Fault Tolerant Internet ConsultingConnectivity to the Internet has emerged as a mission-critical capability for many small businesses. The use of the Internet to distribute information has mushroomed to the point that many organizations are unable to perform day-to-day functions without Internet connectivity.

Traditional applications such as internal email clearly lose much of their value when they can’t be used to communicate with customers or vendors, but as organizations increasingly adopt Internet-based information delivery for line-of-business applications, even core functions can grind to a halt when Internet access becomes unavailable.

Until recently, only large organizations could afford to build fully redundant and transparent Internet connections that could survive a failed Internet link or router. Such seamless fault tolerance requires T1-class Internet lines, an option that in the past overstretched the budgets of most small businesses. As T1 prices have dropped to as low as a few $100 per month, and as alternative connections have become available, the opportunity for small businesses to achieve enterprise-class fault tolerance has become economically feasible. But even though the cost for lines has become affordable, the complexity of implementing these solutions has not.

Few small businesses have the in-house expertise required to work effectively with multiple ISPs, coordinate the necessary configuration steps with Internet numbering authority organizations, and implement advanced routing protocols such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP). Progent offers Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) consulting to help you apply the latest connectivity technology to implement a cost-effective fault-tolerant solution.

Today multiple options exist for building automatic and semi-automatic failover solutions. These can involve a mix of T1, DSL and wireless Internet connections. The viability of high-speed fixed-wireless links has recently opened up new alternatives for achieving transparent fault tolerance. By establishing diverse physical paths to the Internet, small businesses gain insurance against costly outages caused by events out of their control, such as a construction crew accidentally digging up phone lines.

As companies rush to deploy VoIP solutions, the potential productivity loss that could result from an interruption in Internet access increases dramatically. This creates another strong incentive to configure a fault-tolerant architecture. Current technologies from Cisco and other networking companies make it possible to build high-availability voice and data solution that have even better uptime potential than conventional voice and data services.

For small business with extremely limited budgets, fault-tolerant failover solutions are possible by utilizing redundant, low-cost DSL services. While not providing all the transparency of more complex and expensive solutions, this alternative can provide significant functionality and avoid costly productivity loss in the event of line failure.

As companies have shifted away from dedicated leased T1 and frame relay lines to Internet-based VPN connections, the demand for fault-tolerant Internet connectivity has accelerated. Businesses can apply the cost savings from retiring legacy leased circuits to upgrading their Internet infrastructure so that they will not only protect their connectivity to remote offices but also the Internet connectivity of office users. Absent those cost savings, many small companies are reluctant to invest in fault-tolerant Internet configurations.

Other High Availability Technologies Supported by Progent
Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified support professionals can help you to implement a sensible, high-availability IT architecture that resolves major challenges encompassing a broad array of infrastructure solutions and processes such as:

Disaster Recovery Planning
Progent's business continuity planning professionals can show you how to create a disaster recovery plan so you can restore IT functionality in case of an IT network disaster. Progent can help you to define a complete disaster recovery plan that includes periodic disaster recovery assessments and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-authorized engineers can also show you how to create an affordable, non-stop network architecture that addresses availability issues covering a broad range of infrastructure technologies and processes. For details, visit Workplace Recovery Consulting and Support Services.

Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services
ProSight Data Protection Services from Progent offer small and mid-sized organizations an affordable end-to-end service for reliable backup/disaster recovery (BDR). Available at a low monthly rate, ProSight DPS automates and monitors your backup activities and allows rapid restoration of critical data, apps and VMs that have become lost or corrupted as a result of component failures, software glitches, natural disasters, human error, or malware attacks like ransomware. ProSight Data Protection Services can help you back up, retrieve and restore files, folders, applications, system images, as well as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine images. Critical data can be backed up on the cloud, to a local storage device, or mirrored to both. Progent's backup and recovery specialists can deliver world-class support to configure ProSight DPS to to comply with regulatory standards like HIPPA, FINRA, PCI and Safe Harbor and, when necessary, can help you to recover your business-critical data. Read more about ProSight DPS Managed Backup.

Microsoft Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery/business continuity experts can assist your organization to design a DR solution based on Microsoft's latest Failover Clustering tools such as Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade for non-disruptive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for zero-data-loss recovery, Storage Spaces Direct for enterprise-class storage clusters using low-cost hardware, Virtual Machine Load Balancing for enhancing the speed and resilience of Failover Clusters while minimizing capital investment and operational expenses, and Cloud Witness for fast, economical creation of a stretch cluster quorum arbitration point. For more information, see Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery Expertise.

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering
Windows Server 2008 R2 brought world-class availability and system recovery to Microsoft's failover clustering platform. Windows Server 2012 R2 builds on this technology and delivers significant new and enhanced features that offer increased expandability, non-stop disk storage uptime for server applications, streamlined management, quicker failover, and additional options for architecting failover clusters. For more information, visit Windows Server 2012 R2 Failover Clustering Consulting and Support.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager is an extension to VMware vCenter that allows you to specify, automate and test a repeatable runbook for recovering applications and services quickly following an outage. Site Recovery Manager supports centrally controlled and automated disaster recovery, application mobility, plus transparent site migration, failback and re-protect. SRM also supports non-intrusive testing for site recovery, upgrades and fixes and can generate audit reports to confirm full service restoration, validate Service Level Agreements and prove DR compliance. Progent offers the skills of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consultant to assist you to design, configure, test and administer a DR system based on VMware Site Recovery Manager.

NetApp MetroCluster High Availability and Disaster Recovery Technology
NetApp MetroCluster is a high-availability and disaster recovery software suite that combines array-based storage clustering with synchronous replication to provide rapid, zero data loss disaster recovery between datacenters located up to 185 miles away from one another. Progent can provide access to a NetApp MetroCluster consultant who can help your business to design, configure, administer, update, test and troubleshoot a disaster recovery system based on NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can assist you to choose a topology for your MetroCluster environment that meets your functional needs and IT budget. Progent can make sure you follow leading practices for installing your MetroCluster environment by providing help with procedures like assigning shelf IDs, arranging plexes layout, setting up FlexVol volumes, setting up NetApp Snapshot, provisioning Cisco and Brocade switches, implementing a tiebreaker, setting up a TCP/IP configuration replication network, and testing your disaster recovery system to prove compliance with information assurance standards and government mandates.

Network Load Balancing
Progent provides fault tolerant load balancing support covering system load balancing, load balanced applications, network infrastructure routing, and content dispatching technology such as Cisco Content Engine. High availability load balancing products for which Progent offers consulting services include Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Access Gateway, Cisco CSS, Cisco Content Distribution Manager and LocalDirector 400 series, and F5 Networks 3-DNS. To find out more, see Non-stop Load Balancing.

Non-stop Colocation
Progent's Data Center consultants can show you how to find zero-downtime data centers that meet the specific requirements of your company. Fault tolerant colocation sites are particularly appealing to small and mid-size organizations due to of their low cost and simplified logistics compared to pursuing a do-it-yourself strategy. Trying to create an in-house data center with even a basic level of fault tolerance is too costly for the majority of small organizations. Progent can show you how to get all the benefits of non-stop colocation facilities by providing a complete range of engineering and maintenance services. To find out more, visit Fault Tolerant Data Centers Solutions.

Failsafe Inter-office Networking
Progent’s interoffice connectivity consultants can help businesses achieve fault tolerant branch office connectivity through fully redundant system architectures featuring automatic failover. Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE engineers can plan and deploy fault-tolerant Inter-office networks supported by non-stop EIGRP network routers or non-stop OSPF deployment of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how multi-path connectivity and automatic fail-over can provide affordable non-stop interoffice connectivity. To learn more, see 24x7 Interoffice Connectivity.

Backup and Recovery Solutions Consulting
Progent offers economical online access to IT engineers with expertise in a broad range of utilities and technologies that deliver solutions for protecting Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux servers and desktops plus laptops and smartphones. Progent can provide help for leading data protection products including Acronis, Backup Exec, BackupAssist Software, CrashPlan, Double-Take, MozyPro, Retrospect for Macintosh, Time Machine, vSphere Data Protection, and FLARs. Progent can assist you to design, upgrade, or maintain data backup solutions for a range of topologies such as local, edge to datacenter, cloud-based, or hybrid. To read more, visit Backup and Recovery Technology Consulting and Support Services.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) Backup and Restore Consulting and Support Services
Progent's expert System Center Data Protection Manager support professionals can assist your company to develop an effective disaster recovery plan, implement a cost-effective high-availability IT infrastructure, configure a System Center Data Protection Manager-based backup and restore solution, comprehensively validate your DPM system, train your administrative staff or local service providers how to maintain SCDPM, or provide extensive information technology outsourcing including remote housing of virtual or physical SCDPM servers in Progent's secure data center. For more information, go to Microsoft SCDPM Consulting Services.

Barracuda Backup On-premises and Cloud Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is a low-cost, subscription backup and disaster recovery platform for small and mid-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup solution can include a purpose-built physical storage device built by Barracuda or a software-based appliance with similar functionality but which uses your existing storage hardware. Barracuda Backup protects vital company data produced on-premises, at one or multiple remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster protection, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon AWS, or to any site with a Barracuda appliance. Progent is a Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants offer a wide range of consulting support services to help your business to design, configure, manage and repair a backup and disaster recovery solution based on Barracuda Backup. For more information, visit Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting.

Altaro VM Backup Solutions for Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup software offers small and mid-size businesses a reliable and affordable solution for backing up and recovering Hyper-V and VMware-powered virtual machines (VMs). Altaro VM Backup can be deployed in on-premises, remote, distributed, and cloud environments and also enables cost-effective cloud backup to Microsoft Azure storage. Top features include state-of-the-art Augmented Inline Deduplication to cut backup storage requirements, Continuous Data Protection with backup spacing as short as five minutes for reducing your exposure to data loss, advanced encryption, granular restore capability for individual files and emails, extensive support for Windows Server CSV and for VMware vCenter for handling larger deployments, and the ability to leverage Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service to back up live VMs without downtime. Progent is a certified Altaro partner and can provide a broad array of consulting services to assist you to plan, deploy, manage and troubleshoot a backup and disaster recovery solution powered by Altaro VM Backup. To learn more, visit Altaro VM Backup Consulting Services.

Consulting Services Double-Take Software for Data Backup/Restore
Double-Take Software publishes a selection of tools designed to provide small and midsize companies a range of affordable alternatives for replicating and recovering business-critical workloads including Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, RIM Blackberry, and Microsoft SharePoint. Progent’s disaster recovery planning experts have extensive backgrounds integrating Double-Take products into small company information systems to achieve an advanced level of availability and disaster recovery capability at a budget-friendly price. To read more, see Consulting for Double-Take Solutions for Data Backup.

CRISC-Premier IT Risk Management
The Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) program was initiated by ISACA to verify a consultant's ability to design, implement, and support information system control mechanisms to reduce network risk. Progent can provide the expertise of a CRISC-certified consultant to help your company to create and execute a business continuity or disaster recovery strategy that follows leading practices identified by CRISC and geared to align with your company's risk tolerance, business goals, and budgetary guidelines. For more information, go to CRISC-Certified network risk control specialists.

Why Pick Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning?
Because Progent is a Microsoft Certified Partner and provides specialized application expertise for a wide variety of small business software programs, Progent is able to assist clients to arrive at comprehensive IT solutions that maximize the productivity of your information system. As a Registered Partner for Cisco, Progent can provide the expertise of premier consultants and specialists with experience in designing, configuring and troubleshooting infrastructure solutions based on Cisco products. The broad scope of Progent's IT experience and Progent's sensitivity to the needs of small and midsize businesses make Progent a great resource for building and running an affordable, high-availability information system.

How to Contact Progent's Consultants for High Availability System Services
In order to get in touch with Progent about professional assistance for non-stop networking, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.

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