In this issue, we address your company’s valuable infrastructure. We can’t have that leaking, can we? Disaster recovery is also something that we at Trigon take very seriously, so we’ve included some tips on how to best avoid such an event. Do you enjoy saving money? Great! We’ve included 4 reasons why virtualization can lead to you saving money for your small to medium sized business. Short-term and long-term, we’re looking out for you.

As always, if you’d like more information on any of the topics covered in our newsletter, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Also, if you want a specific topic covered in our next edition, please send us an email at solutions@TrigonIT.com. Be sure to check out the blog on our website everyday for recent technology news and insights from our very own Engineers. Once again, have a great holiday!

Is Your Infrastructure Leaking Money?
reprinted with permission from HP

Whoever said "don't sweat the small stuff" never managed an IT infrastructure—and certainly never during turbulent economic times.

According to independent analyst Forrester Research, global IT purchases in 2008 will grow by only 6 percent, versus 12 percent growth in 2007. So, although you're already doing more with less, it's time to do even more with even less.

Investing in management solutions to control infrastructure costs is one way to meet that challenge. Effective infrastructure management tools can lead to significant savings over time and help position your business to take full advantage of the upside when the economic tide turns.

Here are five ways effective infrastructure management can help keep you fighting lean:

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Avoid a Data Disaster on the Road: 5 Tips
by Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Reliable information can make or break your next trip, whether it's the ability to cultivate a business contact, ensure accurate company records or keep you safe.

In other words, your PC data is priceless. You just can't afford to be without it. Consider:

Travelers are relying on accurate information to ensure their security, according to a survey by American Express. In an age when terrorism is a persistent threat to air travel, who can blame them?

Most companies have strict policies regarding the use of a corporate travel agent and company charge card, according to a Runzheimer International poll. In other words, meticulous record-keeping is now more essential than ever.

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If you visit my office, you will probably notice right away that I have three large flat screen displays that sit together and are synchronized so they work like a single very wide display. The large display area enables me to work very efficiently. I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox open on the screen to the left so I can see new messages as they come in. I usually have the message or document that I'm currently reading or writing in the center screen. The screen on the right is where I have room to open up a browser or look at a document that someone has sent me in e-mail.

I spend the majority of my time communicating with colleagues, customers, and partners. As a result, Outlook is the application that I use the most. I receive about 100 e-mail messages per day from Microsoft employees, and many more from customers and partners.

It's very important that I hear what people think about our products and our company. Yet I need to balance that against the very real risk of information overload from all the e-mail that I receive. The advances we made in Outlook 2007 for filtering, rules, and search folders have made it much easier to manage my e-mail than before, especially because so much happens automatically once I've set everything up.

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4 Reasons
'Virtualization' Saves Money
by Heather Clancy
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Most articles about virtualization discuss the technology in the context of "big" business. They are glowing about the potential for "data center consolidation" or "reduced system maintenance expenses." Or they rave about the prospects for a better disaster recovery plan, better security and extra flexibility for employees.

What about small business? The good news is if you are a small business owner, there are plenty of short- and long-term benefits from virtualization-and you don't need a big budget. (That makes virtualization attractive in a brutal economic climate.)

So what is virtualization?

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Business Continuity Tip

Build a team.
It's a tall order to expect one person to efficiently develop a comprehensive recovery plan by themselves. After all, they have to account for every reasonable interruption across the entire business. There are just too many moving pieces. There is power in numbers and at worst, two heads are better than one. Assembling a team will give you the ability to share information, brainstorm, and create a natural sounding board to bounce off ideas.  During an actual recovery, having a team provides additional advantages. If the team leader is not available, others will be familiar with the plan and can execute it. This built-in redundancy to your recovery response helps ensure a quick and efficient return to business as usual.

Just for Laughs