What is Desktop Virtualisation?

What is Desktop Virtualisation?

Desktop Virtualisation is a virtualisation technology used to separate a computer desktop environment from the physical computer. Similarly to Server Virtualisation, Desktop Virtualisation relies on a thin layer of software known as a hypervisor, which is run on bare-metal server hardware and provides a platform on which administrators can deploy and manage virtual machines.

Virtualised desktops are stored on centralised or remote servers and not on the physical machine being virtualised. The virtual desktop environments are "server" to users on the network, allowing them to remotely log in to access their desktop from any location.

Why Virtualise your Desktops?

Desktop Virtualisation offers numerous benefits to businesses, including; reducing costs, increasing efficiency, enabling flexible working and centralising management of user desktops.

Desktop Virtualisation offers numerous features to organisations of all shapes and sizes, ultimately resulting in a range of benefits. For more information about Desktop Virtualisation contact Practical Networks, a VMware partner on 01723 587240.

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What does Business Continuity actually mean?

What is Business Continuity?
While disaster recovery plans cover the steps businesses take to recover, in the aftermath of a disaster, business continuity describes the procedures that businesses operate in order to ensure their business essential functions can continue during and after a disaster. Business continuity plans allow organisations to enhance their ability to continue business as usual during or after significant disruptions.

3 Key Elements of Business Continuity:

Resilience:

• Redundancy
• High Availability
• Spare Capacity

It is important that business critical functions and the supporting infrastructure are engineered in such a way that they are materially unaffected by most disruptions. 

Recovery:

• Disaster Recovery

Arrangements need to be made to recover or restore business functions that fail for any reason, this is usually where you Disaster Recovery plan comes in!

Contingency:

• Protect against the unforeseen
• Multisite capability (Workplace Recovery)

As a business you need to establish the ability to cope effectively with whatever major incident or disaster that occurs, including the unexpected. Contingency preparations act as a last-resort response for if the resilience and recovery arrangements are not enough. 

What to include in a Business Continuity Plan?

A Business Continuity plan is essentially a document that contains all the critical information your business needs to stay up and running, especially in the case of adverse events. It is vital that you tailor the business continuity plan to the specific needs of your business. A good place to start is by clearly identifying and prioritising which systems and processes must be sustained and provide all the necessary information for maintaining them.

A business continuity plan should also include the following information:

• Employee contact list
• Key Supplier/Vendor information
• Key contacts/Critical telephone numbers
• Recovery Locations
• Copies of essential records
• Inventory of the company’s equipment/machinery/vehicles
• Inventory of the company’s computer equipment and software
• Disaster response plan

Plan for the Unexpected!

Businesses that do not have some form of Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery plan in place are less likely to recover from an event which causes major disruption to business. In fact over 70% of businesses involved in a major disaster either never reopen or subsequently fail shortly after reopening, often due to a lack of client confidence or customers taking their business to a competitor. 

For help creating a comprehensive business continuity plan for your business call Practical Networks on 01723 587240 or email recovery@practicalnetworks.co.uk

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What is Disaster Recovery and Why does your business need it?

What is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster Recovery is the area of security planning that refers to the specific steps that a business takes to resume normal working business in the aftermath of a disruptive event. Generally, disaster recovery plans involve a set of policies and procedures to enable the recovery of vital technology infrastructure and systems, in the aftermath of a natural or human-induced disaster. A disruptive event can be anything that hinders a business' ability to continue its normal operations, such as: a fire, power cut, crippling cyber-attacks, equipment failure, as well as other natural or physical disasters.

5 Reasons Why your Business Needs a Disaster Recovery Plan:

1. No business can continue to function without its critical data, applications and operations. Disaster recovery plans are put in place to protect against this.
2. Hardware can fail, causing service interruptions or data loss. Hardware failure can't be prevented, but you can have a plan in place to minimise the effect it will have on business operations. 
   
3. People make mistakes, human error is one of the hardest things to prevent. It is easy to accidentally delete or change important data, however it is just as easy to back up your data.
4. Nature is unpredictable, severe weather can cause unexpected disruption to business. While you can't change the weather, you can protect your business from the aftermath. 
   
5. Customers want reliable, uninterrupted service! If you can't get back up and running after a disaster customers are likely to look elsewhere for a more reliable service.

Plan for the Unexpected!

No business expects that a disaster will affect them, until it does!

Natural disasters are unpreventable and can cause a great deal of property damage and often leave some economic damage in their wake. Likewise disasters such as data loss, theft and hardware failure can have a lasting impact on your business.  However a comprehensive disaster recovery plan, tailored to your business, can protect against the loss of revenue that they leave in their wake.

For help creating a comprehensive disaster recovery plan for your business call Practical Networks on 01723 587240 or email recovery@practicalnetworks.co.uk

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Cisco Jabber Business Communications

What is Cisco Jabber?
Cisco Jabber is a Unified Communications application for PC, Mac, tablets and smartphones, and can be used with either on premise or cloud-based unified communications services. While adhering to industry standards such as XMPP, SIP and H.264, Cisco Jabber also provides a consistent experience across platforms and devices, alongside deployment alternatives that allow you to choose your preferred options without sacrificing user capabilities.

Cisco Jabber is made up of a number of features that work together to simplify communications and enhance business productivity. The Cisco Jabber Software Development Kit (SDK) offers voice, video, instant messaging, presence and Cisco WebEx conferencing capabilities.

The Features:

Instant Messaging and Real-time Presence information - Helps reduce delays by allowing you to view users' availability and chat with individuals or groups, within and outside your organisation.

Business-Class IP Voice and Video Telephony - Cisco Jabber has HD video and desktop sharing capabilities and with Cisco UC Manager call-control, it delivers secure and reliable communications.

Communicate from Microsoft Office - Cisco Jabber is integrated with Microsoft Office, allowing you to see a user's availability and click to initiate communications such as chat, voice or video calls, or multiparty conferences from within Outlook.

Get Mobile Collaboration Anywhere, on Any Device - Communicate from across the office or on the go with mobile voice, IM and web conferencing. Cisco Jabber allows you to use your preferred device. while getting the same experiences as at your desktop.

Communicate from within Web Applications - The Cisco Jabber Software Development Kit lets you experience communications, including HD video, from within web-based business, simplifying workflows and increasing productivity.

For more information about Cisco Jabber contact one of the team on 01723 587240 or email: info@practicalnetworks.co.uk

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Cisco BE 6000 IP Telephony System

The Cisco Business Edition 6000 is a purpose built, affordable and simple collaboration system, designed to strengthen your business relationships through improved interactions and experiences. The BE 6000 delivers end-to-end collaboration capabilities for up to 1000 users, 2500 devices, 50 sites and 100 contact center agents.

Cisco BE 6000 Features: 

• Solves complex communications challenges with one purpose-built, simple-to-use and centrally-managed platform.
• Complete service, offering end-to-end collaboration capabilities, including; voice, video, conferencing, messaging, instant messaging and presence, mobility and more, for every user.
• Differentiated communications capabilities, offering cost-effective, high-quality multiparty video conferencing, bringing employees, customers and partners closely together. 
• Simplified deployment and management, with a preconfigured virtualised server with ready-to-run virtualisation software and ready-to-activate collaboration applications. 
• Open and inter-operable architecture and innovative system transparently supports third party applications, telepresence and video endpoints.
• Scalable and highly-available platform, with the ability to grow and change with the pace of your business.

Business Benefits: 

• Improved business processes and collaboration.
• Efficient working environment that supports users on any device, from any location, at any time.
• Customisable collaboration with the flexibility to change and adapt with growth.
• Reduced operations complexity and costs with one simple solution to manage.
• Lower TCO with hardware consolidation, reduced power and cooling costs, and easy to use provisioning and administration tools.

For more information about the Cisco BE 6000 system call Practical Networks on 01723 587240 or email: info@practicalnetworks.co.uk

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Panasonic NS 1000 Business Communications Server

The NS 1000 business communications server by Panasonic is designed to deliver solutions to business challenges, while flexibly adapting to the way each organisation works. The NS 1000 provides solutions such as:

• Simplifying & improving communications

• Lowering costs

• Diversifying the workplace

• Improving productivity

These solutions are provided by integrating hardware and software in a modular way, allowing for businesses to tailor their communications system to fit their own specific needs. This system works for a wide range of businesses, regardless of whether it is used in a small office with two people or in a large company with several locations.

  

Key Features include:

• IP & SIP network communication server

• Integrated unified messaging

• Reliable backup system, designed to survive system failures

• Call center solution with voice guidance for customers

• High-performance applications

• Seamless integration for smart phones & tablets, allowing for BYOD

• Innovative unified collaboration & communication environment, including desktop tools & an interactive voice response system

With its fully transparent network features, first-class voice quality in HD wideband audio and swift capacity expansions, the NS 1000 is the most complete Panasonic solution to date.

More information can be found here >>http://bit.ly/1NkfeY6

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What are Unified Communications?

What are Unified Communications?

Unified communications (UC) is the term used to describe communications which integrate to optimize business processes and increase user productivity. UC’s optimize business processes and increase user productivity by eliminating device and media dependencies and managing flows. UC systems typically include the means to integrate real-time or near-real time unified messaging, collaboration and interactive systems; however such integration takes on numerous forms. 

Unified communications are not a single product, but a collection of components, including but not limited to the following:

• Call control & Multi-modal communications
• Presence information
• Instant messaging
• Unified messaging
• Speech access & Personal assistant
• Conferencing (audio, web & video)
• Collaboration tools
• Mobility
• Business process integration

Unified communications are purpose built to grow and change with the pace of your business, providing numerous benefits along the way. These benefits include:

We are now suppliers of both Cisco and Panasonic systems, which provide benefits such as; reducing costs, increasing productivity, diversifying the workplace and allowing for quick and effective call response.  For more information about UC’s call Practical Networks on 01723 587240.

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