Posts Tagged ‘Small Business Server’

The Earthquake – How Awesome was that?!?!

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

I don’t know about you, but yesterday’s earthquake was awesome and completely unexpected. As a lifelong resident of the only part of the country to rarely get these natural events, I was immediately excited. This emotion was quickly replaced as I realized that it’s the middle of the work day and perhaps not everyone fared as well as CNS and just got some minor shaking. A quick check of our monitoring system showed that 100% of our customers were up and running and we got zero reports of any outages. All in all, I think we fared extremely well.

Now that the immediate euphoria of the event is over, now is the time to reflect on the event. Even though there were no outages, it’s always important to think about ‘what could have been’. Ask yourself some questions:

  1. What if your servers were crushed under a wall? Would your backup plan have worked? Is the backup data stored right next to the servers?
  2. What if the building were uninhabitable, do you have backup data stored offsite? Could your business survive the time it would take to recover the network?
  3. What if the power went out for a few days? Do you leverage the Cloud to enable remote working?

There are a TON of scenarios and things to think about, but if you are not 100% confident, talk to me and we’ll chat about what makes sense for you and how we can get there. We’ve got a hurricane coming through in a few days – and there is still time to act to get some basic measures in place.

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CNS Helps New Jersey Non-Profit Move to DC

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

The Corporate Network Services tenet, “Our only product is our customers’ success” is exemplified in the story of a New Jersey non-profit. The organization was moving its headquarters to Washington, DC and had hired one of our satisfied customers to head their new office. The non-profit continued to work with its managed services company in New Jersey and initially contacted CNS to provide only the office cabling, network, and phone system. They thought they would economize by continuing to use the New Jersey managed services provider.

After two months working with that provider, the office manager recognized that this bargain was no bargain. They were wasting money due to significant downtimes and outages and the service they were receiving paled in comparison to that offered by a Corporate Network Services’ managed services solution, PROSuite.

In addition to the new PROSuite Executive Agreement with co-location, the non-profit also contracted with CNS to travel to New Jersey, power down the network, disconnect, pack and transport the servers to the CNS COLO location and bring the servers and network back online. Including the out-of -state travel time, the organization was only offline for seven hours. CNS has worked to stabilize the network, establish secure connections for the remote users and assure that the infrastructure supports the organization’s goals.

Knowing that Corporate Network Services was the trusted IT Partner to bring to the new organization has helped the office manager exceed expectations in the new position. Let us help you exceed expectations!

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The Next SBS is Official – Including a New Affordable Version for 5-15 Users

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

I love it when I am right! I wrote on Monday morning about how I anticipate that Microsoft will FINALLY make some announcements about the next version of its’ Small Business Server suite (SBS). I also mentioned that there were some cloud rumors swirling around the products evolution. Well, I am pleased to say that Microsoft has made a very big announcement! There will be TWO versions of SBS, one a “classic” version which updates the SBS we all know and love, and another cloud-based version (codenamed Aurora) that combines local file sharing, PC backup and the BPOS cloud based suite (hosted Exchange, SharePoint, LiveMeeting).

Today I had the opportunity to meet and chat with some of my favorite industry bloggers about these new versions. Most of them are Microsoft MVP’s who have been under NDA for quite a while and are relieved to finally be able to discuss the software. We should look to see a public beta in the next few months and a full release late this year.

Microsoft is really pushing its customer base to the cloud, but realizes that many small business are not willing to make the leap just yet. With that in mind, Aurora is really positioned to be the first server for the less than 15 person office. Keep your databases local, while putting your web-enabled applications in the cloud.

The full feature breakdown of the products is as follows:

  • Windows Small Business Server (SBS) “7″ Preview: The next version of Windows Small Business Server will include a richer remote access experience, as well as updates to all of the component software in the suite to the latest versions (Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 SP1, SharePoint 2010 Foundation, Windows Server Update Services 3.0 and SQL Server 2008 R2). As a result, small business customers will find significant security and management enhancements as well as much richer features for providing file-and-print, email and Internet services to employees. SBS 7 will support up to 75 users.
  • Windows Small Business Server (SBS) Code Name “Aurora” Preview: A new edition of Windows Small Business Server, Aurora is an affordable, easy to use “first server” option for small businesses that will be the company’s first to deliver both traditional and cloud capabilities. With SBS Aurora, customers will be able to better protect their business data through automated backup and restore capabilities, easily organize and access business information from almost anywhere and run a variety of business tools and software. SBS Aurora will support up to 25 users.

CNS is on the beta user list and we look forward to working with both version. Keep your eyes peeled to this page for more information!

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Good Morning from Microsoft WPC

Monday, July 12th, 2010

It’s a bit early for me to be up and about, but keynotes begin at 8:00 AM and tradition holds that missing the opening keynote is a pretty bad omen for the rest of the week. So, how does Microsoft address 13,000 of its most dedicated business partners from across the globe? Why, get rent the Verizon Center, of course.


That’s right, we are still 30 minutes away from the start of the presentations, and I’ve seen a less crowded arena for a Wizards game! This morning, we will be hearing from some three of Microsoft’s most senior leaders. Steve Ballmer, Allison Watson and Bob Muglia. Together, they will share their strategy for the next year and hopefully make a big announcement or two. Rumors are swirling about an updated Small Business Server. There’s even reason to believe that we might hear about the next version of Windows Server. Keep your eyes on this page for all the news from Penn Quarter all week – and let me know if there is something you’d like me to research at the show.

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