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- TechRepublic Author Biography
11 years IT experience beginning as a Network Specialist for K-12 schools, then moving on to manage the network group for a small college. I managed the network for a City for about a year, then worked at a financial services company. I am currently IT Director for Elmira College,...- more about Scott Lowe »
TechRepublic Resources
- Does a free VMware bare-metal hypervisor hurt Hyper-V?
- VMware has made their ESXi hypervisor product a free download from their web site. Will this hurt Microsoft's foray into the virtualization market? Scott Lowe thinks it will, at least for the short-term. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Hypervisor, VMware Inc., Microsoft Corp., Hyper-V, ESXi, Scott Lowe, ESX, Virtualization, Servers, Hardware
- Blog posts 2008-08-03
- An outage: Lessons learned
- Westminster College does not currently have a backup generator protecting its data center and telephone system. That is about to change. Backup generators are no longer optional. That--and other lessons learned--from recent outages at the college. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Phone, Data Center, Payroll, Outage, Backup Generator, Data Centers, Storage, Backups, Payroll Solutions, Operational Accounting, Hardware, Data Management, Finance, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-07-30
- The Power of Perception
- In some places, IT still has a perception problem, but this problem can be overcome to the benefit of the business. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Router, Information Technology, Strategy, Routers & Switches, Networking, Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-07-30
- Coming soon to your data center... freaking huge workstations!?
- Dell has released a new centrally managed workstation that consists of a full PC and a remote access terminal. Is there a market for this? Will Dell start to contribute to further sprawl in the data center? Scott Lowe ponders these questions. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Desktop, Dell Computer Corp., Data Center, Workstation, ClearCube Technology, Scott Lowe, Data Centers, Remote Access, Storage, Hardware, Data Management
- Blog posts 2008-07-24
- Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 sees the light of day
- Windows Home Server was released in 2007 to much fanfare, but had a few significant limitations and quickly fell victim to a serious data corruption bug. This week, Microsoft released Power Pack 1, the first update to Windows Home Server. Scott Lowe explains some of the updates features....
- Tags: Backup, Microsoft Windows Home Server, Scott Lowe, Home Server, Microsoft Windows, Servers, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware
- Blog posts 2008-07-23
- Four ways to reduce energy costs and environmental impact
- With green IT, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to make an impact in your organization. Here are four ways to get started and see the impact on ROI. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Desktop, Disk, Data Center, SAN, ROI, Server Consolidation Project, Server Consolidation, Roi/Tco, Data Centers, Servers, Hardware, Finance, Managerial Accounting, Storage, Data Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-07-21
- Measure Dell M1000e and M600 Power Consumption
- "Going green" is popular these days. Whether your organization is buying into the movement for social or financial reasons, you'll still need to measure your success. Dell's new M1000e chassis and M600 blade servers have built-in methods to get power information. Scott Lowe explains. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Blade, Chassis, Scott Lowe, Power Supply Reading, Individual Blade, Blade Servers, Utility Computing, Servers, Hardware
- Blog posts 2008-07-20
- Losing a key team member â€" Loss and opportunity
- Losing a superstar is never easy. Last week, Scott Lowe's right-hand person submitted his resignation. Moving fast and in partnership with others at Westminster College, he's well on the way to getting a new face into this critical position. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Job, Team, Position, Person, Director, Westminster College, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-07-16
- Microsoft's Unified Communications products can't run on their own... yet
- Microsoft released the first version of Office Communications Server in 2007. A good start for inter-organizational collaboration, OCS omits capability to include outside collaborators. Scott Lowe would be thrilled to see OCS replace his Nortel conferencing bridge as his Nortel PBX will be vanishing soon from campus. ...
- Tags: Nortel Networks Corp., Unified Communications, Audioconferencing, Microsoft Corp., PBX, OCS, Telephony, VOIP, Telecom & Utilities, Telecommunications, Networking, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-07-12
- Hiring new people: Choosing between skills and attitude
- Hiring the right person for a job is one of the most critical decisions a CIO makes. A bad hiring decision can take years to correct. What should you value more: skills or attitude? Scott Lowe believes that, to a point, attitude trumps skill. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Hiring, Job, Skill, Attitude, Scott Lowe, Candidate 2, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management
- Blog posts 2008-06-30
- A situation involving Exchange Server 2007 Unified Communications Certificates
- With Exchange Server 2007 comes new methods for handling SSL communications. While easier in some ways, it can also present some challenges simply because it's a newer process. When ordered a Unified Communications Certificate, make sure to specify all possible names that are needs on the certificate and...
- Tags: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Exchange Server, Unified Communications, Domain, Certificate, UC, Westminster College, Ssl/Tls, Security, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-29
- From a CIO: Can I do what's being asked of me?
- Understanding the business is a challenge for a lot of CIOs? Are we up for it? Am I up for it? Sprawling infrastructure is partially to blame as IT works to reign it all in and focus on "information" as opposed to "technology". by Scott Lowe
- Tags: CIO, Information Technology, Toni Bower, Executive Team, Strategy, Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-23
- Choosing the Toshiba CIX1200 phone system
- Choosing a new phone system is an important consideration for any organization. The telephony market is changing considerably with new players entering the market all the time. TechRepublic readers helped Scott Lowe with his decision to choose a Toshiba CIX1200 system and avoid systems that may not have been the...
- Tags: Phone, Reseller, IP, Toshiba Corp., Telecom & Utilities, Network Technology, Networking, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-22
- SAN selection experience and decision: EMC AX4
- With a Dell MD1000e blade chassis in place, Scott Lowe turns his attention to storage. EMC's AX4 was the winner in the shootout. Other vendors including NetApp, Dell, EqualLogic, LeftHand and Compellent were considered. For the midmarket, the AX4 should be on anyone's short list. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Capacity, Controller, EqualLogic, SAN, EMC Corp., EMC AX4, LeftHand, Compellent, AX4 Solution, Feature Set, Storage, Storage Area Networks (SAN), Storage Management, Hardware, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-18
- Installing System Center Essentials 2007 for midmarket IT shops
- For the monitoring, system management, and software deployment side of the house in a mid-sized company, Microsoft offers System Center Essentials 2007. Here we walk through a sample installation and talk about the features. by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Information Technology, Installation, SQL, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft IIS Server, SCE 2007, Figure C Prerequisites, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Servers, Databases, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Enterprise Software, Data Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-17
- Dell M1000e: Lessons learned
- Previously, I discussed the process I went through to make a decision on some new elements for my network and server infrastructure at Westminster College. I purchased an EMC AX4 SAN to complement a new Dell M1000e blade chassis filled with seven M600 servers. Here's how it's working out. by...
- Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Blade, iDRAC, Blade Servers, Utility Computing, Ethernet, Servers, Hardware, Networking, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-12
- Business Process Improvement - The project begins
- In this second post about a process improvement initiative at Westminster College, Scott Lowe responds to some of the thought-provoking comments left by TechRepublic readers in the first post. The project is underway, so read on! by Scott Lowe
- Tags: Process, Business Process, Operational Planning, Business Operations, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-06-12
- Asterisk: Good choice for a large project?
- Last year, my department was granted the auspicious task of handling the campus telephony services at Westminster College. The existing phone system is a Nortel Meridian switch. The system is rock solid and has a good feature set, but it's not inexpensive at all to maintain or extend....
- Tags: Phone, Nortel Networks Corp., Avaya Inc., Asterisk, Telecom & Utilities, VOIP, Telecommunications, Networking, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-05-30
- Business Intelligence, Business Process Improvement and more
- There are a ton of buzzwords out there: IT/business alignment (I hate this term, by the way), business intelligence, business process improvement, and the list goes on... and on. Moving forward, I will become intimately familiar with these buzzwords as well as the meaning behind them. A...
- Tags: Business Process, Information Technology, Payroll, Pricing, Business Intelligence, Tools & Techniques, Strategy, Marketing, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Management, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-05-30
- Need it quick? Use a virtual appliance to get up and running in no time
- I've been on a virtualization kick lately in my blog postings. It's common knowledge now that virtualization can be used to solve all sorts of problems from server sprawl to availability to world peace. However, virtual machines have the pesky drawback that you still need to do actual work...
- Tags: Appliance, VMware Inc., Virtual Machine, Scott Lowe
- Blog posts 2008-05-27
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