Madison Technology

May 24, 2010

MTI News
Issue # 2, May 2010

(Click here to open this newsletter in .pdf format)

This issue provides a quick crash-course on technology’s new buzz word: 

Cloud Computing
Unlike a typical IT infrastructure where computer hardware is physically located in the office, a Cloud Computing infrastructure has hardware located in an offsite location (a datacenter).  Using only a personal computer and an internet connection, you have access to a full-featured enterprise-grade IT infrastructure (telephony, email, files and backup, mobile messaging, and remote access), while paying only for the resources you consume.

The Cloud provider looks after everything on your behalf - it's all they do, and they do it on a large scale.  You know all that IT stuff that takes you away from running your business: buying hardware, buying software, hiring computer consultants, and so on?  You won’t need to worry or spend time on it any longer.  Instead the Cloud provider gives you access to its computer systems: any time, from anywhere and you only pay for what you use.  All you’d need in your office are PCs and an Internet connection.  The Cloud provider handles everything else.

Since a Cloud solution is fully managed offsite (24 x 7 x 365), you need no expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports you.  This can be far more cost-effective than deploying and supporting an IT infrastructure in-house.  Since your infrastructure is “rented,” there’s no up-front hardware cost. There’s also no burden of high cooling/electricity costs, of dedicating valuable real estate space to hardware storage, and no need to hire/retain IT personnel to support the hardware on-site.

The Cloud provider has racks of super high-end computer gear in its datacenter for customers to run their businesses on.  Engineering staff handle all the operational aspects: monitoring the systems, software patches and upgrades and technical support.  Everything is designed for maximum reliability and security (far more secure and of much higher performance than that of a typical small/mid-size business network).

Although renting computing goes back decades (to the days when companies shared space on a mainframe with big spinning tape drives), the technology industry has now matured to the point of an emerging mass market for this rental model.  The paradigm shift has been likened to the displacement of electricity generators by the electricity grid in the early 20th century.  Ironically enough, much like an electricity grid, consumers can purchase only the resources they need.

Consumption is billed on a utility basis (by resources consumed, like electricity) with little or no upfront cost.  You can lock-in to a contract for a flexible period of time, making Cloud particularly attractive to start-ups for whom deploying an infrastructure in-house would either be too costly or the return on investment risk too great. 

Value is also found in Cloud’s elasticity —you can have as much or as little of a service as you want– making it easily and infinitely scalable for business growth.  Need more memory? No problem.  More storage?  Another server?  Your Cloud provider has it all “on tap.”  Just provide your scalability needs and the adjustments can be made seamlessly and quickly on the back-end –a particularly powerful tool in times of downsizing.

Another neat feature is Cloud’s built-in Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity program. Research suggests that nearly 1 in 5 businesses suffer a major disruption each year.  Furthermore, 80% of affected businesses close within 18 months. With Cloud, your data is stored offsite, so if a casualty takes place at your primary place of business, your data is unaffected and employees can continue to work using any internet-connected PC in the world.

If you’re interested in Cloud Computing or feel it may be right for your business, MTI can help.  We offer Cloud services from within our robust, state-of-the-art datacenter.  Email me to learn more.

Microsoft Office 2010
Office 2010 was launched this past week.  We are presently implementing it for a few clients and for ourselves internally. I really like the suite and highly-recommend you upgrade!  Outlook has a few particularly cool enhancements worth highlighting, like a new tool for compressing e-mail threads down to a single message.  This functionality is especially nice if you are away from e-mail for a while and want to condense the back-and-forth that’s taken place between coworkers on a particular topic.  Similarly, a new ‘Ignore’ functionality can automatically move all replies to a particular mail conversation into the deleted folder –a great feature if you find yourself erroneously stuck on an annoying reply-all thread.  

Entrepreneurship & the Business Development Ropes
I came across an especially interesting networking concept worth sharing: BNI or (Business Networking International) is a worldwide business referral organization that operates in local chapters.  Members join BNI groups to receive referrals or leads for their respective businesses.  A typical chapter will have 25 category exclusive members, meaning that each individual member must be from a different industry or line of business. So for example, if a commercial banker is a member of one chapter, there can be no other commercial banker in that chapter.  However, an insurance broker could be a member – and it’s clear how those two might leverage off each other’s leads.  I’ve done some homework and found that it’s not uncommon for a chapter to refer $250K or more of business per quarter – that’s huge!  Meetings are held once a week –a big commitment– however, the groups appear to get results. I’m thinking of joining; if you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.  Alternatively, if you’re interested in joining, there are chapters forming and/or accepting new members regularly. www.bni.com

About MTI
Madison Technology (MTI) is an end-to-end technology provider that specializes in reducing Information Technology costs and complexity through effective technology solutions, services and products.

Through our three main business lines: Colocation, Solutions, and Services, MTI provides state-of-the-art technologies, services and solutions to firms of all sizes. Learn more by visiting our website www.madisonti.com.

Issued by:
Renee Schmidt, Principal of Madison Technology
Email:
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Phone:
212-400-7550
Fax:
212-898-0318
Address:
275 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

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