Wondering who is running what on your network?  Need to know what your employees are doing on the Internet?  We can conduct a low-cost, highly effective analysis of network use, performance and security (more).

As a manager or business owner, you carry the responsibility of maintaining the very lifeline of your company through the availability of your IT systems.  You are ultimately accountable for IT financial management, status reporting and corporate compliance.  Despite budget restraints, possible reduction in personnel and often limited resources you have a commitment to:

·               Provide Consistent Service Levels

·               Implement a Pro-active, Process Driven Service Model

·               Increase Productivity

·               Exceed Users Expectations

·               Expand Your Service Capabilities

·               Focus on Strategic Initiatives

You can accomplish this with our complete, secure, reliable and full service Assure IT Systems Management Solution that will meet your needs today and provide the scalability you need for the future. Call us today for a no-cost demonstration.

Announcing the availability of the attached technical report which compares the user experience of Citrix XenDesktop 4 vs. VMware View 4!

This report was prepared by Miercom, a networking and communications testing and validation firm. Their background made Miercom particularly well suited for this investigation into the performance of our respective delivery protocols.

The testing looks at different workloads (general desktop use and Flash multimedia) and multiple network scenarios (LAN and WAN), and shows significant differences in bandwidth utilization, CPU consumption and overall user experience. Some key highlights:

• XenDesktop uses 64% less bandwidth than View 4 (with PCoIP) for typical desktop workloads
• XenDesktop uses 89% less bandwidth and 65% less CPU for Flash video when using our HDX MediaStream for Flash feature
• Overall, XenDesktop provides a better “Quality of Experience” as quantified by Miercom
• As a result, XenDesktop is significantly more capable of scaling and meeting end user requirements

This report will be available www.Citrix.com and visitors may register to receive it. It will be part of our demand gen campaign materials, posted to the XenDesktop Success Kit, and can be freely distributed by our field to prospects and customers. Thanks to Ken Staples for his hard work with the vendor to complete the testing, validation and documentation.

by Fred Richards, Matrix Senior Network Engineer

Here at Matrix, security is not any one action that is performed but rather a mindset of using only enterprise-grade hardware and software tools coupled with a fanatical application of barrier layering. As a result, the security of our clients’ data is fundamentally paramount.  Here’s why:

The datacenter itself is partitioned in such a manner that each device, every node in the network, has it’s own specific role and responsibility.  A customer’s data, traveling through the network, may pass through a different group of devices depending on it’s purpose.  Each device also has a varying degree of importance in strict adherence to Cisco Systems’ recommendations for a tiered network design.  Every device’s configuration and software revision is scrutinized for attack vectors, software flaws, and configured for networking security best practices (per CCNP/CCIE requirements).  The modularization of nodes and isolation of the customer’s data is common from the customer’s site through the core of the network, and finally out to the internet.  Strict guidelines adhere to configuration of new equipment, and placing customers in their appropriate segment.

Security access levels are also strictly enforced, along the lines of each customer’s segments.  To traverse levels, specific access lists are in place for each applications’ unique need.  Most hosts and nodes exist solely on the inside of the firewall.  Users with a private connection to the datacenter, and a privately hosted server, never leave the inside of the datacenter.   Host security itself is handled by the server team, with patch levels and monitoring, and antivirus where necessary.  Monitoring is also performed on every node, interface and groups of nodes.  Access to the equipment is logged, and configuration changes are reviewed by the entire network team using an automated auditing tool, so every change can be tracked and recorded.  Access to the tool and configuration files are limited.  

Finally, a traffic baseline is established, to quickly identify any abnormal behavior. Suspicious activity is investigated immediately, documented and remedied.  The network is also externally monitored for suspicious activity, with reports on a daily basis.  In summary, our penchant for strict observance of security fundamentals has resulted in an extremely stable, reliable and secure datacenter environment over the 10 plus years of its existence.

Fred holds his CCNP certification

Neely Loring

Happy New Year!  It appears 2010 is beginning in earnest and business owners are realizing it is time to invest in technologies that will make them more efficient, enhance their customer relationships and keep their data secure.  As a result, Matrix is seeing a flourish of activity.

We have defined 3 areas that represent a relatively low-cost way to make technology work better with a very fast return on investment. 

1.  Outsource, outsource, outsource 

If you make and sell widgets for your livelihood, why would you want to be in the business of managing and supporting a computer network?  Finding a good managed services provider to assume care and custody of your information systems is the single largest way to reduce your total cost of ownership of all things IT.  If you want to know why, give me a call. 

2.  Sell your servers 

Managed service providers are revolutionizing the industry with “HAAS”, or “hardware as a service”.  Simply put, an MSP buys your servers and rents them back to you as part of the bundle of services they provide. 

What this means to you is no more coming out of pocket with large sums of cash for replacements.  Many times the MSP can provide associated software on a “rental” basis as well.  The Fortune 1000 crowd has been leveraging this idea for years because of the positive impact to cash and cost. 

3.  Join the virtual movement 

The propeller-heads have figured out how to chop a physical server up so it can run many server operating systems simultaneously.  This technology has provide the ability to greatly enhance reliability, prepare for the possibility of disaster, reduce power and floor space needs while, at the same time, significantly reducing cost.  Come by our datacenter and we’ll show you how we’re using virtualization and how you can apply it to your business needs.

From the Matrix family to your business family, best wishes for a safe, fun and profitable 2010!

Neely Loring, President

For a short time, Citrix Systems will exchange 2 comprehensive XenDesktop licenses (which includes XenApp Enterprise), for every 1 XenApp license in your possession. Call Matrix for more information on this aggressive program.

You’ve probably noticed that being fleet of foot isn’t the only attribute required to compete with the big boys.  Increasingly, having depth of information systems resources defines a small business’ ability to stay toe-to-toe with businesses who have reached “critical mass” - businesses who can afford the best and the latest computing platforms, sophisticated management applications and leading-edge data mining tools.  How can a small business compete in this arena?

When it comes to speed to act and react, small businesses clearly have the edge.  This is why the largest companies in the world constantly strive to carve their bulky proportions into smaller, entrepreneurial units.  However, what these Fortune 500 “small businesses” have that the under-$10 million company doesn’t is a plethora of information technology resources.  What options are available to mitigate this extremely powerful advantage?

Regional distributor Climatic Corporation of Columbia, South Carolina chose to outsource their needs to a firm with the resources depth of a company 10 times its size.  The bottom line: Climatic enjoys the information systems power of a Fortune 500 company at a cost in line with their balance sheet.  A must, since they compete with nationally-based, highly verticalized powerhouses.  Climatic enjoys the same collection of data center, technical personnel, platform and software resources their largest competitor, Carrier Corporation, takes for granted.

IDC of Framingham, Massachusetts defined in a white paper the major advantages offered by having IT needs outsourced or “hosted” by a qualified service provider.  Here are the conclusions they drew in their article of November, 2008.

Depth of personnel resources – Managed hosting services providers offer substantially more depth of personnel and technical understanding than a small business could ever dream to assemble in-house.  A great deal of “cross-pollination” takes place within the engineering community.  Building such a community is a fiscal impossibility in the small business environment.

Lower total cost – A significant, measurable economy is enjoyed by sharing expensive server resources among many users.  Do your cost accounting homework and you will find that having your applications hosted is probably cheaper than trying to do it in house.  This cost advantage becomes magnified by moving from personal computers to thin clients.  Gartner Consulting suggests that the cost to purchase and manage a thin client over its life can be up to 71 percent less expensive than a PC.

Ability to attract talent – Since an economy of scale is achieved by placing many small firms’ needs in a single facility, providers can afford to attract, hire and keep scarce technical resources. The best and the brightest see getting pigeonholed in the IT closet of a small business as professional suicide. 

Improved performance – Multiple performance facets can be significantly improved by relying on a managed hosting services provider, including a measurable reduction in system downtime, dramatic enhancement of application launch and operational speeds and higher platform sophistication, which means a greater leveraging of application features and benefits.

Implementation of solutions – Because adding solution modules to existing application infrastructure can mean adding programming or system implementation and support talent, the average small company loses precious time assembling the components or decides it can’t afford to act, even if the benefit rationalizes the cash expenditure.  A good, qualified provider generally has the talent in place and can, therefore, act on the need quickly.

CFO Dennie Wetherley of Climatic Corporation agrees with this assessment and adds several more reasons for outsourcing his IT needs.  “Climatic could never scale and support our ever-growing IT needs with an internal solution,” says Wetherley.  “We get a large enterprise experience, including 24/7/365 user support and access to our critical applications and data anytime, anywhere.  This is a critical advantage in the hurricane-prone region we’re in.” 

While outsourcing IT needs to a managed hosting services provider is not for every business, data suggest it is rapidly gaining recognition and acceptance worldwide.  Consider how your business might better compete if it had the information systems tools of your toughest competitors.  What you’re sure to discover is that the 800 pound gorilla can be caught – and beaten.