National Computer Warehouse Services remembers Hurricane Sandy in Manhattan

National Computer Warehouse Services remembers Hurricane Sandy in Manhattan

BY Mike Godek NCWS, LLC

On October 26, 2012, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency as one of the most powerful storms in United States history approached the Northeast.  By October 28, all flights throughout every international airport in the New York metropolitan area were cancelled and all services provided by the MTA were suspended.  Major roads and bridges were closed, as mandatory evacuations were being ordered for residents in isolated, coastal areas.  Then on October 29, 2012, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in history slammed the Northeastern seaboard bringing severe flooding, damaging winds, and massive power-outages throughout the coast. Hurricane Sandy’s widespread path of damage made it the second costliest hurricane in history, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  The $68 billion dollars of damage caused by the super storm affected every state on the coast, but none more than New York. 

Hurricane Sandy’s death toll in the United States was 72, making it the second deadliest hurricane in history. From October 27- November 1, a total of 19,729 flights were cancelled.  Over 6 million people in 15 states were without power by November 1.  The NYSE and NASDAQ were closed for two days until it reopened on October 31.  The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy had tested the aging American infrastructure in major cities, such as New York City.

Before the storm struck, on October 26, 2012, team members from National Computer Warehouse Services, LLC met in our western Massachusetts office and developed a disaster plan for our clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for critical mission services and if they needed to be executed.  Project managers and IT technicians were placed on call in strategic areas for emergency server and data center relocation's.  Management team members notified clients in the Northeast of disaster services and if they needed to be utilized.  As time passed, team members soon went into action.  Teams were called to the areas that were effected the most, especially in downtown Manhattan. Darkness and water flooded the city, as teams carpooled to enter.  Multiply clients lost power and needed emergency server relocation services to Massachusetts and upstate New York.  Within fewer two hours, servers were relocated from origin to destination.  A year later, National Computer Warehouse Services remembers the super storm that changed the Northeast and severity that these storms entail. 

Pride and commitment to service are the element s that team members thrive on at National Computer Warehouse Services.  We recognize the critical aspects of business and ethics that our clients portray, and that why we understand that “focus matters.”

Blue Hill company helps feed hungry people—Penobscot Bay Press

Blue Hill company helps feed hungry people—and pets | Photo | Penobscot Bay Press

CONFERENCE AND SEMINAR RELOCATION

As the world gets more and more dependent on the knowledge economy, there seems to be a corresponding and exponential rise in the need for seminars and conferences to brainstorm on new ideas, elucidate new thoughts, challenge norms and traditions, etc. In other words, learning in this type of environment has moved beyond the academia. Even people in sports business, health, automobiles, and every other industry under the sun has one seminar going on somewhere or the other.

Truly, much has been said about what to do in a conference or how to give a good seminar that would get the attendees really satisfied, the other angle of organizing the logistics for these types of meetings are often not brought to the fore. In as much as the talks are the main thing, how to move seminars and conferences from one location to the other is also critical to the success of the tour.

Getting the logistics right for a seminar is key to the success of the program. There are several things to consider when moving a conference or seminar from one city or country to the other. It can be as complex as moving a music band from one place to another on. Leaving the details and processes for moving in the hands of the speaker can be very counterproductive especially if it is a program that would tour many cities in the same country or even abroad.

Experience has shown that speakers in seminars of this magnitude need to be in the right frame of mind all the time to be able to deliver successfully and without any unnecessary distractions. Therefore, the need to hire a conference moving company or a seminar relocation services company is imperative.

Companies like this take care of the truck or flight management, they ensure that the ICT requirements (live video streaming, onsite projectors, etc.) are available and confirmed to work perfectly. It is also their duty to secure hotel rooms for the speaker and his/her crew, make sure vehicles are hired to take them to and from the venue without stress.

Seminar moving companies, or conference relocation services also take charge of setting up the hall, taking care of invitees or guests inventory and carry out on-call services too. Seminar relocation can be cumbersome just as conference moving can be confusing if not organized properly. This is why it is essential to allow professional seminar/conference moving and relocation services’ company to take care of that end.

It is their job to find the right location and hall, set it up to accommodate everyone expected, make sure that refreshment, stationary, souvenirs and the likes are available on time. They also secure transportation for the crew and their gadgets – especially trucks that can convey large, heavy equipment.

And at the end of the whole show, it is the duty of the professional seminar/conference moving and relocation services’ company to disassemble the whole equipment and the likes, haul them into trucks and transport them to the next location where they set up once again and repeat the process. They are indeed indispensable for a successful seminar or conference relocation experience. This is because that is their job and they have specialists committed to handling every single detail which in turn guarantees a smooth and rewarding conference or seminar.

The Ins and Outs of Data Center Security

A business—especially the bigger ones, requires a data center to manage and protect information which are relevant to their business’s operations. The data center is the business’s facility which houses their computer systems, electronic files, storage systems, telecommunication systems, backup power systems, environmental controls for the offices and buildings, security systems, and the like. Without data centers, businesses would have a hard time coordinating the overall flow of things in their business environment.

These facilities are greatly dependent on modern computer systems, and the technology used to maintain these centers need to be maintained and constantly updated in order to ensure the efficiency of their performance. Because a lot of businesses now rely on technological advancements to further help their businesses flourish, having an updated data center helps increase their business’s function at the top productivity.

These data centers protect the business’s profitability as well as their reputation and productivity. Because of the great impact that a data center can have on a business’s success, it is imperative for business owners to invest on top of the line data center security.

What is data center security for?

Simply put, this is the business’s way to protect their operations’ security as well as the security of their business environment among many others. Because their data centers house important parts of their businesses’ operations as well as files stored in electronic means, having secured data centers is a must to make sure that everything is protected and that nothing goes amiss.

Data centers are complex systems, and since they house a lot of necessary factors essential for the proper function and optimum productivity of businesses, it is the business owners’ duty to invest in a good data center security system.

These security systems can take care of the most important systems of the business and help protect them from any external as well as internal threats which may negatively affect the operation of various businesses. While it may sound like a purely technical system, one must understand how data center security is also concerned with matters such as:

ü      Data and user security

ü      Network security

ü      Physical security

A good system encompasses all of these factors along with other more advanced offerings to ensure the security of the businesses’ data centers and whatever information or equipment are stored inside.

Getting to Know these Security Systems

Because information and other pieces of equipment stored inside data centers are of top performance to the proper operation of the business, it is a must to protect them from breaches. These security systems protect files and systems used by the businesses to operate smoothly.

Data is not a physically tangible thing but because there are pieces of hardware which can be manipulated to store, transport, and even destroy data, data security is a must for businesses in order to keep a good record of their files and to maintain their trustworthy reputation.

Data center security systems should not solely rely on software. To improve the efficiency, these systems ought to be integrated with the existing security given to the infrastructure itself. Some of the most common methods of ensuring security include:

Biometric access control – These may range from fingerprint scanning, voice recognition, eye scans, and other similar features. With these security measures, only individuals who have been given the right to access the data centers would be allowed to pass. There must be a strict observance of who else these licensed individuals would take with them especially if they aren’t supposed to be in these areas.

Password systems – Classic but still effective, entering passwords or codes can still be used for these systems. One must remember not to divulge the password or keep any physical copy of it which may be used by outsiders.

Security guards – Do not underestimate having the physical presence of security guards in data center premises. They can ward off those who should not be in the area and can give better protection along with the system’s security.

Surveillance cameras – Should there ever be breaches, surveillance cameras may serve as very useful tools to identify the involved individuals. These can also be used as a remote way to watch over the data center in a more centralized fashion if roving guards are not available.

These are just some of the ways on how a data center can be kept secure and with the continuing improvement of technology, more efficient systems are bound to be developed.

Why Data Centers Have to Keep Running and Operational

Corporations and business enterprises create information that needs to be stored every day. They need more power to continue to store as much data as possible and keep operating. It is not enough to store information inside the actual location which is why collocation of data center hosting solutions is critical. It is doubly important to have data center facilities that can meet increasing demand and the high density of data being processed.

History of Data Centers & Data Center Hosting

The simplest way to explain what data center hosting is think back to the computer rooms that most enterprises require. When data centers first became necessary they required people working on them 24/7 because they were so complex, and these systems needed special environments and webs of cable that connected various components. Companies needed to create methods to organize cables like putting up mounting equipment, cable trays and building elevated floors.

Old computer systems also required a lot of power to run, and this power would raise the temperature which had to be watched so that it did not go up past a critical point and cause overheating. In addition to all that technical stuff, data needed to be protected and in extreme cases where stringent security measures had to be adopted a lot of processes would be entangled in guidelines and security clearance levels that could make a data center work like vaulted, safety-security boxes like the once you would get in a secure Swiss bank. As the use of computers became prevalent, it made these old data rooms impossible to manage.

Business enterprises became aware of client-server computing in the 1990s with the introduction of servers. These reduced the sizes of computer data rooms and allowed for networking equipment and cabling that led to servers being hosted in data centers inside a company and eventually in remote locations. Data centers became a word used to describe computer rooms. The boom of remote data centers has grown significantly since the dot-com era which tanked. The internet pushed businesses to have servers and data centers that would never shut down but be able to give out different kinds of information whenever data queries are made. Data center hosting is not always a viable option to have in-house, and this has created an opportunity for smaller companies to build large facilities that only handle data for various companies and these are called Internet data centers that have a wide range of solutions for operations and system deployment.

The Benefits of Data Centers in Business Continuity Even When Data Center relocation has to happen:

A data center keeps data safe from unauthorized usage and malicious attacks. With hacking being so prevalent, the value of deploying security systems to keep data safe is necessary. For small businesses, the security measures might not be as extensive, but a data center can provide techniques to test and identify network vulnerabilities. The most significant thing, however, has to do with a data center providing continuity in case of network failure and unforeseen disasters. Minimizing disruption and operational losses builds investor confidence, sets your brand to be a reliable brand that customers and stakeholders will appreciate even if data center relocation has to happen. Data centers ensure continuity which is essential to make sure a business remains competitive in an industry that can be volatile. The smooth retrieval of data through a data center ensures business continuity and reliability in the face of challenges that are known and unknown.

Data center offer leading services such as:

Dedicated hosting services

Collocation services

Cloud computing services

E-Commerce Portal Hosting

Data centers helps businesses focus more on their core activities by facilitating greater agility and flexibility of technology operations will help enterprises maintain continuity regardless of the challenges it might face regarding storage and retrieval.

Any enterprise that uses the services of a data service company can operate without having to worry about the safety of data and ensures that the company continues rendering services without having to worry about the integrity of its computer system. If your company has to move, data center relocation does not become an issue.

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them, and Can't Disrupt

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them

In today’s high-tech world of information and technology it would be impossible for most of us to function in our day to day lives without some form of information interaction  that is digitally transmitted and stored in any number of locations.  Data centers are an integral part of virtually every business these days as they rely heavily on massive amounts of data being stored and made available for daily business functions.   From emails to on-line banking or accessing a form from the workplace network to operating a telecommunications center, virtually everything we do or use today somehow interacts with digital data being transmitted, stored and made secure in a data center.

However, data centers are much more than just a place to store data; this is just one of the many components that make up a data center.  Data centers are run by computer systems that make the data they store useful to whom or whatever has access to the data.  These systems can be quite immense depending on the size of the business or corporation.  The various ways in which the data is being accessed and used dictates what type of infrastructure is put in place to move, save and protected the stored data.  There are the data storage systems themselves that typically are paired to ensure storage redundancy and then you must have the hardware and software in place that makes data connectivity possible.  Telecommunications of course is necessary for the transmittal of data and each data center typically has a primary and back-up power distribution system for ensured reliability.  These are the main components that make up a typical data center.

Data centers play such an important role in our everyday lives that extreme measures are taken to protect the stored data.  Aside from routine back-ups and virus protection software, data centers are also commonly protected by both electronic data security and physical security systems as well.  Fire suppression and environmental control systems are also a vital part of most large data centers.

For a typical example of how a data center interacts with our everyday lives, let us take a quick trip to the electronics super store.  Suppose you are unable to find an advertised sale item you wish to purchase.  You flag down one of the store’s sales associate who punches in the information on your item into one of their sales terminals.  The information is then transmitted to the stores corporate data center where an inventory check locates your item at a store 55 miles away.  With a swipe of your credit card, the electronic wheels are set in motion.  Through applications, that are part of the data center, your credit card information and sales amount is transmitted to your bank for approval and then back with confirmation of payment.  Another application, that is also part of the data center, then electronically removes your item from the store’s inventory, tags it for re-order and transfers the item to the inventory of the store that you made the purchase from.  Last, through yet another application that is part of the data center, the item is electronically marked to be shipped on the next truck heading to the store of purchase.  All of this takes place within seconds from the sales associate hitting the ‘enter’ key.  A few days later, you receive an email and a text message, through yet another application that is part of the data center, alerting you that your item has arrived and is ready for pick up. 

And to think when a company performs a data center relocation, when done correctly no one has any idea it have been relocated to a new environment.  Companies have millions of dollars on the line, and loyal clients... this well balanced system cannot be disrupted when performing a data center relocation.

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them

In today’s high-tech world of information and technology it would be impossible for most of us to function in our day to day lives without some form of information interaction  that is digitally transmitted and stored in any number of locations.  Data centers are an integral part of virtually every business these days as they rely heavily on massive amounts of data being stored and made available for daily business functions.   From emails to on-line banking or accessing a form from the workplace network to operating a telecommunications center, virtually everything we do or use today somehow interacts with digital data being transmitted, stored and made secure in a data center.

However, data centers are much more than just a place to store data; this is just one of the many components that make up a data center.  Data centers are run by computer systems that make the data they store useful to whom or whatever has access to the data.  These systems can be quite immense depending on the size of the business or corporation.  The various ways in which the data is being accessed and used dictates what type of infrastructure is put in place to move, save and protected the stored data.  There are the data storage systems themselves that typically are paired to ensure storage redundancy and then you must have the hardware and software in place that makes data connectivity possible.  Telecommunications of course is necessary for the transmittal of data and each data center typically has a primary and back-up power distribution system for ensured reliability.  These are the main components that make up a typical data center.

Data centers play such an important role in our everyday lives that extreme measures are taken to protect the stored data.  Aside from routine back-ups and virus protection software, data centers are also commonly protected by both electronic data security and physical security systems as well.  Fire suppression and environmental control systems are also a vital part of most large data centers.

For a typical example of how a data center interacts with our everyday lives, let us take a quick trip to the electronics super store.  Suppose you are unable to find an advertised sale item you wish to purchase.  You flag down one of the store’s sales associate who punches in the information on your item into one of their sales terminals.  The information is then transmitted to the stores corporate data center where an inventory check locates your item at a store 55 miles away.  With a swipe of your credit card, the electronic wheels are set in motion.  Through applications, that are part of the data center, your credit card information and sales amount is transmitted to your bank for approval and then back with confirmation of payment.  Another application, that is also part of the data center, then electronically removes your item from the store’s inventory, tags it for re-order and transfers the item to the inventory of the store that you made the purchase from.  Last, through yet another application that is part of the data center, the item is electronically marked to be shipped on the next truck heading to the store of purchase.  All of this takes place within seconds from the sales associate hitting the ‘enter’ key.  A few days later, you receive an email and a text message, through yet another application that is part of the data center, alerting you that your item has arrived and is ready for pick up.