INFOGRAPHIC: The Risks of Running Your Own Comms Room

The Risks of Running Your Own Comms Room

Have you weighed the positive and negative potential of maintaining your data centre on the same site as your office? You must be sure to evaluate all sides before making this important decision.

39% of firms in the UK host their data centre in-house… but more than three out of every five firms decided to colocate. Why have so many firms decided not to keep all operations in-house? To determine this, take a look at why the other two out of five firms may not be on board with colocation just yet. (more…)

A free no-obligation virtualisation assessment

Current research shows that deployment of the latest concept in data centres (NGDCs, or next generation data centres) has stalled. The concept is compelling: it is the evolution of the data centre from simple storage and retrieval into an efficient and yet cost-effective service-centric business tool. At its heart is virtualisation: of servers, of desktops and of storage. But the process of virtualising a traditional storage and retrieval data centre still worries many IT Managers. (more…)

How could your connectivity be affected with the Olympics?

The coming year will see major  events in London and with the increased opportunities there may also come certain logistical challenges for the capital’s businesses.  In order to assist our customers to prepare for these events and avoid potential pitfalls, we at BIS have been communicating for some time with our vendors and local authorities to ensure that we can provide you with accurate information on which to base your decisions around operational readiness. (more…)

Microsoft Exchange 2010 – Problems & Solutions

Listed below are some of the problems customers have faced, and the solutions provided by Exchange 2010.

Our mailboxes keep growing organically, which has caused our time restore time for database and mailboxes to break SLA – and our storage growth is costing us a fortune.

With the adoption of Disaster Availability Groups (DAG), Microsoft Exchange 2010 can provide mailbox high availability with no need for a SAN. (more…)

To migrate or not to migrate?

Migration can mean many things to many people; but when it comes to Exchange it usually means: ‘out with the old and in with the new’. Seldom do we see two versions running side by side in any organisation, except during migration. Having said that there is always a concern in upgrading to a new version of any Microsoft product – namely, will it be better? And more importantly, will it be stable? (more…)

Cisco’s new Identity Firewall – part of the ASA platform

This year, in June, Cisco finally released its identity-based firewall. It’s something we’ve been waiting for – and something that the modern mobile workforce and increasingly port-agile and evasive threats require. Trying to account for all possible user locations and all possible threat routes using a static or pre-defined combination of source/destination IP addresses and ports has simply become too cumbersome. Users demand anytime, anywhere computing, while the increasingly sophisticated threat landscape requires greater flexibility. Cisco’s new Identity Firewall provides both. (more…)

BIS again awarded Cisco MSCP status

We are delighted to announce that Cisco, whose “mission is to shape the future of the Internet” (Cisco CEO, John Chambers), has formally recognised BIS by renewing our Managed Services Channel Program Advanced certification.

The award is only granted to partners able to demonstrate a high professional capability in the deployment and use of Cisco equipment, and is an endorsement of our professional standards. (more…)