Our Blog

IT Management - patch management, auditing, and reporting

SNS is in the process of rolling out a new IT Management tool providing patch management, configuration management, antivirus, antispyware, compliance management, and network security assesment.  Securing systems is critical component of IT support especially when networks have various systems, servers, and applications all requiring different security patches.

For the SNS Help Desk and Network Operations Center teams, having a central IT Management dashboard to view all patches, updates, virus, and malware protection levels for all servers, desktops, traveling laptops, and for off-line Vm images in the data center is going to be a very powerful tool. 

This is a solution which we will be providing to each of our IT support accounts.  After years of using various tools and procedures we are excitied about providing a solution that is robust and powerful enough to provide the unified patching, system auditing, and reporting solution to our managed clients that our clients need and want. 

SNS Welcomes - Brian Whidden - Help Desk Analyst

March 8, 2010 - Brian Whidden joined Team SNS as a member of the Engineering department.  Brian joins SNS from an in-house technical support position at Price Water House Coopers in Boston.  With Brian’s experience we expect him to be a valuable of the SNS IT Support team . 

Why your small business needs a real server

Everyone in the office could share a single source of data, access their printer of choice, and be assured the e-mail they receive is virus- and spam-free.

You could realize the advantages of running a workplace where employees, partners, and customers can access information whenever they need it, wherever they are. You and your business could truly work from anywhere. and  enjoy the protection of having a consistent way to back up data so that critical information survives individual desktop crashes or laptop losses.

From Network World 12.27.2009

5 Cool Tech Toys & Gadgets that I wish Santa Clause to bring this year

It's that time of year.  Time to surf the web in search of cool and exciting things for your list to santa.  My intrests, surprise surprise, is in finding cool tech toys and the latest tech gadget.  So, with some dreaming involved here is my list.

1. Apple TV - Let's face it, cable isn't cheap anymore.  I'm down to one Cable HD box and I go with HD antenna for the rest. This is a palatable purchase and allows for cheap movie viewing on demand.  Its portable and seems a lot like a PS3 in that sense, just power cord and HDMI cable to move it around the house and it's wireless to the network.  No more buying 'watch it once' DVD's.  I'll just stick to buying the kid DVD's which seem to get endless play in my house.  http://tinyurl.com/yet68oz

2. Industrial Weather Station. The Davis Instrument 6153-WIFI pro is an IP based weather station.  How sweet is that?  I could link that into my blog and have it tweet wind speeds!  Sah-wheet. http://tinyurl.com/y8hj73b

3. The 27" iMac.  Another Apple product I know but, its just so nice.  Santa - just bring me the 27", no need to upgrade to the i5 for family use.  The 27" screen is so impressive.  I was in the new Apple store in Dedham this past weekend to get my iPhone fixed and was surprised my kids sat and played educational games for 20 minutes.  A PC can't do that.  period.  http://tinyurl/ydj5nbc

4. Garmin colorado 400c.  Handheld GPS with the saltwater mariner in mind.  Thats me!  If I ever get out on my boat again, this would be great to have on a foggy Point Judith day  http://tinyurl.com/3wpc8x

5. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for PS3.  I don't get to play video games often so when I do I like to play with friends and I like to fight the bad guys.  Getting to be the best Good guys around is great.  http://tinyurl.com/y88tq2o

 

   

SNS is hiring! We are looking for technology all-stars

Are you a technology All-Star?  Do you play well with others, enjoy team work, and like being part of a growing technology services business ?  If so, check our our JOBS page today. 

SNS Data Center happenings

The folks here at SNS are true Geeks and we seem to be getting worse by the week...  in a good way, of course!  Our data center has steadily been the recipient of regular investments in toys and gadgets of all types.  
We have standardized on cabinets from American Power Conversion (APC) and last month received a full row of the APC 3100 series cabinets - jeez they are slick!
We have rolled out a state of the art IP Video system and bioscript finger biometric reader for securing and accessing the data center.
Lastly, we have started the SAS 70 type II audit process and expect great results.

SNS @ Uptime Institute's 2009 IT Symposium

I attended my first Uptime Institute Symposium last month and I will certainly be back next year!  Ted Casassa and I represented SNS and spent two days learning and listening from IT leaders from around the world.  The theme was Lean, Clean, and Green - and I learned why. 

My favorite take aways was the 'the Green IT debate' speech by Larry Quinlan from Deloitte & Neil Rasmussen from APC and his presentation on 'When High Density and High Efficiency Collide'. 

We have been making tweaks to the Norwood data center since we returned and have learned lots of useful information for the Rhode Island Data Center

 

The latest IT Compliance: 201 CMR 17.00 | 7 key take away points for your network

I have been handling a lot of inquiries on the latest IT Compliance standard to hit small businesses.  This compliance is targeted at businesses which 'store personal information about a resident of the commonwealth'.  The 201 CMR 17.00 Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of the residents of the Commonwealth address many IT topics. 

Protecting the Network

7 Key IT components of the Mass. 201 CMR compliance:

1. Businesses need a regular monitoring program in place 24/7/365 to ensure comprehensive information security monitoring and auditing.

2. Businesses need to review and document the scope of their IT security measures at least annually

3. Businesses need to establish and maintain a security system and policy covering its employee's use of computers, applications, and provide regular training on these policies. 

4.  All access to information needs to be controlled with unique user ID and a strict password policies must be in place at all times.

5.  All laptops, remote computers, traveling PC's needed to be encrypted. 

6. An updated and current series Firewall needs to be in place at all network points.  For clients hosting data, Intrusion Prevention services should be in place.

7. All Systems, servers, networking devices, phone systems and other network devices need protection and current operating system patches in place.  this includes current Anti-virus software & Malware protection software/component.

PR (Problem Recovery), not DR (Disaster Recovery) - Virtualization & Replication

Two big buzz words I often get asked about are DR, or Disaster Recovery, and Virtualization.  It seems you can't read a technical magazine, website, or tech email these days without seeing one of these two buzz words.  What isn't often mentioned is that the two really go hand in hand but, the solutions behind them are controlled and handled by different types of tech companies.  The reality is when there is a "Problem" - my acronym: JFI (just fix it) is what is important.  Businesses need to recover from "computer problems" quickly and efficiently.  To achieve this, the business needs to virtualize and replicate.  

To virtualize is to maximize hardware usage and makes the application(s), or computerized business process, non-dependant on hardware.  These applications could be Email (Exchange), a Database (SQL), or even Blackberry services (BES). 

When you virtualize an organization, it achieves some "DR" functions by addressing the need of specific hardware to run a specific business process.  This new virtual environment really needs to be replicated to truly achieve a true and complete recovery from a given problem. 

Let's face it; problems are not simply hardware related these days.  "Computer Problems" are also environmental in nature.  IE - overheating of systems, local networking problems, local internet issues, power, etc. 

This is where replication and "DR" solutions enter the picture.  They achieve fail-over and continuity.  The footprint of your systems (Business) needs to be spread and replicated.  

SNS can help design a business that will JFI all by itself. 

Are your tapes Safe?

Daily backups are a crucial function of IT.  Managing daily backups is a task that SNS handles for our clients, provding them the piece of mind that backups are being managed on a daily basis, not weekely or bi-weekly. 

Just as important as the sucessful backups is the storage of the tape after the backup occurs.  SNS works with a local company that provides an affordable tape pickup service.  We encourage all of our managed clients to engage in this service. Weekly pick-ups are scheduled and your tapes are stored in a climate controlled vault.  No longer does your company need to take chances and possibly violate compliance regulations by having tapes stored in a co-worker's house, car, or desk.