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January 2013

Innovations

Face it—downtime is depressing, difficult and downright dumb. You can’t

afford to lose business, customers and your reputation because of failed

computer systems. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to Disaster

Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC).

Almost every business depends on secure, reliable computer systems. It

doesn’t matter if you’re a retail establishment, an online business or a service

provider. You rely on technology in order to perform everyday functions.

The Costs of Downtime

The cost of downtime is significant. In this Internet-connected age, most

companies lose money when systems are down. Customers cannot order

products, so they go elsewhere for services. It’s also difficult to communicate

with people when your e-mail and web sites are inaccessible. Downtime hurts

your competitiveness. Eventually your company’s reputation can be damaged.

This is why Business Continuity is so much more important than simple

Disaster Recovery practices. You want to prevent downtime instead of

recovering from it.

So, what’s the difference?

Disaster Recovery is simply one part of Business Continuity. The word

“disaster” indicates a situation where continuity has been broken. If you are

recovering from a disaster, your computer systems are down. Your business

information systems essentially failed. Typical disruptions include planned,

unplanned, intentional and unintentional events. A backhoe can snap a telecom

line at a nearby construction site, for example. Malware or viruses might take

down your local network.

Business Continuity describes the way you eliminate disruptions. That’s the

big difference between DR and BC. When hard drives, servers or networks fail,

BC practices ensure that duplicate systems are in place. When downtime

occurs, BC systems instantly switch to copies of the same data you have been

What The Difference Is Between Disaster

Recovery And Business Continuity And Why

You Should Care

The Lighter Side… Did They Really Say That?

I was married by a judge. I

should have asked for a jury.

- Groucho Marx

———————————–

My wife has a slight

impediment in her speech.

Every now and then she stops

to breathe.

- Jimmy Durante

———————————–

My luck is so bad that if I

bought a cemetery, people

would stop dying.

- Rodney Dangerfield

———————————–

Money can't buy you

happiness ... But it does bring

you a more pleasant form of

misery

- Spike Milligan

————————————

Until I was thirteen, I thought

my name was"SHUT UP".

- Joe Namath

————————————

I never drink water because of

the disgusting things that fish

do in it.

- W. C. Fields

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

Page 2

Innovations

Disaster Recovery vs Business Continuity continued

—————————————————————— using all along. Users don’t even notice the switch.

These days you have several options to help keep your

computers running and your information available 24/7.

Storage solutions that contain backed-up, redundant hard

drives, like Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage

Area Networks (SAN) storage devices, help you recover in

failure situations. Your users never see that a drive failed.

Their data and applications are always available, even if

hardware breaks. Similarly, modern networking

technologies protect organizations from networking

failures. Both these hardware solutions help you maintain

business continuity when things break.

Many companies don’t have the latest hardware and

software installed, however. It’s important to upgrade your

systems in order to take advantage of the new solutions.

You need to have a plan for dealing with natural disasters,

hackers, viruses, legal threats and new rules governing data

protection.

3 Business Continuity Considerations

Here are some key areas to examine:

1. Consider how important computer systems are to your

bottom line. Do you rely on an internet connection for

payment? If you lost your customer database, would that

immediately impact your business?

2. Pay attention to your storage habits. Make sure all

critical data is backed up to a central server in your office

AND in another physical location. Your best option for

offsite storage usually is a “cloud” backup solution such as

BSSi2’s “Save My Data” plan.

3. Think about installing a local NAS or SAN device that

has several copies of your data on separate disks. Many of

these devices now also have built-in cloud backup

solutions.

Ultimately, the data and applications you use to run your

business need to be protected. Consider them vital organs

to the health of your business.

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

It’s National Clean Up Your

Computer Month

I didn’t believe it either, but after some research

it’s official…an authority no less reputable than

“The Vinegar Institute” declared January as a

national holiday to clean up your computer.

In light of this holiday, I thought I’d take the

time to answer a small but nagging question, “How

do I get those smudges, dust, and fingerprints safely

off of my flat screen monitor?”

Although each monitor manufacturer has its own

special instructions for cleaning, there are some

common guidelines you can use to get your screen

looking like new in no time.

� Turn off the monitor. It’s not required, but it

makes smudges and smears easier to see.

� Use a cotton cloth or compressed air to get rid

of light dust buildup. Never use a rag or paper

towel to clean since they can scratch the screen.

� Don’t use products with ethyl alcohol or ammonia-based products. Products like

Windex can yellow flat-screen or laptop

monitors.

� Use water or a homemade mix to clean

grungy surfaces. If water is not enough,

concoct a cleaning solution of 1 part water, 1

part isopropyl alcohol, and 1/2 part vinegar.

� Lightly moisten your cloth with the cleaning solution. Never apply the liquid directly to the

screen.

� Wipe the cloth in one direction – from top to

bottom. This method will ensure grime and

dust move to the bottom of the screen surface

where it can be wiped away.

One final guideline, never touch or press on your

LCD screen with your fingers as this can cause the

pixels to burn out. Happy cleaning!

January 2013

Ahhhh! A brand new year, full of promise, hope

and a fresh start. If you’re like most people,

you’re making the usual resolutions to exercise

more, lose weight, pay off debt, etc., etc., etc.

Essentially, it’s a time of year when we

momentarily take stock in our lives and think

about all the things we “should” be doing more

of, but don’t. So while you’re in the goal-setting

mode, we thought we would tack on 3 things that

probably aren’t on your list, but should be.

Especially since these all fall into the “important,

but not urgent” category.

1. Offsite backups. Can we beat this horse to

death anymore? I know MOST of the

clients reading this newsletter are smart

enough to have this already done, but

many still don’t and are relying on

undependable (and outdated, I might add)

tape drives, Carbonite or other volatile

backup solutions. If that’s you, don’t let

this be another year where you gamble

with everything you’ve worked so hard to

achieve. Get a better backup!!!!

2. Write A Disaster Recovery Plan. Pop quiz:

If you woke up tomorrow and discovered

that you couldn’t access your office

building due to a Chicago winter snow,

what would you do? Or what would

happen if a key executive—one who holds

the “keys” to critical processes or

applications—fell sick or (God forbid)

died? Or what would happen if a

disgruntled employee or hacker gained

access to your web server, line of business

application or file server and deleted

everything—particularly if the data was

hosted on the 3rd party cloud provider’s

3 Technology-Specific New Year’s

Resolutions You Need To Make

web site? These are all very real

scenarios, and without a plan in place,

you could be facing serious downtime

and financial losses.

3. Develop A Stronger Cyber Security

System That Goes Beyond A Firewall

And Anti-Virus. With more and more

information about us being stored

electronically, and with State and

Federal laws becoming more strict, you

MUST take cyber security seriously.

Simply having a good firewall and anti-

virus isn’t enough these days to keep the

highly motivated and technically

sophisticated criminals out of your

network. The HUMAN element is the

biggest threat—employees who

accidentally click on links in e-mails or

download files that introduce viruses to

your network. Employees are also using

social media sites more frequently, and

they can intentionally or accidentally

post something that could harm your

company’s reputation or leak

confidential information. Therefore,

your security plan must also include

employee training and policies so they

know what is and isn’t acceptable when

handling data and using company

resources (Internet, computers, etc.).

If you don’t know where to start in creating

any of the above, we’re here to help! Call us at

847-551-4626 to discuss how we can do all of

this for you and take the work and worry out of

these New Year’s resolutions!

Page 3

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

January 2013

35 Aztec Court

South Barrington, IL 60010

(847) 551-4626

www.bssi2.com

“We make all of your

computer problems go

away without the cost of

a full-time I.T. staff”

Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.

Inquiring Minds...

Shiny New Gadget

Of The Month MagicFuture.comMagicFuture.comMagicFuture.comMagicFuture.com http://www.magicfuture.com

Have you ever wondered how much money

you need to have in order to quit work forever?

Well wonder no more!

Thanks to a new online tool developed

by a veteran financial advisor to

multi-millionaires, Stefan Wissenback,

this site will help you determine what

your “magic number” is, or more

specifically, the exact amount of money

you need to have so you can quit working

forever.

Unlike many retirement planning

calculators, this tool will factor in a

number of factors such as the type of

vacations you want to take every year,

what type of legacy you want to leave

your children and even the monthly cost

of your favorite hobbies. Then, based on

WHEN you want to “retire” so work is optional, it will tell

you how much money you need to invest or save in order

to attain your goal.

Unlike other sites, it won’t try and sell you

anything—and you can try the tool out for 21 days at no

cost. We definitely recommend giving it a try—you might

be surprised to find out the amount of money you thought

you needed is actually a lot lower and very attainable.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————---- iPhone Quick Tech Tip: Have consistency problems with

your iPhone? If you have a hard cover case, it could be

causing this issue. It is a problem known by Apple with the

iPhone. Remove the hard case and see if the problem goes

away.

BSSi2BSSi2BSSi2BSSi2 (847) 551(847) 551(847) 551(847) 551----4626 www.bssi2.com4626 www.bssi2.com4626 www.bssi2.com4626 www.bssi2.com

Feel like your computer is out of gas? Having network issues

that are delaying your daily operations? Give our IT professionals

a call today for your FREE Network Assessment. We will inven-

tory your current technology, check network security,

review your back-up solution and deliver a report including out-

standing issues and possible solutions. It’s amazing how a sim-

ple review of your current operations can reveal cost and time

saving opportunities.

Claim your

FREE Network Assessment today!