Finding Reliability and Availability in the Cloud

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Marybeth Blake
5 years ago
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Client: Henry Schein Project: Finding Reliability and Availability in the Cloud White Paper 1 st draft: October 1 st, 2013 Finding Reliability and Availability in the Cloud When you consider the

The answer is different for everyone, but for most dentists and office managers, questions like, What happens if it goes down? or Can I really trust something that lives on the Internet?

1 Client: Henry Schein Project: Finding Reliability and Availability in the Cloud White Paper 1 st draft: October 1 st, 2013 Finding Reliability and Availability in the Cloud When you consider the possibility of moving to a cloud-based practice management solution, what s the first question that jumps into your mind? The answer is different for everyone, but for most dentists and office managers, questions like, What happens if it goes down? or Can I really trust something that lives on the Internet? are near the top of the list. That makes complete sense, since modern dental practices rely so heavily on their practice management software for so many different aspects of their daily operations, and they pay a high price if that software fails or becomes unavailable even for a few minutes. Plus, everyone who uses the Internet has experienced outages or delays, whether it s the whole connection going down or just individual websites refusing to load properly, so it s appropriate to wonder whether those same issues apply to more serious, business-focused cloud-based applications. So exactly how reliable and trustworthy are cloud-based solutions, especially Dentrix Ascend, compared to traditional client-server systems? And how much time and effort are required to keep cloud-based practice management solutions healthy and available compared to their on-premise counterparts? The answers to these questions are obviously critical for any practice considering a move to cloud-based practice management. And it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that cloud-based applications are actually much more reliable and available than most traditional systems especially in dental practices or other small business scenarios. To understand why this is the case and predict exactly what you can expect from a cloud-based practice management solution, It s helpful to take a closer look at the basics of what makes technology systems reliable and available in general, explore the differences between traditional practice management systems and cloud-based solutions such as Dentrix Ascend, and discuss some practical steps you can take to create the most secure and available environment for a cloud-based practice management solution. >>>>>>> DIAGRAM WITH CAPTION [A simple, stylized diagram works with the following caption to show the basic elements of a cloudbased SaaS solution and how it works.] Anatomy of a Cloud-Based Solution The Cloud is a popular buzzword these days, but as with any new technology trend, there s still a bit of confusion about exactly what it all means. At the most basic level, cloud computing simply means moving the computing resources you and your business depend on from your own local servers and PCs to the Internet. 1

2 This approach transforms the software you use every day from something you purchase, install and maintain on your own machines into a service you access securely over the Internet usually through a standard browser. This type of web-based solution is also commonly referred to as Software as a Service or SaaS. Software Availability 101 In the information technology world, availability simply means the amount of time a complete system or service such as your practice management solution is up, running properly and fully accessible to the people who need it. In most cases, availability is defined by two key factors: how often a system goes down and how long it takes to get it up and running again. Availability is often measured in terms of a percentage, where percent availability means a system is down.01 percent of the time, which translates into an average of about 10 minutes of downtime per week. In the IT industry, percent availability is often used as a benchmark goal for important business systems. Although there are different ways of calculating availability, most measurements include planned maintenance outages as well as unplanned downtime caused by hardware failures, software glitches, power outages, natural disasters and other unexpected issues. It s important to understand that most small business systems, including traditional practice management solutions, never come close to achieving that percent availability benchmark for a number of reasons. First, basic client-server systems have many different potential points of failure from a bad hard drive, failing memory chip, or malfunctioning fan on a server to a glitchy router or bad network cable any of which can bring your whole practice management system down. Next, most dental practices don t have their own dedicated onsite IT staff. As a result, systems don t receive proper maintenance, and when problems inevitably occur it can take hours to find an outsourced IT technician to fix them. Finally, most dental practices purchase consumer-grade computer hardware and then house it in a closet where dust, humidity, temperature and other environmental factors can cause components to fail more often than they normally would. When you put all these factors together, you end up with a situation where downtime is actually pretty common along with those desperate calls to your IT provider wondering how fast they can get to your office. Throwing Money at the Problem Larger businesses compensate for these weaknesses and potential failure points by investing thousands (or millions) in redundant, fault-tolerant commercial-grade systems, environmentally controlled data centers and dedicated teams of IT professionals. That s a workable approach for organizations with thousands of employees and millions or hundreds of millions in annual revenue. But creating the same kind of self-contained, highly available technology infrastructure for a dental practice even a large multi-site practice just doesn t make sense. It s not that dental practices don t need the same levels of availability as Fortune 1,000 companies; it s just that they traditionally haven t been able to afford them. >>>>>>>>>>>> CALLOUT FACTOID (POSITION NEAR THE HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE CLOUD SECTION) 2

3 Did You Know? A cloud-based practice management system is typically around 10 times more available than a traditional on-premise client-server solution. > Harnessing the Power of the Cloud Cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Dentrix Ascend have become attractive options for small businesses, because they fundamentally change the availability equation. With Dentrix Ascend and other cloud-based solutions, small businesses can finally tap into the same kinds of highly available technology infrastructures as the world s biggest and richest companies, all for a modest monthly fee using a basic Internet connection. This new model essentially makes it possible for you to rent part of a robust, complete and highly available technology infrastructure for your practice management software and patient data, rather than trying to build and maintain one from scratch. The results speak for themselves. A cloud-based practice management system is typically around 10 times more available than an on-premise client-server solution. What explains this significant discrepancy? Here are a few key capabilities and characteristics that allow cloud-based solutions, including Dentrix Ascend, to achieve such high levels of availability: A redundant and fault tolerant architecture How many backup servers do have sitting in your server closet ready to take over if the main server fails? For most practices, it s not even a legitimate question. But in big, world-class data centers, including the data center that houses Dentrix Ascend, every server, hard drive and other major hardware component has a backup ready to take over the instant something fails. And thanks to sophisticated high-availability software, the switch from a primary system to a backup system happens automatically and nearly instantaneously. That means even if a hard drive goes bad or a server motherboard fails, your practice management system stays up and running without disruptions. A dedicated team of technology experts How valuable would it be to have a team of dedicated, experienced IT experts monitoring, managing and maintaining your practice management hardware and software 24/7? Once again, it s a totally impractical notion for most dental practices, but it s a standard component of every Dentrix Ascend subscription. That means hardware and software problems get fixed quickly and professionally the moment something goes wrong even on weekends and holidays. But it also means there s always a team of professionals with the most advanced monitoring tools available watching every part of the Dentrix Ascend infrastructure, so most issues get addressed before you ever realize there s a problem. And of course, a team of developers is working constantly to refine and perfect the software, so you get a better, more reliable experience every time you log in. Professional, ongoing hardware maintenance The If it ain t broke, don t fix it mentality works great if you re talking about lawn mowers or refrigerators, but it s the wrong approach for maintaining business critical technology systems. Most hardware manufacturers publish service guidelines with recommended replacement schedules, and business class data centers unlike most local IT freelancers follow them to the letter. That means with Dentrix Ascend, key pieces of your practice management infrastructure are being replaced behind the scenes on a regular set schedule rather than when they simply stop working. 3

4 A clean and protected data center environment Most dental practices stash their server and other equipment in a closet or back room, where it s vulnerable to dust, temperature fluctuations, power outages or even a careless receptionist who bumps the power strip while looking for that box of envelopes. The hardware that powers Dentrix Ascend, on the other hand, is housed in a dust-free, earthquake safe Network Operations Center (NOC) with industrial climate and humidity controls, backup power generators, advanced fire suppression systems and much more. This type of industrial-strength environment is designed specifically to increase availability by protecting sensitive equipment and minimizing the risks of power outages and natural disasters. Together, all of these capabilities and characteristics contribute to a best practices technology infrastructure that s capable of delivering the percent (and higher) levels of availability large enterprises enjoy and most small businesses (including dental practices) have only wished they could afford. But thanks to the development of the cloud-based software services model and solutions like Dentrix Ascend, your practice can finally tap into and take advantage of a highly available, meticulously maintained technology architecture. >>>>>>> DIAGRAM WITH CAPTION [An image of a modern, state-of-the-art NOC with the following labeled components.] More than a Server Closet Dentrix Ascend is powered by a state-of-the-art Network Operations Center that uses the latest technology to deliver world-class availability. Redundant, fault-tolerant server architecture Carefully maintained hardware and software Clean, dust-free environment Precise climate and humidity controls Backup power generators Advanced fire suppression 24/7 monitoring and maintenance >>>>>> Protecting Your Connection Even after you take away the common points of failure for traditional practice management software by moving to the cloud, one crucial question still remains. If your entire practice management solution, including all of your patient information, lives in the cloud rather than on a local server, what happens if your Internet connection goes down? It s an important issue, because after you use Dentrix Ascend to solve your other availability challenges, your Internet connection essentially becomes your biggest remaining potential point of failure. Fortunately, there are some relatively simple and affordable solutions. First, you can check to see if potential Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in your area can provide you with uptime and reliability 4

5 statistics, so you can choose the most reliable option and get a rough baseline for how often you can expect outages. Some ISPs also offer business service agreements that guarantee response times when problems occur. After you find the most reliable option for your main Internet connection, you can also create an inexpensive backup by purchasing a wireless hotspot or network card from a wireless carrier. With two independent connections in place that use different technologies to access the Internet, you can reduce the risk of Internet outages to nearly zero. Power to Your Practice After you ve moved your practice management solution to the cloud and set up primary and backup Internet connections, the only major remaining point of failure is an actual loss of power, which obviously affects more than your practice management system. However, with Dentrix Ascend and a battery-powered wireless hotspot, it s not difficult to keep your practice management solution up and running through a temporary power outage you just need to provide power to the computers you re using to access the Internet. Of course, if you use mostly laptops and tablets, it s a non-issue, since they will switch to battery power automatically if the power goes out. For desktop machines and other essential hardware, you can purchase relatively inexpensive Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS s) to provide temporary battery power to CPUs, monitors and other essential hardware. CALL OUT SCREEN SHOT WITH CAPTION [A screen shot of the main Dentrix Ascend patient screen.] Dentrix Ascend offers you outstanding availability. But it also delivers the advanced practice management capabilities you need all built around a convenient, well-organized overview screen places the focus on your patients. With Ascend, all of the clinical, front office, and patient management capabilities your office needs are available for one monthly price with no expensive add-ons, extras or additional fees to worry about. Step Up to World-Class Availability Your practice management solution is the technology engine that drives your practice, which means you need a rock-solid, reliable system you can absolutely depend on. You could work to build and maintain that solution yourself, but with the growing popularity of cloud-based software solutions and the availability of Dentrix Ascend, you now have a much less expensive alternative. With Dentrix Ascend and a reliable Internet connection, you can finally tap into a practice management solution that s housed in a state-of-the-art data center, powered by the latest fault-tolerant hardware and software, and monitored and maintained 24/7 by a team of IT experts all for an affordable monthly fee. The result is a practice management solution that s ready and available when you need it built on a technology infrastructure that you never have to worry about maintaining, upgrading or repairing. For more information on how Dentrix Ascend can increase uptime and availability for your practice, visit 5

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