There are many definitions of IT service. At its core, they all agree that this service must be based on information technology, that it must streamline the customer's business processes profitably and that it is the responsibility of a provider. Customers recognize good IT services because they usually don't even notice them. In other words, that their digital network runs around the clock without disruption or interruption, that it is always up to date and also handles innovative tasks securely and without complaint. Of course, there are also technical terms for all these 'tasks' in the field of IT services - application management, equipment services, maintenance or even training on the job - but ultimately it is always about ensuring that the customer has a reliable digital backbone that makes their core business easier. An IT service provider should therefore understand the customer's needs from the outset. The easiest way to do this is when SMEs meet SMEs. Because this is the only way to avoid the standardized 'one-size-fits-all solutions' of large providers.

IT consultants are doubly talented: they must be able to combine extensive digital engineering knowledge with the business acumen of a management consultant. It's no wonder that good IT consulting is one of the most sought-after services with a turnover in the billions.

As an IT consultancy, b.r.m. has specialized in a market niche. With us, there are no telephone waiting loops, no long and expensive travel times, etc. We operate a regional IT consulting service for small and medium-sized businesses, with which we have established ourselves very successfully in the greater Bremen area since 1991.

To put it simply, in the IT sector everything that can be touched is hardware. Nevertheless, all hardware also has plenty of 'intelligence' because a wide range of logical functions are already integrated into the processor, monitor or graphics card. The distinction between 'hardware' and controlling 'software' is therefore not clear-cut, but rather fluid. Incidentally, particularly simple hardware systems are called 'firmware' (coffee machines, kitchen stoves, etc.).

In the IT sector, computer hardware today includes the following components, among others:

- Motherboard
- Chipset
- processor
- Memory
- disk drives
- graphics card
- Sound card
- monitor
- printer
- keyboard
- Mouse
- Loudspeaker
etc.

With greylisting, an email that has come under suspicion is initially held back by the provider. However, the recipient receives an automatic message about the process and can - if they wish - subsequently release the email within a certain period of time. Greylisting is therefore an IT service that was developed to prevent the erroneous deletion of emails. After all, the classification 'spam' is not always clear-cut; no e-mail can be characterized as 'garbage' or 'malware'. However, we distinguish ourselves with a service that provides security in this area.

Good ideas are like children: they are born small and grow up over the years. In our case too, it started out as a mere seed, which then - as in a supersaturated solution - grew into a large crystal of consequences. Progress simply began with pent-up anger over excessive electricity bills for the company's own data center. As a result, more and more new ways of remedying overly energy-intensive IT technology were tested in practice.

A multi-award-winning consultancy for IT energy efficiency grew out of this. We are regarded throughout Germany as pioneers of green IT. That's because we don't test new ideas on customers first, but because we use tried and tested ideas to help customers achieve energy efficiency in practice. Which is sure to please your accounting department ...

Glass fibers are created when long, thin fibers are drawn from a silicate melt. These light-conducting media are then used in optics and laser technology, but are also increasingly used in data technology. It is above all the unheard-of 'bandwidth' of up to 100 TBit/s that makes fiber optic cables the ideal data transmission medium. Optical fibers consist of a light-conducting core, a shielding cladding and a robust protective jacket. Today's fiber optic cables can bridge distances of up to 100 km without any intermediate reinforcement.
It is not only the enormous capacity of fiber optic cables that makes them the future standard for all data traffic. Fiber optic cables are also absolutely insensitive to electrical and magnetic interference factors. And - last but not least - they are still virtually 'tap-proof'. One problem is the sensitivity of open fiber optic cables, e.g. in offices.

Data loss
There are many causes of data loss: hardware defects, software failures, inadequate backups, cyber attacks, fire or water damage. Accidental deletion of the contents of a hard disk can also occur. Data loss can threaten a company's existence due to production downtime and damage to its image.

Blackmail
"Pay 30 Bitcoin or we'll attack with a DDoS attack!" Such ransom demands are reaching hundreds of thousands of German companies. Financial service providers, insurance companies and online service providers are particularly affected. "DDoS" stands for "Distributed Denial of Service". Blackmailers can use such attacks to paralyze company websites, networks and computers.

Fraud
Cashless payment systems are a frequent target of Internet fraudsters. Their virtual attacks with manipulated account and credit card data are particularly damaging to financial service providers and online retailers

Hacking
Cyber criminals spy on security gaps in companies' IT systems in order to manipulate them. For example, hackers managed to hijack the telephone system of a German university. Within one weekend, they made 12,000 telephone connections to Africa. Amount of damage: EUR 120,000.

Amount of damage
For SMEs, a computer attack can threaten their very existence, warn experts with regard to average damage amounts. The violation of trade and business secrets by cyber criminals costs around 600,000 euros per case.

Darknet
In addition to drugs and weapons, stolen company data is also traded on anonymous black markets on the darknet, the encrypted area of the internet. The digital shadow economy therefore poses an increasing potential threat to commercial enterprises

Phishing
In phishing, the attacker attempts to obtain the personal data of Internet users via fake websites, e-mails or text messages in order to misuse them for their own purposes. The word is derived from "password" and "fishing", which means "fishing for passwords".

Occupational safety
Cybercrime is not least a threat to occupational safety in a company, warn prevention experts. If technical systems can be manipulated from outside due to a lack of data security, this can have an impact on their security functions and endanger employees without them realizing it

Malware
38.3 percent of all computers are attacked at least once a year by malware, according to the software company Kaspersky. Computer viruses and worms can infect millions of computers like an epidemic if they are not stopped in time.

The future
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the threats to the economy posed by cybercrime are continuing to increase. Trends such as the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 are opening up new opportunities for crime.

Since its foundation by Harald Rossol in October 1991, b.r.m. Technologie- und Managementberatung has developed into a sought-after IT service company for the region and beyond - especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Centrally located in Bremen's Überseestadt district, we are quickly on site in the event of a problem, with many years of experience in all IT service issues - from setting up the infrastructure to day-to-day IT operations and hosting tasks. Our IT service works in an extremely cooperative, efficient, cost-effective and security-conscious manner without waiting loops - in all areas of digital communication.

A program must always open a 'port' - or at least a porthole - if its generated content is also to be visible on other monitors worldwide. As in the case of a homepage, for example. Where something can leave such a 'port' or 'harbor' into the virtual world, something can of course also enter it. This is why 'firewalls' were created to protect a computer from unwanted access from the network. These security programs make sure that only the desired guests enter the home port according to defined rules. As a rule, every access must overcome two such protective walls: the first at the provider, the second at the client on the network computer.