How To Reach 99.9% or Higher Uptime With Your Network

(SAN RAMON, CA) Clare Computer Solutions (CCS), a professional services firm providing IT solutions for companies in the San Francisco Bay area since 1990, has outlined ways to reach 99.9% uptime or higher with your network.

Every business wants the IT network that their business depends on to be up all the time and this may be one of your organization’s key objectives for your 2016 IT plan of action. However, guaranteeing that level of uptime can be expensive. So step one is to set realistic goals based upon your true needs and your budget. Make sure you know what you are measuring.

How much are you willing to pay for uptime? The cost for 99.99999% uptime is much higher than 99.9% uptime and the business needs to make sure they can justify the costs for that level of uptime. IT should meet with management to prioritize what can be down (and for how long) to zero in on an uptime goal that is affordable and meets the needs of the business.

You must thoroughly understand the infrastructure you put in place and its configuration and limitations. Calculate any changes for risk. Be sure to look at all levels. Create a change control process and stick to it company-wide. Build in regular maintenance windows that you can complete if needed.

Once your uptime goals are set (say, 99.99% - known as “4 nines”), here are the things you can do with your IT Infrastructure to meet those goals.

Build redundancies in your infrastructure. This can include power, climate control, data connection and devices where applicable. Build in failover strategies to switch quickly (if not automatically) to backed-up redundant systems in the event of a failure. Then, be sure and test the failover and redundancies on a regular basis.

Commitment to the uptime goal needs to start with management. Be sure your IT infrastructure has a good design, an adequate IT budget in place and build in redundancy everywhere possible. There should be ongoing monitoring for the network elements and applications, an up-to-date disaster recovery/business continuity plan and there needs to be an experienced team to conduct the backup if you are unavailable.

Have a change control process and limit control access. The easiest routing issue to troubleshoot is one that never happens. Make sure the change control process is adhered to and is a good one. Anytime something in the network is changed or upgraded, it should be documented.

Don’t go it alone – get expert help. Consider a Managed Services Provider (MSP) to maintain your network and to develop an IT plan with redundant systems and processes in place to ensure that you maximize the uptime for your organization. Clare Computer Solutions’ MSP solution, NetCentral, puts into effect top-quality, well-documented IT support. Offering 1-hour response time, NetCentral can help your organization meet uptime and compliance requirements.

For more information about how to achieve 99.9% or higher uptime for your network and how Clare Computer Solutions can help your company, contact us or visit www.clarecomputer.com to start a strategic conversation about your business’ IT needs.

Chart of Uptime Calculations: Source Server Fault

Availability is usually expressed as a percentage of uptime in a given year. The Chart of Uptime Calculations shows the downtime that will be allowed for a particular percentage of availability, presuming that the system is required to operate continuously. Service level agreements often refer to monthly downtime or availability in order to calculate service credits to match monthly billing cycles. The following table shows the translation from a given availability percentage to the corresponding amount of time a system would be unavailable.

For more information about CCS or to register for one of the upcoming events visit http://www.clarecomputer.com/events or call Tel (800) 339-0690 ext 148. Visit our events page to attend an educational event about technical and IT topics to broaden your knowledge base.

About Clare Computer Solutions (CCS)
 
Clare Computer Solutions has been providing high quality IT Network Services and Network Support to Bay Area companies since 1990. CCS has installed over 2,400 multi-user networks and serviced many more. Clients represent diverse industries including: healthcare, manufacturing, construction, insurance, service industries, legal, hospitality and more throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. The company is based in San Ramon, California. Visit: www.clarecomputer.com
 
Our Services
We have experience in deploying solutions utilizing technology from Microsoft, Novell, Citrix, VMware, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and many other industry leaders. Our long-term relationship with these manufacturers ensures considerable depth of knowledge in these products, and how they interoperate. What this means to our clients: solutions are deployed quickly and correctly.
 
Our Process
CCS strives for seamless integration and high touch customer service from the most highly certified and trained team possible. Clients are kept informed with monthly reports and quarterly reviews. From our detailed invoices to our process, clients regularly report that they appreciate our level of detail and transparency when it comes to their business. Our internal performance guidelines ensure that we continue to perform at peak level to service all of your IT needs.
 
Our Mission
CCS is a technology partner committed to our client’s future by listening, strategizing and implementing cost effective technology solutions. We are an extension of our client’s business and are interested and committed to their long-term success. We ensure that your technology supports the vision, experience and the passion that is the basis of a thriving business.

Our Vision
We are dedicated to becoming the premier technology solutions provider in the Bay Area by following these three tenets:

•    Listening to our clients and understanding their needs
•    Becoming our client’s trusted advisors
•    Following best practices, policies, and systems which create greater responsibility and accountability to the client and to each member of our team.

Visit: www.clarecomputer.com
 
 
 
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Contact Information

Sandra Evans

PR Manager Clare Computer Solutions (CCS)

Sandra Evans & Associates (SE&A)

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