ANTenna Blog -- May 10, 2009 - May 16, 2009 Archive

Advice For Entrepreneurs, or Starting Up Is Hard To Do

Posted by Fredric Paul 11:35 PM ET | May 16, 2009

I spent part of this fine, sunny Weekend at the TiECon 2009 event for entrepreneurs here in Silicon Valley. And amidst literally thousands of people scrambling to find the next big thing in the midst of the Great Recession, what resonated most for me was two entrepreneurial veterans emphasizing that you can't worry about the money.

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Cloud Computing | Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Economics | Entrepreneurs | Management

Security Is Part Of The Cost Of Doing Business

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 05:54 PM ET | May 15, 2009

Looking for ROI on a security investment is misguided -- how do you measure the cost of something that doesn't happen? But nothing happening is exactly the return you hope for when you invest in securing your business IT.

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Security

Online Security: The Pros And Cons Of Going Green

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 05:36 PM ET | May 14, 2009

A new type of SSL certificate is being touted as a boon to online security. But there are two sides to this story, and both are worth hearing.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security | Web 2.0 | bMighty

SMBs Can Trim Costs With Remote Workers, But Do It Securely

Posted by Keith Ferrell 03:07 PM ET | May 14, 2009

If you're looking at ways to trim operating costs without trimming staff, sending employees home to work may be near the top of your list. Just be sure, before you do, that the employees' home workspace is as secure (or more!) as your business facility.

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Backup | Business & E-Business | Hardware & Software | IT | Operations | Security | bMighty

SMBs Can Trim Costs By Sending Workers Home (To Work)

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 11:57 AM ET | May 14, 2009

If there was ever a time to think out of the box about ways to cut costs, it's now. One tactic that's hardly new, but deserves another look is telecommuting (or Web commuting). Rather than thinking outside the box, you may want to think outside of the office.

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Management | Mobile | Operations

Cost Cutting Resources For SMBs

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 10:55 PM ET | May 13, 2009

Saving money is always important, but in these economic times it's the difference between staying in business and closing up shop. As the recession grinds on the cost cutting resources are growing.

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Hardware & Software | Operations | Software-as-a-Service | Tips | Unified Communications

No One Pays Attention To Business Plans - Who Knew?

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:56 PM ET | May 13, 2009

Turns out that even venture capitalists ignore business plans, instead investing according to their gut feelings and personal recommendations. Maybe that explains the dot.com bust?

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Entrepreneurs | Management

IT Training Tools For Even The Tightest Budget

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 09:12 PM ET | May 13, 2009

Education is a sound investment for any small-business IT manager. And if you know where to look, it's an investment you can make for just pennies a day.

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Education | Hardware & Software | IT | Internet/Web | Management | Services | Tips | bMighty

What Does Oracle Buying Virtual Iron Mean To SMBs?

Posted by Fredric Paul 03:51 PM ET | May 13, 2009

Earlier today, Oracle announced that it was buying virtualization software and management vendor Virtual Iron. For small and midsize businesses, consummation of this long-rumored deal means even more industry emphasis on making virtualization a mainstream activity for IT shops of all sizes. And that's a good thing.

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Hardware & Software

3 Disaster Recovery Tips (Or Risks!) You May Have Overlooked

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:22 AM ET | May 13, 2009

You've got your Disaster Recovery plan in place (don't you?) and, if disaster should strike, you're ready to bounce back quickly. Or are you? Take a look at these three good -- and in case of disaster, critical -- tips to make sure your plan works.

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Backup | Business & E-Business | Business Continuity | Disaster Recovery | Security | Software-as-a-Service | bMighty

More Ways To Deal With Unwanted 'Flash Cookies'

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 06:09 PM ET | May 12, 2009

Following my recent post on Flash Cookies, one of our readers provided some interesting information about dealing with this issue. Read on for an update and additional details.

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From the Readers | Internet/Web | Security | Tips | Web 2.0

Cloud Computing Comes to Wi-Fi Networks

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 09:59 AM ET | May 12, 2009

Cloud Computing has been a popular option in the software arena. Companies can offload some of the responsibilities for managing their applications to third parties, ideally reducing their IT costs. Now, one vendor is attempting to push that concept into the wireless LAN marketplace.

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Cloud Computing | Mobile

WAN Controller Provides VoIP Redundancy

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 09:03 AM ET | May 12, 2009

A growing number of small and medium businesses are turning to Voice over IP (VoIP) to cut their telecommunications costs. One challenge is this transport option is not as reliable as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Consequently, one network equipment vendor is trying to close that gap.

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Networking & Communications

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 Due This Year

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:13 PM ET | May 11, 2009

This morning Microsoft announced it's on track to ship both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 before the holidays. That's a big deal for smaller companies in several important ways.

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Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Company Size: 250-999 | IT | Server How-To | Windows

Software Liability Laws: Thinking The Unthinkable

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 08:50 PM ET | May 11, 2009

Can you imagine a world where the words "software" and "warranty" actually appear on the same page? Maybe it's time to try.

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Government | Hardware & Software | IT | Management | Open Source

Fujitsu Bolsters BX900 Blade Servers With New ServerView Virtualization Management Software

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:01 PM ET | May 11, 2009

The ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Software for Virtualization Management is positioned as a complement to Fujitsu' new Primergy BX900 Blade Servers, which are aimed at small to medium enterprises.

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Company Size: 1,100-1,500 | Hardware & Software

Hidden Botnet Costs Hit SMBs Hard

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:38 AM ET | May 11, 2009

While the obvious risks of bots to your business and its data -- harvesting of names, keylog sniffers seeking sensitive data -- rightly receive the most attention, compromised systems carry other risks that can exact a heavy business price. Server capacity, bandwidth and even power consumption are hidden parts of the bot equation.

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Business & E-Business | IT | Security | bMighty

Netgear Pushes Deeper Into SMB Storage

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:41 AM ET | May 11, 2009

In case you haven't noticed, networking vendor Netgear has been working on hard on diversifying into security and storage, and the latest results are the ReadyNAS 2100 rack-mounted storage appliance and ReadyNAS Remote Secure Access.

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Apple | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Disaster Recovery | Professional/Creative Services | Storage