Notebook As Indispensable Tool For Modern Executives

The significance of notebooks or laptops is increasingly growing in the modern life. The modern-day business has witnessed a phenomenal turn-around at the present moment. Given the hectic schedules and jam-packed daily routines, it has become virtually impossible for almost anyone to perform their activities being rooted to one particular place or work-station. The frequent movements of numerous businessmen from place to another have made them to carry a notebook or laptop in order to perform their business activities, even during traveling.
Notebook refers to a light-weight personal computer which is small in size and conveniently portable. A notebook is usually battery or AC operated personal computer smaller than a briefcase, which can be easily used and carried along in places such as airplane flights, libraries, temporary offices, and at meetings. A notebook is famously known as Laptop which typically weighs less than 7 pounds (3 kg) and is about 3 inches in thickness. Some renowned brands associated with the manufacturing of notebooks are IBM, Apple, Sony, Dell, Toshiba, and Hewlett-Packard among others.
One of the most remarkable differences between a notebook and personal computer is the Display Screen - notebook computers use a variety of technologies known as Flat-panel technologies to produce a light-weight and non-bulky display screen. The display screen of many notebooks is limited to VGA resolution. However, notebook computers have one minor drawback - the notebook monitors that use Active-matrix Screens and produce very sharp images, do not refresh as quickly as the full-size monitors of desktop computers.
When it comes to the computing power, the contemporary notebooks are almost equivalent to the personal desktop computers. Typically, the notebooks computers come with a battery pack which enables you to run them without plugging them in. However, their batteries require recharging at a regular interval. Besides, the laptops have the same CPUs, memory capacity and, disk drives as incase of personal desktop computers. Not surprisingly, the laptop computers or notebooks, as they say it, are much more expensive than their bulky counterparts.
Notebooks or Laptops are manufactured in different designs, sizes, weights and memory capacities. The following are some of the main categories of notebook computers which are produced by some recognized companies:
Ultra-portables:
Ultra-portables are laptops with screen-size less than 12 inches and weight of less than 4 pounds (1.7 kg) These laptops do not normally have full-size keyboards. Primarily, it is the business travelers who need ultra-portables because they are small and light. Ultra-portable are very expensive, have extendable battery, power-saving CPUs and integrated graphics.
Thin & Lights:
This breed of laptops, by and large, weighs between 4 and 6 pounds (1.8 and 2.8 kg) and with a screen-size of 12 to 14 inches. Notebooks of this category are manufactured by Sony, Apple Computer and Dell among others.
Medium-sized Laptops:
Medium-sized laptops usually have a screen-size of 14 to 16 inches and a weight of around 7 to 9 pounds (3 to 4 kg). The length and width of these medium-size laptops are generally decided by their screen-size. However, these medium-sized notebooks have relatively less computing power due to their smaller dimensions and longer battery life.
Desktop Replacement Computers:
This edition of notebook computers is chiefly used in a fixed location and not easily portable due to their heavy weight and bulky size. Their screen-size typically measures from 17 to 20 inches. Moreover, desktop replacement computers have limited battery life barely exceeding 3 hours. This is because the hardware is not optimized for efficient power usage.
Notebooks have really become very popular computer hardware. Its portability and affordable prices seem to be very attractive to business executives, and everyone else, who seem to be on the move all the time. As businesses become more globalized, notebooks become a must-have tool item for everyone who wants to be successful.
This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the Article section of page www.polomercantil.com.br/notebook.php Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for www.PoloMercantil.com.br



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Remote Backup

Preservation of computer files is essential for the proper functioning of businesses, and therefore, remote backup is becoming a more popular option for many businesses and individuals. One crash can destroy essential files, which, if not recovered, can damage your company s reputation and its ability to function. Remote backup is a relatively inexpensive and easy way to make sure that your files never get lost. Although the best remote backup programs require an investment, in the long run, it is much cheaper and more efficient than hiring an individual to back up your files regularly. Unlike computers, individuals can forget.
The best remote backup programs are internet based, have a high level of security and a good support service. Remote backup usually works on the internet, LAN or ICP/IP network. The remote backup program sends the data to your offsite server. These files can be sent according to a schedule you set, or can be backed up automatically. If you have automatic remote backup, the job is done when the computer is not in use, perhaps in the evenings when there is no one in the office.
Your remote backup program should have version control system, which will make sure your list of file is being continually updated. If you have different versions of a file, you can select which one you want to keep or choose to backup all of them, since a good remote backup program has a lot of memory.
Security is an important concern when considering which remote backup system to chose. The highest quality systems have up to 8 cryptographic methods to conceal your information from hackers. This feature is essential if you have valuable financial information about your customers. In spite of the codes used to disguise your data, you will be able to access the information easily without confusion.
Remote backup works in two parts called the client and the server. The client chooses files to be backed up and compresses them so they can be stored more easily. The server delivers the information to the client through the internet and can use several modems at the same time while handling myriad internet connections. The client marks selected files and stores them in the proper places. These transfers occur quite quickly and the clients are mapped to certain drives, meaning that they know exactly where to send the information. It is possible to exclude some files from remote backup that are not needed, and the user can always pick and choose which files to save.
Many remote backup programs provide bigger backup for little extra cost, if needed. As you company grows, so should your backup, so it is good to know that expansion will not mean a larger priced tag. Disaster recovery systems are also commonly available with remote backup programs, and they will help your computer get up and running again after a crash.
It is a good idea to research on remote backup to decide which program is the right one for you. Perhaps you and your spouse run a small travel agency from your home; you will need smaller backup, but as your company grows, you will need to expand the amount of backup you use. The highest level of security is recommended for small businesses and banks alike, because the average computer user might be more vulnerable to hackers than larger organizations which hire technical staff who are well versed in this area.
Many remote backup programs offer free trials and demos, and it is a good idea to take full advantage of these offers before investing in the right remote backup for your home or office.



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Mystery of the Unknown!

Your Work place is no longer available, disaster has struck, and time is money! How many times have you heard these statements?

It is a nightmare for CIOs and IT directors to have to explain downtime to their CEO and CFO.

For many CEOs and CFOs, what was important yesterday is no longer valid today. Too much concentration and spending has been invested into the infrastructure of networking which opposes the reality of today, that is more concentrated upon business availability and continuity.

What would happen if your company had a small disaster that equals to big trouble? If something happens to the workplace, then how much will it cost to recover lost data? What contingency plan does your company have? And finally, how much will all of the above costs? This is not an example of psychic divination, it is a mere fact and we all experimented that after September 11th 2001.

There are different variations to business continuity, which will all depend on to which extent is acceptable for a company to have a downtime. Is it two days, one hour or perhaps not even a mere 5 minutes? Does the company need business continuity to the extent of an off-site disaster recovery?

Business continuity can be differentiated in two levels.



Business continuity where we secure and manage all risks which may be brought about by technology failure. This includes human error, equipment failure, database corruption, hacking and various other external disasters.

Business continuity where we require an offsite backup (Disaster Recovery Site) to resume the same level of productivity in case of workplace disruption. The disaster recovery (DR) planning deals with massive site failure whether it is complete or partial. Site failure is typically the permanent consequence of broadly disruptive forces.



Threats to businesses are more obvious today, however, they have always existed and they always will prevail. The event, which occurred on September 11, changed the definition of crisis management plans since many companies had disaster recovery plans in place. However, very few had an off-site plan.

A DR plan begins with evaluating the vulnerabilities of an organization s information technology assets. Your business may have done some work towards planning for a possible disaster but will it survive such circumstances? The next important step is to find out the effect of a disaster on your business. How much money could you lose if the IT systems are no longer available? How much money would it cost to recover your IT systems?

The third step is to develop a disaster recovery strategy that fits your requirements in terms of cost and time. After the strategy has been defined the detailed work of disaster recovery begins by implementing the plan that will allow your business to survive any situation. Studies have shown that even the best plan will not succeed if it has not been practiced and maintained. On a final note, a long-term program of testing and maintenance should be attempted to ensure that the plan will work at any time.

Many solutions are available and every company has a different set of needs. The main issue in choosing DR solutions is the speed of replication and recovery. In the past, 48 hours was acceptable to get backup tapes loaded, and be up-and-running again. Today, every uptime moment qualifies as mission critical. As more enterprises rely on the Internet and require immediate access to their data to function, they are less tolerant of lost uptime. Each day more companies realize the only way to minimize downtime associated with disaster is to implement an alternative data processing site that can be operational in a very short time. One of the major technical challenges in maintaining a backup data center is in keeping the data at the backup data center synchronized with the data in the primary data center.

Thanks to today s available technology, software supporting any-to-any connectivity, not only delivers lightning-fast data mirroring and replication technology that enables the creation of cutting edge backup data, but centers with no single point of failure. Also, it makes the resulting fast remote data synchronization available across vendor lines and avoids the problems of host-based replication. This software does not require any specialized hardware to replicate storage data. It can replicate data over any existing LAN, MAN, or WAN network infrastructure. The replication is configured and managed independently of application servers.

Fault-tolerant hardware is available, with zero interruption in processing, zero loss of performance and zero loss of data integrity, even if a component fails. This means that unlike a high availability cluster, these computers do not impose recovery time. Their designs include modular redundancy fault-tolerant server to protect your users and applications from component outages for an average less than five minutes of downtime annually.

Risks can be minimized but never entirely eliminated. All studies show that businesses, which have a disaster recovery plan for their vital systems, have a substantially higher likelihood of surviving when loss occurs.

No one knows when a disaster will strike. It may never happen, or it may happen today. It is only for that of which might happen . The mystery of the unknown! Being ready and prepared ahead of time can mark the fine line between staying in business or going out of business.

About Protection Infoglobale Inc:
Founded in 1999, Protection Infoglobale Inc. is a system integrator that specializes in off site disaster recovery, business continuity, and 7x24x365 solutions from the hardware and software side, Storage Area Networking (SAN), high Performance Fiber Raid Solution, Server-Less Enterprise Backups. Our URL is http://www.protectioninfo.com.

For more information on our partners in the Middle East, please contact Joseph Ghabi.

About The Author

Joseph Ghabi is the Directory of Business Development at Protection Infoglobale Inc. His experience in IT consulting and business development for international market in the past 8 years enable him to bring a full range of experience working with system integrator in the area of IT consulting, communication, and telecommunication.

http://www.protectioninfo.com

Dina Safar
Director of Marketing
Protection Infoglobale Inc.

Joseph Ghabi
Director of Business Development
Protection Infoglobale Inc.
jghabi@protectioninfo.com

Tel: (514) 630 4499
Fax: (514) 630 4484



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