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Technology Survey Results

For

Small and Mid-sized Law Firms in Atlanta

Servers, Desktops/Laptops & Backup / Disaster Recovery

December 2, 2014

Prepared by: Alisa Michael, David Gracey & Tony Rushin

Network 1 Consulting, Inc.

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Purpose of Survey This survey is the first of several that we plan to publish. Our overall purpose

for the surveys is to provide insight into the IT infrastructure and applications

that small and mid-sized law firms are using in the Atlanta Metro area. We

are gathering, compiling and publishing this information for the benefit of

the attorneys and staff who are leading small and mid-sized law firms in the

Atlanta Metro area.

Scope of Survey Size: All firms included in this survey employ at least 6 people and no more

than 70 people.

Location: All firms have their main office (which is often their only office)

located in Metro Atlanta. Most all of the offices are located in downtown,

Midtown, Buckhead or within the 75 / 85 corridor.

Types of firms: All types of firms representing numerous practice areas are

included. Here is a partial list of the practice areas represented: litigation,

liability, business, insurance, banking & finance, benefits, wills & estates,

bankruptcy, intellectual property, workers’ compensation defense,

commercial real estate, residential real estate, employment, taxation,

medical, government / zoning, immigration, personal injury and family law.

Number of firms surveyed: There are 33 firms included in this survey.

Confidentiality: Results are aggregated. No law firm names are provided

or implied.

How the Survey Results are Organized Main body: This is where we share the facts and only the facts. The

information and organized it into three areas:

Servers / Cloud

Personal Computers

Backup and Disaster Recovery Capabilities

Editorial comments: Because we are an information technology company

that supports small and mid-sized law firms in Metro Atlanta, we thought

some of the readers may want to see our insights and comments, including

trends and industry best practices. We include this information in a

separate section near the end of this report.

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Servers / Cloud

Cloud, Mixed and On-premise Environments

Of the 33 firms surveyed:

3 had a total cloud environment (servers and applications)

14 had a mixed environment (on-premise servers with some cloud-

based applications)

16 had a total on-premise, server-based environment

Total Cloud Environment

Of the 3 firms that had a total cloud environment:

2 used a shared cloud environment

1 used a private cloud environment (dedicated only to them)

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Mixed Environment

This environment consisted of on-premise servers with the use of one or

more cloud-based application. All 14 of the firms that had this

environment used a cloud-based email provider. In addition, 4 of the firms

also used other cloud-based applications (i.e., document management,

file sharing service / portal, CRM).

Total On-premise Environment

As shown previously, nearly half (49%) of the firms did not leverage cloud-

based applications at all (Lexis/Nexis and other knowledge-based websites

were not counted).

Physical and Virtual Servers

The 30 firms that had on-premise servers (14 in a mixed environment and 16

in a total on-premise environment) used a total of 171 servers:

70 physical servers

101 virtual servers

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Host Platforms

The host servers that ran the virtual servers were either based on Microsoft

HyperV software or VMware software. Here was the breakout:

12 VMware

8 HyperV

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Personal Computers There were a total of 797 personal computers used by the 33 firms in the

survey.

Desktops and Laptops

Of the 797 personal computers, 594 were desktops and 203 were laptops:

Laptop Types

The survey drilled into three types of laptops:

Traditional Microsoft / Intel laptops

Microsoft Surface Pro

Apple

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Backup and Disaster Recovery Capabilities All but one firm had some on-site backup capability. However, the

solutions varied widely in terms of the information being backed up (data-

only and/or server images), recovery speed and reliability.

All but two firms had some off-site backup capability in place. However,

the solutions varied widely in terms how the information got off-site

(manually or automated) and the capability of the off-site solution to act

as a disaster recovery site.

On-site Capabilities

There are various types of on-site backup devices which dictates the

capabilities for on-site recovery.

Types

Disaster Recovery Capability

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Off-site Capabilities

How does the data get off-site: automated or manual? What are the off-

site disaster recovery capabilities?

Automated or Manual

Most of the firms automatically send information off-site:

25 firms are automated

6 firms are manual

2 firms have no off-site backups

Disaster Recovery: Multiple Servers or Data-only

How robust are the off-site disaster recovery capabilities?

12 firms can spin up multiple servers

19 firms can recover data only

2 firms have no off-site disaster recovery

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Editorial Comments We will address each section of the survey, sharing our insights and

comments including trends and industry best practices.

Servers / Cloud

Virtual Servers

The trend toward virtual servers has been accelerating right along with the

trend toward cloud and hosted solutions. There are several advantages of

a virtual server environment:

Cost: Only need an operating system license to spin up a new virtual

server since multiple virtual machines (VMs) can run on a single

physical host.

Flexibility: A new VM can be spun up and online in less than 4 hours.

Maintenance: VMs boot up fast.

Redundancy: It’s built-in if best practices are followed.

One risk of having a VM environment is to have all of the VMs running on a

single host server with internal disk drives. Here are several best practices

for a VM environment:

Have 2 host servers and an external Storage Area Network. This

builds key redundancy into the network: either host server or two disk

drives can fail and the environment will continue to run.

VMware’s vShpere software product is the market leader with

advantages over Citrix XenServer and especially Microsoft Hyper-V.

Main advantages are robustness, flexibility and manageability.

Run one of the domain controllers (the primary or secondary) on a

physical server.

Cloud

The trend is definitely toward cloud with some firms moving the entire

server infrastructure and most at least leveraging hosted applications. We

have seen the trend toward hosted applications for 5+ years (especially

hosted Exchange email) while the trend toward a total cloud environment

started to go “mainstream” just over the last two years.

The right total cloud environment can save a little bit of money over an on-

premise solution. However, the big benefits are:

Reduced risk of downtime (because the environment is more robust)

Better backup solutions (because they are typically built in to the

cloud environment)

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Better access (from many devices and locations, as long as there is

an internet connection)

Higher user productivity (same user interface no matter where the

location or device)

Increased security

There are also risks with a total cloud environment and they aren’t a fit for

all needs based on the firm’s business strategy, current applications and

workflow. The biggest risks are:

Bandwidth. Do you have enough? Is it reliable?

Stability and reliability of cloud provider. Did you do your due

diligence?

Make sure you thoroughly check out the cloud company / offering you

select. Here are some good questions to ask:

Who are their competitors?

What are their stated service levels? Do they consistently meet or

exceed them?

How do they back up your data? What’s the frequency and

location(s), media used and length of retention? Are test restores

performed on a regular basis?

How do you get your data back if you fire them? How much will it

cost?

How will you get your data if they go out of business?

How good is their support when you need help?

Who are their clients? Call several of them (at least three) and ask

tough questions (like the ones above).

Here are some cloud best practices:

Have separate internet and telephone circuits in your office.

Get a high-speed connection to the internet and have it configured

to fail-over to a slower circuit if it goes down. Having fail-over in

place is especially important if you have a cable connection (i.e.,

Charter or Comcast).

If you use Infrastructure-as-a-Service to run a total cloud

environment, do not use a cable connection (Charter or Comcast).

Get a high-speed connection from a traditional telecom provider

(i.e., Windstream, Earthlink, Cbeyond, AT&T) or get a circuit from

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Comcast Enterprise: these all provide a Service Level Agreement

(SLA) and will be much more stable and consistent.

If you want a cloud-based phone, buy the bandwidth and the

hosted phone from the same provider.

Make sure your office environment is secure with a business-class

physical firewall.

Have complex passwords set and a policy to change passwords.

If you have a wireless network, make sure it’s business-class, secure

with WPA2 protocol, and set up properly: with internal network

separate from guest internet-only access.

Hosted Email

This is really a subset of the cloud section but is important enough to merit

its own section. We have seen a trend toward hosted email over the last

five years; growing stronger every year. There have been three key drivers

of this trend:

1) Microsoft publicly stating, in 2009, that they were making Exchange

more complex based on their target market of companies with 500+

employees.

2) A growing availability of good, trusted hosted email options

including AppRiver, Intermedia and Microsoft Office 365.

3) Increased awareness of the risks of having an onsite Exchange server

including: power outages, lack of server redundancy (or the cost of

implementing) and having proper backups in the event of a minor

or major disaster.

We believe the trend to move email to a hosted provider will continue to

accelerate in small and mid-sized law firms.

Personal Computers

Laptop Types

Several years ago we saw a small trend with some law firms toward Apple

MacBook Airs for attorneys who traveled a lot. Although the form-factor of

the MacBook Air makes it attractive (light weight, small footprint), it doesn’t

operate natively on a Microsoft network plus it’s expensive relative to

traditional Microsoft / Intel laptops.

Since the Surface Pro 2 started shipping in October 2013, and now with the

Surface Pro 3, these laptops / tablets have been gaining in popularity.

Although the Surface Pro 3 is much more of a laptop replacement than a

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tablet replacement (iPads still rule as the tablet of choice), that’s fine for

most attorneys. We believe the trend of replacing a laptop with a Surface

Pro 3 will continue. And, as the handwriting application in OneNote

continues to improve (conversion to text and recognition), the trend will

accelerate.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Capabilities

On-site Capabilities

We were surprised to see that 15% of the 33 firms surveyed still used tape

for their backup medium. Tape is much less reliable than disk and also

much slower for recovering data.

It’s interesting that almost one-third (29%) of the firms surveyed have the

ability to recover both servers and data with their on-site appliance.

Generically, this is referred to as having a BDR (Backup & Disaster

Recovery) appliance on-site and provides the ability to spin up as a server

if need be. In fact, some solutions allow for multiple servers to run on the

BDR in a pinch which makes it a good solution for backing up all of the

critical VMs that may be running on a single VM host.

Off-site Capabilities

All but 2 of the 33 firms move their data off-site on a regular basis. Using

automation to move the data off-site the best practice, and 76% of the

firms surveyed use automation.

If there were a total disaster at one of the 16 firms that have a full on-

premise solution (for example, a fire or flood destroying all of the servers),

they would be at risk unless they are also one of the 12 firms that has the

ability to run their servers off-site. The 14 firms that have hosted email have

built-in disaster recovery, at least for their email.

The best practices for off-site capabilities are:

Automatically move data and server images off-site at least once

each day.

Monitor backups and get alerted on any issues. Investigate / fix any

issues in a timely manner. Also, do test restores of a few files on a

monthly basis.

Understand the costs of being down and the partners’ risk tolerance.

Is one week fine? How about one day? One hour?

Have a documented business continuity plan and test the plan

annually.

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About Network 1 and the Authors

Network 1 Consulting Network 1 was founded in 1998 and does IT Support in Atlanta, GA. They

become, or augment, the IT department for law firms and medical practices and

focus exclusively on Metro Atlanta. Network 1’s IT experts fix computers but what

their clients really value are the industry-specific best practices they bring to their

firms. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations (such as

HIPAA) and cyber threats changing so rapidly. Network 1 takes a proactive

approach to helping their clients use technology to gain and keep a competitive

advantage.

Alisa Michael Alisa joined Network 1 in September, 2013 as employee #14 and as a

dedicated client manager, mainly for Network 1’s law firm clients. She

has over 16 years of experience in the legal arena and uses that

knowledge to assist law firms to make IT decisions which will help them

to achieve greatness. Alisa has spoken about iPad applications at the

Georgia Association of Paralegals, stays informed about technology

trends affecting law firms and works closely with Network 1’s engineers

to ensure clients are receiving the best service, proactive advice and

recommendations possible.

Alisa can be reached at amichael@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7637.

David Gracey David is the founder, owner and president of Network 1. His vision is

the same today as it was in March, 1998 when he founded the

company: build an IT support company dedicated to delivering

world-class support to small businesses in Atlanta. David has written

articles for the International Legal Technology Association and the

American Bar Association and has been invited to speak to the

Atlanta Bar Association and the Georgia Association of Paralegals. David sets the

tone for Network 1 and is responsible for all aspects of the business.

David can be reached at dgracey@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7656.

Tony Rushin Tony joined Network 1 in September, 2010 as employee #8 and runs

sales & marketing. He has spent 25+ years in high-technology, from

IBM to start-ups. Tony brings his broad experience in business

development, marketing and business strategy to Network 1’s

leadership team, clients and partners. He has spoken on several

occasions and on numerous technology topics at the Atlanta

Association of Legal Administrators and the Atlanta Bar Association. His passion is

to help people achieve greatness, however they define it.

Tony can be reached at trushin@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7633.