It’s March again, and many hoops fans are once again in a frenzy – creating fantasy basketball drafts, watching streamed basketball games, and researching basketball trends, rumors, and other related information. That’s “March Madness” for you. Most of the activity of March Madness is internet based, with gambling and betting at an all-time high, especially as the tournament draws to a close with the Elite Eight Teams whittling down to the Final Four. Fans spend a lot of time watching streamed videos of games and gathering information on the tournament online, distracting them from their official duties and potentially wasting company bandwidth. How much does this impact your company? A lot, says the research. A 2008 Newsweek article reports that the March Madness phenomenon cost a total of $1.7B in lost productivity. And that’s not counting the high bandwidth consumed from all the video streams and the research activities. In more recent research findings reported by national outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the losses due to March Madness are expected to continue. “Those who insist there will be no impact are kidding themselves,” says John Challenger, CEO of the Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “It might be a slight drop in output, or it could be slow Internet connections as bandwidth is sapped by employees watching streaming feeds of the games,” he adds. If you’re concerned about your company’s bandwidth during this period and want to look for ways to better manage it, we’d be happy to discuss a possible roadmap. Sources: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/17/2048029/college-basketball.html http://www.newsweek.com/id/124404
Listen to Over 100,000 Radio Stations in Windows Media Center
A cool feature in Windows 7 Media Center is the ability to listen to local FM radio. But what if you don’t have a tuner card that supports a connected radio antenna? The RadioTime plug-in solves the problem by allowing access to thousands of online radio stations. Read more
Three Ways Managed Services Can Reduce Your IT Costs
In today’s tough market environment, many small and medium businesses are turning to Managed Services. But is the up-front cost worth it? We say yes—and think you’ll agree when we explain why.
Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Up To Date?
Businesses are constantly changing. Is your disaster recovery plan changing, too? It should be. Every company can experience a business-altering event at any time: floods, explosions, accidents, computer malfunctions—the list is endless. If you have a disaster recovery plan, you’re prepared to prevent such events from disrupting your normal operations—or at least you were at the time you created the plan. But how long ago was that? As your business has grown, it’s likely that your products and services, or at least the way you deliver them, has changed as well. For example, the increase in technology-based processes over the past few years has likely increased your reliance on the availability of systems and information for your business to function effectively. These changes might necessitate a change in your disaster recovery plan. As a result, we recommend a regular review of your plan. If you make changes, these change should be tested and new processes documented so all employees can be trained accordingly. Finally, keep in mind that reviewing your disaster recovery plan isn’t a one-time event. Because changes to your products and services, or the way you deliver them, are likely to continue, reviewing your disaster recovery plan should be a regular process. If you’d like a professional review of your disaster recovery plan (or if you don’t have one in place at all), contact us today. We can help save your systems and data from the unthinkable.
Mariposa Botnet Masters Arrested
Spanish authorities report that they have arrested the masterminds behind a string of online criminal activities using the botnet dubbed Mariposa. Mariposa is the original name of a commercially distributed Do-it-Yourself malware kit, sold online for 800/1000 EUR for “wannabe” hackers. Along with the arrest, authorities seized sensitive data belonging to about 800,000 users in 190 countries, gathered from an estimated 12M+ infected host computers on the Internet. What’s particularly interesting is that the cybercriminals arrested were not themselves the author of the malware, nor were they any more techincally adept than many ordinary users. They simply had access to malware widely available on the Internet, and were able to conduct a crime of such a wide scale and reach. This illustrates that it’s become easier for many cybercriminals to conduct their nefarious deeds online, and highlights the need for more vigilance on the part of law-abiding netizens in keeping their network secure from hackers and malware. Is your network safe? Contact us to find out. Related articles: How FBI, police busted massive botnet (go.theregister.com) Botnet takedowns ‘don’t hurt crooks enough’ (go.theregister.com) Vodafone distributes Mariposa Bot, Conficker and Lineage in HTC Magic (techie-buzz.com)
SaaS Characteristics and Integration
SaaS has several characteristics that set it apart from other services: SaaS allows the access and use of commercially available software through a remote, network, or internet connection. This means that the software is not installed in the subscriber’s computer, but rather on the SaaS provider’s server. This also makes the software accessible to the subscriber regardless of his or her location. SaaS provides commercially available software, not custom made software, meaning that a particular software service is made available to multiple clients, so customization is limited to only what the software or SaaS provider allows. The SaaS provider shoulders the responsibility of updating the software, and subscribers can request updates, upgrades, and additional features. Regarding implementation, SaaS architecture is classified into four “maturity” levels based on factors such as configurability, multi-tenant efficiency, and scalability. Level 1 is the “ad-hoc/custom” level, in which a modified version of a particular piece of software is offered to subscribers, which is then run on the provider’s host server. This level is requires the lowest maintenance. The second level offers more customization and allows subscribers to configure the metadata of a program. This then allows a customized version of the same software, based on the needs of the subscriber. Multi-tenant efficiency is added to the third maturity level, which means that the SaaS servers are made more conducive for subscribers to use separate instances of a single application. The fourth and most “mature” SaaS architecture offers all four factors, with the service reaching optimum efficiency. Considering SaaS for your business? Let us help you sort through the details.
How to handle Suspicious E-mail
Phishing, pronounced “fishing,” is a type of online identity theft that uses e-mail and fraudulent Web sites that are designed to steal your personal data or information such as credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information. Follow these guidelines to help protect yourself from phishing scams sent through e-mail. Read more
SaaS: An Overview
The growing reach and power of the internet has changed the way people do business, with more and more web-based services popping up. One of these is SaaS.
SaaS stands for Software as a Service, which refers to any licensed software being “rented” to a company by another company on an as-needed basis.
Understanding the Value of Managed Services
Most small and medium businesses can’t afford the luxury of a qualified IT administrator, let alone an entire IT department. If you’re in this position, how do you maintain the information technology infrastructure that’s critical to your organization? One option is Managed Services, in which you outsource this role to an IT expert called a “managed services provider,” which will typically offer on-site or remote network and security monitoring, data backup and technical support. Because the Managed Services model allow a business to focus on its core competencies, it is increasing in popularity—but sometimes it’s hard to separate the real benefit from the hype. What’s the value to you? Peace of mind. Your managed services provider will monitor your IT infrastructure and prevent or resolve any problems—a sharp diversion from the traditional “fix it when it breaks” model of IT management. Simplicity. Your managed services provider will provide many of its services remotely, via the Internet, instead of through on-site visits. This reduces time and cost. Constant support. You don’t have to worry about support; your managed services provider will offer the assistance you need, when you need it. Affordability. Managed services providers typically offer several price structures, including a per-month fee—which is much lower than the cost of building an in-house IT support department. Accountability. Have you ever tried to resolve an IT problem only to find that one vendor blames it on another who blames it on another? With managed services, you don’t have to go to multiple vendors to figure out why your network is down or you’ve experienced a security breach. You’ll have one point of contact: your managed services provider. Want to learn more about how Managed Services can give you dependable IT with predictable costs? Give us a call.
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