Author: Logicalis Staff

Is Your Company Ready for the Video Age?

Posted by | Jun 16, 2011 | , , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteIT leaders today are considering the fact that eventually, our main form of communication and collaboration might be via video communications. The way we interact is changing rapidly and collaboration is the key to maintain a competitive advantage.  As IT leaders, we know you can’t innovate without collaboration, and without innovation, companies do not succeed. So, regardless of your preferred communication method, video might be the core for collaboration in the near future. So, think about how this applies to your business. Is this use of video Ripe and you’re ready to embrace communications and collaboration via video, or is it just Hype? [poll...

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Should Businesses Move Disaster Recovery to the Cloud?

Posted by | Jun 15, 2011 | , , , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe idea that disaster recovery can be sold as a service managed in the cloud is not new, but it’s quickly gaining traction among CIOs and IT managers. Today’s cloud offerings can give IT leaders a value-priced tool with which to meet their recovery point and recovery time objectives.  Some IT leaders say the key is to have a qualified, independent third-party conduct a business impact assessment to determine if the business’ recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) requirements can be supported by DR in the cloud before any decisions are made. If it turns out that the company is a candidate for DR in the cloud, there are several good reasons to move forward with a full-scale evaluation of the advantages. So, what do you think? Is this just Hype, or should businesses move disaster recovery to the cloud (Ripe)? [poll...

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Is VDI Overrated?

Posted by | Jun 13, 2011 | , |

Reading Time: < 1 minutePlenty of IT leaders aren’t sold on the necessity of VDI.  In fact, several believe it’s just plain overrated.  We found IT leaders saying the following about VDI: “VDI is a ‘last mile’ technology. With all the isolation/application virtualization, I almost felt like the industry was giving up on SBC too early.” “VDI or SBC is not the debate to me but the representation of the actual need of the market to define models that actually fit to customers’ needs and the ‘one perfect universal model’ does not exist.” Despite these comments, others say you can bring applications to almost everyone, everywhere and anytime with VDI. So, what do you think – is VDI overrated (Hype), or is it ready for prime time (Ripe)? [poll...

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Are These Good Ways to Avoid a Virtualization Stall?

Posted by | Jun 9, 2011 | , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAccording to a recent CIO.com article, companies often start virtualization projects looking for cost savings, but don’t plan for a second phase of migration that requires spending more on new tools.  The project might save in short-term costs, but will get stuck in the first phase — saving money on hardware, but getting only a fraction of the benefit of their virtualization products. So, here are four tips for getting through the four phases of virtualization: Technical efficiency and consolidation Picking targets and simplifying administration Process automation Cost efficiency, chargeback Is this advice for avoiding stalls in the stages of virtualization Hype or Ripe? [poll...

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Are Data Center Professionals Using Outsourcing to Meet Capacity?

Posted by | Jun 8, 2011 | , , , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhy are so many data centers now outsourcing? A new data center can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and be time-consuming to build. On top of that, according to the Uptime Institute, in its annual data center survey, more than a third of the large companies it surveyed (36%) expect to run out of capacity in at least one of their data centers over the next 18 months. Server consolidation and upgrading of power and cooling equipment are the primary ways the companies said they would boost their capacity, the survey showed. But 29% said they plan to lease collocation space, while 20% will move workloads to the cloud. A separate study commissioned by Digital Realty Trust, which builds and operates data centers for third parties, showed a similar trend. Of the respondents who planned to expand their data center capacity in 2011, 60% said they would lease space from a third party rather than build their own data center. That was an increase of 7% over last year, which follows an upward trend over the past few years. So what do you think about these studies? Is this outsourcing market trend data Hype (not accurate) or Ripe?  We’d love to hear your experiences with outsourcing data centers in the comments below. [poll...

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Is the data center of the future really only possible in the cloud?

Posted by | Jun 6, 2011 | , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteBecause many data centers are running out of power, cooling or floor space isn’t a surprise. Due to the recession, some companies even put data center projects on hold, and are just now starting to ramp up spending. So, now some companies need to do major infrastructure upgrades – and these can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take more than a year to build. Even after they are built, data centers are expensive to operate, largely because of the power needed to run the IT gear and cooling equipment.  Plenty of reports show this is why even conservative companies are moving IT workloads outside their own data centers. What do you think, is the cost of upgrading/building and the running of a traditional data center causing more and more companies to buy into the cloud (Ripe) or is this just more cloud hype? [poll...

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How can you Protect Corporate Data on Employee Mobile Devices?

Posted by | Jun 2, 2011 | , , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhile some businesses provide smart phones to their employees for work purposes, in most cases, these are personal devices.  This could become an increasingly significant security concern. For example, say an employee has a smart phone that receives all their work email. If that phone were ever lost or stolen, all the corporate data would suddenly be vulnerable (unless the necessary security measures are in place).  Here are some basic tips employees should be doing to ensure security: Password-protect phones Enable remote locking Deploy anti-malware software So, with so many employees accessing corporate data from personal devices, do you think these tips are enough?  Is this something IT departments need to be properly managing (Ripe) or are security concerns related to employee mobile devices just Hype? [poll...

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What do You Need for IaaS, PaaS, SaaS?

Posted by | Jun 1, 2011 | , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minutePaaS, IaaS and SaaS: all these approaches involve outsourcing the work and personnel expense of managing and maintaining server hardware, network hardware, infrastructure software, and/or application software.  Basically, they each attempt to solve the same business problem for IT leaders – to provide function, scale, service, and business value with little or no capital expenditure. For CIOs and IT leaders using cloud computing, or any variety of IaaS, PaaS or SaaS, according to a ZDNet article, here are some tips to ensure your success: It’s important to start with a business case. Calculate the net financial impact that an investment or change is going to have to your business. Consider your network bandwidth requirements, and understand how much data you will need to move across the network, as well as the network response requirements for the particular service. You need to know your security requirements and how your internal capabilities compare to those of your cloud provider. Look closely at the cloud service provider you are going with.  Consider the organization, and its business sustainability. What do you think about these tips for IaaS, PaaS or SaaS?  Are these tips relevant for your organization, or is this just Hype?  Cast your vote and share your opinions in the comments below. [poll...

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Is There a Secret for Managed Services Success?

Posted by | May 31, 2011 | , , |

Reading Time: < 1 minuteEnsuring a managed services contract provides value from the get-go can be tricky.  Here are some tips from various IT leaders about how to ensure the success of your managed services contract. Educate the internal IT staff on the management tools provided by your MSP. Keep open communication with the internal staff and your MSP to ensure any issues are resolved quickly. Ensure that both internal and MSP staff follow ITSM standards. The SLA is the key. Make sure it is written to protect your business. What do you think about these tips – do you agree with these ideas on successful managed services, or is this just Hype?  Share your thoughts in the comments below, too. [poll...

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