Capital Network Solutions

Are unapproved devices within your network?

2012-01-26T12:51:00.003Z

Businesses are allowing unapproved devices to be used within their business as workers increasingly want to use their own computers at work before companies draw up bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.

This is diverting attention away from IT projects. A total of 44% of IT managers said that handling issues around staff bringing their own devices was wasting time and reducing the time spent on other IT projects.

According to research commissioned by Cisco and carried out by Redshift Research, 48% of the 1,500 IT managers in Europe and North America surveyed said their businesses would never authorise the use of employees’ own devices. But it also revealed that 57% believed workers are using their own devices without permission.

Furthermore, over half (51%) of those interviewed said that the number of workers bringing their own devices to work was increasing.

The US reported the highest number of businesses where workers were using their own devices without consent, with 63% of IT managers saying this was the case.

Despite the distraction, most CIOs support schemes to allow employees to use their own devices at work, according to the Technology Industry Survey 2012 of 650 IT professionals, conducted by IT recruitment firm Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly.

The survey revealed that 60% of CIOs and CTOs think employees owning and operating their own IT equipment would be a good thing for the IT department.

As published by Computer Weekly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK IT budgets under pressure in 2012

2012-01-26T12:48:00.002Z

UK IT budgets will remain flat in 2012, a worldwide survey of more than 2,500 IT professionals has revealed.

The Computer Weekly and Tech Target survey, which had responses from more than 200 UK senior IT professionals, showed that IT spending in Europe has been hit harder by the recession than spending in the US and Asia.

In the UK, 50% of IT professionals said their IT spending would either decrease or remain the same in 2012.

Nearly 40% of UK IT professionals said their organisations are recovering slowly from the downturn, and 30% said they are still struggling.

IT investment
Despite the tough economic conditions, some 38% of IT professionals expected their IT budgets to increase in 2012, with 21% expecting an increase of 5% or more.

“I think what you are seeing now is the realisation from some IT departments that they can’t delay spending any more,” said Ovum analyst Roy Illsley, commenting on the research findings.

“Some people have really cut back too far, and others realise if they make investments now, that would make them more agile when the upturn comes,” he added.

IT supports business growth
The focus for 29% of UK IT departments in 2012 will be to expand IT to support the growth of the business, with business analytics featuring strongly in many organisations' plans.

Around a quarter will concentrate their spending in a few key areas of IT, while 19% aim to reduce business costs by automating business processes.

Some 15% of IT departments have the more modest ambition of maintaining their service levels despite a flat budget, while 14% will focus on reducing their IT spending.

As published by Computer Weekly

Cisco's Customer Collaboration Solutions Help Customers Offer Better Service, Fill Orders Faster and Realize a Competitive Edge

2011-10-11T13:44:00.000+01:00

Cisco\'s Customer Collaboration Solutions Help Customers Offer Better Service, Fill Orders Faster and Realize a Competitive Edge

What is the real cost of a network? Don't be fooled into only looking at the CapEx costs.

2011-10-10T17:24:00.009+01:00

When looking to invest in hardware, all too often it is the intial capital expenditure that influences the hardware selection, however, research has shown that this is only a small part of the overall cost of the network.

Cap Ex only rates as 28% of the overall cost of the network.
More importantly, other factors need to be taken into consideration:

Labour Costs - this amounts to a staggering 49% of the overall cost of the network
Bandwidth - 14% of the operating costs of the network comes from connectivity costs
Service/Maintenance - amounts for 8% of the operating costs
Energy - with rapidly rising pricing, the current 1% of the running costs could be on the increase

So what do you need to consider when making your hardware selections?
Labour costs are the greatest factor when considering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) so it is important to consider how you can reduce the labour required to maintain and operate your network.

1) Look for ways in which you can reduce network management - opt for a converged network with data and voice sharing the same platform reducing administration
2) Opt for hardware that provides scalability, with longer refresh cycles and choose hardware that provides multiple features e.g routing, switching, wireless, security in one box
3) Consider device uptime - highly performing, reliable, up to date devices should be more reliable and reduce the time required for management and issue resolution
4) Opt for highly secure devices - not only will the risk of data breaches and subsequent time and cost considerations be reduced but less money will be required to maintain and manage them
5) Only consider devices that support centralised management, particularly if a multi-sited business. Once you are able to centrally control and update devices, you will save an enormous amount of time and effort.
6) Know your network - if you don't know how your network is set up, what devices you have or what software and warranties are in place you could be looking at a very time consuming task. Increase your network knowledge by carrying out an audit or enlist the services of an external IT provider to audit and document your network. Once you know what you are dealing with you can ensure that your time and money is used wisely.

Top 10 tips to get technology working for you..

2011-10-05T10:52:00.003+01:00

Here are 10 tips for using network technology to help your business work more efficiently, cut costs, improve customer satisfaction, and stay ahead of the competition.

Give employees secure, consistent access to information.
You have an advantage over larger competitors because you can react quickly to business changes. But you can quickly lose this edge if your company network is frequently down, sluggish, or unsecured. A secure, reliable network based on intelligent routers and switches lets your employees access the information and tools they need to keep ahead of competitors.

Deliver anytime, anywhere access to employees on the go.
To stay productive on the move, your employees need to be able to reach the people and information they need—anywhere, anytime. With tools like virtual private networks (VPNs), your employees can work outside the office and still enjoy safe access to the business network.

Create effective business processes with partners.
Some large companies make efficient, secure business processes a prerequisite for doing business with them. To meet the business needs of your partners, you need a secure, reliable network.
Make it easy to work together. Smooth collaboration between employees, partners, suppliers, and customers is a sure-fire way to boost efficiency while also reducing costs. An intelligent network lets your business take advantage of interactive calendaring, videoconferencing, unified communications, and other technologies for easy collaboration.

Enable employees to take their phone systems wherever they go.
Missed calls create project delays, wasted opportunities, and lost revenues. With a networked voice and data solution, your employees can have one phone number that rings simultaneously on multiple devices, so customers reach the right person the first time. Your staff can access all their communications from anywhere, checking for e-mail, voicemail, and faxes from just one inbox.

Streamline customer communications.
Delivering fast, knowledgeable service is the best way to keep customers satisfied. Linking your network phone system to a customer relationship management (CRM) solution is a great way to enhance customer communications. When a customer calls, a pop-up window with their records appears on an employee's IP phone screen, computer screen, or both.

Reduce unproductive travel time.
All too often, time spent on the road is time lost. A networked phone solution that offers video calls and Web conferencing can help reduce the time and expense of traveling to offsite meetings and training sessions. Instead of spending time traveling, you can use the time to get work done with technology.

Employ a managed service provider.
Is managing a network the best use of your employees' time? In some situations, it is advantageous to hire a managed service provider for network administration. Working with a managed service provider can free your IT staff to focus on other IT tasks and use their time more effectively.

Improve employee satisfaction.
Aging phone systems and slow networks can frustrate your employees and annoy your customers. In some cases, an employee might become burned out and decide to move on. To help ensure that employees are productive and satisfied, your business needs a secure, reliable, and fast network.

Develop a long-term technology plan.
The process of replacing obsolete hardware can interrupt your employees and bring the office to a standstill. You can minimize such disruptions by carefully determining short-and long-term business objectives and working with your network vendor to deploy technology that matches them.

Taken from the Cisco Small Business Blog

UK ranked fourth globally for fixed broadband speeds - 9/26/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-09-26T11:34:00.000+01:00

UK ranked fourth globally for fixed broadband speeds - 9/26/2011 - Computer Weekly

Mobile malware up 273% in first half of 2011 - 9/12/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-09-24T14:05:00.001+01:00

Malware for smartphones and tablets is up 273% in the first half of 2011, compared with the same period in 2010, a study has shown.

Research from G Data Security Labs shows cyber criminals are increasingly targeting mobile devices, with cross-platform Trojans dominating the malware landscape.

In the first half of 2011, researchers recorded one new malware strain every twelve seconds on average. G Data believes there is no end in sight to this malware flood.

"With mobile malware, cyber criminals have discovered a new business model," said Eddy Willems, security evangelist at G Data.

Even though this special underground market segment is still being set up, there is an enormous risk potential for mobile devices and their users, Willems said.

Mobile malware identified in the first half of the year included NickiBot and the manipulated app called Zsone.

NickiBot functionality included spying on its victims. One variant of the malware, called Google++, is available as an application for the social network Google+ and records background noises and calls. The malware uses a website to send this information, including GPS tracking data, to the attacker. This enables perpetrators to access personal information and determine the user's current location at any time.

Zsone was spread via the Google Android Market. The Trojan secretly sends subscription registrations to expensive Chinese premium SMS numbers. Since the registration confirmation is also intercepted, users can only detect this scam by checking their bills.

As smartphones and tablets with an Android operating system become ever more popular, cyber criminals are increasingly relying on mobile devices for spreading malware code.

According to Willems, researchers are expecting another spurt of growth in the mobile malware sector in the second half of the year.

Overall, G Data research shows malware is on the rise, with a new record set in the first half of 2011 of 1,245,403 new pieces of malware identified, a 15.7% increase compared to the second half of 2010.

Willems says this growth is expected to continue over the next six months and is on course to reach an annual total of new malware strains for the year of at 2.5 million, compared with just over 2 million in 2010.

IT security should be about good management, not tech performance, says IDC - 9/14/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-09-15T11:43:00.001+01:00

IT security in an increasingly complex threat environment needs to be more about management than technology performance, according to Eric Domage, program manager for IDC in Europe.

IT professionals need to stop buying security performance and move to buying and selling business performance, he told the IDC Security Conference 2011 in London.

"Performance is not a differentiator, it is expected. The real value of security is to help business to be better, to be more competitive," he said.

This was echoed by Des Powley, director of security and IDM at Oracle, which he said had made a conscious effort to get beyond an insurance sell.

"Oracle has acquired around 500 products from 75 companies in the past five years to be able to sell security on value," he said.

HP this week backed up a similar approach of infrastructure-wide integrated security by announcing new or improved products and services that tap into technologies acquired in the past two years.

IT professionals should stop thinking about full security, said Domage. "Their role is shifting towards thinking about security management at an executive level," he said.

A security management approach ensures that business is addressing all the key elements of security - cost, threat, compliance and skills, said Domage

"IDC sees security integration as a way of controlling cost as well as managing complexity," he said.

IDC views complexity as the next big risk, as the number and type of cyber threats and regulatory requirements continue to proliferate.

"Now is the time to focus on security management," said Domage, pointing out that the most effective way of dealing with the fact that everything is a target, as shown by recent attacks on SCADA and other systems previously thought to be highly secure, is at the planning and process level, not at the technology level.

UK business and government dangerously out of tune with cyber threats, says Chatham House - 9/15/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-09-15T11:38:00.001+01:00

Business and public sector organisations lack understanding of the nature and gravity of cyber threats and the UK government lacks vision and leadership in dealing with cyber attacks, according to a report by Chatham House.

Widespread confusion over the scale and nature of cyber criminality is undermining efforts to tackle the problem, the think-tank warned in the report.

Company bosses are criticised for delegating responsibility to IT specialists in a deliberate effort to keep a problem they may not understand "at arm's length".

The report, which is based on interviews with representatives of 100 of the UK's top businesses and banks, revealed that many staff believe cyber threats are already out of control.

"One financial institution reported that the volume and sophistication of threats are now outstripping the organisation's capacity to respond," the report said.

Geoff White, senior market underwriter TechMedia in Zurich's UK General Insurance business, said the increased threat of cyber crime and IP theft to UK companies brings a new sense of vulnerability to this sector which can have disastrous consequences for businesses.

"Companies understandably feel exposed, but it is vital that they are prepared for the unexpected and implement clear, effective strategies and frameworks to tackle any cyber incident which may occur.

"It's essential that both businesses and government work together to stay on top of these challenges to ensure UK technology companies are safe, and are able to grow in this fast-moving, unpredictable global technology market," he said.

Security awareness and responsibility lacking

Chatham House noted that while there seems to be a consensus that the problem is growing, many companies appear to be taking it less than seriously.

"A heightened perception of cybersecurity risk is being met with diminished resources and interest," the report said.

Liz Fitzsimons, senior associate at international law firm Eversheds, said more needs to be done to understand this global risk and deal with it appropriately.

"Organisations should consider suitable training to improve understanding - including at board level - regularly review security and update arrangements, and have a suitable security breach response team and procedure in place to deal with incidents," she said.

But the Chatham House report concluded that the UK government must play "an integral role in informing wider society" and raising levels of awareness.

The report said there is no coherent picture of who is targeting what and which systems and services are potentially vulnerable to cyber attack.

According to Frank Coggrave, general manager Emea at Guidance Software, the key recommendation in this Chatham House report is for the government to set up a single, accessible bank of cybersecurity information and advice.

"We have been calling for that for some time. The industry as a whole - customers and suppliers - has the responsibility to protect itself from cyber attacks, but it's not something organisations can do alone, as the threats are unremitting, evolving and dangerous," he said.

Pooling resources, information and intelligence is vital, but difficult to focus on when under personal attack, said Coggrave.

"Government is all about doing important things collectively that individuals can't do on their own, so let's see some actual government here, not just rhetoric," he said.

Protecting national infrastructure

The Chatham House report said the UK government is also failing to take a strong lead in protecting critical national infrastructure such as power and water systems from cyber attack and share information with organisations that might be targeted.

Around £130m of the £650m of additional funding to help tackle computer-based threats that the government announced last year has been allocated to critical infrastructure projects, but the Chatham House report questioned how that money will be used, considering that "the vast majority of critical infrastructure in the UK is privately owned".

With large parts of the UK's infrastructure run by private companies, there is an expectation that they would be alert to growing online threats, but the reality is often very different, according to Chatham House researchers, the BBC reports.

The Cabinet Office, which is in charge of the UK's cybersecurity strategy, has issued a statement saying that closer collaboration between the government and the private sector is "crucial to protecting our interests in cyberspace, including critical national infrastructure".

The Chatham House report comes ahead of the government's expected announcement of a revised cybersecurity plan.

Norton: Global cyber crime costs victims £71 billion | IT PRO

2011-09-09T07:55:00.000+01:00

Norton: Global cyber crime costs victims £71 billion | IT PRO

Mark Edwards plaque celebrating 10 years as a CCIE

2011-08-09T14:30:00.003+01:00

Many congratulations to Mark Edwards, our Technical Director, who has been awarded a plaque from Cisco recognising his 10 years achievement as a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert.

Information security skills in demand for 2011

2011-08-09T14:04:00.002+01:00

As published on ComputerWeekly.com

Information security and business continuity skills will be in high demand for 2011, according to the latest Barclay Simpson's Interim Market Report.

IT security professionals seeking new opportunities are likely to benefit most, with salary increases for those changing employers peaking at 13% in the first half of 2011, while salary increases achieved by most of those staying with existing employers matching inflation at best.

An increase in demand in 2010 was heavily biased towards banking, the report says, but has now broadened out across a wide range of users and consultancies.

An increase in the number of high-profile cyber attacks is one of the key drivers of employment opportunities for information security practitioners.

The report also notes that awareness of business continuity (BC) management continues to improve and global events regularly bring the need for BC into focus.

Other drivers for demand include the January 2012 deadline for all PCI DSS assessments to be under version 2.0 of the standard, growing spending on cloud security, and increased use of penetration testing services

Study: Cybercrime Becoming More Costly, More Frequent For Enterprises - Dark Reading

2011-08-03T15:56:00.002+01:00

Cybercrime is not only becoming more frequent -- it's becoming more expensive for the victims, according to a study published today.

In its Second Annual Cost of Cybercrime study, the Ponemon Institute surveyed 50 large companies to determine the losses and expenditures caused by cybercrime. The study, sponsored by security information and event management company HP ArcSight, indicates that the cost of cybercrime has risen 56 percent since last year's report.

"We found that the median annualized cost of cybercrime for 50 organizations in our study is $5.9 million per year, with a range of $1.5 million to $36.5 million each year per company," the study says.

Some of the other findings:
>> Cybercrime cost varies by organizational size. The study results reveal a positive relationship between organizational size (as measured by enterprise seats) and annualized cost. However, smaller organizations incur a significantly higher per capita cost than larger-sized organizations ($1,088 vs. $284).

>> The companies participating in the study experienced 72 successful attacks per week -- or more than 1.4 successful attacks per organization. This figure has increased 44 percent over last year, Ponemon says.

>> The most costly cybercrimes are those caused by malicious code, denial-of-service, stolen or hijacked devices, and malicious insiders, according to the study. These account for more than 90 percent of all cybercrime costs per organization on an annual basis.

>> Cyberattacks can get costly if not resolved quickly, the study says. Results show a positive relationship between the time to contain an attack and organizational cost. The average time to resolve a cyberattack is 18 days, with an average cost of $415,748 over this 18-day period. This represents a 67 percent increase from last year’s estimated average cost of $247,744, which was compiled for a 14-day period.

>> Results show that malicious insider attacks can take more than 45 days on average to contain, Ponemon says. Information theft continues to represent the highest external cost, followed by the costs associated with business disruption. Information theft accounts for 40 percent of total external costs (down 2 percent from 2010). Costs associated with disruption to business or lost productivity account for 28 percent of external costs (up 6 percent from 2010).

>> Recovery and detection are the most costly internal activities associated with cybercrime, according to the study. Recovery and detection account for 45 percent of the total internal activity cost, most of it spent on cash outlays and labor. Having an SIEM system can help, according to Ponemon. "We found a percentage cost difference between SIEM and non-SIEM companies of 24 percent," the study says. "Findings suggest companies using SIEM were better able to quickly detect and contain cyber crimes than those companies not using SIEM."

Automated web application attacks are the top security threat, study reveals - 7/25/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-07-25T11:54:00.000+01:00

Automated web application attacks are the top security threat, study reveals - 7/25/2011 - Computer Weekly

We will still have IT departments in 2020?

2011-06-30T10:57:00.002+01:00

View Cisco's The Network

2011-06-23T14:45:00.001+01:00

http://yfrog.com/h87vfmrj

2011-06-13T11:23:00.000+01:00

http://yfrog.com/h87vfmrj

Global Internet Traffic Projected to Quadruple by 2015

2011-06-01T14:11:00.000+01:00

Global Internet Traffic Projected to Quadruple by 2015

Sony reset suffers setback after security flaw discovered - 5/19/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-05-19T11:21:00.000+01:00

Sony reset suffers setback after security flaw discovered - 5/19/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-05-11T14:22:00.001+01:00

UK workers in the dark about IT security, study reveals - 5/10/2011 - Computer Weekly

LastPass Asks Users To Change Password After Probable Breach

2011-05-05T16:47:00.000+01:00

LastPass Asks Users To Change Password After Probable Breach

Sony hires investigators after attackers hack 100m users' data - 5/4/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-05-05T11:32:00.000+01:00

Sony hires investigators after attackers hack 100m users' data - 5/4/2011 - Computer Weekly

Debunking the myths of a 'good enough' network

2011-04-26T15:07:00.001+01:00

When "Good Enough" Is Not Good Enough

View more documents from Cisco Systems

Ways your business can communicate better

2011-04-18T16:12:00.002+01:00

Read this article to learn how your business can improve communications

Click here

Soaringe-crime is costing Wales £1bn year - Wales News - News - WalesOnline

2011-03-30T11:37:00.000+01:00

Soaringe-crime is costing Wales £1bn year - Wales News - News - WalesOnline

Hackers steal member email details from TripAdvisor site - 3/25/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-03-25T11:48:00.000Z

Hackers steal member email details from TripAdvisor site - 3/25/2011 - Computer Weekly

Desktop Virtualization: Don't forget the Network

2011-03-22T13:42:00.002Z

Don't forget the network or your DV project will become a nightmare ordeal

By Danny Bradbury •
Posted in Desktop Virtualisation, 14th March 2011 10:29 GMT

Desktop Virtualization Two cups and a piece of string won’t cut it in a virtual world. If you are virtualising your desktops, your network must be able to cope with the additional traffic load, and resilient enough to support users who require access to their desktops at all times. How can you ensure it measures up?

A poorly configured network can lead to poor response times and service drop-outs. It can also worsen the bootstorm problem, incurred when many users log in at once.

“The whole networking side is something that lots of people forget about until they’ve done the project,” warns Tony Lock, programme director at analyst Freeform Dynamics.

A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) configuration in which an entire virtual machine is hosted centrally for each user represents the worst-case scenario for any harried network manager. Nevertheless, says Michael Allen, director of IT service management solutions at Compuware, it offers some predictable parameters. Bandwidth requirements in a VDI implementation are relatively easy to define. Latency is the real issue.

“There are only so many keys that a user can type in a given second, while the keyboard and mouse uses just a tiny bit of bandwidth up to the data centre,” says Allen. “And the only thing coming the other way is screen updates.”

“We work on the basis of 50k of bandwidth per active user,” says Scott Underwood, senior solutions specialist at IT and telecoms consulting firm Niu Solutions. “Really heavy graphics work could send it up.”

While bandwidth may be predictable, latency remains a challenge (and of course, a lack of the former will affect the latter). Users want a responsive machine, which means data must pass over the network fast enough so they don’t have to wait.

“Usually, if you experience latency of over 150ms, you’ll get calls to the helpdesk,” says Mark Edwards, technical director of network consulting firm Capital Networks. To be safe, aiming for a latency of a 0.1 seconds or under is best.

Latency is affected by the physical distance across the network, but that is not the only factor: other traffic travelling over the network to the data centre could force VDI traffic to queue up. Perhaps a remote backup spikes network traffic at a certain time of day, or voice over IP traffic creates problems. Requirements may also be seasonal. A retail network may look fine until that all-important fourth quarter when holiday sales pick up.

This makes proper baselining particularly important, and there may be a need for quality of service protection on the network. On IP networks, technology such as Cisco’s low-latency queuing is an option for guaranteeing bandwidth.

Allen cites one client who complained of terrible performance on the network. On further analysis, he found that an IP security camera was streaming traffic to a proxy server sitting in Switzerland. A simple design flaw was choking the network. The moral is always look for the simplest fix first.

WAN connections can create both latency and bandwidth problems, given the higher cost of throughput. Lock recommends WAN optimisation measures, such as traffic compression to reduce network overhead. “You can do things like putting more of the compressed traffic together into larger packets so that you’re not pushing traditional smaller IP packets up and down the line,” suggests Lock.

What about resiliency? Some Reg readers have worried about the potential service effects of a network dropping out. “In many organisations with one PC per desk, if someone’s machine fails at a critical time – say accounts running the payroll – they can often walk to another PC near to them and carry on working,” said one. “It’s not the same in a virtualised world.”

Edwards argues that many networks are simply not robust enough, especially in smaller businesses. Ideally, the situation calls for two of everything, including dual-honed switches and hot standby redundancy protocols. “You might have a number of access switches in the closet, and each of them would be dual-connected into pairs of distribution switches,” he says. “So, if a switch failed in the access layer, it would affect no more than 24 to 48 clients and there would be spare switches. It’s a cost-benefit decision.” ®

Average cost of data breaches to UK firms hits £1.9m in 2010 - 3/21/2011 - Computer Weekly

2011-03-21T13:19:00.000Z

Average cost of data breaches to UK firms hits £1.9m in 2010 - 3/21/2011 - Computer Weekly

UK SMEs Believe They Hold the Key to Economic Recovery in 2011 -> Cisco News

2011-03-15T13:30:00.000Z

UK SMEs Believe They Hold the Key to Economic Recovery in 2011 -> Cisco News

Twitter crime rate up 20 per cent | IT PRO

2011-03-10T09:51:00.000Z

Twitter crime rate up 20 per cent | IT PRO

73 Percent of Organizations Have Been Hacked At Least Once In The Last 24 Months Through Insecure Web Applications

2011-03-10T09:44:00.000Z

73 Percent of Organizations Have Been Hacked At Least Once In The Last 24 Months Through Insecure Web Applications

Cisco Announces Unified Communications Platforms for Small and Mid-sized Businesses and New Sales Productivity Initiatives

2011-03-04T14:56:00.000Z

Cisco Announces Unified Communications Platforms for Small and Mid-sized Businesses and New Sales Productivity Initiatives

Caution against ‘tick-box’ women board members - Wales News - News - WalesOnline

2011-03-02T15:31:00.000Z

Caution against ‘tick-box’ women board members - Wales News - News - WalesOnline

Mark Edwards becomes a Tiger Scheme Qualified Security Tester

2011-03-01T11:24:00.001Z

Despite a wealth of security focused accreditations, Capital Network Solutions is proud to announce that Mark Edwards has recently become a Tiger Scheme Qualified Security Tester (QST) with Distinction.

"With the ever increasing range of security threats, it is vital that we continually educate ourselves to ensure that we are providing the best possible service to our customers who entrust us with their critical business infrastructure", commented Mark.

Mark continued "As a company we have made a decision that with the increasing range of security services that we are providing we would like to work towards CHECK accreditation so this is an important step towards this."

We are now able to provide the below range of advanced security services including:
Network Penetration Testing
Ethical Hacking
Security Auditing Services
Advanced Security Network Design, Installation and Managed Services
Network Security Hardening

The TIGER Scheme Qualified Security Tester (QST) Course focuses on the following areas:
Information Security in the Corporate World
Professionalism & Communication Skills
Ethics & The Law
Core Network Protocols
Network Enumeration & Network Mapping
Network Device Management & Exploitation
Service Enumeration
Service Topology/Dependency Mapping
Service Management & Exploitation
Application Enumeration & Profiling
Application & Operating System (OS) Management
Application/OS Exploitation & Manipulation

Key points covered:
Key security standards and issues
Professional / ethical behaviour in the area of vulnerability testing
Key communications and project management skills for vulnerability testing
The OSI model of networking
IP, TCP, UDP and ICMP protocols including IP based routing and the TCP state chart
Key network services including DNS
How a TCP/IP network can be profiled and have its topology mapped
How to configure and manage a network device
How to subvert a network and bypass network based security mechanisms
The role and function of service in a network enabled environment and the techniques associated with service enumeration
How critical service dependences within a network enabled environment can be enumerated and validated
How services should be managed and can be manipulated and exploited
How applications and operating systems should be configured and managed, and the ways in which they can be subverted.

73 Percent of Organizations Have Been Hacked At Least Once In The Last 24 Months Through Insecure Web Applications

2011-02-10T09:20:00.004Z

As published by Barracuda Labs

Please contact us directly to discuss any security concerns that you may have about your website
» A Report from Ponemon Institute finds website attacks are the biggest concern for companies, yet 88 percent spend more on coffee than securing Web applications
» 69 percent of organizations rely on network layer firewalls to protect their websites, leaving Web applications wide open for attack
» 72 percent of organizations test less than 10 percent of their Web applications for security holes, some knowing they have been hacked in the past
Barracuda Networks Inc., Cenzic Inc. and the Ponemon Institute, today announced the results of the “State of Application Security Survey,” which reveals respondents’ perceptions and experiences protecting Web applications. The survey underscores the lack of adequate protection currently in use and overall insufficient resources and knowledge around Web application security.

According to 74 percent of respondents, Web application security is either more critical or equally critical to other security issues faced by their organizations. Despite this, the study shows there are many misconceptions around the methods used to secure Web applications, primarily Web application firewalls and vulnerability assessment.

“While it is encouraging to see that Web application security is on the minds of most organizations, there still seems to be a real disconnect between the desire and implementation of security countermeasures required for Web application security,” said Dr. Paul Judge, chief research officer and VP for Barracuda Networks. “The fact that 69 percent of respondents are relying upon network firewalls to secure Web applications is like relying upon a cardboard shield for protection in a sword fight – eventually your shield will prove that it’s insufficient and an attack will reach you that can fly past a network firewall.”

“The fact that a quarter of respondents could not provide a range for how many Web applications they have is a huge red flag right off the bat,” said Mandeep Khera, CMO for Cenzic. “Furthermore, that 20 percent of organizations do not test at all and 40 percent test only 5 percent of their Web applications is shocking. And, most of these companies have been hacked multiple times through insecure Web applications. If you know that burglars come through a broken door repeatedly wouldn’t you want to fix that door?”

Other key findings in the study include:
» Data protection (62 percent) and compliance (51 percent) were the top reasons for securing Web apps. Job protection was also a significant reason cited by 15 percent of respondents.

» Despite 51 percent listing compliance as a key driver for Web application security, 43 percent are not familiar with or have no knowledge of OWASP, a key component to compliance standards like PCI.

» With 41 percent reporting they have over 100 Web applications or more, the majority (66 percent) test less than 25 percent of these applications for vulnerabilities.

» More than half (53 percent) expect their Web hosting provider to secure their Web applications.

» Of those respondents who own a Web application firewall, nearly 2 times agreed that a reverse proxy is a better and more secure technology than a transparent bridge technology.

“While IT practitioners recognize the criticality of secure Web applications, their organizations do not provide adequate resources and expertise to manage the risk,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “Over half of the respondents we polled believe they do not have resources to detect and remediate insecure Web applications, and 64 percent said they believe that their organization have inadequate governance and usage policies.”

Barracuda Web Security Flex Provides Web Security With No Limits

2011-02-10T09:17:00.000Z

Barracuda Web Security Flex Provides Web Security With No Limits

2011 SMB Disaster Preparedness Global Survey

2011-02-02T16:36:00.001Z

Are you ready for a disaster in your small business?

2011 SMB Disaster Preparedness Global Survey

View more presentations from Symantec.

IT graduates not making the grade for IT jobs

2010-11-05T16:31:00.002Z

As published on Silicon.com

IT graduates are faring far worse than their peers when it comes to snagging a job, with graduate unemployment reaching its highest level in 17 years.

While total graduate unemployment stands at 8.9 per cent, IT graduates are facing unemployment rates of 16.3 per cent, according to the What do graduates do? report, published this week by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit.

Charlie Ball, the organisation's deputy director of research and one of the report's authors, told silicon.com that one of the reasons for higher IT unemployment is that technological innovation and development are occurring at such a fast rate that IT graduates may find their skills irrelevant.

"Graduates taking a three-year course studying a new technology when they begin may find their skills obsolete by the time they graduate," said Ball.

Poor communication from the IT industry about what skills are required could also be causing lower graduate employment rates, according to Ball. "Although there are shortages in some technology skills, graduates don't necessarily know what they are," he said.

IT graduates may also lose out to other graduates when applying for non-tech jobs because they lack experience. "IT graduates tend not to have as much work experience and so employers may prefer to go for the safer option of employing someone with a longer employment history," Ball told silicon.com.

He said IT graduates may also be pickier about jobs than other graduates: "Many see IT degrees as vocational so IT graduates are more likely to hold out for a relevant job."

The high proportion of male IT grads may also have an impact. "Females approach job searching differently - women appear more willing in general to initially take jobs that may not be their ideal," he added.

Changes to the job market as a result of offshoring could also be reducing the number of entry-level jobs available to new graduates.

Richard Holway, chairman of researcher TechMarketView, called for a "fundamental review of the visa system" for IT workers and said all IT companies operating in the UK should have to state the number of entry- level IT jobs they create in the UK as part of the awarding criteria for all government contracts.

"Why offshoring companies, which are responsible for over 20 per cent of SITS [software and IT services] in the UK market, should get away with creating practically zero entry-level jobs here is a disgrace which needs to be addressed urgently," he wrote in the company's UKHotViews newsletter .

Cloud Computing event

2010-11-05T11:39:00.003Z

We have been made aware of a "Cloud Computing" event that is taking place in Cardiff on 16 November 2010 that is being organised by the Digital Communications and the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Networks in partnership with Cardiff City Council and Hosted by BT.

BT CARDIFF International Data Centre, Ty Cynnal, Watkiss Way, Cardiff, CF11 0SW
16 November 2010 | 12.30 – 17:00

Cloud computing has become a subject of increasing interest over the last few years but what exactly is ‘Cloud’ and what does it mean for business both now and in the longer term?

This event really gets under the skin of Cloud Computing, examines the reality and looks at recent developments. There will also be opportunity to hear from businesses already using cloud services & gaining benefits, to quiz an expert panel and to workshop with other business people. This will help you to find out what the advantages and drawbacks are of commitment to the use of Cloud computing.
Whether provider or potential user of these emerging technologies and services, we would very much welcome your involvement and views and we believe that you could contribute greatly to the success of the event. At the same time, this provides you with the opportunity to voice your questions and opinions and to shape the future of Cloud computing to meet the needs of your business.

12:30-12:45 Registration

12:45-13:15 Lunch and networking

13:15-13:25 Introduction | Opening remarks from the Chair

13:25-14:00 Keynote Address | “Towards the Cloud!” An overview of a Cloud – delivery and deployment, market dynamics, opportunities and challenges | Ian Osborne; Director of the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network

14:00-14.30 What’s What in ‘Cloud’? | What can you do and what should you think about? | Ronan Miles; Director, Customer Innovation Solutions, BT Innovate & Design

14:30-14.55 Getting Ready for the Cloud | A quick look at the technical and non-technical stepping stones for cloud computing | Mahesha Pandit; Programme Manager – Scalable Computing, Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network

14:55-15:15 Refreshments

15:15-16:00 What can ‘Cloud’ do for me? | Case studies of the use of ‘Cloud’| Speakers tba

16:00-16:50 Panel session with the speakers | Moderator: Ian Osborne

16:50-17:00 Closing remarks from the Chair

Attendance at the forum is free - please visit Register to reserve your place.

IP Video Surveillance Systems Protect Small Business Assets

2010-11-02T12:03:00.003Z

Cisco Community Central: Innovators Forum: IP Video Surveillance Systems Protect Small Business Assets

Contact us to discuss how IP video surveillance can increase your business safety and increase profitability of your staff.

Gwent schools given IT boost from network specialist CNS

2010-10-27T12:41:00.004+01:00

South Wales based IT network specialist Capital Network Solutions (CNS) has installed new wireless networks into four Gwent schools using the latest technology to improve efficiency, cost-effectiveness and functionality.

Both Brynmawr Comprehensive School and Glyncoed Comprehensive School had new IT networks installed to expand and update old systems that were no longer efficient.

CNS also provided a system to the new Welsh medium primary school Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Helyg, that has been built in Nantyglo and which was opened its doors to pupils for the very first time in September. And Abertillery Comprehensive School has had a new state-of-the-art wireless system introduced as well as parts of the old network upgraded.

At Glyncoed, where the school is also now totally wi-fied, head teacher Colin James said: “We made a massive investment in ICT and the network was a part of this. It puts us at the forefront of technology and the benefits of that are numerous and affect everyone associated with the school.

“All the admin and curriculum systems and all staff are now linked as part of the same network. We have a sports hall that is quite a way from the rest of the school but we conquered that and it is now part of the network too.

“We have around 800 pupils and 48 teaching staff and in terms of every day functions it means all our teaching and admin resources can be accessed from a computer in any part of the school, making it so much more efficient to do everything, from taking registration to accessing top quality online learning materials.”

Similar improvements at Brynmawr Comprehensive School have been just as enthusiatically welcomed by head teacher James Retallick.

“As a keen IT user I saw the need to be wireless across the whole school site, so I was delighted to see CNS install a new network with wireless functionality across the school.

“It means IT goes to the pupils, instead of the pupils going to IT. For example, on the sports field a PE Teacher can now use a lap-top to demonstrate to pupils a perfect technique or a tactics.

“It also means pupils can take lap-tops from lesson to lesson so they don’t have to have PCs in different classrooms. The same applies to staff – a supply teacher can take a lap-top from class to class.”

Sarah Edwards, Managing Director at CNS, which is based in the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “Having new, top quality secure networks like those we’ve installed at Brynmawr, Glyncoed and at the new Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Helyg, makes a huge difference to the efficiency of schools and frees both teachers and pupils to get on with their primary aim – education – using all the wonderful tools available to them.

“These networks will not only last for a long time but can also be built upon so that new developments can be integrated with ease and at a relatively low cost. And they are, of course, much more energy efficient than the older networks, which is important from both financial and environmental perspectives.”

CNS has also worked in other schools outside the county borough and has just completed the installation of a state-of-the art 200-user IP telephony system in a West Country school that not only links the entire school together but enables staff to manage phone calls from any PC and convert voice messages left by callers into emails that are automatically sent to the intended recipient.

CNS empowers Welsh business via the funded E-Business Programme

2010-10-26T19:11:00.002+01:00

Take your business to the next level

Capital Network Solutions Ltd is an approved provider of specialist ICT advisory services that are funded as part of the E-Business programme within Wales.

The key purpose of this programme is to identify start up or growing businesses within Wales that wish to exploit technology to facilitate growth, increase productivity, ensure security and develop a competitive advantage.

The two elements within this programme include:

ICT Healthcheck - Opportunities to improve your ICT

Businesses can get support from an impartial consultant to undertake an "ICT diagnostic" or business health check.

An ICT Diagnostic will enable businesses to explore which key technologies they could benefit from, identify what and who within their business could benefit. At the end of the process, business managers are equipped with a detailed and enhanced understanding of how to go forward with a successful ICT integration project

E-Business Support Package - Businesses that need to extensively integrate new or improved ICT systems can draw upon e-Business Support.

Strategic E-Business Support will be accessible to businesses who wish to explore in more depth their ICT infrastructure, Specialists will be appointed to work with individual businesses to undertake needs analysis, system specifications, supplier selection and project manage implementation.

The kinds of ICT systems that the programme covers are limited only by the needs of the business concerned.

What to do next?
If you would like to find out more information on the eBusiness programme then contact Sarah Edwards on 0845 3054118 or email: sarah.edwards@capitalnetworks.co.uk

Alternatively you can contact the Welsh Assembly Government's FS4B Contact Centre on 03000 6 03000 or visit their website at: www.business-support-wales.gov.uk

Are your key staff as productive as they could be?

2010-10-06T09:47:00.004+01:00

As published on Silicon.com

Contact us to find out how we can provide your staff with flexible working options

ANALYSIS
Are you doing all that you can to enhance the productivity of your knowledge workers? It's a simple question, but one that few senior executives can answer.

Their confusion isn't for lack of trying. Organizations around the world struggle to crack the code for improving the effectiveness of managers, salespeople, scientists, and others whose jobs consist primarily of interactions—with other employees, customers, and suppliers—and complex decision making based on knowledge and judgment.1 The stakes are high: raising the productivity of these workers, who constitute a large and growing share of the workforce in developed economies, represents a major opportunity for companies, as well as for countries with low birthrates that hope to maintain GDP growth.

Nonetheless, many executives have a hazy understanding of what it takes to bolster productivity for knowledge workers. This lack of clarity is partly because knowledge work involves more diverse and amorphous tasks than do production or clerical positions, where the relatively clear-cut, predictable activities make jobs easier to automate or streamline. Likewise, performance metrics are hard to come by in knowledge work, making it challenging to manage improvement efforts (which often lack a clear owner in the first place). Against this backdrop, it's perhaps unsurprising that many companies settle for scattershot investments in training and IT systems.

Since knowledge workers spend half their time on interactions, our research and experience suggest that companies should first explore the productivity barriers that impede these interactions. Armed with a better understanding of the constraints, senior executives can get more bang for their buck by identifying targeted productivity-improvement efforts to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of the interactions between workers.

Among companies we've surveyed, fully half of all interactions are constrained by one of five barriers: physical, technical, social or cultural, contextual, and temporal. While individual companies will encounter some obstacles more than others, our experience suggests that the approaches to overcoming them are widely applicable.

Physical and technical barriers
Physical barriers (including geographic distance and differences in time zones) often go hand in hand with technical barriers because the lack of effective tools for locating the right people and collaborating becomes even more pronounced when they are far away. While these barriers are on the wane at many companies given the arsenal of software tools available, some large, globally dispersed organizations continue to suffer from them.

One remedy implemented by some organizations is to create "communities of practice" for people who could benefit from one another's advice—as the World Bank has done to help the 100 or so of its planners who focus on urban poverty to facilitate discussions on projects to upgrade slums. The communities feature online tools to help geographically dispersed members search for basic information (say, member roles and the specific challenges they are addressing) and sometimes use the latest social-networking tools to provide more sophisticated information, including whom the members have worked or trained with. By supplementing electronic tools with videoconferences and occasional in-person meetings, communities can bridge physical distances and build relationships.

Penetration testing - define your objectives

2010-10-05T11:44:00.002+01:00

Capital Network Solutions provides network penetration testing and reporting services including security auditing and hardening

Penetration testing is not always well understood by those purchasing such services. It is my belief that organisations could often obtain better value for money by considering other security assessment techniques, writes Lee Newcombe, principal consultant at Capgemini.

I describe the whole spectrum of penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, configuration and process reviews as security assessment. I use the term penetration testing in a purist manner; a penetration test will attempt to circumvent the security features of the system under test and then examine how far the tester can extend their access into the target organisation. A penetration test is not necessarily a comprehensive assessment of the security of an organisation; one weakness is all the tester needs.

Penetration tests can include logical, physical and personnel aspects and may involve techniques such as social engineering. A vulnerability assessment should attempt to identify all known weaknesses within the assessment scope but should not attempt to leverage identified weaknesses to penetrate into the organisation. Exploitation may be required to verify the existence of the vulnerabilities uncovered during a vulnerability assessment to avoid the false positives often reported by automated tools.

Organisations must first understand the rationale underlying their security assessment requirements before scoping any testing. Is it to improve security? To raise awareness of the impact of a compromise? To meet compliance requirements?

If the aim is to improve security, consider configuration reviews (operating system, database, web server, firewalls, network equipment, etc) and a process review - it is dull work, but cost-effective and some testing firms charge less for this kind of job.

Configuration reviews highlight infrastructure weaknesses without the false positives/negatives associated with misidentification of services by a remote unauthenticated scan. They are great for improving infrastructure security, but when it comes to application-level security, more active testing such as penetration testing must be considered. Configuration reviews will not detect input validation, session management or logic errors within applications.

Raising awareness of the impact of a compromise among budget holders is another sensible driver for a penetration test - in the current climate pointing out that a tester obtained customer data inside a day of testing may loosen a few purse strings.

If bringing in a testing provider, choose a reputable one - are they registered under the Check or Crest schemes? Are they a QSA or ASV if dealing with PCI DSS requirements? Do they have a history of security research and good client references? Do they have a rigorous approach towards test containment that reduces the risk of disruption? Can they demonstrate the necessary specialist expertise if performing application level assessments?

Good infrastructure testing skills do not imply any capability to adequately check application-level security. If they use the terms penetration testing and vulnerability assessment interchangeably, run away fast.

A thorough understanding of security assessment techniques, and strong relationships with trusted testing providers, are a vital part of an effective overall security strategy. A poorly thought out approach risks expensive testing that provides little real assurance or worse, a great deal of false confidence.

Why we should be more concerned with password authentication

2010-10-05T11:36:00.002+01:00

Published by ComputerWeekly.com

Capital Network Solutions are a CRYPTOCard Partner providing Two factor Authentication design, installation and support services

Passwords as the last means of protection beyond physical control have remained essentially unchanged for more than half a century. From a technology perspective, this single control is no more or less weak than it was when it was created during World War II. Yet the concept of the password has changed dramatically, writes Jason Hart, senior vice-president, Europe, at CRYPTOCard.

From a specialised, highly confidential code which was treated with respect, in today's world of ubiquitous social networking online it has become a commonplace means of accessing a range of personal and business services and information.

There are now many more ways in which we can access the web for both business and personal use - via laptops, handheld devices and remote terminals. Moreover, despite awareness efforts to promote secure password etiquette people naturally default to what is easy - using the same memorable password to access all of their services, whether it is online banking or Facebook.

As a result, the passwords themselves have become ubiquitously available, leaving their owners and often their employers vulnerable to data theft. Although corporations have invested heavily in securing systems and infrastructure, there remains an over-reliance on passwords to control or authenticate the access of the people using the services they support.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) - combining a physical card, soft or SMS-based token which generates a one-time password with a memorised personal security code - has emerged to provide more robust protection. Originally the domain of high-value transaction-based services such as online banking, 2FA is increasingly seen as a viable option for general internet-based commerce.

This is partially due to growing recognition of the problem. It can also be attributed to the introduction of passwords-as-a-service options, which are bringing the benefits of the cloud to the authentication market, so that SMEs can benefit from on-demand strong authentication without the need for up-front investment, integration of expensive servers or on-going support overhead. Even individuals who are becoming savvy about protecting their identity for their own benefit are beginning to appreciate such an ability to interact securely online.

Looking ahead, in meeting market demand for greater flexibility, software and SMS tokens will increasingly replace the physical device and integrate soft 2FA into the end-point device such as the laptop or Blackberry. At the same time, the ability of cloud-based authentication to reach out across multiple portals and applications will also provide the essential platform for developments such as federated ID, where an individual will use the same token to access their home-shopping account as in their professional business dealings.

We can expect the development of authentication to have close parallels with the growth of anti-virus systems.

Anti-virus has moved from "nice to have" status at a time when the level of threat was minimal to become an essential part of any computer installation. And as the risk advanced, so has the effectiveness of the solution. It is time to realise that passwords are outdated, while the availability of a more effective method of authentication has become essential.

Spending on ICT for education still on the curriculum

2010-09-23T09:20:00.003+01:00

As published on Public Technology.net

The demise of BECTA and the Building Schools for the Future programme have not deterred schools from planning continued investment in ICT for education.

The British Educational Suppliers Association’s (BESA) 2010 survey of 1,379 UK schools - 812 primary, 567 secondary – found that 58% of primary schools and 51% of secondary schools intended to press on with planned ICT investments for 2011-12.

That said, the sum spent on items such as laptops and desktops is predicted to decline, and as the overall price of technology declines schools will start looking for more volume for the same amount of money.

“The BESA ICT in UK State Schools research indicates that after year-on-year increases in ICT budgets since 2001, we are now naturally experiencing a reduction in estimated ICT allocations from school budgets,” said Ray Barker, director of BESA.

“However, despite financial pressures faced by schools, the survey indicates they are managing the cuts sensibly and with optimism. This is in part due to the efficient procurement of resources by many schools as well as a drop in prices of individual units. They may be spending less, but they can get more for their money.

The research also revealed that 71% of primary schools and 70% of secondary schools feel their teachers get good access to computer equipment for curriculum purposes while 88% of primary schools felt that they provided good internet access levels to teachers.

Schools also predicted that by 2011-2012 they will be well resourced in other IT areas, such as whiteboards. But when asked about digital content availability, only 48% of those polled regarded their schools as well resourced with that figure dropping to less than a third – 32% - in secondary schools.

“The figures show that there have never been so many computers and interactive whiteboards in UK classrooms,” said Barker. “Those schools indicating they feel under-equipped in vital ICT equipment, such as laptop computers and internet access for pupils, do so mainly because their levels of expectation have grown over recent years.“

Ofcom Communications Market Report Released

2010-08-25T08:50:00.005+01:00

Ofcom releases its 7th Communications Report

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/communications-market-reports/cmr10/internet-web/

Some interesting facts about the use of technology:

Broadband take-up has now reached 71 per cent.
Some 37 per cent of over 55s use email each day and 47 per cent use it weekly.
Social networking accounts for nearly a quarter of all time spent on the internet.
The average Facebook user spent 6.5 hours on the site during May 2010.
Usage of instant messaging declined from 14 per cent to 5 per cent.

UK
Industry metrics and summary

Social networking

Over 60% of 15-34 year olds access social networking sites on the internet at home
Facebook makes the largest contribution to the growing popularity of social networking
Social networking now accounts for a quarter of all time spent online
Facebook users spend more time social networking than users of other sites
A fifth of 16-24s time spent social networking is on mobile devices
Online and web-based advertising
Online advertising expenditure continued to grow through the economic downturn
Paid-for search now accounts for 6 of every 10 of online ad spend
Mobile advertising shows signs of growth...
...although revenues remain small

Internet take-up, by platform

Two-thirds of households with fixed connections use a WiFi network
Consumers are accessing the internet across more and more devices
Nearly a quarter of adults use their mobile phones to access data services
but some are not confident in using the web on their mobile
The demographics of internet access
Younger people are more likely to use the internet for leisure pursuits while older internet users tend to focus on functional activities
Nearly nine in ten internet users feel confident online
Internet audiences are highest around the Christmas period
The online audience is maturing as internet take-up among older people rises faster than among other age groups
Younger people make up a greater proportion of female internet users than of male internet users
The active online universe shows a skew towards ABC1 users
Internet users in Lancashire spend the most time using an internet-enabled computer

Internet use and consumption

Users aged 55+ are much more likely to use the internet for only a few activities
Consumers are increasingly using the internet to shop and save money
Online media content: playing games online is now as popular as downloading music and video
Search and communities is the most popular category of website
Google, Microsoft and Facebook are the most popular internet brands
The same top ten sites are popular across all age groups, differing only in order
Windows Live Messenger is the most popular internet application
Googles image search saw its reach grow by a third over the past year
Facebook is the most popular search term on Google
Consumers hold a range of views on the accuracy and impartiality of search engine results and some are indifferent

Mobile internet use

Facebook accounts for 45% of total time spent using the mobile internet
User-generated content
Apart from photo sharing and social networking, most internet users have little interest in UGC
User-generated content activities by age
Audiences for many user-generated content sites continue to grow
UGC sites
Concerns about the internet
Internet users are more likely than non-users to have concerns about the internet

Becta closure - the impact upon school security

2010-08-17T09:59:00.003+01:00

Becta Closure
Microscope.co.uk - UK - August 3, 2010-

Security community dissects impact of Becta closure

Neil Hollister, CEO of CRYPTOCard provides his comment on the impact of Becta closure.
With the closure of Becta announced by the government just weeks after the coalition took office, fears of the impact on schools' IT security have been rising, writes Amro Gebreel.
Acting as a provider of guidelines, there are now growing concerns that in the absence of Becta, schools will let policies lapse and expose themselves to potential problems.

We asked a panel of security industry specialists, if they think that the demise of Becta could be bad for schools security, because without a body recommending standards and practices school could end up falling foul of good security practices?
Ian Moyse, Webroot's EMEA Channel Director tells MicroScope that Webroot had been working closely with Becta over many months and were nearing certification.
Although the demise of Becta will not change the actual security Webroot provides, it strongly believes in the value of the validation and certification provided by independent organisations such as Becta, who focussed on specific security requirements for the education sector.

"Schools have an added challenge as compared to a corporate environment; not only that they are under as much threat from spam, malware and malicious content, but they also have higher responsibility to look after and protect the more susceptible users.

In addition, school computers are used by multiple users who have no personal ownership of any individual machine and thus are more likely to be relaxed about their usage. Security protection for children is paramount in this environment. The more independent security advice and guidance our education system can benefit from the better."

Oliver Hart, head of public sector sales at Sophos, says that Becta had many years' experience of working with schools, providing advice and strategy on the effective and innovative use of technology and highlighting areas of concern for educational establishments.

Sophos believes it is necessary to have an organisation focused on providing high quality ICT advice to schools, particularly at present when there is a move towards more free schools and academies with autonomy being directed more towards schools rather than traditional LEAs.

"Without this focus, there is a danger that a number of schools will have poor quality ICT security practices in place at a time when legislation and the level of threat is at the highest it has ever been.
At its worst, this could lead to loss of pupil data as well as a reduced availability of IT resources in the classroom."

Neil Hollister, CEO of CRYPTOCard agrees that Becta's advice on the need to secure remote access to IL3 data with 2 factor authentication was essential for schools.
With increasing remote access, whether from staff to access SIMS management data or from parents to access online reporting, the question of who is accessing this data is critical. The common password is the weakest link in IT security today and must be removed.

He asks how schools were to be educated and encouraged to do this without Becta?
Nick Billington, Managing Director, BitDefender UK, tells us that the huge popularity of certain technologies like social networking and mobile devices, combined with the challenge of controlling and monitoring access for user safety, highlights the huge challenge that schools face on a daily basis.

If you are concerned about your school's data security, contact one of our security advisors today.

Relying on Passwords

2010-07-05T18:37:00.004+01:00

As published in ComputerWeekly.com - UK - June 29, 2010-

Reliance on passwords is biggest security threat, says hacking expert

Passwords are fundamentally insecure and represent the biggest security threat facing organisations, says Jason Hart, senior vice-president for Europe at security firm Cryptocard.

Hart, a former ethical hacker, is able to demonstrate how easily available software can be used by hackers to capture every username and password of any user on a network.

Hackers are able to view the username and password victims type in to access e-mail systems, business systems and cloud services, even those using a secure internet protocol (https) or encryption.

It is impossible to protect anything that connects with the internet through any means against this kind of attack at the protocol level, he said.

As a CRYPTOcard partner, CNS would be happy to discuss the implication of secure passwords for your data security.

Hart also showed how Google search can be used to find the administrator's password for the database of a cloud-based service or back-ups that contain usernames and passwords.

Another common way of stealing usernames and passwords is to install invisible keyloggers on victim's computers.

"Because the hacker activity is invisible and may never be discovered, many people believe passwords are secure," said Hart.

Invisible keyloogers are in effect zero-day attacks that will by-pass most security software to steal user names and passwords, no matter how long or complex, he said.

"Complex passwords may take longer to guess, but offer no defence against keyloggers and other capturing tools," he said.

There are step-by-step guides available on YouTube on how to do this through legitimate-looking e-mails, said Hart.

Hackers can also use various simple social engineering techniques to target victims by posing as a member of a company's IT security team.

In this scenario, hackers send e-mails to new employees directing them to legitimate-looking web pages, where they are asked to type in and confirm their username and password.

"A simple search on Twitter is a very easy way to identify potential victims, with millions of people talking about new jobs with big-name organisations," said Hart.

Once a hacker has a valid username and password, they are able to access business IT systems undetected and then elevate user privileges to access sensitive information, he said.

Despite the threat, less than 5% of organisations around the world have adopted two-factor authentication methods, which can be rolled out easily for less than £2 a month, said Hart.

The threat will become even greater, he said, as more organisations start using cloud-based computing services that continue to rely entirely on passwords for protection.

Using passwords can result in a degree of complacency, according to William Beer, director of information security in the risk assurance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"There are ways around passwords and encryption, so they are by no means a silver bullet," he told Computer Weekly.

Organisations also typically confuse password protection with encryption, but if something is password protected, it does not necessarily mean it is encrypted, he said.

As a CRYPTOCard partner, CNS would be happy to discuss the implications for ensuring secure passwords and authentication methods. For further information, please click here

How to supercharge your IT department

2010-06-18T10:00:00.004+01:00

Really interesting article published on Silicon.com:

INTERVIEW

Organisations that feel their IT department is still failing to deliver but can't figure out why should take heart - university researchers in the US may well have the answer.

Researchers in the Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have looked at the IT departments in a variety of companies and determined they typically come in two flavours - order takers and business-change drivers.

Order takers are stuck within companies that have a one-way dialogue with their IT department - where techies are treated as drones whose role is simply to unquestioningly provide the IT services demanded by business managers.

In contrast, business-change drivers have an understanding of how the IT services they provide serve the goals of the organisation, how to maximise the benefits of technology for their bosses, and are more likely to have an input into overall business strategy.

CISR researchers found that organisations whose IT departments are business-change drivers typically enjoy bigger profit margins, spend less money on running their IT infrastructure (62 per cent of IT spend as opposed to 70 per cent among order takers) and on average deliver business benefits from IT change projects 33 per cent faster than order takers.

However, despite the evidence showing the benefits of being a business-change driver, Dr Jeanne Ross, director of CISR, said roughly half of organisations today are still running their IT departments as order takers.

Ross sat down with silicon.com to discuss the difference between the two IT department models and how an organisation can make sure its tech function is a business-change driver.

What characterises failing IT departments? The order takers

"There is this idea that all the creative thinking about the business is the business people's job and it is the IT people who deliver," Ross said.

As a result, organisations have historically been focused on trying to make IT a better order taker. However, in doing so, they are trying to fix what is a broken system, Ross said.

"The most problematic outcome of this is that you get business silos, because you have so many people with individual business objectives, each placing individual orders," she said.

The fragmented nature of this IT infrastructure means it is difficult to get the company's technology working together as a coherent whole, Ross said, and so realise the greatest efficiencies.

What characterises successful IT departments? The business change drivers

Where an organisation treats the IT department as a business-change driver, IT staff are not just implementing the organisation's technology but are helping decide what tech should be implemented in order to push the business forward.

"It's about the IT department working with the business people to make sure that enterprise-wide objectives - and their impact on technology and process - are better understood, so IT becomes this strategic cog in the wheel," Ross said.

"If we are going to get more strategic in our use of technology and the design of our business processes then the IT department is the critical player in making that happen."

If the IT department is going to be able to perform this strategic role, Ross said it is necessary for the organisation to ensure the CIO and his staff understand the business side of the organisation, from corporate goals to the workings of business processes.

"As individual business people come up with ideas, it becomes the responsibility of IT people to position those ideas within the bigger picture," she said.

How to turn an IT department into a business-change driver

The journey to becoming a business-change driver must start with making the organisation's underlying IT infrastructure robust and reliable, Ross said, minimising the annoyances that result from setbacks like service outages and network lag.

"To become a change driver the first thing that companies do is to get their IT act together. Before the IT department can talk to the business they must be first rate at what they do," she said.

According to Ross, this can be achieved in a number of ways, from tech infrastructure revamps to staff training, but she said business-change drivers typically follow clear guidelines on how to get the best out of the IT infrastructure.

"The business-change drivers have installed best practice - that might be Itil practices but they certainly have implemented their own discipline around project methodology and around infrastructure services, and tend to invest more heavily in IT staff development," she said.

This robust approach to detail extends to contracts with IT service providers too.

"They also often have service level agreements that really drive lowering costs and improving quality," she said.

The key outcome is that the IT infrastructure is reliable enough on a day-to-day basis that business people have confidence that technology can support and transform business operations.

"You need everyone in the company to believe that IT underpins their business processes - that they can be confident that IT is going to deliver," she said.

"As you become more of a business-change driver, you are saying 'Whatever you do, don't worry about the technology, it will be there for you'."

What skills does a successful CIO need today?

"When you have got to clean up IT, you need one kind of a CIO - who's strong technically, who's a turnaround artist, who doesn't mind bruising a few feelings," Ross said. "Someone who will say: 'I'm pulling out cost, I'm doing things differently, I'm making things happen'."

The successful CIO will work closely with the management board to align IT programmes with business goals.

"They work with the senior management team to define the role of IT, to better understand enterprise process, to initiate and sometimes head up process improvement," she said.

Often the most important skill that the successful CIO should have is not technical ability but rather the ability to manage people and the vision of how to achieve corporate goals.

"That's a manager who often comes from the business side, as is the case at companies like Intel for example," Ross said.

"This is an example of companies saying 'Here is a great manager, let's put this person in charge of IT'.

"This transitions you from a focus on making IT good, to making the company operationally superior - which really requires a different skillset."

Why mega-projects must die

Ross feels that even the largest and lengthiest of IT change programmes should be broken into smaller parts so they can be delivered more quickly.

"I would argue that when you have a six-year ERP implementation, you can't say 'OK guys, you will see some benefits in six years'," she said.

"You have to break that down to smaller modules so the organisation will start seeing benefits straight away - you need to get something in in the next year, so the organisation can see and use it, and understand how to drive value from it."

The other benefit of this piecemeal approach to project delivery, Ross said, is that project managers can learn from setbacks and successes in early modules, and refine their approach when implementing later stages.

"The ideal is 90 days, which is not real - I don't think we can boil everything down to 90 days," she said.

"But I do think we can take the big projects and say, instead of trying to achieve all the things we want, what is the single most important thing and how do we get it in?"

Business backing is vital to an IT project's success

"If you don't get that business engagement it is over and done - stop," Ross said.

Shared services and the successful IT department

On average, business change drivers receive the majority (60 per cent) of their IT services through shared services, CISR research found.

"They are more reliant on shared services, and those shared services are more mature," Ross said.

"They have more discipline around defining those services, pricing those services, delivering those services and defining the role of the product manager and service manager."

Ross said that once organisations became proficient at establishing and running internal shared services centres for back office services, such as HR and finance, they are more likely to branch out into offering further shared services within the organisation.

"When you get good at back office you ask yourself 'Are there other things that don't qualify as back office that we all share?'" she said.

"For example at Procter & Gamble they have 250 product managers that share needs, and they have been able to move into offering shared services for things like packaging design."

Why organisations should steer clear of running shared services centres that provide services to outside organisations

While an organisation may be able to make money by expanding its internal shared services operation to sell services to third parties, Ross said that such an approach should be avoided.

"These do not tend to be long-term successes and there are obvious reasons why," Ross said.

"You have this problem of sub-optimising what you are doing internally in order to meet the needs of external customers.

"I don't think that we have ever learnt how to resolve that."

How analysing business data will provide organisations with a competitive edge

"Becoming really good at using information effectively is really hard but essential. It absolutely is going to be a source of competitive advantage," Ross said.

Before organisations can effectively analyse business information they need to first identify where the same information is being captured multiple times across the variety of databases that will exist within the average business, Ross said.

"We need them to be consistent - that's why there's so much emphasis on master data management," she said.

Once an organisation has simplified the way it captures data it can begin properly linking that data to other information that it has, and use it to gain insights into the best way to run that organisation.

"You read the literature and you would think that this had been going on since 1990, but this hasn't been going on because we couldn't work out how to do it. It's incredibly hard to do this well," Ross said.

An example given by Ross is 7-Eleven Japan, a Japanese retail store studied by CISR, which uses data such as what products sold yesterday or on the same day last year to help predict what goods are likely to sell on any particular day.

However, Ross believes that, in general, organisations are still too uncertain about the exact nature of the information that is being captured to be able to use it to gain truly useful insights.

"There's still much confusion around what are the attributes of the customer that we can all agree on across the organisation and how to capture those attributes consistently," she said.

"It's not like that's a technical problem - if nobody knows what they're talking about and you can't fix that technically."

There is also a lot of potential for organisations to gain useful insights from unstructured data: data that is not stored within the organisation's databases.

Ross gave the example of how 7-Eleven Japan could use weather reports to predict what kind of meals might be popular on a given day, for instance in general hot meals would be more likely to sell on a cold day.

However, said Ross, most organisations are a long way from being able to routinely analyse such information.

Fundamentals of Cisco EnergyWise

2010-06-09T16:59:00.000+01:00

Why do we promote and provide flexible working solutions?

2010-06-09T13:17:00.003+01:00

Interesting article published today in the Western Mail:

Employees want more flexible working
Jun 9 2010 by Graham Henry, Western Mail

COMPANIES in Wales have to respond to a demand for more flexible working conditions, says an economic development agency.

Chwarae Teg, which specialises in the economic development of women in the workplace, has warned that Welsh companies are “missing out” on the opportunity to improve staff performance and motivation.

The agency runs Agile Nation – a £12.5m project funded by the European Social Fund and the Welsh Assembly Government – which was set up to promote the benefits of flexible working to employers in Wales.

The warning comes after a survey revealed that employees believe flexible working to be the most valuable benefit that can be offered to staff, beating many other financial rewards.

Flexible working arrangements were rated the most important benefit by 47% of workers surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, coming above performance bonuses (19%).

A significant number of both men (41%) and women (54%) prioritised flexible working – ranking the benefit the most valuable within the workplace.

The survey found that a good company pension plan was the prime perk for 15% of respondents, making it the third most popular benefit.

Benefits of less significance were paid time-off to do social or humanitarian work (7%) and paid training (6%).

Chwarae Teg’s Hayley Dunne, manager of the Agile Nation project, said organisations in Wales are missing out on the opportunities flexible working presents.

She said: “With big financial rewards in short supply in the current climate, all employees are looking for broader benefits. This survey shows that flexible working is an issue that affects men and women equally, and the benefits to employers are incredibly powerful.

“Welsh companies that can adapt to the growing demand for flexible working will be best placed to boost morale and keep their best talent when the job market improves.”

Ms Dunne said that flexible working practices had proven to reduce costs, increase productivity and “markedly improve” staff retention and motivation.

“However, managing flexible working and workers can be a challenge and for that reason we find that many companies are shying away from addressing the issue,” she said.

“More employees are expected to be given the right to ask for flexible work arrangements under the new coalition government, so it’s crucial that organisations take a proactive approach to this opportunity.”

Chwarae Teg also said that the number of men responding favourably to flexible working practices showed that it was a pan-gender issue.

“It’s interesting to note that 41% of men would value flexible working over any other benefit which helps dispel the myth that flexible working is a ‘women’s issue’.

“Compare these findings with research carried out by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) 2008, which found that men are nearly twice as likely to have their requests for flexible working refused than women – 23% versus 13% – and it’s clear that it’s a pan-gender issue and one of growing importance to men.

“It’s important that employers realise that everybody in the workplace can benefit from the flexibility to balance work commitments with responsibilities and interests outside of work, and the business benefits are clear.”

Chwarae Teg was set up as a body dedicated to improving the economic opportunities of women and to run the Agile Nation, which was set up to help more than 600 employers take advantage of the benefits of flexible working.

The project offers help to employers to encourage them to address inequalities in the workplace, including implementing work-life balance and flexibility through organisational mapping, implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) to allow remote working and an exemplar employer award.

Michael Rendell, head of human resource services at PwC, said: “Two years of recession have changed people’s attitude towards work.

“With companies mindful of taking on new employees, existing staff have been expected to do more with less.

“With bonuses unpredictable in uncertain economic conditions, employees are looking for broader benefits.”

Cisco Smart Carbon research 2010

2010-06-07T21:46:00.003+01:00

Cisco/Greenbang Smart Carbon Research 2010

2010 is set to herald an unprecedented change in the way UK businesses manage carbon emissions through the first stages of government legislation that will force a reassessment of energy usage.

April will see the arrival of Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme legislation, designed to incentivise energy efficiency and reduce energy use.

Cisco, in conjunction with Greenbang.com commissioned a report asking respondents how they think companies in the UK can be more energy efficient. It covers usage of and openness towards energy-saving technologies, awareness of legislation and its impact, and what are perceived to be the most significant trends in energy reduction.

Key findings include:

•58% of respondents believe carbon monitoring and measurement will have the most significant impact on reducing emissions for UK businesses,
•62% think that the CRC legislation is "essential" but 40% describe it as confusing,
•96% agree that technology can help in achieving carbon reduction targets.

Download the complete report here

Cloud Computing - What are Cisco doing about it?

2010-06-07T21:41:00.002+01:00

Cisco is working with its partners in a variety of ways to help evolve cloud computing security and the cloud market overall. These initiatives include product development, collaboration with technology partners, and the company's collaboration in standards bodies and industry groups.

Current initiatives include:

• The Cloud Security Alliance: a non-profit organization consisting of such corporate members as Cisco, AT&T, Computer Associates, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and RSA. The alliance promotes best practices for cloud computing security and offers education to consumers of cloud computing services. For example, the Cloud Security Alliance's March 2010 report, "Top Threats to Cloud Computing V1.0," offers a deep dive into the most prevalent cloud computing security risks, along with examples and strategies for avoiding or minimizing those threats.

• CloudAudit: formerly known as the Automated Audit, Assertion, Assessment and Assurance (A6) Working Group, CloudAudit is working to provide an open, extensible, secure Application Programming Interface (API). CloudAudit has over 250 members. When the API is ready, cloud providers will be able to offer customers visibility into security and other aspects of the cloud service on demand, without compromising the security of the cloud provider's network or any other customers using it.

•The shared, virtualized Cisco Data Center 3.0 architecture and solutions from Cisco and partners such as VMware, EMC and NetApp, lets enterprises build their own secure, scalable private clouds.

•Cisco, with its partners, is helping service providers deliver more secure private or virtual private cloud services to their customers. For example, Cisco, NetApp, and VMware recently announced they are working together to deliver greater security in virtualized cloud computing environments.

•Cisco continues to bolster cloud computing security with its own products and services. The company recently introduced major enhancements to its cloud security platform with Cisco IronPort Email Data Loss Prevention and Encryption and Cisco ScanSafe Web Intelligence Reporting. The new cloud-based services build on the Cisco Secure Borderless Network architecture with enhanced Web reporting and data-loss prevention for e-mail.

For more about cloud computing security, visit "Cloud Security Introduction" on Cisco.com.

Written by James A. Martin
James A. Martin is a freelance writer based in San Francisco.

Five Tips for Improving Your Small Business Computer Networking

2010-04-12T14:07:00.004+01:00

Your small business network is more than just the glue that connects your computers to your printers or gives you access to your information. Your network connects your small business to your community-employees, partners, suppliers, and customers-anywhere, any time.

Yet, small business computer networking is often considered an afterthought to larger business strategy. Networks are cobbled together by decision makers looking for enterprise-level solutions with consumer-level price tags. Many small businesses cannot maintain a dedicated IT staff (or employee) to maintain their network, and they may fail to consider the role of the network in future business needs. Network maintenance becomes an issue of disaster control instead of a preplanned approach for growth.

Any small business can scramble to fight fires, but successful businesses plan for network growth the same way they plan for revenue growth or headcount growth.

Here are five small business computer networking tips to get you started.

Use Business-Grade Network Technology

"People buy consumer-grade products," says Rick Moran, Cisco vice president of small business marketing. "They don't think it through, and then they're surprised that they had credit card numbers stolen or that their database has disappeared."

Consumer networking products lack the comprehensive features and enhancements that support more complex, secure administration and management. At the same time, troubleshooting becomes more difficult when a flotilla of different manufacturers power a small business's networking environment.

"People buy consumer-grade products. They don't think it through, and then they're surprised that they had credit card numbers stolen or that their database has disappeared."

- Rick Moran, Cisco vice president of small business marketing.

Not only is it harder to pinpoint the source of a network problem in this case, but the devices themselves-often constrained to just blinking lights for diagnostics-won't provide the same kind of warnings and analytics as business-grade networking devices.

Make Sure Network Bandwidth Will Meet Current and Future Demands

"When we work with a small business, we'll spend most of our time in a discovery meeting. When we have the opportunity, we think it's important to analyze our customer's entire network infrastructure for future growth," says Neal Morgan, sales engineer for Special Order Systems, a Cisco partner.

Proper planning that weighs estimated network use against potential equipment purchases gives a small business the ability to predict and prevent future bottlenecks before they occur. As more bandwidth-intensive applications consume a business's operations, they're going to put a strain on the network that could affect service quality for customers and employees, says Morgan. A small business needs to get in front of this wave.

"The worst thing you can do is to assume that because nothing has changed in your business, your business network hasn't changed," Cisco's Moran says. "Users are generally going to add a load on your network that you won't always know about."

Plan Ahead to Avoid Network Downtime

To avoid downtime, businesses should identify existing network issues and concerns - and, if necessary, replace aged or legacy networking equipment - before planning a network upgrade.

"If your network goes down, I think it really boils down to this: How much will it cost your company to not perform in a particular business day?" Morgan says.

Many small business decision makers are unaware of how poor network planning can manifest itself in the context of a company's typical operations. And it's not just a question of the raw dollars and cents it takes to replace a failed product.

Depending on the hardware malfunction, a network hiccup could take a small business offline for an entire day. It might be a sting to a small business to have to face the extensive fees associated with emergency IT support; however, it could be crippling if a customer-or potential customer-can't access the key components a small business delivers. That's lost revenue and a damaged relationship.

Keep an Eye on Network Performance

Poor network performance can be a key indicator that it's time to take a closer look at your network.

"When people start complaining that the network's slow or sluggish-'I'm trying to access my application and it takes forever for the screen to refresh,'-that's a pretty obvious warning sign that it's time to upgrade," says Rees Roberts, CEO of IS Works, a Cisco Partner.

A number of business networking hardware products can analyze and assess the performance of network traffic over the course of the device's life. They'll automatically report service delays and calculate the time customers or employees spent waiting for a specific networking process.

In additions, businesses can tap trusted third parties such as Cisco partners for such services as network assessments, continuous network monitoring for reliability or on-site analysis to identify the precise location of network bottlenecks.

It's equally important to listen to employees. Third-party management can often resolve a problem before users know it has occurred.

"The first signs of distress are probably going to manifest themselves at a user's desktop," Moran says. "Users can see performance degradations-hour clocks and spinning hands will start to take longer. They can also see network outages, too."

Map Network Upgrades in Relation to Long-Term Business Goals

An upgrade shouldn't just be a stopgap for a failed networking solution. Network hardware upgrades can help a business increase its ability to interact with customers, improve access to internal information, boost efficiency and even avoid costs.

"When you perform a network upgrade, you find you're more compatible with other products and other platforms that are out there," Morgan says. "As your business grows and your company expands in size, you can easily scale and utilize features and functionality supported by the newly upgraded networking equipment."

An upgrade also can allow a business to leverage new technologies or applications without worrying if the network can handle them.

"If small businesses upgrade their network with some sort of mid-term goal in mind, it makes it a lot easier for them to add services in the future," says Roberts. "That allows them to be more productive, do more with less, and add new dimensions to the business."

Introduction to our new starters

2010-02-19T13:20:00.005Z

Welcome to Leah Frazer our new Office Manager and Robert Rowe our Helpdesk Manager.

Avoid business disasters by backing up your data

2010-01-26T10:23:00.002Z

What would happen within your business if the server failed, data was lost and staff couldn't work?

With an increasing reliance on technology for all aspects of business operations, a reliable and thoroughly tested business continuance plan should be in place.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you back up your data on a daily basis? If not, what would happen if you had a server failure overnight?
Have you tested that your current back up procedure is reliable and that data can actually be restored if needed? If not, what use will those tapes be in the event of a loss?
How old is your hardware and what strain are you placing it under - how much data do you have, how many applications are installed?
If your needed to replace your server how long would it take to get a replacement and what impact would that have on your business if staff couldn't work?
What would your customers think if you couldn't provide pricing, proposals or tell them stock levels due to your IT being down?

If these questions are making you think, follow our 10 point plan below and call us for a no obligation discussion about how small steps can be put in place to protect your business.

1.Automate as many backup procedures as possible to reduce human error.
2.Back up regularly - and continually if you can.
3.Don't rely on a single back up, take copies and ensure offsite copies.
4.Keep the primary and back-up copies in different physical locations.
5.Employ a combination of online and offline back-up facilities.
6.Ensure that your employee Emails and any local files are also backed up.
7.Create an archive of old tapes, devices and Hard Drives.
8.Ensure good housekeeping to ensure that the data being backed up is relevant
9.Initiate a manual back-up from time to time.
10.Complete regular data restores to ensure validity of data.

Customer satisfaction success for CNS once again

2010-01-22T14:25:00.002Z

Capital Network Solutions is delighted to announce that once again we have excelled in independent Cisco Customer Satisfaction Surveys.

Providing an excellent service to all our customers on a pre and post sales basis is at the core of our business. Ensuring a high level of professionalism and knowledge whilst remaining at the forefront of emerging technologies is crucial to our success.

On an annual basis, CNS must achieve a minimum customer satisfaction score to maintain our premier partnership with Cisco. Every year we are very proud to receive such support from our valued customers who rate us on all aspects of their interactions with us.

CNS has recently achieved a score of 4.72 / 5 whilst all of our customers have listed us as their trusted advisor and prefered partner.

If you are not satisfied with the support and service that you are receiving from your existing provider, please call us to discuss how you can benefit from working with CNS.

£500K Data Loss Fines could hit from April

2010-01-15T12:45:00.005Z

IF you are concerned about the security of your data, contact CNS for advicewww.capitalnetworks.co.uk

According to a report published on Silicon.com, companies that lose individuals' sensitive personal data will face a fine of up to £500,000 under powers expected to come into force from April.

The powers will allow the UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, to fine private and public sector organisations that commit a serious breach of the Data Protection Act.

Justice minister Michael Wills laid a statutory instrument before Parliament on Tuesday, setting the maximum fine at £500,000. The instrument will become law by default on 6 April this year, unless Parliament objects.

Organisations will be fined if the information commissioner feels the data breach resulted from a deliberate act or negligence and is likely to cause damage or distress to an individual.

Examples of scenarios that could incur a fine include an individual becoming a victim of identity fraud after their financial data is lost by a company, or if a person suffers anxiety about sensitive personal information leaking out after their medical data is stolen.

Information commissioner Christopher Graham said in a statement: "As citizens, we are increasingly asked to complete transactions online, with the state, banks and other organisations using huge databases to store our personal details.

"When things go wrong, a security breach can cause real harm and great distress to thousands of people."

Under the ICO's current powers, the strongest sanction the watchdog has against organisations that lose data is to serve them with an enforcement notice requiring them to improve data security or face legal action.

The latest ICO figures show that 711 businesses, government bodies and charities have suffered data security breaches between 2007 and 2009.

Of these organisations more than 200 were private companies and 209 were NHS health trusts and bodies.

Is the UK ready to cut it's CO2 emissions?

2009-12-15T15:08:00.002Z

As published on Silicon.com, the UK is one of the best prepared countries in the world to use IT to cut its CO2 emissions, according to a study presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The ICT Sustainability Index, launched last Thursday, modelled and predicted the size of the reductions in CO2 emissions that each country in the G20 group of nations could achieve by using new technologies.

Countries were then ranked in order of those whose economy, infrastructure and laws put them in the best place to realise the biggest cuts, with the UK placed joint third with Brazil, France and Germany.

Ranked ahead of the UK was Japan, which topped the index, and the US, which followed in second place.

Nearly six billion tonnes of CO2 emissions could be saved by 2020 through the use of IT, according to the study by analyst house IDC.

The index looked at how 17 technologies - including teleconferencing, digital media and smart grids - could cut emissions in the energy, transport, industrial and building sectors.

The report also stressed the importance of businesses using server and storage virtualisation and thin client technology to cut the carbon footprint of corporate datacentres.

How do you choose an IT supplier/support company?

2009-10-26T14:51:00.003Z

What should you look for in an IT supplier?

ICT is seen as a highly technical and specialist subject and many people find it confusing, especially with the amount of jargon that is used. For the inexperienced or non-specialist ICT Purchaser, choosing a solution or selecting a Supplier can be a daunting task.

Most business people need help with ICT purchasing. 86% of small businesses interviewed for research carried out for Accredit UK acknowledged that the success of an ICT purchase depends upon the Purchaser as well as the Supplier. 71% of businesses also explicitly cited the need for a guide to good practice. Research undertaken by Royal Holloway, University of London, concludes that lack of expertise means that most small firms fail to make best use of their IT.

As a new IT system can be a significant investment, it's important to choose the right system and supplier. Before you choose an IT supplier you should:

* find out whether the supplier can provide all the hardware, software, services, support and maintenance you need
* check whether they will install and configure your system so it's fully operational
* ask whether they will train your staff
* confirm what frontline support they can provide - eg a telephone helpdesk
* ask whether they will take responsibility for system components purchased elsewhere
* investigate what sort of maintenance contracts they provide
get details of what exactly is included in their supply contract
* find out what sort of warranty they provide
* confirm whether they will continue to provide support if you take responsibility for replacing faulty hardware yourself
* find out if they will accept payment for the system only when it is installed and working to your satisfaction
* ask whether upgrades and fixes to software are included in the price
* ask them to provide references from other, similar companies they've helped in the past
* ask whether they will provide you with written documentation that will help you understand your system
* decide whether you feel they understand your business needs
* ask about any experience they may have in your industry
* ask whether they are happy for you to test the proposed system, perhaps under a non-disclosure agreement
* find out whether they are financially viable and able to meet your requirements in the foreseeable future

Don't fall victim to "Scareware"

2009-10-19T17:03:00.001+01:00

Report from the BBC
Online criminals are making millions of pounds by convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software, internet security experts claim.

Symantec says more than 40 million people have fallen victim to the "scareware" scam in the past 12 months.

The download is usually harmful and criminals can sometimes use it to get the victim's credit card details.

The firm has identified 250 versions of scareware, and criminals are thought to earn more than £750,000 each a year.

Franchised out

Scareware sellers use pop-up adverts deliberately designed to look legitimate, for example, using the same typefaces as Microsoft and other well-known software providers.

They appear, often when the user is switching between websites, and falsely warn that a computer's security has been compromised.

If the user then clicks on the message they are directed towards another site where they can download the fake anti-virus software they supposedly need to clean up their computer - for a fee of up to £60.

Con Mallon, from Symantec, told the BBC the apparent fix could have a double impact on victims.

"Obviously, you're losing your own hard-earned cash up front, but at the back end of that, if you're transacting with these guys online you're offering them credit card details, debit card details and other personal information," he said.

"That's obviously very valuable because these cyber criminals can try to raid those accounts themselves or they can then pass them on or sell them to others who ultimately will try to use that information to their benefit not yours."

The findings were revealed in a report written following Symantec analysis of data collected from July 2008 to June 2009. Symantec said 43 million people fell for such scams during that period.

It has become so popular that the rogue software has been franchised out.

Mr Mallon said some scareware took the scam a step further.

"[They] could hold your computer to ransom where they will stop your computer working or lock up some of your personal information, your photographs or some of your Word documents.

"They will extort money from you at that point. They will ask you to pay some additional money and they will then release your machine back to you."

The scam is hard for police or other agencies to investigate because the individual sums of money involved are very small.

Therefore, experts say users must protect themselves with common sense and legitimate security software.

'Steal your identity'

Tony Neate, from Get Safe Online, told the BBC the threats presented by the internet had changed in recent years.

"Where we used to say protect your PC... we've now got to look at ourselves, making sure we're protected against the con men who are out there," he said.

"They want you to help them infect your machine. When they've infected your machine it's possibly no longer your machine - you've got no control over it.

"Then what they're looking to do is take away your identity, steal bits of your identity, or even get some financial information from you."

He added: "They used to be 16-year-olds in their bedrooms causing damage with viruses. Now those 16-year-olds have grown up [and] they're looking for money, they're looking for information."

2009-10-01T12:13:00.005+01:00

Have you thought about how technology could improve your business during these difficult times?
We would love to hear your comments: info@capitalnetworks.co.uk

For further information on business enabling solutions visit our website
www.capitalnetworks.co.uk

Rethinking technology drives recovery

"We've improved our cash flow, productivity, and customer service. And now we're adding revenues," says Jeff Langley, IT director for Southern Fasteners, a 75-employee distributor of industrial fasteners.

Drawn by the cost savings and advanced capabilities of IP phone systems, the seven-site firm invested in a Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) in 2008. "Our timing with our new voice network was perfect," says Langley.

Southern Fasteners halved its telecommunications expenses. It also improved customer service and increased employee productivity. And it did it all while the recession was shrinking business for its customers-manufacturers and maintenance/repair operations. The new IP phone network also helped Southern Fasteners rebuild revenues by opening two more branches in new markets.

"Rather than stopping growth because setting up and managing new branches had been such a headache, Southern Fasteners began to rethink their way of doing business," says Jen Wong, principal at Dynamic Quest, a Cisco Premiere Certified Partner that is also a Cisco Select Certified Partner (a reseller that specializes in serving small businesses). "We showed them ways new technology could help."

Together, Dynamic Quest and Langley put the voice network to work, speeding Southern Fasteners' business recovery with these strategies:

Raise Revenues by Getting Better and Bigger

Surpass competitors. "One of our differentiators is that we meet customers' needs proactively and long-term," says Langley. "Communicating and building relationships are key." The voice system and its direct inward dialing capability route hundreds of incoming customer calls daily directly to whatever employee is best able to help the customer, even if that employee is working from home or traveling. It also encourages conversations and conference calls because of their low cost.
Don't lose revenues. Make sure that customers can place orders; don't lose calls. Southern Fasteners significantly increased its annual sales simply by investing in a reliable network to replace a system that failed periodically.
Move into new markets. The communications platform at Southern Fasteners headquarters makes expansion cost-effective because it supports up to 50 four-digit extensions; each branch needs only a router, a switch, and IP phones. Customers perceive that the handling of their calls occurs at their local branch.

Control Labour Costs by Increasing Productivity
Automate recurring tasks. "Our employees can quickly and easily do everything; they have all the tools they need at their fingertips. Four-digit dialing, transferring calls, and unified messaging save everyone time," says Langley.
Reduce technology-related labour costs. Southern Fasteners' employees no longer must stop work every few months while their system is reconfigured. The new system ended that. The firm has also trimmed its hiring and overtime of IT staff, outsourcing service and support of both its voice network and data network to the expertise of its reseller, Dynamic Quest.

Improve Cash Flow and Profits by Cutting Overhead

Reduce telecom expenses. With its new system, Southern Fasteners cut its telecommunications expenses by about $2000 monthly. After its 3-year lease ends, it will own the system outright, and the cash flow increase will rise to $3500 monthly.
Do it yourself, and over the web. Southern Fasteners also saves hundreds of dollars monthly by hosting its own large conference calls. In addition, its IT staff no longer have to travel to branches or manage local providers for simple services such as setting up phones or running call reports. They now do these tasks on the web.

Reevaluate Your IT Suppliers

Choose a vendor with products and services designed for a business like yours. Do your network solutions demand too much time, skill, coddling, or coordination? Does the vendor offer the warranties and financing you need? "Some small businesses think Cisco is too expensive for them. Our experience is the opposite," says Langley. "Cisco is saving us money, and helping us make money."
Find a reseller that goes above and beyond. "Unlike 'order takers,' Dynamic Quest is a partner that helps us achieve business strategies," Langley says. "They have a high level of expertise, take time to understand our needs, and are proactive. They recommend the best solutions, and they ensure our network works."

Invest in your customers to succeed through the hard times

2009-06-03T14:22:00.004+01:00

If you would like to discuss any information within the article, please contact us via our website.

According to an article published on Cisco.com, these days even bullish financial pundits agree that consumers and businesses alike will be giving their wallets a rest for months to come. And though the belt-tightening is understandable, this extended recovery will pose a challenge for many small businesses.

Of course, small businesses have survived economic downturns before. In fact, a period of economic decline can be a powerful opportunity for companies that have the leadership and fortitude to spend wisely when revenue is down. Executives who seize this time to drive improvement could find themselves in an excellent position when more robust economic conditions return.

Ultimately the difference between thriving and merely surviving will come down to strategic technology buys that:

improve customer service
preserve capital
put the administrative burden on the vendor
favour reliable vendors

Put service first

"Small businesses have one enormous advantage: When it comes to customer service they can really turn on a dime," says Rick Moran, vice president of small business solutions marketing at Cisco. "They're not bound by the layers of practice and procedure that sometimes hamper larger organizations."

Indeed, more and more companies are learning that cutting back on customer service erodes both brand value and word-of-mouth referral business.

In a February 2009 report on customer service, BusinessWeek found that companies with the best customer service rankings in 2008 didn't rest on their laurels. Instead they improved their customer service over the last year, while those with the worst customer service records simply got worse over the same time period. As BusinessWeek associate editor Jena McGregor pointed out, "The best companies, those that put customer service first, are trying to invest more right now and are trying to avoid cutting back."

Prioritize Loyal Customers

One of the most straightforward ways to boost customer service is to improve your phone system. Long hold times, dropped or disconnected calls, or failure to return calls is one of the surest ways to let your customer know that you don't value them.

"For many customers, your phone is essentially your front door - especially for repeat customers," says Kroma Chief Executive Officer Chris Tillett. Kroma, an Orlando, Fla.-based cosmetics company, uses Cisco Smart Business Communications System to make sure loyal customers receive call priority over unrecognized numbers.

"Small businesses have one enormous advantage: When it comes to customer service they can really turn on a dime."

- Rick Moran, vice president of small business solutions marketing, Cisco

"We have clients that go back 9 or 10 years," says Tillett. "They're the ones who made us who we are."

Kroma also takes advantage of another customer-focused Unified Communications feature: automatic forwarding of voice mail to email. Phone messages are recorded as audio files and employees are able to view and play those messages, wherever they are. And if employees are unable to respond quickly, they can forward the message to an associate as easily as forwarding any email message. "Quick response equals happy customers," notes Tillett.

Preserve Operating Capital

The ongoing credit crisis makes it difficult for small businesses to access external financing sources. And when credit is scarce, cash is king.

Cisco's Moran says addressing this dilemma with flexible financing options is part of the plan to make Cisco a perfect fit for the small business market. "This makes it easy for small businesses to save their capital by using our capital," he says.

"Everything comes down to a monthly payment for me," says Jonathan Peck, a founding partner at Peck & Tuneski, a New London, Conn.-based law firm with 13 employees. Other technology companies steered Peck toward a third-party leasing agent for financing arrangements. "Those leasing agents have to make a return, and my monthly payment would have reflected that," he says. Direct financing through Cisco Capital meant less money going out the door each month.

It also meant he was able to buy a better quality solution, explains Peck. "Other vendors were offering us what was probably an inferior product for a little cheaper. But any potential cost savings we could have realized was matched - and exceeded - by financing the whole thing using Cisco Capital," he says.

For Tillett, the flexibility of Cisco Capital financing was particularly attractive: "Depending on how our finances go, I can either accelerate the entire cost of it as a tax write-off this year or pay it over five years. I'm not paying a ridiculous rate and I didn't have to use my own cash."

Look for Efficiencies

According to 2009 article by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, companies would also do well to assess their operations in search of new efficiencies that can free up cash.

That process led Tillett to adopt Cisco WebEx to shorten the sales cycle and create a personable and cost-effective way of following up on sales leads. Between high-gloss brochures and makeup samples, Kroma could easily spend $70 to follow up on a lead - without even knowing the extent of the customer's interest.

By creating an online presentation and inviting potential customers to learn about the company using WebEx, Kroma not only saves money but also takes advantage of an opportunity to make a personal impression as well.

Say "No" to Administration and Installation

With cash and human resources tight, it should come as no surprise that the opportunity to acquire software, such as Cisco WebEx, with no big up-front investment of capital and minimal administrative overhead is an idea that's catching on fast.

Peck's law firm uses a service-based model for spam filtering. The service routes incoming email to a third-party for removal of spam and malware before returning it for delivery to the recipients. Peck pays a simple monthly fee and he doesn't have to pay someone with security expertise to configure and monitor the filters.

"It's an incremental cost that a small business can afford, rather than the outlandish initial investment in order to get the same capability in-house," says Peck.

This flexible, low-commitment method of "renting" software is a big part of Cisco's small business software strategy. "Our company sells things by the minute or by the month and you don't have to buy any equipment," says Moran. "Just input your Visa card and you're in business."

Choose Reliability

When resources are constrained, people become risk averse. For better or worse, this "flight to quality" means that a reliable brand name has cachet.

"I may spend a few hundred more now but if it lasts for five or six years and gives me rock-solid performance, then the expense was worth it," says Tillett.

"Small businesses can often be prudent in the wrong places," adds Moran. Buying a little quality can help stretch the capabilities of your staff and allow you to spend more time where it matters: with your customers.

"These changes in technology can help us survive until 2013, if necessary," says Tillett. "If things turn around sooner, we're going to be thriving. Either way, I feel like we're well-positioned to weather whatever comes our way."

Recession is fuelling home working

2009-05-27T12:20:00.004+01:00

According to a report published on Silicon.com increasing numbers of recession-hit Brits are choosing to work from home in order to save cash, a new report has found.

More than half (55 per cent) of employees are working from home more frequently since the financial crisis began, according to research commissioned by BT Business. And the vast majority (88 per cent) said their main reason for doing so is the need to save money.

The most widely cited financial saving associated with WFH is not having to get dolled up and 'look the part' for the office - cited by 83 per cent of survey respondents. Almost a third of respondents reckon they can save around £250 per year by not buying smart work clothes.

However cutting down on commuting by regularly working from home has the potential to save even more cash - with almost half of respondents claiming they can make savings of between £10 and £20 per day by not travelling to their workplace. Other significant savings associated come from not having to buy lunch, lattes and expensive snacks from the vending machine.

Nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) of respondents believe they are generally financially better off because they have the flexibility to WFH, the survey found.

But fatter wallets are not the only benefit of flexible working: home workers get the luxury of more time too as they roll out of bed and plonk themselves down at their desk.
According to research commissioned by networking company Avaya, Europeans spend around a fortnight sitting in traffic or crammed under someone's armpit on a rush-hour train.

The poll of more than 3,500 employees in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK found the average commute time is 70 minutes per day, using 1.7 modes of transport. The most common mode of transport is the car - used by 60 per cent of respondents for getting to work.

However the research also found the majority (66 per cent) of workers are able to work a proportion of each week flexibly - and their work/life balance is most likely to benefit as a result.

Asked how they use the time saved by not commuting, the largest proportion (56 per cent) said they spent time with their family; followed by 45 per cent who just 'relax'; and 42 per cent who do tasks or attend appointments they otherwise wouldn't have time for.

A healthy quarter said they use the time for exercise and an over-keen fifth (21 per cent) do more work. Nineteen per cent take on the school run.

Even so, the vast majority of European workers have to do a traditional commute sometimes - just nine per cent never have to commute.

Read our tips to protect yourself against cyber crime

2009-05-11T16:43:00.001+01:00

Even as security threats evolve, small business owners can take some basic steps to reduce the risk of falling victim.

Step 1: Treat Your Business Like a Business

For many small businesses without dedicated IT personnel, the answer to technological needs is often a trip to the local retail store for an easily deployed piece of hardware. This saves on installation hassles, but it can also open up sensitive information to outside intruders. As a whole, built-in security features on devices designed for home use don't come close to those made for even the smallest businesses.

"You can still walk into many small businesses and see an entry-level device that's fine for a home, but totally insufficient for a business entity," says Ryan Halper, president of Cynnex Networks, a technology-support company in Seattle. "You need to go one step beyond that if you have any type of business-critical, sensitive information to protect."

Even business-class hardware that doesn't provide security as a primary function - routers, for example - can provide important layers of protection when it comes to securing a network.

Step 2: Protect the Perimeter

An effective firewall essentially serves as a virtual barrier between your network and the outside world. "Firewall protection should be obvious, but with many of our small business customers we see less than what we consider to be minimum perimeter security," says Cynnex's Halper.

Even entry-level business-class firewalls provide essential security features such as packet inspection (to verify every piece of data that passes through them) and intrusion protection.

Firewalls can also function on a "white-list" basis, allowing nothing but data from approved domains to enter the network. This is especially important when it comes to the subset of malware-infected sites and e-mail attempting to pass itself off as having come from a legitimate organization. "It doesn't matter what it looks like, it matters what it is," says Stewart, the Cisco chief security officer.

Step 3: Stay Updated

The people who create malware are both smart and relentless. Should new security technology effectively block their efforts, they simply adjust their tactics until they're able to avoid the existing traps.

For an example, look no farther than spam. Just a couple years ago junk e-mail was among the top security issues facing business networks, until a spate of anti-spam vendors stepped in and eradicated much of the risk. Problem solved? Not quite. Spammers got more creative, and soon the anti-spam contingent was once again scrambling to keep up.

"I just need to look at my in-box for confirmation of this," says Charles Kolodgy, research director of security products for market research and analysis firm IDC. "I'll get a lot of items that should have been filtered, then three to five days later, my e-mail will go back to normal as the anti-spam programs figure out what this spam is doing and either block or quarantine it."

"If the company whose security measure you're using says there is a new version, you have to get it, evaluate it, and ideally, deploy it," says Stewart. "You absolutely have to keep your security posture current."

Step 4: Pay Attention

Botnets - collections of malware-infected machines that can be unwittingly controlled by a third party for nefarious activities such as mass spamming - are especially dangerous because there's often little tactile evidence they're even present. The best botnets work in the background, offering slightly slower processor speed as the primary clue to their activity.

"You really have to look at your logs, which is something small businesses aren't usually doing," says Kolodgy. "See what communications are going on. Look at network traffic going to strange IP addresses at various times during the day - places that a business might have no reason to contact, like Russia or China."

Numerous security companies have placed defense against botnets among their priorities, making updated anti-virus subscriptions and software patches all the more vital.

Step 5: Protect Yourself from the Inside

In January, a study from Purdue's Krannert School of Management quoted 46 percent of the American companies it surveyed saying that "laid-off employees are the biggest threat caused by the economic downturn."

A prime example of this happened last year when Terry Childs, a disgruntled network administrator for the city of San Francisco, sat in jail for five days while refusing to divulge the passwords he used to effectively lock the government out of its own municipal data.

Most small businesses don't have an employee with the same combination of knowhow and ill intentions, but that hardly grants them immunity from the problem.

Cynnex's Halper recommends that companies employ a containment strategy, allowing employees to access only the portions of the network necessary to their duties. Similarly, network privileges can limit the types of tasks that can be executed from a given workstation, eliminating many options for those who seek to do something outside the scope of their regular job duties.

But it isn't just disgruntled employees who may create security breaches; employees who don't know how to properly protect assets can also pose a risk.

"The blending of work vs. home and public vs. private means that data can be accessed, transmitted, stored and stolen from anywhere at any time," said Stewart. "As a result, the approach to data protection must change."

That means businesses must foster a security-aware culture in which protecting data is a normal and natural part of every employee's job, providing the tools and education that employees need to keep their businesses secure.

"Everyone in the company has to understand why they're protecting what they're protecting," says Stewart. "It's one thing to tell everyone to lock the door on the way out, but they really have to understand why they're locking the door. They need to know that if we lose this data, it's business-impacting and possibly business-threatening."

"We must understand that we're not just protecting our customers - we're protecting ourselves."

Based in Wales and need IT advice?

2009-04-29T17:10:00.005+01:00

The Welsh Assembly Government has just launched their new Business IT guide.

Information Communication Technology, including e-business is a key enabling sector one that is vital for sustainable development of the economy as a whole.
At this difficult time we are determined to help Welsh businesses upgrade their competitive edge by investing in ICT technologies.

With easy to understand advice, video, blogs and Self Help guides, it could be a useful port of call to gather advice about new technologies or IT issues.

It also includes links to business and IT support services that may be funded for your business.

Small Business Phone Systems - what you need to know

2009-04-27T12:02:00.006+01:00

Thought a phone system was a phone system?
Read on to find out what you could be missing out on.....
Small office phone system technology delivers so much more today than just a dial tone.

Today, a small office phone system is increasingly part of a converged network—an Internet Protocol (IP) network that seamlessly ties together voice, data, video conferencing, wireless, instant messaging, and other business-critical communications tools and applications.
A small office phone system on a converged network makes basic as well as sophisticated business communications more affordable, whether it's for a small business or a small office that's part of a larger company.

How an IP-Based Small Office Phone System Saves Money

With a small office phone system on an IP network, you have only one network to manage, which is less expensive and more efficient than managing separate networks.
A small office phone system saves your business money on long-distance charges, because you can use your data network to place calls both nationally and internationally at extremely low rates.
A small office phone system reduces the costs of moving or changing a phone extension.
You'll save time—and therefore money—when adding a new site or a new employee.

Other Benefits of a Small Office Phone System

Ease of use: for employees, an IP network-based phone system can be as easy to use as a traditional landline phone, yet offer far more features and capabilities.
Anywhere access: your communications/phone system is available to employees anywhere they have a broadband Internet connection. This helps employees be more productive and collaborate more easily, which in turn helps speed decision-making.
Improved customer service: having anywhere access to a communications/phone system allows you to serve customers better. Callers are less likely to get ensnared in voicemail menus or put on hold, which can help improve customer loyalty—and profits.

Take the Cisco Free Network Assessments

2009-04-27T11:53:00.005+01:00

Benefit from Cisco expertise for free and see whether your business and network stand up to the test.

Is you network as secure as you think?

Assess your business challenges and see how technology solutions can help

Microsoft promotes the marketing benefits derived from technology use...

2009-04-27T10:38:00.001+01:00

Marketing benefits derived from technology use

Small businesses can use technology appliances to improve their marketing campaigns, by replacing existing processes or complimenting them, it is claimed.

Thomas Brown, research projects manager at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, says technology is "a great way" to reduce your marketing spend while continuing to communicate during a downturn.He comments: "Technology gets the cost of sending communications down and is a great way of maintaining dialogue with the customer. "It supports the idea of sustainability and it helps position businesses as slightly more contemporary and innovative and more progressive than those that are not."

Mr Brown says businesses should test their new marketing campaigns where possible to measure their effectiveness.All owners should consider how the implementation of new techniques affects response rates, conversions and sales, he indicates."Look at how technology can replace forms of direct marketing or look at how it can be coupled with it to augment communications," he proposes.The IAB Online Adspend Study, conducted in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, continues to show growth in online promotions despite the economic downturn.\

In 2008, the market was worth almost £3.5 million, up 17 per cent on a like-for-like basis on the previous year.

Cisco have some great videos.....

2009-04-24T16:19:00.005+01:00

Being at the forefront of technology and innovation, Cisco use video and social networking sites to heavily promote their latest innovations, ideas and solutions.

Follow this link to see their latest 'cartoon' release called "The Realm"

In the Digital Era there exists a new class of criminals. To stop them, a select group of Cisco engineers have been appointed to develop a state-of-the-art security force. Meet four defenders charged with defeating the ever-evolving threats that try to infiltrate The Realm.

Also what will your employees do when the network goes down??!!
View some interesting action with a tennis racquet.

What is Cisco Smart Care?

2009-04-24T13:46:00.006+01:00

We are often asked by our customers, what is this Cisco Smart Care all about?!

For any of you familiar with Cisco, you will have probably heard of Cisco SMARTnet which is an award winning support offering that provides you with advanced hardware/software support/replacement that goes way beyond a standard hardware warranty.

Cisco have now taken this a stage further by bringing out Smart Care.

Smart Care is an innovative new service offered by Cisco certified partners that combines network-wide technical support with proactive network monitoring, assessments and remote repairs for small and medium-sized businesses.

View Cisco Smart Care Demo

If you would like to know more please click the link for PDF

For what types of businesses is Cisco Smart Care Service best suited?

Cisco Smart Care Service is a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses as well as midsize customers that want to ensure higher network security, availability, and performance and:

- Primarily or exclusively use Cisco networking devices

- Have a limited IT staff or want to save their IT staff time and effort maintaining and optimizing their network

- Have between 5 and 105 Cisco network devices on their network (IP phones or software licenses are covered but not counted as devices)

UK business is not prepared to maintain business continuity in the event of disasters

2009-04-23T12:27:00.002+01:00

According to a report published on Silicon.com, UK organisations are still not doing enough to ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster or IT failure, a new report has warned - despite fears over online attacks and disease.
According to a report by the Chartered Management Institute and Cabinet Office, fewer than half (38 per cent) of survey respondents said their organisation has plans in place to cope with business disruption.
The report found the two greatest concerns for organisations are electronic attack (identified by 58 per cent) and human disease such as a flu pandemic (57 per cent). However, more than half (53 per cent) of respondents said their organisations still have no plans in place to help them cope during a pandemic.
UK managers in the IT sector are most worried about electronic attacks; followed by human disease knocking out the workforce; the impact of severe weather; and destruction of critical infrastructure respectively.
However, less than a third (30 per cent) of organisations have plans in place to cater for IT loss; only 17 per cent are prepared to cope with enforced absence of staff, and just 16 per cent are ready for severe weather.
The report found the loss of IT was the most commonly reported disruption in the 12 months to January 2009 - with 40 per cent of respondents saying IT issues had disrupted business. Other key sources of disruption were extreme weather, loss of staff, loss of telecommunications and utility outages.
While the number of organisations with specific business continuity plans has increased slightly - 52 per cent this year, compared to 47 per cent a year ago - the report also found a third of organisations don't test their continuity plans at all, a figure that has remained largely unchanged for a decade.
In addition, the percentage of managers reporting that continuity is regarded as important in their organisation has fallen by 12 percentage points over the past year - from 76 per cent to 64 per cent.

Tips to improve your business productivity using technology

2009-04-22T16:33:00.005+01:00

A secure network foundation enables you to easily and cost-effectively add new users and applications as needed. In turn, this built-in flexibility helps your company stay competitive, react quickly to change, and expand to international markets, among other benefits.

Here are some ways in which a secure network foundation can help you continue to enhance your company's productivity in the future:

Go wireless. As your company grows, it may need to expand its physical space. A wireless network helps your workforce stay connected to business applications, such as your customer database, without the costs and limitations of wiring.

Stay in touch wherever you go. Wireless IP phones are as easy to use as traditional cordless phones but have a far greater signal range and can provide much more functionality. With wireless IP phones, your workforce can roam the sales floor, office, campus, or warehouse, answering customer inquiries and accessing company data, such as an inventory database.

Communicate using your computer.There are powerful communication tools available such as an easy-to-use multimedia interface on a PC or Mac. These tools include voice, video, instant messaging (IM), Web conferencing, call management, directories, and "presence" applications that can constantly update user locations and availability.

Participate in video conferences. Easy to use, cost effective video conferencing solutions enable you to set up video conferences using a familiar, easy-to-use phone interface on your computer.

Route calls to the best available employees. Various solutions are available that can intelligently route calls to contact centre agents or those employees most qualified to meet a caller's need. The software integrates with customer databases to provide agents with customer information the moment a customer calls. And it provides management with insight into the contact center so they can staff at the appropriate levels, manage agent performance and optimize customer service.

2009-04-22T14:38:00.001+01:00

Sarah Edwards, Business Development Director of CNS has been invited to join the Cisco Partner Green Council. CNS strongly believes that all organisations, just by making small technology changes and adopting energy saving practices can help to reduce their energy consumption and ultimately, save money whilst helping to address environmental issues.

Cisco as ever is leading the field when it comes to technology vendors and have launched the EnergyWise initiative, enabling you to monitor, manage and ultimately reduce the energy consumption of core network devices. Watch this space for more exciting news as we get it.

Well this is our first blog....

2009-04-22T14:06:00.000+01:00

Hello and welcome to the Capital Network Solutions Blog. CNS is a specialist IT networking company based in Cardiff that provides business enabling technology solutions, advice, support and sanity in the ever changing world of technology. We provide solutions, services and support throughout the UK and hold partnerships with industry leading vendors inlcuding Cisco, WebEx, Barracuda, CRYPTOCard, Dell and Microsoft. We really do know what we are talking about....

Well, we have been meaning to grasp this social networking revolution with both hands but admittedly it has taken a bit of time. Being in the technology sector, we cannot be seen to be lagging behind now can we?
We will be sharing our thoughts with you about our business, our solutions, technology advancements and general trends but we would love to hear from you all.
To give you a summary about us, Capital Network Solutions are a Cisco Premier Partner based in Cardiff providing innovative, networking solutions to organsations of all size ranging from businesses with 10-15 people right through to large multi nationals. Requirements vary considerably right from a small office network to a large datacentre implementation.