Cloud

wan-network-vs-sd-wan

What is SD-Wan and How does it Work?

It is a common practice for businesses to implement different technologies to their IT systems as they grow, primarily as a way to transfer data and assets, and also to help the application process for shareholders, vendors, owners, etc.

As the years have gone by, IT has discovered that systems like SaaS and IaaS can hinder user experience and be clunky at times.

Further, opening the enterprise to the Internet and the cloud exposes major threat and compliance issues.

It is extremely challenging to protect the critical assets of an enterprise when applications are accessed by a diverse workforce, including employees, partners, contractors, vendors, and guests.

Enabling broadband on the Wide Area Network, or WAN,  makes the security requirements more acute, creating challenges for IT in balancing user experience, security, and complexity.
What is SD-Wan? 
As the name states, software-defined wide-area networks use software to control the connectivity, management and services between data centers and remote branches or cloud instances.

Like its elder technology sibling, software-defined networking, SD-WAN decouples the control plane from the data plane.

WANs use links such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), wireless, broadband, virtual private networks (VPNs) and the internet to give users in remote offices access to corporate applications, services and resources, allowing them to work regardless of location.

SD-WAN monitors the performance of WAN connections and manages traffic in an effort to maintain high speeds and optimize connectivity.

SD-WAN’s driving principle is to simplify the way big companies turn up new links to …

What Is the Difference Between WAN & SD-WAN?

What Is the Difference Between WAN & SD-WAN?

Is your company stuck on whether you should go with a traditional wide-area network (WAN) or a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN)? If so, this article is for you!

We’ll cover what traditional WAN and SD-WAN are and what this technology can do for your business. If any questions arise as you read, please know that the SD-WAN experts at Millennia Technologies will be happy to consult with you so you can set up the most appropriate solution. …

Microsoft Teams

7 Benefits of Microsoft Teams for Small Businesses

Is your small business considering Microsoft Teams? Or have you had it for a while and aren’t sure if your team is getting the most out of it? Microsoft Teams helps your business stay connected, even if you have a remote or hybrid team. The Teams platform also makes meetings more effective and reduces the usage of email.

Here are seven benefits of using Microsoft Teams for small businesses for you to consider.

…

Connecting Your Workforce Through UCaaS

Maintaining clear communication is a top priority in your organization. Accordingly, you and your colleagues have decided to look into UCaaS to see how it might benefit your team, help you work more effectively together, and communicate with other parties, such as customers, vendors, and partners.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a phone system that uses Voice over Internet Protocol to provide a cloud-based phone system for businesses.

…

What You Need to Know About SD-WAN for Small Businesses

SD-what? SD-WAN is a new, software-defined (SD) strategy and process to handle your wide-area network (WAN) function.

With more and more business processes and tools happening in the cloud or taking place via software as a service (SaaS) applications compared to being downloaded or stored in on-site servers, SD-WAN helps you manage access to the various parts of your network.

Getting started with SD-WAN may require more computer and software knowledge than your staff can currently provide. That’s why so many small businesses rely on Millennia Technologies to handle their IT requirements.

Small businesses that need to stay agile to meet customer expectations and head off the competition will want to learn more about SD-WAN before partnering with any third-party IT professionals.

…

Is Cloud Computing Good for Small Businesses?

Is Cloud Computing Good for Small Businesses?

Like many small business owners, when you hear about organizations using cloud computing, you might tend to think that this kind of service is meant just for large enterprises. But small businesses can take advantage of cloud computing to bring greater efficiencies, help them scale more readily, and improve their security.

While the idea of using a cloud service provider for your small business might be daunting, you should know that switching to the cloud is a worthwhile investment that’ll ultimately help you and your team out in the end.

Read on for insight into how you can start taking advantage of cloud computing for small businesses today. …

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER A CLOUD PHONE SYSTEM

(Republished with permission from Mitel)

Your phone system plays a critical role in your business operations and in your company’s success. But with more employees working from home and on the go, increasingly global markets and ever-changing customer demands, today’s workforce requires decision makers to think beyond the traditional phone systems of days past. The modern workplace requires a complete communications and collaboration system that not only lets employees interact with ease, but also empowers IT teams to easily manage and adapt to an evolving business environment.

 
Why Cloud Communications?
Chances are, you’re already using cloud technology in other aspects of your business. G Suite by Google Cloud®, Microsoft Office 365® and Dropbox® are just some examples of cloud-based applications. The cloud simply refers to software and services that are hosted by the provider and run on the Internet instead of equipment housed in your building. Since the documents, emails, photos and other software that live in the cloud are available from any device with a secure Internet connection, users can access the information and services from anywhere.

 
Cloud vs. Onsite: Considerations and Benefits
When it comes to communications, a cloud-based phone service offers unique benefits a traditional on-site phone system cannot. Let’s take a quick look at how these two deployment models differ:

On-Site Phone System

You fully own and operate the solution
You are responsible for overall maintenance, upgrades, reliability and security
Typically acquired as an upfront purchase and accounted for as …

7 REASONS CIOS AND CTOS ARE INTERESTED IN UCAAS

What’s next for CIOs and CTOs? A move beyond the “information” and “technology” responsibilities of their roles, it seems. According to analyst firm Gartner, driving business growth is now a top priority, even as these executives remain focused on the digital transformations of their organizations.

Business growth, though, is dependent upon the ability to innovate and pivot in a fast-moving competitive landscape. As CIOs and CTOs evaluate how to manage disruption and change, they’re turning to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). Here’s why…

 
How UCaaS Helps Organizations Innovate and Pivot

Business Model Change – A key challenge for CIOs and CTOs in delivering growth is supporting business model change. According to Gartner’s annual CIO Agenda survey, 49% say their organizations have already experienced a change in their business model. This trend appears likely to continue. In Gartner’s CEO Perspective survey, 63 percent of respondents said they plan to shift their business model by 2020. To support this vision, CIOs and CTOs must identify and guide specific initiatives that “change business models and drive consumer engagement, product management, and technology,” Gartner says.
Return on innovation – While support for digital transformation is high, CTOs still must show a return on investment. Cloud communications lowers the total cost of ownership, of course, but it also facilitates innovation, which in turn leads to growth. For example, UCaaS allows dispersed teams to assemble and collaborate with ease, thus breaking down internal silos. Meanwhile, …

What are the Advantages – and Potential Risks of UCaaS?

What is Unified Communications As A Service?
UCaaS stands for Unified Communications as a Service.  The service boasts many cloud-based services that are beneficial to businesses.  You can learn of some of its advantages and create a strategy for unified communication.
What are the Advantages of UCaaS?
When UCaaS technologies were first introduced, small businesses were the first adopters. This makes sense since smaller companies typically have less staff and limited resources to maintain and support on-premises communications. Over time, larger companies have begun to see the advantages of streamlining their UC services and supporting multiple locations, including global communications. However, avoiding the capital expenditures and operational costs of on-premises UC remains the primary advantage of UCaaS. Shared cloud call centers cost less than installing the infrastructure for a full PBX service.

Additionally, you don’t have to worry about outdated equipment as your business grows since the UCaaS provider is responsible for replacing a feature. You save on hiring IT specialists because maintenance issues are also handled by the vendor.  UCaaS can be customized for your business needs, allowing you to choose the amount of service that fits your company, scaling up or down as things change.
In addition to lower costs, other benefits include:

Better disaster recovery – Disaster recovery capabilities are one of the most persuasive reasons to consider UCaaS. Think about the importance of uninterrupted communications to your business. While large companies can build redundancy into their systems, this can be …

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UC AND UCAAS?

UCaaS is a delivery model in which a variety of communication and collaboration applications and services—all of the regular integrated apps associated with UC—are outsourced to a third-party vendor and delivered over an IP network, most often the Internet. So, the main difference between standard UC and UCaaS is that the latter offers UC as a hosted service, which usually provides higher levels of availability, flexibility and scalability and greater cost savings (most UCaaS users invest to avoid the capital and operational expenditures of deploying UC on their own).

You’ve probably heard the phrase “everything is going to the cloud,” which refers to a global trend towards cloud-based services, also known as digital transformation. Well, UCaaS is part of this transformation. UCaaS is not a single service, but rather a variety of communication applications and services using cloud-based software services to store and transmit information. The “UC” refers to the communications channels we use every day, while the “aaS” simply refers to “as a service,” such as “software as a service (SaaS).”

 
Why is Now the Best Time to Invest?
According to research firm MarketsandMarkets’ comprehensive 2013-2018 UCaaS report, 2018 represented the beginning of the technology’s widespread adoption. The report describes UCaaS as “a rapidly growing market” that is generating a lot of interest, and “one of the key enabling factors that will drive the market for unified communication.” All in all, the UCaaS market was projected to grow from its current …

footer_logo

Millennia Technologies is a full-service voice and data solutions company for midsize to enterprise customers. Specializing in UCaaS , CCaaS , Cybersecurity , IoT , Voice , Cloud , and more. Our passion is firmly rooted in showing clients how well-designed data solutions can significantly accelerate business operations, and then celebrating their goal-shattering successes.