Archive for September, 2010
What Is Personally Identifiable Information or PII?
It seems like, ever since 9/11, our right to privacy has slowly been eroding. Governments and big companies see a huge opportunity in new technologies that allow them to pry into our personal lives for fun and profit. To some people, this technology might seem benign. You might get a few spam emails and telemarketer [...]
Full StoryExpensify SaaS expense reporting
Expensify was born out of personal frustration. David Barrett went on a business trip to India with a team of 9, and a mini-economy built up around receipts: one person would sell a $10 receipt to another at a huge discount, like $8. That 20% gap represented just how much pain there was to actually [...]
Full StoryTop 26 Enterprise Online Backup Solutions for Business Cloud Data Protection
Online backup isn’t just for laptops anymore. The technology has evolved a lot over recent years. Today’s modern B2B backup services are able to help with a number of functions within the company. These include areas such as data protection, compliance, server performance, and datacenter resiliency. Below, I’ve made a list of what I consider [...]
Full StoryCanada’s Innovative CLUMEQ Supercomputing Facility
Here’s an example of green computing, done extremely well on a massive scale. CLUMEQ is a high-power computing facility in Montreal, Canada. It’s part of the Compute Canada supercomputer networks, aimed at helping researchers with complex scientific problems that require extremely large calculations. Nanotechnology Particle Physics Astrophysics Meteorology Fluid Simulations etc… The datacenter was originally [...]
Full StoryThe Difference Between Archiving and Backup
When talking about data protection, there is often some confusion around the definition and roles of Backup vs. Archiving. So I’d like to give a few short examples to illustrate how the 2 are not only different, but complimentary. There are 2 ways to think about the concept of Archiving. Archiving is a tool to [...]
Full StoryLogicMonitor Datacenter and Server Monitoring
Today, I’ll be interviewing Steve Francis, who is CEO of Logic Monitor, a leading provider of server and datacenter monitoring systems. Tell me about logicMonitor. How did your company start? LogicMonitor is what I always wanted when I ran datacenters, but could never find. I ran networks and datacenters for UCSB, National Geographic Society, Citrix [...]
Full StoryPuridiom E-Procurement and Procure-to-Pay
Please tell me about Puridiom. How would you describe your company? Puridiom is the most comprehensive Procure-to-Pay solution provider to offer Cloud and Licensed platforms for organizations of all sizes and industries. For over 27 years, Puridiom has streamlined function in the supply chain with innovative technologies, providing dynamic personalized services and extensive domain experience. [...]
Full StoryWhy Your Business Should Consider Switching To Linux
Yes, I know… When you read this title, you probably thought “Great, here’s another geek who wants to complicate my life. I get it, Linux is better… But it’s also lame.” I don’t blame you for feeling this way. But, unlike other articles, I’m not trying to get you to switch your home PC to [...]
Full StoryLimeade
Limeade is a company hell-bent on building happy, healthy, high-performance companies. Unlike traditional, often antagonistic, “Lose some weight and stop costing us so much!” approaches, Limeade takes a refreshingly positive, social approach to wellness that engages a lot more people. Today, I’ll be interviewing Henry Albrecht, who is the CEO of Limeade. Can you give [...]
Full StoryWhat’s the Difference Between Grid and Cloud Computing
“Grid computing” and “cloud computing” are terms that get confused and mixed up a lot. Although they’re somewhat similar in theory, they’re also every different… and not interchangeable. Cloud computing is the one that most of us are familiar with. This is where you get access to the resources of an independent 3rd party over [...]
Full StoryHow To Maximize The Reach Of Your Wireless Router
Wireless routers are incredibly convenient. But sometimes, they can also be a pain in the butt. I can still remember the days of my youth, when my father would make me play around with the TV antenna to get everything “Just Right” for the signal to be crisp & clear. Thankfully, those days are long [...]
Full StoryEasyLobby
EasyLobby provides secure visitor management, which includes visitor registration, tracking, reporting and badge printing. This software-based product is able to scan a visitor’s license and create a professional visitor badge within 20 seconds per guest. The system improves security by identifying exactly who is in your facilities and the reason for their visit. EasyLobby has [...]
Full StoryMake Sure Your Mailing List System Offers A/B/N Split Testing
In the marketing world, it’s often said that no matter how efficient your campaign is, you will always end up wasting 50% of your advertising spent. The problem, it is that you never know which 50% you are wasting. Desolate e-mail marketing has been so popular. In the past, it would have cost at least [...]
Full StoryWhy Do You Need Business Intelligence Software?
Imagine this scenario with a typical small manufacturer. The sales team tracks individual sales, recurring contracts , and upcoming projects with Sales Force Automation Software The accounting department uses financial software to keep track of payroll, expenses, and other accounts. The production department tracks materials and maintenance and other manufacturing costs using a custom-designed Access [...]
Full StoryOutsourced EDI Empowers Small Business to Do Business In The Big Leagues
I think it’s fair to say that every small business dreams of partnering with a large, international mega-corporations. But often, forging these types of relationships can seem a bit intimidating. This is especially true of smaller service providers, importers, or manufacturers that want to do business with large manufacturers (such as in the auto industry) [...]
Full StoryEliminate Messy Paper Invoices With Document Management
Anybody who’s ever worked in accounts payable will tell you that managing invoices can be a messy process. Companies send you invoices in all sorts of different formats… through all sorts of different means. Some invoices come in via e-mail, others via fax, and still others through old fashion snail mail. And each invoice is [...]
Full Story2 Signs Your Company Desperately Needs To Document Or Automate Its Internal Processes
Bureaucratic Friction Young companies are flexible and adapt to change very easily because they only have a few employees. But as a company grows, new rules need to be layered gradually one on top of the other in order to maintain order and efficiency. This is only natural. Of course, as these new rules & [...]
Full StorySkillTesting.com
In today’s company profile, I’ll be interviewing Christopher Buchino of SkillTesting. SkillTesting is a software developer vetting platform for technical recruiters and hiring managers. Since technical recruiters often have trouble properly evaluating the technical abilities of their candidates, SkillTesting has put together a series of tools that make evaluations easier and more accurate. When it [...]
Full StoryHow Long Do Backup Tapes Last?
This is really a tough question to answer, because there are so many different factors involved. Although the manufacturer might recommend certain durability ratings, these will vary based on how you use the tapes. For example, a typical “Linear Tape-Open” (LTO) tape might be rated for 5000 cartridge loads, 250 full tape passes, and 15-30 [...]
Full StoryAT&T Predicts The Future In 1993 And NAILS It!
Most of the times, when television and movies attempt to predict the distant future, they get it horribly wrong. They usually present us with images of tin-foil jumpsuits, flying cars and other ridiculously impractical things. However, there was one attempt that got it amazingly right. If you try to think back – way back – [...]
Full StoryAdvantages and Disadvantages of Postprocess Deduplication
In previous posts, I’d gone into detail about how data deduplication can help control rapidly growing storage costs by compressing duplicate or redundant data from backups and archives. Also, I’d discussed some of the benefits and challenges associated with an inline deduplication methodology. Today, I’d like to talk a bit about how postprocess deduplication works. [...]
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