Dallas Data Center

What four legged 9 week old requires onsite management and 24×7 monitoring? Dallas Data Center’s newest team member! Meet Melville, a 16.5 lbs male, black lab who is a guide dog puppy in training from Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California.  I’m sure you are all wondering why our new team member is a dog…..  Our Marketing Assistant, Lindsey Amos, is part of the FIRST puppy raising chapter for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Texas called the Lone Star Puppy Raisers (“Like” their Facebook page).  She is one of six volunteers in the area who will be raising a guide dog puppy for the next 14-18 months.  The puppies, Melville, Miranda, Maureen, Neutron, Natura, and Nura, received a warm, Texas style welcome Thursday, July 15^th at the DFW airport. 

Lindsey will love and nurture Melville, train him to have good house manners (like not chewing on socks, getting into trash cans, jumping on furniture, etc.), teach him a variety of obedience commands, and most importantly, she will socialize him to the world.  That’s what makes this so cool because Melville gets to come to work at Dallas Data Center everyday wearing his green puppy in training coat.  In order to prepare Melville to become a successful guide dog, she will have to expose him to a variety of situations, places, and people.  He will accompany her just about everywhere such as to grocery stores, restaurants, malls, trains, planes and automobiles.  We have the pleasure of watching Melville grow for the next 14-18 months before he returns to Guide Dogs for the Blind for formal training to become a guide.

Established in 1942, Guide Dogs for the Blind provides enhanced mobility to qualified individuals through partnership with dogs whose unique skills are developed and nurtured by dedicated volunteers and a professional staff.  Services are provided to students at no cost to them, which is made possible by generous donors.

If you’re wondering how you could help, here are some options:

• Donate to Lone Star Puppy Raisers

Guide Dogs for the Blind, c/o Lone Star Puppy Raisers

5435 North Garland Avenue, Suite 140/310

Garland, TX 75040)

• Come to their fundraising events
• Visit guidedogstexas.gazelle.com and pass along those old electronics you no longer need
• Support their sponsors
• Become a puppy raiser

Melville will be at our facilities where we specialize in managed hosting, virtualization, disaster recovery and cloud computing. We operate from a state of the art facility that has been purpose-built for managed hosting, colocation, and disaster recovery, and is centrally located in Dallas, TX, just minutes away from downtown Dallas, Ft. Worth, and the DFW Airport.  If you’d like to learn more about Melville or Dallas Data Center please contact us at (972) 993-8888 or info@DallasDataCenter.com.

Palo Alto Networks was just awarded the “2010 Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year” in the Firewall Market by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.  The following criteria were used as a benchmark for all competitors:

• Growth Strategy Excellence
• Growth Implementation Excellence
• Degree of Innovation with Products and Technologies
• Leadership in Customer Value
• Speed of Response to Market Needs

Frost & Sullivan stated that many customers view firewall technology vendors as indistinguishable, thus causing them to invest in solutions from their existing information technology provider.  Security technology can remain static for several years, still providing protection, unless there is an introduction of an evolutionary product or market strategy such as Palo Alto Networks next generation firewall.  This introduction allows for better protection for customers.

Palo Alto Networks president and CEO, Lane Bess, stated, “It’s an honor to be recognized by such a distinguished research firm as Frost & Sullivan. Their perspective, advice and expertise are sought by companies around the world.  As a leading innovator in the network security category, we will continue to deliver high customer value and stay focused in our commitment to excellence.”

If you’d like to learn more about what Palo Alto Networks firewall can do for your company, please contact us.

A critical vulnerability in Windows XP has been revealed that involves the Windows and Help support center, a Web-based feature providing technical support information to end users. The vulnerability can potentially allow a remote hacker to take complete control of a victim’s machine. Systems running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 using many major browsers, including Internet Explorer 8, are affected.

A few days after the advisory, security firm Sophos warned users of a website using the vulnerability to install malicious software on victims’ machines, and of possibly more exploits coming out soon. Users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are advised to disable features within Help Center that allow administrators to remotely log onto their machines. For individual users, Microsoft has released a patch for the flaw.

Don’t know how to install the patch? Need help? Let us know! Of course our customers with Managed Services are automatically advised of these vulnerabilities, and patches are applied as soon as they are available. Contact us today to find our more.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

It’s not uncommon for many companies to use file sharing and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms as a means to share information and data – especially when it comes to larger files that are difficult and sometimes impossible to attach to emails.

And why not? File sharing and P2P is easy to use, simple, and inexpensive. And never mind if some employees download some personal files on the side – a song or a movie here and there never hurt anyone. Right?

Wrong.

The big catch when using P2P programs and common file sharing platforms is that it compromises your company’s security. Exposing your computers and your system to such a mode is filled with all sorts of risks.

First, people can accidentally share files that aren’t supposed to be for public consumption. They may also inadvertently download viruses and Trojans that infiltrate your system, steal sensitive information, and cause untold damage. If you are on a network, even if just one computer becomes infected, it can spread to all other workstations on the network. Some unscrupulous P2P abusers even use other people’s computers to remotely store illegal data, such as child pornography.

It’s very important that you have a secure system in place to handle large file transfers that cannot be shared through email. Guarding your network from outside infiltration is a must, but you don’t have to sacrifice efficiency and ease of use. So if you’d like to explore your options for secure file sharing, we’d be happy to lay out a plan that will fit your specific needs.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Managed Services provide enterprise-level IT capabilities without a large initial capital investment for a predictable monthly fee—which can be appealing to many businesses in today’s economic environment.

Are you a candidate for Managed Services?
Take our quiz below.

Managed Services checklist

• We’re having difficulty staffing qualified IT professionals.
• We’re concerned about the security of our data.
• We’re concerned about the security of our transactions.
• We’re concerned about the security of our communications.
• We aren’t always able to respond quickly to market demands.
• We need to reduce overhead costs
• Staying up to date with evolving technologies is difficult for us.
• Maintaining current hardware and software is time consuming.
• We need to operate in real time to meet 24-hour demand.
• We need to deliver services to remote offices or workers.
• Our growth depends on our implementation of new technology.
• We need to upgrade our infrastructure.
• We need to relocate our infrastructure.
• We’re undergoing a merger or acquisition.
• The scale of our operations is going to change.
• We want to expand into new markets.
• We’d like to focus our efforts on our core competencies.
• We need to focus only on mission-critical activities.
• We need to implement a global IT network, but we lack the resources.
• We’re concerned about our ability to keep up with the latest security threats.
• We’re affected by privacy or security regulations.
• We’re experiencing dynamic business growth but have a hiring freeze.
• We need to maintain our current IT capabilities but are downsizing.

If any of the items apply to you, you may want to consider Managed Services. Bring your completed list to us today, and we’ll let you know how can help.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

In light of the beginning of this year’s hurricane season, we have written a three part series to keep you aware of the impact that such an unforeseen storm could have on your business.

The best time to respond to a disaster is before it even happens.  As we stated in Part 1 of this series, it has been predicted that we are going to have an extremely active hurricane season that is expected to produce 20+ storms.  Right now is the time to put a plan in place.  With a relatively small investment of your time and money you can help protect your company’s most valuable assets ahead of time.

To help you determine how prepared your business would be take the following quiz:

1. Have you determined what parts of your business need to be operational as soon as possible following a disaster, and planned how to resume those operations?
2. What is an acceptable amount of downtime?
3. Would you be able to access your mission critical data in a disaster?
4. Are your vital records protected from harm?
5. Do you have an inventory of all your critical business functions?
6. Do you have an inventory of the computer systems that support those functions?
7. Do you have a rank-ordered list of which business functions would need to be restored first?
8. How much of the company’s material resources would be lost?
9. What would the impact be on the end users?
10. 10.  How long will it take the company to recover after a disaster strikes?

Questions like these are much easier to answer when you have had time to plan it out thoroughly.  To illustrate the force of not having a disaster recovery plan in place, consider the impact of what you would lose if you didn’t have access to your IT systems:

• Customer databases
• Supplier details
• Financial documents, from invoices to tax records
• Product catalogues
• Marketing materials
• Letters and emails
• Document templates
• Staff records

How would your company fair without this important data?  If you would like to learn more about what your company can do now to prepare for this hurricane season or an unforeseen event in the future, please contact us.  We can provide you with data backup and recovery so that your mission critical data files are “bullet-proof” and customize a business continuity and disaster recovery plan for your business needs.

In light of the beginning of this year’s hurricane season, we have written a three part series to keep you aware of the impact that such an unforeseen storm could have on your business.

Many people think that bad things will never happen to them.  They think that when a hurricane comes they won’t flood because they’re not in the flood plain or because they are hundreds of miles away from where it made landfall.  Think again!  What most forget is that floods can be produced by the quick, heavy rainfall that occurs in such a short timeframe.  Would your business be able to handle a massive city wide flood?  If you’re not sure of the importance of a disaster recovery plan so that you can be assured that you have reliable uptime and backup for your business critical applications, you might want to thoroughly digest the following real life scenarios.

Scenario: Houston Flooding

• In 1976 roughly 10 inches of rain fell on the city in six-hours causing more than $20 million of damages to the well known Texas Medical Center. 
• Then again in 1998 tropical storm Frances dropped 15 inches of rain casing significant street flooding. 
• In 2001 Tropical Storm Allison sat over the city pouring an average of 14.8 inches.  Of this, 8.5 inches fell in only two hours causing unparallel damage to the entire city. 
• The most recent damage was caused in 2008 when Hurricane Ike produce around 8 inches of rain.
• The U.S. rainfall record is held by Tropical Storm Claudette in 1979 when it dropped 43 inches in just 24 hours on Alvin Cooperative Site, Texas.

How would your business fair with 10 plus inches of water flowing through it?  As we have stated in previously, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 93 percent of companies that suffer a significant data loss are out of business within five years.  Thus, shedding light on the fact that most businesses don’t weather the storm very well on their own. 

Need help?  We’ve got you covered.  We combine planning, prevention, and protection to help you meet your disaster recovery challenges by designing a continuity strategy for keeping your servers and data protected. 

Don’t be a statistic.  Contact us for an in-depth analysis of your disaster preparedness.

In light of the beginning of this year’s hurricane season, we have written a three part series to keep you aware of the impact that such an unforeseen storm could have on your business.

Hurricane season began on June 1st and will end on November 30^th.  During this time the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecast predicts there is an 85% chance that we will experience an above normal hurricane season.  It is going to be extremely active and expected to produce 20+ storms with the probability for 3-7 major hurricanes being classified as Category 3 or greater. 

To keep your business prepared, we wanted to share a few interesting facts that most wouldn’t know about hurricanes.

Did you know that the major elements of a hurricane are storm surge, damaging winds, tornadoes, and inland flooding?

How much could your business withstand? 

What many business owners don’t know is that hurricane force winds can be a silent risk.  Most states fall short on hurricane construction Building codes.  Even so, these codes only minimally increase the resistance for your business.  What would your business do if the roof was torn off or a wall collapsed in your server room destroying all your critical data?  With our Managed Hosting services you could leave the worrying to us and store or backup your data offsite….that is – if you set a disaster recovery plan in place before the storm gets tracked your way.

To demonstrate the force of the wind, imagine the following impact on a 4×8 sheet of plywood:

• 25 mph winds generate 50 lbs of weight
• 75 mph winds generate 450 lbs of weight
• AND 125 mph winds generate 1250 lbs of weight

When comparing this to the winds speeds of the different categories of hurricanes, this could be devastating to your company if you do not have a disaster recovery plan in place:

• Category 1 generates 74-95 mph winds
• Category 2 generates 96-110 mph winds
• Category 3 generates 111-130 mph winds
• Category 4 generates 131-155 mph winds
• Category 5 sustains winds greater than 155 mph

Don’t be caught in the storm without a plan in place.  Contact us today to begin planning for the future.

Got a note from our Dell rep the other day…told us that as of October 22, 2010 they will no longer be offering Windows XP on any of their systems.  As of right now they do not have a cutoff date that customers need to place their orders by for systems with XP, but any order that has not been shipped by the above date will be canceled and then require resubmission configured with Windows 7.  This is in spite of the announcement by Microsoft that it will offer support for XP until April 2014.  Apparently this applies to ALL of Microsoft’s OEM partners though. 

We have been running Win 7 for the past several months and absolutely love it.  It is rock-solid and a nice change from XP.  Let us know if you’re ready to upgrade…we’ll be glad to help.

A recent report, released by Osterman Research and sponsored by software vendor Commtouch, reports that the incidents of outbound spam is getting worse. The research firm interviewed 266 end users of internet service providers and 100 web hosting companies. Almost 40% of respondents have had their IP addresses listed on Real Time Blackhole Lists (RBLs) in the past 12 months alone – and the number could be far greater considering those who may not be aware that they have been listed.

RBLs tag machines or networks of machines as being sources of SPAM, causing their emails to be filtered out by many mail servers. This can result in legitimate emails not reaching their intended destination, and can victims’ reputations. In addition, having an infected machine or network of machines can waste bandwidth and slow down outbound connections.

The cause of outbound spam varies, but can including everything from compromised email accounts to “zombie” machines – machines infected with malware sending out spam unbeknownst to the user.

There are multiple ways of protecting computers and networks against the risk of outbound spam, and our Managed Services clients benefit from our proactive protection and filtering. Contact us to find out more.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Palo Alto Networks recently released their ‘read-only’ Facebook functionality that can be implemented with the next-generation firewall and is available now at no cost to their customers.  The ‘read-only’ Facebook allows companies to enforce their Facebook policy by having finer-grained controls over their employee’s access to the popular social networking site.  This functionality lets companies decide by user, group, content, and even time of day which enables companies to grant access to employees that need to use it for their jobs while at the same time limiting access of those that would be using it mostly for personal reasons.  The ‘read-only’ Facebook allows IT managers to be more equipped to prevent leaks of important data, improve worker productivity, and reduce security threats.

An article released by Palo Alto Networks demonstrated the capabilities of this new release:

“Imagine a manufacturing organization where certain members of the marketing group have ‘read-only’ access to Facebook to monitor a competitor’s social marketing effort – without being able to post personal status updates or comment on friends’ updates.  The corporate communications team might have full use of Facebook, including applications and chat, in order to communicate with journalists.  The legal team may have no access to Facebook, while the human resources (HR) staff has complete access but only between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.”

A few of the function that Palo Alto Networks included in the ‘read-only’ Facebook are:

• Base access to Facebook
• Facebook posting
• Facebook chat
• Facebook mail (messages)
• Facebook apps
• Facebook Social Plug-ins

Are you interested in learning more about the new ‘read-only’ Facebook functionality or about the benefits of the next-generation firewall?  Contact us today!

Of course we’ve all heard of the saying “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” And really, to some degree, that saying holds true.

When it comes to technology, though, reality favors the opposite. You might have hardware right now that’s a bit old by industry standards but is still working, so there seems to be no need to upgrade or replace it. Sooner or later though, it’s going to cause you a lot more trouble than it’s worth.

For instance, what if you are in a middle of a major project and your hardware breaks down? Hardware manufacturers constantly upgrade their technology, leaving past models behind. This means that the older your hardware is, the harder it will be for you to find support or spare parts when things go wrong. Unless you have a backup plan, this scenario can turn into a big nightmare. And IF (that’s a big “if”) you can find the replacement parts you need, you’ll probably wait for weeks for them to arrive and for the repairs to get done, making you lose precious time and profit.

The advantage of upgrading your equipment is that the more advanced it is, the higher the quality of your output. Your workflow can be made much easier and more efficient with better performing hardware specs and added features that come in newer models. And with the right support from manufacturers, any glitch or problem can be fixed within a reasonable period of time since parts and other replacement components are in stock and readily available.

Of course, you don’t need to refresh each time a new model is released. The key is to know when to give your hardware a boost. If you’re properly planned, you can change systems and replace equipment without compromising your productivity or output.

So if you want to assess your current hardware, we’d be happy to sit down with you to create a roadmap for your future technology refresh.  Contact us today!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Business impact analysis is an often misunderstood component of your business continuity plan—but it doesn’t have to be.

First, let’s review business continuity planning, which is simply the creation and validation of a plan for how your business will recover critical activities after an extended disruption, such as a disaster.

Business impact analysis is one of the first steps in creating a business continuity plan in that it simply seeks to identify your business’s exposure to a sudden disruption of critical activities.

How do you conduct a business impact analysis? Many resources, including templates, are available. Let’s review the basic steps.

First, when looking at your firm’s activities and the cost of their loss during a business disruption, you’ll want to be sure you consider both financial costs and non-financial costs (such as customer service, supplier confidence, and market perception). Be sure to consider a number of possible scenarios. For example, what if your building is completely destroyed? What if some key personnel are not available? What if the disruption occurs during a peak period for your business?

Second, you’ll decide what’s critical and what’s not. An activity is probably critical if (a) its functionality is required by law, or (b) you consider its disruption unacceptable.

Third, for each critical activity, you’ll then assign two values: a recovery point objective, which is the acceptable amount of data that will be recovered, and a recovery time objective, which is the acceptable amount of time to restore the activity.

You may want to perform a business impact analysis before you create a business continuity plan—and your IT infrastructure will play a big role in both. Is your data backed up? How often? Contact us and let us help guide you through answering these questions and developing a plan for your critical business needs.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Dallas Data Center is proud to announce that Motion HR has put their trust in us by choosing to host their SaaS offering, CloudHCM, at DDC.  We are running their SaaS offering using some of Dell’s new R710 servers, firewalls from Palo Alto Networks, and Cisco switches.  Their environment is set up in a full HA configuration in order to minimize and even eliminate downtime for their customers.

On June 14, Motion HR, the global HRIT consulting services company, announced that it had become an Oracle Human Resources BPO Services Partner to deliver subscription-based services on Oracle’s Enterprise Human Capital Management (HCM) software suite.  Earlier this year, Motion HR became the first Oracle partner to bring a hosted client live on Oracle Performance Management 12.1 and integrate it with the client’s Oracle HR system running Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10.  “We believe that through our CloudHCM platform we can effectively enhance the HCM service delivery for our clients while improving the cost of supporting and maintaining software, services and ROI to the businesses we serve,” said John Pask, managing member of Motion HR.

Please click here to read the press release concerning this important announcement.

Go to www.CloudHCM.com to learn more about Motion HR’s SaaS offering.

If you travel for business, chances are you need to connect to the Internet while on the road. Here are some tips to help:

Set up wireless access. If you travel frequently, sign up for a wireless data plan from your service provider. Depending on the features of your mobile phone, you can use it as a substitute for your laptop for accessing your emails or browsing the web. Some devices support tethering—where you use your device as a wireless modem for network access. Newer generation netbooks and laptops natively support 3G, which allows these devices to browse the Internet in places where WiFi is not available.

WiFi is your friend. If you haven’t signed up for a wireless data plan, your mobile phone is limited in its features, or you prefer to use a laptop that only has support for WiFi, do your homework and research whether your destination or nearby areas provide WiFi access.  Websites such as WiFi Hot Spot List, JiWire, and gWiFi.net provide a database of places offering free WiFi. HotelChatter.com provides an annual list of Best WiFi Hotels as well.

Dial-up as a last resort. You can always resort to dial-up if your location only provides fixed-line telephone access. Some ISPs still provide dial-up as an option and it’s a good idea to keep their access numbers just in case.

Feel secure with VPN. If you are accessing sensitive data while travelling, certain programs will ensure secure access via public Internet connections.  One example is the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) software which can create a private network between two or more computers. If your company provides this service, use it. If not, contact us and we can set one up for you. Note that while you have access to office resources such as company file servers, printers and email as if you were there, you could possibly be restricted to the same security policies as well.

Interested in finding out more? Contact us to find out how we can help you stay connected on the road.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Online security website OneITSecurity recently interviewed Charlie Miller, second-year Pwn2Own contest champion, and he shared several interesting insights on browser security – especially with the use of Adobe’s Flash plugin. In Pwn2Own, a contest held in CansecWest Conference, participants are offered a reward for finding vulnerabilities in popular software and operating systems.

Charlie’s interview is particularly relevant with the recent headline mentions of Adobe Flash with Apple’s refusal to make Flash work with their popular iPod, iPhone, and now iPad products, citing its instability and poor security. Microsoft, in its most recent Security Intelligence Report, pointed to Flash was as the most commonly exploited browser vulnerability in the first half of last year.

Charlie seems to share the same view, citing security issues as evidenced by the long list of security patches alone this past few months. His tip? Use Microsoft IE 8 on Windows 7 without Flash to be as secure as possible. If you can’t avoid using Flash, make sure you are using the most up-to-date version with all security fixes and patches applied.

Too busy to do it yourself? Get in touch with us and we can do it for you as one of the many tasks we take care of with Managed Services.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The average computer and Internet user manages over a dozen passwords for various websites. You probably have passwords for your computer, your company email, your personal online email accounts, your favorite social networking websites, your twitter feed, your online bank account, your favorite online store, and more. Using the same password for everything is not very secure, but keeping track of unique passwords for each can be a pain. Here are some quick tips to help you not only create secure passwords, but also easily manage them:

Do not use real words. Words such as “password”, “login”, “love” or some other common phrase can easily be guessed by hackers. In addition, hackers use tools that automate guessing – randomly trying words from a dictionary one at a time until it gets it right.  Please contact us if you need help securing your network.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

A recent article by Channel Web discusses how Windows Azure took center stage during Microsoft’s TechEd conference last week in New Orleans.  Microsoft feels that “the cloud is now mature enough to handle business applications, and it’s urging developers to start using new tools that take advantage of the efficiencies the cloud has to offer.”  Windows Azure brings together a cloud-based operating system, national database and associated services, and helps developers get apps to market in a fraction of the time.

Microsoft acknowledges that their hosting partners are increasingly playing a more vital role with their 40 million paying Online Services customers as the cloud becomes more important.  Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools division, stated that, “People are moving to the cloud at a very rapid pace.  We think in the long run this is going to be very interesting for businesses of all sizes.  We’re now seeing that new cloud services, and desktop management is a new opportunity in the cloud.” 

Are you interested in moving towards the cloud?  Contact us today to see what benefits our cloud services can provide you.

Recently there have been several articles written about a datacenter flooding in Dallas.  I’d like to point out that this was a “datacenter located in Dallas”, not the business named Dallas Data Center as one might have been led to believe based on the subject lines of numerous articles written about the disaster.  Here’s a link to an article in the Dallas Morning News describing the incident:

By the way, hurricane season is on its way so now’s a good time to let us help you with your business continuity plan to prevent a storm related disaster or something similar to what happened at the county records building above.  Don’t be caught in the storm without a plan, contact us today before it’s too late!

Passwords tend to be the first line of defense against unauthorized access, but when it comes to selecting passwords did you know there are a few simple tricks that can help to prevent this?  There are numerous methods you should keep in mind.  Take a look at the following 4 tips and assess whether or not you are doing what is necessary to protect your information.  (Information from itbusinessedge.com)

1.  Long Is Good

You need to know that a short password can be very quickly compromised. This can be done by calculating the permutations based on the length of the password, as well as whether numerals and symbols are used.

2.  Don’t Share Passwords Between Personal and Work Accounts

It is generally a very bad idea to use the same password for different accounts. However, it would be naive for an administrator to think that the typical employee would use a different password for every system that requires one. 

3.  The Help Desk Will NEVER Ask for Your Password

This sounds almost cliché now, but the IT department should periodically remind employees that its staff will never ask for their passwords.

4.  Regular Password Changes Are Necessary

You are also increasingly accessing your work account from remote locations, so you need to be educated on the necessity of changing your password regularly. Note, however, that there is a difference between regularly and frequently, and it is important not to overdo the frequency of changes.