The DSW Connection

Running Exchange Costs Nearly $50 Per Month Per User – DSW Can Save You Money

2009-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

The Radicati Group estimates that the total cost of ownership (TCO) for Microsoft Exchange has risen to $46.83 per month per month per user for businesses with approximately 1,000 email users. For smaller businesses, these costs are even higher.

Compounding the TCO issue, Exchange 2007 raises the bar even higher because it is more complex and harder to implement and requires new 64-bit hardware, server licenses and retraining of IT staff.

Founded in 1971, DSW has a 38-year history of providing technology leadership and a commitment to client success. DSW’s Hosted Exchange offering allows companies of all sizes to enjoy the advanced features and increased productivity of Exchange 2007 without the upfront infrastructure costs or ongoing overhead.

With Hosted Exchange, you get all the benefits of Microsoft Exchange without the headaches of supporting it. This lets you offload the maintenance, storage and support of your email services to an expert yet still maintain control.

DSW offers Hosted Exchange as a service to companies of all sizes giving them affordable enterprise email and collaboration without incurring the high costs required to run and manage Microsoft Exchange internally.

Our comprehensive services include, advanced spam and virus protection, mobile access, and shared contacts and calendars delivered from a data center controlled, operated and managed by DSW.

Our unique optional Remote Managed and Professional Services provide exceptional Day 2 support value to our clients.

THE EMAIL EXPERTS
A Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, we have almost 4 decades of technology experience. You can rely on expert support from our dedicated Client Services team.

Spam-and-Virus Protection
We take a proactive approach to safeguarding your data from the harmful effects of inbound and outbound threats with enterprise-level spam-and-virus protection.

Worry-Free Maintenance
You never have to worry about an upgrade again. Enhancements and upgrades are added by our team of experts.

Shared Calendaring
Overall calendaring, out-of-office messages, resource booking and meeting scheduling have all been enhanced in Exchange 2007 to make it easier to find and share data, documents and schedules from anywhere

Outlook Web Access
Newly improved Outlook Web Access is a rich, Outlook-like experience via web browser allowing you to complete more tasks than ever before.

Email Retention and Compliance
DSW offers up to 10 years of email retention.

Flexible Offerings
DSW has plans that range from 500MB to 10GB with integration support for a variety of mobile devices.

Business Continuity
Since your data is hosted in our redundant data center, you can still access your email in the event of an unplanned outage or disaster at your primary business location.

Plans To Fit Any Size Business
With plans starting as low as $9.95 per user per month, DSW can right size a plan for your business.

The IT Juggling Act: How Datacenter Efficiency Can Help Save Money

2009-01-19T18:06:00.001-08:00

IT departments are expected to do more with less. Consolidation and Virtualization drive down costs and produce rapid return on investment, greater agility, and less complexity.

Are you confident that your business information is secure, protected, and available when you need it? At DSW we evaluate, design, implement, and support data center solutions for your specific business environment.

Special Offers

Take it from a Technology Planning Firm who wants to make Technology easier on you. Try the latest, most energy efficient, technology--in your environment with your applications and your team; a NO RISK offer!

DSW is partnered with Sun and is offering a 60-day, NO-RISK, FREE evaluation of Sun datacenter products. If you choose to keep your trial unit(s), you may be qualified to receive 20% - 40% off on the purchases of these units through May 31, 2009. If you want to learn more, contact Mike Mogavero or DSW sales.

In addition, DSW offers low rate and deferred financing. With today’s low rates, there has never been a better time to move cost saving data center projects forward.

Today’s Challenge

Today, most businesses are cutting costs in order to deliver products and services more cost-effectively and efficiently than the competition and IT organizations are now pressured to do the same, and must cut cost and complexity while delivering highly available, business-critical applications that perform at lightning speed.

In addition, real-time collaborative applications, energy concerns and the need to achieve greater efficiency from assets are driving IT managers to transform their data centers through new technologies.

The Goldman Sachs CIO survey in July 2008 showed that server virtualization is the number one spending priority for CIOs in the next 12 months. Number two on the list was server consolidation, which typically involves virtualization as well.

Server and SAN consolidation paired with a Virtualization strategy is one of the most effective ways to lower TCO of a company's data center. Both Server and Storage consolidation result in reduced management costs as well as significant savings in energy and space.

Strategies to Meet the Challenge

Utility Computing. This “concept” involved the idea that application and computer services should be provisioned in an efficient and variable cost fashion as they are needed versus facing large unpredictable capital expenditures for servers and data center build-out. The problem has been maintaining “state” - as applications moved across servers to drive power efficiency, sessions would disconnect resulting in customers purchasing one or more servers per application. Today with VMWare, Cisco Nexus switch technology and Sun multi-core chip architecture and distributed blade center architecture it is now possible to switch on servers when you need them and switch them off when you don’t. This finally results in the economic use of resources you require – less capital expenditure, less operational cost for energy and datacenter space and more power where and when you need it.

Server consolidation. It’s pretty obvious that reducing the amount of hardware in the data center will reduce the amount of electricity consumed in the data center. But consider also ancillary savings. When you have fewer servers running, you also have less heat output which means that your cooling costs go down, too. If your consolidation project is highly efficient, you might even be able to cool a smaller area if your resulting space needs are reduced. Although the direct savings are somewhat difficult to calculate, reducing cooling needs does reduce money spent. A server consolidation project of any reasonable size will probably yield fairly quick ROI; ROI is likely within the replacement cycle for the servers.

SAN infrastructure. Server consolidation projects are often accompanied by the implementation of a SAN. SANs are not generally implemented with direct cost savings in mind but are instead implemented to provide additional levels of service and availability. However, they can be used to assist in the greening of the IT infrastructure. Consider the process by which many IT organizations provision server storage. Thinking long-term, many people buy more direct-attached storage than they need, guarding against having to add disks later on. A typical 2U server can generally house six disks. Suppose you have a data center with fifty of these 2U servers. That’s 300 disks, all requiring electricity to operate. If this imaginary organization is like most, in many of those servers, a lot of this direct-attached storage will go unused. This organization could implement a SAN that consists of thirty or forty disks and see a reduction in energy usage. Each server could then be provisioned with nothing more than a pair of disks for the local OS, moving this data center from 300 disks to, say, 140. Now, this undertaking alone will not likely result in cost savings as the price of the SAN will probably far outweigh the energy savings, but used in conjunction with a server consolidation project, could yield significant gains.

Terminal-based desktops or VDI initiatives. More and more IT organizations are realizing the benefits of a centrally maintained desktop infrastructure. An organization that has 100 desktop computers can probably be supported on three or four servers and the desktops replaced with thin clients. Thin clients use a lot less energy that their fat counterparts and also have the advantage of being connected to a centrally managed server farm which is more easily maintained than 100 separate computers.

Cisco Virtualization Technologies. Cisco Systems Inc. is launching new products and upgrading existing ones to work better in virtual environments and is taking steps toward a converged Ethernet-Fibre Channel network. Products include Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) offering virtualized application hosting services, greater application acceleration and video delivery for the branch office, the Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) application switch, offering up to 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) of throughput and up to 2 Gbps of compression capability, and multimedia readiness on a virtualized platform, Cisco's new Virtual Network Link (VN-Link) which allows policies for security and quality of service to follow virtual machines moved across physical ports with VMotion and Cisco VFrame Data Center software offering end-to-end infrastructure provisioning with Cisco ACE and VMware ESX.

Highlights

- Consolidate multiple applications onto fewer servers and reduce cost and complexity, increase agility, and lower datacenter power and cooling costs
- Utilize Sun x64 servers and run the Solaris Operating System, Linux or Microsoft Windows, and gain the flexibility to re-deploy the moment needs change
- Consolidate multiple Solaris OS and Linix applications onto a single server using Solaris Containers technology
- Consolidate any combination of Solaris 10 OS and supported Linux and Microsoft Windows applications onto a single server using Sun xVM hypervisor or VMware Virtual Infrastructure technology

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Click to Enlarge: DSW Announces Remote Advanced Services Center

2008-12-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Click to Enlarge: Technology Seminar and Demo Day

2008-12-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

First Casino in the World to Feature End to End Cisco Solution

2008-10-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

New case study features revolutionary new casino as first in the world to feature Cisco Physical Security, Cisco Unified Communications, Cisco Ethernet Slot Network featuring VSS, Cisco Wireless, and Cisco Security all under one roof!!!!

See it here: http://www.dsw.net/media/casino.htm

Data Systems Worldwide has branded itself as the leading Hospitality and Gaming technology architecture and integration firm in the United States. DSW integrates the newest in Gaming and Hospitality such as Cisco VSS for high-availability Cisco networks used in Slot networks and being capable of supporting Server Based Gaming infrastructures, integrated IP Communications platforms for hotels, and large scale Cisco surveillance platforms utilizing the very best cameras in the industry. Our Surveillance room designs incorporate space conscious detail and the systems we install are very user friendly. For more information on our Hospitality and Gaming capabilities, please contact your DSW representative.

DSW Executive Lunch Seminar

2008-10-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

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DSW Attends Tribal Net

2008-09-15T12:53:00.001-07:00

DSW will be attending this year’s 9th annual TribalNet Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. TribalNet is an industry resource for technology professionals in the Native American industry. The annual TribalNet conference is developed exclusively for technology leaders at Native American tribes, casinos and enterprises.

TribalNet runs from 9/29 - 10/2
Radisson Fort McDowell Resort & Casino

DSW Attends ITECH

2008-09-15T12:49:00.002-07:00

DSW will also be attending ITEC. The conferences are designed to bring you the latest in Second Circle Innovation™ - those cutting edge technologies that can and will help your company improve productivity and bottom line – through longer term vision in our keynote presentations, real-world answers and applications in our conference sessions, and productivity enhancing solutions available today on our exposition floor.

ITECH runs from 9/24 – 9/25
Los Angeles Convention Center

DSW: Lead Architect for EastSide Cannery Las Vegas

2008-09-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

By Ryan Peterson, Regional Director for Data Systems Worldwide.

On August 28th, 2008, the Las Vegas Boulder Strip saw a historical event when a Hotel and Casino opened its doors. The first time in 14 years a Casino has opened since Boulder Station opened in 1994. Don’t let the Eastside Cannery’s industrial 60’s feel fool you though, some of the most advanced technology systems run the many different services that Eastside Cannery offers. With Cisco 6500 switches at the Core of the network using Cisco’s VSS technology, Eastside Cannery is offering the first Active-Active networking service where all switches work together in a much more efficient way. For all the high tech guys: Cannery is running 10GB backbone with 40 Gigs between MDF and IDFs, etherchannel between 2960s in the slot banks and each VSS node. With this topology, the chances of any part of the slot floor going down (more than 1 bank) are improbable. With the network as a platform for applications, the other technologies that followed were easy to implement and better yet have significant redundancy.

Data Systems Worldwide was the lead technical architect for this property. In addition, DSW implemented the Cisco Network (including a Slot machine network), the Cisco Voice platform (including the 307 room hotel), and a 600 camera Cisco Surveillance system (including 600 Pelco Cameras).

Data Systems Worldwide Announces B2N Maintain Superior Care Together with Cisco Services.

2008-08-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

What is B2n Maintain Superior Care?

DSW and Cisco backed support contract that includes continuously updated picture of each device in your network plus tech support and Advanced Hardware Replacement

Cisco and DSW work together for you to proactively identify potential issues preventing network downtime

Enables the ability to make remote repairs such as correcting configuration errors and updating software to keep your network secure

Simplifies your contract management and maintenance requirements through a single service contract that covers all of your Cisco devices

Continuously updated status of your network available on a secure online dashboard

Provides optional periodic Network Security Assessment and Optimization

Tech support from the engineers most familiar with your unique environment

SAVES MONEY

Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care, together with Cisco® Services, proactively verifies that the network is secure, reliable, and functioning optimally so that you can improve your employee productivity and customer responsiveness and get the most from your technology investments.

Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care
Modern businesses rely on network applications more than ever before – and are more vulnerable to the lost productivity and profitability that can result from a network outage. As the network becomes the platform for business success in companies of all sizes, the service and support needs of many organizations are changing. While device-by-device support services provide excellent protection for individual devices, they cannot provide insight into the overall health and security of the network – or help businesses identify potential problems before they arise.

Now, organizations have a cost-effective solution. Cisco and Data Systems Worldwide offer an innovative service that combines network-wide technical support with ongoing network monitoring and proactive maintenance to deliver a comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network. With this collaborative service offering that combines the complementary strengths of Cisco and Data Systems Worldwide, you can increase your visibility into the health and security of your network, improve network reliability and performance, identify potential problems before they affect your business, and reduce the time and effort necessary to maintain your network.

Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care provides:

Peace of mind: Backed by powerful tools and in-depth training from Cisco, Data Systems Worldwide proactively verifies that your network is secure, reliable, and functioning optimally at all times, improving your employee productivity and helping you get the most from your technology investments.
Network visibility: Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care delivers visibility into the health and security of your network, giving you the information you need to improve performance and increase your operational efficiency. Through a secure online dashboard, you can view the status of your overall network health, security, and voice performance anywhere, anytime. Data Systems Worldwide maintains a clear, continuously updated picture of each device in your network to provide you with up-to-date status reports, identify potential problems, and make remote repairs such as correcting configuration errors and updating software.
Continuous improvement: Data Systems Worldwide can perform periodic assessments of your network health and availability to proactively identify potential issues and help ensure that all of your Cisco devices are configured optimally, according to Cisco best practices. Depending on the technologies in your network, assessments also can include in-depth reviews of your network security systems and the performance and availability of your Cisco Unified Communications IP voice solutions. Data Systems Worldwide can notify you if there is an issue with any Cisco device in your network and recommend how to address problems before they affect your employees and your business profitability. Data Systems Worldwide can even perform a comprehensive analysis of your network to assess its readiness to support advanced IP voice communications solutions.
A simple, complete solution: Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care provides technical support for your entire business network (including advanced security and IP voice solutions) with a single support contract. You receive expert technical support directly from Data Systems Worldwide, ongoing operating system and application software updates for all covered devices and applications, next-business day hardware replacement in the event of a failure, and a wealth of Cisco tools and resources through registered access to cisco.com. As a result, you can take a comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network for a single price, with a single point of contact.
Customized support and maintenance: The Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care is customized by Data Systems Worldwide specifically for you, to give you just the right level of network service to support the size and complexity of your business. By combining Data Systems Worldwide’s personalized service and in-depth understanding of your business with industry-leading tools, training, and resources from Cisco, you gain a consistently excellent service experience that addresses all of your requirements throughout the lifecycle of your network.

BUSINESS BENEFITS

Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care

Increases network visibility and provides you with the information you need to efficiently manage and continually improve your network
Improves the uptime, security, and performance of your network through ongoing monitoring and periodic assessments that allow you to address problems before they affect your business
Allows your IT staff to operate more efficiently by reducing the time and effort required to keep your network running optimally
Enhances your employee productivity and your responsiveness to customers through improved availability of your essential business applications
Optimizes your business profitability by helping you get the most from your technology investments
Combines the expertise and service advantages of both Cisco and Data Systems Worldwide into a single offering

An Intelligent Technology Evolution Path

Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care is delivered as part of the Cisco Smart Business Roadmap, a structured, prioritized evolution path for growing companies that combines customized technology solutions, world-class service, and flexible financing options to help you keep pace with change and make more informed technology decisions. The Cisco Smart Business Roadmap improves the long-term competitiveness of your business by helping you to address the business challenges of today while maximizing the future potential of your technology investments. With most technology providers, the relationship ends after the sale. When you invest in Cisco and Data Systems Worldwide, you can be confident that they are working continuously to expand the capabilities of your network and extend the value of your technology investment.

Comprehensive Support for Your Business

The satisfaction of your customers, the productivity of your employees, and the overall profitability of your business increasingly depend on your network. Now, you can take a comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network that delivers greater network visibility, improves your ongoing network health and security, increases your operational efficiency, and extends the value of your Cisco investments. For more information about Data Systems Worldwide B2N Maintain Superior Care , contact Data Systems Worldwide.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT DAN LAKE AT 818-226-1739 OR DLAKE@DSW.NET

Using Broadcast Data as an Attack Vector...

2008-06-16T08:47:00.001-07:00

By Boni Bruno, Chief Technology & Security Officer, Data Systems Worldwide

It's amazing how much information you can gather from computers via the data they openly broadcast on the network. This article discusses how such information can be used as an attack vector to compromise data security and other informational assets.

First, let me begin with a true story that I was personally involved with. I was working on a new project as a network architect for a large organization that has 18B in assets and listed on the NYSE. This particular organization had a working area for consultants to use, and since I was on-site for several months, I was privy to the other projects and the other consulting companies also working for said organization. As you would expect, SOX compliance is a big deal for organizations that have their stocks traded on the NYSE, and yep, they had one of the big four accounting firms on-site with a audit team that grew to 12 auditors, 2 project managers, and 1 supervisor handling a SOX audit while I was there.

To make a long story short, the consulting area could not accommodate all the consultants so certain liberties were taken. This team of auditors had the audacity to set up their own wireless access point (open - no encryption) without telling the client. They used this AP to extend access to the team so everyone could access my client's network as well as share resources among themselves. I told upper management about this, but to my dismay, no immediate action was taken, apparently the team convinced them it was a necessity and the AP remained on the network - WOW!

Day in day out, the team would come in the morning, turn on their laptops, and proceed with their daily routines. I use various network tools to conduct my work, while using my tools I began to observe various broadcast data coming from the audit team laptops in the consulting area.

First, I saw ARP/DHCP broadcasts which exposed MAC addresses, previously used IP leases, routing information, etc. (There is a handy tool for you Unix/Linux enthusiasts called Passifist available at http://www.cqure.net ) that clearly shows how much one can gather from broadcast traffic.

Anyway, in the mornings, when the audit team came in and booted their laptops, I was able to see the DHCP request of their previous IP addresses - interestingly enough, many of these addresses came from the DHCP servers located in their corporate office. I know this by the IP addresses and NETBIOS information. In this case, some of the team members were last connected to the network back in their corporate office and I was able to learn various IP specifications just by observing their broadcast traffic. Hence, not only did they expose my clients network by installing that damn wireless AP, but the broadcast data clearly exposed information about their corporate network as well. (Mental note here - Broadcast data can tell you about multiple environments you have been connected to.)

Furthermore, NETBIOS/SMB broadcasts disclosed the teams NETBIOS names, login IDs, and various server information they typically used back in there own office. Many people I know consider broadcast traffic as harmless bits and bytes that are just part of normal day to day network communications - you should now be aware that there is more to it than that!

You should also be aware that Startup Applications can also cause additional broadcast information to be sent out on the network. Some of the team members had IM accounts that were broadcasted. I saw VPN related broadcasts, iTunes broadcasts and even virus software broadcast data for signature updates. There is definitely more to broadcast data than many people understand, and this so called audit team was just clueless...
When I turned on my wireless sniffer, I was able to see even more information. I saw all the wireless access points that were cached in the audit teams laptops being broadcasted, including the one the team put up in the consulting area. I couldn't help but imagine computer hackers sitting in airports, hotels, internet cafes collecting this kind of broadcast data.

There are a slew of tools available on the net that can easily take advantage of such broadcast information to the point that traffic can be diverted to spying machines with little effort. If you get the chance, try playing with a little tool called DSNIFF available at http://monkey.org/~dugsong/dsniff/. This tool allows you to redirect traffic to your machine so you can easily inspect data.

Another interesting tool that specifically takes advantage of broadcast data is a tool called Karma available at http://www.theta44.org/karma/index.html. With this tool you can impersonate a wireless AP, DHCP/DNS servers, email and chat servers, etc.

With tools like these available on the net, it should be very clear that broadcast data can be used as an attack vector for hackers, and with the slew of exploits available with Metasploit - see http://framework.metasploit.com/msf/, you simply need to protect yourself and enforce good security practices!

Anyway, getting back to the story, my immediate concern was to shutdown the AP since any nearby resident could hop on the network and see what was going on. Running packet captures gave me visibility into a lot of the data that was being accessed by the audit team. I ran a wireless site survey showing the range of this rogue AP (yeah, it extended to the public streets) and hit management over the head with all of the information I obtained. They finally took down the AP, but only after I had install a new switch with more ports for these clowns in the consulting area! ;)

It still amazes me how many risks you have to manage on a day to day basis and how little senior managers know and understand information security. I hope you enjoyed this article and that your information security awareness has increased as a result of reading this and the associated web links provided.

Stay well and stay secure...

Seminar: The Nuts and Bolts of Smart Buildings

2008-05-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

Registered with American Institutes of Architects

DSW, along with Cisco Systems and our partners will co-host a seminar on Smart Buildings on June 19^th in Long Beach, California.

This program will provide simple, straight-forward information on smart buildings for commercial real estate property managers and technology industry leaders. Both new development and existing buildings will be addressed. The program covers the economics of the approach, and the basic design foundations, technology systems, and management systems associated with a smart building. Beyond the technical aspects of smart buildings, participants will learn about the financial metrics of smart and green buildings. A specific approach to existing buildings will also be presented that involves energy conservation, technology amenities and efficient facility management. Participants will be able to identify the systems, their interrelationships and the financial impact of smart buildings.

The presentation is registered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and participants will be provided a certificate for Continuing Education for AIA or other cooperating organizations.

Connected Real Estate comprises solutions that focus on the convergence of IT and building systems onto a common IP infrastructure, reducing operating costs and improving productivity. Key topics at the seminar include both business and technology ranging from understanding the value of connected buildings, energy efficiency, green facilities, building – IT convergence, current architectures, existing and upcoming technologies to name a few.

DSW and Cisco will demonstrate how IP technology can:

• Reduce the capital expenditure on constructing a new building

• Reduce the costs of building operation

• Increase security and staff productivity

• Offer owners and tenants flexible and adaptable working environments

• Generate new revenue streams

• Green buildings and synergies related to real estate and technology in carbon reduction

Attendees will learn how the IP network is emerging as the 4th utility, delivering more services and increasing productivity while also reducing costs.

Participants:

Real estate and technology industry leaders

Location:

Parker’s Lighthouse – 5:30pm start followed by dinner and harbor cruise on a private yacht

Address: Parker's Lighthouse at 435 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, CA. 90802

Speakers:

James Sinopoli, Managing Principal, RCDD, PE

For over 25 years, Mr. Sinopoli has worked extensively on projects involving the configuration and optimization of technology systems and networks. Mr. Sinopoli has facilitated the design, engineering and implementation of several hundred building technology systems. His expertise includes assessment, programming, detailed design, procurement and project management. Mr. Sinopoli has spoken on numerous occasions at conferences and seminars focusing on high technology issues and has received the “Harry J. Pfister” award from the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI).

Mr. Sinopoli has experience in the healthcare, corporate, education, manufacturing, finance and government industry sectors. His clients have included Fortune 100 corporations, the US Postal Service, the US Air Force, major K-12 school districts throughout the county, statewide university systems, airports and ports, the Internal Revenue System, large private and public hospitals, technology companies, and nationwide developers. His international experience includes projects in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.

Mr. Sinopoli's educational credits include a B.S. in Engineering from Purdue University and a M.A. in Applied Science and Management from Governor's State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, a Registered Communications Distribution Designer, and a registered Continuing Education Provider for architects, School Board Members and others, and a published author in numerous industry publications. He currently is engaged with the Building Industry Consulting Services International association in authoring part of their new manual titled “Electronic Safety and Security Systems”. In 2006 he published a book titled “Smart Buildings”.

Robert E. Gary, Jr., Principal, Smart Buildings

Mr. Gary has over 20 years experience in different sales and strategic planning roles across several different industries. He has worked for Fortune 500 companies and start-up organizations. For the past year he has worked exclusively in the Smart Building arena working with a variety of clients including Mixed-Use Developers, Office Buildings, Hospitals, and Educational. Prior to joining Smart Buildings, Mr. Gary was responsible for placing a company on the Inc. 500, fastest growing privately help companies in the US.

Mr. Gary’s educational background includes a B.A. from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina.

Mike Mogavero, Executive Vice President, Data Systems Worldwide

The head of DSW’s Sales and Marketing operations, Mike is responsible for managing the DSW sales support organization that maintains client relationships to deliver DSW solutions that are based on our four strategic practice areas: Intelligent Facilities, Intelligent Networks, Intelligent Security and Intelligent Data Centers. Previously, Mike has led DSW’s Consulting Services organization, managed development services, technical support, and the information consulting group’s delivery of services to improve and maintain client satisfaction. The brain behind DSW’s iSpeed consulting methodology, Mike is currently a member of the Cisco Connected Real Estate program and has served on several of the industry’s elite advisory boards, including Sun Microsystems Java Council, Sun Microsystems Pacific Coast Advisory Council, Oracle Advisory Council, and CMP Media Member Council. Prior to joining DSW, Mike worked the City of Portland, Oregon for the Bureau of Housing and Community Development.

Mike holds a Masters Degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon.

Jonathan Cowen, Partner Technologist, Panduit Corporation

Jonathan has worked for Panduit for the past 5 years as both a Datacom Specialist and a Channel Manager. His past work experience includes with working in distribution and system integration. In his current position he works to develop strategies for system integrators and customer by showing them how to achieve increased operational excellence in building automation.

Cisco Systems Speaker, TBD

To Register to Attend (Attendance is by invitation only):

To express your interest in attending, please call Dan Lake at (818)226-1739 or email dlake@dsw.net

DSW Practice: Connected Real Estate

2008-05-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

THE NETWORK IS PROVIDING A BASIS FOR MORE THAN IT – CONNECTED REAL ESTATE IS NEXT

DSW is working closely with the Cisco Connected Real Estate (CRE) team at Cisco along with building developers and controls manufacturers to bring converged facilities applications to markets. CRE comprises solutions that focus on the convergence of IT and building systems onto a common IP infrastructure, reducing operating costs and improving productivity. Cisco Connected Real Estate creates a framework designed to create value for building and campus occupants. An 'intelligent' connected building uses an integral network to reduce capital and operating expenditures for key stakeholders over the building's lifecycle and creates more productive and flexible workplaces through scalable collaboration, mobility and remote connectivity tools.

Connected Real Estate is the embodiment of that revolution. It harnesses the power of Internet Protocol (IP) to turn traditional building construction and management paradigms on their heads. In so doing CCRE will bring huge financial and operational advantages not only to the construction, real estate and property services industries.

Until recently, the network was acknowledged as merely pervasive but now, with the advent of Internet Protocol (IP), it has become ubiquitous. Today, global business and the public sector cannot operate without it. Real estate – from terraced houses and towering office blocks to shopping malls and sprawling airports – is all interconnected. In fact alongside water, gas and electricity the network has acquired its own utility status.

Cisco Connected Real Estate (CCRE) takes that network utility into the very foundation of modern buildings, driven by two rapidly coalescing market forces:

• The emergence of Ethernet-based multi-function building automation systems – bringing together separate applications such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), physical security and access, energy, lighting, and fire and safety.

• The convergence of multimedia voice, video and data services onto unitary IP-based infrastructures –bringing together separate technology-specific and proprietary networks.

The problem that CRE addresses is that currently most buildings and campuses today are constructed with multiple proprietary networks to run systems such as HVAC, security and access, energy, lighting, and fire and safety as well as separate voice and data telecommunications networks. As a result we see buildings that are complex to operate, with high installation, integration and ongoing maintenance costs, and limited automation functionality. The CRE framework promotes the convergence of these numerous networks onto the open standard of IP to streamline processes by providing a single connection for all building and IT systems.

CRE leverages the Cisco Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) architecture. More than ever, IT organizations are under pressure to improve profitability with technology implementations linked to business objectives. Cisco believes that as the backbone for IT communications, the network element of enterprise architecture is increasingly critical.

As the backbone for IT communications, the network element SONA is Cisco's architectural approach for designing advanced network capabilities into your infrastructure. SONA provides guidance, best practices, and blueprints for connecting network services to applications to enable business solutions.

A primary benefit of Cisco SONA is in standardizing and consolidating IT infrastructure, a proven way to reduce TCO for enterprises. Industry research by Gartner and others has shown that operational costs constitute 80 percent or more of the TCO over the lifecycle of the asset. Standardization is known to save operational costs: a study of large enterprises by the Hackett Group showed that companies that have implemented standards for vendors, technologies, networks, applications, and data have operations costs 23 percent lower than other companies. These savings are due to improvements in IT efficiency—more IT services delivered per unit of IT resource.

Cisco: Ruggedized Router Extends Network Edge to New Frontier

2008-05-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) has announced the Cisco 3200 Series Mobile Access Router See edge router and remote access router., a new solution optimized for mobile vehicular applications that pioneers a shift in the way organizations communicate and share information across wireless networks. The Cisco 3200 Series Mobile Access Router facilitates mobility of networks in motion--entire networks of communication devices in moving vehicles such as airplanes, ships, tanks and trains--and is designed for "always-on" connectivity.

The Cisco 3200 Series is a compact, high-performance access router that is designed to provide industry-leading security in data, voice and video communications, and seamless mobility and interoperability. Enabled by standards-based Mobile IP An IP enhancement that provides forwarding of traffic to moving users. It uses agents in the user's home network and in all foreign networks. When logging on to a remote network, users register their presence with the foreign agent, and the home agent forwards the packets to the remote network., the Cisco 3200 Series extends the edge of the IP network, delivering new, mission-critical applications for the defense, public safety and commercial transportation markets. Mobile Networks, a feature in Cisco IOS Software, further extends the value of Mobile IP by allowing an entire network, not just a single client, to stay connected while in motion.

The Cisco Mobile Access Router addresses the key communications challenges faced by users who require access to information, regardless of movement or location. These challenges include the requirements for seamless mobility while roaming among wireless networks; unique power, size and weight specifications to fit equipment in vehicles; maintaining network security policies; and interoperability between the networks and applications of different organizations or agencies. The Cisco 3200 Series addresses these needs with features that are designed to maximize "always-on"--or uninterrupted and secure connectivity--for personnel and organizations that require real-time access to mission-critical information while in motion.

The Cisco Mobile Access Router supports Cisco's vision for network-centric mobility by enabling the evolution of standards-based IP communications with uninterrupted access to information for networks in motion. With this communications transformation, public safety personnel, for example, can now make real-time, and often life-saving decisions with information at their fingertips. This real-time access empowers personnel to make faster, better, more informed decisions, ultimately increasing their productivity and effectiveness in the field.

Today, rich applications such as IP video surveillance, mug shot and fingerprint scanners, law enforcement data systems, and government agency databases can now be accessed in real-time by agency, field, and headquarters personnel.

"We all know the world of emergency response has changed," said Sergeant Dean Zanone of the Seal Beach, California, Police Department, a Cisco 3200 Series customer. "Responding appropriately requires the best available communication technologies. Ubiquitous, IP-based wireless communications, incorporating Cisco's mobile access router, provides us the real-time information that we need to properly deploy our considerable resources and meet any challenge."

The Cisco 3200 Series Mobile Access Router is a complete mobile networking solution designed for incorporation into customized communications systems that are installed by system integrators for mobile vehicular environments, such as land, air and sea. Cisco has teamed with Data Systems Worldwide to deliver the Cisco 3200 Series to defense, public safety and transportation customers.

Connected Real Estate Summit

2008-04-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

DSW, along with Cisco Systems, and our partners will co-host a Connected Real Estate seminar at Yellowpages.com in Glendale, CA. Connected Real Estate comprises solutions that focus on the convergence of IT and building systems onto a common IP infrastructure, reducing operating costs and improving productivity. Key topics at the seminar include both business and technology ranging from understanding the value of connected buildings, energy efficiency, green facilities, building – IT convergence, current architectures, existing and upcoming technologies to name a few.

Cisco Connected Real Estate (CCRE) is a framework designed to create value and opportunity for building developers, owners and occupiers within the construction, real estate and property services sector. An 'intelligent' connected building uses an integral network to reduce capital and operating expenditures for key stakeholders over the building's lifecycle and creates more productive and flexible workplaces through scalable collaboration, mobility and remote connectivity tools.

DSW and Cisco will demonstrate how IP technology can:

• Reduce the capital expenditure on constructing a new building

• Reduce the costs of building operation

• Increase security and staff productivity

• Offer owners and tenants flexible and adaptable working environments

• Generate new revenue streams

• Green buildings

Aimed at business decision makers, the day will consist of key speakers from DSW and Cisco, along with demonstrations of technology. Customers will learn how the IP network is emerging as the 4th utility, delivering more services and increasing productivity while also reducing costs.

In addition, important updates on Cisco Unified Communications, Video Surveillance and Digital Signage will be provided, as well as Ethernet and Wireless networking technologies.

For more information about dates and times, please contact your DSW representative.

Cisco sets last sale date for PIX firewall

2008-04-07T11:44:00.001-07:00

ASA 5500 UTMs to replace the old gear

Cisco is sweeping aside its long-standing PIX firewall appliances in favor of its newer ASA 5500 appliances that perform the same functions as the discontinued devices plus more.

The last day to buy the devices is July 28, and support for them ends July 27, 2013, according to end-of-life notices posted this week by Cisco. The models involved are the PIX 501, 506E, 515E, 525 and 535.

PIX appliances were fated for termination when the company introduced its ASA 5500s in 2005. These devices support firewall and VPN just like the PIX but with better performance, SSL VPN support, VoIP security. It has modules for antivirus, antispam, antiphishing and URL filtering.

Last February, Cisco stopped selling its other competing firewall/VPN devices, the VPN 3000 series concentrators.

CheckPoint, Juniper, TippingPoint/3Com, Nokia, and Sonicwall also offer devices that combine multiple security functions such as VPN, firewall and intrusion-detection/prevention systems.

DSW offers special financing for those who need to replace their equipment. Contact your DSW rep for more information.

By Tim Greene , Network World , 02/01/2008 < http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/020108-cisco-pix.html?t51hb>

Discover How Cisco Video Surveillance Can Benefit Your Business

2008-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

Make the most of video system investments and gain new security capabilities with Cisco Video Surveillance solutions. Scalable Web-based software and broadcast-quality hardware integrate with existing analog and network-centric systems to enable faster incident response and resolution.

Cisco Video Surveillance software and hardware enables the capture, transmission, viewing, recording, archiving and management of analog and IP video sources. Engineered with network and video expertise, Cisco video surveillance standards-based products:

- Deliver easy, secure access to live and recorded video

- Provide excellent scalability, reliability, and availability

- Simplify deployment and control of new security applications

- Lower operational costs

- Protect existing physical security systems investments

- Support multi-vendor device and applications interoperability

- Enable a smooth migration from analog to digital to full IPAs a result, Cisco provides solutions that can be deployed in a wide-range of scenarios, including:

Large Scale

- Hundreds to thousands of cameras

- Full motion video, high resolution images

- 24x7 video storage

- Analog and network-based systems

- Typical applications include airports, casinos, city centers, and universities

Low Camera Density

- On-site and remote video monitoring

- Motion-triggered recording

- Local and remote storage

- Integration with other security and business systems

- Typical applications include schools, retail stores, and hospitals

Remote Locations

- Remote web-access to live and recorded video

- Bandwidth-sensitive applications

- Mobile and wireless deployments

- Typical applications include border controls, pipelines, remote facilities, and roadways

When 720 GB of backbone just isn’t enough… start looking at the Ferrari of switching! Introducing the NEXUS 7000

2008-02-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Nexus 7000 was unveiled recently by Cisco touting undoubtedly the fastest switch ever made. The 7000 has been designed to give 15 Terabytes per second backbone speed with redundancy previously only seen in large-scale military programs. It’s new revolutionary OS called NX-OS will replace the current Cisco IOS as the most robust OS yet.

The 7000 was created for the increasing requirements and bandwidth consumption of Video over IP. Conferencing, IP Surveillance, and YouTube have caused an inordinate amount of bandwidth to start crossing the wire, and the datacenter isn’t prepared for 30 frames, 4SIF video to flow to multiple streams. The 6500 series of switches currently supports 720 GBs of backbone. Take an HD stream of 45 MB/s and multiply that out. You can support about 16,000 total connections through your core before the stream starts to degrade. However, with the Nexus 7000, that number increases to over 333,000 Unicast streams.

Now I know what most of you are saying, this switch is overkill. But for a few of you out there, you have no choice but to look at the 7000 to increase your capabilities. Look for service providers to start rolling these out towards the end of this year and when the world starts to adopt a fully-fledged Video over IP system, this will be the backbone it’s carried on. When true GB just isn’t enough, and 10 GB is starting to look a little slow, then 40 GB and 100 GB networks are the requirement and the 7000 series will be the first to scale to that degree.

All of the characteristics of the 7000 can be seen on the Cisco website at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9402/index.html

Save 32 minutes of your life today!

2008-02-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

A study completed by Sage Research shows that on average, employees lose 32 minutes per day trying to track down another employee in their very own company. On an employee who works for 10 years, that equates to 2 months of time spent tracking down coworkers. For a $50,000 a year employee, that’s a little over $800 per year and with 100 employees that’s $80,000 annually spent by their employer for this remedial task. Not to include the productivity and opportunity losses based on competitors beating you to the punch. In a time of connectivity such as this, why are we spending a couple months to find someone?

So what can you do to save the time, and what’s it going to cost? Cisco has a solution.

Presence Server is being utilized as an integrated platform for Voice, Video, Conferencing, Instant Messaging, and Availability signaling. By using a small applet on your PC, you can instantly see the status of other employees in the organization and more importantly instantly collaborate with them. Across the isle, or cross the globe, you can now find a person and get the information you need faster.

“Presence and mobility applications, including Cisco Unified Presence, provide presence and state information for features such as Cisco IP Phone Messenger and clients such as Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco Unified CallConnector for Microsoft Office for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express users, and the Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, and let users know which co-workers are available to them and by which device-wired or wireless-at any given time. In addition, Cisco Unified Mobility for Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Unified CallConnector Mobility for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express help enable "single-number reach" capability. The Sage Research study revealed that device-aware presence capabilities save an average of 32 minutes daily. Moreover, 50 percent of users claimed to save 15 to 30 minutes per day, and 47 percent reported that they save 30 to 60 minutes per day.”

Another Cisco tool is their new Single-Number-Reach approach to telephony. Imagine having one single telephone number on your business cards. This number is your office DID (Direct number) and it is connected to your home office phone, cell phone, car phone, soft phone, or any other phone where you want it to ring to. The best part is that all the phones ring at one time and if you don’t answer, the Voicemail at your office is the only Voicemail that will ever have to be checked. And of course with Unified messaging, you can pick those up on your phone, email, or even a webpage.

So what does it cost? A heck of lot less than $80,000…

So what is you time worth. What would you do with an hour a week, or a week a year? Spend it with your kids, add more sales, or just take an extra hour nap? You decide!

References: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns394/ns165/ns152/net_implementation_white_paper0900aecd8041064f.html

Business Continuity Planning

2008-01-04T10:36:00.001-08:00

Natural disasters like Katrina and the recent fires in Southern California have underscored the need for business continuity planning. According to U.S. government agencies, up to 40% of businesses fail to reopen following a disaster.

Management has a responsibility to recover from such incidents in the minimum amount of time and the least amount of disruption to the business as possible.

Business continuity plans (BCP) are required to ensure that key business functions continue operating in the event of an emergency - not just IT systems. It is the responsibility of each division manager (HR, Customer Service, Manufacturing, etc.) to own and maintain the BCP as it applies to personnel, processes, and business operations within their areas of responsibility.

Business continuity planning has 5 major elements:

Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment
Recovery Solution Planning
Implementation
BCP Testing
Maintaining the plan

An essential element of BCP is the business impact analysis and risk assessment. If this first step is not completed properly the rest of the plan is likely flawed. Business impact analysis and risk assessment involves the process of identifying the critical functions necessary for the organization to continue business operations, assessing potential risks to the organization, defining and measuring controls in place to reduce exposure, and evaluating the cost of such controls.

Recovery solution planning takes into account attributes including the number of locations, distribution of personnel, nature of business, interdependency of processes, disaster scenarios planned for, and requirements for alternative sites. Minimally, your recovery plan should cover personnel, payroll, Accounts Payable and Receivable, and shipping.

Step three is implementation. It includes training the response team, preparing the documentation, collecting and storing supplies, creating emergency authorization procedures, and preparing the alternate work site. Basically, you’ll be doing everything in preparation for executing the next step - testing the plan.

Testing the BCP is often viewed as too much of a disruption to business to be valuable. If you think testing is too much of a disruption to your business, imagine the chaos, impact on customers, shareholder and public opinion, and impact on revenue when you encounter an event that you aren’t prepared for. Testing your plan ensures that your solution assumptions are correct, that the plan doesn’t have operational gaps, and that you have practice at managing through an event.

Businesses aren’t static and neither should be your plan. As your business evolves through mergers and acquisitions, new products, and new suppliers, your BCP should also evolve. Maintenance of your BCP is critical to how well your organization is prepared to handle the inevitable.

Additional resources:
http://www.drj.com/
http://www.ready.gov/business/plan/planning.html
http://www.dsw.net/

About the author
Rocky Vienna, CISA, is President and Founder of the Vienna Technology Group, LLC. Vienna Technology Group is an IT management and business consulting firm focused on IT Governance, Strategic Planning, IT Compliance, IT Outsourcing, and Business Continuity Planning.

Calling all IT managers, one new thing to add to your list of responsibilities... Surveillance!

2008-01-04T10:35:00.001-08:00

Written by: Ryan Peterson, Director of Intelligent Facility, DSW

If you were like me, your world revolved around networks, servers, and the security of those systems. But then the world decided to start converging all of those systems to one cable wire, so we added a new responsibility called VoIP. That ship has sailed and if you haven't been on it, you are missing out on application convergence...very cool stuff...

But now, post 9/11 mentality has brought out major concerns about corporate security which was once a problem only regarded by federal government and defense.

So what now, new names enter the market that you and I have to begin thinking about and talking to. Names like Pelco, Bosch, NVT, Sony, Panasonic, and milestone to name a few with products like IP cameras, Megapixel cameras, matrix switches, baluns, and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).

If you’re not used to questions like; A). What lens will give me the right clarity for this distance? B). What is the difference between identification placement vs. overview placement, or C). What the process is to get text to overlay on the video, or next to it? Then this new game might stump you... Or at least add a new area to study up on. Either way, expect to start working with your company's security department a lot more.

This might be a good time to announce what DSW is doing to join this conquest. DSW has added an Intelligent Facility practice to our list of offerings. Over many months of planning, hiring the right team, training with the right vendors and doing all of the heavy lifting of research about all of these products, we are now 1 of very few companies certified to sell Cisco's Physical Security products, and coupled with the correct cameras, we can bring to life the best in high quality or low-cost depending on your needs.

It's time to start thinking about how surveillance is going to impact your network, because it will. Quality of Service (QoS) is a main concern as is bandwidth and DVR placement. To learn more, contact your DSW representative today and we will schedule a no cost consultation.

Data Systems Worldwide, Inc.

2007-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-12-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

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:

2007-12-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2007-10-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Web 2.0 Security Threats

2007-10-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

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.

0% Financing Offer for Cisco Unified IP Communications

2007-10-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

Partnership Announced with New Horizions: Free Training Offer

2007-10-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

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.

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

2007-10-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

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

DSW Should be Your Support Organization

2007-09-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-09-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

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.

# # #

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!

2007-09-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-09-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Welcome to The DSW Connection

2007-08-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

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

DSW Adds Talent and Expands

2007-07-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

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.

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Critical Pieces of the Disaster Recovery Puzzle

2007-07-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

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