March 2013
In this issue:

New Business Features

Right Approach to the Cloud

Aging IT Networks

Maximize Your Virtualization

Services/Quick Links

Monthly Trivia

Quote and Cartoon


Maximize Your Virtualization ROI
reprinted with permission from HP

Virtualization technology is a great way to increase business agility while reducing infrastructure costs. But it can also add another layer of management complexity, resulting in higher management costs and lower ROI. You need the right software tools to realize the full benefits of virtualization.

Managing virtualization becomes even more critical as virtualization projects move out of the development/test environments and into production. That's why it needs to be incorporated into your operation management framework. Rather than manage virtualization as its own silo, a better approach is to integrate virtual and physical management - based on proven best practices. Then you can administer resources uniformly to monitor, manage and automate key management functions seamlessly across physical and virtual environments.

The results: dramatically reduced IT costs, improved business agility and the ability to increase IT efficiency. Here are the five key areas to accelerate and simplify the adoption of virtualization in your data center.

Key One: Automate manual process
Virtualization adds complexity to existing processes such as configuration and change management. This complexity can make it more difficult and costly to manage.

Read more

 

Top 10 New Business Features in
Windows 8

With Windows 8 now available, what are the best features for business use? Here are ten new or enhanced features!

1. Trusted boot/secure boot (UEFI)

This implements a secure boot process and allows the machine to verify the integrity of the network environment, thus preventing malicious code from executing before the computer boots into the operating system. This means that your machine is protected before the Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software is able to load when booting up, protecting you against attacks such as root-kits.

2. Windows-to-go (Enterprise Edition)

This is a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 desktop on a bootable USB drive. As an example, this allows employees to take the USB drive home and use Windows-to-go at home instead of connecting via a VPN connection, creating a more secure BYOD option for employees.

Read more


Are You Taking the Right Approach to the Cloud?
used with permission from Symantec

Interest in cloud computing is more intense than ever before. That's pretty understandable. Cloud computing promises tremendous advantages in terms of flexibility, agility, and on-demand resources that can give organizations a real competitive edge.

Despite these advantages, some enterprises continue to drag their feet. They point to a number of high-profile outages earlier this year as evidence of the precarious nature of cloud-based services. They say that companies relying on those services lost a lot of money and a significant amount of customer trust.

Read more


3 Hidden Costs of Aging IT Networks

Network refresh. . .I’ll give you a moment to stop cringing.

Better? Ok.

It’s something that most business leaders don’t want to think about, but needs to be considered when your network reaches the three year mark. A network refresh is an investment, there’s no doubt about that, but the cost of doing nothing and continuing to work on an aging network most likely has greater costs that you may not even realize.

Consider the fact that network components begin to deteriorate after 3 years. That means they require more maintenance than new equipment. Add in that the demands on today’s networks are much higher than ever (stop and think about how much more work do you do using technology than you did a few years ago!) and will only continue to go up, and that you’re asking equipment designed for a previous age to deliver on these increased demands, and you have a recipe for a network break down.

Read more

 

Services/Quick Links

� Managed IT Services
� Network Design
� LAN/WAN
� On-Site Support
� Remote Connectivity
� Microsoft Exchange Email
� Server Virtualization
� Hardware & Software Sales
� Internet Bandwidth Security
� Cloud Computing
� Virus Detection & Removal

For a complete list of services please click HERE

www.osgusa.com
info@osgusa.com 
support@osgusa.com 
www.osgusa.com/free
www.osgusa.com/freebook
 

Monthly Trivia

First person to submit the correct answers by email to anorton@osgusa.com will receive a $25 Starbucks gift card!

Entries are judged by date/time received and correctness. Include your name and phone number, the question number and the answer.

1) What did Lizzie Borden, Napoleon, and Titian have in common?

2) What trade was Greek philosopher Socrates trained for?

3) What was the first living creature ever ejected from a supersonic aircraft?

4) How old was Charles Lindbergh when he first flew solo across the Atlantic?


 

Cartoon of the Month



 

Quote of the Month


"Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way."

 - Barbara Bush

Outsource IT Solutions Group    www.osgusa.com