For all the hype of virtualization, it appears as though each IT vendor is carrying their virtualization wand and applying it to every prospective customer, promising cost savings and better performance. While I do believe strongly that virtualization is the answer, let’s look at a couple of the problem areas that could cause access to your data be slower than a toad.

I’ll take 1 more of everything. That’s the theory at work. Make sure your environment can survive while losing an entire server, a single drive, a processor, some memory and even a switch. If you design it correctly virtualization is the least expensive way to produce great redundancy. (N + 1, or better)

Start with a good platform. While prices continue to decline for virtualization software, the entry-point with Microsoft’s hyper-v is included with your Windows servers, Citrix and VMware both have low-costs to get started. Microsoft and Citrix seem to be chasing VMware’s lead in marketshare and functionality. Make sure when you chose your virtualization platform, you keep in mind the growth potential, features and ease-of management. Currently, it is tough to beat the scalability and ease of management with VMware.

Don’t forget my disks. One of the most common elements missed when implementing virtualization is faster storage.  4 years ago, when you bought that server with drives in it, you bought 4 drives at 10,000 rpm and it ran just fine. Now, you can run a lot more servers on the newer quad-cores and a bit more memory, but don’t forget that you will need some fast storage to handle this load. Depending on your size you will either need to build a SAN, or at least install more fast drives in your servers.

What’s this button do? Too often virtualization projects take place because of a short-term need and leads to more work down the road. 15 minutes with someone who’s done it before can help lead you to a better solution that will scale down the road.

Send in the backup. While you can create more redundancy with virtualization, don’t forget that you still need to back it up. Your current backup may still be viable, but new alternatives may suit your needs better.

While you don’t have to be Harry Potter to implement virtualization correctly, a few careful practices will keep you out of trouble. Once you have your environment setup, virtualization will simplify management and give you more flexibility long-term.

-Ben Pankonin

In almost every New Year’s Eve celebration you will hear that song “Auld Lang Syne“. “Auld Lang Syne”, meaning “Old Long Since” or “long long ago” in our field, it may refer to things we did last year.

While we frequently don’t expect to use the word tradition to describe anything we do with technology, you might be surprised at the ways tradition affects your use of technology. Many IT software and hardware companies have lulled us to sleep with the expectation that we can continue paying maintenance, replace hardware on a pre-set schedule and all of our technology problems will stay away for another year. The truth of the matter is that even technology savvy companies get into habits that lead technology down the dangerous road to tradition.

I recently had a client call to ask if we could help develop a backup solution. They have been using the same backup software from a major vendor for the past 8 years, keeping maintenance and upgrading when needed. As I took the call, I illustrated, based specific requirements, I actually would recommend a different solution today than I would have just 6 months ago. Another client just this week asked me, “can I call-in to get my voice mail”? Funny, I thought, I haven’t dialed-in to voicemail in years, simply viewed it on my mobile device as a .wav file or utilize ‘single-number-reach‘ to leave one voice mail for all devices.

While your technology traditions may not date back to the 1700s like Auld Lang Syne, being conscious of those areas where technology becomes tradition helps your company keep from becoming stagnate. Happy New Year from Five Nines.

-Ben Pankonin

1. iPhone Competitors
   We won’t go as far as to say there are any killers in the bunch, but a new range of devices have smartphone users excited about new apps and better answers to mobility. True, the iPhone still remains dominant, but continued innovation by Palm’s webOS, Google’s Droid and better RIM devices are bringing new ideas to a larger mobile dinner table.
2. Windows 7
   No need to utter the words of Microsoft’s last OS, Windows 7 sheds a new light on the possibilities for desktops and laptops present in this new OS. With touch, cleaner operating system, better performance and the largest beta testing ever, Windows 7 trumps its predecessor. We can be appreciative that we finally have an operating system that provides new functionality without sacrificing stability.
3. Virtualization
   Perhaps a perfect storm for actualization partners in 2009, this year with companies looking to cut costs and gain better redundancy, both VMware and Microsoft are building better, less expensive ways to implement virtualization. Let’s be fair, part of what has allowed VMware to implement more virtualization over the last year is the fact that Microsoft now extensively supports virtualization on nearly all server platforms including Exchange and Domain Controllers. Whether a business looking for better disaster recovery, less hardware expense or more redundancy, we have reason to give thanks. Even hardware vendors have brought costly SAN storage into small business price ranges.
4. The Rise of the Netbook
   Lowering the cost for remote devices, Netbooks continue to allow for a successful end-user experience while keeping the processing in the cloud.  This important step allows many people to be grateful for greater processing and mobility per dollar.
5. The Cloud Gets Clearer
   More has been developed for cloud-computing in the last year. It’s hard to avoid the barrage of news about the future of cloud-computing. While still young, businesses are beginning to trust some computing elements in the cloud.  Both Microsoft and Google have announced and are rolling out extensive cloud-computing models and Amazon’s elastic cloud expands.  Businesses owe much thanks to the companies who are extending their computing infrastructures to support our processing and storage needs.

Starting while Tim Tebow and Florida won the College Football National Championship, much of our staff downloaded the first beta version of Windows 7, January 8^th. At that time, my tablet PC running Windows Vista was a source of frustration for me.  Like many others who adopted Vista, we had become exceedingly frustrated and blamed things on Vista even after it became more stable.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner who rejected implementing Vista for our business clients, I was cautious in deploying Windows 7.  My caution turned when running the first beta releases in January.  Windows 7 had less glitches and a cleaner feel than the otherwise clunky Vista.

Evaluating an Operating System

An operating system should function as the platform by which the applications you wish to run may operate.  Keep in mind, when evaluating an Operating system, you are not looking for a specific application (Applications such as Office 2010 will simply use the abilities of the Operating system).  What you are looking for is a platform that is non-intrusive, performs well and supports new software looking to take advantage of the capabilities.

An Honest Look at Windows 7

Windows 7 taskbar improvements

Immediately after loading Windows 7 you will notice that the taskbar functionality is greatly increased.  You will see the functionality of jumplists, that is the ability to mouse-over applications and see recent documents and applications. You will also be attracted to the ability to have a preview of the open documents without having to actually open the application, referred to by Microsoft as Preview Plus.

Reducing Notifications has made Windows 7 more attractive and usable, you now have the ability to customize notifications and keep them in the background, where they should be.  Vista even has some nifty hidden tools like shaking the top of a window to scare away the other windows – slick. Also some of the most basic browsing, like file folders can now be modified into libraries to be better organized with photos, documents and other content.

I am running my Windows 7 machine on a Dell XT tablet which includes the ability to utilize multi-touch, similar to the touch abilities of an iphone. I will admit that this is something that will require applications to take advantage of this new ability to do multi-touch in an useful manner.  Currently multi-touch only helps to expand or contract a picture and scroll which is easily served by a mouse or scroll-wheel.

While we work with Business clients in Windows 7, the lines continue to be blurred as many businesses chose laptops that their employees will also use at home.  That said, Windows 7 does have some very attractive components for those wishing to network their home. An extremely useful and easy-to-implement feature of streaming music directly to other computers with Windows Media Player and previews of MP3s before you listen. Many backup functions have been greatly increased, especially for home users wishing to backup some or all portions of their hard disk.

Ready to go?

Perhaps better than any other motivating point for Windows 7 is that it is a well-tested operating system.  After one of the most successful and largest beta tests in history, Windows 7 performs well and software and hardware vendors have been quick to adapt their applications for use with Windows 7.  But, as always, make sure that line-of-business applications are compatible before beginning your deployment of Windows 7.