Business Continuity is the activity performed by an organization to ensure that critical business functions will be available to all entities that must have access to those functions. Business Continuity is not something implemented at the time of a disaster; disaster recovery is but a subset of Business Continuity.
NetVault®: FASTRecover™
At last theres a cost effective disk-based, real-time data protection solution for Exchange, SQL Server and Windows File Servers that does not force you to choose between recovery point and recovery time objectives (RPOs and RTOs). NetVault: FASTRecover enables lightning fast, 30-second recovery for these critical applications and data to any point in time to deliver unsurpassed levels of business continuity for your organization.
Virtualization Technologies from : Citrix, Microsoft, Parallels, VMWare
While disasters and unplanned downtime get the big headlines, planned downtime for hardware maintenance and backups is the cause of most service interruptions. Server, desktop and application virtualization products let you eliminate planned downtime, ensure data protection, deliver high availability and be better prepared for disaster recovery. Virtualize your datacenter and make it easier to deploy:
* Data protection, including non-disruptive automated backup and restore processes
* High availability through reduced planned and unplanned downtime
* Disaster recovery with hardware independent recovery
Netcordia Network Change & Configuration Management (NCCM)
NetMRI enables organizations to take control of network configurations and changesmaking it easy to identify hard-to-find configuration problems that are lurking in the network and meet internal standards and external compliance requirements. Instead of just logging changes, NetMRI utilizes built-in subject matter expertise to audit, analyze and automate network change.
With in-depth, out-of-the-box expert analytics, NetMRI isolates health and configuration issues before they cause major problems. Minor configuration anomalies may only cause slight performance problems today, but could cripple the network tomorrow.
The built-in intelligence and remediation options are unique to NetMRI and allow your IT staff to focus on business impacting issues and to spend less time fire fighting and doing manual, repetitive processes.
By taking control of change you can:
* Understand the impact of change and correlate with network health
* Build and enforce internal standards and regulatory compliance mandates automatically
* Improve staff efficiency by reducing manual tasks, verifying configurations and remediating issues faster
SonicWall Continous Data Protection (CDP)
Any backup is only as reliable as its ability to restore business data and applications when they are needed most. The SonicWALL® Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Series offers the only complete end-to-end backup and recovery solution for SMBs. An ideal replacement for tape-based systems, CDP provides foolproof, intuitive, continual protection. No other solution offers such comprehensive protection while still being so easy-to-manage. Features include:
Automatic transparent backup, Realtime offsite backup, Bare Metal Restore, Enforce policy-based backup, Low-touch administration, Flexible disaster recovery options, User-directed restore, Instant recovery and file versions, VSS snapshot service, Bandwidth management, Robust management and reporting.
The boom in cloud computing over the past few years has led to a situation that is common to many innovations and new technologies: many have heard of it, but far fewer actually understand what it is and, more importantly, how it can benefit them.
In an attempt to gain a competitive edge, businesses are increasingly looking for new and innovative ways to cut costs while maximizing value - especially now, during a global economic downturn. They recognise that they need to grow, but are simultaneously under pressure to save money. This has forced the realization that new ideas and methods may produce better results than the tried and tested formulas of yesteryear. It is the growing acceptance of innovative technologies that has seen cloud computing become the biggest buzzword in IT.
However, before an organization decides to make the jump to the cloud, it is important to understand what, why, how and from whom. Not all cloud computing providers are the same. The range and quality of services on offer varies tremendously, so we recommend that you investigate the market thoroughly, with a clearly defined set of requirements in mind.
Cloud computing can be visualized as a pyramid consisting of three sections:
Cloud Application
This is the apex of the cloud pyramid, where applications are run and interacted with via a web browser, hosted desktop or remote client. A hallmark of commercial cloud computing applications is that users never need to purchase expensive software licenses themselves. Instead, the cost is incorporated into the subscription fee. A cloud application eliminates the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, thus removing the burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation and support.
Cloud Platform
The middle layer of the cloud pyramid, which provides a computing platform or framework as a service. A cloud computing platform dynamically provisions, configures, reconfigures and de-provisions servers as needed to cope with increases or decreases in demand. This in reality is a distributed computing model, where many services pull together to deliver an application or infrastructure request.
Cloud Infrastructure
The foundation of the cloud pyramid is the delivery of IT infrastructure through virtualization. Virtualization allows the splitting of a single physical piece of hardware into independent, self governed environments, which can be scaled in terms of CPU, RAM, Disk and other elements. The infrastructure includes servers, networks and other hardware appliances delivered as either Infrastructure "Web Services", "farms" or "cloud centers". These are then interlinked with others for resilience and additional capacity
In order to make the most of your existing IT provision, the cloud computing services you decide to subscribe to should be able to integrate easily with your current infrastructure. Key to enterprise offerings is being able to easily integrate with customers' existing networks, so that our services become a seamless extension of those already provided by in-house IT departments. Cloud computing infrastructure should allow enterprises to achieve more efficient use of their existing IT hardware and software investments.
If a company wishes to evaluate, plan migrations and move towards cloud computing, this can be done quickly and simply, hand in hand with Hydra and our partners.
NightWatchman - Save money, energy & the environment
Almost half of all employees who use computers at work typically do not power them down at the end of the working day. Millions of pounds worth of PC power is being wasted every year.
NightWatchman is the world leading PC power management solution for companies both large and small. Simple and quick to implement and with proven accuracy, it enables significant cost savings by applying effective PC power management that wont slow your business down.
Keeps users in the driving seat - User acceptance is one of the key factors to a successful PC power management implementation. NightWatchman gives users the control to ensure that power saving measures can be implemented without impacting or annoying them.
Proven savings - PCs which are left on when not in use are wasting energy which you are paying for! Organizations that have implemented NightWatchman have saved on average £12 per PC per year.
Increase Energy Efficiency with Virtualization
Energy consumption is a critical issue for IT organizations today, whether the goal is to reduce cost, save the environment or keep your datacenter running. Industry analyst Gartner estimates that over the next 5 years, most enterprise data centres will spend as much on energy (power and cooling) as they do on hardware infrastructure.
Save Energy by Eliminating Server Sprawl and Underutilization
Customers can reduce their energy costs and consumption by up to 80% through virtualization. Most servers and desktops today are in use only 5-15% of the time they are powered on, yet most x86 hardware consumes 60-90% of the normal workload power even when idle. Virtualization has advanced resource and memory management features that enable consolidation ratios of 15:1 or more which increased hardware utilization to as much as 85%. Virtualization customers can dramatically reduce energy consumption whilst increasing reliability or service levels.
Reduce the Environmental Impact of IT
Beside the company bottom line effect, virtualization is positively impacting the environment. One of the primary goals of almost all forms of virtualization is making the most efficient use of available system resources; sweating existing assets and running them more efficiently
Hydra has been analysing, consulting, designing, installing, maintaining, supporting and managing layer 2 and 3 network hardware for over 10 years and has developed long and lasting relationships with major infrastructure vendors including Cisco, Enterasys and Juniper.
Networking Solutions
Consider the fundamental need to communicate. It isn't uniquely human. Whales, wolves, bees all do it; apparently even termites do it. But what does set us apart from other animals are the ingenious ways we devise to communicate.
Networks allow us to communicate either on a one to one basis or to millions of people.
Yes, it's clever... Yes, it's convenient... Yes, it's amazing... Yes, it's indispensable...
But only as long as it works. At Hydra, we make sure it does.
Analysis
This is all about preventing the occurrence of round-peg-square-hole syndrome.
Your network needs are unique and the technology moves so fast, that we would never try and give you the same design as we did last week for another customer. This analysis is for us to ascertain those needs, discuss your requirements and identify the areas where we can make a difference to your daily life.
We do this by looking at the current situation - comparing it to where you want to be and charting your course there as speedily and accurately as possible. This study takes between several hours and an entire working month - depending on the size and nature of your business. It allows us to be able to prescribe a network solution for you that delivers the best possible performance, within your time and financial constraints.
Consultancy
The electronics communications industry is changing at such a pace, even the experts need to concentrate to keep up.
Keeping up with new developments and new technologies is a daily learning experience for the team at Hydra. We spend a great deal of our time following new developments all over the globe so that you don't have to.
So that you can discover just what can be achieved with an effective network, our general consultancy covers the infrastructure of network communications itself. Whether the issues that concern your business are to do with network expansion, connectivity, security or routing we bring the world's knowledge to you in an instant.
Design
When your network is perfectly specified and performing to its full potential you just won't recognize yourself.
The design process involves taking all the information your account management team has gathered from analysis and needs assessment and then matching it to the right products and configuration. Speed, security, bandwidth and resilience are all factored into the way your network will integrate successfully and effectively into your business.
It is at the design stage that our customers really start to understand what is achievable.
Installation
The installation and configuration process can be divided into defined stages.
The first stage is to work with the customer to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place. This can involve cabling, electrical wiring, cabinets, ventilation and any other aspect of physical preparation of the site.
Prior to delivery, the equipment is all put together and thoroughly tested at Hydra's testing labs to ensure that it is appropriately specified. At this time we would create a virtual network identical to the one specified for the customer's site.
The final phase involves delivering, and rebuilding the equipment before configuration and final testing that precedes going live. Most of this stage, along with any infrastructure work, might have to take place out of normal working hours.
WAN Optimisation and Unified Performance Management (UPM)
Visibility
Before optimizing network traffic get deep visibility into your network activity, usage and performance, giving you the intelligence and knowledge you need to keep your applications operating at peak performance and denying non business applications your expensive bandwidth.
Control
UPM includes a broad set of management capabilities that allow you to maximize network resources and control network traffic without placing heavy-handed restrictions on users
Optimization
UPM lets you turn understanding into action by implementing policies and network changes that drive application performance, improve the user experience and optimize productivity
Organizations rely heavily upon their network and applications to drive day-to-day operations and support employees and customers. With more remote and mobile users dependent on the wide area network (WAN) and more Web-based applications coming online every day, the amount of traffic crossing organizations networks is growing exponentially. When bandwidth congestion and network issues are allowed to impede the performance of critical applications, productivity suffers
and the entire organization may be put at risk.
Network managers and administrators face the daunting task of effectively monitoring and managing network resources and bandwidth while meeting user expectations for consistently fast access to applications running on the WAN. At the same time, most IT departments also have the mandate to reduce operating costs and do more with less.Organizations can overcome these challenges by implementing a Unified Performance Management (UPM) solution that addresses the three key
requirements of application performance management: visibility, control and optimization. Unified Performance Management evolved from the concept of Unified Threat Management, or UTM, which describes a network firewall solution that incorporates many advanced features in a single box including e-mail spam filtering, anti-virus capabilities, intrusion detection and content filtering.
With Unified Performance Management, the core capabilities needed to effectively manage the WAN and ensure optimal application performance are incorporated into a single network appliance. These capabilities include real-time monitoring, reporting, traffic control, optimization and acceleration all integrated and accessible through a common interface and centralized management platform.
By providing a comprehensive solution for improving application performance, Unified Performance Management can positively impact the bottom line. UPM enables organizations to lower network operating costs, defer expensive bandwidth upgrades and increase productivity by reducing the time employees spend waiting for slow applications to respond. In customer-facing situations, UPM helps ensure customer loyalty and profitability by delivering the reliable access to
online applications and services needed to attract and retain customers.
Hydra works with vendors acknowledged as best of breed and maturity such as Blue Coat, Cisco, Citrix, Exinda, F5, Juniper and Riverbed.
Companies are increasingly aware of security requirements, continually balancing up the cost implications of downtime, intrusion, fraud and hacking. But security solutions can only effectively reduce the vulnerability of your infrastructure when implemented with the right equipment, in the right locations, to provide the right barriers.
At Hydra we know that the key component to solving security issues and alleviating network vulnerabilities is understanding that you cannot standardise on security solutions. Whilst you can deploy the same products on different networks, how they then operate and interact with network activity and access can be completely individual.
Hydra's security team has access to products from the best vendors in the world, the value added to the customer however is our knowledge of how and where those products work best.
Security Services
Hydra delivers end-to-end network security solutions built upon market-leading technologies and underpinned by the highest quality technical services.
Providing a security solution is all about offering a complete service and not just point products. It's about helping clients to understand the challenges and opportunities and putting together a security policy that's appropriate and then deploying solutions to enforce this policy.
Hydra retains an impressive client list and an enviable reputation for the successful and cost-effective implementation of technically complex solutions.
Hydra's security specialist vendor list includes Blue Coat, Check Point, Cisco, Cyber-Ark, Enterasys, Juniper and Radware.
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