Management Software

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Linear Tape-Open (or LTO) is a magnetic tape data storage technology originally developed in the late 1990s as an open standards alternative to the proprietary magnetic tape formats that were available at the time. Seagate, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM originated the LTO Consortium, which organizes development and oversees licensing and certification of tapes and backup device manufacturers.

The standard form-factor of LTO technology is known as Ultrium, the original version of which was brought out in 2000 and could hold 100 GB of data in a single tape. The most recent version was released in 2010 and can backup 1.5 TB in the same size cartridge. Since 2002, LTO has been the best selling high end tape format and is widely used with corporate systems.

LTO History
1/2″ magnetic tape has been used for data storage for more than 50 years. About 30 years ago, IBM and DEC put this kind of tape into a single reel, enclosed media cartridge. IBM called their cartridge 3480 and DEC originally called theirs CompacTape, but later it was renamed DLT and sold to Quantum. In the late 1990s, Quantum’s DLT and Sony’s Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) were the leading choices for high-capacity, high speed tape storage for PC servers and UNIX systems. Those formats arehave been tightly controlled by their proprietors. Because of that, their availability was fairly restricted and prices were comparatively high.

IBM, HP and Seagate attempted to counter this by launching a more open format. Around the time of the release of LTO-1, Seagate’s magnetic tape division was spun off as Seagate Removable Storage Solutions, later renamed Certance which, soon after, was acquired by Quantum Corp.

LTO technology was created to be available in two designs, Ultrium and Accelis.  For the last few years the LTO format has been very popular, and there are no commercially available LTO Accelis drives or consumables. In common usage, LTO generally refers only to the Ultrium form factor.

LTO Ultrium was created as a pretty much drop-in replacement for DLT. This made it simple for robotic tape library vendors to convert their DLT libraries into LTO libraries.

An Ultrium drive is expected to write data to a tape cartridge in its own generation and to a media cartridge from the immediate prior generation in the prior generation format.

Current LTO Generations
LTO-1 100GB (200GB Compressed)
LTO-2 200GB
LTO-3 400GB
LTO-4 800GB (1.6TB)
LTO-5 1.5TB

The media cartridges last between 15 to 30 years for archival purposes, and can be used for approximately 260 full file passes.

The Linear Tape File System (LTFS) is a self-describing tape format and file system, which uses an XML architecture for ease of understanding & use.
It allows: Files and directories to appear on desktop and directory listings, Supports data exchange

With LTFS tape media can be used the same as other removable media. It was first introduced with IBM LTO Gen5 hardware

WORM
Write Once Read Many (WORM) capability was introduced with LTO Generation 3 tapes. This is normally only used where there are legal requirements such as in banks. An LTO-3 (and later) drives will not erase or overwrite information on a WORM media cartridge, but will read it. A WORM cartridge is identical to a normal tape except its LTO-CM chip identifies it to the drive as WORM and the servo track is slightly different to allow verification that data has not been modified, and may come with tamper proof screws. WORM capable drives instantly spot WORM cartridges and include a unique WORM ID with every dataset written to the tape. There is nothing different about the tape medium in a WORM media cartridge. Typically the WORM cartridges have a different colour packaging.

Although keeping a tape drive clean is useful, the cleaning cartridges are abrasive and regular use will shorten the drive’s lifespan. HP LTO Gen 2,3,4 using a Universal Cleaning media cartridge will always clean when a cleaning tape is inserted, irrespective of whether the drive requires cleaning or not.

The LTO-4 spec added a feature to allow LTO-4 drives to encrypt data before it is saved to tape. All LTO-4 drives must be aware of encrypted tapes, but are not required to actually support the encryption process. The algorithm used by LTO-4 is AES-GCM. The same encryption key is used to encrypt and decrypt data, and the algorithm can detect tampering with the data.

According to some independent surveys almost 40% of time and attendance implementations fail to be completed to the satisfaction of the end user . So why is it that a high number of time and attendance implementations go off the rails?

The answer to this question is quite simple . Implementing time and attendance is a complex project with many technical and operational aspects to manage. It is likely that your administration and accounting staff would have little experience with implementing time and attendance so this will simply increase the degree of difficulty. In the next paragraph we discus the components of a time and attendance system

Time and attendance system usually include a data collection device such as an electronic time clock , which requires installation on your local or wide area network which of course comes with the usual technical challenges. Staff must be  be trained on the use of the time clock and you may have to overcome certain employee objections when it appears to be “checking up” on them. Time and Attendance software needs to be installed on servers and workstations and payroll staff will require training in its use. Your business rules or award rules will have to clearly defined and communicated to the product providers and almost certainly, the change from a manual system to  automated award interpretation software will dedicate more rigid and thoughtful definition of those rules. There will need to be a period of testing and adjusting of award rules . Eventually, you will have worked your way through these steps and you will be ready to test an export to payroll. This process in itself can be testing but eventually all the bugs will be ironed out and you will have completed your Time and Attendance implementation.

If you get through this process unscathed you will be in the minority This is because , if your staff lack skills in IT, human resources, project management or payroll award interpretation then at many stages of the project it could become unmanageable and subject to being abandoned or only partially implemented.

At this point we should ask what is it that makes for a successful implementation? The answer to that question is experience. If your staff are experienced then the chances of a successful implementation are much higher . If you think your employees may be short or experience in some areas then you may want to tap into the experience of others. You can recruit a time and attendance consultant or subscribe to some of the other industry resources available to your on the web.

Most companies who implement time and attendance underestimate the complexity of the project . Time and attendance is arguably one of the most complex systems in your company . It is much more complex from a technical and operational perspective than your accounting system or your payroll system yet it generally receives only a fraction of the consideration or resources when implemented .

If there are any conclusions to be drawn from the experience of others who have gone through the process of implementing time and attendance it is that the most successful implementation are those where the experience level is the highest. Given that it i unlikely that you will have that experience in house it makes good sense to tap into that experience somewhere else.

James Bell

Time and Attendance Consultant

Technology has made emails one of the best methods of business communication and many companies use emailing as an integral part of their marketing system. If you want your email marketing campaign to deliver the goods you need theright tools and software. Choosing the right software takes some consideration of your needs and you must ensure that you get the software, server and support that will do the job properly.

When you are creating an email marketing campaign the first thing to decide is if you want a self managed campaign or if it would be easier to use the software. Email Marketing software does create an expense, but if it streamlines your marketing operation and allows you to reach more customers and make more sales the cost will be worth it.

You can always start small and manage your mailing list and marketing campaign yourself, and when it grows to a size that makes manually adding and removing subscribers, sending and tracking emails, and tracking purchases hard you can invest in email marketing software.

When you get to the point that you need help managing these daily operations of an email marketing campaign, there are a number of good software applications available for you to choose from. Before you choose one for your business it is important to consider which one will meet your needs and budget.

First of all you should consider how sophisticated the software should be. Having software with a large number of functions is great if you need all of those features, but it can be difficult to learn how to use and confusing to operate if you only need a few of the features it offers. The best software for you is one that has all the features you need whether you need just the basic or many elaborate features, without much more or any less.

You will want to make sure the email marketing software you choose is compatible with the email and word processing programs you use. You will want to get software that is flexible and can expand to meet your growing needs as your marketing list expands.

Some email marketing software allows  you to have a free trial to test to see if they are right for you. This is a good way to make sure you will be able to easily use the software and it will fulfill your unique needs.

Safecopy is an online backup offering some great value without compromising on the features. An online backup service will let you to store all your critical data not just your photos, music and such to a server that is located on the internet far away from your home or business.

Before you scream.. security breach. You should know that your data is encrypted and then stored with military grade security – Nobody.. I mean absolutely nobody including safecopy can get to your files. Its easier fore someone to break into Fort Knox before they can get to your files!

Most people don’t think they need a backup.. until until something bad.. really BAD happens.

Backup drives are one thing If you have not tried it yet, maybe its about time you looked into an online backup service like safecopy. There are a dime a dozen of online backup services only a few offer a full-blown trial.

Safecopy Features

Like most online backup services safecopy comes with a gamut of features. Most of them are not even used by everyday users. But its good to know that its available.

Backup Space
Safecopy has 2 major plans for the home user. The 150GB plan and the 250GB plan  costing $50 and $75 on an annual subscription. Very frequently they do have promotions.

Security
Backup files are encrypted using DES security, one of the tightest encryption levels, ensuring that you and only you can retrieve your backup contents.

Data Retrieval
You can restore your computer at any time using the safecopy client software . You can also access your data from anywhere in the world if you have access to a internet connection. That means you can retrieve your home data from say a cybercafe in Singapore.  The retrieval process is through secure connections – so nobody except you can get to your data.

Iphone and PDA support
Safebackup allows you to retrieve your files using an iPhone or other device which has an internet connection. Want to get to that file on your computer from an iPhone ?  Its easy. Safecopy provides an iPHone application that will allow you access your files from anywhere.

File Sharing
Ever tried to email someone a very large file or document ?  The sad fact is that most email hosts and service providers dump emails containing large attachments. This is often done uncermoniously without informing either you or the recipient. Perhaps the best way to share your files is using the File Sharing feature of Safecopy. . Safecopy provides a fantastic way to share your files. Just login to your safecopy account, select the files you want to sent, then create a web link just to those files, and lastly, send that weblink to your recipient. Now your recipient will be able to download those files just like they download a video! . Cool ! we think too !

Mac Support ?

One forgotten group of people are often Mac users. Not any more.. Macs have comeback with a vengeance. In fact most Mac users also use Windows. They have to .. just to survive ! In fact a lot of users have both a Mac and a PC at home. Safecopy supports both the Mac and the PC. Infact they can  can share the same account. So Mac users do not despair, you will not be left in the dark.

Click here to read a full review of safecopy