Cloudy with a chance of...saving yourself time & effort!

Cloudy with a chance of...saving you time & effort!

Multi-layered IT security & management in one simple platform…but is it any good?

GFI Cloud™ has been around for over a year now since its launch in 2012. Having been a GFI Gold Partner for several years now and being well-versed in their on-premise software products, the team at Grant McGregor were keen to see whether GFI's cloud offering would come to anything or just be a flash in the pan.

A year and a bit on from launch, their initial offering of a platform for antivirus and network server monitoring has been developed into a really compelling offering. And we have had a great deal of interest from all sizes and shapes of company in using the GFI Cloud platform to help them to manage their IT more effectively or more efficiently.

But why the sudden uptake?

Well, it's maturing into quite a powerful suite of products that help ever-more busy IT managers and Network administrators to do the 101 things they have to fit in every day, week and month.

Such as?

Well - such as maintaining antivirus protection across their distributed servers and desktops. Such as monitoring the key variables on their servers and workstations to be alerted to anything that pops up as an anomaly - so they get a head start on fixing it.

Such as updating the stream of software patches and updates not just for the typical Microsoft software products but many others that are issued to cover security flaws and holes in a multitude of applications today including browsers, Adobe products, and many others.

And now also such as the cloud web protection service launched in October that enables simple, effective protection for end-users from the growing menace of web-based malware desperate to infect machines and inflict chaos everywhere. This is particularly useful as it enables IT staff to set all their users (including laptop users and road warriors) to surf the web via GFI Cloud Web Protection as a 'proxy' or gateway service to prevent them from 'accidentally' browsing dodgy or unwanted websites.

And is it a flash in the pan?

Well it certainly doesn't seem that way to us! And from the look of product development roadmap ahead that we've seen, there are a host of interesting, new services in development that will appeal to most IT managers.

However, they should also appeal to those holding the IT purse strings too! There's none of the complex or expensive licensing or set-up processes...it's just quick and simple so it provides speedy results and an immediate network ROI.

GFI Cloud costs £12+VAT per service per user(or computer) per year but there are some generous discounts for multiple services being purchased or for multiple years being purchased up-front.

No open ports and no firewall issues

Every open port is another vector for attack; another way in for the bad guys. Keeping it simple, GFI Cloud does not require you to open any additional ports, because the agent connects to the server and not the other way round; instead the agent pushes content to the server, not the server pulling information from the device.  This means standard http(s) ports are used which reduces the configuration work you as an IT admin have to do to a minimum. Using standard http(s) ports means GFI doesn't get blocked by firewalls as they're never intruding.

Free IT Asset Inventory Management

To enable you to see whether this could be a useful toolset to you, GFI Cloud offers a free IT asset tracking and inventory service within cloud. You know that knowing what hardware and software you have is the first step to being in control of your network.  It saves time on support calls and makes life easier when you’re planning hardware refreshes and software upgrades.

With Asset Tracking in GFI Cloud you can see what you have at a glance, anytime from anywhere and it won’t cost you a penny… EVER!  And the catch?  Well truly there is no catch, just an easy to use free asset tracking service that GFI offer you for use forever… it's that simple. Really, it is.

Take a look for yourself!

Well, I think we've said enough about it here. If it sounds good to you then you can find out more about the platform or the current cloud services within it. Check out some of the GFI Cloud Overview videos below. Or, if you'd really like to see what all the fuss is about, you can easily set up a free, 30-day trial of all or any of the services for yourself.

You can start the trial here - GFI Cloud 30 day Free Trial

Once you have had a good look, we'd like to hear your point of view and feedback.

Of course, if you're interested in becoming one of the smart IT administrators that are saving themselves time and effort, you can Buy GFI Cloud Services from us as an Accredited GFI Gold Level Partner. We'll help you to get the right combination of cloud services you need at the best price - and we'll look after you before and after any purchase with the technical skills to show you how to make the most of your GFI Cloud purchase.

I could end with some sort of terrible cliché about silver linings but I think the cloud metaphor has been done to death. Suffice to say, I'd rather you be the judge of whether the GFI Cloud platform has a place for helping you to better manage your systems. Do let me know how you get on!

GFI Cloud Antivirus

GFI Cloud Asset Management

GFI Cloud Patch Management

GFI Cloud Server & Workstation Monitoring

GFI Cloud Web Protection

GFI Cloud 30 day Free Trial