As an IT Solutions company, Alchemy are often asked “what is the best backup solution?” The answer has changed over the years and depends a lot on your situation. We recognize that every business has different IT requirements, whether in architecture or budget.
There are now a range of cost effective backup solutions that meets every budget, whether it is a new requirement or upgrading existing backup solutions.
For an interesting article that highlights the choices available please click here.
The team at Potion PR, a small agency based in Bracknell in Berkshire, thanked its lucky stars as the Big Freeze started to bite in the South East this week. In late 2009 it took the plunge and shifted from an office based server and PC network to a Hosted Desktop Solution from Alchemy Systems International. It saw immediate benefits in January 2010 when the snow was thick on the ground and the team was able to continue work and deliver great PR client service and media communications despite being based in different home locations.
During the year it invested in more hosted applications, moving key accounting systems onto the new platform after testing by the Alchemy IT team and also adopted a larger number of web-based SaaS (software as a service) applications for agency functions like project planning, timesheet management, web conferencing, CRM and sales management. As the company changed and acquired staff, it added a number of new hosted desktops quickly and effortlessly, and was able to buy additional licences for MS Office incrementally, quickly and easily. It also added a number of hosted Exchange accounts so that key suppliers and partners were able to operate as a seamless part of the agency team.
Despite the fact that the South East of England escaped much of the early chaos of the November snow this year, the instant that December came around so did the snow and ice. Potion PR had developed a working from home policy for its main consultants earlier in the year to cover bad weather eventualities, which meant that even surprise snow wasn’t a problem. Consultants simply stayed put, grabbed their coffee, logged in and were up and working without a hitch. The policy included a standard practice of consultants maintaining a current priority work folder with them at all times. Scanners at the office base meant that even non-system documents could be easily uploaded to the hosted system if anything was forgotten. Good working policies plus the capabilities of the company’s hosted solution proved to be an ideal combination.
Potion PR’s plans for 2011 include the creation of hubs in both EMEA and Asia, which means that it is likely it will expand its hosted footprint yet further. It is also planning an office move which, thanks to the IT solution it has chosen, will involve precisely zero moves of server, cabling or other technology paraphernalia.
If you want to find out more about Alchemy’s Hosted Desktop solutions, click here
You can read the original story about Potion PR’s transition to a hosted environment here
Gartner** says this is a result of Cloud Computing and Virtualisation, and extends to client systems as well.
“Alchemy Systems does not believe that there will be NO IT assets as there will still be a need for routers, switches, printers and some client devices which they will own. However we believe that 20% of small and medium size businesses will own NO Server Infrastructure assets. Cloud Computing saves money and lets companies, work around IT constraints without sacrificing the control and ownership of key processes and data.”
“During the current economic climate, businesses are being forced to look at their IT cost bases and the benefits of Cloud Computing are compelling” says Nathan Mills, Managing Director of Alchemy Systems.
Services in the Cloud
These benefits include
Cloud Computing is not just hype. The media coverage is conclusive: from the national press to specialist IT publications and insider blogs the opinions are clear – “cloud computing is widely proclaimed as the future of IT”.
So why move to the cloud now? Significant proven technology solutions in virtualisation and distributed computing, as well as improved access to low cost and high-speed Internet have made this possible.
Please contact us on 01784 223 100 or email us to discuss the options as the benefits are potentially enormous.
About Alchemy
Alchemy Systems is a forward-thinking IT Solutions Company providing a single source for IT business solutions spanning the breadth of an organisation’s computing and communications requirements. With a focus on IT Support , Cloud Computing, Virtualisation, and Internet Web Services and with regional offices, Alchemy is able to provide its services to businesses across the UK.- http://www.alchemysys.net
* Gartner Report – Highlights Key Prediction for IT Organizations and Users in 2010 and Beyond
**Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company
Alchemy are committed to continuously improving our services and last weekend saw a massive change in our hosted services and infrastructure, with the biggest changes we have made so far…
These upgrades were necessary due to the significant growth of our hosted services. Over two years ago, we had designed systems to cope with the amount of growth from our estimations, however, having almost surpassed those initial estimates in a much shorter amount of time than expected, we needed to take decisive action to increase the capacity and resiliency of the infrastructure now, to cater for current and future services.
A team from Alchemy descended on the datacentre in the early hours of the morning on 30th October to change the location of our servers to new racks, allowing for the provision of extra incoming power supplies, battery backup units and better management.
We added a host of new Power Distribution Units which allow us to continuously monitor power feeds and how much power is in use, as well as getting automated alerts if power consumption increases heavily, or incoming power is lost, so we’ll immediately know if there’s a problem with the power feeds.
On top of this, we changed our UPS Battery backup system to new units that allow us to provide extended amounts of battery backup power to our equipment should the power fail in comparison to the previous battery backup system.
And there’s another change… Alchemy have provisioned extra incoming power feeds. This means that we can feed power to our equipment from two different power sources, fed from seperate fuse boards, and seperate master UPS systems that are provisioned by the datacentre (these are in addition to our own UPS systems). This provides us with another level of redundancy that we hadn’t had before now…
All of these new systems can be monitored automatically, and accessed remotely should we need to, with new monitoring systems that will e-mail us with any problems that may arise…
And…
There are more changes coming… with extra servers about to be installed to help with growth of the business as well as performance and more improvements coming to our monitoring software. We’re committed to further investing and improving our services for you.
On Wednesday 5th October 2010, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s Chief Executive visited the London School of Economics to address the students and media on Cloud Computing and their vision for the technology. Steve claims that the IT industry is at the start on another revolution and the “shift to the cloud”.
Microsoft is betting on the fact that the era, when companies are having to pay for software installed on their computers, is coming to an end. This is possible if:
“Like Microsoft, Alchemy believes in the power of “Services in the Cloud” and it is one of the cornerstones of our business. We strongly encourage all companies to investigate and consider some or all of the Cloud Services available as they offer significant operational and financial benefits”
Nathan Mills Managing Director of Alchemy Systems International Limited
The core services available from Alchemy Systems are:
Alchemy Systems is a forward-thinking IT Solutions Company providing a single source for IT business solutions spanning the breadth of an organisation’s computing and communications requirements. With a focus on Cloud Computing, Virtualisation, IT Support and Internet Web Services and with offices in Egham, Exeter and Burton on Trent, Alchemy is able to provide its services to organisations across the UK.- http://www.alchemysys.net
Read Steve Ballmer’s speach here
Nathan Mills, Managing Director at Alchemy Systems says “Nowadays we carry our smartphones with us where ever we go, which means they can be particularly prone to being lost or stolen. There are now over 13 million smartphones in the UK and with the greater use and functionality of these mobiles, they contain a great deal of personal, business and confidential data. The question is how can we protect this data in the event the mobiles are lost or stolen and how can we potentially identify the thief?”
F-Secure’s Free Anti-Theft for Mobile primarily makes sure the personal and confidential information on a mobile phone can’t be misused by anyone, even if the phone is lost or stolen. Secondly it can help locate the phone and the identify the thief of the stolen phone.
The solution is available for Symbian, Android and Windows Phone platforms and provides four security features to protect a smartphone:
Remote Lock protects confidential information quickly and easily by locking the device with a single SMS message.
Remote Locate feature allow users to locate their lost or stolen phone on a map that comes up on any other smartphone
Remote Wipe is the ultimate safety measure, erasing all the data on the phone with a single SMS message.
Theft Control feature is activated if someone changes the SIM card, by locking the device and informing the user of the new number
To further enhance the standard Anti-Theft features, it is easy to upgrade to the all-in-one security solution, F-Secure Mobile Security, by activating the inbuilt automatic upgrade system. This adds new security features to the solution for an additional fee. Including:
Alchemy Systems
Alchemy Systems is a forward-thinking IT solutions company providing a single source for IT business solutions spanning the breadth of an organisation’s computing and communications requirements. With a focus on Cloud Computing, Virtualisation, IT Support and Internet WebServices and with offices in Egham, Exeter and Burton on Trent, Alchemy is able to provide its services to organisations across the UK.- http://www.alchemysys.net
F-Secure – Protecting the irreplaceable
F-Secure, founded in 1988 in Finland, is trusted in millions of homes and businesses around the world to makes sure users are protected and safe online whether using a computer or a smartphone.
“A Virtual Desktop Solution from Alchemy Systems which very quickly had us wondering how on earth we worked in any other way”
Written by Sue Rizello – Potion PR
Even a small PR agency can very quickly build up a heavyweight IT system, and over the past 3 years Potion PR has done just that. During the course of our work we have accumulated a library of images, a mass of research, a ton of client information, bucket-loads of press coverage scans and a real drag of a daily backup need. At various times we needed different PCs with different capabilities, printers in all shapes and sizes and mobiles of every description. Every time we moved anything around the Ethernet cables got longer. Nightmare cable tangles and 95-gang power adapters under every desk. The busier we got, the more we needed to be on the road, until our briefcases bulged with flash, zip and every other kind of portable storage medium or drive. We transferred files around always trying to manage versions at the same time and were still stuck on MS Office 2003 but upgrading to 2007 just seemed like a big hassle. Our broadband dongles, home WiFi and office networks were groaning under the load, and frankly so were we.
The answer? A virtual desktop solution from Alchemy Systems which very quickly, after the transition, has us wondering how on earth we worked in any other way.
IT services provider, Alchemy Systems, is pleased to announce it has achieved Enterprise Partner level within VMware’s VIP Reseller Program. VMware is the world’s leading provider of virtualization solutions for x86-based servers and desktops. VMware technology works to separate the software from the underlying hardware, allowing a single computer to run multiple operating systems and applications. Virtualization allows businesses to substantially lower IT costs and provide more flexibility in choosing operating systems.
Enterprise Partners are required to have a higher level of expertise with the ability to assist customers, design, plan and implement both traditional computing infrastructures and virtual infrastructures. As a VMware Enterprise Partner, Alchemy Systems is authorized to sell the complete VMware product line.
“The ability to offer our enterprise customers VMware technology will significantly lower their IT costs, provide the right environment for server consolidation, and optimize IT infrastructure,” said Nathan Mills, Managing Director of Alchemy Systems. “Our team has achieved the highest levels of certification and training necessary to implement VMware’s virtualization technology.”
As Enterprise Partners, Alchemy Systems team members achieved the following:
Alchemy Systems now maintains the technical expertise to plan, design, deploy and support complex virtualization solutions.
If you would like to discuss server virtualisation or would like to find out more about VMware, please contact us on 01784 223 100 or email ask@alchemysys.net
Alchemy Systems is an IT solutions company providing a single source for IT business solutions spanning the breadth of an organisation’s computing and communications requirements. With a focus on Cloud Computing, Virtualisation, IT Support and Internet Web Services and with offices in Egham, Exeter and Burton on Trent, Alchemy is able to provide its services to organisations across the UK.
RES PowerFuse Enables Desktop Transformation and Empowers Users to Manage Their Own Workspace
“RES PowerFuse enables our administrators and users to work together in managing the whole windows desktop. RES PowerFuse has bridged the gap of the age-old conflict between the IT department and the business requirements to enable both to work as one; the whole adaptability that RES PowerFuse provides empowers our users to be happy and productive with their user workspace. Ultimately, RES PowerFuse has enabled us to deliver the desktop transformation strategy that the business required.”
Anil Sakaria, Infrastructure Manager, Europe,
Blackberry launched Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) Express in February 2010. Essentially it has the most important features of the BES but it is FREE. It means that users have access to their work email, calendar, contacts and more from their personal BlackBerry smartphone. Read more »
