Tuesday, March 30, 2010
At the risk of sounding politically charged, I think it's fair to ask: to what degree should the FCC regulate broadband? We're in a free market society, right? (actually, not exactly, but the principals are employed) So, why not let the market create demand for broadband and the enterprising businesses create solutions to supply it?

Just so you know, I didn't wake up this morning with a political axe to grind. Google and Verizon opened this can of worms for us early this week. In a joint article, the two internet moguls urged the FCC to reconsider their regulation of the Internet. While they don't seem to be opposed to government incentives for creating new broadband networks, the two companies (and many others like them) are hesitant to greet new regulations and government involvement with open arms.

While the FCC's broadband plan is generally viewed as a good idea, some telecom companies are beginning to wonder about the details. The FCC plans to reclassify ISP's, making their services easier to regulate. And, to justify these fears, the FCC came under scrutiny recently for overstepping it's authority interjecting terms into a recent merger of two t-com companies.

So, how much is too much? We already know that the U.S. lags painfully behind many other nations in the speed and ubiquity of it's broadband network. But why not let the profit-driven providers like Verizon and AT&T make the decision to bring broadband up to par? Or, a capitalist may ask: is there demand for broadband in the underserved areas?

Labels: ATT, Broadband Plan, FCC, Google, Verizon

posted by Unknown at 5:11 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
My CRM is web-based. My accounting software is web-based. My email marketing tools are web-based. I use Twitter. I use Facebook. I blog (duh). And I love not having to install upgrades, manage a server, secure the data, etc. I love it, that is, so long as I'm connected.

We are entering an era where business cannot function without broadband. No, not just for the speed of ad-hoc transfers such as ftp and email sending and receiving, but for the live streaming connection to business critical data at any given point in time. Imagine the impact of a 50-person call-center, all using an online CRM, and the connection goes down. What's 5-minutes of outage cost that company?

As with every luxury we enjoy, we don't even realize our dependence until we find ourselves without it. My cell phone, for example, is my watch. Really, I stopped wearing a watch when I got a cell phone. Battery dies... I'm nowhere on-time.

The same is true for broadband. A brief outage, even a matter of minutes, halts production. For the increasing number of businesses today resorting to SaaS solutions rather than desktop software, a broadband outage is tantamount to a total system failure. In many situations, the phones go too (especially in a VoIP set-up), and all business-critical activity is put on hold.

And there are going to be far-reaching implications of this shift in software delivery methods. As more and more competitive business software becomes available via broadband, this will preclude rural businesses where broadband is yet unavailable from having any access to the competitive advantages software can offer. The Internet for Everyone organization argues that the gap between have's and have-not's grows today due in part to internet access, and I would agree.

So, what measures can you take to protect your SaaS-dependent company from the turmoil of broadband outage? First, select your service provider carefully. Uptime is almost more important than upstream speeds these days. Second, back-up. No, not data... your connectivity. Having two disparate paths to the web is vital if you don't want those intermittent outages to affect you. And finally, monitor the performance constantly. Don't wait until an outage occurs, notify your service provider of falling signal strength and network "noise" before it causes a bigger problem.

Labels: backup network, Broadband, SaaS

posted by Unknown at 7:14 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The whole country is getting excited over the broadband stimulus plan, as well they should. But, in my old stomping grounds, it's exciting to see the "good-ole" Mid-Westerners with their ears perked up over the matter. While Indiana is already quietly making waves in technology industries--manufacturing, EMR, web2.0 businesses, and the like--visiting Ball State University professor Stuart Brotman sees the stimulus plan brining "rapid expansion of broadband infrastructure" in the state as well as an employment boost.

The federal government has allocated more than $25 million to Indiana to improve its broadband infrastructure. Part of that funding will go toward continuing the very popular I-Light network--a fiber-optic network in Indiana serving universities and heavily populated metro areas. But, as small business and start-ups continue to be incubated in Indiana fixed wireless solutions for faster provisioning, low-cost local loop solution, and rural broadband are going to be increasingly needed.

Among the most exciting provisions in the FCC national broadband plan is the recommendations to accelerate employment assistance. That means, for companies in Indiana who are on the fence about hiring more linemen, network technicians, etc. the decision to hire could be much easier and more advantageous.

Indiana is, of course, only one (admittedly small) story of how the broadband plan will impact our nation's economy. But, the story at the local level in small towns like Muncie, IN echo the story of the nation at large. Will every state meet the federal plan with such enthusiasm? What are you hearing in your neck of the woods?

Labels: Broadband Plan, FCC, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Rural Broadband

posted by Unknown at 6:04 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Get your minds out of the gutter. I tried explaining the intricacies of packets and bandwidth to my very non-technical wife. As she tried to pay bills on her laptop, I was simultaneously downloading a 10 gigabyte restore file from Mozy.com backup system. Needless to say, Internet was slow, and she didn't understand why. After all, we were on different computers, right?

As you well know, it's the not client machine that matters as much as the upstream/downstream speeds of the broadband connection--and, in this case, the immense chunk of that which my downloads were eating up. How our router prioritized that traffic (her browsing on National City Bank's website vs. my download, I'm not certain) but the end result was that we had little means to speed up her high-priority traffic over my low priority traffic (I left the download running all night, no rush).

Now, scale that much bigger. Restaurants and c-stores face a larger challenge than just two bickering spouses on a couch. A friend of mine, and small restaurateur, offers free wi-fi at his location. I was in there for lunch the other day, a packed dining area (good for him), and my credit card transaction took a painstaking 30 seconds to process. "You're not processing on the same connection as their wi-fi, are you?" I asked. Sure enough, he was.

In fact, one connection serviced both his customer's wi-fi and the business-critical data back-up, payment processing, and POS system (a web-based SaaS program). Besides the obvious PCI-compliance issues this raises, for the business owner, the customer experience is king, and operational efficiency runs a close second. Both of those factors were jeopardized because he needed a bigger pipe... or, in reality, he needed two.

Fixed Wireless Broadband provides not only redundance (a backup network when needed) but for thousands of stores Accel Networks has used wireless to provision a dedicated connection for business-critical needs in just days. Learn more about our solutions here.

Labels: Bandwidth, Fixed Wireless Broadband

posted by Unknown at 4:22 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
In just two weeks, on March 16th, the FCC presents its National Broadband Plan. And, while I would say that anticipation is building, it's a bit like finding your parents' stash of Christmas gifts early. The FCC has started leaking details of the plan, including a promise to find 500MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband and a request for Congress to cough up $16 Billion for a public-safety network to be integrated with priority access to commercial networks--a major homeland security beef-up.

In previous years, the FCC has tried getting such a network in the hands of first responders by ear-marking it onto the sale of spectrum between 10 and 700mhz. But, since nobody wanted that string attached, the air space simply didn't sell. Just exactly how the FCC intends to bring this plan to fruition this time around remains to be seen.

I also am curious to uncover where this 500MHz of spectrum will come from. The American public surely won't endure another fiasco like the DTV switch-over. But, assuming they can pull it out of the air (pardon the pun) this certainly will open new doors for wireless broadband providers to increase their bandwidth and ultimately service more of America's public with fixed wireless broadband solutions.

Ultimately, as I've blogged numerous times already, I am overjoyed to see wireless taking such a prominent role in the FCC's plan. I think this due largely to the feedback submitted, both by the public and from the carriers. From what little I've seen "leaked" thus far, I am hopeful. I'll be counting the days to March 16th.

Labels: Broadband Plan, FCC, Fixed Wireless Broadband

posted by Unknown at 2:16 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments


As a long-time Blogger.com user, I was definitely disappointed to learn that Blogger's Publish via FTP option was going to be retired. But, being in the technology industry myself, I can understand when antiquated systems must be retired. What I did not expect--but perhaps should have--was the amazing backlash from users.

The general sentiment is that of entitlement. While I agree it is frustrating, and even a bit mis-handled on Google's part, I don't feel any sense of abandonment. Comments are ablaze on Google's blog, and all over the blogosphere for that matter. FTP users are in an uproar, proving decidedly the power of a loud minority (According to Google, FTP users make up less than 5% of their user base... the reason for depreciating this feature).

The blog you're reading right now is indeed published with Blogger, and using their FTP service. So, in the perpetual delay of Blogger's promised migration tool, how have we moved forward? We used a free tool provided by PostTwo.com which seamlessly migrates Blogger FTP publishing into the blogspot.com hosting without requiring CNAME and A-record editing (which I, and many blog authors, do not have access to).

The lesson here is this: (to the vendors) don't under-estimate the effect that alienating even a small minority in your customer-base might have. But, (to the customers) if it's a free service, you get what you pay for.

Labels: Blogger FTP, Google

posted by Unknown at 2:07 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments