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VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, is an enigma for many
businesses. There are many flavors of VoIP and many pros and cons that you need to be aware of when considering which service to choose. One goal of this article is to help you decipher through the technospeak so that you can make an informed decision that will save you time and money.

The first thing you need to know about VoIP Service is that it
can replace your local phone company. Whether you have just one
POTS (plain old telephone service) line or a voice T1 (24 bundled dedicated lines), a VoIP solution is meant to replace your phone company. Instead of using your local phone company’s voice connection, VoIP will digitize your voice signal and send it over an internet connection.

In order for your voice to transmit digitally through the
internet, you need to be sure you have enough bandwidth to
facilitate the communication link. A minimum of a DSL line is
required, but most larger companies will want a T1 line - a
dedicated link directly to the internet that is guaranteed to be
up over 99.999% of the time. Since you will be entrusting all of
your business voice communication to this new technology, your
connection to the internet becomes the critical link and you
don’t want to risk a company-wide phone outage to save a few
hundred dollars on your bandwidth connection. To help with this
DS3-Bandwidth.com has developed software that will allow you to
generate a T1 or DS3 price in just seconds.

Once you have your high-speed internet connection taken care of,
it’s time to select a VoIP Service Provider - the company that
will actually route your digitized voice signal to a real
telephone on the other end. In essence, your VoIP Carrier will
become your long distance carrier. The service providers
Business-VoIP-Solution.com work with offer unlimited telephone
calls to the United States and Canada, all for one fixed price.
That’s a good place to start your search. For companies who
average more than $40 in local and long distance usage per
employee, VoIP is well worth the initial investment.

There are likewise other hidden benefits of VoIP Service, the
main benefit being the reduced bandwidth required to conduct a
regular telephone conversation. Since a VoIP transmission only
requires 32KB of bandwidth, you can fix up to 24 ‘VoIP lines’ on
a data T1, and still have 768KB left over for dedicated
high-speed internet access! This means that you can migrate your
entire phone system on to your existing T1 and still have half of the bandwidth allocated for data.

Other benefit of VoIP lies in the prioritization of the digitized voice signals that are generated when you speak. In the event no one is talking, the VoIP line does not transmit any data. This allows your T1 line to dynamically allocate bandwidth as it is needed, instead of permanently blocking out an entire channel of data.

Lastly, the MAJOR benefit of VoIP telephone systems is that they
come with a very rich feature set. Some common features include:
Unlimited Minutes, Local Number Porting (LNP), Personalized
Voicemail, Unlimited In-Network Calling, Caller ID, Caller ID
Blocking, Call Waiting, Call Waiting ID, Call Forwarding, 3-way
Conferencing, Call Return *69 activates, Online Management &
Billing, Choose Your Own Area Code, *70 Call Waiting Disable,
*78/*79 Do Not Disturb, *77/*87 Anonymous Call Blocking,
Distinctive Ringing for Virtual Numbers, Virtual Phone Numbers
all over the world, Enhanced 911, and Toll Free Services. You
just can’t get all that service with regular phone service
without paying extra fees and surcharges. These features are
standard with most business VoIP plans!

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire
Communications….including Business-VoIP-Solution and
DS3-Bandwidth.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, and insights.

[tags]voip, business voip, bandwidth, broadband, broadband phone, telecommunications, voip service[/tags]

I recently purchased a Freeview USB stick for my PC, and I must say, how impressed I was with the actual unit. for those of you that may have had a Tv card a couple of years ago, please do not make the mistake that the reception available on today’s boxes is any way similar.

The price of the units is actually very good. Think about it. Most people nowadays have a portable TV in there bedroom, however a much cheaper alternative would be to buy a DVB-T USB stick and use that instead. In the UK, you can easily pick one up for around

What is personal firewall?

Personal firewalls are the desktop security products which are commonly designed to enhance the security of the operating system by implementing per-application security. Some operating systems (including modern Windows systems) implements per-user security. Such a security conception is not always sufficient or effective especially when we talk about common users workstations.

Threats versus antivirus, antispyware and similar applications

Today’s Internet is a full of spyware, worms and other malware. People looking for valid information can meet these threats easily. People often download new programs just to try if they are useful. It is almost impossible for common user to differentiate between malicious programs or programs that include spyware and harmless programs before they run them. Nowadays, many Internet users know that they should not execute every program in a mail attachment but rules for execution of user downloaded programs are still underestimated. This is where antivirus, antispyware and similar applications comes. But can they sufficiently protect people against mentioned threats? The main problem of antivirus and antispyware software is that they rely on signatures. They need to be updated frequently to be able to recognize a new malware. If there is no signature for the new malware in their database they are not able to fight it. Yes, there usually are some heuristics implemented in engines of antivirus software but these methods can only recognize smaller modifications of well known malware programs. The response time of security vendors differs and it usually depends on the severity of the new threat and its wildness. It takes from a few hours to several months before a signature is available. Simply said having antivirus and antispyware software installed will not protect you against the latest threats but they can raise the security of your system.

Purpose of personal firewall

In general the main purpose of personal firewall is to tighten the computer security, to set up restrictions to limit possible malicious activity but not to limit the user. Imagine common home workstation. There are many applications like text editor, Internet browser, file manager, computer games, media player etc. By default, without personal firewall installed, all these applications can do everything as the user who runs them. But why should be the text editor
allowed to access the Internet? Why should be the Internet browser allowed to change system files? Is it not a possible danger to allow games to delete documents or control system services? Why should be the media player allowed to install kernel drivers? No, there is no need to allow such actions.
The purpose of a personal firewall is to set up rules that limit applications to perform actions they should not be able to do and to allow actions that are expected from them. This is something what antivirus or antispyware do not. However, it is the fashion nowadays that antivirus products include also the antispyware features as well as personal firewall features. Such a product is usually called security suite rather than antivirus.

Good and bad products

Many applications are called personal firewalls but how to recognize good products from others? For common user it is very hard to decide. All vendors claims that their product is the best and offer something unique and extraordinary. We think that as personal firewalls are security software the main criterion should be the level of security. Forget all those bells and whistles in security software. If you want Ad-blocking you do not need personal firewall because your browser can do it. There are plugins for the most popular browser that can block ads, popups etc. Today’s personal firewalls contain many similar features that have nothing to do with the security. Just go to your favourite personal firewall vendor’s website and read all the features of their products.

A good personal firewall offers both inbound and outbound protection. The inbound protection means that packets sent from the Internet or local area network to your computer are filtered and only ports that you want to be open are accessible. This protection is standard and is very good and reliable in almost all personal firewalls. On the other hand is the outbound protection which cause problems to all vendors nowadays. The outbound protection means that only applications that are allowed to can access the Internet or local area network. This is not as simple as it looks. Imagine the situation that you want to browse the Internet with your Internet browser and that you do not want other applications to do so. The problem here is that it is not enough only to check which application wants to send the packet to the Internet because modern operating systems allows programs to communicate. An application that is not allowed to access the Internet can start the browser and use it for the communication. Your personal firewall has to protect all those privileged applications against misusing by malware. It has to restrict the access them. But this is still not enough. The personal firewall has to protect itself. Malicious applications should not be able to switch it off or modify its rules. This means that it also has to protect system resources etc. There are many problems in this and we still talk only about one feature - the outbound protection. The personal firewall should also restrict spying on your computer and stealing your data. Also the possibility of deleting or replacing important system files, killing system processes should be restricted because these activity can be used to bypass the protection. What you should ask from your personal firewall is a comprehensive protection against malicious activity. In this context we often talk about sandbox.

There exist special software products we also call personal firewalls which offer neither inbound nor outbound protection. These applications implement the sandbox only. They can be usually installed together with some firewall or personal firewall software to tighten the system security and to minimize the possibility of malicious activity. When we analyse this kind of software we do not consider the missing protection of inbound and outbound protection as security flaws.

Poor reviews

Another big problem are product reviews that are available on the Internet. The vast majority of these reviews were written by users or at most advanced users. This is not a bad thing in general. It is good to have information about the product from the common user point of view. But this information is not enough, not if we talk about security products. You should ask for reviews made by security experts. Those advanced users do not implement their own programs to try to bypass the security of a reviewed product. Unless these people understand how personal firewalls work on the lowest level they are not skilled enough to judge the security level of these products. Usually people who write reviews on security products use only well known third party tools to test the security. Every personal firewall vendor can then implement a simple protection against these well known tools.
Different methods has to be used to test security software. The design of the testing product must be understood by the analyst. A good analysis can take weeks of work. Exact methodology must be set. Just look at any personal firewall review on the Internet. Do you see any description of their methodology? Do they talk about the security and bugs? Did they find any bugs? And now, how can you recognize which product is the best? Best from the security point of view.

Non-Windows systems and personal firewalls

On non-Windows systems this kind of software exists but it is not called personal firewall. On Unix based systems the security concepts are different in many ways but also lots of things are similar. The important similarity is the per-user security. However, there are different habits of users of non-Windows systems. They usually do not use root (Administrator equivalent) account for daily work and it is a very common thing there to create a new user for a small group of programs or even for a single application to restrict its access. Nevertheless, sometimes it is efficient to use per-application security. Read more about Jail.

For more about personal firewalls and security software research please visit Matousec - Transparent security.
Original article can be found on our website.

[tags]article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email[/tags]

Bootleg movie downloads are a major scourge in the world of entertainment and are an offshoot of the digital makeover associated with the movie industry. One of the disturbing facts is that it has generated lucrative, novel businesses including movie DVDs and downloadable music. In other words, digital technology has opened up an unknown scope for bootlegging by unscrupulous players in the field.

The harm that has been done by bootleg movie downloads is unprecedented. Records indicate that disc and tape forgery accounts for a sizeable loss in revenue. An area of grave concern is that illegal copies of movies are flooding the internet. Bootleg downloads have hit the entertainment industry hard. It has encouraged commercial piracy to a great extent, and it has come as a great blow to creative ideas and views.

The United States entertainment industry is worried that there has been a steady growth of disc bootlegging. The ambiguous system that facilitates entry of bootleg movies to the market is complex. It is lucrative as well. Commercial pirates earn huge amounts through this nepharious process. In the absence of strict laws, the risk involved is minimal allowing bootleggers to pocket thousands of dollars a week.

Bootlegged movies move globally with the aid of an intricate and surreptitious channe1. First, a movie is clandestinely recorded with a camcorder while up for public viewing in a theater. The recording is then transferred to a computer and placed online, The master copy is handed over to a manufacturer either in the form of a DVD or electronically. The manufacturer makes copies from the discs that are made available for a fee to a network of distributors. These distributors sell them to teams of peddlers.

Movie Downloads provides detailed information about movie downloads, fast movie downloads, free movie downloads and more. Movie Downloads is affiliated with DVD Rental Clubs.

[tags]movie downloads, fast movie downloads, free movie downloads[/tags]

Looking back, the emergence of business service management (BSM) seems inevitable. This new generation of tools helps IT organizations manage technology infrastructures within the context of the key services they provide for their customers. BSM tools are critical enablers for the increasingly popular process-focused IT Service Management (ITSM) approach.

What’s driving this evolution to BSM and its related IT management paradigms? Executive Consultant Troy DuMoulin of Pink Elephant, an ITIL events and consulting firm, explains, “The interest in ITIL, the evolution of legislation like SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), and the interest in standards is symptomatic of something much more rudimentary. At the base of this growing focus on formalization and legislation is a growing awareness of exposure and dependency that the business has on IT. Before, IT was seen as an enabler, supportive but yet somehow separated from the business processes themselves. But now there is a realization that there is no true separation between the business process and the underlying IT services and systems.”

Information technology has become so vital to business today - so ubiquitous in every aspect - that most businesses literally cannot function without it anymore. Even simple manual tasks like filling a car with gas or cashing a check now require the support of an IT system.

This heightened reliance on IT has placed companies at a crossroads. They are compelled to address this new dependency by putting processes and technology in place to ensure IT does its job serving the business effectively. So the move to BSM can be seen as a natural reaction to the new way IT interacts with and enables business.

“BSM is a way for a company to agree on what the business expectations are, and manage the IT performance to those agreed upon expectations,” clarifies Brian Childers, a consultant who also serves on the Board of Directors for itSMF USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting best practices in IT services management. “Once we understand the expectations, we can build the processes to suit the expectations, and manage against them.”

Vendors are responding rapidly to these new service management imperatives. Leading software providers - like HP, BMC, Mercury and Managed Objects - are already introducing new BSM-versions of their popular tools to help revolutionize the way IT managers gauge technology performance and leverage that knowledge to meet business needs. And new kinds of automated, self-learning software from companies like Netuitive, are making it easier than ever for managers to cut across their technology silos and tie together their existing management tools.

“Over the years - especially during the frenetic IT build-out of the late 1990s - companies cobbled together a mishmash of systems within their IT organizations,” adds Tony Gilbert, vice president at Netuitive. “The result now is a heterogeneous set of components in the IT environment, and individual departmental silos for managing each one. The right set of BSM tools makes it possible to tie together all of these pieces of technology across an enterprise and to monitor IT from the perspective of the service it delivers.”

BSM tools help IT groups see technology in terms of how it impacts their business services, and zero-in on the cause of a particular performance issue that is affecting that service — a capability companies do not have when they manage IT solely through technology silos. The new BSM tools can also enable a company to prioritize resources based on the relative importance of multiple business services. For example, a brokerage firm could manage online trading or online banking services holistically instead of piecemeal within silos: the server group, the database group, the application group.

More Than Just Technology

But completely changing a management approach is not easy. “For the last 20 years our industry has been focused on managing technology. Management of IT has been by domains, such as mainframes, networks and databases. But those domains don’t truly live in isolation.” Pink Elephant’s DuMoulin continues, “A basic premise is that there is a business requirement for IT to understand how any given IT component relates to another and how these devices support or potentially disable a business process. When you understand IT from this perspective you see that you cannot manage by technology or device. You need to understand the relationship between those devices, and how they relate to IT services, and ultimately how IT services are consumed by business.”

The people factor remains an issue, too. For many organizations, BSM often requires a corporate culture change. IT personnel must learn that they don’t just manage boxes and applications, but actually provide services that the business consumes in order to survive and thrive. Most experts agree that the tools are out there, and are necessary, but they go hand in hand with changing processes and changing the way companies perceive the value of IT.

“Some people believe that it doesn’t matter what technology you use as long as you have the right processes in place,” comments Ken Wendle, the ITSM Solution Lead at HP. “But I have always said that IT service management is a combination of people and process, enabled by the right technology, all working in synergy with each other. It is about the intelligent blending of technology to enable and enforce the right processes, which then will allow an organization to execute around business priorities.”

“I have seen companies that put the right processes in place, and trained the right people, but then created process silos,” HP’s Wendle also notes. “But ITSM is about cutting across the technology silos, not just creating another set of process silos on top of them. ITSM is about taking a holistic approach.”

The BSM Evolution Continues

Where is BSM going from here? “One of the missing ingredients today is the enrollment of the business community,” itSMF’s Childers believes. “They need to understand what BSM is and why they would want to support it. I think the better job everyone does with bringing the business side onboard, the faster BSM will progress.”

“I don’t think companies have gained all the benefits of technology that they could,” HP’s Wendle agrees. “The business people need to understand and appreciate what IT can do to help the business side of the organization.”

Clearly there is work to be done, but the adoption of ITSM and the BSM tools that support it continues to gain momentum as more companies realize this is a prerequisite for success in a new world where business and IT have become one.

“The prediction is that over the next five years, ITSM will be as impactful as ERP systems were, or maybe more,” itSMF’s Childers concludes. “I don’t think ITSM is going away, because it makes too much sense.” And innovative BSM vendors will continue to develop new tools to help.

Reprinted from BSM Digest
The BSM Digest newsletter delivers timely original articles about the latest trends in business service management, IT Service Management and ITIL. Plus, we scour the technology industry’s leading publications and alert you to the best articles you don’t want to miss. http://www.bsmdigest.com

[tags]business service management, bsm, itsm, IT service management,[/tags]

Microsoft Great Plains as ERP and Microsoft CRM as Client Relation Management system is very robust combination and could serve midsize to large corporation as Business System.

Many businesses have long used the services of a conference call company to spread their message to the investment community, where investment professionals could hear many firms in several days. To accomodate those who couldn’t travel, the conference call allowed hundreds of analysts to hear a presentation and ask questions in real time.

But access was usually restricted and often involved long-distance toll charges. Occasionally a friendly broker would loan you his access codes, some of which found their way to the Internet. As a result, conferences could be swamped.
The Internet now provides a much more practical venue for the conference call. With its low cost and ability to accomodate many listeners it is now practical to open a conference call to almost anyone (at least to listen). And an increasing number of firms now do.

For example, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal related how companies do this as an efficient way to control the irresponsible babble on the Internet. People posting idle chatter now attract accurate responces from others who have heard the actual story on a conference call. As a result, the irresponsible postings are controlled.

Companies like the ability to make one public statement, and then be free from goverment limitations on how investment information must be released. And individual investors like it too, as access to this information gets them access to information that once only slowly reached the average investor.
Using the Internet has many advantages besides the instantaneous international release that results. It is possible to save the audio files so that the conference call can be accessed later at a more convenient time. Plus it’s possible to edit out meaningless portions of each conference. Naturally, there are some limitations.

If everyone could ask a question, real brawls could result as the conferences became uncontrolled. So most Internet systems limit who can ask a question. An outstanding advantage for the average investor is to witness directly a firm’s management in action. While the information might be the same, an investor gains confidence in management that presents a virtuoso performane over one that is defensive, hesitant, and obfuscative. The details aside, the speed of responce and other items that don’t get incorporated in an analyst’s report can add a lot to one’s understanding.

Previously, a small investor’s only such access might have been at a company’s annual meeting. Several firms have opened to provide investment-related conference-call services in one form or another over the Internet. Some require membership and user fees, but the trend seems to be toward company funding of the low cost service, and free or very low cost access by the public.

Expect that more and more firms will use the services of a conference call company to dissiminate their information to a wider section of the population including investors and employees. You should encourage firms that you are interested in to do so. This form of communication is yet another form of ultimate corporate democracy.

Cornelius Callan is a veteran of the conference call industry. He managed sales and production at a leading conference call company for many years and just recently decided that the internet would be a good place to share his vast pool of knowledge of the business. If you have a question, he usually has the answer. You can visit his website at:http://www.conference-call-network.info

[tags]conference, call, company[/tags]

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is rapidly becoming a top choice for people wishing to avoid costly telephone service. Why? The system works by allowing you to make phone calls using a computer network, such as your Internet provider. The way it works is similar to email; most providers offer unlimited long-distance calling for a low monthly fee or for a low per-minute rate. Where long-distance fees can run high very quickly through traditional phone providers, Voice over IP can provide the same types of calls for a much lower rate. VoIP is the calling choice of the future, and providers are already scrambling to provide the best service for the best price. For the consumer, this is great news. As companies compete for business, rates and service options continue to improve. Why will you love VoIP? The following are three top reasons.

Huge Savings
Imagine being able to keep your current phone number and make as many long distance calls as you wish (within a certain area) for one low price. No more fluctuating phone bills, outrageous long distance charges, or other surcharges that repeatedly shows up on your bill. Voice over IP offers just that. Just as email changed how people communicate, so too will VoIP.

Depending on the provider you choose, you may be able to combine your Internet service with your phone service into one lower monthly bill. As VoIP becomes more common, it will be available in more areas. However, even for those who are not yet able to change their local number to Voice over IP, there is still the option of switching your long distance. This requires a phone number outside of your area code, but the savings will be well worth it. Further, if you make many phone calls to a particular area code, choose a number from that area and your contacts will be able to call you as if it were a local call. Not a bad way to go while you’re waiting for local service!

Options
Voice over IP comes with many options, including both the ones you are used to as well as some new ones. Imagine checking your phone calls through your computer while you are traveling, or having an email sent to you every time you have a new voice mail message! The technologies that integrate your computer and your phone service are opening up a whole new playing field in communications. VoIP combined with your computer, mobile phone, and other gadgets will keep you more connected than ever. Of course, if you choose not to be connected, that is possible as well. Many Voice over IP providers include features you’re used to, such as caller ID, call waiting, and call forwarding. You may also have the option to block callers, use an “away” message, or “do not disturb” options.

Additional features may include three-way calling (again avoiding costly charges), speed dialing, distinctive rings, and many other options. Moreover, if you don’t want to give up some of the benefits to which you’ve become accustomed, many providers offer directory assistance (for a fee, although this could change) and the ability to access 911 emergency personnel, which is a concern for many people.

It’s Not Going Anywhere
VoIP is the future of calling. As the technology evolves, more and more integration options will come available. Depending on the use, you may be ready to switch over now and enjoy the cost savings. For home users, switching to Voice over IP can be a very cost-saving option, particularly for those who make many long-distance calls. Home-based businesses may also benefit from switching. Larger business may do well to wait a bit, or start integrating the technology on a smaller scale. As VoIP evolves, so too will options for larger businesses.

When making the switch to VoIP, do a bit of research to choose the best option. Avoid getting locked-into a long-term contract, as new providers are competing with existing ones, and you’ll want to take advantage of better rates and services if the come along. The basic information to look into includes:

* If local numbers are available in your area.
* If you can call 911 emergency services.
* What the flat rate is for long-distance calling.
* What geographic areas are included in the unlimited long-distance plan.
* The services available and extra costs, such as directory assistance.
* The terms of the contract.

Mike Singh is a webmaster and successful publisher of why-switch-to-voip.com. On his website, he provides more related articles such as disadvantage of VoIP, voice over internet protocol systems and how to choose a voice over ip provider.

[tags]VoIP, save money, internet protocol, voice, phone, long distance, technology[/tags]

As access to the Internet becomes more widespread with faster, more reliable and ‘always on’ connections becoming the norm the growth of applications using the hosted application model continues to expand.

Although hosted applications will not suit every situation, or every customer, they offer many individuals and organizations, as well as the application manufacturers’ themselves, considerable benefits over the locally installed application.

What Is A Hosted Application?

A hosted application, also known as Internet-based application, web-based application, online application and Application Service Providers (ASPs) are software applications where the software resides on servers that are accessed through the Internet instead of the more traditional software that is installed on either a local server or on individual PC’s.

The thin client concept is nothing new but advances in Internet connectivity have allowed the application to move from a local server to a server on the Internet.

Example of hosted applications would be Salesforce.com that provides customer relationship management facilities, Netsuite offering all-in-one business management applications and SurveyGalaxy.com that provides their customers with an enterprise survey and questionnaires application.

What Are The Benefits?

Reduced costs, instant deployment, easier to maintain and reduced administration are among some of the main benefits.

Low Maintenance

With hosted applications the hardware and software is the responsibility of the vendor with the client only having to maintain access to the Internet. As there is no software to download a hosted application can be made instantly available across an entire organization even where the organization has multiple regional and international offices.

As there is no software the considerable time and resources required for periodic updates is also completely eliminated.

Reduced Cost

The need to license software through a ‘per user’, ‘per concurrent user’, ‘per server’ or ’site’ license has been eliminated. Although some hosted applications still do charge ‘per user’ many have taken the opportunity to charge on a ‘usage’ and/or ‘period’ basis meaning that the customer does not have to estimate the number of licenses that will be required, nor install and pay for full licenses that may only be used by some employees occasionally.

This hosted application model also allows the smaller organization and sole trader access to applications written using advanced software development tools and that utilize sophisticated database technology and high-end servers. The capital investment of the hardware and software as well as the security, backup and server maintenance cost are all the responsibility of the vendor.

Minimal Risk

Many hosted applications require no long term commitment from their customers. New customers can often test hosted applications either through a free introduction offer or with minimal risk using a Pay-As-You-Go model. If after trialing the hosted application the customer finds it unsuitable then they can simply stop using the service.

Access

Because the application software and the data is stored on the Internet server the application and data is available to the authorized client once they have logged on from anywhere there is Internet access. The customer can now work anywhere in the office environment, from remote offices or from their home or hotel without the need to download their work or synchronize with portable devices.

Integration

For organizations that have legacy systems from different suppliers running different operating systems the hosted application will provide an integrated solution to any system that supports a standard Internet browser including Windows, Unix and Macs.

Support

The hosted application vendors benefit by not having to maintain multiple version numbers or individual maintenance and licensing agreements. New updates are installed centrally negating the need for expensive roll outs. For many applications the need for version numbers is eliminated as updates are made incrementally bringing the benefits to the customer without having to bundle new features up into a new periodic version release. In some cases a user can request a new feature in the morning that can be developed, tested and deployed globally by the afternoon.

The Concerns

Internet access

New communication technology is able to bring high speed Internet connectivity to more and more remote places but there are still some regions where internet access is limited or not available.

In some cases such as mobile workers although high speed Internet connectivity is available the cost both in terms of connectivity charges and equipment may, at least in the short term, prove to be prohibitive.

Security

As with everything to do with the Internet security is a justified concern. There is no simple ‘one size fits all’ solution to the security issue and a lot will depend on the specific hosted application and the nature of the data.

With online banking and shopping becoming common place the vendor should be able to provide their clients with sufficient confidence that the data is secure and that any private information remains private.

Hosted applications will normally operate a login procedure ensuring that only those that are authorized have access. The more sensitive the data, the more sophisticated the login procedure.

A good data host will strictly enforce the stated wishes of their customers and ensure that data is not available or released to anyone that is not legally entitled to see it and they will adopt the latest security measures available to prevent unauthorized access.

There may be some areas such as automatic logins from known PC’s and the use of cookies that although they don’t necessary represent a significant risk could present a risk under certain circumstances, such as gaining access to a private account through the automatic login using an unattended PC. Although strictly speaking the customer’s responsibility the customer should be made aware of the risks so that they can take action to safeguard their own system.

Although security is a concern in some circumstances private data may prove to be more secure than it would be on a private network with less sophisticated security measures or in an environment where there is a risk from within.

Vendor Lock-In

As with all software applications there is a risk that a customer could become locked-in to paying costly monthly subscriptions to maintain access to their historic data. To counter this some applications will allow the data to be downloaded or allow customer to maintain access to their data for a reasonable time free of charge.

Control

Unlike a local application the hardware and software is under the control of a third party. This is a justifiable concern although not too dissimilar to the telephone provider supplying and maintaining the communications equipment and there are considerable incentives for the vendors to ensure high availability and reliability since their business depends on it.

In Summary

Benefits

• No vendor installation or upgrades required
• Low start-up costs
• Minimal Risk, no long term commitment
• Backups and viruses responsibility of the vendor
• Hardware and software server maintenance vendor’s responsibility
• Investment in local hardware & software reduced
• No need to synchronized data with multiple devices
• Access to data available globally through any internet connection
• Reduced software licensing costs

Concerns

• Lack of Internet availability
• Security
• Possibility of vendor lock-in

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy a hosted application that provides an enterprise application to create, design and publish surveys online. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

[tags]online surveys, survey software, surveys online, hosted application, Internet-based application, web[/tags]

NTFS is a Microsoft Windows file system that provides volume consistency by using transaction logging and recovery techniques. NTFS can use its log file and checkpoint information to restore the consistency of the file system.

In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, NTFS also provides advanced features such as file and folder permissions, encryption, disk quotas, and compression.

Unfortunately volumes are not always set up with NTFS as the file system. For instance the FAT file system, a file system that utilizes a data structure called a File Allocation Table (FAT) to organize and manage files, is often used as the default file system to ensure compatibility with older operating systems such as DOS; IBM OS2; and Microsoft Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and ME that may be on the network.

Another file system that might be installed on Windows 2000 or Windows XP is the FAT32 file system. The FAT32 file system is a derivative of the FAT file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes and larger volumes than FAT, which results in more efficient space allocation on FAT32 volumes.

Because of the consistency and security features of NTFS you may wish to convert from the FAT or FAT32 file system to NTFS. Microsoft provides a command line utility to do this, appropriately named “Convert”. Be aware that “convert” is one-way only. You will not be able to restore your volume back to FAT or FAT32 without using a third-party utility or by reformatting the drive.

To convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS, type “convert DRIVE:/fs:ntfs /X” on the command line where “DRIVE” is the drive letter (e.g. convert C: /fs:ntfs /x).

“convert C:” tells the command to convert the volume present on the specified drive, in this case the C drive. “/fs:ntfs” tells the command to convert to the NTFS file system. The “/X” parameter” will force the volume to unmount first.

If you are trying to convert your primary volume within Windows, convert will not be able to obtain exclusive access to your hard drive. In other words, while XP is running some files on your primary volume are always “in use”, so the conversion must be done the next time Windows starts to load.

On the next reboot the process will check the drive for errors before proceeding to convert the file system to NTFS.

If the above conversion is successful, or if you try the above instructions and get the message “Drive is already NTFS” but you still do not see the “advanced share” and the “security” tab in “folder properties”, try the following:

Open Windows Explorer.

Select the Tools menu.

Select Folder Options.
Select the View tab.

Scroll the Advanced settings list to the very bottom.
At this point, you will see the “Use simple file sharing (Recommended)” option.
If enabled, remove the check from the checkbox.

You should now have an “advanced share” tab and a “security” tab in the ” folder properties” window.

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