The Importance of Zero Trust Security

Security is more important now than ever as the number of targeted security attacks and data breaches continue to rise. Adopting a Zero Trust Security model boosts your network's security and protects data, files, and user information. Concurrency's CTO Nathan Lasnoski, Managing Architect Chris Blackburn and Technical Architect Laura Spence break down Zero Trust's approach to security including why Modern Desktop and Micro-segmentation play a critical role.

by Stephanie Siewert Sep 11, 2020

Running the Data Migration Assistant - Part Three - Jupyter Notebook

This is the third in a series of blog posts on Microsoft's Data Migration Assistant.  It covers running the DMA using PowerShell from a Jupyter Notebook.

by Frank Gill Sep 3, 2020

Running the Data Migration Assistant - Part Two - PowerShell

In the previous post, I introduced the Data Migration Assistant (DMA) from Microsoft.  In this post I will introduce PowerShell modules from Microsoft that can be used to run the DMA against an inventory of instances and databases.

by Frank Gill Sep 2, 2020

5 Disciplines of Cloud Governance

The best organizations are ones that balance growth mindset in the cloud with effective cloud governance. The growth mindset is the company challenging itself, its previous assumptions, it’s understanding of what the future looks like. The partner is governance that accelerates the transformation while ensuring protection and responsibility. The goal of cloud governance is not […]

by Nathan Lasnoski Aug 28, 2020

Cloud Assessment and Migration for your Organization

If you're wondering when it's a good time to start planning your journey to the cloud, the time is now. Concurrency cloud experts Duncan Lindquist and Sean Lawrence discuss how the Cloud Economic Assessment helps you do so with financial confidence and detail how cloud migration modernizes data and processes, while cutting costs and eliminating management of on-premises data centers. 

by Stephanie Siewert Aug 10, 2020

Firewall Settings for Connecting to Azure SQL Databases from an Azure VM

This post describes an issue a client experienced connecting to an Azure SQL Database from an Azure VM through a third-party firewall.

by Frank Gill Jun 26, 2020

AI Speaks Series Part I: How to derive business value from AI-based Natural Language Processing

Implementing NLP-based AI solutions helps businesses sift through constantly growing sources of text data to identify emerging trends, understand customer sentiment, uncover key ideas, and segment topics and customers.

by Swaminathan Venkatesh May 22, 2020

Create an Azure Function with Python to Retrieve GPS Coordinates from an Image EXIF in Azure Storage

This post is part of a series. If you want to work on creating your own Wildlife ID environment, start here! We started with provisioning an Azure storage environment that this uses to retrieve images. In this post we’ll provision the Azure Function, deploy the code via VS Code and configure an App Insights availability […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 21, 2020

Creating a Logic App to Identify Wildlife with AI, Azure Functions, Cosmos DB, and Azure Storage

This post is part of a series. If you want to work on creating your own Wildlife ID environment, start here! In this segment we’re creating a Logic App that brings several other components together. The end goal is to examine a picture with EXIF data, identify a wildlife in the image, copy it to […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 21, 2020

Creating a Cosmos DB for our Wildlife ID Project

This post is part of a series. If you want to work on creating your own Wildlife ID environment, start here! We will start by provisioning a Cosmos DB environment for our application. First, login to your Azure environment and navigate to Cosmos DB and create a new database. Then, progress in creating your Cosmos […]

by Nathan Lasnoski May 21, 2020

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 1

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 1 of this series outlines the first five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 17, 2023

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 2

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 2 of this series outlines the second five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 25, 2023

Driving Efficiency from Cloud Investments

I’m asked frequently, “how do I know if there is waste in my cloud environment?” or “how do I know if my cloud environment is following best practices?”.  In response, I have six initial tests to evaluate the state of an already deployed cloud environment.  These tests can also be used in reverse to think about the critical tests for a cloud environment you are deploying new.  In this article I’ll walk through each of those six tests and how to evaluate them. 

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 22, 2023

10 Optimizations for Your Azure Environment - Part 1

As we enter the new year, I’d like to challenge every company with an Azure environment to “do more with less” by raising the operational maturity of their cloud environment.  Successful companies look at the cloud as a financial advantage to their businesses because of the opportunity to apply optimizations across each spending area.  The unsuccessful companies deploy services and are ineffective at applying spend to improvement, likely leaving it as they initially provisioned it.   

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 8, 2023

Cost Savings Ideas for Your Azure Environment

I’ve seen that 20% – 40% of cloud spend is waste!  In this post I’ll cover cost savings ideas for your Azure environment that will help you “get more with less” from your cloud spend.  

by Nathan Lasnoski Mar 14, 2023

10 Optimizations for Your Azure Environment - Part 2

As we enter the new year, I’d like to challenge every company with an Azure environment to “do more with less” by raising the operational maturity of their cloud environment.  Successful companies look at the cloud as a financial advantage to their businesses because of the opportunity to apply optimizations across each spending area.  The unsuccessful companies deploy services and are ineffective at applying spend to improvement, likely leaving it as they initially provisioned it.   

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 10, 2023