UCG IT Resource Center

Articles Of Interest

Flash Storage Is Table Stakes For Any IBM i Cloud

By Andrew Johnson, CTO and David Fahrenkrug, CIO, Focal Point Solutions Group

After a long wait, the IBM i market is finally entering the true cloud era, one where utility pricing, performance, flexible capacity, and managed services are all available for companies running the IBM i operating system and RPG, Java, PHP, and sometimes COBOL applications against the Db2 for i relational database.

But there are clouds, and then there are things that should not rightly be called a cloud.

Security Awareness Article

The Security Awareness Of People Is The Important Firewall In IT

by John Fehr, CISSP, M.S, BBA

Your company can have the best firewalls, the best intrusion detection and protection systems, and the best sensors and filters all wrapped around the IT organization. Your company can have the IBM i platform, legendary for its rock-solid security, locked down with the tightest security, and everyone can change their strong passwords frequently. Your company can have administrators using tools to monitor exit points and the Integrated File System that can be a breeding ground for viruses. Your company can have firewalls and antivirus software installed on every desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone that comes in contact with your infrastructure.

And yet, all it takes to get around all of that sophisticated – and expensive – security is for one employee, during a busy few seconds, to be distracted and then click on something nefarious during a phishing attempt.

Security Awareness Article

Managed Cloud Saves Money By Cutting System And People Overprovisioning

by Ron Venzin, CEO, Focal Point Solutions Group

For most IBM i shops in the world, a unit of compute, storage, or networking on a cloud or a unit of time for a skilled IT specialist is always going to cost more than what it costs to have such talent in house. And so, you would think, putting an IBM i system in the cloud and managing all aspects of that system will always cost companies more money, right?

Wrong.

IT Jungle Managed Cloud Article

With IBM i Security, You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

by Ron Venzin

Our philosophy is that every single company running the IBM i platform needs to have security, and for the vast majority of them, this will mean having a managed security service by an expert team put together by a company like Focal Point. We know what you do not know, and we are putting together a portfolio of security services, using well-established tools in the IBM i space, to remotely manage the security of the applications and data that are vital to your company.

We make this really easy, and affordable. And we can do it now.

IBMi security article

Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

by Matt Paterini

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

iBMI Hosting do the Math

Navigating an Unprecedented Situation

Consolidated infrastructure helps Concordance Healthcare Solutions meet customer demands.

Concordance Case Study

Small Businesses are Increasingly the Target of Cyberattacks

Small and mid sized businesses are being targeted more often by ransomware attacks. Learn what you can do to protect your company from cybercriminals.

IBM Magazine Small Business Cyber Security Article

IT Jungle: Survey Paints a Picture of IBM i Community, Product Usage

The folks behind the All 400s website have published the first results of an online survey that seeks to illuminate the state of the IBM i community, ranging from possible plans to migrate off the platform to third-party product preferences. The first 400 people have taken the 25-question survey, and the results may surprise you.

IBM Magazine POV Article

LIFTING THE CLOUD of Terminology Confusion

Business partners can lead the effort for uniform definitions for common cloud terms.

IBM Magazine POV Article

VAULT400 Smooths Industrial Equipment Manufacturer’s Global Consolidation Path

With operations in 12 countries, Eriez understands the importance of running a disciplined business. But until recently one aspect of its IT operations fell just a trifle short of world-class: data backup.

Eriez Global Consolidation

UCG’s Newest Sales Executive Took an Unconventional Path to Success

Career-changing encounters can happen in the strangest places. For Matt Paterini, it was in a barber chair.

UCG's Newest Sales Executive Took an Unconventional Path to Success

SECURITY Awareness and the HUMAN Firewall

Between 20 and 45 percent of employees are deceived by email ploys. A single click on a malicious site can compromise the entire corporate network. Organizations can take the following five steps to protect themselves from disaster.

Security Awareness and the Human Firewall

Soft Sciences Visible at UCG Technologies

Changing A Brand. It takes 20 years to build a brand, and five minutes to ruin it. But for a company like UCG, a re-branding can tell the story of how the company has evolved. - Michael DeAloia, Tech Czar Talk

IBM i Cloud Backup & DRaaS

How MSPs Fail Their Clients

In one phishing test UCG Technologies conducted for a retail client, nearly 50% of employees clicked on a fraudulent email. The good news is that a little education can drastically reduce susceptibility to phishing and spoofing attacks. Customers should ask any prospective MSP partner about what they do to address the human side of security.

IBM i Cloud Backup & DRaaS

Which Nine States Have the Most Dangerous Weather? This List Might Surprise You

While hurricanes cause their share of destruction, the nine states on this list are mostly inland. Tornadoes, floods and extreme heat are some of the factors that make them so dangerous. Disaster recovery planning is important for any business, but particularly if you live here.

Dangerous Weather Cloud Backup

The Rising Cost of Security Breaches and the 4 Things You Should Do to Defend Your Business

The average cost of a cyber-attack has risen to $3.8 million and the cost of dealing with breaches has risen 23% over the past two years. It’s also taking businesses longer than ever to detect attacks. This research report will help you better understand attacker motivations and what you can to do best defend yourself.

Cost of Security Breaches

VAULT400

Ransomware Epidemic Hits Epic Proportions, And IBM i Shops Take Notice

The ransomware outbreak hit home for millions of Americans last week when attackers shut down a major East Coast pipeline as well as a hospital network on the West Coast. For IBM i shops, the events are a potent reminder to re-evaluate network security and data protection systems to ensure they’re resilient from attack.

IBMi Ransomware Article

UCG VAULT400 Solution Overview

Your organization needs to be thinking differently about your backup & disaster recovery strategy

UCG VAULT400 Solutions Overview

Compliance for Healthcare Organizations

UCG’s VAULT400 Cloud Backup & DRaaS backs up your core systems, networked environments, and mobile devices wherever they are, and no matter how complex and provides you with data protection that helps assure compliance with HIPAA.

UCG Healthcare Technical Brief

Teck Case Study

How a Single Solution Solves Multiple Backup and Recovery Challenges for Canada’s Largest Mining Company

From Tape to Cloud

From Tape To Cloud

The journey to efficient backup has reached heightened urgency due to fallout from COVID-19. React quickly to this “new normal” by re-assessing risks and ensuring that detection, response, and mitigation efforts are aligned accordingly.


This report highlights the top five reasons why businesses are leaving tape technology and moving to the cloud for data protection.

From Tape to Cloud

Data Sheet: IBM i Cloud Backup & DRaaS the Way You Want It

UCG Technologies specializes in IBM Power Systems (IBM i) and protects all platforms from 10GB to over 100TB. Mix and match your ideal combination of cloud backup, hybrid cloud and private cloud services across 22 state-of-the-art data centers in the U.S. and Canada.

UCG Enterprise Cloud Backup, DR, & H/A

How Long Does It Take to Recover? Here’s One Customer’s Experience

This timeline breaks down actual recovery times for one of our IBM i Cloud Backup and DRaaS customers. It’s a useful guide for your own planning.

DR Recovery Timeline

Best Practices for Doing IBM i Cloud Backup and DRaaS Right

In the technology business for 30 years including a decade in cloud backup and disaster recovery, we've learned a few things along the way. Here are best practices to follow - and land mines to avoid.

Cloud Backup Best Practices

UCG's Top 10 ways to work smarter, faster and reclaim your time with IBM i Cloud Backup & DRaaS from UCG Technologies

There is a difference between cloud backup, disaster recovery, and high-availability services. Learn the 10 ways UCG Technologies is unique.

UCG Top 10 ways to work smarter

Enterprise Security Training

KnowBe4 Modules – Platinum Program

KnowBe4 Modules

UCG KB4 Executive Summary

Focal Point UCG KB4 Executive Summary

UCG KB4 Security Awareness Data Sheet

Focal Point UCG KB4 Executive Summary

UCG KB4 Executive Summary

Focal Point UCG KB4 Executive Summary

Security Awareness Training: What You Need to Know

For many companies, the greatest cyber security threat is the unintentional mistakes of their own employees. Kevin Mitnick’s Security Awareness Training Course is constantly updated to keep you in the know about the latest threats and best defenses.

Focal Point UCG Security Awareness Training

Complex Password Guide

Creating a strong password to protect your account is very important. Here are some tips on how to make complex passwords for your accounts.

Creating a complex password

Cybercrime Happens Way More than You Think

Large-scale cyberattacks make the news, but that’s just he tip of the iceberg. Cybercrime is on the rise, and the majority of attacks go unreported.

Cybercrime Happens

Email Security Best Practices

Security breaches often occur through email scams. Here are things to look for in your inbox.

Email security best practices

Ransomware: What You Need to Know; How to Protect Yourself

Ransomware can take different forms, causing many different types of threats and damage. In its most common form, criminals use it to threaten to prevent access to critical data and systems and/ or to release sensitive data unless a ransom has been paid. Learn more by reading the updated KnowBe4 Ransomware Hostage Rescue Manual.

Focal Point UCG KB4 Ransomware Hostage Rescue Manual

Ransomware Checklist

A response and prevention checklist with a detaled list of actions to prevent an attack or respond quickly if you encounter a ransomware attack.

Focal Point UCG KB4 Ransomware Checklist

Ransomware Infographic

Ransomware information and statistics.

Focal Point UCG KB4 Ransomware Infographic

What’s your weakest security link? The Answer Might Surprise You

Email addresses published on the Internet are a prime vector for phishing attacks. Most companies don’t even know which email addresses are exposed. KnowBe4 can find them all. Learn how.

Which emails are esposed to Phishing Attacks

23 Red Flags of Social Engineering

Is that email, legitimate or a phishing attack? Learn the most common warning signs of social engineering in this one-page poster that should be on everyone’s office wall.

Social engineering red flags

How Phishing-Prone is Your Organization?

More than 100,000 new malware variants are logged each day, along with millions of spear phishing emails. Piecemeal approaches to security awareness training aren’t enough. Our program uses immersive education and regular test attacks to keep people in the know.

Which employees are phish prone?

Phishing by Industry Benchmarking Report

KnowBe4, the world’s largest Security Awareness Training and Simulated Phishing platform, has helped tens of thousands of organizations reduce their vulnerability by training their staff to recognize and respond appropriately to common scams. To help companies evaluate their PPP and understand the implications of their ranking, KnowBe4 conducts an annual study to provide definitive Phish-Prone benchmarking across industries.

Phishing by industry report

State of Employee Compliance Training

Challenges to maintaining compliance abound, but organizations simply cannot afford to ignore this important work. At the very least, employees need to know the basics of whatever regulations and standards their organization must abide by.

Employee Compliance Training

Obtaining and Maintaining Executive Support for Your Security Awareness Training Program

We won’t sugarcoat it: executive support can make or break any program within your organization (security-related or otherwise). No support means no budget, no resources, no prioritization. In other words: no program.

Maintaining Executive Support

Building a Security Awareness Program to Help Defend Against Cyber Extortion and Ransomware

Cyber extortion is listed as one of the top worries by cybersecurity professionals throughout the world, with good reason. Ransomware gangs have attacked tens of thousands of organizations from small to very large, brought down hospitals, pipelines, police stations and even entire ports.

Security Awareness

Whitepaper: How to Transform Employee Worst Practices Into Enterprise Best Practices

The press can’t get enough of corporate data breaches. They delight in showcasing the latest horror story about a business that lost massive amounts of private records or millions in revenue to the latest hack. You could be next.

Security Awareness

IBM Power Systems

IBM Power E1080: Engineered for agility

IBM Power10 generation of servers is designed to make technology consumption a frictionless experience. With Hybrid Cloud Credits, enterprises can procure pay-per-use capacity that can be deployed across Power Private Cloud and Power Virtual Server co-located with IBM Cloud. The architectural consistency across these environments gives the flexibility to deploy where you want and when you want without requiring additional middleware or application refactoring.

E1080 Datasheet

IBM Power E1080 Facts and Features: Enterprise systems with Power10 Processor Technology

Enterprise systems with Power10 Processor Technology. Download the PDF for a comprehensive overview of the Facts and Features of IBM Power E1080

E1080 Facts and Features

IBM POWER9 System Facts and Features

Here are all the facts and figures you need to know about the highly scalable, Big Data-optimized, cloud-read Power Systems line of enterprise processors from IBM

IBM POWER9 System facts and features

Why the IBM POWER9 S914 Server is the Ideal Open Platform for Midsized Business Solutions

Built on the IBM POWER9 processor with built-in acceleration, flash storage and multithreaded application support, the IBM POWER9 S914 server provides a secure architecture and stable platform for mission-critical applications.

IBM Power Systems S914

IBM POWER9 SYSTEM: The Perfect Platform for UNIX, IBM i and Linux Workload Consolidation

Built to optimize IBM AIX and IBM I workloads, these new systems deliver unmatched price performance and superior response time for sorting and querying big data sets, compared to competing solutions built on an x86 architecture.

IBM POWER9 SystemsS924

IBM Power Systems Questionnaire

To receive a no-obligation cost analysis, click on System Upgrade below, complete the questionnaire, save, and email it to info@ucgtechnologies.com. If you have multiple LPARS and › 1.5TB of disk, please download and activate our complimentary copy of Performance Navigator.


System Upgrade

IBM Power Systems Questionnaire

UCG Videos

IntellaFLASH™

FPSG has created its own unique enhancement to external storage solutions. With IntellaFLASH™ you can achieve no downtime backups, near Continuous Data Protection (CDP), and DP testing without interrupting production to DR replication no matter what DR Solution you employ. Watch our video to learn more!