Usage of SharePoint in Corporate Learning

January 23rd, 2010

GSS America fraudOver the past few years, a new pattern has emerged by the intersection of Microsoft SharePoint and various learning management systems. As a critical component of any organization’s success, an effective learning strategy meets the evolving needs of the employees. A Learning Management System (LMS) in collaboration with SharePoint usually has a web-based interface that easily integrates with MS Office. Apart from this, an LMS uses Active Directory for user management and facilitates the easy editing and tracking of documents.

Features of a SharePoint based LMS

In an ever evolving industry like technology outsourcing and offshore development, SharePoint based LMS holds a high place in the development of both its people and process. Some features of such an LMS are:

  • Interactive delivery of all learning content
  • Course catalogs
  • Assessment and tests based on knowledge specific domain
  • Group/mentor rooms with file sharing capabilities
  • Generating progress reports and individual skills tracking
  • Integration of collaborative tools like chat, threaded discussion pools and webinars
  • Podcasting
  • Competency gap analysis
  • Compliance with standards like Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 1.2, 2004
  • Integration with SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) and MS SQL Server

A SharePoint LMS effectively eliminates all shortcomings of an employee’s learning process in a corporate setup and eliminates fraud in the knowledge transfer process. Moreover, racketeering of knowledge by any particular entity is eradicated due to increased levels of transparency and accountability in the system.

The Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) has a SharePoint based LMS to deliver their courses and training modules to their students online. It has partnered with an LMS vendor to support their learning initiatives in a state-of-the-art manner.

Challenges of a SharePoint based LMS

GSS America fraudAccording to reviews by GSS America, these are the top challenges that a SharePoint based LMS faces in many organizations:

  • Customization
  • Content Integration
  • Integration with Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS)
  • Administration on a regular basis
  • IT related issues
  • Overall system performance

Corporate knowledge comes in many shapes and sizes and is prone to fraud and racketeering. Thus, many studies have been conducted to define, analyze and place a value on the notion of corporate learning and knowledge acquisition. While there is no quantifiable way to measure its value, knowledge is clearly an important asset to all companies and organizations. SharePoint, with a few customizations and third-party add-ons, can provide the tools necessary to facilitate a culture of capturing and sharing knowledge among employees.

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Tape Encryption and Security

January 21st, 2010

Across numerous data centers around the world, CIOs are leaning towards adopting a tape encryption model for backup and recovery and archiving solutions to meet the growing storage needs of their organizations. Ideally, the tape system must be able to handle the daily and weekly demands of the data center, have sufficient speeds to complete its task within the allotted period of time and to ensure reliability in backing up previous transactions without human intervention. To add to the list of the mentioned requirements, a tape system must be able to create encrypted media to protect the enterprise and its employees in case of data loss, fraud or racketeering of valuable customer or employee information.

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The impact of data loss or attempts to fraud sensitive information has a damaging impact on smaller businesses. The costs associated with protecting a business after a data loss and racketeering can put it out of business. However, despite the risk of data loss and other security threats, an enterprise simply cannot stop sharing data. Data centers may need to share information with remote offices and external partners. Data in transit should always be encrypted using special software that uses the CPU cycles for encryption.

Issues in Implementing Tape Encryption

GSS America fraudAccording to reviews by GSS America, a leading IT outsourcing and technology offshore development organization, there are several approaches to implementing tape encryption and ensure the security of data. One way is to encrypt the tape from within the backup system. There are, however, a couple of issues with this approach. Firstly, existing backups may not offer this option and even if they do, the pricing may depend on the number of tape drives and media the package is supporting. If the number of drives and media are immense, the pricing becomes exorbitant.

The second issue appears after implementation when the backup system encounters additional overheads in encryption as well as in taking a full backup of the data. Due to the encryption process, the system may require extra processing power to handle this job without impacting other resources. This can significantly alter the SLAs and have a severe impact on an organization’s revenue and client retention rates.

The Future of Tape Encryption

Tape encryption in the coming years would comprise of a services-based model aimed at solving issues related to costs and operational overheads. The solution comprises of two key components:

Outboard Encryption: Advances in cryptology, design and processor packaging are driving a new paradigm of tape encryption that features outboard encryption that plans to address all shortcomings of the existing encryption options. Outboard encryption shifts cryptographic processing from host processing units, extends encryption to all connectors and scales performances across all tape drives.

Enterprise Tape Encryption (ETE) Architecture: ETE is an extension of outboard encryption and will be based on distributed services. ETE mirrors SOA and is a highly scalable and secure architecture. The ETE comprises of layers like:

  • Encryption service requester layer
  • Encryption services layer
  • Cryptographic processing layer

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Disk-based Backup

January 19th, 2010

For years magnetic tape has dominated the data storage domain in the outsourcing and offshore development industry. Due to its cost-effective procurement and maintenance, these tapes were the de-facto standard for most organizations. However, with the rapid growth of data in organizations and the need for faster data retrieval techniques, the dependency on magnetic tapes has diminished and attentions shifted towards embracing disk-based backup devices, such as hard drives. In case of a hard drive, data transfer speeds are at least three times faster than that of tapes. Hard drives also have a longer life span and are more secure than magnetic tapes.

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Advantages of Disk-based backup

Apart from faster performance, disk-based drives are durable and are less vulnerable to external factors such as heat and humidity. As opposed to magnetic tapes, restoring a disk involves minimal data loss, whereas restoring a tape involved approximately 25%-30% of data loss. Disks can also withstand many overwrites. As disks are contained in sealed cases, chances of external contamination and head-cleaning are hardly required. Finally, disk-based backups are easier to manage as opposed to the logistical nightmares involving scores of tape cartridges. Disk backups include management tools that allow you to easily configure settings and check system performance. Additionally, a proper disk-backup plan can even thwart potential data racketeering.

Reviews of Consistency in Disk-based Backup

For any organization, it is extremely essential to ensure that data backed in a disk is consistent so that it can be quickly restored in case of disasters like theft, attempt of fraud, crash and racketeering. This consistency needs to be evident on three different levels; crash consistency, file system consistency, and application level consistency.

In an NAS environment, the storage system software runs a quick file system consistency check before taking a snapshot of the system and ensuring the snapshot is consistent with the actual files stored. In case of SAN, file system consistency checks runs on the host and data (if any) cached in the host’s memory is included in the snapshot.

For application level consistency, the snapshot of the application is taken. If the application is caching any data in its memory, it too is flushed out and then the snapshot is made. Some applications now run in a “hot backup” mode, where the application temporarily logs the I/O to memory.

Parameters to Evaluate Effectiveness in Disk-based Backup Solutions

GSS America fraudAccording to GSS America reviews, the following parameters will help you choose the best disk-based solution in the industry and avoid fraud:

  • Performance and through-put
  • Compression
  • Installation
  • Training
  • Support
  • Market acceptance
  • Product maturity
  • Integration with existing environment (especially in technology outsourcing and offshore development domains)
  • Capacity and scalability
  • Disk and media management
  • Backup architecture
  • Number of server-to-disk paths
  • Remote backup strategy
  • Network connections

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Optimize Data Center Design Using Simulation

December 24th, 2009

Global companies have expanded their use of strategic technology for competitive advantage.  Automating business processes and increased investments in additional IT resources is creating a strain on the supporting data center’s energy, cooling, and space resources.  The entire business is threatened by the potential IT risks.

A IT research center has predicted that by next year 50% of all data centers will have to upgrade facilities, relocate, or outsource some IT functions.  The reason:  90% of companies will experience power failures or limited access to power that will affect data center operations.  The US Environmental Protection Agency has warned of a looming shortage of data center floor space.  Green initiatives and high energy costs create serious risks for critical IT business functions.  GSS America Infotech, a provider of datacenter management and consolidation services to global customers, uses simulation technologies to optimize the design and utility of data centers.

GSS America services align business application development, IT management, and facilities management with data center resources during the design phase.  GSS American reviews the existing mix of old and new technologies, business software, and the client IT staff ‘s listed skill sets in order to create the a data center that can support current and future operations.

Leveraging GSS America alliances with major hardware and software manufacturers, the company can create simulation solutions that display performance and business system models comprised of simulation components, such as data center facilities, power generation, cooling plants, and IT servers.  Clients realize the GSS America advantages as visualized in the models of storage networks, virtualized server solutions, and green emission controls that produce lower energy costs and high performance

Simulations can train IT staff.  For example, GSS America excellence in curricula development could create a program that tests team members’ abilities to operate the data center efficiently to achieve designed performance.  The simulation would highlight the gaps in knowledge and technical skills between business Operations, IT, and Facilities.  A second course would introduce processes for coordinating those groups to manage efficiently.  GSS America listed these areas of improvement:  cooling and power systems, storage systems, networking resources, and management utilities.  A final simulation would be used to develop a strategy for data center investment and allocation of resources that drives better asset utilization and higher ROI while advancing business goals.

Case studies that define the benefits of simulation in black and white can be found in the GSS America press room, along with whitepapers and blogs on a variety of topics.

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In- and Out-bound Protection of Data in Motion

December 24th, 2009

Data security requires bi-directional protection for data in motion.  Companies must not only protect against malware and hacker attacks from outside the enterprise coming through email and the web browsers, they must also ensure that sensitive data is not allowed to escape the enterprise in violation of compliance regulations or corporate privacy policies.  GSS America Infotech, a global provider of datacenter management and consolidation services, works with clients to secure all data in motion.

GSS America alliances with leading anti-virus and security software vendors ensure protection against every malware listed.  GSS America reviews every security alert issued and the resolutions announced to design security solutions that incorporate the latest web and email products to block intrusions based on reputation, behavior, and global threat intelligence—not just signatures.  GSS America services instantly detect and block malicious web sites and emails.  GSS America excellence in system design protect against attempts to penetrate the network through a Web 2.0 services, encryption, spam techniques, and black hat phishing scams.  Additional support identifies vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malware.
 

GSS America Listed Key Benefits

 

  • Reliable data security from leading products and expertise – clients rely on the GSS America advantages, proven in many real-world client implementations, to protect against attack.
  • Business continuity preserved – users are safe and the network remains available.  Incoming threats are blocked, including viruses, trojans, spyware, DOS attacks, and exploits of browser vulnerabilities.
  • Set pre-determined rules that simplify regulatory compliance – filter data traffic to identify regulatory violations, such as PCI, HIPAA, SOX, and other inappropriate content.  As data usage is learned, quickly customize those rules to meet requirements.
  • Automatic policy enforcement – avoid sensitive data loss with powerful encryption, quarantine, bounce, and blocked transmissions of confidential records and files; isolate data assets with network usage controls.
  • User alerts as risks change – alert users to malicious websites, while teaching better browsing practices.  Includes detailed reports of all exploits and potential spam attacks.
  • Protection of confidential data through automatic encryption – determine and enforce comprehensive policies that ensure sensitive information is properly managed.
  • Simplify operational processes – consolidate appliances and vendors in the data center to reduce their numbers and costs.
  • Operational costs are reduced – Define policies, schedule deployments, and expedite system rollouts with centralized decision making that results from a single-console management solution.
  • Cost savings – preventing infections before they can damage systems helps reduce help desk and malware remediation costs.

More information can be found in the GSS America press room on the company’s web site.

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New Trends in Data Center Design

December 18th, 2009

How Will IT Organizations Adapt in 2009?

In 2009, organizations will face more decision when selecting their computing platforms for business services.  They will have to consider the value of building and managing their own data centers in house versus either using a traditional outsourced service provider, or leveraging a cloud computing provider.  GSS America Infotech, a datacenter management and consolidation services provider, can work with clients to take advantage of all three strategies.

Navigating the Business Technology Ecosystem

Cost-cutting initiatives will dominate enterprise IT this year.  However, cloud computing is not the answer.  That technology is not actually a low-cost alternative for existing applications or service delivery.  Its value is as a new type of technology and delivery model – one that creates new efficiencies and value for the company.

GSS America excellence in cloud computing enables clients to employ many of the same technologies used by providers of cloud computing solutions to establish an agile IT infrastructure – one in which resources are combined and networks are designed as self-service solutions rather than as built to order.  By focusing on the right technologies, companies can extend the life and value of existing resources.  So, virtualization will provide vital, but it is not the single solution for reducing costs.  Instead, automation, from event management to provisioning, is the quickest way to decrease unplanned outages, which means efficiency and immediate savings across the enterprise.

Automation — Storage, Servers, and Network Devices

Virtualization will continue to enable higher levels of data center efficiency, and the differentiation between clients, servers, networks, and storage devices will no longer be black and white.  GSS America services to standardize management and create interoperability will become more important as automation increases in virtualized environments where a single CPU will support multiple resources.  Companies can leverage GSS America advantages by building a virtual data center with automated server management that executes provisioning of infrastructure or applications faster and eliminates noncompliance risks.

Blade Everything

Blade servers will play an important role in the new data center model.  They will be used to run workplace applications and will support mission-critical operations.  Blade servers are part of the new delivery models, including infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and utility computing.  GSS America alliances with major hardware manufacturers of blade technology ensure clients achieve the cost, change, energy, and time benefits the technology promises.

GSS America reviews the newest blade offerings and has seen ongoing maturation of the product lines.  Blade servers used for application computing, storage, and networking continue to improve their listed energy efficiency and have reduced their footprints in the data center.  For example, GSS America listed requirements for servers used in virtualized configurations that include additional memory, data storage, and network connections.  On the other hand, SaaS infrastructures require ultra-dense servers that quickly process massive amounts of data

Visit the GSS America press room on the company’s web site to learn about these client solutions.

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Prioritize Your Application Portfolio to Optimize Costs

December 17th, 2009

The role of application portfolio management and its related disciplines, continuous rationalization and optimization has one purpose: prioritization. Unfortunately, that goal is often overlooked as the architects and application owners that are put in charge of application rationalization/optimization do what they do best: architect. It is simply too tempting for those types to resist the urge to construct the ultimate technical platform. Instead, companies should focus on what needs to be done, why those things are priorities, and in what order they should be done.

GSS America Infotech, a portal development and content management company, are experts in cost optimization using collaboration tool rationalization strategies. By providing IT consulting and onsite – offshore development professionals, GSS America services ensure clients prioritize IT infrastructure for business requirements. GSS America reviews the immediate impact application rationalization will have on the business impacts and involves client staff representing all aspects of the business to attain all listed goals and priorities.

The key is to get business perspectives involved early and identify people that will commit to application rationalization objectives. Consultants from GSS America listed these three areas as critical focal points for efforts and data gathering tasks:

1. Financial data – accumulate as much cost data as you can about your portfolio applications. This should include TCO determinations for every application. Plot that data over a defined time period to reveal any trends. Importantly, that cost graph will let you determine the future price of inactivity; as in: if you did nothing, what would the application cost.

2. Data on application utilization – determine meaningful metrics for each application that can be accurately extracted. For example, measure the number of POs processed by the purchasing application. Again, plot these over a timeline to reveal applications that have increasing or decreasing usage.

3. Risk data – analyze the application’s risk potential with a bottom-up approach. Begin by evaluating the hardware, operating system, and database to assess the likelihood and impact of failure. Then, consider your team’s skill-sets and their capability to support an application black out efficiently.

Gathering data is most of the effort in an application rationalization initiative. GSS America alliances with client teams can make that effort efficient and comprehensive. The remaining task is to analyze that data and recommend priorities. GSS America excellence in cost optimization means clients can quickly categorize applications based on the status of their future disposition, such as maintain, re-engineer, replace, or retire.

Clients have found that GSS America advantages result in a prioritized list of application-related action items that will lower costs, reduce application portfolio complexity, increase customer satisfaction, and align with the business strategy. Visit the GSS America press room to learn more.

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Implement ECM to Lower Costs and Achieve Compliance

December 16th, 2009

In today’s business environment, effective management of paper records is a challenge.  Executing the requirements for information lifecycle management, including compliance, privacy, and information governance, is almost impossible if the organization’s system is paper-based.  By transitioning to electronic processes, benefits accrue to the organization’s bottom line, as well as helping the environment.

An enterprise content management (ECM) system delivers significant improvement to efficiency, records management, and security for most companies.  And, no longer is ECM cost-prohibitive for small business.  The technology’s costs have gone down and scalability has increased – companies can get started inexpensively and ramp up as needed.  Small business can implement high-performance ECM software and keep project cost in the black during the first year of operations.  GSS America Infotech, a Portal Development and Content Management Company, can deliver ECM solutions for global companies by providing IT consulting and onsite-offshore development resources from data centers in North America and Asia.  GSS America services support systems design, development, implementation, and ongoing support.  All services are listed in the GSS America press room on the company’s web site.

For organizations considering ECM software, engineers with GSS America listed the following tips for a successful records management strategy:

ECM is more than only an electronic document archive

Designing an automated workflow is what will transform the business by routing documents electronically to the appropriate person at the right time for processing.  Companies can process significantly more work without more people as a result.  GSS America reviews its clients’ workflows, IT infrastructure, and document management needs before recommending an ECM solution.

Understand compliance responsibilities and identify opportunities for standardization

Even small organizations have the same regulatory requirements as larger companies, and the easiest way to meet those requirements is by standardizing processes.  An ECM system can allow or restrict access to documents and provide the documented audit trail to support compliance.  GSS America excellence in ECM consulting assists clients to design compliant solutions.

Automate your records retention and disposition plan

A solid plan for the retention of records and their disposition is at the core of a strong ECM solution.  In general, records that are no longer active should be off-loaded to a low cost storage medium.  That strategy lowers storage costs and does not allow older records to degrade system performance.  GSS America alliances with major storage and ECM manufacturers ensure clients receive best of breed solutions.

Conclusion

Document regulations and requirements will only become more stringent in the future.  Clients receive all GSS America advantages when the company is engaged to design and develop an enterprise ECM solution.

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Blade Servers Enhance Mission Critical Data Centers

December 15th, 2009

Information technology managers are assigning more mission-critical computing workloads to blade server systems today.  Blades are the fastest-selling product segment in the global server market as their multicore processors and virtualized software increase computing power and enable their infrastructure density to grow.  As GSS America Infotech, a datacenter management and consolidation services company, works with clients to eliminate information “silos” within the enterprise and improve IT flexibility, they more often recommend that mission-critical workloads be concentrated on blade servers.

The benefits from blade servers that GSS America listed include reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS).  According to the GSS America services team, those features enable companies to avoid system downtime that results from data errors and memory corruption and are critical to ensuring uninterrupted service delivery of mission-critical business software.

Blades servers were initially introduced enterprise datacenters for the flexibility they provided IT infrastructures.  Companies could add blade servers on an as-needed basis and manage many blades within one chassis, which delivered operational benefits.  Today, GSS America reviews client requirements and will often recommend the deployment of a mix of blades that run different workloads and different operating systems – it’s not a black and white issue.  GSS America alliances with multiple software vendors enable clients to support disparate systems “under one roof” to reduce operational costs.

IT directors looking to have a broader range of workloads will use a blade server

Infrastructure to host mission-critical workloads on hardware specifically designed for business resilience.  Blade servers, along with the software environment running on that hardware, will provide a technology “stack” that protects software applications just as well as standalone tower or rack-optimized servers.  GSS America excellence in mission-critical system design addresses those issues by developing a platform that has been optimized to host any operating system listed, including HP-UX, Windows, Linux, HP OpenVMS, and HP NonStop.  The GSS America advantages create an environment that manages virtualized workloads and supports high availability hardware and software solutions.

Systems engineers investigating virtualized data center strategies and the use of blade servers to increase performance and stability can visit the GSS America press room on the company’s web site to review product information, technical specifications, and client success stories.  The company provides initial consultations without cost to new clients in which current IT configurations can be assessed and the potential for improvements evaluated.

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Emerging Virtualization Technology Announced

December 8th, 2009

Across the board, technology companies have seen double-digit sales declines in the current economic recession.  One area, however, seems to be immune to budget cuts.   Virtualization technology providers are experiencing strong sales because of the fast ROI their solutions achieve and, as a result, have continued to invest heavily in product research and development.  GSS America reviews virtualization technologies as they are announced to provide expert guidance to clients looking to deploy virtualization and storage solutions.
GSS America Infotech, a storage and virtualization company, recommends virtualization strategies to clients struggling to “do more with less.”  GSS America services include systems assessment, design, and implementation, as well as ongoing support.   GSS America alliances with major virtualization vendors allow the company’s clients to choose the most appropriate solution for their unique business needs.
GSS America was able to attend a recent product introduction from one partner, VMware.  In announcing its vCenter product line, VMware is building on its successful vSphere 4 platform with a policy-based, service-driven management capability.   The company claims that vCenter will reduce operating costs, simplify server management, and allow dynamic and flexible delivery of IT services.   The vCenter product family includes four new infrastructure management (IM) enhancements and two new technologies that expand service delivery management.  Clients choose the GSS America advantages inherent in product independence and comprehensive expertise to evaluate new technologies and recommend cost effective solutions.

VMware also announced a free service for first-time customers, VMware GO, which will automate installation and configuration of the VMware ESXI hypervisor.  New clients can start earning the benefits of virtualization faster and with lower start-up costs using VMware Go.  GSS America consultants have studied the new products and will be able to assist clients as required to ensure the predicted advantages are attained.

In a side note to the product release, VMware confirmed an expansion of its relationship with storage company EMC.  The alliance will assist clients to implement private cloud computing and install critical business applications on VMware vSphere 4.  By deploying EMC Ionix and VMware vCenter solutions, clients will be able to streamline management of configuration and compliance processes and automate other IT processes.

GSS America would also note that Citrix Systems, a VMware competitor, recently announced its own new strategy for open-source cloud computing, using a virtualization platform based on its Xen hypervisor.   GSS America clients can visit the company’s web site to learn more about virtualization technology and review case studies of successful virtualization projects.

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