Cloud Guide – Practical Applications

Cloud computing is a new technology that will change the way that computers operate and also the way that we are using computers. It is a revolutionary technology since introduces a new business model which changes the way that organizations purchasing and using technology in general. Cloud computing is the ability to use a new technology or an information system without the need to purchase software, install and configure it to an infrastructure and have people to maintain it and upgrading it. It is possible to purchase it as a service on a “pay-as-you grow” basis and pay only a monthly amount based on your needs.

The main advantage of cloud computing is the provision of hardware and software resources on demand. Basically, you can purchase the aforementioned resources as a service exactly the same way that you are paying electricity, water and telephone services. You can use as many resources is necessary to do your work and at the end of the month or year you pay for whatever you used.

CIO’s and IT managers of every organization are having two important priorities in the following years starting from 2011, the optimization of business processes and cost reductions. In order to fulfil these two priorities, they will need to focus on virtualization and the strategic development of new services that will be offered from the cloud or even to move existing services to the cloud.

Currently there are several services that are offered from the cloud such as email, unified communications, online backup and virtual cloud servers. IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd is one of the first companies in Cyprus that is offering hosted email, online backup cloud services and virtual cloud servers. Our services are clearly explained below:

· Hosted email: Email is one of the most important means of communication nowadays and we can offer this service on-demand through our hosted email service. Using our service you can have as many as possible email accounts, with the desired storage, weekly backup, email access from everywhere, all your emails, calendar and contacts synchronized with your mobile device (phone, iPad, etc) and all these with a small yearly fee.

· Online backup: It is a very time consuming task for organizations that own a vast amount of data. However, no matter the size of the data, backup is a “must have” since in case of failure you will be able to retrieve all of your data. The advantages are easy to monitor, versioning control, easy restore of individual files and no user intervention required. Online backup is offered on a yearly subscription based on the size of your data.

· Virtual cloud servers: Instead of purchasing and maintain your own server locally, you can purchase a virtual cloud server and pay monthly based on the resources that you are using.

All of the aforementioned services are offered from our company. For more information please go to our website www.ibs.com.cy or contact with a sales representative at +357 (25) 250 666.

Maria Michael

Sales Consultant

IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd

http://www.ibs.com.cy

Introduction to managed services

A managed service is the practice of transferring day-to-day operations and responsibility to a third party, such as a managed services provider. This is a strategic method of improved, effective and efficient operation of the IT infrastructure of any company or organization.A managed services provider (MSP), is typically an information technology (IT) services provider, who manages and assumes responsibility for providing a defined set of services to their clients either proactively or as they determine that the services are needed. Most MSPs bill a flat or near-fixed monthly fee, which benefits their clients by providing them with predictable IT support costs.

Advantages

1. Access to new technology: Using managed services, you are eligible for all the updates and upgrades of the software and applications that you are using. Also with a click of a button you can use any new application that is provided by the MSP (Managed Service Provider).
2. Lower cost of ownership: Instead of investing in IT equipment, bandwidth and IT staff, companies can take advantage of the Web-based applications through managed services and focus on core activities. The technology is owned and managed by the service provider, and is therefore constantly updated and maintained, in consequence, saving companies many of the unpredictable costs and risks that are related with upgrades, patches and maintaining the Information Technology staff to run the software. Total Costof Ownership (TCO) is much lower compared to premise-based solutions since hardware and software costs are reduced signifigantly.
3. Improved service and support: Organizations using managed services, can deploy by themselves any application, anytime without waiting from an IT person to respond to their request since all the applications are offered as a service and on-demand.
4. Flexibility: With managed services technology, organizations have the flexibility to grow without the need of altering their inhouse equipment. Everything is offered on-demand.
5. No maintenance costs: All the costs in relation with maintenance and support, do not apply when you are using managed services. The maintenance and supprot costs are included in the monthly flat-rate.
6. Backup: Backup Service is fully available from every MSP. There is no need to worry about your backups. The MSP is doingt his for you based on the agreement that you have.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy

Advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing

Introduction
Cloud computing is one of the latest technologies that is already used by a vast amount of companies and organizations worldwide. For an introduction of cloud computing you can read one of our articles “Introduction to cloud computing”.
Even though there are many advantages when you are using this technology, doesn’t make it the best thing for everyone. When is the best solution for your company or organization? In order to answer this question, we have to examine the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing. After reading the below pages, you will be able to decide if cloud computing is the right solution for you or not.

Advantages
· Lower-cost computers for users: This point is one of the financial advantages of cloud computing. There is no need to purchase powerful and expensive equipment to use cloud computing since all the processing is not at your local computer but in the cloud. Since the application runs in the cloud, not on the desktop PC, that desktop PC does not need the processing power or hard disk space demanded by traditional desktop software.
· Better performance: Due to the fact that no programs or files are loaded on the local PC, users will not experience delays when switching on/off their computers and also the internal network will be much faster since no internal traffic will occur.
· Less IT infrastructure costs: The IT department of large organizations could experience decreasing on the expenses in regards with infrastructure with the adoption of the cloud computing technology. Instead of investing in larger numbers of more powerful servers, the IT staff can use the computing power of the cloud to supplement or replace internal computing resources.
· Less maintenance costs: Maintenance costs also will be reduced using cloud computing since both hardware and software maintenance for organizations of all sizes will be much less. For example, fewer servers are necessary in the organization which means that maintenance costs are immediately lowered. As to software maintenance, there is no software on the organization’s computers for the IT staff to maintain.
· Lower software costs: Using cloud computing there is no need to purchase software packages for each computer in the organization, only those employees actually using an application need access to that application in the cloud.
· Automatic software updates: All the software’s need update and the great thing with cloud computing is that you do not have to worry for any updates and also your organization will not have any additional expenses when a new upgrade or update is necessary.
· Increased computing power: When using cloud computing, you can use the cloud computing power since you are no longer limited to what a single desktop computer can do.
· Unlimited storage capacity: The cloud offers virtually limitless storage capacity but at any time you can expand your storage capacity with a small additional charge on your monthly fee.
· Increased data safety: There is no point to worry for disk failures or a disaster at your office. All the data is stored in the cloud.
· Anywhere access to your documents: When you are in the cloud, there is no need to take your documents with you. Instead, you can access your actual PC from anywhere that there is Internet access available.
· Latest version availability: One more thing in relation with documents is that when you edit one document at the office and then you go somewhere else and open it, the latest version will be displayed since as I already aforementioned all the work is done centrally in the cloud.
· Use your computer from anywhere: This is one of the biggest advantages of cloud computing. Basically, when you use this technology, you are not limited to work on a single PC. You just use your “cloud PC” from anywhere and any PC and your existing applications and documents follow you through the cloud. Move to a portable device, and your applications and documents are still available.


Disadvantages
· Internet connection is required: It is impossible to work if your Internet connection is down. Since you are using Internet to connect to your “cloud PC”, if there is no Internet connection simply you cannot connect.
· Low-speed connections are not recommended: This is not a very important disadvantage since everybody today has at least 1 Mbps connection at work and at home. However, it is important to mention that cloud computing cannot work with slow Internet connections such as dial-up since web-based applications often require a lot of bandwidth to download, as do large documents.
· Sometimes is slow: Also, with fast connections, sometimes you might experience delays since web-based applications can sometimes be slower than accessing a similar software program on your desktop PC. The reasons for that are because of the demanding upload and download bandwidth that web applications need.
· Stored data might not be secure: Data is stored “in the cloud”. However, where exactly is the cloud and is it really secure? These are questions arising for users that have confidential data.
· Your data is 100% in the cloud: All the data that you had until now on your local PC, it is stored in the cloud. Theoretically, data stored in the cloud is safe since a cloud hosting company uses several ways of backup in order ensure that on any case the data will not be lost. However, if your data is missing (even one in a million), you have no physical or local backup of your data.



Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
http://www.ibs.com.cy

Why to virtualize your IT infrastructure

Overview
For the last two years, virtualization came into play from a poorly understood concept to a hyped industry buzzword. Even though other technologies are expensive and cannot be used by small businesses, virtualization is a mature technology which provides a layer of hardware abstraction that every organization can benefit.
Virtualization refers to virtualizing Operating systems. Wikipedia uses the term “platform virtualization” since the main concept of virtualization is to run an abstraction layer on a computer that emulates the hardware itself. With the combination of abstraction and emulation, a virtual machine is created, which is a full “workable” computer with the same facilities and functionality as a dedicated machine has.
However, the main advantage of virtualization is to have many virtual machines (full “workable”) into one physical machine. As Dan Chu said, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMWare, “Virtualization enables one server or computer to act as many”.

Advantages
Any size of business can benefit from any kind or scale of virualization. Some of these benefits are the following:
Reducing power consumption: IT virtualization has the ability to reduce significantly power consumption hence is considered as a “green” technology. It is considered as a “reducing consumption technology” since instead of have several dedicated machines running one operating system each, you can have many machines reside on one physical.
Cost reductions: This is one of the main advantages of virtualization since it is the main reason that companies migrating to virtual devices. Minimizing the costs of purchasing expensive hardware and avoiding the running expenses of several server machine, we can now deploy more systems at a lower cost per system.
Ease of provisioning: Installing and configuring a new server on a new piece of hardware it is a very time consuming process, hence, using virtualization it is a matter of minutes to install and configure new servers.
Reduce operating expenses: Maintenance and administration costs are reduced since there is less hardware to maintain. Instead of having many physical servers to maintain, one physical server hosts many virtual which correspods to less administration.
More responsive IT staff: Especially for large organizations, IT staff can be more responsive since virtualization simplifies the IT infrastructure of the organization. IT staff is able to help the organization in a more business oriented IT strategy and not to keep the current systems up and running since with using virtualization, all the day-to-day operations are more simplified.
Standardization: All the virtualization software runs on any AMD and Intel platforms, no matter what operating system you use.
Resource accesibility: Using virtualization technology, all the physical resources are used including CPU, memory, storage, etc. However, virtualization helps your organization to use all the available hardware resources.
Efficiency: Since multiple machines are running on a single physical server, your hardware is fully utilized.
Mobility: Virtual machines can be provisioned, backed up and restored very easily with the minimum downtime.
Flexibility: The IT team of your organization can continue and support older but mission-critical applications using virtual machines.


Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy/

Cloud computing

Nowadays, everybody uses cloud computing resources, even though most of us do not know it. Cloud computing is a new term, not only for IT professionals but for all of us since with one way or another everybody uses computers and this term is everywhere. This term corresponds to a new style of computing that resources are provided as a service through Internet. Using these services, users do not need to have any knowledge, expertise or control in regards with the “cloud” that supports them.
However, often, “cloud” services are provided by virtualized resources. Computing power has become so cheap nowadays that you have the ability to take things that exist physically as hardware and turn them into software. Using this technology, companies have the advantage of having “more with less”. For example, a small company that has five servers, it is able to virtualize all of them using only the hardware of one server. This technology corresponds to huge advantages such as less space, less power costs, less cooling costs and better manageability.
Eric Schmidt, current CEO of Google said in 1993 that when the network becomes faster than the processor, the computer hollows out and spreads through the network. Basically, this is the logic behind cloud computing and this is how Internet is becoming now. All the users are sharing a virtual computer through Internet and everybody can tap into it and use it with much less cost than before.
Nevertheless, I do not believe that companies have realized the great advantages that might have using this technology and this is one of the reasons that cloud computing is not widely used yet. Companies that use cloud computing and virtualization currently, are considered technologically advanced even though virtualization also simplifies the data centre of an organization.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy

9 ways that an IT department can save money during the recession

Be energy efficient: Even though electricity rates have been reduced, power costs are a major expense in large organizations. By adopting some energy-saving policies, you can save a large amount of money. Currently, all modern operating systems have several power-saving features that can be used in order to save energy and money for the organization.
Avoid mobile technology overspending: Since we are living in the era of mobile business, mobile phones are required from every business. However, spending too much on the latest technology is not recommended since several surveys showed that 75% of voice minutes and 55% of services that companies are paying are not used at all from the employees.
Allow employees to work from home: Save money, parking, heating and cooling for the company and clothes, transportation and lunches for the employees. This is a win-win situation for everybody. However, IT security is an issue but can be resolved using several latest technologies.
Do not use consultants for jobs that could be done by IT staff: Staff is the most important asset of the IT department and can be used for several projects, even if they do not have the expertise. For example, an IT department should have the facilities to run tests before going live with a new application or hardware.
Try using contractors instead of full-time employees: When an existing employee has the expertise for a certain project then use this employee. In case that nobody has the expertise required for a certain project then it is better to hire an IT consultant. However, make sure that you do some research before hiring someone since it is very important to find a good, hard-working IT consultant. Also, make sure that the costs are not too high in relation with the size of the project.
Unnecessary upgrades: It makes sense to upgrade hardware and/or software when a new operating system is released or applications providing more functionality to the users are necessary. Also, some companies are upgrading their hardware every X years and their software when the X version comes out. However, during the tough times of economic crisis we have to be careful and evaluate our “real” needs. Most of the companies have hardware and software that are not fully utilized. By running an evaluation for your current equipment, it might help the users to see extra functionality or benefits that the existing hardware and software has and utilize the existing equipment without the need of upgrading.
Necessary upgrades: From the other side, companies that do not upgrade at the right time are at risk of slowing down the productivity with computers that are slow or not responding properly. Make sure though that you upgrade only the necessary equipment. For example, some departments might not need any upgrade but others do.
Not needed hardware: Even though buying new hardware can save you money, sometimes companies buy more than the necessary. Most of the companies use virtualization techniques in order to utilize all the possible resources that their servers have.
Training: Technology can help a company to work more efficiently and effectively. Employees have to be trained in order to be able to use all the available technology. Having employees that have the appropriate knowledge of the systems means that the company will save costs on the administration of the systems and also the productivity will be higher.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy

Ακολουθώντας τα σωστά βήματα για Βελτιστοποίηση Βαθμολόγησης Μηχανης Αναζητησης (Search Engine Optimization)

To Internet αποτελεί πλέον ένα πολύ σημαντικό εργαλείο για όλες τις επιχειρήσεις. Σήμερα όλες οι επιχειρήσεις θεωρούν το internet πολύ σημαντικό όχι μόνο για διαφημιστικούς σκοπούς αλλά και για σκοπούς αύξησης κέρδους. Οι μεγάλες μηχανές αναζήτησης (search engines) όπως οι Google, Yahoo, MSN και ASK συγκεντρώνουν πάνω από 6 δισεκατομμύρια κτυπήματα (hits) από χρήστες οι οποίοι τις χρησιμοποιούν για να εντοπίσουν αυτό που αναζητούν. Λόγω του αυξημένου αυτού αριθμού ενδιαφέροντος, μια επιχείρηση μπορεί να χρησιμοποιήσει τεχνικές Βελτιστοποίησης Βαθμολόγησης (Search Engine Optimization) της ιστοσελίδας της για να ελκύσει έτσι περισσότερους πελάτες.
Η Βελτιστοποίηση Βαθμολόγησης είναι ένας συνδυασμός τεχνικών οι οποίες βοηθούν την ιστοσελίδα μας να παρουσιάζεται στις πρώτες θέσεις στη μηχανή αναζήτησης όταν ο χρήστης θα χρησιμοποίησει λέξεις ή φράσεις σχετικές με την ιστοσελίδα μας. Όσο κι’ αν ακούγεται απλό και εύκολο αυτό, εντούτοις, είναι πολύ δύσκολο να επιτευχθεί. Οι επόμενες παράγραφοι εξηγούν κάποιες από αυτές τις τεχνικές οι οποίες όμως μπορούν να επιτύχουν μετά από πολλή μελέτη και στατιστικές έρευνας της ιστοσελίδας μας αλλά και των λέξεων που οι χρήστες χρησιμοποιούν για τις αναζητήσεις τους στις μηχανές αναζήτησης. Υπάρχουν αρκετά εργαλεία τα οποία μπορούν να μας προσφέρουν αυτές τις πληροφορίες.

Τεχνικές Βελτιστοποίησης Βαθμολόγησης
Καταμέτρηση/Δοκιμή – Σιγουρευτείτε ότι έχετε μελετήσει και σημειώσει τις στατιστικές σχετικά με την ιστοσελίδα σας πριν να αρχίσετε τη Βελτιστοποίηση Βαθμολόγησης. Υπάρχουν δυο ειδών ανάλυσης που πρέπει να μελετήσετε.
Ανάλυση κατάστασης – Πόσες και ποίες σελίδες από την ιστοσελίδα σας περιλαμβάνονται στις μεγάλες μηχανές αναζήτησης, πόσους συνδετικούς κρίκους (links) έχετε προς την ιστοσελίδα σας, πόσους επισκέπτες έχει η ιστοσελίδα σας, πόσοι απο τους επισκέπτες της σελίδας σας γίνονται και πελάτες του οργανισμού/εταιρείας, ποίες σελίδες από την ιστοσελίδα σας είναι σημαντικές για την εταιρεία.
Ανάλυση Ανταγωνιστών – Σιγουρευτείτε ότι έχετε ελέγξει τις σελίδες των ανταγωνιστών σας σε σχέση με τη Βαθμολόγησης Μηχανής Αναζήτησης. Οι ιστοσελίδες των ανταγωνιστών σας που βγαίνουν στις πρώτες θέσεις των μηχανών αναζήτησης μπορούν να προσφέρουν αρκετές πληροφορίες σχετικά με τις λέξεις κλειδιά που πρέπει να συμπεριλαμβάνονται στις σελίδες σας και σχετικά με τους συνδετικούς κρίκους που χρησιμοποιούν.
Κατανόηση των χρηστών της ιστοσελίδας μου: Είναι πολύ σημαντικό να γνωρίζω ποίοι θα είναι οι χρήστες της ιστοσελίδας για να μπορέσω έτσι να χρησιμοποιήσω τις κατάλληλες λέξεις κλειδιά και φράσεις.
Σχεδιασμός Ιστοσελίδας: Εάν χτίζετε μια καινούργια ιστοσελίδα ή ακόμα εάν αναβαθμίζετε την υπάρχουσα ιστοσελίδα, είναι πολύ σημαντικό να έχετε υπόψη σας τα παρακάτω:
Ø Content- Management System (CMS): Είναι πολύ σημαντικό για μια ιστοσελίδα διότι σας επιτρέπει να αλλάξετε το κείμενο της ιστοσελίδας από μόνοι σας. Σιγουρευτείτε ότι το συγκεκριμένο CMS μπορεί να σας εξυπηρέτησει από πλευράς metatags, alt tags και breadcrumb trails.
Ø Navigation: Κρατήστε όσο πιο απλό μπορείτε το navigation της ιστοσελίδας.
Ø Εξεύρεση λέξεων κλειδιών/φράσεων: Αυτό το στάδιο είναι πάρα πολύ σημαντικό λόγω του ότι πρέπει να είμαστε πιο σαφείς και συγκεκριμένοι. Υπάρχουν αρκετά εργαλεία και προγράμματα τα οποία μπορούν να μας βοηθήσουν για την εύρεση των σωστών λέξεων/φράσεων κλειδιών.
Εφαρμογή
Ø Βελτιστοποίηση περιεχόμενου: Το περιεχόμενο της ιστοσελίδας πρέπει να είναι βασισμένο στις λεξεις/φράσεις κλειδιά που έχουμε ήδη επιλέξει. Οι λεξεις/φράσεις κλειδιά πρέπει να επαναλαμβάνονται στο 10% του κειμένου ούτως ώστε να βοηθά τις μηχανές αναζήτησης να βρίσκουν αυτό που ψάχνει ο χρήστης.
Ø Spider ability: Έχει να κάνει με τον τρόπο που οι μηχανές αναζήτησης “διαβάζουν” την ιστοσελίδα μας. Για να επιτύχουμε spider ability πρέπει όπου αναφέρουμε κάτι το οποίο έχει σχέση με άλλες σελίδες της ιστοσελίδας μας, να βάζουμε και το link στη συγκεκριμένη ιστοσελίδα.
Καταμέτρηση και αναφορά: Η καταμέτρηση και η αναφορά σχετικά με τους επισκέπτες, ποίες φράσεις ψάχνουν οι χρήστες και πόσες συνδέσεις (links) έχουμε, πρέπει να γίνονται συχνά. Αυτό βοηθά στο να βλέπουμε τα αποτελέσματα τα οποία έδωσε η τεχνική η οποία έχουμε ακολουθήσει.
Συνεχόμενη βελτίωση: Οι Τεχνικές Βελτιστοποίησης Βαθμολόγησης δεν είναι κάτι το οποίο το κάνεις μόνο μια φορά. Η βελτίωση της βαθμολόγησης είναι μια συνεχής διαδικάσια όπως “το χτίσιμο συνδέσμων” (link building), η πρόσθεση περιεχόμενου, η ανάλυση λέξεων/φράσεων και πολλά άλλα τα οποία θα μας επιτρέψουν να κρατήσουμε τη σελίδα μας σε ψηλά επίπεδα στις μηχανές αναζήτησης.
Κτίσιμο συνδέσμων (Link Building): Το κτίσιμο συνδέσμων είναι ένας από τους πιο σημαντικούς παράγοντες για τη Βελτιστοποίηση Βαθμολόγησης της ιστοσελίδας μας. Σιγουρευτείτε ότι οι σύνδεσμοι που έχετε προέρχονται από ιστοσελίδες που έχουν ψηλό page rank.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy

Blogs

Nowdays, Web 2.0 is everywhere. Is it a buzzword like many others or is it a benefit for every professional. Blogging is one “chapter” from the “book” of Web 2.0.
A blog is a social tool which allows to several persons to discuss about a specific matter. The purpose of blogging is to share information and knowledge with other people and stimulate discussion and inquiries between each other. It is not a tool of promote yourself, services or company.
Blogs are tools that are providing several advantages to professionals and companies that are dedicating serious time to enter articles. The main advantages of blogging are the following:
With relatively low cost you can reach a vast amount of audience and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on a specific field.
By writing articles on the area of your expertise you are bound to keep your knowledge up-to-date.
You can create a two-way communication with the readers of your blog that might be potential clients
Search engines “like” to crawl bogs
You might be found by reporters or conference organizers that might be contact with you for additional commentaries or to speak at a conference
You can add pod casts or video casts that the readers will be able to listen or view.

Note that you will need to devote a serious amount of time for a blog if you need to have a place that a lot of people will be able to discuss a specific area with you. Also, passion is a requirement in order to maintain a quality blog.
However, blogs are demonstrating the knowledge of each person that is using them. It is a very good marketing tool and also helps your website get higher on search engines.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy

Introduction

Hi guys,

As i already contacted with you, we need a blog in order to discuss all of us matters in regards with Businesses in Cyprus. Note that this blog is created in order to give all of us the opportunity to explore in detail and from every aspect the relation of organizations and businesses in regards with technology since technology today it is very important for every kind of business.

Your comments will be appreciated.


Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy