Once upon a time, solution providers would establish a support contract to witch a technician would be assigned to provide onsite support, schedule recurring service calls, and support that company’s desktop assets – an approach that proved very effective for small and medium sized businesses. For large businesses, solution providers would regularly sell and install PC asset and support management applications, train the in-house IT staff how to use the apps, and derive their profit from the sale of the application and training services.

Nowadays, conventional PC management has moved to the cloud. Because of this, solution providers are leaning towards hosted platforms or competing directly against large vendors because the cloud has rendered those very support and revenue models obsolete. But the cloud’s power does not stop there. Additional long-established provider services, such as network services, applications, and VoIP/PBX services are now platforms or layers of a platform in the cloud.

The power, advantages and benefits that the cloud offers is only making it more popular as the days go by, and the proof is in the growing numbers of IT resources moving in and solution providers searching for ways to leverage the cloud or fade into the background. But, as the saying goes – to every cloud there is a silver lining – and in this case it’s that countless vendors are making their management and hosted service platforms available for reselling and rebranding for continuous revenue. Moreover, conventional software vendors are beginning to adopt the cloud, and provide their applications as hosted services.

The development of PC management also demonstrates this change. For example, ManageEngine, an IT management software corporation recently launched a new product called Desktop Central MSP, which falls under MSP Center Lite. In MSP Center Lite, solution providers can find asset management, remote control, server and network monitoring integrated into the platform that they can then offer their customers as a package or a la carte. This significantly reduces the need for onsite techs and needs little more than a single agent to remotely be installed on every IT asset, reducing provider overhead and lowering costs related to deployment.

XO Telco Collocation provides separate, accessible individual locking cabinets, secure cage space built to your specifications, 24/7 technical support, AC and DC power and network access, as well as security in select locations, making it an perfect solution for:

• IT integrators
• Financial institutions
• Data storage providers
• Internet service providers
• Other large businesses

How it works?
Through their high-capacity, cost-efficient long haul and metropolitan networks, XO Telco Collocation offers access to XO transport facilities. XO’s networks – including their OC-192 IP network, built on self-healing SONET fiber ring technology – provide 24/7 monitoring of your services and system, and enhanced dependability and performance while decreasing your total operating expense.

Simply put, in addition to bandwidth access, XO Telco Collocation provides you with the power to maintain Internet, data, and voice services while reducing your company’s operating expenses and supporting future expansion.

Telco Collocation facilities include:

• Personalized design
• Fire suppression systems
• Convenient implementation
• Technical support available 24/7
• Power and back-up power supplies
• Humidity and temperature controls
• 24 hour access with security escort where necessary

Benefits

• 24/7 network services monitoring
• Vast nationwide footprint with locations in prime metropolitan areas
• 24/7 on-site security, including security cameras, motion detectors, individually locking cages and cabinets and card-key access in select locations

Specifically designed for telecommunication carriers, XO Colocation provides secure, controlled space and network access for your servers, which facilitates faster, more cost-effective interconnection. XO both provides and installs the physical cages and cabinets. Installation is charged per cage space or cabinet, and power is sold separately.

Cages come complete with ladder racking above and a locking door. The specified type and quantity of cables are placed into the cage with enough slack to reach all corners of the cage. Installation is charged per square foot and requires a minimum of 100 sq. ft. Power is purchased separately.

Cabinets include a locking door and fans. The requested type and quantity of cables are placed into the cabinet and terminated by the customer. Installation is charged per cabinet and power is sold separately.

While the report did not account for search engines, search engine marketing, or include free and public cloud services like Twitter or Facebook, it did focus on applications – such as cloud delivered email. Unfortunately, many of today’s small businesses lack the money and resources to meet their ideal technological needs, and are looking to cloud services to fill their void. The ability to replace or augment your computer hardware infrastructures without spending the majority of your funds in equipment that is likely to be inadequate or obsolete in a matter of months, can give smaller businesses a big leg-up.

And the numbers don’t lie. Countless companies around the globe have already implemented at least one cloud resource; however, despite the rapid increase in customers, analysts believe it will be another three years before all Fortune 500 companies employ a single cloud service.

Despite all the benefits of the cloud, there are some concerns shared by small businesses. Here are some other commonly cited concerns about cloud computing:

• Resiliency – how often will you experience outages? Will it affect your mission-critical issues or deny you access to your email, records or other information? While this isn’t a huge concern with well-established providers, it is something to consider
• Tools – often cloud-based tools lack the same power as software applications. For example, Microsoft Office has employed a number of features for years that Google Docs still lacks
• Security – does your cloud provider collect your information? If so, how much does it collect? Is that information shared or used anywhere else?
• Data ownership and mobility – if you decide to cancel your cloud service, how can you retrieve all of your information? How can you be assured that any information left in the cloud will be destroyed? Can data be shared among different cloud services?
• Loss of data – There have been services in the past that have shut down unexpectedly, leaving customers scrambling to recoup their information. Can your provider guarantee there are policies and procedures in place to make sure this won’t happen?

A large part of the savings businesses experience comes from the scalability of a hosted solution; when excess capacity is needed, it can be turned on, and you are only required to pay for the amount you use. With hardware this is not an option. Hardware requires you have to shell out more money to essentially over provision your service in order to meet your highest capacity needs, making it not only more expensive, but wasteful as it will more than likely sit idle for the majority of your contract.

Hardware solutions also do not offer large companies and organizations with satellite offices, such as financial and health care institutions, the government regulated requirements when it comes to business transparency and data privacy. Hosted call centers provide secure and remote storage, file backups, and have the ability to handle multisource and multisite installations, and are by nature “virtual,” giving them full visibility, and the ability to identify spikes in traffic and bottlenecks. This, in turn, allows you and your employees to provide improved customer care.

Generally, hosted call center solutions involve Interactive Voice Response (IVR), computer telephony integration, and skills-based routing for steering calls to the correct agent. By and large, outbound call center solutions commonly include call scripting capabilities and predictive dialing. In the event of a power outage, hosted solutions provide built-in redundancy, and calls can be rerouted to another facility; likewise, in the event that your employees cannot make it into work due to natural disaster or some other issue, calls can even be rerouted to their personal home and cell phones.

When it comes down to it, with a hosted call center solution you can always be the right size. They offer more flexibility, faster deployment, fewer upgrades, and less ongoing maintenance, making it a “powerful cost of ownership story” according to the Executive Marketing Advisor of a leading hosted call center company. The numbers don’t lie; with a growing number of customers that are recognizing the advantages hosted call centers bring compared to investing in premise-based infrastructure, some markets are reporting that the hosted call center industry is growing at year-to-year rate of over 60 percent.

Let’s start with the ideal cloud-services customer; this includes:

• Companies that require disaster recovery backup
• Call centers that deal with web chats and high call volumes
• Startup businesses with solid financial backing, but lacking a capital expenditure budget
• Firms that require new applications but are reluctant to renounce certain systems or processes
• Businesses looking to upgrade their communications systems without purchasing new servers, PBXs, and other additional premises-based equipment

Before we go any further, let’s define cloud services. According to Forrester Research, cloud services have three primary layers:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) — rather than being delivered as dedicated capability, storage, compute, and other IT infrastructure is delivered as a service
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) — application platform or middleware on which developers can operate and build customized applications delivered as a service
• Software as a Service (SaaS) — end-user applications are delivered as a service, as opposed to on-premises software , allowing customers to log on to company software from any location

However, the cloud is not without its complications and limitations that make it less than ideal for certain solutions. Good things aside, there are surprisingly many situations where cloud services do not measure up. For example, disaster recovery, data backup, and business continuity solutions can overcome available bandwidth with the sheer amount of data in motion, rendering it unable to move all of a business’s data onto a cloud service in a practical amount of time.

Unfortunately, that’s not the only area where the cloud’s struggles end; providers are learning that cloud services may not deliver an adequate end-user experience to companies using hosted communications solutions, application delivery services, infrastructure management, and virtual desktops. To combat its weaknesses, cloud service providers have come up with a creative way to prevail over latency, bandwidth, and other data flow issues while still leveraging the advantages the cloud provides, and it’s simpler than you may think. It all comes down to distance – the closer the end-user is located to the resource, the better the performance and the larger the data path.  The solution comes in the form of a hybrid deployment, where onsite hardware, local cloud services and public cloud services come together into a single, cohesive solution.

In essence, there are two groups of local trunks based on how they transport traffic between parties. Accessibility is obtained as it consolidates the needs for separate local trunks and lines. T1 is capable of accommodating up to 24 telephone lines or trunks and can operate either as a one-way or two-way trunk.

Ancillary services such as OPS/DA, mass calling, and 911 can be established between a CLEC Tandem or End Office switch and an SBC- 13STATE Tandem through a one–way trunk group. They utilize Signaling System 7 (SS7) or multi-frequency (MF) signaling protocol, with SS7 signaling preferred whenever possible. CLEC will have administrative control of one-way trunk groups from CLEC to SBC-13STATE (CLEC originating).

Groups of two-way trunks for local, IntraLATA, and InterLATA can be established between a CLEC switch and an SBC-13STATE Tandem or End Office switch. This group utilizes Signaling System 7 (SS7) or multi-frequency (MF) signaling protocol, with SS7 signaling preferred whenever possible. CLEC will have control for the purpose of issuing Access Service Requests (ASRs) for administrative consistency. Two-Way Local Trunks feature free Local Calling, DID, E911, & Directory Listing.

Businesses can profit from Integrated Access services, especially those with clients and consumers abroad. Integrated Access services use cutting-edge VoIP technology for voice transmissions. VoIP allows analog voice data to be sent through the Internet in its digital form. VoIP also lets users utilize wireless and fiber optic technology for long-distance calling functions. The use of the World Wide Web for long distance calling has greatly reduced the costs for such voice transmissions; hence, businesses with international contacts can take advantage of the cheap calling functions offered by Integrated Access.

Moreover, Integrated Access allows businesses to reach bandwidth connection speeds of up to 4.5 Mbps to allow the simultaneous transmission of voice, video, and data during critical business processes such as conferences and webinars. The most advanced Integrated Access services also feature dynamic bandwidth allocation to automatically shift bandwidth to more critical business applications, such as voice transmissions.

A decade ago, DSL was the dream for online residential and business connectivity. Today, with the advent of next-generation Internet technologies such as Integrated Access, DSL is a thing of the past. A decade from now, businesses may very well require the installation of Fractional T1 lines to keep up with the ever evolving market

To adequately address security issues, it is necessary to identify and evaluate all possible avenues of entry. Also, the security of that entry point must be consistent with the stated policy of acceptable risk levels.

Practices to Prevent Security Disasters

Here are some practices that will help prevent intruders and control damages in the case that preventive measures fall short in blocking an attack:

• Secure backups – helps recover data when a break-in happens.
• Don’t put data where it doesn’t need to be – by not putting data in a location accessible from the outside world, you will prevent the increase of network damage.
• Avoid systems with single points of failure – redundancy is good, especially when handling very important data and information. A system that can be broken through any one component is not very strong.
• Stay current with relevant operating system patches – exploiting an old system is still one of the most common and effective means of breaking into systems.
• Monitor relevant security advisories – make sure that at least one person in your group is subscribed to the mailing list of advisories to keep up on what security vendors are saying about their products.
• Have someone familiar with security practices – it is important to have someone who understands network security advisories to keep abreast with security developments. This way, proper responses to security issues can be applied

Networking – particularly social networking – is becoming hugely popular. Sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, DropShots, etc. make long distance relationships easier to maintain, and friends can update each other by posting messages and photos. Essentially, these sites were created for two simple reasons – to keep in touch with friends/loved ones and to gain new friends. There are, however, various reasons to take extra care when joining such networking sites. For example, there are people who may access personal photos/videos posted in networking sites for self pleasure, or use the sites to deceit people for monetary gains.

On the contrary, it is good to note that there are some sites that take security measures to minimize, if not eliminate, such unrespectable acts. Some photo sharing sites have restricted access and only let their users identify people who may view their pictures.

Here are some tips to avoid being a victim:

1. Be Skeptical – social networking is intended for sharing of interests and establishing network of friends. However, always bare in mind these new “friends” are virtual and faceless, and you can’t completely trust that they are who they say they are.
2. Be Diligent – keep an eye on your profile and be diligent about the people who want to connect with you.
3. Report Suspicious Behavior – if something is suspicious, report it immediately. There is nothing wrong with being cautious.
4. Communicate – children should be properly guided especially when using the internet. Parents must educate them on possible threats to help keep them safe.
5. Monitor – for peace of mind, install monitoring software to keep an eye on the online behavior all users. Use network security features to block malware and threats that are not commonly known and to avoid intruders hoping to meddle in your private information.