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Last Updated on Monday, 15 June 2009 16:48
 
Virtualization

What is virtualization and how can it benefit a small company with 1 - 5 servers?

Virtualization is the process of encapsulating software (Operating systems and applications) in a non-hardware dependant operating environment or so called Virtual Machine. Doing so has a number of advantages to large and small businesses alike.

Consolidation 

Virtualization is a great way to maximize your already existing IT investments. Studies show that most server platforms are underutilized and chances are you are not even leveraging 20% of your servers computing power. By encapsulating your servers into virtual machines you can divide the CPU, Memory and Storage capabilities of a single piece of hardware to multiple virtual servers. Rather than buy 5 servers to support 5 applications such as Email, Database, Web, or File/Print services you can purchase 2 servers and divde the resources amongst the 5 applications as needed.

Disaster Recovery

You really can't beat Virtualization for Disaster Recovery. VMware's ESX line of virtualization products support online snapshots that take minutes rather than hours. Virtual Machine's can be replicated from one hardware platform to another without any modification to the application or operating system. If your application experiences data corruption or the operating system crashes you can be up and running in seconds rather than waiting for IT personel to rebuild the platform.

Cost Reduction 

If the above two features don't paint a compelling picture already, than consider the cost savings to your IT operation. With the appropriate measure now in place, you don't need to maintain teams of IT people to be at hand to repair or diagnose problems with your server infrastucture. One skilled IT person can quickly recover snapshots of your environment and keep your business running. Further more by not purchasing excessive numbers of hardware, you not only save hardware costs but power costs as well. Many companies report a 60% reduction in IT Capital Costs within the first year of implementing a virtualization strategy in their networks. Now how about this, the entry level virtualization software needed to realize 90% of these benifits, Is FREE!

Darkriver Consulting specializes in virtualization projects and is a proud partner with VMware and Microsoft the two leading virtualization software providers.

 Call us today for more information 415-839-9307 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
Polycom HD Video Conferencing

HD Video Conferencing is Here!

Youv'e done it! Your business has grown beyond being a "One shop wonder" and has evolved into an oganization with mutliple sites across multiple geographical areas, but now some very real problems and costs are presenting themselves. How will continue to cultivate and nurture the culture of success that you have worked so hard to achieve when your employees are spread out across the country? Frequent travel to remote sites and Hiring teams of mid level managers may solve some of the problems but "Communication is King" at this stage of the game, you can't afford any serious mistakes now. 

 Darkriver Consulting, LLC is happy to announce that its partnership with Polycom and their HDX Series of Video Conferencing Solutions. The HDX 7000, 8000 and 9000 Series offers a full range of Video Conferencing features and benifits that include the following:

  • Full HD Quality from 720p to 1080i.
  • Crystal Clear audio quality.
  • Digital Content Integration with any PC on your network.
  • Multi Point Video Conference Capabilities
  • 360 Degree microphone
  • Pan Title and Zoom Eagle Eye High Definition Camera.
  • Remote control of Far Site Camera and Near Site Camera capabilities.
  • Interfaces into PC/DVD/DVR Technologies.

Call us today for a Demo: 415-839-9307 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
Disaster Recovery

 

Every business must consider IT disaster recovery as part of their Business Continuity Planning.

A disaster recovery plan may be as simple as tape backups or as sophisticated as redundant data centers that can failover in a moments notice. As your business grows the need and demand for a documented and tested disaster recovery plan will grow as well. In fact many companies today have legal requirements to show an effective disaster recovery plan in place, in other scenarios, insurance companies and clients may require one.

Darkriver Consulting takes the burden out of Disaster Recovery Planning by offering an out of the box and documented disaster recovery service that includes complete server imaging,  remote offiste co-location facilities and hot failover.  Our disaster recovery services come with complete recovery testing to prove that your services and data will continue despite malicious attack,  flood, fire and earthquake.

How does it work? We take snapshots of your existing network infrastructure and virtualize them on servers in our offsite colocation facilities. Once the second site is up and running we configure our proprietary software to replicate changes to your production network to the secondary network. In the event of a catastrophe on your primary network, a few configuration changes will have your secondary network up and running within minutes.  

Call us today for more information: 415-839-9307 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
Managed IT Services

 

What is the Difference between Managed IT Services and Traditional Ad-Hoc IT Consulting? In the traditional IT Consulting engagement, clients engage consultants to identify solutions and perform work on an hourly or per incident basis.  This is fine if you have very few IT needs or if you simply want a short term project to be completed. However, long term ad-hoc IT Consulting arrangements tend to be very costly to the client and not very high quality. Why? Because ad-hoc consultants get paid by the hour, which means their incentive is to put in as much time as possible. In this scenario an 8 hour network emergency pays more than a fifteen minute proactive solution. Which means that you pay more when your network is down, the more painful the problem, the more you as the client have to pay. Furthermore consulting firms are going to offer you the consultant that best fits their cost model. Firms make more revenue off of an unskilled consultant that can talk a "good game" versus a highly qualified consultant the requires a higher hourly rate. In the ad-hoc consulting model you "pay for pain." 

Darkriver Consulting's offer is that you "pay for peace" not "pain"  By offering a fixed fee engagement we guarantee that we will maintain your network and respond to your user requests in an effective manner or we will continue to work until it's solved at no additional cost. Furthermore your account manager and single point of contact will always be a seasoned vetran with at least 10 years experience in IT Consulting. Additionally we will implement our  state of the art network monitoring system that tells us about problems on your network, servers, and workstations before you and your employees even know about it. Within months you will be wondering what happened to all your network problems. 

Call us today for more information: 415-839-9307 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 


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