Higher costs, lower productivity, and legal issues are just some of the risks a company can be exposed to by simply surfing the web. Malware, formally known as malicious software, is the most omnipresent agent of chaos when it comes to web-based offensive content. Whether your company is a small, medium, or large sized business, it can be particularly helpful to install software that combats malicious content automatically.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an umbrella term used to describe some of the most rapidly budding technology in the telecommunications industry. Juxtaposed to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), VoIP has surpassed the conventional hard-line office telephone systems in practicality and cost. However, some SMB’s are likely reluctant to switch over due to security and congestion concerns. Like cloud computing and storage, protection is the prime concern though it is important to note that as VoIP increases in sophistication, so too does security.

So far we have discussed tape backup, snapshot backup and data replication as examples of data recovery solutions. Each of these methods copy data on a computer in case a disaster recovery is necessary. Mirroring is another type of data recovery solution that is often used to create multiple drives with the same information. It works by linking two systems together that will continually match each other. For example, when “File A” is created on a computer, it will be saved on two separate disks at once. Mirroring is used for a variety of reasons—for data backup, for faster downloads in different geographic locations, and to balance a server load.

What is RAID?

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) was first introduced in 1987 by David A. Patterson, Garth A. Gibson and Randy Katz at the University of California. More importantly, RAID is a well known and widely used form of data protection and disaster recovery.

Cloud computing has become increasingly more prominent in the technology world.  More companies are creating online based applications like GoogleDocs or Microsoft Office 2010 to be used in the cloud.  It’s beginning to create quite the stir and as a small business owner, you may find yourself thinking about it more and more.  But do you know if it can actually help your business? Let’s take a look at the different dimensions of cloud storage and how it may change the way you run your business: