Cloud Computing Appropriate For Small Business

Cloud computing is all the rage among medium and larger enterprises. You might say that there is a veritable stampede from local data centers to cloud based services. Small businesses may be left scratching their heads trying to figure out if the cloud makes any sense for them or if it is simply overkill for their size organizations.

In reality, cloud computing may make even more sense for smaller companies that it does for large ones. Why? It’s because major corporations have major budgets for large IT staffs and in-house data centers. The idea is that if you integrate everything under your control, you’ll logically have the lowest costs, greatest security and fastest response times.

There are many cloud examples that prove this is obsolete reasoning. Hiring a specialist service, the cloud, can actually lower your costs, improve security and allow you to react to changes in business conditions much faster than doing it all yourself.

For smaller businesses, the cloud may well become your IT department or an adjunct to a consultant that works on a less than full time basis. Cloud service providers have the expertise in-house that you can’t really afford. This means that you can get top-notch support by people who are trained in the state of the art included as part of your monthly fee.

Let’s take a look at typical cloud computing solutions that are appropriate for small businesses. One service that nearly every business, including SOHO (Small Office, Home Office), is embracing is cloud backup storage. The value in remote backups is that even if your local office is wiped out by fire, flood or tornado, your business records remain safely intact. Storage tends to be very affordable and more cost effective than buying more and more stand alone disk drives. The beauty of the cloud is that you don’t have to worry about filling up the next disk drive. Storage is virtualized and nearly unlimited.

An extension of online storage is backup and disaster recovery. These systems give you an easy to use control panel so that you can figure out what files to bring back down when needed. One thing to remember about online backup is that the limiting factor to how fast you can upload and download is the speed of your bandwidth connection. It’s not much of a problem on upload because files are being transmitted in the background as you work. Only a little bit of data needs to be sent to the cloud every hour.

The real limitation is when your entire office or local file storage is wiped out. You’ll be glad you have backup storage in the cloud so you can stay in business, but it can take days or weeks to bring everything back down. You’ll need to pick and choose which files are most important to continuing business and get those back first. The rest can be restored as a background activity.

Some cloud solutions get around this by having mirrored storage in both the cloud and in a secure appliance located in your office. This makes it really easy and fast to get a file you may have accidentally deleted and fast to restore an entire system because so much of the data is local. Of course, if the disaster is extensive and all of your on-site equipment is destroyed, you’ll still need to get everything back from the cloud.

By the way, a big advantage of cloud solutions is that you can be quickly back in business at another location. This is especially true if some or all of your connectivity is via the Internet. Set up shop at home, a temporary rental office or at the local coffee shop. As long as you have bandwidth, you’re in business.

Web servers are another technology that makes sense in the cloud. Many companies already rent shared or dedicated server space from companies that specialize in selling these plans. There is no need for anything more sophisticated unless you have the type of business with such variations traffic that you wind up paying to support the maximum number of visitors possible. Cloud servers can be scaled up and down almost instantly. You pay only for what you need right now and add more capacity during the holiday season or other high traffic times.

The old fashioned way to get the computer tools you need for your business is to buy software packages and then spend some time maintaining and upgrading them over the years. The new approach is called SaaS or Software as a Service. The actual software resides on a cloud computing platform remotely. You use the office systems or specialized software by connecting to the cloud. The cloud provider takes care of patching and upgrading the system so you have no maintenance headaches and no need to invest in expensive software. Once again, you pay for how much you use by the month.

Security is now moving to the cloud. The truth is that few businesses have security experts on staff and the attacks are getting bolder and more sophisticated. A simple anti-virus program may no longer be enough to prevent an intrusion or shutdown of your business. The way to have the latest network security is to buy a cloud based solution that acts as a firewall between your business and any potential trouble makers. Like software, security as a service is maintained by experts who have nothing else to do but stay on top of threats.

Finally, even your telephone service may make more sense in the cloud. Hosted PBX or Hosted VoIP systems move all the call switching to a cloud service provider that also makes the connection to the public phone system. All you have at your location is IP telephones and perhaps a specialized gateway device. You pay by the phone by the month and some providers even include new business phones as part of the deal at no extra cost.

Is it time to reconsider the costs and performance of the IT systems used in your small business? There are great deals to be had that can help you avoid investments, lower expenses and keep up with the latest technology. Get competitive quotes from cloud computing providers and see what works best for your company.

$8.33/mo Small Business & Residential VoIP

What’s the best deal in VoIP phone service for residential and small business users? No, it’s not the ones you see advertised on TV. In fact, you’ve probably never heard of this phone company. It’s something of a best kept secret that needs to be shared.

I’m going to tell you how you can get unlimited “free” calls to the US and Canada, plus an hour of free international calling every month, plus a free 2nd line for the astounding price of $8.33 per month. No, you don’t have to plug your phone into your computer to make this work. This is a broadband phone system that works with your router or modem and shares your Internet connection with your computers. The phones will receive calls or let you call out regardless of whether your computer is on or off.

The company you want to know is Phone Power. Their expertise is in Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP communications. They can handle all size businesses, but this special offer is targeted at the vast majority of telephone users. Those are homes, home offices and small businesses that need only a couple of phone lines.

The way this works is by using an ATA or Analog Telephone Adaptor. This is a small box about the size of a wireless router or cable modem that Phone Power leases you for free while you maintain your service. There are two network connections on the back. One you plug into your broadband modem. That’s the WAN connection that hooks to the Internet. From now on, the Internet will do double duty as your phone line as well as your computer line. The second network jack is for your computer or router. In other words the ATA sits between your modem and computer equipment so it can maintain voice quality with both phones and computers are being used.

There are two regular phone jacks on the back of the ATA. Two? Yes, you can plug two phones into the box and use both of them at the same time. This is a feature you don’t generally get with any phone service. It’s always one line or you pay double for two lines. Phone power gives you two “cloned” lines for the same price. The reason they are called cloned is because both these lines share the same phone number. Both phones will ring with a call comes in. But, you can call out separately and make two independent calls through the magic of VoIP line cloning. Pretty handy in a business office or at home with loquacious teenagers.

By the way, no special phones are need. Use a standard desk phone or cordless phones with multiple handsets and one base station. They all work just fine.

This is unlimited service, right? You bet. You pay a very modest monthly fee for VoIP service and you can call all the numbers in the U.S. or Canada that you like. That’s right, Canada too. Most phone services charge you extra long distance fees for calls across the border. Phone Power also gives you 60 minutes of free international calling per month and has very low international rates for countries not included or if you want to talk more.

Oh, there is one caveat. This is for typical residential and small business users. Call centers are NOT included. If you are running a call center and need an enormous call volume, EnterpriseVoIP.com will take care of your needs. Anything over 5,000 minutes per month will trigger an overage charge of 2 cents per minute by Phone Power.

So how do you get all this for a measly $8.33 per month? It’s a current special offer (may not last) that costs $199.95 per year with a second year included free as a new customer promo. Do the math and you’ll see that you are paying just $8.33/mo for unlimited phone service. Don’t want to prepay for 2 years? OK, there are other plans where you can just pay by the month for a higher, but still bargain, rate.

Does this sound like the right price and the right phone service for you? There are a tremendous number of calling features bundled-in that you would otherwise have to pay extra for with other companies. No contract, no activation fee, no equipment charge, no per minute charges. Plus a 30 day satisfaction guarantee so you can be sure the service works for you with your particular broadband provider. Learn more and order Phone Power Small Business and Residential VoIP service now, while you can get such a fantastic deal.

Small Business Merchant Accounts

Are you losing potential business because you don’t accept credit cards? You may think that it is just too expensive and way too complicated to accept credit cards and debit cards in your retail business. It certainly can be if you try to figure it all out for yourself. But if you have the right processing company on your side, it can be a very simple and easy process.

Don’t construe this to mean that the credit card processing procedure is simple. It is anything but that. There are banks, credit card companies, merchant service providers, computer networks and specialized equipment involved. The good news is that you don’t have to worry about any of that arcade detail. It’s all taken care of for you by Elite Processing Systems.

EPS has the knowledge, procedures, financial relationships, equipment and networks needed to make it possible for you to accept credit cards, debit cards and EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) at your point of sale. They’ve been doing this successfully for small businesses like yours for almost a decade. When you become an Elite merchant you’ll get 24 hours US based customer service, individual account management and rate schedules that are customized and competitive.

Any business that wants to accept electronic payments needs what is called a merchant account. That’s how the customer’s payment gets to you. Elite Processing Systems will provide you with that account and everything you need to make it work. But they also offer a lot more in the way of support for your business.

For instance, do you cringe when a customer starts writing out a personal check? Most of them will be perfectly all right, but what about the one’s that aren’t? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get instant verification that the check was good while the customer was still standing there? You can with the Telecheck service provided by Elite. Verify funds electronically at your POS and avoid the traditional four day delay involved in receiving the check, bringing it to the bank and waiting for it to clear. You’ll breathe a lot easier when you have Telecheck working for you.

Do you have trouble securing working capital when you need it? That’s not unusual in these economic times. EPS has a partnership with Merchant Money, Ltd. to make cash advances available to you based on your credit card processing future receivables. It’s linked to your processing account so you never have to write a check and funds are taken back through your credit card sales. Request funds today and have them available tomorrow.

How about other business services that you use regularly, such as payroll and insurance? Elite Processing Systems offers payroll solutions powered by ADP for efficiency and security. Other available services include life insurance, health insurance, disability and simple IRA plans.

Credit Card Processing by Elite Processing Systems a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek CA.

Wireless Business Broadband Available In A Day

You’re opening a new store this week and everything is all set to go. Construction is done, the fixtures are in place and the shelves are stocked. The announcements have been sent to the media and all that’s left is the ribbon cutting. After that, let the profit making begin. Oh... NO... There won’t be any profit making because there won’t be any sales. The broadband service you were promised won’t be installed for another couple of weeks. Well, that’s what they said anyway. But they said that two months ago. What are you going to do without any connectivity? Is there anything that can jump in and save the day?

Yes there is and you’ll be glad you found out about it. Instead of grinding your teeth or just leaving the doors closed until your DSL or other provider can get around to bringing up your business broadband, get a wireless solution from Accel Networks. It’s highly secure and PCI/Visa compliant, so you can make cashless transactions with confidence. Data rates are typically 768 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps download and 384 Kbps to 512 Kbps upload with solid signals covering 90% of the United States. Best of all, it can be deployed in 1 to 3 business days.

A broadband wireless connection available in as little as a single business day? How come other providers don’t offer that. One word: Wires. No wires means no digging in the yard, stringing pole to pole, or fishing cables through the building. Those are things that take time. Avoid the wires and a good bit of the provisioning time goes away.

Accel offers a wireless solution that cleverly makes use of existing infrastructure. Most WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers are very localized and require direct line of sight to their towers. They likely will have to come out and put a dish or other external antenna on your building even if you can see the tower. Accel Networks doesn’t use proprietary towers like your local WISP. They’re using some or all of those cellular towers you see all over town. That's another reason why they need so little provisioning time.

Accel Networks has made agreements with the cellular carriers to use some of the data bandwidth that is available from every cell tower. But rather than limiting their options to one carrier, they’ve contracted with both CDMA and GSM carriers so that their service footprint covers 99% of business locations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Their specially designed “Accelerator” customer location equipment is capable of 99.9% availability and network management from Accel headquarters. Installation takes less than an hour from the time your equipment arrives.

What can you do with a wireless network solution? The quick start option to have your business up and running in days, not weeks or months, is an obvious winner. It’s perfect for point of sale terminals in retail stores, quick service restaurants and hospitality providers like hotels and motels. It’s also a fast solution for disaster recovery in any business that can’t function without an Internet connection. Dial-up was once the answer to backing up broadband. But dial-up is just too slow for many applications anymore. Besides, the same disaster that took out your main wireline service might well have knocked out the phone lines as well.

The low capital and operating expenses per location for Accel Network’s wireless has given many businesses the incentive to upgrade from their old VSAT and frame relay connections or their current DSL and Cable broadband services. Accel is and can be the primary network service for restaurants, gas stations, banks, convenience stores and many other businesses. Some businesses have started with a panic call for quick start service and later decided to keep Accel Networks as their primary broadband connection.

Are you in dire need for fast and effective WAN network bandwidth at a reasonable price for a single or multiple business locations? Perhaps you’re just shopping around to see if you can do better than the high cost and unreliable service you have now. Either way, call the toll free number or enter an online inquiry for wireless business WAN bandwidth to get prices and availability.

Managed Services Give Small Companies an Edge

As "the great recession" drags on, companies of all sizes struggle with the issue of how to maintain competitive electronic based services while staying within a constrained, if not declining, budget. Managed services offer a possible solution, especially for smaller companies that have little in the way of IT staffing and no ability to hire.

What's the secret of managed services? The name pretty much spells it out, as long as you realize you are not the one doing the managing. Let's consider your telephone system. One approach is to do a study, buy a good sized traditional or IP PBX system, acquire the needed wireline connectivity, order cartons of SIP telephones, network wiring, and a staff to install and maintain the complex system.

That's how big companies generally do it. Really big companies may have one staff for the telephone system and a separate and larger staff for the corporate computer network. That's a lot of people and a lot of infrastructure. But what else are you going to do?

An alternative approach is to outsource everything to a managed services provider. Your in-house involvement is pretty much managing the manager to make sure they have the latest requirements and any moves, adds or changes. Just about any service can be managed by an outside provider, but telephone and computer networking services are common. Any services that don't need a vendor's physical presence can be handled from long distance, since on the network across the country is as close as next door. For those needs that do need someone on-site, a VAR or Value Added Reseller can be hired separately or through the MSP or Managed Services Provider.

A simple MSP arrangement is a Managed T1 Router. The company that provides the router is the same one that provides the T1 data line. Your line would normally be terminated to a network interface in your telecom closet. It would be up to you to buy a router with the correct T1 interface and configure it to work to the line specifications.

A larger company with a dedicated staff has no problem with this. But what happens when things go wrong at a smaller company? It could be the line. It could be the router. It could be at the provider's end. Who's going to sort that out? You are, in conjunction with the telco company and the service provider.

But if you contract for a managed router service, the service provider has responsibility for everything from their end, through the line, and through the router they provide at your premises. They don't have control or visibility into your network, but up to that connector they have full visibility and control. You may be gone for the day, but the network operations center will often find and fix problems before you open up the next day.

A hosted PBX system provides a similar service for telephone operations. There is no physical PBX at your premises. All you have are VoIP telephone sets connected to a broadband network that runs to the PBX service provider. The equipment at their end does everything from connecting to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to connecting interoffice calls, to call forwarding, automated attendant and conference calling bridge. An extra advantage of this approach is that your offices can be scattered all over the country and still act as if they were in the same building.

There are managed services for telephone, broadband Internet, multiple location networks, video conferencing, Web servers, and similar needs. You can do any or all of these things in house, but if you want to see how to maintain your competitive edge without the staffing and capital expense, look into managed service options now.

Integrated T1 Gives You Phone and Internet

As a small business owner, you want the best quality and performance you can get from your telecom services. But you can't just go out and buy what the major corporation down the street has. Well maybe not exactly the same, but pretty close.

What I mean by that is that you can have clear sounding, reliable phone service and reliable, dependable Internet service scaled for the size of your operation. That big company needs more capacity than you do because they have so many more people trying to use it. They also pay 10x to 100x more than you will.

What you don't have to compromise on is quality of service. To achieve it, you'll be using a T1 line. T1's are the industry standard for voice and data. A medium size company will likely have at least one T1 line for telephone service and one or more for dedicated Internet access. But you don't need all that. You'll do just fine with a single T1 that provides you with both telephone and Internet access.

But, wait. Aren't T1 lines set up to be telephone trunks or data lines as needed? Yes that's the usual setup. But there is another type of service called Integrated T1 that transports both phone and Internet at the same time.

How does it do that? A channelized T1 telephone line has capacity for up to 24 outside phone lines. Do you really need that many? Hardly. Half a dozen to a dozen are plenty for most smaller businesses. If that's all you need, what happens to the unused capacity? In standard T1 telephone service, those extra channels go to waste. Wouldn't it be nice if that unused capacity could be put to good use.

That's what Integrated T1 service does. You assign a certain amount of capacity, say enough for 6 to 12 outside lines, to be used for phone service. The rest is assigned for Internet service. Unlike broadband phone services, you never have to worry about your computer knocking out your phone conversations. Neither function interferes with the other.

How much Internet bandwidth do you get with this arrangement? It's very similar to DSL speeds. A T1 line runs at 1.5 Mbps, so if you use half of it for 12 outside phone lines, there is 750 Kbps available for data. If you only need 6 outside lines, you'll have over 1 Mbps for Internet access. That's more than enough for point of sale transactions, WiFi hotspots, business data transfers, Web browsing and email service.

Even better, some Integrated T1 services use what's called dynamic T1 lines. The dynamic line gives telephone calls priority, but is smart enough to know that any capacity not used for phone calls can be temporarily added to the Internet bandwidth. If no one is on the phone, the entire 1.5 Mbps is assigned to Internet speed.

Is Integrated T1 service right for your business? The cost of the service replaces both your current phone lines and Internet service, so it can be more affordable than you think. Plus you'll enjoy the benefit of having professional grade digital telecommunications service instead of some collection of services that may not work as well. Find out more about Integrated T1 and other voice and data options that are available for your business location with a simple phone or online inquiry at T1 Rex.

Unified Communications Merges Everything

Convergence is a trend in enterprise networks, often focused on migrating telephony to the corporate LAN using VoIP. But the ultimate goal of unified communications involves integrating all electronic communications. That encompasses wired telephony, voice messaging, video conferencing, data networking, network security, VPN and wireless access.

Interestingly, Cisco already has a platform that will do all of this and more for the smaller business. It's the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series. The basic solution includes telephony support for 8 IP phones, 4 FXS analog phones and 4 FXO analog trunk lines, plus support for SIP trunking. It has integrated voicemail and an auto-attendant, making it a full-featured small office PBX phone system.

So far this sounds like a typical small office IP PBX system. But the 500 series platform goes further. The antenna implies wireless communications. In this case it's an 802.11b/g wireless access point that supports wireless LAN IP phones as well as wireless data devices.

Connection to the WAN or Wide Area Network gives you broadband Internet access with full security via a Cisco IOS Firewall that supports point to point VPNs. Use these Virtual Private Network connections to include home workers or employees operating remotely. You can also easily expand LAN access inside the office by adding a Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch with 8 additional ports of 10/100 Mbps PoE (Power over Ethernet). This switch comes configured to work immediately with the 500 series.

With this system, called the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, you have up to 16 computer workstations, IP security cameras, or IP phone sets, a data/voice wireless access point, secure WAN (broadband Internet) access, secure VPN communications to remote locations, an in-house telephone system that connects to the PSTN and supports FAX machines and other analog devices, plus simplified set-up and management built-in. It's a single box that supports the complete small office communications needs.