Tech Central

iPhone vs. Android: 30 Days Outside the Walled Garden – Part 2 of 6

andy.milliorn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:56:55 +0000

In this six-part series, entrepreneur and iPhone user Andy Milliorn has made the switch to Android for 30 days, and is writing about the experience. Follow this link to start with Part 1.

I’m at the one-week mark of my Android experiment, and I can honestly admit to being pleasantly surprised with the experience so far. I’m not ready to toss my iPhone just yet, but I am beginning to understand the Android appeal. Admittedly, the first couple of days with the Galaxy SII Skyrocket were very fun. I had a new toy to play with. But, in recent days, the “new” has started to wear off and I’m starting to see what it’s like to live with Android.

Hardware

I didn’t intend for my 30 day experiment to be about the hardware. After all, I could have picked from any number of devices to evaluate the Android platform. And that’s what I really wanted to look at – the platform. But, with the limited number of iPhone models available, and singular form-factor, Apple has made it about the hardware. No comparison of Android to the iPhone would be complete if it didn’t factor in the many hardware choices that come along with the Android platform.

Let’s get the technical specs out of the way. The Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket is exclusively available from AT&T and takes advantage of their 4G LTE network. It has a 4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus display running the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS. It has a 1.5GHz dual core processor, removable battery, 8 megapixel main camera and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. The Skyrocket has 16GB of on-board storage, with up to 32GB of additional storage via the microSD slot. It also had an NFC (near-field communication) chip, but I have yet to find a use for it. On paper, this is an impressive assembly of specifications. But, how is the phone in real life?

Coming from an iPhone, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was immediately impressed with the Skyrocket. The first thing you notice is the massive screen. It makes my iPhone screen look like a postage stamp. It’s big and it’s bright. Resolution looks good, and had I never seen the iPhone’s retina display, I would be extremely pleased with it. But, side-by-side with an iPhone 4, the retina display is clearly better. But, that’s not to say the Skyrocket’s display is bad.

Another thing that struck me almost immediately was how light the Skyrocket is. This may be more of an optical illusion given the phone’s size, but it feels much lighter than my iPhone 4. In reality, at 4.6 ounces, it is only .23 ounces lighter than the iPhone 4.

I initially thought that the Skyrocket felt a little cheap and plastic compared to my iPhone 4. Having carried the phone for a week now, I no longer think that is the case. I don’t think the Skyrocket has under-achieved when it comes to materials and feel, I think the iPhone 4 has over-achieved. The Skyrocket feels like a phone should, as the iPhone 4 is more like a piece of design art – a piece of art that almost universally gets hidden under plastic and rubber cases. I don’t feel as though the Skyrocket will shatter should it slip from my pocket as I do with my iPhone.

While also not the focus of this 30 day experiment, call quality, signal strength and data speeds have all been great during my test so far as well.

Initial Impressions

Once behind the wheel, Android does require some learning. The phone has the familiar volume rocker and sleep/power button, with the sleep button located on the side as opposed to the top of the phone. Instead of the lone, physical Home button on the iPhone, the Skyrocket has the usual 4 capacitive-touch buttons found on Android phones: Menu, Home, Back and Search. Navigating the phone is pretty intuitive and I picked it up quickly.

The Home Screen is made up of a series of full-screen panels. These panels are highly customizable with app widgets, app icons, contacts or folders. I was able to quickly organize my Android into 5 panels: one for my most commonly used apps (similar to my iPhone setup), one for social media with Facebook and Twitter widgets, one for the Evernote widget, one with a full screen calendar widget, and one with my commonly dialed contacts with a weather widget. The result is that I can easily swipe from panel to panel and access most of the info and functions I use most often, without ever tapping an app icon. Rarely do I find myself swiping through rows and folders of apps looking for what I need. Android allows for a more useful presentation of information without having to dig for it.

Setting up email, calendars and contacts were all very easy as most of my accounts are Exchange based. I’m using the default mail app, which easily connected and has been serving me well. But, there are 5 or 6 other well established email clients for me to choose from in the Android Market. This highlights one of the strengths of Android: choices.

As I set out to load all of my apps, I quickly discovered two app stores; the Android Marketplace from Google and the Amazon Appstore for Android. Imagine that – competition. For some reason, I’ve gravitated towards Amazon as the center of my Android universe.

So far, I’ve pretty much succeeded in replicating my iPhone’s functionality on the Android. There aren’t any real glaring omissions, and I’m getting work done without missing a beat. I’m getting used to the long-press gesture, and have almost stopped swiping on emails to delete them. The Swype keyboard is one of my favorite features, and the speeds achieved on the LTE network are nothing short of amazing.

I’ve had a few annoyances too. This phone is a battery hog. I’m not sure if that is more a factor of the hardware or something inherent to Android. I suspect the large screen is mostly to blame, and I can’t go all day on a single charge like my iPhone. To compound matters, there appears to be a bug that keeps the battery icon in the status bar at 100% all day. Restarting the phone clears it, but it’s annoying. I’m also having a little trouble determining the difference between what is real Android, and what has been layered on top of it by AT&T. There appears to be a fair amount of bloatware pre-loaded on the phone.

In concluding my initial impressions, I can say that, not surprisingly, the Android is a powerful platform that is able to fulfill the same functions as my iPhone. Many of the differences come down to personal preference. So far, I’ve focused on getting my iPhone replaced. Mission accomplished. Next, I want to start exploring Android further to see what else it can do.

Follow Andy’s 30 day Android experiment on Twitter: #androidfor30

Andy Milliorn

Andy is the president and founder of Tech Central, a tech support and IT services company in Arlington, TX. As an entrepreneur, Andy enjoys blogging about technology from a business owner’s perspective.

iPhone vs. Android: 30 Days Outside the Walled Garden – Part 1 of 6

andy.milliorn — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:13:08 +0000

The first time I saw an iPhone in person was on a flight from Phoenix to Dallas in 2007. The guy sitting next to me had just gotten one and he was eager to show it off. The design was so cool. I couldn’t believe how big and bright the screen was. We watched a movie on it and I couldn’t avert my eyes. It was, by far, the coolest piece of technology I had ever seen. Within days of that flight, I had bought one for myself, and I have owned an iPhone ever since.

I looked on with amusement when the Android phones came along. As I bought each new generation of iPhone, countless new Android handsets would appear on display at the phone store. Copycats – how cute. When I added an iPad to my arsenal, I certainly felt as though Apple had achieved technological superiority, the likes of which Google could never match with Android. Better OS, better hardware, better app store. As my clients have approached me for advice, I have always been confident in my iPhone recommendation. Until lately…

I’ve noticed that Android screens are getting bigger and bigger. Android apps seem more plentiful. iPhones are getting mocked in TV commercials. Enough is enough! I can live in ignorance no longer.

A Little Background

I’ve been a Mac user for most of my life. Call it an occupational hazard of doing graphics work for a printing company while in school. I’ve always appreciated the attention to design, the ease of use, and the thought and care that go into each Apple product. They’ve just always seemed better to me.

These days, I own an IT support company. We make our living helping our clients with their Windows networks. I help business owners make technology decisions everyday about how to best run their businesses.

Most of my clients have iPads. Many use iPhones. A few use Macs. Most use PCs. I move in and out of the Apple world regularly. But, I’ve never had any real experience with the Android platform. I’ve played with a friend’s Android phone and I’ve looked at the handsets at the store. To be honest, my initial impression was that Android is a very confusing platform full of widgets, apps, and contacts all swirled together on a disorganized collection of screens. A neat grid of little square icons just makes more sense to me. But I digress… The point is, I can admit to having a blind-spot regarding Android, and I’ve decided to do something about it.

The 30 Day Experiment

The concept is simple enough – what would it be like for a business owner and iPhone user to make the switch to Android for 30 days? What would be missed? What would be better? I decided to take the challenge. Apple’s carefully constructed iOS universe has often been referred to as a “walled garden.” For years, I’ve comfortably existed inside those walls. It’s time to venture outside and see how the other side lives. Starting today, I’ve turned off my iPhone in favor of a Samsung Galaxy SII Android phone. This is my story.

I’m jumping in with both feet. Total immersion. Cold turkey. Over the next 30 days, I’ll write about the experience from a number of perspectives; from the conversion experience to media and entertainment. I’ll try to cover it all. My goal is not to declare a winner. The iPhone vs. Android debate will rage on. But, I hope to gain an appreciation for the Android platform, and to understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of each platform.

An experiment like this is not easy to pull off – at least not without buying a very expensive Android smartphone that I may not ultimately like or need. I couldn’t do it without the help and cooperation of AT&T, who has been great to work with. When I first walked into the AT&T store and told them what I was trying to do, I was met with some blank stares. But, I ultimately got connected with the right people, and they set me up with the Galaxy SII Skyrocket. So far, it seems to be a great phone. I’ll take a look at the hardware in-depth in Part 2. Stay tuned.

Sharing Large Attachments: 3 Alternatives to Email

andy.milliorn — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:38:10 +0000

One of the most common requests we get at our help desk is to help a user send or receive a large attachment via email. Traditionally this was a problem primarily faced by artists and designers as they tried to send and receive large graphic files. Today, the challenge has spread to almost everyone as an increase in sending digital photos, large PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, drawings, and multimedia files has become commonplace for almost all businesses.

Why Sending Attachments via Email is Bad

We’ve all been there – we get the dreaded popup message from Outlook that we need to free up some space. As more and more large attachments are sent and received, your allocated Outlook storage quota will be reached much faster. What’s worse is that your email server is filling up rapidly too. It’s estimated that over 95% of a typical email server’s storage is consumed with attachments. That’s valuable space that is needlessly dedicated to attached files. This also has a major impact on the speed of your email system.

Though it can often seem like it, sending an email is not like instant messaging. Email must be processed by your computer’s mail program, through your company’s network to your email server, and finally out onto the Internet. Before it reaches the recipient, it is probably going to experience at least 1 trip through a spam filtering service. Once it reaches the recipient, it must be processed by the inbound server, and ultimately downloaded and delivered to the recipient’s email program.

With large attachments clogging up the works, there’s no wonder we’re all experiencing slow delivery times and bounce-backs. The challenge for your IT support team is that they only control half of the equation. Your server may be setup to send large attachments, but your recipient’s server may have a stricter limit. So, what are the alternatives?

File Transfer Services

There are services out there that designed with sole purpose of addressing this issue. One of my favorites is yousendit.com. In it’s simplest form, yousendit.com allows you to upload a file to their secure servers where it can be downloaded by your recipient. Once your file is uploaded, yousendit provides you with a link to download the file. This link can be easily and quickly emailed or sent via instant message to your recipient. Each link has a predetermined expiration date which helps insure the security of your files.

yousendit.com offers a free trial and a free “Lite” package which works perfectly if you don’t need to send large files very often. If you need to send more often, there are some plan that require payment, but also come with some advanced options like additional storage and larger size limits.

Lastly, yousendit.com fits into your existing workflow by integrating directly into Microsoft Outlook via a plug-in. The plug-in puts a yousendit button directly in Outlook so sending a large file is very straightforward.

Dropbox

As we’ve discussed before, Dropbox is a wonderful tool for keeping your files and folders backed up and in sync. Dropbox can also help you share large files and avoid the hassles of attachments. From your Dropbox folder,create a new sub-folder containing the files you want to share. Right-click this folder and click on Dropbox from the menu. Under Dropbox, there is an option to “Share this folder.” Once selected, you will get a pop-up box that will let you enter the email addresses of your desired recipients. One of the great things about this method is that you will get a confirmation email whenever the folder is accessed.

You also have the option of placing a file in you Dropbox Public folder. Right-clicking a file in your Public folder gives you the option to “Copy Public Link” which can then be pasted in an email to your recipient.

If you are already using Dropbox for your folder syncing, you already have everything you need to start eliminating the headaches of sending large attachments via email.

FTP Replacements

Many companies need to exchange large files with their clients. There are a lot of companies still using FTP servers for this. FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is an older technology and is inherently unsecured. Because of this, many companies that have FTP solutions in place have resorted to exchanging files via email. This can be particularly troubling for companies that deal in sensitive materials such as defense contractors.

There are many FTP replacement services available that provide the necessary levels of security and protection that FTP is lacking. One example is ShareFile.com. ShareFile allows companies to easily replace their outdated FTP solutions with new, secure technology. ShareFile even allows you to add your own logo to create a provide branded file sharing portal for your business. ShareFile also has many other bells and whistles including Outlook integration, desktop syncing, and even a mobile app. For solutions where security and compliance are a major concern, services like ShareFile are a great alternative to FTP and email.

There are many alternatives to each of these products – these just happen to be some that I’m familiar with. Each business will have it’s own needs and reasons for picking one solution over another. The important thing is to get out of the habit of sending everything via email.

Andy Milliorn

The Top 5 Apps That I Can’t Run My Business Without

andy.milliorn — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:32:12 +0000

Almost every week, I run into someone who has a new iPhone or iPad. With millions of these devices sold, I’m surprised there’s anyone left who doesn’t have one. I almost always get the same question; “What cool apps should I have?” That’s the strange thing about the app store – it’s too big. How do you sort through all of the noise to find the really great apps? Here are my top 5 that help me use my cool Apple toys to actually run my business.

Hosted Exchange

OK, so Hosted Exchange isn’t really an app. But it is so important to my business that I had to include it. It works with the Mail, Calendar and Contacts apps that come with iOS on the iPhone and iPad. If you’re not familiar with Exchange, it is Microsoft’s email server and collaboration platform. In the past, Exchange was run by medium and large companies that could justify the expense and headaches of having the technology in-house. Not anymore! Exchange Hosting allows you to leverage the benefits of Exchange by hosting your mailboxes on the server of an Exchange hosting provider. You simply pay a small fee per mailbox, per month, which typically includes mailbox storage, spam filtering, backup, and all of the maintenance of the system – usually around $10.

Apple’s new iCloud service borrows a page from Exchange’s playbook. Exchange serves as the central repository for all of your email, contacts, and calendar events. This is extremely handy if you are using multiple devices – deleting an email on one device will delete it from all of your devices. Everything stays in sync.

One last benefit of moving to hosted Exchange is that you need to have your own email domain to use it. This really adds to the professionalism of your company. I’m surprised how many companies I see that are still using free gmail and Yahoo! email addresses. It’s time to unify those emails under the same domain as your website. That way every email you send becomes a marketing tool.

There are many providers of Hosted Exchange services. I recommend Rackspace.

GroupMe

GroupMe is a group messaging and collaboration app for the iPhone. If you manage or work as part of a team, GroupMe is an excellent way to stay in touch and communicate effectively.

Once you install the free app and create a free account, you can create a GroupMe group by entering the names and cell phone numbers of each member of your group. GroupMe will create the new group and assign it a phone number. Send a text message to that number, and every member of the group will receive the text simultaneously. The sender of each message is identified along with each message. If you need to have a conference call with the group, simply dial the assigned phone number and everyone’s phone will ring, giving them the option to join the call. The iPhone app also features private messaging, photo sharing, and location services.

GroupMe is excellent for field service teams, groups that are traveling together, or any group that needs to stay in touch.

Check out GroupMe here.

Evernote

Evernote’s tagline is “Remember Everything.” That is exactly what Evernote does. Evernote is a cloud-based note-taking collection point for all of the information you’re trying to keep track of.

To start, download the free Evernote desktop app for Mac or PC, and setup a free account. Free accounts come with 60MB of free storage, which is plenty to get started. Free iOS apps are available for iPhone and iPad as well. Once you’ve installed and entered your account info to all of them, all of your notes will be available on each device.

Keeping notes in Evernote is very easy. You can organize notes into different notebooks, and there is a search function that makes finding notes straightforward. Notes can also be tagged with keywords for easier access. Notes can contain text, photos, web clippings or even files. Each account also comes with it’s own email address so you can send emails directly to Evernote to create new notes.

Evernote also allows you to easily share notes with others. One handy feature is the ability to use the microphone on your iPhone to create audio notes. This allows you to share audio recordings without sending large attachments via email.

Take meeting notes, organize trip itineraries, compile ideas for your new website, and keep track of all that stuff that’s written on Post-It notes in your office. I even have a “Household” notebook in my Evernote where I have pictures of all of the replacement specs for light bulbs and air filters of my house.

Check out Evernote here.

Dropbox

One of the biggest challenges of using multiple devices is keeping everything in sync. I’ve got a desktop computer ay home, a laptop on my desk that goes with me when I travel, an iPhone and an iPad. Thumb drives just don’t cut it for me. Enter Dropbox. Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage and synchronization service.

Setting up a Dropbox account is free, and a free account comes with 2GB of storage. Once your account is setup you can download a desktop application for either Mac or PC. This will create a Dropbox folder on your computer and anything you put in the folder will automatically be available in the Dropbox folder of any other computer where you have installed Dropbox. The same is true for your iOS devices. Simply install the free Dropbox app from the app store, and you can access any file in your Dropbox folder from your iPhone or iPad. You can even access your Dropbox from the web, giving you access to your files from any computer with an Internet connection.

Beyond keeping your files in sync, Dropbox keeps a one-month history of your files, so you’ve created an online backup system just by using Dropbox. In addition, you can share a folder in your Dropbox with any other Dropbox user, or create a link to anything in your “Public” folder. This is great for larger files and is an excellent alternative to sending email attachments.

Check out Dropbox here.

LogMeIn Ignition

I love my iPad. With the addition of an external keyboard it almost replaces my laptop. Almost. Even with tools like Dropbox and Evernote that make my stuff available on all devices, there is sometimes no substitute for a full computer. LogMeIn Ignition gives me the ability to remote control my laptop or desktop from my iPad.

Whether I need to access a file on my desktop, or run some software that will only run on a PC, I can use LogMeIn from my iOS device, and it is like I am sitting in front of it. This is great for travel or just those times when you are caught away from the office but need to address an urgent issue.

Beyond remote control, LogMeIn Ignition allows you to access your files and folders, transfer files between devices, and even print with a compatible printer. At $29.99 it is a little pricey, but it has proven invaluable to me on a number of occasions.

Check out LogMeIn Ignition here.

Andy Milliorn

Are Bargain Toner Cartridges Really a Better Value?

andy.milliorn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:20:12 +0000

I hate buying toner. Nothing can ruin my day faster than running out of toner. The whole experience seems like such a racket. My color laser printer refuses to print if even 1 of the 4 toner cartridges is low, forcing me to buy a replacement. When I remove the low cartridge, there appears to be plenty of toner left in there to me. The high cost of toner has led me to try out bargain, remanufactured toner cartridges, which brought mixed success.

I decided to search the internet to find out if bargain toner is really a better deal. The results surprised me.

A 2007 independent study, performed by QualityLogic Inc. and commissioned by HP, compared Original HP LaserJet print cartridges with nine brands of remanufactured toner cartridges sold in North America for the HP LaserJet 2300 (Q2473A) and HP LaserJet 4350 (Q5407A) printers. 24 cartridges were tested for each brand in the study.

Highlights of the study include:

More than 33% of tested remanufactured toner cartridges experienced problems.
Nearly 7% of tested remanufactured toner cartridges failed prematurely – some right out of the box.
For more than 25% of the tested remanufactured cartridges tested, 50% or more pages inspected were of limited or no use.

According to the study, and HP, a set of Original HP Color LaserJet printer toner cartridges can cost up to $76 less than remanufactured cartridges when you factor in the costs of reprinting pages that don’t meet business customers’ standards for external distribution.

Speaking from my own experience, I have had terrible luck buying the bargain cartridges. They have leaked all over me and the insides of my printer. My printed pages were not usable. I have never had an issue when I’ve used genuine HP cartridges. But, it still pains me to shell out big bucks for their cartridges.

How to Extend the Life of Your Toner Cartridges

Here are a few tips for extending the life of your toner cartridges:

If you are getting a Low Toner alert, remove the cartridge and gently shake it from side to side.
Check your printer’s settings. Some printers allow you to disable the “Replace Supplies” or “Page Count” limits.
Do a quick search of the internet for your printer model to see if there is a way to “trick” the sensor into printing beyond it’s preset limit.
For color printers, change your printer defaults to black & white. Most of your printouts probably don’t need color.
Switch to a lower print quality for most printouts. You can always print at the best quality for that presentation, but not for everyday use.

View the entire QualityLogic report here.

Andy Milliorn

You’re Causing Permanent Data Loss

andy.milliorn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:17:38 +0000

Give Crashed Hard Drives a Break

Over the last few months, DriveSavers engineers have a noticed a steady increase in the number of hard drives received at our facility that have severe media damage, making them unrecoverable. While it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of media damage, experience tells us recovery attempts on these drives may have been made using utility software, or perhaps the drive was left running and a minor head slap became major media damage.

In many cases, the customer’s data had been scraped from the hard drive’s platters, turning it into magnetic dust. While it’s a fact that DriveSavers has the highest data recovery success rate, even we have our limits!

As we are fond of saying, “The first data recovery attempt is the best.” Sometimes, it’s the only chance we get if the drive develops media damage during the data recovery process. To minimize the risk of making a bad situation worse, if your customer’s data is valuable or irreplaceable, do not run software utilities.

If for some reason you must attempt a data recovery, follow these important guidelines to avoid permanent data loss:

If a hard drive makes any repetitive clicking or grinding, do not attempt a data recovery. The drive may have media damage. Operating the drive in this state will make the situation worse.
If you connect the hard drive to a computer and it is not recognized in the setup, stop the process. The drive may have a damaged circuit board and should not be swapped with an identical model, as it could remove the bad sector table.
Avoid utility software that makes changes to the drive’s firmware or bad sector table. This can permanently corrupt the data.
Avoid home remedies such as placing a hard drive in a freezer. This will create condensation buildup inside the drive mechanism creating further problems.

Andy Milliorn

Burst Pipe Cripples Dallas County: Would Your Company Survive?

andy.milliorn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:16:20 +0000

Recently, an 8″ water main burst in downtown Dallas, flooding the Dallas County Records Building. The basement of the Records building just happens to be where the county’s critical servers are housed – now under 6 feet of water. On Tuesday, county operations were reduced to old fashioned pencil and paper – including the court system and the jails. Needless to say, things have ground to a halt without an effective disaster recovery plan in place. One attorney, frustrated by the mess in the courts summed it up the best: “We’re at a standstill. Things are happening, they’re just happening at a snail’s pace.”

But, this is government – these things are almost expected, right? There is already plenty of finger pointing going on, and the budget excuses are flying. No surprise. But, before we get too carried away in blaming Dallas County for their ineptitude, let’s look in the mirror. How would my business fare faced with a similar crisis?

It’s rarely a burst pipe.

Let’s call it really bad luck that a water main burst outside of the building and caused this catastrophe. That will probably never happen again in 100 years. Hopefully another tornado won’t hit downtown Ft. Worth again either. It may seem like a lot of fuss to implement disaster recovery plans just in case one of these oddball events strike your business. But, it’s not these big events that keep me up at night – it’s the ordinary stuff. Stuff like spilled Cokes, power surges, accidental kicking, tripping over cables, and accidental bumping by the janitorial staff. We get to visit a lot of small businesses, and we’ve seen a lot of “server rooms”, or lack thereof. An astounding number of critical business systems are placed on top of filing cabinets, spare desks, or on the floor in plain sight in the office. It’s surprising how often the “server” is pulling double-duty as the receptionists workstation. In the event of a break-in, a thief will quickly grab the most important looking stuff under the assumption it is worth more. Worse still, imagine a disgruntled employee with easy access to your critical systems.

Check those tapes.

Dallas County is confident that no data has been lost due to their off-site backups. While I applaud the implementation of their off-site backup system, it will not surprise me at all to start hearing about faulty backups in the news next. This is especially true if they are still backing up to tape. Tape backups are notoriously fraught with complication during most restore attempts – if the tapes are still in good enough physical condition. We visit a lot of small business offices that have been dutifully changing tapes and taking them home at night only to find out they are blank when they really need them. Regardless of the method, an effective backup needs to be regularly verified.

Is your backup enough?

A good, verified backup, stored in an off-site location will likely protect you from data loss in almost every situation. But is protection from data loss enough? Off-site backups are good, but often times the data restoration times are measured in days, not hours. This also assumes that good hardware exists to restore to. The real question is how quickly your company can resume full operation. The Dallas County courts and criminal justice systems ground to a snail’s pace without their systems. Oh well, so an already full court docket gets pushed for a few days – big deal. It’s a bigger deal if your call center is reduced to taking orders on legal pads. It’s a very big deal if your e-commerce website is down. Preventing data loss is important. Preventing downtime is more important.

Get Prepared

As small businesses, it’s tough to justify elaborate disaster recovery plans for somewhat unlikely scenarios. I understand. There’s a reason the receptionist is using the “server” to browse Facebook – it’s all you have. I get it. Here are some easy things you can do to be more prepared:

Get your critical systems organized and secure. Don’t picture elaborate server rooms with special server racks. Often times this can effectively be done in a spare closet with some shelving from Home Depot. Make sure the door locks and the airflow is sufficient and you’ve got yourself an entrepreneur’s server room.
Implement an effective tapeless, off-site backup system. Managed off-site backup has become extremely cost-effective and will make sure that your data is safe and sound no matter what happens to your building.
Choose a backup solution that can use virtualization. Many tapeless backup methods will allow a backup image of your server to be restored as a virtual machine on alternative hardware. While this is not the ideal long-term solution, it will keep you productive while your new servers are being restored.
Go over your security protocols with your IT professional. Who has access to your critical systems both in the office and remotely? When is the last time passwords were changed?
Don’t forget your laptops. How much critical information is stored on the business owner’s laptop?

Common sense is still the best weapon in preparing against disasters. These simple tips will help get you thinking in the right direction. Of course, more elaborate and complete disaster recovery solutions are available. If your company can justify the expense, I recommend doing so. Can your business afford not to?

For the full story on the burst pipe, check out the Dallas Morning News.

Andy Milliorn

Remote Network Monitoring to the Rescue

SiteOwner — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:54:48 +0000

Tech Central’s newest client is a manufacturer of equipment for the airline industry. They are a small business that is on a fast track for growth, and have recently upgraded their web-based ordering tools for inbound orders. Reliability and availability of their servers is now more critical than ever to maintaining their high standards of customer service.

Shortly after deploying our 24/7 Network Monitoring tools, Tech Central detected a critical issue: 2 failing hard drives on their main server. Luckily, they were detected before the hard drives were in a state of complete failure. Tech Central’s Managed Backup service was already deployed, so redundant local and offsite backups of the data were already in place – just in case.

New hard drives were rushed in and installed, and a data disaster was averted. Talk about making a great first impression! To make it even better, all work was covered under the client’s flat-rate service plan.

The owner of the company had this to say:

“Tech Central delivered on their pledge to support my network… enabling me to get back to work with minimal disruption. I never would have gotten that fast response from my former IT guy.”