Be A Step Ahead…

 

Learn The Troubleshooting Techniques That Can Safeguard Your Network!

  Attend Adcap’s Latest Geeknick: Sept. 29, 2010

Please join us to learn how to troubleshoot Routing, Switching and Voice.  By learning effective troubleshooting techniques, you can reduce your Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) drastically!   Per presenter, Alex Jerrold, VP Operations, Adcap: “Routing and Switching is the ‘road’ upon which all of your services ride.  If you have a problem in the routing and switching of your network, you are going to have problems in all other aspects. This Geeknick session will discuss basic network design rules to reduce troubleshooting time, and how to troubleshoot the problem areas of your network in an efficient manner.  Once we have discussed troubleshooting of the ‘road,’ we will begin to look at a very popular service, Voice. For Voice troubleshooting, we will discuss common issues in the voice world focussing on Cisco Unified Communications Manager, and if time permits, Contact Center Express troubleshooting.”

Where/When:

Joe Powell & Assoc.
6775 Meadow Lane
Alpharetta, GA 30005-8344

September 29th, 2010 – Troubleshooting Geeknick Re: Routing, Switching & Voice is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

Healthcare Security Symposium

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010: 

Join a panel of experts in healthcare quality and device security for an opportunity to learn about how the security challenges caused by the latest malware threats and the changing healthcare IT infrastructure may impact the healthcare outcomes of patients in your institutions.

Topics to Include:

This informative lunch is free of charge for invited guests.  If you are in the bio-medical field, dealing with such IT infrastructure concerns, please contact us for more information!  Space is limited, so don’t delay!

For Adcap Network System invitations, call direct to:

Terry Noriega

VP Sales & Marketing

tnoriega@adcapnet.com

(678) 456-6742

October 27th, 2010- Adcap to Co-Sponsor Healthcare Security Symposium is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

Adcap Is Proud to Host Our 1st Annual Charity Golf Tournament

In Appreciation Of Professional Partnerships…

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Shotgun Tournament, Dinner & Awards!

Hole-in-One Prize:  $25,000!

Additional Prizes Awarded for:

Putting Contest Winner

Longest Drive

Closest to Pin

1st, 2nd, 3rd & Last Place

**We are asking for a minimum donation of $40 per person, to go towards Children’s Healthcare!

A day of friendly competition, benefiting one of the nation’s top pediatric healthcare organizations!

The River Club Golf Course, Suwanee GA:

• Designed by legendary player, Greg Norman
• Awarded a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course
• Golf Digest rated TRC as one of the best private courses in Georgia
• Golfweek claimed TRC as one of its Best New Courses and a Residential Course of Distinction.

Please see our mention on the CHOA website:

http://choa.org/default.aspx?id=9679

For more detailed information on event participation and donations, please contact:

Terry Noriega

VP Sales and Marketing

Adcap Network Systems

tnoriega@adcapnet.com

678-456-6986

Adcap’s 1st Annual Charity Golf Tournament! is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

Adcap Network Systems, Inc. Achieves Enterprise Solution Provider Partner Certification from VMware

Adcap Network Systems, Inc. announces the promotion to Enterprise level of the VMware Solution Provider Partner program.  To earn this promotion, Adcap met the competency and certification requirements set forth by VMware.

Rolf Versluis, Chief Executive Officer of Adcap Network Systems states that “We are very happy with our VMware relationship, and the true partnership we share with the leader in the desktop and server virtualization space.  Our Adcap teams in Atlanta and Miami will continue to work closely with our customers to design, deploy, and support advanced virtual infrastructure to save money and provide a higher level of reliability for their important data systems.”

To learn more about VMware solutions from Adcap Network Systems, please follow the link below:

http://www.adcapnet.com/partners/vmware/

For more information, contact:

Michelle Temple

mtemple@adcapnet.com

(678) 456-6755

Adcap Earns Promotion to VMware Enterprise Solution Provider is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

When/Where:

Wed, Sept. 15th, 2010

11am – 2pm

Ruth’s Chris Steak House
2525 North Federal Highway
b/t Sunrise & Oakland
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33305

THE NEXT GENERATION DATA CENTER

Join us for lunch and develop a deeper vision for laying the foundation of an agile virtual Next Generation Data Center from industry expert, Pat Bodin**.

Every organization would like to be able to have a complete plan for building a datacenter that can provide advanced application services to internal customers. Sometimes known as a private cloud architecture, the Next Generation Data Center is a complete design for a system that is secure, scalable, manageable, and most importantly billable. Systems can be provisioned internally for internal users on a shared, common architecture that gives complete control, yet isolates the different aspects of the systems for the multiple internal users.

NetApp OnTap storage technologies, in conjunction with the Cisco Nexus and UCS platforms and VMware vSphere, enable agile, virtual data center architectures. The NetApp Dynamic Data Center architecture focuses on leveraging the latest generation of Data Center technologies to enable a secure, multitenant cloud‐based architecture. The server virtualization capabilities of VMware are greatly expanded when combined with the complete data center design architecture of NetApp and Cisco.

This seminar from Adcap Network Systems will help you develop a deeper vision for laying the foundation of an agile virtual Data Center. Learn from industry experts and gain a better understanding of:

• How virtualization of all levels of the data center can be designed and deployed in a realistic fashion.
• The real value of virtualization to your business.
• What is inhibiting adaption of virtualization.
• The perceived risks, and how to address those risks.
• Simplifying the logical network topology, enabling modular growth, and reducing operational overhead
• Realizing the value of virtual computing through coordinated, dynamic provisioning of virtual resources.

This seminar from Adcap Network Systems is being held for IT professionals with Data Center design and management responsibility. It is limited to 50 attendees.

**Pat Bodin is CEO of Firefly Communications, a worldwide consulting firm focused on data center technologies, with operations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

He has 20 years experinece planning, designing, and architecting data centers for a wide range of customers, including some of the largest and most diverse in the world.  His experience includes application modeling, computing architecture, system virtualization, network engineering, storage consolidation, and physical infrastructure.

Pat is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) in Routing/Switching and Storage Area Networking.

We look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Adhys Izquierdo

Adcap Network Systems

aizquierdo@adcapnet.com

786.364.4287

Sept. 15th, 2010 – Adcap FL’s Next Generation Data Center Seminar is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

New technology is great for organizations. It lets users be more productive, allows for cost savings, and keeps the company ahead of their competitors by allowing them to provide better customer service. Experienced network administrators, however, know that the more advanced technology gets the more difficult it is to keep it running. A managed network service closes the gap on the required support.

Companies expect to hire consultants to design, deploy, and train them on new technology. They are also used to paying annual maintenance for manufacturers support on specific software or hardware. What is normally left to the IT staff is the knowledge and capability to know how everything works together. What organizations are starting to realize is, the ongoing support requires a higher level of knowledge and experience than internal IT staff typically have.

That is one of the reasons why there is such a big move toward hosted IT services. The hosted application providers have a valid point in their marketing that it takes advanced skills to support advanced technology.

What is often not mentioned is that having outsourced applications means that a company’s internal network has to be even more reliable and secure while performing at a higher level than before. It takes a lot of skill and experience to be able to support today’s advanced LAN’s and WAN’s, especially when they are running converged applications over them like voice and video, while keeping everything secure.

Because of these advanced requirements, many organizations have started using managed network services to assist them in maintaining their advanced data networks in optimum working condition. It is tempting to turn over the responsibility for the entire network to a large organization that will promise to take care of everything. Unfortunately, since many of these organizations offer support only, when it comes time for design, deployment, or getting someone on site for local troubleshooting, they are not able to handle it.

Most organizations would prefer to work with a local support organization, for many of the same reasons that people use local companies for other services they contract. To get good quality managed services from local providers, it is best to find out what they specialize in, and asked them if they partner with other local providers for other aspects of support. Another alternative is to work with a local provider who resells and provides local backup services from a larger service provider.

Think of these local providers as an extension of the organization’s IT staff. Manufacturer support it is still necessary. The manufacturer’s support typically includes product upgrades, phone and/or email technical support, and product replacement within either a 4 hour or next business day timeframe. This is an important element of maintaining system uptime.

When engaging service providers for extended support, check their references carefully, make sure all costs, services, and expectations are agreed upon in writing up front. Furthermore, make sure there is an option to cancel the contract within a reasonable timeframe.

For an example of a local company providing managed network services, look at this cisco managed services description.

Author: Rolf Versluis

Posted at: Adcap Tech Tips

Use a Local Company for Better Managed Network Service Response is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

Please join us for our latest Geeknick on IPCC Express and Call Center Technologies.

Presented by:  Michael Cavanaugh/Adcap VP Solutions Architecture**

· Cisco CCX Configuration Best Practices

· Cisco CCX Features

· Scripting

· Report Design

August 26th, 2010 – IPCC Express/Call Center Geeknick – Atlanta Area is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

Botnets have become more prevalent as malware writers becomes more sophisticated. One of the trickier pieces of malware that showed up back in 2008 is named Mebroot. This virus, which is still in the wild today, is a rootkit that replaces a machines Master Boot Record permitting it to run prior to the operating system of the machine installs, allowing it to hide itself from desktop protection software.

When prioritizing elements of enterprise network security, stopping malware like a rootkit that conceals itself and allows for total control of the computer is right at the top. Mebroot by itself is mostly harmless in that it does not have any specific applications but instead is a enabler for other malware. The most prevalent of these is Torpig, a very large botnet.

Torpig has multiple data stealing elements of malware that look through the infected system for credentials, accounts and passwords as well as purportedly allowing attackers full control of the machine. In 2009 a group of researchers took control of the Torpig botnet for a period of ten days. During that period, they took in over 70GB of stolen data from infected systems.

Mebroot gets onto computers by a user going to a website using a web browser that is older and has not been patched to repair the weaknesses that Mebroot uses to add itself to the user’s machine. A good way to detect Mebroot is with a network based detector, because the virus hides itself on the machine on which it is installed which can make it undetectable.

Only some anti-virus applications can find and remove Mebroot. If a system is rebooting or acting infected, yet no virus shows up in a scan, repairing the Master Boot Record on the computer will remove Mebroot if it installed. Doing a web search for “Fix MBR” will turn up some different ways to fix the Master Boot Record. After that is accomplished, run a complete virus scan on the computer again to find anything else that was hidden.

The best course of action is to stop system infestation is by keeping browsers updated, and operating both host and network based malware detection systems that are constantly updated with real time information to stop any infection before it starts.

Get more information to help develop your network security policy and defend against network security threats from your local IT Value Added Reseller that specializes in security.

Authors: Mike Lundy and Rolf Versluis

Posted at Adcap Tech Tips

Entreprise Network Security Threats Mebroot and Torpig and How They Affect You is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

August 25th, 10am-2pm

Cisco – Doral Office

8200 NW 41st Street
Suite 400
Mexico Room
Doral, FL 33166

August 26th, 10am-2pm

Cisco – Ft. Lauderdale

3250 West Commercial Blvd
Suite 350
Glod Coast Room
Oakland Park, FL 33309

August 25th & 26th, 2010 – Florida Datacenter/Nexus Geeknicks is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

VMware vSphere will help you to save money and provide you more control over your computing system . You will be able to free up your IT staff and can use just about any server hardware, operating system, and applications you like.

New features of vSphere 4.1:

vCompute

• Memory Compression -Lessens memory contention and improves application response.

• DRS Host Affinity – Set policies when using Dynamic Resource Scheduling to preferentially keep an application running on a specific server.

vStorage

• Storage I/O Control-Set storage quality-of-service preferences for each virtual server to prioritize availability of storage pools.

• Array Integration-use new storage protocols between vSphere and storage arrays for quicker Storage vMotion events and virtual machine provisioning.

vNetwork

• Network I/O Control-Set network quality-of-service preferences per flow type for prioritized access to network resources.

Scalability

• More virtual machines per cluster: 3,000.

• More physical servers per vCenter Server instance: 1,000.

• More virtual machines per vCenter Server instance: 10,000 powered on:15,000 registered.

Availability

• VMware vMotion – Enhancements to vMotion create faster response and availability enabling up to eight vMotion migration events in parallel.

Security

• Active Directory integration-Single sign-on capability for user authentication at the vSphere host for centralized user management. Easily assign privileges to users or groups and roll out permission rules across hosts.

VMware server virtualization technology can assist you in making the most of your IT assets. It can help to reduce the capital expenditure of the data center by as much as 60%! Reductions in real estate, cooling, and power requirements can help you to cut energy costs by as much as 80%!

If you are not already using server virtualization with shared storage, you should know that it can significantly reduce ongoing expenses. A good way to start is to have a server consolidation analysis conducted which will give you an idea of what types of capital and operational cost savings you can obtain with a server virtualization upgrade.

Find out additional information regarding the benefits of server virtualization technology as well as full data center virtualization from your local information technology value added reseller, who can also help you with the upgrade.

Author: Rolf Versluis

Adcap Network Systems, Inc.

The Latest Server Virtualization Software Vmware Vsphere 4.1 is a post from: Adcap Network Systems, Inc.