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 Compatibility issues are huge as the drivers get out of date.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Business Looks Outdated: As you wouldn’t walk into a business meeting wearing a 1970’s suit, your clients, employees and customers wouldn’t be impressed to see clunky old desktops and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/

Key Role of Firewalls In Network Security : How It Works?

Firewalls & network security services are known to all those who use the internet and stands important as a protective shield to your network. Today, internet is a basic necessity of computer (or any digital media) users. However, it also invites invader’s attack on the network security which can lead to build up a malicious traffic on your system by encouraging unauthorized access to and from a network.

How does a firewall network security plan works:

A firewall is responsible for bringing in only safe and relevant traffic to your private network or computer system. It keeps a check on any unauthorized access to your computer and automatically refuses and decrypt’s unwanted information through the network.

Network Security Services

It uses one or a combination of the following three methods to monitor traffic flowing in and out of the network.

Packet Filtering

This is the earliest and very basic type of firewall protection that inspects packets of information and flags inappropriate content or suspicious files. It uses a pre-defined set of rules to detect the packet’s source and destination address, protocol, and destination port number.Although the transport layer is used to obtain the source and destination port numbers, the packet filter firewalls mainly work on the first three layers of the OSI reference model.

Stateful Inspection

Introduced in 1994, the Stateful Packet Inspection provided additional information about the origin of a packet – whether it is a part of an existing connection or not. This eventually led to speeding up of packet processing. Stateful firewalls,without further analysis, allow packets that are part of an existing connection and evaluate others according to the rules set for new connections.

Application Filtering

With the increasing web server attacks, application-layer firewalls emerged in 1999 to protect servers as well as the applications. This enabled the firewalls to filter packets on any OSI layer up to the application layer. The advantage of application layer filtering is that it lets you block specific content like malware or certain websites and recognize when certain protocols such as HTTP, FTP & DNS are being misused.

Proxy Service

It acts as an intermediary between systems. The proxy firewall prevents establishing direct connections between both the sides; they are forced to conduct a session through the proxy, which can block or allow traffic according to the pre-defined set of rules.

Firewalls are an inseparable part of the packages provided by managed IT support services providers (MSSPs). Net Activity, Inc. a leading provider of internet security services, Cleveland includes firewall security as a service with management of threats from the network operational center.

Contact us on (216) 503-5150 ext 206 or write to us at http://www.netactivity.us/contact.html.

To know more about network security services refer to: http://www.netactivity.us/security-services.html

Source : http://www.netactivity.us/blog/key-role-of-firewalls-in-network-security-how-it-works/

10 Best Cloud Storage Services 2016

The major concern of businesses today is how & where to keep their precious data secure. Ridiculously, it has been more important than safeguarding physical assets. Coming to the rescue, online/cloud storage has become the strongest game changer. Every business, small or big, has partnered and trusted the very reliable and inexpensive cloud storage for storing their data. Cloud services have matured with time just to feature immensely customizable solutions to businesses which will definitely pose a puzzle in making an appropriate choice.

Net Activity, Inc., a leading provider of public and private cloud computing solutions in Cleveland & Akron, realizes the upsurge of data dependency and takes the initiative to describe 10 best cloud storage services of 2016 you can rely on:

Easy usability :

1. Dropbox: If you need no more than 2GB of free space, Dropbox is amazing! It shells out more space (as high as 18GB) for you in simple ways such as referring friends. The UI is clean and what interests more is it allows you to share data with non Dropbox users too.
2. Sync: Comparably a newbie, Sync is gaining popularity due to offering quite a large 5GB of free space, upgradable to 500GB for $49/year & 2TB for $98/year with an easy-to-use interface.
3. eFolder Anchor: A strong alternative to Dropbox, Anchor stands as a comprehensive file synchronization platform built exclusively for MSPs, IT service providers and VARs. It characterizes easy usability, true multi-tenant management and monitoring, full white label branding with wholesale monthly billing and RMM & PSA integration.

Efficiency :

4. Google Drive: It hits the list as you get a whopping 15GB of free storage on sign up. It allows you to experiment a lot by letting you create, save & sync data with the help of integrated apps without using your free storage.
5. Box: It generously offers you a free space of 10GB along with security, task management & discussions within Box. However, it restricts file size & doesn’t permit file version history.

Privacy :

6. MEGA: An intuitive UI with a sufficient free storage space of 50GB is what users experience with MEGA. Sharing of public links is allowed but you can’t password protect shared files. MEGA doesn’t access your data.
7. SpiderOak: It’s kind of a dearly priced service with regards to storage provided. Data is encrypted for both transfer & storage. So it’s extra protected & serves good unless you forget the password.

Other reliable cloud storage options :

8. OneDrive: Microsoft’s OneDrive lets users benefit from 15GB free space on signing up and offers several upgrades for an extra cost. It works closely with MS-Office apps and that’s where it gets a thumbs-up.
9. pCloud: You get an instant 10GB of data storage for free with pCloud and can expand it to up to 20GB. It functions well with all the operating systems and can also be conveniently used on desktop & mobile screens. An instant backup of photos from social media is an added feature to make it appealing.
10. Mediafire: The free account invites 10GB of free data storage expandable by easy tasks or paying extra. It displays an elegant interface & allows you to create, save and manage a wide range of file types.

Source : https://netactivityblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/10-best-cloud-storage-services-2016/

5 Ways Businesses Benefit from Managed IT Network Security Services

Information Technology (IT) has gained immense strength in the past few decades and almost all businesses, irrespective of their sizes, succumb to avail the services of managed IT security service providers (MSSPs). MSSPs are responsible for maintaining an organization’s security needs.

Specifically talking about the state of Ohio, where businesses take large leaps every second, it is really not expected of them to ignore the importance of IT security services. Those who can afford set up in-house departments to organize and optimize security across the board. While the small and mid-sized businesses linger upon the thought until it’s too late. Net Activity, Inc. is a provider of network security services in Ohio who excels in providing compatible IT solutions at competitive prices. Using centralized tools that become too expensive for small businesses to acquire, Net Activity, Inc. can centrally monitor security, do backups, updates, real time monitor VPN tunnels and more.

Having understood the primary motto of businesses hiring professionals to manage a range of IT services, let us look deeper into what more benefits you infer in the long run.

Risk Delegation : Companies offering internet security services ensure that your business is safe from virus and malware infection, spyware infection and hacker attacks. They have managed intrusion, detection and prevention systems for timely network checks.

24X7X365 hours Surveillance : The highly skilled security experts at MSSPs manage & secure your IT systems completely even when you are not working.

Controlled budget : With MSSPs, you do not have to worry about recurring costs or burden yourself with the cost of frequent technology breakdowns. Interestingly, they cost measurably less than investing in personnel, software & hardware.

Enhanced Network Performance : These security providers remain updated with the latest regulatory compliances and optimize internal security management to ensure uninterrupted network performance.

Comprehensive Knowledge : The MSSPs are teamed up with specialized professionals who are well-versed with the technical aspects of cyber security. They continually update themselves with new threats and potential functional vulnerabilities as they arise to ensure proactive solutions.

About us: Net Activity, Inc. is committed to offering managed IT network security services in Cleveland & Akron ensuring a safe and uninterrupted workflow to businesses at reduced costs.

Source : http://www.netactivity.us/blog/5-ways-businesses-benefit-from-managed-it-network-security-services/