When you work on the Internet, you leave a lot of footprints. Common knowledge, yes, but it is surprising how many otherwise savvy users ignore it.   We all know cookies, and that website operators, especially Google, track our movements around cyberspace, ostensibly to improve performance, but more likely to collect information that can be sold […]

The pandemic and the consequent move to remote working, working from home, and the move to e-commerce have highlighted IT Security’s role in the IT workplace.  Networks must be efficient, responsive, and above all, secure.  They must be resistant to DDoS and other external attacks,  prevent malware attacks as far as possible and provide a […]

Whether in an organisation or providing hosted services, any IT department needs to monitor server performance.  Users generally rate service levels on such subjective things as online response times, which critically depend on server performance. Servers can and do go down, either through human error, mechanical failure, or other external reasons.  In all businesses, downtime […]

Digital transformation has been in the news a lot recently, often coupled with its fraternal twin, digital convergence. As with many trending topics, people often talk of the one meaning the other, and in general, are not entirely sure of what each term exactly means. To consider a couple of working definitions: Digital transformation is […]

Artificial Intelligence is finding its way into many corners of the IT world. In particular, it is making a name for itself in operations.  The ability of Artificial Intelligence to monitor and make sense of data streams makes it a natural tool to use in monitoring and managing IT environments. How does AIOps fit in? […]

The stampede to the cloud is well underway, both as the implementation of cloud principles in-house or moving to an outsourced managed service provider. In all cases, one concern is that of taking reusable backups as part of normal operations and as part of a business continuity plan. The first question to answer is to […]

Network users need consistency.  A network where response times vary from lightning-fast to “go get a coffee while the screen loads” is one guaranteed to bring complaints.  Networks are at the core of most business operations. Slow, unresponsive networks can reduce business efficiencies and prevent them from attaining an edge over their competition. Networks are […]

One of the more exciting developments in the normally staid world of networking has been the Internet of Things. (“IoT”) means different things to different people, but in essence, is the prospect of connecting everything digital to everything else digital.  A digital representation of Jung’s collective subconscious perhaps. The number of devices has been growing […]

As networks have grown more complex, the need for network automation tools has become more necessary. On one side, the need for advanced network management and security skills has increased the IT budget, at the same time as management has exerted downward pressure on budgets. One option is outsourcing, which has the benefit of fixing […]

Preventing unauthorised access to corporate networks is a major priority for most network managers. A firewall is an essential brick in the wall against hackers, and network managers need to pay close attention to it.  Changes in network organisation, updates to existing systems and introduction of new applications can all change the optimal configuration of […]