Virtualization has been rising in popularity during the past few years due to its ability to provide a viable solution for companies to increase productivity while reducing IT infrastructure costs. By switching to virtualization, companies have been able to control workloads in data centers while reducing energy consumption and IT infrastructure.
Before we discuss the specific benefits of switching to virtualization let’s first define what virtualization is and some of the reasons why more companies are making the change.
Meltdown & Spectre Follow-upOver the last week, most of you have heard about the latest exploits that are potentially impacting your business, Meltdown and Spectre. These particular exploits target a system’s CPU. The news of this particular attack was initially reported to Intel and the broader IT community by a group of researchers, led by Google. While this is a very real issue, there have not been any reports of it being used in a malicious manner as of yet.
Chipzilla Intel Flaw?There have been rumors in the wind that there could be an Intel chip flaw that affect Intel Processors built in the last 10 years. Linux distributions have been frantically updating their code, but being very careful about why they are updating it. The Register was able to find out that the bug allows programs to see some of the contents of the protected kernel memory. This area is protected because it could potentially hold information like logins, passwords, or other critical data. In a worst-case scenario, your browsers JavaScript could read files in your memory, thus giving others access to your data. It is speculated that the bug is fairly significant since this is under such secrecy, Linux and Mac have released patches and we expect Microsoft to release patches shortly.
IT New Years Resolution #1
Proper Licensing for Microsoft Windows Server
Microsoft Windows Server licensing can be a confusing topic and the details change on occasion. As of the writing of this article, Microsoft had switched from processor socket licensing over to core-based licensing for Windows Servers and Application Servers (SQL for example). There are two licenses available: standard and datacenter. All cores in the physical hardware must be licensed and there is a minimum of 8 cores for both editions. The Standard edition license covers two Operating System Environments (OSEs) while the Datacenter edition covers as many virtual machines as can be run on that particular set of hardware. If running more than 2 VMs on a set of hardware then all the cores must be licensed again.
Thrive Ranked Among Top 100 CSP’s
7th Annual Talkin’ Cloud 100 Report Identifies Top Cloud Services Providers
Thrive ranks among the world’s Top 100 cloud services providers (CSPs), according to Channel Futures seventh-annual Talkin’ Cloud (TC) 100 report.
The full list is available now by visiting ChannelFutures.com.
Based on data from Channel Futures’ online survey, conducted between August to October 2017, the TC 100 list recognizes top cloud services providers (CSPs), including MSPs, hosting companies, cloud consultants and more. Rankings are based on annual cloud services revenue growth and input from Channel Futures editors. (more…)
A Major Hospital was Cyber AttackedWell sort of, popular TV series Grey’s Anatomy featured an episode last week where the hospital in the show was cyber attacked. It started with multiple departments experiencing some technical difficulties. Enter confused internal onsite IT guy, Tim, who is overwhelmed trying to figure out what is going on with all the computers in the whole hospital. Sounds like a lot of work for one guy doesn’t it? Normally day to day a small IT department onsite dealing with minor IT problems sounds like a good cheap plan until a disaster strikes.
How low are you willing to CybeRTO and CybeRPO? Part 2 of 3Intrigued by the notion of learning more about new industry terms? In the first part of this series, we discussed CybeRTO (Sigh Ber To) and CybeRPO(Sigh Ber Po) and the general meanings of both. In the second part of the series, we will take a deeper look at the two different ways to address the particular aspects of CybeRTO.
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Keys to Getting Started With Compliance
I have recently jumped head first into a number of compliance initiatives both for our internal needs as well as for our customers. To say that I have learned a lot in 3 months is an understatement. I was working with a compliance consultant who at the beginning of the exercise said, “Mike, you seem like you know a little about this stuff and you could probably play a compliance consultant in a movie but we’ve got a lot of work to do.” Not the comment I was looking for at the time but I am always up for a challenge. (By the way, what movie would need an actor to play a compliance consultant?)
Regulatory compliance has many different definitions depending on what industry you are applying the policies to. Since compliance means integrating standards that follow specific requirements, regulatory compliance is the regulations a company must follow to meet specific requirements.
When you apply regulatory compliance to IT, the regulations apply to two different aspects of company operations. These include the internal requirements for IT and compliance standards. They are set forth by external entities. Both types of regulatory compliance affect IT company operations and can potentially restrict what a company can and cannot do. (more…)
Thrive Ranked Among Top 501 MSPs by MSPmentor
10th Annual MSP 501 Ranking and Study Identifies World’s Most Progressive MSPs in Information Technology
Thrive ranks among the world’s most progressive 501 Managed Service Providers (MSPs), according to MSPmentor’s 10th-annual MSP 501 Worldwide Company Rankings. The top MSP 501 companies ranked this year include organizations from around the world and from diverse technology and business backgrounds. Collectively, they amassed $14.48 billion in total revenue (based on 2016 results), up more than 15 percent from a year earlier.