IT TIDBITS
| Computer and Information Technologies have become more complex, diverse, and mission critical, in both individual homes and in business. We as a community need to be aware of these resources and their potential risk and benefits. Many people are reluctant to rely on these resources for one reason or another, and several still do not possess the skill or understanding to manage them properly, thus becoming discouraged. |
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- Concerns regarding Reliability: Reliability can be an issue if procedures to provide Fault Tolerance are not in place. What is Fault Tolerance? This is the process by which we secure reliability, through many ways based on our needs. Such as surge protectors, battery backups, regular backups of the information stored on our computers, etc.
- Concerns regarding Security: Security has been and will always be an issue, however the technological developments over the last ten years have made security less an issue than Fault Tolerance. With the release of Windows 98 SE a need for better security had initiated, based on the type of information stored on computers, the Internet, and E-Commerce. Once again developers went back to the drawing boards, and developed the NT platform. The NT [ New Technology ] platform [ or operating system ] provides security features never seen before. It provides a level of security that is extremely difficult to manipulate with out proper permission. Windows NT, 2000, and Windows XP are based on this engineering.
- Concerns regarding Internet Security: Internet Security has been an issue since it was founded, everyone connected in a global network opened the doors to the world and every militias would be hacker out there. The industry recognized the potential hazards and continually attempts to stay on top of the issues. There are a lot more security features out now, and they are continuously updated. Even more effective is the use of “ Fire Walls “. Fire Walls are programs and or hardware that prevent anyone from accessing your computer without explicit permission from you.
- In aspect to the business and professional sector, the advancements in platforms and infrastructure seem rapid, radical, and costly. Consider the fact that all advancement in our society has been rapid and radical and as with any advancements there is a cost. Change of any kind comes with inherent risk, but you must always way the prose and cons. The long term outcome is the key, dose it fit a particular need, will the benefits outweigh the inherent risk and initial cost? These are the far reaching concerns which should be addressed.
- Industry wide the deployment of the Windows NT platform [ i.e.: NT-3.1, NT-3.5, NT-4.0 ] proved to have far reaching benefits, and is now by far an industry standard. However the full benefits of the NT technology are now being realized. With the deployment of Windows 2000 and its infrastructure we can now take advantage of these benefits. Some of witch include; Extremely enhanced security, Load balancing, Site awareness, Active Directory, Group Policy objects, [ These can be implemented at the site, domain, organizational, group, user, and system levels, in layers to completely customize you’re infrastructure. ] Compatibility with; Unix, Novel, Apple, and the list goes on.
- In consideration to cost, it is highly recommended that you consult a professional to help assess both personal and business needs. Remember as with any product or service, shop around for the best price and service to meet you’re needs. Cost may vary greatly depending on what you want to accomplish, however if you customize your needs the cost will be minor compared to the increase in productivity and long term savings. You might even consider consulting someone that has already implemented similar changes to what you plan and see what it has accomplished for them.
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