Entries by Garin Livingstone

Bryley’s First Thirty-Five Years

July 19, 2022 in /by

Since 1987 when Bryley was incorporated, the world looks different: we now have immersive virtual reality, AI that converses with us and cell phones that have more computing power than 1980s mainframes.

Looking back on thirty-five years, who can deny that the ubiquity of the internet has been the big game-changer for us all? How can we estimate the value of our new-found ability to time-travel – to instantly be in each other’s presence – even across the globe? And imagine the pandemic without that connectivity?

Bryley’s past trajectory might be summed up by noting its shift … [9 min. read]

The Backup Chronicles

June 28, 2022 in /by

Working data-sets are not fixed. They change and grow and shrink and experience events (like component failures and breaches). So you need to have plans, policies and trained people in place to ensure your backup is ready to restore your organization at any time … [6 min. read]

Bryley Systems Achieves MSP 501 Designation

June 26, 2022 in /by

Bryley Systems has for the eighth time been ranked among the top in its industry in a worldwide evaluation. MSP 501 is an IT industry signifier that recognizes the MSP (managed service provider) industry’s highest operational efficiency and business models. The MSP 501 award is based on a sixty-point audit

Mounting a Defense Against Ransomware

May 27, 2022 in /by

The jaw-dropper from the recently released annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report is the thirteen percent rise in the incidence of ransomware. This represents a single-year increase equal to the rates of the past five years combined … [4 min. read]

P.U.D.R. – Some of the Worst Backup Practices

May 26, 2022 in /by

You are backing up, right? Because there’s file corruption, drive failure, natural disasters, employee errors, employee anger, theft, ransomware … But are you backing up right? Because, as an example, “organizations that paid [ransomware criminals] got back only sixty-one percent of their data … only four percent of those that paid the ransom got ALL their data back.” So be sure you’re doing things well to realize a successful recovery from your backup.

Over the course of Bryley’s years our engineers and techs have witnessed some bad set-ups when it comes to backing up. Here are some examples and tips about how to do it better … [5 min. read]

365, 365, 365 or 365?

April 11, 2022 in /by

If Windows’ journey has been toward ease-of-use uniformity across people’s devices, Microsoft’s business suite offerings continue to require some thoughtful investigation. In 2020 Microsoft announced ending the Office 365 name for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs [Microsoft defines these as businesses with 300 or fewer employees]) in order to try to lessen confusion by taking the focus off the product name and putting it on the service it provides. It was a welcome intention. Only thing is many of the offerings contain the same products – and the differentiators are not easy to summarize in a name. So we offer this guide … [4 min. read]

Corridor 9/495 Business Expo

April 8, 2022 in /by

How good was it to be back to feeling a bit of normalcy April 6? That was the day of the Corridor 9/495 Chamber’s Open for Business Expo at the Doubletree Conference Center in Westboro, Mass … [2 min. read]

Is Windows 11 Done Yet?

March 30, 2022 in /by

Maintaining your business operations without disruptions is Bryley’s reason-to-be. That’s why Bryley recommends that managers not be swayed by inducements to free upgrades and any pressure to use the latest tech. Because while this period of a free OS may be appealing, Windows 11’s main reason-to-be, in the words of Microsoft CEO Sataya Nadella, is as a single,”open platform” that behaves consistently, no matter the device. It integrates styling and an interface-approach from the iPhone and Android.

But that means things are different and moved around and not necessarily in the interest of productivity … [4 min. read]

A Hundred Thousand Pounds Sixty Hours a Week

February 18, 2022 in /by

How many van lines write on the backs of their trailers something like, ‘our employees are our biggest asset’? Could be true. Trucking is hard and lonely. The hours are long; the accountants under government restrictions calculate drivers’ time to maximize profit in a competitive field. And the hours are mostly passed in monotony. And somehow they’ve got to stay alert. Lives in the tiny cars around them depend on it. They’re responsible for tens of thousands of dollars of machinery and maybe more in cargo. They’ve got to continuously skillfully navigate a forty x ten foot wall at sixty-five miles an hour.

While you may not have a life-and-death-in-the-hands-of-your-employees sort of business like a tractor-trailer line, your employees still protect a lot when your organizations’ data is in their hands … [5 min. read]