Picharis Solutions

Backup and Recovery

Backup and Recovery Platform is a holistic backup and recovery solution that is optimized for virtually any workload, whether physical, virtual, arrays, or big data, and delivers truly flexible target storage options, whether tape, 3rd party disk, appliances, including the Deduplication Appliances and Integrated Backup Appliances, or cloud.

As data grows, backup and archive operations are becoming increasingly complex, and the customers are finding great gains in operational productivity from leveraging backup and archive reporting and service level-management disciplines. It is very difficult to improve on a process that isn’t measurable, so the first step is defining, monitoring and analyzing data on ongoing basis.

Added to data growth and complexity are government regulations and corporate governance projects that force backup and archive service level compliance.

Another challenge is that backup operations are typically run as a silo that has little or no alignment with business needs or understanding of how much backup recovery operation cost the business.

Benefits of Backup & Recovery

Organisations can gain a number of benefits by backing up important information.

Prevent financial loss. Not being able to access vital sales information such as contacts and telephone numbers and leaving you with the inability to be able to generate sales, even if it's just for 24 hours can be catastrophic. This will not only impact upon revenue streams but can have a major impact upon cash flow.
A backup and recovery system (as part of an effective disaster recovery programme) can prevent loss of credibility and goodwill.
It will ensure that staff will continue to be paid especially if it impacts upon payroll and other key financial records.
A backup and recovery system will eliminate the loss of important operational information such customer records and financial information.
A backup and recovery system as part of a disaster recovery plan may ensure that legislation and compliance issues are adhered to. Many organisations have to comply with strict codes of conduct or face being fined. These include banks and other financial services organisations as well as legal practices and organisations that retain records.
Implementing automatic backup software is a good idea because it means that there will be less need for human intervention or the potential of someone forgetting to take a backup.

Data Loss Prevention

Data Loss Prevention is a comprehensive data security solution that discovers, monitors, protects and manages confidential data wherever it is stored or used-across network, storage and endpoint systems.

Discover confidential data wherever it is stored and identifies data owners to make data cleanup easy.
Monitor how confidential data is being used and where it is going to provide visibility into broken business process and high-risk users.
Protect confidential data by automatically enforcing data loss policies; educating users about data security; securing exposed data; and stopping data leaks.
Manage data loss policies, incident remediation, and risk reporting from a single, web-based management console.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery Solutions For Any Sized Organization

In today's world having an effective data backup and disaster recovery solution in place can be the difference between a business with a bright future and one that closes up shop. We understands the needs of organizations of all sizes when it comes to disaster recovery and provides technology to ensure businesses continue to operate with minimal interruption.

Disaster Recovery Solutions address both physical and virtual environments ensuring critical data, applications, and complete systems are protected no matter what. This reduces the complexity of managing heterogeneous server and storage platforms, reduces the costs of building and managing the disaster recovery infrastructure, and provides a single console to recover from in the event of a disaster.

Disasters can be classified into two broad categories. The first is natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. While preventing a natural disaster is very difficult, measures such as good planning which includes mitigation measures can help reduce or avoid losses. The second category is man made disasters. These include hazardous material spills, infrastructure failure, or bio-terrorism. In these instances surveillance and mitigation planning are invaluable towards avoiding or lessening losses from these events.

Some of the most common strategies for data protection include:

backups made to tape and sent off-site at regular intervals
backups made to disk on-site and automatically copied to off-site disk, or made directly to off-site disk
replication of data to an off-site location, which overcomes the need to restore the data (only the systems then need to be restored or synchronized), often making use of storage area network (SAN) technology
Hybrid Cloud solutions that replicate to both on-site 'appliances' and off-site data centers. These solutions provide the ability to instantly fail-over to local on-site hardware, but in the event of a physical disaster, servers can be brought up in the cloud data centers as well. Two such examples are Quorom or EverSafe.
the use of high availability systems which keep both the data and system replicated off-site, enabling continuous access to systems and data, even after a disaster (often associated with cloud storage)

High Availability

In today’s 24 x 7 global economy, your mission critical applications cannot afford to be off-line for even a small period of time.

Challenges

Ensuring consistent business continuity process across data and applications
Gaining more protection against application, network, or storage failures
Handling increased management complexity from multiple vendor-specific tools that work in a virtual or physical environment
Limited visibility into the dependencies between components regardless of which platform they are running on

If your customers and employees do not have access to their mission critical applications and data, revenue, productivity and brand reputation are at stake.

Automates and accelerates recovery from unforeseen errors
Enables non-disruptive high availability testing
Provides out-of-the-box support for all major applications, databases and replication technologies across heterogeneous physical and virtual platforms

Information Security

Information Security Management is a defined level of security for information, IT services

and IT infrastructure, is also known as information assurance.

Information Security is not confined to computer systems, or to information in an electronic

or machine readable form. It applies to all aspects of safeguarding or protecting information

or data, in whatever form.

The aim of a coherent Information Security Management System (ISMS) is to ensure:

Confidentiality; Integrity; and Availability

Information security is achieved by applying a suitable set of controls (policies, processes,

procedures, organizational structures, and software and hardware functions).

An organization needs to identify and manage many activities in order to function

effectively. Any activity using resources are managed in order to enable the transformation

of inputs into outputs can be considered to be a process. Often the output from one process

directly forms the input to the next process.

The application of a system of processes within an organization, together with the

identification and interactions of these processes, and their management, can be referred to

as a “process approach”.

The process approach for information security management presented in the International

Standard encourages its users to emphasize the importance of:

a) Understanding an organization’s information security requirements and

the need to establish policy and objectives for information security;

b) Implementing and operating controls to manage an organization's

information security risks in the context of the organization’s overall

business risks;

c) Monitoring and reviewing the performance and effectiveness of the ISMS;

d) Continual improvement based on objective measurement.

Internet Security

Connecting to the internet, whether via e-mail or the web, exposes computer users to a whole host of threats, including viruses that can alter, corrupt and delete files, freeze your computer or otherwise interfere with computer operation.

Internet security software is a computer program which, like antivirus software, detects and takes action against viruses and worms. However, it has other security features that are important if you surf the Net:

It blocks unwanted content such as spam or pop-up windows
It includes family protection features (parental controls)
It protects your digital identity
It prevents damage to your computer while you surf the web

Internet security software should work quietly in the background while you are online or using your computer.

Internet security relies on specific resources and standards for protecting data that gets sent through the Internet. This includes various kinds of encryption such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). Other aspects of a secure Web setup includes firewalls, which block unwanted traffic, and anti-malware, anti-spyware and anti-virus programs that work from specific networks or devices to monitor Internet traffic for dangerous attachments.

Project Management

A 'task' does not necessarily have to be called a 'project' in order for project management methods to be very useful in its planning and implementation. Even the smallest task can benefit from the use of a well-chosen project management technique or tool, especially in the planning stage.

Any task that requires some preparation to achieve a successful outcome, will probably be done better by using a few project management methods somewhere in the process. Project management methods can help in the planning and managing of all sorts of tasks, especially complex activities.

The benefits of project management serve everyone involved in the PM process: the manager who oversees the project, the client who anxiously awaits for the completed project and the production team which gets the project up and running.

Project management is not rocket science, yet it often gets dressed up that way. At its foundation lies a bedrock of basic organization skills. Which - come to think of it - might as well be rocket science the way some managers grapple with the concept. Project management is really just a set of tools. A roadmap if you will, that enables managers to guide a project from point “A” to point “B” and do so in a way that demonstrates efficiency, cost-savings and plain.

Benefits

That being said, the benefits of project management are ten-fold: the manager actually gets to manage (easier said than done at times, but allow me to wax poetic here) as they lead their team and institute a strategy that will see a specific project reach fruition. The client benefits because he/she is allowed to provide feedback, while relishing in the knowledge that their input really means something. And finally, the production team benefits because without the production team the project wouldn’t get started in the first place, much less finished. Additionally, the production team is able to take a stake in something, work with it and see a project through from start to finish. So right off the bat you have the Holy Trinity of Project Management: manager, client and worker collaborating for the common good. In fact, it’s this very application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques that ultimately will meet or exceed a stakeholder's needs and/or expectations on any given project.

Better Efficiency in Delivering Services: Project management provides a “roadmap” that is easily followed and leads to project completion. Once you know where to avoid the bumps and pots holes it stands to reason that you’re going to be working smarter and not harder and longer.

Improved / Increased / Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Whenever you get a project done on time and under budget, the client walks away happy. And a happy client is one you’ll see again. Smart project management provides the tools that enable this client/manager relationship to continue.

Enhanced Effectiveness in Delivering Services: The same strategies that allowed you to successfully complete one project will serve you many times over.

Improved Growth and Development Within your Team: Positive results not only command respect but more often than not inspire your team to continue to look for ways to perform more efficiently.

Greater Standing and Competitive Edge: This is not only a good benefit of project management within the workplace but outside of it as well; word travels fast and there is nothing like superior performance to secure your place in the marketplace.

Opportunities to Expand your Services: A by-product of greater standing. Great performance leads to more opportunities to succeed.

Better Flexibility: Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of project management is that it allows for flexibility. Sure project management allows you to map out the strategy you want to take see your project completed. But the beauty of such organization is that if you discover a smarter direction to take, you can take it. For many small-to-midsize companies, this alone is worth the price of admission.

Increased Risk Assessment: When all the players are lined up and your strategy is in place potential risks will jump out and slap you in the face. And that’s the way it should be. Project management provides a red flag at the right time: before you start working on project completion.

Increase in Quality: Goes hand-in-hand with enhanced effectiveness.

Increase in Quantity: I saved the best for last And increase in quality is often the result of better efficiency, a simple reminder regarding the benefits of project management.

By implementing fundamental project management strategies, you will narrow your focus, reach desired goals and achieve those goals within specific time and cost parameters. The final result is that everyone comes out a winner - which just may be Project Management's best benefit of all.

Storage Management

STORAGE MANAGEMENT
Sooner or later, your small business will need more space for data storage. Information in the form of e-mails, documents, presentations, databases, graphics, audio files and spreadsheets is the lifeblood of most companies, and the applications that run and protect your business require a lot of disk space. In addition, a number of trends are fueling our growing hunger for storage:

Recent government regulations require businesses to maintain and back up a variety of data they might have otherwise deleted.
For legal reasons, many small businesses are now archiving e-mail messages dating back five or more years.
The pervasiveness of viruses and spyware requires ever-more vigilant backups--which requires ever-more storage capacity.
Each new version of a software application or operating system demands more hard-drive real estate than its predecessor.
The growing need to store large media files, such as video, and make them available to users on a network is generating demand for more sophisticated storage solutions.

Storing information and managing its storage is critical to a company's behind-the-scenes success. Fortunately, there are many options available to small businesses for both the actual storage and the location of that storage. Often, the best solution is a combination of different storage options.
So how do you decide what's best for you? First, you'll want to consider your storage needs in terms of both capacity and physical location. Then you should look at the storage options that best fit those needs. Lastly, you need to develop a plan for implementing your chosen storage solutions.
What are Your Storage Needs?
Small businesses should first assess the storage needs associated with their applications, their data, and how and where they need to access that data. These questions will help you get started:

Which applications generate the largest amount of files?
Which applications run on which servers?
How old is the data?
How much of it is duplicate or stale?

Training

Goals and objective
Picharis Solution Training Academy now has the responsibility to:

Drive the strategic goal of a thorough education of the growing software industry
Fast track the migration of Picharis Solution operation to a highly knowledge driven system
Engage users in a knowledge drive that will further reduce dependency on our consultant
Evolve more proactive ways towards product optimization through knowledge
Deliver technology advantage across users organisation through deliberate culture change
Provide enabling environment for the technology dependant emerging mega corporations
And many more…

Strategy

To achieve our set objectives, our training product and services are based on derived need through a well thought-through and proven training-need identification methodology. Leveraging on our seasoned human resource, training, customer service and certification managers, our product, packaging, pricing and promotional strategies rank amongst the best.

Our Approach

While maintaining our overview and function specific training structure, our courses are broken into short duration to facilitate assimilation and clearly defined and manageable learning curve. This enables you manage your competence level depending on your immediate need, spreading your learning over a period of time of your choice. Consequently, our package gives you options of various types:

Virtualization

Over the past three years Context has gathered statistics from a range of IT security activities and consultancy engagements. One of the most common activities performed during this period has been web application penetration testing. This whitepaper will provide a unique insight into the state of web application security, presenting penetration test analysis drawn from a dataset containing nearly 12,000 confirmed vulnerabilities, found in almost 900 pre-release and production web applications during the period between January 2010 and December 2012.

Key Capabilities Provide Far-Reaching Benefits

Virtualization frees IT from the shackles of the complex environment we’ve created in many

important ways. Before getting into greater detail, though, first there are a few fundamental reasons

that allow virtualization to deliver better economics and improved IT flexibility:

Virtualization permits a single physical server to run multiple server instances in isolation from each other as “virtual machines” (VMs).
Automated management tools can allocate any amount of a physical server’s capacity to a VM, allowing it to scale up and down as necessary while sharing that server with other VMs.
The entire operating system and application environment is stored on a virtual disk, which can be easily duplicated to create new VMs.
VMs are highly portable, allowing IT to quickly migrate them between physical machines to allow maintenance on the physical hardware or balance workloads across your entire infrastructure. In addition, if a physical server fails, its VMs can be quickly restarted on another system.
Time spent on routine IT administrative tasks
Backup and data protection.
Application availability.
Ability to respond to changing business needs.
Business continuity preparedness.
Company profitability and growth rate.

Virtualization Frees Information Technology To Do More

When making the business case for server virtualization, most firms interviewed by Forrester

preferred total cost of ownership or short-term return on investment (<12 months) as their primary

decision-making tools (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). The majority of the interviewees we spoke with

said that they recouped their investment in virtualization within one year, with some companies

breaking even within a few months. While most companies built their business case on a foundation

of cost savings, better business continuity/disaster recovery and faster time-to-market for new

applications were top motivators as well.

Improve IT Responsiveness

Nine out of 10 IT departments spend at least half of their time doing routine administrative tasks, such as adding and managing new server workloads, adding new employees or developing and launching new applications. SMBs who have implemented virtualization reported productivity gains with 73% seeing significant improvements in time spent on routine administrative tasks. Interestingly, IT decision-makers (ITDMs) feel their departments are more responsive than business decision-makers (BDMs) do; 33% of ITDMs say their IT department is very responsive, while only 18% of BDMs say their IT department is very responsive to company needs.