been resolved under Windows XP using in-house applications or third-party tools.

Smartphones Good For Small Businesses

2008-03-29T11:06:00.000Z

If you haven't yet embraced the smartphone phenomenon, now might be a good time to do so. Statistics indicate that they're becoming more popular for everyday uses, and in the business world, as well.

A recent study from In-Stat found that 8 percent of regular business travelers have ditched their land lines and rely solely on their mobile phones. This makes good sense - mobile phones can travel, land lines can't, and mobile phones charge quickly enough that there should be few concerns about staying available.

Networking via smartphone is also bringing people together. Established networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Friendster are joining the mobile social network. So you can "friend" people immediately after meeting them, rather than try to remember their contact info until the next time a computer is nearby.

Add in the basic requirement of having some sort of mobile phone, and there's little reason not to upgrade to a proper smartphone. RIM, Apple, and Google, in particular, are making this a more attractive option on an almost monthly basis.

Just be careful of the data plans, as signing up for too generous or too tight a service agreement is unwise.

10 ways to battle with a CrackBerry habit

2008-03-04T17:14:00.000Z

BlackBerry devices can be so addictive that owners may need to be weaned off them with treatment similar to that given to drug users, according to US experts. The study, carried out by New Jersey's respected Rutgers University School, claims the BlackBerry is fuelling a rise in email and internet addiction, with sufferers able to survive only a few minutes without checking for new mail.

One key sign of a user being addicted is if they focus on their BlackBerry ignoring those around them. But the effects of becoming addicted to the device can be 'devastating', said Professor Gayle Porter who led the study. She added: "The fast and relentless pace of technology-enhanced work environments creates a source of stimulation that may become addictive," Professor Porter says. In other words, if you set off on holiday with your BlackBerry, laptop and mobile phone, you may lose forever the ability to shut work out of your mind and relax. There may even come a time when users sue their employers for having the technology foisted upon them.

So how can you crush your 'CrackBerry' habit? We have 10 ways to help you power down from your corporate drug of choice:

1) Establish a CrackBerry use policy, including switch-off times and places. If you are not sure what will work for you then keep a mental note of your usage patterns over a couple of days. You may also get some feedback from your other half, whether you want it or not.

2) Keep a firm grip on what is urgent. Chances are it can wait and you don't need to deal with it when you get up to use the bathroom at 2am.

3) Don't be rude. If you insist on using your CrackBerry at lunch, dinner, during meetings and presentations then you are likely to come across as unprofessional, anti-social or just plain rude.

4) Don't be dangerous. Is that email you are sending as you walk across the road really worth the risk of you getting mown down by a lorry? Worse still, if you are the one behind the wheel, put your CrackBerry in the boot.

5) Remove or reposition applications you don't need. If, like most of Wall Street, you are addicted to games such as BrickBreaker then you may need to take them off your CrackBerry - at least for a little while - to kick the habit. Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld became so addicted that he was forced to remove the game from his BlackBerry. When he eventually reinstalled it, he made sure it was not on the main menu.

6) Save long emails for the office. If not, you could fall victim to 'BlackBerry thumb', a painful condition caused by over-use. One hotel chain in the US has even created a spa treatment - the BlackBerry Balm Hand Massage - for sufferers.

7) Make sure your CrackBerry saves you time. Once interrupted, it can take 15 minutes on average to get back to tasks that take some brain power, according to a study of Microsoft workers. In fact business-research firm Basex puts a rough estimate on the cost of interruptions to the American economy: nearly $650 billion a year.

8) Don't get obsessive. Nobody is that important. Not even you. If someone cannot reach you they will try later.

9) Make meaningful changes. Switching your CrackBerry to vibrate will not mean you use it less. It simply means you like cheap thrills.

10) Go cold turkey. Turn it off. Yes, really. If you find the idea unthinkable then set up a self-help group with fellow users or seek help on CrackBerry.com which has a 'rehab centre'

Back stuff up, move it offsite

2008-02-02T21:37:00.000Z

Disaster recovery tends to be a term bounced around huge corporations, but small businesses may be more vulnerable to a catastrophe.

Information is power. Losing the information that makes your business what it is would be no different than having the electricity cut off from the building.

A little bit of preparation, and sticking to an ongoing plan for backing up important data, whether it is on paper or on a hard drive, will mean all the difference between getting a business underway again, or watching the sheriff auction off pieces of your life.

For any kind of backup, an offsite option should be a first choice. Locks can be cracked in the office, safes can be stolen. The nominal annual fee for a safe deposit box in a bank makes it a necessity for the truly important papers.

A printed list of valuable clients and the details that enable you to provide value to them should be easy enough to generate. Letting those valued customers know that a disaster hasn't put you down for the count may help regain their business when things return to normal.

On the electronic side, services like EMC's MozyPro, and iBackup, establish scheduled automatic data backups over a secure Internet connection. Data like accounts receivable and CRM contacts merit these backup services, if only for the automated hands-off approach that may be the difference between the trivial recovery of a database, or bankruptcy.

The WEEE directive – time is running out!

2007-12-02T22:32:00.001Z

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation came into effect on January 2nd 2007 and organisations that are affected by the directive need to ensure that they are fully compliant before the beginning of July 2007.

Now that the WEEE directive has taken effect, manufacturers are accountable for minimising the impact of electrical and electronic equipment on the environment, both during the lifetime of the equipment and when they become waste.

The main aim of the WEEE directive is to conserve landfill and support more sustainable development by providing an impetus to boost recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. The WEEE directive sets criteria for the collection, treatment, recovery and recycling of these products. It makes the producers of these products responsible for the financing of these activities – it’s referred to as ‘producer responsibility’.

So how does this impact your business? Well, failure to comply with the WEEE directive will result in fines.

Knowing what to do with your old PCs and electronic equipment can be a real headache for your business. With the implementation of the WEEE directive taking effect in the UK, simply throwing them away is no longer an option.

The benefits of consolidation

2007-12-02T22:25:00.000Z

Among the constant challenges faced by IT directors today, cost control reigns supreme. And while the capital cost of server and network infrastructure hardware has become cheaper, the cost of ownership has typically risen.

Most corporate infrastructures include many small servers running at utility and storage levels under 10% - while data volumes are quadrupling every year. Demand for support in the desktop estate is ballooning, especially as companies strive to achieve mobility, user- neutral terminals and connection independent sessions.

The solution to this is to reduce the overheads associated with infrastructure through consolidation in each of these areas – in other words, making your existing assets work harder. Desktop consolidation is now well established through thin client approaches, delivered through Server-based models from Microsoft. SAN technology offers significant management and resource efficiency savings for stored data. Finally, server virtualisation is enabling the reduction of physical presence, running costs and flexibility challenges on Intel server estate.

Every business knows that its people and its data are two of the most valuable assets that a company has. The access infrastructure connects the people to the data by making data available to servers that can process it and send it intelligibly to the users – wherever they are. When one part of this infrastructure is consolidated, it has a knock-on effect on other parts of the infrastructure.

An example: If your business has a large workforce over multiple locations, the implementation of a SAN effectively means that all data is consolidated centrally. This poses two questions:

How do we make sure the data gets to the servers quickly enough to be useful?

And how do we get the information that the servers create to the users?

The answer is to bring the servers to the data and the user applications to the data too – centralising everything. The basic principle is that the three elements, data, servers and user applications need to meet up, and with the experts at Loughtec to guide you every step of the way – consolidating your data to benefit your business becomes a reality.

How To Archive Email

2007-11-18T22:20:00.000Z

For many employees, using email is really only about two things: sending and receiving. But for enterprises as a whole, email is their lifeblood. It is essential to find a way to leverage and manage the data within emails so it can be easily searched and used. There are legal requirements, too, which must be met.

According to Dean Richardson, vice president of sales with ArcMail Technology, businesses should archive all email. “You never know which email you will need down the road,” he notes. Companies have saved thousands of dollars by finding just one email.

“Emails should be archived in real time, as this provides a backup of all emails should the user suffer a catastrophic mail server crash and find themselves unable to restore some or all of their email,” Richardson says.

The Ins & Outs Of Archiving

Archiving all of a company’s email in a central archive with fast search/retrieve and export capabilities allows a company to respond to discovery requests solely from its archive, saving the cost and inconvenience of desktop discovery and discovery from mail server backups, which are very time-consuming. And it’s more than just email.

“The size of the company will have a strong bearing on what type of solution should be implemented. SMEs are typically companies with up to 1,000 seats, operating a Microsoft Windows environment possibly with MS Exchange server or running third-party software on the gateway. Thus, the IT administrator needs to identify a solution that can be installed on both exchange and gateway platforms and one that integrates with the company’s existing IT infrastructure such as Active Directory and SQL Server,”.

Examine questions such as: Will the company increase the number of mailboxes in the medium to long term? Must the company meet compliance requirements? Will it need to leverage SQL as an archiving store (or use NTFS on a separate server)? Can the solution carry out forensic auditing? Does it allow email retrieval on demand?

“SMEs are often cash-strapped with little or no IT budgets. Such limitations impact the email archiving strategy deployed. You need a solution that offers price-performance without affecting functionality. The solution must be user-friendly for both the IT administrator and the employee who needs to use it,” Kelleher says.

“A key trend is the need to archive other ‘unstructured’ data types. Examples are IM, voicemail, office files, etc.,” notes Bob Spurzem, director of product marketing at Mimosa Systems. That is because all electronic data that office workers manage on a daily basis are a target for litigation and are largely unmanaged by organizations.

Many SMEs realize the value of email archiving as a productivity tool and as a means to move older email from their overloaded mail servers to a repository that is designed to store huge amounts of email and allow very quick search and access to that email.

Richardson sees SMEs opting for email archiving, not for particular compliance reasons but because their users want unlimited email storage without mailbox restrictions, and they want to be able to search their email quickly and find what they are looking for. With ArcMail’s Defender, Richardson says, results are available in one to two seconds.

A good email archival solution should search, open, and recover an archived message within a couple of minutes, Spurzem says. “Admins can perform this task, or better yet, users should be able to do it themselves,” he says. Kelleher agrees that the maximum recovery time should be minutes.

Time To Storage

Simply put, there are two schools of thought on archiving: keep everything and delete everything. “The tide is shifting towards ‘keep everything,’” Richardson says. “When you delete your copy of an email, there is always at least one other copy out there, and often it is not within your control. Do you want to be the only one in court without a copy of your own email?”

“Every email has a sender and at least one recipient. We have seen cases where companies had set destructive retention policies, and particular emails were used against them in court,” Richardson says. These emails were kept by employees despite the destructive retention policy. Had the company archived all their email and had access to all the related emails (not just the ones that the plaintiff chose to keep), the outcome would have likely been different, he says.

Retention should be managed according to policy. “The shipping dock employee is treated differently than the president,” Spurzem notes. “Email should be archived as soon as possible to ensure a copy is in the archive before it is deleted by an employee. Then the email archive manages each user mailbox according to its retention policy.”

Kelleher says a big advantage of archiving is that it reduces the size of end users’ mailboxes and, hence, the number of requests for more storage. “Since many employees may be reluctant to empty their mailbox and use the archives, an IT administrator may want to impose a 30- or 90-day storage limit,” he adds.

There is no specific time that emails should be kept on a server before being offloaded to long-term archiving. “There is a different answer for everyone,” Richardson says. “The drivers are regulatory, user preference, and best business practices.”

Every SME has users who keep stuff forever. Richardson says an employee’s email queue definitely should not be deleted. Spurzem says users should be allowed to keep email, according to their business needs, for as long as they need. “The archive is a repository of email that is managed for the organization’s needs, while the personal mailbox of each user is managed by the user, according to his or her needs,” he explains. “The archive should not dictate users’ behavior with regards to email.”

Most analysts recommend seven years as the lowest common denominator for keeping emails. “However, some companies choose to keep them longer if it is advantageous to do so,” Richardson says. “Best case, you find the email that wins your case or that you can use to remind the other party of the conversation/transaction. Worst case, there is a damaging email that may hurt you.”

In the worst case, deleting your copy of the email is rarely a solution because the opposing party will already have a copy of any damaging emails. “They rarely seem to have copies of emails that help your case,” he notes. If you have every email, you can quickly determine where you stand and often find other emails that can put a damaging email in context or even prove your case, Richardson adds.

The Legal Angle

Both the federal government and some states have laws regulating email. The two key federal laws are the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Rule 17a-4.

At the state level, there are various important laws regarding freedom of information, privacy, and notification that impact email, Mimosa Systems’ (www.mimosasystems.com) Bob Spurzem says.

Both Spurzem and ArcMail Technology’s (www.arcmailtech.com) Dean Richardson say the most important new law on archiving data is the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s new amendments. Known as FRCP, it sets out federal guidelines. More information can be found on the Mimosa Web site at www.mimosasystems.com/html/ediscovery_frcp.htm.

Archiving will reduce potential legal risk, penalties, and fines, Spurzem says. An archive is a record of all email and attachments. Legally, FRCP requires the data is protected and stored in its original format, that it is accessible for legal discovery, and that it is retained according to company email policy.

Should litigation begin, all email records for the users involved should be retained, and all retention policies should be suspended so no disposition occurs while the case is active—that is, there is no destruction of evidence.

The Privacy Angle

Who owns the right to review and evaluate email left in a worker’s mailbox? What about personal messages from Saturday night’s hot date . . . or private, but derogatory or off-color, messages left by colleagues.

“This is a very hot debate,” says GFI Software’s (www.gfi.com) David Kelleher. Some companies argue that any email sent using the company network becomes its property, and therefore management has a right to check employees’ mailboxes. On the other hand, privacy rights groups argue that checking an employee’s email breaches his rights.

Employees might have the notion that once they delete an email, it is gone forever, but that’s not the case. They often don’t think of the ramifications of using email to send off-color jokes or other content that may be problematic from a company liability point of view.

"Once an archive is introduced (as a productivity tool, not a Big Brother tool), employees realize that their email is permanent, and they adjust their behavior accordingly (Do I really want to send that email, knowing it will be archived?), which reduces company liability,” Dean Richardson of ArcMail Technology (www.arcmailtech.com) says.

“At the end of the day, it is a question of trust,” Kelleher says. If there is a possibility that an employee is no longer loyal to the company or that he is abusing the system or sending out sensitive material to third parties, then management should have the right to check and verify if any wrongdoing has been committed, he says.

“Every state, every country has its own rules and regulations regarding email archiving and email use. . . . And they are not limited to federal regulations,” Kelleher says. Be aware of all of the regulations before setting policy or acting against a worker.

Western Financial Group Replaces Citrix with Webconnect

2007-11-18T17:53:00.000Z

Western Financial Group Replaces Citrix with Ericom's Server Based Computing Solution

Leading Canadian Insurance, Financial and Banking Services Provider Reduces IT Infrastructure Costs - Deploys Ericom for Remote Access to Core Applications

Closter, NJ (November 14, 2007) - Western Financial Group, a leading Canadian Insurance, Financial and Banking Services provider, has decided to replace its current Citrix Presentation Server^TM environment with PowerTerm^® WebConnect by Ericom Software, a leading provider of server-based computing and virtualization solutions. As the alternative to Citrix, PowerTerm WebConnect provides centrally managed access to Windows Terminal Servers, virtual desktops and legacy host systems.

With over 80 branch offices, Western Financial Group evaluated and selected Ericom's PowerTerm WebConnect based on its cost-effectiveness, ease-of-use and solid reputation. Beyond providing secure remote access to Western Financial's core Windows Terminal Server-based insurance application, Ericom's solution addresses the organization's wide range of technical and financial needs:

· Enterprise-wide Access: Anywhere, anytime access to business-critical applications enables information sharing among geographically distributed agencies and branch offices.

· Enhanced Security: Built-in encryption ensures privacy of corporate and customer information. Additionally, centrally monitored access to applications reduces fraud and security threats.

· Centralized Management: Centralized administration console reduces the cost and complexity of locally managing applications and desktops.

· IT Optimization: Built-in productivity tools such as Load Balancing, remote user support and Session Reconnect prevent user downtime.

"Citrix provides a hundred different bells and whistles with their product, but we don't need all those features," said Doug Bennett, Western Financial Group's IT Manager, Networking & Technology. "PowerTerm WebConnect definitely hits all the features we need, and more, at a fraction of the cost of Citrix."

"Ericom provides a Server Based Computing solution at a price point that promotes enterprise-wide deployments," said Ilan Paretsky, Ericom's VP of Marketing. "The intuitiveness of Ericom's PowerTerm WebConnect facilitates a simple and quick implementation, with minimal user re-training for a seamless transition."

For more information on PowerTerm WebConnect for Remote Access, please visit: http://www.loughtec.com/webconnect.html

ESET Smart Security from loughtec

2007-11-18T17:50:00.000Z

ESET Announces ESET Smart Security and ESET NOD32 Antivirus V3.0
Tight integration and advanced heuristics provides better protection against blended threats

We're pleased to announce news on ESET Smart Security, a new, integrated security solution for consumers and SMEs, built on ESET’s award-winning advanced heuristic ThreatSense® detection system and the ESET NOD32 scanning engine.

Unlike security suites that combine standalone products, ESET Smart Security tightly integrates the antispyware, antispam and firewall features, with a new version of ESET’s flagship ESET NOD32 Antivirus scanning engine. This tight integration allows each module to share information with the other to evaluate and classify every threat appropriately.

ESET Smart Security takes less than a minute to install and does not require the PC to be rebooted after installation. The simple user interface enables even novice users to easily set-up the system and makes choices such as sharing information on a network or choosing to remain anonymous on an unsecured wireless network, easy. More advanced users that wish to have more detailed control over ESET Smart Security can do so using the “Advanced Mode” interface.

In its default settings, ESET Smart Security offers powerful detection capabilities with minimal user intervention. Handy features such as small updates and low performance overhead means that being secure does not equate to a slow machine, whilst ESET Smart Security’s advanced integration ensures comprehensive protection against blended threats. An example of the integration can be seen in the way ESET Smart Security handles html links in specific applications. Clicking on an html link in Microsoft Word for instance, will render the application as being classed as a ‘browser’. ESET Smart Security will then apply a far more rigorous heuristic checking to any traffic that occurs on network connections to that application.

ESET Smart Security and the latest version of ESET NOD32 Antivirus set the standard for modern heuristic scanning. Emulation technology allows for data to be opened in a virtual area within the program, so that it can be assessed and checked for suspicious activity before it is allowed to run on the machine. Combined with ESET’s ThreatSense technology, which provides a proactive early warning system from millions of installed systems around the world, ESET closes the window of vulnerability from when malware is discovered and a signature update released.

ESET Smart Security combines speed, accuracy and minimal computer system impact to deliver a significant improvement over traditional solutions in the marketplace today. ESET’s ThreatSense technology provides the industry’s highest level of accuracy. With significantly lower performance overhead compared to the competition. ESET Smart Security uses only 40MB of disk space, and scans systems up to 30-times faster than other products.

Our research indicates that consumers and businesses are looking for maximum protection, low system requirements, accurate results and fast scanning speeds—in that order. They are tired of solutions that slow down their computers and interfere with other applications, ESET set out to build a solution that addressed these concerns while offering the best level of protection available. With ESET Smart Security, we’ve surpassed our goal and savvy computer users will be amazed by its ease of use, intelligent lightweight design and near-zero impact on system performance.

Business Blogging

2007-11-15T21:56:00.000Z

There are simply too many advantages to enabling a web site with fresh, themed content that is well structured for SEO benefits and that also offers a great platform for creative promotion, not to consider it in the online marketing mix. However, the mis-perceptions about what a blog is and is not abound, even with self-described "blogging experts".

Despite that, I think it's a perfectly reasonable question for a company to ask: "Why should we have a blog and what will it do for us?" Answering that question in the most effective way possible starts with understanding the business and marketing goals of the company. Too many SEOs and blogging consultants focus on the mechanical capabilities of a blog and not on the business goals that can be met.

Blogs are simply tools and are only as effective as the programs and people put in place to use them. The degree to which company goals can be met with the applications and current/future benefits of a blog are what we use to determine whether a business blog is appropriate or not.

Effective marketing initiatives have goals and measures of success. Blogs as marketing and PR tools are no different. Some of the measurable effects from business blogging include:

Media attention
Speaking requests
Customer loyalty
Inbound links to the blog
Search engine ranking for the corporate site
Corporate website traffic
Leads/sales initiated
Volume of blog traffic
Technorati and other credible rankings
Search engine ranking for the blog
Increased company visibility within the industry
Increased media coverage
Improved customer loyalty
Increased sales leads/revenue/new customers

If the majority of these measures (although each is not equally valuable) can support a company's online marketing and/or PR objectives, then it makes sense to continue down the blogging path. Other considerations include:

Hosting platform and limitations
URL considerations - sub directory, sub domain, different domain
Client side IT support/requirements/limitations
Client side blog editorial and strategic ownership
Client side content sources
Meshing the blog content schedule with the company/web site marketing plan and communications/messaging objectives
Client side resource allocation for research, writing, media creation and editorial
Coordinated promotion of key blog posts
Coordination of blog posts with offline, search marketing or media relations outreach initiatives
Blog software, template customization and optimization
Blog productivity plug-ins and anti SPAM tools
Third party widgets and tools
Training on blogging best practices
Keyword glossaries
Blogger relations and community outreach
Developing a social network, profile development and channels of distribution/promotion
Ongoing blog promotion - RSS, SEO, blog PR, social media
Blog analytics and monitoring
Blogging policy, legal considerations and copyright issues
Trackback and comment policy
Comment handling
Quantifying the expense for outside consultants and internal resources for blogging and making estimates for a return on investment

This is a long list and many blogging consultants will tell you how easy it is to throw up a blog and they're right. So why all the "considerations" you ask?

Things that are easy to get into are typically easy to get out of. The vast majority of blogs started are abandoned. TopRank's point of view is that it doesn't make sense to start a blog unless we do so in strategic support of a company's business goals. With the potential for significant impact on business, marketing and PR goals, it makes sense to do all that you can to ensure success - making sure all bases are covered. Blogging is new territory for most companies and being able to do so with a deeply experienced marketing partner can save a lot of headache, money, resources, time and embarrassment from failure.

Make no mistake, I am personally very biased towards the business building and marketing benefits of business blogs. Using a blog to promote our TopRank brand over the past 3, going on 4 years, has had considerable results that we're very happy with. When an agency that offers business blog consulting services can successfully implement for themselves the services and consulting offered to clients, it says a lot about the agency's capabilities.

As it goes with successful visibility on search engines for SEO related terms, the same goes for successful blog marketing programs with the adage, "If you can do it for yourself, you can do it for others". What I would add to that is that it must be for the right reasons, expectations and measures of success or don't bother.

Importance of having your own domain name

2007-11-13T23:47:00.000Z

A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of the free web hosting services, the only company who benefits is the web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must:

1) When you have your own domain name, the address of your web site will be of the form http://www.yoursite.com. On the other hand, if you put up your site on one of the free servers, the address of your web site will be something like http://www.somefreewebsite.com/yoursite/. Which of these two sounds more professional? Which of these two is smaller and is hence easier to remember? I leave you to make the judgement.

2) The only way to make money online is to build up credibility among your customers. Having your own domain name is the first step in doing that. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name. It makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator.

3) When you have your domain name, you can have multiple email aliases of the form alias@yoursite.com. This allows you to assign different email aliases to different functions, all of them pointing to your actual email address. Hence, for example, for questions related to the products and services that you sell, you can have an email address like sales@yoursite.com. For questions related to the newsletter that you publish, you can have an email address like editor@yoursite.com. For comments/suggestions about your web site, you can direct your customers to feedback@yoursite.com or webmaster@yoursite.com. Having different email addresses for different functions not only makes it easier for you to filter your email using your email client program (Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook Express etc.), but also gives your customers the impression that yours is a large, established company with whom it is safe to do business.

4) Many search engines give a lot of emphasis to the home page of a particular domain, i.e. other things remaining the same, a home page of a domain will often rank higher for a particular keyword than any other page. When you use some of the free hosting services, your index.html page is the home page of your site, but not of that domain. Hence in these search engines, your site will find it very difficult to make it to the top 20 or top 30, let alone the top 10 for some of the really competitive keywords. Just think of the amount of traffic that you will lose if this happens.

5) Some search engines are now refusing to spider the web sites which are hosted by the free web hosts. For instance, if you have a site hosted by the free web hosts, you would, until recently, have got the infamous error message saying that too many pages have been submitted from your site if you tried to submit your site to AltaVista. While AltaVista now says that "your URL has been submitted for processing" if you try to submit your site, rest assured that it will not spider any site belonging to many of the free web hosts even though it says that your site has been accepted. Can you afford that?

6) When your site is hosted by some of the free web hosts, you will find it very difficult to get it listed in a major directory like Yahoo!. Although Yahoo! will never admit that it won't add a commercial site which is being hosted in one of the free web hosts, in practice, it will be a miracle if you can get your site listed by Yahoo!!. Listing your site with Yahoo! is difficult enough even when you have your own domain. Don't make your task more difficult than what it needs to be.
If you do not currently have a domain name, are you convinced that you need one right now? The small fee that you pay per year for your own domain name is peanuts compared to the benefits that you get.

Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected and recognized search engine positioning specialists on the Internet.