Microsoft has released for download Hyper-V version of Windows Server 2008, this component will allow IT users to run different virtual machines on one physical machine without the need of running a full Host OS.
With server virtulization you can cosolidate work loads of underutilized machines onto smaller number of servers reducing energy and hardware costs and maximizing performance of all your servers.
Other beneifts with virtualization is the ability to take snapshots of a running machine wich can then be easily revert to a previous state improving the overall recoverability your Virtual Machines. The ability to easily test upgrades and service packs prior to upgrading the production machines without the need of purchasing new hardware. Migrating Virtual MAchines from one physical host to another with minimal downtime.
Alan Stevens from Zdnet has written an excellent article on the topic of Hyper-V�
With more and more companies outsourcing work abroad or even having their work force located around the globe and many roaming users that want access to their full system as if they where in the office.
IT professionals or facing huge challenge in maintaining client’s desktops and backing up all this dispersed data. For example you are a software company that has just been awarded a new project and you need 10 more developers, these developers needed to run Visual Studio, WebSphere, Full MSSQL and other office applications.
We all know how hard it is to source developers based in one location but if you recruited developers from around the world your task would be much easier other than the fact that you would need to purchase, install and maintain these desktops. The cost of buying the equipment would be high given that once the project is finished it would be difficult to return the machines back to base.
Other solutions would be setting up Citrix Presentation Server Infrastructure which is far too expensive or the VMARE VDI Approach which uses too many system resources for memory storage and CPU.
I recently came across software that would certainly fit the bill for the above solution.
By using Virtuozzo’s virtual desktops you are able to install windows 2003 deploy virtual desktops which are connected via IP using remote desktop you can change the look and feel of the OS to behave just like a desktop.
The foot print of each Virtual Desktop is so small in comparison to VMware as only one host OS is installed and furthermore you are able to share the full resources of the Server between all Virtual Servers e.g. if you installed Virtuozzo on a Quad Core Server with 16 GB of ram each user could use up to 16 GB of ram depending how much other Virtual desktops where using so you could end up with a virtual desktop that is much faster than your local machine.
Management of the virtual desktops is more simplified as you only have one host to manage and deploying different software in each Virtual Desktop is as simple as ticking the package you want each use to have.
This is still a new concept and not widely used but that was the same for server virtualization just 5 years ago not many companies used this technology and know it’s one of the most talked about topics.
There are still several drawbacks that need to be resolved for this to hit the mainstream and become more widely used.
Firstly thin clients are still to expensive (Most users would be using the personal machine anyway)
The graphics for multimedia users leave a lot to desire
So for any business that find themselves in a similar situation this is a would be a worth considering as the initial investment is very low compared to other options.
This the latest news in Virtuozzo’s Efforts to make VDI a reality
Recently there has been a lotof talkabout what softwaredesignersshould use, or whether they should just skip the entire process and go straight to HTML & CSS. The debate continues, but I want to echo some of the responses made and emphasise that design software in any form is just a tool, and that which tool you use hugely depends on what you are trying to achieve.
We have a huge variety of clients and design needs here at Datadial. Over the last month I have used Photoshop, Visio, the good ol’ fashioned pen and paper and in one case I did go straight to HTML/CSS. What method do I like to use? It all depends on the client’s needs! The project that I went straight to HTML with had a very minimalistic layout that is hugely dependant on typography. The ones I use pen & paper on require a large level of creativity and speed that you cannot get from going straight to a computer. Photoshop is very flexible and creative, likewise for Illustrator.
I don’t think the tool really matters either. As long as the end result is what the client is after and works for their audience, then whether or not you use Photoshop doesn’t come into the equation. The tool is not going to make a successful website – that comes to understanding who is using the site and designing for them.
As well as being the United Kingdoms most used search engine with almost a 90% search share, Google also spend a considerable amount of time developing and making available free tools that will help a small business owner to develop and market their website. Below is a rundown of the more useful tools, an overview of how they work, and links to more in-depth tutorials and analysis.
Google Sitemaps (Webmaster Tools) What is it? Google Sitemaps, recently renamed to Google Webmaster Tools is a control panel that enables you to access a multitude of information about your site and how it performs in the search engines. You are able to check when Google has visited your site, if there were any errors found while trying to index your pages, you are also able to submit a sitemap, download lists of internal and external links pointing at your pages, view search queries that people used to find your content, set a geographic location and a preferred domain. Signing up to this really is a must considering the extra data and functionality that it gives you access to. Key Benefits: Quickly diagnose indexing problems with the site, add a sitemap. Further Reading: Google Webmaster Tools – A Quick Start Guide Google Webmaster Tools – A Comprehensive Guide
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator What is it? Another good way of seeing how much traffic certain keywords can potentially send. Although this is aimed at people using the Google PPC service, you can also use it to estimate how many visitors you will receive from the natural results. Key Benefits: Access to Google keyword search data Further Reading: The Traffic Estimator Google AdWords Traffic Estimator Explained
Google Analytics What is it? A free web traffic analytics package. By adding a short snippet of code to your page Google will track important visitor data including metric such as visitor numbers by date and time, referring sites, keyword data, geographic location and content analysis amongst others. In terms of gathering important marketing data about your site getting this installed is a must. Key Benefits: Access to important visitor metrics Further Reading: Google Analytics Setup Guide Google Analytics Video Tutorials Advanced Use Of Google Analytics Google Analytics Relaunched
Google Alerts What is it? Google alerts monitors the web for mentions of a keyword that you define, and then sends you an email when it picks up on mentions of this keyword. Where this comes into it’s own for a business is you can define your business name, products, brand names and key staff as keywords and then monitor your companies reputation online and take action if there is any negative publicity, or simply monitor what people are saying about you. How about also monitoring your competitors to see what they’re up to? Key Benefits: Instant notification of brand mentions Further Reading: Using Google Alerts For Intelligence Gathering Google Alerts Tutorial To Help You Stay Ahead Of The Curve 8 Unique Ways To Use Google Alerts To Capture New Customers
Google Reader What is it? Don’t use RSS feeds to keep up-to-date with your industry news? Then you’re missing a trick. RSS feeds provide a great way of saving time by having news come directly to you rather than having to go to websites to read it yourself. Most websites these days offer RSS feeds, simply copy the RSS feed URL, add it to Google reader and every time a website is updated you’ll know about it instantly. Key Benefits: Industry news sent directly to you as it happens. Further Reading: How To Get Started With Google Reader A Beginners Guide To RSS And Google Reader Get More From Google Reader
Google Website Optimiser What is it? This gives you the ability to fine-tune your website, comparing the performance of different content and pages, A/B testing these page versions and then offering results and reporting. Key Benefits: Ensuring that your pages are generating the highest possible conversion rates Further Reading: Quick Start Guide A First Look A Google Website Optimiser
My bookmarks toolbar in Firefox is full with great websites at my fingertips to keep up to date with what is happening in the web design industry. I have recently moved to London from New Zealand and I accidently left my great list of resources behind – whoops! I really should get into online bookmarking!
So I’ve had to rebuild my bookmark collection and thought it would be nice to share some them with you here (in no particular order…)
Web Designer Wall – perhaps my favourite website of all, the mixture of news, tutorials and resources is just spot-on! And the site looks so pretty Spoon Graphics and Design Reviver are in a similar vein with that magic combination of content.
Best Web Gallery is a great spot for research and inspration. I really like it how this gallery doesn’t discrimate about the technology used on the featured site, like there are Flash sites mixed in with Web Standards sites – but they are all chosen because of their outstanding design.
A List Apart – the authority and cutting edge on web standards developments. Publishing techniques like the Faux Absolute Positioning is just invaluable, and illustrations are just so gorgeous…
Which brings me to illustration websites. Unfortunately most of the great illustration sites I used to have bookmarked were ones I’d stumbled upon by accident, but Keven Cornell’s site is a superb website that inspires me before I even read a word!
Viget Inspire is a great blog by the web designers at Viget, addressing many issues regarding web design.
And last but by no means least is the Web Standards Group email list. Over the last year or so I’ve found that the list itself can be rather tedious at times, but then once a week Russ Weakley puts out the Links for Light Reading which is a summary of what’s going on around the blogosphere and in the web design/standards world.
We encourage all our clients to write a blog. However it’s not always obvious where to start paricularly if you have no experience of journalism or indeed you haven’t had to express a coherent series of thoughts or an argument since your “A” levels.
Here are a few pointers to get you going to write a successful blog.
1) Stay on top of what’s going on in your industry – Try not to be a lone blogger, make an effort to network with others in your field and to become known for your own ideas offline as well as online. This will help build the authority of your own blog.
2) Find out how others are behaving online and what makes them respond and comment. Maybe it’s as simple as inviting people to comment or leaving open ended questions on the blog.
3) Individualise yoru content and give it authority. Do your research and craft your thoughts as much as possible so that your opinions are clear, well argued and ideally original. With the level of “noise” on the blogosphere it’s imperative to be a beacon of quality in order to stand out.
4) Choose a topic and stick to it and become all knowing about it. You can run many topics of course, but consider where the topic will be in a year’s time. Set realistic goals as to the amount of time you can dedicate to the blog and keep to the timetable.
5) Attempt to retain visitors. If your opinions are original, well argued and authoritative users should return of their own accord. Obviously always answer comments and make contributors feel welcome.
6) Leverage the power of social media networks by becoming an active member with sites such as digg.com and stumbleupon. This exercise can be daunting at first but seek advice if need be. The online marketing team at Datadial can help you with this.
7) Provide linkbait – other than or the serious stuff, take time out to make your blog fun. Create helpful tools, flash games, funny pictures even. This will help to create a viral marketing buzz and to increase traffic and ultimately inbound links.
8) Most importantly, do not copy content from other blogs. Make sure everything you write is original.
9) Don’t feel you have to write 10 points just because that’s what convention dictates. Stop at 9 if you want!
With Sainsburys website going down this week and Amazon’s the week before it is worth taking a moment or two to consider what would happen to your business if your website was out of action.
For most e-commerce clients this could have catastrophic consequences: not only would sales evaporate but you would also lose access to all your sales and customer data.
However, hosting and the quality thereof is often totally ignored in client briefs. It is definitely not a priority and is only ever occasionally paid lip service. This may have been ok a few years ago when websites were just an experiment and an addition to an existing business rather than the core to a business.
However, it is difficult to convince people to invest in proper corporate hosting as there is a perception that hosting should be practically free. It’s true there are some companies offering hosting for £10 per year of less. Honestly, what do you think these companies would provide in terms of back up or reliability servcie lever agreement. Not much I think.
So what should you consider when hosting your website. There are many things to consider, here are just three.
First, where is your website being hosted and who manages and owns the servers. Most websites in the UK are hosted in Telehouse in Docklands where there are massive generally well managed datacenters. But have you ever seen inside a data center, have you ever asked about their air conditioning systems, their own back up power supply, their connectivity to the web? Then what about the servers; who owns them? Who is responsible for updating them with critical patches? When is this done? What happens if they crash? What is the rebuild time? How many other sites are their on the same server as yours? How secure is the access to the servers? If you are not asking these questions then you are not taking your website presence seriously.
Second there are back ups. How often is your site backed up and where are the back ups kept? If your service provider’s data center is blown up (a very realistic proposition, especially if you house your website in Telehouse in docklands) will the back ups go up with it. If they are kept offsite how often are they taken offsite.
Third, what about redundancy. If your server crashes is there a mirror server which will automatically take over? What if your website is overloaded with visitors, can your server handle the traffic? Is there a load balancing mechanism that will automatically divert users to an alternative server?
All these issues need to be addressed when considering hosting and website owners need to change their mindset from considering hosting as essentially a free service to one that is valued and is invested in appropriately according to business requirements and risk assessment.
If you don’t read and respond to this post I will sully your brand by writing vicious articles about your company and I will make sure these articles appear top fo search engines.
Yes, this is the sort of world we live in now where criminals and less than scrupulous companies will seek to dominate what is being said about your brand.
THE MORE PROSAIC TRUTH
In reality the above is pretty uncommon though it will happen. What concerns most of us is how do we know what is being said about our company online and by whom.
We all know that word or mouth opinions are the most powerful in terms of influencing customer behaviour. Most of the time word of mouth extends to just 2-3 people, but what if this opinion finds its way to the top of Google each time someone does a search on your brand or company name. This can be disastrous.
Consider these listings for Dabs.com and laptops direct. These companies could be suffering hugely because of these postings. They may have been made by lone protesters but whoever they are their views are appearing on the first page of Google and that’s going to hurt.
Dabs.com
Laptops direct
Online reputation management is a relatively new “industry” as companies have caught on and comprehended the power of bloggers and opinion formers.
The service usually involves applying software to “monitor” comment and stories being written within the blogoshphere. The comments are then graded as to their content (positive, negative, neutral) and the writers influence (obviously a comment from the on the BBC site is obviously much more important than one from a lone blogger in Antartica.)
If a client’s reputation is seen to be suffering then a “reputation repair” service is instigated. The purpose of this is to drive any negative comments from Google’s index, and to post more positive comments within the blogs where the damage is being done.
As always, with any PR it is important that companies do not lie about their product or service. If people are posting genuine grievances “The steak was like leather”, “the cashier was rude” etc then a this should be addressed politely and any improvements that have been made should be highlighted. Accentuating the positive rather than prolonging the negative is key here.
THE SOLUTION
Datadial have launched their own Reputation management service this year and have already enabled blue chip clients to stifle negative press appearing Google and other search engines. The service breaks down into personal reputation management, brand reputation management and corporate reputation management.
I was surprised to come across a video being passed round the office depicting me as an overbearing, know it all manager. Whilst it may be true I have feelings too and am reconsidering a suitable punishment, be warned all you monkeys in the office.
Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud
If you are on office 2003 user this plug in will enable you to open office 2007 docs. I haven’t the strength to tell you how idiotic Microsoft are to have created this problem!
Online business success
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