Understanding the Principles of Domain Names and Web Hosting

You might be completely on top of your game when it comes to your business, yet still have a lot of questions about the internet side of things. Such a dichotomy is not all that bizarre in a world that has only been taken over by the internet in the last ten years. Hearing Larry King mention Facebook and Twitter might be amusing to the audience, but it is rather clear he has no idea what he's talking about. You should know the basics about domain names and web hosting if you are thinking about owning a business.

1. What is a domain name? You don't have to worry too much about this concept, as it is as simple as it gets. The domain name is the name of the website, or its web address. You can think of the big guns in the business world if you want an example. Google's web address is as well known as any could be. The same can be said for eBay and Hotmail. What about ESPN? You might be surprised, but there is a 'go' in between the ESPN and the com. It's a cautionary tale for any business starting out.

2. Why is registration necessary? Have you ever gone to a site and found out that it no longer exists as something about the domain name has expired or lapsed? If so, it will be useful to refer back to that when you want to understand the importance of registration. Like telephone numbers, domain names are actually not owned by the ones using it for a website. They are in effect leased. As long as you keep your site and do what you have to do, it is yours to use. If you don't, you might lose the name.

3. What are all the extensions about? You probably already realize that a dot com is the best way to get your site out there. However the 'dot net' and 'dot biz' extensions are sometimes just as important. You never know whether you could be sideswiped by some upstart you didn't see coming. If you have all the extensions that exist and maintain control of them, it isn't going to happen.

4. What is hosting? To have a physical space where you put things on the internet, you need to take care of the hosting. Getting a web address is a different project. That merely gets you the title to your brand. You register it and you can take it from there. The construction of the website itself can take place when you have a hosting service.

5. Can all of these projects be handled together? If you need the entire roster of things taken care of for your website, there are companies that can handle it. They will register the name, set up hosting, design and launch the website. If you are a bit lacking in the tech department, it could be the answer.

Make a domain name lookup and get started today. Domains and Hosting can all be handled at the Domain Names site. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henry_Cook

Earn On Offshore Web Design and Development

If you have some experience in web site design and want to make good money you can try acting as IT-outsourcing partner. Learn more what you should know and how to start.

Why offshore web design and development?

Offshore web site design and development help to keep prices at least 3-5 times less, for example, average hourly rate of web development services in USA is $35-75; in UK - $25-50, in Ukraine - $5-20.

How it works?

Typical plan is like that:

• You find a client who needs a web site, ask his/her requirements for the project and send to your offshore partner company.
• The partner makes a proposal and gives you the project estimation basing on his hourly rate, for example, $10.
• You mark up the rate $10/hour as high as you wish (and can - taking into consideration competition in your region, level of demand for web design services, and other marketing factors), for example to $30/hour, and sends the proposal to the client. So if the web design project is estimated on 50 man-hours of work, you charge the customer $1500, from which $500 you pay to your offshore partner company, and $1000 is your profit.
• The partner company works on the project and delivers it to you along with copyright for the work.
• You deliver the site to the customer.

Result - you have a satisfied client and good profit from the marked up price.

How to start?

The first and most important step is to analyze market in your region and decide if it's worth to start this business.

If you already have your own web design company it is easier for you because you already know situation in the market, gain certain reputation, have clients list, etc.
But don't be afraid if you are new to web design business. Believe in yourself and work hard and finally you will be rewarded for all your efforts. As in any type of business, starting the one in web design area, you must ask yourself general marketing questions:

1. Who will be your customers?

2. Why they will order the web design services exactly form you?

3. Where and how they will get to know about you?

Without having clear answers to these questions you shouldn't try to start anything.

The second step is to find trustful and reliable partner - offshore web design company - that will work as "development center" for your business. This company must have good experience in web design and development area, good reputation, top level of customer care and communication. There are many resources in the Internet where you can find necessary information - search engines, web design directories, outsourcing portals.

For example, you can try searching in search engines for appropriate key phrases "offshore web design", "offshore web site design", "offshore web development" and analyze sites of your potential partners.

Also here are several sites where you can find lists of offshore web design companies sorted by country.

http://web-designers.bluegeckonetwork.com/

http://www.theoutsourceguide.com/

http://www.1234-find-web-designers.org/

How to choose the right offshore web design partner company?

There are 2 main factors that determine your choice - cost and quality of web design work.

Cost

Basing on the average web design prices in your local market and your competitive abilities you set prices that you will charge to your customers. There are several methods of web design price calculation, most used are flat price for fixed web site packages, and price based on man-hour rate. Most web design companies operate with both and choose one depending on each project type and requirements.

Then you decide which profit you want to have and narrow down your search choosing companies with appropriate price range.

Quality

Consider the company reputation, portfolio of previous works, testimonials of previous customers, level of communication. Pay attention to payment policy and method, conditions of ready projects delivery, warranties, post-development support and maintenance.

If all details are agreed you may start partnership. Sometimes the first project is quite simple to test abilities of both parties and if everything is going well the partnership will bring mutual benefits.

Julia Ramyalg Marketing Director IT-Inventors IT-Inventors is a professional offshore web site design company. We are located in Ukraine and due to local economy we can offer your affordable rate $10/hour for custom web site design and web development services. It's at least twice less than average Western European rates and more than 3 times less than USA rates. We have developed more than 130 projects for dozens of satisfied customers, established strong relations with partners from USA and UK. Services we offer: Custom web site design, E-commerce web site design, Content Management Software [http://demos.it-inventors.com/cms1] integration into existing web sites, Real estate web site design, Flash sites design, Logo design, SEO. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_Ramyalg

Gadget : True Cost of iPad

Though the Apple iPad is so young, it's already a star. The Apple fans have been captivated by the mere idea of the gadget since it even didn't have a name. Actually, they can't be blamed for that, as there's nothing you can object to them. The new gadget is totally beautiful, sleek and offers tons of productivity at your fingertips. You can use it both while lying on the couch or stuffed into the traffic jam. Apple says that the iPad is their most advanced technology at the moment, which can allow you to organize the schedule, surf the Internet, check e-mails, show and arrange pictures, navigate maps, and download content of any kind on-the-go with just two taps of a finger.

All this comes in a sleek package of only 9.5 inches long, half-inch thick and 1.5 pounds weight. As opposed to a smartphone, the Apple device is very convenient for two-hand use. The most importantly, it finally allows you to get by without bringing laptop, newspapers, magazines and books.

The gadget seems to mesmerize not only adults, but also kids, as there were cases when 6-year-olds were ready to give up their Highlights subscription for the iPad itself and perhaps change their candies for the bright iPad case. That's cool, of course, but would it be as cool for your wallet? The cost of using the device doesn't often equal to its sale price. If you understand the level of final costs, it may influence your purchasing intent. Let's run the numbers.

 iPad real cost

First of all, the initial capital outlay should be made. The iPad is currently available in 6 versions starting at $500 up to $830. The price varies depending on storage capacity (like iPods) and also on type of Internet connectivity, which can be either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + 3G mobile broadband (like smartphone). Specifically, support for 3G mobile broadband is a $130 more expensive than Wi-Fi only. The item we opt for is a middle-of-the-road 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, priced at $730 plus tax. Of course, you'll buy some extra accessories for the device, like the iPad case and a connection kit, but it actually depends, so we won't take these expenses into consideration.

In addition, the 3G designation bring in another cost - a monthly data plan, which is sold separately by AT&T. This we will cover too, as that's one of the great things about this gadget - its portability. With this particular iPad and involved costs you'll to be able to go online whenever you like. The plan in question comes in 2 options: limited for $15 p/mo and unlimited for $30 p/mo. To prevent costly overages, we'll opt for the latter, which would cost another $360 per year just to get online.

Then, after e-mail, news and YouTube are covered, you'll note that such incredible 10-inch display is worth being filled with multimedia. Is it better to choose from United Airlines' offer then to take an advantage of the iTunes store right at your fingertips? We'd assume the answer is no. Move to the figures: TV shows are $3 each episode (except classic Star Trek episodes that are free online), while a film rental is $4; while purchase is $15. In average we'd say the user watches a whole season of 12 episodes of TV show per year and about 10 movie rentals. This totals to $76.

The estimations done bring us to the total cost of $730 + $360 + $76 = $1,166. And that's only for one year, which is not the time you would want to keep this device for. Considering an AT&T contract is 2 years, and the user is able to resist the urge to upgrade, then the fair time to keep the gadget is 4 years. They make it $730 + $360*4 + $76*4 = $2,474.

iPad real savings

Figure of almost $2,500 for owning and using the iPad is quite depressive, but there's also the second side of the ledger, assuming that this computing power can actually save you money.

Thanks to the tablet's size and beautiful display, the device will consolidate your magazine and newspaper subscriptions, which is great news for the wallet, at least for now. It can even look like a real book if you zip it into the appropriate iPad case. The matter is that the majority of news companies and magazines publish their articles for free in the Internet. However, the situation can change quickly, but we'll hope for the opposite. Even those titles that don't provide free copies online charge significantly less for digital subscriptions than for printed versions. That's fair for the costs - all they need to cover is copyright, or journalists' work - no printing and no delivery costs. Now let's count. Imagine an average iPad purchaser (of a corresponding level) subscribed to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and Time. The Wall Street Journal costs $119 per year for printed version while the digital one is $103. Then, The New York Times costs $608.40 annually with home delivery, while online is free at the moment (though the newspaper has promised to change prices in 2011). The Economist charges $127 annually with $95 for online version. Finally, Time is $20 in printed and free in the Internet. In a year online access will save you for these 4 publications ($119 - $103) + $608.4 + ($127 - $95) + $20 =$676.4, for the first year at least. Even if The New York Times announces its new pricing, it would most probably not exceed 80% of the printed version cost, or $486.4, thus saving you a hypothetical $122. This will drop the initially suggested savings down to $190, starting from year two.

Besides replacing newspapers and magazines, iPad can also substitute some other devices, so we'll subtract their price from the cost as well, because you won't need them when you get an iPad. Let's start with reading experience. Since iPad is perfect for e-reading, it will replace Amazon Kindle, which is around $260. Also the Apple's gadget can substitute an average Netbook, which is, say, $350. That's another $610 you save in device replacements. Although the device can replace many other gadgets like digital photo frame and day planner, we don't count this because few people use them - the majority uses smartphones as planners, and don't use digital photo frames at all, unless they are taken as a gift and therefore free.

Getting back to the reading experience, it's worth noting that the Apple's latest gadget may replace printed books with Apple thinking over pricing at $10 to $15 for the book depending on its popularity. If you find yourself in a bookstore at a regular basis, buying books at full retail price, this would be quite a saving for you. On the other hand, you might have already discovered Amazon, which prices can be compared to Apple's. In case of using a Kindle, the book price can actually be $3 to $5 less than on the iPad. If you used to purchase around 20 books a year in the shop, it will save you up to $300 annually, but if you preferred a Kindle, that's just a potential extra cost of $100, plus you can't account for Kindle replacement savings since you should have the device already.

This brings up to total annual savings of $676 + $610 + $300 = $1586 or $676 + $350 - $100 = $926 if you were a Kindle user. That's for the first year after purchasing the iPad. The next three add $190*3 + $300*3 = $1470 or $190*3 - $100*3 = $270 for Kindle users.

In total, you would either save $3056 or $1196 in the 4-year time. Not bad, considering that your cost was $2,500.

Cost of Innovation
Those who see the gadget as an investment for their productivity should clearly understand that it's the kind of investment on which they may never see a concise return. But besides money there are some certain things you won't be able to measure in cash, like forgetting about the shoulder ache after carrying your huge laptop over to the airplane. iPad can also save much of you time by providing you the ability to access documents on the fly, and finally, you will never forget the excitement of owning the most popular gadget of this decade.

Please, visit iPad case and iPhone 4 case for the best choice. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Oleg_Shapar

Alienware vs Rockdirect vs Dell : Finding the Best Gaming Laptop

So you want to buy a gaming laptop.

But not just any old gaming laptop, you want to buy the best
gaming machine on the planet, the best gaming machine money can
buy -- the fastest, the most powerful, the ultimate kick-ass,
take no prisoners, meanest motherboard of all gaming laptops.

Well, there's some good news for you, things have really changed
in the laptop world. No doubt you are probably aware there have been
some major developments in laptop construction and technology
in the last year or so. Technology that puts the gaming laptop
on par or near par with its main rival, the desktop PC.

Recent changes in technology have really brought gaming laptops
into the spotlight with a whole list of new Technologies:
PCI Express, Sonoma Chipset, SLI, Hyper-Threading, Dual Graphics,
Better RAM, and now Dual Core gaming laptops. Gaming notebooks are
just now entering the specs and performance arena which was exclusively
reserved for the bulky yet much more powerful desktop PC.

Just in case you have had your head buried in term papers and study
sheets lately -- hey, it happens! Here's a brief rundown of these
new technologies that will give you the fastest gaming laptop:

Graphics Cards: these are the real heart of any gaming machine. They
are getting faster and more powerful. We also see the use of dual
graphics cards and better transfer of data with new pipelines
and buses.

PCI Express: is a new standard for expansion cards that comes in
different versions. Presently, we have the x16 and x1 lanes, they
offer increased bandwidth. For example, x1 lane offers 500MB/sec
instead of just 133MB/sec for PCI.

NVIDIA SLI: SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface, technology
that lets you use a couple of GeForce 6800 graphics cards together
with PCI Express X16. Basically, SLI will speed up graphics on a single
monitor by deploying two graphics cards. It also lets you combine
4 GPUs in one system for the fastest graphics yet.

An alternative system would be ATI's CrossFire which
is a SLI-like configuration using 'Master' and 'Slave'
cards to combine two Radeon GPUs for improved and faster
graphics.

Hyper-Threading: Gives processors better performance
especially when combined with dual-core processors,
capable of handling four software threads which will put
a smile on any gamer's face.

Better RAM: DDR3 SDRAM (Double Data Rate Three Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory) this new DDR memory standard
will use 40% less power and run at speeds up to 800 MHz.
Don't confuse this with GDDR3 (in Graphics Cards) which is
a totally different technology.

Dual Core: just as the name says, you put two CPUs into
a laptop for more power and faster computing. Rockdirect's
Xtreme 64 was one of the world's first dual core notebooks to
hit the market.

Also be on the lookout for Intel's Dual Core Notebook
Chip dubbed Yonah, it will be somewhat different in that
this notebook chip will not only have two cores but these
cores will share a 2MB cache which will greatly boost performance.

In most cases, keeping ahead of all these developments and
improvements can be a pleasurable chore for most gamers but
it can sure eat into your gaming time. And as the notebook
technology evolves, the gaming laptop will get even more smaller
and more powerful, offering a real alternative to the gaming
desktop PC even for the most die-hard Power Junkies.

Serious gamers will also know laptop or notebook gaming technology
is constantly evolving and mutating. Therefore, most gamers will
only purchase a fully upgradeable open architecture notebook, they
look for a laptop design which can be easily upgraded with the newest
and latest technology, if at all possible.

Despite this option, as laptop gaming technology steadily improves,
gamers are still left with the choice of which gaming system to buy.
Just in case you have be hibernating for last five years -- hey, it
happens. Here's a quick rundown of the different systems on the market
...Voodoo, Alienware, Mayhem, Vigor, Sager, ASUS, Rockdirect,
M-Tech, Dell...

Despite the fancy lapels, serious gamers know that most laptops are
made by the same two or three companies in Taiwan! The same components
and mainframes are assembled under different brand names and marketed
to the public.

Not to get too cynical, but sometimes it's the laptop with
the better paint job or the better advertising that will
win your purchasing dollar. Not that savvy gamers are easily
fooled, perish the thought, but packaging may rule the day,
performance may be the same or negligible in gaming
machines with basically all the same components and specs.

Regardless of this sober reality, gamers are still left with the
choice of which gaming manufacturer has tweaked these components
into the best gaming laptop on the market. There are numerous gaming
specialists that make high quality machines well worth your
consideration but because of limited space here we will only examine
three major gaming manufacturers, sometimes for entirely different reasons.

These three are Alienware, Rockdirect and Dell. All produce serious
contenders for the ultimate gaming laptop. Here's a brief rundown on
all three makers and their gaming laptops which may be of some help
to anyone looking to purchase a high-end gaming monster.

Alienware Laptops

First, we will start with the most distinctive looking gaming
laptops on the market. Those coming from Alienware, a company
founded by two avid gamers, Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, in
1996. It has become one of the leading producers of revolutionary
gaming PCs and Notebooks. It has also won raves and rewards from such
top industry publications as CNET, PC Gamer, Computer Games and
many more.

Their flagship model is the Area-51m 7700. This scary monster
can be outfitted with an Intel Pentium 4 Processor with
Hyper-Threading Technology - (2.8GHz - 3.8GHz, 800MHz FSB,
1MB Cache, Socket 775) Intel 915P + ICH6 chipset with NVIDIA
GeForce GO 6800 ULTRA with 256MB DDR3. It has a 17 inch WideUXGA
1920x1200 LCD Display and 4 dedicated SO-DIMM slots for
Dual-Channel DDR2 Memory. Warranties can be purchased for up
to 4 years.

The Alienware Area-51m 7700's base price starts at around
$2000 but if you want to max out this system, be prepared
to double that amount. High price for high performance.
Runs quiet and cool. This one is dressed to kill.

Rockdirect Laptops

Next, we go across the pond, for a company that produces some
high priced yet powerful gaming machines. Rockdirect gaming notebooks
are another group of machines that many gamers should consider.
Rockdirect, formerly known as Rock, is a British company that's
on the cutting edge of notebook technology. They have had a long
history of making high quality laptops for business and gaming.
Rockdirect laptops are expensive, there's no way to get around
that fact.

Rockdirect's Xtreme 64 is one of the world's first dual core
notebooks using AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processors and twin
100GB 7,200RPM hard drives. With NVIDIAGeForce Go 7800 GTX
graphics and a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display with X-Glass
for better viewing. Around 2,300 pounds or $4,000 USD.
Three Year Collect and Return Warranty.

Dell Laptops

Hey dude, this can't be a DEll?

Dell with the introduction of its XPS second generation gaming
laptops has to be considered by the serious gamer. Don't laugh!
With the introduction of the XPS Gen2 laptops, Dell entered the
gaming market for real. A lot of people stood up and took notice.

Even more people stood up when Dell introduced the XPS Renegade 600
desktop gaming system with 4 NVIDIA 7800GTX GPUs at the
CES this year. Now that's putting SLI to some good use!

Dell's top Notebook Model is the XPS M170 powered by
Intel Pentium M Processor 780 (2.26 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
and 2GB1 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm Memory on
a 100GB 7200rpm Hard Drive. It uses 256MB NVIDIA GeForce
Go 7800 GTX and has a 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA
Display. Priced at around $3,896 with a two year warranty
and longer warranties may be purchased.

Show me the Facts!

Anyone can pick a top gaming notebook and say its the fastest
in the world. However, you have to prove it or back it up.
That's where benchmark testing enters the picture, these are
standard tests that rate the performance level of your
gaming laptop. Hey, tests are good for something!

One good site that has performed a whole slue of tests on
the gaming laptops mentioned above is http://www.hexus.net.
You can see the different Benchmark tests here:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4188

Testing for memory bandwidth and latency, picfast,
cryptography, raytracing, realistic render, encoding and
so on. The dual core Rock XTreme 64 showed impressive
numbers, even beating out an Athlon 4000+ Desktop in
many areas.

WildCard Entry: M-TECH!

There's another laptop maker many novice gamers don't consider
when buying their ultimate gaming machine. It may not be as
well known as the ones above but the real wildcard entry is
M-TECH. This is basically the American equivalent of Rockdirect,
although the companies are in no way connected. They just have a
similar philosophy of working with and using cutting-edge technology
and firms to produce some superior gaming machines.

M-TECH, a Michigan company, started in 1995 and has close
strategic partnerships with Tech firms in Silicon Valley. It
is favorably reviewed by many industry magazines such as
Laptops, Mobile Computing, CNET, PC TODAY and others.

M-TECH produces some powerful low priced (relatively speaking)
gaming laptops such as the D900K and the D900T:

You can configure your D900T with two 100GB (7200RPM) SATA HDD
Hard Drives with Pentium 4 3.8GHz 2MB L2Cache with a RAID setup.
With Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX w/256MB DDR3 and a 17 inch TFT WSXGA+
Glassview LCD display for around $3500 USD. One year warranty,
longer warranties may be purchased.

When buying your laptop, keep in mind, just because a gaming
laptop has a lot of style doesn't mean it has sacrificed performance.
It is not a matter of style over substance, it just means
you have to pay highly for all that style/advertising/packaging.
If you can afford it, go for a higher priced gaming laptop.
People buy Ferraries don't they? There's no accounting for how
people spend their money, if you want one of these dual core
laptops from Rockdirect and you can take a little bit of heat
and noise with your games, go for a Rockdirect Xtreme 64 or
the older Xtreme Ti.

If you want a dressed to kill Alienware laptop, go for the
Area-51m 7700. If you're on a budget, look closely at the Dell
XPS M170 or the other XPS systems and watch for special Dell
coupons and discounts. Dell is known for giving some great
discounts so keep your eyes peeled. And if you really want to
go against the mainstream, why not check out M-TECH. Especially
the M-TECH D900K or the D900T, ultimate performance at a good price.

No matter which gaming system you go with, try to pick one
that has a fully upgradeable open architecture structure so
you can easily upgrade when the time comes. Keep in mind,
laptop technology is changing so fast by the time your
dream machine is configured, it is probably already out of date.
Sobering thought but more true than any of us would like to
believe.

Finding the fastest gaming laptop may be an on-going process
of outfitting your dream machine with the latest technologies
and hardware as they come on stream. Hey, nobody said life would
be simple.

Just wondering how you can fit Quad SLI with 4 GPUs
into a laptop. Hey, it can happen and probably will!

For more on the best gaming laptops click here: Gaming Laptops. For information on upgrading your gaming laptop click here:Laptop Memory Upgrade. Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Titus_Hoskins

The Difference Between SEO Writers and Content Providers

Although they may sound similar, SEO content providers and SEO writers are actually quite different in practice when it comes to search engine optimization. While it's true that they both provide valuable services to website owners or similar, there's actually one main area where the two are completely different - and it's in the name itself. Whereas SEO writers will generally write articles for a website or blog, SEO content providers will also look at the overall SEO of a website to maximize its SEO visibility.

Writing SEO

To really understand the difference, you need to know what an SEO writer is. Whether it's for their own website or blog, or creating articles for a client's website, blog or even article directory like EzineArticles.com, an SEO writer usually only writes keyword rich articles. That's not to lessen their worth - far from it, since SEO writers need to know how to distribute keywords effectively throughout their articles.

However, SEO writing is completely different from SEO content writing - after all, an article for a website or submission site can be on pretty much any topic that the writer or client wishes. It may be that the writer wishes to be known as an expert on a certain niche, so they write keyword rich articles to place on their blog or similar. Nothing wrong with this at all - but it's a far cry from being an SEO content provider.

The SEO Content Provider Difference

While a good SEO writer may make for a decent SEO content provider, a decent SEO content provider will always make for a good (if not excellent) SEO writer. This isn't said from a "mightier than thou" position either - it's simple writing economics.

This is down to the different and more expansive roles that an SEO content provider has to fill. Not only do they need to provide strong, keyword rich and SEO-friendly articles and content, they also need to:

• Enhance the overall SEO of the website in question
• Work in conjunction with the website's URL and meta tags for increased SEO performance
• Constantly provide fresh and relevant content to maintain SEO performance and visibility
• Be aware of the competition's SEO and marketing methods
• Combine the SEO potential of website and complementary blog(s)

When you take into account the various roles that an SEO content provider brings to the online marketing table, you can see why there's a vast difference between top SEO writers and top SEO content providers. Agreed, they both have their places and will continue to do so. However, to truly maximize your online visibility and presence there's no competition - while an SEO writer will give you good keyword articles, for maximum results you need to look at using the services of dedicated SEO content providers and consultants.

SEO Content Providers has but one goal - to provide affordable, high quality SEO content for websites and blogs. Whether you're an individual, professional or business you can be sure that your SEO content projects are handled professionally and punctually. Choose us for your next project and see for yourself the SEO Content Providers difference. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Edgar

Green Computing For Organizations and Individuals

Green computing is a rising trend that looks to establish itself as the preferred IT philosophy -- not because techies are tree-huggers, but because green solutions are affecting their bottom lines. Many businesses today are asking the questions: "What is it?" and "Why is it so important to society?''

What is Green Computing?
Today, the term embodies the entire life cycle of technologies, including research, manufacturing, use, and disposal. Green IT takes a much more holistic approach than it once did, especially as companies are brainstorming solutions to cut costs and increase revenue.

 Why is Green Computing Important? 

Green computing benefits the environment. Reduced energy usage from green techniques translates into lower carbon dioxide emissions, stemming from a reduction in the fossil fuel used in power plants and transportation. Conserving resources means less energy is required to produce, use, and dispose of products. Put simply, saving energy and resources saves money.

The advantages of green technology are realized on both large and small scales. Green technologies are available for an entire organization or for a single employee's workstation. Unfortunately, many companies and business owners are stalled by the initially larger investment in green technology, and fail to realize the long-term benefits and cost savings. As such, let's examine adjustments that can be made regarding green computing and IT support, big or small.

System-Wide Green Computing 
When investigating green alternatives for your entire organization, consider technologies like cloud computing. Basically, cloud computing eliminates the need for hardware like servers. Also known as virtualization, cloud computing replaces hardware with "virtual" servers or servers in "the cloud." Essentially, cloud computing allows companies to reduce their need for big, bulky, energy-consuming servers by relocating them on the Internet. Cloud computing may also be used in areas like networking, data storage, software applications, and operating systems, again, potentially reducing the need for hardware. As a result, businesses stand to save a lot of time, money, and resources on maintenance and support by switching to cloud computing set-ups.

Individual Green Computing 
There are many other techniques at the personal computer level. For instance, power management can be an easy and effective means of saving green while conserving energy. While many operating systems come with power-saving settings, there are also a variety of products that monitor and adjust energy levels to increase performance and reduce wasted energy. For instance, some surge protectors can sense when a master component (like a computer) is turned off, and respond by cutting off power to any peripheral machines, such as like printers and scanners.

System-Wide and Individual Green Computing 
Finally, green computing initiatives can reap savings in both big and small ways. Technologies that save paper, like email, can have a huge impact on costs as well as the environment. As companies and employees develop methods and habits of conservation, simple practices like emailing memos or printing in smaller fonts can bring instant results. Additionally, policies like telecommuting or teleconferences pose additional benefits by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced by travel.

Green IT is quickly emerging as the most effective means of utilizing technology. No matter whether your organization's needs are big or small, green IT can reduce costs, increase productivity, and even do something good for the environment.

~Richard McNeal, 2009

Ascensha knows that green computing in Portland is just one topic small business owners have questions about when it comes to IT help. Contact Ascensha, an Oregon IT services company to get your questions answered by established local experts. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_McNeal