Don't Let Up On Security

We get real busy when some type of IT security event hits the mainstream news. Clients are always concerned that they are protected during those times. Then it gets quite for a while. Invariably another incident occurs and the cycle continues. In the meantime business get laxed in their vigilance.

Your IT infrastructure, including your hardware, software, and data is much too valuable. Even when things seem to be quite you need to insure that you are following all the security protocols. Maybe even more so.

Do you have the latest AntiVirus data files?
Are you running Anti-Spyware software?
Do you have all the latest Windows and application updates?
When was the last time you changed passwords?

These are just a few of the things you should know the answers to in order to keep yourself reasonably safe from the next round of attacks. It stinks but it's necessary. Give us a call if we can help.

How Old Is Your IT Equipment?

For many companies IT equipment is an expense that tends to be a nuisance. Equipment is rarely replaced until it can no longer operate. While I can understand this method, I find companies are wasting valuable time with old equipment. How so? As users use their workstations throughout the day applications are opened and closed, data is added, changed, deleted, reports are created and printed, etc. On older systems time spent waiting for each of these process adds up. On a daily basis it can be from 30 minutes to an hour or more. If a new system can cut this time in half (many times it is much more than that), the user will save from 15 to 30 minutes or more per day times 5 days per week times probably 48 working weeks per year. That's 60 to 120 hours per year per employee. How much is that worth to you?

Support costs reflect the same situation. Installing Windows XP SP2 on older machines can take 30 to 45 minutes, while on a newer machine it may take 10 to 15 minutes. (actually a new machine would already have SP2 installed requiring 0 minutes to upgrade). Then there's the security updates, application updates, normal maintenance, etc. Each of these necessary functions takes much longer on older devices and translates to wasted time and money.

IT costs need to be treated as a productivity booster and not an expense. The bottom line is that is what they are at this point. Many users spend a good portion of their day in front of their workstation. Making them more productive is always a goal. Our general rule of thumb is to replace 20% of your workstations per year and servers about every 4 to 5 years. You make the calculations and see what you think.

VOIP Vendors Hitting Some Rough Spots

The FCC this week ordered VOIP (Voice over IP) service vendors to provide 911 service as a standard feature of their voice services within the next 4 to 6 months. Currently, several VOIP vendors do not provide what is considered a standard 911 service. Several states have legal actions against several VOIP vendors over this issue. Here in Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal is suing Vonage, a popular VOIP vendor.

Obviously, this is a good idea, although I'm not sure that the FCC has or should have the power to issue this type of order. The market itself will force this to happen. Similar to cell phone 911, there are issues with VOIP that make 911 more difficult to implement. Namely, cell phones and VOIP phones can be mobile. This makes location information difficult to track. I'm sure technology will solve the problem. VOIP carriers should have to provide useful 911 service. We have become dependent upon it.

The interesting thing is that standard voice carriers control the 911 services and have made it difficult for VOIP vendors to connect to them in a move to squash the competition. This ruling requires that they open the lines. Ironically, their monopoly practices have backfired on them.

I have been using VOIP for over a year. While there are still some problems with the technology, it is very much viable. The cost of the calls is drastically cheaper than standard phone service and the capabilities are fantastic. 911 service has been a problem. This order will correct that. Standard voice vendors are in for a tough time. VOIP is real and combined with wireless Internet, will eventually mean we don't need the SBC's of the world. I can't wait!

SSGI Off-Line Today 5-4-05

Northeast Utilities will be doing some work in our area today and have informed us that our power will be off from about 8:30am to 12:30pm. Our phone system is on battery backup so we expect to have phone service for most if not all of the outage. Our servers will be shut off so email and file access will be down. We will check email intermittently from outside the office.