Join us for the next Chug and Hug November 12th!
Join us for another late afternoon gathering at the High Noon Saloon. Network with other great businesses, meet our new staff and enjoy a cold beverage on us.
Location:
The High Noon Saloon
Address: 701 East Washington Avenue,
Directions: http://www.high-noon.com/findus.htm
Time: 4:30 to 7:00 pm
November 12
Public vs. Private Clouds: What's the deal?
by Jor-El Digman, Business development
Over the past two years the term ‘cloud computing’ has become one of the trendiest phrases in the world of I.T. More than likely you are already a part of this explosive trend. If you, or perhaps your business, are currently subscribed to or use online services such as Yahoo e-mail, Google Apps, or even Microsoft’s new Bing search engine; well, Congrats--you're part of the ‘in’ crowd. With cloud computing, you request a service and neither know nor care about the location of the computer.
The concept of cloud computing is still evolutionary. Today, there are two particular models available to business: Public and Private. Whether you are a growing business that requires scalability or an organization that is still waiting for the economic up-tick, private and/or public cloud computing should be a part of your business strategy. This article is the first in a series of three prepared by 5Nines Data employees which introduces the idea behind public and private clouds along with services 5Nines Data can deliver through our Cloudware program.
Whether public or private, cloud computing has the same objective and that is the delivery of IT services or applications. Public clouds are run by third parties, and applications from different customers are likely to be mixed together on the provider’s infrastructure. Generally, a public cloud is viewed as just being “out there” on the internet.
The most popular or talked about public clouds today come from larger companies such as Amazon.com and SalesForce.com. Amazon.com provides a utility-like service offering of their servers, network and storage. A company can load their application(s) into this environment for per minute/ per hour or per month fee. Salesforce.com is an example of a cloud type called software-as-a-service. One of the fastest growing technology companies in the market today; they started out their success by offering a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) application that is hosted in their network of data centers.
Private clouds are very similar to public clouds in how they operate “behind the scenes.” If your business has a data center that is utilizing virtualization you can deploy your own private cloud or you may create and deploy a private cloud at a co-location facility like 5Nines Data.
Private cloud’s can be built and managed by your IT organization or by a “cloud provider.” 5Nines Data’s Cloudware service provides a “hosted private” model that can work with you to install, configure and operate an infrastructure to support your application or IT service.
Right now the most pressing question coming to mind is probably, “Well, which do I use?” There are a number of considerations with regard to which cloud model to adopt. One of the most pressing is a comfort level of knowing where your data is. A primary difference is that private clouds are built for the exclusive use of one client vs. mixing in with other clients. An advantage to this is that your business ‘owns’ the infrastructure and has more control over its data, security and quality of service.
5Nines Data has been implementing cloud computing concepts for several years. Our Cloudware Services team can kickstart your transition to the cloud through the development of a cloud strategy plan. For more information please contact us at sales@5ninesdata.com.
Should you upgrade to Windows 7
As a Microsoft certified gold partner, 5Nines has had several months to test the latest operating system called Windows 7 which recently became available to the public. 5Nines staff have been putting the new operating system to the test. The resounding opinion is “Wow! It’s good and what Windows should be”. Here are some benefits we see:
Best new features of Windows 7? We think speed and stability! Windows 7 is faster and more stable than Vista ever was. Applications and windows tend to load more quickly -- that is, assuming the PC meets the minimum system requirements.
Additionally, some of the best features of Windows 7 really happen behind the scenes to the average user. These benefits include manageability, automation and administration of PCs across entire networks. Complex tasks or repetitive management and troubleshooting tasks are now fully automated.
I use Windows Vista. Should I upgrade? It depends. Do you find Vista too slow? If so, a Windows 7 upgrade may be worth it, particularly if you plan to keep your PC for a few more years.
I use Windows XP. Should I upgrade? Only if you know what you’re doing. You’ll need to erase and reformat your hard drive before installing Windows 7. And once Win 7 is up and running, you’ll have to reinstall all of your old programs and files. Obviously, we’d suggest contacting 5Nines to help with migration issues from Windows XP.
Give us a call or send us email if you'd like to learn more about Windows 7
Going Green with 5Nines
by Ankur Malhotra, Business development
Remember the the three R’s from elementary school; reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic? Well, today the term has taken on a new green meaning – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
With our communities and environment facing new challenges and threats from changing climate, depleting resources and an overburdened earth, it is urgent that we all do our part to be responsible stewards of our planet. Here’s how we are taking up the challenge at 5Nines, and we encourage you to join us and take action.
Reduce - We believe the biggest impact can be made by reducing our energy footprint, resource consumption and making informed decisions.
Power consumption - Data centers are one of the most significant sources of energy consumption. A recent EPA report to Congress estimated that U.S. servers and data centers used about 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006. With data consumption and storage needs growing exponentially, servers are sipping more power than ever and requiring more cooling to offset the heat emissions. In fact, cooling accounts for almost half the energy used in data centers (including ours).
At 5Nines, we take a proactive approach to power conservation and are always at work to reduce consumption and improve efficiencies. Our data center has hot and cold aisles to minimize hot spots and optimize heat transfer, active temperature and humidity control monitoring and adjustment, new high efficiency backup power supply systems (UPS’ with 98% conversion efficiency), and server load balancing and virtualization to manage network traffic and minimize the number of active servers.
Resource utilization - As IT departments are being asked to do more with less, managing and deploying resources becomes paramount. Server virtualization can help reduce the amount of physical hardware, reduce energy consumption, reduce heat outlay in server rooms, and free up valuable server rack space. Oh, and by the way, fewer servers also reduce the physical server maintenance for IT staff.
At 5Nines, we have been living the virtualization mantra for a while and have been realizing the benefits stated above. We have partnered with leaders vendors such as VMWare and Cisco and have certified staff to deploy virtualization in our (and our customers) infrastructure. E-mail us at info@5ninesdata.com to ask us how we can help with your business more effectively manage resources through server virtualization.
Read it on-line - You can reduce paper waste by using your computer - Many newspapers and magazines are available online. Instead of buying the paper versions, you can find them on the Internet (or perhaps on your Amazon Kindle or choice of e-reader). Also remember that you should print out only what you need. Everything you print that you don't really need is a waste of paper. Instead of copying or faxing a document, how about scanning and e-mailing instead? If you have to print, use the duplex setting on the printer for printing on both sides. We have also set a goal to move to a paperless billing system. Help us achieve this goal by signing up to receive your bills via e-mail at debra@5ninesdata.com.
Green power – We are proud of the fact that we are able to offset a substantial portion of the carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use at our data center through Madison Gas & Electric’s Green Power Tomorrow program. A big thank you to the Fiore Companies for continued support of the program and enabling our business to be green powered. The cost is pennies to the dollar (or kilowatt-hours as in this case) but if that is what it takes to keep Maldives on the map, we’ll do it! We encourage you to check out the MG&E website to sign up for green power for your business.
Keep a look out for how we reuse and recycle at 5Nines in the second part of Going Green with 5Nines in our next newsletter. And we’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas and actions on how your business is adopting the three R’s.
New Faces at 5Nines Data:
Brian Maund
Brian Maund joined 5Nines Data as a technology intern and first level helpdesk technician. He is one of our first responders to customer help and service requests.
After nearly 20 years in the printing field, Brian heard the call to change careers. He started by going back to school where he is enrolled in the Network Security Program at MATC. His education is now providing him the skills necessary to help 5nines clients with their network needs, including Wide Area Networks, Voice Over IP, and Video Conferencing.
In his free time, Brian loves to play hockey and is known to cycle to work. He also enjoys spending time with family hiking, camping and being outside as much as possible.
Jim Covers
Jim Covers recently hopped on board the 5Nines Technology team and has been steamrolling customer problems since day one.
Prior to coming to 5Nines, Jim worked for a trucking compliance company. As the lone tech guy, Jim was constantly on-call and the only one to fix every technical problem that came along. This experience gives Jim a lot of compassion for 5Nines’ customer technology pains and the need to address them quickly, efficiently and professionally.
While not working at 5Nines, Jim is working on a security certificate through MATC, as well as playing soccer, and working out daily at his local gym.