We have probably all dreamt of someone telling us, “You’ve just won a BRAND NEW CAR!” But if you’ve ever been in a place where you really needed someone to tell you that, it’s a completely different experience altogether. Last week, one of Claris Networks’ prized team members heard those words.

Father of four, with one on the way, Chad Andrews and his wife Joy live in Lenoir City. Every day to work, Chad drives a gold hunk of ancient Volvo parts that spews noxious gas into the cab, among other problems.

In an effort to bless its team members, Claris Networks had been running an internal contest called the “Extreme Car Makeover.” It went like this: All employees got to vote for one of their peers to receive $1,000 toward necessary repairs and a top notch detailing. By a landslide, Chad Andrews received the most nominations.

The nominations for Chad were accompanied by comments like this, “The guy has five kids and works his tail off! He deserves it!” And “Chad deserves some car help more than anyone here.”

The same day he won the contest, the gold Volvo blew its transmission.  This was a much bigger job that $1,000 would cover. But instead of getting some timely cash to help fix a broken Volvo, Chad was given the keys to a 2011 Chevy Impala. A gift from his friends at Claris Networks. The video below shows the whole transaction on camera. It was a blast.



At the end of the day, Chad sent the following email to the entire company:
   
Claris CEO, Larry Bodie said “We want our employees to know how much we value them. They’re not just cogs in a machine here. They’re people, with lives and families and needs. We respect and value our employees. And the owners and management want them to feel that.”
 
 
 
Chad's Old Volvo

We’re giving away an Amazon Kindle Fire to someone who shares their Thanksgiving story with us.

Capture your Thanksgiving weekend story on camera and share the picture with us on Facebook or Twitter! Did your crazy Uncle burn the deck with the turkey fryer…again? Does your dad still insist on dressing up like a pilgrim at the meal? Or was it a beautifully uneventful day with your returned soldier finally at the table? Take a picture and share it with us.

The Claris team will vote on each picture and the winner will be given a brand new Amazon Kindle Fire!

How to Enter:

• Upload the picture to our Facebook page
• Or Tweet it and mention @Clarisntwrks to make sure we see it

The contest ends on Monday and the winner will be announced next week.

Have a wonderful Holiday!
 

Dell EqualLogic SAN-to-SAN replication is the most efficient and thorough way to ensure the continuity of a business’s data should a physical disaster hit its main facility. As part of the Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plan you lay out with your IT service provider, ask if they offer a full “Hot-Hot,” SAN-to-SAN replication. When evaluating one of the replication services Claris Networks would implement, the decision was easy. “Since so many businesses already haveDell EqualLogic SANs, this platform was one of the obvious choices,” says Claris Networks’ CEO Larry Bodie. “It is the most efficient way to enable businesses to have a live, real-time, offsite replication of their data.”

Data backups, while important, are not the same as a full replication. Backups help fill the void when something happens in a business to interrupt its daily operations or when a subset of data needs restoration, but a replication is a complete mirror image of the entire SAN. The difference between a data backup and a “Hot-Hot” SAN-to-SAN replication is a matter of hours versus days or weeks. With just a backup, you might have to recreate a day’s worth of work to get back to square one. Whereas replication is near real-time. Without a real, live, environment in which to plug all the backed-up data, a business cannot be up and running immediately.

Enter, the Dell EqualLogic SAN-to-SAN replication service by Claris Networks.

In addition to just replicating the data, Claris Networks can, at a moments’ notice, turn on your production environment in the cloud should a debilitating compromise of key infrastructure take place. Note: this service is not typical from an IT service provider. For one reason, it’s very expensive. Most providers are simply not willing to invest so much in a contingency plan. However, a square acknowledgement of the facts that most businesses with a complete loss of mission critical data will not survive, leads Claris Networks to provide this service as an option to its clients.

Claris Networks has several other means of replicating data for businesses that do not have a Dell EqualLogic SAN as the primary storage device. Getting the businesses data offsite effectively is one of the key steps in any disaster recovery plan.

If you are interested in speaking with someone about developing a business continuity/disaster recovery plan for your business, or would like to speak with someone about the Dell EqualLogic SAN replication service, simply fill out the contact form on the “Contact Us” page or email info@clarisnetworks.com.

Seriously, this cloud computing stuff is amazing.

Thanks to a hefty gust of wind and some rickety old trees, the power will be out at the Claris Networks building all day. For a group of 50 people that rely on computers, phones and a connection to the internet to do their job, that could be devastating. Thankfully, we drink our own Kool-Aid here at Claris Networks.

With our core applications hosted in the cloud and VoIP office lines rerouted to cell phones, we haven’t missed a beat. More importantly, those clients we support haven’t either. Find a desk, jump on a secure internet connection, and we’re back in business. Many members of our helpdesk began taking support calls from Panera Bread (note: on secure Mi-Fi Hotspots) and were able to route all calls from their desks to their cell phones without the annoyance of having to notify clients of any phone changes.

The main point: nature happens, and what could have been a devastating loss of support to hundreds of clients was as simple as driving to a bagel shop.

Thanks to the cloud.
 

There are new scams every day on the web and it’s important to be on top of them. As web users, we have a responsibility to safeguard our personal and corporate data.

Fake Calls from Microsoft

Scam: People posing as Microsoft customer service reps calling you, saying you need to install antivirus software to get rid of a virus or speed up your system. Of course, they NEED your credit card number to validate the transaction. More than likely these calls will evolve from Microsoft employees to your bank, a credit consultant or even IT support, says Techadvisory.org.

What to do: Never give your credit information over the phone in an emergency. Microsoft will NEVER call unless you ask them to.

Asian Domain Registration Services

Scam: Emails coming in from a company called “Global Center” or something along those lines, stating that another company  wants to buy YOUR DOMAIN.cn/ .com.cn / .net.cn / .hk / .com.hk, etc. Essentially, the scammers attempt to scare you into thinking some other company is going to swipe up all the really valuable [sarcasm] domain suffixes of your domain, so you should buy them first.

What to do: Mark the sender as spam and forget about it.

If you come across any scams in the future, let us know, and we will be sure to add them to the scam alert.