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Forsythe News Articles


2008 Articles

Storage At Risk: Focusing On Storage Security Can Hold Off The Rising Surge Of Enterprise Data Leaks

Processor.com 11.07.2008
Today’s storage landscape covers a massive amount of territory that spans both internal and external enterprise real estate. According to Gary Brown, director of storage solutions for Forsythe Solutions Group the security concerns surrounding this landscape can be boiled down to three areas.

SRM Manages the Exploding Volume of Storage
IEEE Computer Magazine 11.01.2008
Organizations are generating increasing volumes of information and distributing it among disparate servers. Consequently, storage has evolved into a complex, networked technology. Organizations use this data to help automate storage management, set system wide storage policies, and manage events such as server- or storage-system malfunctions, noted John Haight, manager of solutions delivery for the Forsythe Technology consultancy.

Tackling VolP & UC Trouble: Solve Difficulties with These Technologies to Keep Your Communications Infrastructure Humming Along
Processor.com 10.31.2008
As the worldwide uptake of VoIP and UC (unified communications) technologies continues to rise dramatically, there’s a tendency to believe that integration of these products won’t require any major changes. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Darrell Epps, director of network solutions for Forsythe says that the major challenges with these technologies center around making certain the environment can handle the implementation and questions need to be asked beforehand.

Networking in the Future: Experts Weigh In On What Could Be Dominant in a Decade
Processor.com 10.10.2008
Although it’s difficult to make predictions about technology evolution, there are some developments happening in networking and connectivity right now that are likely to have an impact on data centers within the next decade, experts note. For example, data center switching isn’t just routing and switching anymore, notes Mark Bolsoni, product director of advanced network technologies at consultant firm Forsythe Technology.

Facing the Inevitable: How to Handle Change Within Your IT Infrastructure
Processor,com 10.03.2008
Regardless of how smoothly any IT shop operates, one thing is for certain: Change is going to happen. In the technology sector, the early adoption of change management began in software development. However, enterprises are tasked with documenting and managing IT changes throughout their organizations more thoroughly. “A lot of the newcomers to the ITIL world find it useful—for example, identifying a way to roll out best practices,” explains Jay Long of the Forsythe Solutions Group.

Investigations: Merge Ahead
CSOonline.com 09.10.2008
In the enterprise setting, there's no such thing as a digital investigation. Or a physical one. Searching for clues and resolutions requires a blend of disciplines governed by a flexible forensic mind-set. "The first few minutes of the initial reaction tend to set the stage for the rest of the investigation”, says David Brown, managing consultant for security advisory services at Skokie, Ill.-based consultants Forsythe Solutions Group. “[And] it's during those first few minutes that it's vital that the physical guys understand the requirements of the IT team, and vice versa. There's a balance to be drawn between incident mitigation and preservation of evidence—and that balance often depends on the organization in question—but each team needs to know which actions will help the other team, and which will hinder them."

Best Practices in Disaster Recovery, Business Recovery Planning
Baselinemag.com 09.02.2008
Learn how to have a disaster recovery plan for business continuity with the appropriate storage and backup strategies. It’s also important to have a thorough understanding of the systems’ interdependencies and which systems need to be brought up first. “Systems need to be restored in a specific order and with specific Internet and LAN connections,” says Mike Croy, director of business continuity solutions at Forsythe Solutions Group, a consulting firm in Skokie, Ill. “You need to know the business impact of losing connectivity and the compliance implications of losing critical customer records.”

Storage at Risk: Where is Your Enterprise Vulnerable When It Comes to Storage?
Processor.com 08.29.2008
They say a pot of gold lies at the end of every rainbow. In the enterprise space, that pot is filled with data, and intruders ride the rainbow directly to that data using any of a variety of attack methods. Because data is the primary target of today’s breaches, storage architectures are quickly coming under fire for their lack of security. There are three key requirements to implementing an effective storage security policy, says Gary Brown, director of storage solutions for Forsythe Solutions Group.

Disaster Recovery Testing in Your SME
Procesessor.com 07.18.2008
What needs to be done and when in case of an emergency? How often should a small to midsized enterprise update its disaster recovery plan? The answer is simple: every time it does a disaster recovery test. It is thus necessary to educate upper management about the importance of testing and what they stand to lose if they do not heed your warning. Then, tests should ensure that all users have connectivity for applications that are crucial to the different business areas, says Michael Croy, director of business continuity for Forsythe Technology

Solutions to Storage Problems
Processor.com 07.04.2008
As a company’s business grows, the costs of acquiring, managing, and operating the storage infrastructure can rise quickly. However, according to Tim Arland, principal consultant for storage solutions at Forsythe the cost problem can be handled by effectively addressing the common underlying cause: out-of-control growth.

Getting a CFO to Say Yes to IT Projects
BaselineMag.com 06.11.2008
It’s a contradiction that’s tough to handle for many IT managers and CIOs: The budget is getting leaner, yet demand for more technology and services keeps increasing. The areas in which IT and CFOs can work together most effectively are security, regulatory compliance, business continuity, storage management and service management, according to Patrick Zelten, vice president of professional services at Forsythe Solutions Group, a technology consulting firm.

Building a Dream Data Center
CIO Insight Magazine 06.05.2008
In 2006, Unison Health Plan found itself in the challenging, not unusual, situation of needed a new data cetner "immediately." Unison chose forsythe to oversee the data cetner engineering as well as migration/relocation of the IT environment from the old location to the new location.

Assessing Fire Risk
Processor.com 05.30.2008
Many IT admins may think that they have a sound fire protection plan in place—until it’s too late. For example, do you really know what is at risk if a fire were to destroy your data center and how such a cataclysmic event would affect the entire enterprise? No data center is 100% fireproof, while many enterprises’ operations would come to a halt if the network were to go down. “At the end of the day, this is not about IT, it is about the business,” says Michael Croy, director of business continuity for Forsythe Technology.

PCI DSS Compliance: Web Application Firewall or Code Review?
SearchSecurity.com 05.21.2008
On June 30, Requirement 6.6 of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) -- whose goal is to ensure that Web-facing applications are protected against known attacks by either completing a code review or installing a Web application firewall (WAF) -- moves from a best practice to a requirement. In terms of meeting the June 30 deadline, security professionals say it is a mixed bag. Dale Masi, a PCI QSA and senior technical consultant at Forsythe Solutions Group in Skokie, IL., is in the process of working with two clients on PCI compliance.

Forsythe Expands Reach With Another Deal
ChannelWeb 05.05.2008
Forsythe Solutions Group, a Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider, has expanded its reach into new markets and new managed services offerings with the acquisition this month of the storage integration business assets of More Group.

Unified Threat Management, Demystified
CIO.com 03.24.2008
Considering unified threat management (UTM) appliances that combine many security jobs? Here's some advice from CIOs who've tried these all-in-wonders on for size. Security appliances are getting a lot of buzz and there's plenty of debate about the virtues of UTM versus a best of breed approach. But it's worth noting that any security appliance, whether multifunction or single function, comes with some caveats. "In general, appliances can not be virtualized," says Joel Pogar, director of security and network solutions with the Forsythe Solutions Group.

Room Service
Electrical Contractor Magazine 03.01.2008
When it comes to information technology-facility design and construction, large-scale data centers have received more attention lately. It’s not difficult to see why. “I see a lot of small- and mid-size clients that have slowly worked themselves up from a 10-by-10 closet or room, up to at least a small data center,” said Steven Harris, director of data center planning for Skokie, Ill.-based Forsythe Solutions Group, an IT-operations consulting firm. “And we’re seeing a lot of environments needing to change as much for growth as for computer requirements.”

Ensuring Network Uptime
Processor.com 02.22.2008
For many small to midsized enterprises, ensuring continuous network uptime can be daunting. Unlike large companies that can take down parts of a network and shuttle traffic to another data center, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) don’t have the luxury of a large-scale center with multiple locations, so updating applications and security settings can be tricky. Some SMEs are running their networks in a reactionary mode, says Joel Pogar, director for network solutions at Forsythe, a technology consulting firm. They tend to deal with uptime struggles as they arise and don’t have the time to do long-range planning.

Stop! There Goes My Phone!
Information Week 02.11.2008
Do you have a security policy governing data access via mobile devices? Unless things have improved considerably since we asked readers this question last summer, it's even odds you don't. "The thing that concerns me is how easy it is to release malware to a mobile device. Something as simple as taking a BlackBerry and downloading a ring tone to it may be a potential vector," says David Brown of Forsythe Solutions Group, a technology consultant.

A Chip Below Their Shoulders: Are ID Implants a Viable, Ethical Way to Slow Alzheimer's Wandering?

Advance for LPNs 02.11.2008
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology isn't as futuristic as it sounds. In fact, RFID has existed for several years and is gaining popularity in its use in it’s varied usages, including tracking animals if they should get lost. More recently and more controversially, RFID is being tested by healthcare providers in an attempt to protect Americans living with Alzheimer's disease who are at risk for wandering. Like all new healthcare innovations, the VeriMed chip could eventually affect HIPAA and other patient privacy/security measures. But, this currently isn't an issue, said Clyde Hewitt, principal consultant with Forsythe Solutions Group.

Build A Better Wireless Shield
Processor 02.08.2008
When enterprises make the move from a wired to wireless infrastructure, the danger of disregarding the importance of security often rears its head. Although it’s an easy step, many enterprises deploy wireless access points without conducting a proper survey, explains Jose Ferreira, senior security architect at Forsythe Solutions Group.

New Tools Connect SOA to Business Success
NOTE: Free registration is required to access article.
Insurance Networking News 01.01.2008
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is seen as a beacon of hope for insurance companies long beleaguered by tangles of incompatible legacy systems and networks. However, while the technology is now widely available, selling SOA to the business can be an uphill climb. Version 3 of ITIL, released in June 2007, has elements that many analysts say will bring its services focus more in line with emerging SOA requirements. For starters, Version 3 focuses on the management of IT services across the enterprise as opposed to IT silos, explains Michael Tainter, IT service management practice director at Forsythe Solutions Group, Skokie, Ill.

Mobile Devices Poke Holes in Security

Available in print only.
Secured Magazine 01.01.2008
Plugging the leaks requires recognizing the dangers, then applying a combination of technology and user education. Plug an MP3 player or USB drive into an office computer and you can scoop up and carry away all sorts of vital information, such as confidential reports and customer lists. “You never know what’s going to be loaded on or downloaded from these things,” says David Brown, a security consultant with Forsythe Solutions Group.