Upgrade? 3 Future-Proof Technologies! Windows, HDMI & USB

Every time that you purchase a new piece of business technology, you’re faced with a choice: go with a product that’s been around for awhile, and thus, is cheaper, or pay a little extra for the latest solution. We like to encourage business owners to go with the latest tech because it saves them money in the long run - an IT concept known as “future proofing.”

Here are three IT technologies that your business will want to upgrade to, in order to hold off having to upgrade a second time.

Windows 10 Pro
Going with the latest operating system like Windows 10 is almost always a good idea, but what if you’re just upgrading one workstation and the rest of the computers on your network are still running older systems? Ideally, you want to have every workstation on your network running the same OS, but at the same time, you want to take advantage of the latest OS as your upgrade hardware.

To help resolve this upgrading dilemma, Microsoft’s Pro license of Windows 10 allows you to downgrade to a previous supported version, like Windows 7 or 8.1. This means that you can have Windows 10 on standby for when you need it in the near future, while running an older OS so that your workstations will all still be compatible with legacy software and critical applications.

Additionally, having Windows 10 Pro will save you from experiencing issues when Microsoft ends support for Windows 7 and 8.1 on July 17, 2017. Ed Bott of Tech Pro Research explains:

For 6th Generation [Intel] Core CPUs (Skylake), support for Windows 7 and 8.1 ends on July 17, 2017. Microsoft will support only Windows 10 on processor models that succeed Skylake. If you plan to continue using Windows 7 past that date, your best bet is to take advantage of bargains in the 4th and 5th Generation (Haswell and Broadwell) Intel processor families. Microsoft says PCs built using those CPUs will be fully supported for the entire 10-year lifecycle of all Windows versions.

HDMI 2.0
For displaying high-definition video, HDMI is the way to go. To ensure that your video-displaying needs will be covered well into the future, you want to go with HDMI 2.0.

HDMI 2.0 supports 4K resolutions at 60Hz, as well as a full range of audio formats. The ability to display 4K is what separates HDMI 2.0 from the original version. It’s important to keep in mind that, as much as 4K feels like a bit of a novelty at this point, five-to-ten years from now it will be the norm and you’re not going to want to have to revamp your cables a second time just be 4K compatible. 

USB Type-C
The latest USB innovation is the USB Type-C. Ed Bott lists the many benefits of this new USB technology:

• The first wave of devices containing USB Type-C connectors have already arrived, in the form of phones like Google's Nexus 6P and Microsoft's Lumia 950 XL, as well as laptops like the Dell XPS 15.
• USB 3.1 support allows you to transfer at speeds up to 10 Gb/sec, which is double the transfer rate of USB 3.0.
• USB Power Delivery supports device chargers of up to 100W, making it possible to charge phones and even power-hungry laptops from the same USB Type-C power source.
• Alternate modes allow the use of DisplayPort, Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL), and Thunderbolt 3 display connectors at full resolution.

Using the same logic as why you should upgrade to the latest version of HDMI, if you’re going to spend money on new equipment and cables, then you’re going to want to take advantage of the latest USB technology now, so that you won’t have to upgrade a second time in the not-too-distant future.

These are just some of the ways that an MSP can future-proof your network. Click for an IT assessment of your technology so that you can be well prepared for whatever the future throws at your business.

Data and disaster recovery: Back up solution

March 31st is World Backup Day, and it’s the perfect time to evaluate the redundancy and reliability of your data.

Redundancy
It is a fact that redundancy is not always welcome in business. Almost anywhere you find redundancy in your workplace, you also find miscommunication, inefficiency, and the lack of coordination that routinely gives business owners and executives gray hair. One aspect of your business that goes against this trend is how you store and disseminate data. Redundancy in tech-speak, is not just a good thing, it’s something that can flat-out save your business. That is not hyperbole, that is the truth.

If you’re utilizing digital information (and your business certainly is) and you’re doing business without a proper backup and recovery plan, it’s like buying a house on the banks of a river and not getting flood insurance. It simply doesn’t make any sense. If you rely on your data, and most businesses today have some data they simply can’t get back if it was lost, then the best recourse is to institute a comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery solution immediately.

Reliability
For business owners and executives that have been using tape or some other manual type of backup for their backup and recovery needs: it’s a step in the right direction. In business continuity circles there are two variables that have to be understood in order to successfully protect your business from substantial data loss. They are:

• Recovery point objective (RPO): basically what data has to be restored in order to get operations back up and running.
• Recovery time objective (RTO): the amount of time that you have to restore your data before downtime begins to ruin the business’s ability to meet its financial requirements.

Although, it has to be said that tape is an effective backup medium, especially if you have been operating for any amount of time without data backup - it’s better than nothing. With LSeven Solutions’s backup solution, however, business continuity is an easier process.

Our backup solution is automated, with no manual upkeep, tape swapping, or tedious maintenance just to make sure the backup actually happens. Having access to a reliable and secure interface boosts any organization’s ability to protect all their data and restore it faster than with any other type of backup medium. Like we mentioned earlier, restoration times are critical.

An added benefit is our backup platform’s ability to act as your server in the event that your central computing infrastructure has been rendered useless; whether from simple hardware failure, human error, malware, or an act of God.

Many people rely on your business. It’s time to protect it and them with a secure and reliable Backup and Disaster Recovery solution from a Managed Service Provider. To talk to a certified technicians, and find out what backup and disaster recovery platform is right for your organization.

Zuckerberg gives away $45 Billion....Would YOU?!

I don’t have $45 Billion, I don’t even have $1 Billion! What I do have I plan on keeping, investing and protecting. Mark Zuckerberg & his wife Priscilla Chan have stated in an open letter to their new born daughter that they will be giving away 99% of their Facebook shares, currently worth about $45 Billion.

That’s terrific! Wanting his daughter to “grow up in a worldbetter that ours today,” and willing to give it away to charitable causes. If I had $45 Billion and gave it away, I think I could survive decently for the next 40-50 years with the remaining 1%, $455 Million! I’d prefer to protect my money and be philanthropic as I see fit throughout my life time, give to my children and secure their future.

Technology changes at such a rapid pace, investing in emerging technologies and existing technologies that secure our way of life and protect our interests is paramount to our survival. Products like WatchGuardTechnologies, Office 365 and Cloud Services impact and change the way we live and work.

Invest in your own businesses and technology. Update your computers, operating systems and networks. Making your business operate most efficiently and cost effectively. Get the professional assistance of an MSP(Managed Service Provider) to manage your network and computers.

It’s time we start looking at our own IT investments. Protecting, securing and growing our businesses so that we too can one day be in the position to give away Millions… Billions even. Eh… or maybe just keep it all for yourself!

How Does the Cloud Affect Your Networking Strategy?

 Friday, 06 November 2015

 

 LSeven Solutions

 

 

Technology changes constantly, and as such it can be difficult to change and adapt to new trends in the industry. Cloud services are making the implementation of scalable solutions somewhat easier, but often times integrating cloud solutions is forgotten by business owners who don’t really know what the cloud can offer their organization.

While most businesses have heard of the public and private cloud, they need to understand that the primary difference between the two is the amount of control is allowed over the user’s hosted data. The public cloud is generally managed by a vendor, which is perfect for a hands-off approach to cloud computing. On the other hand is the private cloud, which is hosted in-house on your own hardware, which demands constant maintenance and management. Today, we’re going to take a look at the hybrid cloud and all of the benefits it can bring to your business.

About the Hybrid Cloud
Essentially, the hybrid cloud is a combination of the public and private clouds, taking all of their best features to create a dynamic environment that’s scalable to meet the specific needs of your business. Most business owners who opt to take advantage of the public cloud do so because they don’t want to deal with the responsibility of cloud solution upkeep, while private cloud enthusiasts will likely use a private cloud because they want to be in full control of their data. Hybrid cloud solutions appeal to both of these users by combining the ease-of-use of the public cloud with the administrator privileges and data control that come with the private cloud.

What a Hybrid Cloud Can Offer
According to Forbes, your IT budget will usually be comprised of several different variables. One of these factors is your operational expenses, which are the costs allocated toward ensuring your organization functions without a hitch. Your operational expenses generally account for well over half of your IT budget, and don’t normally have any direct impact on your profit margin. Other parts of your expenditure include your ability to grow through use of new applications and productivity best practices, as well as taking advantage of analytics that allow your business to cater to new markets. While these later two have the potential to be exceptionally helpful for your organization’s profit margin, organizations don’t typically spend more than a combined third of their budget on these important aspects.

The most notable trend from these observations is that businesses are spending money on an aspect of their IT infrastructure which doesn’t generate any profits; rather, their operational expenses are being used to ensure that they can continue to maintain the same level of success that they’ve been experiencing. This stagnation of progress is a primary reason why organizations are pushing toward the hybrid cloud and managed IT services. Businesses need to find a way to minimize their operational expenses, and managed service providers are the key to doing so. When we’re talking about managed services, we mean the idea of outsourcing certain operations, like email hosting or technology maintenance, to a third party. This frees up an asset that’s surprisingly limited in nature: time. Instead of having to deal with technology issues personally, you’re instead allowing your staff to get more done throughout their workday and push toward greater heights.

Hybrid clouds are maintained by your managed service provider, meaning that you won’t have to deal with the upkeep of the solution. Instead, all you need to focus on is making sure that your business is as successful as possible. You can also move other technologies, like your desktop infrastructure or your servers, to the cloud, which saves you even more operational costs like electricity. In fact, the hybrid cloud holds a particular benefit for your business that is hard to match; it provides the ability to deploy and manage new software solutions to any amount of employees with ease, allowing you to “test the waters,” so to speak, before diving head-first into unknown territory. This saves the time and effort it takes to install each instance of the software onto all machines in your office.

When it comes to the cloud, you want to be aware of how much it can change the way you do business. Give LSeven Solutions a call at (877) 4-LSeven for more information about how we can help your organization implement and manage a new cloud solution.