Anthony Ricigliano Business Blog

What does Server Virtualization Mean?
Server virtualization is the use of technology to separate software, including the operating system, from the hardware. This means that you can run several environments on the same physical server. In some installations, this could mean that several identical operating systems are run on the same machine. Other shops could decide to run a Windows platform, a Linux system, and an UNIX environment on a single server.

Advantages of Server Virtualization
In today’s demanding business environment, server virtualization offers many different advantages. Not only does virtualization allow servers and data to be more mobile than ever, it also provides a cost-effective way to balance flat or shrinking budgets. The following list details the major benefits:
• Consolidation – Most large servers run applications that only take up a small percentage of their processing power. Even busy software packages usually only have small peak times that utilize over 50% of their CPU capabilities. The rest of the time, the capacity is unused. By virtualizing the server so that additional systems can take advantage of under-utilized resources, IT shops can increase their return-on-investment (ROI). Although some companies have reported a consolidation ratio as high as 12:1, most shops can easily show a 3:1 to 4:1 rate.
• Decreased Footprint – By decreasing the number of physical servers, the size of the computer room can be reduced and utility costs should decrease.
• Lower Hardware Costs – The utilization of a higher percentage of existing hardware resources will reduce the total number of physical servers that are needed. This will save money on the upfront expense of purchasing hardware and the long-term cost of maintenance.
• Flexibility – Server virtualization allows an IT shop to be much more flexible. Instead of waiting for new hardware to arrive before implementing a new system, a new virtual server can be created on an existing machine. This also provides a more flexible method for migration and disaster recovery.
• Easier Testing and Development – Historically, IT installations have used separate physical servers for their development, acceptance testing, and production environments. With virtualization, it is an easy process to create either different or identical operating environments on the same server. This allows developers to compare performance on several different environments without impacting the stability of the production system.

Virtualization and Disaster Recovery
The growth in both international business and large-scale natural disasters has many organizations closely analyzing their disaster recovery plans and general hardware malfunction procedures. In either event, it is critical to be back up and running in a very short period of time. Most modern IT shops require consistent up-time 24-hours a day to maintain their core operations, or their business will be severely impacted. Both reliability and accessibility are greatly improved when server virtualization is used to its fullest potential.

By reducing the total number of servers needed to duplicate the production environment, it is much less expensive to create and test an off-site disaster recovery environment. Hardware, space, and backup expenses are dramatically reduced. It’s easy to see how setting up 30 or 40 pieces of hardware would be both easier and cheaper than configuring 100 items.

Along the same lines, a hardware malfunction will be less of an issue with server virtualization. While many more systems will run on the same piece of hardware, most shops find that they can easily duplicate physical servers for automatic rollover in the event of a hardware failure when they virtualize.

Major Virtualization Products
While there are always smaller players in any new technology, VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server are the biggest providers of server virtualization products.
• VMware offers the free VMware Server package or the more robust VMware ESX and ESXi products. Systems that are virtualized by VMware products are extremely portable and can be installed on virtually any new piece of hardware with a low incidence of complications. The system can be suspended on one machine, moved to another one, and immediately resume operations at the suspense point when restarted.
• Microsoft Virtual Server is a virtualization product that works best with the Windows operating systems, but can also run other systems like the popular Linux OS.

Spam, named after the canned meat that has been the butt of many jokes, is the mass sending of unsolicited emails. It clutters email inboxes, makes it hard to find legitimate communications, eats bandwidth, consumes mass amounts of storage, and irritates the computer user. If the computer user makes a mistake and opens the wrong email or clicks on the wrong link, their computer can quickly become infected with a virus or spyware. Spam is considered so detrimental to normal communications that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has passed the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act aimed at preventing spam.

Spam Statistics
The numbers related to spam are staggering. To illustrate how large this problem is, take a look at the following numbers:
• Globally, unsolicited spam emails account for 14.5 billion messages each day. This represents 45% of the total email volume.
• The largest volume of spam originates in the United States, with Korea following close behind.
• The top three spam categories are advertising at 36%, adult-related material accounts at 31.7%, and financial material at 26.5% of all spam emails.
• Although spam is annoying, only 2.5% of all spam is fraudulent. Identity theft, or phishing, makes up the majority of fraudulent emails.
• Annually, it is estimated that spam costs the business world over $71 billion each year in processing time and lost productivity. That number is expected to grow to $257 billion per year if spam is allowed to continue at its current growth rate.

New Generation of Email Risks
Spam isn’t just annoying, it brings many larger problems. Spam is one way that hackers can access your system. If they can convince an unsuspecting user to click on a link, they may be able to install malware on your system. Certain types of malware will provide the hacker with a backdoor into your network that they can use to access valuable information. Other types of malware will capture specific types of information and send it back to the hacker. Using these methods, your private company information or the private financial information of your customers can be easily compromised.

Another way that tricky spammers can impact your business operation is by impersonation. They will create emails that appear to be from your organization and send them to millions of email addresses hoping that someone will believe their masquerade. To take this fraudulent hoax a step further, they may even create a website that resembles the official landing page. In this way, they could trick your customers into revealing important financial information and compromise your reputation.

Your company’s reputation could also be damaged if spam gets past your defenses and infects your system with a virus. The virus could use your email system to send out malicious spam to people in your address book which could also infect their systems. They will blame the original creator of the virus, but they will also blame you and your lax security procedures.

In addition to compromised reputations, other impacts represent real dollar amounts. Anti-spam technology costs businesses of all sizes a substantial amount of money in software and hardware solutions. The lost productivity experienced as employees deal with spam email translates into a major payroll expense. Wasted storage and bandwidth combined with increased internet connection costs run the spam bill up even more.

Impact on Small and Mid-Sized Business
Small and mid-sized businesses are often impacted more severely than larger businesses. They often lack the resources to implement counter-measures to detect and quarantine spam which leaves them open to risks. In addition to the loss of productivity caused by spam, the threats listed above are a larger threat to smaller businesses. Just like larger companies have the resources to fight spam, they also have a larger budget to recover from any damage done to their reputation by compromised personal information. In contrast, small to mid-sized businesses face the potential to lose a large portion of their customer base due to problems caused by spam.

Detection Methods
As new security protocols are put into place to combat spam, creative spammers are working equally hard to find a new way around them. This trend of increasingly sophisticated security threats is causing electronic security professionals to rethink and bolster protective measures. While it is fairly easy for a human to determine if an email is spam, it’s not as easy for a program to do the same. If a legitimate email is identified as spam based on a security program’s inspection criteria, it is referred to as a false positive. While there is a certain amount of risk involved with missing important messages, most spam blockers rely on identifying spam by inspecting the contents of the email.

Additional methods are being developed. Some companies rely on DNS-based blacklists where a third-party service identifies spammers and maintains a list of sites that are known to send large amounts of spam. Another method quantifies the “alienness” of strings. It analyzes the incoming email and identifies it as spam if it has a substring that has a high degree of alienness when compared to the rest of the message. Security software developers continue to try to stay ahead of the spammers and hackers, and new detection methods can be expected in the future.

Amthony Ricigliano

While the hardware required to store massive amounts of data becomes cheaper with each passing year, the resulting explosion of stored data content means that companies are forced to devise innovative new ways to meet the challenges of processing this ever-growing wealth of information. Simply storing everything forever because of the low cost of storage media sounds like a good idea to the uninformed, but massive amounts of information stored in databases and flat files can make retrieval, purging, and archiving a difficult process. Recent electronic data laws that require specific periods of retention to allow for auditing in the event of fraud or other wrongdoing only serve to complicate matters even further.

Best Practices for Data Management
Like any other data processing area, the experts in data management have compiled a list of best practices. While each item will not apply to every organization, the individual IT shop should choose the practices that work well for their particular data storage model. With the growth in data warehouses, a data management strategy is critical to the overall success of virtually every business area. Rules and code should be created to make sure that each piece of data is always accurate, that it means the same thing to everyone and every system, and that everyone has access to the most current information.

Data Stewardship
A data steward maintains the metadata registry and ensures each data element’s integrity. This would include making sure that each data element has a clear and precise definition, that the data element is not duplicated unnecessarily, and that each data element has clear and up-to-date documentation that specifies valid values, data sources, and data destinations. When the data element is no longer required, it should be immediately removed from the file structure. Data stewardship ensures consistent use of a defined field between multiple computer systems, allows for easier mapping of data, and reduces migration costs.

Model Driven Integration
By using Unified Modeling Language (UML), some IT shops are using the model-driven strategy to provide application integration solutions. This is an attempt to reduce the costs of meeting the ever-changing demands of the current business world by quickly adapting the existing software infrastructure. It attempts to separate business logic from the underlying system so that individual components can be reused without the need to change them. With this theory, data storage should be kept independent from application design and organized according to the business needs.

Active Data Model
Relational databases are the storage method of choice for most organizations that require retention of massive amounts of data with fast retrieval times. The Active Data Model “actively” refreshes the data that is seen at the client level. The client retrieves data in its current state. Next, it tracks the data created, deleted, or modified by the user, and then passes the information back to additional services for validation prior to permanent storage. Because data at the client level is always up-to-date, code designed to set up or manipulate the data can often be reduced or eliminated.

Organizational Challenges
As the amount of stored data grows, so do the organizational challenges. While no one wants to keep out-dated information, it has become increasingly necessary to do so in case of audits or legal challenges. Old data must be archived once it is no longer needed for instant retrieval, but it must still be kept somewhere that it can be accessed fairly easy when necessary. Due to inconsistent classification of data between systems or between organizations, substantial effort and cost is wasted in trying to reconcile data. In many cases, both systems will be correct, but they may be following different data management rules. When data elements are stored in multiple file systems, data errors can become a major problem. One system may be updated before another one, or certain systems may not be updated at all. When two or more computer systems are merged together due to the growth in mergers and acquisitions, it only compounds the problems if an aggressive data management strategy is not used.

By Anthony Ricigliano: Many small businesses get to the point where going outside their four walls to have someone else tell their story sounds like it might make sense. In many cases it does, and in some it probably doesn’t. The key here is in knowing the difference. This is the first issue to sort out in terms of deciding whether you should hire an outside public relations firm or not. Let’s start out by eliminating a couple of business types which either won’t benefit by hiring outside PR or which could get their story out in a more efficient manner.

* Businesses with a local or regional target market – A PR firm might help here but there are a number of other ways to highlight your company. Local search is becoming so specialized at search engines like Google that you can probably engage a firm to search engine optimize your business at a fraction of the cost of a PR firm.

* Businesses with a highly technical product or service that a PR company simply isn’t going to get. PR from a firm that has no idea what you do is probably going to do more harm than good.

* Companies which have just gone public and are listed on the pink sheets or the bulletin board. Brokers can’t recommend your stock, trade mags aren’t going to be happy with ”buy our stock” solicitations, and going direct to the public can be prohibitively expensive.

The types of companies which can benefit are those with national markets, branding objectives, and the ability to stick with a marketing strategy for the long term. Once the decision has been made to hire a PR firm, there are several actions you can take to maximize the relationship. These include:

* Making sure that the company understands your products and/or services.

* Defining your target market and your marketing strategy so that the firm understands what your objectives are.

* Do not let the PR company take you in a direction you don’t want to go.

* Controlling your company’s message. It’s amazing how often a line like “Trust us, we’re professionals” neuters a business owner to a point where the PR firm starts defining the company from the inside out.

* Demand measurable results. Hiring a PR firm is about getting a return on your investment. Make sure you’re getting results.

Most relationships fail with PR companies due to poor planning and insufficient communication. Don’t expect miracles from your PR company. In fact, they’re really going to be only as good as the direction and guidance you give them as they roll out your campaign. Plan on participating in the process and you’ll stand a much better chance at having a successful relationship with your PR firm.

Advice By Anthony Ricigliano

Read Technology News By Anthony Ricigliano: The people at Google, who have always bent over backward to avoid the “evil” tag applied to Microsoft, have apparently decided that a little evil is ok if it means control of the internet. As announced with Verizon, the policy framework they are proposing would be the first giant step toward the corporate takeover of the internet and the end of “Net Neutrality”.

Let’s backtrack a little and talk about real Net Neutrality. What this means is that internet service providers, like Verizon, must guarantee that all web sites and internet technologies are treated equally, whether it’s CNN or a grandmother who wants to blog about knitting. Neutrality allows for anyone to distribute information and media content, whether it’s a video of cats doing tricks or a personal account at the scene of a disaster. This neutrality enables anyone with a website the ability to find an audience and has served as the main reason for the explosion of internet users around the world.

The proposal put forth by Google and Verizon essentially tries to reverse the openness of the internet back to a model where ISP’s like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast as well as companies like Google can decide on a pecking order of who can distribute information and how it’s done. The size of the stakes is huge as in the very near future all video, radio, phone and other services will soon be delivered through an internet connection.

Starting with wireless networks, the Google and Verizon policy statement allows ISP’s to do anything they want from blocking websites to making distributors pay to have their sites available for viewing. Wired networks get the lip service of non-discrimination but the standards are so weak that websites can be blocked as well. The proposal would split the internet into two classes with the upper class mandating paid access for content and applications while the secondary level would remain for everyone else.

ISP’s would also regulate which applications would be prioritized instead of allowing internet users to decide for themselves. If Verizon has a crummy application that is competing against one with all the bells and whistles, this model could effectively enable Verizon to crush small competitors offering higher quality apps. This is not far removed from the big three auto makers crushing small competitors in their early days.

The pact also does its best to eliminate regulation by turning the FCC into a quasi-complaints department while true monitoring would be relegated to a committee either controlled or made up of people from the industry. Self regulation, in the form of “We are professionals and we know what we’re doing” delivered the BP disaster to the Gulf. Google and Verizon are taking the same type position regarding the regulation of their proposed version of the internet.

By Anthony Ricigliano

Managing a Technology Project involves managing both the new system components and the programmers and analysts that create them. In many ways, managing the people involved can be a more daunting task that tracking each new piece of code or hardware item. If each person on the team is not kept up-to-date and on the same page, the process can quickly break down and mistakes will be made.

The Right Approach Can Increase the Chances of Success
While the exact approach taken may depend on the organization and the project details, there are a few methods that should always be used. Many project managers like to detail their project within software packages like Microsoft Project, or Sharepoint, but it may not be very effective without communication that goes beyond recording tasks and deadlines. The project manager should realize that while some people work well with a list, most people will need more direction. In addition, the team will probably be made up of an assortment of people with different learning styles. The material should be presented verbally and visually for the best results. At a minimum, the project manager should create a project plan, schedule a launch meeting to explain the project in detail, and then plan on weekly meetings for progress reports and problem resolution.

Improved Human Interaction Can Prevent Project Failures
If a project manager only informs, and doesn’t communicate, there is a high chance that the project will fail. They should be open to all questions, feedback, and suggestions to ensure that everyone understands both their role in the project and the potential cost of a failure. Excellent suggestions about better methods for implementing new technology can sometimes come from surprising sources. If an open-door approach is not maintained, a team member with a great idea could decide to keep it to themselves rather than risk ridicule or rejection. While it is important to go over the minute details of system changes that must be implemented, it is just as important that everyone understands the big picture. If the entire team understands that their next raise is dependent on the revenue increase that a successful project outcome will bring and that a failure could mean layoffs, they will be more likely to put in their best effort. The project manager should also make sure that they are aware of each team member’s vacation plans and personal issues that could result in an absence during a critical phase of the project. While unforeseen events will always happen during a project, asking a few questions can minimize the surprises.

Is Over-Communication Possible?
While anything is possible, it’s very hard to over-communicate during a project. Always ask for elaboration on any answer to make sure that each party understands both the question and the answer. Yes and no questions rarely give the full picture. Frequently, team members will think they have the same technical definition of a business term, but actually bring a slightly different viewpoint to the table. Neither is wrong, just from different perspectives. For example, one person may think that a payment timetable begins when they place an order, while someone in a different area may think that the clock doesn’t start ticking until the product actually arrives.

Communicate at all Levels within the Organization
Effective communication is required within and between all levels of the organization. While executives have very different perspectives than middle management and the technical staff, they will need frequent updates about each project. The executive level should expect weekly updates that let them know whether or not the project is on target to meet the deadline or if the project manager requires additional resources to achieve the ultimate goal. Middle management will also require a weekly update, but will want more details about each task and the testing results. The team will require the most information so that they know if their part is causing a delay in any other area or if they will have to wait on another component before they can complete their part. Communication should go both ways. Projects that involve inter-company partnerships require even more back and forth communication. As the project approaches its target launch dates, meetings may be escalated from weekly to daily when necessary.

Effective Communication Leads to Improved Support
When everyone feels like they are a valuable part of the project, they are more likely to provide the support required for a successful project. Each person involved from management to staff with minimal roles should be included in all communications and feel that they are providing useful input so that they engaged and buy into the importance of success. An executive who believes in the value that the project will bring to the organization will be more likely to pull a few strings when needed to add resources to a project when they are desperately needed. Along the same line, a technician who feels that their input is heard will be more likely to fit your needs into their busy schedule than if they think their ideas are only given a token amount of consideration.

In 2008, the Interactive Data Corp (IDC) predicted that 75 percent of the U.S. workforce will be mobile by 2011 with other countries closely approaching that number in the same year. The new tech-savvy workforce is demanding balance and flexibility as part of their day-to-day job description. No longer do they want to be tied to a desk from nine to five, day after day.

While corporate America may not be as excited about this idea as their employees, they will have to provide mobile solutions if they expect their current staff to support critical systems in the new global marketplace that is active 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the past, if a system experienced an outage during off-hours, it could often wait until the next morning. If it was critical, the developer might have to come into the office to correct the problem. This was an unpopular, but acceptable, practice that every IT shop followed.

With recent advances in technology, most of these tasks can be completed from a remote location just as easily as if the developer was on-site. This makes it very hard for any reputable company to justify waking someone up in the middle of the night to come into the office when they could sign-on from home. It becomes even harder when more and more systems must be kept running every moment of the day and night, and the number of critical calls continues to increase with each new system.

A company that is unprepared to meet the mobile support needs of their employees may find that they will lose their most qualified workers to other companies that can provide a better method for remote work. After all, this becomes a win-win solution as the Information Systems department gets better support from more satisfied employees, while the individual worker has the flexibility to spend time with their family and still perform well at their job.

To support a mobile business model, the Information Systems department will need to make several infrastructure changes. They should address security to make sure that they don’t open the door to hackers, viruses, or any unwanted connections. Once security is in place, they will need to install a server that resides outside of the company firewall for external connections and user id authentication. Many companies use Citrix software or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to enable their employees to connect to the internal network.

On the employee’s side, they will need access to a Wi-Fi connection or aircards to connect through a cellular provider. Equipment can vary from desktops to laptops to smartphones. In today’s world, almost any electronic device that can connect to the internet can be used for mobile support. The Apple iPad can use apps that will allow remote connection and control of any desktop device via the internet. In theory, this could allow support personnel to work from anywhere in the world just as easy as from their desk for less than a $600 investment.

In addition to providing much needed support around the clock, allowing employees to perform their support tasks from remote locations will lead to a more satisfied, and more productive, work force.

By Anthony Ricigliano

Technology News by Anthony Ricigliano: Voice over Internet Protocol – a.k.a. VoIP – is taking the business world by storm. While larger companies are slower at shifting their communication departments to the technology, the much more agile small business owner has embraced VoIP as a solution for increased productivity at cut-rate costs.

Understanding VoIP Features

To the technological novice, VoIP is a bit of a mystery. Telephone calls are made and received via the Internet; that being so, there are ample technological advantages that heighten connectivity avenues. For example, VoIP Review (1) underscores that one of the most desirable tech features is the desk-to-desk calling ability that allows for instant connectivity of offices the world over.

Providers of the service also offer business applications more commonly associated with traditional voice and telephony technologies. These include the popular conference calling abilities, hold music and also a programmable automated attendant. Unlimited local and long distance calls, no need for long service contracts, faxing capabilities and even online training webinars are just some of the benefits offered by VoIP business providers vying for the company business.

Possible Downsides of Voice over Internet Protocol

It would be foolhardy to assume that all VoIP providers are created equal. Although their overall services may mimic one another, differences in voice quality vary, usually depending on the Internet connection and also equipment utilized. This has prompted business VoIP providers to issue quality of service guarantees, which assist the commercial customer in differentiating between the industry giants and the wannabes.

Dropped calls are virtually unheard of although they can happen, especially if the Internet experiences particularly heavy traffic at a given time. Not surprisingly, a quality of service guarantee offered by the various companies here, too, separates the heavy hitters from the up and comers.

Business Advantages of Using VoIP

Although traditional telephony services appear to have a very slight edge when it comes to voice quality and dropped calls, they fail to shine in the areas of long distance rates. Depending on the long distance carrier with which the business contracts, these charges can be prohibitive. VoIP networks frequently provide these calls free of charge or – if they fall outside a predefined network – at very inexpensive rates.

Maintaining a VoIP network is downright cheap. The business owner, who relies on traditional phone service, in large part subsidizes the cost of copper wire maintenance and line upgrades by the big telephony carriers. Infrastructure requirements of VoIP are virtually nonexistent. Not surprisingly, there are no costs that need to be passed on to the commercial client. This in turn greatly reduces the cost of the overall service.

Fad or Here to Stay?
There is nothing faddish about Voice over Internet Protocol. In fact, the United States’ Social Security Administration (2) has committed to changing its entire nationwide field offices’ – the number currently stands at 1,526 – phone connectivity to a centrally directed VoIP system that is integrated with the organization’s data network.

Callers to the agency may remember that initially the phone system was a conglomeration of patch-worked systems that consisted of moved lines and dead ends, all of which contributed to callers’ frustrations over dropped calls and dead air. Since VoIP can send more than one call via a broadband hookup, it lets the agency increase its usage without needing to add costly to install – and maintain – lines.

This flexibility makes it highly desirable not only to the United States government but also to the business community that is recognizing a shift in the way of doing business. A global marketplace is changing where business is done, and inexpensive connectivity and down-home flexibility are quickly becoming the hallmarks of the VoIP-powered business that can roll with the punches and adapt to rapid changes.

By Anthony Ricigliano

IT News by Anthony Ricigliano: The topic of data leaks has been making headlines in the world of IT professionals for some time now. With each passing year, it seems that more ways are being found to punch holes in security systems from both external and internal sources. As more companies become more conscious of their potential security risks, those seeking to circumvent the system are busy finding new ways to thwart their efforts to secure their data.

One of the easiest ways for even amateur hackers to gain access to your data is from emails sent by your employees. Perhaps an employee makes an inquiry by email regarding the availability of an item needed for the office. The vendor replies with a quote, and your employee responds with an email containing the company credit card number. By the time it is discovered that the number has been leaked, there can be thousands of dollars charged to the company card, requiring many hours to rectify.

Perhaps the company has employees who work from home or travel. Documents sent via email that contain information on an upcoming bid structure and amount can fall into the hands of the competition, who can then undercut your bid. Discussions of proposed acquisitions can destroy all chances of the purchase.

Your customers might innocently request that confidential information be sent as an email attachment. Perhaps you are an accountant, and the client would like to review his tax returns before you file them. He may request a list of his prices under a competitive pricing agreement that would create ill will among other customers if they knew he was receiving preferential pricing. The client can also initiate the data leak by emailing you information such as his social security number or bank routing information.

Many employees routinely email files to their personal email accounts so that they can access the data from home. This may be legitimate, as when he or she merely wants to work over the weekend or needs instant access to data when out of the office. However, it can also be a case of an employee providing the information to your competition.

Your employee data security can also be compromised easily. An email attachment of your employees’ names, home addresses, and phone numbers can be an issue if intercepted by an unauthorized user. If you add the employees’ social security numbers, birth dates, or anniversary dates, virtually everyone on the list is at risk of identity theft.

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent data leaks. The first step requires almost no expense and is simply a matter of implementing policies designed to protect your company’s information. Establish policies on who can connect, when it is allowable, and from where they can connect. Forbid logging in from public computers, such as Internet cafes or airport kiosks. Define a policy for file transfers to removable devices such as laptops, disks, or memory sticks. Include an audit trail so that you will be able to track who has downloaded what. Create a list of approved devices to help prevent hackers from downloading data.

Encrypt files at both the file and disk levels. Files that are encrypted while they are in motion are less likely to be of any use to a hacker even if intercepted. It also allows you to monitor your most sensitive data and see where it has been and who is accessing the files.

Establish a secure perimeter around your network. All data being sent out should be scanned for patterns or keywords that could identify a potential leak of sensitive information. If a match is found, the system can block the transmission.

Think of the business world as a desert through which you must navigate if you are to be successful. Now imagine that your company data is the bottle of water that will keep you going on your trek. As long as the bottle remains intact, you will be able to use the contents when needed. If it begins to leak, however, you are losing the lifeblood of your business. Other denizens in the desert can use the water you lose to sustain their own existence. They may be scavengers seeking an easy drink or predators out to cause you serious harm. Either way, your loss is their gain. Once the contents of the bottle have been leaked, the water is contaminated, and even if you can scoop it back into the bottle, you are likely to get a great deal of debris you do not want.

Author Anthony Ricigliano

Author Anthony Ricigliano::: The invention of email attachments back in 1996 changed the way that we communicate as well as the way that we view the internet. With the advent of such a system, people started wielding the ability to easily send out properly formatted documents to their email contacts with a very little amount of training required. Attachments became an overnight craze that resulted in business practices which are radically more streamlined. However, the invention of file attachments has also come complete with a hidden price–storage space. Storing huge files in an email inbox can result in exceeding mailbox storage limits. Keeping attachments can also hurt a business by impeding the performance of a server, leading to the lagging load time, backed-up files, and requiring system restores. A large number of attachments in an inbox can obstruct the proper functioning of an email system. This is the reason why it is so important to organize and archive attachments. The amount of money that can be saved by taking control of a mailbox overflowing with email attachments can save a company from debilitating increased storage costs. An archival and organizational system can save innumerable company dollars, including both hard and soft dollars.

Archiving attachments is a simple process that almost anyone can figure out without much research or training. Although many email servers come with an integrated archiving and organizing systems, higher end software is also readily available. Commercial archival and organizational software may better suit the needs of larger companies and corporations, or those who desire a greater level of organization and functionality.

Archiving attachments is a process that can lead to higher efficiency and productivity. Besides freeing up valuable inbox space, archiving attachments can provide quicker access to archived emails. Through the use of a search tool, keywords can be typed in to find the email someone is searching for, making access to emails a smoother process. Attachments that are filed away are more secure as well. Accidental deletions and server crashes can lead to the loss of crucial documents. Archiving these attachments will ensure that the loss of important text files is far less likely.

Attachments, while useful, are also costly in their ramifications. Slower delivery times are a hindrance in situations that require speedy action. Large files weigh down a server, causing severe backups. System restores become necessary and can lead to the loss of valuable information.

Because file attachments comprise 95% of the bandwidth of an email system, they are also the cause of the majority of the costs associated with network storage. Archiving these files can cut these costs exponentially. Archiving files takes up less storage space in an email system. Less storage space needed in an email system means a lower price tag overall. Adding an archival system to an email management plan will allow funds to be directed towards more lucrative investments.

Overall, implementing an archival and organizational system for email can help to make a business more effective under the pressures of crucial deadlines. By reducing storage costs, such a system will eventually pay for itself. The massive gains in productivity associated with adding archival software to an email system can lead to happier users of a system. The ease with which the process of archiving attachments is done can facilitate the protection of sensitive information. Decreasing the bandwidth used by a system is as easy as archiving and organizing attachments, which can in turn lead to quicker delivery times and a speedier system. The benefits of adding an archival organizational system are truly fantastic and should be a goal of any company looking to alleviate problems in excessive attachment storage.

Anthony Ricigliano