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By the DynaSis Team
At DynaSis, we are continually working to make improvements, providing our customers with products and services that are faster, more powerful and more secure. This year, we have taken great strides in several areas, including introducing an affordable, secure cloud file system that just may revolutionize your business model.
If you haven’t been introduced to our new offerings yet, we invite you to call us for a complimentary consultation. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much our solutions can propel the success of your business
Automated Monitoring and Alerting: In February, DynaSis launched a cloud-based, high-availability monitoring and alerting service gives that gives engineers in DynaSis’ network operations center a dashboard view of customers’ infrastructure at all times. The service conducts analysis and inspection of DynaSis customers’ on-site infrastructure and networks, 24/7/365, scanning for issues such as low disk space, servers being overwhelmed by too many user requests, and other problems that affect availability and performance. Offered at no additional charge to DynaSis’ Managed Services customers, it added a further layer of scrutiny on top of DynaSis’ already robust network and infrastructure management and maintenance solutions.
Partnership with Veeam: In March 2013, DynaSis announced a partnership with Veeam, a leading provider of disaster recovery services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Partnering with Veeam gave DynaSis yet another best-practices disaster recovery option for its clients. With the Veeam solution, DynaSis customers’ data and servers are replicated from their virtual servers to DynaSis offsite data centers, eliminating the need for onsite backup appliances or servers. Customers enjoy instant file-level recovery, application-item recovery and virtual server recovery plus deep support for VMware and Hyper-V virtualization environments.
DynaSis BLUE: In September, DynaSis announced the launch of DynaSis BLUE, a solution that turns customers’ on-site file servers into in-house cloud servers. To deploy BLUE, DynaSis installs a tiny software agent on a client's file server and then configures the in-house cloud environment to meet the customer's specifications. DynaSis BLUE enables firms to harness the power of cloud-based file sharing and storage without relinquishing control of corporate files to a third-party provider. With 448-bit Blowfish encryption, two-factor authentication, full auditability and granular user-access and security controls, DynaSis BLUE provisions companies with a comprehensive, 100% synchronized and backed-up solution that offers significantly better governance than leading competitors.
These products and services are some of our 2013 highlights, but they are far from our only accomplishments. We’re also planning some great new additions for 2014.
We hope you had a great holiday season and wish you a prosperous New Year. From all of us at DynaSis, here’s to a great 2014. We look forward to working with you in the future!
When ECG (Electric Cities of Georgia) broke away from its parent company in 2009, the restructured operation needed to develop its own IT solution — including help desk support — from scratch. With minimal technology expertise and a limited budget, Engineering and Energy Services Director Ellen Richardson and External Affairs Manager Michelle Holbrook needed a solution that would get them up and running quickly and cost effectively. They found the answer in the DynaSis's “Ascend” program, a hybrid cloud solution.
“It was hard for us because we’d never done IT on our own. We needed someone to hold our hand and give us a roadmap to be seamless from the old company to the new,” says Holbrook. “DynaSis purchased and installed the infrastructure, and we didn’t have to think about what to buy or evaluate specifications for equipment we didn’t know very much about.”
DynaSis installed servers in three ECG locations and set up a joint-action service organization with hosted email, BlackBerry server and database support applications. DynaSis now provides maintenance and support for the entire infrastructure, both cloud-hosted and on-premises, including automated backup of ECG’s systems and data. DynaSis also provides Help Desk assistance whenever employees need it, in both the office and the field.
“Their Help Desk support is a big factor,” says Holbrook. “We had that at MEAG [Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, the former parent company] and needed that same kind of expertise. We have a lot of people in the field, and having the hosted environment and support helps them around the clock with email and other needs. The field workers have come back to us and said, ‘Those people are great,’ and praise is hard to get from those guys.”
According to Holbrook, ECG is enjoying the same level of service from DynaSis that it enjoyed from the in-house solution of its former parent company. “DynaSis had us up and ready in a month, and we didn’t have any drop-off in service,” says Holbrook. “If something goes wrong, I send an email and say, ‘Hey, what’s happening?’ and they take care of it. If one of our servers goes down even in the middle of the night, they get everything back up and running.”
No Capital Expense
Although worry-free IT is a core benefit of Ascend, it was not the only factor in ECG’s decision, Richardson says. “We didn’t have a huge capital expense up front. DynaSis purchased and maintains the infrastructure and guarantees us the best technology available for a fixed monthly cost. Considering we operate on a strict budget, the monthly fee is perfect for our situation.” Holbrook concurs, noting, “The best thing is that we know what they are going to bill us each month. We pay by the person, by the month, and that is it.”
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, Holbrook says she gives DynaSis at least a ‘’9” and would definitely recommend them to someone else. “The cost of dealing with DynaSis as a small user is much less than a do-it-yourself solution,” says Holbrook. “A lot of people have no computer expertise. There are so many companies out there for which Ascend would be a perfect fit.”
Have you thought about The Cloud recently? We're not referring to the puffy bits of condensed moisture that float above us, but rather to the interconnected web of data, applications, services and other components, both public and private, that we now know as The Cloud. DynaSis thought about The Cloud quite a lot earlier this year, when we launched our cloud-based storage and sharing solution DynaSis BLUE.
BLUE is incredibly flexible and secure, with granular management that gives companies real control over their content and how people access it. As a result, we hope you'll check it out, if you haven't already. But, BLUE isn't what continues to amaze us, as proud of it as we might be. No, that honor would go to The Cloud, itself.
We can across some statistics on cloud adoption and growth recently, and they blew us away like a leaf in a strong wind. Here are a few tidbits that might make you feel the same way.
So, have you poked your head into The Cloud yet? If not, the sooner you begin leveraging the productivity and operational benefits of cloud computing, the more money you can save. Adopting cloud computing will also help your company level its "playing field" in relation to larger competitors.
DynaSis can show you how to adopt the cloud securely and efficiently, without even giving up your in-house hardware, if you prefer. (Our approach to this hybrid solution is called Ascend.) You can start slowly, with cloud-based Microsoft Exchange or basic file storage and sharing for collaboration and remote working through DynaSis BLUE.
If you'd like to learn more, we have a great white paper on cloud computing you can peruse. The Cloud is waiting... what are you waiting for?
When Rodney Lester, Systems Manager for Gardner Metal Systems (GMS), began looking into upgrading his company’s Internet service, his efforts led him somewhere totally unexpected. His exploration led him to a review of cloud services, and Lester was introduced to DynaSis. What he learned from them made him realize that he could accomplish even more for his firm.
After speaking with the DynaSis team, Lester sensed he had found what he had long wanted―a local company with the knowledge, expertise and can-do attitude to support his company’s IT platforms. DynaSis and Lester embarked on a journey of improvement that has resulted in his firm deploying new infrastructure, migrating to cloud-based productivity applications and storage, and allowing Lester to take a less-active role in supporting the network, servers and 30 computers his firm relies upon daily.
“I was the only person that maintained our systems,” says Lester. “We have been able to make it work all these years, but if something happened to me, there would have been a lot of things nobody knew anything about. Now I am the backup and DynaSis is the main IT provider.”
To achieve the transformation, DynaSis upgraded GMS to Ascend, its hybrid partly on-premises/partly cloud solution. With Ascend, GMS enjoys the reassurance of having new hardware on site, paired with access to software and services through a cloud-based model. Ascend also includes DynaSis’s signature, end-to-end, proactive IT management and support package. For the package, GMS pays a flat monthly fee and DynaSis handles all hardware troubleshooting and repair, as well as necessary system upgrades.
At the time of the deployment, GMS’ servers, workstations and network were all outdated or nearing their end of life, so Lester and DynaSis worked together to upgrade all components―data servers, workstations, systems and network―on a staged basis. “We had already had a major catastrophe with our server―a hard drive failure―and I didn’t want to deal with that again,” says Lester.
Still, he notes, nothing was going wrong, specifically, at the time he connected with DynaSis. Rather, Lester says, the project expanded organically after DynaSis introduced the “one fee covers all” Ascend solution. “This decision was about getting newer technology and an upgrade scenario,” says Lester. “We were running out of room on the server, and once we started looking at improvements we could make, it really snowballed. The owners started making suggestions and DynaSis took it from there.”
DynaSis replaced GMS’ two outdated physical servers with three virtual servers (data, app and backup) running on two new physical units. Data on the virtual backup server is also replicated to an offsite data center. The new solution also included replacing the company’s Exchange server and its outdated Microsoft office productivity software with the cloud-based solution, Microsoft Office 365. “It was going to cost us $400 per workstation to upgrade Office, and we were having incompatibility problems with vendors and others outside the company,” says Lester. “With Office 365, we have access to the latest versions of Office―including Microsoft Access―for $15 per month, per seat.”
The implementation ran over a several-month period, Lester says, because his company wanted to minimize disruption for employees and complete each phase of the project before proceeding to the next level. “We started with an Internet upgrade, then we started on Ascend,” says Lester. We also went to a hosted VoIP telephony solution so we had to change over our whole phone system, and DynaSis assisted us in doing that.”
All through the complex, discontinuous process, Lester says, DynaSis ensured a steady flow of assistance and communication. “It was a little different for them, because they are not used to dragging it out as long as we did,” Lester says. “Even so, they stayed on top of the schedule, and they never had to say, ‘We cannot do that now.’”
Even before the project was complete, Lester began seeing tangible benefits. “Right away, they had access to the network and the computers, and they were pushing patches to the servers after hours,” says Lester. “We had several tickets where they took taking care of email issues – and they helped fix all of those. The whole support channel they have set up works really well.”
Lester is very pleased with the project and says he “wouldn’t hesitate to recommend DynaSis to anybody.” He cites many peripheral benefits, as well, such as better network performance, worker mobility (thanks to a new wireless network) and enhanced network security through a parallel network for guest-level, Internet-only access.
“Once we decided we were ready to migrate everything over, it went really well,” Lester concludes. “DynaSis has a great game plan for implementing a platform like this. Having someone to back me up; know our network and provide support is something we should have had a long time ago.” Lester’s already looking ahead to future projects, such as a database redesign and implementation of SharePoint, with enthusiasm.
[featured_image]By the DynaSis Team
In case you have forgotten, the $500,000 Section 179 tax deduction, which was extended to 2013 through approval of H.R. 8: American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, has not been carried over for 2014. Although Congress is considering extending the bonus depreciation rules for another three years, it’s pretty obvious that they won’t extend the Section 179 deduction above its base threshold of $25,000 (with a $200,000 investment ceiling) before the beginning of 2014. U.S. business owners could easily be left in limbo for the majority of 2014―as they were in 2012―before Congress decides to take action retroactively.
A much better option, tax experts say, is for businesses to take advantage of the 2013 Section 179 tax deduction while they have it. The Section 179 deduction covers most new and used capital equipment―in fact, most depreciable assets that have less than a 20-year life. It also includes certain software.
The 2013 Section 179 Deduction Limits for 2013 (and 2012 retroactive)- 2013 Deduction Limit = $500,000
Under the current law, bonus depreciation (which companies take on new equipment only) also ends Dec. 31. Companies can use bonus depreciation to deduct half the cost of new capital purchases in the first year.
Bonus depreciation can be more valuable than the Section 179 deduction, because the IRS limits the Section 179 deduction to business taxable income with any excess carried forward. However, if you’re actively involved in running a business, you claim losses generated by bonus depreciation against other income in 2013. Then, you can carry any still-unused losses back for two years and get a refund check from Uncle Sam.
To be eligible for these deductions, you must purchase equipment and put it into service before December 31. From assessing and upgrading IT infrastructure to upgrading outdated versions of Windows on company workstations (support for Windows XP ends in April, 2014), many firms are accelerating their purchases to take advantage of this year’s deduction.
It’s Not Too Late!
Don’t think that it’s too late to make purchases and put them into service. DynaSis’ Virtual CIOs and technicians are at the ready to help you decide which purchases are appropriate for your business and get them into service before the stroke of midnight on December 31. Call us to initiate fast-track project planning or to accelerate execution of your current plan.
by Dave Moorman
Given the state of the economy in the past few years, many small and medium businesses (SMBs) have taken a “wait and see” approach to IT spending. While this attitude is understandable, it positions companies to become reactive rather than proactive.
The reality of IT is that things break; they fail; they become outdated. Companies that don’t have a solid IT plan to address at least the core replacement cycle risk lowering productivity and/or making unplanned IT expenditures that do not fit into their overall strategic business goals. Beyond basic needs, companies also need a strategic vision for using IT, not simply to enable their business (or worse, just prop it up), but rather to drive its future success.
If your company has a strategic IT vision and is implementing it, then I congratulate you. If not, I urge you to allocate time, early in 2014, for IT assessments and planning. Commit—right now—not to spend another unplanned dime on technology.
Whether you are a business owner or an IT executive, take concrete steps to make this happen. First, ask company personnel to submit a list of IT equipment and tools they think would invigorate their productivity in 2014. Ask them to persuade you with a compelling explanation of why they need these enhancements and how they can benefit the company’s success.
Then, sit down with executive management and other IT staff or your services provider and consider such important issues as:
Armed with this information and other insights you will gain along the way, you and your associates can develop an IT plan and budget. Only then should you consider the 2014 purchase cycle.
For companies that have not previously developed and implemented a strategic IT plan, this can be a tall order, but it’s a crucial one. At DynaSis, we strongly urge our customers not to embark on any IT program without an up-to-date IT plan. If a firm is uncertain how to implement its plan without blowing the budget, we ask them to pinpoint the most important of three core benefits (reduce costs; minimize risk; increase productivity) IT can provide and to focus on plan items that will accomplish that goal, first.
For companies that don’t have a plan and don’t know where to start, we provide numerous assessment tools and techniques that can help them develop a plan and make these decisions. If you would like us to help you assess and plan your IT future give us a shout!
[featured_image]By the DynaSis Team
I read an interesting article in Forbes online recently, about “the death of the office.” In it, contributor Jeanne Meister postulated about what the office of the future will look like. One comment struck me as especially worthy of further consideration:
“As work becomes more flexible and communication more mobile, the office is turning into an increasingly complex and even abstract concept. As we look to the future, we have to ask: Will the workplace be on-site at our employer’s property, or on-demand at a collaborative space? Or will work simply be a mindset independent of place or time of day?”
That last concept―work as a mindset that has no bearing on place or time of day, is a notion that seems increasingly likely. Already numerous studies report that the newest generation of workers, the Millennials, does not want to be tied to a specific place or time to work. (DynaSis is putting the final touches on a white paper about these workers. To request a copy when it’s ready, fill out our inquiry form, putting “Millennials White Paper” in the comments section.)
Realistically, who among us doesn’t like the idea of being freed from the constraints of time and space that a physical office places upon us? Certainly, there are people who crave the social nature of an office environment, and team collaboration and brainstorming on some projects seems to work best when the group works together physically, rather than virtually.
However, for at least some of our office tasks, having the freedom to do them whenever and wherever is highly beneficial for both employer and employee. And that, many experts predict, is what the office is becoming―a place where cloud and mobile technologies enable workers to perform some, if not all, of their work, wherever they are and whenever it suits them.
Think about it: for corporations, the savings in energy and office space alone could be substantial. In the area of employee health and productivity, the “insomnia” that plagues so many people might disappear. Workers who lie awake at night, worrying about a project, could instead get up and work on it until they were tired, and then go back to bed. This would be possible because they could also sleep late, rather than getting out of bed, groggy, to be in the office by 8 or 9am.
In 2011, Live Science published an article that postulates waking during the night for a few hours before returning to sleep (called biphasic sleeping) is natural behavior for humans. The anywhere, anytime office would enable employees to embrace this behavioral predisposition rather than fight it.
When we view the “Mobile Office” in this context, it’s evident that it’s about more than mobility. It’s about achieving functional flexibility that not only drives productivity for businesses, but also helps employees mold their jobs to suit their preferences―and possibly their innate natures. It’s about providing easy, non-technical solutions that are secure, seamless and always available, no matter where workers need them.
We’ve been testing some new technologies here at DynaSis, and we’ll be telling you more about them, soon. We’re calling our initiative Modern Office, and we think you’ll love it. Stay tuned…
[featured_image]Microsoft hailed Windows 8 as “a modern computing experience for businesses that helps professionals stay connected to their colleagues and clients from anywhere, anytime.” This is a realistic assessment, but in making Windows 8 more compatible and workable on mobile devices, Microsoft did away with some features Windows users loved (the Start button, for one).
With the release of Windows 8.1 in October 2013, Microsoft brought the Start button back and made other tweaks that will increase the comfort level for users of earlier versions of Windows. It rolled numerous other enhancements into the release, which qualifies as more than an update, in our opinion.
Windows 8.1 has garnered some good reviews—and it represents the future of Windows computing for desktop and mobile users. Here’s a taste of some business-related features you can expect in the release. For more details on the user experience of the operating system, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/features#personalize=startscreen. If you want to dig more deeply into the “under the covers” features, start here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dn140266.aspx.
Mobile Device Management
Enrolled devices are connected to the Windows Intune management service, which provides users with a consistent experience for access to applications and data and enables them to manage their own devices.
NFC Tap-to-pair Printing
Users can tap their Windows 8.1 devices against an NFC-enabled printer (any printer with an NFC tag attached) and print. Wi-Fi printing is just as easy. No more hunting for printers on a network.
Remote Business Data Removal
Companies now have more control over corporate content, which can be marked as corporate, encrypted and then wiped when the relationship between the corporation and the user ends.
Improved Biometrics
All versions of Windows 8.1 include end-to-end biometric capabilities that enable authenticating with a biometric identity anywhere within Windows (Windows sign-in, remote access, User Account Control, etc.).
[featured_image]By the DynaSis Team
Earlier this year, we offered some information and advice on malware and cyber-attacks, but the news surrounding these threats has become so concerning that an update is in order. Recently, a new Trojan horse named CryptoLocker surfaced. (A Trojan horse is malware that masquerades as beneficial.) CryptoLocker is especially crafty―it disguises itself as a legitimate attachment and then, when activated, it encrypts file types―such as Word documents and Auto Cad files―stored on your computer systems’ drives.
CryptoLocker stores the decryption keys for these files on its own servers, and infected users see a message that offers to decrypt the data and return access to it for a fee (usually around $300). It also warns message recipients that it will delete the key if a certain deadline passes. In November, a group assumed to be the perpetrators launched an online site that purports to unlock CryptoLocker-encrypted files after the deadline passes for 10 Bitcoin (more than $2000) per file.
For the encryption, CryptoLocker uses 2048-bit RSA public-key cryptography, which is virtually impossible to break. Removing the program is not difficult, but it does not afford companies access to their files, which remain encrypted. So, firms are faced with two choices unless they have a recent backup―pay the ransom or lose the file. Of course, no one wants to pay criminals ransom, but the alternative may be loss of important corporate data.
CryptoLocker usually spreads through a zipped (compressed) attachment to a seemingly safe email message (often appearing to originate from a legitimate company). Given that it only targets Microsoft Windows PCs, it presents a significant threat to U.S. companies, the majority of whom run Windows computers.
DynaSis is launching a new anti-malware service that will defend companies against CryptoLocker and other insidious threats. We are also following up on a new report, just released, that indicates many recent cyber-attacks may be shared development and logistics operations masterminded by broad consortiums of cyber-criminals.
If this is true, it increases the likelihood of attacks becoming even more frequent, ferocious and difficult to block. We will report on this issue in the next few weeks. In the meantime, to learn how we can protect you against these threats, give us a call.
DynaSis, Atlanta’s premier provider of IT services and support for small and medium businesses (SMBs), today announced that ENT of Georgia has hired it to provide 24/7 systems management and support for nearly two dozen locations. The metro-Atlanta-based practice of otolaryngology specialists selected DynaSis for its comprehensive approach and round-the-clock protection.
"We were previously using an individual IT professional, but as our IT requirements expanded in order to meet the mandates of HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act], we realized we needed more attention," said ENT of Georgia COO Debbie Olmos. "I wanted someone with deep IT experience and 24/7 access that understood the healthcare environment—the need to keep us up and running, provide remote support and ensure we had the security features needed to comply with HIPAA regulations."
For ENT of GA, DynaSis has implemented 24/7 systems management and proactive troubleshooting of 21 off-premise servers, as well as support-desk assistance for more than 125 end users and more than 200 devices across 18 Atlanta-area sites. DynaSis also provides support for remote staff including triage nurses and surgery schedulers and assists with support and complex upgrades for the company's medical software platform.
"DynaSis has a long track record of adapting well to most any vertical specialty," said DynaSis President Dave Moorman. "Our deep expertise with IT systems and networks, paired with our experience working with industry-specific software vendors, gives us the breadth of competency ENT of GA needed for its efforts."
About ENT of GA
ENT of GA is a comprehensive otolaryngology group of specialists dedicated to providing a full spectrum of high quality ENT care to all who seek its services. The established group of otolaryngologists has been serving the metro Atlanta area for the past 20 years. ENT of GA’s physicians treat patients from infancy to adulthood and have medical staff privileges at major area hospitals and health systems. ENT of Georgia is a group of highly trained, board-certified otolaryngologists, who use the latest treatments and technologies to ensure the highest quality of care for patients of all ages. For more information, visit www.entofga.com.
About DynaSis
DynaSis is a managed IT service provider for small and medium-sized businesses in Atlanta, Georgia. Whether you are looking for Backup, Continuity & Recovery, Cloud Services, Network & Server Management, Outsourced IT Support, or Managed Security, DynaSis is your trusted partner. For more information visit www.dynasis.com.
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