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“This company continues to impress. A small organisation that behaves with the maturity of a larger organisation”

We are proud of the high level of support we offer to our clients and are continually innovating to ensure our service is second to none. Why not call us to see what we can do for your business!

Virtualisation is one of those words that you hear bandied about left, right and centre. Ten years ago only big businesses were even considering virtualised environments as the technologies were in their infancy and technically and financially unfeasible for small and mid sized businesses. However, the businesses that did take the leap in to this new tech space were saving big money in doing so. Jump forward a few years and even the smallest of businesses can now use and benefit from this exciting technology. We’ve already covered the basics of virtualisation here but in this article I wanted to look at some of the cost savings in more detail.

Imagine that you have a requirement for a new server system for your business. You are looking at a new piece of software to run your operations (such as a database or CRM system) and it’s decided that you need Small Business Server 2011 Premium. This software package comes with licenses for two servers, one running SBS itself (along with Exchange 2010) and the other to run a copy of Server Standard 2008 R2 (probably running SQL for your software package). Traditionally these two servers would have been run on separate boxes, each with it’s own associated purchase and running costs.

Now two servers is fine but there are several issues here. Firstly, there is the cost of purchasing and running two physical boxes. To keep initial costs down businesses may opt for two lower spec machines but this means missing out on some of the key features of higher end servers that make them so attractive (such as faster controller cards, enterprise RAID formats and redundant components). There’s also the fact that at any one time, one or more of the servers may be doing very little so resource utilisation is not very efficient. Wouldn’t it be better if you could have one box and have the two servers share resources efficiently?

With a virtualised system you can run two or more virtual servers on one physical box. Hard drive space and RAM are relatively cheap compared to the base cost of a server. It’s therefore cheaper to spec up one large box with enough resources for two virtual servers than it is to spec up two completely separate servers. The two virtual servers share resources and can be configured to allocate these resources dynamically as they are needed. This leads to much greater resource utilisation and lower overall running costs. It also means that rather than using two low spec machines a business can use a single higher spec machine and benefit from all bells and whistles that a higher class server comes with as standard.

At Geek-Guru we have been installing virtual systems for our clients for a number of years. We have experience designing, installing and supporting virtualised systems of all sizes. From small SBS installations with two servers right up to clustered high availability systems running off iSCSC SAN networks we can design a system that is right for your business.

There’s no doubt that Android (Google phone OS) has been a boon for business users wanting smart phone functionality and direct-push email without the hassle of a Blackberry serve or the higher handset costs of the iPhone. In three years Android has become the worlds no.1 mobile operating system and this is not least because it is offered free to mobile manufacturers to use on their handsets. Google make their money through the services offered on these phones rather than the OS itself and no one can doubt the effectiveness of this strategy in terms of market penetration. But is all this about to change?

Google’s decision to purchase Motorola almost certainly has a lot to do with Motorola’s vast patent portfolio but talks of a specific Google handset have created delight and concern in equal measure. There’s no doubt that one of Androids biggest failings, in comparison to Apple’s IOS, is its loose integration with handset hardware. This has lead each of the major manufacturers to release their own software layers that sit on top of Android creating some confusion amongst users as to what constitutes Android and what constitutes for instance HTC or Samsung. There’s also the problem of software compatibility between handsets with some apps failing to work on some hardware – something unheard of on IOS. However, the lack of a single ‘Google’ mobile has also contributed to Androids dominance as manufacturers are not competing directly with Google but rather working with them. If a Google handset were to be released that offered stronger hardware integration this would almost certainly put some manufacturers off completely which in the long run is probably bad for consumers.

Either way we’re going to be seeing some major changes in the mobile arena. The Google/Motorola merger is going to have rattled a few cages at Microsoft HQ who are going to be keen to improve their already lagging market share with Window Phone. Microsoft already have a strategic partnership with Nokia and analysis are now talking of a takeover or at the very least a much stronger alliance. Will this rationalisation in the mobile market lead to tighter integration and better handsets or will reduced competition ultimately stifle the market? Only time will tell but certainly at Geek-Guru we’re excited about what the future holds.

As all this was going on we sat in the Geek-Guru offices and wondered how many of those businesses had an off-site backup. It’s easy to become complacent about backup, especially if you actually do perform an on-site backup. The majority of cases where a backup is required involve restoring a single file or email and in these cases any old backup will suffice. A company may operate for years without the need to ever perform a full server recovery and certainly not a recovery from an off-site backup store. How often does a company suffer a fire or server theft – probably not very often – but when it does happen the consequences are catastrophic. 80% of businesses will never recover from a complete loss of their business data!

These riots have been of particular interest. Businesses unexpectedly burnt to the ground, offices gutted through looting and computer systems rendered useless through nothing more than mindless destruction. You may be right in thinking that your security will keep your business safe at night from a couple of lone burglars but a mob of 30 hell bent on getting in by any means necessary? Your alarm may give the police 20 minutes to get to the office should an intruder try to gain access but what about when those police are not available or are focusing on containment of a riot?

You need an off-site backup! You need something that you can take home with you each night that contains all your valuable data or you need a replicated data store in some remote location. An on site backup is not enough and don’t fall in to the trap of believing that leaving your backup tapes in a drawer under the server is enough. A fire isn’t going to avoid the tapes because they’re your only backup and a rioter trying to cause as much destruction as possible is going to destroy those tapes also.

Think about backup now whilst backup is still an option!

Our enterprise clients operate comms rooms with air conditioning and whilst this is the ideal setup it is often beyond the reach of smaller businesses. However, providing good airflow needn’t be expensive and in many cases it can simply be a case of rearranging the position of equipment.

Equally servers must be protected from water damage and high levels of moisture. Damp walls, leaking windows and even spilt tea can all pose problems for IT equipment so it’s worth positioning your server where these problems are unlikely to occur. Accidentally pouring tea on a PC would be a pain, pouring it your server would be catastrophic!

Lastly, your server must be secured against accidental and malicious damage and theft. If you have a dedicated room, ensure that it is locked. If you don’t have a dedicated comms room then perhaps it’s time to invest in a secure server safe or cage? It’ll pay for itself many times over if the worst does occur and you suffer a break in.

The interface changes bring OSX more in to line with their mobile interfaces (IOS) and users of iPhone and iPad devices will no doubt find the changes to their liking (although some changes may take some getting used to if you’ve been a Mac user for some time).

Features that really grabbed us in the office included:

• Full Screen Applications – A well overdue feature allowing you to maximise applications to take up the entire screen.
• Launchpad – An iPhone esque application browser that replaces the applications folder with a side scrollable icon library.
• Mission Control – Apple’s new method of switching between running applications and virtual desktops using track-pad gestures and a rather natty birds eye view mode.
• Air-Drop – A local wireless file sharing utility allowing you to effortlessly share files with other Mac users in your immediate vicinity

For £20 upgrading is really a no-brainer although you will need to ensure your hardware is up to the challenge. Apple are stating that all machines post 2006 will be suitable for Lion but basically you’re going to need something running a Core 2 Duo onwards. That being said newer machines are obviously going to perform much better than 5 year old models.

But what are we to expect from the successor to one of our favourite operating systems of all time?

With Windows 8 Microsoft have had to do something special. Windows has been in the cross-hairs of the likes of Google and Apple for some time and we predict that the desktop operating system (OS) market is not going to be as clearly defined in the coming decade as it has been for the last two. The cloud, smart-phones, tablets and hybrid devices are all eroding the market for traditional PCs and with that the traditional operating system. Microsoft, in their own words, are hoping to re-imagine Windows: “a Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.”

What we’re looking at is a single OS that will span multiple devices. An OS that will sit happily on your desktop PC, for use with a mouse and keyboard, but equally happily on your smart-phone or tablet, for touchscreen use. We’re looking at a single interface that will unify your currently distinct devices and we’re looking at an OS that will integrate seamlessly with cloud based services to share data between those devices. All very exciting if Microsoft can get it right!

Microsoft have confirmed a load of performance and usability features including improved multimedia support, streamlined help and support features and faster boot and shutdown times. We’ll also get the obvious security enhancements and for business users some nice productivity and portability features. However, Microsoft have also confirmed that they plan to heavily push the new OS as a gaming platform which has the potential to reinvigorate the flagging PC gaming market and push sales of desktop machines.

With any new Windows operating system comes the usual problems of deciding if and when to upgrade. However Microsoft have confirmed their intentions in keeping the system requirements flat or reducing them over time. This means that Windows 8 will not require new hardware when it’s released which can only help in smoothing the transition (and potentially paving the way for smaller, iterative OS releases much like OSX on the Mac). Of course IT managers will still be keen to ensure there is enough there to warrant an upgrade, when many businesses are still happy running XP, but at least hardware is one less problem to worry about.

When it comes down to it – security for SMEs is all about value for money. It’s about making life as hard as possible for any would be hacker without spending a fortune and it’s about keeping management and maintenance of that security simple and unconfused. The average SME does not have an MI5 security budget but let’s face it – they don’t need to have.

The majority of SMEs we see are continuing to make simple mistakes. Why bother locking your servers away in an air conditioned server safe if those same servers are publicly accessible from the Internet without a basic firewall. Equally, why bother with complex perimeter security devices if the CEO of the company still uses ‘password’ as his VPN password. Security is first and foremost about getting the basics right and in many cases those basics are free. It doesn’t cost money to enforce and stick to a complex password policy. It doesn’t cost money to correctly lock down the firewall that’s already sitting there routing your ADSL connection.

The vast majority of breaches are because of simple lapses in basic security. Get the basics right and you’re already doing more that the majority of your peers which makes you a comparatively harder target. Chances are you’re not going to be hacked by Anonymous. You’ll be hacked by an opportunist kid that’s downloaded a few hacking scripts off the Internet.

Don’t give hackers an easy ride!

The basics of power protection

For most SMEs power protection is achieved through the use of an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). A UPS is basically a large lead-acid battery attached to a unit that can convert to and from 240V AC to the 12V DC that the battery stores. A UPS kicks in on a failure of mains supply and provides a temporary 240V supply for anything attached to it. Obviously the unit can only provide power whilst the battery retains some charge and UPS devices range from small desktop devices, which provide power for a desktop PC for a few minutes, up to large rack mount units that can provide power to a server for several hours.

What do you want from a backup power system?

At a bare minimum a UPS should have large enough runtime for your critical systems to shut themselves down cleanly. In the case of a server this is around 10-20 minutes depending on the roles it performs. Whilst this will protect your systems from an incorrect shutdown but once shutdown your systems are no longer operational and therefore inaccessible for business use. A business may decide that actually they require some minimal IT function during a black-out and in these cases additional runtime will be required to keep those systems running for a longer duration.

UPS sizing

UPS devices are sized in volt-amps (VA) but also have a watt rating (W), neither of which can be exceededfor the unit to operate during a power-cut. Typically the watt rating of small UPS systems is around 60% of the volt-amp rating so to power a 500W server would require an 833VA UPS. However, runtime is also an important calculation and largerVA values for UPS systems will provide greater runtime for a specific power load.

Complex power arrangements

Complex power arrangements are beyond the scope of this blog post but rest assured Geek-Guru are on hand to design and plan a UPS deployment specifically for your business needs. Why not get in touch today to see how Geek-Guru can keep your business running when everyone else is twiddling their thumbs in the dark.

After a few failed starts (See BPOS) Microsoft has finally brought a decent cloud based productivity suite to market and this one is not only priced well but also offers some features that we feel will set it above competing offerings.

With Office 365 Microsoft is hoping to break the cloud based Apps market with what they call ‘software plus services’. This approach combines the speed and ease of use of a locally installed office suite along with a cloud hosted version of the same apps for use on the road. The hope is that by combing the two solutions seamlessly users will benefit from both world without the drawbacks usually associated with using each in isolation. And you know what, we think they might just be on to something.

Imagine working on a Word document on your desktop PC. You save the document and a copy is uploaded to the cloud without you having to do a thing. You head out on the road with your laptop and continue working on your masterpiece using a version of Word hosted in the cloud. On the way home your laptop is stolen and your office burns down. Your mate lends you their laptop and you continue working on your file as if nothing has happened. All your data is safe and your applications are accessible from any Internet connected PC worldwide. Now imagine the same thing for email, your company intranet, your company CRM system…  See why we’re excited?

There are several different offerings in the Office 365 portfolio with versions suitable for businesses of all sizes. From complete server replacement though to comprehensive disaster recovery – we think there’s something for everyone.