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 Non-stop Technologies Supported by Progent's Experts
Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified consulting experts can assist you to create an efficient, non-stop IT architecture that resolves critical problems covering a broad range of infrastructure solutions and operations such as:

Disaster Recovery Planning
Progent's business continuity professionals can help you design a workplace recovery plan in order to resume IT functionality in the event of an IT system disaster. Progent can help you to create a complete disaster recovery plan that incorporates periodic disaster recovery assessments and testing. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-authorized professionals can also show you how to build an affordable, zero-downtime network solution that addresses availability issues involving a wide range of network technologies and processes. For more information, go to Business Continuity Consulting Services.

Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services
ProSight Data Protection Services provide small and medium-sized businesses a low cost and fully managed solution for secure backup/disaster recovery. For a low monthly rate, ProSight DPS automates your backup processes and enables rapid restoration of critical files, applications and VMs that have become lost or corrupted as a result of hardware breakdowns, software bugs, disasters, human error, or malware attacks like ransomware. ProSight Data Protection Services can help you protect, retrieve and restore files, folders, applications, system images, plus Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware images/. Important data can be backed up on the cloud, to an on-promises device, or to both. Progent's cloud backup consultants can deliver world-class expertise to configure ProSight DPS to be compliant with regulatory requirements such as HIPPA, FIRPA, and PCI and, whenever necessary, can help you to restore your business-critical data. Find out more about ProSight DPS Managed Cloud Backup and Recovery.

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery/business continuity experts can assist your organization to plan and deploy a disaster recovery solution built around Microsoft's latest Failover Clustering tools such as Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade for non-intrusive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for zero-data-loss recovery, Storage Spaces Direct for enterprise-class network-attached storage using low-cost hardware, VM Load Balancing for improving the performance and resilience of Failover Clusters while reducing capital investment and operational expenses, and Cloud Witness for fast, affordable deployment of a stretch cluster quorum witness. To read more, go to Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery Consulting.

Microsoft Server 2012 Failover Clusters
Windows Server 2008 R2 brought enterprise-class fault tolerance and system recovery to Microsoft's failover clustering platform. Windows Server 2012 R2 adds to this technology and provides important enhancements that offer increased expandability, better storage uptime for server applications, simpler administration, faster failover, and more flexibility for designing failover clusters. For details, visit Windows Server 2012 Clustering Migration and Support.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is a component of VMware vCenter that allows you to orchestrate, automate and test a repeatable process for restoring applications and services rapidly after an outage. SRM provides centrally controlled and automated recovery, application mobility, and non-disruptive site relocation, failback and re-protect. SRM also enables non-disruptive testing for site recovery, updates and fixes and can produce audit reports to confirm full service restoration, validate Service Level Agreements and demonstrate disaster recovery compliance. Progent offers the skills of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consultant to assist your organization to plan, deploy, test and maintain a disaster recovery system based on VMware SRM.

NetApp MetroCluster Disaster Recovery Software
NetApp MetroCluster is a disaster recovery platform that uses failover storage clustering with replication to deliver rapid, zero data loss disaster recovery between datacenters that are as far as 185 miles (300km) away from one another. Progent can provide access to a NetApp MetroCluster expert who can assist you to plan, deploy, administer, update, test and repair a disaster recovery system based on NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can assist you to choose a topology for your MetroCluster environment that aligns with your functional needs and IT budget. Progent can ensure you adhere to best practices for installing your MetroCluster environment by providing help with tasks like assigning disk pools and shelf IDs, determining plexes layout, setting up FlexVol volumes, setting up NetApp Snapshot, provisioning switches, implementing a tiebreaker, setting up a configuration replication network between your storage clusters, and verifying your MetroCluster DR solution to show compliance with information assurance standards and regulatory requirements.

Network Load Balancing
Progent provides fault tolerant load balancing consulting that addresses system load balancing, load balanced programs, LAN/WAN infrastructure routing, and content dispatching technology including Cisco Content Engine. Non-stop load balancing solutions for which Progent offers consulting services include Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Access Gateway, Cisco Content Services Switch, Cisco Distributed Director and LocalDirector 400 series, and F5 Networks 3-DNS. To learn more, see High Availability Load Balancing.

Fault Tolerant Colocation
Progent's Data Center engineers can show you how to identify fault-tolerant data centers that meet the particular needs of your company. High availability co-location sites are especially appealing to small and mid-size organizations due to of their affordability and simplified logistics in comparison to pursuing a do-it-yourself approach. Attempting to create an on-site data center with even a basic level of fault tolerance is financially prohibitive for most small companies. Progent is ready to show you how to get all the benefits of high-availability Internet data centers by offering a complete range of engineering and maintenance services. To find out more, see Non-stop Colocation Solutions.

Fault Tolerant Branch Office Connectivity
Progent’s multi-site connectivity engineers can help companies create non-stop inter-site connectivity solutions by means of redundant system architectures with transparent failover. Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE engineers can design and implement fault-tolerant Inter-office networks supported by zero-downtime EIGRP routers or fault tolerant OSPF deployment of Cisco routers. Progent can show you how redundant connectivity and transparent fail-over can provide economical 24x7 interoffice connectivity. For more information, see Failsafe Inter-office Networking.

Backup and Recovery Solutions Consulting Services
Progent can provide affordable online access to IT engineers skilled in a wide range of utilities and technologies that deliver solutions for protecting Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux/UNIX servers and workstations plus laptops and handhelds. Progent offers expertise for all major data protection platforms such as Acronis Backup and Recovery, Symantec Backup Exec, BackupAssist Software, CrashPlan PRO, Double-Take Software, MozyPro, Retrospect, Time Machine, vSphere Data Protection, and Solaris FLARs. Progent's consultants can help you to design, upgrade, or maintain data backup solutions for a variety of topologies including on-premises, remote, cloud, or a mix. For more information, go to Backup and Recovery Solutions Consulting.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Data Recovery Consultants
Progent's certified System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) support professionals can assist your company to develop an effective business continuity plan, design an affordable high-availability IT architecture, deploy a Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager-powered backup and recovery solution, thoroughly validate your system, educate your IT personnel or regular service providers how to manage Microsoft SCDPM, or provide complete information technology outsourcing such as off-site housing of Microsoft SCDPM machines in Progent's data center. For more information, see System Center Data Protection Manager Consulting Services.

Barracuda Backup Cloud and Offsite Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is a low-cost, subscription backup and disaster recovery service for small and medium-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup deployment can incorporate a custom-designed hardware appliance built by Barracuda or a software-based appliance with comparable features but which utilizes your existing storage hardware. Barracuda Backup protects critical company data produced locally, at one or more remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster protection, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon Web Services (AWS), or to any location with a Barracuda Backup appliance. Progent is a certified Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants can provide a broad array of consulting support services to help you to design, integrate, operate and repair a BDR solution built on Barracuda Backup. For details, visit Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consultants.

Altaro VM Backup Solutions for Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup software provides small and mid-size businesses a reliable and affordable platform for backing up and recovering Hyper-V and VMware-powered virtual machines (VMs). Altaro VM Backup can be deployed in local, remote, distributed, and cloud-hosted architectures and also enables cost-effective cloud backup to Microsoft Azure Block Blob storage. Top features include state-of-the-art Augmented Inline Deduplication to cut backup storage requirements, Continuous Data Protection with backup intervals as little as five minutes for minimizing your Recovery Point Objective (RPO), advanced encryption, item-level restore capability for individual files and emails, support for Windows Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) and vCenter for managing large-scale environments, and support for Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to back up live virtual machines without downtime. Progent is an Altaro partner and offers a wide array of services to help you to design, deploy, optimize and troubleshoot a backup/restore system based on Altaro VM Backup. For details, see Altaro VM Backup Consulting.

Consulting for Double-Take Software for Backup
Double-Take publishes a family of products designed to provide small and midsize businesses a variety of cost-effective solutions for replicating and recovering business-critical workloads including Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, RIM Blackberry, and SharePoint. Progent’s disaster recovery planning consultants have in-depth experience incorporating Double-Take technology into small business IT networks to achieve a high level of fault tolerance and business continuity readiness at an affordable price. To learn more, visit Consulting for Double-Take Software for Data Backup.

CRISC-Premier Network Risk Mitigation
The CRISC certification program was established by ISACA to verify an IT professional's ability to design, implement, and maintain IS control mechanisms to reduce risk. Progent can provide the services of a CRISC-certified engineer to help your company to develop and carry out a business continuity plan based on industry best practices promoted by CRISC and crafted to align with your organization's risk appetite, business goals, and IT budget. For more information, visit CRISC-Certified network risk control experts.

Why Choose Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning?
Since Progent is a Microsoft Partner and offers professional application consulting for a wide variety of business applications, Progent can help customers to arrive at comprehensive IT solutions that optimize the business value of your IT network. As a Registered Partner with Cisco, Progent offers the support of premier consultants and specialists with experience in designing, configuring and supporting networking solutions built on Cisco products. The depth and breadth of Progent's IT know-how and Progent's appreciation for the needs of small businesses make Progent the ideal resource for building and maintaining an affordable, fault-tolerant network.

How You Can Access Progent's Consultants for Fault Tolerant System Services
In order to get in touch with Progent about consulting expertise for fault tolerant networking, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.

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