Continue reading »]]> Thursday December 8, 2011 – Thursday December 8, 2011

6010 University Blvd

Map and Directions | Register

Description:

We invite IT Executive Decision Makers from the Baltimore and DC area to our December Roundtable and Brunch at Eggspectation Restaurant in Ellicott City, Maryland.  We will provide everyone with the report from the current CIO Executive Series survey regarding the most interesting topics for 2012 and IT financial metrics discuss the CIO Executive Series group’s results. Also during this session, we will explore ways to communicate with CFOs and understand how a CFO will look at project expenses, Net present value, and operations expenses. With Cloud Computing, we now need a different conversation between our IT Departments and Finance Departments.  Register to join RedZone Technologies and the CIO Executive Series for a great event!

• Attendees will have ample opportunities to ask questions proactively answer peer inquiries.
• Who lets you know systems are down first? Your users, customers, or your staff?
• When email is down, what is really down? Switch, router, virtual machine, host?
• When your key systems are down, what is down? App server database server, switch, router?
• Everyone will also get to see an awesome demo presented by RedZone Technologies on eG Innovations.

AGENDA
 
11:00-11:15 Join us Eggspectation Restaurant- Social Meet & Greet
 
11:15-12:30 CIO Only Roundtable Discussion and Completmentary Lunch
•Communicating to the Financial Decision Maker
•IT Projects – Tips and Tricks in CIO Salesmanship to the CFO
•Hand Out CIO Executive Series Survey Results

12:30-1:30 Live Technology Demo
•Review a 3rd party application for making Microsoft applications usable on iPhone, iPad, Android, Android tablets, and Symbian phones
•SharePoint – Review 3rd party application for making SharePoint docs usable and editable on Apple iOS, MAC Blackberry Playbook, MAC, and Android devices
•Who knows first that a system is down? Your staff or your customers? …Review a monitoring solution designed for the CIO
•Use Workspace Virtualization and Moka Five to deploy your corporate applications securely to MACs, Home PCs, and laptops that are not owned by IT
•Practical Discussion: Deploy Exchange 2010 in the Private Cloud. ** Use DAG to back up your Cloud provider to yourself

 Register to join us!

Register

Continue reading »]]> MDM – Mobile Device Management…Even the thought of it is frightening. I have a tough enough time managing a Blackberry, 2 laptops, and a Playbook. How would I control things that I don’t own? This leads me to the next question. Are we talking about a mobile device that the company owns or is the device owned by the employee?

I have been reading some analyst reviews of MDM and have mixed this with my own field experience over the past year to reach a few conclusions. As you read this keep remember that these are devices that the employee owns and not the company.

1. BYOD/OC does not lower TCO. In fact it increases support costs.
2. BYOC does not get around the fact that Windows admin skills such as image management, scripting, group policy admin, and application packaging are still needed.
3. IT should not manage what IT does NOT own.
4. Zero Client Approach – A zero footprint approach should be used with BYOD/OC devices as a first resort. (see RZSAFe for details)
5. Client Based Approaches – As a fallback approach to Zero Client ,three viable client computing models exist to support BYOC/OD computing. SBC – Server Based Computing, HVD – Hosted Virtual Desktops, and WSV – WorkSpace Virtualization

If you have to load a client on a mobile device, what I like that is emerging for IT is WSV – WorkSpace Virtualization. I have worked with Citrix Technologies for 15 years and have always had a fondness for their SBC – Server Based Computing model. However, the ability to work off line or via connectivity that is spotty has always been a challenge.

With WSV, IT starts to bridge this usability gap by giving the users the ability to ‘check in’ and ‘check out’ their Corporate PC image. IT can require the same security policy be applied to this image as in their corporate machine. I like VMWare’s approach in WSV with MokaFive.

What I am really looking forward to is VMWare’s Mobile Virtualization Platform with Horizon Mobile. We discussed this at the last CIO Symposium in July and this will be a real game changer for supporting work functions and security on personal mobile devices. The best part is that BOTH sides (employee and company) will be in control over their respective data.

 November 1^st we are going to explore these topics more deeply at the CIO Roundtable in Columbia, MD 11:30-2:30PM. Register Here.

Continue reading »]]> For several years, Stacy Duncan, Director of IT for DavCo Restaurants, Inc. had been struggling with how to provide a seamless and secure network for DavCo’s 130 restaurant locations.  DavCo’s goal was to become fully Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant with a secure network that could be easily accessed remotely by its employees. 

DavCo enlisted RedZone to help them solve this complex and difficult task.  RedZone Technologies was able to provide a roadmap for DavCo that included a SonicWALL solution that ensured full PCI compliance and network security for DavCo.  Please read here how DavCo was able to successfully accomplish this important business objective.

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Top Cloud Email Questions to Ask Your Vendor

Top Cloud Backup Questions to Ask Your Vendor

Download these two easy to read & understand White Papers!  We developed these for you to use as a guide to have the most constructive conversation possible with your vendor. Learn what is critical to ask about Cloud Email and Cloud Backups.  These White Papers will help you begin to assess needs and receive the most accurately targeted solutions!

Continue reading »]]> Based on the success of our yearly golf outing the past two falls, we will host our First Annual RedZone Spring Golf Classic this April!

We are pleased to invite local businesses and look forward to your attendance, click here for registration.  Over the next few weeks, we will send out additional sponsor and attendee information.  The Spring Golf Classic will be held Friday April 22, 2011 at Compass Pointe Golf Course in Pasadena, Maryland.  As always, our golfers play free, RedZone Technologies and event sponsors will pick up the tab.

As part of the event, golf players will have the opportunity to bid on silent auction items.  100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to support the Animal Resource Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving animals’ lives in the Mid-Atlantic. 

A wonderful way to market your business and help animals in need is to donate an item to the silent auction.  All sorts of items are welcome!  Donate products or vouchers for services!  Learn about the Animal Resource Foundation online at www.arfusa.org.  To become involved, contact Chris Sachse at RedZone Technologies via phone at 410.897.9494 or email.

Continue reading »]]> If you’ve ever been to a Wendy’s restaurant in Maryland, DC, or Virginia, you have visited a RedZone Technologies customer.

One of the world’s largest Wendy’s franchisees, WenDavCo, needed to address growing concerns for PCI compliance and sought to rollout a lower-cost Wide Area Network. The company selected RedZone Technologies to be their design and implementation partner for their security needs.

WenDavCo wanted a simple and effective security stance that would give them exactly what they need. We crafted a solution to fit that mold exactly, giving them a solution customized for their requirements. We are proud to announce the design and rollout at 156 locations of our largest customer! Our experience in PCI, overall computing experience, and our capability for implementing diverse projects concentrically made us the right choice for this project.

Continue reading »]]> This Tuesday, RedZone Technologies headquarters was visited by BBC Washington Correspondent, Katty Kay.  Kay spent the afternoon interviewing Bill Murphy, Founder and CEO of RedZone Technologies, who shared his personal political perspective on Barack Obama.  Learn what Bill has to say and read the full story “What do voters want to hear from Barack Obama?”  from January 25, 2011 by Katty Kay on BBC News online.

Continue reading »]]> RedZone Technologies is proud to announce the commencement of the RedZone Managed Disaster Recovery Site. The RZ DR Site is located in Maryland and has a number of great features including: networking, generator power, work space, office space, rack space, hosted virtual environments, and more.

The knowledgeable RedZone Project and MSP Teams offer Disaster Recovery services in-house, without outsourced contractors, to ensure a high level of consistency and quality. A customer centric solution, the single-purpose facility is creatively designed to house only a select number of RedZone customers. RedZone’s goal is to provide the customer with simple, customized, feasible DR systems that work.

Proving the effectiveness of the new RZ DR Site, RedZone will use the facility as its own DR Site as well. Contact RedZone Technologies today to discuss available Disaster Recovery solutions.

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On October 7’th, at Compass Pointe Golf Course in Pasadena, Maryland Mid-Atlantic region executives enjoyed playing in RedZone’s annual free golf tournament. Participants represented local companies and financial institutions who are current and future clientele of RedZone and sponsors.

The Tournament was sponsored by vendors in the international information technology industry as well as small and medium sized local business entities. Golf players were provided with brunch, snacks, dinner, 18 holes of golf, and a post-game reception. The reception included entertainment, raffles, and tournament prizes.

RedZone Technologies plans this fun event every year as way to reach out and connect with other small businesses in the area, expand client bases, and spread goodwill. Play with RedZone and friends again next fall and take advantage of a great opportunity to support the community and your business!

Continue reading »]]> RedZone Technologies successfully converted the email Exchange server of a one-thousand employee company to the cloud, eliminating the company’s old Exchange server located on site. The conversion and email migration allowed the client’s personnel more time to dedicate to strengthening their business, as they were freed from the time consuming daily management of 900+ email accounts. RedZone’s Project Management team honed their expertise to develop the strongest, most sensible and cost-effective solution for this corporate client.

Several details met the client’s needs and exceeded expectations such as the timeline for the project from planning to deployment to support. The cutover was swiftly completed within two days, a mere two weeks after the signing of contract for the project. The message archiving solution was accomplished; extremely important for the client since their industry regulations require archiving for a specific time period. The client enjoys continued support from both RedZone Technologies and the Saas email provider. And experiencing a new level of success with mobile devices; the company has 130 satisfied new Blackberry users.

The client needed to move from Microsoft Exchange 2003 to MS Exchange 2007 efficiently and within a short time frame, to minimize time offline, maintain the high availability of their senior executives, and because their current equipment was failing. Crucial to running their business were having encryption, forensics, and email archiving.

While experiencing growth with new business and expanding projects, the company faced an additional challenge- they could not increase the size of the current staff. Their limited but skilled IT Department needed to focus on core business projects. Also, key personnel were dependent on communication via Blackberry and could not have their ability to work hindered by server issues.

During the planning stage of the project, RedZone researched available options for solutions, including the traditional upgrade to Microsoft Exchange 2010 on the client’s LAN, and five cloud SaaS email providers. The RedZone Project Management team selected the strongest vendor for their client’s email hosting and exchange needs, an SaaS email provider that boasted a long history of email hosting experience, was competitively priced, and offered a staff of knowledgeable, attentive techs. The client was impressed by RedZone’s insight and attention to detail throughout the planning and execution of the project.

Several details met the client’s needs and exceeded expectations such as the timeline for the project from planning to deployment to support. The cutover was swiftly completed within two days, a mere two weeks after the signing of contract for the project. The message archiving solution was accomplished; extremely important for the client since their industry regulations require archiving for a specific time period. The client enjoys continued support from both RedZone Technologies and the Saas email provider. And experiencing a new level of success with mobile devices; the company has 130 satisfied new Blackberry users.

The conversion to the cloud has not only made email account maintenance obsolete for the company’s IT Department, but provides the company with data security benefits that are light years beyond the level of security available with the old Exchange server. Utilizing the storage capabilities of the cloud leverages data backup that will make disaster recovery for the company a reality. The weight of worry having been lifted from the backs of the client’s personnel, the company operates with greater ease and clarity than ever before.