Monday, December 3, 2007

Data Systems Worldwide, Inc.



Data Systems Worldwide, Inc. (DSW) is an IT solutions firm that designs, builds, and manages enterprise application infrastructure. Supplying only the "best of breed" software and hardware products for our clients, DSW specializes in developing customized technology solutions for growing businesses.


For more information, visit us at our website at www.dsw.net



How do you know how well a HOT new product will work in your environment?


You have to try it. Test it. Stress it. And it’s FREE!

It’s almost too good to be true. For a limited time, DSW is offering the opportunity to try Cisco and Sun Microsystems products for FREE.

We have products available in Unified Communications, Security, Wireless, Core Networking, and Server Systems. To take advantage of this special promotion, please contact your Account Manager today as supplies are limited!

DSW Opens New Las Vegas Location



Data Systems Worldwide is pleased to announce the opening of their Las Vegas Operations. Located in the Pine Wood Plaza, on Fort Apache Road, the new office will be headed by Ryan Peterson, DSW’s Director of Intelligent Facilities. Mr. Peterson explains, “The Las Vegas location is a strategic opportunity for DSW to leverage our newly added IP Surveillance, and Unified Communications practices to verticals uniquely based in the region.”

With a history of success leading some of the industry’s most prestigious companies (including Nestle, Arco, BP, Compaq, and Amgen) Ryan’s enthusiasm about debuting DSW’s talents in the region is hard to contain, “We will be kicking off our Grand Opening with premier event which will include Cisco’s infamous NOW VAN, and a guided tour of the new facilities.”


DSW’s CEO of over six years, Phil Mogavero adds “With the new addition of our Cisco Silver Certification, and Microsoft Gold Partner status, Las Vegas provides a unique opportunity for growth in markets that were not previously accessible to Data Systems Worldwide.”

Pass the cheer and get a $20 Starbucks gift card when you set up a meeting with DSW to learn about:


Websense Express allows organizations under 1000 users to quickly and easily protect their employees from Internet risks by controlling access to inappropriate content and proactively blocking security threats before they have a chance to infect their systems.

Websense Enterprise, the industry-leading web filtering solution, improves productivity, reduces legal liability, and optimizes the use of IT resources. Websense Enterprise integrates seamlessly with leading network infrastructure products to offer unequaled flexibility and control.

New On-Demand Services can reduce business costs, reduce administrative overhead, and ensure that your network meets the highest standards of Internet security.

Websense protects more than 25 million employees from external and internal computer security threats. Using a combination of preemptive content identification, categorization, and information leak prevention technologies, Websense helps organizations block malicious code, prevent information leaks, and manage Internet and wireless access.

Organizations over 100 employee's qualify by meeting with your DSW rep in person to learn more about Websense.
Click here to schedule an appointment. Please provide the date and time you wish to schedule your appointment as well as your contact information.

Community Hospital Expands Wirelessly


Hospital installs a Cisco Unified Wireless Network to meet the needs and expectations of its patients, clinicians and community.

Business Challenge
Greenwich Hospital is a 174-bed healthcare center serving the communities of Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. A member of Yale New-Haven Health Systems and a major academic affiliate of the Yale University School of Medicine, the hospital is both an important teaching institution and a progressive provider of medical care.

The hospital campus includes several state-of-the-art buildings. "We have a very spread-out facility-several buildings that are two to five miles away from each other," says Nassar Nizami, chief security officer at the hospital. Until recently, the hospital was operating a wireless LAN for its medical and administrative staff. But that WLAN was composed of standalone, individually-managed access points (APs). If someone reported a problem, the staff would have to physically find and fix the faulty AP. To address these concerns, last year the hospital decided to upgrade its WLAN with a system that could be managed and controlled centrally.

Nizami also sought a system that could support high-bandwidth applications such as video feeds and the transmission of detailed X-rays and MRI scans. The existing 802.11b network handled basic data traffic well, but "for some of the imaging machines, the 802.11b network was not sufficient," he says.

The hospital also needed to upgrade its wireless voice over IP (VoIP) system, which tended to drop phone calls when users roamed throughout the buildings. Finally, Greenwich Hospital was under pressure to provide wireless Internet access for patients and visitors-a common request that the hospital had previously avoided because of security concerns. Nizami needed to find a way to provide guest access without compromising patient records and other confidential data that traversed the WLAN.

Network Solution

To meet the many needs of its employees, patients, and guests, Greenwich chose a Unified Wireless Network from Cisco.

The Cisco network provides a highly responsive and trusted environment for securely sharing vital healthcare information and improving interactions among stakeholders throughout the entire healthcare community by delivering the right information, to the right people, at the point-of-need.

As part of the Cisco infrastructure, a Cisco Unified Wireless Network enables access to critical information at the point-of-need with a scalable, cost-effective solution. The Cisco Unified Wireless Network delivers mobility, security, and instant access to data applications, which can help healthcare organizations accelerate responsiveness, increase productivity, and improve the quality of care provided.

The hospital also installed Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) management software, which provides RF prediction, policy provision, network optimization, troubleshooting, security monitoring, and wireless LAN systems management-all from a graphical interface. For Nizami, the WCS proved to be invaluable as a site survey tool for initial AP placement.

"The WCS gave us a nice pictorial view of the hospital and helped us to predict coverage issues, so we would know where to install additional access points," Nizami says, explaining that hospitals have unique coverage issues. "In the radiology labs, for example, the rooms have lead walls. In the operating rooms, there is heavy equipment that also can block the penetration of wireless signals."

Nizami appreciates the Cisco Unified Wireless Network's ability to assign separate virtual LANs for separate user groups "at the click of a button," helping to ensure both data security and quality of service for voice traffic. One virtual LAN is now assigned for data traffic for the hospital's computers-on-wheels, or "COWs," which run applications such as Meditech medical information software. Doctors use the COWs to view medical records at patients' bedsides. Another VLAN is assigned to the hospital's administrative staff.

There are two separate VLANs for voice traffic and, via the WCS, the IT staff has prioritized voice traffic above data traffic. Separately, the new network supports the ability for voice clients to roam seamlessly from access point to access point without dropping a call. This is vital for doctors and nurses who often travel among buildings to visit patients as they use the wireless voice network.

Finally, thanks to the capabilities of the new network, there is now a VLAN dedicated to patients and visitors. "The guest network terminates outside the firewall, which means it is totally separate from the internal network, helping ensure that confidential data remains secure," Nizami says.

Business Results

Providing public wireless LAN access to their guests and patients has garnered a great deal of positive publicity for the hospital, and improved that quality of life for patients and visitors.

"Some of the patients are so tied to their work that they cannot stand to be without Internet access," Nizami says. "Before the upgrade, we were receiving two or three phone calls a week, asking whether we offered wireless coverage. Since we implemented the guest network, people have been very happy. In fact, the PR department has received several calls just to thank the hospital for the wireless access."

For the hospital staff, the new network not only ensures the data safe, but also empowers the clinical teams with point-of-care information and communications to ensure the best care for their patients.

"The new wireless LAN has helped the medical community a great deal, especially in terms of the improved responsiveness of the wireless voice network." Nizami says. "Because they can carry their phone extensions anywhere they go, they can easily be reached at any time."
The wireless voice network improves the efficiency of hospital communications, especially in the Emergency Department.

"Wireless phones are crucial for the Emergency Department personnel; they are assigned a four-digit hospital extension just like any other phone," says Dr. Kevin Brown, director of the emergency department at the hospital. "The unit secretary can put a call through to any of the phones. During a busy day in the Emergency Department, that might mean 30 to 40 calls a day. In the past, crucial time would go by as the unit secretary would page overhead and then have to wait for the doctor or nurse to call back. The Emergency Department is much quieter now, as there are much fewer overhead pages. If the nurses from the telemetry unit, ICU or any of the admitting floors need to contact an Emergency Department nurse about a patient, they can just dial the extension directly and eliminate delays."

The hospital now includes the WLAN in its emergency response plans. "Recently, the hospital performed a pandemic drill, and wireless played a key part in it," Nizami says. "The staff set up triage throughout the hospital, and the only way to extend the network quickly was by connecting clients wirelessly."

For the IT staff, the ability to manage the network from a central location has saved time in network repairs, and the diagnostic capabilities of the Wireless Control System helps the staff pinpoint and fix potential problems before users notice anything amiss.

Next Steps

By the end of 2007, the hospital plans to launch location-based services on the Cisco Unified Wireless Network so that the staff can wirelessly track valuable, mobile medical equipment such as infusion pumps and wheelchairs.

Separately, the hospital is taking steps to separate the Emergency Department's data traffic from the other data traffic on the network; network usage is extremely high among doctors in that department, and reliable communication can be a matter of life and death. To that end, Nizami plans to move the Emergency Department from 802.11g (2.4Ghz) to 802.11a (5Ghz), to increase data reliability. The Cisco Unified Wireless Network is prepared for the migration. "One of the reasons that we chose the 1200 Series access points was that they supported both 802.11g and 802.11a," Nizami says.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Mail2World Moves Its Software as a Service (SaaS) Infrastructure to SAVVIS

Global Hosted Email Provider Unveils New Managed Network Featuring Cisco Routers and SAVVIS Global IT Services Platform

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mail2World, Inc., a leading global provider of hosted email and collaboration solutions, today announced that its new network infrastructure featuring new Cisco routers is fully operational. The network is managed jointly by Mail2World and SAVVIS, Inc. (NASDAQ:SVVS), a global leader in IT Infrastructure services for business and government applications. SAVVIS hosts Mail2World’s applications in a Southern California data center with connectivity to SAVVIS’ global IT services platform, which encompasses 25 data centers spanning 45 countries.

Data Systems Worldwide, Inc. (DSW), a Cisco Silver-certified IT solutions firm that designs, builds and manages large-scale enterprise application infrastructures, was the main integrator for Mail2World’s new state-of-the-art network. This successful deployment marks another major milestone in bringing Mail2World’s leading-edge email and collaboration solutions to the company’s global customer base. The network expansion also accommodates Mail2World’s explosive business growth worldwide and maximizes its infrastructure resilience, data protection and security.

“On a day-to-day basis, people rely on email more than any other technology,” states Mail2World Executive Vice President and COO Youssef Abed. “To meet and exceed our customers’ demands for high performance and reliability, Mail2World is building its business based on industry-leading network and IT infrastructure from Cisco and SAVVIS.”

“Mail2World’s SaaS delivery architecture features Cisco’s advanced network and routing capabilities, which integrate security and load balancing at the core of the network, and hosting services provided by SAVVIS data centers running on the SAVVIS global IT services platform,” explained Mike Mogavero, Vice President of Sales at DSW. “As an integrator, DSW is excited about working with Mail2World. The company clearly understands and values an investment in technology as an essential means to achieving their vision of providing fully hosted, powerful, comprehensive email and collaboration solutions and services with superior management capabilities and the highest levels of scalability, security and redundancy for all types of businesses at the lowest cost of ownership.”

From a business perspective, Mail2World expects the new network to further differentiate the company within the hosted email and collaboration industry and provide the stickiness to retain existing customers while gaining new ones. On the operational side, the network upgrade enables Mail2World’s network operations and engineering teams to dramatically reduce power consumption and the use of precious data center space by consolidating to a single platform. This strategy helps to keep costs down, which allows Mail2World to invest in building rich application features instead of spending unnecessary time and effort managing an unnecessarily diverse set of point solutions that would negatively impact customers’ total cost of ownership.

“SAVVIS solutions enable business-critical applications providers like Mail2World to improve the performance and security of their IT systems, lower the cost of their IT operations and become more agile by scaling their IT infrastructure up or down as business needs change,” said James Whitemore, Chief Marketing Officer for SAVVIS. “We are delighted to have met Mail2World’s strict requirements and look forward to continuing our support for their current business and future global growth.”

About Mail2World®

Mail2World, Inc., (http://www.mail2world.net/) designs, delivers and supports a technology-leading and award-winning suite of Software as a Service (SaaS) email and collaboration solutions. Custom-engineered to handle tens of millions of mailboxes, Mail2World’s hosting platform addresses the growing need for advanced, ultra-reliable and cost-effective email and collaboration in global enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses and large-scale service providers. The company’s growing list of customers includes prominent organizations from around the world, such as publicly-traded corporations, top five colleges listed in Newsweek’s America’s Best Colleges 2007 report and some of the largest and most-recognized online properties. Founded in early 2000, Mail2World is a privately held corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif.

Contacts
Mail2World, Inc.
Carol Mason
310-209-0060, ext. 103
Fax: 310-209-0079
cmason@mail2world.net

Getting $ from the CFO, Simple Math, Value > Cost

In my 28 years in the technology industry there has always been a struggle between IT who want more goods and services and the CFO who wants to cut spending. If you want to get your projects funded, it is important to understand the economic equation as you present your solution to the CFO, CIO or other financial driven decision makers. At the end of the day, the solution you seek to obtain funding for must provide greater value than cost.

When you present your solution to financial managers, you must understand that you are “selling” your solution to the CFO as though he is your customer – for him to buy, he must understand the value in economic terms. If your solution is presented in economic (ROI, TCO, EBITDA, etc) vernacular, your chances of success are much higher than if presented in technical vernacular (speeds, feeds, TCP/IP, etc).

While cost is generally easy to obtain, make sure that you understand all costs! Leaving costs out will create doubt that the solution should be funded. A general overview of cost includes the following:

1. Capital Expenditure = hardware + software price (often expressed as depreciation over the life of the investment on an income statement)

2. Operational expenditure = installation, training, maintenance for the life of the investment

3. Financing cost = cost of money

The total price should be factored into a useful life over the term of the investment and then divided by the number of months and divided once again by the number of users to obtain a cost per month per user. When comparing cost models, make sure you communicate the life of an investment, emphasizing that newer technology has a longer life span than legacy technology. For example, if an investment costs $100,000 but has a five year useful life it has a cost per year of $20,000 which is less money than a $70,000 investment with a three year life, equating to $23,333 per year.

The second and more difficult part of the equation is the value side. You must understand how the investment will allow the company you work for to save money or make money. For example, if you were purchasing a new communications system, the ability to automatically route calls to available agents would increase efficiency and allow you to have fewer call center reps to handle more calls. If you were deploying a network for a new facility that can handle multiple facility applications such as voice, video surveillance, video conferencing, digital signage and building controls, etc., the savings on cabling and operational expense for moves/adds/changes (MACs) is significant allowing more technology to be deployed and managed with lower headcount and therefore lower operational expense.

Consider the following hypothetical example to justify the purchase of a 100 user IP communications system for a call center with 10 users spread among two branches that has the expectation that call volume will double over the next 12 months:

Cost side:

1. Capital Expenditure : Phone system hardware and capital cost is $100,000

2. Operational Expenditure: Maintenance = $50,000 for five year s, installation = $20,000, training = $10,000.

3. Financing cost: 0% interest over 36 months = $0

The total cost in this case would be $190,000 / 60 months/100 users = $31.67 per user per month

Value side:

1. Call center users = $30,000 per year x 10 users currently. As volume doubles with the current system, users must double. With the new system, users only have to increase to 16 due to efficiencies within IP telephony such as integration into software to support screen pops, predictive dialing and 4 digit branch to branch communication. Therefore, the value obtained in this scenario is $30,000 x 4 people x 5 years = $600,000 in savings.

2. Telephone charge savings = by using IP, PSTN costs drop as WAN’s can be leveraged for inter-branch calling. In addition, conference call costs and travel costs can decrease due to the integration of new technologies like telepresence and meeting bridges. For this example, we will assume $500 per month savings or $18,000 over 60 months.

3. Cabling leverage = By installing the new system in a secondary branch, only one cabling infrastructure needs to be installed, saving about $10,000 for cable runs to support 20 new users.

The total value in this case would be ($600,000 + $18,000 + $10,000) / 60 months/100 users = $104.67 per user per month


As such, the value of $104.67 represents a better than 3:1 return on investment (ROI) versus the $31.67 per month cost.

Another example is the cost savings by implementing server and storage virtualization resulting in additional capital expenditure offset by lower maintenance, staffing and energy costs.

If you think about the value that each solution provides your company before you ask for money, your chance for funding this expense will increase!

Please let us know how we can help you justify your strategic technology decisions!

Driving to Work is a Thing of the Past!

Getting up at 6 o’clock in the morning and driving down the freeway; other cars conspiring to make you late to work; and the increased chances of ending up in an accident are now a thing of the past.

Welcome to what technology has been promising for years. Imagine waking up at 8 AM and joining a conference call in your PJs. Jump on to your PDA and check your day’s calendar, then start the trek to your office (aka downstairs).

Telecommuting hasn’t yet become a reality for many of the millions of office staff and executives that still try to traverse the dangerous wild we call freeways. But the technology is here! Why aren’t we using it effectively!

For example, if you are one of the few who hasn’t yet, installing Exchange 2003 or 2007 allows simple things like opening Outlook from home or any other location using a protocol called RPC/http (RPC over http). This centralizes your data on the server while allowing access from anywhere via the very utilized Outlook.

So let’s discuss what's needed to successfully distribute your workforce.

1. The ability to accomplish all of your work without the need for having a business location. The employees that come to mind are salespeople, administrators, and other in-house business representatives. While other factory workers and accounting team that directly correlate to pushing paperwork or writing checks may still need to work in a small distributed office or company warehouse. A very interesting example is of a Cisco Executive Assistant named Margaret shown in the picture. She is sitting at her desk and doesn’t commute to that location in San Jose…in fact she is in Texas in this picture.




2. A strong communications plan. Most businesspeople know that you can't really manage your team without seeing them. Often times, body language is more telling than verbal, so the ability to see your fellow worker, boss, or employee is crucial to the design. As well, since email has become a more reliable and traceable format of communications, having the ability to check those messages anytime and anywhere has become very important.

So how does this design look? An exchange server running RPC over http and a mobile client like active sync or Blackberry Enterprise Server are truly invaluable. This has become a requirement over an option in the last year.

But since email is sometimes not enough, a voice system is needed. This system should be a distributed phone system using VoIP that enables a telecommuter to pick up their office phone and make calls just like they were sitting in their office downtown. Adding on the video option, the computer screen becomes a two way video conferencing utility.

Unified messaging takes all of these technologies and connects them all into an easy to access message box. Imagine checking one voicemail box and email box and it being the same box. How about responding to emails with your cell phone by speaking the response and the reply turning it into a wav file attachment that the recipient can play back on their phone.

One of the common issues is not knowing where someone is. Are they out of the office, on a flight, at their desk, or gone for the day. Can they be reached with a video call, or are the busy on another call. With Cisco Presence, you can find out the exact status of another individual in your office and communicate with them in the best fashion without wasting time listening to each other’s voicemails.

I hear a lot of you asking about ROI. Return on investment is a very easy task. Let’s examine the most common savings. Studies show that occupying office space for a 1 year period which includes such items as the cost of the building and maintenance, the cost of furniture, computers, phones, and other items like janitorial service equal $12,000 per year per person.

Cabling is another money saver. On average, a phone in an office is moved 3 times per year resulting in a MAC (Move Add Change) work order which us telecom companies charge on average $100 per MAC.

Not to bore you with more of these, many studies have been done that show that both a distributed workforce as well as VoIP has an average ROI of 7 months.

It’s obvious to the 49 million Cisco VoIP users and 13 million telecommuters that this is the wave of the future. Are you riding this wave? If not, contact your DSW representative to tell you more, show you a demonstration, or help you develop a ROI for your company.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Web 2.0 Security Threats


As the emerging trend toward the use of Web 2.0 technologies reaches the enterprise, CIO’s and other IT personnel may find them a nuisance. Business driven applications, such as Wikis, Podcasts, or internal Blogs is on the rise, According to a Nermetes Research report, 18% of executives said that their company is using blogs, while 32% are using wikis, and 23% are using RSS. One of the major issues with these evolving 2.0 technologies is their lack of security. Web 2.0 applications expose companies to both inbound and outbound security threats that transcend legacy security measures associated with Web 1.0

The interactive nature of these applications creates new pipelines for information leakage, and makes them inherently difficult to secure. Couple with the hyper-speed of Web development, and the pressure to get new tools in the hands of users as quickly as possible, and you’ve got a security nightmare waiting to happen. So what can companies do to ensure that Web traffic coming in or going out of the network isn’t malicious in nature? Many have begun adopting Web security appliances which scan the actual content of web traffic coming in and out of the network for malware, spyware, viruses, worms and Trojans.


A Web security gateway is an appliance that plugs into the network, scans all HTTP and SMTP traffic both entering and exiting the network to ensure that each piece of content isn’t infected with malware. The traffic is scanned against a database of threat protection signatures and is allowed if no malware is uncovered. Some would argue that desktop software is more efficient or effective at protection from Web-borne malware, but an IT person will clearly tell you that managing and servicing 50-5,000 desktops with software is challenging keeping all up to date and now requires both AV and Anti-spyware clients. A single Web security appliance can apply both signature and reputation filters delivering complete protection from Web-borne malware. If the appliance is a network-friendly appliance, it will fit seamlessly into any network typography, and perform at gigabit rates – with no network performance degradation.


Web security appliances not only contain signature-based scanning of all HTTP and SMTP content, many include URL filtering and reputation filtering as well. This 3-pronged approach to securing the network is becoming increasingly popular as it covers all bases.

URL Filtering

URL filtering is especially good for setting and enforcing policies for employees. The most traditional approach used to block malware from entering a corporate network is URL filtering. Based on policies set forth by network and security administrators in the organizations, users are either permitted or denied access to certain categories of sites. As the Internet is made up of hundreds of millions of sites, URL filtering approaches rely on web crawlers to categorize sites to add them to its database. However, hackers are getting more sophisticated at fighting Web crawlers, by serving up good content so they are placed on the list of permitted sites and then when a users visits that Webpage they are served malware.

Content Filtering

Content filtering scans traffic coming in and out of the network and inspects every webpage coming in and out of the network for malicious code. This approach utilizes camouflaged machines which are placed around the world to collect malware samples. These samples are continually analyzed & are added to the database of threats that a company is protected from.

Reputation Filtering

Reputation Filtering is the newest approach to fighting Web-borne malware. Based on site reputations, content may not be scanned or filtered. For example, CNN is a popular news site and must have a good reputation so it isn’t scanned or inspected. However, well known sites are compromised all the time. The best method of Reputation filtering is to utilize it as a black list instead of a white list. Black listed sites are always blocked while white listed sites are always permitted to pass. Thus blocking access to sites known to distribute malware is more effective.

The more popular Web 2.0 becomes in the business world, the more attractive it will be to those with malicious intent. Seemingly legitimate Web pages can introduce malware or spyware into a network.

The following link is to a recent blog post by a self-proclaimed life hacker who clearly outlines the top 5 Web 2.0 services that hackers will love.
http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/the-top-5-most-popular-web20-services-hackers-cannot-live-without .


YouTube and Monster.com, two popular sites for social networking and job searches are visited frequently by employees looking for a new job or wanting to watch the latest funny videos. In addition to visiting these sites while at work, users are linking from internal Wikis and podcasts to their MySpace.com pages opening up the network to potential hackers.


Managing the influx of security issues that come along with Web 2.0 is a collective work in progress; however, with web content security appliances on the rise, the need for desktop software that requires constant updates and troubleshooting on a multitude of machines is quickly falling by the wayside.


Friday, October 5, 2007

0% Financing Offer for Cisco Unified IP Communications


What Makes This Unique and Compelling?

- This is a 0%, 36 month, $1 Buyout new customer financing program
- This program will cover any SMB sub-100 Voice Deal (CallManager Express or CallManager)
- This program is valid through July 28, 2008!

Example: $36,000 solution

$30,000 in hardware
+
$6,000 for 3 years of Cisco SmartNET
=
$1,000 for 36 months
Contact Us for more info

Partnership Announced with New Horizions: Free Training Offer

PARTNERSHIP ANNOUCED WITH NEW HORIZONS: FREE TRAINING OFFER

DSW and New Horizons of Southern California have partnered to bring your training experience to new heights by offering a free day of training in any of the New Horizons of Southern California centers including Anaheim, Culver City or Burbank. Through end of 2007, DSW is offering a free one day Cisco or Microsoft training course for any customers who purchase Cisco or Microsoft products through DSW and redeem Cisco or Microsoft training credits through DSW and New Horizons. Any customers with existing unused training credits may also take advantage of this offer provide the credit are redeemed through DSW and New Horizons by the end of 2007!!!!!!!!!

By using Cisco or Microsoft trainings credits at New Horizons, DSW will provide a voucher that may be redeemed through New Horizons. The voucher is offered for training in the Mentored Learning lab from 8am-5pm with pre-registration on a Cisco Intro class or any available Microsoft MOC classes. This is a great way to expose your team to New Horizons facilities and take advantage of the breadth of classes they offer.

Please have the interested employee contact Dan Lake to enroll at (818)226-1739. Dan will make sure you are enrolled in the correct New Horizons location and the appropriate choice of class.

Sincerely,
DSW and New Horizons of Southern California


Terms & Conditions: Voucher must be presented at the time of attendance. Not redeemable for cash. Pre-enrollment is required. Valid for one-day Mentored Learning classes. GOOD ONLY AT ANAHEIM, CULVER CITY or BURBANK. Available for: Cisco Intro or any Microsoft MOC class. ONE COUPON PER COMPANY. MUST BE REDEEMED THROUGH DSW.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Cisco Announces the Next Generation of Faster and More Reliable Wireless, the 802.11n



Mobile Performance with 802.11n

The new 1250, 802.11n wireless access point has delivered the next-generation wireless solution that offers greater performance and extended reach for pervasive wireless connectivity. Delivering unprecedented reliability and up to five times the throughput of current 802.11a/b/g networks, 802.11n technology makes wireless networks an integral part of every type of organization by offering the following benefits. The Cisco 1250 wireless access point can be managed by the Wireless LAN Controller for simple wireless deployments. Data rates of up to 300 Mbps per radio supports more users, devices, and mission-critical, bandwidth-intensive applications.

New multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology for predictable WLAN coverage and reliable connectivity, next generation wireless provides the greatest investment protection to support emerging mobility applications

Cisco Network Admission Control for Wireless LANs

Cisco Network Admission Control for Wireless LANs (NAC) is a solution that uses the network infrastructure to enforce security policies on all devices seeking wireless access network computing resources. WLANs need to be protected from security threats such as viruses, worms, and spyware. The NAC Appliance provides security threat protection for WLANs by enforcing device security policy compliance when WLAN clients attempt to access the network. These solutions quarantine non-compliant WLAN clients and provide remediation services to help ensure compliance. The solution is fully interoperable with the Cisco Unified Wireless Network.

• Wireless client network resources access control
• Enforcement of security policies
• Significant cost savings with automated device repairs and updates
Contact your DSW rep for more information: Contact us

Ten Tips for Increasing Operational Efficiency



DSW believes that to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive world, businesses must boost operational efficiency wherever possible. "Sooner or later, any company not operating efficiently will be out of business," says Laurie McCabe, vice president of small and medium-sized business (SMB) insights and solutions for research firm AMI-Partners. It's particularly important for SMBs to operate efficiently, McCabe adds, because they often have more limited resources than larger enterprises.


The following are 10 tips for using network technology to help your business increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, and stay ahead of the competition. Additionally, we have provided a link to an important tool developed by Cisco that will guide your business through some of the key business and technical questions that lead to Operational Efficiency (please click here:

http://www.ciscowebtools.com/ucbusinessadvisor/)


1.Provide employees with secure, consistent access to information. One advantage of being an SMB is the ability to react more quickly than larger competitors. But if your company network is frequently down, sluggish, or unsecured, that competitive advantage is eroded. A secure, reliable, self-defending network based on intelligent routers and switches provides your business with maximum agility by providing reliable, secure access to business intelligence. What's more, a secure, reliable network infrastructure provides the necessary foundation for a number of efficiency-enhancing technologies and solutions, such as IP communications.

2.Deliver anytime, anywhere access to mobile employees. SMB employees are typically more mobile than those in larger enterprises, says Jan Dawson, research director of Ovum Research. "Ubiquitous access to people and information is particularly important for SMBs," in order to be productive while on the go, he adds. Technologies enabling ubiquitous access include virtual private networks (VPNs), which securely connect remote workers to the company network, and pervasive wireless networks, which enable workers to stay connected to the network while roaming about an office building or campus.

3. Create effective business processes with partners. Some large enterprises make efficient, secure business processes a prerequisite for doing business with them. To develop efficient business processes that meet the requirements of your partners, your business needs a secure, reliable network infrastructure.

4.Make it easy to collaborate. Effective, interactive collaboration between employees, partners, suppliers, and customers is a sure-fire way to boost efficiency while also reducing costs. Integrated voice, video, and data and wireless provides the kind of interactive calendaring, videoconferencing, IP communications, and other technologies your business needs to foster seamless, easy collaboration.

5. Enable employees to take their phone systems wherever they go. Missed calls create any number of business challenges, including operational inefficiencies (from trying to reach absent colleagues), project delays, missed opportunities and lost revenues. An IP communications solution enables your workforce to have one phone number that simultaneously rings on multiple devices, greatly increasing the chances of being reached on the first try. Workers can access their entire communications system wherever they go and can check e-mail, voice mail, fax and pages all in one inbox, among other benefits.

6. Streamline communications with customers. Interacting with customers efficiently and knowledgeably helps keep them satisfied—and few things are as important to your bottom line as satisfied customers. Linking an IP communications system to a customer relationship management (CRM) solution is one way to enhance customer communications. When a customer calls, a pop-up window of the customer contact record appears on an employee's IP phone screen, computer screen, or both. Before the second ring, the employee answering the call has access to information about the customer calling, such as orders pending and recent returns.

7. Reduce unproductive travel time. Any time spent traveling, particularly by airplane, can dramatically reduce operational efficiency. An IP communications solution that offers rich-media conferencing, such as videoconferencing, helps reduce the need to travel to offsite meetings and training sessions. The time saved from traveling can be better spent on more productive pursuits. Also, reducing travel saves money.

8. Outsource IT tasks. Is it the best use of an employee's time to manage your network security or IP communications system? Often, a more efficient option is to outsource such tasks to a managed service provider. A service provider has the expertise that your business needs but may lack, without the need to spend time or money developing that expertise in house.Also, outsourcing enables your employees to stay focused on productive activities related to your business's core competencies. And that helps keep your business competitive.Outsourcing tasks can help improve customer satisfaction and your competitiveness. "A lot of small businesses think it's cheaper to do everything themselves," says AMI-Partner's McCabe. "But employees can get overloaded, and they may not be in a good mood when interacting with your customers." McCabe adds that SMBs often don't do as good a job at an IT task, such as IP communications, as a managed service provider would do for them. "And if you're not doing a good job at something, your competition probably is," she adds.

9. Improve employee retention and satisfaction. When your business has inefficient processes, such as antiquated phone systems or a sluggish network, employees can get frustrated, because they can't get their jobs done with the tools provided. Customers may perceive that frustration and lose confidence in your business. Even worse, valued employees can become burned out and decide to move on. Not only have you lost a productive worker, you must spend time and money hiring a replacement. To help ensure employees are productive and satisfied, your business needs, at a minimum, a secure, reliable, always-available network.

10. Develop a long-term technology plan. Whenever you replace hardware that has become obsolete or ineffective, it's disruptive to workers—and that results in low productivity. You can minimize or eliminate such disruptions by carefully determining short- and long-term business objectives and the carefully mapping technology solutions to those objectives.

"Every year, you should try to determine how well your technology solutions map to your business objectives," McCabe advises. Ask your value-added reseller, network provider, or other trusted adviser for help, she says. "The companies who have a plan and keep it updated are most likely to streamline their operations—and outperform their competition."

Solutions from Cisco

Cisco and Data Systems Worldwide along with DSW managed services offer solutions tailored specifically to the needs of SMBs. Among the solutions are:

- Intelligent routers and switches, for deploying a secure, reliable network foundation.
- Unified Communications, for merging voice, video, and data into one phone system
- Security and VPN, providing integrated security for remote access and safeguarding against internal and external threats
-Wireless mobility solutions, enabling workers to stay connected securely on the go
-Advanced applications, such as Cisco Business Application Connectors, linking the Cisco Unified Communications solution to CRM solutions

DSW works closely with SMBs to identify business objectives and map them to specific solutions. Local Cisco resellers can provide the service and support your business needs to successfully deploy a secure, reliable network infrastructure and other solutions that enhance operational efficiency. And

Cisco Systems Capital can provide SMBs with flexible leasing and financing options designed for their needs.

Contact your DSW rep with any questions or comments: Contact Us

Replace All Your Company Computers with Toasters!


Back in the day, thin clients connected to mainframes to display session information on the screen. Some companies still run these legacy applications, but the advent of Microsoft Terminal server and Citrix Presentation server along with new thin clients like Wyse and Neoware have brought Microsoft Windows sessions back to the terminal.

When Microsoft added a PCAnyware type of capability to their Windows product line, it was used for remote connectivity, administration, and some used it for delivering non-distributed applications to their employees and customers. Now, the capability has expanded with increased quality of service on the network to use office applications, sound transmittion and even video capabilities.

So why do you care? Support costs! How much time is envolved in supporting failed hard drives, a bad driver, a virus, and network connectivity to name a few.

As well, centralizing data and backups are major concerns for companies. How do you keep all your data on your network. This allows much better trackability of your company data and allows for one set of servers to backed up.

Now lets add a few more technologies to make life even easier and to answer a few commonly asked questions.

SANs allow you take all of that data we just talked about and store it on a detached central data store. In the event the terminal server(s) develop a non-recoverable issue, you simply reinstall the system drive and reattach the data store. Plus, storage has become robust enough to create quick replicas and snapshots so you can build that into your solution.

How about the argument that if the terminal goes down, then all my users are down. VMWare will reolve this issue by quickly creating a new virtual terminal server, you can be back up in minutes, if not seconds. VMWare can also handle load balancing issues by autocreating new sessions to take over when a session gets overloaded.

Neoware makes an excellent Thin Client appliance with a management interface that's easy to use. Implement Neoware and you can send users to a new terminal server automatically with the click of a button thus substantially lowering your distributed support costs and centralizing IT management at the access layer.

I could go on forever about how you can save money and aggravation by switching to a terminal environment. If you would like to know more, contact your DSW representative today to schedule a no cost consultation.
Ryan Peterson
Director of Intelligent Facilities

UC500 Lunch and Learn. Click Image to Learn More



















What Makes This Unique and Compelling?

- This is a 0%, 36 month, $1 Buyout new customer financing program

- This program will cover any SMB sub-100 Voice Deal (CallManager Express or CallManager)

- This program is valid through July 28, 2008!

Example: $36,000 solution

$30,000 in hardware + $6,000 for 3 years of Cisco SmartNET = $1,000 for 36 months

Contact Us for more info

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

DSW Should be Your Support Organization

Many years ago when technology was “stand-alone”, it was relatively easy to purchase a contract from the manufacturer and be assured that IT will have everything it needs to receive the support for the life of the investment.

Today, everything is connected – for a simple reason - there is exponential value by connecting each person within a company to a network and each companies network to the world wide web and leveraging these networks to support numerous applications including traditional applications such as financial and order management systems, as well as telephony, video surveillance, access control, digital signage and many more. Extending these networks to provide these valuable applications via wireless to enable hand held devices provides an infinite degree of information access.

The downside, is that there is no single manufacturer that provides a complete integrated product or maintenance solution, until now. DSW can analyze, design, deliver, implement and support a complete integrated solution and BRIDGE the relationship between your IT department and the manufacturer. By providing exceptional, specialized on-site services, project management, documentation and first call support for day two issues from our factory trained and certified consultants, DSW can be your support organization, complementing your IT experts and vastly increasing organization and support efficiency, minimizing frustrating problems and delivering a solid environment so that you can receive the return-on-investment that a converged infrastructure promises.

We look forward to learning more how we can be your BRIDGE.

Best wishes,

Phil

Data Systems Worldwide Achieves Silver Certification from Cisco Systems, Inc.


Woodland Hills, CA. – September 4, 2007 – Data Systems Worldwide, Inc. (“DSW”) announced today it has achieved Silver Certification from Cisco Systems®. The Cisco® Channel Partner program provides DSW with the resource framework to develop an expertise to sell, plan, design, implement and operate Cisco networking solutions. To earn Silver certification, DSW had to meet or surpass the stringent personnel, training, customer satisfaction, specialization, and post-sales support requirements set forth by Cisco.


“We are committed to creating the tools, training and programs that help drive channel partner profitability through improved productivity and return-on-invested capital,” said Surinder Brar, senior director, Worldwide Channels for Cisco. “With specializations in Unified Communications and Advanced Security, DSW has secured the training, skills and knowledge to play a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of Cisco technology solutions.”

The program delivers state-of-the-art technical and sales training so that certified partners can increase their ability to deliver services related to the latest Cisco technologies for maximized productivity. Cisco Silver Certified partners are recognized and rewarded for employing some of the industry’s best-trained network technicians who can demonstrate their expertise in planning, designing, implementing and supporting Cisco network solutions. These teams of network technicians are audited annually to ensure that they consistently deliver industry-leading support and maintain the rigorous Cisco standards for network expertise and support capabilities.

As a Cisco Silver Certified Partner, DSW enjoys several benefits, most notably, access to the latest Cisco customer satisfaction tool, Partner Access onLine (PAL). The new PAL tool is based on the same technology that Cisco uses to monitor and improve its own customer satisfaction. Other benefits include increased access to the Cisco technical support teams as well as access to password-protected Websites with real-time product and training information.

Cisco Silver Certified partners provide technical services to their clients with one-hour response time for problem resolution and 24-hour on-site response capabilities. These rigorous support requirements highlight DSW’s commitment to supporting its strategic business network and sustainable business models.

About DSW
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, DSW has been recognized as “One of the Fastest Growing Companies in Southern California,” a “Smart 100 Technology Company,” a “VAR 500” company and a member of numerous industry advisory boards. In 2005, DSW’s founder Frank Mogavero was inducted into the exclusive Computer Industry Hall of Fame.

DSW offers an innovative approach to help our clients throughout the technology investment lifecycle to improve application uptime and security while decreasing operational cost. DSW invests heavily in researching the latest technology, testing the technology in our Secure Network Application Platform (SNAP) lab, training personnel to provide exceptional support and tailoring our Business-2-net (B2n) Portal to monitor and manage this technology. As a founding member of 1NService, Inc., DSW extends support throughout North America, leveraging a network of nearly 2000 IT professionals.

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Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.

The Microsoft Table, That's Right, Microsoft Enters the Furniture Market!


As you probably already heard, Microsoft announced that they are in development on an interactive table. The idea is to make a touch screen monitor into a table and to go one step further, the table will have multiple cameras that can view your every move and interact as desired.


Imagine the possibilities of this table. Restaurants will display interactive menus where the chef can take your order from the kitchen, come on screen to the table and ask how you would like that cooked while having a face to face conversation. A simple runner would be required to bring your food, until Microsoft creates the restaurant droid...


Poker will have interactive cards where you will virtually throw in chips, turn cards, and all while having a virtual dealer. Cheating will all but disappear. New camera technologies will auto link to the table and allow auto-synchronization of your newest photos to your table. Just like tossing pictures on to the table, you will virtually see the pictures appear from your wifi camera link.


And at home, you can eat dinner while looking through virtual photo albums, video, and even pay bills. Hopefully, none of those pictures show up that you wouldn't want grandma and grandpa to see for thanksgiving dinner.


What are the possibilities for your company, your home, your favorite restaurant? What other unique and creative ideas are you taking advantage of to deliver a better ROI, better service, or just better technology?


Talk to a DSW representative today to find out what latest and greatest technology will add significant value to you. DSW is a Microsoft Gold Partner and we are looking forward to bringing this table to you in the near future.


To see more about the Microsoft table, click here







The Data Center Cabling Nightmare... How to Make it A Dream...


If you’re like us, your data center started out a crisp, clean, beautiful representation of your company. However, with time even the most advanced data centers can become a tangled mess of unkempt Ethernet, and Fiber cables.

Most IT departments are too busy doing to go back and clean up the mess, so what can you do to fix the problem?

Panduit to the rescue!

Panduit is the leading manufacturer of data center cable management systems. Their regular influx of new products consistently shock the market – oftentimes making you say “finally someone thought of that.”

But wait, there’s more, they also sell cable, pathways, and racks. In fact, Panduit arguably carries the broadest spectrum of products in the industry.

Unfortunately buying Panduit doesn’t magically resolve your issues; but never fear, we’ve collected the following tips throughout our experience in managing DSW’s in-house data center

1. Do a full cleanup. Plan it for a Maintenance window, develop a strategy, and make sure you have lots of help.

2. Precut patch cables and hang up extras for ease of accessibility.

3. Add a cable management check to your daily or weekly data center management procedures.

4. Add a cabling section to all new servers, network equipment, and changes.

5. Appoint a person or vendor be responsible for a quarterly check, and have them re-cable necessary to resolve messes.

6. Remove old cables. If you can see the pins, it shouldn't be there. If you unplug it, hang it back up on the patch hangers.

For recommendations on a specific data center, or to get a free evaluation, don’t hesitate to contact a DSW representative.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Welcome to The DSW Connection

Technology is moving at an incredible pace. For this reason, Data Systems Worldwide, Inc. (DSW, www.dsw.net) is now launching our Connection news blog. The goal of this communication is to keep our clients and customers up to speed as to the trends, news and events in the industry.

DSW was founded in 1971 by Frank Mogavero, the same year that Intel’s programmable microprocessor was introduced by Ted Hoff, and more than 20 years before Berners-Lee launched the Web. My career at DSW began in 1979 the same year that Commodore introduce the 8032 (80 columns, 32k RAM) business microcomputer. I quickly learned that the ability to quickly change documents with the Wordpro word-processor and produce numerous calculations with the Visicalc spreadsheet would change the way that business was facilitated.

Today, DSW is focused on delivering Intelligent IT solutions – those which are open, accessible, synergistic, reliable, scalable, manageable, and innovative in providing organization and value to the business. DSW is excited to be on the leading edge of converged solutions and believes that our clients that leverage these solutions will receive exceptional return on investment and business value, when combined with DSW’s specialized experts and vendor partners in each of our practice areas; Intelligent Networks, Intelligent Security, Intelligent Datacenters, Intelligent Facilities and Intelligent Applications.

In each of these practice areas, we provide exceptional engineering talent and complementary solutions whether you desire to keep all technology internal or out-task in some manner to DSW. It is our goal to provide our customers with greater value by leveraging our team than could be done purely with internal resources.

DSW is also excited to announce the addition of Ryan Peterson and his team to DSW. Mr. Peterson will focus on delivering exceptional network solutions which leverage previous proprietary solutions such as voice, video surveillance and building automation across a single Ethernet network which maintains high quality of service, robust security and exceptional uptime, whether wired or wireless.

DSW believes that the network is the basis for the fourth-utility, as critical to buildings as electric, gas and water. With the network, information can be presented quickly and with greater value than proprietary systems. For example, with digital IP video surveillance running across an Ethernet network and connected to a database, law enforcement can recognize license plates “real-time” and make decisions as to the need to apply the appropriate measures to stop potential threats. In addition, energy can be controlled much more efficiently, allocating the appropriate amount of cooling to meet specific building environmental needs. With unified communications, hotel guests can use touch screen phone terminals to select service needs instantly while the hotel can gain information to better support its guests.

The future is becoming the present. DSW will leverage our expertise to lead the information technology industry and hope that you will continue to support us as clients who will assist us with input as to the most appropriate direction for us to head to meet your changing needs.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you and to address you today and tomorrow.

Sincerely,


Phil Mogavero
President & CEO
Data Systems Worldwide

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

DSW Adds Talent and Expands

Woodland Hills, CA. - August 5, 2007. Data Systems Worldwide ("DSW") announced today, that it has acquired a new team of talented IT consultants with expertise in unified communications, video surveillance (CCTV), structured cabling and wireless. Together this team, which is headed by Ryan Peterson, will form DSW's Intelligent Facility practice.

Mr. Peterson’s background in IT consulting dates back to 1992 with experience at a number of prestigious companies, such as Nestle, Arco, BP, Compaq, Northrop Grumman, and Amgen Pharmaceuticals. Leveraging his degree in business management, Ryan founded Canyon IS in 2000, a successful integration firm providing voice, video surveillance, and infrastructure cabling solution. Mr. Peterson has an intimate working knowledge of networks and systems, and is accredited with a collection of the industry’s top certifications (CCVP, MCSE & MCT).

Mr. Peterson said, “DSW provides extraordinary network services to its customers in the Layers 2 and 3 market; with the new talent on board, that service is expanded to all layers. The A-team put together will bring 25 years of Telecommunications and Structured Cabling experience, certified talent in the Cisco Voice area, Video Surveillance, WiFi, Building Automation, and more. We look forward to providing our customers with complete solutions that add business value to their operations.”

The goal of the Intelligent Facility practice is to provide clients with exceptional value by matching traditional proprietary facility system applications such as phones, video systems and building automation with modern networking transport and open system integration to rich applications. Together these systems will combine synergistically to increase revenue and save cost for our clients by leveraging a single, information-rich, open-system integrated environment. Revenue can be increased by modifying system behavior to accommodate client specific needs; while cost can be reduced by leveraging a single Ethernet backbone versus multiple cabling systems, lowering energy consumption, and leveraging a single IT department and tools.

DSW is also announcing the launch of our Las Vegas operations. DSW believes that this market will be an exceptional area of growth for DSW given our array of Intelligent IT Solutions, the fast growing Vegas market and the limited number of full service solution providers to service it.
Finally, DSW is announcing two new certifications it has attained as a result of the addition of the new individuals including; Advanced Unified Communications Specialization from Cisco® and Microsoft Gold certification. The Cisco AUC specialization recognizes DSW for its knowledge and expertise in selling, designing, installing and supporting a comprehensive Cisco Unified Communications solution while the Microsoft Gold status; recognizes DSW at the premiere level of partners for the largest software organization in the world.


DSW’s CEO, Phil Mogavero said, “Today is a great example of what synergy can accomplish – taking what DSW does best, providing medium and large scale secure and stable network and infrastructure and marrying it to a successful business practice which has expertise in facility applications such as voice, video, wireless to form one single organization with exceptional capability and tremendous people. Together, we look forward to providing our customers with exceptional solutions to increase the value received from DSW supplied information solutions.”

About DSW

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Woodland Hills, California; DSW has been recognized as “One of the Fastest Growing Companies in Southern California,” a “Smart 100 Technology Company,” and a “VAR 500” company. In 2005, DSW’s founder Frank Mogavero was inducted into the exclusive Computer Industry Hall of Fame.

DSW offers an innovative approach in helping clients throughout the Technology Investment Lifecycle to improve application uptime and security, while decreasing operational cost. DSW invests heavily in researching and testing the industry’s cutting-edge technology in their Secure Network Application Platform (SNAP) lab, where they train personnel to provide exceptional support, and tailor their Business-2-net (B2n) Portal to monitor and manage this technology. As a founding member of 1NService, Inc., DSW’s client support extends throughout North America, and leverages a network of nearly 2000 IT professionals.

Hundreds of organizations have chosen DSW as their "Total Solutions Partner," because DSW is a leader in Intelligent IT Solutions for your network, security, applications, datacenter and facilities. With our unique right-sourcing model, we can provide you with the right amount of expertise to complement your internal IT department and help you meet your business objectives more efficiently.

Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco logo, MeetingPlace and Unity are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.



Critical Pieces of the Disaster Recovery Puzzle

If your like most of our clients, you get so busy doing what really matters like getting keeping your network optimized, managing your critical servers, keeping mail flowing, phones working, and all of the other day to day complications of today's Information Technology infrastructure. Despite the potentially severe impact lost data can have on a business, keeping proper backups and building a disaster recovery is often neglected.

Recently, new emerging products have been coming out to deal with Storage and backup requirements, and if you haven’t had a chance to think about it, here’s the jist: Equallogic has a SAN that is everything a customer is looking for when it comes to data storage and more importantly backups.

The device has a built-in software set that allows for set-it and forget-it deployments of offsite backups. Basically, it automatically creates a second set of every bit of data across the network. The eSATA and iSCSI offerings allow for high speed availability.Equallogic is trailblazing the SAN world and we are fortunate to have them in DSW’s repertoire.

Despite its importance, often the costs involved in setting up a DR solution cannot be justified. Things to think about are the cost of the SAN, the cost of the WAN connection, space availability, rack space rental and bandwidth in a collocation facility.

For this reason, Cisco introduced WAAS (Wide Area Application Services) which in a very basic description zips a file on one end of the WAN and unzips it on the other side saving the pipe a significant amount of congestion and allowing for the data to move on a smaller amount of bandwidth. Coupled with a proper SAN solution, WAAS is a great fit in data mirroring.

The software involved is Wide Area File Services Software (WAFS). Users at branch offices can take advantage of a LAN-like experience when accessing files over the WAN and you can consolidate all branch-office data into central file servers in your data center.

More information on these cutting edge DR technologies can be seen at http://www.equallogic.com/ and www.cisco.com/go/waas