Features of Security Enterprise Asset Management Solutions

Security enterprise asset management is an organizational method and in most cases is available as a software application. Most companies provide this software utilizing a database structure. This application can work in cooperation with other operating systems as well. It shares data on a mixed platform, such as Linux, Sun Solaris, Windows 98/NT/2000 and many others.

Security enterprise asset management solutions are efficient and can function smoothly without affecting the flow of your daily activities. Under this a company manages its physical assets by evaluating the causes of their possible failures. Using this solution you can review methodically all the failures, their effects and causes and set up security measures and other important maintenance guidelines. Most IT service providers make of this solution as it can conduct automatic inventories of the companies assets and sets up a dynamic audit. Furthermore, it recognizes the actual location of assets, even if they are remotely placed in other organization networks.

Recently, eminent IT brands specializing in managed security services have come up with security enterprise asset management solutions. It involves all the activities linked with end-to-end tracking and management of assets that are:-

· Asset Discovery (Physical and Logical)

· Configuration Management

· Retire & Disposal Management

· Interface with Enterprise Asset Management Systems and Processes

· Enterprise security posture assessment

· Request & Approval Process

· Compliance to Regulatory Laws if applicable

· Procurement Management

· Create & Maintain Definitive Hardware Store

· Supplier/Vendor Management

· Re-Deployment and Movement

· Interface with complimenting, dependant ITSM Processes and Functions

· Physical Asset Tracking

· Assessment on ISO 27001 and PCI controls.

· Software License Management

· Contract Management (Support/Maintenance/ Renewals /Enterprise License Agreement)

· Create & Maintain Definitive Software Library

Service providers of enterprise security and asset management offer their users with accurate and complete data about the condition of their assets by sending regular updates. Users can quickly run and record associated searches and reports concerning their assets. It helps them and their agents to detect problems easily and pace up the remediation process. Furthermore, the solution helps to calculate the rollouts and enhancement costs. It can also manage the daily operation of logistical units, enabling the users to get involved in freight forwarding and transport unit repairs. It helps to come up with custom reports on the usage and sets up estimations on what might possibly occur. This allows the users to anticipate the requirements and expenses and remediate for problems that might arise.

 

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Reduce Costs and Improve Productivity with Managed Print Services

Until recently, copiers, printers, faxes and scanners collectively known as the output equipments fleets or hardcopy device fleets were the most over looked assets in almost all enterprises.

Until recently, copiers, printers, faxes and scanners collectively known as the output equipments fleets or hardcopy device fleets were the most over looked assets in almost all enterprises. Though the population of output fleets in the office environment has grown substantially there has been no marked improvement in its management. It continued to be the most over looked under utilized and under managed assets languishing in the poor print rooms of the companies and organizations. This coupled with lack of proper asset management and page volume tracking led to costs spiraling out of control.

Gartner Group in its survey found out that most businesses spend between 1 and 3% of their total annual revenue in generating documents. However, enterprises do not have a proper system in place to find out the total print expenses and their actual print requirements. This negligent attitude of the companies and organizations towards the output fleets started to change with the advent of economic recession. Companies looking for ways to cut costs stumbled upon the opportunity for cost savings from output fleets. A comprehensive and strategic approach was required to turn the office print land scape from being unproductive and costly to productive and cost effective. That is what Managed Print Services (MPS) is all about. It is the process of assessing, designing, optimizing and managing the output fleets in a uniform fashion. It is an outsourcing service where the service provider takes the full responsibility of managing the company's output fleets.
The core features of MPS are

* Proactive maintenance of the output devices fleets
* Information management with consolidated billing
* Ongoing optimization of devices, services and supplies throughout the contract life

The several service providers that engage in Managed Print Services (MPS) comprise of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), systems integrators, managed service providers (IT and copier resellers) and supplies based providers. MPS providers make use of four main software applications when providing MPS namely

·Print Management Software

This software not only manages the nature and volume of print but also authenticate users.

·Discovery and Design Software

This software helps in analyzing and planning the changes that are required for implementing MPS.

·Device Management Software

This software monitors and manages the output fleets in an environment.

·Scan Routing Software

This software helps to route scans to fax servers, network folders, email, workflows and so on.

With Managed Print Services, enterprises can benefit from 30% cost savings, secure printing, proactive monitoring and reduced total cost of ownership.

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Need to develop Green Datacenters

With the growing expenses of power and an increased uncertainty in power accessibility, energy conversion today is a major issue for data centers. With the increase in computing power demand to satisfy crucial mission application as well as the advent of virtualization created drastic impacts on server density, making the requirement for an efficient energy management plan even more essential today.  When there is an in-depth knowledge of energy consumption attained through real-time monitoring within the data center, administrators feel safer of being able to make improved and energy conscious decisions. All these facts, had led to the need for Green Datacenters today.

Several companies hosting digital marketplaces and social networks present at the Green Grid Forum 2012 shared their initiatives for establishing green datacenters. The datacenters today consume more than 2 percent of the total electricity. It has been estimated that almost half of US’s electricity is generated by burning coal. The increasing datacenter energy usage will contribute to an ever increasing percentage of greenhouse has emissions unless we are able to decouple the expansion of data storage and processing from fossil fuel pollution.

Leading information security brands today have come up with a phased methodology to offer Green Datacenter solutions that are cost efficient in nature. This apart, they offer sustainability to business operations and guarantees a healthy bottom-line for an organization. 

The phases that are put to use are:-

·         Assessment Phase

This phase helps in setting up baseline of energy usage and carbon footprint of the present environment using an assessment framework which is also utilized to audit the present environment. This process is followed by Gap analysis and Feasibility study for identifying transformational initiatives, assess expense structure and conduct impact analysis.

·         Planning and Design Phase

This phase assists in setting up a detailed route map for certain Green IT initiatives like DC optimization, procurement, financial, recycling and resource planning.

·         Implementation Phase

This phase works towards selecting and implementing certain technologies data center transformation initiatives such as datacenter consolidation, virtualization, power and cooling management and IT infrastructure management. This phase also helps an organization to attain LEED certificate.

The amount of data the world processes and stores will go on expanding fast. EMC, an esteemed information infrastructure solutions enterprise predicts that the amount of global data will expand to approximately 35 zetta bytes by 2020. If there is no focus given on datacenter efficiency and renewable power usage, then the climatic impact of datacenters will also expand exponentially. To aid this situation, eminent IT solution providers are offering Green Datacenters methods to their clients and end users.

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Network Support Services Empowers the Corporate Network

The globally bound business organizations aim for newer markets and higher revenues. However, globalization with its benefits also offer these organization challenges of maintaining a vastly spread out organization. Nevertheless, technology has brought in a number of innovations that has facilitated the widely located offices of these enterprises to remain connected through the corporate network.

Corporate network is a  network service which as per Wikipedia definition is a service hosted on a computer network on a defined service protocol to provide functionality for end users of the network.  The client computers or end-users share the resources with the help of servers.  Further  technological  advancement led to increased demands for a stronger IT infrastructure  with more focus on the networked environment. Maintaining network security was another  challenging factor for the new age organizations. However, to ensure secure data transfers, the  network services were configured as local networks and wide area networks with a valid internet protocol address for every user accounts.

The aggressively competitive business environment led to network  services becoming the backbone of the global organization. However, the continuous increase in  IT infrastructure and applications  has  made the  network a complex environment. Business houses and corporate sector in need for an end-to-end   networked systems looked towards  organization which would provide them with seamless and highly managed network services.  Further, good support services are also essential in managing the networked environment. Outsourcing the management and network support services to experts will facilitate the global enterprises to focus on core issues.

The leading service providers with years of experience and team of experts   help the global  organizations with optimum and cost-effective network services. The  entire suite of  managed  services include conceptualization, implementation and delivery of LAN and WAN management, unified communication systems, management of the network operations center and IT security consulting for the networked environment.

However, for a network support service to be truly effective , requires the services to be open to the clientele 24/7. The expert teams  from the leading service provider are available at all times to provide solutions to problems faced in network system integration , implementation services, VoIP, WLAN management or network virtualization. A good network support service provider is one that ensures  integrated performance and end-to-end visibility across  the infrastructure landscape with   faster and timely communications through an online service desk and this forms an important part of customer relationships.

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Making Green Datacenters for Future

Today majority of enterprises are executing green strategies by recycling archaic IT products known as e-waste and by bringing down energy consumption. As more and more organizations are willing to put in green constituents for technology services and goods, IT vendors today need to stay updated about energy conservation tactics to procure more business. Businesses that already have a systematic Green IT strategy in place have a greater chance to consider green initiatives into the IT vendor selection process than others.

Recent trend updates reveal that Green IT initiatives will continue to become a priority for global enterprises as more companies are rising up to the cause of having a better and greener working environment.

The concept of Green Datacenters

In line with Green IT initiatives, at the Green Grid Forum held in March 2012 various enterprises hosting social networks and digital marketplaces highlighted their attempts in establishing green datacenters. Datacenters today use more than 2 percent of the overall electricity. In U.S approximately half the electricity is produced by burning coal. The increasing usage of datacenter energy will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions till the time we can match the processing data storage growth from fossil fuel pollution.

Market research estimates that the data stored and processed will keep on expanding and that too quickly. The number is predicted to expand by 35 zettabytes by 2020. Hence, it is an imperative today to focus on data center efficiency and renewable power usage.

Green Data Center Solutions

Eminent IT service providers have come up with efficient Green Datacenter solutions that follow a phased methodology. These solutions are cost-effective and offer sustainability to business operations and guarantee a positive bottom-line for an organization. The phases are as follows:-

● Assessment Phase

This phase sets up a baseline of energy usage and carbon footprint of the existing environment using an assessment framework which is used to audit the environment. After this there is a Gap analysis and Feasibility study done for recognizing transformational initiatives, performing impact analysis and assessing the cost structure.

● Planning and Design Phase

This phase helps in setting up an elaborate roadmap for certain Green IT initiatives such as DC optimization, procurement, recycling, financial and resource planning.

● Implementation Phase

This phase chooses and executes specific technologies for Datacenter Virtualization, virtualization, IT infrastructure management, power and cooling management and many more.

However, when it comes to Green IT initiatives and developing Green Datacenters a lot depends upon people’s attitude and their changing mindset. It is also the individual enterprise choice whether or not to make their operations and working environment green that counts.

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Efficient IT Service Management Practices on the Cloud

The latest trend in the IT environment is cloud computing. The employment of advanced technologies to expedite efficiencies and leverage performances has been an expensive decision. The current environment is very competitive and you have to show profound capabilities by increasing productivity without increasing the costs. Now this is a very rough terrain and you will encounter risks and challenges often that can derail your operation. The only way to tame these challenges and make enriching gains is by employing the cloud computing services.

The cloud computing technology helps you deliver services faster and securely helping in meeting the customer expectations and increasing the satisfaction levels. It provides you with prompt and real-time updates thus facilitating you to take critical business decisions. The cloud model deploys strategies that increase the visibility of the processes and grants you improved controls to maximize the revenue earning potentials. It also provides integration capabilities that increase collaboration and optimization of the processes. All the services are delivered on a secure network and wasteful processes are eliminated which helps in curbing the costs.

It is advisable to seek assistance from professionals that offer the cloud computing services as they have the expertise and knowledge to employ best practices that will bear effective results. The professionals help in deploying an automatic and streamlined application hosting and management process that leverages efficiency. The processes can be customized to meet the requirements of your business.

The cloud computing service providers extend complete support with 24/7 server monitoring service without any interruptions. All network latency issues are resolved effectively to ensure consistent connectivity. The processes that are deployed are as per the ITIL standards and you are furnished with comprehensive, integrated and intelligent IT service management operations. The processes are simplified and easy to use which provides you with an enriching experience. The helpdesk service facilitates you to login, create requests, reports incidents, resolve issues, track your request and review the status easily. The cloud provides you with quick responses that saves your time and costs.

The online environment consistently feeds you with information about the latest changes in the market.  You have to be alert and ensure that you absorb the relevant information for making modifications in your processes to enjoy better yields. The IT platform must be uncomplicated and flexible so that the people, processes and technology can be merged into a collaborative unit for earning more profits.

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Managed Security Services: Simplifying security operations for global organizations

Today's global organizations are so dependent on technology for their communication, that the IT infrastructure and computer networks form the backbone of its growth. However, with offices and customers spread across geographically distant locations, security of critical data and information becomes a cause of concern while managing such vast networks turns into a herculean task. To overcome such hurdles in the path of growth, organizations thus tend to outsource these functions to experts in the field of network security and management.

With the rise in demands for IT outsourcing and security enterprise and asset management, number of IT organizations have forayed into providing network security. However, the leaders in the field of managed security services provide their clientele significant cost reduction and business benefits through the use of advanced management tools and remote delivery models.

The managed security services offered by the IT giants include cutting edge networking solutions which have been developed through the design-implement-consult-engineering model for optimizing and managing the network, both local area and wide area, besides the unified communications IPT and VoIP. In today's business scenario, when global expansions and technological innovations are the focal point to beat the competition, there is little room for information security of enterprises. The managed security service partners takes of this issue for the global enterprises.

The security services include information security monitoring both on-site and remote. The 24/7 security monitoring services alerts the organization of any security threats that are prevalent in and around the infrastructure environment. Further the security devices installed in the locations includes firewalls, network and host IDS/IPs, VPN, proxy as well as multifactor access controls. The managed end-point security services takes care of virus and malware monitoring and prevention of its outbreak in the network environment. With regular signature updates and compliance management, it uses various tools to provide organizations with fundamental control of security status.

Anti phishing being one of the major threats faced by the modern global organizations, these leading network giants under their managed security services offer anti-phishing services which provides the clients with comprehensive solutions to mitigate the impact of phishing incidents. By monitoring proactive domains and phishing URLs, reporting and forensic analysis, ensures reduction in brand damage and maintains customers trust in the networked channels. The anti-malware services enables website administrators of the organizations a constant vigilance of security breach. The web application malware monitoring along with malicious code sandbox analysis and forensic and malware reporting helps organizations to know beforehand and be prepared before the websites are used for malware attacks.

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