#Automated data archiving and offline storage

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Automated Data Archiving & Offline Storage for Secure Backup

As we live in an era where data is one of the most valuable assets a business has, the need for effective and secure data management has never been greater. Automated data archiving and offline storage solutions are essential for businesses that want to ensure the integrity, security, and accessibility of their data for the long term. This blog post highlights the intricacies of automated data archiving and offline storage, highlighting their importance, benefits, and best practices for implementation.

Introduction to Data Archiving and Offline Storage

Data archiving involves the process of moving data that is no longer actively used so that it can be retained for a longer period. This data remains important for reference, regulatory compliance, or historical analysis. Offline storage, on the other hand, refers to the storage of data on physical devices that are not connected to the network or the Internet, providing an additional layer of protection against cyber threats.

The combination of automated data archiving and offline storage provides a robust solution for secure data backup. Automated systems ensure that the collection process is consistent and error-free, while offline storage protects data from online vulnerabilities such as hacking, ransomware, and accidental deletion.

Key Features of Automated Data Collection Systems

1. Automated Scheduling: Automated data collection systems allow businesses to set predefined schedules for data backup and archiving. This ensures that data is archived regularly without manual intervention, reducing the risk of human error.

2. Data Compression and Deduplication: Advanced archiving systems incorporate data compression and deduplication techniques to reduce storage space requirements. This makes it possible to store large amounts of data efficiently.

3. Metadata Management: Effective data collection systems manage metadata to facilitate easy retrieval and management of stored data. Metadata includes information such as date of collection, file type, and content summary.

4. Compliance and Retention Policies: Automated archiving solutions help businesses comply with legal and regulatory requirements by enforcing data retention policies. These policies ensure that data is retained for the required period and disposed of securely when it is no longer needed.

5. Scalability: Modern archive systems are designed to scale with the growing data needs of businesses. Whether you are a small enterprise or a large corporation, scalable solutions ensure that your archive infrastructure can expand as your data grows.

6. Security Features: Automated data archive systems provide strong security features such as encryption, access controls, and audit trails to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and breaches.

Benefits of Automated Data Archive and Offline Storage

1. Enhanced Data Security: By storing data offline, businesses can protect their information from online threats such as cyber-attacks and ransomware. Offline storage provides an air gap that isolates data from network vulnerabilities.

2. Regulatory Compliance: Many industries are subject to strict data retention regulations. Automated archive systems ensure compliance by systematically managing data according to regulatory requirements.

3. Cost Savings: Efficient data compression and deduplication reduce the amount of storage space, leading to cost savings on storage infrastructure. Additionally, automated systems reduce the need for manual inspection, saving labour costs.

4. Improved Data Management: Automated systems ensure that data is stored consistently and accurately, making it easier to manage and retrieve information when needed. This improves operational efficiency and decision-making.

5. Disaster Recovery: Offline storage provides a reliable backup in case of disaster, ensuring that critical data can be restored even if online systems are compromised or fail.

6. Long-term Data Preservation: Archiving ensures that important historical data is preserved for future reference. This is valuable for businesses that need to maintain records for many years or even decades.

Best Practices for Implementing Data Archiving and Offline Storage

1. Assess Data Value: Not all data needs to be archived. Assess the value of your data to determine what should be archived and for how long. Focus on critical data that needs long-term preservation and compliance data that must be retained by law.

2. Define Retention Policies: Establish clear data retention policies that specify how long different types of data should be stored. Make sure these policies comply with industry regulations and business requirements.

3. Automate Processes: Implement automated archiving solutions to ensure that data is archived regularly and systematically. Automation reduces the risk of human error and ensures consistency.

4. Secure Offline Storage: Use secure offline storage solutions such as tape drives, external hard drives, or optical disks. Make sure these storage devices are stored in a secure, climate-controlled environment to prevent data degradation.

5. Test Data Recovery: Regularly test your ability to recover stored data. This ensures that your archiving system is working correctly and that data can be restored quickly when needed.

6. Monitoring and Auditing: Implement monitoring and auditing processes to track the performance and security of your archiving system. This helps to identify and resolve any issues before they become serious problems.

7. Encrypt Sensitive Data: Make sure that sensitive data is encrypted before archiving. This adds a layer of security and protects data from unauthorized access during storage and transportation.

8. Train Employees: Train your employees on data archiving policies and procedures. Make sure they understand the importance of data archiving and how to use the archiving system correctly.

Common Use Cases for Data Archiving and Offline Storage

1. Financial Services: Financial institutions need to retain transaction records and customer data for several years. Automated archiving ensures compliance and protects sensitive financial information.

2. Healthcare: Medical records and patient data need to be preserved for the long term. Archiving solutions help healthcare providers manage and preserve this data while ensuring compliance with health regulations.

3. Law Firms: Law firms produce a lot of documents that must be retained for legal purposes. Automated archiving helps manage these records efficiently and ensure they are available when needed.

4. Education: Educational institutions need to archive student records, research data, and administrative documents. Archiving systems provide a secure way to manage and access this data for the long term.

5. Government Agencies: Government agencies often need to preserve records and documents for historical and regulatory purposes. Automated archiving ensures these records are retained securely and can be retrieved easily.

6. Corporate Enterprises: Businesses of all sizes need to store emails, contracts, financial records, and other important documents. Archiving systems help manage this data efficiently, ensure compliance, and protect business interests.

Conclusion

Automated data archiving and offline storage are indispensable tools for businesses that need to ensure the security, integrity, and accessibility of their data over the long term. By leveraging these technologies, businesses can protect themselves from cyber threats, comply with regulatory requirements, and manage their data more efficiently.

Investing in a robust data archiving and offline storage solution is a strategic decision that can provide significant benefits, including cost savings, improved data management, and enhanced security. As the volume and importance of data continue to grow, businesses that implement effective archiving solutions will be better positioned to navigate the complexities of the digital landscape and protect their valuable information assets.

For more information on automated data archiving and offline storage solutions, consult industry experts and explore the latest technologies to find the best fit for your business needs.

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Apollo Software

Travelopro is a leading travel technology company that provides integration of Apollo software which is specialized in providing the travel distributions, technologies, and services for thousands of travel companies around the globe which includes travel agencies, corporates, travel suppliers and travel web sites. We are building travel applications by integrating the Apollo GDS with feature-rich tools and software to manage all your bookings. Our system provides users with all the schedules, availability, fares, policies and rules, as well as our reservation and ticketing capability for travel suppliers. We offer the Apollo GDS system which is integrated with Apollo GDS for real-time inventory and booking. It is easy to use and navigate. As a dominant global distribution system (GDS), Our Apollo software provides travel distribution, technologies, and services for thousands of travel companies around the globe, including travel agencies, corporations, travel suppliers and travel Web sites. With the advancement of the internet, many suppliers such as tour and package companies offer their own web-based booking engines. The main difference between the CRS and the web-based booking engines are the techniques in utilizing the systems. The computer reservation systems are completely keyboard-driven and you must learn the formats in order to operate it efficiently. The web-based booking engines are operated in the point and click environment. The current trend in travel agencies about computerization is the use of the Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) also called the Global Distribution Systems (GDS). Our Apollo software is one such GDS that is widely used by travel companies all around the world for your travel bookings. Whether you want to book airline tickets or do hotel bookings, Apollo software will do that for you. You can store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rental or other tasks. If you have a travel company and are looking for companies that can develop Apollo software for your business then Travelopro is the best solution you are looking for. Apollo GDS software providers started selling the inventories through the mode of XMLs /APIs. Using the airline XML, Hotel XML, and Car XML – travel companies could connect to GDS systems to check online availability and do the bookings. It also helped the travel agents to combine the XMLs (GDS system) on their own website in the form of API’s to get the airline booking system/hotel booking system usable for the B2C users. Integrating Apollo software allows the recondition of inventory information (availability/pricing) automatically. All the agents and B2C users get the same seamless data. As the travel industry is changing to the online mode from the offline mode, travel agents have started asking for white label software / white label solution from the hotel suppliers and Apollo software system providers to sell the hotels and airline/flight tickets with their own brands, logo and contact data. All the customers, clients and corporates across the globe can view and book a hotel, flight, tours, and transfers on 24 X 7 basis. Our Apollo software is extensively used to widen the market reach. A single global distribution system is connected through many B2B, B2C, B2E, and B2B2C websites. Apollo software is an online integrated project and contact management software. Our Apollo software allows users to prioritize tasks, organize projects, and keep the team on the same page with only a browser and an Internet connection. Our Apollo GDS is a project based on cloud and communication management solution which is developed by Applicom that helps clients manage personal and professional plans by reminding them of appointments and deadlines. It links up the management of personal tasks, calendars, contacts, and projects. Key features that are included are whiteboards, milestones, iCal integration, interactive timers, interactive calendars, cases, and deals. Users can divide a task into subtasks with a priority status, due date, and attachments. They can also set up task dependencies that disallow the user to start or complete a task until precursor dependency is met. Our Apollo software provides a separate profile for each contact that covers conversation history, dates, and tasks assigned and contact data. Users can notify projects through the solution’s favorites menu and arrange projects in different sections to help organize workflow. Our Apollo software provides backup data of all the project files. The solution caters to businesses of multiple sizes. Pricing is per month. Support is offered via a knowledge base and email.  It is easy to use and navigate. With a rich set of tools and many other features and improvements being developed day after day, thousands of people all over the world are using the software to manage their everyday tasks.  Some features, benefits, product strengths of Apollo GDS is as follows: Tasks, Milestones, and Project Management – Apollo software is a web-based application with a desktop feel. Our Apollo software gives relevant task information at a glance, but it is also immediately editable. Users can set the status of their tasks and let the rest of the team know what they are busy with. They can prioritize visibly their tasks and set deadlines. It can also assign multiple persons and subdivide tasks into smaller subtasks three nested levels deep. It also has recurring tasks, notifications, grouping and sorting, and many more. It also has a milestone view that shows when is the next deadline, a status progress bar which shows current status, and quick links to related tasks and messages. Users can easily make a project, set optional due dates, and give access to the team or clients. Other features include starting favorite projects, categorizing, using Gantt charts, project merge, and more. Messaging, Contacts and Image Proofing -The integrated productivity software which has contact management tools that can enable users to create and organize their own contacts. Each contact has its own page with its own contact details, conversation history, co-worker notes, important dates, events, and next tasks assigned. They can track conversations, set reminders, browse, search, tag, and see what the latest activity on each contact is. It has a very simplified data entry, import and export functions, and archive email sent to the contacts. Messages have more features than regular emails that can have comments and file attachments but can also be sent as an email. The image proofing tool allows its users to annotate images and PDFs with familiar tools. Annotations are also linked to discussions who can reply to a consensus. Time Tracking, Billing, File Management, write board, and more – Apollo software also has interactive and smart timers for time tracking. All users can configure if a project is usable or not. It has got a file management tool that allows for easy uploading and categorizing. It has got thumbnails and quick preview for images and PDFs, approvals, and integration with cloud storage. Whiteboards allow users to create documents online and keep revision history. The software also comes with a calendar, email integration, user administration and permission, Zapier integration, webhooks, CSV data interchange, and restful API.

Travelopro offers a fully-automated inventory distribution and travel management solution for travel agencies. We are specialized in B2B and B2C travel solutions for Web and Mobile platforms with advanced API integrations from leading GDS or OTAs providers around the world. We have built a wide range of proven, ready-to-deploy solutions that fit most business models, helping you to minimize the overall development time and get your products out into the global market place. We focus on developing products that are intuitive and reliable, and continuously improve their effectiveness and efficiency. The GDS travel system integration platform for Travelopro acts as the centric point for travel providers travel agencies, corporate and developers to get connected. This acts as the medium for increasing profitability and helping the online booking system and other sources to achieve commercial success in the B2B (business-to-business) travel network. Travelopro offers a Global Distribution System which is centralized. We provide the GDS Software connectivity for a simple low commission on successful booking only. You will be able to save money each and every month, as well as directly impact your GDS revenue. Our Integration Service will help your travel company book thousands of airlines, hotel room a holiday online. Global Distribution System (GDS) is a computerized reservation network used as a single platform of access for accommodating airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related things by online booking sites, large corporations, and travel agents. We offer global distribution systems are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and World span. They are owned and operated as joint ventures by major airlines, car rental companies, and hotel groups also called automated reservation system (ARS) or computerized reservation system (CRS). Specialties of GDS Integrations are huge inventory of flight, hotel, cars and buses, Best fares and commissions, Good connectivity with single interface, extended network with travel agents, Reliable for new connections, 4 Seat selection preference and other options like check-in, all-round support to travel entrepreneurs, Suitable platform for B2B and B2C. The GDS system is owned or operated by a company that permits transactions between the travel industry service providers, mainly airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and travel agencies. The GDS mainly uses real-time inventory (like the number of hotel rooms which is available, the number of flight seats available, or a number of cars available) to its customers. Travel agencies traditionally relied on Apollo GDS for services, products, and rates in order to provide travel-related services to the end consumers. Thus, an Apollo GDS can link services, rates, and bookings consolidating products and services across all three travel sectors: i.e., airline reservations, hotel reservations, car rentals. Primary customers of Apollo GDS are travel agents (both online and office-based) to make a reservation on various reservation systems run by the vendors. GDS has got no inventory; the inventory is held on the vendor's reservation system itself. Our Apollo GDS system will have a real-time link to the vendor's database. When a travel agency wants a booking on the service provided by a particular airline company, the Apollo GDS system will send the request to the appropriate airline's computer reservations system. The prototype of GDS in the travel sector can be seen in the 1950s as the traditional legacy business model which inter-operated between the airline vendors. Computer reservation systems (CRS), at the starting stage, was used by the airline companies as an automated booking system, but later, travel agents were given access. Around 1980, Connection to different travel providers in a single platform, CRS helps us doing that, CRS enabled travel agents to connect to different travel providers in a single system. At this point, in addition to flights, hotels and car rentals were also included. CRS claimed much strength by the late 80s being so helpful to both suppliers and distributors. In the 90s, the airline computerized reservation systems were transformed into global distribution systems (GDS). GDS has enhanced a lot from airline alliances and has become independent business units with product internationalization and introduction of new products, mainly hotel rooms. Main features of GDS: • Report availability and prices of travel products • Reserve user requests. • Sale and ticketing • Track sales (change of flights, extend accommodation) • Facilitates control management for travel agencies)

Next Generation capability was built by the GDS to permit compatible systems to input the data straight into the GDS´s. There are several such systems in place. This means that a hotel might use an online form to enter their rates and data and this goes straight into the GDS. It substantially decreases the time to get to market and eliminates some errors when re-keying data. GDS sold this option to vendors who in turn incorporated it into their hotel solutions. Some set up shop as GDS agents to provide this service. Next Generation offers GDS users with real-time prices and availability that is 100% identical to the information used by a hotel’s own reservation staff. The information is available much faster and more accurate resulting in increased confidence and usability by agents. With next-generation Seamless, agents are more inclined to sell more using the GDS rather than book via telephone to assure their clients the lowest rates. Galileo inside Shopper, Worldspan Integrated Hotel Source, Sabre Direct Connect Shop, the respective GDS' Next Generation Seamless products, were implemented by 2004.

The technology to update a mainframe is not trivial. It contains robotics that interfaces an online system with GDS mainframe computers. Mainframes are not internet savvy computers and cannot be entered directly to change and import new data. The data is sent via packets relayed on a telecommunications network. The packet relay is interpreted by the mainframe. As these mainframes are all different systems, protocols and standards were developed. Mainframes also have very specific rules on what characters are allowed. Charters and in some cases, words act as tigers to set off the process in a mainframe, so the information sent to a mainframe must be accurate and comply with their rules. Even after years of implementation, the GDS-load process was finding errors in data integrity. A simple quotation mark can trigger a failure with disastrous results.

Travelopro has utilized the rising demand of the travel industry to redefine the distribution system involving all the core elements of airlines and the ancillary products.  We are very well known for paving the path for the growing need for travel commerce which includes hotels, tour operators, and car rental. With the vision of remodifying the travel global system integration with every passing day, we have maintained our domain expertise in the travel industry, which has helped us to remain the top GDS system integration in the travel domain all around the world. One of the most important examples of the effort made by Travelopro to remain as the leader of global distribution system integration is the initiative taken to design the B2B payment method, which was one of its kind in the history of the travel domain. The B2B payment solution was the answer to all awaiting demands of the travel intermediaries to accomplish the travel transaction securely and safely. What makes Travelopro dominant among the GDS providers is the efficiency with which it accomplished its additional services like advertising solutions, data services for business intelligence, services for subscription and providing analogical marketing tools for all travel agencies, travel data users and travel providers.

Galileo GDS traces its way back to 1971 when United Airlines created its first computerized central reservation system under the name Apollo. During the time in the 1980s and early 1990s, a large proportion of airline tickets were sold by travel agents. Flights by the airline owning the reservation system had a special display on the computer monitor. Because of the high merchandise actions of the GDS systems, which is owned by American Airlines and United Airlines, respectively, Worldspan and Galileo were created by other airline groups in an attempt to get market share in the computer reservation system market, by inference, and the commercial airline market. Galileo GDS was created during the year 1987 by 9 European countries. In response and to prevent possible government intervention, United Airlines spun off its Apollo software reservation system, which was then controlled by Covia. Galileo International was born when Covia gained Europe's Galileo and merged it with the Apollo systems in 1992. The Apollo software GDS was used by United Airlines until March 3, 2012, when it switched to SHARES, a system used by its former Continental Airlines subsidiary. Apollo software is still used by Galileo International travel agency customers in different countries like the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Japan.

Travelopro provides a flexible, reliable and secure software platform for our global clients to develop their own travel booking systems through our pre-integrated Apollo software GDS platforms. Build your systems on the world’s most complete and robust fare data. We offer customized solutions for travel agencies and travel management companies with seamlessly integrated booking tools, online reservation systems, and multi-GDS services that distribute your inventory and content to the world’s global distribution systems. We are a leading travel portal development company, offering B2B (agents), B2C (Users) & corporate travel portals with GDS and third-party APIs integration. Galileo GDS system, offered by Travelopro, is one of the most sophisticated global distribution systems used by agents, aggregators & hospitality companies. Travel software and mobility solutions have helped global travel agencies grow much faster. It has gained the 100% adoption of the OTA model. Travel software is an online travel reservation system, which helps travel agents or end-users search, book and manages travel-related things efficiently and accurately. In many ways, GDS helps the travel organizations, agents and their clients to access all the travel data by comparing prices, reservation options, access scheduling and inventories (airlines, hotels, car rental, and holidays) along with options of allowing the clients to book tickets online. There are four main GDS Systems heading in the travel industry. It was revealed that the GDS is and will remain as the most important channel of distribution for airlines, hotels and car rental companies alike. However, the Internet also allows the GDS companies, label providers and even the traditional travel agents to host websites directly which access to their connections and provide the services previously offered by offline travel agents.

For so many years, Our Apollo software has been providing the travel industry with reliability, security, speed, and accuracy to hospitality, airlines, car rentals and many more. As per the IATA study, the future of Apollo software is very huge and it will create a robust e-commerce platform for the travel industry. If Apollo software GDS keeps continuing the ever-changing needs of airlines and hotel industry then it will rule the travel industry. We offer fully-automated inventory distribution and travel management solutions for travel agencies. We are very much specialized in B2B and B2C travel solutions for Web and Mobile platforms with advanced API integrations from leading GDS or OTAs providers. We have built a wide range of proven, ready-to-deploy solutions that fit most business models, helping you to minimize the overall development time and get your products out into the global marketplace. We focus on developing products that are intuitive and reliable, and continuously improve their effectiveness and efficiency. By partnering with Travelopro, you will get the best fares and content seamlessly with the option to build your own customized search options, bookings, etc. We have a group dedicated team of professionals having many years of combined experience that can help you build the travel portal of your dream.

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How To Download And Pay attention To Music Offline On Android?

QQripper is the autoloader software program to automate the ripping of a stack of music discs (to convert audio tracks from music CD to digital recordsdata) to supported storage gadgets such as arduous disk, iPod or MP3 participant. Directed by America's effectively-recognized radio station WFMU, Free Music Archive" is legendary for its curated collection of free music. The app helps you to download legal MP3 music. It allows users to listen to music contents from document labels on various units on-line or offline. Should you looking for an utility which will give you prompt entry to all the music you love and allow you to listen to music offline, Deezer is the best one for you. A variety of users do not desire utilizing any streaming app to carry out iPhone or iPod music download. If you happen to want to switch your songs between iPhone and pc , iTunes, or one other system, then attempt - Transfer (iOS) Because it has a user-pleasant interface, I simply realized how do I download music to my iPod or iPhone. It will be a one-stop answer to manage your music and all the other forms of information. You may as well handle your images, videos, contacts, messages, and more. You merely faucet the track or artist you want to seek for into MP3 Music Obtain and the app will trawl MP3 music download sites to find the track. You possibly can then choose preview the music by streaming it to your telephone, or download it directly to your SD card. Immediately export downloaded music to your iTunes library. 5. When you make a choice, it is going to launch a browser window. Go to the situation where your music recordsdata are saved and cargo them to your system. FreeRIP can "rip" chosen CD tracks and convert them to MP3, WAV, Wma, Ogg Vorbis or Flac information or convert MP3 to WAV onto your arduous drive. There are countless apps vowing to allow you to take heed to anything you need without signing a contract or paying a dime. Most of these claims are extremely sketchy, but there are a handful of apps on the market that let you listen to and obtain seemingly limitless quantities of music free of charge. You can search free songs by genre and you will discover fairly just a few choices for children's music, rest tracks, and holiday songs. In the event you're on the lookout for those specialties specifically, Amazon is a good source. It has other genres similar to blues, basic rock, and pop, but the selection is proscribed. Successor to mp3, m4a (M4A) is the new replacement for the older MP3 audio format and consists of many enhancement and improvements. Next is go to the editor and highlight the part of the track that you simply want to merge then hit the Edit button followed by Copy. After which transfer to the succeeding monitor, on the boards editor transfer the cursor at the end of the monitor and press Edit > Paste Repeat this process until all of the mp3 information that you want to merge for you venture is done.

In the aspect of high quality, an M4A file with ALAC codec has the very best authentic sound quality. Even M4A (AAC) delivers better quality than MP3 audio on the same bit rate. As for the file measurement, it is usually associated to the bit charge, the larger bit fee, the larger file measurement, the higher sound quality. To put it one other approach, in the event you try to get the same sound high quality, you need 256kbps bit fee when encoding with MP3 while solely need 192kbps with M4A, consequently, you will get a a lot smaller audio file measurement with M4A. However, MP3 is still the most well-liked audio format due to its a lot better compatibility. Uncompressed audio codecs encode both sound and silence with the identical number of bits per unit of time. Encoding an uncompressed minute of absolute silence produces a file of the same size as encoding an uncompressed minute of music. In a lossless compressed format, however, the music would occupy a smaller file than an uncompressed format and the silence would take up nearly no space at all. You're allowed to search out music by searching music, album or artist names. In addition to, eMP3 provides you Top Charts including High 50 (World), High 50 (India) and High 50 (UK), and US High Albums, etc. By merely clicking the Obtain" button, then you may download the music file successfully to your computer. Step 3Tab "Cease" button the playback is completed. You're allowed to save the audio within the format of iPhone supported format, like M4A, MP3 or merge mp3's AAC. Audio CD accommodates music, merge mp3's however often they don't include important info like tracks titles and artist. That is why FreeRIP can search Web CD databases for those data. FreeRIP can download information from the well known or from the exclusive FreeRIP CD Database. For these rare CDs which have tracks info stored on the CD itself in CD-Textual content format, FreeRIP supports it as effectively. There is quite a lot of music downloaded app nevertheless the Tubemate Audio & Video downloader app is taken into account higher than any of the music downloader apps out there. With the help of this app it is possible for you to to get all your music on the tip of your fingers. You'll be able to even discover songs from local musicians and you'll have the chance to appreciate their talent by rating the music on the app. You can obtain as many songs as you need and the app will at all times be steady. There's by no means any downtime or any error that the app throws up. When you're an avid music lover, your needs cannot be met with the essential applications to download music. Individuals who love music not solely have to obtain and listen to songs, but additionally need to share them, transfer them and be capable to listen to them on a number of units. This is where the Keepvid music app is available in place. This mp3 downloader is understood to have only suppressed recordsdata. Which means that recordsdata will get downloaded in no time. You'll even have the ability to make sure that you have the right kind of music to take heed to once you want it. There is no such thing as a restriction to how many songs you possibly can hearken to in a day. 6 New Songs: Seasons, ABC Rock Tune, Directions, and extra. These aren't free downloads, but you may take heed to the whole tune on the positioning, and buy an mp3 to support Dream English! Click right here. Audio CD Burner helps you to use digital CD burner to transform any unprotected music and DRM protected music information (equivalent to M4P, WMA, M4B) to unprotected MP3, WAV, WMA codecs. Virtual ripping, burning, encoding are inside solely ONE click on. not solely gives free music streams and suggestions, www.mergemp3.com but additionally options some great tracks without cost obtain.

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Data Offline Storage

Features:- > Rugged Metal Construction > 34”W x 77”H x 14”D dimensions > 980 total disc capacity – 490 Slots w/ 2-Disc Cases included > Roughly 50TB Storage Space (considering 50GB BD-R DL) > Door locking mechanism included.

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Data Offline Storage, Automated Data Archiving & Offline Storage

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15 Up-and-Coming Trends About advertisments post production workflow

I'm going to say let me actually go to something in the media browser, let me go into my show and I'm going to go into this, what we will cover. That's actual show I want to show a piece of media, there we go. So I come up with a warning dialogue box, it immediately says it's offline.

Automate the process of integrating external data sources to further enrich the metadata of video assets you want to deliver and monetize across all networks and devices. Framework Media Asset Manager automates the creation of VOD content and metadata to publish any format for delivery on any screen. A powerful, graphical workflow editor provides robust rules and flows.

The Reality of Storage for Marketing Teams

Asset Management supports nearly every type of digital asset and works with Avid and third-party storage, making it extremely versatile in any media environment. Archive video, audio, graphics, PDFs, documents, finished programs, and other media into long-term storage that all remain easily discoverable and retrievable. Because it mainly focuses on any given asset’s metadata and proxies, it can manage a vast range of SD, HD, and high-res files, providing complete format independence. Adobe will showcase powerful new updates to Adobe Creative Cloud, giving video pros the world’s best tools for video editing and motion graphics.

Essentially a Team Project is a specialized .prproj that is stored in a user’s Creative Cloud account. A project manager (or lead) creates a Team Project project file and adds assets to it while organizing the project via bins as if they were working in a stand-alone project on their own machine.

Where is project assets in Premiere?

The top three programs to use for YouTube video editing are iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro CC, and Final Cut Pro X.

What are the 4 types of assets?

Digital properties refer to an organization's websites and any other systems that it maintains to further its digital objectives. Some of the popular digital properties include the following: Websites. Apps. Social media pages and accounts.

Redmine is a free open-source project management app focused on issue- and bug-tracking challenges. Smartsheet starts with spreadsheets and gets you to project management in a unique and powerful hybrid tool. With an extensive set of features and intuitive interface, Teamwork Projects is one of the best services for managing projects. We’re building a TV production management tool, and we’d love to get in contact with you guys if you want to share knowledge. Is anyone interested in trying out a brand-new media production software suite?

What is conforming in editing?

So, what are the best export settings for YouTube? According to YouTube's own recommendations, videos should be exported in MP4 video format, using an H. 264 video codec. The ideal resolution and frame rate will depend on your source footage (YouTube supports several frame rates between 24 and 60 fps).

What Happens During The Sound Editing Stage Of A Film's Post-production Phase??

To begin, either click "File" at the top of the window and select "Media" under "Export," or use the shortcut "Control/Command + M." This will open up the Export Menu, which lists all of the options for exporting. Additionally, you should confirm that you are exporting both audio and video by checking the appropriate boxes. If you’re using Adobe Premiere Pro, the sequence preset is the settings you’ll use when editing your video in your timeline. Use Premiere Pro's powerful Project Manager to copy projects and associated media files, or consolidate and transcode projects into a single codec for easy archiving.

Premiere Pro CC is a professional-grade video editing software. Along with Apple’s Final Cut Pro, it is the accepted standard in movie and TV production. Pro YouTubers like using Premiere Pro as well because of its flexibility and the thousands of editing tools at their disposal. Premiere Pro CC is also part of a larger family of Adobe’s programs aimed at creatives which opens up even more options in putting together unique video content.

Media Asset Storage and Hosting

Modern digital projectors require something called a DCP (Digital Cinema Package). Most post houses will charge you several thousands for the privilege, even for a short. Just take a look at their website to see some of the high profile projects that have used Lightworks.

How do I share a Premiere Pro file?

Today, you can buy Premiere Pro by choosing one of three options: two versions of Premiere CC as well as CS 6 release. Professionals prefer the most post production editing jobs los angeles expensive version, which comprises all Adobe products. But if you are a beginner, I recommend you to consider the Single App Plan.

This development further boosts workflow efficiency for media professionals, allowing them to work within one interface without the need for jumping from one UI to the other, which takes extra time and stifles the creative process. Axle 2016.2 is the latest edition of axle’s award-winning media management software, now optimized for media libraries with up to 1 million assets. Simply point axle at the media files you want to manage and it automatically creates low-bandwidth proxies you can then access from any web browser. There’s no need to move your media files or change your system setup. Our new plug-in panel for Adobe Premiere® Pro CC, included with every axle 2016 system, enables editors to search, see previews and begin working on footage without leaving their favorite NLE software.

No Film School

CELUM Digital Asset Management Suite is leading DAM software with 20 years of experience under its belt in the enterprise-level market. It comes with built-in team management, enterprise file syncing and sharing, content hub, and content portals.

Collaborative Editing & Project Management for Adobe® Premiere® Pro CC

Slick and uncluttered software are faster, but they also easier to start with. With Kitsu, you can start your projects without the need of a consultant or intensive training.

[hafizhamza313]

Best cloud hosting services in 2019

Best cloud hosting services in 2019

Signing up for a simple website hosting package will usually buy you a defined block of resources on a single server: this much web space, that much bandwidth, maybe a set amount of RAM or CPU cores. While this works well for many websites, having fixed resources can be a problem for larger projects. There's generally no way to temporarily allocate extra RAM or bandwidth if you experience an increase in traffic, and even a simple plan upgrade might require your website to go offline for a while. Cloud hosting plans look much like virtual private server (VPS) products, where you'll initially pay for a set amount of web space, RAM, CPU time and bandwidth. But these resources are spread across multiple devices instead of just one, and changing your plan later – adding another gig of RAM, for instance – is generally as easy as dragging a slider, with the extra power coming online within moments. This flexibility is great for delivering extra power when you need it most, and starting prices can be similar to regular VPS hosting (from £10 or $14 a month). Costs will rise as you add resources, but typically you'll only pay for the time in which you use these resources. DigitalOcean's monster 192GB RAM, 32 vCPU and 3,840GB SSD product costs $960 (£685) a month, for instance, but this pay-as-you-go approach allows you to try it out for $1.429 or £1.02 an hour. Cloud hosting still won't be for everyone, and small, simple websites are likely to be better off with regular packages. But the technology has a lot to offer anyone with larger or more ambitious projects, and many hosts run free trials which make it easy to explore their abilities for yourself.  

  Cloud hosting isn't just for big business. HostGator's cloud platform spreads your website load across multiple virtual server instances for more reliable and scalable hosting, but it's as easy to use as standard shared hosting, and only costs a little more. For example, the baseline Hatchling Cloud plan gets you support for one domain, unmetered bandwidth and storage, a share of up to two cores and 2GB RAM, and distributed Varnish caching to speed up the loading of static content. You can get started for as little as $4.95 (£3.50) a month if you buy three years upfront, although the price leaps to $8.95 (£6.40) on renewal. If you need something more powerful, the top-of-the-range Business Cloud plan supports unlimited domains, gives you up to six cores and 6GB RAM, and includes private SSL and a dedicated IP. Another chunky introductory discount means you can pay as little as $9.95 (£7.10) a month over three years, but after that you'll pay $17.95 (£12.80) per month. Benefits of the cloud plans include (up to) twice as fast load times, along with more site statistics, and because your site is mirrored across multiple devices, the ability to switch your site to another server in the event of a hardware failure. But the key advantage of all cloud hosting schemes is scalability. If your site can't cope with demand, you can scale up to eight cores and 8GB RAM with a click. There's no waiting around for someone to process your order and no downtime while your web space is reallocated – you get the extra resources right away. You can sign up for HostGator here  

  1&1 IONOS Cloud Server Hosting is a powerful range of products which combine dedicated server resources with the performance, flexibility and scalability of the best cloud hosting technologies. Seven standard root access (self-managed) configurations aim to cover everyone from the individual user ($10 or (£10 for UK) a month for a single CPU core, 1GB RAM and 50GB storage) to big businesses (16 cores, 48GB RAM and 500GB storage for a monster $400 or (£400 for UK) a month). All plans have decent specifications, giving you unlimited traffic and email accounts, a bundled SSL certificate, DDoS protection, $100 (£100 for UK)  starting credit for the first month and a choice of US and European data centers. A wide range of options includes Windows hosting, or managed hosting with your choice of stack: Apache + MySQL + PHP 7.2, Nginx + MariaDB + PHP 7.2, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and more. The highlight of the range is probably 1&1's Cloud Hosting Flex package. Not only does this allow for adjusting cores, RAM and storage on demand, and adding up to 99 servers to the same contract, but billing is by the minute and you're only charged for what you use. Prices start at  $20.84 (£15.84 for UK) a month including the management fee. There's no long-term contract and the first 30 days is free, giving you the chance to try before you buy. You can sign up for 1&1 here  

    At first glance, cloud hosting products seem to be divided into two clear groups: user-friendly but basic products from hosts like 1&1, and enterprise-level technology from Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and more, which is so complex that even experts might struggle to set it up. Cloudways represents an interesting middle path. The company offers managed cloud hosting which is powered by your choice of the top providers – Amazon, Google, DigitalOcean, Kyup, Linode or Vultr are supported – and comes packed with features, yet is configured from a simple web console which is just as easy to use as the more basic competition. It's an impressive platform. Cloudways' ThunderStack covers all your core performance needs: Nginx, Apache, Memcached, MySQL/MariaDB, Varnish Cache, PHP 7, PHP-FM and Redis. There's one-click cloning, backup and restore, integrated Git and team collaboration tools for developers, and no less than 60 data centers strategically placed around the world (over 25 locations). Despite all this high-end functionality, Cloudways products are generally simple to operate, and prices start at a beginner-friendly $10 (£7.15) a month for one core, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage and 1TB of bandwidth. It's all supremely configurable, and a free trial allows you to check out the product, with no credit card details required. Furthermore, a referral system is available, where both you and your friends can receive free hosting credits. You can sign up for Cloudways here  

    Founded in 2002, Bytemark is a UK-based cloud hosting company which has designed its own public platform using open source software. This in-house experience brings some unusual advantages. Bytemark has developed its own hosting environment to set up a server, email and more. It covers everything from installing and managing PHP, MySQL, Perl and Ruby on Rails to helping you configure your firewall, spam rules and backups. Experienced users can manage their account with a command line client, or even automate common tasks by integrating with Bytemark's API. Pricing seems somewhat fair. The baseline specification costs $28 (£20) for one core, 2GB RAM, 25GB storage, 10TB bandwidth and one IPv4. If you need more, everything is available via a simple flat rate: $14 (£10) per 1GB RAM, $12.70 (£10) per 10GB of SSD storage, $28 (£20) per extra 1TB of traffic. Unusually, you can even get a Windows licence for $2.64 (£2) per GB of memory. As ever with cloud hosting, there's plenty of flexibility. You can configure your servers with anything from 1 to 180GB RAM, 1 to 16 CPU cores, and 1 to 8 individual disks with either fast SSD or cheaper archive storage. If you're interested, Bytemark's free trial gives you seven days to find out more. You can sign up for Bytemark Cloud here  

    While cloud hosting schemes always involve pooling resources from multiple devices, most do their best to keep you away from the low-level details. You may be able to scale your plan by adding CPU cores, RAM or storage, for instance, but the console will present this to you as a single system. DigitalOcean's Droplets are based around similar resizable and customizable virtual machines, but that's just the start – the technology has much more to offer. For starters, the system supports Droplets of different types. If the standard plans aren't enough – priced from $5 (£3.55) a month for one core, 1GB RAM and 25GB storage – Optimized Droplets aim to ramp up your performance by using the best Broadwell and Skylake CPUs, and providing more RAM and storage space. Individual Droplets have more features than you might expect, including performance monitoring and alerts, snapshots and automatic system-level backups. There are various interesting ways to work with your Droplets as a group, including setting up a cloud firewall, and using a load balancer to distribute incoming traffic across your infrastructure. DigitalOcean's transparent pricing is a highlight. You're billed hourly, with monthly caps, ensuring you only pay for the resources you use. Many of the features come for free – monitoring, cloud firewall – while others follow very simple pricing rules. Snapshots cost $0.05 per gigabyte per month, for instance, while backups are priced at 20% of the cost of the virtual machine – easy. If all you want to do is host a scalable WordPress site, this will probably be overkill, but developers, sysadmins and other more demanding users will appreciate the power and flexibility DigitalOcean offers. Browse the lengthy list of tutorials (which numbers 2,100+ at the time of writing) on the DigitalOcean site to find out more. You can sign up for DigitalOcean here You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides: WordPress E-commerce Small business Business Cheap Website builders Source: TechRadar Read the full article

[sendovernightmail]

The 10 Best PDF Sites on the Internet Today

Various file formats have been proliferating in recent years, as users of Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, LibreOffice Writer, and G Suite often find that opening a file sent from a competing word processor is akin to trying to read a foreign language. The seemingly only solution in the face of this complexity comes in the form of the trusty PDF file. 

Adobe’s Portable Document Format has history dating as far back as 1993 before becoming standardized for widespread use in 2008. In the time since then, seemingly countless sites have sprung up offering services designed for PDF management. Since those looking to utilize Mailform’s print and mail service may wish to upload a document as a PDF, we hope that this list of sites will be helpful to you in modifying your file in the precise way you are looking for.

So without any further ado, here is our list of the 10 best PDF sites available on the internet today.

1. Smallpdf

Previously topping our list of Top 10 PDF to Word Conversion Services, there’s a lot to like in Smallpdf that makes it stand above the competition.

Whether you are looking to compress a PDF file, convert to or from a different file format, rotate, split, merge, eSign, or even unlock a password-protected document, Smallpdf has you covered. The site currently allows for free document management in 24 languages, with a premium plan available for $48/year that includes offline access through the Smallpdf Desktop application, no ads or limitations, and some additional advanced features.

While plenty of online PDF management solutions have many of the same features, Smallpdf’s slick and intuitive interface and largely free services earn it the top spot in this list.

2. Foxit

Geared more towards enterprise users, Foxit offers a range of productivity solutions that are relatively unique in the PDF management space. The Foxit PDF reader is widely regarded as one of the best in its class, and the PhantomPDF editor is a great tool for editing PDF documents as you see fit. Furthermore, products like Foxit Studio Photo, the Foxit Rendition Server, and PDF SDK provide robust networking solutions to individuals, corporations, and developers respectively.

Despite the suite of high-performance programs that Foxit brings to the table, the cost will likely be a major sticking point for individuals who simply want to convert a few documents or complete a simple split or merge operation. While the Foxit PDF reader is completely free, one license for Studio Photo will run you $60, with PhantomPDF coming in at either $129 or $159 depending on whether you are using it as an individual or for your business. 

The price definitely sets it in a tier apart from the rest of this list, but it is undeniable that Foxit also provides the top-of-class service in the PDF management space to match.

3. Soda PDF

Billing itself as the very first fully functional online PDF solution, Soda PDF’s Anywhere service lets users access their documents from the web browser of any internet-connected device. Besides basic features like PDF conversion, merging, splitting, and compressing, some of Soda PDF distinguishes itself through compatibility with more than 300 file formats, professional-grade data protection, and integration with popular cloud storage solutions like OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote. In addition, the inclusion of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a welcome feature for those who are looking to transform scanned images into an editable PDF file.

While there is a limited free trial for those interested in dipping their toes in the service ecosystem, Soda PDF is a paid software solution with the price varying based on whether you prefer enrolling in a recurring plan or a one-time purchase. The Home plan will run you $48 annually, with the Premium plan coming in at $84, with both plans offering access to the Soda PDF web application, free upgrades, and additional features. A one-time edition purchase will cost $79 for the Home set of software and $129 for the more advanced Premium suite, which includes such functions as custom signatures, permissions, and password protection.

4. ToPDF

This no-frills website might be all the casual user ever needs. ToPDF provides conversion from virtually any readable document format to PDF in addition to reverse conversion from PDF to DOC, DOCX, Text, JPG, and PNG formats. Throw in PDF compression and merge functions and an extremely user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and ToPDF looks more and more like a simple yet powerful PDF management solution.

And we’ve even left the best part of ToPDF for last: it’s completely free!

5. PDF 2 Go

The main page of PDF 2 Go displays their services in well-organized columns. From editing features like merging, splitting and rotating to so called improvement functions like compressing, protecting or unlocking a file, PDF 2 Go complements its standard range of supported file formats for conversion well.

While PDF 2 Go can be used for free at a basic level with a drag-and-drop interface similar to other entries on this list, it also offers an annual plan for $48 that includes unlimited document size, access to all tools, and no advertisements.

6. I Love PDF

Resembling SmallPDF and PDF 2 Go, I Love PDF offers virtually any PDF management service most users will ever need. Whether you are looking to convert, merge, split, compress, rotate, repair, unlock, encrypt, or just generally need to organize your PDF file, I Love PDF has you covered.

The service can be used completely for free, although power users can pay a modest fee of between $6 to $9 per month to access expanded file size limitations and Desktop tools.

7. Nuance Power PDF

More akin to Foxit than the more lightweight options on this list, Nuance's Power PDF  is a costly yet robust PDF management service ecosystem. Coming in at $129 for a single license of Power PDF Standard, $179 for Power PDF Advanced, and volume licensing options available, Nuance’s products are best suited for enterprise software use. That might come as little suprise to those aware that Nuance once provided the speech recognition technology for Apple's Siri.

Besides common features like file format conversion and editing, some of the more advanced features available in the various tiers of Nuance’s Power PDF products include automated workflows, DocuSign® signature inclusion, and sensitive information redaction.

8. PDF Suite

PDF Suite largely bucks the pricing trends of previously listed options on this list, offering three different service tiers of $29.95, $44.95, and $64.95. 

The Standard service comes with support for such features as batch conversion, the ability to insert an attachment, and PDF creation from a URL. 

The Professional service, meanwhile, adds in MS Office Plug-in support and additional editing tools like adjusting document content forward or backward, cropping, and managing hyperlinks. 

Finally the Pro + OCR option effectively takes the set of services offered in the Professional line and adds OCR support, letting users scan documents and images into editable PDF files with vastly improved text recognition.

9. PDFelement

Advertising itself as a better alternative to Adobe Acrobat, PDFelement includes OCR functions and allows users to generate PDF/A files for archival purposes. PDFelement also has applications for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android and offers support in 9 languages, making it a relatively flexible enterprise-oriented software suite. 

Despite its overall utility as a PDF management tool, PDFelement advertises its licensing options strictly for large organizations. As a result, it is much less likely to find use with the vast majority of individuals looking to manage their PDF files. 

10. Free PDF Converter

Here’s one last free PDF management solution to round out the last. Users looking for a very simple drag-and-drop interface can convert to or from a basic mix of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, JPEG, and PNG file formats. Merge, split, rotate, and delete functions are also included on the site, making Free PDF Converter a completely serviceable option for an individual user looking to edit a PDF quickly and on the cheap.

We hope this list has been helpful to you in finding the PDF management solution that works best for you. 

Should you have any difficulty using your own PDF files with the Mailform interface, please feel free to get in touch today. We will be happy to hear from you and help you seamlessly enjoy the benefits of printing and sending bulk mail from the convenience of your computer.

[tinyworldsbackup]

Tutorial: Archiving Games

This is an automated backup of www.tinyworlds.org

Having made my first games about 10 years ago, I sadly can’t play them anymore. Files went missing and other games required hardware & software I no longer had. This article is meant to help this prevent from happening to you. Learn how to properly back up your games, so you can play them in 10 years from now.

1. Use common file formats

A general rule for archival is to only use file formats which are easy to open & can be opened by a variety of tools. E.g. for 3D models you’d want to archive them as FBX or OBJ instead of a BLEND file. Those formats can be opened independent from a specific tool.

For images you’d want to pick JPG, PNG or GIF. For text TXT or PDF. For audio WAV or MP3 (you get the idea). If you use specialist formats, you risk not being able to open them once you can’t access the required tool anymore.

2. Don’t backup everything!

If you backup everything on your PC it makes it harder to distribute & also to find data. Only back up the art & games that you definitely want to keep. This is especially an important point for games, as they often have large file sizes.

3. Give it structure

You want to establish a structure which makes it easy to include & find the files you need. Usually the categories for the structure will include a) game executable, b) screenshots/ media and c) source files. More on how I approach it at the end of this article.

4. Include info what hardware & software is required

While most of my points apply to backing up media in general, this one is specific to games/ software. Games usually need a specific operating system (OS) & hardware to run. For my archive I include info on what machine I tested the game on (OS, hardware specs, browser). This allows to later find a similar machine or run the game through an emulator.

5. A look at different ways to backup games

5.1 Digital backups on physical storage mediums

We used to save a lot of Data on CD & DVD, but now they phase out more and more. Many devices now come without a reader for CD/DVD. CDs are often also made out of organic material, which gives them a short shelf-life before they get corrupted.

Currently I back up data on Flash Memory mediums (USB, SD, SSD). For the most part, their life cycle is limited by the number of read & write actions performed. As I’m only using them for archival it’s easy to stay under the read & write limit. Another positive factor is that they are cheap and widely spread. Almost any device has an USB outlet to access the data on an USB stick or SSD. But we don’t have reliable enough research yet on how well they survive the passing of time. You should also use other forms of backup.

5.2 Digital backups on servers/ the “cloud”

I’d never solely rely on cloud storage for backup (as the services might go offline at some point/ change pricing models/ etc.). Yet, it’s a great cheap/ free extra option to backup your files, which is easy to automate.

Currently I use Google One/ Google Drive, which gives you 100 GB of free storage. Together with the Insync client, all my art-related work automatically gets synced.

5.3 Digital backups on game sites

If you develop free or web games, it’s a good idea to release them through multiple platforms. Again, platforms might close down. But if you upload your game to multiple places, it’s more likely it’ll remain online at least in one place.

My go-to platforms are usually Newgrounds and itch.io for web games.

5.4 Physical, analogue backups are most reliable

If you want to be sure to preserve the visual part of your games, it’s best to create prints/ books of screenshots, etc.

For many paper types we know they can have a really long shelf-life (if stored well). Again, here the best strategy is to spread the backups in multiple places. Analogue backups e.g. can be destroyed through water damage.

My favorite online print service is Moo. Definitively a bit more on the pricey side, but the quality is worth it.

6. Example: How I backup my games

This example focuses on digital backups. I also create analogue backups & upload my games to multiple sites.

Game folders are named by the game’s release year and title. This makes it easy to locate the games I want to find.

Within such a game folder you’ll always find the same structure: “Game”, “Media” and “Source”. I created a template folder with this structure, so it’s quick & easy to add new games.

“Game” includes an executable version of the game. In case this doesn’t work or I just want to take a quick look, “Media” features screenshots. I use JPG/PNG as file formats, as they are wide-spread and can be opened by a variety of tools. Lastly, “Source” includes some game files I might want to access & edit later. Usually this is not a full source for the game, as that would increase the overall file size too much. Lastly, a game folder has a “tested_on” TXT file, which lists requirements to run the game. This is helpful when later trying to run it using an emulator.

I hope this was helpful! Go backup your games, so your future-self still can revisit them :)

[ziffity-solutions]

HOW IS CLOUD COMPUTING TRANSFORMING THE RETAIL INDUSTRY?

Retail is expanding beyond traditional ERP, CRM, and Supply chain management. As the competition among businesses is ever-increasing, the importance of online retail has never been more acutely felt. To keep thriving in this highly competitive industry, every merchant should extend their reach to customers by managing multiple stores and supply chains, providing a unique customer experience. Integrating cloud computing in retail is the best choice to streamline all these processes better. Cloud adoption reduces IT cost, simplifies workflows, and improves efficiency and end-user experience.

Cloud adoption is growing exponentially every year. Gartner forecasts that by 2022, 90% of the organizations will be using cloud services.

Cloud services are helping the retail industries in many ways. They mainly help reduce infrastructure, storage, and computing cost to enable real-time access to operational and inventory data. It also helps in transforming the retail sector in many ways.

CLOUD HELPS ACCELERATE THE ENTIRE RETAIL INDUSTRY

#1 Simplifies The Process

#2 Upgrades Data Security

#3 Greater Supply Chain Visibility

#4 Catalysts To Create New Products

#5 Refining Customer Experience

#6 Tailored Shopping Experience

#7 Cost-Effective

#8 Versatility Advantages

#9 Enhancing Profitability

#10 Cloud-Enabled Disaster Management

#1 SIMPLIFIES THE PROCESS

Many retailers still operate offline and in a disjointed/siloed manner without getting updated. This kind of operations ecosystem prevents quick and real-time exchange of data like inventory, orders and shipping among the systems. Moving to the Cloud can enable them to create operations team that are equipped with real-time data. Such an omni-directional flow of data can help retailers in on-time fulfillment, replenish goods before they go out of stock, delegate orders smartly to the last mile delivery team and ultimately improve customer experience.

#2 UPGRADES DATA SECURITY

Every customer visiting your online retail store will have a digital interaction. These interactions generate a vast number of valuable data. Your website holds crucial information like inventory, customer data and so on. Business data is confidential and should be protected for sure. One of the significant causes of business failure is loss of personal data due to network infiltration, DDoS attack, and ransomware. Data security is one of the major problems to be addressed. Most retailers maintain their sales figures, customer feedback, and inventory reports, among other local servers that fall in a bit of a danger zone. Cloud helps secure your data using advanced firewalls, encryption, event logging, internal firewalls, and physical security.

#3 GREATER SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY

Supply chain management is one of the most crucial processes in the retail industry. One unnoticed error can magnify into an irreversible mistake as it passes through several workflows. This is why it’s best to choose cloud computing to handle the entire process seamlessly. It connects every part of the business and provides better visibility. Using cloud computing, retailers can access every feature of their business sector-wise. They get to assess each sector from the supply chain, order status, to product marketing. This level of sector-wise clarity in data can result in fewer stockouts, optimized inventory levels, capturing real-time location data, and comparing stocks with other locations. Cloud computing can help in extracting data that retailers can use to devise new strategies to improve operations.

#4 CATALYSTS TO CREATE NEW PRODUCTS

The future of retail is quite unpredictable. The buying habits of the consumer keep changing often. Advanced data analytics capabilities of the cloud for retail allows merchants to create new products based on customer feedback. Using valuable insights derived from reviews, merchants can decide on introducing fresh products to their portfolio that align with the current trend and customers’ likings or discontinue products as well. However, retailers use cloud migration to quickly adapt to these changing trends while they find more time and new ways to communicate with their customers and update their business accordingly.

#5 REFINING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Usually, customer and sales data collected by retailers are not being fully utilized. Cloud services provide high-power computing resources and statistical models to analyze the buying behavior of customers. Retailers can use this data by understanding the buying behavior, trends, and interactions with the brand, which will let them customize their business model for the better. With data, merchants can understand all about seasonal spikes, product bundling, if their way of portraying the products is right or wrong and also get to analyze the preferred shipping methods like door delivery, buying online, curve side pickup, pickup from store etc. This way, every merchant can pivot the business model to generate better revenue. It also enables the merchant to know where most customers have dropped out and what they dislike while going through the store. Thus the seller can optimize the store at ease with these valuable datas.

#6 TAILORED SHIPPING EXPERIENCE

One of the most frequently asked questions is if cloud computing can handle both inventory and shipping? Cloud computing enables stores to instantly refer to each customer’s buying history and check their shipping process irrespective of when and where the orders need to be delivered. It provides retailers with real-time access to all the data related to their customers and orders. This way, the merchant can even send personalized recommendations, membership offers, coupon codes, etc., to add them to the loyalty programs.

#7 COST-EFFECTIVE

Retail is one of the fast-evolving sectors. To cater to the fast-changing business demands, retailers must focus more on the business’s growth than manually spend time towards procurement, budget approvals, and other operational workflow. This is when cloud computing in retail comes into play. In cloud technology, the retailers only pay for what they use. For eg: It helps cut down the cost of manual work, cuts short on warehouse staff, Minimizes the dependency of manager approvals and a lot more. As new roles are added the cost will be redefined. This saves a tremendous amount of money, usually spent on operations, hardware, software connectivity, etc. The dedicated cloud support team takes over even the system updates.

#8 VERSATILITY ADVANTAGES

Every business experiences highs and lows. Most businesses depend on promotions, time of the year, or even the weather. So the internal IT operations team should be able to handle the changing scenario effectively. A cloud-based model allows the retailers to contract the usage of server space and gradually scale them up when needed. This approach lets the retailer utilize the cloud more cost-effectively. Its cost flexibility is powered by various pricing options that depend on the increase or decrease of manpower usage as and when required.

#9 ENHANCING PROFITABILITY

Retailers continuously look for areas to cut down costs in order to keep the profit quotient on the high. The retail market is struggling to maintain its level of profitability. However, opting cloud computing not only helps you in the IT operations but also lets you cut down the cost on infrastructure, operations, logistics, etc.

#10 CLOUD-ENABLED DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Data has become one of the most valued components for retailers in today’s digital commerce landscape. Archiving these data is always a priority. Traditionally these data are recovered manually, which is time-consuming and tedious and requires constant maintenance and support. But now, with the help of the cloud disaster recovery model, one can recover data that can be accessed from any location and at any time. A backup and disaster recovery model can be initiated from any place, and the entire process can be automated.

FINAL WORDS

As you can see, cloud computing has become an essential part of almost every business and has gained the most attention in the retail industry. Choosing the right cloud consulting service to better your business can be a bit of a hassle. That’s where we come in. Our team of experts makes sure to provide you with tailor-made Cloud solutions for all your business requirements.

[digitaldocumentservice-blog]

All Pro Solutions has the Best Solution to strategically protect important sensitive data. The Solution is an automated Archiving System

To learn more about the product visit: https://www.allprosolutions.com/optical-disc-archiving-storage/

#Automated #Data #Archiving #Offline #Storage #DataArchiving

[globalmediacampaign]

How caresyntax uses managed database services for better surgical outcomes

This is a guest post from Ken Wu, Chief Technology Officer, and Steve Gordon, Director of Engineering at caresyntax. caresyntax provides the needed tools to make surgery smarter and safer. Our solutions use IoT, analytics, and AI technologies to automate clinical and operational decision support for surgical teams and support all outcome contributors. We help caregivers better identify and manage risk, increase workflow efficiency, reduce surgical variability, and improve operational or clinical outcomes at the point of care. As we navigate COVID-19, our solutions provide strategies and insight for restarting and managing elective surgeries, tools to improve quality and safety, and virtual options for the new “normal.” As of this writing, caresyntax technologies are used in more than 8,000 operating rooms worldwide and support surgical teams in over 13 million procedures per year. Our tool, Periop Insight, is a surgical data analytics solution for today’s busy perioperative leaders to improve their operating room (OR) performance. It is an enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) web application that works on desktops, tablets, and phone form factors. This application helps our customers drive meaningful and data-driven improvement to surgical workflow efficiency and financial performance. Periop Insight runs on AWS, and its data services architecture includes Amazon Aurora, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Redshift, and self-hosted open-source Redis on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). The Periop Insight challenge Although many modern data-centric applications deal with extremely large volumes of data, Periop Insight’s challenges stemmed from the complexity of the data, not volume. The largest customers rarely report more than a thousand surgical procedures in a day. Although the dataset is small, it’s extremely complex because it encompasses OR schedules, delays, cancellations, complications, exceptions, and cause/effect relationships between events in a highly dynamic environment. Our challenge is how to uncover meaningful and actionable insight from this small yet complex dataset to improve surgical efficiency. One example would be block utilization (how well hospitals are utilizing operating rooms to increase patient flow and improve care). We needed a platform that can perform complex computations on relatively small volumes of data to produce an extremely versatile results set, optimized for both dashboard and deep drill-down reporting. Finally, it was critical that the Periop Insight application be simple, intuitive, and responsive for end-users. The data journey: From raw to meaningful In its raw format, data doesn’t have much value until it goes through a long and painful journey of transformation, enrichment, and aggregation, and comes out at the other end as a new object (an insight), which highly valued by the user. The question we faced was what tools and technologies we should choose to build a platform that not only meets our extremely challenging goal, but is also cost-effective. We knew there probably wasn’t a single technology that would allow us to accomplish what we needed; our solution required a combination of tools, or a “box of tools.” For us, AWS was an obvious choice for cloud infrastructure given its vast database and analytics services that we can use to solve different challenges along the data transformation journey. The following is the high-level system diagram for Periop Insight, composed of different AWS database services that help form a map that guides the data (such as facility scheduling data, timing of key phases of surgical procedures, or medical supply and implant materials used) as it travels from one end to the other, reborn as insights. Our “box of tools” approach Our “box of tools” approach on AWS was driven by the challenging requirement of building a highly scalable, fault-tolerant, responsive, and cost-effective platform for Periop Insight that can “slice and dice” the data to present a rich set of analytics. In this section, we share our reasons for choosing each service. Amazon S3 Periop Insight uses Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to maintain long-term storage of raw primary data from clients in a cost-effective manner. In the rare instance where a reporting discrepancy occurs, we can reconcile it with the original data provided by the client to quickly determine where the discrepancy was introduced. More importantly, archiving source data provides flexibility to make design changes to the product and data pipeline without concern for any loss of data fidelity. Any data that was mutated or omitted during the ETL process can always be recovered. ETL on Amazon EC2 From Amazon S3, a Pentaho ETL process was implemented to read the data, clean it, and load it into an operational data store in Aurora (MySQL-compatible edition). ETL worker EC2 instances are dynamically launched to perform the deep analysis and transform the operational data into a dimensional model fit for reporting. ETL and scheduled reports occur at specific designated times of day. Periop Insight reduces our costs by launching EC2 instances for these workloads only when necessary. As an added benefit, ETL work is divided and executed on several EC2 instances in parallel, thereby reducing the overall time to complete ETL and allowing us to scale well beyond current demand. Amazon Aurora We chose Aurora for its performance and scalability. We built an Aurora cluster to host a set of dimensional tables in addition to using it as a transactional database. All of our data preparation is done in Aurora, which is more than capable of managing transactional data such as users, roles, and customer metadata. Although Aurora may not be the obvious choice for analytical workloads, it’s effective at these smaller data volumes. With Aurora, the app can also use a MySQL-compliant database and benefit from cloud-native features like autoscaling (great for occasional workloads like ETL and offline reporting) and managed backups. Amazon Redshift For certain higher-volume datasets, namely those related to the fine details of a surgical procedure including supplies and implants used, and associated cost, Aurora was limited in what it can do within reasonable response times. These larger and more complex datasets are loaded into Amazon Redshift. Periop Insight can achieve reporting response times of just a few seconds on Amazon Redshift. In addition, the platform uses Amazon Redshift for benchmark computation, which requires intensive calculations on data from many different dimensional tables and aggregates the data across many different layers. Amazon Redshift provides the performance the platform requires. Amazon DynamoDB In some use cases, you need to store highly transient or very dynamic data like report parameters. We have more than a dozen types of reports, and each scheduled report can have dozens of parameters associated with it. Maintaining a strict schema for each kind of report would create a rigid system where enhancements to reports involve changes to schema with data migrations. Instead, we use DynamoDB because it doesn’t require a strict schema. DynamoDB allows the app to store reporting parameters in a flexible manner without having to make heavy schema changes whenever reports are modified. Open-source Redis Finally, as users navigate our application, they are bound to request the same data multiple times in their sessions. Multiple users of the same organization can log in throughout the day, and often multiple reports require the same subset of data. Periop Insight uses open-source Redis on Amazon EC2 as a caching layer for query results. By caching query results, it reduces the demand for more expensive database resources while simultaneously improving response times for our users. Summary On the surface, Periop Insight is a typical analytical platform that analyzes data and presents it in a clean, user-friendly interface. Under the hood, a rich set of analytics is powered by a variety of AWS database services, each of which was chosen carefully for its strengths to solve specific issues or meet specific needs. AWS and its managed database services enable caresyntax to focus on serving more customers and developing new insights for better outcomes. In the future, with the vast historical data our platform has collected and continues to collect, we could use AWS AI and machine learning capabilities such as Amazon Forecast to predict things like case volume and block utilization to improve operation planning, and ultimately improving hospitals’ financial performance and patient satisfaction.   The content and opinions in this post are those of the third-party author and AWS is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this post. About the Authors Ken Wu is the Chief Technology Officer at caresyntax, responsible for the development and operation of software product and SaaS platform that make surgery smarter and safer for healthcare providers and patients across the world. Ken has more than a decade of experience in developing enabling technology in the healthcare industry for providers, payers, and Life Science companies. Steve Gordon is the Director of Engineering at caresyntax, responsible for the development and operation of Periop Insights and other data solutions. For 20 years, Steve has built world-class systems across a variety of industries including music, education, finance, business administration, marketing, and healthcare.   https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/how-caresyntax-uses-managed-database-services-for-better-surgical-outcomes/

[your-sannidhya-blr]

AWS vs Azure vs Google cloud — A comparison guide of public cloud vendors

With the competition heating up in the public cloud service vendors, the addition of new features and a regular drop in the price will decide who the winner is. In this article, we intend to throw light on the mounting competition between AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and GCP. AWS already has a head start of years over the others, but there is no denying the other two public cloud service providers are not far behind. It is important to compare them to understand which one suits your project the most.

A detailed comparison

Our comparison guide is a thorough take on all the three cloud service providers based on parameters like:

Compute — The compute services of AWS were offered in 2206 and are still market leaders in providing a wide global infrastructure with a comprehensive set of features in order to run all types of workload. Azure’s compute services also has a relatively good infrastructure that is great in use. GCP also offers a smooth learning curve with the lowest instance as well as usage price.

Storage — Every cloud service provider out of the three have their own set of capabilities across different functionalities. They all have a good inward with automation and an extensive range of options available. Azure also has a strong foothold in hybrid deployments as well as disaster recovery options. GCP has competitive pricing.

Database — AWS offers fleeting storage. It is given the moment an instance begins and gets destroyed when it ends. AWS offers block storage equal to hard disks which can be attached to any instance. Azure depends on the D drive, page blobs, and S3 service for archiving service. It supports the NoSQL database and big data. GCP offers temporary disk storage. It is available for Object storage. It supports relational databases through Google Cloud SQL.

Availability zone — AWS is the oldest hence it had had more time to expand its network. AWS is hosting in multiple locations along with GCP and Azure but there is a difference in the availability zones. AWS services 66 availability zones and 12 more are to be added. Azure offers 54 zones and is currently available in 140 countries. GCP is presently available in 20 regions and is planning to add three more.

Pricing — Amazon offers the Pay-as-you-go mechanism that implies that the under will pay for the individual services without the need for any long term licensing. Azure on the other offers much affordable pricing as compared to AWS as they charge on a minute basis. GCP also charges on a minute basis but there are no up-front costs nor are there any termination fees.

Being a renowned IT consulting company we gathered a lot of information to draw comparison of different features for the parameters are mentioned above:

Conclusion

The different cloud service providers are showing a major role in achieving the impossible for organizations. Businesses too are using their elasticity for diverse use cases like ML in fin-tech, online as well as offline retail, and much more. But, choosing a cloud over the others will depend on your individual organisation's needs.

[brondra]

Ignite 2018

afinita - pri load balanceru - stejny klient chodi na stejny server, možná i jako geo u cache apod? retence=napr u zaloh jak stare odmazavat webjob= WebJob is a feature of Azure App Service that enables you to run a program or script in the same context as a web app, background process, long running cqrs = Command Query Responsibility Segregation - zvláštní api/model na write a read, opak je crud webhook = obrácené api, zavolá clienta pokud se něco změní (dostane eventu)

docker - muze byt vice kontejneru v jedné appce, docker-compose.yml azure má nějaké container registry - tam se nahraje image (napr website) a ten se pak deployne někam např. app service, ale jiné image nemusí container registry - není veřejné narozdíl do dockeru, někdo jiný z teamu může si stáhnout

azure functions 2 - v GA

xamarin - ui je vlastne access k native api, ale v csharp projekty - shared, a special pro ios a android

ML.NET - je to framework pro machine learning

hosting SPA na azure storage static website - teoreticky hodně výhod, cachování, levné hosting

devops - automate everything you can

sponge - learn constantly multi-talented - few thinks amazing, rest good konverzace, teaching, presenting, positivity, control share everything

powershell - future, object based CLI to MS tech powerShell ISE - editor - uz je ve windows, ale ted VS code cmdlets - mini commands, hlavni cast, .net classy [console]::beep() function neco {  params{[int] Seconds} } pipeline - chain processing - output je input pro dalsi atd dir neco | Select-object modules - funkce dohromady, k tomu manifest

web single sign-on = fedaration - nekdo jiny se zaruci ze ja neco muzu a ze jsem to ja federation=trust data jsou na jednom miste SAML - security assertion markup language, jen web, složité API Security - header Authorization Basic (username, heslo zakodovane) OAuth2 - misto toho tokeny (vstupenka) openid connect - id token, access token - všechny platformy, code flow doporučené, jiné implicit flow? fido - fast identity online - abstrakce uh wtf, private public key pair per origin - nejde phising ldap. kerberos - jak to zapada?

httprepl - cli swagger

asm.js - polyfil pro web assembly, web assembly je native kod v browseru - napr .net = blazzor

svet bez hesel windows hello - windows login - face nebo fingerprint ms authenticator  - mobilni apka - matchnu vygenerovany kod FIDO2 - novy security standart - mam u sebe privatni klic, server posle neco (nonce), to zakryptuju privatnim pošlu zpátky - přes veřejný rozšifruje a má potvrzené, pak to samé s tokenem

cosmos db transakce - jen pouzitim stored procedure, single partition default index na vše, jde omezit při vytváření kolekce change feed - log of changes, in order trik jak dostat rychle document count - meta info o kolekci a naparsovat key-value cosmos - vyhody globalni distribuce, eventy, multimodel, pro big data asi

AKS - container - appka, orchestrator - komunikace mezi kontejnery, správa kontejnerů, healthchecks, updates AKS - orchestrator - nejčastější orchestrátor, standart, extensible, self healing představa něco jako cli nebo klient - řeknu jaké kontejnery, počet apod uvnitř se to nějak zařídí - api server, workers atd.. - je to managed kubernetes v azure, customer se stará jen o to co nasadit a kdy - ci/cd aks = azure kubernetes service

dev spaces - share aks cluster for dev (ne ci/cd), realne dependency (bez mock jiných service apod) extension do VS, pracuju lokalne, sync do azure, využíví namespace v aks (každý má svojí verzi service) - normalne frontned.com, já mám ondra.frontend.com a svojí api, pokud se zeptá na url tak se koukne jestli běží lokálně, když ne tak se zeptá team verze respektive je to celé v azure, ale je tam moje verze aplikace

kubernets - master (api server) - jeden Node - vice, VMs, v nem pods - containers, mají unikátní ip, networking - basic pro dev, advanced pro live nody a pody jsou interní věc, ven přes services helm - něco jako worker co se o to stará? jako docker-compose - vic imagu, help je pro aks??, arm template pro aks (skrpit jak postavit prostředí)

event notification patern - objednávky do fronty, ostatní systémy zpracují, co nejvíce info v eventě event sourcing - ukládat změny - inserted, updated, updated, updated, místo get update save, jde také udělat přes event, materialized view - spočítání stavu podle těch event, jdě dělat jednou za čas event grid - event routing

azure function - zip, z něj to spustí (vyhneme se problemu při update file by file), přes proměnné, nyní default ve 2.0 je startup, kde je možné připravit DI a funkce pak přes konstruktor už se dá kombinovat s kontejnery, aks atd durable functions - složitější věci s návaznostmi funkci, long running, local state, code-only, orchestartor function - vola activity function, má vnitrni stav, probudi se dela do prvni aktivity, tu spusti, spi, probudi se checkne jestli dobehla, pokracuje dal logic apps - design workflow, visual azure function runtime jde teoreticky hostovat na aks? v devops pro non .net jazyky potreba instalovat zvlast extension v2 - vice lang, .net core - bezi vsude, binding jako extension key vault - v 2008 ani preview funkce hosting - consuption = shared, app service - dedicated microservice=1 function app, jeden jazyk, jeden scale api management = gateway - na microservices, jde rozdělat na ruzné service azure storage tiery - premium (big data), hot (aplikace, levne transakce, drahy store), cold (backup, levny store, drahe transakce), archive (dlouhodobý archiv) - ruzné ceny/rychlosti, soft delete - po dobu retence je možnost obnovit smazané, data lifecycle management - automaticky presouvat data mezi tiery, konfigurace json

hybric cloud - integrace mezi on premise a cloudem - azure stack - azure které běží on premise někde use case: potřebujeme hodně rychle/jsme offline, vyhovění zákonům, model

místo new HttpClient, raději services.AddHttpCLient(addretry, addcircuitbreaker apod) a pak přes konstruktor, používá factory, používání Polly (retry apod..) - pro get, pro post - davat do queue

people led, technology enpowered

service fabric 3 varianty - standalone (on prem), azure (clustery vm na azure), mesh (serverless), nějaká json konfigurace zase, umí autoscale (trigger a mechanism json konfig), spíš hodně interní věc - běží na tom věci v azure, předchudce aks, jednoduší, proprietární, stateful, autoscale apod..

důležitá věc microservices - vlastní svoje data, nemají sdílenou db principy: async publish/subscr komunikace, healt checks, resilient (retry, circuit breaker), api gateway, orchestrator (scaleout, dev) architektura - pres api gateway na ruzne microservice (i ms mezi sebou) - ocelot orchestrator - kubernetes - dostane cluster VMs a ty si managuje helm = package manager pro kubernetes, dela deploy, helm chart = popis jak deploynout standartni

key valut - central pro všechny secrets, scalable security, aplikace musí mít MSI (nějaké identity - přes to se povolí přístup)

Application Insights - kusto language, azure monitor search in (kolekce) "neco" where neco >= ago(30d) sumarize makelist(eventId) by Computer - vraci Comuter a k tomu list eventId, nebo makeset umí funkce nějak let fce=(){...}; join kind=inner ... bla let promenna - datatable napr hodně data - evaluate autocluster_v2() - uděla grupy cca, podobně evaluate basket(0.01) pin to dashboard, vedle set alert

ai oriented architecture: program logic + ai, trend dostat tam ai nejak

[emailbackupx-blog]

Why you choose this Apple mail backup software over others

If you want to backup email mac hassle-free then InventPure Mail Backup X would be perfect for you. It is technologically ahead of other backup tools since it has got the features it takes to backup mails effortlessly. The feature which makes it distinctive is its ability of backing up data from multiple emails clients, whether offline or online. Other specialities of this software include its capacity of keeping the data hierarchy in place, to accelerate the data search process, to make files shareable across platforms and much more.

Advance your backup task with high utility features

The best of Apple mail backup technology is available here with the least of effort. Buying this software is all you need to do and it will manage the backup and archiving task on its own. It can be utilized to backup and archive data from various mail platforms including Thunderbird, Postbox, Windows Outlook, Mac Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail- essentially every major mail client. So it saves you from bearing the cost of different mail backup tools for different mail clients. Not only that, it has got a bunch of surprise features which are helpful to all varieties of users.

Backup mail mac with all the essential features and reach to all major mail clients

It is easy and accessible to backup and archive mails from various mail clients with this software. Since it is automated, it processes and backs up the data as it keeps arriving in the computer. In essence, mail backup has never been this easy in the past. So you can backup mac emails like you want whenever you want.

Search files faster during Apple mail backup with automated search service

Searching out mails or attachments also is quite easy with this software. You would be able to search your file instantly by entering any specified criteria. Searching complicated files is also quite easy with this software.

Advanced compression algorithm helps save extra storage space

You do not need to worry if your device does not have enough space for your data. this software can backup email mac and simultaneously compress files, saving humongous amount of storage space.

Automatically backup and save data to USB

Even external data stored in USB cables would be carefully backed up by this software. It can automatically detect external devices and backup data from them effortlessly. This feature inarguably makes it one of the most flexible method to backup mail mac.

Mail viewer inbuilt to view data from multiple mail clients simultaneously

Not only does this software let you backup mails from various mail clients, it also makes it convenient to view data from multiple mail clients at once. As the data keeps coming in from various mail clients you would be able to view them without switching mail platforms.

Try out for free with trial version

You can use the trial version for maximum satisfaction before you purchase the software. The full version would let you access extra services like client support and free updates.

[componentplanet]

How to Choose a Cloud Service for Your Mobile Photography

Now that most people — even those who are serious about photography — are using smartphones for many or most of their photos, it’s a good time to look past the quality of those images to a robust workflow that includes not just editing, but organizing and storing them reliably. Stories of laptops getting stolen or destroyed and taking all of a person’s photos with them are quickly being replaced by sad tales of lost or crushed phones. Organizing and storage solutions span the gamut from simple to complex, with a variety of pros and cons. We’ll take you through some of the options and the tradeoffs.

Google Photos: The Roach Motel of Cloud Photo Storage

Perhaps the most popular solution to both processing and storing smartphone images is Google Photos. It can automatically sync images your phone to Google’s servers, where you can get at them from anywhere. This useful capability has some issues, though. First, unless you pay for storage, or have a newish Pixel, your images aren’t stored in their full resolution. If you think of Google Photos as your lifetime archive of images, that is a high price to pay.

Second, it is hard to control where your images actually live. Google is forever offering to remove them from your phone (only downloading them as needed for viewing), leaving you completely dependent on the Googleplex. Third, it has become a roach motel. It is difficult to download images, or even to guarantee an album is available offline. And the really useful feature that used to allow you to view your images under Google Drive — which you could then sync to a local server or NAS using WebDAV — was unceremoniously dumped. I’ve been unable to find a replacement approach to keep an archive of my Google Photos images, and Google hasn’t been able to suggest any.

Google desperately wants to be your one-stop-shop for your mobile photography. It offers a lot for free, but with strings.

So, if convenience is your primary value, then Google Photos provides it. But it shouldn’t be the only place anyone serious about their photo library keeps it stored. So let’s look at some other options.

Adobe Creative Cloud Is Very Cool, If You Can Afford It

Adobe offers a storage solution that operates a lot like I wish Google Photos would. Once you install Lightroom Mobile on your phone(s), it can automatically sync those photos to your Adobe Cloud, and then, in turn, down to your desktop copy of Lightroom. And you can even do the reverse, so you can work on your images (possibly using smart previews) on your mobile device, even if they were originally on your desktop. By default, only photos you take with Lightroom’s camera or add to Lightroom Mobile are synced, but you can enable an option to add all your phone’s photos.

Adobe provides a powerful web interface for your mobile images and those you have chosen to sync from your desktop

Other than the overhead of setting it up, the biggest drawback to using Adobe for all your photos is cost. First, you need an Adobe Photography plan for about $10 per month. Then you’re on the hook for about $100 per terabyte per year in storage fees. If you’re just using this system for your mobile photos, the 20GB you get “for free” with your plan may be enough, at least for now. But if you want a unified system for all your photos, and their processed versions, you’re going to have to pay up.

Microsoft OneDrive Can Pick Up Some of the Slack

Until a colleague suggested it, I never thought about using OneDrive as a replacement for Google Photos as a place to store my images after Google canceled Drive integration. But since Office 365 users get a terabyte of storage with their plan, and OneDrive offers automatic photo uploading from your mobile device, it seemed like a good fit. I quickly enabled it and have been very pleased that images sync automatically to OneDrive.

From there, I can run Cloud Sync on a Synology NAS over WebDAV to bring a copy of all the images down. (I’m using a 5-bay Synology 1019+ for this article, but if you want to process images directly from your NAS, a 10Gbps model can provide better performance.) Having a local copy isn’t important to me just for archival purposes. It also makes it so I can catalog all my images and work on them in local photo editing tools, without having to look one place for my DSLR and Drone photos and a different place for my phone photos.

The only downside I’ve found with using OneDrive this way — aside from needing an Office subscription — is that the images aren’t as nicely organized as with Adobe or Google. They are just thrown into one (large and growing) folder. As long as you have a folder-agnostic cataloging system like Lightroom, that isn’t too painful, but if you’re looking to browse images by folder, it’s quickly hopeless. Whichever mobile app you use for syncing your images, remember to ensure it will find all your photos. If you only use your phone’s default camera app, it should work automatically. But if you also capture Raw files or use a third-party camera application, you might need to manually add the folder or folders where those images are stored.

Commercial Photo Sharing Services Like SmugMug Are Also an Option

Adobe and Microsoft aren’t alone in offering a way to automatically upload your mobile images, of course. It’s become a popular feature for other photo-sharing services, but not all of them offer good tools for downloading or syncing your library once it is on their service. One that I’ve used with success is SmugMug. The company offers a free app that allows its users ($5.99 per month and up) to automatically upload their mobile images to a gallery of their choice. You can download galleries or even sync them with Lightroom via SmugMug’s plugin.

Creating Your Own Photo Cloud Using a Synology NAS and Moments

There are a number of companies that offer you the capability to create your own photo storage cloud. For this article, I chose to use a Synology 1019+ 5-bay NAS as a reasonably priced hardware option with solid features and a 5th bay for additional expansion room. Plus, it comes with Synology’s Moments application, a modern solution for storing, organizing, and if you want, sharing your mobile photos.

You can use Moments for your existing photos as well — by moving them into the Moments folder tree — or sync the contents of your Moments folders over to the location on your NAS where the rest of your images are stored. For writing this article, I’ve chosen the latter approach for simplicity. Synology also offers a Photo Station package, which is a more traditional photo organizing system but doesn’t have the same support for mobile devices.

Moments has an Auto-enhance feature similar to Google’s Assistant that picks out what it considers some of your best images and proposes an automated color enhancement.

Organizing Your Images With Synology Moments

Like many photo organizers, Synology has jumped on the AI-powered scene, object, and people recognition bandwagon. They don’t have the R&D horsepower of a Google or Adobe to deliver the very best results, but Moments does a competent job of automatically tagging people, subjects, and places. In addition, you can enable a capability that scans your images, picks out what it thinks are your best, and suggests an automatic color enhancement.

Synology’s moments automatically tags people, subjects, and places in your images

I don’t find the results as impressive as Google Photos’ Assistant, but they can definitely bring some life to a scene without requiring any work. Moments can also find groups of similar images, so you can choose to delete some to save space. For me, disk drives are inexpensive enough that I’d rather add more storage than spend my time deleting similar images, but the option is there if you want it.

Tips for Setting Up Your Server

Whether you use a dedicated NAS like a Synology, QNAP, or Netgear, or add a drive array to a Windows or Mac server, there are some common considerations. First, I’ve grown to like the flexibility of 5-bay NAS units, compared with the more traditional 4-bay units. I can run a 3-drive RAID for my main data store, and still have two drives for a mirrored pair for storing our surveillance camera footage, for example. Second, make sure that your array can support large drives. This is especially true if you also want to use it to back up your desktop and laptop drives.

We tested the 1019+ with Seagate IronWolf and IronWolf Pro drives of various sizes, including 14TB and the new 16TB models. All worked well, providing the possibility for massive storage. For example, 3 16TB hard drives in a RAID-5 or Hybrid RAID configuration would provide almost 32TB of usable storage. Speaking of drive sizes, if you use one of the new RAID options, like Synology’s Hybrid RAID (SHR), then you can enlarge your array easily by adding more or larger drives. That’s in contrast to traditional RAID formats, which often require serious work to perform an expansion.

Picking a Strategy That’s Right for You

If you’ve gotten used to the simplicity that comes with using your smartphone and relying on a cloud connection to Google Photos to manage your images, then all of these options might seem like a lot of extra work. But for many of us, our photographs are a lifelong asset, and in some cases may be enjoyed by generations to come. So it is worth thinking about the future and what your photos and videos are worth to you before it’s too late and something happens to them.

Now Read:

Seagate Boosts Hard Drives to 16TB With New IronWolf and Exos Models

How to Set Up Centrally Managed Backups for Your Home or Small Business

How to Set Up Subscription-Free Offsite Backup

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/computing/301576-how-to-choose-a-cloud-service-for-your-mobile-photography from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2019/11/how-to-choose-cloud-service-for-your.html

[aheliotech]

How to protect your company’s backups from ransomware

New Post has been published on https://www.aheliotech.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-companys-backups-from-ransomware/

How to protect your company’s backups from ransomware

Backups are an essential part of any ransomware disaster recovery plan. In the event that an organization is hit with ransomware, it can simply use its backups to recover the system without paying a cent to the bad guys.

There’s just one problem: backups are not immune to ransomware. Increasingly advanced ransomware strains contain mechanisms that are designed to seek out and encrypt backups that are stored both locally and in the cloud. And, if a company’s backups get encrypted, it may have no other choice but to pay the ransom.

In this article, we’ll show you how ransomware can affect a company’s backups and what you can do to keep your backups safe.

How does ransomware encrypt backups?

There are many ways ransomware can infect a system, including email attachments, malicious links, drive-by downloads, RDP attacks, MSP tools and other third-party software. Once it has infected an endpoint, it can potentially spread to any backups held on devices that are write-accessible via standard protocols, such as NAS devices, locally installed cloud services and USB-connected devices.

There are a few ways it can do this:

Spreading through the network

Many small business owners understand the value of backups, yet may not have the resources or expertise to create and maintain a fully-fledged continuity strategy. Instead, they may take an ad-hoc approach, which might involve manually copying critical files to an external hard drive, or automating regular backups to a network-connected file-server.

Local backups are important, but they are not an effective solution when used alone. Many ransomware variants are capable of spreading laterally to other computers on the network and mapped network drives. If the system gets infected, there’s a good chance the ransomware will propagate across the network and encrypt the drive that holds the organization’s backups.

Syncing to cloud storage

Cloud storage is a convenient way to store files, but it’s not an effective way of maintaining backups – particularly when it comes to ransomware.

Many cloud storage services such as Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive automatically synchronize local files with files stored in the cloud. If your business gets hit with ransomware and the files on your network are encrypted, the files will also be encrypted in the cloud.

Some cloud storage service providers offer file versioning, which means it keeps multiple versions of files. If your company’s files are encrypted, you can simply roll back the files to a previous, unencrypted version. However, this feature is not supported by all cloud storage providers and may not be enabled by default.

Deleting System Restore points

System Restore, Windows’ built-in recovery tool, allows an administrator to reverse recent changes to the operating system, and can be useful for rolling back drivers and system files to previous versions. Unfortunately, System Restore does not save copies of personal files, including documents, photos and videos, which means it can’t be used to reverse encryption.

Even if System Restore could help restore personal files, many ransomware strains – including WannaCry, Cryptolocker and Locky – are designed to deliberately sniff out and delete volume shadow copies (the snapshots System Restore uses for recovery) using command-line commands.

Ransomware-proof your backups

A multilayered approach is the best way to protect backups against ransomware.

Local backups are fast, efficient and can be easily accessed whenever required. However, as mentioned above, local backups are vulnerable to ransomware, which can potentially spread across the network.

While offsite storage solutions are generally slower and less convenient, they are more isolated from the company network, and are therefore considered more reliable. Using a blend of local and offsite backups provides the best of both worlds.

With this in mind, the easiest way to ransomware-proof backups is to apply the 3-2-1 rule, which stipulates that a business should:

Keep at least three copies of its files.

Store the copies on at least two different types of storage media.

Store at least one copy offsite.

Remember to always use unique logins and passwords for all backup systems (and everything else for that matter!).

Keep at least 3 copies

The more backups a business has, the less risk there is of losing data. Companies should aim to maintain at least three copies of their data. Should one copy be lost due to ransomware, theft, technical error or natural disaster, business leaders can rest assured that there will be other copies to fall back on.

Store at least two copies on different devices

All devices fail sooner or later. Diversifying storage media minimizes the risk of backups failing at the same time. When storing backups locally, use at least two different types of storage media, such as a local drive, file server, NAS device or tape drive.

Store at least one copy offsite

For maximum protection, at least one copy of the backups should be completely isolated from the network and preferably stored offline, where it will be safe from ransomware.

There are a few different options for storing company backups offsite. Tape backup systems might seem like a somewhat outdated solution, but they remain a popular option thanks to their cost-effectiveness, scalability and archival stability. Tape backup systems are usually not connected to any network and can therefore not be affected by ransomware.

Cloud backup services offer a more modern solution for creating and maintaining offsite backups. Cloud backup servers are housed in secure, purpose-made facilities that usually include environmental controls, backup power supplies, fire suppression systems and more. If ransomware or a local disaster natural wipes out your company’s local backups, you can use cloud backups to get back up and running.

Cloud storage vs cloud backups

It’s important to note that cloud storage services and cloud backup services are not the same thing. Cloud storage services are designed to do just that – store files. They may not offer file versioning, which leaves backups vulnerable to ransomware, and they usually don’t allow you to retain your file system structure, which means if you ever need to recover your system, you’ll have to organize all your data by hand.

Cloud backup services, on the other hand, are made with disaster recovery and business continuity in mind. They allow you to retain your file system structure and usually include useful features such as file versioning, status reports, scheduling options and better encryption methods for transferring data. When it comes to ransomware-proofing your backups, cloud backup services are the superior option.

Access management

Regardless of the storage media your company chooses to use, it’s important to restrict access to only those with a legitimate business need. This involves being very selective of who has the login credentials to file servers and backup services, as well as limiting physical access to onsite backups via secure storage and access management. Limiting access to backups helps reduce the attack surface for ransomware and minimizes the chances of sensitive company information falling into the wrong hands.

Mitigating the effects of ransomware

A robust backup strategy is a critical ingredient for mitigating the effects of ransomware.

However, as with any data, backups can also be affected by ransomware. Using a combination of local and offsite backups will help reduce the risk of ransomware affecting your company’s backups and put your business in a stronger position to minimize downtime in the event of an infection.

The post How to protect your company’s backups from ransomware appeared first on Emsisoft | Security Blog.