IT organizations have been caught between a rock and a hard place. Charged with protecting their company's information, IT organizations have established aggressive service level agreements (SLAs) that impact the manner in which they implement data protection by setting recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO).
Organizations struggle with shrinking or non-existent backup windows, the need to recover quickly, often to a specific point in time, and even meeting compliance or regulatory guidelines. Backing up to tape is no longer adequate; not only is it difficult to administer for backups and recoveries, but it lacks the speed, reliability, flexibility and simplicity IT needs to meet stringent SLAs. Backing up to disk using virtual tape emulation or virtual tape libraries also falls short as the administration of the solution is tape-centric and schedule driven. Add in the explosion of data, along with the challenge of protecting remote offices, and you have the challenge facing many of today's business--with IT sitting on the front lines of aligning business needs with today's technology.
As a result, a growing number of IT organizations are augmenting their traditional backup and recovery strategies with continuous data protection (CDP) solutions. CDP dramatically improves RPOs and RTOs while eliminating backup windows. What's more, CDP not only reduces the need for tape in the backup and recovery process but it also makes recovery easy enough that users can often recover their own files, without help from IT.
What is CDP?
CDP is a process that lets organizations continuously capture or track data modifications and stores changes independent of the primary data, enabling recovery points from specific points in the past. CDP systems may be block, file-, or application-based and can provide fine granularities of restorable objects to infinitely variable recovery points in time.
CDP reduces the complexity of the data protection system and eliminates the classic challenge of theing backup window because it eliminates the need for full, incremental, or differential backups by protecting data immediately and then continuously backing it up to disk. CDP is not a complete replacement for traditional backup but rather an important component of a well-rounded backup and recovery strategy.
Can CDP be leveraged for backing up and recovering email? As the predominant form of communication for business transactions, email is an application that is mission-critical to organizations of all sizes. It generates a huge amount of information that must be immediately available and protected. The loss of a single message may generate hours of unnecessary and frustrating labor for administrators and/or users and can lower productivity or affect business operations. And with the introduction of Exchange 2007, organizations need protective solutions that can support the latest offering from Microsoft.
Not surprisingly, the amount of email data requiring protection and availability is growing exponentially. IT, in turn, is faced with the challenge of backing up this critical data within the existing backup window and recovering it quickly. Moreover, they must not only be able to back up and recover whole email databases but they also require a system which enables recovery of individual mailboxes or emails. However, if administrators want to back up email databases for complete disaster recovery purposes and be able to recover individual email, folders, or mailboxes, they typically have had to do separate backups.
New granular recovery technologies have emerged that enable mail messages, mailboxes, and folders to be restored individually without having to restore an entire email database, and without separate and redundant mailbox backups. In an Exchange environment, for example, only a single-pass full or incremental backup of Exchange is required, which dramatically decreases the time required to protect all mailboxes while also reducing the backup storage requirement.
Selasa, 18 Maret 2008
An overview of continuous data protection
iPhone the Ultimate Blogging Device
Kiltak at Geeks are Sexy points to this iPhone advertisement and asks if the iPhone is the ultimate blogging tool. The girl in the video explains that the iPhone can be used to take pictures and blog them directly from the phone:
But is it the ultimate blogging device? No.
The Palm Treo is a better device for the hardcore blogger. Take a look at the dancer's situation to understand why.
If she had a Treo, she could take much higher resolution photos using a typical point & shoot camera like the Canon SD line, then swap her SD card into the Treo to share a much higher resolution photo of an event. This would also allow her to take better low-light photos than the iPhone could handle. I have a hard time believing she captures great photos of ballet considering the light conditions and speed involves.
She could also use the point & shoot camera to take video clips of dancing rather than just stills. The clips could be blogged by emailing them to Blip.tv and posted directly to her blog from Blip. The iPhone can't do video, and it wouldn't be as high of resolution as what you could get from the point & shoot.
The Treo, on Sprint or Verizon, has faster data speeds than the iPhone which makes it possible to upload large photos in relatively tolerable times.
The keyboard on Treos makes it easier to type more descriptive blog posts to accompany your photos or videos in less time than one could type on an iPhone.
Will this always be the case? Probably not. Networks will get faster, future iPhones will have better cameras, and they'll surely add video support at some point. But for now, I don't think the iPhone is the ultimate blogging device.
Decide for yourself. Here are links to two ballet related posts I found on Kristin's blog in the past 5 months. Capturing indoor photos of people moving would be nearly imp
Three Tips For Handling PDF Conversions
1. Zamzar launches a pretty nifty file conversion service
I wanted to scrape a graphic from a PDF file and I was searching online for my options. Normally one looks for a packaged option, downloadable, and I was sorting through the free and not so free, the working and not so working and I came across this little gem called Zamzar. It’s a service, rather than software, and they do one or two of the niftiest things going. First, they translate my PDF files into just about any file format I could wish for. This was what I wanted in the first place, but they also offered to do little other things that were neat, like send me a file that they can scrape off Youtube! I like that. Let me go aside for a paragraph and then back to Zamzar.
I pulled Paul Tobey’s Music Box Dancer, which is a jazzed up version of the classic off and now I can listen to it on my PDA when I don’t have internet access. One of the comments said it best for me: “I like both versions. These guys are just having a great jam session having fun with a tune that lends itself to such things.” Over 22,000 views can’t be wrong! Paul is an interesting guy. I met him at one of his Internet Marketing Courses, and after about three hours, realized that he wasn’t just teaching me how to do Search Engine Optimization, but he was also teaching me about copy writing, etiquette, strategy, how to close sales, and just plain Internet business sense. His Music Box dancer is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqgNKB1uog and you can look over his internet marketing course at http://www.trainingbusinesspros.com/. But that’s not why I’m writing this. Through Paul, I found a great practical use for Zamzar and this is how it fits usefully into my life.
Zamzar is a pretty neat converter. It's free. You go to www.zamzar.com and simply upload your file. Shortly afterwards, Zamzar emails you a link back. You follow that link and download the converted file. It's free, and pretty easy!
Zamzar does the following conversions to PFD and back. The entire list, which includes images, audio and video!
• convert PDF to doc - Microsoft Word Document
• convert PDF to html - Hypertext Markup Language
• convert PDF to odt - OpenDocument Text Document
• convert PDF to pcx - Paintbrush Bitmap Image
• convert PDF to png - Portable Network Graphic
• convert PDF to ps - Postscript document
• convert PDF to rtf - Rich Text Format
• convert PDF to txt - Text document
and
• convert csv to PDF Comma Separated Values
• convert doc to PDF Microsoft Word Document
• convert docx to PDF Microsoft Word 2007 Document
• convert odp to PDF OpenDocument presentation
• convert ods to PDF OpenDocument spreadsheet
• convert odt to PDF OpenDocument Text Document
• convert ppt to PDF Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
• convert pptx to PDF Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Presentation
• convert ps to PDF Postscript document
• convert rtf to PDF Rich Text Format
• convert wpd to PDF WordPerfect Document
• convert wps to PDF Microsoft Works Document
• convert xls to PDF Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet
• convert xlsx to PDF Microsoft Excel 2007 Spreadsheet
The thing that I really like about Zamzar is that they are new and coming up with new stuff all the time. It also seems to convert WordPerfect documents into Word documents and Word documents into WordPerfect Documents which can be very handy if you are in a WordPerfect shop.
I'll use Zamzar occasionally. However, I'm not sure I want to ship my corporate or personal information to Zamzar or off into some unknown place in the Interweb, but I sure like it for what it does. I'll stick to MyPDFCreator for the business critical and personal stuff, but Zamzar is a great tool in the toolbox!
2. PDF Etiquette: It's the right thing!
Just because you have PDF doesn't mean you have to use it! When should one use PDF and when should one stick to POT (Plain old Text)
PDF is great when you want to send an uneditable document. Examples include quotations, invoices, legal documents, and ebooks PDF is also outstanding for sending documents for which the presentation layout is crucial, like annual reports.
However, anytime that you email an attachment, it requires extra clicks to open it, and people tend not to do extra clicks. They miss the attachment, or they don't want to open attachments for fear of viruses, or, if they are on an old computer, opening up large PDF or other files can slow down and stop a computer. If you are sending a birthday party initiation or something casual, put it in the email. Don't use any attachment at all.
3. In Software, "Feature Rich" can be a "Bloated Pig"!
Make sure that the software you are using isn't loaded down with options you'll never use. If you buy, for example, Adobe Professional for $449.00 you are getting the most complete feature rich, product available. This is great when you want to "Design forms to collect and aggregate data through e-mail or on the web" for example. But if 100% you are going to do falls in the realm of "create a Word Document or a PowerPoint show and convert it to PDF and back" then you don't need to spend most of the $449.00 and you don't need to have to struggle through the myriad of options that the "Feature Rich" software offers you, and you don't need to go on a three day training course. Buy the bacon, not the whole hog!
Senin, 17 Maret 2008
Protecting Children Online With Internet Parental Controls
The World Wide Web is a fascinating place. It has obliterated geography in terms of education and business. It facilitates learning by allowing kids to see things and experiences aspects of different places they may never get the chance to see in the non-virtual world. The Internet can bring people together who otherwise would never know each other and create a virtual universe that is totally cohesive, with every kind of information imaginable literally available at your fingertips. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, the Internet has a dark side. It is full of material that is inappropriate for children and all kinds of predators. Leaving your kids alone to fend for themselves on the Web is exactly as dangerous at leaving them in a crowed airport or shopping mall. You don’t know where they’re going or who with. The news is filled with horror stories about kids who have been taken advantage of on the Internet, but you don’t want yours to miss out on all the positive aspects of the technology. The first line of defense in keeping your kids save on the Web is to teach them how to use it safely.
A lot of online dangers can be dodged simply by reminding kids of one of their earliest learned lessons: don’t talk to strangers. The kinds of people who want to harm kids have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. They may try to lull your child into a false sense of security by pretending to be someone she knows. Make sure your child understands that it isn’t a good idea to give out personal information such as their address, phone number or the name of their school. The less information a potential predator has, the harder it will be for him to actually locate a victim. It might be a good idea to establish a secret password and share it only with friends and family so your kid has a way to identify people who are safe to chat with.
Chat interfaces and instant messaging are great tools for keeping in touch with friends and conduct business, but they are also direct connections between your child and possible pedophiles and other predators. Most instant messengers have settings that will only allow people on a pre-approved list to approach your child. That way you can let the kids chat with family and friends while keeping the bad guys out. You can visit http://www.internet-parental-control.org to find more information on online child safety measures.
You can’t watch your kids every minute they are online, and you can’t always count on them to do what you have taught them to do. Parental control software is a great back up. Most browsers will allow you to customize age-appropriate settings for each child in your house. You can choose what kinds of Web sites you want your kids to access and block them out of the ones you don’t. It’s a great way to provide a virtual safety net for your family. If the parental controls supplied by your Internet Service Provider, check into installing additional software that will evaluate each site your child attempts to access. You set criteria by which the software judges each Web page and assigns a rating, much like a movie rating. Your kids will only be able to look at sites with ratings you have deemed appropriate.
Web Accessibility a Universal Goal!
Over the last decay, an increase number of research were conducted to determine ways Information Technology can assist in meeting special needs to ensure universal accessibility. Findings to date suggest that by being more knowledgeable about accessibility issues, Web designers and developers are able to accommodate end users with special needs.
As we enter the knowledge age, it is no longer acceptable that people with limited or no vision are on their own when it comes to accessing the web, nor those with mobility problems are on their own when it comes to use a hardware. To ignore
website accessibility raises moral, business, and legal issues. It is morally wrong to discriminate
against disabled people on the web simply through lack of thought, consideration, or awareness. Many business web sites designed without considering accessibility issues result in loss of revenue. Some countries, such as the US, UK, and Australia has introduced legislation that requires organizations to adhere to accessibility issues.
In June 1999, the Disability Discrimination Act (1999) has been used to fight for access rights in
Australia. The 2000 Olympic Site Games, jointly developed by Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and IBM was found inaccessible to the blind users, and SOCOG was fined A$ 20,000 [1].
The purpose of this paper is raising awareness among web designers and developers, to achieve universal web accessibility goal. The paper looks at the disability issues and the existing assistive technologies or methods used by disabled users to assist them in accessing the web.
Afterwards, the paper reviews guidelines for good web site design, and provides analysis for designing an accessible website. Furthermore, the paper highlights on the challenges and gaps in the web accessibility area.
Literature Review:
Two years ago, a Conference was held in ‘London’ and attended by representatives of commerce, industry, government, and the IT Sector aiming to raise awareness of the potential benefits of assistive technology to disabled users. The outstanding number of speakers highlighted through number of cases how technology can transfer lives. ‘Sue Bassoon’ a Business Development Manager at IBM said: “IBM’s goal is to have a speech recognition system as good as the human ear by 2010” [2].
The objectives of this literature is two folds: (1) explain how a particular disability (e.g.
visual impairment, mobility restriction, hearing impairment) can impede the use of the web, and what can be done to accommodate special needs; and (2) show how web designers and developers can construct accessible web sites to end users with disabilities, such as visual or hearing impairment.
(1) Disability Issues
The section begins with a descriptive part concerning disabled user functional limitation
and dependence on assistive technologies.
A- Vision Issues:
A web user who has no sight (totally blind) is likely to use the screen reader technology to reads a load the content of the web page. Other web users, with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web page using a screen magnifier.
B- Mobility Issues:
A web user may have mobility problems as a result of an accident or disease such as:(loss of limb, Injury, or aging process). The technologies used by users with mobility problems are:
- Sticky Keys: For users with one finger typing.
- Filter Keys: Ignores repeated strokes for people with hand tremors.
- Mouse Keys: Permits moving pointer with numeric keypad.
- Serial Key: Permits access to alternatives for mouse and keyboard functions such as Foot Mouse.
- Eye gaze: A video camera that racks eye movement as the user look at an on screen keyboard. It is customizable as how long a key must be looked at to be recorded. When system has identified the key looked at the symbol appears and the user look at next key.
C- Hearing Issues:
A web user may be deaf or experiencing problems with hearing due to the natural aging process. To assist those users the audio or video need to be translated to the ASL (American Sign Language) language of the deaf, in which certain signs represent words.
(2) Design for Accessibility
In the above section, the paper provided readers with a general knowledge about disability issues, disabled users, and the existing assistive technologies. This section is intended for web designers and developers, because it provides them with tips and guidelines on ways to design a good and accessible website. There are two main aspects
to take into account:
I- Look and Feel
Web designers need to present a user friendly interface that addresses specific ability needs. The designer should be able to describe ways disabled users interact with a website, and how they move through the pages and how they achieve their goals. Below, are helpful tips that designers need to consider when designing an accessible website.
- Web Designers & Developers; should follow the four principles of visual organization in the process of designing a website which are: Proximity, Alignment, Consistency, and Contrast.
- Web Designers & Developers; must avoid using HTML tables to control the layout, instead use style sheets.
- Web Designers & Developers; should use legible fonts, and font size to allow disabled users to easily change them from the browser interface.
- Avoid poor color contrast in your design, and do not use color for meaningful description.
- Avoid the use of animation, and flash which may affect users with photosensitive epilepsy.
- Avoid using Frames because it can pose problems for technology used by some disabled users.
- Try not to use graphics for menu and button forms.
- Avoid hiding menu items (using DHTML or applets)
II- Content
Web designers should organize content in a way that can provide ease of use and simplicity. Below, are helpful tips that designers need to consider when designing an accessible website:
- Use a clear language, and write short sentences.
For example, a web page should provide blind users with a short summary of what they can find. A Search Functionality is important because a blind person can’t scan the page, and will generally trust first result he/she receives.
- Add Accessible tags and attributes by using rich set of tags to enhance accessibility. For instance, an ALT tag is used to provide a text equivalent for images within a website. The
ALT text description is what the screen reader or talking browser will read to the blind users .
- Use clear link descriptions, and include links that a user can click to skip repetitive regions of the page.
- Ensure the pages are usable when scripts, applets, or style sheets are turned off or not
supported.
- All audio and video content should contain captions, transcription, and descriptive information.
Analysis:
It is estimated that 20% of the population has some kind of disability. The internet opens
a new window of opportunity and independence to disabled users from reading news to banking to conducting business. For example, by using the screen reader technology a blind user can listen to the latest newspaper published electronically. Similarly, a user with mobility problem who can not go out shopping to buy a newspaper, nor use a
keyboard or mouse independently, can rather use the eye tracking software that allow people to use a computer with nothing more than eye movement.
Nowadays, organizations are asking designers to make their web sites accessible and for
good reasons. First of all, the more people who can use a site, the more potential it can
generate. Online stores, in particular have a great deal to gain, since many people with
functional limitation problems, find it much easier to shop online. Most Web designers
are not personally opposed to the concept of making web sites accessible to people with
disabilities. In fact most accessibility errors on web sites are the result of ignorance. A large proportion of web designers and developers have simply never thought about accessibility issues. A small proportion of web designers (4%) do not understand the needs of users with disabilities; another (46%) understand some of the needs of users with disabilities. While only (26%) of designers understand most of the needs of users
with disabilities and can accommodate them [3].
The Challenges and Gaps of Web Accessibility:
In this section, we highlight the challenges and the requirements posed by user needs, to
access the web. We argue the need for a new approach to address accessibility issues, and
include it in each and every web project life cycle.We recognize that the vast majority of disabled users face challenges when accessing the web. Why is this? Is it the lack of technical solutions to meet their needs – absolutely not! You will hear today that there are new technological solutions to address even most extreme form of disability. Is it cost?
Again it is not! Some technical solutions, cost nothing at all, and already exist in software. So, What then? Is it that web applications are being developed that present challenges to accessible design? Is it lack of knowledge and skills to meet their needs?
There does seem a general lack of awareness of web accessibility issues. Web Designers and Developers, need to have a better approach to tackle the problem in each phase of the web development process. For example, during the requirement analysis phase a web developer must define the target audience of the site, and should take into account people with a combination of disabilities. In addition to this, during prototyping phase a web designer must have the knowledge to accommodate end users with special needs, and also the skills to meet their expectations.
Moreover, testing the web site using different
technologies is critical for a successful web site, to ensure it meets the accessibility
standards and user requirements [4].
Therefore, in each phase of the web development process, accessibility plays an important role. Accessibility and Usability should be completely embedded in web design and development cycles from beginning to end.
The future looks bright for web accessibility. It promises to educate web designers and developers about accessibility issues, through training courses offered at universities.
Conclusion:
The Internet offers independence and freedom. But, this independence and freedom is limited to certain users. Many websites are not created with accessibility issues in mind.
Whether it is the Web Designer lack of knowledge or ignorance, they exclude a segment of users that in many ways benefit from the internet [5].
In short, designing accessible websites does not require an enormous effort or time. It simply, requires commitment, and accountability, to achieve a universal goal.
The Benefits Of CRM Software
CRM software, often called customer relationship management software, is becoming much more popular today than it was in years past. One reason for this is that more people understand what the software is and are deciding to use it. Another reason is that the software is getting better and easier to use. It has more features and benefits than it did in the past, and it is also becoming more user-friendly, which is very important. More people today are using the Internet for their businesses. As this trend continues to grow, there will be a larger need for CRM software, but only if it is found to be useful and compatible with the needs that a business owner or manager has.
There are a lot of benefits to CRM software, as well. Managers can use this software to keep track of their customers and vendors and organize them in many different ways. It is unfortunate that so many people only think of CRM software as being a datebook or contact-recording type of software. It does handle these functions, but it does a great deal more than that, which is something that many business people fail to realize today when they are presented with CRM software. This CRM software can be used to record names and dates. However, it also keeps track of sales, returns, important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. In addition, it can help to remind salespeople of their prior commitments. This keeps them from missing deadlines, meetings, the returning of phone calls, or anything else that will affect the perception of them that their clients have.
Naturally, not missing deadlines is vital to a good business relationship. In addition, the CRM software can help a client feel as though he or she matters to a business. When a client feels important and valued, repeat business is much more likely than it would otherwise be. This is great for the business, but it is also good for the clients, because everyone in the relationship benefits from the efficiency that CRM software helps to create. Without CRM software, there is a good chance that there will be more problems in the interactions that are needed between clients and businesspeople. This is not to say that CRM software eliminates all chance of problems, but it does reduce them.
Those who use CRM software can also be more organized, because it is easier for them to find what they need when it comes to their customers, their vendors, and anything else that they need to keep close track of. It allows them to return calls more promptly, send out birthday cards, and keep customer information stored in a database where it can easily be retrieved by anyone who has authorized access to it. The main benefit to customers is that almost anyone in the company can help them, at least to some degree, because they can get to their information. This benefit of CRM software is the most important one because of the ability to let customers know that they are important to the company.
The Benefits Of CRM Software
CRM software, often called customer relationship management software, is becoming much more popular today than it was in years past. One reason for this is that more people understand what the software is and are deciding to use it. Another reason is that the software is getting better and easier to use. It has more features and benefits than it did in the past, and it is also becoming more user-friendly, which is very important. More people today are using the Internet for their businesses. As this trend continues to grow, there will be a larger need for CRM software, but only if it is found to be useful and compatible with the needs that a business owner or manager has.
There are a lot of benefits to CRM software, as well. Managers can use this software to keep track of their customers and vendors and organize them in many different ways. It is unfortunate that so many people only think of CRM software as being a datebook or contact-recording type of software. It does handle these functions, but it does a great deal more than that, which is something that many business people fail to realize today when they are presented with CRM software. This CRM software can be used to record names and dates. However, it also keeps track of sales, returns, important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. In addition, it can help to remind salespeople of their prior commitments. This keeps them from missing deadlines, meetings, the returning of phone calls, or anything else that will affect the perception of them that their clients have.
Naturally, not missing deadlines is vital to a good business relationship. In addition, the CRM software can help a client feel as though he or she matters to a business. When a client feels important and valued, repeat business is much more likely than it would otherwise be. This is great for the business, but it is also good for the clients, because everyone in the relationship benefits from the efficiency that CRM software helps to create. Without CRM software, there is a good chance that there will be more problems in the interactions that are needed between clients and businesspeople. This is not to say that CRM software eliminates all chance of problems, but it does reduce them.
Those who use CRM software can also be more organized, because it is easier for them to find what they need when it comes to their customers, their vendors, and anything else that they need to keep close track of. It allows them to return calls more promptly, send out birthday cards, and keep customer information stored in a database where it can easily be retrieved by anyone who has authorized access to it. The main benefit to customers is that almost anyone in the company can help them, at least to some degree, because they can get to their information. This benefit of CRM software is the most important one because of the ability to let customers know that they are important to the company.
