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By integrating your technology plan with your overall
business plan, IT investments are invariably offset
by commensurate efficiency improvements and operational
cost savings.
"How do I know if it's working?" Good question.
The answer? Productivity. Are you generating more revenue
and improving your bottom line with the same or a fewer
number of people in your organization? The results should
be well worth waiting for, although you may need to
wait six to eighteen months to achieve their full benefit.
Simply put, keeping pace with information technology
may be the most cost-saving decision you can make.
IT Sweet Spots: Practical Investment Payoffs
In today’s connected computing environment, investments
that enable your organization to process, share, store,
and secure information will achieve the greatest near
term return on investment. Because almost every company
with more than one or two computers is networked today,
the server is the heart of the system.
Server Upgrades
The server is the "traffic cop" that controls
your entire system. For most organizations, a high-functioning
server is critical—and affordable in the current
competitive computing environment. Although every computer
network is unique, there are certain minimum configurations
that should be considered. A Xeon processor running
the latest Windows server operating system edition should drive your system.
You’ll find it significantly more reliable, faster,
and easier to manage than your old server and operating
system.
 By
the way, you don’t have to toss your old server.
Simply recycle it as a power PC workstation or a secondary
server for other functions.
Lots of Random Access Memory (RAM) is a must. More
is better. A minimum configuration is 2 Gigabytes.
Your server should have at least three hard drives in a redundant RAID array
for safety, and redundancy, and performance.
A good tape backup should complement your mirrored
hard drives. Because the tape drive is critical to data
security, avoid the temptation to recycle the old one.
The tape drive serves as an integral part of your new
server and is protected under the same warranty. This
avoids the complications that often result from putting
old hardware into new equipment.
Good battery backup, strong enough to support the server's
power requirements, is also essential.
Last but not least, make sure your server has good
anti-virus softwa,,re such as Trend Micro Antivirus suite or
Norton Antivirus. Regardless of your server's power, a
virus can create catastrophic data loss. Anti-virus
software is inexpensive, easy to install and essential.
The Unavoidable OS: Moving on Up
to Windows Vista
On balance, Windows Vista may be one of Microsoft's most
attractive product announcements ever. This new operating
system contains features that are not only attractive
to home PC users but have great appeal to the corporate
marketplace as well.
The aforementioned Media Player 11 that allows users
to burn CDs and DVDs has obvious
appeal to consumers. But the business community will
benefit as well. One application is using this feature
for video training courses and streaming media speeches.
As e-training becomes more prominent, customization
is the next logical step.
The next benefit of Vista for business users is Microsoft
Outlook 2007. This program has many new features that business
users can take advantage of as well as to modern home user.
The most frequently cited addition offered in Vista is
the windows Aero capability. This powerful feature
gives users access to view all open windows in a 3d live
environment as well as offering windows that look to be
transparent and made of glass.
These three features - as well as many many others are the next logical
steps to electronic and virtual services. All "hype"
aside, Vista will have a major long-term impact on how
business is conducted and how computer entertainment is enjoyed.
The question, however, isn't whether or not you or your company
needs or wants these features but if their cost is efficient for you.
Awesome Hardware: Flat Panels
& Falling Prices
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Desktops – For less than
$1000, it's possible to purchase a very nicely equipped
desktop with a 17" flat panel monitor from
vendors such as Dell, HP or Gateway. Typical specs
would include a Dual Core processor, 1GB of RAM, a
80 gigabyte hard drive, rewritable DVD and Integrated
network, and audio cards. |
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Laptops - What could legitimately
be considered desktop replacements are now available
for less than a grand. You can purchase a Dual Core laptop with a generous 15" screen, 1GB
of RAM, a 60Gb hard drive, and cd/dvd combo drive. If you're
still using 3-4 year old technology, now may be
the time to take advantage of an intensely competitive
marketplace. |
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Monitors – Easy on the
eyes and on the budget. Finally, flat panel monitors
make economic sense. They are priced at the level
of conventional CRT monitors almost a decade ago.
It's possible to find a 17" monitor for less
than $100 and a high res 17" flat panel for
comfortably under $200.
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Thin Clients – A thin client is a computer
(client) in client-server architecture networks which depends primarily
on the central server for processing activities. With the new Wyse Thin
OS, application software runs over RDP and ICA several times faster than
it does on other full-featured embedded operating systems. Because the
Wyse Thin OS also does not have a publicly exposed API that can be
exploited by hackers, you get the utmost security from viruses and
malicious software
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