►The Virtual Office Checklist
used with permission from the Cisco Small Business Center.

Here are some things to consider when choosing Cisco SMB Solutions that enable you and your colleagues to work from anywhere.

Adding a VPN and firewall enables the security you need. The technology behind remote access is called a "virtual private network," or "VPN," and it establishes a private, secure network connection over a public network, such as the Internet.

VPNs use secure firewalls and well-tested security measures at every network point of entry, to help stop worms, spyware, or hackers from attempting to disrupt your business network or steal sensitive information.

Here's the beauty of a VPN: Once it's installed, you can add as many employees in as many places as you need. You don't have to worry about expensive provisioning in each branch offices store or site; a PC and an Internet connection will do the trick. The VPN software handles all security and user authentication.

Read more
 

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

Bill Vaughn
 

►Just for Laughs

Server consolidation and virtualization can increase computing and data center performance while reducing costs. But they also change the power and cooling profile of your data center and can introduce potentially crippling power and cooling challenges.

With consolidation and virtualization, computing is concentrated on fewer servers, so each unit becomes more critical, requiring higher levels of protection. Additionally, new high density servers require more power and generate more heat that must be removed to avoid server degradation and allow you to fully utilize rack space.

Adapting your power and cooling strategy for consolidation and virtualization can help you:

Read more

I know we all feel that we do our best when it comes to securing both the physical and tangible assets of our businesses. Most companies feel that by simply locking doors, controlling who has keys and alarm codes, changing passwords, and engaging in other basic security measures they are doing their best to protect the business. I am not a physical security officer, or loss prevention specialist, but I do know about "basic" IT policy and how it can help your business protect its "information" assets.

So here are the questions of the day: Does your company have an enforceable IT security policy? Who is directly responsible for the management and enforcement of this policy? How often is this policy reviewed and updated?

These are all very serious questions that every business must answer. In a lot of cases the "information" businesses possess is one of their most valuable assets.

Read more

Cloud computing is not pie in the sky. It offers tangible benefits that real-world businesses need to meet the demands—and take advantage of the opportunities—of today's instrumented, interconnected and intelligent world. As the world grows smarter, cloud computing offers ways your midsize organization can work more efficiently and more productively, simultaneously saving money and enhancing your business and IT operations.

Consider what two companies have accomplished. In one instance, an engineering firm typically required two weeks to run simulations for a project using its installed servers. The firm wanted to speed up its work, but buying additional processing power seemed an unwise choice as such massive requirements were not an everyday occurrence. Instead, the firm moved its simulations to a cloud-based computing model, buying ten times the power it had in-house, paying only for the processing time it used, and reducing the time required for its simulations from two weeks to two days.

Read more

►Business Continuity Tip
Reap the benefits.

We talk about the importance of creating a comprehensive and actionable recovery plan. It will come as no surprise, that most plans are built with the worst-case-scenario in mind. But the reality is that most business interruptions are not major "smoking hole" events. Employee illness, transit strikes, religious holidays or even scheduled events like the recent G20 in Toronto are just a few examples of the many things that can keep people out of work throughout the year.

A comprehensive recovery plan takes these "minor" interruptions into account. For example, if you have a large group of employees out of town for a tradeshow, who will function as their backup? What's the impact on your customers? How will external audiences be notified? What's the procedure for handling increased workload? Is your current process efficient? You back up your data every night, but have you made the same accommodations for your people?  A robust recovery plan will help you address these concerns throughout the year.