IT Connection Newsletter: Issue 5
Progent's Certified Experts Offer
Server Virtualization Consulting
Virtual server software from Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix has never been more affordable or powerful. Progent can help you choose a virtualization solution that works best for your business and makes an immediate, positive impact on your bottom line.
Virtualization allows you to run many Virtual Machines (VMs) on a single physical computer, reducing the number of servers you need to run your workloads. Virtual server solutions from Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix are designed to make economic sense for networks of any size. Unfortunately, many small companies are intimidated by virtual technology and unaware of its many benefits.
In addition to the obvious advantage of cutting hardware costs by 50% or more, virtualization offers improved availability, streamlined management, better security, optimized performance for critical applications, faster recovery from unplanned downtime, lower costs for data center space and power, shortened development cycles, more thorough testing of new applications, plus faster software deployment and hardware provisioning.
Licenses for the entry-level virtual server software from Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix are free. The net result is that businesses can save 50-70% on overall IT costs through virtualization, a return on investment unmatched by any other technology initiative. When used properly, virtualization is one of the most leveraged ways to add business value to your information network.
Windows Hyper-V
Hyper-V is a role of Windows Server 2008 R2 that provides the tools to deploy and manage virtual servers. Hyper-V's hypervisor-based architecture, which requires an x64 host with hardware-assisted virtualization, offers better speed, capacity, and security than Microsoft's previous virtualization platform. Hyper-V supports enterprise-class features such as symmetric multiprocessing, live migration, dynamic storage, expanded memory, and host clustering. An entry-level edition with a single-role version of Windows, called Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, is available as a free download.
Hyper-V works along with Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) to provide a comprehensive backup and recovery solution, and Hyper-V's integration with System Center Virtual Machine Manager unifies the administration of a virtualized environment. Hyper-V Management Console and Windows PowerShell provide advanced tools for remote and automated management.
VMware vSphere
VMware is the leading source of virtualization software and offers
a free entry-level hypervisor, vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), to provide a fast start for companies new to virtual server technology. VMware offers an easy, affordable upgrade path to vSphere Essentials to add improved management and security features or to the powerful vSphere Essentials Plus, which offers high availability and live migration.
Unlike Hyper-V, which runs in conjunction with Windows Server 2008, all editions of vSphere install on bare metal as purpose-built, low-overhead hypervisors that require only about 100 Mb of disk space. This improves security by exposing a small attack surface. Advanced versions of vSphere and its predecessor, VMware ESX, have been adopted by the world's largest enterprises.
Citrix XenServer
The entry-level version of XenServer from Citrix has advanced features that include live migration, central management of multiple servers, and unlimited servers, VMs, and memory. XenServer has a bare-metal hypervisor, like vSphere, but it also has an open architecture (proven by use in the world's largest virtual technology deployment, Amazon's Elastic Cloud). Like Hyper-V and unlike vSphere, XenServer utilizes paravirtualization to achieve near-native performance, which makes it practical to support more VMs per physical server.
Progent's Hyper-V, vSphere, and XenServer Support
Progent's certified Microsoft and VMware engineers can help you assess the potential benefits of virtualization and select a product that meets your business needs, perform pilot installations to test virtual servers with your production applications, organize your network and server architecture for optimal performance with virtual technology, help you migrate from an older virtualization platform, follow industry best practices for rolling out virtual servers, and train your IT staff to monitor and manage Windows Hyper-V, VMware, or Citrix solutions.
If you plan to deploy Hyper-V, Progent's Microsoft Gold-certified consultants can help you configure, manage, and troubleshoot all aspects of Windows Server 2008 R2.
Contact Progent for Virtualization Help
For help with Hyper-V, vSphere, or XenServer virtual server software, call Progent at
For a more detailed description of virtualization technology from Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix, visit Server Management with Virtual Servers.
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An index of content::
Postini Support and Setup
Top Ranked Anti-Spam Help and Support
E-Mail Guard from Postini offers constantly upgraded spam and virus filtering, content filtering, and security from email-based DHA attacks and DSA attacks. Progent is a Postini aggregator and service firm. If your business is too small to purchase for a regular Postini license, you can still have access to Postini’s Perimeter Manager services through Progent’s E-Mail Guard antispam and antivirus aggregation program. Progent’s expert e-mail security consultants can help you create an email security strategy that features spam filtering and antivirus services and processes.
Cisco Certified Support and Setup IOS Software
ISR Router Computer Engineer
Cisco has designed an extensive product line of routers that includes routers designed to deliver the security, performance, and reliability required by customers from small businesses to worldwide enterprises. Cisco routers include support for redundancy, automatic failthrough, and redundant power for improved fault tolerance and system availability. Progent can help you choose and configure Cisco routers to establish a reliable infrastructure for your IT system and to make it easy to expand as you support new users, open new offices, install new services, open your network to customers and partners, and manage an increasingly mobile workforce. Progent can provide help with a range of routers based on Cisco's IOS operating system, including Cisco's 800 series of small business VPN routers, Cisco 2800 and 3800 ISR routers, Cisco 1900 and 3900 Generation 2 ISR routers, Cisco ASR 1000 and 9000 routers for WAN edge applications, CRS Carrier Routing System for core Networks, plus older 1700 and 2600 Routers.
Microsoft Exchange Professionals
24-7 Expert Microsoft Certified Exchange 2007 Edge Server Online Troubleshooting
Progent's Microsoft certified consultants can help you define and deploy a smooth in-place Microsoft Exchange 2007 migration strategy that minimizes productivity downtime, reduces ongoing support demands, and makes your Exchange Server 2007 easy to manage. For complex multiple server or multi-location upgrades, Progent offers the experience to complete your move rapidly and economically. Progent's Exchange 2007 help, troubleshooting, and design services include expertise with the configuration of outside vendor add-ons to Exchange 2007 Server and the creation of unified messaging solutions based on Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server.
24-Hour Engineers network piloting Lab
Immediate Capacity Planning Test Lab Technology Professional
The Progent Test and Training Lab at the QTS Data Center can be used for piloting line-of-business applications, creating efficient migration methodologies, assessing and tuning performance, planning or verifying disaster recovery solutions, mitigating compatibility issues, and building training environments for the latest products and technologies. For Progent clients without adequate in-house resources to assemble proper test systems, Progent's Test and Training Lab reduces capital costs and technical risk while keeping critical IT initiatives on schedule.
Citrix StorageLink Gateway Consultant Services
Specialists Citrix StorageLink Site Recovery
Progent's Citrix experts can assist you to assess the potential business value of the available editions of Essentials for Hyper-V, assist you to integrate Citrix administration utilities with your Hyper-V environment, and demonstrate to you how to use Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V to improve the performance, uptime, flexibility, and recoverability of your virtualized network while lowering the cost of equipment and support and streamlining administrative processes.
Emergency Microsoft Dynamics NAV Troubleshooting
Microsoft Dynamics AX Applications Consultant
Progent can give you access to application developers who can customize your Microsoft Dynamics ERP, MRP, and financial system programs to suit your unique business needs. Progent’s Microsoft support experts offer expertise in Microsoft AX ERP Software, Microsoft Microsoft Navision, Microsoft Dynamics SL 6.5 Accounting Software, and Microsoft Business Solutions Retail Management System. Progent also offers custom e-Commerce consulting services for safe, corporate-wide information sharing as well as integration with CRM packages.
Microsoft Solutions Framework Project Methodology Small Office Computer Consulting Services
Company-wide Standards for Best Practices Network Security Consultants
Progent’s team of Microsoft and Cisco Premier Certified consultants average longer than ten years of hands-on professional experience, at the front lines of network service, executing a broad range of IT projects for an extensive mix of businesses. Each Progent support professional shares a proven collection of personal best practices which are combined into shared best practices standards that Progent instills in its support team. This means that you get not just world-class technical skills, but also a support engineer with proven methods for using technical knowledge to resolve actual network problems quickly.
Microsoft Remote Support SQL Server 2012 Security
Network Consultant SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups
Progent can provide the support of certified consultants and seasoned software developers, DBAs, project managers, network infrastructure architects, disaster recovery specialists, and security consultants to help you to evaluate the potential benefits of SQL Server 2012 for your organization, install pilot environments at your site or at Progent's lab, plan and execute out a smooth transition to SQL Server 2012 from previous releases of SQL Server or from legacy RDBMS platforms, and configure a cost-effective and safe IT infrastructure that lets you maximize the business benefit of SQL Server 2012.
Configuration Fortinet NGFW Firewalls
Fortinet 300 Series Firewalls Computer Consultants
Fortinet FortiGate next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are industry leaders in delivering top throughput for SSL/TLS inspection. Progent's Fortinet firewall consultants can assist you to integrate your Fortinet firewalls to protect all your digital assets at the enterprise edge, within the data center, at branch locations, and at the cloud edge.
Top Desktop and Mobile Device Management Computer Specialists
Open Now Microsoft Intune Small Office IT Consulting Services
Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help your company to automate desktop PC change and update deployment by providing expertise with management platforms such as Configuration Manager, SMS 2003, and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
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