With ransomware attacks on the rise, organizations need a plan to cope with the three major problems these attacks create: data loss, downtime, and cost. Fortunately, not all businesses will be doomed to suffer these consequences. Those that have adopted a business continuity strategy that leverages continuous backup are less likely to suffer any of the headline-making consequences that befall unprepared businesses. Unfortunately…

For many organizations, periodic backup has been the default way of replicating data for decades. Until relatively recently, creating a snapshot of your environment once daily was the default way of storing data for many organizations. Even today, periodic backup method may remain a cornerstone of the first phase of an organization’s hybrid cloud and DR strategy. But soon after setting up a snapshot-based replication solution…

When hardware reaches the end of its life, IT leaders have a choice. On one hand, they can choose to purchase similar on-premises equipment with CAPEX. On the other hand, they can reconsider whether their on-premises environment is meeting their cost and performance needs. For many companies, aging hardware (or a sudden need for additional storage space or compute resources) may present an ideal opportunity…

When you begin planning your hybrid cloud, your business has many factors to consider and decisions to make. Which applications will you migrate? How will you allocate budget for ongoing needs? Will you need to provision CAPEX? What kind of backup or replication will enable you to meet your business continuity objectives in the event of a disaster? All of these questions are critical – but there is one question that you should…

Pros and Cons of 4 Storage Options for Mid-Sized Organizations When was the last time you evaluated your organization’s storage needs? If it’s been a while, you may discover that the market landscape for storage options looks different now compared to when you last evaluated your storage needs. Until recently, on-premises databases were the default for many organizations. Today, you can choose from an array of local…

Manufacturers that reach capacity for on-premises storage have two options. Until recently, the default option for many manufacturers was to continue storing data on-premises by purchasing a new EMC box. Though this option may have the benefit of being a familiar data storage strategy, it may not be the best option for every manufacturer. New EMC boxes often require provisioning hundreds of thousands of dollars in CAPEX while…

Although many organizations conflate DR strategies with business continuity, these two strategies are not the same. While Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies are critical for all organizations to recover data after a disaster, simply having a DR strategy in place isn’t enough to get your business up and running after a disaster. Business continuity, though similar to disaster recovery, is about restoring business operations. Where a DR strategy…

What the Rise of Advanced Imaging Technology Means for Healthcare IT. In the last several years, medical imaging technology has changed radically. New 3D imaging allows clinicians to view internal organs from all angles. High-resolution imaging gives diagnosticians a more precise view of what’s happening in their patients’ bodies. One of the advances that has allowed medical imaging to become so much more precise is …

When IT leaders think about their business continuity plan, the most-considered questions typically revolve around protecting and storing data in backend servers or databases. Where are your primary data centers located and where are your backups stored? Do you need instantaneous failover for all applications or only for a few select mission-critical applications? How will you bring your applications back online after a natural…

As you begin to consider how a hybrid cloud strategy may allow you to achieve your IT objectives and business goals, one of the first questions you might ask is, “How much will it cost?” While hardware may have a relatively limited set of features and relatively fixed price, the flexibility that a hybrid cloud brings to your business means that it also brings an array of complex cost considerations. Here are 5 cost considerations you’ll…