Does the Technology Really Matter?

Does the technology really matter in today's world? Basically computer systems just work today, cell phones work almost anywhere now and with our mobile devices we are getting all of our office communications now while we are out and about. So does the technology matter? All the information flowing through cyberspace, through the airwaves, down the copper, does it matter how it gets to its destination?

For the small business owner who is attempting to crack into an emerging market with a breakthrough product, the answer maybe a plain old - NO. As a small business owner myself, when I want to make a phone call for example, I simply pick up the handset and expect a dial tone. Dial my ten or eleven digits and strike up a conversation with my party at the other end. How my voice enters the phone system and comes out the ear piece at the other end is not important to me. The intelligence going over the technology is what matters. In the end, the fulfillment of the required and desired task is what matters. "The technology itself is required to assist and enhance the fulfillment process," states Zak McKracken, a Managed Services consultant in Australia.

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Owners of small businesses are turning to features and benefits over the actual technology. We find that a benefit of working from home to catch up on loose ends when it is convenient is a great selling feature to emerging technologies like SSL VPN, where ease of use and security are important requirements to the overall benefit of working remotely. However, the technology needs to have a tremendous level of "ease of use" attached to it. Small Businesses do not want complicated steps that many small business IT consultants believe is necessary to properly secure a network for remote access, for example. The technology needs to be simple and effective or the small business owner will never invest in it.

The shift in the SMB consulting community needs to change. As Dave Sobel of Evolve Technologies in Washington, DC states, "I sell value, not technology". This is what small business owners are looking for in today's strong economy. But businesses today are still cautious on where they will invest their technology dollars. They require a solution that provides everything they need, it must be affordable and it has "to work better than predicted," says Amy Babinchak of Harbor Computer Services, a Microsoft MVP in Security. Solutions need to have value: be full of benefits and provide the business owner with a tool to assist them in performing their tasks and services and to be competitive in the marketplace. Small businesses do not have endless IT budgets, so they need to do more with less. They need reliable solutions that work, without paying through the nose for IT support services.

Small business owners today are too busy trying to stay a step ahead of their competition to worry about computer systems. Those who do focus efforts on their systems may have to re-evaluate their business when they realize that they just wasted a whole year setting up a server and workstations instead of focusing on their product offering to the market. Small Business owners who try to do their own technology end up in a trap because they focus so much effort on their own systems that they lose the perspective of their real business function.

IT Consultants have been preaching in their communities "that they should become trusted advisors to their customers," states Doug Geary of GearyTech in Toronto. "When you find yourself in that position, you will find the brand/flavour of your recommendations is mostly meaningless." This is true despite the argument of many IT consultants. To a small business owner, it doesn't matter if a server has SATA, SCSI or SAS drives, they just need to be able to store their information securely, reliability and most importantly with zero downtime. We see many technology focused consultants putting all their attention on the specifications of a server for example, "the RAM is this fast, the drives spin a 15,000 RPM, and RAID 5 means this." Doesn't matter! Can the server you are recommending meet their goals? If the answer is yes, then you have done your job.

Where does the technology matter then? It matters to the IT consultant who is working on building out the solution. It matters to the people that have to support it. It doesn't really matter to the business owner. They want to have someone who is reliable, trustworthy and most important available when they need that team or person to take care of it. Today's business owner puts a lot of trust in IT companies to provide them with a solution that will meet their needs and then they must be able to support it, and if they are not around down the road for some reason, someone else needs to step in and support it without rebuilding or going through a tremendous learning curve.

The actual technology only matters to the IT company. They are the ones that need to learn it inside and out, they are the ones that need to stay ahead of the technology curve and have the ability to inform their clients when new solutions are available to make the business owner's life easier and/or more profitable.

So what is important to the business owner? It just has to work, when they need it, always. Benefits to their business are very important and features and "nice to haves" round it out. Business owners like mainstream, well known solutions. They want what their peers have because they saw it at the gym, lunch or out on the golf course. When they ask for it, it is because they saw their peers with it, and maybe it is a solution that allows his/her friend to work from home three afternoons a week or go to a school event and still have information from the business coming to them when they are away from the office. It is not the job of the IT consultant to discourage the technology, it is the job of the consultant to embrace it and provide it. Many times I see business go elsewhere simply because the company was ill equipped to adapt to the client's changing needs or request, and the competitor could.

Does the Technology Really Matter?

Why Did I Ever Get Into Business For Myself? Dealing With The Why Factor!

Have you ever stopped and thought about why you got into business? What was the driving force behind your decision to lose the security blanket of having a regular paycheck, benefits and regular vacations? Do you lay awake at night, worried about how you are going to feed your family, the unresolved client issues, or just the stress of an employee upsetting one of your best clients? These are some of the questions entrepreneurs ask themselves on a regular basis when trying to figure out why they ever got into business for themselves.

When I decided it was time for me to take the plunge, and start my own IT consulting business, it was after many years of procrastination. My best clients encouraged and told me I had what it took. I knew I was ready when I experienced several nights of upset stomachs from worry. I was lacking the challenges that sparked my excitement in the position I held, so I invited a couple of other highly qualified technical experts, whom I trusted, to assist me with the business and we were off and running. I am an entrepreneur now at heart and always looking for the next opportunity.

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Many business owners, are just like it is stated, in the E-Myth book by Michael Gerber and are always the constant technician. The reason they decided to get into business for themselves is because they figured out since they had a great technical skill or understood their jobs inside and out, it was a no brainer for them to attempt starting a business. They quickly learn there is more than doing the work. There are worries like getting clients, sending out invoices, doing taxes and account collections. All these are things new business owners do not truly forecast when they start out. When you stay in the technician role, you will never experience the true independence and flexibility entrepreneurial business owners are lucky to have.

Passion is one of the most important things an entrepreneur can have! With a true passion for your business, success will have a better chance of landing on your lap. I have met many business owners who do not have a passion for their business. I get the sense it is just a job to them. They are not free to practice vision exercises, risk analysis or just have fun in their business. "I enjoy teaching people how to live longer. I love seeing peoples' health improve" states Magnus Mulliner of MT Energie.

In my old role, I was just a regular IT Consultant; I wasn't the best technical person in the company. However, I possessed a great skill of being able to talk to clients in a simple language they understood, without confusing them with TLA's or other technical jargon. This skill, combined with a technical understanding, led to increased sales, revenues and an ever increasing client base. The sales game came to me without much effort and it is the area of the company I am truly passionate about. The joy of seeing a client succeed or strike a huge find knowing the technology or solutions my Company put into place (or assisted them with), is truly amazing!

Many business owners quickly realize they need vision to grow their businesses. After a few years of being in business for myself, I realized it was time for me to steer the ship instead of rowing it. You can hire the rowers. I found all of my rowers were much better rowers than I could ever be, and my ship would move ahead much faster. With this new momentum in place, the ship just needs to be guided.

Having the ability to constantly improve my own education, having the freedom to do the things I like to do and understanding I am totally accountable for my own results is very powerful. It is important entrepreneurs learn to delegate the tasks they do not enjoy doing or are not good at and concentrate their efforts on what they do well and enjoy doing. This will guarantee results in your business. "Ownership has its privileges" states Ernie Sherman, President of Ottawa's Harris Computer Services.

When I asked other small business IT business owners and entrepreneurs if they would ever do this again, they all said YES. Some would continue in the same business line and others would move into something totally different like "buy a resort on a lake" says Doug Geary of GearyTech Inc, a Toronto based Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner.

Why Did I Ever Get Into Business For Myself? Dealing With The Why Factor!

Designing Small Business Computer Network - What Should You Do?

Basically designing small, medium, or enterprise class computer networks are principally similar. You need to design your private network infrastructure to provide the availability and reliability of network resources; network security system to protect your network resources against any types of threats, and secure global communication system. Small business computer network should include these three aspects: the private network; the end-point security system for internet threats protection; and a secure way in providing system communication with global internet.

For example, in your business network you need to provide database application to support your finance management, and an email server to support your business communication, you allow authorized users to connect via internet from homes, or probably you need to link other branch offices via WAN cloud connection. Dig as much information as possible before designing your small business network. The following lists some areas you probably need to implement in your design.

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Software Applications

You need to drill down the requirements each of the main element of your core business needs. For example, you need a database application to support your finance management. What application software to purchase, contact the vendor and ask them to provide a presentation about their product and see if their product can meet your finance need. How critical your application to support your business will be, if you don't accept any downtime - you need to provide redundant servers and configure them as failover / failback system. You can dig more information to meet your business need regarding the finance management.

User Account Management

What about user account management? How do you manage the security of your network resources, who can access or deny certain resources and how they can access them? This will help you to design your logical infrastructure need, for example you need to implement Windows server with Active directory (AD) system which should be integrated with your DNS.

With AD infrastructure, you can create group policies that meet your security needs based on different level of user groups. If you implement a Windows server AD, you need to think about how to manage the patches. How all the computers update the Windows patches and other critical security update, will they download the patches direct from the internet or will you deploy a WSUS patches management system? With WSUS, you can manage all the computers within the network to download the Windows update from your WSUS server, not individually download direct from the internet. This will reduce the latency of your internet bandwidth.

Backup System

What about the backup system? How many data file servers are you going to deploy including the Email system? Will you install a tape drive backup system in each of the server or manage all the backup system centrally using Autoloader backup solution? When your business data grows, you need to implement such Autoloader backup system to centrally manage the backup of all the servers to reduce administration and cost overhead.

Network Security

What about endpoint security protection? When you provide the internet access for your users, how can you manage the security? We know that Internet is where all the bad and good things exist. Internet threats such as hackers and malware are evolved all the time to get smarter to detect and penetrate any vulnerabilities of your network system. How can you manage the internet threats, do you have security experts in taking care of your endpoint security system? Probably you need to implement UTM (unified Threat Management) appliance - an-all-in-one solution for your endpoint security system such as SonicWALL NSA 2400 network security appliance.

Email System

What about Email system? Will you manage your own Email system inside your private network? If so, you need to buy a domain name which represents your organization for example Your-Company. Com. You need to liaise with your ISP to host your domain record in their DNS server using one of your public IP address. You need to manage the firewall to allow the email traffic to flow in and out securely based on security policy of your organization.

Collecting data as much as possible regarding your small business computer network requirements is very essential before you can design the infrastructure to provide the availability and reliability of the network resources securely.

Designing Small Business Computer Network - What Should You Do?

What Does a Yellow Light Mean

One of my all time favorite sitcoms was "Taxi" and one of the funniest skits I remember is when Jim Ignatosky went to get his driver's license renewed. If you remember Jim was the taxi driver with the hashish-fried brain. While taking the written portion of his test he became perplexed with the question, "What does a yellow light mean?" He turns to fellow cabbie Bobby Wheeler and whispers, "what does a yellow light mean?" Bobby whispers back, "Slow Down" and Jim in his infinite wisdom whispers back only much slower, "What does a yellow light mean?" Bobby, in frustration whispers back, "Slow Down!" Jim once again only much slower whispers, "What does a yellow light mean?" I believe you get the point. Hopefully you can see that depending on who you are or how you observe a circumstance or event a different set of interpretations can be derived from it.

Yellow lights can also be a metaphor for our lives. Interestingly, when we approach an intersection while driving our car and the light is green we, as would be expected, continue to move through the intersection. The transparency of our thoughts and actions continue unnoticed, our reflective awareness is elsewhere. In other words we don't have to think about what we are doing we just continue on our way. If the light is red we really don't give it much thought either. We apply the brakes and come to a stop all while talking on the cell phone, drinking our coffee, and checking ourselves out in the rearview mirror. There is literally no break in our transparency or habits. We have developed these habits or transparencies as a driver and multi-tasker from our many cultural and social experiences individually and collectively.

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However, when we approach the intersection and the light turns yellow we are forced to make a decision. Do we continue on or come to a stop. There is a break in our transparency and in this case we don't have a lot of time to decide so we react. Our reaction can be the result of what we are experiencing at the moment. If we are late for work we will probably make a different decision than we would if we were witness to an accident just the day before. It could also be the result of a long history of going through yellow lights without incident or the fact that when we were taught to drive our teacher told us to always stop for yellow. After we react our thought processes are broken from the transparency we were previously engaged. We may rationalize our decision to ourselves or say a little prayer if run the yellow and the light turns red before we are through the intersection. Our actions can become altered as well. We may be checking our mirrors to see if a police car observed our decision or take a few deep breaths because of the tension the moment created for us.

Life is very much like this yellow light. We are often faced with life transitions and although we may not have to react quite as quick we are often influenced by recent events. Moreover, from the moment we were born we have been accumulating layers of data, which we use to create habits and transparencies in our lives. When we reach an intersection in life, such as a change, transition, or crisis these historical discourses as well as our moods and emotions, and our physical presence, both biological and postural, influence our decisions.

As long as we our comfortable living in the drift or habits of our life and we are thrown no curve balls then life is good. However, what happens when we get tired of our transparency or we want to break free to follow our desires? Perhaps we receive some bad news like the loss of a loved one or for that matter we receive some good news like a promotion at work but we must move to another city. Well the fact is our discourses, moods, habits, old tapes, programming, and a host of other roadblocks collide with our desires to either break free or remain in our transparency.

The key is to first understand that this is normal and second we do not have to be slaves to our reactions. By discovering and developing our life's purpose and proactively working on our language, moods and emotions, and physical presence we can create and expand our future possibilities. We grow through learning. The answer lies in our desire to learn. By learning I do not mean knowing things or gaining more information, learning is about forming new interpretations and entering into new conversations in order to see and take different actions in your life. Ask yourself the question, "What does a yellow light mean?" If you are tired of the same old answer give me a call, let's have a conversation!

What Does a Yellow Light Mean

Myspace Blocked at School - Unblock Myspace

Are you sick of being monitored like you are 10 years old? Does your school block access to Myspace, Facebook, Hi5, and other social networking sites? It used to be that when they blocked Myspace you would just start using Facebook or Hi5, but now they are blocking all social networking sites and this is just wrong. This happens at High Schools, Colleges, Universities, and even in public libraries. Is Myspace blocked at school - Unblock Myspace with these two tricks.

First, there is a very simple way around the Myspace block and it will work for Facebook, Hi5, and any other site you want to gain access to. This will not work at every school, but there is another way if it does not work. The simple method is to use an alternate web browser. You see, most schools and libraries will have set up the privacy settings on Internet Explorer and they will not effect other browsers. This means you may be able to log into Myspace from Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or another Internet Browser.

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Give this a try first and if it does not work, then there is another method that will work for everybody.

second, you can use what is called a proxy server. These are sites that will make it look like you are browsing on the internet to you, but to your school it will not even appear that you are on their servers. This is a great way to bypass any blocked site and get access anyway. Of course, this was dreamed up by some computer geek and that is why it works so well. They want to block you from Myspace, Facebook, Hi5 and other websites, then you can fight back with a proxy sever.

You will have to sign up and most are free, but some will require a small fee. Once you have signed up you will be able to type in the URL of whatever site you want to go to and access it through their server instead of the school's server. This even keeps the site from being stored in the history of the computer so your school will never know.

Myspace Blocked at School - Unblock Myspace

To configure a Windows NTP Network Time Server

Time synchronization on your computer is very important in modern computer networks, precision and time synchronization in many applications, particularly time-critical transactions. Imagine buying a ticket, only to be told at the airport that the ticket was bought twice because it was later on a computer with a slower clock sold!

Modern computers internal clocks called Real Time Clock chips (RTC) must provide the date and time information. ThisChips in battery, so that even during a power outage, they can get the time to keep, but personal computers are not insured for the perfect watch. Its design is optimized for mass production and low cost, rather than by exact time.

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For many applications this is very appropriate, though often machines need time to communicate with other computers on the network and when computers are not in tune with each other problems arise as the network files are synchronizedor in some environments even fraud!

Microsoft Windows 2000 includes a time synchronization tool in the operating system called Windows Time (W32Time.exe) that are configured as a network server can be used to build. Microsoft and others are strongly advised to configure a time server with a hardware source rather than on the Internet, where there is no authentication.

If you need to configure the Windows Time service to use the internal hardware clock, then first check thatw32time is in the list of system services in the registry to verify:

Click Start, Run and type regedit and click OK.

Click the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Time

We strongly recommend that you back up the registry can cause serious problems if you edit the registry, the changes to the registry at your own risk.

At the startup configuration for an internal clock, click onthe following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right pane of ReliableTimeSource mouse, then click Edit.

Edit in DWORD Value, type 1 in the Value field, then click OK

Close the Registry Editor

To start the Windows Time Service click Start, Run (or alternatively the system prompt).

Type: net stop w32time & & net start w32time

Then press Enter.

To reset the local computers'Time, following on all computers except the time server which must not be synchronized with itself:

w32tm-s

Configured to use the Windows Time service to an external source, click Start, Run and type regedit then click OK.

Locate the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right pane, right-click Type then click Modify, in edit mode value of the type NTP in the Value data box, click OK.

Now, inReliableTimeSource click the right pane, then click Edit.

In the Edit DWORD Value, type 0 and click OK.

Right click NtpServer in the right pane, click Edit.

In Edit Value, type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique.

Now click on OK.

For Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, you must configure the time correction settings to do this are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right paneRight on MaxAllowedClockErrInSecs, then change the Edit DWORD Value, type a time in seconds to get the maximum number of seconds between the local clock and the time from NTP servers to new, valuable time.

Click OK.

To find the polling intervals:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right pane, right-click the period, and then click Edit.

In the Edit DWORD Value, type24 OK

Close the Registry Editor

Click Start, then Run and type the following and press Enter:

Net stop w32time & & net start w32time

To reset the local computer time, the following on all computers except the time server which must not be synchronized with itself:

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is an Internet protocol for the transfer of accurate time using time together and provides information so that you can get a precise time

To enableNetwork Time Protocol, and click NTPServer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer

In the right pane, click Enabled, and then click Edit.

Edit DWORD Value, type a value below, then click OK.

Now you go back and click on

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersNtpServer

Pane, right-click NtpServer, then change the Edit DWORD Value Type DataPane, right-click NtpServer, and then change the Edit DWORD Value data, type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique and 0x1 must be attached to the end of each DNS name otherwise changes are not effective.

Now click on OK.

Locate and click on the following

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClientSpecialPollInterval

In the right pane of SpecialPollInterval mouse, then click Edit.

In EditDWORD Value, under Value, enter the number of seconds to click for each poll, ie 900 will poll every 15 minutes, and then click OK.

To configure the time correction settings, locate:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

Pane, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, then change the Edit DWORD Value box, under Base, click Decimal value, enter a time in seconds as 3600 (one hour), then click OK.

Now go back andClick:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

Pane, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, and then click Edit.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Base, click Decimal, under Value data type the time in seconds that you want to survey as 3600 (polls in 1 hour)

Close the Registry Editor

Now restart the Windows Time service, click Start, then Run (or alternatively the system command prompt) and type:

net stop w32time & & net startw32time

And one on each computer, with the exception of the server time:

W32tm / s

And this is your time server should be operated.

To configure a Windows NTP Network Time Server

Secure Computer Network Remote Access Options For Teleworkers

There are numerous benefits to providing members of your organization or business with reliable, secure and feature rich remote access options. The term "teleworker" refers to an alternative worker model that accommodates employees that mostly work from home or are always on the go. Remote access options come in many flavors. Listed below are some of the most common secure remote access solutions in use today.

A virtual private network or VPN connection provides a secure link from a remote location back to the main office. A firewall, multi-purpose router, dedicated VPN appliance or a server operating system that includes VPN support would be installed and configured at the main office location to provide a VPN termination point for remote clients. Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are common protocols used by VPN services to provide encryption and security for remote access connectivity over the internet.

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So how do teleworkers connect? In most cases, a VPN connection is initiated through either software residing on the computer or a hardware based client. Operating systems from Microsoft (XP, Vista, and Windows 7) include built-in VPN connectivity support. Cisco, SonicWALL, Netgear, Fortinet and numerous other vendors of VPN products all offer client and clientless (sometimes also referred to as thin client) based VPN connectivity options. Clientless VPN connectivity is usually established through your web browser utilizing a small active x control or java applet in combination with SSL to create a secure connection to the main office. A hardware based VPN client is usually a router that is able to establish a dedicated secure connection back to the home office.

Once a secure remote connection is in place, teleworkers can access whatever resources are explicitly made available. The most common application and resource delivery method is usually through a server or desktop remote terminal session. Remote desktop connectivity provides the "as if you were sitting there in the office" experience. Server based remote session services allow for numerous users to connect to a single server all at the same time. A desktop computer that allows remote sessions is generally one to one.

Secure remote access from home or while on the road can help to foster greater productivity and efficiency. Moving to a virtual office teleworker employee or associate model also has the added benefit of potential cost savings as the need for traditional centralized office space lessens.

Secure Computer Network Remote Access Options For Teleworkers

SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) Rating

SonicWALL has always come up with different products on the market to help organizations and companies in the realization of a better way. For a variety of products the company has SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) has been great since its inception and expects even better in the near future. In an organization, the various tasks and the task of administrative units is the most critical. If there is no coordination, nothing can be achieved byCompany as a unit. For the administration of the Global Management System, a company can. However, the problem is, without knowledge of the features and benefits that would not be able to understand the importance of the product.

With the help of a SonicWALL Global Management System, is a company of different things. First, it is used by companies to use SonicWALL Anti-virus and anti-spyware with ease. These days, one of the best products that can be used asFirewall SonicWALL TZ 170 can count GMS is in the form of software or hardware of its adaptability. GMS can be viewed centrally as a virtual application that helps in the distribution of other products. Other goals for the GMS, which is used by many companies to monitor and manage the working class of all SonicWALL devices used by a company. With the help of the Global Management System, organizations can create reports and focused on the jobCost of using multiple security applications of the company. Many think it is only for companies that have multiple locations, but this is not the case, be used in real time. Companies that work in a place you can use, and they do their job more efficiently.

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Well, if you want to have some knowledge of SonicWALL's Global Management System (GMS): features and benefits that will be in the right direction. The first thing to enjoy while you can GMS is strictlyIntegration. With the help of various tools in the service, administrators have a strict eye on security policies and ensure that no injuries. In addition, it is easier to disturb the settings of different devices without the other, to set up in the same area. All in all, we can say that the administrator has to update a number of other plants and not be disturbed by it.

It 'true that SonicWALL Global asset management bidsAdvantages, but despite this fact, the price that is offered by the company to be much less. If you pay by the number of services than the price for it, you can see that the product is worth it. Other advantages of GMS is a comprehensive reporting. It is easy to generate reports on various security issues and then analyze them for further improvements. With this company a product that can handle various other events held in the office without much time and effortForce. For further assistance, contact SonicWALL support and obtain the desired information with ease.

SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) Rating