Business Assessment Checklist & Follow-Up:

• Technology Assessment Checklist for Small Business (Word Template)
• Business Assessment Follow-Up (Word Template)

Q: What type of encryption do you recommend for laptops, specifically for HIPPA compliance?
A: We are currently recommending using Microsoft BitLocker. This is available with Windows 8 Pro, or with Windows 7 Pro and Software Assurance.

Q: Do you have an alternative to Exchange?
A: If you are looking for an alternative on-premise e-mail server, the product with the greatest footprint in SMB right now (besides Exchange) is Kerio Connect (http://www.kerio.com/connect). If you're looking for an alternative technology, we recommend Office 365 Small Business Premium or Office 365 Mid-Size Business.

Q: What about the new Intel® Xeon® CPU - do you have any info?
A: There is a lot of new info on the E5-2600 v2 CPU family at https://www-ssl.intel.com/p/s/en_US/techprovider/products/xeon-e5

Q: With the pedestal network enclosures shown by Trevor, are there any issues about cooling it, or is that built into the enclosure?
A: As long as they are properly designed and assembled, rack-mount solutions have no cooling issues, and are typically better-cooled than a similar pedestal solution. The key is to make sure that any space that might allow airflow to get past be closed off and the airflow be directed to cooling installed equipment.

Q: Does NETGEAR or QNAP offer an NFR unit for their NAS products?
A: NETGEAR offers reduced-price eval units to members of their PowerShift™ partner program. Details can be found at http://powershift.netgear.com/et.cfm?eid=eval. We are not aware of any similar program with QNAP, but you can check with them at http://web.qnap.com/useng/reseller/.

Q: What criteria do you use when recommending different RAID levels - specifically RAID 5 versus RAID 1?
A: We look at the amount of overall data, the level of protection needed and available resources. As an example, we almost always recommend using a RAID mirror for the NOS and applications, since they can be reloaded and re-configured, as opposed to data, which needs to be more protected from accidental deletion. We will typically recommend that data drives be set up as a RAID 5 or RAID 6, so that we can maximize drive redundancy. Our only caveat to this will be on drives that need to offer superior I/O response, in which case we'll recommend a RAID 50 or 60.

Q: How about Office 365 & Windows Server® Essentials 2013 versus Exchange?
A: We are recommending Windows Server 2012 Essentials R2 as the basis for our default SMB IT solution. From that basis, there is really no end-user definable difference between Office 365 and Exchange on-premise. While we recognize that many of our reseller partners prefer to keep their technology on-premise and to avoid the cloud, we find that there is a substantial amount of value for the SMB in using Office365, especially if the company is somewhat progressive in using technology. Office365 can give the end-user access to Lync and SharePoint for a fraction of what those products cost for on-premise implementations, potentially leading to incredible returns in employee productivity.

All of that being said, we are very aware that any/every cloud offering is only as good as available bandwidth makes it; without a high-capacity connection, cloud-based products do not make sense.

Q: What about new Intel® Xeon® E3 V3 CPU? Is there new ones coming out in that space?
A: The Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3 family of products launched in July. More information on these products can be found at https://www-ssl.intel.com/p/s/en_US/techprovider/products/xeon-e3.

Q: Are there added security issues with remote IT management? How can they be solved? if I have access to my customers network, should they be worried that someone else can get in?
A: Anytime that outside access to an IT resource is permitted, there are new potential security issues with that resource. They can be addressed by simple due diligence: taking the time to make sure that only specified people can get access to the resource; making sure that authentication is set up properly; ensuring that only specific assets are remote-enabled; etc.

Q: I'm in the process of replacing a fair amount of newer clients I'm finding that still have Tape backup. What kind of backup Hardware/software do you recommend that works well in the small office space?
A: Concerning backup, we recommend both on-premise and remote solutions, preferably used together. For local on-premise back-up, we recommend either a cartridge-based backup drive (usually RDX drives) or a LUN in a local iSCSI SAN. For remote backup, we recommend either cloud-based (typically Windows Azure) or remote NAS or SAN units, sync'd with local units.

Q: I'm working on server refreshes planned for early 2014, police stations etc. these locations have many volunteers.. but no more than 10 to 20 access the network at any given time.. Is there anything on the horizon that might better address their needs?
A: Not entirely sure what you mean, but here is a list of technologies that we recommend for that size customer:

• Rack-mounted single-CPU server (hot-swap drives, redundant power, discrete RAID)
• Windows Server Essentials (currently 2012, soon 2012 R2; virtualized)
• Sophos UTM/anti-malware
• Exchange 2013 or Office365 Small Business Premium
• Intel Core i-5 (third-gen) clients
• Intel vPro tech for clients
• iSCSI SAN for local storage
• UPS/rack/PDU/KVM
• Managed router/switch

Q: Where can I find the business assessment checklist? And do we have any other helpful resources at our disposal?
A: You can download the Business Assessment checklist in the "Resources" dropdown above this Q&A.

Feel free to contact the Solutions Lab team at: solutionslab@dandh.com or contact Solutions Lab team members individually at their contact information below:

Bill Hersh, Solutions Coordinator

whersh@dandh.com
800.877.1200, Extension 7626

Matt Allison, Solutions Specialist

mallison@dandh.com
800.877.1200, Extension 7974

Trevor Schubert, Solutions Specialist

tschubert@dandh.com
800.877.1200, Extension 7976