Disaster Recovery in the Cloud…

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Kris Scheetz

You are already backing up your data so you can rebuild it when your server crashes and be up and running in a few hours. But what happens when you lose two servers?…three servers?…four, the network, power, and more? More importantly, are you prepared to continuing running if you lose everything all at once? Disasters happen, more often than you think. Are you prepared? Many organizations have a backup strategy but not a true IT disaster recovery strategy. How long would it take you to get IT back up and running if you lose everything?

So you already have a disaster recovery plan. Have you tested it recently? When was it documented? Updated? If you answered “No” and “It’s been a while,” then your plan may be ineffective. Most organizations don’t have a disaster recovery plan…and those that do may not know how to use it correctly.

The good news is EarthLink Business can help with our new Cloud Disaster Recovery solution. Disaster recovery in the cloud offers companies quick data restoration and effective IT recovery faster than any traditional disaster recovery model. Using the cloud for offsite recovery means your business will have the ability to recover your servers in the cloud environment (as opposed to simply using the cloud for offsite storage). With no capital expenses and subscription pricing, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is low. Don’t build it yourself and incur an enormous amount of up front expenses when you could pay an affordable monthly fee and use cloud based servers?

Here are some additional key benefits for utilizing disaster recovery in the cloud:

Data protection: Recovery in the cloud assures your data is recoverable and protected from man-made accidents, power outages, natural disasters, and server crashes.

Scalability and Rapid Implementation: By replicating your primary server environment, the Cloud environment can be quickly scaled to fully replace your primary servers and get your business back up and running in hours, not days.

No hardware requirements. No need for large server rooms and hardware specialists, saving money on power, energy and personnel expenses.

Leverage existing IT: EarthLink’s Cloud-based data recovery solution inter-operates with your existing hardware, applications and operating systems protecting both physical and virtual servers.

Get some additional sleep at night knowing that your information is safe, secure, and can turned up in a moment’s notice should a disaster strike. Contact your EarthLink Business representative to learn more.

Hosted Voice Services Can Unify Your Team!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Scott Yelton

Hosted Voice systems are an important part of modern-day business. In the past, businesses have had limited ways of unifying office employees, multiple location workforces, and remote employees into a team environment. This is a major concern, as teamwork is what allows individuals and office locations to back each other up during outages,emergencies, and cover clients in different time zones.

And managing the calls and activities of each location was difficult, due to a lack of visibility and reporting possibilities. Each location (or remote employee) was stuck in its/his own communication bubble using separately-managed, low-end communication solutions (and we use that word loosely).

With the advent of call routing, network based auto-attendants, and communication portals that provide online visibility, all that can be left in the past! Businesses can now unify all of their locations, provide call routing based on single or multiple numbers, and run detailed reports; this gives leadership visibility into how their business is functioning, and the tools they need to assign responsibility and ownership to call functions. Being able to have all phone communications “under one roof” is even more important when you consider the growing number of remote employees in the workforce.

EarthLink Business wants to provide your company with the hosted voice solution it needs; contact an EarthLink Business resource today to find out how the EarthLink Hosted Voice product can change the way you do business!

Hosted Voice from EarthLink Business – Why it’s Different

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Douglas Hoffman

EarthLink Business has created a rich portfolio of offerings that can change your business for the better. We have such a wide range of IT services that any business would be able to utilize us as a one stop shop. We are not the only consulting firm though, so what sets us apart? Here are three reasons to partner with EarthLink Business…

Only One Back to Pat – In the world of communications it is rare to partner with a single entity for an entire solution. Often you have to get your voice circuit from one company, the phone system from another and then the people that show up onsite are contracted out from a third business. Here at EarthLink, we own the entire process. From beginning to end, if you have an issue there is just one phone number to call. Your dedicated business relationship manager will help you with anything and everything without making you jump through hoops.
The EarthLink Network is a Step Above the Rest – With any communication service, call quality is the most important component. Almost every provider claims to have QoS (Quality of Service) but that can equate to different variations of the technology. In the end, unless your provider owns the entire connection from beginning to end, they can’t really guarantee the quality of that call if it is not on their network. Additionally, QoS will only take you so far when you start to layer on other technologies. CoS (Class of Service) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_of_service) is an offering that is offered by few and far between. EarthLink Business does all of the above and we do it well. Other best effort technology providers may offer you up front savings but if your communication platform quality suffers the loss of revenue will cancel out any savings, tenfold.
Relax, We’ve Done This Before – Over the last several years, we have perfected the process of changing your business with our solutions (particularly Hosted Voice). We now have over 30,000 hosted phones running on our network. Each endpoint (phone) gives it’s user a versatile and flexible way to do business which helps them to be more productive and ultimately more profitable.

When you are ready to change your business for the better, contact your local EarthLink Business representative so that we can help you get there.

VoIP Features on Legacy Systems

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Chris Chase

VoIP gets all the attention – but what about companies that purchased a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) phone system or are just not ready to take the leap to a full VoIP (Voice Over IP) solution? Are there still VoIP options available? Does ‘the cloud’ come into play?

A PBX is a private telephone network used within a company. The users of the PBX phone system share a number of outside lines for making external phone calls. The PBX also connects the internal telephones within a business as well as connects them to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

VoIP itself is merely a new way to transport calls…not the way calls are processed. And EarthLink Business has options available to see if your company can continue to operate using existing systems while still taking advantage of VoIP features…

EarthLink Business offers complete Line Side and PRI services, which we hand off to the customer as analog lines or TDM PRI, respectively, to the customer’s key system or PBX/IP PBX. These EarthLink Complete Voice services transport calls and data across a VoIP network, allowing customers access to many of the same great features offered with EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice:

Network-based Unified Voicemail hosted in the network for access from any device.

Network-based Unified Fax for viewing inbound faxes on your computer, web-browser, or email from anywhere.

Auto Attendant provides a virtual receptionist and simulates a live operator. Auto Attendant directs callers to the correct department or employee. The main menu can be configured and personalized. Calls can be sent to a phone that is not on the system such as a cell phone. This network option eliminates the need for an additional piece of equipment on site.

Call Router provides businesses with the ability to route calls from their main business number to alternative destinations. Features include automatically routing the main number to any 10 digit domestic phone number, send all calls to the main number to voicemail or set up a weekly call routing schedule based on: time of day, day of week, calling party and configure for holidays or special days in advance based on a calendar. Control of call router is through a secure administrative portal where customers can make updates and changes from any Internet connection 24/7/365.

Abbreviated Dialing enables customers to dial their other locations, on the same network, without having to dial the full 7-10 digit number, similar to extension dialing. This is supported across all EarthLink Complete Voice products.

Site-to-site calling allows customers to call all of their locations without incurring domestic long distance charges.

Have questions or want to know more? Contact EarthLink Business and we’ll see how we can help!