3 Easy Techniques for Migrating to Managed IT Services

All the roads lead to managed IT services. Yes, whether you agree or not, whatever is the size of your business, hiring IT support services is the final destination. The benefits of outsourcing your network management services are widely known.  Resellers, traditional solution providers, integrators, and product oriented solution providers – all have been migrating to the managed services model from at least a decade. The reasons for moving over are clear – higher growth rate, cost efficiency, proactive solutions, 24x7 assistance, and many more. Research and Markets predicts that the global managed services market will grow at a 12.4 percent clip through 2018. Managed services, especially the managed security services offer a great potential to generate higher margins. 

A planned and thoughtful approach can help your migration to hiring an MSP. Here is a glimpse of what can ease the process:

Conducting a Gap Analysis: Performing a gap analysis can help you with a roadmap to reach to the managed services space. It will help you understand whether you need to retain personnel or hire new sales and technical employees. At this stage, companies can decide whether to manage its own infrastructure or hire the services of a third-party hosting or cloud service provider.

Revising Business Approaches: This is undoubtedly a great transition and businesses will need to develop service level agreements (SLAs) and manage them. Companies will require new way of delivering services and measuring results.

Automating Service Deliveries: MSPs perform many customer support duties remotely instead of dispatching technicians for on-site support. For making this efficiency a reality, MSPs need to automate deliveries. As a client, you should check to see whether your MSP provides automatic service deliveries.

Why search elsewhere if you get cost efficient managed IT services at Net Activity, Inc.? We have expert solutions for managing your IT network services. Please call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 to discuss further details or visit:http://www.netactivity.us/it-managed-services.html to know more about our service offerings.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/3-easy-techniques-for-migrating-to-managed-it-services/

Learn 5 Ways How VoIP Drives Collaboration

With Unified Communications, collaboration has become an open-ended thing. It represents a different set of needs, involving multiple parties, along with a diverse set of applications so that everyone can work together. While collaboration is comparatively a difficult concept for decision makers to figure out vendor offerings, VoIP is significantly easier to work with. The following information will help you to understand how VoIP plays an important role in driving the collaboration value proposition:  

VoIP is The Voice:
Although self-evident, business VoIP phone services represent a step further than just telephony. VoIP facilitates other forms of vocal communication too, making a wider group of employees comfortable.

VoIP is Real Time Communication:
Speed and efficiency is real time today. Especially for the short turnaround collaboration needs, you need to have real-time access. Here, there is no better tool of choice than VoIP.

VoIP is Nomadic:
VoIP is web based and characterizes flexibility as other collaboration applications. With VoIP, users can access both the company phone system and multiple modes of voice from any broadband connection. Thus, with its versatile nature, VoIP is an ideal tool for collaboration in today’s distributed workforces.

VoIP is Free (Near to free):
Nothing encourages adoption of technology more than making it free. While there are certain costs associated with using VoIP in the conventional manner (as part of your phone system), there are web-based VoIP applications that provide voice at little or no cost. This increases and eases the willingness of employees to collaborate outside of work.

VoIP is Easy Integration:
As telephony has moved into the data network, it can support more applications in the IP environment, making the collaboration experiences better. This definitely will increase adoption of VoIP technology.

Net Activity is a leading VoIP Phone Service Provider that installs and configures on premise based phone systems and IP based solutions.  If you wish to try their result-oriented services, please contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 or visit: http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html



Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/learn-5-ways-how-voip-drives-collaboration/

Know Your IT Help Desk Better

IT help-desks represent the busiest and most important of the business operations as they are in direct communication with the customers. They are responsible for making a business competitive and efficient. ITSS (IT support services) have expanded in a major way as companies expand their operations, ways of handling hardware and software issues, troubleshooting networks, and accomplishing other complex tasks. With a fully functional department, offering well managed IT services organizations are taking it as a challenge to present a distinguished customer service to its customers.

Let’s understand the segregated tasks of the IT help-desks:

Level 1 support helps to filter calls and provide prompt troubleshooting. The resources at this basic level deal with password resets, PC configurations, etc.

Level 2 caters to issues that include laptop or user device support. Here, resources resolve customer queries by troubleshooting on one hand and hardware installations as well as in-house repairs on the other.

Level 3 support goes even higher to aspects such as server repairs, database administration, data centers, etc.

Level 4 concerns with people outside your organization. This is typically an external part of the IT support services and includes hardware and software vendors.

An evolved help desk should have these properties to ensure productivity and achieve an adequate return on investments.      

Well groomed face of the organization should be a prerequisite: Apart from the technical competencies, the IT service providers need to be backed by soft skills as their responsibility is to display a well-groomed face of the organization to the consumers.

Proactive participation: This is another key feature that adds up to the skill sets of a matured ITSS system. It helps companies anticipate issues and solve them with minimum downtime.

Flexibility and adaptability: This 4-level structure may not be applicable to all the organizations.  The help desk must retain a flexible style of working to respond to any kind of problem that comes up abruptly.

Help desk analytics: An analysis of the performance, issues, challenges, and achievements of the help-desk would map out a better road to a problem free and planned growth.

Teamwork rewards: An effective Help Desk demands teamwork. While it requires personnel of various technical levels, it is important that they gel as a team.

Net Activity, Inc. is a leading provider of IT support services since 2002. We have teamed up with the right people and the right technology to support your IT infrastructure. Our help desk support system is well staffed with trained experts to provide you excellent and satisfactory service. You can be assured of a hassle-free service after an agreement with us. Allow us to manage your IT services and we would never let you down. Contact Harry Bhatia over the phone at 2165035150 X 206 or visit us at http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html to know our service options.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/know-your-it-help-desk-better/

NetActivity VOIP and Cloud Computing Solutions

How Will Cloud Computing Shape in 2017

Cloud computing solutions have transformed many businesses over the last five years, but experts believe that the market has something more to explore, may be called as a second wave. The cloud market will acquire a faster pace in 2017 as organizations seek to gain relatively more efficiencies as they scale their compute resources for better customer services, says Forrester Research in a new report.    

The analysts of Forrester Research say that the foremost trend comes with the enterprises. Enterprises, especially the big budgets, data centers, and complex applications are now looking at the cloud space as a viable place to run their core business applications. Forrester found that 38% of the 1,000 plus North American and European enterprise infrastructure technology decision makers are building private clouds comprising of 32 percent procuring public cloud services and the remaining are planning to implement some form of cloud technology in the next 12 months.

Cloud predictions for 2017:

Regional players will see an increase in adoption – The global public cloud market is growing at a 22 percent compound rate. With the increasing demands of cloud based applications, it will become a herculean task for the major companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Google to service every unique request. This indicates that the small regional players will gain more importance in the upcoming years.

Cloud costs will decrease – In 2017, with their best practices maturing, the IT executives will get better at containing cloud costs. The cost management tools from AWS, Cloudability, Cloudyn, etc. are available that are capable of cutting off the cloud computing architecture costs by sharp 10% by monitoring their consumption.

Private clouds will undergo hyper convergence – Hyperconverged infrastructure solutions will offer pre-integrated compute and storage resources helping organizations get their cloud implementations running faster. Forrester recommends that organizations consider HCI as the foundation for their private cloud development, particularly for new workloads that demand rapid, automated scale-out. 

There will be containers for managing software code – Software developed for cloud apps can now be managed with the help of containers like Linux containers, which will be available in every major public and private cloud platform by early 2017.  The developers will be able to consume them directly and can build their own stacks to power micro services development.

Public cloud will house enterprise apps – Recent survey has found several companies hosting enterprise applications in AWS, indicating that CIOs have become more comfortable hosting critical software in the public cloud. According to Forrester, this trend will continue as CIOs rely more heavily on public cloud providers.

Net Activity, Inc. is a team of expert professionals providing cloud computing services in Ohio. We have eased the process of migration to cloud technology for many of our clients. We engage the clients to holistically study their business requirements with our learned and trained professionals. You can get in touch with Harry Bhatia http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html at 2165035150 X 206. 

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-will-cloud-computing-shape-in-2017/

5 False Impressions About Managed IT Service Providers

“I like to do it myself”, says a traditional businessperson. Do you think the same way? If not, you have progressed into a modern approach. Businesses have transformed processes and they no longer survive alone. They require assistance to stabilize their operations and multiply results. One such aid is – IT Managed Services. Many turn to the Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for maintaining a 24x7 monitoring of servers and managing a constant network uptime. However, some still fear the negative consequences of hiring MSPs’ services.  

Let us clarify the details:

The costs of hiring an MSP will surpass that of hiring an internal IT resource:

Yes. The initial cost is quite a bit. However, there are packages you can choose from. On the other hand, having an internal resource would cost you salary plus overhead expenses (insurance, taxes, vacation, sick days, etc.)

Internal IT person is not required:

Hiring an MSP doesn’t mean that you will have to fire your internal IT resource. For trivial or day-to-day matters, your internal resource is quickly reachable. Outsourcing operational support to a Managed IT Service Provider assists internal IT departments to fill the gaps in their day-to-day responsibilities.

Outsourcing IT is a preferable option only for large corporations:

This stereotype has existed until recently. Now, businesses of all sizes are able to outsource their IT functions. Small and medium sized businesses also have started utilizing the managed services as they can save time for other important things.

They will not understand our business:

There is an ever-existing fear. Will they take it very lightly? Managed Service Providers are third parties who are responsible for a consistently managed IT functioning at your office and managing it rightly. Many organizations just cannot trust anyone when it comes to operating a part of their responsibilities. Managed Service Providers are experts in doing their job and in some cases better trained than your existing internal IT resource. So, you can trust them and their job.

All of the IT jobs have to be outsourced:

Just because you have decided to outsource, it doesn’t imply that you have to hand-over 100% of the IT services to the MSPs. Businesses can choose to have the MSPs work on a customized service sheet highlighting on specific business areas. 

IT Managed Service Providers are a group of well trained, experienced and professional IT resources who dedicatedly serve customers manage their IT infrastructure. Net Activity, Inc. is one such provider of IT support services in Ohio. Their monitoring solutions at a fixed price take the worry and anxiety out of knowing that your systems are up and running. If you wish to try their result-oriented services, please contact http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 or read the details by visiting IT Managed Services.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/5-false-impressions-about-managed-it-service-providers/

How Empowering the IT Help Desks Will Help Your Business

IT help desks occupy an important position of your business, especially the software companies. They chair representatives who directly communicate with the customers and have a huge responsibility. It is important to have an automated process in place for enhancing the efficiency of the help desk staff. Empower your help desk professionals with access to real-time data to deliver hassle-free internal support.

When you empower the IT service department, you are progressively preparing for a massive clientele. A help desk can help your customers and helps to ensure that your company satisfies their requirements.             

Here are a few ways to enhance the power of your IT help desk:

Define your objectives clearly – Set pre-defined goals and explain them to your IT service employees so that they understand and implement them well. For example, delivering resolutions in customers’ first call would help building repute in the industry.

Equip the latest technology – You can expect the systems up & running only when you care for them. Likewise, you can expect the IT services to function uninterruptedly when you equip them with the latest technological set-up.

Create a catalogue of services online –Make your service catalogue available online so that customers can easily access the necessary details at their convenience without having to make calls. This will also save time for your resources at the help desk in attending to the most basic questions.

Train your executives – Properly trained help desk executives deliver satisfactory service with fewer escalations. Training also boosts their morale and encourages them to deliver quality at its best.

Collect open-ended feedback – It is essential to gather feedback from the users and customers. This would assist you in improving performance of your team. Also, do not forget to share the feedback with the individuals, as they will learn from the negatives and feel motivated from the positives.

Implement a justifiable rewards & recognition plan – Employees always appreciate rewards. Reward the help desk officials and executives when they achieve a target and they will go out of the boundaries to serve you better.

Software companies in Cleveland are struggling to win a tough competition and one of the best ways to be among the best is to have a professional and properly functioning IT help desk, where most companies lack. Customers appreciate if the business people listen to them and answer them quickly.

Net Activity, Inc. has comprehensive support plans that include a 24x7 server monitoring and help desk service. You can gather details from Mr. Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 or visit http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html for a quick view. We will be happy to help you.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-empowering-the-it-help-desks-will-help-your-business/

Don’t Overlook This - Tips to Secure Your Cloud Data

Cloud-based security is here to stay. Be it Google Drive and Dropbox are some of the most comfortable and convenient data repositories for saving your data online, allowing you easy access at any place or time where internet is available. Although the convenience seems tempting, one must look into the security concerns while moving personal and confidential data over the cloud platform.

Rule No. 1: Backup Data Locally
It is a good practice to create electronic copies of your data so that you will be able to access it wherever you are without losing the original data. It also helps in case you lose the original data or it is corrupted. It is as simple as setting up an account in the cloud and remembering the credentials.
Another option is to have a manual backup of your precious data in an external storage device, which helps you when there is no or slow internet accessibility.

Rule No. 2: Avoid Storing Sensitive Information
As everyone is aware of the discrepancies of the internet privacy and the vulnerability internet security is exposed to, it is wise to avoid your highly confidential moving up to the cloud. Mainly, it is advisable to avoid putting up documents containing passwords for any of your accounts. This way you can stay confident about keeping the files that you need to access frequently.

Rule No. 3: Use Cloud Services that Encrypt Your Data
Look for cloud service providers that safeguard your privacy by offering local encryption for your data, which provides an additional layer of security. This method will also protect your data against the service providers and administrators. It would be even better if the cloud service also guarantees encryption during the uploading and downloading phases. The additional step of encrypting and decrypting your data may take a little while longer to sync and access your files, but it is worth it.

Rule No. 4: Encrypt Data Before Moving it to the Cloud
Encrypting data here means you would be able to apply passwords and generate secret key sequences to your files before you upload them to the cloud server. If your provider does not use data encryption, you can prefer to use a cloud protection app, which will solve your purpose.

Rule No. 5: Apply Two-Step Verification
As the first line of protection, you can maintain a strong password (as suggested by the internet) for all your online accounts. Also, instead of relying on a strong password created by you years ago, try to change them frequently and not repeat it across the many online accounts on your name.

Your data is really precious and you cannot afford to allow it to be leaked. While moving to the cloud, it is necessary to follow the above tips so that your data remains safe. You also need to hire the services of a cloud service provider who has a relevant experience and good customer reviews. Net Activity, Inc. can be of great help as they have been in this business since 2002. They are a team of professionals who are proficient, trained, experienced and friendly. If you wish to know more about the services offered, contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 or visit

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/dont-overlook-this-tips-to-secure-your-cloud-data/

Tips to Choose a VoIP Service Provider That Does IT Right

In the recent times, VoIP service providers have crowded the market and made it difficult for businesses to choose the one that would actually do what they commit to. You may have made the toughest of your decisions while moving to VoIP services from the traditional phone set up and you would definitely not expect your business to face down times due to a poor telephone network.

Promoting managed IT services that save money and provide greater functionality, is like marketing of any other service, which means that the providers must take into consideration the time-honored factors of price, promotion & distribution. With all the sophistication in their pitching styles, it is possible for you to get trapped in a non-rewarding deal. So, we have stated a few points that to help you select a reliable VoIP service provider in Ohio.

Ask to explain things & talk out of the acronyms – The telephone technology is full of acronyms. They may be comfortable using terms like VoIP and PBX but you, as they may overwhelm a customer /the SMB owner. In a confused state, you may not even understand what they are trying to explain and consequently you may miss important details of the technology you will be using thereafter.

Demand a complete solution – Do not forget that you are on the demanding side. Understand the details of how the VoIP services offered by the provider will influence their businesses. Look at what’s unique in his offerings. Also, study their previous works and customer feedback so that you get a brief about past experiences of businesses like you with the service provider.

Plan & implement wisely – Ask the provider to spend a weekend at your business set up (pre-installation planning) to understand how the present system works and where is the need to rebuild things. A good installation plan will make the configuration easy for you. It really makes a difference.

Safety must be the first commitment – A recent study revealed that about 40% of the VoIP users did not have specific plans to secure their VoIP deployments. The end-points of your VoIP systems are vulnerable to attacks right from their operating systems to internet protocols and management interfaces of VoIP phones. It sounds scary; it also means that there is a lucrative chance for those who sell VoIP security services. Check if your VoIP provider includes a security plan in his package to cut down on the cost of hiring another provider selling security services.

Training as a part of service – Plug n play does not imply installing software and leaving the rest. The automation also requires users to be trained to know how the new software will help them reduce efforts. It is a bad idea to leave users baffled on a completely new set up of devices. Ensure that your VoIP provider will train you on using the VoIP systems.

Well, if you are convinced that these tips will help you build a better VoIP network that never fails, you may consider another advice from us. Contact Net Activity, Inc. for any assistance related to VoIP services.Net Activity has been in the business since 2002. The business caters to the IT industry by providing Hosted, IP based and On Premise Phone Systems. You can visit http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html  for fairly priced quotations of VoIP services or contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206. We welcome your suggestions too.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/tips-to-choose-a-voip-service-provider-that-does-it-right/

Look Where the Future of Internet Security is Heading to…

Hackers are getting more sophisticated and it has become tough for businesses to survive their attacks. Today, internet means a lot, rather everything to us. Things are changing at a faster rate and so will the internet. Consequently, the new interfaces will bring in unique security challenges. On the other hand, there will be a major shift in the devices used for surfing the internet. The future locality of internet connections would no longer be restricted to businesses; it will be embedded into cars, everyday appliances, clothing, and even disposable packaging. It’s going to be everywhere, making security more challenging than ever.

Thinking of the wildest guesses as to how the internet will grow, our focus should now be directed at thinking about how it can be safeguarded in the future.

Some of the precise questions to be seriously thought upon are: How important will then security be? What will it cost – as an individual & an organization? What will the unseen threats look like? How will we defend against their attacks? Let us first look at the existing elements of the internet network security. Five elements of internet security are practiced today – Architectural, Technological, Psychsociological, Procedural and Existential elements. But the question remains – Will this state of affairs last?

Though simple, internet-based attacks will prevail and some hackers will continue using the traditional means of attack, the huge leap of technological transformations invites the need of precise and advanced security procedures. Many of the common characteristics will be transcended by tomorrow’s attacks and most of them will:

•  Be untraceable
•  Survive on the Net as self-multiplying software entities
•  Not be controllable or stoppable
•  Have no discrete beginning or end
•  Persist for years, even decades, in a longitudinal attack

The ultimate problem persists – how are we going to deal with these? How will we defend against the threats and secure the data that is most important to us? Active search has already been initiated by major organizations and if they perform well on board, the networks themselves may help to improve their own immune systems. Then, destiny would be survival of the fittest networks.To avail their Internet Security,visit http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html or call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/look-where-the-future-of-internet-security-is-heading-to/

How to Encourage Prospects for Transition to the Cloud

Although cloud computing has proved its credibility in leveraging business outcomes in this decade, it is difficult to turn the minds of those adamant businesspeople who do not wish to break the traditional walls. To persuade such decision makers, you must arm yourself with a precise but explanatory list of benefits of cloud computing. Once you are yourself convinced about the pros and cons cloud provides, it gets easier to explain them to your prospect in a convincing way.

Here is a quick list of benefits to get started:

• No excess server installation or labor costs
• Anywhere, anytime access
• No software upgrades to be installed separately
• Convenient payment/subscription options
• No large initial investment
• No transferring files back and forth between bookkeeper and client as well as CPA and QuickBooks consultant
• Well set platform for expansion

This is how your detailed conversation should proceed:

In the next step, you need to try hard to keep the ball in your court. Proceed with the discussion by presenting your points about how cloud computing is different and beneficial over other existing solutions. Don’t sound like a naive and remember that you are speaking with a managerial entrepreneur who discusses and understands things at a higher level.

Explain to them the competitive advantage that comes along with cloud computing solutions. The CFOs must realize that cloud is here to stay and it’s becoming an inseparable part of the businesses now. A recent survey conducted by McKinsey Global Survey revealed that more than 80% respondents are up with the cloud servers – experimenting and using the technology. That’s a huge number to compete with. Survival without the cloud will not be possible.

Security enters as the major player in the game. You can easily convince CFOs on this ground, as they are much concerned about it. Just a simple thought of data loss, mishandling or misuse of the precious data is frightening. However, make sure you put it in the right way as you may make up or mess up with things. Persuading a business owner to move their complete or partial data to another platform is a challenging task but not impossible as you have many positives to talk about.

The cloud platform is truly rewarding and has lesser cons, so you have already won half the battle by proposing this to your prospective customer. The only thing you need to know is how to present your proposal. A homework of the business, its CFO and business objectives would help you strike the right move and hit the goal.

Net Activity, Inc. is in the business of offering authenticate cloud computing solutions since 2002. They possess expertise in providing robust cloud computing, managed support and services. The range of configurations provided includes solutions with public cloud, managed cloud solutions off premises, on premises range, and customized cloud storage solutions according to the global reach of an enterprise. To avail their cloud computing , visit http://www.netactivity.us/cloud-computing-services.html or call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-to-encourage-prospects-for-transition-to-the-cloud/

7 Crazy Uses of VoIP You Never Thought About

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has set its roots in the business world and is growing rapidly. When introduced, VoIP’s benefits were well documented: financial savings for businesses, cheap and easy communication with businesses round the globe, quick file transfers, convenient expansion of networks, and many more. Despite these functionalities, VoIP allows users to do some crazy stuff too. We have listed a few of them, which you would have missed otherwise.

Record podcasts: This is interesting. You can record interviews for podcasts with your VoIP software by combining free, open source audio software like Audacity with the VoIP software. Simply select ‘stereo mix’ as your recording device and allow it to record your contact’s voice. Then, connect your mic and select it as a second recording device. Finally, just merge the two audios together.

Stay in touch with gamers globally: VoIP allows gamers all around the globe to connect with each other while playing team based games such as World of Wildcraft. One of the most popular, effective and lightweight VoIP services – ‘Mumble’ is ideal for gaming buddies using different operating systems.

Speak on your handset using Skype number: VoIP benefits you by allowing you pick your handset and speak to your beloved ones with your Skype account. You can also check your call history on the television or receive your voice mails when the computer is offline and send texts from your TV.

Book VoIP reminders: Schedule or remember when your next task is due. This functionality is widely used to ensure that you don’t miss important video meetings.

Keep records of client conversations: The VoIP calls are recorded more easily than the traditional calls, so that you can revisit the clauses discussed over the phone to avoid discrepancies.

Listen to the radio: Skype, one of the most popular VoIP platforms has a great add-on that allows you to listen to the popular streaming radio service Last.FM via the service. The app fuses Last.FM and Skype together, making it convenient to share the song you are listening to as a message on Skype. It helps keep interactions light with remote colleagues.

Hold a gigantic video conference/webinar free: While some services (like Google Hangouts) allow a limited number of participants (say 10) to attend a video call, some better alternatives are offering to fill in the gap. Now, it is possible for nearly 200 people to attend a discussion via VoIP apps.

The VoIP services can serve you more benefits than you would think of. So, if you haven’t yet thought about replacing your traditional phone lines, make the decision today. Net Activity is in the business of providing VoIP services to transform communications and improve business productivity. They have successfully helped many of their clients increase profits by reducing on their phone bills and easing communication methods. To avail their VoIP services, visit Net Activity or call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/7-crazy-uses-of-voip-you-never-thought-about/

Leading Cloud Security Start-ups That Will Rule in 2016

Cloud Computing is a comparatively new phenomenon that is gaining importance in businesses and the tools designed for its security are also in their infancy. Many new companies have tried their luck by introducing cloud security options – some survived and some perished.

Here are a few cloud security start-ups (some are well-established players too) that you should know about:

Bitium’s approach tends to be influenced by the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. With the increasing number of devices, an individual employee may be using, the risk of corporate data being leaked increases exponentially. Bitium offers to provide a strong security solution that allows for easy usability too. The company’s analytics offering enables corporations to see what apps individuals are using increasingly and know which ones they can pre-empt security risks as well as save money by decommissioning unused apps.

CipherCloud makes the transition to the cloud easy and safe. Their approach is to build a platform that allows security features including malware detection, encryption, data loss prevention, tokenization, and auditing. Once data is encrypted locally on the clients’ devices, CipherCloud offers a gateway for it to be uploaded to cloud via SSE and stores the keys to the data locally. This relieves business of the security risks while moving to the cloud.

One of the oldest set ups operating in the cloud has a series of cloud management products, including vCloud and vRealize. VMware solutions help businesses to virtualize their security, enabling administration of the security infrastructure to use the same interface that is used for organization’s private cloud. Its flagship products VMware, vCloud Networking, and Security Edge secure the virtual data in a cost-effective way.

McAfee, an established name in the web-security, has branched out to providing cloud security. The company has a different approach to cloud security – they allow companies to develop their own security protocols, which are then applied to the cloud environment. The many advantages of this liberal approach are clarity, transparency, compliance, as well as consistency. Organizations can choose the elements that they need while ensuring their data is safe at the cost and scalability benefits of the public cloud.

The IT giant, IBM, with its experienced gesture, has proven its expertise in the cloud security tools. IBM’s offerings include application and data security, infrastructure protection, identity and access management, and security intelligence. Its dynamic cloud security is designed to work together with organizations’ existing security processes to create an integrated system including regular IT infrastructure as well as private, public and hybrid cloud setups.

Skyhigh enables provision for organizations’ proper maintenance and security. The Skyhigh Secure reports a risk assessment for relevant services based on 30 different fields across a range of categories, which enables businesses to identify potential vulnerabilities. Based on this, the Skyhigh Secure provides capabilities for control and improved security that includes application auditing, encryption, data loss prevention, and cloud-to-cloud access controls.

The Skyhigh products are specifically targeted at particular cloud providers including Google Drive, Office 365, Box and Dropbox as businesses and individuals majorly use these as standard, assuming that they are secure.

Cloud security is an important issue and with many companies diving in to provide incomparable security solutions, it is difficult to make a choice. For a clarity on which cloud security service will work best for you, please contact Harry Bhatia 2165035150 X 206.

Net Activity Inc. is a leading provider of proven cloud computing solutions. Completely dedicated to its services and customer satisfaction, the team popularly addresses its customers’ diverse cloud requirements along with offering a robust environment. For more details, visit our website: Netactivity.us

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/leading-cloud-security-start-ups-that-will-rule-in-2016/

An Important Check on Managed Service Providers – Are They Worth

Although this sounds strange, we have facts in support of the statement – ‘Most of the Managed Service Providers do not provide managed services’. Here, the focus is on the managed part, which is majorly missing out of the services provided by the MSPs, even though they claim to offer it.

According to a general concept, and search engine results, Managed IT services are information technology tasks provided by third party contractors. Ideally, they are technical support services delivered under a service agreement that provides specified rates and guarantees the consultant a specific minimum income. Managed services require the IT providers to take the responsibility for the client’s network and to provide regular preventive maintenance to the client’s systems.

Simply stating, if there is no maintenance part, it can only be called as an Outsourced IT provider, not Managed Service Provider. Some tools differentiate the modern tech support services with the Managed Services. Here are the core tools of Managed Services:

• Remote Access
• Monitoring
• Patch Management
• Some level of Automated Response
• A PSA (professional services automation)
• Maintenance must be REGULAR

Does your Managed Service Provider (MSP) visit your premises physically regularly? In addition, the most important question is – ‘Does he actually do the maintenance job?’ 90% answered negatively when these questions were asked in a survey. Once parties (businesses and the MSPs) enter into a contract, the clauses are actively followed for a few months, following which, it becomes a routine task that lies fresh only on the paper. No monthly back-ups are taken, neither are they tested on a monthly basis.

Understanding the picture more closely, if a system crashes down, an outsourced IT company shows no responsibility for the client’s losses, whereas a Managed IT service provider acts responsible for the state of backup and health of the server. No tools can make you a Managed Service Provider, a regular proper maintenance can. Tools can only make you far more efficient at providing monitoring, patching, remote support, and service delivery.

As you have realized the importance of managed services and their responsibilities towards your organization’s computer systems, you need to choose an MSP that truly satisfies the requirements and adheres to client expectations till the end date of the contract. Net Activity, Inc., through with the IT managed services, has excelled in its offerings to all its clients. Please contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 to know further details visit Netactivity.us to understand us better.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/an-important-check-on-managed-service-providers-are-they-worth/

Benefits of Moving to the Cloud with Microsoft’s Office 365

With the cloud emerging as a powerful platform to move or hold business data, Microsoft has stepped in as a strong participant. The Microsoft’s Office 365 is a Software as a Service (SaaS) that delivers the cloud technology and productivity to businesses empowering them to be cost, time and resource efficient. Office 365 provides an online version of MS-Office suite along with SharePoint server, Lync server, and Exchange server.

While designing the Office 365, Microsoft had a focused approach towards developing a cloud platform for organizations’ users that is seamless regardless whether they are on-premises or on the cloud. One of the core offerings of the Office 365 is Exchange Online that allows organizations to co-exist with the Exchange Server. 

                         

Microsoft, an excellent service provider reflects off a guaranteed reliability backed by robust security. It’s important to note that Microsoft defines simple yet rich feature sets.

With the Office 365, you experience a completely new experience of communicating over the cloud. It allows you to:

• Access emails, documents, calendars, contacts anywhere, on any device
• Enjoy business-class features including geo-redundancy, disaster recovery, guaranteed 99.9% uptime, and IT-level phone support
• Work seamlessly with Microsoft Office and/or any other program your users count on every day
• Give you flexibility by allowing to pay-as-you-go
• Work with the latest version of Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)

Some great services offered by O365 as a SaaS are:

• Office mobile apps – Access, view & edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote files via a web browser.
• Simple file sharing – Each user gets a 7GB personal storage with the SkyDrive Pro that is easily accessible on various devices.
• Web conferencing – Arrange meetings over-the-web with screen sharing, HD video conferencing, and instant messaging.
• Intranet Team sites – Get customizable security settings for individual teams within the organization with the help of SharePoint.
• Active directory integration – Allows you to manage user permissions & credentials with a single sign-on.
• Hosted email – Provides 25 GB of storage space per user, business-class email, shared calendars and the ability to use your own domain name.
• Office web apps – Create and edit Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and OnNote files via a web browser.

We, the Net Activity team are uniquely positioned as a leading provider of cloud infrastructure services. To get a glimpse of our cloud services, or discuss the details over the phone. Harry Bhatia, President, Net Activity, Inc. is reachable at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/benefits-of-moving-to-the-cloud-with-microsofts-office-365/

When the VoIP and IoT Come Together…

The Internet of Things is a mature term now. While we are used to using the internet, human intelligence often tries to bring material things like phones, desks, cars, etc. into the internet world. It allows us to connect better to the everyday appliances with the internet to give us a cleaner, smarter and a better world. With sensors attached to them, objects can communicate with the data from the internet to provide an improved functionality.   

The introduction of IoT, is on the verge of changing how enterprises and individuals use voice over IP (VoIP).  Although VoIP technology has gained popularity as an alternative to the traditional phone systems, the IoT provides a new platform of opportunities.

Designing a Smart Office: IoT and VoIP together can help businesses improve their efficiency and performance significantly. For example, you can make equipment communicate or alert business people by a simple text or email when it needs maintenance. Or individuals can create a complete digital office from home by creating a smart home.

Better Mobile and Wi-Fi Access: The IoT will provide better Wi-Fi technology options, including improved softphones and unified communications options.

Enhanced VoIP Security: With IoT, the potential of VoIP phone devices as a threat vector for malicious hacker and distributed denial-of-service attack will raise automatically.

Here are a few examples of IoT and VoIP Collaboration

• Set calendars to notify you via your VoIP phone about an upcoming event
• Program smart phone messages to automatically drop into your email via VoIP phone service
• Notify you for a service on your way past a specific mechanic you use. On accepting the alert, your VoIP phone system alerts your car the mechanic’s address to your GPS, and confirms a calendar event of your visit to the mechanic.

Collaborating VoIP with IoT requires a well-thought strategic planning by businesses due to security and privacy issues. VoIP service providers are finding more useful ways to expand digital services into traditional industries. To know more details on how your business can benefit from this collaboration, contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/when-the-voip-and-iot-come-together/

How to Aggregate Multiple Links for Better Internet Connectivity

While most of us struggle every day to connect to the highest internet speed, it is really important to look out for ways that will help extract the best usage of internet speed. Increasing the internet connection bandwidth depends on what you actually mean by it. Consider a single LAN user making only one TCP connection; In this case, he will a get a traffic flow from a single gateway and won’t be able to benefit from balanced connections. On the other hand, if the LAN is crowded with multiple users who execute multiple requests at the same time, their individual connections will have access to a higher bandwidth.

Cyberoam Firewall Addresses the Problem – Let’s see how

It simply focuses on ‘more management’ than ‘more bandwidth’ that is a logical solution. With Cyberoam, you are able to evaluate the traffic and regulate the flow, strictly adhering to the pre-established network policies. In the corporate scenario, users expect to have access to myriad applications. However, not all of those applications are related to business activities. Here, it is necessary to control user access to irrelevant applications, which would definitely invite resistance from the users. But what we are concerned more about is, distributing an optimum bandwidth to all the users so that they don’t get frustrated due to slower loading times.

Cyberoam is a bandwidth usage monitor and allocates it dynamically ensuring that every individual user and application receives a guaranteed bandwidth along with a share of excessive bandwidth based on priority. When the priority is configured, Cyberoam uses the Hierarchical Token Bucket to queuing discipline coupled with triple control like:

Guaranteed bandwidth: A minimum bandwidth that is reserved for a user or application
Burstable bandwidth: Borrowable bandwidth from the excess bandwidth
Priority: This refers to the excess bandwidth access priority. There are eight priority levels ranging from 0(highest) to 7(lowest).
Although Cyberoam provides result-oriented solutions to management of bandwidth, there are certain challenges that will have to be faced while its implementation.

• Allocating required bandwidth to business-critical users every time
• Restricting internet access and controlling bandwidth of users other than the business-critical users during the peak hours
• Blocking the non-business related traffic during business hours

Implementing these policies to control internet usage for increasing internet speed is not an easy task. It requires strategic planning and implementation but once practiced, can result in reducing non-business network traffic and resultantly providing the expected efficiency to business-critical users.

To help you experience a speedy internet connection, Net Activity, Inc. can help you manage and gain a control using its proven Unified Threat Management (UTM) done by the award winning Cyberoam products. We offer Intrusion Prevention System, Bandwidth Management, Multiple Link Load Balancing & Gateway Failover, Content & Application Filtering and many more just from one device.

We have been in business since 2002 and use our knowledge and expertise to strengthen your internet network security and bandwidth. To know further details contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 & fill in the contact form so that we can assist you.


Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-to-aggregate-multiple-links-for-better-internet-connectivity/

How to Verify the Effectiveness of Your IT Managed Services

Congratulations! You have finally found your IT partner. However, have you verified their services? Psst… Don’t say you haven’t! Obviously, you don’t wish to face a terrible IT crisis after paying huge sums of money to your Managed Service Provider (MSP). It’s important to verify the effectiveness of your IT managers as they are the ones who you rely upon for your network security.

So, how will you verify the efficiency of your IT Managed Network Security Service Provider? It is essential to understand a raw fact that for vendors, an extra margin (profit) rests in professional services, software licenses and maintenance – NOT the hardware. Therefore, vigilance on these parameters can be dangerous if ignored. You must analyze some critical points at your end before hiring a Managed IT Service Provider for your business:

• Does your service provider have positive customer references? Irrespective of the lucrative offers and services they boast of, you must ensure whether they are practically delivered.
• Is the team equipped with the latest competitive infrastructure to support your network needs? It is important to confirm this because it is they who are going to support your network requirements in case any emergencies occur.
• Have you got the terms & conditions verified by an expert? The undertakings must be clearly mentioned and communicated.
• Are there penalties for non-performance?
• Are the service level requirements clearly mentioned?

Next, here are some points to observe after you have hired the services of the MSP:

• Is your provider proactively taking necessary steps to avoid break-offs?
• Is your IT service provider able to resolve unexpectedly arisen issues?
• Is the MSP keeping your data secure & taking measures to prevent hacking episodes?
• Is the team you hired available for a 24×7 service?
• Do the network security providers show patience while solving your issues?
• Do they have the necessary knowledge and expertise to handle the complexities of your data and other related issues?
• Do they understand your network and data related problems well?
• Do you have any clause to escape the agreement if there is any mishandling or loss to the business?

Trust, but Verify – an excellent phrase that explains almost everything very simply. Net Activity, Inc. is a trusted team of professionals doing just what you were looking out for – Securing your data physically as well as on the cloud. We have helped many businesses survive through the major IT breakdowns and excel in monitoring data for smooth and secure operations. For further discussion on how we have been able to maintain authenticity from our clients, visit http://www.netactivity.us/it-managed-services.html or call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-to-verify-the-effectiveness-of-your-it-managed-services/

Don’t Hire MSPs Just Because Others Are Hiring

Don’t just hire; Think first

If you are well versed with technology and the pace at which IT is moving, you must definitely know what an MSP means. The IT Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are an essential backing to the IT needs of small to medium businesses, especially to those who cannot afford to have a dedicated team of IT professionals. While there are innumerable numbers of MSPs existing today, you can’t just fall into the trap.

Being a business owner, you need to do your homework well before making the decision. Here are a few points to think upon, before you finalize your IT partner. You require to hire an MSP if:

1. You don’t have a dedicated team of IT professionals:
   If you are a small or medium sized establishment, you definitely don’t need an entire team of IT experts on your payroll. Here’s where you can opt to hire the services of IT Managed Service Providers – providing expert solutions at relatively low costs.
2. Your systems need constant assistance & repairs:
   Technology is prone to eventual breakdowns and even if they seem to be simple at the first glance, you will get to know the complexities on deeper analysis. The MSPs do this for you at a fraction of the costs that an in-house IT professional would cost. Moreover, by partnering with an experienced MSP, you can be rest assured of having expert minds & brains to look after your technology.
3. You are unable to predict your IT budget:
   With this ever-changing cost of technology, it has become simply impossible to predict a fixed amount needed for the upcoming year. You can solve this issue by hiring an MSP that charges a flat fee/month and ensure to take care of all the network or data related issues without demanding for anything more. Thereby, you will have a planned approach to securing your IT infrastructure while reducing on overwhelming costs.
4. Your IT strategy is non-existent/poorly developed:
   No system is static. The technological components of your IT infrastructure also need upgrades. However, you have no idea as to how and when to proceed. The IT Managed Service Provider guides you through the whole process and also gives timely suggestions to stay consistently functional.

Apart from the above, there are other issues you may face regarding IT network security that are complex for you to resolve. Hiring MSPs can prove to be a better solution if your business is being hampered by the above mentioned technological pitfalls.

Partnering with the right MSP is essential. Net Activity, Inc. has been in business since 2002 and we believe in providing exceptionally competent solutions to our customers. If you wish to secure your data at the most economical prices, please contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206. You may visit our website for a virtual tour of services offered by us: http://www.netactivity.us/.

Thank You for visiting us!

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/dont-hire-msps-just-because-others-are-hiring/

Moving to the Cloud? See How Hiring a MSP Can Help

Your transition to the cloud is a critical process and involves numerous activities that affect various aspects of your business. It’s definitely not something you deal with on daily basis. So, hiring the services of professionals is a better alternative. Hosting your business on the cloud is an opportunity to enjoy flexible, expandable data management sources while cutting down on expenses. But before migration, businesses must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud environments. These are better known by experts as they are well-versed with the technicalities of the cloud. A custom strategy is vital to get enterprises up and running faster in the cloud environment with reduced overall costs.

Here is why you need the services of managed service providers (MSPs):

To avoid investment in IT technicians – Organizations require a dedicated team of technicians to monitor the cloud migration process. However, once migration is complete, the investment will seem to be unworthy and unproductive. MSPs accept various modes of payment and you can select the one that suits your budget.

To save on the infrastructural expenses – It is wise to delegate the job to MSPs as organizations cannot afford to arrange for the computer systems that are configured to suffice the cloud migration process.

To avail the services of specially trained engineers – Many details are understood better by the specially trained engineers employed with MSPs. Your in-house IT technicians may not be able to solve issues as they occur.

Organizations may experience many other pitfalls while the process is on and at that emergency hour, it would be difficult to manage apt solutions for the problems. Manpower, bandwidth, or architecture are some of such areas where unpredictable needs may arises leading to a situation of crisis. Fortunately, collaborating with MSPs can pacify the process of your transition to the cloud with its high availability, resiliency, or disaster recovery – freeing up internal IT staff to focus on more strategic projects.

Net Activity, Inc. is one such managed service provider that is dominantly serving its customers for cloud migration and management. We are leading providers of public, private and hybrid cloud computing solutions including cloud assets, IPs and services that are customized to meet the diverse business requirements. We would like to help you through the cloud migration.

Call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 to know about the details or visit our website http://www.netactivity.us/ to understand what we offer.

Is Aging Computer Equipment Costing You Money?

“Oh no… Not again!” exclaims every business owner whenever new technology enters the market. Small business owners are better reflectors of what happens in the background when any of its computer equipment reaches the retirement age. Most of them tend to continue using older equipment until it completely fails; not a smart move indeed. Although this has not been the case with pro-active businessmen who meticulously keep an eye on the movement of technology, there is a certain part of the business that is hampered.

Yes. The aging computer equipment is costing you money, in fact, a huge chunk of the investment. Let’s understand the hows:

Repairing costs > Replacement costs: The cost of repairing the sluggish PCs or other computer accessories equals or even exceeds the cost of purchasing a new one. According to a global survey by Techaisle, small businesses spend $427 on the repairs of a 4 year old PC on an average which is 1.3 times costlier than to repair a PC that is less than 4 years old or replace with a new one.

Underutilization of Employee Productivity: We often miss out the technological component while measuring and assessing employee productivity. The Techaisle study revealed that an average of 42 productive hours is lost while the older PCs are being repaired which is twice as the unproductive time due to PCs which are less than 4 years old.

Struggle with the New Technology: The aged computer equipment is weak to handle the newer versions of the software. Compatibility issues are huge as the drivers get out of date. Automatic software updates force the business owners’ hands by pushing computers to their fullest capabilities. This consumes a considerable amount of hidden costs that are accountable for less productivity and profits.

Downtime Issues: Bearing the burden of non-productive hours and loss of opportunities as well as profits during the most profitable months is not what any of the businesses operate for. However, if businesses tend to push their hardware until it blows up severely bad, this is really critical. It results into a dual-end loss: replacing the old hardware along with the unforeseeable losses due to downtime.

Business Looks Outdated: As you wouldn’t walk into a business meeting wearing a 1970’s suit, your clients, employees and customers wouldn’t be impressed to see clunky old desktops and laptop computers. It wouldn’t be a pleasant scene to watch your employees struggle to connect to a local printer – they and others connected to your business naturally tend to think that your entire business is behind the times.

If you are already calculating the costs of your aging computers, it is a good start. We can definitely help you with replacing your hardware, machines, and network components. Call Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206 to discuss how much it will cost you. For initial details, please visit http://www.netactivity.us/ and find out how we can help your business requirements.

Net Activity, Inc. offers services to all sizes of businesses with skilled server handling, network management and, computer maintenance including  complete IT solutions like system installation, IT consulting, data security, storage solutions, helpdesk, maintenance & support and hardware repair.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/is-aging-computer-equipment-costing-you-money/

Urgent Solutions for VoIP Security Issues

Until now, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) security has been overshadowed by the attractiveness of this new technology. But the intelligent users of today proactively raised the question of security of the internet telephony as a result of increasing vulnerability of the internet environment.
Let’s understand the vulnerabilities:
Starting with the basics, we know that these audio streams are accessible to anyone with network access. Voice over IP can be decoded by Eavesdroppers as they tap the audio conversations in an unsecured VoIP Environment. How about an eavesdropper overhearing the news of layoffs that management is planning? It can be dangerous as leaking out extremely confidential information of the management is really not what is expected of a sophisticated IT network. Hackers are all set to attack servers with irrelevant queries or requests making it inaccessible for legitimate users. This may lead to ruining the complete data structure of an organization.
What are the alternatives?
The VoIP communications may use one or more channels (TCP/UDP) connections which need to be secured – authenticated and encrypted. The VoIP network can be secured by:

• Authorization
• Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• Authentication
• Media Encryption (SRTP)

Authorization: The devices must be configured in a manner to allow traffic from a selected group of IP addresses. This mechanism shields the device from denial-of-service attacks to some extent.
Transport Layer Security: The TLS Protocol provides privacy and data integrity between two communicating applications. It allows only SIP signaling with other devices and permits applications to communicate in a way that prevents message forgery, tampering, and eavesdropping. With this, it will be mandatory for clients to set up a TLS/SSL connection to the server and exchange encrypted SIP messages on the secure connection.
Authentication: It requires the participating VoIP devices to authenticate each other before starting conversations. Thereby, it becomes nearly impossible for hackers to mislead/fake identities.
Media Encryption: SRTP (secure real-time transport protocol) is a security profile that adds confidentiality to the protocol and is ideal for protecting the voice over IP traffic. It also provides replay protection and achieves low packet and high throughput expansion by using fast–stream ciphers for encryption an implicit index for synchronization, and universal hash functions for message authentication. SRTP ensures confidentiality of the RTP payload, the integrity protection of the entire RTP packet (including protection against replayed RTP packets), and implicit authentication of the header. SRTP serves as a suitable choice for the most general scenarios as well as the most demanding ones.
Most of the VoIP vendors have pledged in to provide VoIP network services that are competitive enough to provide you a secure communication platform. The VoIP security issue is not “as” critical as it is hyped up. It’s just that hackers are alluded to interfere with the voice flowing through data networks. If you avail the services of a reliable VoIP service provider, the purpose of having an uninterrupted secure network will be solved.
Net Activity, Inc. comes along with high quality, reliable cloud-based solutions that future-proofs your communication systems. With our expert services, you will experience limitless call routing features, and an effective, intuitive user interface. For more details, please visit http://www.netactivity.us/voip-business-phone-services.html or call Harry Bhatia at 216 503 5150.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/urgent-solutions-for-voip-security-issues/

How to be Safe While Moving to the Cloud Infrastructure

We all live in an era where the digital workspace is known by the name Cloud. Unlike the earlier times, cloud migration is no longer an option; it is an imperative part of businesses responsible for speeding up processes, reducing costs and establishing flexibility. Almost all the businesses, irrespective of whether technology-based or not, due to the convenience and cost-efficiency (of course, when done right), are moving to the cloud infrastructure.

Moving to the cloud environment affects no single but many components of the business including information, personnel, expenses, security, and performance. To extract the advantages of cloud computing to the maximum, business owners as well as IT managers must diligently avoid the following mistakes that have led to hefty losses to some businesses:

• Selection of wrong service package – Many companies end up paying for services they don’t need and lose agility and control.
• Neglecting connectivity in lieu of saving on costs – You cannot afford to lose even a single minute productivity of thousands of employees which can cost you a hefty loss of thousands of dollars per minute. Some cloud computing service providers may try to lure you with cost saving options but you need to be extra careful in such cases.
• Overlooking disaster recovery exercises – A proper disaster recovery plan (not just backup) allows businesses to be stable during unfavorable situations too.
• Visioning only for the short-term – While opting for a cloud computing solution, many organizations look at their short term goals and analyze what cloud can do for them at that instant. This can lead to unintentional design limitations that could have easily been avoided.
• Underestimating the time and bandwidth required for moving large data sets – Due to network speed limits, large chunks of data require longer duration to be moved. Organizations must rationally understand that speed largely affects the cloud’s performance.

Benefits of cloud computing are many, however, in the current scenario, what speaks dominantly is how a business extracts the maximum out of the cloud computing solutions. For a better insight over cloud computing mechanism and to help you decide on the service provider you must trust, you ought to get impartial suggestions & advice from experts.

Net Activity Inc. is a leading provider of proven cloud computing solutions. Completely dedicated to its services and customer satisfaction, the team popularly addresses its customers’ diverse cloud requirements along with offering a robust environment. For more details on how our cloud services are way ahead of others, please visit http://www.netactivity.us/cloud-computing-services.html or contact Harry Bhatia at 2165035150 X 206.

Source: http://www.netactivity.us/blog/how-to-be-safe-while-moving-to-the-cloud-infrastructure/

Know the Difference Between Cloud Scalability and Elasticity

Among the various notions about cloud computing, the most disputed one expert are discussing on is – “What matters in Cloud Computing: scalability or elasticity?” Often, both the terms are interchangeably used which leads to all that confusion. Interestingly, there is a thin but important line of difference in the two features.

To simply state, scalability defines the ability of software or hardware to continue functioning at a high level of performance with the increasing workflow volume. Scalable applications are also capable of taking the fullest advantage of the resources that its new environment offers.

On the other hand, elasticity is aimed at companies developing business or customer-facing software application that they plan to sell on a monthly/yearly subscription basis. So, there is room for unpredictable changes without having a massive impact on the pricing.

Having defined both, we now understand that scalability is a specific and gradual concept than elasticity and is controlled by you. Apart from all the differences between scalability and elasticity, there is one thing in common between them – adaptability. Ideally, a cloud solution that is both scalable and elastic is an adaptable situation. But this doesn’t mean that you don’t have the option to select either of the features. To be very specific here, cloud elasticity is a better alternative for e-commerce businesses, mobile & web development, other software companies and SaaS, while scalability is the solution for those who want to put some or their entire business infrastructure on the cloud like call centers, law firms, car dealers, etc..

When you talk about securing your data on the cloud, it calls for another battle between choosing a private cloud or a public cloud. The public cloud relates more to elasticity and scalability goes well with the private cloud. Determining whether a company needs to decide on a scalable or elastic cloud solution first requires an analysis of the company’s needs. However, unfortunately many customers’ views are muddied by some providers who market the more expensive (at times unnecessary) elastic cloud option irrespective of the size and kind of businesses.

The bottom line is that when it comes to making a better choice, business owners need to remember that it’s scalability that is more important for success with the private cloud. No doubt, elasticity is a rational concept but it works for giant businesses who claim to handle the entire planet (or at least half of it). If you are still unable to make your decision, you can talk to our experts at 216 503 5150 X 206 or email your query to info@netactivity.us. We’ll be happy to provide you the solution.

Source : http://www.netactivity.us/blog/know-the-difference-between-cloud-scalability-and-elasticity/