Disaster recovery sites: Part 2 of 2

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In Part 1 of this series, we discussed cold and warm disaster recovery sites and gave reasons for using either. To recap:

  • Cold sites are backup computing environments – complete with power equipment, cooling systems and servers – that are comparatively inexpensive, but that take more time to boot up following an emergency.
  • Warm sites are similar to cold sites, but these have software already installed – and a backup of company data may already exist on-premises – so the recovery time objective for these sites is considerably shorter.

Now, let’s talk about hot DR sites and see how all of these kinds of disaster recovery plans can help your company maintain business continuity in the event of an emergency.

“Hot sites have the shortest RTO.”

Hot sites: Overview

As disaster recovery strategies go, ones that include a hot site are generally top-of-the-line. BizTech Magazine contributor Mike Chapple compared hot sites to Cadillac cars – nice, runs smoothly and generally more expensive than other options. Hot sites are much like warm ones in that the machines are updated with the software and technology necessary to conduct a full backup in the event that the original computing equipment is incapacitated.

The main difference between hot and warm sites, however, is the fact that the backed up data is already loaded onto the machines.

As a result, hot sites have the shortest RTO because there is minimal loading required to get the equipment in working order. It is also the most expensive of the options because your company has to keep this alternate site up and running even when you’re not using it, as a precautionary measure.

Bringing it together

It’s crucial to have a dedicated DR plan so that when the unthinkable occurs, your company isn’t left high and dry with no data or applications. The Institute for Business and Home Safety found that 25 percent of businesses don’t recover from a major disaster, according to the Small Business Administration. You do not want your company to be on that list. So the question remains: What kind of DR site should you invest in?

Is a hot site your best option for business continuity?Is a hot site your best option for business continuity?

An important point to note is that by determining the recovery point objectives for your business-critical data, it may be easier to make a decision concerning the nature of your DR plan. Continuity Central Archive’s Charlie Maclean-Bristol noted that it’s important to assess the maximum tolerable period of disruption – or the amount of time it would take for disruption of business to become unacceptable.

To this end, another option would be to consider utilizing a hybrid approach by combining different capabilities of each of these DR solutions. You may be able to utilize one solution that nets you a shorter RTO, which should be the ultimate goal of any strategy.

Which kind of DR site do you think your company would most benefit from? Contact ISG Technology today for more information about how each could impact business continuity for your specific business.

Cloud types and their business applications: Public and private clouds

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The cloud is absolutely revolutionizing how companies are dealing with their data needs. Data storage and processing are the key to a successful business in the modern world, and the variety of cloud storage services out there are allowing companies to take advantage of this truly amazing technology. 

And while this multitude of services is certainly great in terms of providing options, deciding on which one to choose can seem like a daunting task. This technology is so new that many business owners simply don't know how it works, and as such many of them are simply opting to avoid cloud services altogether. 

We at ISG Technology believe the cloud is the future of business, and we hate seeing people miss out on this truly revolutionary technology due to its seeming complexity. So, to clear up any confusion, we've put together this two-part series on what the different kinds of clouds are and what they can be used for. 

Public cloud

This is a good place to start when discussing cloud managed services because it's one of the more basic options. A public cloud is where physical hardware that is owned and operated by a managed service provider in its own facility is leveraged for data storage and other uses by a paying client. These MSP-owned facilities house multiple clients, which is why they are considered "public."

The big benefit of the public cloud comes from its use of the equipment already procured by the MSP. Due to the fact that the hardware has already been paid for, and maintenance is a responsibility of the MSP, the public cloud client operates on a pay-as-you-go model that is highly scalable and extremely reliable. The infrastructure is also shared by multiple companies, which further reduces cost. 

Basically, small and medium-sized businesses can get a lot of use out of the cloud. The lighter load on your budget is great for a business just starting out, and company administrators can rest easy that the equipment storing their data will be safe, as MSPs are experts at handling their hardware. These advantages are the driving force behind IDC reporting that the global public cloud computing market is expected to reach $70 billion before the end of 2015. 

While there are obviously many benefits to the cloud, there are also disadvantages. The biggest of these has to do with security. Because the public cloud requires companies to share computing space, there is an increased risk of data leakage. Another client may accidently gain access to your data, or an outside hacker might gain access to it due to a vulnerability in a different company's defenses. 

The public cloud's main disadvantage is security. There's a bit of a security concern within the public cloud.

Private cloud

Much like its name would suggest, the private cloud allows for the same services of the cloud in a more secluded environment. All the hardware is specifically for one business, and a specialized network is set up just for them. The speed of application deployment and scalability are the same. However, a private cloud can be both on-site or off. This allows for a lot more versatility and flexibility.

The security is also miles better than its public counterpart. Because the network and hardware are specifically for one company, all the security concerns listed above aren't a problem. Another great advantage private cloud storage services have over the public variety is in terms of compliance. A company that operates in an industry with very stringent compliance standards would do well to invest in private cloud managed services because the organization can tool its cloud environment to specific needs. 

However, it's not all good news in the private cloud. The main disadvantage comes from the massive cost of having your own private area of an MSP's data center. Smaller companies simply won't be able to operate entirely on a private cloud data storage model because they won't be able to afford it. This is one reason why many companies don't opt for a private cloud, as the private cloud market was estimated by Technology Business Research Inc. to be worth $41 billion in 2014. 

Of course, these two models aren't all the cloud has to offer. In the next installment, we'll discuss what hybrid cloud storage services are, and why they're often seen as the better option for modern businesses.

Improved Service Delivery with NetApp, Cisco, and VMW

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Client Profile

Meritrust Credit Union was founded 75 years ago to offer Stearman Aircraft Company employees and their family members an option to participate in a financial cooperative. Today the organization provides personal and business banking services to thousands of members across Kansas. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Meritrust has 14 branches and a staff of 220 employees, plus more than 4,000 shared branches nationwide.

 

The Challenge

Building more flexibility into its IT infrastructure

As a credit union, Meritrust offers its members benefits that include competitive interest rates on deposits, lower interest rates on loans, and a broad array of member services. To deliver superior banking services that meet consumer and business consumer needs and foster member loyalty, the organization depends on an advanced  IT infrastructure. Having experienced significant growth in recent years, Meritrust demands a highly flexible IT environment that offers superior performance to deliver its applications to internal and external clients, adapt to changing market demands, and expand its services to remain competitive.

 

“Meeting the changing needs of our client is paramount to maintaining the level of member service that Meritrust is known for and [to] succeeding in a volatile industry,” says Cliff Shoff, director of Information Technology at Meritrust Credit Union. “We’ve listened to what our members want and are investing resources in areas such as extending our online banking and mobile banking services and Web-based offerings overall.”

 

In addition to providing the infrastructure to support expanded services, the IT department is focused on driving new efficiencies through an aggressive virtualization strategy. To continue on its growth path and keep delivering exceptional services to its members, Meritrust decided it was time to update an aging IT infrastructure. The previous infrastructure featured 30 standalone servers and a complex server-attached storage environment that was cumbersome to manage and costly to expand when needed to accommodate growth. Additional challenges included inconsistent performance in the storage systems supporting its business-critical Oracle Database 10g environment.

 

“Overall, FlexPod allows us to focus our efforts on the user experience rather than worrying about the back end, now that we have validated, integrated technologies.”

Cliff Shoff Director of Information Technology, Meritrust Credit Union

Meritrust engaged ISG Technology, an IT solutions provider and participant in the NetApp Partner Program for Resellers, to assist with identifying a best-in-class solution that would meet all of the company’s IT and business objectives. To accommodate growth, support its virtualization initiative, and enhance storage performance, Meritrust selected FlexPod from NetApp and Cisco with VMware technology. “The FlexPod data center solution made perfect sense for Meritrust,” says Randall Aronis, account manager at ISG Technology. “The components work together seamlessly by design, which simplifies management and offers a highly scalable growth path for Meritrust.”

 

The Solution

Supporting 14 branches from a single, integrated solution Meritrust worked with ISG Technology to deploy a NetApp® FAS3240HA storage system in its primary data center. NetApp storage is a component of the company’s FlexPod data center solution, a predesigned configuration comprised of a Cisco® Unified Computing System™ (UCS™) B200 M2 Blade Server, Cisco UCS Manager 1.4(1j), Cisco Nexus® 5000 switches, and NetApp FAS storage. The integrated FlexPod solution, with the addition of VMware vSphere and vCenter™ technologies, supports the credit union’s 14 Kansas banking locations and its account, investment, insurance, and other services.
Meritrust delivers its Oracle Database 10g environment—which is core to business operations—on the FlexPod solution. The IT team leverages NetApp multiprotocol support, particularly NFS connectivity, to maintain tight integration with the Oracle environment. The NetApp Data ONTAP® 8.0 system operating in 7-Mode is at the core of the flexible unified architecture that addresses Meritrust’s multiprotocol needs in a common platform. Meritrust IT uses data management software including OnCommand™ System Manager, Operations Manager, Protection Manager, and Provisioning Manager to control, automate, and analyze the storage infrastructure.
The company optimizes performance of its storage using the NetApp Virtual Storage Tier with intelligent caching from NetApp Flash Cache, which prioritizes critical workloads for fast response. “Performance in our Oracle environment was a key driver in selecting the FlexPod solution,” says Shoff. “Whether supporting Meritrust employees or our businesses and consumer clients around Kansas, FlexPod and the NetApp Virtual Storage Tier deliver the superior 24/7 system performance we need.”
The FlexPod data center solution supports the company’s Microsoft Windows® 2003 and 2008 servers, Linux® servers, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and Microsoft Windows MultiPoint server, which provides the interface between its debit card processor and Oracle Database 10g. FlexPod also supports the organization’s Citrix XenApp on-demand application delivery system. The FlexPod solution delivers the company’s virtualized infrastructure, running simultaneous mission-critical virtualized workloads including Microsoft SharePoint® and Microsoft SQL Server®.

Business Benefits Reaching 80% Virtualization
The FlexPod data center solution is helping Meritrust reach its ultimate goal of a 100% virtualized data center. To date, the IT team has virtualized approximately 80% of the company’s application environments, with 70 virtual servers deployed so far. The team has already eliminated 27 physical servers, with more to come. Virtualization and consolidation are reducing the data center footprint while decreasing related costs. “Prior to deploying the FlexPod solution, we eliminated 4 of 10 storage racks by the time we reached 50% virtualization,” says Shoff. “With virtualization from FlexPod, we’ve eliminated another 5 racks, which reduces storage costs by 40% and our power and cooling costs by 25%.”

 

ISG Technology notes the importance of technology innovation to Meritrust. “Meritrust was an early adopter of the FlexPod data center solution,” says Aronis. “As a preconfigured, integrated virtualization solution, FlexPod enabled Meritrust to see immediate returns in storage efficiency and performance, as well as management simplicity. And with the inherent flexibility in the solution, Meritrust can better provide the robust services that every consumer and prospect is looking to the credit union to deliver. The FlexPod data center solution from NetApp and Cisco with VMware technology allows Meritrust to deliver the right data to the right person at the right time in the right way. That’s the ultimate in flexibility.”
Improved performance, enhanced user experience

The NetApp Virtual Storage Tier with Flash Cache on the company’s FAS3240HA storage systems offers significant performance improvements over the previous storage infrastructure, particularly in the Oracle Database environment. The IT team runs Oracle Database batch processes nightly, which used to take 16 hours to complete. After deploying the FlexPod data center solution, the processing window decreased to 12 hours. Once the team installed Flash Cache, Oracle Database batch processing time dropped to 9 hours, eliminating the impact on weekday operations.
Other performance improvements include application delivery in the Citrix XenApp environment. “We deliver applications as a service to users across our company using Citrix XenApp,” says Shoff. “With the performance gains offered by NetApp, Citrix XenApp login activities that used to take up to 45 seconds now take less than 20 seconds. When you take into account 220 credit union employees accessing applications all day long, those saved seconds translate pretty quickly into improved productivity, not to mention an enhanced user experience.”
A simplified, transformed data center

Within the IT department, moving from infrastructure silos to the preconfigured, unified infrastructure provided by the FlexPod solution has improved the IT management experience for staff members. In the former server-attached storage environment, the IT team managed the complex storage environment from as many as five consoles. Today the team centrally manages computing, networking, storage, and infrastructure software. In addition, the open design management framework integrates with Meritrust’s existing third-party infrastructure management solutions for investment protection and management ease.
The team depends on NetApp OnCommand management software to provision, monitor, manage, and optimize the storage environment. The staff leverages NetApp Data ONTAP 8.0 to configure storage to deliver maximum efficiency and performance while saving on administration time. Featuring 64-bit aggregates, Meritrust IT can store entire databases on a single aggregate while simplifying database management. “NetApp Data ONTAP 8.0 7-Mode makes it much easier for us to resize and move volumes within aggregates, which previously required extensive IT time and resulted in wasted storage space,” says Shoff.
The team achieves additional storage efficiencies using NetApp deduplication, which has reduced storage requirements by 40%. Whether performing deduplication or other storage management activities, the team is benefiting from a noticeably more streamlined approach to storage management with NetApp storage and the FlexPod data center solution. Data center efficiencies result in more budget and staff resources for innovative projects that help Meritrust compete in a complex industry.

 

“The FlexPod solution is much easier to manage, and infrastructure changes take far less time.”

Cliff Shoff Director of Information Technology, Meritrust Credit Union

 

“Scaling up is also a breeze compared with our former storage environment, where we had to power down the system and work through a lengthy deployment process. With FlexPod, we simply add a shelf, plug in a few cables, create an aggregate, load it with volumes, and we’re good to go.” Easy provisioning enables the IT team to more readily respond to the needs of the business units it serves.

 

Adds Shoff, “We can deploy servers in minutes versus hours and quickly allocate storage space whenever needed to accommodate growing pools of data and deliver new applications and services. Overall, FlexPod allows us to focus our efforts on the user experience rather than worrying about the back end, now that we have validated, integrated technologies from NetApp, VMware, and Cisco providing the foundation for our credit union operations.”

 

“The FlexPod data center solution from  NetApp and Cisco with VMware technology
allows Meritrust to deliver the right data to the right person at the right time in the right
way. That’s the ultimate in flexibility.” – Randall Aronis, Account Manager, ISG Technology, Inc.

What can cloud-based DRaaS bring to your company?

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As businesses are now completely dependent on data and computer systems, Disaster Recovery as a Service is quickly becoming something companies need in order to keep operations running. In fact, Transparency Market Research found that the DRaaS market is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent through 2022. 

Obviously, a lot of companies are beginning to see the many benefits of outsourcing their disaster recovery needs. That being said, many of these businesses have yet to integrate the cloud into their plans. 

While cloud-based disaster recovery plans aren't for everybody, they actually have many advantages that the average business can benefit from. 

The cloud allows for faster recovery

A lot of the cloud's popularity comes from the massive benefits to efficiency that it offers. This level of efficiency is also seen within disaster recovery plans that are based around cloud services. 

As Bill Claybrook stated in a TechTarget article, much of the cloud's agility in putting a company back on its feet when disaster strikes has to do with its physical server requirements. The cloud needs fewer servers than required by traditional disaster recovery plans, and as such has fewer actions to carry out when executing the plan. This means faster recovery for your company, which translates to less downtime and less money lost. 

Another great benefit of DRaaS is the use of service-level agreements by both the managed service provider and the company receiving the disaster recovery solution. An SLA lays out the MSP's minimum requirements in terms of services provided. In this case, an SLA can define a concrete timeline for disaster recovery, which can give company administrators peace of mind knowing that their business will be up and running within the preordained timeline. 

Costs are lower

When you do disaster recovery in-house, you're basically dumping a lot of extra work on your IT professionals. These employees have a lot of jobs outside of disaster recovery, and DRaaS allows them to fulfill your company's technical goals without being hindered by working on and testing a DR plan. 

Costs are also lowered in terms of hardware when receiving DRaaS. When you outsource your disaster recovery to an MSP, you can rest assured that the vendor has hardware that is far superior to your own. An MSP's livelihood comes from having reliable services, which means having some of the best equipment money can buy. 

This means that you'll be getting the benefits of the best hardware without having to actually pay for it yourself. And considering the fact that a Databarracks survey found that 21 percent of data loss events occur due to hardware failure, you can rest assured that your MSP's equipment will work better and longer than your own. 

That being said, the cloud isn't for everyone. Some companies simply need on-site disaster recovery, while others would benefit from a hybrid of these solutions.

Thankfully, ISG Technology makes choosing a DR solution simple. With services ranging from cloud-based, hybrid or even on-site disaster recovery models, ISG Technology can help your company develop a plan to increase business continuity and decrease downtime. 

What to consider when making the leap into the hybrid cloud

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Over the past few years, the hybrid cloud has emerged as the deployment model of choice for businesses that want to enjoy the scalability and flexibility of hosted solutions, but are not yet ready to move every single critical asset to such an environment. This approach allows organizations to maintain some amount of control over their resources while still supporting further expansion into the cloud. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that so many businesses view the hybrid cloud as the ideal way to strike a balance between governance and agility.

According to a December 2014 IDC report, around 65 percent of enterprise-scale IT operations will have fully supported the hybrid cloud by the end of 2015. Cloud and virtualization security strategist Andrea Knoblauch commented in a Cloud Best Practices piece that this surging interest in hybrid could be largely chalked up to its ability to easily provide many of the performance and procurement benefits associated with the cloud, while leaving ample room for further customization down the road if necessary.

"Simply put, hybrid clouds provide all the benefits of a regular cloud environment such as integration, networking, management and security, but applied to a partially internal environment," she wrote. "This means an organization can start with in-house computing resources, add external cloud resources to scale up and then go back and replace those cloud sources either with more on-premise infrastructure, or continue to leverage cloud solutions to balance manageability and security with the low-cost benefits of outsourcing to cloud providers where it makes sense."

Businesses should take care to follow a solid migration strategy when moving to a hybrid cloud deployment.Businesses should take care to follow a solid migration strategy when moving to a hybrid cloud deployment.

IDC researchers noted that in light of the hybrid cloud's growing popularity, organizations will have to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in order to accommodate this new environment. With that in mind, here are a few key factors to consider when planning a hybrid cloud deployment:

Lay out a strategy
It may be tempting to begin moving assets to the cloud without first figuring out the details about what that hybrid environment will ultimately look like. However, as TechTarget noted, that is more often than not a recipe for disaster. Moving anything to the cloud can present its own set of challenges, so it is important to plan accordingly at the outset of any cloud migration project, whether it be a private, public or hybrid deployment. 

There are a few basic ways organizations can go about migrating to the cloud. While a "life and shift" approach may appeal to business leaders due to its relative simplicity, it can bring with it a number of issues that will prevent stakeholders from extracting the cloud's full potential. Instead, as Ovum analyst Laurent Lachal told TechTarget, a preferable method would be to alter code within the apps that have been targeted for migration, making the whole process much easier. Organizations can go even further and make more drastic changes to the code to essentially transform on-premises assets into full-blown cloud applications.

Prepping apps for migration is just one critical step in the preparation process. Speaking with TechTarget, Altisource CTO Girish Juneja recommended adhering to two other primary best practices when crafting a cloud deployment strategy: establishing permanent fundamental configurations and developing strong security measures.

"No organization has to go through the cloud migration process alone."

Establish a connection between clouds
At the heart of the hybrid cloud is the notion that the public and private clouds should work in tandem, allowing businesses to leverage the benefits of both while minimizing their drawbacks. In practice, this might mean that apps hosted in public and private clouds will need to interact, necessitating some degree of connection and communication between the two environments. As TechTarget explained, cloud management and orchestration solutions can be essential here, helping businesses oversee and manage their complex cloud setups.

The thing to keep in mind during all of this is that no organization has to go through the cloud migration process alone. By working with qualified managed services providers, businesses can ensure that they lay out a roadmap to success in the cloud. Furthermore, these third parties can help optimize cloud deployments after they have been launched, improving the performance of such environments over time.

IT restructuring reduces governmental spending

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A few years ago, the federal government realized that there was a lot of inefficiency within agencies in terms of their IT infrastructure. So, in 2010, the Office of Management and Budget began an effort to restructure the IT needs of governmental workplaces to try to cut down on redundancies and unnecessary IT spending.

After years of working on the problem, the OMB has made some sizeable cost reductions. The Government Accountability Office, charged with creating a report on the OMB's IT restructure, found that this effort resulted in $3.6 billion in cost savings and avoidances between 2011 and 2014. 

A closer look
Although 22 out of the 27 agencies that the OMB gave restructuring requirements to did not fully meet those benchmarks, overall, quite a lot of money was saved through IT reform. In terms of newer technology being implemented within the OMB's restructuring plans, perhaps the most interesting of these savings came from virtualization. 

Specifically, the Department of Defense saved $260.35 million between the fiscal years of 2011 and 2014 by operating system reductions and virtualization, thereby cutting down on staff and facilities needed to run their operation. Virtualization has been known to allow for these kinds of savings, as it gives organizations the unique opportunity to consolidate their hardware needs without dramatically affecting workloads and end-user functionality. 

The DoD was not the only agency to see savings through virtualization, either. The Department of Commerce also reported that since it had moved its IT infrastructure to a virtualized space, it had seen a combined cost avoidance of around $11.8 million. 

What this means for your company
Even though government agencies are different in a lot of way from the average private sector business, the fact still remains that IT restructuring is a great way to cut both inefficiency and spending in the workplace.

Basically, what the GAO's report showed is that many organizations are not as efficient as they could be with their IT needs. It also argued for the importance of virtualization as a tool to reduce hardware and facility needs, as shown through the massive savings garnered by both the DoD and DoC. 

For this reason, every company that wants to cut down its current IT expenses should absolutely consider virtualization through ISG Technology. Not only do we provide server virtualization, a great way to cut down on hardware spending, ISG Technology also works with companies to implement desktop virtualization plans. With ISG Tech and virtualization, expect to see costs go down and efficiency go up.

What are some top benefits of hybrid cloud computing?

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As the technology industry continues to advance and new capabilities are discovered every day, one of the biggest improvements on traditional IT infrastructure comes in the form of the hybrid cloud. Where private and public architectures offer distinct advantages depending on what the computing needs of a company may be, hybrid strategies can bring together the best of both worlds.

"The hybrid cloud market is expected to be worth an astounding $84.6 billion in 2019."

The hybrid cloud market is growing at a rapid pace. Earlier this year, RightScale's State of the Cloud 2015 survey indicated that 82 percent of enterprise respondents had deployed a hybrid strategy within their companies – an 8 percent increase over 2014. In addition, the hybrid cloud market is expected to be worth an astounding $84.6 billion in 2019, according to research published by MarketsandMarkets. This growth will come at a compound annual rate of 27.3 percent from 2014 to 2019.

What do these numbers mean? Among other things, they are an indication of the growing popularity of hybrid cloud migrations. As businesses consistently turn to some form of cloud computing to provide them with the right data analytics tools and storage solutions, the fact that the overwhelming majority are using hybrid infrastructure points to the versatility and possible cost-savings associated with these kinds of environments.

But why is the hybrid cloud so popular? Let's take a look at a few reasons enterprises and small businesses continue to choose an integrated solution over the alternative:

1. Gives companies a choice
Hybrid cloud computing brings together all the good parts about public and private offerings and integrates them into one well-managed solution. In this way, companies can run applications that require capabilities only offered by the public cloud while simultaneously storing their more confidential data on private cloud servers.

The federal government is one high-profile organization with an eye on the cloud. According to CloudTech, the IDG indicated that in 2014, the feds spent $1.7 billion on private cloud and $118.3 million on public. The combination of both platforms has allowed for greater flexibility within IT infrastructure.

Integrating private and public cloud offerings can make a difference in IT flexibility and efficiency.Integrating private and public cloud offerings can make a difference in IT flexibility and efficiency.

2. Cost savings and efficiency
With hybrid strategies, companies can pick what they want to store in different cloud environments. This leads to distinct benefits, including cost-reducing advantages. Research firm Gartner revealed that one of the biggest benefits of hybrid cloud is the impact it can ultimately have on a company's pocketbook. In particular, capital expenditures can decrease dramatically over traditional IT systems, since investment in and maintenance of physical machines is no longer necessary.

In addition, according to Network​ World contributor Robert J. Gibbons, Jr., the inherent financial advantage that comes from investing in these kinds of IT solutions can be augmented by creating data backups and utilizing cloud storage services. Disaster recovery strategies are crucial for any business, and hybrid IT allows managers to determine where mission-critical data needs to be stored in case of an emergency.

The bottom line is that companies can save money and strengthen their IT infrastructure by investing in hybrid cloud. Not to mention maintaining your environments doesn't have to be a hassle. When you partner with a certified managed services provider, IT management can be simplified and you can cut down on complexities that might slow down your operations.

Top 2 ways desktop virtualization can impact your company

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Computing infrastructure seems to become more complicated with each new innovation or machine to connect to the network. With each advance in technology comes more challenges, often resulting in IT complexity, which can be bad news for small businesses and enterprises alike. One way to reduce this kind of complexity is by employing a desktop virtualization solution.

Desktop virtualization employs the same concept as server virtualization, except with individual computers on a network instead of servers. Administrators create virtual machines that make it possible to deploy operating systems, programs and software present on computers in the network.

Let's take a look at the top two ways desktop virtualization can positively impact organizations looking to streamline their computing infrastructure:

"By creating a handful of VMs or VM templates across a company's network, IT staff can more easily manage individual computers."

1. Enhanced security
Businesses can more easily protect endpoints and enhance network security when utilizing virtual infrastructure. TechTarget contributor Yuval Shavit noted that desktop virtualization strengthens cybersecurity efforts by allowing IT managers to have an eye on each machine on the network. In this way, they can keep track of what's happening on these computers and be alerted if something goes awry, such as malware infiltration.

"Because the VM is abstracted and separate from the computer's hardware and other VMs, security is one of the major benefits of desktop virtualization," Shavit wrote.

By creating a handful of VMs or VM templates across a company's network, IT staff can more easily manage individual computers. This strengthens endpoint security.

2. Immediately deploy updates across computing fleet
One of the biggest ways virtualization is useful is in the way companies can install updates across all of the computers on a certain network. With VDI, security patches and general software upgrades are simple to implement.

For instance, when the U.S. Air Force switched to a virtualized desktop infrastructure, updating software was easily accomplished. Gregory Garcia, the director of the U.S. Army Information Technology Agency, told Federal Times that the virtualization solution utilized by his organization allowed managers to easily deploy desktop applications across a fleet of 20,000 to 30,000 computers at once.

"[W]hen I was in the Air Force, we were able to go from 27 days to patch to three days by doing it on the network," Garcia said. "What you can do with [virtual desktop infrastructure] is to go to minutes and seconds. And that's a huge benefit in terms of labor and cybersecurity."

In addition, Garcia noted, technology refreshes were made easier by this technology. Instead of having to go to individual machines on a network and install new tech, IT managers had the capability at their fingertips to accomplish this with the touch of a button.

Implementing a virtual desktop solution can help boost security and streamline IT processes.Implementing a virtual desktop solution can help boost security and streamline IT processes.

Is VDI the right solution for you?
Partnering with a managed services provider that has experience with desktop virtualization can save your company both time and money in the long run. MSPs can determine your particular technology needs and then pair you with a virtualization solution that will improve your IT dexterity and cut down on costly complexities. Contact ISG Technology today.

How hyperconverged infrastructure can benefit remote branches

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Businesses that are experiencing a period of rapid expansion may seem like they have it made, but there is a downside to that growth. When enterprises scale up and build out their corporate footprint, they will likely be faced with numerous challenges supporting satellite offices and remote branches. Relying on legacy IT assets to provide the compute, storage and network resources required by additional company locations can be a costly decision. However, business leaders can find some relief in these situations by considering a shift to hyperconverged infrastructure and changing the way enterprise operations are scaled and expanded.

For years, IT environments have been characterized by system silos. Core assets such as storage and compute resources have traditionally been handled separately. What hyperconverged infrastructure does is condense a large percentage of these assets into a single bundle of hardware and software. As TechTarget noted, organizations can then build out these systems by integrating additional nodes when needed. With this arrangement, maintenance teams can avoid many of the everyday headaches experienced while overseeing IT infrastructure on an enterprise scale.

"Under the converged infrastructure approach, a vendor provides a pre-configured bundle of hardware and software in a single chassis with the goal of minimizing compatibility issues and simplifying management," TechTarget stated.

Scale up operations with ease
One of the main benefits here for enterprises is the ability to expand IT resource needs in a simple and efficient fashion. Hyperconverged.org cited the easy scalability of hyperconverged infrastructure as one of the approach's top selling points, comparing the addition of nodes to erecting a structure with LEGO blocks. The authors noted that this method allows businesses to easily build out their IT assets on an as-needed basis. This makes enterprise expansion a much less bitter of a pill to swallow for business leaders as scaling up to support remote branches and satellite offices is not quite as arduous a task as it was in the past.

Hyperconverged infrastructure enables IT teams to manage enterprise assets from a central location.Hyperconverged infrastructure enables IT teams to manage enterprise assets from a central location.

Lower investment, management costs
Due to this setup of adding onto existing infrastructure whenever needed, hyperconverged infrastructure allows for enterprise expansion to occur at a lower up-front cost. As Hyperconverged.org explained, this approach reduces the "step size" required to make a leap in terms of infrastructure scope and maturity.

"The bigger the step size, the longer it takes to fully utilize new resources added through the expansion," Hyperconverged.org stated. "A smaller step size results in a far more efficient use of resources. As new resources are required, it's easy to add nodes to a hyperconverged infrastructure."

This approach to IT infrastructure and management further lowers costs by enabling businesses to support critical systems with commodity hardware. Because many core processes are handled at the software level within hyperconverged infrastructure, organizations do not need to consistently upgrade their data center hardware with the most advanced equipment available. In most cases, commodity x86 hardware will be sufficient to keep everything running smoothly while also allowing for rapid enterprise expansion.

"Commodity x86 hardware will be sufficient to keep everything running smoothly."

Reduce IT challenges
It's not just the bookkeepers and executives who will see the appeal of embracing hyperconverged infrastructure. For IT members, there is a lot to like here, especially when working with multiple sites and remote offices. Because this setup condenses and centralizes IT infrastructure, teams tasked with overseeing that equipment and handling any maintenance needs will have far fewer headaches to deal with.

Jointly developed by Hyperconverged.org and ActualTech Media, the "2015 State of Hyperconverged Infrastructure Market Report" shed light on the challenges that enterprise IT staff regularly face. The mix of on-premises and off-premises assets to manage, the ever-escalating virtualization and disaster recovery needs along with the growing complexity of today's data center environments have all made IT work incredibly challenging within large businesses. Hyperconvergence addresses these difficulties by providing IT teams with a single resource pool to draw from, allowing them to easily maintain a sprawling enterprise-scale system from a central location.

Building out a business's footprint can present new opportunities for market growth and tapping into additional revenue streams. However, the hit in CAPEX and OPEX can make some enterprise leaders wary of developing remote branches. Hyperconverged infrastructure offers a way to reduce the cost and complexity of such projects, enabling organizations to take more aggressive action within their industries and stake out new territory when the moment arises.

As enterprises become larger, they will need to address the headaches that come part and parcel with any organizational growth. Hyperconvergence provides a way to reduce or eliminate those challenges, allowing for greater heights of success.

Colocation on the rise

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According to a recent report compiled by Allied Market Research, colocation is going to see a huge amount of growth in the coming years. The report stated that by 2020, the global colocation market is likely going to reach around $51.8 billion. A lion's share of this explosion of market growth is going to come from the IT and telecom industries. This is based on their ever-increasing need for data center services, as well as the quickly disappearing IT budgets many companies are seeing. 

Why is colocation so popular?
Even now, before this predicted boom, colocation was and is an extremely profitable business, with the 2014 North American colocation market being valued at $11.78 billion. That's quite a lot of money, but it's a market that is of the utmost importance to the existence of many businesses.

Before colocation, companies that had data storage needs were forced to maintain their own data centers and servers. This was extremely inefficient in terms of the capital expenditures of having to purchase so much data center hardware, as well as the operational expenditures of having to have IT employees dedicated solely to the daily running and upkeep of this equipment. 

This was especially hard on smaller companies that didn't have the money to operate their own data center equipment, making renting the equipment from outside vendors at offsite locations much more logical. 

With all of these benefits to colocation, it's no wonder that the global colocation market is predicted to register a compound annual growth rate of 12.4 percent between 2015 and 2020. This growth rate shows that quite a few businesses are going to be relying on colocation services in the future. 

Considering all the benefits, as well as how popular it is and will become, any business that believes its spending too much money managing its own data center should absolutely look into colocation from ISG Technology. With ISG's dedicated team of knowledgeable colocation professionals, you can trust that your data will be secure and fully accessible.