What CTO’s, COO’s, IT Managers Need To Know About the Cloud

With the majority of companies moving their service models to the cloud, CTO’s, COO’s and IT Managers need to have a firm grasp on what the cloud is.  You see, most people view the cloud as a thing, a synonym for the internet, when it is more of a who.  So the who is the people like NetIQ, Dell, BlackBerry, Xerox, Amazon and Microsoft who have adopted  a new way of thinking about technology and how companies can access those technologies, namely, your company.  You see, when you consider basic economics and realize that you can deliver the same products and services via the cloud for less money, it starts to make sense.  You also might realize that it costs less to support a multi-tenant standardized environment, as opposed to a non-standardized, distributed environment.  This is a standardization of the customer base with lower support costs for providers.  In addition to the support cost reduction, you have a captive audience for your product and product upgrades, which provides more stability for the providers.  The list goes on and on in regards to the business advantages of cloud technologies, both for the providers and customers. 

That leads to the question…

If the market makers are putting all this time and money into cloud technologies, then why have some organizations been slow to adopt?  Well, that probably has to do more with fear and a lack of understanding than anything else.  You see, most people are afraid of change and the idea of moving their infrastructure off-site can be hard to swallow, especially when they just spent the last 15-20 years developing an on-premise or data-center environment for their business, and now may be faced with migrating their infrastructure and applications to the cloud.  Or they may be like millions of small businesses who think that the cloud is something that has a large price tag tied to it.  This could not be further from the truth.  Actually, don’t tell anyone, but the cloud starts off at $0.00 and works its way up from there, depending on the type of business tools you want access to.  Microsoft and other cloud service providers offer FREE Office Apps and an entire suite of tools on their Windows Live™ service that you can use for zero dollars and zero cents.  (We may be in trouble for letting the cat out of the bag.)   


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Cloud-based Windows desktop management tools are great for small & medium sized businesses

Windows Intune is designed to help manage small and medium sized business IT environments. A cloud based management system, Windows Intune standardizes Windows Operating System (FREE Windows 7 w/ subscription) while centralizing hardware and software inventory and updates. Some network management systems, like Cisco’s OnPlus Service, are designed for network and hardware management while the Windows Intune management system is designed to protect and mange both the equipment and endpoint software. MicrosoftIntuneButton

Business Advantages

For small and medium sized businesses looking to simplify management of their environment, both the Cisco OnPlus service and Windows Intune system management can provide a tremendous business advantage. Giving an outsourced managed service provider visibility and remote access to your local environment will dramatically reduce the cost of on sight IT personnel while shorting repair response times. Providing centralized management systems to internal IT personnel can free up time by eliminating the need to be in front of PC’s to diagnose issues or update Windows or third party software.

Cloud based systems also provide organizations with the ability to take advantages of future upgrades without paying for costly software or hardware upgrades. Below, we identify what’s new and what is on the horizon for Microsoft’s Windows Intune Cloud Service Offering.

What’s new — in Intune 2.0
The 2.0 version released in October added very welcome capabilities.

  • Software distribution: You can deploy both Microsoft and third-party software through the Windows Intune service by creating software packages (in the form of .exe, .msi, and .msp files) and uploading them to a cloud storage space that is reserved for these packages.
  • Third-party license management: You’re no longer restricted to managing just Microsoft volume licenses. It’s nice to now have a one-stop shop for all licensing.
  • Improved hardware reporting: The new reporting options help you keep track of both hardware and software.
  • Improved policy conflict: When Windows Server’s group policy conflicts with Intune policies, you can now resolve them through the administrative console.
  • Remote task improvements: You can now initiate full or light malware scans, update signatures, and reboot the system.

Other new features include a better interface and a new read-only access role so that administrators can let other people run reports and such, without the ability to make any changes.

What’s coming in Intune version 3.0
I hope someone at Microsoft takes the hint and resolves the remote connectivity issue in the forthcoming Intune 3.0.

In version 3.0, Microsoft has already said it will help Intune connect with other servers and manage additional systems. For example, Microsoft plans to let Intune connect with an on-premises System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) deployment, as well as with Forefront Endpoint Protection and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). Already, for $1 more per user per month, Intune 2.0 lets administrators use the tools in MDOP, including virtualization capabilities like MED-V and APP-V. Microsoft also plans to integrate Intune with Office 365 and some mobile devices.

I’ve liked Intune right from the beginning. The pricing is sound and the features, which continue to improve, are exactly what’s needed for a small business — except for that remote desktop connection hassle. I hope Intune 3.0 works out that kink.

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Unpacking the Cloud – Today, Tomorrow, and beyond.

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The small and medium sized business landscape is changing…and changing far faster than expected due to the adoption of internet technologies, aka, The Cloud. Although most of us believe this is a new technology trend, cloud technologies have been around since 1997 when Yahoo first introduced their web email application, Yahoo Mail to the public. The growth of the cloud & computing is expected to create 2.4 million jobs in the next four years in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, according to Cloudtweaks.com. The prediction comes from a report released by IT company, EMC and a United Kingdom think tank.

Welcome to the information age!

The internet has led to a new age in business…the information age and the birth of the information worker. Today we access and are exposed to more information in one day than a person in 1890 was exposed to in his/her entire life. As Americans, we are exposed to the equivalent of 200 newspapers every day worth of information. This has grown 600 times since 1986 when the internet first began transmitting information over the world wide web. In 1993, it was estimated that the internet carried only one percent of the information flowing through existing telecommunications channels. By 2007 the internet is estimated to account for ninety-seven percent of all telecommunications information. This is why more and more companies are flocking to the internet to get and keep more business.

So how does this affect my business bottom line?

What this does is accelerate the learning process and in response the evolution of business. The worker of the modern age, and well into the foreseeable future, will be the information worker. That is a person who doesn’t necessarily have a tremendous amount of experience, but has the tools and know-how to get and assimilate more information than their coworkers. With the economic slowdown, globalization and other pressures forcing small and medium sized businesses to innovate and collaborate with their teams more effectively to stay competitive (with the right tools), the information worker will be able to get and use more information than their once more experienced more qualified predecessors. The new worker won’t be the most qualified or knowledgeable, but the one that is able to assimilate the massive amount of information that will be thrust upon them in this new age. Companies can adopt cloud technologies or Hybrid Cloud technologies to provide a more user friendly environment for their information worker centric staff. Whereas three to four years ago, these type of environments were only reserved for enterprise organizations.

My Staff… What should I expect?

The eco-boomers are here.  They are tech savvy and are loyal to themselves, not your company. They are more likely to switch jobs every 1-3 years than any other generation before them. What does this tell us…invest in your onboarding and training process, automate and streamline everything to insure that you don’t spend a moment more on training new staff members than you need to. The eco-boomers are called this because their size rivals the baby bomber generation, their predecessors that fueled the industrial revolution and created companies like Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and GE. This group is entering the workforce at an incredible rate and looking for the tools that they are used to using in their everyday life. They are a generation of gadgets and applications, they are used to sharing on the fly and being mobile and accessible. Our recommendation is, give them what they need to be productive and they will turn into some of the best players on your team, leave them behind or fail to engage them and they will move on and up to a company that can service their instant gratification mentalities.

Related Links

Cloud in 2012: The awkward teenage years are upon us, How to avoid chaos in the cloud, Cloud Computing Provides On-Demand Computing, Consultants in the Cloud, Symantec reveals cloud survey results, Hosting providers aim to challenge cloud leaders, LogMeIn Adds Cloud Service to Top-Selling ‘Ignition’ App, Apple Races to Expand Cloud Services, Microsoft’s New Cloud Strategy: Windows 8 and SkyDrive

Last month Symantec, makers of Norton security products, revealed the results of their 2011 State of the Cloud Survey, which examined how firms are adoption cloud computing. What they found is that less than twenty percent of companies were prepared or extremely prepared for a move to the cloud. This is due to the lack of experience in cloud computing, although research found a high level of interest (71 to 87 percent) in how the cloud could impact their business. This is par for the business course with the adoption of cloud technologies. A lack of understanding of business cloud technologies or a misunderstanding of how secure or accessible information is leads to hesitation or misunderstanding of the technology. Another key factor is a disconnect between the IT department and executive leadership within an organization. How many times have we seen a business decision maker open a business, develop a key business process, then call on the IT department to support a mission critical application that runs the entire business. It seems to end in the IT department, but more times than not, it does not start there.

What Can Cloud Computing Do For My Business?

Cloud computing can lower both OpEx and CapEx costs. The billing model for cloud computing is pay as you go, where a traditional IT environment  would have you over subscribe to resources so you can prepare for an increase or decrease in personnel. A cloud IT environment can purchase only what they need based off the number of users.  This provides cost predictability and tighter budgeting for IT resources.

Going Green?

This is a big advantage over internal IT infrastructure. Hosted environments with shared resources use about 60% less power than distributed models. This leads to less energy consumption as a whole.  In addition, companies may opt to travel less and perform more online meetings with video conferencing to save money and collaborate with customers and vendors more frequently.

Available in Cloud or Hybrid Cloud Model (Subscription)

Communications, IP-PBX, SIP, Video Conferencing, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Office 2010, Storage, File Sharing, Hosting, PC Management, Network Security, Data Backup, Anti-Virus & Malware Protection, Electronic Medical Records Management (EMR), QuickBooks Pro, Remote Server Mgmt., SBS 2008 / 2011, SBS Premium 2008 / 2011 w/ SQL, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Small Business Server Essentials 2011, Accounting, Finance, Inventory, Sales, Purchase, Point of Sales, Manufacturing, Costing, Job Costing, Payroll and Branch Management.

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SIP Trunk breakout year

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Recent findings from Infonetics Research shows 2010 was a breakout year for SIP Trunking. Infonetics and No Jitterreleased some telling statistics.

  • SIP Trunking revenue grew 143 percent in 2010
  • The VoIP services market reached almost $50 billion in 2010
  • Managed IP PBX business VoIP services revenue is expected to more than double from 2010 to 2015
  • The fasted growing segments for the VoIP services market are SIP Trunking and hosted UC telephony
  • Adoption of SIP Trunking services grew 220 percent worldwide in 2010
  • SIP Trunking is in 75 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, as companies continue to complete their migration

As companies continue to research SIP Trunk technology and move further away from Time-Divisions Multiplexing (TDM), decision makers still have to answer some tough questions before making the transition to SIP.

Is SIP interoperable with my existing technology?
The short answer is yes! However, the failure rate is still higher than expected if migrations are not carefully evaluated and executed properly. SIP technology, although primarily standardized, still faces some issues with interoperability with older, aging telecommunications equipment. Although most of the SIP features have been standardized and implementation has moved from the bleeding edge to the leading edge, as a prudent telecommunications consumer, you want to make sure that solutions are properly vetted before cutovers are made.

Are service providers offering smooth transition services to move from TDM to VoIP services?
The answer seems to be yes however, as SIP continues to grow, major providers have either slowed the transition process or made it difficult for newer emerging communication companies to manage the transition process. This would include convoluted regulations governing the transition of customers from TDM to SIP technology. The key with this is to have a proper expectation for the process, understand that there are multiple parties involved and things don’t always work the way they should when people and ego’s get in the way. Our advice is, be committed to seeing a transition through to the end and plan, plan, plan. After the switchover, you will see how well you planned by how smoothly the transition goes.

As you transition, make sure your SIP provider takes precautions to prevent network issues, dropped calls, or other network performance issues that can pop up if you don’t plan your migration properly. Evaluate network performance, latency, codecs, and provider policies to insure that your migration is smooth and on time.

What are some of the advantages of SIP-based VoIP? 4C-SIP-Trunk
As most CIO’s say, the biggest advantage is savings. If you are paying $500-$1000 for a dedicated T1 line and a gateway, you can use SIP trunking to move that in to the cloud for far less money. It is not all about money though, SIP trunking can streamline your communications by linking offices that were once islands or communications together to share resources as if they were located in the same office. Additionally, SIP can dramatically simplify your network architecture and decrease the overall number of hardware components to manage and the workload of your IT personnel. This is the big savings, savings of time, time to focus on other pressing issues or business objectives.

How far should I go with my SIP & Virtual Communication Integration?
The answer is a simple one, “It really depends on your needs.” What experience has taught us is this; mid-sized and enterprise companies, that treat voice as an absolute critical application that needs to be up and running with no latency at all times, would benefit from having an on premise PBX system, with a SIP Trunk wired solution to the building to help manage costs. This would give the company full onsite control for rapid problem solving and network performance. For companies where voice services are less critical-that is where company employees rely heavily on tools such as cell phones, email and instant messaging-it makes more sense to use a virtual PBX or to outsource managing your voice platform to a vendor. Where we see a lot more hosted services is in small businesses that have less than 250 seats and that aren’t geographically dispersed.

4C-Polycom-Phone-ProductFor small businesses, they generally need the help of a hosted service provider since most small businesses don’t want to be wasting time babysitting their VoIP system. If you have less than 100 phones and you are paying for tech support or have a person on staff to manage your phone system, then you have the wrong system and you’re wasting your time and money.

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Polycom & Microsoft deepen their relationship



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Polycom has made a major announcements that will revolutionize the way people work and break through the final barriers to the mass deployment of visual communications. These innovation announcements further differentiate 4C product offering from the competition and validate 4C partner Polycom as the leader in unified communications (UC), which will continue to accelerate our momentum and awareness in the market—in turn driving profitability and success for our customers.

Importantly, the announcements—made during Polycom’s historic UC webcast entitled, “Innovation Driving UC Everywhere: From Mobile to the Cloud and Beyond”—are all grounded in providing our customers with:

Best-in-class deployment options, spanning:
• Premise based, cloud, and hybrid environments
• Full interoperability
• ROI-centric professional services
The industry’s best UC experience and ease-of-use & ubiquitous video connectivity

The key initiatives Polycom announced are:

  1. Polycom is acquiring HP’s Visual Collaboration Business Unit, including Halo products and managed services, and the two companies have entered into a deep strategic relationship
  2. Polycom is the brainchild behind, and a leading founder of, the revolutionary Open Visual Communication Consortium™ (OVCC™)—the world’s first and largest open video exchange cloud, with 14 leading global service providers as founding members—that will make visual communications as easy and accessible for users as mobile phone communications
  3. A breakthrough new solution that solidifies how Polycom’s relationship with Microsoft® is the best it’s ever been: code-named “Rally”, the offering will be the first and only room telepresence solution with an embedded Microsoft® Lync™ client that natively integrates with Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud offering, running on Lync Server, as well as premise-based Lync systems

In combination, these strategic initiatives will transform the way people work—dramatically increasing productivity, reducing costs, and providing significant competitive advantage for our customers.

Polycom/Microsoft Strategic Alliance—Reaching New Heights!

  • Polycom’s relationship with Microsoft has moved to a new level, as demonstrated by the pre-announcement of a breakthrough telepresence solution code-named “Rally.” It will be the first and only room system to natively connects into premise-based Lync systems, as well as Microsoft’s upcoming Office 365 cloud offering that will also run on Lync.
  • Scheduled for demonstration at Microsoft’s global partner conference in July, and for general availability in Q4 2011, the new joint solution has been purpose-built for the Lync platform, so users in enterprise and small and medium businesses will be able to leverage the interfaces and applications they are familiar with, to easily schedule and activate video calls and engage in real-time, multi-way content collaboration.
  • Polycom views Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype® as great news for the industry, as it will drive greater adoption of visual communications. But make no mistake, Skype is a consumer play about mobile advertising. Polycom continues to be Microsoft’s only path to secure, fully interoperable, end-to-end UC solutions spanning enterprise and public sector organizations, as well as small and medium business (SMB), mobile, and consumer environments.

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