Networking & Communications

How-To Allay IP Telephony Concerns

August 19, 2008 | Skepticism abounds among IT and business decision makers about IP telephony. Yankee Group's Steve Hilton examines the root cause of the concern and offers suggestions for how channel partners can respond in this month's Ask Steve.
By Steve Hilton, Courtesy of Yankee Group

Referral Madness

August 14, 2008 | Small and midsize businesses can gain referrals by marketing their business to customers every step of the way. Here are the seven steps you need customers to take toward making referrals and the tools you should use to get them going.
By John Jantsch

How To Avoid Virtualization Vendor Lock-In

August 12, 2008 | Within the IT industry, virtualization is all the rage, but this hardware-sharing option comes with its own poison: becoming locked in to proprietary vendor solutions. In response, one supplier has cooked up an antidote.
By Paul Korzeniowski

Q&A With YouMail's Alex Quilici: Goodbye Secretary, Hello Voice Mail

August 11, 2008 | The days of a secretary taking your messages and returning your calls are so over. But now there's something better: Tools to make dealing with the ever growing volume of voice-mail messages simple and quick, saving smaller businesses lots of precious time. Now you can read your voice mail, e-mail it, reply with a text, and, best of all, you can do much of this for free.
By Naomi Grossman

Mind Your Blogging Manners

August 7, 2008 | Bloggers can provide your smaller business with lots of great, free buzz. But if you want to take advantage of no-cost publicity, make sure to follow the bloggers' code of conduct.
By Guy Kawasaki

Why YOU Aren't Using Videoconferencing

August 6, 2008 | Despite dramatic improvements in quality and affordability, most businesses still aren't using videoconferencing. The reasons why might surprise you.
By Fredric Paul

Brocade's Foundry Acquisition Shakes Up Storage and Networking Markets

August 5, 2008 | "What's next?" That's the question to ask about the combination storage supplier Brocade and established network equipment vendor Foundry Networks. And what does it mean for growing businesses?
By Paul Korzeniowski

Q&A With Emerson's Jack Pouchet: A No-Brainer Approach to Conserving Power, Cutting Costs

August 4, 2008 | Every piece of equipment in your business presents an opportunity to save power and cut costs. Emerson's Jack Pouchet explains how a few simple ideas and policies can lower your electricity bills -- and help the environment.
By Naomi Grossman

Filtering the Hype on New Web Tools

August 1, 2008 | It pays for small and midsize businesses to employ best practices -- and keep customers in mind -- before implementing the latest Web technologies.
By Peter Alexander, Courtesy of Cisco

SAN Wars: ISCSI vs. Fibre Channel

July 28, 2008 | For small and midsize businesses, storage requirements have been growing. Selecting the right solution recently became more difficult as Fibre Channel vendors made their approach more viable for smaller businesses, but that also means more choice.
By Paul Korzeniowski

Q&A With Gene Marks: Collaboration Tools Boost the Bottom Line

July 28, 2008 | Small business consulting expert Gene Marks spoke to bMighty about the myriad of collaboration tools that have helped small and midsize businesses cut costs and improve efficiencies -- including his own, which now has 10 employees and no office space.
By Naomi Grossman

The Zen of Password Cracking

July 25, 2008 | Password cracking is an integral part of a security audit -- and can be a lot of fun. Cisco's Jimmy Ray Purser has four methods to accomplish this and the tools IT administrators can use to do it on their own.
By Jimmy Ray Purser, Courtesy of Cisco

WiMax Stumbling Out of the Gate

July 24, 2008 | Like many technologies ballyhooed before the first customer use, WiMax hasn't moved smoothly from the development lab to the mainstream. That's compromising Sprint's plan to use WiMax to support wireless services for small and midsize businesses.
By Paul Korzeniowski

Mid-Market Heroes: TodaysMama's Rachael Herrscher Proves Women Can Have it All

July 23, 2008 | Rachael Herrscher is seeking work/life balance not just for herself but for the 30 employees of TodaysMama, the business she co-founded four years ago. She found what she was looking for with the help of tech tools, from smartphones to IM to collaboration. Now, TodaysMama is no longer just a business; it has become a community.
By Naomi Grossman

Telephone Solutions for Smaller Businesses: Affordability is Finally Here

July 22, 2008 | The telephone is probably among the oldest of office appliances -- and still one of the most standard ways of communicating with customers. Now a number of vendors are making systems that combine analog phone lines and Internet telephony and, most important, are affordable for smaller businesses.
By Ramon Ray, Small Biz Technology

CEO Cheat Sheet: Greening the Data Center

July 18, 2008  | Cut your energy costs with a few quick, easy tips for greening your data center, from Cisco System's Jimmy Ray Purser
Courtesy of Cisco Systems

CEO Cheat Sheet: Greening the Data Center

July 18, 2008 | Cut your energy costs with a few quick, easy tips for greening your data center, from Cisco's Jimmy Ray Purser
By Naomi Grossman, Courtesy of Cisco

Q&A With Plaxo's John McCrea: The Business Value of Social Networking

July 14, 2008 | As social networks become ubiquitous, small and midsize businesses need to understand how they can exploit them to create business value. bMighty spoke with Plaxo's John McCrea to learn why smaller businesses need to get into social media now, how to do it, and what's about to change.
By Naomi Grossman

When Speed Just Isn't Enough: A Network Quality Check

July 11, 2008 | As your smaller business' network traffic grows, getting faster switches isn't your only option. Jimmy Ray Purser says that paying attention to a network's quality of service -- by classifying packets as they enter your network -- can be just as important
By Jimmy Ray Purser, Courtesy of Cisco

Fewer Choices for Wireless Customers

July 8, 2008 | The transformation of two of the largest wireless carriers from fierce combatants to family members strengthens Verizon and provides Alltel with a market exit, but doesn't help smaller businesses. The wireless market is consolidating around a few dominant players, and a lack of competition inevitably helps vendors, not customers.
By Paul Korzeniowski

Closing the Gap with Larger Competitors

July 3, 2008 | A converged network allows small and midsize businesses to regain their edge over their larger competitors and once again get closer to their customers
By Doug Dennerline, Courtesy of Cisco

Microsoft Inches Closer to Enterprise Management Play

June 30, 2008 | The challenges of network and systems management give many IT technicians in smaller businesses ulcers. Trying to manage and troubleshoot a hodgepodge of increasing complex devices can be vexing, but help is taking shape on the far horizon
By Paul Korzeniowski

Web 2.0 Tactics for Business Success

June 27, 2008 | If small and midsize businesses knew how to harness the incredible power of Web 2.0, they could truly level the playing field. TechWeb's Jennifer Pahlka explains how smaller businesses can get started with Web 2.0 and which tools will help them succeed
By Naomi Grossman, Courtesy of Cisco

Plan Now to Make the Most of 802.11n

June 25, 2008 | With the promise of higher speed and longer range, the 802.11n wireless standard can't be finalized soon enough. But the wait for a final approval gives smaller businesses time to assess their needs and plan strategically to make the most of the new standard.
By Mark Tauschek, Courtesy of Info-Tech Research Group

802.11n Wi-Fi: Is n for Now, or Not Yet?

June 25, 2008 | Is it time for small and midsize companies to make the move to 802.11n? Or are there compelling reasons to stick with 802.11a/b/g a while longer?
By Fredric Paul