Articles

    LANrev Inventory Management Tool
    LANrev Inventory Management Tool

    Need a cross-platform hardware and software inventory tool, the ability to re-image a booted-up and active Mac solution and a plethora of other IT management solutions? Read on...


    The Tape Drive in 2009
    The Tape Drive in 2009

    As the new year dawns, we look at what the future may hold for two tape-based storage technologies.


    Centrify
    Centrify

    Now you can control Macs using Active Directory Group Policies.


    ExtremeZ-IP from Group Logic
    ExtremeZ-IP from Group Logic

    If your Windows servers are not playing ball with your Macs consider ExtremeZ-IP as an alternative to buying an Apple Xserve.


    10 Reasons for RAM
    10 Reasons for RAM

    Better performance from your Mac or PC need not remain an unrequited desire. Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy by adding additional RAM to your system.


    10 Gigabit Ethernet Ready Yet?
    10 Gigabit Ethernet Ready Yet?

    We take a look at the progress of 10Gb ethernet.


    Storage Revolution
    Storage Revolution

    Brand new storage format falls somewhat short of the mark.


    Cloud Computing for Creatives
    Cloud Computing for Creatives

    Cloud, according to some, is the new "future of computing”. To others it’s just another business buzzword. Could Cloud be relevant to you as a Creative?


    Tape Drives and Technology
    Tape Drives and Technology

    Effectively back-up your data with a tape or tape/disk storage solution.


    Backup Software
    Backup Software

    You may have been lucky enough to avoid mass data loss so far, but a backup system is well worth considering.


    LTO Tape - Facts & Figures
    LTO Tape - Facts & Figures

    Choosing the right LTO tape generation and tape device will help protect your investment in backup hardware.


    Snow Leopard - What We Know
    Snow Leopard - What We Know

    As the release of Apple's latest OS - Snow Leopard - steadily approaches, we look at how the system is evolving.


    The Best High Performance Storage
    The Best High Performance Storage

    We take a look at existing & emerging storage protocols and the fact that FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) looks more like a serious bet for performance-minded SAN users.


    Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
    Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

    Microsoft’s latest server platform, Server 2008 has been widely heralded as more stable, more secure and more-for-you-money than the previous generations - but what exactly does it have to offer?


    Windows Home Server - part 3
    Windows Home Server - part 3

    Here's the final installment of our review of Windows Home Server - find out if it's something your home would benefit from.


    Windows Home Server - part 2
    Windows Home Server - part 2

    The 2nd article of our 3 part series reviewing Windows Home Server & exploring whether it's a good option for you.


    Windows Home Server part 1
    Windows Home Server part 1

    Jigsaw's Phil explores the pros & cons of Windows Home Server and explains when it's a good option. This is the 1st of our 3 part series.


    When Dual-Booting Intel Macs Might be a Problem
    When Dual-Booting Intel Macs Might be a Problem

    The first in our four-part article series exploring some potential technical pitfalls in dual-booting Intel Macs and mention several useful tools in case things go wrong. If you're the sort of person who likes to get to grips with disk partitioning, cylinder numbers, and partition types, then read on - this is one of those technical articles.


    Blade Servers
    Blade Servers

    Phil Williams, one of our Server & Storage consultants, explains the benefits of blade servers.


    Why use tape based backups?
    Why use tape based backups?

    In these days of massive hard drives, CDs and DVDs, is there still a place for tape backups? Here are some really good reasons to retain a tape based backup solution


    Increase server performance by up to 1500 percent
    Increase server performance by up to 1500 percent

    Our Server specialists are often asked the same questions when configuring high-end server solutions. So in order to demystify some of these queries, we’ve asked Simon, one of the team, to talk us through the benefits of upgrading your server RAM from the offset. Over to Simon…


    Replication: Simple backups with the fastest possible restore times
    Replication: Simple backups with the fastest possible restore times

    Anyone who has had the misfortune of performing a disaster recovery will tell you how important it is to recover lost data as quickly and painlessly as possible.


    Email
    Email

    At some point every business reaches the point where managing POP email accounts for with their ISP becomes a nightmare – the delay between requests and actual setup – the settings and passwords to be remembered – the risk that vital email will be lost if a computer becomes lost or its disks corrupted.


    Facilis Terrablock
    Facilis Terrablock

    We can help you avoid the headache of having to understand all the technical details that differentiate one brand of Storage Area Network (SAN) from another.


    Backup for video
    Backup for video

    Plug the archiving gaps in your file-based production workflow with any one of a range of options that suit your budget and requirements.


    UPS: Uninterrupted Power Supplies
    UPS: Uninterrupted Power Supplies

    Computers are actually quite resillient to problems with your electricity supply. It is quite common for an interruption to ocurr, where your lights flicker but your computer manages to ride it out. You’re not just imagining it.


    Switches
    Switches

    Ideal for small-to-medium basic networks, where you are looking for a solution which requires very little or no configuration. Unmanaged switches are ready to go straight out of the box. They are, to all intents and purposes, plug and play.


    iSCSI: Internet Small Computer Systems Interface
    iSCSI: Internet Small Computer Systems Interface

    Ethernet network equipment is a consumer commodity and the costs reflect this. Fibre channel equipment still commands a business price premium for the extra performance you achieve. Also, some computers (particularly laptops and iMacs) do not have the capacity for a fibre-channel adapter, so with iSCSI you could hook up existing computers in order to access high performance shared storage. If you don’t want the premium performance of a fibre SAN, iSCSI could be the answer.


    SAN: Storage Area Networks
    SAN: Storage Area Networks

    Share files faster, more flexibly, and with almost unlimited capacity. You might have heard a lot about SANs – Storage Area Networks. Are they the answer to everyone’s storage needs, just as the hype would suggest?


    NAS: Network Attached Storage
    NAS: Network Attached Storage

    If you simply want a block of cheap shared file storage, without the flexibility of a server or the high performance of a Storage Area Network (SAN), then a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device may be ideal.


    Telecommuting and Remote Working
    Telecommuting and Remote Working

    There are a number of commercial advantages to having employees work from home. Aside from benefits to individual employees and any beneficial ecological considerations, the UK government’s Business Link web site lists the following factors (paraphrased).


    Internet content filtering
    Internet content filtering

    Businesses are increasingly concerned over lost productivity and any liability that is entailed in providing uncontrolled access to the Internet. The problem is compounded with the difficulty of finding a robust and scalable solution without facing the counter-productive hurdle of many false positives.