Virtual Desktops or VDI’s are cheaper and make your business more profitable

Vritual Desktop Infrastructure or VDI’s are desktops that are stored on servers often centralized on premise or in data centers.  This technology has a few very strategic advantages over a traditional desktop and server infrastructure. 

Problem, Desktops are not always there for my employees - Centralized VDI desktops can be highly available.  High availability means you have access to that device 99.99% of the time almost no standard desktop will meet this expectation.  They will get a bad Windows update or a virus minor or major or the user will make  a mistake or a bad uninstall or even just to upgrade and update business applications all cost your employees time.  Think of what an hour or a day of lost productivity out of your best worker costs you?    All desktop hard drives have a mean time before failure of 3-5 years.  You are buying something that will break and cost you money.

VDI is the solution because every time you log out the virtual desktop you were workign on is destroyed and when you log in you get  Windows 7 like its first day.  Any bad installs, or viruses are instantly gone.  On top of that your desktop is on redundant server grade hardware.

Problem: Upgrades cost me more time and more money.  To install that new program update on 50 machines takes our staff or consultants a whole evening or weekend.  Costing time and money

VDI Solution:  The update is applied to the template, tested live to ensure it works.  When confirmed that it works its deployed as people log out and back in their new desktop will have the updated program.  1 update regardless of the number of desktops.

VDI Fears:

1.  I like my desktop box

We will give you one of the most advanced thin clients, with dual, quad monitor support isntant access to USB devices.  Come see our demo or we will bring it to you and put it up against your desktop

2.  I don’t understand virtualization I feel more comfortable with a standard desktop. 

Virtualization just makes more resources more available and is getting easier and easier to mange

3.  This sounds complicated

This is all managed through a basic web interface or taken care of entirely by our highly skilled and trained staff.

4.  This sounds expensive

VDI’s, including 2 servers are on average half the cost of traditional desktops

5.  Im not ready to put this in the cloud

Thats OK we can intall it at your office

6.  What if my interenet goes down?

If you host it with us we will setup redundant internet links through multiple providers and technologies so you are always on 99.99% of the time

VDI’s are cheaper, better and will increase your productivity.  Call us today to see a LIVE demo!

Who Owns the Cloud?

When computers were first invented, history dictates that there were some, perhaps many, who scoffed and refused to accept that they would change our lives in the incalculable ways that they have.

When the internet came out, many could not understand why they would want to connect other computers to their own or the purpose of such a tool.

The reasons for such rejection and speculation of technological advancements are many, including but-not-limited-to: lack of detail, misinformation, contentment in already-working systems, and fear of the unknown. While I do not believe fear to be as culpable a reason when it comes to computer technology as compared to, say, nuclear technology or what your five-year-old cooked you for breakfast, I do believe the three former reasons to be legitimate.

The first two reasons, lack of detail and misinformation, are directly related. Although the name “the cloud” is fitting, it can also downplay the fact that the cloud is a real and working system, albeit a very large and multi-faceted one. Microsoft’s commercials that present a problem, then a savvy cloud user announcing “To the cloud,” then their problem solved by the cloud, show glimpses of what the cloud is capable of that could make it appealing to an everyday user, like remote desktop access and video conferencing.

These commercials show the most basic examples of cloud computing, but do not really explain what the cloud is or how to jump onboard. In addition, Microsoft must be careful not to make it appear that the cloud is a Microsoft invention but, rather, that they are one of many companies that is making use of the cloud. It may encourage utilization of the cloud by making known to more people that the cloud is not one company’s brainchild, but rather a fruit of the digital and internet age that all of us, users and developers, have helped bring about.

Regarding the contentment in already-working systems, the cloud is merely a way of connecting all of those systems and streamlining availability, scalability and synergy, which are useful both at home and in the workplace. The cloud possesses currently incomprehensible potential to shape how we handle information and, thus, our businesses and our lives. 

Like so many leaps forward, it will take some time for people to understand what the cloud is and how useful it can be, and how much smaller it is making the world, by putting in reach what we need, thanks to digitalization and the vast interconnectedness and availability of the internet. The important hope we have as the cloud moves forward is that it remains as open as it is today and that no company attempts to build legal or digital fences around what they believe to be their property within the cloud.

E-mail

E-mail is a business tool that may very well be more important to most businesses than phones these days.  It is so critical to business operations not only because of the direct communication it provides with customers and internally, but for many companies, it also provides calendaring, task management, and time management tools.  With the critical nature of e-mail to business operations, it’s no wonder that e-mail was one of the first technologies to be delivered through “cloud” technologies.  Gmail, ymail, and others are all cloud-driven e-mail systems.  So how does this translate to value for your business?  To see the value cloud-based e-mail provides, it may be a good idea to compare traditional onsite e-mail with its cloud-based counterpart.

Traditional onsite e-mail

For the purpose of this article, let’s assume we have a business that has 35 staff members.  The business is considering deploying an e-mail server onsite that is powered by Microsoft Exchange.  This is quality solution that many businesses use today and it’s one that I’ve recommended often.  If we take this solution and compare it to a similar cloud-based solution, we can see the operational differences between the two…

For any technology, (e-mail included), there are hard costs and soft costs that we bear, and for those costs we receive operational value (oversimplified a bit, but sufficient to derive the comparative value between on-premise e-mail and cloud-based e-mail). As is the case with nearly all cloud solutions, the overall cost of a cloud solution is going to be greater over time than its onsite counterpart.  However, there are some definitive and tangible benefits for this greater cost.

Benefits of Cloud-based E-mail

• Administration – there is still some internal administration necessary in a cloud-based environment because internal resources are used to access your e-mail (Internet, desktops, etc.), but the bulk of the administration burden is transferred to the hosting company.  This reduces risk in many cases and reduces internal administration costs
• Accessibility – The very nature of cloud solutions require them to be highly accessible.
• Availability – Most cloud solutions, including e-mail, are hosted at a data center, often with a second data center available for failover, which gives you a much higher level of e-mail uptime over an onsite solution.  Additionally, most cloud-based e-mail providers will give you an SLA, stating their uptime requirements
• Initial Investment – though nearly all cloud solutions will cost more over time, there upfront cost is far lower than an onsite solution.

There are also drawbacks to cloud-based e-mail, as well:

• Cost – greater cost over time
• Integration – many software programs today interface directly with your e-mail system to capture messages, calendar data, and so forth.  Most of these programs won’t be able to integrate with cloud-based e-mail.
• Speed – Almost every program that is hosted remotely (or in the cloud) is going to respond just a little slower than if that program is running onsite.
• Control – whenever you move functionality offsite, you lose some degree of control of that function. 
• Backup - The frequency, type, and depth of your e-mail backup is something that needs to be redeveloped when you operate your e-mail from the cloud.

Ultimately, cloud-based e-mail is something that is becoming a better option for businesses, though admittedly, it isn’t for everyone.  Yet, there are some undeniable operational advantages that will only grow as time passes.  Either way, for many businesses, it’s probably evolved to the point that it is an option worth looking into.

Automated Offsite Backup

There is no question that the secure, reliable retention of data is absolutely critical to good business operations – and, of course, that includes the ability to recover your data in the event of a disaster.  Consequently, more businesses are prioritizing their data backup procedures including regular verification of data integrity and disciplined off-site storage of backup media.  Yet, businesses are finding that even with rock solid procedures, there are still many areas of concern.  Here are a few  of the most prominent concerns:

Traditional Onsite Backup Issues

• Media (tapes or drives) must be tested regularly to ensure data integrity
• Reliability – most onsite backup systems (software & hardware) fail to backup all of your data.  Often a few corrupt files, or an open database connection can derail the backup process
• Lifespan – a quality backup system will last between 2 and 4 years depending on the quality
• Maintenance – In order to have confidence in the backup system it needs to be maintained regularly.
• Security – For any given onsite backup solution, there needs to be an off-site option.  Often, this amounts to an employee taking the backup media home with them.  Obviously, this presents significant data security concerns – especially if the employee needs to be terminated at some point.

Make no mistake, onsite backup is a good thing – it’s just that there are some undeniable drawbacks.  Consequently, more businesses are turning to automated offsite backup as a solution (i.e. backing up to the cloud).   The one notable drawback is that you have an ongoing monthly cost, yet the advantages often outweigh the concerns about ongoing cost – especially considering the fact that costs have fallen significantly over the past 12 to 18 months.  And the operational benefits are undeniable:

Benefits of Offsite Backup

• Security – Encrypted data transfer means that automated offsite backup is often far more secure the traditional onsite backup
• Automation – No switching tapes, drives, or transporting backup media to other locations
• Reliability – Today’s online backup systems are highly reliable.
• Retention – retaining data for more than two weeks is easy to accomplish, and for even longer retention periods, offsite backup is significantly less expensive than onsite data storage

Like all technologies, backing data up to the cloud isn’t for everyone.  And even if you do decide to invest in cloud-based backup, it doesn’t mean you need to abandon your onsite backup.  In fact, having some onsite backup never hurts because when it comes to your data, you have to be 100% certain that you can recover what you need when you need to recover it.

Web & Spyware Defense

There are few IT issues that are more pervasive or costly for businesses these days than spyware.  Spyware not only affects the system it infects, but also tries to distribute itself to other systems.  Additionally, it can be incredibly difficult to “clean” the infected system, often requiring the system to be rebuilt. Worse yet, standard methods of protection often fall short because users can easily circumvent them and click on a link or advertisement that invites spyware into their system by accident.  Much like spam defense solutions, deployment of onsite devices have become more popular, and to some extent those devices are effective.  But the significant upfront costs and the maintenance required to support the devices have both become detractors from these solutions.  Consequently, cloud-based solutions have been growing in popularity. 

In essence cloud-based web defense solutions provide:

• Protection against harmful links, sites, and spyware
• Granular control of the websites staff members can access
• Integrated reporting showing web activity for staff members
• Low-cost, zero maintenance solution

As always, this solution should be reviewed in context of your specific business needs and goals, but cloud-based protection against spyware have proven to be quite effective.  And with the additional control you get for managing your outgoing web traffic, cloud-based spyware protection is quite a powerful solution.

Spam defense

It’s generally accepted that spam protection, is a requirement for the productive use of e-mail these days.  Traditionally, businesses have used software to filter out the volumes of spam, but more recently, the use of local hardware appliances have become popular.  Yet, there are drawbacks to both these solutions that have opened the door for more seamless solutions like cloud-based e-mail defense.  In short, traditional solutions, whether hardware or software-based, allow spam to get to your network, using up your valuable bandwidth along the way. 

Additionally, most (but not all) of these traditional solutions don’t:

• Provide e-mail continuity (retain e-mail when your e-mail server is unavailable)
• Provide the ability to securely view e-mails without downloading them
• Include the ability to send & respond e-mail if your mail server is down. 

In essence, these are some of the greatest advantages of cloud-based spam protection.  But there are other, less acute advantages, as well:

• Almost no upfront costs
• Zero internal costs for managing or administering the system
• Little to no training required
• Seamless deployment
• Integrated reporting

Like any technology, isn’t a perfect solution for every business and should be analyzed within the scope of your specific business needs, goals, and operations.  However, the advantages are compelling enough that it’s worth taking a close look.

Practical Cloud Technologies for Small Business

For many businesses the term “Cloud Computing” is this ethereal concept, pressed upon the business community as the new and greatest thing by IT powerhouses such as HP, Microsoft, Dell and others.  As is the case with almost all new technologies, however, cloud computing isn’t really the greatest thing – at least is certainly isn’t at this point, anyhow.  In my opinion, a more accurate description would be:  it’s an evolving thing that has large potential value for business.  There is no doubt that lots of small businesses have made the decision to invest in cloud technologies over the past couple years, and many of them, I’m sure, have invested quite successfully.  But if that’s the case, what technologies have they invested in and what has made that investment successful?  The answer to that question depends on the specific business of course, however, I believe there are 4 uses of cloud technology that are very likely to provide value to small businesses today.  Check out my four-part series on some of the cloud solutions that could be valuable for your business, today: 

1. Spam Defense

2. Web & Spyware Defense

3. Automated Offsite Backup

4. Email

Blogging from the Cloud Summit Conference in Dallas

As a part of ITP’s ongoing commitment to being on top of the latest in technology and business practices we attend the latest in business conferences.  Yesterday was entirely devoted to the cloud (cloud computing) and what it means for your business.  The staggering statistic that’s facing IT companies is the Gartner prediction that 20% of companies in the next 5 years will have NO traditional IT.

That was balanced by Microsoft and HP’s presentations about hybrid cloud computing.  They state what seems most likely to me, that people will need to protect certain data and that will still be on premise but that some data and some services/solutions can be delivered from the cloud more effectively and more cost efficiently today.

After session after session from the bleeding edge companies providing cloud and grid resources the takeaway most interesting to me at the end of the day came from Microsoft’s Matt Thompson, Platform Evangelist.  He said (paraphrasing) that the cloud is still young and we have not yet seen the greatest innovations and that even Microsoft’s Azure (his baby) can use tunning and that service companies like ITP will be the ones that will help bridge the gap for our clients and the computing resources now available on demand from great companies like Microsoft.
Side note:  Matt also said he loves his iPad.  Between Matt’s comments and reading the announcements by Steve Jobs live as it came through from WWDC that the new iphone will have Bing on it.  I started getting warm Apple and Microsoft thoughts, maybe we can all get along.