An IT Support Blog from London

Read the latest IT news, tips and insights from IT Support pros at HTL Support

What are Thin Clients and When Would You Need Them?

What are Thin Clients

The rise of virtual computing environments and the constant challenge to lower operating costs have spurred the demand for thin clients. From its current 2022 valuation of USD 1.19 billion, the global thin client market is expected to reach USD 1.32 billion by 2030, or an annual growth rate of 2.8%.

What has further aided the increased usage of thin clients is the advancement of technologies such as faster broadband networks, more powerful servers, cheaper storage, and a host of cloud solutions to cater to the enterprise’s every need. In this blog post, we discuss what a thin client is, what its advantages are, and the use cases that would make it better over the PC.

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6 Reasons Why You Should Improve Your Cloud Security

Cloud Security

As we head further into the digital era, the need for cyber security has never been more apparent. Organisations are moving many of their business applications and data into the cloud, making the cloud a prime target for cyber criminals and threat actors. If you’re not yet paying extra attention to your cloud security, then it’s high time you did.

Cloud Security Defined

Cloud Security Defined

Cloud security is a discipline of cybersecurity that focuses primarily on protecting the cloud. Also referred to as cloud computing security, it is the collection of security policies, guidelines, procedures and technologies designed to work together to secure cloud-based applications and systems.

Enterprises of all sizes are now paying more attention to cloud security with the increased reliance on a cloud environment. Not only are business data, customer information, and other valuable data assets being entrusted to cloud storage, but the ‘attack surface’ of cyber threats has also significantly expanded with employees using a variety of smart devices as they work from anywhere.

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2029 Hits

What is Evasive Malware and How Big a Threat is It?

what is evasive malware

How do you eliminate a threat if you don’t know it’s there? Threat actors are increasingly incorporating evasive tactics into their malware, and traditional cyber security solutions are having a hard time detecting them. The moment you realise you’ve been attacked by an evasive malware, your systems would have long been compromised.

It’s important to know your adversary and understand how they operate in order to formulate appropriate countermeasures. That’s why we’re publishing this blog post. We hope to educate you about evasive malware, what they are, what level of threat they pose, what evasive tactics they employ, and what you can do to prevent them from taking hold of your systems.

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How the Pandemic and Its Aftermath Boosts the Case for VDI

Virtual desktop infrastructure

The adoption of remote work has never been as rushed as in the last couple of years, fueled by the global crisis that was COVID-19 and the movement limitations it brought about. Amidst all the adjustments that businesses have had to make to cope with the situation, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and related cloud solutions paved the way in helping organisations successfully shift to a remote workforce.

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1299 Hits

Third Party Maintenance: What is It and Why is It Important?

Third Party Maintenance

Today more than ever, enterprises need to invest in a computing infrastructure that can ably secure data and other high-risk assets, keep applications and workloads running, and in general, ensure maximum operational efficiency. Part of the upkeep needed for IT infrastructure and data center hardware is equipment maintenance.

For servers, routers, and other storage and networking equipment that are 3 years old at most, technical support can be easily had from the devices’ original equipment manufacturers (OEM) such as HPE, IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, Cisco, and other mainstream suppliers. However, for organisations needing to maintain older equipment and/or a disparate collection of devices, third-party maintenance (TPM) services would prove to be a more feasible alternative.

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Data Center Migration: Which Type is Right For You?

Data Center Migration

As organisations evolve, so do their IT infrastructure needs. Whether it’s due to organisational expansion (merger/acquisition), launching of a new application, physical relocation of a company, the need for faster connectivity, or any other reason, it may come to a point when the enterprise’s current data solutions will no longer suffice. This is when a data center migration would have to be seriously considered.

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What is ITAD? A Guide to Responsible IT Asset Disposition

What is ITAD

As the world moves further along the digital age, enterprises need to include in their long-term planning the impact of acquiring tons and tons of electronics and how they are going to dispose of these later on. This is essential for every organisation because consumers today have become more mindful of the ethical practices of businesses, particularly those that relate to society and the environment. If you’re a company that endeavors to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) part of your business practices, then you need a solid plan for retiring IT equipment.

In 2019 alone, a whopping 53.6 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide and only 17% of that got recycled. That was 3 years ago and the numbers just keep rising every year. If we are to combat the environmental effects that technology waste brings about, every enterprise should have a well-thought-out ITAD plan. But first, what is ITAD?

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2622 Hits

Understanding and Preparing for End-of-Service Life (EOSL)

End of Software Life

With the speed with which technology evolves these days, IT hardware is phased out much faster than organisations would prefer. Servers, routers, and console managers—all part of a data center’s infrastructure, need to be working efficiently at all times to ensure continued business operations.

No equipment is expected to last forever, though. Regardless of how good the quality of your equipment is, how diligently you’ve maintained it with IT support London services (for UK-based enterprises), or how well it fits with the rest of your network, there will come a time when your device will reach this stage of its IT lifecycle—the End-of-Service Life (EOSL).

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4141 Hits

What is Dark Data? Learn Its Uses and Challenges

Dark Data

To the uninitiated, the term dark data may evoke images of mysterious stores of data tucked away in an obscure location—hopefully, distant enough from your company’s hard drives so that they are no threat to online security. The reality however, is that there’s nothing ominous at all about dark data, it’s closer to you than you think, and more importantly, it can even bring value to your business when used right.

In this article, we define what dark data is and where it comes from, discuss ways to harness the value that it holds, and understand the challenges that may come with its management.

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2608 Hits

OEM vs TPM: Choosing the Right Support for Your Business

OEM vs TPM

IT infrastructure, technology hardware, and data centers are playing a huge role in the current business landscape, and now form part of the key capital investments that companies allocate substantial budgets for. As such, businesses are looking to maximise on their techn investments and wish to extend the life of their hardware pieces for as long as possible.

When it comes to servicing and maintaining data center products and IT equipment, businesses have 3 choices: stick to maintenance contracts of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), partner with Third Party Maintenance (TPM) providers, or adopt a combination of both. In this post, we learn more about the difference between OEM and TPM, and evaluate which option could offer better IT support London services for data center equipment.

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