Many customers have started to warm to cloud concept. They've heard from peers and cloud vendors that cloud computing solutions are the best method to use resources and minimize costs. So providers need to be ready to meet these customers' needs for cloud-based services and to advise companies that may be interested but need education and guidance from resellers on the right cloud infrastructure and approach.

Today's technology landscape includes more ways than ever to connect in real time.

In addition, more than ever, the information we handle and process is governed and regulated by industry ombudsman or, worse yet, government examiners.

With the mass availability of “as a service” technologies, it is much easier and safer for companies to use technology to save money, become more productive, and build a more competitive future.

These days, almost everyone is cutting back to compensate for the loss of revenue brought about by the economy. Projects are delayed indefinitely, vendors are squeezed, and employees are asked to do more with less. Add to this the speculation of a double dip recession, and businesses of all sizes are hunkering down to cut back even more with "no increased expenses" mandates.

Evolve IP LLC said Tuesday it has raised $8.7 million in capital to fund its expansion plans.

The Wayne, Pa. -based company didn’t say who it raised the money from or whether it’s debt or equity capital.

Evolve provides hosted phone, application, network-management, and security and compliance services to more than 15,000 users at more than 300 companies in 27 states and six countries

One of the worst-kept secrets in the business world is the slow migration to the “cloud. ” That is, applications hosted on the web rather than on a desktop. For example, Gmail is email in the could, Salesforce is sales software hosted in the cloud. Unlike most other new trends in business, this one is actually being led by the big guys

“What makes the cloud different than most disruptive technologies is that there isn’t widespread adoption among small businesses,” says Bill Jefferis, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at Evolve IP. The Wayne-based company – who we profiled last year – earns its living by hosting applications and telephony for businesses.

Every business in the modern world uses technology to communicate. Which means that every business will find itself in need of communication upgrades sooner or later.

At printing services provider ANRO Inc. , IT Director Paul DeSantis tries to keep his company on the cutting edge of phone and Internet service, which helps the nearly 200-employee company serve its customers with optimal efficiency.

As a channel partner, you know that total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis can be an effective tool for selling hosted solutions by showing their value in comparison to on-premises solutions. What you might not know is that many TCO analyses are ineffective because they are incomplete

TCO analysis originated with the Gartner Group in 1987. It is defined as the systematic quantification of all costs generated over the lifetime of a project. The goal of TCO analysis is to determine a figure that reflects the total cost of the investment, including one-time purchases and recurring costs, not just the initial startup costs.

With VoIP now in full maturation, it’s not surprising that many enterprises are making the switch from their PBX environments. In many cases, the changeover can be nearly seamless and nowhere near as difficult as other major changes. Here are some issues and strategies to keep in mind when making the switch.

As the general manager and chief operating officer of Evolve IP LLC, Guy Fardone makes the technological needs of other companies the focus of his business.

His 55-employee communication service solutions company, is based in the Philadelphia area, has assisted many different clients in building telephone and Internet solutions that meet their specific needs as a business.

It's easy to get wrapped up in the planning of doomsday scenarios that might impact your business. However, it's the smaller everyday disasters, such as power or service outages, failed equipment, or lost or corrupted data that are more likely to impact your business' productivity. While major disasters occasionally happen and shouldn't be overlooked, start by preparing for day-in and day-out upsets.

Let's face it, the insurance industry is all about risk, and the management thereof. Companies in this sector have a very high intolerance level for risky business—it's hardwired into their DNA. That's why, when cloud computing comes up in conversations, security and overall reliability pop up very quickly as concerns and, more often than not, are showstoppers.

While cloud communications has emerged as one of the most promising technologies of the past decade, it is easily one of the most misunderstood. And part of that could be because there is no physical technology to see or touch. By nature, cloud communications is a set of tools and services that are available via the Web. The other reason is that the number of services that are available in this manner are nearly infinite.

Evolve IP announced today that OSSmosis, the company's online customer portal, has been named a recipient of the 2009 Product of the Year Awards by Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC(R)) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

Evolve IP today announced that it has achieved SAS 70 and PCI-ASV designations, becoming one of the first Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) providers in the nation to possess both qualifications. These awards represent the latest accomplishments for Evolve IP, as it supports its company-wide quality initiative, and looks for additional ways to build value for its portfolio of business, government, financial services, and education customers.

Evaluating your company's security vulnerabilities is the first step toward preventing costly data losses that could compromise both information and your company's reputation. A so-called ethical hacker could help.

Evaluating your company's security vulnerabilities is the first step toward preventing costly data losses that could compromise both information and your company's reputation. A so-called ethical hacker could help.

It's an easy fantasy to nurture; you land The Big One. That one giant, fat account that will launch your business into the big leagues, put the kids through college and secure an early retirement on that Hans Christian 48-foot sailboat.

In the year 2000 when society was in the midst of realizing how technology and the internet in particular was going to change the world, I noticed there was a need by companies and carriers to better understand the hosted communications space. There were a number of companies with very compelling business models being launched such as Congruency, the early pioneer and leader of the communication ASP movement.

Many companies are taking advantage of new technology to cut costs and enable their organizations to do things faster and better. If any of your business communications systems need to be replaced or upgraded, going virtual and getting them from the cloud can help conserve capital, reduce operating expenses, boost productivity, and mitigate risk.

Going green isn't just for deep-pocketed mega-corporations. Small businesses can also cut their carbon footprints without spending much. In fact, some steps toward conservation can end up saving money on the short term. Smart power management, the use of less paper, and a look into SaaS can all be low-cost or no-cost paths to a greener SMB.

The rise of cloud computing and virtualization is just one reason MPLS-enabled solutions are beginning to stir up more buzz. . . . . .MPLS is hot right now because customers are gaining a better understanding of technology.

Is your business ready to make the move to Voice over IP (VoIP)? While the voice and data industry pundits have been debating this issue and probably confusing you for over 10 years, the answer is simple if you reduce the question to three basic elements. . .

Evolve IP's Carl Herberger says companies should tip their employees off that they will be testing their response to different social engineering schemes. It's just like when department stores are routinely checked by corporate quality assurance personnel, he says. Employees should know that they will be tested and that they won't know exactly when the tests will come.

Money for nothing is great, but it can be hard to come by, which is why Evolve IP has developed a channel program that creates recurring revenue for its partners based on managed services. . .

Managing the security of critical information has proven a challenge for businesses and organizations of all sizes. Even companies that invest in the latest security infrastructure and tools soon discover that these technology-based “solutions” are short-lived.

For modern organizations, data is like snow in a Colorado winter: It just keeps coming. But although snow eventually melts, data can hang around eternally, consuming huge amounts of storage and leaving managers scrambling to find yet another spot to squeeze in more. Huge enterprises with limitless budgets can address data storage simply by keeping everything, but smaller data centers often must be increasingly picky with the data they back up.

For modern organizations, data is like snow in a Colorado winter: It just keeps coming. But although snow eventually melts, data can hang around eternally, consuming huge amounts of storage and leaving managers scrambling to find yet another spot to squeeze in more. Huge enterprises with limitless budgets can address data storage simply by keeping everything, but smaller data centers often must be increasingly picky with the data they back up.

The end of Q4 2008 saw the U.S. economy drop a staggering 6.4 percent, with similar declines coming in the first quarter of this year. Businesses across the U.S. , including here on the Main Line, are now challenged to stay afloat during these turbulent times.
While cost-cutting is certainly the most realistic solution for most businesses today, layoffs and other drastic scalebacks are not the only ways to cut expenses. . .

Communication at one of the country`s leading bakers of snack cakes, pies, cookies, and donuts continued without disruption this spring when it moved to a new corporate headquarters. That`s because Tasty Baking Company (Nasdaq:TSTY) chose to outsource the hosting and management of its voice and data networks to leading Communications as a Service (CaaS) provider, Evolve IP.

Evolve IP, a Managed Technology Service Provider, today announced that Carl Herberger has joined the company as Vice President, Information Security & Compliance Services.

Sometime in 2007, the founders of Wayne-based Evolve IP sat down for a brainstorming session to name their new company. They thought that the name should play off of the concept that business communication services should evolve to the next generation. They believed that business IP services were scattered amongst companies, when most businesses would prefer a single solution.

Always connected. Always on. Always available. Sound great? That depends on your point of view.

It’s impossible to open up the pages of your favorite technology magazine without being inundated by the concept of unified communications (UC). What does the term “unified communications” mean? Frankly, that depends on who offers the definition.

Advanced Personnel Systems’ (APS) has announced that its SmartSearch manpower mining Software as A Solution (SaaS) technology and Evolve IP’s hosted IP Private Branch eXchange
( PBX), were integrated a year ago to provide a joint solution for Intelligent Capital Network (ICN) that resulted in 30 percent monthly saving for ICN’s telecommunications spend.

Advanced Personnel Systems, Inc. (APS) announced completion of a year-long case study showcasing the results of Intelligent Capital Network’s (ICN, formerly known as Human Capital Management) successful integration of Evolved Office, a hosted IP PBX telecommunications solution with SmartSearch, a leading web-based recruiting business application.

Converging voice and data networks into a single packet-switched network that supports both protocols has its advantages, but the various applications that are converging over the network require different degrees of bandwidth and quality. Multiprotocol label switching has distinct advantages over other traditional WAN methodologies.

Cloud computing is coming to small business, and it brings benefits in terms of price and stability. A number of different services, necessary for running a small business, can run as a hosted (cloud) service. We explore the issue in an exclusive Q&A with Scott Kinka, Senior Vice President at EvolveIP.

IT professionals and business owners alike are looking for ways to do more with less in today’s economy. As a result, businesses who have not yet installed a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system or hosted service are now giving it serious consideration.

In the last two issues, we defined exactly what a hosted solution is, how it can potentially benefit your business, and lastly, how to compare the costs of hosted services to in-house equipment and expertise. This installment will focus on the inherent Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) benefits of a hosted model.

Before we do that, however, it is necessary to define exactly what these terms mean and how they differ.

Easy-to-use portal simplifies control over vital communication technologies, including managed telephony, hosted applications, managed networks, and network security

Evolve IP is once again bringing enterprise-class competitive advantages and efficiencies to businesses of all sizes. Today the company unveiled OSSmosis, the first portal to make managing and monitoring vital technology services fast and easy for any size organization. With just a point and click, business and IT managers can get total control of their Managed Telephony, Hosted Applications, Managed Networks, and Network Security services provided by Evolve IP.

Hosted PBX is always about to be the telephony product of the moment, but that moment never seems to arrive. Or is it is already here? A new group of carrier-class offerings provides a hosted option for businesses who require quality but value the off-site nature of the service model.

Evolve IP today revealed that over the past year of offering managed technology services to the business community, it has secured more than 150 business, government, and educational customers, representing over 6,000 total users. During this increasingly challenging economy, large and small businesses have partnered with Evolve IP to reduce their capital expenditures, simplify their vital communication technologies and increase productivity.

2,100,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. That's how much storage-as-a-service capacity will be used by 2012. Expresses in its unabbreviated form, 2.1 exabytes is imposing. But what may be even more remarkable is that it represents 35 percent growth over 2007 capacity, according to recent data from IDC.

Ma Bell certainly would be proud of her staying power. Even in these Internet-driven days, telecommunications continues to play an integral role in the success of most enterprises, and due to telecom’s continuing importance, organizations can benefit greatly if they upgrade their architectures to the latest technology.

When a huge fire broke out four blocks from DVFG Advisors' Conshohocken, Pa. , offices in August, the company was spared the costly telephone and Web access downtime other nearby businesses experienced.

"When I saw the news about the fire, I logged in and everything was OK," says Bo Breneman, vice president of technology. "We never lost connectivity, but other businesses in the area had to send (employees) home because they didn't have a working phone system. "

In our last installment, we focused on defining hosted solutions and detailing the potential benefits to your business. This issue’s installment focuses on the economics of a hosted solution. More specifically, how to evaluate a hosted solution against your current expenses in order to determine the affordability of purchasing IT or Infrastructure services in a hosted or managed format.

Solve Difficulties With These Technologies To Keep Your Communications Infrastructure Humming Along

Despite the popularity of email, messaging, and other data-based technologies, voice remains the communication lifeblood for many small and midsized enterprises. As such, implementation and use of VoIP and UC (unified communications) must remain trouble-free to ensure that employees, clients, customers, and others can stay in touch. These technologies are far from flawless, however, so here’s a look at common problems and how to solve them.

In a dismal economy, technology represents a delicate balancing act for many small-business owners. On the one hand, you want your business to operate at peak efficiency, with the best technology to get the job done quickly at the lowest cost. On the other hand, you might not have money available to buy or update equipment and software. And you certainly don’t want to be overspending to perform tech-related tasks you could get cheaper.

Area information technology companies don’t expect the current economic woes to hit them as hard as the dot-com crash did, but they’re either seeing or expecting some impact.

SAP AG, the German business software giant whose American subsidiary is based in Newtown Square, has imposed a hiring freeze and told employees to curtail travel that doesn’t involve meeting customers.

Managed Technology Provider secures more than 1,000 total users in multi-year contracts.

In just the first 180 days of its managed technology services operations, Evolve IP has achieved the important milestone of more than 100 customer accounts and more than 1,000 users installed. The vast majority of these users have chosen to combine several services from Evolve IP, replacing multiple vendors with a single provider, which demonstrates the value and natural complement within the product and services portfolio, and validates that mid-sized business customers desire to work with a single vendor for their vital communications technologies.

One in 5 Enterprise firms already use managed services for their network and telecommunications needs. Over the next five years the market is expected to reach $4.3 Billion with the majority of that revenue skewed towards companies with fewer than 100 employees. Within this explosive growth, Hosted solutions are expected to take center stage.

Managed WAN networking can help small and mid-sized businesses take advantage of the latest communication technologies and achieve the same level of service as their larger competitors.

Three offices, three different states, 100 employees. They needed a secure, managed wide-area network (WAN) to link them – fast -- and didn’t have the staff to do it themselves, recalls Bo Breneman of DVFG Companies. . .

Company selected as the exclusive “Preferred Provider” of advanced managed telephony, network, security and other services to ETC member companies.

Evolve IP today announced that it has been selected by the Eastern Technology Council as the exclusive “Preferred Provider” of managed technology services to its members, including Hosted PBX, Hosted Microsoft Exchange, Hosted Data Back Up and Recovery, Managed Voice and Data Network Services, Network Security and Compliance Services and other telecommunications services.

Evolve IP today announced it has acquired Lyrio IP Technology Solutions, a well-respected and successful Philadelphia-based provider of IP technology products and services for small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs). The cash and stock transaction further signifies Evolve IP’s plan to combine their strong organic growth with the active pursuit of targeted acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

Wayne’s Evolve IP aims to be the next big thing in business communications.

If the evolution of the workplace telephone were represented in graphics mimicking those of man’s progress from ape to upright-walking, Wii-playing, SUV-driving head of the food chain, it might go something like this: First came the wall-mounted crank phones and their rotary-dialed “candlestick” successors. Then there was the human-manned office switchboard, typically with a female operator. . .

Evolve IP LLC, maker of a hosted applications that helps businesses buy, manage and secure their communications systems, has closed a first institutional round of $15.6 million in equity financing.

Evolve IP, a managed technology provider, has announced that it has successfully closed an equity financing round totaling $15.6 million. This financing represents the largest early stage telecommunications and IT investment in the Philadelphia region in the past seven years.

Move over, Comcast, Verizon and Sprint.

There's a new kid on the block, a telecom start-up with a new technology to manage Internet, voice and data communications, network security and compliance, all in one place.

Evolve IP, with offices in Center City and Wayne, has raised $15.6 million in private equity from well-known local and national private investors.