Nettology’s ABCs of Technology
Learning the ABCs of Technology can help you understand important IT fundamentals.
A is for Amazon Web Services. Is your business in the cloud? Cloud computing has gone mainstream and the leading cloud provider is Amazon Web Services. Nettology in suburban Philadelphia is an Amazon Web Services AWS partner and will provide as much guidance and support as you need with your AWS solution. Below are the benefits of using AWS.
- There’s no upfront investment, just low monthly costs.
- The overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) tends to be lower as the costs of space, electricity, cooling, etc. are all included in the monthly fee.
AWS offers a very flexible capacity. That means you don’t have to overbuy or over-provision on hardware now to cover your projected future needs.
This flexibility leads to better speed and agility so that you can develop and deploy new systems faster. - By simplifying your IT infrastructure, AWS helps you focus on your business, not on your IT.
B is for BYOD. Allowing an employee to bring their own laptop, tablet, or cell phone into the workplace to access company data is a concept known as BYOD or Bring Your Own Device. Employees can easily work on the road or from home making their jobs more accessible and increasing productivity. While there are many advantages to allowing employees to bring their laptops, phones, tablets, etc. into the workplace and setting them up with access to corporate data there are also several risky downfalls.
C is for Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing has basically become second nature to everyone. The majority of the population is using and storing information in the “cloud.” By utilizing and storing in the cloud it has made running a business and our everyday lives simpler and less hectic. It’s cost-effective, offers good security, unlimited storage space, and is usually easy to set up and use. There are many different variations of Cloud Computing that you can read more about in this blog.
D is for Disaster Recovery. Is your business ready for a disaster? Anything from a simple outage to a zombie apocalypse can cause major distress to a business. So making sure your business has a disaster recovery plan and continuity plan is vital to all businesses. Many will ask what is the difference between a Disaster Recovery Plan and a Disaster Continuity Plan. The main difference is a Disaster Recovery Plan or DRP is a plan for a major event (ie: hurricane, fire, etc.) that can destroy all belongings and a Disaster Continuity Plan or DRC is a plan for a minor event (ie: power outage). Most companies can’t afford to have any downtime; even a few minutes to an hour can cost a company thousands of dollars.
E is for EMC is a global leader in data storage, helping businesses to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in an agile, secure, and cost-efficient way.
F is for Firewall. Firewalls used to be only for large companies but as we move deeper into a digital age with our entire lives in the public cloud we need to think about protecting our personal and small business networks. Some people think that only small companies are more vulnerable to hackers but over the past year, there has been a large number of security breaches from some very large companies. Home Depot, Sony, and JP Morgan to name a few Even with 100s of thousands of dollars being spent on the best network security they still managed to have their customer’s email addresses, credit card numbers, and personal data stolen. If large companies are getting hacked how safe is the average small business owner?
G is for Green Computing. What is “green computing,” you ask? It’s been defined as the practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computer equipment efficiently, with minimal or no impact on the environment.
Why is it good to have a green computing initiative for your business? Initially, small business owners are motivated to go green because computers, monitors, servers, switches, attached storage devices, cluster boxes, uninterrupted power supplies, and other attached peripherals are expensive to buy and expensive to power. Business owners can save thousands of dollars every year by going green – focusing on power efficiency, with purpose-designed platforms that take advantage of next-generation power management.
H is for HP. Hewlett Packard (HP) is a global tech industry leader with a decades-long history of providing innovative corporate, small-business, and home IT products and services.
Created by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in a Palo Alto garage, the birth of HP is recognized as the symbolic foundation of Silicon Valley. From these humble origins, HP grew into a multinational powerhouse that created the first desktop computer and the first inkjet and laser printers. Today, the company’s diverse product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise, and industry-standard servers, data storage devices, networking and security products, software, and a diverse range of printers and other imaging products. Hewlett Packard has IT infrastructure solutions for clients of every size.
I is for Is it time to store your information in the internet cloud. Disaster strikes and your server, desktop, tablet or cell phone has been destroyed. You may be insured for the cost of the hardware, but what about that valuable data? The work databases, contacts, accounting records, even family pictures, and personal data? As we move deeper into a digital age our entire lives are stored on our laptops and mobile devices or corporate servers. Storing/backing up your critical files and documents in the cloud allows you to have instant access to all your files no matter what happens to your hardware.
J is for Java. Java is a programming language that was first introduced in 1995. Many programs will not run unless you have Java installed. It allows you to play online games, view images and chat with people online. Java recently just turned 20!
K is for Keyboards. Click Here for some useful keyboard shortcuts and tips.
L is for Lenovo. Lenovo is one of the world’s leading personal technology companies, producing innovative PCs and mobile internet devices. A global Fortune 500 company, Lenovo is the world’s largest PC vendor and fourth largest smartphone company.
M is for Microsoft 365. Microsoft is taking Office to the cloud with Microsoft 365. Office 365 is a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office. It offers desktop software, plus web-based access and applications for tablets and smartphones. It also offers email and calendar functions to replace Microsoft Exchange.
N is for Nettology. Nettology is an IT company based outside of Philadelphia, PA. Regardless of whether you have a short-term IT project or a longer-term need for managed support, Nettology provides top-notch expertise in all domains of IT infrastructure: networking (wired and wireless), security, servers, virtualization, storage, backup and recovery. If you require a project-based analysis.
O is for outsourcing your IT – Outsourcing your IT. Companies large and small can benefit from hiring an outside IT firm. It saves money, improves productivity, and provides new perspectives.
P is for Passwords – Using a good solid password is vital to keeping your network safe. Remembering passwords – especially when you use fourteen different ones – is at the top of the list of things most people can’t stand about using computers. However, there are several ways for you to not only maintain consistency with your various passwords but to also keep them secure and easily memorable. Use a paraphrase not a word, and never write your password on a piece of paper or give it to anyone.
Q is for QNAP. QNAP, the “Quality Network Appliance Provider”, aims to deliver comprehensive offerings of cutting edge network-attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions featured with ease-of-use, robust operation, large storage capacity, and trustworthy reliability.
R is for Raid -Data storage is a crucial part of your IT infrastructure. Today we’ll cover the basics of a very important data storage technology called RAID.
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID is a system that improves performance, reliability, and fault tolerance for networked attached storage (NAS) devices or the hard disk of a server/workstation. In general, the server/workstation or NAS device will contain a RAID controller that manages an array of disks
S is for SSD or Solid State Drives. Flash Drives and Solid State Drives use microchips to store information instead of moving components that read and write the information, making them a much faster and reliable option
T is for Time. Critical network infrastructure, email, and application servers need to be ready and working whenever you are.
U is for Unix – Unix vs Linux.
V is for Virtualization. A Virtual Machine (VM) is basically like having a whole computer and Operating System (OS) running inside another physical computer. Multiple VMs can be run on one physical computer. Running multiple virtual machines on one physical server has many advantages.
W is for Wi-Fi connection issues that Nettology’s Help Desk team can help you solve.
Y is for Yottabyte and Yobibyte – “A Yottabyte is A 1024 or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes” and a Yobibyte, which contains 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes (280) bytes.
Z is for Zip Files. Zip files are computer files that compress more than 1 file. Click here for some ways to compress and uncompress zip files.
If you’d like to learn more about any of these topics, or would like some additional help for your IT staff, call Nettology Philadelphia IT support at 610-558-1730. Nettology offers Network Assessments, Security Assessments, and our all-in-one Total Care support package to keep your IT infrastructure running smoothly.
Want more short tips on the ABCs of Technology? Visit our LinkedIn company page.
