WAN Acceleration: The Sleeper Technology Changing IT’s Approach To Everything
There is a lot of buzz in the IT industry about WAN acceleration technology these days. WAN acceleration focuses on improving performance of critical corporate applications across wide area networks. WAN accelerators improve application performance and data replication strategies, especially when latency across WANs are involved.
WAN acceleration devices use techniques that change the packet header data so that data it can be transferred more efficiently. WAN acceleration offers these advantages: It eliminates redundant data transmission (a huge advantage), because during data replication much of the replicated data remains unchanged. It also simplifies IT management by using the same support contract and providing transparency of services Dedicated hardware and software-Invest in a solution that uses dedicated hardware and software to perform WAN acceleration without affecting voice, data, and security tasks. This feature is important because it allows IT organizations to deploy WAN acceleration hardware without making any changes to user PCs, network infrastructure, or applications.
A true transparent solution should offer all of the following capabilities: Application transparency- This capability makes deployment fast and easy because no initial and ongoing changes are needed for end-user PCs and applications Interception transparency-This capability allows fast and easy deployment because neither the client nor the server is aware of the existence of the WAN acceleration devices in the path Preservation of industry-standard NetFlow policy Preservation of router access control lists (ACLs) Preservation of firewall policies Preservation of quality of service (QoS)-Without IP header transparency, QoS and associated features may need to be reconfigured if the packet header information is overwritten Preservation of Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR)-NBAR is a protocol discovery and classification technique that relies on visibility to application data. Although WAN acceleration is crucial for delivering applications to the branch office, it should be an integral part of the overall application delivery infrastructure. Consequently, there is a large and growing market for WAN acceleration software, with business networks wanting to lower latency, manage quality of service (QoS) for critical and recreational applications, and increase performance. WAN acceleration is a critical enabler for networks aiming to achieve higher throughput and productivity.
In the past, the myth that “ordering more Network bandwidth will solve my problems” was the general response when a business was facing slow application performance across the wide area network. This response was due in part because there were limited options for IT staff to try and improve application performance without increasing Network bandwidth. Application performance issues for remote users, data center consolidation, the growing number of distributed branch offices, and the desire to avoid costly WAN bandwidth upgrades are just a few of the business drivers increasing demand for WAN acceleration and application acceleration solutions. Here are a few key areas that WAN acceleration can really help with:
- Data Protection and Regulatory Requirements
- Backup Consolidation and Data Replication
- Server and Storage Consolidation
The study, entitled “Optimizing Application Delivery over the WAN,” reveals that Best-in-Class organizations are leveraging WAN acceleration solutions to improve the delivery of business-critical applications and increasing these investments at a significantly higher rate than their overall IT spend. “Our findings show that WAN acceleration is most effective for meeting organizations’ bandwidth and application delivery needs, and that deploying WAN acceleration device as a managed service can have even greater benefits, especially when it comes to consistent network monitoring and cost savings.
Identity Fraud - Don’t Make It Easy
With the shopping season in full swing even though we are experiencing a difficult time across all industry sectors there is one business that is surpassing even the mighty retail giants in full Christmas swing when it comes to growth, sadly though for many victims the particular industry in question is identity theft.
Combating the risk of identity fraud should be high on everyone’s agenda but some people are still unsure what it actually is. Without putting to fine a point on it, it is literally the theft of your identity both personal and financial. An alias using your identity and financial information could literally drain your accounts and put you into debt into the bargain.
Many people are blissfully unaware of how simple it is to get somebody else’s personal information without too much effort. It is probably far too easy for example do you shred you paperwork or destroy expired credit cards?
Basic precautions are easy to put in place and on the most part they should be simple common sense. If you are like most households you probably receive far too much junk mail and possibly put it straight into the bin with out prior thought, even pre–completed credit card applications!
You don’t care about that, you bank online, BIG DEAL you’re just as much at risk as someone who throws all the junk mail post in the bin if you are not protective of your online presence. For example do you use the same password for all your banking? Well yes, how many of us can remember all the passwords needed without breaking the terms and conditions of paragraph 8 subsection 5 which states “do not write down your password”.
Un-shredded paperwork and internet activity is not the only way an unscrupulous operator will get hold of your information though. With so much information being held on computer hard drives, pen drives and mobile phones sometimes these are areas of easy pickings for the Identity thief or even random opportunist.
It is much easier than you think for a computer technician to recover your details from your hard drive, even when you think you have deleted them. Or for a data recovery expert to recover the deleted partition when you formatted or wiped them off with free software; after all a data recovery company can recover your information even if it’s a few months out of date.
If you are concerned with digital theft or the possibility of identity theft then you can arranged to have your drive shredded by a certified contractor or securely wiped which is much more environmentally friendly as it allows for the re-use of the none data holding components. Secure destruction or wiping ensures you get a certificate showing when, where and by whom the drive was rendered beyond recovery and have peace of mind.
To find out more about secure data wiping and hard drive disposal call or speak to your local data recovery services company. For visit here for more great computer and Pc help help.