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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kevin Beaver Stephen J. Bigelow Jonathan Hassell Frank J. Ohlhorst


Danielle and Nelson Ruest Greg Shields


EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Erin Harris


CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Sky Croswell Tom Ireland James Miles


SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Jenn Ste. Marie


ART DIRECTOR Ron X. Dulong


SENIOR DESIGNERS Jessica Lee Stacey Streeter Matthew Wheeler


DESIGNERS


Anthony Cielakie Deborah Grisson Sharon McElroy


PRODUCTION MANAGER Peter Grube


PRODUCTION Emily Kudla Deborah Rock


CIRCULATION (603) 683-2278


©2011 MOREDIRECT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MoreDirect and Connection are trademarks of PC Connection, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective companies.


The information provided or depicted in this publication represents the opinions of the authors and is believed to be accurate and true. MoreDirect, Inc. however, does not warrant the accuracy or correctness of such information.


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Celeron, Celeron Inside, Centrino, Centrino Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom, Intel Atom Inside, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel Viiv, Intel vPro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, Viiv Inside, vPro Inside, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.


Identifying the Transitions that Are Reshaping the


HE WORLD of IT is constantly evolving, shifting to focus on newer, faster, and better


solutions. With so many emerging technologies on the horizon, how do you determine which trends are significant, have staying power, and are a good fit for your environment? This issue of Connection discusses some of the most promising technologies and presents tips to help you define an insightful, forward-thinking IT strategy. It’s no surprise that virtualization continues to rise in popularity. Taking advantage of all that virtualization has to offer is a priority for any organization looking to achieve maximum efficiency in the data center. Learn about the top five data center architecture standards to help optimize and modernize your virtual environment. From management solutions and self-service strategies to emergency preparedness and power and cooling efficiency, find out what you need to know to ensure your data center advances ahead of the competition. Reliable, cost-effective storage has


never been more important—or more challenging. We show you how to protect your data with a smarter storage infrastructure, including storage virtualization and thin provisioning. Cloud computing continues to gain momentum as organizations and


Technology Landscape T


individuals realize the full scope of its benefits. The cloud’s seamless delivery of services and optimized use of resources are hard to ignore, but building a successful private cloud requires careful planning. We discuss steps your organization can take to ensure your cloud initiative delivers the functionality and features you expect. While it’s easy to look forward to the performance benefits of new hardware rollouts and OS upgrades, it’s important not to overlook the side effects of new technology deployments. Testing legacy applications for Windows 7 compatibility should be the first step in every organization’s OS upgrade plan. Learn how you can ease the transition into your new computing environment with tips and tricks to ensure a proper migration path for essential business applications. In today’s emerging technologies environment, securing your enterprise is absolutely vital. Discover why advanced persistent threats should be on your radar and what you can do to protect your organization from embarrassing and costly situations. Read on to learn more about these latest


technology trends—and then give us a call. We’re ready to help you design, build, and deploy IT solutions that deliver the performance and efficiency to help your organization advance the IT vanguard.


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