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Tech. Trends

IT Simplified: Intel vPro Technology

Intel vPro is an integrated suite of business-class technologies with built-in stability, performance, and security tools. This platform helps businesses of all sizes to scale quickly, pivot faster and manage the IT environment of the company. 

Intel vPro is a amalgamations of the below technologies:

1.    Security Powered by Intel® Threat Detection Technology (TDT) within Intel Hardware Shield: 

•    Identify threats, detect abnormal activities and remediate them while off-loading security workloads to the GPU.
•    Identify unauthorized changes to hardware and firmware by providing visibility into how the OS and BIOS use hardware protection.
•    Prevent memory corruption and malware injection by isolating different workspaces and reducing attack surfaces.

2.    Manageability Powered by Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) and Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA):
•    Intel AMT establishes a secure connection between IT and an Intel vPro-based PC for the smooth running of mission-critical resources and features like KVM control, remote power on, etc.
•    Intel EMA helps with cloud-based manageability for any Intel vPro-based PC. 

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cloud computing

IT Simplified: Cloud Native

Cloud-native is a term used to describe applications that are built to run in a cloud computing environment. These applications are designed to be scalable, highly available, and easy to manage.

By contrast, traditional solutions are often designed for on-premise environments and then adapted for the cloud. This can lead to sub-optimal performance and increased complexity.

As enterprises move more of their workloads to the cloud, they increasingly looking for solutions that are cloud-native. Cloud-native solutions are designed from the ground up to take advantage of the unique characteristics of the cloud, such as scalability, elasticity, and agility.
Because cloud native applications are architectured using microservices instead of a monolithic application structure, they rely on containers to package the application’s libraries and processes for deployment. Microservices allow developers to build deployable apps that are composed as individual modules focused on performing one specific service. This decentralization makes for a more resilient environment by limiting the potential of full application failure due to an isolated problem.

Container orchestration tools, like Kubernetes, allow developers to coordinate the way in which an application’s containers will function, including scaling and deployment.

Cloud native app development requires a shift to a DevOps operating structure. This means development and operations teams will work much more collaboratively, leading to a faster and smoother production process.

Categories
computing Service

IT Simplified: Service Catalogue

IT departments are facing pressures to align their IT services with business needs, develop standardized processes and improve the IT customer experience and IT customer satisfaction, all while keeping costs low.  Arguably one of the best ways to achieve this is through a Service Catalog.

A Service Catalog is the store front (or directory) of services available to the enterprise user. This includes setting expectations (what you get, when, how, at what cost) and proper measurement of those expectations to determine if they have been met or exceeded In essence, a Service Catalog helps IT departments demonstrate the value and innovation they deliver to the business and help enterprise users to access the right services at the right time, to be more productive and do their job more effectively.

A Service Catalog defines a clear view of what IT can do for employees–the value IT delivers. It enables a common understanding of what a service is, who they are available to, and what characteristics (and costs) they have. Service Catalog design templates deliver unique experience and branding; each enabling IT departments to choose the best option to meet their business and user needs 

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Tech. Trends

IT Simplified: IT Operations Management

IT operations management (ITOM) refers to the administration of all technology components and application requirements within an organization. ITOM includes the provisioning of IT infrastructure, capacity management, cost-control activities, performance and security management and availability management for all IT infrastructure and assets.

As businesses of all sizes continue to adopt new technologies such as cloud-based computing services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.), virtualization and the Internet of Things (IoT), IT organizations are challenged to adapt their operations management processes and techniques to provide services in an ever-changing environment. As organizations expand their IT infrastructure, IT Operations must overcome key challenges to satisfy the performance, security and cost-control demands of the business.

IT operations management functions include three main aspects of infrastructure management:

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servers software Storage

IT Simplified: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

A business continuity and disaster recovery plan is a broad guide designed to keep a business running, even in the event of a disaster. This plan focuses on the business as a whole, but drills down to specific scenarios that might create operational risks. With business continuity planning, the aim is to keep critical operations functioning, so that your business can continue to conduct regular business activities even under unusual circumstances.

When followed correctly, a business continuity plan should be able to continue to provide services to internal and external stakeholders, with minimal disruption, either during or immediately after a disaster. A comprehensive plan should also address the needs of business partners and vendors.

A disaster or data recovery plan is a more focused, specific part of the wider business continuity plan. The scope of a disaster recovery plan is sometimes narrowed to focus on the data and information systems of a business. In the simplest of terms, a disaster recovery plan is designed to save data with the sole purpose of being able to recover it quickly in the event of a disaster. With this aim in mind, disaster recovery plans are usually developed to address the specific requirements of the IT department to get back up and running—which ultimately affects the business as a whole.

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computing security

IT Simplified: SASE

SASE (pronounced “sassy”), is an emerging cybersecurity concept that Gartner’s Andrew Lerner defines as “the convergence of wide area networking (WAN) and network security services like CASB, FWaaS and Zero Trust (ZTNA) into a single, cloud-native service model.The shift to a secure access service edge (SASE) solution is rapidly increasing as hybrid work and cloud computing continue to excel.

SASE combines software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) capabilities with a number of network security functions, all of which are delivered from a single cloud platform. In this way, SASE enables employees to authenticate and securely connect to internal resources from anywhere, and gives organizations better control over the traffic and data that enters and leaves their internal network. In this SASE architecture definition, users are provided modern cloud-first architecture for both WAN and security functions, all delivered and managed in the cloud.

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computing security servers

IT Simplified: Data Analytics

Data Analytics deals with leveraging data to derive meaningful information. The process of Data Analytics primarily involves collecting and organizing Big Data to extract valuable insights, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of business processes.

Data Analysts work with various tools and frameworks to draw lucrative insights.An analyst will focus on how you collect, process, and organize data in order to create actionable results.A data analyst will also find the most appropriate way to present the data in a clear and understandable way. With Data Analysis, organizations are able to take initiatives to respond quickly to emerging market trends; as a result, increase revenue.

Why Data Analytics is Important?

Implementing Data Analytics in various industries can optimize efficiency and workflow. The financial sector is one of the earliest sectors to adopt Data Analytics in banking and finance. For example, Data Analytics is used in calculating the credit score of a person because it takes many factors into consideration for determining the lending risks.Moreover, it helps to predict the market trends and assess risks.

Data Analytics is not limited to focusing on more profits and ROI. It can also be used in the healthcare industry, crime prevention, etc. It uses statistics and advanced analytical techniques to generate valuable insights from the data and help businesses in making better data-driven decisions. Data analytics looks more at statistics and the kinds of data analysis used to connect diverse data sources and trying to find connections between the results.

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computing software

IT Simplified: Remote Display Technologies

Remote access technology refers to any IT toolset used to connect to, access, and control devices, resources, and data stored on a local network from a remote geographic location. 

This makes remote access crucial for businesses of all sizes which have not moved to a cloud-first model, or which require access to on-premises machines or resources. Three of the most common remote access technologies – Remote Desktop Services, Remote Access Software, and Virtual Private Networks – are examined in brief.

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security

IT Simplified: Vulnerability Assessment & Testing.

Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing is a security testing method  that examines an application, network, endpoint, or cloud for flaws  A VAPT audit is designed to test the overall security of a system by performing an in-depth security analysis of its various elements.Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing serve different purpose but they are typically used together to generate a comprehensive security analysis.

The goal of a VAPT audit is to identify the overall vulnerabilities present in the software, which hackers can exploit. VAPT security audit is carried out through a systematic process involving various tools, techniques, and methodologies.

What is the purpose and benefits of VAPT?

Because hackers’ tools, strategies, and processes for breaching networks are constantly improving, it’s critical to assess the organization’s cyber security frequently.VAPT assists in the security of your organization by offering insight into security flaws as well as advice on how to remedy them. For organizations wishing to comply with standards such as the GDPR, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS, VAPT is becoming increasingly crucial.There are many benefits to conducting regular VAPT audits, including:

– Identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited

– reducing the risk of data breaches and other cyber security incidents

– improving compliance with industry regulations such as PCI DSS

– demonstrating to customers and partners that your organisation takes security seriously

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Categories
Storage

IT Simplified: Data Archival

Data archiving is the process of moving data that is no longer actively used to a separate storage device for long-term retention. Archive data consists of older data that remains important to the organization or must be retained for future reference or regulatory compliance reasons. Data archival systems indexation and have search capabilities, so files can be located and retrieved.

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