Author Archives: thrivewpengine

When it comes to security and a business continuity plan there are two things companies care about the most, CybeRTO (Sigh Ber To) and CybeRPO(Sigh Ber Po). For people who are not in the IT world this might sound a bit like a foreigen language. RPO and RTO are very common in the IT world and are a pretty simple thing to understand once it has been broken down for you.

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As many of you have heard, Intel recently released a bulletin on a critical escalation vulnerability (CVE-2017-5689), which was nicknamed “Silent Bob is Silent” by the researchers.  The researchers claim it affects Intel vPro processors from 2010 till now.  A majority of the systems were sold by Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, and Lenovo.  This chipset was made specifically for enterprise administrators to manage their servers, laptops, and desktops.  That is the reason this vulnerability is so bad, as the vulnerability will have full control of the system without the Operating System knowing.  Since this is a hardware vulnerability, it doesn’t matter what Operating System, if any, these machines are running. It does not affect Mac’s, even though Intel does supply Apple with chips, this vulnerability only affects Windows-based machines.

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Did you just open a document in Microsoft Word 2013 and nothing is happening? Oh, that’s right….. You forgot to click on that annoying, little, yellow button on the top of the window. Welcome to the world of Protected View in Microsoft Office 2013.

As annoying as it may be, there are valid reasons for this security feature in Office 2013, which first appeared in Office 2010. As explained by the Microsoft Office Engineering Team…

“Files from the Internet and from other potentially unsafe locations can contain viruses, worms, or other kinds of malware that can harm your computer. To help protect your computer, files from these potentially unsafe locations are opened in Protected View. By using Protected View, you can read a file and see its contents while reducing the risks..”

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t open a document from a sender that you don’t know. If you’re ready to turn off this annoying alert permanently, here’s how you can do it: (more…)

Company Recognized for Forward-Thinking Approach to Meeting the Needs of Today’s IT Channel

Thrive Networks, the complete IT solutions for emerging to mid-sized businesses, has been named to CRN’s Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list as one of the MSP Elite 150. The annual list recognizes the top technology providers and consultants in North America whose cutting-edge approach to managed services puts end-user customers in the best position to improve efficiencies, cut costs and speed time to market for their own products and services.

This year, CRN’s MSP500 is broken down into three groups highlighting the MSP Elite 150, who are large data center-focused solution providers with a strong mix of on-premise professional services as well as off-premise services; the MSP Pioneer 250, who have a business model heavily weighted toward managed services focused on the small- and midsize-business market; and the MSP Hosting Service Provider 100, who own and operate their own data centers, providing a wide array of subscription-based outsourced services. (more…)

Thrive Networks is proud to have been ranked in the top 10% of managed service providers globally on MSPmentor’s Top 501 Managed Service Providers List for 2014. This is the sixth straight year that Thrive is being recognized as one of the most progressive Managed Service Providers (MSP) in the world and is one of a select few companies that have appeared on the list each year during this time period.

The MSPmentor 501

The MSPmentor 501 is an annual research report from MSPmentor and its owner, Nine Lives Media Inc., MSPmentor is widely considered the ultimate guide to managed services and the leading global destination for managed service providers. Nominees were evaluated in a range of industry-specific categories including:

• Annual managed services revenue (2013)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2013 vs. 2012, in U.S. dollars)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2013 vs. 2012, percentage growth)
• Percentage of overall revenue from managed services (2013)
• Devices/seats managed (2013)
• Devices/seats managed, annual growth (2013 vs. 2012) in raw numbers
• Devices/seats managed, percentage growth (2013 vs. 2012)
• Recurring revenue per full-time employee (2013)

This methodology ensures small, midsize and large MSPs from around the world are recognized on the MSPmentor 501.

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Regardless of your industry, staying proactive with patch management can be a time consuming but extremely important effort. This is where a managed patching provider can be an invaluable resource.

If you were to conduct a survey of businesses to discover whether or not they are happy with their patch management strategy, the majority of them would likely say that they struggle with patch management processes and are overall dissatisfied with their patch management system. If you are one of the businesses that is constantly burdened by patch management, here are a few of the most common issues companies face and how a managed patching provider can help.

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Monitoring the health of your network is an essential part of maintaining business continuity and productivity. Similar to a routine checkup with your physician a Network Health Assessment ensures that your business goals are appropriately aligned with the technology required to meet those goals.

So what is a Network Health Assessment and what does it entail?

A comprehensive Network Health Assessment takes anywhere from four to six weeks and is typically managed by a senior engineer who oversees the process and then reports on the status of the network. The process involves a series of assessments on network components which include the following:

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Thrive Networks is proud to have been ranked #26 on MSPmentor’s Top 100 Managed Service Providers List for 2011-12. This is the fourth straight year that Thrive is being recognized as one of the most progressive Managed Service Providers (MSP) in the world and is one of a select few companies that have appeared on the list each year during this time period.

The MSPmentor 100

The MSPmentor 100 is an annual research report from MSPmentor and its owner, Nine Lives Media Inc., MSPmentor is widely considered the ultimate guide to managed services and the leading global destination for managed service providers. Nominees were evaluated in a range of industry-specific categories including:

• Annual managed services revenue (2011)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2011 vs. 2010, in U.S. dollars)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2011 vs. 2010, percentage growth)
• Percentage of overall revenue from managed services (2011)
• Devices/seats managed (2011)
• Devices/seats managed, annual growth (2011 vs.2010) in raw numbers)
• Devices/seats managed, percentage growth (2011 vs. 2010)
• Recurring revenue per full-time employee (2011)

This methodology ensures small, midsize and large MSPs from around the world are recognized on the MSPmentor 100.

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During a difficult economy, virtualization and cloud hosting represents a viable solution for cutting costs while increasing company productivity and IT services. Many companies are considering the use of virtualization and cloud hosted Services as a means for reducing IT costs through hardware consolidation.

But what happens to compliance standards and service level agreements that must be maintained if you decide to use virtualization and cloud hosted Services?  (more…)

The security of today’s information systems go far beyond the general protection measures that were once considered to provide ample security against intrusion.For many companies that are implementing new technologies one of the top priorities during the planning phase is security. There are many different aspects that define the overall security of a company’s infrastructure, one of which is patch management.

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